Posted: February 22 2004 at 10:42am | IP Logged

Is anyone out there using VBX solutions in the live lecture theatre type environment to increase audience capacity by linking up multiple lecture theatres / seminar rooms / residences ?

The streaming of video data appears to be straight forward enough by establishing fiber video trunks between main lecture theatres and then perhaps via UTP to other endpoints in close proximity, and a Niagara array to web cast to off-site / residences.

However, it's the synchronisation of stuff like PowerPoint presentation slides, and more importantly, the end-of-lecture question and answer sessions which would appear to be the problem area.

Software such as Accordant Presenter Pro can be used to synchronise basic slides with streaming media, which is easy when creating on-demand content, but however, not so easy when you are trying to concentrate on giving a lecture. The only solution I can see to this with VBX is by having some sort of AV technician cutting between multiple video camera feeds and PowerPoint dataprojector  capture, and perhaps using picture-in-picture techniques to prioritise between video content and slide presentation content. Doing this in a single video feed will sacrifice video quality however. Much better would be to have two projectors at the remote end, one showing the PowerPoint presentation sychronised to the main presentation, and the other showing the video streams of the lecturer / demonstration / etc. This could be done by two video streams, however this would reduce the quality of the quality of the slides from data projector resolutions of 1280x1024 down to around video capture resolutions of 640x480.

Getting feedback to the lecturer at the end of the session is the second problem area. In the main lecture theatre, the audience can simply raise their hand, and the lecturer will see this and can respond. If you are in a remote lecture theatre, or off-site even you have no way of doing this, so so me sort of response via wireless networked PDA / laptop is required. The likes of Accordant Presenter Pro has some of this functionality by allowing the incorporation of voting buttons or "e-mail the presenter", however this could create the problem of many hundred e-mails being returned, many of which may be asking the same question. By comparison, in a normal lecture, the hands will start dropping as duplicate questions are answered. 

The scenario appears to require a closely integrated combination of streaming video and interactive video conferencing solutions.

regards

Dave 

Posted: February 27 2004 at 9:22am | IP Logged

Dave,

Allow me to summarize the issues and highlight a possible solution. First the question was asked if we have any lecture hall customers who are using the VBX to link multiple sites for participation in video lectures.

Currently, there are several customers that have an application similar to yours regarding the linking of multiple sites or classrooms for the purpose of a lecture session and some form of 2-way video communication thereafter.  One application involves a medical school that uses the VBX for lecture session overflow where they tie in additional classrooms for the video session so that all can view and participate in the lecture. The second application is a conferencing solution in Hawaii that enables a hospital to use a local conference center to provide the seating capacity required for some medical presentations. Although neither of these applications exactly mirror your design, much of the functionality is the same. 

Additionally, many customers are using the distance learning application of streaming and presenting live video to remote sites for classroom lectures.  This typically involves the use of H.320 and/or H.323 codecs calling into the codec pool at the lecture site. Video/audio is controlled/managed by VBX and any Video on Demand or streaming applications are addressed with the Niagara servers (which is also controlled by the VBX). 

With respect to the cabling, UTP would be the preferred option in a campus environment with fiber transceivers covering any gap where copper is unavailable.  (To confirm your note)

Now, the issues raised in the rest of your e-mail are concerned with (1) synchronizing Powerpoint and the speaker presenting and the other item is (2) how to address the Q&A session that follows a video lecture in an interactive format.

Regarding issue (1) you've got a good point in terms of technique to synchronize presentation content with the interactive Q&A session that follows the presentation. One alternative to this would be to use the Accordent/Niagra streaming feed to present via the VBX during the lecture. The VBX can control the Niagara server with the Accordent software and allow for a high-quality presentation during the lecture session. During this timeframe, users can chat with the presenter or participate in a vote (as you noted) This feature might be a nice add-on to quantify audience feedback on certain questions at the end of the presentation. 

To address issue (2), I would suggest that at the completion of the lecture, the speaker/AV team could use the VBX conference bridge to highlight four separate A/V sources on screen for the Q&A session. This video presentation would allow all remote audiences to see questions being asked and thus address the issue of repetitive questions that could be sent via e-mail. One nice feature of the video conference bridge is that we offer a "Video follows Voice" feature which would allow the person asking the question to pop onto the main screen for all sites to view. After the question is asked, the presenter would then respond and would become the person on screen for all to view his/her response.

Thanks for your inquiry and please continue to post any questions you have about the VBX to our forum.

Chris McCauley, VBX Product Manager