Best format for projecting from HDV source?

mark-woollard wrote on 9/8/2005, 6:04 AM

I've got an HDV 1440x1080i production to show next week on a Christie LX50 LCD projector. I don't have access to the projector until the day of the show. The projector is native 1024x768, but has an "improved" scan converter to accommodate up to 1600x1200. It's rated at 5000 lumens. It has component inputs labelled as "5-BNC: RGBHV/YPbPr".

Any advice as to what would give me the sharpest image on screen?

I think my options at this point are to:

1) encode an m2t version in Vegas, then PTT and play it from my Z1 camera through component out. Which component inputs do I use on the projector?

3) encode a wmv9 file and try to get hold of an I/O Data DVD player that plays wmv9. Despite promises of "early September", JVC does not yet have them available in Canada.

2) encode a 720x480 widescreen mpg and author to DVD. Play from component outputs.

I realize one of the variables is the quality of the scan converter built into the projector. I'm assuming it is as Christie claims, "state of the art".

Any advice/experience greatly appreciated.

Comments

farss wrote on 9/8/2005, 6:42 AM

Christie are not reknown for making toys so I think you can trust their claims. Component out of camera (or deck if you can get one) and into the YPbPr inputs should be fine so long as the projector understands the color space, again I'd be surprised if it didn't have 709 as a standard setup, navigating the menus though might be something else. maybe you can get a look at the manual a bit sooner.

One other question though, where's the audio going?

If you did encode to WMV9 you could play that out of a PC and then into a DVI input on the projector, the ones I've used that weren't that new had DVI inputs. Just make certain the PC can keep up but if you go for 720 it shouldn't be a problem.

Bob.

mark-woollard wrote on 9/8/2005, 10:08 AM

Thanks for the info farss.

Just spoke with Christie US tech support. They recommended feeding the LX50 1080i through the RCA component inputs.

I'll go with that.

mark-woollard wrote on 9/14/2005, 7:48 AM

A lesson learned for me from last night's projection.

The client went with two separate screens and two LX 50s in adjoining rooms (wall divider open). The client was also using PowerPoint elements before and after my video.

That led the staging company to set up a Sony 1024 scan coverter/switcher.

That meant my HDV source video could not be fed to the projectors via component. Instead it went into the switcher Y/C and was significantly degraded in sharpness and colour.

It took some gentle last-minute arm twisting of the client and the staging company to have them agree to manually re-patch the video to bypass the switcher at the appropriate point in the program. That let me feed the projectors with HDV via component. The results to my eye were "night and day". And the audience was very engaged for the whole 40 minutes and that was with half of them standing through it all.

My lesson learned? If my name is on a piece of work and it's to be shown at an event where I have an interest in preserving as much of HDV's quality as possible, I'll be building into my production contract a minimum projector and switcher quality. In this instance, the Christie LX50 projector met my standard. But the Sony 1024 swticher did not.

Staging companies understandably have a greater interest in the glitch-free look of professional switching between computer and video sources rather than the technical quality of the video being shown so are reluctant to manually patch during an event.

I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's war stories about how your HDV work was projected.