When Exactly Did The AV Guy Become The Bad Guy?

By Paul Konikowski, CTS-D

An audiovisual system can be a necessary evil, and an eyesore. Its no wonder Architects hate us!

I recently watched the movie White House Down and (spoiler alert) very early in the film, the audience is introduced to the audiovisual installers who are in the President’s residence to work on the home theater surround sound speakers.  The foreshadowing is thick and it doesn’t take long to realize that these six AV guys are actually the bad guys, part of a much larger terrorist plot.  I didn’t care much for the movie, except maybe the setting, but it did make me think about the general perceptions of audiovisual designers and installer, and how we are perceived as members of project teams.

Not long ago, we were heroes.  In 2002, everyone wanted a see-through touchscreen and wireless glove interface like Tom Cruise…