Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

Previously on this blog, we looked at the best conference room TVs and best conference room projectors of 2017. But one thing we haven’t addressed yet is which is the better solution. So if you have a large empty wall in your conference room and can’t decide if you want to fill it with a TV or a projector screen, this blog should help you make up your mind.

Projectors: Pros

If your conference room is exceptionally large, a 60-inch TV just isn’t going to cut it. Even a 100-inch TV screen—pretty much the largest size that’s commercially available—may leave some people straining their eyes. This is where a projector will come in handy. Some models are capable of projecting onto a 300-inch screen without compromising the image. That’s roughly the same size as your local multiplex’s smallest screen, so even if all your end users forget their glasses at home, you’re unlikely to hear anyone complain that the screen is too small.
And if you need a large image, projectors will also save you money. A 100-inch TV comes with a price tag of $60,000. But a projector capable of filling up a 300-inch screen can be purchased for somewhere between $5000 (high end) and $27,000 (extremely high end).
Companies that use video to woo clients will find a high-end projector especially useful. A sales pitch that involves a video presentation is going to carry far more oomph on a giant screen with a 4K projector than on a TV.

Projectors: Cons

The major drawback of a projector is that the bulb has the lifespan of a fruit fly. If your end users are forgetful and leave the projector running overnight, you could be replacing that bulb fairly often. All those replacement bulbs are going to add up quickly.
Do you have a speaker system to go along with the projector? If not, you may want to get one. The built-in speakers on projectors are notoriously bad.
And if you use your display mainly for PowerPoints, a 300-inch projector screen isn’t going to make those pie charts any more visually compelling.

TVs: Pros

For smaller conference rooms, a 60-inch display is really all that you need. Most business meetings are attended by 8 people or less, and it’s difficult to imagine a scenario (apart from sales pitches) in which an 8-person meeting would require a 300-inch screen.
Since TVs have a longer lifespan than projectors, you don’t have to worry about turning them off after every meeting, which means that you can use them for digital signage. If you’re going to pay a few thousand dollars for a screen, you may as well get the most out of it, and one way to get the most out of it is to use it to display the conference room schedule, company notifications, or promotional photos/videos when meetings aren’t in session. After all, you don’t cover up your paintings with cloth when you’re not in the room, so why leave the TV off?

TVs: Cons

As stated above, good luck finding a 300-inch TV.

Conclusion

Whichever display you ultimately decide on, always remember: Your end users are going get frustrated if it takes them 5 minutes to connect their laptop to it, and if you rely on a cabinet full of cables and adapters (HDMI, VGA, mini DisplayPort, etc) to solve your connectivity issues, a 5 minute set-up time is going to be common. We recommend looking into a wireless presentation solution instead.
ADDITIONAL READING
AV System Integrators: Are They Really Necessary?
Wireless Conference Rooms Vs. Cabled Conference Rooms: Which Has the Better ROI?
Conference Room Cable Management Checklist

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

What separates conference room TVs from home theater TVs? Unlike projectors, which are explicitly marketed for both uses (super bright for conference rooms, moderately bright for home theaters), the line between a conference room TV and a home theater TV is a bit blurrier. As a general rule, if a TV works well in the home, it should also work well in the conference room. In most cases, any $700 TV from Best Buy should be more than capable of handling all of your conference room needs.

That said, some TVs work better in the conference room than others. Models intended for commercial displays/digital signage, for instance, are generally of a higher quality and come with more features than models intended for home theaters, and there’s no rule that says these models can only be used in shopping plazas or subway walls. Companies that intend to elevate their conference rooms to the next level would be well-advised to explore these models, starting with the five 4K TVs included in this list.

4K conference room TV

Samsung QM65F — QM-F Series 65″ Edge-Lit 4K UHD LED Display

Price: $5,105.99
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: 500nit
Samsung’s QM65F comes with a non-glare panel and 500nits of brightness, so even if your conference room has curtain-free windows that overlook the rising sun, it should still be theoretically possible to see the screen.
lg_65ux340c_ux340c_commercial_lite_ultra_1170396 conference room TV

 

LG 65UX340C

Price: $2,544.00
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: 400cd/m2
The LG 65UX340C has an IPS 4K panel which delivers true color from every conceivable viewing angle. If your conference room table is so large that only the people sitting in the middle will get a good head-on view of the TV, this is the 4K TV for you.

conference room TV

NEC 65″ X651UHD-2ED

Price: $5,999.00
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: 450cd/m2
The main advantage that commercial display TVs have over their home theater counterparts is that they can remain on all day, seven days a week, without overheating. By introducing one into the conference room, you can (with the aid of, say, the Ubiq Hive) use your conference room display for digital signage when meetings aren’t in session.
When you think about it, there’s really no point in having a giant black rectangle in the center of your conference room wall when you can use that space to display the meeting room schedule, promotional images of your product, or anything else that you feel would be more compelling to look at than a black screen.
conference room TV

Panasonic TH-84EF1 84”

Price: $13,923.51
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: 500cd/m2
If the above screens are too small, Panasonic will give you an extra 19 inches for more than double the price.
conference room TV
 

Sony FWD100Z9D 100″

Price: $64,199.99
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Brightness: N/A
If the 84 inch Panasonic model isn’t big enough, Sony will give you 100 inches for the price of a BMW. Companies that require a screen this size may want to look into purchasing a projector. Even if end users leave it on all night so that you have to replace the bulb every week, the cost savings will still be enormous.
ADDITIONAL READING
5 Must-Have AV Products For Your Conference Room
Wireless Screen Sharing Vs. Conference Table Cable Management
Conference Room Design: 10 Examples Worth Studying
 

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

If a time traveler from the year 2005 were to set foot in your living room, they would have a hard time figuring out your home entertainment system. Apple TV? Netflix? How are you supposed to insert the DVD into the Apple TV box when the DVD is nearly twice the size of the box? And how come this remote control only has one button on it? Has the world gone crazy?

And yet if that same time traveler were to set foot in your conference room, they would be completely at home. Although business meetings rely on pretty much the exact same technology as home entertainment (TVs, projectors, media to play on said TVs and projectors), many meeting rooms are still stuck in the Blockbuster era, relying on HDMI, VGA, and countless other cables and adapters for their presentation solution.

Things don’t have to be this way. With a wireless presentation system such as the Ubiq Hive, you can bring your conference room into the Netflix/Apple TV-era and briefly confuse any time travelers that happen to wander in.

Here are just some of the benefits:

1. Easy Set-up.

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Have you ever successfully plugged an electronic device into a wall socket such as a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer? Then you shouldn’t have any trouble setting up the Ubiq Hive. Once the device is powered on and connected to your conference room TV or projector, all you have to do is download the Ubiq app or go to present.goubiq.com and you can begin streaming right away.

2. Less Strain on IT.

internal-users-sept-9

Like E.R. doctors, IT people are always on-call in case of an emergency. If a project manager is having issues hooking up his 2008 MacBook to a projector, the first person to hear about it is usually the system admin, who is then expected to drop everything he’s doing and rush into the conference room and try to diagnose the problem.

With Ubiq, however, IT does not need to be physically present in the conference room. To monitor a presentation, all you have to do is log in to the Ubiq dashboard.

3. Increased Productivity.  Keep employees in the loop by sending notifications to your conference room displays.

Ubiq integrates with calendar tools (like Google Calendar) so teams can schedule meetings, reserve rooms, and request “hive” access. It also allows IT to post notifications and digital signage to meeting room displays in order to help teams stay organized.

4. Security.

Ubiq integrates with multiple networks so internal users stream over the corporate network and guest users stream over the guest network.

The Ubiq application ensures that internal users stream over the corporate network and guest users stream over the guest network. Since Ubiq integrates with your company’s Active Directory, internal users do not need to create their own accounts. Simply enter your Active Directory domain during installation and Ubiq will check credentials against the domain.

5. Better Looking Conference Rooms.

No conference room is complete without the Ubiq wireless presentation system.

Wires are ugly, and hiding them is difficult. Some people try to run them behind their baseboards or under their carpets, but few succeed. This is especially true if we’re dealing with multiple cables like HDMI, VGA, HDMI to VGA, DVI, and Thunderbolt (which is the bare minimum of what you’ll need to have on-hand in today’s BYOD era in lieu of a wireless solution). Hiding that many cables is like trying to hide 6% of the world’s aluminum in the Mexican desert; it’s only a matter of time before it shows up on Reddit.

Discover how Ubiq can work for your organization. Request a demo today!