Projecting DV Video from QLab

[Mitchla]

Hi Folks. Sadly, I know nothing about projectors and would be very grateful if I could get some help.

I'm going to be touring a program of videos and playing them out of QLab on a MacBook Pro. The videos originated as DV. So I'm going to deinterlace them and convert them to H264.

Since the DV footage is 720x480 (non-square pixels), is it better to convert the size to:

A. 720x540, interpolating the vertical dimension up? Or,
B. 640x480, throwing away some horizontal resolution?


As I understand, LCD projectors used to be all 800x600, but now they come in various higher resolutions. When you plug in a projector in some theater where no one knows the resolution, what do you set the MacBook Pro's Display resolution to for the projector? Do you just eyeball it till it looks right?

Sometimes the MacBook Pro's Display settings have refresh rates in Hz. How do you know which one to choose?

Some of my newer projects are 720p. How will they play into the smaller video/projector resolution mix? Do I need to change the projector settings for them?

I should also mention that when I deinterlace the DV movies, I'll be using a utility called JES Deinterlacer which converts the frame rate to 59.94, giving each field its own frame. The image quality is much better this way. Projectors can handle 59.94 fps?

Thanks very much for your help. Much appreciated.

Mitchell the Projector Noob

Mitchell Rose: Comedic Short Films

 

[ruinexplorer]

Indeed, there have been quite a few advancements in projection technology. You can still find 800x600, but those are low end projectors. Most home theater projectors will even exceed this these days. Internally, projectors will have the capacity to interpret the video signal and yes they can handle 59.94.

How do you intend to display the image? Are you looking to rent or purchase a projector?

 

[Mitchla]

Neither. When I take the show on tour, I'll walk into a theater and they will have whatever they'll have. I don't bring my own projector -- the theater is required to provide one or I don't take the gig. I'd imagine that some will have older 800x600s, and some will have newer high def ones.

That's why I'm inquiring about how I should prepare my video: to 720x540 or 640x480, etc.

Thanks.