# Wierd Pixels on Projector



## SerraAva (Jan 10, 2008)

So I am doing a show right now, and in the morning the projector was completely fine. The room breaks for lunch and then breakouts. So we go get our lunch and come back into the room to this:


We know its the projector because the plasma and other projector working off of the same DA are both fine. We then tried sending black to it, as saw this:

Now I have been doing AV for a while and never saw something like this. The video guy is in his late 30s doing it his whole life and never saw something like this. Lucky for us, he hit the master reset on the projector and it went away and didn't come back. My question is what was it? It is a 6500 lumen DLP projector. I would like to know in case I ever see it again and the master reset doesn't work.


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## Footer (Jan 10, 2008)

Looks like an alignment problem of something, but it could have also been a bug caught in one of the inputs. I have seen something similar on LCD panels, and restarting the monitor always fixes it. Fluke?


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## cutlunch (Jan 10, 2008)

Could be intereference from somewhere. Check for power leads etc to have been moved over the video lead to the projector. This may have thrown it out of sync. Also the projector might be overheating, when were the filters last cleaned?


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## icewolf08 (Jan 10, 2008)

It was just sad that you didn't bring it back lunch!


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## SerraAva (Jan 11, 2008)

Projector worked fine during rehearsal for 8+ hours. This happened after it was on for 4+ hours. Nothing moved from the night before either. We actually had security guards watching the room while we weren't in there, all night long. It wasn't heat, because we turned it off first, fired it up again and it still had the problem. So we turned it off again and pulled the lens looking for issues. Saw nothing wrong, popped the lens back in, fired it up, still had the problem. Thats when the lead video guy hit the master reset and it was fine, like it never happened, minus the fact he had to refocus the projector again.

Sorry footer and cutlunch, going to have to go with icewolf. I will bring it some lunch tomorrow, hope it excepts the offering, and pray that it likes what is for lunch.


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## Footer (Jan 11, 2008)

charcoaldabs said:


> You actually _eat_ during lunch breaks?
> The show I'm interning at went into tech today (now technically yesterday). Needless to say there wasn't much for me to do after the hour proceeding the call. The sound of "Channel 51 at 60" and the ever present scenic/lighting designer and director being angry/crabby/annoying put me right to sleep. I didn't feel too guilty about it.
> However, I woke up for those equity mandated breaks in order to do work on some of the notes, and I worked through lunch. First day I clocked out at my official end time rather than when the work was done.



Yell "COFFEE!" in most houses and you will see people drop everything and leave the place faster then you have seen them move all day long. Its even better if you tell a down rigger that after you get this point set we'll all take coffee.... 20 seconds later he is done... always. Take your lunch/dinner, always, otherwise you will regret it. The show will be there when you come back, I swear. 

Also, projectors like tuna, I don't know why. Try it.


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## huxley (Jan 11, 2008)

Try to consult the expert and professional technician to have good performance of your projector. It would be better for you.


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## SerraAva (Jan 11, 2008)

Welcome to Corporate AV charcoaldabs. I get dinner, lunch, breakfast, breaks, etc etc. Basically, when ever the client eats, you generally get to eat as well. Once in a while we don't eat because we have to rehearse, fix something, setup/tear down something, or any combination. It's not bad, until you have to learn about all matter of things you don't want to. I know more about selling pharmaceuticals then anything else now, as well as women's heath care, and how to change 'cultures' after yesterday. 

The other big problem with it is most speakers put you to sleep, so bring so candy and a paper, because lighting, it is set and forget. It also gets very Repetitive. Theatre is more of an outlet for me then fun now. It is still fun however, otherwise I wouldn't do it. It also pays, very well.

Anyway, off the tangent. Don't think we have tuna for lunch today, so I will order room service for it. It is DLP as well, millions of mirrors may look great, but I look at like a million more things to go wrong.


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## derekleffew (Jan 11, 2008)

SerraAva said:


> ...Now I have been doing AV for a while and never saw something like this. The video guy is in his late 30s doing it his whole life and never saw something like this. Lucky for us, he hit the master reset on the projector and it went away and didn't come back. My question is what was it? ...


This may sound "out there" but is it particularly dry in the ballroom? Perhaps static electricity caused by all those middle-manager attendees shuffling off to lunch at the same time? I was once in a ballroom and every time I came back to the FOH riser and touched the lightboard, the static electricity would crash the console. I solved the problem by pouring a long thin puddle of water on the carpet in front of the step units.

My other thought would be EMI. Is the projector a 230V or 120V model, and is it plugged into the wall or a an A/V distro? Perhaps an ice machine or some other motor turned on during lunch? Is the projector taking an RGBHV signal or SDI line? Is a Humbucker installed inline?


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## SerraAva (Jan 11, 2008)

No dryness issues, the gig was at the Hyatt in Jersey City, right on the Hudson River over looking NYC. It was also plugged into an AV distro, dedicated 20a on the power leg dedicated for video. No hummbucker, but was running through a DA. There was never any rolls, and it worked fine today like nothing had happened. The switcher was a Folsom 1604. None of the stuff used is cheap in anyway, very thick 5 wire run for video signal. Just really weird, and it went away mysteriously when it was reset.


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## museav (Jan 12, 2008)

Did you charge extra for the "special video effects"?


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## SerraAva (Jan 13, 2008)

The client wasn't happy to say the least when they saw it. They immediately started racing around calling house AV to see if they had one. I mean what house AV crew doesn't have a 6500 lumen DLP projector? Nope, the best they had was a 5000 lumen LCD. So we told the client, if we had to, we would bring another up from the shop. But in the end, all was well, and the client never mentioned it again, despite us joking about it the rest of the day and all day Friday.


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## DarSax (Jan 13, 2008)

I'd bring it to the NSA or CIA, see if they have anything to say about it. If it's a message from Zormax the Destroyer, maybe you'll get a brand new house and a new identity in a brand new country!


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## kwotipka (Jan 18, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> This may sound "out there" but is it particularly dry in the ballroom? Perhaps static electricity caused by all those middle-manager attendees shuffling off to lunch at the same time? I was once in a ballroom and every time I came back to the FOH riser and touched the lightboard, the static electricity would crash the console. I solved the problem by pouring a long thin puddle of water on the carpet in front of the step units.
> My other thought would be EMI. Is the projector a 230V or 120V model, and is it plugged into the wall or a an A/V distro? Perhaps an ice machine or some other motor turned on during lunch? Is the projector taking an RGBHV signal or SDI line? Is a Humbucker installed inline?



I am going to have to go with Derek on this one. I won't go into the specifics in this thread (and I don't have on my tin foil hat) but I suspect a static surge somewhere. Those conference rooms get awfully dry and I have had some weirdness with static in video. Kinda like when the cards in the 1604 get a little loose from road time.

Static would also explain why it didn't go away when you power cycled it. I am guessing that you used the power button on the control panel and didn't turn off the mains switch (or unplug it from the wall). Most of the electronics stay hot in those units the Power "button" just basically cycles off the lamp. That would explain the clearing of the problem when you did a master reset. It cleared the frame buffer for the DLP as well.

It's always good though when a good old fashion reset will fix the problem. Now about that **** joystick on the barco console...

kw


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## SerraAva (Jan 18, 2008)

Yea, that thing is crap. Fortunately for me, I play with my console and thats it. I still doubt it was static. Was right on the river, and I don't remember me or anyone getting shocked once during the 4 days we were there. Right behind the projector was the terrace over looking the city, with nothing but sliding glass doors separating it from the outside, which we opened, a lot, and were opened when the issue happened. It also wasn't the Folsum because none of the other monitors were like that, and the other projector off the same line was fine.

View was great and eating outside is always a plus in corporate av .


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## avkid (Jan 18, 2008)

SerraAva said:


> No dryness issues, the gig was at the Hyatt in Jersey City, right on the Hudson River over looking NYC.


Maybe it was all that radioactive waste in the Hudson.


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## SerraAva (Jan 18, 2008)

That's highly possible.


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## ruinexplorer (Apr 25, 2008)

This is definitely a DMD problem. If you own this projector, I'd start looking into how much it will cost to replace the DMD (or ribbon cable if it is separate). You will likely have this happen more frequently (rarely do you get this kind of issue only once). Depending on the age of the projector, it may become cheaper to replace the entire unit and use this one for parts. A little over a year ago I repaired an old Christie 12K that had been discontinued and the DMD ribbon cable alone cost well over a grand. That was just parts since I was the repair tech for my AV rental/staging company.


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## SerraAva (Jun 14, 2008)

Strange, it has now been almost 5 months since it happened, and hasn't happened again since. The projector in question has been on and off hundreds of times since then. 

If it does it again, at least I know what it is now.


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