Use a cheapo LCD TV to mimic LCD projectors are showing.

One way to better ensure that what you see is what the audience get is to use an LCD TV as your program monitor.

Adjusting brightness and contrast…the proper way.

Brightness and contrast are among the most misunderstood controls on most monitors and projectors. Here’s a way to ensure that they are set up properly…

Configuring a computer for graphics presentation

If you have ever had a battery charge dialog box pop up, or a screensaver kick in during a presentation you will know that there are some precautionary measures you should take to set up any computer being used for live graphics display at a VLOBLIVE event… Here are some of them.

Camera positions: where to put the FOH camera?

Most IMAG gigs need at least one camera out in the audience to capture the front on shot of the artists looking at the camera and therefore making eye contact with the audience. But where to put it..

Easy way to work out how close your FOH cameras have to be..measure it!

One of the eternal questions for VLOBLIVE video is how close do the FOH cameras need to be to get good shots. The answer, of course, is …it depends..read more for details.

Problems with projector brightness

“This projector is just too bright” – not something you hear too often at VLOBLIVE gigs!

So is there anything you can do, short of shelling out more cash, to improve the problem of projected live video being too dark.

How to cope with non-optimum screen to projector distances?

You are stuck in a venue that doesn’t let you put the screen where you want to, or the projector where you want to, or both!! What to do? Here’s some ideas…

Debugging S-Video problems

There are some specific tips for debugging S-Video connections on two separate Co-ax cables (one for luminance (Y) and one for chrominance (C)). Here they are…

How big a screen do I need and how far away does the projector have to be?

There are compromises all round when it comes to screen size, but here are some guidelines…

What do I do if my camera postions turn out to be unusable?

You set up a camera position and discover that once you see the positions of people and things on stage, your main shots are being blocked. What do you do?

What is the best order to set up your equipment?

It may seem a bit trivial, but in my experience the order that you do things in can make a big difference between getting everything running for a gig in the time available or ending up running around in a panic at the last minute, or having to run a show without some vital piece of equipment.

logical fault finding – ten tips for when things go wrong

When everything works there are no worries, but when
things go wrong where do you start? When you are under pressure and the screens
are black, and everyone is looking at you, it’s tough to think straight and the
danger is you just grab stuff and start unplugging, and make things work. Here
are some possible tips.

How do I get rid of the horrible screen that flashes up when I switch inputs to my projector?

my projector puts up a big
blue(black/yellow/whatever) screen every time my switcher switches – can I stop
this happening as it looks very amateurish?

My video is too bright – what’s wrong?

Everything is connected OK, but the video is far too
bright – lighter bits of the image are totally white

My video has gone all dim – what’s wrong?

Everything is plugged in OK, and I am getting a
picture but it seems much less bright than normal