Projector and interactive whiteboard

[davidd]

Hello,

I'm after the above so we can tart up our presentations a bit. Would like it all integrated and the pojector must be able to run at 1600x1200.

Can anyone help?

Ta

D

[malman]

Ones I've seen are called smartboard. The major drawback I found was that as the presenter moved in to do interactive stuff the image is projected on his back so he keeps having to lean in and out of the picture and move from side to side. Its just off putting. I have customer with them that really like them but they are just not for me. Get a demo model or at least a demo of one before chucking cash at it

Forgot to mention with these you can use any projector

>> Edited by malman on Monday 14th March 16:12

[powelly]

You can use the rear projection type, but they cost a lot more!! and are slightly less portable around the office.

Good use of smartboards is only found if the presenter is prepared to put in the prep effort, the sales people make it look easy, but people easily get bored.. and the shadow issue is a pain, especially if the presenter is slow!

We bought two a year ago and I now feel they were a waste of money...

They are very good for walking through interactive demos though i.e. you use the screen as a large desktop with your pointer/hands as a mouse..

[davidd]

Ah, some clarification then.

We want to use them for training, user demos etc. There will be some presentation work but mainly demos.

D

[malman]

The sales guy we had was to put it bluntly - awful - but in the end he admitted he'd only been doing it 2 weeks. Thing is this gave us a better idea of how an ordinary user was going to use it not someone who used it every day for hours. We wanted it for meeting rooms so people were going to walk in and use it for an hour or so every 1 to 2 weeks.

If you are going to use it a lot you propably can get slick and minimise shadowing etc but they aren't cheap.

A decent projector is worth its weight in gold though!

[powelly]

Yes my problem was the salesman was excellent, the users are bloody awful! For training and demos very good. You will develop a technique to miminise the shadows etc..

[markmullen]

I sold smartboards and projectors for a fair while for the biggest AV company in the UK, I still have contacts there (my dad is their credit manager).

If you want some advice and me to put you in touch with an area sales rep who will be able to give you a proper run through of all the technology available (front and retro projection) give me a shout through my profile.

Re the shadow on front projection smartboards, the technique is to stand to the right of the screen (from the viewpoint of the audience) if you are right handed so only your arm casts a shadow.

[simpo two]

Hi David,
I can supply AV kit such as this. If you can send me a more detailed list of what you need, I'll see what I can do for you.

[davidd]

The main thing we need this for is the projector, we first thought of..

Something like..

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/proj_2300mp?c=uk&cs=ukbsdt1&l=en&s=bsd

Because it will do 1600x1200 which is what we all run at here (makes life a little easier).

However I then saw

www.projectors.co.uk/pp/Fixed_Installation_Projectors/EPSON_EMP835.html

Which is great as it has a wireless connection to make life just that bit easier, and it would make life easier if it worked. However it is a lot more cash.

So advice would be good. They will mainly be used here for customer demos, presentations and training with the odd sporting event thrown in.

As far as the whiteboard goes, it would be good to have something we could interact with. We saw a smartboard yesterday (linked to the epson) and it was very good. We would like to be able to take the output electronically to manipulate later.

Make sense?

Thanks

D

[LongQ]

I once played with a great system that required just a PC, projector, cheap camera somewhere and a pen with an infrared 'nib'.

Brilliantly simple to use - did not need a board at all, any surface would do. Sadly it never went into production for various reasons.

3M have a product which has a board with a built in prjector. Looks quite comprehensive but I have no idea on cost.

http://cms.3m.com/cms/GB/en/0-170/kkizRFQ/view.jhtml


Anything worth its money should be able to capture the interactive bits for later sharing.