Hardware is
nothing without good software and Epson now sells Promethan ActivInspire
educational software with its BrightLink projectors. The package costs $299
with new projectors or for existing customers.
LED
projectors are popular because they use mush less electricity and never need to
have their lamps changed, but they have all been short on brightness. That is
until now, with the advent of Optoma’s latest EcoBright short-throw models,
which create their beam of light with LEDs and lasers not traditional
high-pressure lamps. Rated to last for at least 20,000 hours of use, the
ZW212ST and the ZX212ST put out 2,500- and 2,300-lumens of light and cost
$1,600 and $1,500.
The
latest ultra-short throw projector for schools is Viewsonic’s PJD8353s, which
puts up a nearly 6-foot XGA image only 24-inches from the screen. There’s an
optional infrared interactive pen that allows teachers and students to
digitally write and collaborate directly on the projected image. It should be
available later this month for $1,079 plus $300 for the interactive pen kit; a
wide XGA version costs $1,199.
Epson’s
BrightLink Pro 1410Wi doesn’t just inaugurate a new short-throw interactive
projector but a whole teaching ecosystem. By itself the BrightLink Pro 1410Wi
is a 3-LCD WXGA short-throw device that puts 3,100 lumens onto a board and has
an interactive pen. On top of projecting split screens and saving any items
written with the pen, no PC is needed because it can grab and project .pdfs and
.jpgs from a memory key and works with Epson’s iProjection iPad app. It comes
with a control panel and can link with three other BrightLink Pro projectors in
the building, state or globe, creating incredible teaching and training
opportunities.
To make the projector fit into the classroom and school, the BrightLink 1410Wi has three specially designed mounting setups. If you get just the projector and overhead mount, it costs $3,000. With Chief’s aluminum 86-inch whiteboard, projector cover and a place to stash the pens, the package costs $4,000. The whole thing in teak or cherry goes for $4,500. All are subject to a $500 educational discount.
All too often
interactive projectors have been sold as islands without any school software to
turn them into teaching tools. Not the ultra-short throw MimioProjector, which
includes a copy of the company’s MimioStudio 10 program that lets teachers do
anything from mark-up digital images to create their own multimedia lessons. It
comes with a pair of pens that allow collaborative or competitive work on the
board. On its own, the projector costs $999, but $1,449 with two pens.
Ultra-short
throw projectors are great for teaching because they don’t cast as many shadows
onto the screen and allow a proper set up in oddly shaped rooms, but few have
had the brightness to compete with a sunny day. NEC’s NP-UW330W blasts more
than enough light to keep the blinds open and lights on for a multimedia
lesson.
At 6.5- by 14.9- by 16.9-inches, the UM330W is a lot of projector. It may be large but it can be attached from underneath with four mounting screws for hanging from a ceiling or set up on a tabletop with a pair of adjustable front legs.
Inside is a single 0.59-inch LCD panel that delivers wide-screen 1,280 by 800 resolution images, making it a step up from XGA projectors, but slightly behind the latest HD devices. Rather than a barrel-shaped lens, the UM330W has an output mirror near the back that points to the screen. The projector’s inner workings are protected by a glass window, which makes cleaning it a lot easier.
It
uses a single lamp that is rated at putting 3,300 lumens onto a screen. While
its focus ring is awkwardly placed underneath the projector and, like other
short throw models, it lacks an optical zoom, the UM330W does have a 1.4X
digital zoom.
Once set up, there’s a huge bonus to the UM330W: the back has a large area for stashing cables. On the downside, one of the Philips screws that hold the cover in place is so recessed that you might have trouble finding a screwdriver for it. In fact, it took me 15 minutes and going through several tool boxes before I found one that worked.
Behind the cable cover is an incredible assortment of connections, making the UM330W one of the most flexible projectors on the market. In addition to a pair of HDMI and VGA-in and -out ports, the projector has the old standbys of S- and composite video connections. There’re USB connections as well as an RS232 for remote control. It has a LAN port for networking and controlling the system over a school’s network. On the downside, to connect it to a WiFi network you’ll need to get NEC’s $80 USB accessory.
On
the other hand, you don’t even need a computer to feed the projector with
images, because it can grab them from the school’s network or from a USB memory
key; the projector comes with built-in player software. You can even lift items
off of an iPad with NEC’s Wireless Image Utility.
As far as sound goes, it has a single 16-watt speaker as well as audio-in and -out jacks and the bonus of a microphone jack that can turn the projector into a classroom-ready public address system. It has the software for Crestron’s RoomView built-in.
The UM330W has a simple control panel with buttons for keystone correction, volume and getting into the projector’s Menu. There’re also buttons for turning the system on and off, selecting the source and putting it in one of its three power modes: Auto Eco, Normal and full Eco. These power profiles that let you customize how much light the projector delivers, how much electricity it uses and how loud the fan gets.
All this can be done via the remote control, but it lacks a laser pointer. The remote can let you choose the input, control the mouse on screen and make adjustments. To stop the action, you can either freeze the image with the audio continuing or hit the A-V mute button to blank the screen and sound.
With NEC’s $500 NP02WI eBeam kit, the UM330W can be transformed into an interactive centerpiece of any digital classroom. The infrared pen lets a teacher or student write and annotate directly on the projected image. With the pen kit, the UM330W includes school software.
With
the projector against the wall, it can create a vivid 45-inch image and tops
out at filling a 9.1-foot screen. It takes 4 seconds for the UM3300W to get
started, but at least a minute to get to full brightness. Its 9-second
shut-down time is quick and will come in handy for rooms that serve many different
purposes over the day. On the downside, there’s a brief loud blast from the
system’s pair of fans when it’s turned off.
Overall, it was able to put 3,764 lumens on screen in its High Bright mode, 14-percent higher than its specification. In Presentation mode, that drops to 2,864 lumens. Eco mode reduces it even further to 2,250 lumens. On the downside, at full output the system’s fans become loud and annoying in an effort to dissipate the system’s heat. At its exhaust outlet, it registered 162 degrees.
In addition to being one of the brightest projectors aimed at classroom use, it has an exceptionally uniform focus that makes for pinpoint sharpness across the screen. To help speed its installation, the UM330W includes a useful green grid test pattern.
While
its competitors often charge an extortionate $250 or more for a replacement
lamp, NEC’s lamp for this projector is a reasonable $80, making it even cheaper
than Epson’s lamps. Happily, the lamp also includes the filter you’ll need to
change every three or four years. The lamp is rated at 3,000 hours (6,000 hours
if you use Eco mode) and comes with a one-year warranty.
Assuming the projector is used for 8 hours a day during the school year and the national average of 12 cents per kilowatt-hour of power, it can cost an estimated $110 a year to operate the UM330W in the classroom. That’s because it uses 348 watts of electricity in full mode, 267-watts in Eco mode and 6.6 watts in sleep.
The projector comes with a 2-year warranty, but if you register it, the coverage is automatically extended to 4-years, equaling the industry’s best protection. At $1,300, the UM330W may prove to be too expensive for most schools to afford, but the company has a package that includes wall mounting hardware and the pen kit for $2,200, making it competitive with similar devices from NEC’s competitors.
In other words, the UM330W puts a lot of light onto the screen and does a lot of things well, but can be had at a reasonable price.
A-
Price: $1,300
+ Very bright
+ Sharp focus
+ 4-year warranty
+ Optional interactivity kit
+ Port assortment
+ Cable cover
- Loud fans
- Cable cover hard to open
Like the idea of interactive projectors but can’t afford
one for every room? Epson’s BrightLink 436Wi is small and portable enough to go
where it’s needed. The short throw projector puts out 3,000 lumens for a
lights-on lesson in wide-XGA resolution with a screen up to about 10-feet.
Along with dual-pen interactivity, the projector can connect with an Android
device, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch device. It costs $1,250 and can be seen in
booth 709.
Mimio’s latest classroom helper is its
MimioProjector interactive projector. Capable of putting a wide-XGA image on a
screen, the device can link up with the company’s MimioStudio software and uses
an infrared interactive pen to allow teachers and students to write directly on
the projected image. It works with PCs, Macs and Linux computers.
The latest classroom projector can not only
pump out the brightness with a 3,000 lumen rating, but can put 3-D images onto
the screen. Based on its three LCD panels, Epson’s PowerLite W16 features a
1,280 by 800 resolution and works with active-shutter glasses to project 3-D
images, CAD models and photos without the need for converter electronics. Look
for the $850 PowerLite W16 later this month as well as the stacked W16SK duo,
which uses less expensive passive glasses; it costs $1,900. You can see them at
booth 709.
BenQ takes the lead in projector technology with its
W1070, a short-throw device that puts an HD image onto a screen. Based on a
single digital light processing chip, the W1070 costs $1,100, delivers a full
1,920 by 1,080 image and has a pair of 2-watt speakers.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Tech Tools are strictly those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Scholastic, Inc.
