Posts in category Classroom Technology

New Duke Crestron Rep

May15th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

Some Duke AV folks recently met with Crestron’s new Regional Education Market Manager, Ryan Berndt. He will be replacing Brian Montini. Ryan will be Duke’s Crestron rep from now on.

During our meeting with Ryan and Brian we learned of a new Crestron wireless content sharing technology device that they are working on. It will allow content sharing over the network to a small footprint box that has HDMI out similar to an Apple TV. They are claiming that several operating systems (Windows, Mac, iOS and Android OS) will be supported. That is all we know for now but we are very anxious to learn more.

AV Integration, DDMC Info, Media Distribution

New USB PTZ Camera

May13th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

I don’t know much about it this camera but it is nice to see more USB PTZ options. It claims to work with built-in OS drivers so nothing to install. It also claims to work with all major web conferencing apps including Skype and Cisco Jabber (Movi).

http://www.ivsimaging.com/Products/CostarIV-PTZHDUSB.aspx

AV Integration, DDMC Info, Lecture Capture, Video Conferencing & TelePresence, Video Production, Webcam

New Logitech Wi-fi webcam

Oct16th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

logitech, ios, mac, webcam, wi-fi webc

Pretty cool new wi-fi webcam from Logitech. Techspot.com has a nice write-up on it. There are a lot potential use cases for something like this. At this time it works on the Mac OS and iOS only and Logitech claims it works with Ustream, Skype, iChat, FaceTime, iMovie, Quicktime and Final Cut Pro. If anybody gets one of these please let the DDMC mailing list know what you think of it.

DDMC Info, iPhone/iPad, Video Conferencing & TelePresence, Video Production, Web Conferencing, Webcam

Epson MegaPlex MG-850HD HD 720p All-in-One Projector w/ Apple-Device Dock

Sep26th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

OIT-ITS purchased the Epson MG-850HD projector a few months ago with the hopes of using it paired with an Apple iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch) to do video conferencing. The projector features a charging dock connector that supports any of the current Apple iOS devices. Unfortunately, after some testing we found out that the projector does not support any kind of mirroring from a connected iOS device. However, it does support the playback of any photos, music and videos that are currently on an iOS device that is plugged into the projector’s dock connector. The playback of the photos, music and videos is done using a basic user controllable interface on the projector.

Since the projector does feature an HDMI connection we decided to throw an Apple TV into the mix so we could mirror our iOS device’s screen to the projector. This worked perfectly mirroring our iOS’s screen to the Apple TV which was connected to the projector via HDMI. This could be done with any projector that has HDMI but we were impressed with the video and audio quality of the Epson. For more specifics on the projector check out the Epson MG-850HD product page.

AV Integration, DDMC Info, iPhone/iPad, Video Conferencing & TelePresence, Web Conferencing

Election-Year Politics and Skype

Sep6th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

Interesting article about video conferencing and interoperability.

Video Conferencing & TelePresence, Web Conferencing

Need a cheap HDMI switcher?

Aug29th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

We recently purchased this little guy from monoprice.com for $10.15. The HDMI switch features 3 inputs and 1 output, and does not require a power source. It automatically switches inputs when a device is powered up or can be switched manually using a button on it. The switcher supports all current formats and supports HDCP pass-through. This unit is so small it can pretty much fit in the palm of your hand. It could easily be mounted on the back of a display for easy hiding if desired.

AV Integration, Monitors, Video Production

Cisco’s New Video Conferencing System, the SX20

Aug21st
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

ITS recently received a demo unit of Cisco’s new video conferencing system, the SX20. The SX20 was released early this year and offers a smaller footprint than the c20 but is very comparable otherwise with a few feature differences.

The SX20 does offer a paid upgrade option for multisite which the C20 does not. This allows the SX20 to add three remote participants to a call without the need of any kind of video conferencing bridging services. However, with Duke’s video conferencing infrastructure users have free access to Duke’s virtual conference rooms which offer the same functionality without the need for the paid multisite upgrade.

Both the C20 and SX20 use the same proprietary Cisco microphones but the SX20 has two echo cancelers while the C20 has one. The SX20 uses a proprietary HDMI/RS-232 cable. On the C20 HDMI/RS-232 are separate cables and allow for easier integration into a conferencing room especially when longer cable runs are needed. This will make integrating the SX20 into a conferencing room more difficult.

The SX20 can share content at up to 1080p15 while the C20 supports WXGAp15(1280×768). However, to support sending 1080p resolutions the premium resolution paid upgrade option is required.

The C20 and SX20 are both great video conferencing systems for basic room and office installations, and cart solutions. They even work great as portable room systems. If you have any questions about either of these or any other video conferencing system please contact oit-its-info@duke.edu and we be happy to talk with you about them.

AV Integration, DDMC Info, Video Conferencing & TelePresence

Immersive Content Sharing Using a Cisco EX90 Personal Video Conferencing System

Aug20th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

Here are some nice examples of sharing content using a Cisco EX series video conferencing system. Note that the EX60 only has one video input and the EX90 (featured in the video) has two.

iPhone/iPad, Video Conferencing & TelePresence

Acer Debuts World’s First 1080p Hybrid LED-Laser Projector

Aug8th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

Acer just announced a new 1080P projector that features a hybrid laser-LED light technology. The new light technology not only offers better color saturation and energy efficiency but also longer light light-source life and instant on/off. The only downside to the projector is only offers 1,500 lumens.

LED light technology in projectors is becoming more and more popular and it will be exciting to see how the technology changes features and functionality in upcoming projectors.

AV Integration, DDMC Info

Airplay Mirroring to an Apple TV on Duke’s Network

Jul19th
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Jack D'Ardenne

I know there were some emails that bounced around on the DDMC mailing list some time ago about folks having issues getting Apple’s Airplay Mirroring to work on Duke’s network. I recently reached out to OIT Networking to see if and how this could work. They had already received some requests for it and started configuring Duke’s wireless network to allow traffic for Apple’s Bonjour protocol. This will not work if any device is connected to the Duke network via ethernet. All Airplay Mirroring devices trying to communicate with an Apple TV will need to be on the same wireless subnet. Most buildings across campus are on their own wireless subnets so this should not be a problem. Also, having devices only seeable on the same subnet will reduce the number of Apple TVs seen in the share list.

I would recommend a naming convention that makes sense for your Apple TVs. Protecting them with a simple password may not be a bad idea either. I know some schools have their own networks and/or firewalls in place so you may need to work directly with your school’s networking team to get this up and running. If you have any issues getting this to work, OIT Networking has asked that you submit an OIT Help Desk ticket for support.

Please share your experiences using Airplay Mirroring to an Apple TV with the DDMC mailing list. I think this has great potential for specific classroom and portable applications. And because it’s free and built-in to Apple’s soon to be released Mountain Lion, it will be that much more accessible and handy.

Audio, AV Integration, DDMC Info, iPhone/iPad, Media Distribution, Monitors