Watch Any Video Source on Classroom Monitors without Hookup Hassles
The scenario is typical of many classrooms: one lonely TV/monitor hangs inaccessibly from the ceiling, hardwired to a VCR elsewhere in the room. If instructors want to display something using a videodisc player, DVD player, computer or other device, they usually have to call for a video cart to be brought in, and attempt to unscramble the morass of wires that awaits them.
RF-Link offers a solution to the above scenario in its two-piece Wavecom Sr. wireless audio/video sender. You simply plug the receiving unit into the monitor, TV or computer you want to display on, plug the sending unit into whatever output device you are using, and position the units' small antennas toward each other. The Wavecom's reliable 2.4GHz signal can penetrate walls, doors, and ceilings up to 300 feet, giving you the ultimate in placement options (no more infrared line-of-sight hassles). And, a built-in remote control extender (RCE) lets you control the source from the viewing room, if it happens to be separate from the room where the sending unit is positioned.
A classroom using the Wavecom Sr. may present this new scenario: a TV/monitor hangs from the ceiling, with the Wavecom receiving unit attached. On the instructor's desk or podium (or even on a transportable cart) the Wavecom sending unit sits, waiting for attachment to whatever device the instructor wishes to use in today's lecture (DVD or videodisc player, VCR, satellite/cable receiver, camcorder, CCD camera, WebTV, computer, etc.).
Say, for example, the instructor plans to use a video stand to show some close-ups of a 3-D object. She simply hooks the video stand up to the Wavecom sending unit, which sends the images to the monitor. The next instructor could plug in a DVD player or even his notebook computer, and transmit video and sound to the same ceiling-mounted monitor, simply by plugging into the Wavecom.
Sounds simple? It is, and we've evaluated a unit ourselves to see if it really works as advertised. Our conclusion, after using one trouble-free for a month: Every classroom with a TV or monitor could benefit from the enhanced usability and flexibility a Wavecom Sr. brings to display technology.
RF-Link Technology, Inc.
Torrance, CA, (310) 787-2328
www.rflinktech.com
This article originally appeared in the 10/01/1999 issue of THE Journal.