Lately, I've become the guy who shows videos at the office. Somehow, it became part of my job to set up the video projector, and prepare a laptop computer to show a video (or presentation). It sounds easy enough, but, when it's a screening for a group of people, it actually becomes just a little bit technical. This document describes some pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Back when I was younger, the job of a projectionist at a movie theater never made sense. It seemed like they just loaded the film and pressed a button. It didn't seem very hard

I was being young, judgmental, and my thinking was foolish.

The real issue isn't whether it's easy or difficult to run the projector, because it's not really that hard. The trick is doing it over and over, for a large crowd of people, and not screwing it up. Chances are, if they didn't work at their job, they'd mess it up a couple times a week, and the theater would get a bad reputation, and lose money. On the other hand, if they did a good job, the audience wouldn't notice, and they'd be enthralled by the film (if it was any good).

So, take the task kind of seriously, even if it's just for a meeting.

The most important factor to repeatable success is time. Time allows you to prepare for the event. If it's a very critical presentation, allow more like 6 hours of lead time, just to be safe. Seriously. For simpler non-critical presentations, allow around 30 minutes to set up for a short, 10-minute video.

6 hours of lead time is what you need for a critical screening. Why? Because you might discover that one piece of equipment is broken or missing, and you need to find a rental or replacement, fast. In a big city, 6 hours is enough time to fix pretty much any SNAFU.

30 minutes is what it takes to set up the equipment, get a nice image, set the sound levels, and get everything ready to go. It might even take an hour.

Yes, it sounds excessive. Any “a-v club geek” can plug the parts together, and get a focused image in under 5 minutes, it's true... but said geek can also get things perfect in 30 minutes. It's just a question of whether they care, or not. Here are my steps:

1. First, I run Windows Update, to get everything up-to-date. Then, I shut off Windows Update. That's so the computer doesn't start trying to install the updates when the video is playing. If this happens, DVDs skip, the video and audio lose synchronization, and sometimes the video will get jumpy.

2. Next, if it's a DVD, I copy it to the hard disk, and find which VOB file(s) matter. If the whole video is in one VOB file, delete the other files. If the video spans VOB files, keep all the files so a DVD-oriented player like CyberLink PowerDVD can display the video. Moving the DVD to the hard disk reduces the risk of skipping.

3. Test the file against Video LAN Client (VLC), my player of choice. Configure VLC so it'll always start playing in fullscreen mode. When it's set this way, double-clicking on the video file should bring up the player's controls, but won't start playing until you hit PLAY or the space bar. See the next section for info about how to cue up video with VLC.

   Set VLC so it gives itself a little extra CPU priority. Set the volume on VLC to the top. Then set the volume of the computer to the top, or near the top. (I believe audio engineers call this “unity”, and it refers to the sound level where there's least distortion.) Then, play the video and adjust the volume at the speakers (or the amplifier).

   Step to the back of the room to listen, then adjust the volume. You will have to boost the volume a little bit more, because bodies will soak up the sound. Don't let the sound distort. (At this point, you may get the sense that computer speakers might not be loud enough.)

   Doing audio properly is a real art, especially for crowds. When it's done right, you don't even notice it.

   By the way, if your setup has a microphone, use the Volume Control app to shut off the microphone.

4. Adjust the video. Move the projector and screen if necessary. If you are projecting onto a whiteboard, use the cleaner to remove the gray gunk on the whiteboard. Adjust the colors on the projector as best you can, so you get the greatest range. Projector colors generally aren't very good, and it's better to preserve maximum range rather than maximize brightness. (Just like the way our perceptions will “correct” the color of Van Gogh's self-portrait, they'll correct for distortions in color.)

5. If the video file is not associated with VLC, make it associated. Shift-Right-Click on the file icon, and select Open With... Then select VLC and check off the box to tell it to always open the file that way. This will help in an emergency situation where you need to restart the video.

6. Make sure all the cables basically work. Don't twist them around, but, move them a bit to see if the connections are all solid. Do this while the movie is playing, so you can tell if the audio cables are broken. If cables are broken, replace them, but if you can't do that, you may need to use a little tape to hold things together. Make sure your electrical cords are long enough and nobody will trip on them.

7. If you have an audio mixing board, set your levels and then put a piece of cloth over the board so people don't touch it.

8. If you have house lights, you may want to figure out what combination of lights turned off makes the video visible, and then label the switches so you can flip off the right ones.

9. Write instructions about how to start up the video, save as a README, and leave the window open on the computer. Open the folder that contains your video – and the folder should contain only that one video, so you don't make a mistake and click the wrong one. Set the computer's Power Options to cause the system to Suspend, but never Hibernate. Then, lock up the room and leave the setup there until the meeting starts.

Cueing up Video with Video LAN Client

For no particular reason, it's hard to cue up a video in computer video players. Most don't come with a built-in way to put up a blank screen, then transition to the video. A blank screen beats having the bright-blue Windows desktop on the screen.

One way to deal with this, in VLC, is to pause the video on a frame without much motion or a talking-head. Then, when it's time to play the video, press “p” to move to the “previous” video. This will cause the video to restart from the beginning.

What Gear Works?

The setup I'm dealing with is mostly old. The laptop's an IBM P4 mobile, around 1.6Ghz, but it has okay video output. A newer Mac generally has better video output. The portable LCD projectors I've used are a Dell, and Optoma, and an InFocus. They were all so-so in quality, but I haven't really seen any better, either. The speakers are Altec Lansings, which sound good. We also have little Harmon Kardons, which aren't that good. If I had my druthers, it would be nice to get a regular old solid state stereo and attach some decent speakers. People keep saying “Bose”. I like my old Infinitys and Polks. They all sound pretty good to me, these days.

DVD Flicks

This is a little last-minute note - there's a tool called DVD Flicks that turns videos into DVDs. I suspect this is an interface to Free dvd authoring software and Free transcoding software. It works well. You can burn computer videos to DVD, and run presentations off a DVD player.