Slide Projector Resolutions

[allanw]

Hi

I will be doing a slideshow shortly using a Horticultural clubs projector. What resolution do I use for such a show, is it the one used by the club computer, or is it the resolution of the slide projector.

Any help appreciated

Allan

[Ed Overstreet]

Arguably your best bet is to use the projector's resolution. If that is different from your monitor resolution, then (depending on how you configured your PTE show in Project Options) your show may automatically be resized "on the fly" as it plays. If there is a big discrepancy between the two resolutions, and especially if your show contains large files, then your show might not run very smoothly as the computer struggles to keep up with the resizing demands. Visual results are always best if the computer has to downsize on the fly, rather than "upsize," so when in doubt make the show bigger rather than smaller. If the show is going to be played back on more than one projector or monitor, or if you don't know what resolution of projector will be used, your best bet is arguably to make the show at least as big as the largest current display devices (presently 1920x1080 pixels in 16:9 format or 1440x1080 in 4:3 format). Since most projectors are still 4:3 and not 16:9, I currently size my shows (and all JPGs destined for an AV show) to fit within 1440x1080, since that minimizes the amount of resizing I'd likely enounter in case of any discrepancy. Most projectors in use are either 1024x768 or 1400x1050; it's arguably better to run a 1440x1080 show on a 1024x768 projector than to run a 1024x768 show on a 1400x1050 projector, and 1440x1080 is so close to 1400x1050 as to be trivial. (You arguably might just as well size your images and show to fit 1400x1050, in fact.)

That's my two cents' worth, no doubt there are other views on this and on how much the differences really matter.

The one thing you probably don't want to do is create a 4000x3000 show and run it on a 1024x768 projector, unless you have a pretty powerful and fast computer driving the projector

[davegee]

The best approach is to use "one size fits all".

Many here (myself included) use 1080 pixels high images in a 1080 pixels high show at the aspect ratio of your choice i.e:

1920x1080 for a 16:9 show

1620x1080 for a 3:2 show

1440x1080 for a 4:3 show.

In Project Options / Screen set:

Fullscreen

Your chosen Aspect Ratio

Set the correct pixel dimensions - xxxx pixels wide by 1080 pixels high

Tick the box - Fixed Size of Slide

When the images are added to the show they will "Fit To Screen" on your monitor and any monitor up to and including 1920x1080.

They will fit to the laptop being used and also to the projector.

DG

[JRR]

Hi

I will be doing a slideshow shortly using a Horticultural clubs projector. What resolution do I use for such a show, is it the one used by the club computer, or is it the resolution of the slide projector.

Any help appreciated

Allan

Allan:

(My reply - typed while they were posting theirs !! - is in-line with Ed's and Dave's, but has a few other thoughts)

This topic has come up in the past under various guises. It always generates various answers.

You don't really want to re-do your various shows for specific resolutions of someone else's equipment. You only want to do them once.

I would opt for a image size that is on the larger size (see below). If the shows are run on projectors or monitors with smaller resolution, the shows will still run fine.

If you happen upon a projector with a larger resolution, you will still be OK.

You have the option when setting up your show of fixing the "screen" size (PROJECT OPTIONS>SCREEN>FIXED SIZE OF SLIDE) you can leave that off and your images will be enlarged to the projector's max, or you can fix it to the actual image size in which case there will be a black area left around your image. (or move the projector farther to the screen and throw the black margin off the screen )

Personally, I get overly concerned (some would say needlessly paranoid )about not having control of my image projected quality if I allow it to go larger so I fix the size. But having said that I have some older shows that I have re-compiled and allow them to be enlarged on the fly. They work fine.

Currently, I make my image resolution so as to generate an exe file that will be less than 100mb for a 6-10 minute show (less then 100mb makes it easy to transfer around, allows for excellent files of both image quality and sound. But there is nothing magical about that 100mb.)

I choose to use 1280x960 as that is the size of my monitor and allows me to meet the 100mb file size. I have over the years moved from 800x600, to 1024x768 and now 1280x960. (Obviously unlike others I am not looking at HD and going 1920x1080)

The 1280x960 is a larger resolution than my projector (1024x768), smaller than our photo club's projector (1400x1050). (My main audiences see the shows via my projector and not at my photo club)

Of course the resolution is only a partial factor of the file size for an image, the quality or compression factor plays a large part. There have been several threads on this issue as well with the feelings running from quality 5 to 8.

Me ? I tend to ignore the quality and just aim at 500kb file size. Is that rational? Maybe not, but that is what I have developed as my work flow. I could change it and likely argue for different numbers.

xxxxxxx

By the way, 1280x960 is not the standard ratio of my images from the camera, I have to crop all mine. Which can be a large pain, but I still do it for various reasons.

[Guest Yachtsman1]

I've just had a quick read of the previous replys and would suggest the following.

First, test the computer/projector combination well before the event. If it is an oldish projector as mine is, it may not auto recognise the computer & need the resolution on the computer re-setting manually to get the projector to display the images. Also check out the sound system, if you are using external speakers, again your computer will need to recognise them, this can be done in control panel, audio devices.

Re the exe file sizes, we have just had our first AV comp & I pre tested the entries and constructed a menu to run all the shows. 4 of the 6 minute or less shows were 30mb or less, one was 250 mb and would not rum smoothly on my machine, one was 100 mb & had a similar problem, but as it was constructed using AE6, I wasn't sure if it was my machine or the show. So the two large files were shown on another LT. However, on the night the 255mb show had been reduced so I don't know if it ran smooth due to the substitute LT or because it had been re-sized.

Yachtsman1

[allanw]

The best approach is to use "one size fits all".

Many here (myself included) use 1080 pixels high images in a 1080 pixels high show at the aspect ratio of your choice i.e:

1920x1080 for a 16:9 show

1620x1080 for a 3:2 show

1440x1080 for a 4:3 show.

In Project Options / Screen set:

Fullscreen

Your chosen Aspect Ratio

Set the correct pixel dimensions - xxxx pixels wide by 1080 pixels high

Tick the box - Fixed Size of Slide

When the images are added to the show they will "Fit To Screen" on your monitor and any monitor up to and including 1920x1080.

They will fit to the laptop being used and also to the projector.

DG

Thank you all for your help on this one, I note that you suggest setting the aspect ratio in project options, however, my 1024 x 683 pics (down sized from 4272 x 2848) are 3 x 2 aspect ratio, which is not a preset in the screen settings. Is there a custom setting I should make for these?

I made the mistake of starting this project without waiting for this reply, and figured 1024 would fit any monitor. Given the remarks here, I will experiment with higher resolution starter pics. My laptop is relatively old (512 mb ram), so I feel it is a compromise between resolution and getting the jitters during playback. Does my laptop screen resolution of 1280 x 800 (16 x 10 aspect ratio) have any bearing in what resolution I should use?

Any further help appreciated

Allan

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Allan

I suggest you read the advice on here http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk/projector-advice-guide.htm then if you still have a query come back on here.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1

[davegee]

Firstly, there is no "TRUE" 3:2 aspect ratio which will accurately fit a 1024 wide "box".

You would be better off using a larger "true" 3:2 image and fitting to screen (in your case 1200x800). The 3:2 preset is 15:10.

If your laptop will not handle 1080 high images without stuttering then, by all means, use 800 high but be aware that if your show is viewed on a monitor larger than 800 high interpolation will take place with the settings I suggested.

Some will argue that the degredation is not significant but you should be aware of it.

You have to decide which aspect ratio is more important - your monitor's or the projector's - there are no 16:10 projectors as far as I am aware.

Whatever your decision, a compromise is necessary.

DG

[Ed Overstreet]

Re the exe file sizes, we have just had our first AV comp & I pre tested the entries and constructed a menu to run all the shows. 4 of the 6 minute or less shows were 30mb or less, one was 250 mb and would not rum smoothly on my machine, one was 100 mb & had a similar problem, but as it was constructed using AE6, I wasn't sure if it was my machine or the show. So the two large files were shown on another LT. However, on the night the 255mb show had been reduced so I don't know if it ran smooth due to the substitute LT or because it had been re-sized.

Yachtsman1

Hi Eric. In December I coordinated our inter-club AV night here in Ottawa, and one of the entries from one of the other clubs weighed in at about 250mb initially, in spite of the fact that our rules had CLEARLY said we wouldn't accept EXE files larger than 100 mb (mainly and initially to keep the sizes small enough for free posting on YouSendIt to make it easy for the other clubs' coordinators to get the shows to me). That file ran very unsmoothly on my laptop, it was only about a 7.5 minute show. I got back to the other club's coordinator and asked him to tell the producer to re-create the show using slides downsized to 1400x1050 pixels and saved as no more than Level 8 JPGs, since I know from past experience that the only way an 8-minute (our time limit) EXE can exceed 100mb is if the producer is using generally-higher-than-Level-8 and generally-out-of-the-camera-resolution JPGs. I was right; the resubmission came back at about 85mb (there still was a lot of complex O&A layering going on) and ran smoothly both on my laptop and on the club system. So the file size definitely was the issue is that particular case (no other factor had changed).

In addition to setting a 100-mb limit on the EXE size, we strongly advise producers entering our events to keep most of their JPGs at 1400x1050 to 1024x768 in size (except for those hopefully few slides where they're doing extensive zooming and need larger-res files in a few places) and never to save the file at higher than Level 8 (larger than that doesn't make any significant difference to display quality on a 1400x1050 projector but can make a substantial difference to the JPG file size, and that adds up pretty fast in a 50-80-slide show).

Goodness knows what will happen when shows starting incorporating video clips, but we'll jump off that bridge when we get to it Or rather, my replacements will jump off that bridge, I'm not doing the coordination again, I've already "done my bit for Queen and Country" by now, I think and it's time for other volunteers to have their turn at the helm.

[davegee]

Hi Ed,

How can you possibly tell a "producer" what quality to use - that's OTT.

Resolution yes, but surely NOT quality?

DG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi quality means high file sizes which can cause problems on average computers using PTE by slamming the Ram. The 255mb show referred to above was a six minute show. On the average projector there is no need for high quality images as you can't tell the difference from 10 feet away from the screen.

Yachtsman1.

[Barry Beckham]

we strongly advise producers entering our events to keep most of their JPGs at 1400x1050 to 1024x768 in size

Why?

I appreciate this says advice and not "you will" but that would be enough for me not to bother entering. Is that advice right?