Overview

We know that when demoing the benefits of Chrome to customers it's best to deliver a demo hands on and in person. However this isn't always possible and you may have to run a demo over Google Meet (or alternative video conference tool).

Equipment you'll need:

• At least 2 Chromebooks (in addition to presentation/main device)

• HDMI input and splitter device(s) - more details below at different price points

• Some USB-C to HDMI cables

HDMI input/splitter devices

There are multiple ways to be able to present the HDMI output from a chromebook. We feel that the best demos allow you to demonstrate appropriate settings in the Admin console and then concurrently the impact these settings have on a Chromebook in real time.

Here are two options at different price points that enable you to achieve this by using at least two external Chrome devices:

Best option: Blackmagic Atem Mini (~$300)

Reference:https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/atemmini

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y5G2GNQ

The Blackmagic allows you to seamlessly connect and switch with automatic cuts/fades between up to 4 different HDMI inputs. It has an inbuilt PIP mode and requires no additional software to use natively on Chrome OS. It has a convenient USB-C webcam out port to easily plug and play into your presentation device. Here is an example of how you can configure a demo setup:

Cheaper option: HDMI Splitter + HDMI Video Capture USB Input (~$40)

Whilst this option is not as smooth as the Atem MINI operation, it still serves the same basic function. We noted with the examples we tested a ~5 second dealy between switching inputs, and the output was a little blurrier than the Atem Mini, but still perfectly clear for demo purposes.

HDMI Splitter Example (~$15)

Video Capture Card Example (~$25 - note a higher spec product may result in a clearer resolution when presenting)

Additional cables

Please remember with whichever setup you go for, you'll likely need enough USB-C to HDMI cables. Here's an example product that we used in testing (~$15).

Share a tab with USB webcam input

Instead of changing your input on Meet, we find that the best way to present your external webcam input is to share a tab directly into a Google Meet.

You can use this simple HTML example opening from your local machine into a Chrome tab. (You can also use a more advanced version with configurable logos, banners and titles here, or a forced 720p 16:9 ratio version here - useful for cheaper video cards)

Instructions

1. Download the HTML file (Direct download link)

2. Connect your external Chromebook setup to your presentation device

3. Open the HTML file in Chrome viewer

4. Allow camera (and make sure your Chrome settings are selecting the correct USB input - you may need to refresh the tab after a setting change)

5. In Google Meet, when ready to demo, select 'Present tab' and choose the WebcamPresentTab.html tab

6. You can then run your demo using your splitter/Atem MINI to switch between devices as part of your demo

Video Setup Overview