[Urban_Legend]

Hi everyone,

How can I hook up a projector to my G4 450Mhz? What do I need on my Mac for hook up and are projectors plug and play? Does anyone have such a set up?

 

[RicktheChemist]

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[Urban_Legend]

Bonjour RTC,

Wow fast response!

I don't have a projector yet, but I want to get one for this summer. Are there any models that you would recommend? Pros and Cons?

My video card is the stock rage 128 16MB, I want to upgrade to ATI 9000 64MB. Will that card work?

What type of connectors are usually needed?

 

[Chealion]

U_L - Think of the projector as just another monitor. In essence, that is all it is. Just plug it in, and it works. Like a monitor. A normal VGA cable is usually all you need.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions for what kind as I haven't come across a bad projector yet. (Haven't come across a heck of a lot of them either).

 

[Urban_Legend]

Chealion,

Ah ok I understand. I guess I make things seem too complicated at times......hahaha.

Thanks

 

[Macified]

The vast majority of projectors top out at 800 by 600 resolution with a few going up to 1024 by 768. Really high-end units can handle higher. Pretty much any video card will support those resolutions. Another consideration would be whether or not you need additional inputs such as a DVD player, HDTV receiver, etc. Watch the specs of any model for input options.

One specific thing you'll want to research has to do with the flicker introduced by the colour wheel in each unit. I don't know all of the details but apparently, some people are quite prone to seeing a flicker created by the colour wheel. Spend some time with each projector you are reviewing and be sure to turn from the image and watch for the flicker out of the corner of your eye. It may seem silly to worry about something you might not really notice when focussing on the image, but it can make your eyes quite tired and give you a nasty headache.

Good luck...

 

[Chealion]

Macified - Do most projector's top out at 800x600? The reason I ask is because the projector I use efaults out at 1600x1200 (at 75Hz IIRC) and its neither new or top of the line. I currently have it set to 1024x768 and it works perfectly.

 

[wonderings]

the 2 projectors we use at our church both top out at 800 x 600. I dont know if this is standard, but I do know they spent a pretty penny on them alittle over a year ago.

 

[Chealion]

Checking the manufacturer's website, our church's projector it say is supposed to top out at 1024x768 (XGA), but then why it did it work just fine at 1600x1200 when connected to an iBook (Spanning hack used).

 

[Macified]

I'm sure there are plenty of projectors that go beyond 800 by 600. It seems to me though that most product announcements get bashed because of the supposedly low resolutions supported. Also many default to 800 by 600 and work with higher resolutions but with a potentially degraded image. Similar to my iBook which looks best at 1024 by 768, can do 800 by 600 but isn't as pretty. I can't honestly say that I've followed the most recent product releases though.

The primary point of my post should be though that the Mac will work with pretty-much any projector.

 

[gordguide]

I've been doing this with projectors for quite a while at Xmas; we watch DVDs.

It worked fine with OSX 10.1's DVD player app on a G4/400 w/16MB card and still works fine with the Quicksilver.

Almost all of the projectors have a VGA input; at most you will have to buy a longer monitor (extension) cable.

Don't worry about the G4/450; just get the projector with the features/price you want.

 

[Glipt]

Tere are 3 types of projectors on the market. CRT (the big old ones), LCD, and DLP. 800x600 is fairly common. 1024x786 is less common and of course more expensive. Many will handle a higher resolution ie. 1600x1200 but actually scale it down to show at 800x600 so you have to check 'Native' resolution. CRT and LCD are succeptible to screen burn in. DLP is not. Only DLP uses the colorwheel (you can get 3 chip DLPs with no colorwheel, but they are very expensive and they actually use them in movie theatres). Some also have a DVI input for a direct digital signal path. Of course your video card also has to have this and newer generation DVD players and most likely the upcoming HDTV players also use DVI connections so you may want to look for multiple DVI inputs if you plan to use this. Hope this helps some.