Powerpoint over network

[buggyboy]

(mods: feel free to move this, this forum was just my best guess)

I had a thought.

Say a guest comes in with their laptop and wants to do a presentation, powerpoint and perhaps audio. Normally we'd want to have a vga and audio jack at the pulpit to accommodate this.

But these days, wireless routers are cheap, and most churches have a network of some sort anyway. Why couldn't the guest login to the network and beam the powerpoint and the rest to the projector computer, which sends the data to the projector.

laptop -> projection computer -> projector.

Any thoughts? does this exist already. Any reason why it wouldn't work?

I have seen vga over cat5 cables, so the network seems to have the bandwidth needed.

It would make things easier for small churches not to have to switch inputs midway through a service.

[petereit]

You could use VNC to share the screen on the laptop and the projection PC would display anything on the laptop screen. But that would require the person with the laptop to install and run the VNC server app, and you'd need the VNC client app on the projection PC. RealVNC is free for personal use. Not sure if that license would cover this particular use.

[cmchamp]

Yes, there is gear that allows/does this.
http://www.wow-vision.com/

[buggyboy]

I nosed around the site Cory mentioned. This tech would indeed allow such a use. No price in listed that I can find, on either the parent site, or the American distributor's site.

I hesitate to imagine the $$$ involved.

Still, the basic concept seems like it could be done by any decent computer acting as a server for the projector. I'd love to see what some open source linux guys could hack together.

Any other options?

{edit: i found more once I figured out a few keywords...http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_det...d=16&pl2_id=77
projector server brings up some interesting stuff... i'll have to take a gander at this}


[edit: here is another option...http://www.screen-record.com/projector_online.htm]

[and here is a review of another wireless projector server http://www.screen-record.com/projector_online.htm ]

[cmchamp]

Hang on, I'll be back in a bit with the pricing. And for subsequent readers, I did not post the link because it's a product I sell. I have access to it, but have never sold one. It was simply a product that filled the need, and I know there are other products that meet the need as well, including new projectors from InFocus, Epson, BenQ for the education market that provide WiFi screen sharing built in.

[cmchamp]

These are list prices.
VEOS = $7999.00
proVEOS = $11,999.00

These are intended for conference rooms, conference centers, etc. and probably out of the price range of a small or medium sized church.

C.

[petereit]

Or free. http://www.tightvnc.com/

[cmchamp]

and this is where these online forums are a great asset to churches, and myself. Gives us the opportunity to explore the "industry" gear as well as the "free" or less expensive solutions available.

[rkresge]

VNC is an absolutely great tool, but remember that if you're using Windows computers, Remote Desktop is already there and doesn't need a whole lot other than turning it on. Although I suspect it will use more bandwidth than VNC.

Roger

[VoltNHalf]

Many IM applications allow users to "share" desktops as well. My experience with VNC is that it's probably OK if you're just displaying text, but the video and graphics experience isn't likely to be acceptable. Microsoft's Remote Desktop is better, but still may not be acceptable for video display. A software-only solution is likely to limit your guest's capabilities.

[buggyboy]

Thanks for the info Cory.

I'm not certain that desktop sharing is enough. if we are limited to straight screen sharing, we'll still have issues with transitioning from one source to another (i think).

Ideally the solution would allow for the guest to use a duel screen setup as normal. presentation on the projector, notes on his laptop.

It was a pie in the sky question to begin with, I've got no pressing need for it. I just thought with all the tech we've got now there must be a way to substitute a network connection for a cable to the projector itself.

[cmchamp]

If you have Cat5 available, Cat5 VGA baluns are a much less expensive solution IF your projector has 2 VGA inputs.
C.