![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Smartboards?
- Thread starter Berg0
- Start date
DeChache
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
- Messages
- 7,087
^^^ Smartboards is a company
I have 2 here but they are circa 1998. At least the older ones where kinda a pain to work with haven't had a chance to use any newer ones.
I have 2 here but they are circa 1998. At least the older ones where kinda a pain to work with haven't had a chance to use any newer ones.
DlStreamnet
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
- Messages
- 359
Get a cheap used one. People still prefer conventional white boards here.
Any parts that tend to wear out / need frequent replacement? I assume the bulbs have a finite life span on the short throw projectors. Do the units tend to come with a PC to run their software, or do I jsut install their software on ym existing boardroom PC and run a cable to the short throw projector?
I have 2 of those in my room( conventional white boards )
thanks for the useful addition to the thread, could you post some pictures of you taking the plastic wrap off the white boards, then a few more of you mounting them on the wall?
DlStreamnet
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
- Messages
- 359
The projector and the whiteboard are two completely different purchases tbh.
mngl1500
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2005
- Messages
- 3,809
No ones uses our Smartboard here other than just as a projector screen. Total waste. Within a few years (when the projector dies) I will just switch to a large screen TV.
Ours is an older ones that uses a DB9 pin comm port and a ps2 port (a real pita when checking to make sure a new laptop will work with it)instead of the newer ones that use usb.
And people have tried to write on it with markers
And yet they just use the over sized 3M post it note pads instead now.
Ours is an older ones that uses a DB9 pin comm port and a ps2 port (a real pita when checking to make sure a new laptop will work with it)instead of the newer ones that use usb.
And people have tried to write on it with markers
And yet they just use the over sized 3M post it note pads instead now.
klank
Killer of Killer NIC Threadz
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2011
- Messages
- 2,175
I have a client (school) that uses their smartboard. They really seem to enjoy it. YMMV
Feel free to PM me if you want I use and troubleshoot them in a higher ed environment. There's lots of options. Smart Tech makes interactive whiteboards as touch sensitive surfaces any projector can project on to AND HDTVs with a touch sensitive overlay. They also make some nice software. Windows 7 has a lot of touch sensitive optimizations built in which I like.
Epson also makes a short throw projector (it sits right above your whiteboard) which can project onto any surface and make it interactive with a built in "camera". That's nice because you can use the whiteboard as a regular whiteboard. You don't need to reserve wall space. Epson's software isn't as nice and you need a special pen to write and tap on the screen. The interactive HDTVs from Smart Tech you can tap with your hands and write/erase with their pen.
Epson also makes a short throw projector (it sits right above your whiteboard) which can project onto any surface and make it interactive with a built in "camera". That's nice because you can use the whiteboard as a regular whiteboard. You don't need to reserve wall space. Epson's software isn't as nice and you need a special pen to write and tap on the screen. The interactive HDTVs from Smart Tech you can tap with your hands and write/erase with their pen.
Here is the low down.
SMART (which makes "smart" boards) are the king in this industry. Everything else is called an "interactive white board" but most people call the entire industry "smart boards"
We use the 72inch boards here and personally I think they are kind of gimmicky. Our teachers love them, but there is a slight delay when writing with the pens that makes trying to write fast annoying. It can often not pick up all your strokes if you are writing too fast. Most all boards suffer from this.
DO NOT buy short throw projectors. They are a waste of money. They are more expensive, the bulbs are more expensive, everything about them has a price premium. Plus, because of the lens used on them there is a slight curvature on the image projected to the board that you will never be able to get rid of.
My projector vendor of choice is Hitachi. Specifically the 2011N. However I think they just went end of life so whatever is the replacement for the 2011N. We have hundreds of them and they are solid projectors. Bulbs are only about $180 to replace, and the hybrid filters last about 10,000 hours before having to be cleaned.
Hitachi also makes boards and they are called "Star Boards" but I don't like those because they require you to run electricity to the board which can be very costly in a retrofit scenario.
The SMART Boards have great software, and a very handy enterprise tool to make it easy to deploy. There are not a lot of "parts" to these boards. There is the board, the pen tray and the pens. We have never had a pen tray go bad, usually its the circuitry behind the board that has a problem, in which case you just have to replace the whole board. They aren't too difficult to replace since they are mounted on a bracket that allows you to just unscrew 2 screws on the bottom and just lift it off the support bracket like a picture frame. If you can lift 30lbs you can do it yourself without needed someone to help you.
Any other questions just ask. I have about 100+ boards deployed right now with another 90 coming in the next few months.
SMART (which makes "smart" boards) are the king in this industry. Everything else is called an "interactive white board" but most people call the entire industry "smart boards"
We use the 72inch boards here and personally I think they are kind of gimmicky. Our teachers love them, but there is a slight delay when writing with the pens that makes trying to write fast annoying. It can often not pick up all your strokes if you are writing too fast. Most all boards suffer from this.
DO NOT buy short throw projectors. They are a waste of money. They are more expensive, the bulbs are more expensive, everything about them has a price premium. Plus, because of the lens used on them there is a slight curvature on the image projected to the board that you will never be able to get rid of.
My projector vendor of choice is Hitachi. Specifically the 2011N. However I think they just went end of life so whatever is the replacement for the 2011N. We have hundreds of them and they are solid projectors. Bulbs are only about $180 to replace, and the hybrid filters last about 10,000 hours before having to be cleaned.
Hitachi also makes boards and they are called "Star Boards" but I don't like those because they require you to run electricity to the board which can be very costly in a retrofit scenario.
The SMART Boards have great software, and a very handy enterprise tool to make it easy to deploy. There are not a lot of "parts" to these boards. There is the board, the pen tray and the pens. We have never had a pen tray go bad, usually its the circuitry behind the board that has a problem, in which case you just have to replace the whole board. They aren't too difficult to replace since they are mounted on a bracket that allows you to just unscrew 2 screws on the bottom and just lift it off the support bracket like a picture frame. If you can lift 30lbs you can do it yourself without needed someone to help you.
Any other questions just ask. I have about 100+ boards deployed right now with another 90 coming in the next few months.
We run them here in the office and for the most part I don't touch them we have an outside company that works with them. The only issue we really run into isn't with the boards themselves but users, the issue is people keep connecting their machines directly into the projector which causes the projectors to go out of alignment almost instantly necessitating a call to get them calibrated which is a huge pain in the rear.
cyr0n_k0r hit it on the head.
Do not buy the short throw. We got one basically as a gift to try out in our IT training lab and it sucked from day one. Color was always off, ran into overheating issues even after cleaning it monthly and it died after about 2 years.
We are finishing a project that involved installing boards in every classroom in our district (50+ sites) so we probably have around 2000 total. I'm impressed by their durability. You get some 7 and 8 year olds banging on these boards every day and they just keep working. Bulbs for the projectors are the main on-going expense. We have had a few pen trays die and some of the circuit board die but their easily replaced and the warranty is good. In some of our longer installs we used USB to ethernet dongles and the dongles die every so often.
There are a few other companies that make interactive boards. We were given a Promethium (I think that was the company) board to demo and it was ok but it required a pen to interact with. Just like there is a reason everyone runs Windows there's a reason Smartboard is the king of interactive boards.
Why was your company interested in getting a Smartboard? I think they're great for education, especially for primary and special ed, but in a business environment I don't really see the utility. I'd rather have a much larger screen than the Smartboard for presentation or collaborative work.
Do not buy the short throw. We got one basically as a gift to try out in our IT training lab and it sucked from day one. Color was always off, ran into overheating issues even after cleaning it monthly and it died after about 2 years.
We are finishing a project that involved installing boards in every classroom in our district (50+ sites) so we probably have around 2000 total. I'm impressed by their durability. You get some 7 and 8 year olds banging on these boards every day and they just keep working. Bulbs for the projectors are the main on-going expense. We have had a few pen trays die and some of the circuit board die but their easily replaced and the warranty is good. In some of our longer installs we used USB to ethernet dongles and the dongles die every so often.
There are a few other companies that make interactive boards. We were given a Promethium (I think that was the company) board to demo and it was ok but it required a pen to interact with. Just like there is a reason everyone runs Windows there's a reason Smartboard is the king of interactive boards.
Why was your company interested in getting a Smartboard? I think they're great for education, especially for primary and special ed, but in a business environment I don't really see the utility. I'd rather have a much larger screen than the Smartboard for presentation or collaborative work.
We've got a few branch offices, and presently use video conferencing between sites (lifesize, it's a division of logitech), but even HD video conferncing it's tough to do a whiteboard session and see much detail, as our video conferencing displays are 50"-60" LCD's. the idea is to get a smart board, and have a smartboard PC host a gotomeeting so the other sites can see the whiteboard session on the projectors (each office, in addition to the video conferencing LCDs, have projectors and large screens), also, to be able to digitall record whiteboard sessions during meetings for later review.
At some point, we may buy multiple smart board solutions, to be able to do interactive whiteboard sessions from multiple locations (still trying to figure out if this is a simple thing to do)
I have a client that has 3 of them in their fire marshalls office. They are pretty neat. I don't know if they use the smartboard features much, they seem like just protected laptops on the wall, but a school we do has them in every classroom.
I definitly want one for our next office when we move. They are neat devices
I definitly want one for our next office when we move. They are neat devices
Oh man, we have had sooo many dongles die. It was such a problem that SMART has offered to start giving us free active USB cables that can stretch about 50 feet so we dont have to use a USB to Ethernet converter anymore. Might want to look into it. The one we use is Covid PUSBAAF49ACTWe are activly moving away from Prometheons. I hate them. They get out of alignment ALL the time, and like you said they only work with their pen. At least with the smart boards if you don't feel like using the pens you can use your finger. Our lower grade kids like kinder and 1st grade who dont have a lot of pen dexterity yet get a kick out of "finger painting" on the smartboards.
I'm surprised about issues with short throws, I haven't seen many problems with the Epsons I see at my work.
Remember that when you talk Smart Tech you have two different types of boards, sensitive touch boards that get projected onto that everyone must remember not to draw on and the HDTVs I mentioned earlier. Smart Tech also makes them available as semi portable displays if you don't want to wall mount them.
Remember that when you talk Smart Tech you have two different types of boards, sensitive touch boards that get projected onto that everyone must remember not to draw on and the HDTVs I mentioned earlier. Smart Tech also makes them available as semi portable displays if you don't want to wall mount them.
I see what your getting at Berg. I think a smartboard would work well for that. You can actually download the smart notebook software with a trial and play with it to see if it would fit for your need.
And have you looked at just straight whiteboarding software? It's been a few years since I looked at it but I believe you'll find software that allows multiple people to work on the same whiteboard at the same time. It would require everyone to have a PC and possibly a tablet to draw on if they don't want to use the mouse which might make it less ideal than a smartboard. Or you could get a smartboard and use the collaborative whiteboarding software together.
And thanks cyr0n_k0r, I'll pass that along. We're nearing the end of our project and I think we've used dongles on all the longer installs but this could help with maintainence issues. Smart also gave us a supply of warranty parts up front (like 3 controllers and 3 pen trays, etc) so we don't have to wait on warranty parts. Might look into it. And I agree that pen based whiteboards just don't work for lower grade levels and sped classes.
And have you looked at just straight whiteboarding software? It's been a few years since I looked at it but I believe you'll find software that allows multiple people to work on the same whiteboard at the same time. It would require everyone to have a PC and possibly a tablet to draw on if they don't want to use the mouse which might make it less ideal than a smartboard. Or you could get a smartboard and use the collaborative whiteboarding software together.
And thanks cyr0n_k0r, I'll pass that along. We're nearing the end of our project and I think we've used dongles on all the longer installs but this could help with maintainence issues. Smart also gave us a supply of warranty parts up front (like 3 controllers and 3 pen trays, etc) so we don't have to wait on warranty parts. Might look into it. And I agree that pen based whiteboards just don't work for lower grade levels and sped classes.
we can technically do jsut that with out Citrix stuff ( goto meeting / goto webinar) but the idea would be to better enable people to sjut walk up to the whiteboard during meating and draw/plan/share in a more natural way. Basically, everyone is used ot making use of the white boards we presently have during meetings and planning sessions when everyone is together in the same room, and we want to be able to have the same level of collaboration while the team is at different locations. So while we already have the ability to mark up documents during group meetings on a laptop/tablet, they'd rather use the whiteboard.
Don't go this route. Nothing makes a board get out of alignment faster than being on wheels.
We have spares as well, but not for those lower ticket items. Smart usually gives you 1 full set of warranty parts (board, pens, pen tray) per 100 boards that you buy. At least that is the deal we worked out.
They would lose sync after a while over usb/bluetooth. Which requires reinstalling the newest drivers and updating the boards firmware time to time. I am not sure if it's their software updates or windows updates doing this. Recently we been having problems with the smart notebook software where people can't drag anything at the board out of the blue. They are a pain..
Care to elaborate?
We have about 30 of them across the school district.
We have not had any of these problems you describe. And we have about 4x the number of boards as you.
Well, I did not install them. I've only been interning there for few months so far.
Last edited: