OT: Problem of Projection

Dan Sherman wrote on 12/30/2007, 12:54 PM
DVD being viewed on NTSC, CRT, LCD display.
Project is 24p/w graded with MB green pearl.
Moslty talking head interviews in limbo. Black BG.
However, the project has an entirely different look when projected.
A muddy monochrome look, not the rich texture when viewed otherwise.
Another element that may be a factor is that the house lights were left up for the viewing.
Should we offer several options on the DVD menu when projects will be presented in different ways?
Interested to hear from anyone who has encountered this problem with LCD projected images and has a solution.

Comments

RalphM wrote on 12/30/2007, 1:17 PM
What type of LCD rprojector was in use? Most lower cost projectors are optimized for graphics and don't do as well with video.

We recently rented a very nice Panasonic for a live video feed - did a great job, but the purchasae cost would have been $32,000.

Bottom line is that you are at the mercy of the venue when it comes to projectors.
Yoyodyne wrote on 12/30/2007, 6:33 PM
Flesh tones over black is going to be a pretty big challenge for any projector. Also by having the screen washed out with ambient light - man there is no way to win. The problem is of course that the grey (rear projection) or white (front projection) is your black level. Any ambient light is going to wash out the blacks..and effectively wash out your image.

Your only hope is to control the ambient light in the room (which is why theaters are very dark). Believe me I feel your pain, really all you can do is make the image look good on a monitor. When it comes to projection...RalphM is right on, your at the mercy of the projectionist.

The only way to have any influence, assuming this is even possible in your situation, is to have them do a test of the image with you and the client there. If it sucks, hopefully the client (possibly with your gentle urging) can ask the event company/projectionist/venue to tweak the image or the room till it looks as good as it can. Stuff like make sure the lighting rig isn't washing out the screen, bringing down house lights, killing those friggin ceiling downlights that are hitting the screen. Ambient light is the enemy!

Good luck - There is nothing worse than recoiling in horror at how your hard work looks when poorly projected :(
Dan Sherman wrote on 12/31/2007, 7:13 AM
Venue has those lights that take several minutes to warm up and then get back up again.
Pain..
Guess I just have to be there to oversee a preview in future.