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DMC uses InFocus LiteShow III for Network Projector Sharing

DMC uses InFocus LiteShow III for Network Projector Sharing
Ken Brey
Ken Brey
05/17/2011
3 Comments

At DMC we pride ourselves on being tech-savvy and using appropriate technology to solve common problems.  So as we moved to our new office space this month, we didn't want to be constrained by the wires that link to our new conference room projectors and wall mounted displays. 

The solution we have implemented is the InFocus LiteShow III.  We have three of these on our office network.  The LiteShow III is a small box with a wired and wireless network connections, and a VGA video output.  We have hooked up a LiteShow III to each of our conference room displays. 

Now, anyone on our network can project their laptop's screen onto any display without connecting a monitor cable.  We use the displays' HDMI input to connect with dedicated conference room PCs.

Using an external device for projector sharing has several advantages:

  • Allowing us to use less expensive projectors and wall mounted displays that don't have proprietary digital interfaces.
  • Unifying connectivity to all displays, regardless of brand or function. (Projects are the same as flat-panels)
  • Freeing us from passing video cables

The LiteShow III is the best solution that we've found, but it does have some drawbacks that we hope to see InFocus address in software upgrades or future products:

  • The native resolution of the LiteShow is 1280X800, which doesn't optimize our full 1080p displays.  We would like a 1080p version.
  • The LiteShow software always asks you when you connect to switch to 1024X768 resolution.  We wish it wouldn't ask. 
  • We have found that 1440X900 is the best computer resolution to use with a LiteShow.  It sets the LiteShow in the right aspect ratio with the minimum interpolation.

The LiteShow III can operate through wired networking, or using its wireless interface as a client or an access point.  We have found it best to connect the LiteShow to a wired infrastructure network, and use wireless other access points to connect to the network.  Unintuitively, before disabling the wireless network, it is important to set the SSID to the room name because that is what will be used to select which LiteShow on the network to connect to.

We have found that it important to configure a static IP address for the LiteShow.  While it has a DHCP client, it only seems to look for an address at startup.  After we had an extended power outage, when the liteshows booted before the DHCP server, they took a default address and never connected to DHCP.

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Comments

nobody
# nobody
We leave the SSID broadcasting for clients, and use the network segregation option to keep clients off of the company network.
We do not install the software at all, rather use the executable from the extraction (no install needed - get it from the jump drive).
The software is located on a network share and an icon was deployed to laptops via GPO to the "no-install" exe. From there you can pre-configure settings that remove some annoyances. This affects all users and is made secure by ensuring the folder system is read only.
Annoyance:: Asking for resolution adjustments.
Solution:: Edit the wps.ini file and find entry ChangeDisplay=2 and change to 1 or 0. 1:YES, change resolution 2:NO, leave resolution as is and scale

In order to do the following, I had to flash the firmware with the latest version in order to resolve a bug that prevented the running of the networked liteshow exe from the company network side from finding any liteshow's via IP address. Software also had to be downloaded to get the latest version of cv1.0.1.5

If you have multiple conference rooms and are using the company AP wireless instead of LiteShow as well as the networked liteshow executable, then you can configure the profile.ini file. Profiles are sectioned with [1], [2] etc. You add a section for each liteshow device/conference room. Our naming convention was ConfX_LiteShow3 where X is the conference room number.
[1]
ProfileName=Conf5_LiteShow3
ProfileGroup=Base
SSID=
ServerIP=x.x.x.1
UserName=ME
LoginCode=
WPAKey=
[2]
ProfileName=Conf6_LiteShow3
ProfileGroup=Base
SSID=
ServerIP=x.x.x.2
UserName=ME
LoginCode=
WPAKey=

If you have made your logincodes (code on the screen) static, then you would enter them here.

The result is that when a user runs the networked executable (where the profile.ini is), they are presented with a list of conference rooms listed in the profile.ini, making it extremely convenient for the end user (and dummy proof). Because we don't set the screencodes to static, I leave it blank in the profile.ini, and the "login process" to the liteshow device generates an error saying the logincode is incorrect. After accepting, you type the code that is randomly presented from the screen you wish to project to.

Hopes this helps somebody.
Jose Carmiol
# Jose Carmiol
How do you set up a static IP address on the liteshow 3. I can't do it.
DavMar
# DavMar
Hi, I gave our InFocus Liteshow3 a static IP so that it can be accessed on the network, but, haha, I click on the Liteshow.exe, then it tells me I have to grant it access through the firewall, so I tried the PnS token, it actually connected and showed on the projector, but only for 2 seconds, then the connection is lost. Not sure why???!! did you have the same issue?

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