Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Projector

Seeking film projector for viewing recently discovered movie reels?

jeanmari — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:43:43 -0800

Is there anywhere within (or near) the city of Chicago to rent a 16mm film projector? Long story short, we bought a house six years ago from a world traveler family who were also hoarders. We're finally cleaning out the WHOLE basement (yeah, there has been that much stuff in here). I found a box of 16 mm film canisters with the film in them labeled intriguing things like "Florida, #2, 12-5-1937", "Europe, Dec 14, 1942", "The folks about 1945", "Yellowstone June 1941", "Europe re-edited 11-29-1942, 360 feet" and "Athletes - Michigan, Florida, Ohio". There are 12-15 films in here I'd like to see.

I'm dying with curiosity here. Not only because there may be pictures of our house in here (which was pretty poorly muddled over three generations by these folks) but also Europe 1942? Come ON! That is so cool.

Most of the places I've found rent to commercial businesses only or are pretty expensive. Any mom and pop shops that rent this equipment to anyone's knowledge? I'm thinking of putting together a movie night for some friends who are interested in the history of this place.

Looking at fine art without visiting the gallery

vespr1610 — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:14:45 -0800

What is the best way to view fine art without visiting the gallery? I'm studying fine art, and I need a way to look at paintings without visiting the gallery or buying expensive giclée prints. I'm not happy using a computer screen - too small, screen glare..etc - so I'm wondering what the alternatives are.

I've been thinking about buying a slide projector, apparently this is what Picasso did. I've never used one before, do they produce a good quality image? Does anyone know where I can get hold of fine art slides?

Any other ideas would be much appreciated.

Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out

icetaco — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:15:18 -0800

Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out - just over a year old, with a brand new bulb installed 6 months ago -- tech support not very helpful. Anyone have ideas, or sympathy at least? I live in LA, but it's not even hot enough to overheat the lamp yet. I am getting an amber lamp light however, and customer service says it's the lamp. But they just replaced it, and they're expensive! Warranty no longer an option. Hmmm...

How do I build a hand cranked projector?

tealeaf522 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:51:28 -0800

How do I build a hand cranked projector? I'd like to build (as easy as possible!) a hand cranked projector to show a simple 30-second film (no sound). It's for a Green project so I'm trying to use no electricity to show the film(s) and I think it would be fun if it used something like bike pedals or some such to crank away. I can't seem to find anything online like this...any suggestions?

Projector question

sarelicar — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:39:52 -0800

I don't know anything about 35mm slide projectors but I have an idea for projecting a 35mm slide image onto a wall as an artistic feature, the projection unbroken by passersby.

I believe i need the projector to be above and at a distance of no more than a foot from the wall since this is a high traffic area and i don't want people walking through the picture. Is this easier than it seems?

DVD on a really really big screen

saysthis — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:05:04 -0800

I have DVD's that I need to show on a Barco DP-1500.. How? Here's what I know:

I need DVI-D input. Most video cards/DVD players seem to have a dual-link DVI-I output, but I'm confused as hell about what variety of male connector I should be using.

Assuming we settle physical connectivity issues, I then need to convert standard DVD to...JPEG 2000? This is what I've heard, but I've also been told there may be "max resolution issues", i.e. filling only half the screen. I'd definitely like to avoid that, if I can. Is there a better format to use? And what software should we use to convert the video? Do I even need to convert, or will the hardware do that for me?

And is there anything in general that I should know about Barco projectors? Are they fussy?

This is the first time my organization (meaning 4 guys with laptops, day jobs, and a withoutabox registration) has had to deal with theater-size venues in our screenings, and this won't be the last, so whatever solution we figure out, we'd like it to be cheap, portable, and replicable without too much fussiness once we know what we're doing.

I'm googling, but any help/pointers are appreciated!

How to build a replacement bulb for my projector.

Chamunks — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:52:33 -0800

I'm looking to buy a projector off a classifieds site but the only issue is it requires a new bulb upon purchase. Besides the obvious problems that could come of this like having no way to proove that it works. I was wondering how difficult it would be to replace the lamp with some High powered LED's. Things I have come up with that could pose issues:

Will the led's have a similar disbursal pattern as the bulb, since this is probably true how much could it effect it.

I'm considering some Cree XR-E Q5's from deal extreme (since they're cheap). I dont want to have to modify things on a massive scale i just want to come up with a different kind of bulb On the cheap.

Since these leds are only about 220 or so lumens AFAIK I will probably have to build a small array and use small mirrors to focus the light?

The site that i buy from, unless theres a better suggestion, will be here. They say that one of these leds produce 1000mA: 214 ~ 228lm (Lumens).

I need to make a total lumen "quota" of 1200 lumen (approx 6 leds), while still dissipating heat properly and not having to rebuild the whole projector...

NOTE: The projector that im looking at is a used well kept Hitachi pjtx-200

Any advice suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Laptop and projector need to play together nicely.

wile e — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:02:33 -0800

Managing a projector with a laptop at a different resolution. The short: classroom training sessions with a Dell laptop hooked up to a projector is giving me some issues, looking for advice on how to rectify the situation. Windows Vista Ultimate
Dell Vostro 1400 w/ embedded Intel video card (temporary, my Nvidia motherboard blew up, long story)
2gig Ram
2.0ghz Core 2 duo
VGA output

Half of my time is spent in a classroom training on how to use a particular software. The classroom changes weekly, so cannot give specs on the projector, but all are generic classroom projectors that take a VGA input on them.

When I hook up my laptop to the projector, it takes me out of my 1440x900 default resolution, and kicks me back to 800x600. If I try to change it back to 1440x900 it refuses as the projector cannot handle the resolution, even if I have it set up to not share my desktop. I can get it to work with 1280x768, but since this is not my default resolution, it annoys me to screw up all my settings on my laptop during the session.

So my question is this: Is there a way to better manage all of this, since I spend most of my time dealing with this? Are there programs to aid in this? I have briefly looked into Displayfusion and Ultramon, but they seem to be more aimed at permanent multi monitor setups. Whereas my situation tends to only be during 9-5 every other week or so.

It just seems the management utility that is in my laptop now cannot be the best thing. I would like to have some real control over what happens, not just resolution if possible. Like I would like to share certain windows on my screen with the projector, but not all.

Well anyway, if anybody has some insight into this, I would appreciate the help.

I will be checking this throughout the day, so any info I left out, feel free to ask and I will supply the answer if I have it.

Do slide projectors still exist out there?

I_drew_an_angelfish — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:21:52 -0800

Help us find a slide projector in Minneapolis/St. Paul? My father is very very ill and tomorrow is his birthday. My siblings and I want to put together a slide show for tomorrow as most other birthday doings wouldn't be enjoyable for him in his current state. Our slide projector is in Seattle. Does anyone know of where we could buy/rent/borrow one in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area? I can't find anything and we are running out of time.
We are looking for the old 35mm (I think) slide projector. We have trays and trays of old slides.

Please help me get my new MacBook Pro projecting through the projector

bryanjbusch — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:20:24 -0800

What do I need to look for in an HDMI switch that will enable my Mini-DisplayPort video signal to reach my projector?
I've just successfully connected the Mini-DisplayPort > DVI adapter > HDMI directly to the projector. I also tested an HDCP-crippled video through iTunes, and it didn't complain to me about the display not being HDCP-enabled, so that's a load off my mind.

However, when I pass the HDMI through my extremely generic 4-port switch from Monoprice.com, I get nothing but a blank blue screen through the projector lamp. The laptop screen blinks gray for a second as if it were attempting to make a connection, but gives up.

Is it an HDMI version thing, do you think? What kind of specifics should I be looking for in a new switch?

Or is it maybe not the switch at all?

Hooking up a projector to HDMI

crapmatic — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:47:59 -0800

Audiovisual question. What will happen if I plug the HDMI output of a Sony Playstation 3 to the DVI port of this max. 1280x1024 pixel LCD projector? I would of course have a HDMI-DVI cable. Will I be able to display 720p or 1080i stuff? And if it doesn't work, are there devices out there that downsample HD so I can use the projector for pseudo-HD movies and games? I really do not want to buy an HDTV. If it matters, a PDF manual for the projector (2.2 MB) is here.

Choosing an affordable projection screen for my living room?

cortex — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:08:32 -0800

What do I need to know when choosing a wall-mounted projection screen for my living room? We're looking at upgrading our ad hoc living room theater setup from our current White Sheet Clothespinned To Drapes to something in the way of an actual screen. Looking at 84"x84" as the best fit for our setup, doing a mix of movies and console gaming.

As far as I can tell, we'd probably be fine with something as simple as a Luma or Luma 2 or Silhouette—and in fact I'm not clear what the significant difference between those is other than the styling of the hardware. The Luma at under $200 bucks is attractive as the budget choice, but is there anything I should know? Any surprises here?

The other question: surface treatment. I know ambient light might be an issue for daytime use—setting aside the use of drapes and such on our windows to minimize that, is there a good reason to drop the extra cash on a high contrast grey type surface instead of simple matte white? Or is the distinction fairly minimal in practice?

Make a MLC226IP control two projectors

sbutler — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:50:56 -0800

AVFilter: at work we're replacing some of our aging AV equipment, and we can't figure out how to hook up our projectors to the new controller panel. We bought an Extron MediaLink MLC226IP controller to replace our old controller. On the back it has an RS232 connection to control a projector. Perfect!

Problem: one of the labs has two projectors in it! Both projectors should always act in sync (turn on/off at the same time, select the same input, etc). How can I control both projectors when I only have one RS232 connection on the controller?

Ideally, there's something out there that will just mirror the controller commands to the second projector. I don't think we even need to worry about the projector responses because I'm not sure the controller is smart enough anyway. We'll just program an ON button, an OFF button, and a couple input buttons.

How to best set up 1 computer & 2 video cards for 2 screens?

lpctstr; — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:41:29 -0800

I have a computer with built-in video (GMA 3100) [1 D-sub] and also just bought a $20 video card (Radeon X1300) [1 D-sub, 1 DVI]. I'm connecting both my LCD monitor and Projector to the computer. Will I be able to use both video cards at once and show different things? Which of the two D-subs should I connect to? Which screen should get the better (DVI) connection?

Start playing nicely together guys, before I smash one of you.

Stewriffic — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 13:24:47 -0800

Please help me connect my macbook to a Dell 3200 MP projector. Should be easy, right? It's not working. I'm trying to connect my macbook to this Dell 3200MP projector for a presentation...tomorrow. All I want to do is have my coworkers watch a photo-slideshow.

FYI: I'm not extremely computer savvy, but I'm not stupid, either.

What's happening with the projector is that the mac recognizes that it's hooked up to an external display. (System profiler shows the projector as being connected.) The Dell, however, does nothing but keep "looking for signal."

I'm using a VGA/Mini DVI adapter, as the projector has a VGA. The mac connected successfully to the monitor of the guy I borrowed the adapter from (without any problem whatsoever), so I know it can work.

So far I have:

1) Turned on the projector first and then the macbook, with everything already hooked up.
2) Turned on "mirroring" in my display preferences. This was supposed to be the key, according to the troubleshooting documents I've looked at, but it didn't do anything.

Possibly important or else red herrings:
a) I'm connected via a VGA/Mini DVI dongle thingy. The projector-side connection says "M1 Signal in."
b) The projector cable that plugs into the monitor also has a USB connection, which I understand is for the remote. I don't need that.
c) I have no idea what any of the other cables on the projector do, but I don't need sound. The other plugs say "VGA out" "Video" "Audio in" and "S-video"
d) The projector works for the colleague I borrowed it from. But he has a PC laptop.

So....can you help a sister out?

Mirroring the display on an iMac running windows

hydrophonic — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:52:09 -0800

For a new iMac running Windows XP, I need to mirror/clone the display so it shows the same on the monitor and a projector. The graphics driver (for an ATI Mobiity Radeon HD 2600XT) doesn't support mirroring, but the iMac does it automatically. But the monitor and the projector have very different aspect ratios, and the same screen size gets applied to both. Is there a way to set two different screen sizes? There's nothing under the display preferences. Any third party software that would work?

Why doesn't my laptop like projectors?

robhuddles — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:27:53 -0800

What causes my laptop to freak out whenever I plug in a projector? I have a Toshiba Satellite P205-S667 laptop. It's running Windows Vista Home Premium. It uses the Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset Family graphics driver.

On several occasions, my computer has completely freaked out if I hook it up to a projector. It starts by dropping the projector signal (last night, it was happening every few minutes), and then eventually progresses to completely freezing the computer, to the point that I have to press and hold the power button to turn it off to restart.

And then things get really fun. Sometimes it will restart fine, and then work for a few minutes before freaking out again. But others, Windows will refuse to boot up at all and take me into first the Startup Restore utility, and then System Restore.

This isn't specific to a single projector or even projector brand - it happened last night while using a very old InFocus, but it also occurred once while I was using a newish Dell projector and at least once on a Samsung.

I have checked to be sure that the graphics card driver is up-to-date. I tried turning off the Vista-esque features, such as the Sidebar and Aero. I've manually reset the screen resolution to match that of the projector. Last night, I even tried resetting the Theme to Windows Classic, but nothing seems to work.

Unfortunately, running my laptop with a projector is an important part of my job, so I really need help to figure out what's causing the problem and how I might fix it.

Help me with Wii + Projector + 18 foot wall = Massive Fun

jrholt — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:34:37 -0800

Help me with Wii + Projector + 18 foot wall = Massive Fun I'm living in a huge loft this summer that has 18 foot ceilings and a massive white wall. I want to buy a Wii and a projector so that we can play Wii sports in larger than life mode. However, I don't know what I'm doing and I need help buying the right projector. That's where you come in. Tell me what kind of projector/dimensions/Wii-compatibility I'm going to need so that I can project huge images on this wall (let's say 14-15 feet vertically).

Anything else we need to do to make the Wii and projector play nice?

I promise to make a video and link it to this page once the project is complete.

Thanks!

What's your favorite video projector?

Murray M — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:18:21 -0800

What's your favorite video projector? 2 questions:

1)
Who are the gold standard companies with portable video projectors?

2)
Which specific projector do you recommend with the following needs (needed in the following order):
1) Less than $1100
2) color accurate (I will use it to display art)
3) Super bright (will be used in a gallery with windows)
4) reasonably portable (smaller is better, but doesn't have to be the smallest ever)

where to find this 40 year old power cord?

ethel — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:31:12 -0800

Where can I find this 40-some-year-old power cord? I bought a Super 8mm projector (Bolex Paillard 18-5L) on Ebay sans power cord, thinking it would be a snap to find. However, looking at the power cords for sale with the same voltage/wattage/whatever-it-is, they never seem to look like they'll fit my projector. A Bolex collector site indicates that these projectors were made in the years 1965 and 1967.

Here is a photo near where the power cord plugs in, and where it actually plugs in (there is for some reason, both "in" and "out" connecters). If anyone has any leads, specific terms to look for on ebay, online retailers specializing in this stuff, links, etc, I would be very grateful!

Solutions for LCD Projector Eye strain?

tonci — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:02:27 -0800

New LCD Projector: Feeling significant eye strain, what can I do? I'm very excited with my purchase of an Epson 720p LCD projector. I haven't gotten a screen yet, and have it projecting against a wall about 18 feet from the seating area, about 95 inches diagonal. I'm surprised to be feeling considerable eye strain and have been unable to find much guidance on the internet. The one notion I found was that projecting anything that is not it's native resolution may cause such strain. I guess I've noticed this most with the cable which is either Standard Def or High Def (1080p, I think). I have to do more testing with my upscaling DVD which should send exactly 720p to the projector. Do you have any experience or suggestions for this issue? Thanks for your help.

Presentation Podcast Capture?

Alterscape — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:34:19 -0800

How can I record video of a powerpoint/impress/etc slideshow in a format suitable for inclusion in a video podcast? Presenters use their own laptops and I have access only to a vga cable carrying the image, so screencapture tools are not a preferable option. I'm working on setting up the supporting technologies to enable my university department to podcast a lecture series. The speakers often present slides, video, etc from their own laptops using a variety of presentation tools. We provide a VGA connection to an LCD projector. I am not able to ask that they present from one of our machines because of the variety of output software they use, or install software on their machines. I would like to capture what's displayed on the projector to intercut with images of the speaker at the podium. Direct-to-disk capture is preferable to something that requires taping and later capturing the tape to disk.

We're capturing video and audio of the presenter from a production-grade DV camera direct to disk on a Powermac G5 already.

Any thoughts on hardware/software solutions to enable this?

Da da da da da da-da-da da da! Freeze Frame!

ostranenie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:02:23 -0800

Help me freeze my VGA video signal...as cheaply as possible. In a saturated market of switchers and projectors, what's the cheapest possible way to freeze a 1280x1024 24-bit color analog (RGBHV) image? How much circuitry is required for a device inline in a video feed that can toggle between "hold" or "pass" modes? I don't need it scaled, color-corrected, distorted, brightened or otherwise modified - just froze. Has anyone taken on this problem as a microcontroller project? Or is there a device that "just" freezes video?

Lots of projectors do this, but some plasma screens and LCDs don't have the feature...and I want it and I'm willing to throw money at the problem, but I thought since AskMe saved me thousands of dollars by directing me to a certain online retailer (after I asked about putting HDMI 'ends' on cheap Cat5 cable) I thought, you know, maybe...

If it's too hard to build or guaranteed to be expensive, I understand. Thanks!

Where are the comparison charts of Projectors?

niteHawk — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:21:13 -0800

Is there such a thing as a 1440x900 resolution projector? Better yet is there a nice grid for any of the manufacturers that shows that resolution, and the models it's available in? So, I am looking for a projector that'll do 1440x900 natively.
Problem is - I can't seem to find any that do that, nor do I know if it is called something else (XGA/SXGA/etc) that I am missing.
Basically I am looking for an inexpensive projector for demos and such at work, noting more that project the computer screen up on the wall...

How do I output three different images on three different projectors simultaneously using as few computers as possible?

Becko — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:20:54 -0800

I'm looking for a way to output three different images on three different projectors simultaneously using as few computers connected to them as possible. Here's the background: my boyfriend's father runs a community theatre and has asked him to figure out how to set up a system for projecting images for an upcoming play. The theater is a thrust so there would be a projector for the left, center, and right sections. There is a small booth behind the left section that houses the light and sound boards.

For whatever reason, his father would like to be able to project different media on each of the projectors, but would like to do it without having three different computers up in the small booth. As far as we can see, there isn't a way to set up a PowerPoint or a Keynote presentation for multiple displays. My boyfriend has an idea where the three projectors span one desktop and the "slides" are just really big (long) images that span the three displays. I'm not sure if it will work, however, as I can't imagine a presentation program spanning three displays.

For what its worth the theatre has a few PCs available to them, but my boyfriend would be willing to give up his iMac for the show if there is a solution for the Mac. If there is equipment that is required to make this happen, I'm fairly certain it can be purchased.

Oh, and having the setup be easy to control is also a concern as I cannot guarantee the technical aptitude of the operator for the duration of the show.