HD Image distortion when projected.

[John C]

Topic – Connecting laptop to projector using HDMI

Optoma HD600X-LV Widescreen HD Projector
HP pavilion DV7 4040SA laptop

When connected to the laptop using an HDMI cable the projected image is within the picture frame but about 4x larger than normal. Resolution adjustment makes no difference & other HDMI cables give the same result.
Correct size image is obtained when using a VGA cable.
Other links (Skybox, DVD player, Digit. camera) display at correct size using the same HDMI cable.

Quote from manufactures information -
"can play back content through DVD players and Blu-ray disc drives, games consoles and LAPTOPS - all in high definition thanks to this projector's excellent HDMI socket.""
Optoma & HP both ignored my request for help!

This query was raised at Club night recently and we are stuck for a reason. Help please.
Northern Ireland Camcorder Club.

[col lamb]

I am not surprized that you have had no response from either manufacturer

The Optima has a native resolution of 1280x800 and a max resolution of 1600x1200

The HP has a max screen resolution of 1600x900

So whatever resolution you output from the HP to the Optima via HDMI the Optima is going to process the video signal to suit

VGA is an analogue signal therefore both the HP and Optima will process the signal, hence why the resultant image is not clear

You have a compatibility issue that is probably within the Optima and they are more than likely aware of the matter and are just not bothered

Sorry cannot help more

[John C]

Thank you Col, for your interest in my problem. There are a couple of points that may not have been clear from my posting. The maximum resolution (& the native resolution) of the projector is 1280 X 720. The image with the VGA is not blurred and as good as can be expected from an analogue connection. For example, it is quite adequate for use with Powerpoint. What I had hoped to do was to use the laptop as a DVD player with the HDMI cable to project a 720 line image.
Lespiel
NICC

[col lamb]

John

I had a look at the Optima specification and it lists a max resolution of 1600x1200, it will achieve resolutions from its native up to its maximum by interpolation of the signal (re-sampling) to get the desired output.

With your Club's system it looks like its the processing circuits inside the Optima are incorrectly processing the signals from the laptop.

If you are using the latest specification of HDMI cable in the system then any projector should give a resonable output.

I have a Sony laptop with a full HD 1920x1080 resolution and when I connect it to our full HD Mitsubishi projector I get some compressing of the vertical signals, no matter what I do I cannot get it projected correctly and have assumed that it is just that the laptop is far too old.

If the projector is still under warrantee I would return it otherwise I would have a specialist repairer look at it

Whilst this next comment will not help yourselves; your difficulties should be seen as a warning to other potential buyers of projectors not to assume that everything will work OK when it is connected up at the Club....but to assume the opposite and to test out thoroughly at the dealer. This is just what we at Preston MM did, we saw it project HDMI from a Panasonic Bluray player, we took our camcorder that has HDMI output and tested that and also our MiniDV player, then we bought

[Michael Slowe]

I know that this will be of no comfort to those who raised the query but I am a strong believer in using a BD (or DVD) player to feed into a projector, rather than a laptop. All the problems with playing discs at my club seem to be when a laptop has been used. Players are so reasonable in price today and they are so easy to transpoert so why not use them? The HDMI cables cost almost as much as the player!

[TimStannard]

Quite agree Michael for a delivery format, but there are occasions when one doesn't want to be burning a BluRay.

For example, this coming Friday at Staines (may I thank you publicly for the splendid show/talk/discussion you gave us last week!), we're going to be playing around with some Chroma Key (Green/Blue screen) and we will be filming, transfering to PC, keying "live" and projecting. Clearly we will not want to be spending any of our time rendering for and burning to BluRay.

Fortunately my "budget" laptop, whilst adequate for a bit of keying, doesn't have HDMI and the VGA out has been tried and tested.

[Michael Slowe]

Tim, and may I thank publicly you and your team at Staines for your brilliant presentation of my films. Your kit is first rate and I really do believe that HD video on Blu-Ray is now approaching the picture quality of 35mm film. We overtook 16mm a couple of years ago, now we're one step further on. We don't need to go any further do we? 4K, 6K, 3D, please mum, can we stop here?

[col lamb]

Well said Michael

At Preston Movie Makers we spent £15oo of our hard earned cash reserves on a HD projector, Bluray player and an upscaling HD AV amplifier, heavens knows what changing them to 2.5/4k etc would cost

Seen a posting on the DV Dr forum about a 4k Sony TV, all $25,000 dollars worth

I did see a post somewhere where a guy had done some calculations about what projected image size you would need to go up to to see the difference between HD and 4k, cannot remember where it was but we would have to move to a bigger hall for our club meetings to be able to project and image the size he ended up with

[Dave Watterson]

Optoma HD600X-LV Widescreen HD Projector
HP pavilion DV7 4040SA laptop

When connected to the laptop using an HDMI cable the projected image is within the picture frame but about 4x larger than normal. Resolution adjustment makes no difference & other HDMI cables give the same result.
Correct size image is obtained when using a VGA cable.
Other links (Skybox, DVD player, Digit. camera) display at correct size using the same HDMI cable.

1. As other imputs appear to work correctly, we can assume there is something odd about the signal coming from the laptop.
2. Are you using the MediaSmart program to play videos? This is reported as having problems ... I have not used it.
3. Try another media player - I like the free VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html) - if that does not help, you can uninstall it easily.
4. As a last-ditch thought ... the Optoma manual suggests all sorts of settings for computer displays etc . I expect you have worked through them already, but it is worth considering,

Normally when this sort of problem arises the most likely villain is the projector's "auto" setting - I HATE THEM - they hardly ever work as you expect. But you suggest you have tried resolution adjustment.
Please keep us posted ...

Dave