I searched but couldn't find anything relevant. I'm looking to buy a Visual/Document Presenter like the ones used in distance ed or online classes. Basically an overhead projector but lots better. My question is would I be able somehow to write/draw something for someone to see live over the internet. Basically like distance ed but not on TV. If so, are there certain models/brands or software that you have to have? Thanks for any help. If nobody on here can help I'm just going to call Elmo, a company that makes them (not the ticklish guy )

1/20/2011 1:14:10 AM

Why not just use a tablet pc and -insert internet meeting software of choice here- ?

[Edited on January 20, 2011 at 3:15 PM. Reason : Bh]

1/20/2011 3:14:39 PM

didn't even think about that. would it be possible to just buy one of the similar peripheral devices to use on my existing computer and then use the software? or does it need to be a tablet PC.

1/20/2011 6:14:44 PM

Tablet PC would be ideal, but you could definitely get by with your favorite photo editing program (paint.net and gimp are free choices) with a cheap wacom.

Starter unit:
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTL460-Bamboo-Factory-Refurbished/dp/B003LVKQ18

Middle unit:
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Intuos3-8-Inch-Pen-Tablet/dp/B00030097G/ref=sr_1_21?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1295574503&sr=1-21

Pro unit:
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Intuos4-Extra-Large-Tablet/dp/B001TUYU0G/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1295574503&sr=1-12


There are several other sizes in between, just amazon "wacom" and find something in your budget.

-OR-

If you have a camera you can put it on a tripod pointing down at your table and then broadcast it live. Windows live encoder 2011, VLC, or a myriad of other software can make this happen for free. Most of them can also invert and mirror the image too - so you can film from in front of you and have software fix it before sending.


Your biggest problem is going to be frame rate and frame size. If you're drawing doesn't have to be exactly real time you can do something like a full screen capture and send it at 1 or 2 fps in high quality, otherwise you'll need something 640x480 or smaller to get it over a consumer connection at 25+fps.

1/20/2011 8:53:19 PM

ygpm

1/20/2011 9:51:31 PM

You could just get a wacom tablet and some software that does the annotation overlay (powerpoint has a pen mode built in if you’re just using powerpoint).

Or you could get this http://smarttech.com/us/Solutions/Higher+Education+Solutions/Products+for+higher+education/Complementary+hardware+products/SMART+Slate

Which comes with the software.

1/20/2011 11:26:37 PM

Quote :

"Your biggest problem is going to be frame rate and frame size. If you're drawing doesn't have to be exactly real time you can do something like a full screen capture and send it at 1 or 2 fps in high quality, otherwise you'll need something 640x480 or smaller to get it over a consumer connection at 25+fps."

Any meeting conferencing software/service will do this no problem. LiveMeeting, Lync, GotoMeeting, etc will do just fine. You need very little bandwidth to stream screen-capture video at full resolution, the bitrate is pretty tiny in comparison to live video of environments.

1/20/2011 11:50:20 PM