Need new ideas for monitor integration.

[Efortysix]

Will be upgrading 5 integrated rooms and I need some new ideas for the monitors. Currently one of our rooms has 2 42" flat panel LCDs for remote and local video, I'm thinking maybe dual HD projectors on a wider screen so both local and remote are on the same screen. Does anyone have any ideas, I'm going for the wow factor but have small conference rooms to work with.


-Brandon

[Entropy3XD]

You may be fine with the flat panels you have. You do not mention the codec you are going with or what other equipment you plan to have in the room, but I do know that some Tandberg and Polycom systems can do a split screen with only a single cable run to the monitor, so you do not necessarily need to shell out money for a monitor that can do side-by-side. As far as HD goes, well, unless you have a ton of bandwidth and a codec that supports HD, this may be overkill, but for watching DVDs in the room the HD may WOW your users. I guess it really comes down to what equipment you wish to show on the display and how you wish to display it.

[Efortysix]

Yeah I just need new ideas, so i'm open to suggestions. The room with the two LCDs has a Tandberg 6000mxp, and I will probably do the same for the other rooms, but I am considering the vs4000. I did see one integration at a reseller where there was a single piece of plexiglass hanging from the ceiling and the projector was hidden inside the wall being used for rear projection. I've even been thinking about something like the 3M wall display:

http://www.touchboards.com/a3m/9200IW.asp

but this could cause a problem as far as the projector being in the way of camera angles.

[mjrtoo]

Just beware of going too large for your display, nothing worse than talking to a 6' tall head.

Also, when your talking screens, now your camera has to be off axis, resulting in a less than optimal eye contact.

[Efortysix]

I have taken that into consideration. Would you say the camera should be 6'-7' from the ground?

[Skylark]

Just so you know VS4000 is an old VC unit the nextgeneration is called VSX8000 so you might whan check that out, it does dualmonitor emulation like Entropy3XD suggested and I can do it in widescreen

[ITV-U]

We are currently using VSI Trooper and Draper Rear Projection Mirror systems in several of our rooms with an NEC MT-1075 LCD projector. We are moving away from the projectors because our rooms are running 12-14 hrs a day and we are starting to burn out the projectors in 1 year. NEC said that the only projector that we could go to that would not burn out so quick was a theaterical type, but the price was way too high. We are now switching to 60" Plasmas and even with the recharge, will save $30k+ over the next several years. The rear projections a nice looking, but they do eat up space and cost several times more than newer plasmas/LCD's. I do know that another department on our campus purchased a short throw(less than 4 ft) that actually mounts in the ceiling and all you see is a very small mirror that provides the bounce.

In our rooms, the camera is normally mounts right above or at the side of the screen, depending on downward camera angles in the room.

MAC

[frontandcenter]

I would stick with the dual 42" plasma units. Other problem with projection is brightness. You need the room lights down to see the screen properly but also need room light up for the in-room cameras. Plasmas are dirt cheap. If you want larger size go with 50" or 60" screens which have dropped in price. The thing I hate about the dual screen emulation from the codecs is that the image is letterboxed instead of full screen which makes the actual viewing image smaller. Dual 50" plasmas butted up to each other with the camera direclty on the top of the units is the way to go.

For added effect you can use a plasma touch screen overlay for in-room presentations and to replace the whiteboard.

[Shawn Jones]

do you have the monitors connected to the MXP via DVI? That would step up your resolution a bit if you are connected via S-Video. The 6k MXP has dual DVI out to do two monitors (you know this).

[MACC the AVCOtek]

3M has a new rear projection screen surface that has good 'wow' factor. Check it out here: www.vikuiti.com. (That's the product name - Vikuiti.)