Blog
News, tips, and product updates
How AV and IT integrators plan, quote, and close more work with Avitly.
D-Tools alternatives: an honest shortlist for AV integrators
D-Tools is still the benchmark for large engineered jobs. If the desktop-plus-server setup, the two-product hand-off or the quote-only pricing is your problem, here are the alternatives worth a demo, and when to stay put.
Subnetting for AV-over-IP networks, a practical primer
AV-over-IP puts video, audio, control and management on the same wire. Without a subnet plan they fight. A little addressing discipline up front keeps multicast contained and the system predictable.
Reading DXF floor plans without a CAD seat
The architect sends a DXF and half the team cannot open it. You do not need a CAD licence to read a plan, measure a run or check a dimension. You need the drawing and the right view.
One record from site survey to year-three service call
Integrators lose the thread at every handoff. Keeping the whole AV job in one record, design to maintenance, ends the re-keying and the lost credentials.
Projector throw distance and screen sizing, done right
Throw ratio, room depth and screen size are one equation with three unknowns. Fix two and the third is decided. Get it wrong and you order a lens that does not fit the room.
The reconciling bill of materials for AV installs
Drawn but not quoted, quoted but not racked: those gaps cost you on site. A reconciling bill of materials flags every mismatch across plan, racks, and quote.
PoE power budgeting for cameras, displays and access devices
A PoE switch has two limits, per-port and total budget, and the total is the one that bites. Add up the real draw before you hang the devices, not after half of them refuse to power up.
Planning AV rack elevations in U before install day
A rack that does not fit is discovered on site, at the worst possible time. Plan AV rack elevations in U with collision detection so every unit has its place first.
Calculating voltage drop for AV and security cable runs
A long low-voltage run does not fail cleanly. It browns out a camera at night or dims a display, and the fault looks intermittent. Size the conductor for voltage drop up front and the symptom never appears.
Rack elevation best practices: airflow and service access
A rack elevation is not a stacking puzzle. Plan for airflow, weight, service access and power before you screw in the first U, and the install goes in once instead of twice.
Estimating true cable lengths before you pull a single run
Guessing cable footage quietly kills margin. Get true cable lengths with slack and vertical drop, straight from a calibrated floor plan, before anyone climbs a ladder.
How to quote an AV installation straight off the floor plan
Stop rebuilding quotes in a spreadsheet. Price an AV installation directly from the floor plan, with live margin on every line and nothing left off.