Guest-Trip AV Commissioning Checklist

A room-by-room AV commissioning checklist for validating controls, sources, displays, audio zones, lighting scenes, and handover before a guest trip.

A guest-trip AV check should prove the actual guest path in each space, not just confirm that racks are powered and control processors are online. The common yacht failure is a chain fault: a streaming profile prompts for MFA, an AV-over-IP endpoint has stale routing, the saloon display rejects an HDR mode, a DSP mute remains active, or a lighting scene has been edited during yard work and no longer matches service expectations.

Run this process before owner arrival, charter embarkation, major events, post-yard handover, and after any AV, IT, lighting, or account change. The output should be an acceptance record with open defects, workarounds, and a named owner. It should be useful to technical crew during fault-finding and readable enough for the Captain and management to decide whether the vessel is service-ready.

• Trip type: owner, charter, corporate event, family trip, yard handover, or delivery with guest spaces active.
• Guest-facing spaces: owner suite, cabins, saloons, cinema, gym, spa, beach club, exterior decks, dining, and temporary event areas.
• Expected source mix: streaming apps, Apple TV profiles, satellite TV, media server, IPTV, local HDMI, DJ/event feed, microphones, and guest device casting.
• Service scenes: dining, party, cinema, cleaning, night, turn-down, arrival, tender boarding, and crew service controls.
• Support readiness: vendor availability, remote access approval, account recovery contacts, and rollback file locations.

1. Start with the user path: Test from the same control point the guest or interior team will use: keypad, remote, touch panel, tablet, or crew service panel. Labels should match room names used onboard.
2. Prove normal sources: Open each expected source, play real content, check profile state, subscription status, region warnings, audio format, and whether any MFA or update prompt blocks service.
3. Check video behaviour: Confirm wake, input selection, scaling, HDR/SDR handling, lip sync, standby, and return from another source. Note any display that needs manual recovery.
4. Check audio behaviour: Verify mute, comfortable volume, maximum intended service level, linked zones, exterior restrictions, and source-level consistency between streaming, TV, and media server.
5. Run lighting scenes: Trigger the service scenes from the normal controls. Check keypad labels, fade behaviour, over-bright night modes, and whether edits need to be captured in the lighting change log.
6. Load test the yacht: Run multiple active rooms and exterior areas together. Watch for AV-over-IP multicast, Wi-Fi, account, and source limitations that do not appear in a single-room test.

• Guest impact: No impact, minor inconvenience, service workaround, charter-impacting, owner-impacting, or event-blocking.
• Likely layer: Account, source, control, display, audio, lighting, AV-over-IP, Wi-Fi, internet, power, or vendor configuration.
• Evidence: Photos, screenshots, logs, version numbers, route selected, profile used, room state, and reproduction steps.
• Owner: Onboard ETO/AVIT, AV integrator, IT provider, lighting programmer, family office, management, or manufacturer support.
• Close-out: Fixed, workaround accepted, deferred, vendor booked, parts required, or management decision required.

Do not let commissioning become a silent programming session. Any control, DSP, lighting, EDID, network, or account change made during pre-trip testing should have a before state, change reason, tester, approval owner, and rollback route.

• Rooms tested, date, tester, trip profile, and systems included.
• Source and account test notes, including profile, region, MFA, subscription, and privacy issues.
• Firmware/software versions for control processors, AV-over-IP endpoints, DSP, lighting processors, key displays, and media servers.
• Open defects with impact, owner, workaround, target fix date, and decision required from Captain or management.
• Screenshots/photos for intermittent or vendor-owned faults.
• Final handover note for Captain, Chief Steward/ess, ETO/AVIT engineer, and management where relevant.