Black Box Wireless Video Presentation System
The Wireless Video Presentation System II from Black Box is a remote desktop wireless box that streams your laptop or desktop computers desktop screen for presentations, classroom and business use or remote viewing.
Ease of Use, Performance: 20/25
Look & Feel: 23/25
Features 25/25
How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 91/100
The Black Box Wireless Video Presentation System II streams your laptop or desktop computers desktop wirelessly to a projector, monitor or television capable through a VGA connection. The Wireless Presentation System connects using common wireless 802.11 B or G standards from your wireless capable laptop or desktop to a projector, monitor or television.
The Presentation System is simple to setup and uses your computers browser for initial setup using the common router type setup and the static IP address. The system comes with the Black Box Presentation System, a power adapter, antenna, USB drive token and Quick Start instruction manual.
Setup for the Wireless Presentation System II can be quite easy depending on your system, but that's what the USB drive is for, simple and easy setup if the browser setup does not work. To setup the system you plug the Black Box System into your monitor or projector using the VGA cable connection and power it up and setup your network.
If you have a wireless network already setup you might have to disconnect that connection and connect to the WPS connection that the Black Box System uses as a default setup. Once your connected to the Black Box you simply enter the IP address and code on the screen into your connection box and your desktop will be streamed live to the projector or monitor.
If you do things right, not very difficult, you should see a popup box with the correct IP address on that line and your computers user name in the user name block. All you need to do is add the code that is on the monitor or projector screen and the system should duplicate or stream your desktop to the projector or monitor.
Firewalls may try to block this connection but I never had any problem on four computers, two laptops and two desktops that I used but if you do have a problem you may have to just shut down the firewall or allow the connection. To allow the connection your firewall may just give you a popup message saying something is trying to get into your system and you need to allow it.
I am sure you can always ask tech support if you have any problems with firewalls and allowing the program but like I said I really did not have any from Microsoft's Firewall on Windows 7 and Windows XP. I tried testing Windows Firewall and two others, Trend Micro's and Kaspersky's, and the programs all allowed the connection as you are working from inside your network.
If you do have problems you can use the USB drive that has preloaded setup programs were you can just run the program named WPS.exe and it will allow you to install this program to your computer. After this simple wireless connection program is installed through your browser you will have no problem using the Wireless Presentation System connecting your laptop to your projector or monitor.
The only problem I have had in using the Wireless Presentation System and connection is the initial connection where my laptop or desktop seems to be getting confused on which system to use. The network system does work well and the only times I had to do anything for connection and setup was tell my computer which network to connect to.
Once the computer connected to the presentation system it could also connect to the internet through a router by connecting the Wireless Presentation system directly to a router. You then just connect the laptop or desktop computer to the router and presentation system through the wireless router system or the presentation system wirelessly.
I was having a little problem with setting this up and went to the Black Box website and the chat feature they have there and got pointed in the right direction by their tech support. After finding out what I wanted he told me that I just had to connect the WPS box, the Wireless Presentation System, to the router and then connect the system to the laptop and projector.
I had no problems with getting on the internet with the same laptop I was using to stream the desktop view of the laptop but if you're looking to stream video from the internet to the monitor using the presentation system you will probably be out of luck. Video that is stored on the computer your using to stream from will play just fine but will only be viewed on the monitor or projector.
The Presentation system has a video player built in that will play common video file formats such as DivX, MPG2, MPG4 and Windows Media Video formats but does not show the video on your computer. Instead it plays and streams to the projector or monitor and sound is also delivered to the presentation system and connected through the rear stereo output connection.
You will not see the video played at all on the computer your streaming from but it plays flawlessly without any pauses or problems on the monitor and television I was using for my testing. I had no problems playing a clip from Terry Fator or a high definition space shuttle launch that I have on my desktop computer with audio streamed to speakers connected to the presentation box.
I am very impressed with the Black Box Wireless Presentation System II and its use as a projector or monitor streaming system from a computer. The setup really is easy even for more complicated things like connecting to the internet and viewing live internet searching or website viewing.
I not only played videos from my hard drive I also viewed Office presentations, my sons graduation is one of the pictures for this review. I had no problems viewing a variety of slide shows, presentations, pictures from files and videos as long as the videos are on your computer.
The presentation system allows you to connect up to four computers and show them on the screen at the same time as well as having an admin monitor and control up to 254 computers. The admin is the first one who connects and sets up the system and then they are in charge of letting others join using user names and passwords.
Control as Admin is on a browser based page and has a simple list of each computer and the admin just clicks on one of the four available boxes to choose who is on the screen at the time. The system can have one to four users on the main screen, when one laptop is streaming they take up the whole screen but with two, three or four they are one quarter of the screen.
I had very little problems using the wireless system and when I did have something I needed help with Black Box quickly gave me the help free with their simple website chat system. I got the answers I needed in just a few minutes and did not even have to wait for a reply through email as they chat as well as email and call back over the phone.
Black Box tech support is available 24/7 every day of the year through either live chat or a phone call that is free, if you go to the Black Box website under support you can enter your phone number and they will call you back within 20 seconds. I really like the fact that the company offers free full time yearlong support to answer questions, help you with set up and using their products or just for questions before you buy.
The Black Box Wireless Presentation System II is a fantastic way to connect to the monitor or projector you want to use for presentations to groups, class room teaching, computer labs and so much more. The Black Box website has plenty of information and potential uses such as churches, class rooms, labs, teaching, training and more for the presentation system.
The Black Box Wireless Presentation System does cost a bit much, about $450, but is a great solution for those large groups and business settings that makes a great wireless desktop streaming solution. I highly recommend Black Box's Wireless Presentation System II for connecting your monitor or projector to any number of users up to 254 which is perfect for companies looking for streaming from a computer wirelessly.