SamanthaD

Been asked something similar - a scrolling feed across the bottom of our digital signage for World Cup news. I pointed out by the time we'd found the solution, purchased it (using their budget of course) and then configured it it'll be over anyway. Didn't hear anything back from them!

Those muslin backdrops are ok but if they've been folded they're a pig to get back out. If you can hang it up a few days before hand and maybe spray water on it to get the creases out. I remember having to iron mine when I first got it!

Came into work this morning with 2 separate requests for new TV screens. Got to wonder if their requests coincide with the amount of grass based sport on the telly at the moment?

All of our old SMARTboards had Lindy Cat5 extenders on them, all have failed. We're now installing Lindys 15m active USB A to B cable (not an extension) to our touchscreens (we've dropped SMART now) - hopefully these will last a lot longer!

I looked at this from Lastolite - too tall for the room I was going to put it in but otherwise ticked every box I had. Suitable for you? Be sure to ask them for a quote - you won't pay the web price!

Still some spaces in there - half blowing some balloons to fill the smaller gaps would have been good. Reminds me of the old Fiestas that you could push the window down on, and a few BIG bags of styrofoam.....!

Going a lot OT - sorry.... I'd argue against that, it depends on the conventional! A 300w PAR56 isn't going to stand up to even a cheap LED, especially once you've put a red or deep blue gel in it (can you even see a 300w PAR56 with L181 in it?) Decent colours - depends. Get RGBW and your palette becomes a lot more useable, and open white is a lot nicer. (Take the RGB out and just use the White chip.) Different horses for different courses me thinks! Back to topic - made any decisions or anything caught your eye yet?

Hi David - moving head lights are as expensive as you want them to be - but controlling them is still a pain. If all you want is a colour changing wash light then I've used (and owned) Stagg Headbangers and they're great for the price (approx £120 each) but are very budget. You might be able to store a few presets on a simple desk and say to trained teachers "raise that fader, this will happen" but then they start to want more and more, then they turn it into a disco! Fixed focus LED Pars are best for untrained user use - stick them in 3 channel mode and give them a basic desk. Most people understand "Raise that, it goes red. Raise the next one, it adds Green. Raise the next one, it adds Blue. Mix to get what you want." How I had my Drama studios configured and never really had any issues!

Which tablets are you looking at? Can they be used with a USB-C docking station of some kind?

We have a 1300U, about to buy another. You running it at constant brightness or full pelt?

RS232 will do that in a heartbeat, but focusing from 30m isn't fun. Truss is definitely the lesser of 2 evils here. If you want a sanity check on your lighting / sound install give me a shout - is your specialist a school employee or a contractor?

If it absolutely has to go on the truss make sure you get a proper half coupler bracket for it - the standard Unicol ones are the hook over type which IMO are useless! At least with a half coupler it can be tightened to 2 white knuckles if needs be... (Proper torque figures are preferred of course!) Lens shift, mechanical shutters and cartridge filters are standard features on most pro projectors. However these things are just more things to go wrong - Our Christie's shutter used to fail closed occasionally - the only way we could get it open was to open the case and manually do it. About once a year it happened! As for edge blended projection (multi projector setups) they're a complete waste of time unless you are doing custom sized content, or using 4 to maintain the 16:9 ratio (I've done corporate events where we've used 8 or so projectors in a line!) Stacking is a good way of achieving a brighter image (and pro projectors have stacking frames to maintain perfect alignment) but again a lot more effort (and usually expensive) than buying the right kit first time!

We're installing a few Epson EB-L1000U projectors over the summer - 5000 lumens WUXGA laser with HDBaseT connectivity. You'd have to mount it around 12m from the screen to get an 8m wide image, but echo the point on mounting this away from the lighting bar as it will get moved whenever the lighting rig gets changed, or a cable will get trashed etc. Just set it on it's own mount and basically forget about it. Also echo the point on RS232 control (as I always do) - we have control panels in over 250 rooms and never have to change any batteries or replace lost remotes, they just work. Just a simple panel would work for you - something like this would give you On / Off, 2 inputs and volume control. (You'd have to extract the audio from the projector though, or perhaps change the volume buttons to a blank and auto image?) Happy to chat about RS232 if you want.

I have no hesitation in recommending GV Multimedia - they're our primary supplier and we have a great working relationship with the local team. Your local office is Hounslow but I'd bet there are local guys who will come on site and work with your architects and other suppliers. Well worth a look.

You might find this helpful? https://elektrotanya.com/phonic_powerpod_1062_rev.1_v2.1_powered_mixer.pdf/download.html

I see there's a switch at the bottom right which changes the mode of the amp from Stereo LR to Mains / Monitor. Is this switch set correctly or in some mid position? Otherwise there should be a fuse on the circuit board which has probably popped - worth a look as they're easy to change.

I'd suggest looking at the old 4:6:8 rule for screen sizes. One solution does not fit all and it totally depends on classroom layout and how you use your teaching wall. That said, as a general rule we use 65" for meeting rooms up to 24 people, 24 - 30 people get a 75" and 30+ get an 86". Higher numbers than 40 we tend to project.

Going cheap is fine if it's not a critical application. Also consider the cable used - some extenders work better with specific cable, others are not too fussy. As a minimum I would be asking for shielded cable, and also minimise the amount of breaks in the chain if you can!

Posts like this need so much more than a "Thank" option! New keyboard needed....

As well as the deployment of individual devices - consider how they are going to connect to existing infrastructure in your classrooms. Prepare yourself for "my projector isn't working" callouts because they've connected the cable but the machine is in "Desktop Only" projection mode, or their screen res is too high for the projector to support. Also buy a job lot of adapters and power supplies for when they forget theirs and they must have it else they can't teach (and don't expect them back, because then they'll have a spare that they'll want to keep...) If you can add docking stations into the budget do so, it'll save a lot of pain. Also have spare laptops for cover teachers / new staff... Desktops in every room might seem old fashioned at first, but you're providing a turnkey solution in every room that works. Personal device only rooms require a lot more management and go wrong a lot more! (IME - I look after approx 250 rooms ranging from 600+ cap lecture theatres to 4 cap meeting rooms, and we get a lot more callouts for laptops than the installed PC's.)

Confused by your setup - can you elaborate on how things are connected? From what I can make out it's Apple TV -> Splitter -> Kanex adapter -> Monitor, and Splitter -> Projector ?? Either way it could be 2 things. First the Kanex isn't compatible with 4th gen Apple TV's, secondly it's HDCP enabled. If you're getting blue screens rather than blank black ones then chances are HDCP is being activated somewhere.

I'd agree on multiple (at least 2) so you'll always have one while the other one is away being repaired.....

Apart from Surface Hubs (don't go there!) all our touchpanels are Iiyama or Samsung. Anything above 65" Iiyama, 65" and below is Samsung. Look at the digital signage range if you don't need touch - less bells and whistles which in my mind is a good thing...

The only positive I can think of for using a laptop form factor over a desktop is the ability to use a laptop stand and have your workstation contained in a space above a musical keyboard (similar to what DJ's do over their mixers). My old school had Zoostorms with monitors attached behind a keyboard which worked well, but try and find space for the computer keyboard and mouse and you end up with a jumble of wires. Other than that - just NO!

Someone on the team has already been busy with Photoshop...