News

The Media Center Integrator Alliance Celebrates its One Year Anniversary (22/9/2009)

CEDIA US Expo 2009

In a year marked by growth, MCIA unveils new educational programs, new tools and member benefits.

Marking its one year anniversary, the Media Center Integrator Alliance (MCIA) heads into CEDIA EXPO 2009 with new initiatives that will continue to help residential and commercial custom integrators grow their businesses around the Media Center ecosystem.

The Media Center ecosystem has emerged as an important discipline for many residential integrators, and proper training and education initiatives have been at the forefront of the organization’s latest initiatives. In a response to increasing demand for more training, MCIA has worked directly with CEDIA, the Custom Electronic Design Installation Association, to deliver a series of elective seminars that cover the fundamentals needed to successfully sell, design and install these systems. At CEDIA EXPO, MCIA in partnership with CEDIA is conducting four separate courses that cover everything from optimization of a Media Center to network design and configuration and digital cable installation. In addition to these hands on training courses, CEDIA University and MCIA will be working together to incorporate the Media Center training series into the organization’s e-Learning offerings which are available in instructor-led and on-demand formats. Moving forward, MCIA members and integrators will also be able to access Media Center training modules on the MCIA website, giving members another access point to get the training and education tools they need.

MCIA is announcing the availability of a new Automated Verification Tool (AVT) for both installers and OEMs to verify system network set up and configuration onsite in a customer’s home. Gabe Gravning, chairman of the MCIA Tools Workgroup stated, “Every installation is different and network variations unique to each environment can impact the success of an installation. The Automated Verification Tool will help integrators flush out performance issues onsite, ultimately reducing time on an install as well as callbacks. The AVT tests the system as a whole in the configuration as it is installed at the customer site.”

Earlier this year, MCIA launched the Digital Cable Tuner Diagnostic Tool designed to help integrators diagnose issues between Windows Media Center and CableCARD. At CEDIA EXPO, the alliance will release an update to this popular tool. The application gathers information from the tuner(s) that are displayed in an easy-to-use interface for troubleshooting issues. Scan results can be imported and exported from the tool to make sharing diagnostic information easier. The Digital Cable Tuner Diagnostic Tool v.2 offers integrators improved support for all CableCARD types across firmware versions, as well as added support for Harmonic and Scientific Atlanta S CableCARDs.

In addition, MCIA will continue to work to bring new tools to their members. Stemming from positive responses to The Digital Cable Tuner Diagnostic Tool, MCIA has begun developing new tools to help integrators with other unique capabilities of media center ecosystems. Planning has started in several areas, including multi-zone system network load testing and remote management services, and Beta programs are expected this fall.

MCIA continues to work closely with its members to promote best practices around media center installations and highlight successful projects. The organization has published case studies for installers interested in seeing media center utilized in real life applications and learn how these systems are brought to life. The case studies, consisting of detailed installation information, including specifications, renderings and schematics, provide media center integrators the opportunity to learn from their peers and other experts on the best practices of installing media center systems.

www.mediacenterintegrator.org