2014 was a big year in the AV industry. With a $396 million rise in revenue and some of the most innovative new technology we have seen in a long time, this has been a particularly illustrious year for the industry. Out of all the new products on the market, like 4K projection, streaming video, cloud-based video conferencing, and all-in-one collaboration, a few really stood out to us as notable. Here are our top 10 picks for 2014:

1.       Audinate Dante Via

Dante Via by Audinate enables flexible networking of sound to and from any connected PC or existing Dante endpoint. With this product you can not only send, receive, or check any track while recording, but also monitor any local or remote channel. It offers seamless connection with other media applications such as Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, PowerPoint audio or Skype. This product also allows you to send any networked audio to meeting or conference rooms, school, house of worship, etc., which is pretty cool.

2.       Audio Technica ATND971 Dante Boundry Mic

Audio-Technica has bridged the gap between audio and IT with the first wired microphones that transmit audio and control data together over the Dante network protocol. A simple Ethernet connection allows the Network Microphone to communicate across an existing network of Dante-enabled devices and, with the mic’s integrated, programmable user switch, control any of those devices at the push of a button.

3.       BARCO Instant Video Wall

A tiled LCD video wall offers the comfort of a very large display, in many possible applications. In order to ease the configuration task for you, Barco offers packages containing all the necessary equipment to get your video wall operational in no time. Available in a variety of configurations, the packages include the displays and needed mounting equipment. Optionally these packages can be extended by a wall controller that fits your needs.

4.       Biamp TesiraFORTE

Biamp’s TesiraFORTÉ extends AVB to application-specific settings facilitating digital signal processing for everyday and enterprise-grade audio requirements. Available in eight preconfigured models (four AVB models and four non-AVB models) with fixed I/O configurations, TesiraFORTÉ leverages existing cabling infrastructures to enable cost-effective installations in a networked audio framework.

5.       ClearOne BeamForming Mic

The Beamforming Microphone Array is the Pro-Audio industry’s first professional-grade microphone array with beamforming and adaptive steering technology and ClearOne’s next-generation Acoustic Echo Cancellation The ultra-sleek design fits into any conferencing environment and delivers the clearest audio pickup available. Twenty-four microphone elements steer pickup patterns towards participants and reject unwanted noise and reflections, offering superb and unmatched performance for group conferencing environments.

6.       Crestron AirMedia Wireless Presentation Solution

Featuring simple plug-and-play installation, AirMedia brings presentation, collaboration and content sharing capabilities to small conference rooms, huddle rooms, and offices that aren’t wired for an AV system. AirMedia enables anyone to walk into a room, connect to the existing display over Wi-Fi®, and wirelessly present HD content from their personal smart phone, tablet, or laptop.

7.       Extron- H.264 Streaming Media Processor

The SMP 351 is a high performance streaming and recording processor for capturing and distributing AV sources and presentations as live streaming or recorded media. It incorporates Extron’s FlexOS™, a flexible platform for automating system operation. The SMP 351 accepts HDMI, component, composite, and optional 3G‑SDI signal formats, processing two sources from up to five available inputs. High quality Extron scaling and flexible two-window processing integrate two input signals together, producing any two-window display arrangement, including picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture.

8.       InFocus Mondopads

Present, annotate and collaborate on a giant 70-inch touchscreen with meeting participants in the room and around the world. An InFocus Mondopad puts everything you need to visually present, capture and share ideas at your fingertips – all beautifully integrated into a single device.

9.       Kramer Electronics VIA Collage

VIA Collage is a powerful wireless collaboration hub. It converts any display at any location into a shared workspace for team collaboration. It provides a common platform from desktops and notebook computers to tablets and smartphones. You can bring your own device (BYOD) and join the session easily, just login using Wi−Fi or LAN and you are connected. With a wide variety of collaboration tools VIA Collage is the most advanced collaboration hub offered by Kramer.

10.   Planar UltraRes Series

The Planar® UltraRes™ Series is a line of 84″ and 98″ Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160) professional LCD displays that produce resolution and picture quality not before seen in large format LCD displays. With a native 4K resolution, Planar UltraRes Series displays have four times the resolution and pixel density of comparably-sized Full HD displays. When displaying Ultra HD content, Planar UltraRes Series displays deliver clarity and detail that appears sharp even at close viewing distances – no detail is missed.