connecting projector

[BrianH]

I am seeking advice re connecting a projector to laptop.

With regard to electronic devices I have always made all connections prior to powering up in order to prevent causing damage. I have presented numerous shows and always made all connections ie vga and audio cables prior to powering up both laptop and projector. I then power on the projector first followed by laptop once the projector is up and running and all is then ready to run the show.

Unusually with regard to a forthcoming show due to it being split in two between a set of PC AV's and Mac AV's it is necessary to change projectors during a mid break in the show. My question is should the projector be powered off whilst disconnecting one laptop and connecting the second laptop or can the vga cable be disconnected and reconnected safely with the projector still powered on?Both laptops will at this stage be powered off. I do not want to cause any damage to either laptops or projector and would appreciate any advice.

I have tried googling this question but cannot find a definitive answer.

Brian

[davegee]

Whatever you decide on, or are persuaded to do, I seriously suggest that you rehearse it thoroughly before your big night.

DG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

With my set up I use HDMI not VGA, however with HDMI I connect both the porjector & LT, then I power the projector first which sets up its search action, I then power the LT & usually have a 100% success rate. I remember back in my VGA days having a situation where we had two laptops & one projector, the second laptop was to show the second part of the event. We tried a hot swap then spent the next 45 minutes trying to get the projector to show the images from the second LT, eventually I dug out a spare projector & returned to the event but by that time the situation was resolved. If I was you I would power off the first set up then connect & re-power the 2nd projector then the LT. It takes a few minutes more than a hot swap, but after my experience, that's my advice.

Yachtsman1.

[cjdnzl]

Hello Brian,

I generally run the projector at my camera club nights, and we have trouble from time to time with Mac laptops. Unlike most PC lappys, Macs can show two different images simultaneously, one on the projector and the other on the lappy screen. Very handy for notes on the laptop and images on the 'jector. But we have difficulty in getting the right images onto the projector, and often the mac owner doesn't know how to switch the screens around. More then once we have had to abandon a show on a mac for this reason.

My advice would be to set up and run the Mac shows first, in case of trouble there, as the PC shows are much easier to set up, especially if one is not familiar with macs.

In the case of PC's, have your projector on and connected to the lappy first, then powering up the laptop is correct, as the laptop will sense the projector and will set up the pixel dimensions of the 'jector automatically.

Showing the PC shows first is inviting trouble if when you switch to the mac you have problems there.

One further problem we have is that the club projector is hardware calibrated with a Colorvision Spyder, but the ICC profile is stored in the lappy's video card, so with any other laptop the projector is uncalibrated and the color rendition is anybody's guess. Ideally you should get both projectors calibrated for sRGB images, so if an author complains about the color - as some will readily do - then you are covered.

Good luck,

Colin

[Roel]

You are following the right sequence i.e. connect first, power up projector first and then laptop. Power down should be the exact reverse but not as critical; don't move the projector before the fan has stopped running and only then switch off.

Most projectors now have more than one input. As already pointed out by others, calibration will always be an issue.

My recommendation based on experience is that you use projector port in 1 for your own pc/laptop and port 2 for the 'foreign/guest' pc. Although possible, I would not connect both laptops simultaneously to the projector.

I once had an experience with a mac that caused us to reboot both the projector and our laptop to sort out the ghost image that the mac had left on the projector.

I concur therefore with the advice to do a dry run with the mac first before the big night and to set that up first if at all possible. If the programme content does not allow that, then create a tea break to do the second set up.

Good luck

Roel