witch Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Has anyone got one of these or heard anything about them? Visualiser At Low Prices. What is the best Visualiser? Are they any good?
ChrisH Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We have a couple. Think of an old OHP with a camera and a few more functions.
RabbieBurns Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 our science dept wanted one, and they got a trial from a few manufacturers products, but after a month trial they decided against purcashing them, as they decided they werent up to much.
Dom_ Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Yeah we've got a load here, they're pretty nifty, its basically a video camera on a stand, but you can link it straight to projector/through a laptop to display things and they can record too
LeMarchand Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Got one from Tescos - OHP+ is quite a good summary. None of the teachers can be arsed to use it .
cl0n3 Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 (edited) Our science and English departments have a load of Avermedia visualizers. Easy to set up, haven't had any problems with them. Science department also bought an add-on for some of theirs which lets them view down a microscope with them Edited October 1, 2009 by cl0n3 terrible spelling etc
Dom_ Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 If you get a mini one it can be transported fairly easily - best value imo
teejay Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We have quite a few, a mix of cheap £250 Avermedia ones and some expensine £800 Geneecom ones. The Geneecom ones are a lot better, but the staff are also happy with the Avermedia ones. Get used a lot, we have moved some though from teachers who weren't bothered about them to teachers who are keen to use them. Personally, I would get one demo unit and get various staff to try it.
dhicks Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Has anyone got one of these or heard anything about them? They are webcams-ona-stick. You can get the same effect with a webcam, science department retort stand and a selection of rubber bands. Add a lightbox and swap the webcam for a camcorder for a swishier system. Has the advantage of being cheaper and you have a webcam / camcorder (and, hey, retort stand and rubber bands!) you can reuse. -- David Hicks
steveg Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We started off buying the Geenevision ones, but they haven't lasted brilliantly, and we werent that impressed, so now buy the avermedia ones, and have to say all the staff love them. We started off with enough for half the classes, but they were in such high demand that we had to buy enough to have 1 for each class! I would say they have been one of the few bits of technology that the staff themselves has pushed us to get more, rather than the usual having to persuade staff of the benefits and it slowly be adopted. We also lent one to 2 of the schools we suport, after a term's trial both schools now have 1 in every class room as well! Yes, they aren't much more than a good webcam on a stick, but they are worth the extra money for the fact they just work - press 1 button and you can show someones bit of work, or model or whatever to the whole class, press it again and you're back to your iwb. Steve
3s-gtech Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I'd say the Avermedia one we have is alot more than a webcam, its zoom function is very impressive indeed, and it runs at a pretty high resolution. Connectivity is plentiful too. We have SEN and Science using them here.
synaesthesia Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 Loads of them around Northants primary schools. Seen an Avermedia one today which was a mile ahead of anything else I've seen for its zoom ability and microphone. One school of mine has some horrible tacky red things (look like ladybirds, same colour scheme) which are ruddy awful and rather expensive. And the software used? On just about all of them so far it's Amcap which has been renamed. Dreadful. The critic in me is constantly screaming out "for gawds sake bring out the old OHPs!" They do apparently have their uses though and dont need transparencies, so there must be something in it. I will be the first to stand up and say out loud that they are extremely expensive pieces of equipment for a job that could be done for a matter of £20 and any video-taking equipment.
Sylv3r Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We have a Avermedia model - the science department use it quite extensively.
mossj Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 LUMENS DC260 VISUALISER At Low Price - In stock | Free Advice | Price Promise on LUMENS DC260 VISUALISER | Review on LUMENS DC260 VISUALISER where quite good and got lots of use! Autofocuses and can put up with a lot of beatings. zoom, autofocus, and page turning all get used alot... along with the lamps.
laserblazer Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We've got three portable ones, used all the time and the staff love them. We have a big one which I believe is still in a box under the teacher's desk.
fiendishlyclever Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 I've got one and I haven't used it as much as I thought - but that was more to do with the layout of my room rather than the visualiser. I posted a brief review of my Avermedia CP130 a while ago - they aren't bad considering what you pay for them. I'm not sure I'd go to the expense of a top of the range one.
kaphc Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 We have a Samsung model in one of our classrooms - I think it gets used a fair bit but that's because the teacher asked for it and therefore champions it. Was bought before my time though and I have just looked up the price - over £1,000. Not sure if it's good value for money.
dhicks Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 If you have to buy a visualiser, something like the Easi-View would seem to be the best bet: TTS - Easi-View (or at least it would be if it was released yet, anyway). -- David Hicks
synaesthesia Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 Ah, it's Lumens that make the "Ladybird" model I dislike so much Very basic and very flimsy. Already seen 2 broken!
graywoodford Posted October 7, 2009 Posted October 7, 2009 we have loads of these in school and they are great value for money as some visualisers are very expensive and this has some good functionality for a good price. I like the way you can zoom with the camera and it auto focus for you, you can take photos of what the camera is looking at that is stored on the device. We have ours hooked up to teachers pc and projector so they can project either the pc screen or visualiser. Very handy piece of kit especially for english, science and dt departments. No issues since install, they dont need drivers either and as we are on a cc3 network that makes life so much easier!!!
BaccyNet Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 I agree with dhicks, we decided here that a 'proper' visualizer was not worth the money so we purchassed a few Logitech Quickcam 9000's, retort stand and clamps from science and some cable ties. Five minutes work and they give a much better picture as well as a few more flashy features. Visualizer cost = £350, Ours=£90 Admitdly it doesnt look as well presented but our teachers here seem to like them!
synaesthesia Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 On the subject of these bits of kit, most of them use an OEM version of the "Amcap" software - one of the most notoriously buggy and memory-leak ridden pieces of software to grace a Proper Computer. So, can anyone recommend a free video capture program capable of freezing/stills capture, realtime previews etc? Plenty around via a google but I'd rather know if anyone is successfully using something - speaks so much louder than a random googlehit
dhicks Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 Visualizer cost = £350, Ours=£90 So all we need to do now is get a job lot of webcams shipped in from china, find a reliable supplier of science lab equipment, get a few bits and bobs from B&Q and charge £199 per visualiser... -- David Hicks
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