VisorCentral.com - New Software for Presenter-to-Go

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Springboard Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10)
-- New Software for Presenter-to-Go (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=16012)

Posted by Pathdoc on 06-13-2001 02:54 AM:

I just got my Presenter-to-Go module via UPS today and have been playing with it this evening. It is really neat! I went to download the new drivers and discovered that Margi has just posted the MAC software as well as the Margi Mirror software (the software that allows you to project what is on your Visor's screen). Haven't had the chance to play with the mirror software yet. Just thought I would let everyone know.

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Posted by JRocken on 06-13-2001 06:42 AM:

Presenter-to-go not perfect

don't get me wrong! Presenter-to-go is a promising product but not perfect IMHO!
It will become perfect after...
...it supports 16bit color
...includes at least 32MB of storage space
...and allows to display your presentation either on an external projector/monitor or on the Visor screen (by some super smart adaption software for the different resolutions, of course)

just my 2 cents

Posted by Pathdoc on 06-13-2001 12:47 PM:

I do not disagree with you in terms of future developments. I think that more memory in the module is a definite need. While Margi mentions that the presentations are compressed, they must only mean simple text slides. The presentations that I played around with last night didn't compress much at all (if any)! I suspect that that was due to the large number of images in them.

The image quality was pretty good. I really didn't notice too much degradation, mostly some changes in the background I use for my presentations. The color wasn't bad.

Anyway, my reason for posting was to let folks know the software is available.

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Posted by Dave Watkins on 06-13-2001 02:10 PM:

Been using PtG for sometime. It does a fine job with PP presentations as long as you do not get too fancy. KISS is the acronym -- "keep it simple stupid".

Regarding the HandMirror software. This is a fine addition to PtG module. For those of us interested in training others to use the Palm OS programs, this makes the job much easier. No need to use the Palm emulator for this purpose any longer or other ways to project the handheld screen with using other devices.

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Posted by IkeWeb on 06-13-2001 04:16 PM:

Another perk...

Now you can play Zap2000 big screen!

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Posted by outbound on 06-13-2001 08:16 PM:

Its really more than 8bit color -

I am a very happy user of Presenter-to-go and I was initially turned off by the 8bit color thing - knowing how my screen looks at 8bit.

But then noticing that my color slides, even image containg slides came out really good, I did some thinking and realized that its not 8bit color in the windows sense - Windows distributes its 8bit color to all open applications.

Here its 8bit per slide, not for the overall presentation. So, in fact if you had 256 slides, at 256 colors/slide each you have 65k color or 16bit. Even if you have only 16 slides, you have 4196 colors or 12bit color.

Just my .02 worth,
as long as my images and colors look good enough for presentation, I don't really care anyway. More space would definitely be a big plus. Who know visors with removable memory might be in the works.
Outbound

Posted by JRocken on 06-14-2001 02:11 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Dave Watkins
Been using PtG for sometime. It does a fine job with PP presentations as long as you do not get too fancy. KISS is the acronym -- "keep it simple stupid".

please don't teach me how to present, okay? if i say that i'd prefer true color or higher in this module, then i have a good reason for it. and it is NOT to paint my slides! presentation of scientific data requires often an accurate color coding because differing colors represent data/information. any questions?

Posted by RJT on 06-19-2001 10:54 PM:

Yeah, I got one. Why rag on DAVE WATKINS? I personally didn't read anything into his response that took you to task.

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Posted by Dave Watkins on 06-19-2001 11:01 PM:

RJT, Thanks. I truly did not intend to offend anyone with my comments. Love your web site listing. Just what we all need.

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Posted by jimzarno on 06-20-2001 05:18 AM:

Power Point Presentations

Thanks for previous conversants on the PtG. Can you be more explicit about the color and compression. I will need the device on my visor for education slides, mainly brief outlines of a textbook, but color and sound and animation are important during the presentation. How many slides can I load, if they are simple with full color?

Also, can you give me some idea of the length of the hookup to the videodata projector and the mobility if any with infrared. I like to walk around a lot and would like to just carry my PDA while strolling in the first few rows of students.

And last, are there any price breaks? Any deals in the electronic market you have run across. I am not interested in losing the warranty or factoy support or whatever, but I would like to shop for a better price.

Jim

Posted by Pathdoc on 06-20-2001 01:33 PM:

Re: Power Point Presentations

quote:
Originally posted by jimzarno
Thanks for previous conversants on the PtG. Can you be more explicit about the color and compression. I will need the device on my visor for education slides, mainly brief outlines of a textbook, but color and sound and animation are important during the presentation. How many slides can I load, if they are simple with full color?

Also, can you give me some idea of the length of the hookup to the videodata projector and the mobility if any with infrared. I like to walk around a lot and would like to just carry my PDA while strolling in the first few rows of students.

And last, are there any price breaks? Any deals in the electronic market you have run across. I am not interested in losing the warranty or factoy support or whatever, but I would like to shop for a better price.

Jim

I have been playing with my PtG for about a week. With some image heavy presentations (I am a pathologist and MUST show microscopic and gross images of tissue. Simple text slides are insufficient.), I saw compression rates of 45 to 75% of the original presentation. (For example, I saw a 5.4 meg presentation shrink to 1.5 megs). Again, these were very image heavy. I did have one presentation that actually got slightly larger when processed. I am not sure why.

With regard to color, the quality was pretty good. On most of the images, nothing needed to be done. I had one where a very dark red image appeared blue. I had to adjust the balance with Photoshop and re-paste the new image into the presentation and re-process it with PTG. It looked fine. I also noted that the background I use which is graded from dark blue at the top to lighter blue at the bottom, showed bands instead of a smooth transition. This only occurred with the title page.

With regard to walking around holding your Visor. The cable is not that long (2 feet maybe?) and I would be concerned that the danger would exist that the insertion of the cable into the module could break off. I wouldn't recommend it. The remote works great and has a range of 10 feet as claimed. Since the IR port is on the side, you are limited where you can walk but those limitations depend upon how you have set everything up. You really must have line of sight with the IR port for the remote to work.

With regard to price breaks, CompUSA had an ad last weekend for $10.00 instant rebate as well as HandSpring's $30.00 off if you also buy a Visor. I don't know if that is still going on. I bought mine on eBay and got it for $163.00 plus $10.00 shipping.

Hope this help.

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Posted by flips13 on 06-22-2001 07:05 PM:

Re: Power Point Presentations

quote:
Originally posted by jimzarno
And last, are there any price breaks? Any deals in the electronic market you have run across.

Since you would use it for education, contact Margi for educational discounts if you work for an educational institution. I just got off the phone with them, and you should be able to get a 15% discount. They even offered me a 30% discount on one unit just to get me to evaluate it.

BTW - I could not find any of this information at PTG website, only via phone.

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Posted by outbound on 06-25-2001 08:10 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by JRocken

please don't teach me how to present, okay? if i say that i'd prefer true color or higher in this module, then i have a good reason for it. and it is NOT to paint my slides! presentation of scientific data requires often an accurate color coding because differing colors represent data/information. any questions?

take their tour. shows an image ( nature photo or something) in there before and after compression - quality looks virtually identical - they are both screen captures, i think. that might address your concern about image quality.

And like Pathdoc, i also had a few image-rich presentations blow up in size - i think they are still tweaking the image optimization settings. you can always talk to them - they are nice to talk to.

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