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Vancouver General Hospital
Health Education Centre

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Vancouver Coastal Health Authority relied on the proven track record of McSquared for the design of the A/V systems for the new Health education Centre built at the 12th Avenue Vancouver General Hospital Campus in 2005. The Health Education Centre includes a large lecture theatre shared by VCHA and the UBC, FoM, Distributed Medical Program.

The 240 seat lecture theatre required a permanently installed A/V Presentation, Sound and Video Conferencing based distance education system, which had to be in compliance with the performance standard set by the Medical School Expansion Task Force allowing for this facility to be linked together via IP-based videoconferencing (with back-up ISDN connectivity) to other health education and science institutions across BC, and elsewhere in North America. The A/V presentation system in the lecture theatres consists of dual 10.5?x14? front projection screens for the simultaneous projection of video, document camera, computer based digital slides, computer presentation, computer-based X-ray images and external sources via videoconference. The AV system has the capability to display three images simultaneously on the two projection screens, using a picture-in-picture video scaler. The A/V booth houses the main A/V rack and the ceiling mount projectors, with the permanently installed lectern housing the VCR, the computer interface and the document camera.

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The lectern in the lecture theatres is also equipped with one 18" LCD touch screen monitor, which serves as preview and RGB video confidence monitor, as well as the annotation interface for the system. This provides the presenter with the ability to make an annotation on top of the computer-generated image that is actively displayed on the large screen in both the local and remote location(s). The stage area of the lecture theatre is also equipped with two 50" Plasma display confidence monitors providing the instructor with the image of the remote sites as well as a the image of the local camera.

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The A/V playback sound system receives audio from multimedia material from DVD; VHS-tape; computer-based audio and audio from the CODEC. The AV playback system uses loudspeakers flanking the projection screens on the front wall while the speech reinforcement system uses ceiling mounted loudspeakers.

The control system integrates the function of the many A/V devices, the lighting and the motorized blinds in the lecture theatre presentation & sound system as well as the video conferencing system, A master control frame is connected to these devices and a 12" colour touch panel located on the lectern is the user interface.

For the purpose of the distance education as part of the distributed medical program the lecture theatre is equipped with videoconferencing capability as an adjunct to the AV system, allowing for the simultaneous transmission of two video feed and one high resolution computer imagery connections. This is accomplished by using one CODEC for the lectern theatre and collaboration software installed on the instructor?s computer for the second data channel transmission. These functions are operated with the touch screen control.

The front half of the dividable multipurpose room has been equipped with a single projection screen A/V Presentation system with the millwork housing the A/V equipment installed at the side wall near the front of the room. This system is being used for events occupying the whole room, as well as to provide A/V presentation capability for the front section, when the overall space is partitioned into two rooms. The single ceiling-mounted XGA resolution projector is capable of displaying video and computer presentation sources. The audio system supports playback of multimedia material from various sources using loudspeakers flanking the projection screens on the front wall. The speech reinforcement system uses ceiling mounted loudspeakers. When the whole room is used as a single space the sound reinforcement system makes use of the sound reinforcement system of the back half room.

The control system integrates the function of the A/V devices and lighting in the Multipurpose room presentation & sound system. A master control frame is connected to these devices and a 5" colour touch panel located on the A/V millwork is the user interface. This control system is also connected to the secondary A/V system in the back half room allowing to use the sound reinforcement system of the back half room for events occupying the whole space.

This back half section of the multipurpose room has been equipped with a basic A/V presentation system. The single XGA resolution based ceiling mount projector is capable of displaying video and computer presentations. The A/V millwork is located at the front of the room housing the VCR/DVD combo unit and the media controller/switcher/amplifier device.

This smaller room does not have a sound reinforcement system, but has an A/V playback system that supports the playback audio from video and computer sources. The A/V playback system uses ceiling loudspeakers that can also be used for sound reinforcement with the front half sound system for events using the whole room (booth the Front half and the back half room combined).

The control system uses a millwork mounted hard button control panel to control the main functions of the A/V presentation system.

The foyer is equipped with a background music system with overflow capability, providing the ability for background music playback and the ability to connect a microphone for announcements etc, through a wall mount connector plate. A wired microphone and a wireless microphone are available for use in the foyer. The audio mixer/amplifier is located in the main A/V rack in the lecture theatre A/V booth. The A/V connector plate in the foyer allow volume control for the microphones, the overflow audio signal as well as the background music. The master volume is adjusted at the front of the audio mixer/amplifier located in the A/V rack.

The Health Education Centre has also been equipped with an inter-room signal delivery system providing the ability to transmit video and high resolution RGB signals from and to various other rooms inside the VGH. The video/RGB signal inter-room delivery us designed to accommodate a total of up to 8 rooms including the lecture theatre and the multipurpose room providing the capacity for the addition of other rooms in the future. The signals are transmitted using standard unshielded twisted pair computer cabling. The inter-room A/V signal delivery system is located in the lecture theatre A/V booth.

AV Contractor: Emergent Systems Inc.



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