melart

I'm looking for a video editing suite to produce DVD's of our school productions. I've been using my own Mac (iMovie and iDVD) to do this but as our school is ever expanding I want to move away from using my own laptop and use my school computer (Windows XP) instead. I've been advised to purchase Power Director but want to know a bit more before I buy: 1. Can I import the movie clip directly from the Sony Handycam we use to record the production? 2. Once the editing has been done how do I burn a DVD - is it within the Power Director application? 3. Once the first DVD has been burnt, how long does it take to do the additional DVD's (I usually have to burn about 50) Any advice/suggestions will be much appreciated.

Aaarggg!! Our Unifi35 in the hall is playing up again, having changed the bulb a few weeks ago. When we switch it on the bulb comes on for about 10 seconds and then goes out! If this projector has now really reached the end of it's life can anyone recommend another wall mounted projector that we can use in the hall connected to the Smartboard. Preferably NOT Unifi! Mel

Thanks Ben, your're a star! Is it quite safe that I've installed this myself? I'm not a technician but managed to follow the replacement instructions without any difficulties. The trickiest part was removing and replacing the Tone Filter. The instructions that came with the part did not show to check that the two harnesses are placed in the groove and under the rib of the plasic frame so I will re-check that as soon as school ends. Mel

I replaced it without any problems just don't know how to reset in Machine Parts menu so that we stop getting the message "Fuser Unit end" on the display

Hi Matt Thanks for attachments. Unfortunatley they don't show anything about the Fuser Unit. I got in touch with Brother yesterday and was informed that the replacement of the Fuser Unit should be done by a Brother servicing company!! There was no mention of this when I checked the Troubleshooting page of the User Manual - it just says replace Fuser Unit so I assumed that it was something I could do. The company that we get our consumables from had the part in stock so I thought it would be ok for me to do! I don't want to pay a fortune for someone to come out just to reset the Fuser Unit since I've already installed it. Where to from here???

I have replaced the Fuser Unit in the printer without any problems but it's still coming up with a message to replace the unit. The instructions that came with the part did now show how to do this and I've scoured the internet for instructions but with no luck! Does anyone have instructions on how to reset the unit please?

Thanks for your responses. I've read the Smartboard article on how to replace the lamp - is it as easy at is seems? I'm about to order the lamp and will need to do the replacement myself. I've replaced ordinary Epson lamps before but never a Unifi - any tips? Mel

Our Unifi35 has also started playing up. After about 10 minutes it stops projecting to the Smartboard and then randomly will start up again!! As it's in the Hall this is less than ideal when we're trying to hold an Assembly or PE lesson using the board!!!! I've cleaned the vents, upgraded the firmware and set the Timeout Option to Never. We have a laptop on CC4 connected to the board which I've set to Presenter Mode so that the laptop monitor is always on but still the problem persists!! Our warranty also expired 6 months ago - we've been advised to contact Equinox but I don't want to go to this expense if it's not worth it. Any ideas???

We have a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD150E (through Tesco scheme). The pupils/teachers want to film video and then use Windows Movie Maker to create movies or Windows Media Player to show videos to pupils for reviewing. We tried it out filming some pupils doing a "news" programme in a classroom but have had 2 issues: 1. Windows Media Player won't open the files and neither will Windows Movie Maker which the teachers want to use to create movies with the pupils. The files are mpg format. 2. I installed the Picture Motion Browser software (locally on my pc) that came with the camera so that I could view the video but the sound quality is very bad - can hardly hear the pupils and we were only about 2m away when filming? Teachers are also wanting to video their assemblies in the hall but the camera would be from even further away so I'm guessing this camera is not suitable? If we have to purchase a better quality camera for filming productions/assemblies which camera would you recommend? As we have a CC4 network I don’t want to have to install the PMB on all computers in the school. How do we use Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player to work with video files?

Thanks, I will do that too

You are a genius LeMarchand!! The monitor cable had come slightly adrift from the socket. Connected it and projector working again Thank you so much for that, I didn't even think to check the cables but will know for next time!

One of our classes has a Sanyo PLC-EX31 projector. A few weeks ago the projector shut down and the warning light was luminated. I shut down the projector and switched it off at the mains as per the manual. Yesterday the teacher called me to take a look at the smartboard which is lit in a shade of blue from the lamp. I've checked the lamp settings and it's on 1489 hours. As I'm new to this, I'm guessing that the lamp is going to need replacing although at no stage have we had a warning that the lamp life was coming to an end. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Budgets are tight so I will need to know whether to purchase a new projector as I believe the cost of the bulbs is nearly as much as a new projector. Any help please

Oh my gosh, more to consider and what's even more scarey is that I don't understand all the jargon! I will run the idea about thin clients by our technician but I think the problem we will have is that there is not enough space in the classrooms to have enough laptops out permanently, hence the idea of using trollies. Thanks for your ideas David.

Thanks, someone else has also mentioned Vanilla. I will mention this to our technician when he visits tomorrow as his company was going to do the CC4 installation so I'm hoping he'll know what this might involve.

Thanks for the advice. We are planning to upgrade the whole wireless setup so hopefully this will resolve issues going forward.

I am going to sound really ignorant (what the heck!). Am I correct in thinking that the access points are to do with the wireless network? If so what kind of access points are they likely to be? I did say from the outset that I'm not a "techie"!! I have SO much to learn!

Hertfordshire

Thanks so much for your feedback. We aren't even on CC3 at the moment. The school were planning to do this last year but missed the boat and apparently we can only get CC4 now.

I recently started at a school to support the ICT Subject Leader in upgrading ICT resources. (I am extremely keen but am in no way a technician so am on a very steep learning curve!!). Unfortunately with a change of ICT Subject Leaders over the past 3 years plans have slipped and the governors are now pushing to get things moving along. We are a first school with Nursery, KS1 and KS2 - total of 170 pupils. The school has: RM Storebox 1 laptop trolley with 18 laptops (about 5 years old) 8 teacher laptops (from 5 years to 8 months old) about 30 PC's throughout classrooms and admin (some new, some VERY old) wireless network. We have a technician who comes in once a week to deal with the really "techy" issues that I haven't manage to solve. I've come in half way through the planning process but so far the school are looking to: Upgrade to CC4 Upgrade wireless network (have had issues when children using laptops want to access their folders to save work and they are not all able to see their folder on the storebox. Have been advised that this is due to all 18 laptops logged on at the same time and wireless not able to cope?) Opinions vary as to developing the ICT resources and these are the main ideas so far: Implement an ICT suite with 30 PC's AND Retain our existing laptop trolley & teacher laptops (our technician advises that our current laptops just need additional memory (1GB) and will be fine on CC4) ADVICE PLEASE?? AND Purchase an additional trolley with a mixture of laptops and netbooks - 15 on the trolley Therefore resource for each Keystage at any given time during the day OR Replace laptops on current trolley & teacher laptops (if memory upgrade is not the way to go) AND Purchase 2 additional trolleys with a mixture of laptops and netbooks - 15 per trolley i.e. 30 new Therefore go entirely with new laptops/netbooks with each Keystage having resource Another issue is that the majority of PC's and Laptops are currently RM machines (apart from very old PC's). As I'm not an expert do we stick with RM or with the help/advice from county, resource our own PC's/laptops?? We have quite a large capital budget to use but obviously want to get the most for our money and more importantly want to get it right! At the moment their is no rolling plan to upgrade equipment so this is also something that we have to get in place, pronto! I am sure there are many schools who have gone through this experience already and I would really appreciate some advice as to the way forward with ICT in schools. Am I old fashioned in leaning towards an ICT suite and maybe having only 1 or 2 laptop trolleys or is the entire laptop trolley/mobile approach the way forward???? PHEW! 10 out of 10 for getting this far! Looking forward to some feedback please.