Need Help Calibrating a Projector on a PC

Greetings everyone, this is my first post at these forums.

A while ago I came across an old Canon LV-7320 (stats here Canon Site or here LV-7320) and I decided to make a home theater with a PC running MCE, since I could store my TV shows and play DVDs directly. Everything is set up nicely now, but I'm not happy with the picture. I ordered today the DVE disk from play.com but in the meantime I'm looking for some pointers related to a PC connection.

My PC has a basic Nvidia Card, and from the control panel I can tweak a lot of the video settings, but I'm not sure how to approach the balance between the settings on my video card and the settings on the projector. Do I have to tweak the output on the video card first somehow and then use the DVE disk?

Also, the image seems a bit grainy. Im running the PC at 1024x768 resolution and projecting onto a 100"(2m) white screen I bought. Is this probably related to my projector settings or the type of projector I have (it is a few years old and LCD, see stats above).

Any advice would be much appreciated. I'm new to projectors but i've read several guides and been to a few forums, and I have an idea of what is going on. However there is not much specific about calibrating a Projector hooked up to a PC, most of it assumes its connected to a DVD player. Thank you in advance!

[Stompy]

Old data projectors just generally don't show video etc. very well to be honest :\

[Gary Lightfoot]

A PC is probably the best source for a data projector as it will playback DVD and scale the image better than most standalone players. You have to use it at it's native resolution for best results though.

Use PowerDVD, WinDVD or TheaterTek for good results, and initially set the values on the software players at defaults, then use a test disk to calibrate the white and black levels, that can help with unwanted image noise. There's a sticky at the top of the forum about basic calibration that may help.

When playing back film content (movies), use 'force weave' or similar in the player. Use 'bob' or some form of deinterlacing for video content.

My first pj was a data model (no home theater models around that the time), and using an HTPC gave much better results than a normal player. I haven't gone back to a normal player since (though I was nearly tempted once but then saw the light)

Gary

[pm1961]

Hi,

Just picked up on this thread because I have a related problem with my BarcoData 3300......

In the past, I had my laptop connected to it using the RGBHV input. I vaguely remember that I had to force my graphics card back to some prehistoric setting......... the problem is, I can't remember what I did!!!!

I've spent all day faffing around with powerstrip and low resolutions and refresh rates to no avail............ I've also got a vague recollection that these older inputs like negative sync....... or have I dreamt that?

Anyway, no joy so far...... Any pointers gratefully received!

Another wierd (to me) observation...... The PJ works fine with my 2001 vintage Tosh DVD through either S-Vid or composite input. However, my Arcam DV88 through the same inputs gives a picture that moves quickly across the screen......... is that a horizontal sync issue? And why should two DVD players give such a different result? I thought a composite signal was a composite signal was a........ you get my drift.......

Thanks for your time

Very informative Gary, thanks a lot for your input

Seeing as I never expected the image quality I get on a CRT monitor, i've been quite content so far even with slightly out of tune colors. Since I wasnt too sure how much of a difference a data vs movie projector was, I decided to make due with what I had and keep costs at a minimum.

Was using Media Player Classic til now for movies, and the Media Center software to play videos. I'll try out PowerDVD and see how it goes. Do you think the graphics card makes any difference since its a cheap one? (Geforce 6800 I thnk). Seems kind of doubtful though since its only video playback not graphics accel. I can even play games on it no prob (Pro Evo is awesome on a PJ!)

I might make the upgrade to a new one in the near future but will I be able to find a good movie projector under 1000 euro? Any good budget ones you would suggest?

[Gary Lightfoot]

Hi Doob,

Media classic was a pretty reasonable player if IIRC, and it also played back some HD content quite well too. You can try the demo versions of the players I mentioned and see what you think, though I reckon they'll be pretty close performance wise. If you like to tweak, you can use Zoom Player combined with the WDVD or PDVD 'filters' and get a far more versatile player (more info in the dedicated PC forum, or HTPC forum over on avsforum).

Getting the colours right needs special equipment so is outside the average home user, but for around £200 it is possible to do it yourself.

Some graphics cards are better than others, with hardware mpg decoders built in so that video quality is very good. I think your card should be fine for normal DVD playback.

The Optoma HD72 or HD70 should be in your price range I think, and should be good for video as well as games.


Hi PM.

Is there a vga connection you can use on that particular pj? If so you may find that gives you the best image at 800 x 600 from a PC (at 60hz probably).

I'm not sure what the scrolling is being caused by unless maybe it's interference from another connection or there is a fault somewhere.

Gary