presentation power: improvements in display screens and projectors offer colleges new ways to `show their stuff.' (technology). - ceiling projector

Not long ago, a stateOF-THE-
The art display system is a large projector that rotates on the original metal trolley.
Use an electronic device waiting for it to reach the classroom, sweat at the awkward moment of setup, and try to explain the routine failure.
Thankfully, the days of mentors like carolynbentivena, associate professor of biology at Seton Hall University, are over.
Now, in one of the 60 classrooms in SHU, equipped with Sharp LCD fixed ceiling projectors, things are becoming more convenient, she said.
Bentivena can arrive early and plug in her computer to make sure everything goes well.
Educators across the country, using products from various manufacturers, have similar stories to tell.
Despite the room for improvement, the future of the demo system is "very exciting," said Gary Kayye, chief visionary at KayyeConsulting (www. kayye. com)
Chapel Hill in North Carolina
Portable and stationary ceiling projectors should continue to improve significantly over the next two years, he said. Bright ideas.
A rapid improvement in the classroom, which is generally popular, is characterized by the ability to adjust brightness and contrast.
Which means who the teacher is (Like bentivena)
Classes are required during the day and at night, and there is no need to fiddle with overhead lights or curtains during class hours.
The company is already responding to this demand.
For example, Canon's latest multimedia projector (
Prices range from $1,500 to $7,000)
With Turbo Bright system technology, the brightness of its top models is up to 25% to 3700 lumensin. Network news.
Probably the most important short
Innovation in the future will become easier in terms of network connectivity.
Companies such as JVC, Mitsubishi, sharp, and Sony offer networked projectors ranging in price from $2,000 to $20,000.
Soon, a lecturer will be able to paste these highly portable devices into his bag, put them into the classroom, and plug them into the Ethernet port, and retrieve the presentation prepared and stored on the network.
System cable of the latest model-
Free connection, no laptop, real-
Time communication, remote monitoring-
All of this should soon be the standard.
Familiar feeling, the interfaces on these machines will also become complex enough to allow users to browse the Internet and access web resources in their presentations.
The appearance and feel of the operating system are likely to be imitated (
If not actually used)
Windows CE, amini-
Windows operating system version already used in pda and mobile phone.
Universal understanding and familiarity with the windows University community will make the system intuitive for teachers, which is a huge advantage for teachers who don't like new technologies.
Many universities are increasingly demanding simplified interfaces;
In addition to making life easier for lecturers, IT allows IT staff to focus on IT issues rather than user training.
It is also very important to establish a standardized campus.
For DonCarter, teaching director of the Technology Center (TlTC)
Standardizing is a major consideration when making procurement decisions.
Carter said he needed to make sure that teachers who were assigned to different classrooms for different reasons were able to use the same technology.
However, the long term problem of solving platform compatibility is: Kayye believes that the demo system industry has made a lot of progress by using Windows technology, because Apple has focused some things on it.
This means that university officials may have to reconsider using Apple products as a standard when evaluating their projectors.
Joe Schuch, ATN multimedia classroom manager, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, believes that the emergence of the digital video interface will eliminate some of these problems and other compatibility issues.
"Now, the biggest challenge for manufacturers is to accuse them of producing a commodity with a calculated date," he said . ".
For the LCD projector to convert analog signals into digital signals, it must be able to identify various input frequencies, he explained.
The problem is that most LCD projectors today only know the frequency at which products are made, so they are less adaptable.
The digital video provides more information through the signal itself, and Schuch hopes that this will bring more life to the device.
Is size important?
For schools, Kayye says, spending $50,000 to $100,000 to equip classrooms with state-of-the-art technology can't afford it (
Including expensive ceiling projectors)
Portablemarket is particularly attractive. Sony's new VPL-
For example, FE110 is a state-of-the-
Art Machine with 4000 ANSI flow and 30 mb storage capacity but for $22,000.
But a reliable portable system costs only $2,500.
The portable projector has reached a weight of 3 to 5 pounds and will only become lighter in the coming year;
Some people weigh only 1 pound.
Kayye said 5 pounds
Of course, as ultra-portable systems become smaller and smaller, they are also more vulnerable to theft and negligence.
This is a major complaint about machines that university officials often mention.
"The smaller size is easy to carry, but the downside is that people can cram the system into their backpacks," said Paul Fisher, deputy director of Shu's TLTC.
"Smaller is not necessarily better.
"What is the obvious way to solve this problem?
Bite your teeth and invest in ceiling projectors.
Kayye pointed out that these (yes, costlier)
The system is becoming more and more complex with built-in functions
Inalarm technology, sends an intrusion alert to authorities before the machine is removed from the post.
Another technological advance that university administrators seem particularly excited about is Pingpane display.
Some of its advantages, compared to CRT displays, include ease of installation and reduced generation of thermal fit, Schuch said.
He says there are not so many image degradation problems with the tablet screen either.
Shu is still in the early stages of integrating the tablet on the screen into the classroom, but Fisher notes that lighting is not an issue when dealing with the tablet screen.
Prices dropped sharply, he added: $50 fell from around $10,000
Inch screen to $5,000.
Kayye predicts that by 2003, as the consumer market begins to expand the screen, the cost of the screen will drop to about $2,000, while the size of the largest screen will increase by about 20 inch.
Now, however, the technology has not yet reached the level desired by university educators.
Kayye said that the only flat screen currently larger than 20 inch is a plasma display ---
Some of them weigh 100 pounds.
However, by the end of this year, flat
Screen LCD model weighing about 1-
Kayye said that there is a major problem in addition to the release of the plasma display: although clear pictures make the flat panel display an ideal choice for small classrooms, in larger settings, the current size range is limited.
One way to fix this is to connect some panels to create a video wall, although the cost is high.
Kayyer envisioned that in two years, video would be the standard tool used in collaborative learning.
He said cooperative learning will replace distance learning and allow students at both ends of the Earth to observe and interact with each other in their lives --size settings.
He added that one day schools may choose to set up satellite "virtual" classrooms where students can gather in rooms equipped with video walls and engage with professors who seem to be standing in front of them ---noprojector-on-Wheels are needed.