IT Services have completed the first phase of a programme to deliver major AV upgrades in campus lecture theatres.

Since December 2010, six theatres - Arts A1, Arts A2, John Maynard Smith, Richmond AS3, Pevensey 1A7 and Chichester - have been fitted with brand new audiovisual equipment and control systems.

Designed and built in-house by IT Services' Multimedia Development team (Paul Pettit and Paul Gration) the new systems offer enhanced technology for teaching and learning, along with a fully standardised interface for ease of use.

In order to bring these older lecture theatres into alignment with the new Fulton building, full HD projection for Blu-Ray, DVD and PC has been installed, along with surround-sound audio playback.

Each lectern features a 'sympodium monitor', which can be used for live annotation of PowerPoint presentations, for example.

In addition to a lectern microphone, radio lapel and hand-held microphones are included as standard.

In response to requests, greater provision has been made for the connection of external devices, such as DVI or HDMI laptops.

The document cameras (aka 'visualisers'), which magnify and project images of 3D objects and documents, are now of HD standard. They can also be used to capture visual content (still, video and handwritten) to the resident PC.

Instruction sheets are provided in each theatre.

Standardised equipment and cabling permit swift and easier maintenance, reducing downtime. In the event of technical difficulties, the equipment in all six theatres can be supported remotely, so that potential disruption can be kept to a minimum.

Work on upgrading AV in the next lecture theatre will start in December.