[Web4lib] Recommended Setup for Public Meeting Room and A/V + PC

[Phillip Whitford]

 We allow people to bring in their own laptops and we also have loaners
they can check out and use in the meeting rooms with the projectors. Our
projectors are hard wired. Users have to physically connect their PC to
a cable that is connected to the projector. We also provide for
connection of vcrs, DVD players, and TVs to the projectors. You are
limited in the length of the PC video cable to something like 50 feet
(might be 100 feet). So that may be an issue depending on your room. No
special software or configuration of the projector is required. Just the
cable and a video out port on the laptop. Some conference rooms I've
used have the ports built into floors, walls, podiums, or projector
stands. The port is wired back to the projector and you use a short
cable to connect the laptop to the port. Total video cable length is
still limited to the 50 or 100 feet unless you use some type of
amplifier. Long video connector cables are available online from many
sources.

If you plan your projectors to be used with DVD players and the like you
will need to provide appropriate connections for the video and audio
outputs of those devices as well.

There are wireless ways of connecting also. We haven't used them but we
looked at them some time ago. The cheaper systems might work ok for a
basic PowerPoint presentation but they couldn't carry the bandwidth for
moving video with audio which we needed.  The wireless systems we
thought would work were out of our price range.

We have found that general contractors, architects, and electricians
were not very knowledgeable of presentation systems. We found a number
of local companies in the phone book which set up presentation systems
for schools, churches, and the like and consulted one of them.  One in
your area might be able to provide some advice on how to best support
your particular space. 

 

Phillip B. Whitford
Associate Director for Support Services
Braswell Memorial Library
Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my organization. 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Pruntel,Alison
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 9:23 AM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Recommended Setup for Public Meeting Room and A/V +
PC

Hi all,

 

Please excuse any duplication - I'm posting this to several lists.

 

We are working with our architects on a new branch library. The branch
will include a public meeting room where we hope to put in a ceiling
mounted projector. Ideally, people could bring in their own laptop and
interact with the projector, do presentations, etc. Our architect asked
us how we wanted this wired, did we want to have a laptop basically
bolted down to the podium and require presenters to use a USB drive to
bring up their materials (their recommendation - said most libraries did
it this way). That sounds insane to me - I would expect people to bring
their own laptops and assume the projector would be configured to easily
work with any PC. Am I asking for something that's not possible? Can any
of you share how your meeting room is set up for multimedia with a
mounted projector (we don't want to deal with portable) and how it's set
to work with various devices (PC, VCR, etc.)? I have no background in
A/V, but because I deal with the ILS and the PCs, it is assumed I will
figure this out.  :-)

 

Note - the library will be wired for wireless Internet access.

 

Regards,

 

 

Alison Pruntel
Electronic Resources Librarian
Fauquier County Public Library
11 Winchester Street
Warrenton, VA 20186
540-349-2770 (voice)
540-349-3278 (fax)
http://library.fauquiercounty.gov
http://fcpleresources.blogspot.com/ 

 

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