TV or Smartboard for hall

[ITGuyNW]

Just putting some feelers out.

 

We have an outdated projector and screen in our main hall that need replacing.

 

I did look at some quotes, especially around 98" smartboards that I was on the cusp of buying but my supplier came back and said their original pricing was wrong so now they're kinda out of my budget...

 

For a hall, would a TV do at 98"? Do schools use the "smart" features of a board in a hall environment? Does anyone here just use TV's instead?

[Rob_D]

One of the teachers petitioned for a smartboard in the hall in my last school, but I don't think they ever used the smart features.

 

Here we still use projectors in the halls, but we're projecting at 300"+ screen size. To my mind, the halls are the place where you want to go a big as possible with your display screen.

If staff do want to interact with it more, then an air-mouse or one of those mini keybaord/trackpad units might be a good option.

 

Something like this might be a better option than a commercial grade TV if the room has lots of use: https://www.iiyama-monitors.co.uk/products/large-format/digital-signage/le9864uhs-b1ag

[DavR]

I'd always be very wary of putting a TV or anything interactive in a school hall. It only takes one badly aimed football and your entire installation is toast. 

 

We get enough trouble from impacts on our projector, and that's locked in a metal cage!

[dhicks]

2 hours ago, ITGuyNW said:

Do schools use the "smart" features of a board in a hall environment?

 

We (and most other schools I've seen) use a projector in our main hall, users don't seem to miss the touch capability. We did actually look at a modular large screen setup (via @VeryPC) rather than a projector, they aren't completly out of the question money-wise (when a large projector might be in the £5,000 area these days) and the system we looked at was composed of small, replaceable modules, so if someone did break one with a football you just pop the broken section out and pop a new module in.

[Rob_D]

5 minutes ago, dhicks said:

We did actually look at a modular large screen setup (via @VeryPC)

What sort of size where you looking at?

[dhicks]

3 minutes ago, Rob_D said:

What sort of size where you looking at?

 

Around 120", I think. Unfortunatly we had to move out of the building we were looking at that for, so that project never came to anything, but seemingly we might be re-doing our main hall over the summer, and I think a 120" display would work very well in there.

[SamanthaD]

Anything over 30 capacity and you really should be onto projection for text legibility (unless you're using 72 point fonts on your presentations!)

 

There are some fancy, foldable LED screens out there such as this from from Viewsonic, allows the screen to be stored away from footballs when not in use but also adds a support cost to you.

 

I'd stay with projection!

[Davit2005]

Echoing the concerns if sports were ever to be played in the hall (or are played in the hall) a projector would be the safer option in some sort of protective casing.

[DrBeaker]

1 hour ago, SamanthaD said:

 

 

...There are some fancy, foldable LED screens out there such as this from from Viewsonic, allows the screen to be stored away from footballs when not in use but also adds a support cost to you.

 

I'd stay with projection!

 

But you know who's going to end up having to keep putting that up and down!!

 

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @ITGuyNW,

 

We at BenQ offer a range of interactive screens with toughened tempered glass (3.2mm, 9H), they range from entry level (RE04A), mid-range (RE04) and premium (RP04). They all include an Android OS and subscription free account management, device management and messaging. They are all available in 65", 75" and 86" and the RE04 series has a 98".

 

So if you want 98", that would be the RE04FV2.

 

From what you're saying about not needing the smart features, they all have a "corp mode" which hides the built in OS from the user, but you can still use the device management platform for automated tasks and updating firmware.

 

I would also echo several other users, if in a sports hall, you would still likely want a cage or protective case that you can open and close (for when you want to use the screen).

 

We also have a substantial projector range that would fit almost any hall to compliment this, we have a range of wireless presentation systems so you don't need to run cables from the source to the projector, just power.

 

If you'd like to know more or have any questions, please feel free to drop me a DM.