What Does The Term AV Stand For

The term AV is an acronym for Audio Visual, so the term means anything that is presented using a sound component (audio) and a sight (visual) based component. AV or Audio Visual technology and equipment is used a lot in our everyday life. For example if you watch your TV or view a video or DVD you are using AV technology. Using your PC, laptop, tablet PC, smart phone music player is another example of where AV technology is used in everyday life.

Lighting is also part of AV technology (visual), and that can be any aspect of lighting including lighting in the home. Most of the time a professional AV engineer is not needed to light a home, but owners of large homes are using AV engineers to design the lighting within their home to help show it off, give it ambiance, make it comfortable and to save energy.

Listening to music is another example of where AV is used in our everyday lives, at least the audio aspect. In that case it is the speakers and the way in which they are set up and balanced that is the AV technology we use. If you record sound, for example using a Dictaphone once again you are using the audio aspect of AV technology.

The other areas of life where AV technology is used, but in a less everyday way is in business and entertainment. When a business makes a presentation to their staff or trains them they are often using AV technology. This is even more the case when they go to trade fairs to try to sell their products where they use video and sound to show off their products and lighting to ensure that their customers can see their product in its best light (no pun intended).

In entertainment the uses of AV technology are too numerous to list. AV is necessary to compose, record and present music and in the modern world the use of video is essential to the process of marketing that music. In the theatre lighting is an AV technology that is used even in the smallest productions as is sound, even if it is only in the form of a microphone or a system to make sure that the audience can hear the sound effects. Possibly the biggest and certainly the most spectacular use of AV is at music concerts especially the big spectacular ones. Most theatre productions also make use of video in their performances, for example using a projection screen as a backdrop onto which the relevant images are projected.

AV or audio visual technology is vital and intrinsic to our everyday life yet it is a technology that we very rarely think about. It is also a growing area or technology that is constantly evolving, so considering a career as an AV engineer is a good move. There is plenty of work and it is extremely varied and interesting work. Working in the AV industry brings you into contact with many different people and there is also the opportunity to travel.