Posted by Steve Guidry on 04/10/06 15:44

Scan converters are one area where you get what you pay for.

The best "pretty good" scan converter around is the Scan-Do Pro, which sells
for about $300 used on eBay. Some of the Extron units are pretty good as
well.

Anything by TV-One or AverMedia is crap.

That's my opinion until someone shows me different . . .

Steve


"Kaveh" <kaveh@delete_this.river-valley.com> wrote in message
news:1hd7j1g.1rqqdp23piwy0N%kaveh@delete_this.river-valley.com...
> 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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