Playing live video from camcorder through computer to digital projector

[StevieBlunder]

Hello forum members -

I have zero video experience, and have a question that may be really dumb but I have tried Googling for answers and found nothing of any real value.

My situation:

I give presentations. Some of the props I use are very small, so for audiences of over 200 I would like to show them the items via a Canon ZR900 connected via FireWire to my MacBookPro, which would be connected via DVI-to-VGA converter to a digital projector.

I have yet to actually do this, having just recently purchased a video camera, but using both iMovie and iChat, I have found the quality of the image output is not very good - this to a Dell 2007WFP monitor set at 1680 x 1050.

Is this a function of this (low-end) camera or should I be using some kind of software that makes for a better picture output?

Any advice and/or thoughts much appreciated.

Steve

[SingSing]

The easiest and best setup for you is hook the camcorder s-video output to the projector s-video in, and the laptop VGA out into the projector VGA-in.

Use remote to select what you want to play and show.

[StevieBlunder]

Thanks SingSing but how does this make the picture quality better than running the output through my dvi-to-vga adapter to the digital projector, along with my Keynote (PowerPoint) and QuickTime movies?

Cheers,

Steve

[rumplestiltskin]

Connecting directly from the camcorder will play the movies but, if you want to improve the quality, transcode the DV into H264 or even just "plain old" mpeg4. This is much more efficient than trying to pump out all the bandwidth coming in from the camcorder. Remember that your output will be whatever your projector is capable of displaying so don't worry about that Dell's 1680x1050; more than likely it's hitting the projector at 1024x768. What's your camcorder? 640x480, right? So concentrate of the quality of the footage (in terms of transcoding) because you're bringing over far fewer pixels than the projector is capable of displaying anyway.

[StevieBlunder]

Thanks rumplestiltskin - you are right on about the resolution - no need to worry about that.

I think there is some confusion as to what I am doing. I am not playing back already recorded material, I am "playing through" live images to a digital projector.

I guess the way I am doing it now is the only way to go, short of buying an HD videocam...

Cheers,

Steve

[rumplestiltskin]

Steve,

If you use QT Player or BabyaTV, you should be able to set the playback config to maximize the quality. Check what it looks like using the various checkboxes (de/interlace, others) until you get something reasonable. Remember that you've got 640x480 so, if you can set the resolution on the projector accordingly, you should see better results.

Good luck!

[StevieBlunder]

Thanks rumplestiltskin - I have downloaded BabyaTV and will compare its output to iMovie, iChat and QTPro.

Steve