The size of the multimedia lecture room is about 5 x 10 meters plus an area for the projectors and the audio/video production. There are three rear-projection panels, two 70 inch Smartboards and one 100 inch 3D projection in the middle. All three projections can be used either for PCs (that are stored underneath the screens) and laptops or (tv-like) video signals from cameras, video conferencing and others. The PCs are controlled by wireless keyboards and mice.
A H.323 video conferencing system is placed in the middle drawer. Wireless microphones can be placed wherever they are needed. Two speaker systems are located above the Smartboards.
There are four Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras: two above the screens and two at the pillars in the middle of the room, heading towards the projections. Additional cameras can be connected in the front.
Most of the audio/video equipment is located in the production area in the back of the projection. In most cases all equipment can be operated by one person. A media control system with a wireless touch panel is used to control the basic functions (e. g. turn on and off the projectors, chose the input source and setting the audio volume).
There is a video mixer for four sources that can be chosen on a patch field in the 19" rack where all signals are available. Preview monitors show the picture of each source and the mixed signal for transmission or recording. The PTZ cameras are controlled with a panel beside the video mixer.
All audio sources are controlled by a digital audio mixer. Different output signals are generated for room, transmission and recording.
In the 19" rack the following devices are installed: the receivers for 8 wireless microphones, the Y/C video patch field, a 4x4 video crossbar, an audio pre-mixer, two DV video tape recorders, a DVD player, an echo canceller, the audio amplifier and the main unit of the media control system.
Two Pentium-4-class PCs can be used for real-time encoding of A/V streams and several other purposes.
The projection screen in the middle is suitable for 3D applications. Two stacked LCD projectors with polarized filters deliver two different pictures for the left and the right eye of the user who is wearing glasses with the corresponding polarized filters.
The two Smartboards on the left and right are rear projection systems as well with the same type of projector used for 3D.
For optimized performance all projectors are used without additional mirrors. The projectors are controlled by the touchpanel of the media control system.