Projecting video and loss of quality

I'm not really sure how to describe this issue, and I'm not sure how to show an example except maybe take a picture of a projection...

Sometimes when I have projected video, it looks lower quality than it does on my monitor. The best way I can describe it is that it looks "indexed" like a gif. Faces especially will mush into a blob of tan-orange instead of having the detail that they do from the same file on a video monitor.

Usually these videos are h.264, 1080. Sometimes playing from Quicktime, iTunes, or Keynote. Usually from a Mac, but sometimes from an iPod Touch or Phone. It's inconsistent with different projectors and different computers, so I'm not sure if it's the video file, settings on the computer, or settings on the projector. I've seen it happen on projectors hooked up with both HDMI and VGA cables. But it's totally inconsistent because I've projected video that looks great, too. My video codec usage and FCPX export settings tend to be fairly consistent.

Has anyone else encountered this and have any tips for getting that quality back into the projection?

We deliver projects to be projected on jumbo screens during large music events and I never have quality issues.

Maybe your compression settings are wrong? The more you compress, the more artifacts you get. These artifacts may not be visible on a computer screen (and certainly not on an iPhone), but the more you scale the video up in projection the more any artifacts will get obvious. With highly compressed H.264 you will see compression blocks in the image, blurry colors, washed out blacks etc...

If you really need H.264, then at least you should make the compression as minimal as possible. Yes, this will result in much larger files and much higher data rates. But it wil also result in a much better quality to start with, which is absolutely necessary for projection.

- Ronny

chrisfreeman804 wrote: ....Sometimes when I have projected video, it looks lower quality than it does on my monitor...Usually from a Mac, but sometimes from an iPod Touch or Phone...Faces especially will mush into a blob of tan-orange instead of having the detail that they do from the same file on a video monitor....It's inconsistent with different projectors and different computers...

The problem is all projectors are different and are likely calibrated differently. There are lots of less-expensive 720p projectors out there. The dynamic range, gamma curve and color calibration of the projector may differ greatly from your monitor. It is common in these cases to see "black crush", loss of detail, altered color, etc.

Also the playback device itself imposes additional possible constraints. I thought the iPod Touch was limited to 720p?

If the playback devices also include Windows PCs, the player and codecs installed can alter the visual appearance. I don't know about Keynote, but PowerPoint can greatly alter the appearance of imported videos.

If playing a high-quality 1080p video on random projectors at various venues, there is no easy answer. Recently my documentary team played a video we'd spent a lot of time on at a venue. We were assured the projector was new and good. We just didn't think ahead of time to double-check it ourselves. It was badly out of adjustment, blacks crushed, colors off, etc. I should have gone there ahead of time and calibrated the projector myself.

This is why LucasFilm instituted their Theater Alignment Program. They didn't want the huge artistic and technical investment in their films to be squandered on maladjusted theater systems.

Some projectors are OK or good enough that tweaking isn't worth the effort. Others are pretty bad. You never know without checking ahead of time.

Basically you want as much uniformity as possible. Use the same playback device and playback software if that's possible. Try to inspect the projector beforehand and play a test clip. If it's really messed up, assess your ability to calibrate it and see if this can be negotiated or if the venue has their own A/V support services for this. In some cases it's better to just bring your own projector.

There are various systems to calibrate projectors and displays. The ColorMunki Display is only $170 and it will do the job: www.xrite.com/colormunki-display

Without knowing much about projectors (and not knowing what king of projectors/locations/events you are showing the videos at), I was under the impression that 1080 projectors (for home/office) were still rather rare/expensive so that maybe they do a down-convertion to 720 that is less than stellar?

DmitriZigany wrote: Without knowing much about projectors (and not knowing what king of projectors/locations/events you are showing the videos at), I was under the impression that 1080 projectors (for home/office) were still rather rare/expensive so that maybe they do a down-convertion to 720 that is less than stellar?

That could be a factor, however good quality 720 is very good. Everything broadcast by ABC, Fox, ESPN and several other networks is exclusively 720p/60. I remember the ABC series "Lost" had such excellent cinematography I could not believe it was 720p.

Using venue displays -- not just projectors -- often involves image quality issues. You never know what condition or calibration they are in, and getting access to them is uncertain. Some of them have in-line video processors which cannot easily be adjusted.

Using your own laptop as a display device is a good idea because the "calibration" (if done) is really stored there not on the display itself. Therefore you aren't messing around with any of their stuff, you just need to plug your laptop into their HDMI cable. Then ideally you'd run a quick calibration on the display or projector using something like ColorMunki Display. It just takes a minute.

If they have their own laptop or other playback device, you obviously can't do this.

I think it's more likely the problems chrisfreeman804 reported are due to the venue projector or playback system, not the video file he provided.

joema is right on.
Different projectors will produce different results, anywhere from great to really lousy. Many projectors are still 4x3 or do a very poor job of 16x9.
If you can, buy your own, the best quality you can, highest lumens, highest resolution/contrast, etc… and then use the same computer or source for the files. It could be Blu-Ray disk even. Even the screen plays a part.
That is the ONLY way to control the viewing.

Best of Luck, Greg

joema wrote: I thought the iPod Touch was limited to 720p?

Ipod Touch outputs 1080 video, at least the 6th gen version I have. I think the 5th gen did as well. BTW, I recommend it as a very portable media player! Just adjust all the settings and turn on the restrictions so the screen doesn't respond to touch because if you touch it or it gets a notification or the screen goes to sleep, it will stop video playback.


In the music world, there is such a thing as "mastering for vinyl" where they anticipate the limitations of the final medium when mixing and EQing, is there an equivalent for video production? Should I not push the whites as hard or not saturate as much or something when I expect the video will be projected?

all projectors I've seen in my business life were crap.

and 90% were set in some way wrong: fullHD devices set to VGA, red chanel missing due to broken cable, dirty lense, 4:3, out of focus (me standing on a conference table, ceiling mounted device, others: "oh, how did you know that??") .... arrghgh :woohoo: .

Only quality I've seen are those 'show' devices, for shows, keynotes, exhibitions, projectors plain breathtaking. btw: what are the ones Apples uses in its keynotes ?


If you use a diff. player software than QT, e.g. clunky VLC, you can adjust 'live' saturation, gamma, etc ... to some degree.