Off the Rails Episode 131: Every now and then I stupid my way into smart

Recorded February 6, 2026

ISE season is in full swing, and while much of the AV world is busy chasing booth demos and press releases from Europe, the AV SuperFriends are back doing what they do best: cutting through the hype. In this episode, the panel digs into the latest ISE announcements and trends, separating what’s genuinely useful for higher ed from what looks great under trade-show lighting but falls apart in real classrooms.

A major thread of the conversation focuses on rethinking camera deployments in teaching and meeting spaces. The crew challenges the default “one camera at the front of the room” mentality, unpacking how faculty behavior, room geometry, and instructional goals should drive camera placement, not product marketing. From multi-camera approaches to integrated camera bars and tracking features, the discussion centers on what actually improves teaching and learning versus what just checks a feature box.

Naturally, the conversation eventually drifts into resolution arms races, with healthy skepticism about 8K’s relevance and outright disbelief at the industry’s eagerness to jump to 16K.

News articles discussed:

• https://www.avinteractive.com/news/audio/biamp-workplace-update-heads-raft-of-company-innovations-04-02-2026/

• https://ravepubs.com/sennheiser-launches-new-devicehub/

• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/lg-joins-the-rest-of-the-world-accepts-that-people-dont-want-8k-tvs/

• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/josh-orenstein_8k-tv-is-officially-dying-and-the-production-activity-7424132250562392064-UOaD

Alternate show titles: 

• One step at a time, Marc

• This pane of glass is a pain in my ass

• Shoebox worth of sh*t

• I want to be all inclusive

• Listen, pal…

• You know what, maybe he’s right?

• With as much proliferication…

• I haven’t quite got to the “I’m yelling at you” part

• When it exposes itself…

• Four cameras!

• I heard that’s supposed to save lives

• I heard that’s the bees knees

• Oh, joy!

• I don’t think physics works like that 

We stream live every Friday at about 315p Eastern/1215p Pacific and you can listen to everything we record over at AVSuperFriends.com 

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