New Christie Brio Meeting Room Solution Lets Participants Share More

NEW YORK, NY, June 14, 2013 (Press-News.org) The days of passing cables and adapters across meeting room tables, installing additional software, rebooting laptops, and apologizing for delayed or bungled presentations have ended with the launch of Christie Brio, a new meeting presentation and collaboration system that takes the hassles out of single and multi-site workplace meetings.

Developed by Christie , a world leader in display and visualization solutions, Brio enables multiple attendees at meetings to run audio and video presentations from their own devices, without scrambling for matching display cables and adapters, plugging in dongles or installing and configuring new software to get it working.

Straightforward to install and use, Brio uses wired or wireless connections to automatically share multiple presentations showing simultaneously on either one or two meeting room screens. Whether participants use Macs or PCs, iPads or Android tablets, or smartphones, presentations can be added to a meeting as a thought occurs, their information showing on that meeting room display in seconds.

Brio is being unveiled this week at the InfoComm 2013 Pro-AV trade show in Orlando, Fla., and starts shipping this summer.

Share and collaborate like never before
Using a single, low-cost hardware Brio node, any meeting room can automatically show up to five computer screens on that room's display."Once the content is processed by the node it can also be made available to other Brio nodes via ethernet. In this way a variety of information - including PowerPoint and Keynote presentations, audio, digital whiteboards, and videoconferencing sessions - can be shown on any display attached to the Brio node, and shared with all the displays in the same meeting.

Brio nodes can be connected via network to multiple worksites on a corporate campus, or across the country. All Brio nodes added to a meeting will see the same presentations, and any Brio node user can share a presentation in the meeting. Brio makes interactive collaboration across multiple rooms and offices straightforward, seamless and immediate, plus the cost of Brio nodes is low enough to equip even remote users in home offices.

Brio also takes full advantage of interactive whiteboard technology. Users in multiple locations can work together on notes and sketches. Any Brio node connected to a meeting allows users, anywhere, to contribute to that whiteboard session.

"We've all been in meetings that were slowed down or fell apart because of the many hassles that come up when multiple people with their own laptops and software try to get presentations successfully running on meeting room screens. I've seen cheers break out when it all actually works," said Christian Merrill, Christie Brio product manager.

"Brio changes that, and makes it easy for multiple persons to run presentations at meetings - even across several corporate sites on a network and since Brio is all network-driven, it does not require users to install any new software or use a USB device to make it all work," added Merrill. "The moment you introduce new software inside a corporate environment, you can have issues with approved software and administration rights. Visitors who need to run a presentation might even be unable to download the needed software, and many people with company issued laptops don't have admin permissions to add new software. With Brio, if you can get on the network, you are good to go for making and contributing to presentations."

Automated Setup
Connecting laptops to a Brio node automatically allows their screens to be shared with all displays connected in a Brio meeting, and the platform intelligently displays material in the correct aspect ratio. For multi-site meetings participants use an intuitive network interface to login and set up that is as simple as making a phone call.

Brio also fully supports smart devices like tablets running Windows 8, Apple iOS and Android. Both the node control and presentation connection work the same for tablets and smartphones as they do for PCs and Macs.

"As we thought about what we wanted in a meeting technology, there were three things that were very clear," said Kathryn Cress, vice president, global and corporate marketing, Christie. "One, it had to be easily accessible, with no special training or driver software that users had to install. Two, it had to tear down the existing communication barriers so that sharing information became effortless. And three, it had to allow users to share multiple types of content. The ultimate goal in developing Brio was to ensure that all participants could share whatever they needed to—to ultimately be able to share more."

Versatile Playback Capabilities allow participants to share more
Christie Brio nodes fit in standard 19-inch IT racks or can sit on their own, packaged to look good on meeting rooms credenzas. The system supports dual-link and single-link DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI. Brio can handle a maximum of five sources.

Brio's playback quality is exceptional, with the option of running uncompressed 1080p video sources. That means video plays as it was intended, with no dropped frames.

Brio removes another meeting room pain point; i.e., running audio from tiny laptop speakers and hoping all the meeting participants can hear it. With Brio, audio input is streamed through the wireless protocol or connected to Brio with standard jacks. The combined audio output is then connected to the meeting room sound system, and meeting participants still maintain individual control of their presentation's audio volume. Audio is also shared with attached Brio nodes.

Pro-AV, corporate, meeting facility and education professionals can preview the power and potential of Brio at Christie's booth # 2521 at InfoComm June 12-14, 2013.

About Christie
Christie is a global visual technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world's most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images. For more information, visit http://www.christiedigital.com