Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesProfessional AV

AV Nightmares: September

The AV industry can be a place of perfection. Even the slightest error can throw off an entire project. One unlit pixel, one loose bezel, or even a visible cable can make an installation unprofessional. Sometimes though, the errors are so egregious that they keep things in perspective. We highlight these mishaps in our AV…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Professional AV teams put it to work with Customer Stories & Case Studies.

·
Share
AV Nightmares: September

Free workspace

Turn your Professional AV expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

The AV industry can be a place of perfection. Even the slightest error can throw off an entire project. One unlit pixel, one loose bezel, or even a visible cable can make an installation unprofessional.

Sometimes though, the errors are so egregious that they keep things in perspective. We highlight these mishaps in our AV Nightmares series. Today, take a look at some of the latest and greatest slip ups from the AV industry.

If you have any nightmares you think the world needs to see, tweet us @ProAVMKSL and include #AVNightmares

The Jumbotron at @GW_MBB collapsed 😱
Nobody was injured 🙌
(via @GWTV) pic.twitter.com/w4N8qTLSy3
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) September 11, 2018

The college basketball season is fast approaching, but not everyone is ready. While undergoing routine maintenance this week, the scoreboard at George Washington University’s Charles E. Smith Center collapsed to the floor, according to the university.

CBS Sports reports that nobody was injured during the fall, and it remains unclear how much damage was caused to both the jumbo-tron and the court in the process. According to the same report, the arena was renovated in 2011, including the scoreboard, for a total cost of $43 million.

The United States Women’s National Basketball Team used the court for a game on Sunday, just one day before it fell to the floor.

The university released the following tweet regarding the incident:

The scoreboard was undergoing maintenance today and dropped unexpectedly from its lowered position just above the floor. Nobody was injured (thankfully) and the scene is being assessed for any damage.
— GW University (@GWtweets) September 11, 2018

Recently, another public space had AV troubles. The Gatwick International Airport outside of London, UK, suffered from an issue that knocked out flight information displays. Staff had to revert to the old fashioned way of communicating updates, using a marker and whiteboard.

Vodafone, IT provider at #Gatwick, "We've identified a damaged fibre cable which is used by Gatwick Airport to display flight information. Our engineers are working hard to fix the cable as quickly as possible. This is a top priority for us.
Cracking redundancy guys#FAIL pic.twitter.com/WXHw38CRrz
— John Savage (@swearyG) August 20, 2018

This tactic has been used before in Jacksonville, Fla.

#avfail Digital signage out on terminal A in Jax, but Delta rallied with an analog solution!😂 pic.twitter.com/OTIAwBmqxL
— HeadonSales (@headonsales) October 21, 2017

Sometimes leveling a screen is harder than it looks.

Go home, screen, you're drunk… #coding #MondayMorning #techfail pic.twitter.com/aZWa917Ntr
— NormanHaze (@HazelNormandale) September 10, 2018

Cables can look like a work of art, but it is not a good sign when they look like an abstract paint splatter.

Who likes a good ole #cablefail? pic.twitter.com/ekiXBopS8u
— Jack Rhysider (@JackRhysider) May 29, 2018

You can’t even call this a fail, you just have to be impressed!

We think maybe this tech took this week’s World Relaxation Day a bit too seriously….#cablefail #FridayCableFeature via https://t.co/xSr00wuNm9 pic.twitter.com/iNm5akKCwf
— Fluke Networks DCI (@FlukeNetDCI) August 17, 2018

Not sure what the blueprint for this installation looked like but it certainly was not this.

Nothing like a good ol' cable spiderweb behind the work desk to start out your week. Send us a photo of your sloppy wiring to be featured on our #CableFailoftheWeek ! #CableFail #CouldUseVelcro #CableManagement pic.twitter.com/0kO4hwLe7G
— Rip-Tie, Inc (@RipTie30) May 7, 2018

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Professional AV Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @ProAVmkt

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Professional AV starts with a company putting its integrators, design engineers, and product specialists on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

When a spec writer or facilities lead searches this category, your integrators are what they find instead of a competitor.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Professional AV, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Professional AV: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Professional AV buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Professional AV expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your integrators, design engineers, and product specialists into the articles, video, and social content Professional AV buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Professional AV Insights

Telefónica fits its new Madrid broadcast monitoring room with an 11.4-meter Alfalite LED wall

Telefónica fits its new Madrid broadcast monitoring room with an 11.4-meter Alfalite LED wall

Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales has commissioned an 11.4-meter Alfalite UHD Finepix 1.2 LED wall for a new TSAmediaHUB monitoring room in Aravaca, Madrid. Servers feed it over NDI, so sources can be distributed centrally and layouts adapted to the needs of each operation.

  • 01Fed over NDI video-over-IP, Telefónica's Aravaca wall makes the arrangement of broadcast feeds a server setting that can be adapted for each operation.

Oct 3, 2026

Transcoding moves to the cloud. Intercom, tally and shading stay at the venue

Transcoding moves to the cloud. Intercom, tally and shading stay at the venue

Vendors draw the same line: transcoding and graphics move to the cloud, while intercom, tally and camera shading stay on site. Riedel says the connection back to on-site talent, cameras, tally and IFB can still undermine the production or the business case. Hybrid looks like where things settle.

  • 01Dillon’s analysis suggests hybrid cloud-plus-venue production is where things settle, making on-site hardware for latency-bound work a long-term facility plan item.
  • 02Interoperability standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 and NMOS handle the plumbing. The question to put to vendors now is how their systems provision, configure, tear down and monitor services alongside other vendors' gear.

Oct 1, 2026

Vindral shares an Emmy honour for frame-accurate browser monitoring

Vindral shares an Emmy honour for frame-accurate browser monitoring

Vindral shares an Emmy honour in a category described as web-based, frame-accurate, remote and distributed. Vindral shares the category with NBCUniversal, Disney, Amazon, CBS Sports, Grass Valley, Game Creek and SipRadius. The award recognises tools that keep production teams in separate locations frame-accurate in a browser, without specialised hardware.

  • 01The Emmy-recognised technical bar is that everyone on a distributed production sees the exact same frame at the exact same moment in an ordinary browser, with no specialised hardware.
  • 02Eight organizations share the award, and the release says the work being honored dates to the pandemic. The announcement doesn’t rank the honourees or include latency figures a buyer could benchmark.

Sep 28, 2026

Explore More Professional AV Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Professional AV.

Browse Professional AV Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Professional AV and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512