Camera for demonstrations \ Smartboard?

[gshaw]

Just had a request to find something to use to show close-ups of demos in classes, immediately thought of the Smart Document Camera but not sure how it would work for stuff that isn't close-up and also that it might nto be portable enough to take into say the middle of a room.

 

Is there anything that's geared towards this type of scenario and could be used in Windows \ movie editing software as a capture device to put videos onto the VLE?

 

We'd want to be able to show a live video output to Smartboard as well, maybe wireless would be cool if it even exists?

[gshaw]

We've got an AverMedia at the moment that ordered as a test to see how it went down with tutors. Just thinking of something for longer range demos and maybe without the dangling cable as well?

[torledo]

Just had a request to find something to use to show close-ups of demos in classes, immediately thought of the Smart Document Camera but not sure how it would work for stuff that isn't close-up and also that it might nto be portable enough to take into say the middle of a room.

 

Is there anything that's geared towards this type of scenario and could be used in Windows \ movie editing software as a capture device to put videos onto the VLE?

 

We'd want to be able to show a live video output to Smartboard as well, maybe wireless would be cool if it even exists?

 

A DV camera ?

[gshaw]

Could it do the live output without cables though? That's the bit that's got me at the moment...

[SteveBentley]

Bluetooth webcam?

[Robbocop]

Visualizers generically are the thing you'd normally use but I'm not sure if there's anything wireless out there. Security firms sell devices to connect CCTV cameras via radio to a monitoring station, so there's no reason it couldn't be done. Web chat software like apple iChat let you port reasonably good video across a network and there might be an avenue to explore there using a laptop with a webcam in it. One product we've started looking at and hopefully selling is the Eye-Fi SD card range Eye-Fi memory cards: wireless photo & video uploads straight from your camera to your computer & the web. - basically a camera SD card with built in wifi. What these WON'T do is stream video. What they WILL do is let you take pictures and videos in the classroom and allow them to upload to a computer without a card reader or usb cable. Not yet sure how simple the process is, but it's interesting. We also already have workflows for tethered shooting with a Nikon or Canon DSLR so that pictures display immediately on your laptop/projector as you take them. And DSLR cameras with LiveView will basically push out the live video view from their sensor over usb. Might be ways of adapting those techniques wirelessly, maybe via bluetooth usb adapters? All food for thought...