Can't reproduce client's blue color balance

BrianJK wrote on 3/8/2010, 12:41 PM
I recently completed a Vegas 8.0c / DVDA project for a client who presents seminars on the road in hotel conference rooms & the like. The client uses a laptop and VLC to display the DVD. They are happy with the work when viewed on their desktop & laptop monitors but not so happy when they display it with the hotel's LCD projector. They tell me it's "very blue" and they can't adjust it out with the laptop / software / projector controls. I don't have a projector & can't reproduce the problem. But it must be a real problem because "the customer is always right" AND they had the same problem at the next hotel presentation. Has anyone encountered this kind of problem with LCD projectors ? The laptop is a common factor. Could it be the laptop VGA out? Can anyone provide an experienced guess as to how much correction to apply ?

As usual... any help would be appreciated.
Brian

Comments

farss wrote on 3/8/2010, 12:53 PM
Could be this.
Most LCD projectors have their "white" as 5400K. Probably the venue is lit with tungsten so the viewers eyes see white as more orange than what's on the screen.

Bob,
BrianJK wrote on 3/8/2010, 1:06 PM
Thanks for the speedy reply Bob. My knee jerk reaction was to re-render the video with a warmer color balance to compensate for the client's "very blue" comment. If I understand what you're telling me, that would make it worse wouldn't it?

Brian
musicvid10 wrote on 3/8/2010, 1:09 PM
The words "very blue" hint that it may be more than color balance. If the red signal isn't getting to the projector due to a bad port or cable, then that may be the problem.

Suggest they try a different laptop and vga cable before implicating the video color balance. The fact that it occurred with two different projectors would point one in this direction.
farss wrote on 3/8/2010, 1:13 PM
No that'd "fix" it.

There's possibly an adjustment in the projector which is the correct way to fix the problem or they could dim the lights more or better yet, do both. But we all know clients and no matter what it simply must be our fault :)

It's also quite likely the projectors are underpowered for showing video and/or they're dialed upto 11. That's fine for graphics and a disaster for video.

Our perception of color is rather relative. That's why in color grading suites lots of effort goes into making the white light in the room the correct white and using only neutral colors in the room.

Bob.
bsuratt wrote on 3/8/2010, 1:36 PM
I would agree with above re cables/laptop video. I would guess if the blue is that dominant that you have a bad connection. Try hooking laptop out to a video monitor using the same cable and see what you get.

Most venues I have worked in have a projector more suited to Powerpoint/computer graphics/text preentations. While many will project video OK they usually are underpowered for such input. Ambient light needs to be much lower for projected video with these projectors.

Client may need to look into renting an appropriate projector for the presentation/venue if he wants the best quality.
BrianJK wrote on 3/8/2010, 3:14 PM
Thanks to all who replied. The client needs a corrected copy by 16:00 tomorrow so I'm going to take a wild guess at warming up the color balance. Their next seminar isn't until March 25 so I'll have a little more time to find the real answer.

Thanks again
Brian
musicvid10 wrote on 3/8/2010, 3:47 PM
Better explain to them that if they're missing the red signal on their end, that your corrections won't make any difference at all.
rs170a wrote on 3/8/2010, 3:56 PM
Most venues I have worked in have a projector more suited...

Ditto on every point that bsuratt makes.
Hotel projectors are notorious for being underpowered and underserviced :-(
If your client is serious about doing the best job possible, they need to either buy their own higher output projector or look into renting a much better unit in the future.

Mike
GlennChan wrote on 3/8/2010, 8:24 PM
Not sure if this is a great solution, but you can muck around with the video overlays on the laptop to change the colors.

e.g. if it has a Nvidia graphics card, download their software. The options in the drivers lets you adjust the gain on the blue channel down.

(Normally this is dangerous and I would recommend against it.)