Posted by Kaveh on 04/03/06 02:11

washer <magicmomentsvid@msn.com> wrote:

> When I videotape events such as town meetings, there are power point
> presentations that are not easy to view due to too small font and/or
> too much info on one page. I thought there must be a way to make or get
> a copy of the 'power point presentation' onto video tape. I would
> continue taping the presentor's discussion and then do a 'video insert
> edit' using the taped 'video power point copy' for a much clearer power
> point screen.
> Has anyone taped this type of meeting and found a good method to
> present the power point portion onto the video recorded tape so the
> viewer could easily read what is shown?
> I'm seeing more power point presentations at meetings and less
> 'slide type projector' presentations as it was most popular in the past.

I am trying to do precisely the same thing, and now experimenting with
Scan Converters. I posted a message here a few months ago and got some
useful tips, and I have read replies to your posting too. I am
interested in talking about this offline to solve specific issues.

My aim is to record a whole conference in the way you describe. There
will be many people coming to the podium, each with their own laptop and
their own software. Although 99% of the world might use PowerPoint, some
may not. I use Keynote on the mac, and my friends use the Linux
operating system. So I need a solution that is device independent.

Another advantage of this approach is that you don't need to chase
authors for their files, in my case with a speaker coming to the podium
every half-hour or so.

So a scan converter that will catch anything that is coming out of the
computer and into the projector is the solution I am looking at. Not
being a video expert, I purchased a cs-320
(http://www.tvone.co.uk/cs-300-400.shtml) to experiment with.

It takes the VGA output from the computer and passes it onto the LCD
projector via another VGA port. Then it allows the video to be saved via
S-video or A/V. I have successfully saved via S-video onto a DV
camcorder.

As the experts here say, video resolution is limited, but the quality I
get regarding contrast and color is very good.

One problem is that as soon as the unit is switched on, the screen
resolution of the computer (Mac OS X in my case) becomes 800X600, which
is too low. I am assuming a higher spec scan converter will allow a
higher resolution. Any advice on this appreciated.

Another way of getting more resolution might be to record in HD. I
intend to video the conference using HD. I wonder if there are any scan
converters that produce HD output. Have not found it so far.

--
Kaveh

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