Epson Frequently Asked Questions

The following FAQs have been provided for your convenience.

If you have additional support questions, please feel free to contact Keepad Interactive Customer Support on 1800 463 279 (within Australia) or +61 7 3440 8000 or fill in our Support Email Form.

A number of important considerations need to be addressed as follows:

A. The mount will need to be a ceiling mount rather than a wall mount as the more portable range of DP’s are longer throw projectors which will need to be positioned several metres from the whiteboard to generate a sufficient sized image for viewing by the students. Due to the central positioning required for the DP being several metres back from the whiteboard, the only mounting position is from the ceiling. This will generally require a mounting plate being attached to the structural ceiling with a pole extending down to the required DP mounting height. The DP will be generally attached via a mounting plate connected to the pole. There are many brands of ceiling mounts and they come in sets that can have fixed pole lengths, adjustable pole lengths of different spans and individual meccano type applications. The mounting solutions may have cable management systems of varying standards. A word of caution with mounting solutions is that you generally get what you pay for and many cheap alternatives are just plain nasty and difficult to install often resulting in false economics or sub-standard finishes.

B. Wall Mounts are generally utilised for short throw projectors as these projectors can be mounted extremely close to the whiteboard with the mounting plate affixed to the wall above the whiteboard. This elevated and short throw distance therefore minimises the shadow effect that is experienced by longer throw projectors. Short throw projectors can be bulky (3.5 to 6.5KG) and cannot really be utilised unless mounted.

C. Ceiling mounted projectors can provide some challenges if the roof line is too high or angled like with cathedral ceilings etc. Wall mounted short throw projectors are easier to install but can hit hurdles such as glass panels or vents above whiteboards etc.

D. The issue of the portable DP is one that also needs clarification as what really constitutes a portable DP. The answer is different depending on use. For the corporate trainer that is travelling extensively including by air, the portable projector will need to have a small form factor and ideally weigh less than 1.9KG. For school classroom use, however, we would still consider a desktop DP of say 3.2KG as portable as the unit can be placed on a desk or AV trolley and the larger form factor is still easy to lift and carry. Despite the ultra-portable projectors (< 1.9 kg category) having mounting holes, I must say that I am not in favour of mounting them due to the smaller form factor and inferior cooling and air flow capacity. The portable desktop variety, however, in my opinion are fine to mount and will generally provide a better more robust solution , increased longevity and also save you dollars.

E. For whiteboard use you should also target WXGA (16:10 wide format) aspect DP’s to better match the wide screen aspect of the whiteboard. Many DP’s on the market are XGA (4:3 aspect) which is not as suitable for whiteboard use due to its squarer image. Recommended DP’s to go with the eBeam IWB would be the Epson EB-826W (Longer Throw WXGA) and the Epson EB-410W & EB-450W (Short Throw WXGA).

F. For classroom use we also recommend 3LCD DP over DLP as they offer a better compromise between text & video and colour brightness.

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You will need to connect a VGA cable plus a 3.5mm audio plug from your laptop to the DP. You will also need to connect a USB cable from your laptop to the eBeam IWB Pod unit. Please note that the eBeam IWB is USB powered and therefore does not need mains 240v power. These cables can be run from a DP and laptop sitting on a desk or an AV trolley with no installation required. However, when you want to move to a semi-permanent installation, the DP (like the EB-826W) can be installed with the DP and eBeam cabling terminating at a Wall Plate located next to the whiteboard for easy connectivity from your laptop.

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Yes, eBeam can work on any sized whiteboard. Based on whiteboards being 1200mm high, a WXGA DP will generate a large projected image or interactive workspace of 1920mm. As eBeam has an interactive reach of 2400mm, we would suggest a 2.4m whiteboard (or longer) as being ideal as eBeam can, with the “Complete” model (<$1k), run both Projection and Capture software modes simultaneously- thereby allowing annotation in digital ink (over projected image) and notes made in real ink (in surplus whiteboard space next to the eBeam unit) to be both captured via the single eBeam IWB Pod to your laptop.

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