Setting Up Projectors

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Setting Up Projectors

The following steps should be performed to set up projectors properly:

  1. Ensure that the projectors have equal or comparable lamp life. Replace the lamps if necessary. For projectors with solid-state laser light source, select the same brightness mode.
  2. Ensure that the projectors are fixed firmly and will not move during the calibration process.
  3. Connect the projectors to the corresponding video card outputs of the Screenberry Server with the help of video signal cables.
  4. Turn on all projectors.
  5. Using the projector’s menu, turn on Test Patterns to confirm that the projected images cover the whole surface of a target projection area (screen) and overlap sufficiently. The recommended overlap region is 5 to 15% on each side of the adjacent images. Adjust the zoom, lens shift, focus, and position of the projectors, if necessary.*

Example of the correct projections overlapping in a 4-projector dome setup

  1. Ensure that all additional correction settings on the projectors are turned off (like Auto Keystone Correction, Keystone and Geometry Corrections, unnecessary Color Corrections), and no additional functionality (like Picture-in-Picture mode, etc.) is being used. Confirm that the projector’s dynamic contrast and auto-brightness features (Auto Iris, Dynamic, Smart Eco, etc.) are turned off.
  2. Verify that all projectors are switched to the same Color Mode (sRGB, Presentation, Cinema, etc.).**
  3. To ensure that the signal is passing correctly and that the projectors are connected to the correct video card ports, use the Test Pattern option of the Calibration Wizard:
    1. Add the Calibration Wizard widget by selecting Window > Calibration Wizard from the main menu.
    2. Open the Show Test Pattern drop-down list.
    3. Select the White (No Blends) test pattern to check that the projectors are displaying images within the intended area and are overlapping correctly.
    4. Select the Focus Grid test pattern to check that all projectors are in focus.
    5. Use other test patterns available in the Show Test Pattern drop-down list to check the contrast, brightness, color, and sharpness settings of the projectors.

*Refer to your projector manufacturer’s user guide for details.
**The names of the color modes can vary depending on the projector model and manufacturer.

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