smart board 800 with 60wi projector display problem

[sketch]

HI our board thinks the 60wi will not work well by itself so installed as ONLY a projector for the 800 board. The problem is now it does not fill the board ( about a 4 inch blank area only on the top) . I have tried the resolution, keystroke, moving the projector and few other things I cannot recall. The first guy at smart said no problem but he needed measurements . I was not at school. He was supposed to a video that I never received until today. It wouldn't link. Does anyone have a unique solution to the problem. I will send the measurements when I get to school but the 2nd smart guy basically said too bad. There is something about the size of the laptop and the image but does resolution not take care of that. I do recall doing another adjust on the old projectors but not sure about what it was. PLease hlep, I am so frustrated with our IT dept. I couldn't get my pen to work or work outside notebook as I am still new to this tec. Well lo and behold the magic of google and I fixed it when they were bringing over there 3 top tech guys . Oh my. So needless to say I will not trust if they say too bad so sad - which is what they're saying. please help

[TechMofo]

Forgive me if I sound like I'm stating the obvious (or if it's more complicated than it seems), but if the projector isn't filling up the screen, can't you just adjust the position of the projector?

[sketch]

We have tried that and will try again but it is tricky because no specs as they are not supposed to work together. The problem seems to be the shape being projected and the resolution is not allowing the correct one. The shape is too wide and so an unused band is left. When the three guys who came to fix finally left it was much worse than I had it. I am not capable at all in this area but have figured most things out on my own and will have to now as they said that is it. I have Smart offering some help that we will try but so far no fix. Thanks though. Any ideas are welcome.

[TechMofo]

Within the projector settings, can you not adjust either the aspect ratio, or the clock/horizontal/vertical settings to match the size of the board? Might be worth a play around with, worst-case scenario, if you cock it up, just factory reset the projector settings!

[sketch]

HI thanks again, we did go in and change the aspect ration but I am unsure of clock/vertical/horizontal settings/ how to reset the factory settings? I will try anything thanks,

[TechMofo]

Just have a look in the menu settings, there's nothing that you can do that will truly fxck it up, if you need to in the 'Menu' there's an option to 'Reset All', but you should be able to set the optimum display settings through what I previously said, PM me if you need any help

[sketch]

It was weird the vertical, horizontal setting only appeared once in the menu and when I went back to the page it would not come again. I do not know how I made it appear. I am not sure it will help, as it seems the aspect ratio is wonky even though the projector and board match. I can't recall what I had I ve seen so many number but I think it was a 16:10 native resolution but changed to try 4:3 tried all kinds. Not sure why none match up it seems the projections stays too rectangular for the board. Thanks so much

[KevinH]

You have missed the magic combination.

 

Your board is a 4:3 aspect ratio and the projector is a native 16:10

The native resolution of that projector is 1280x800 - when picking settings, you cannot exceed either number.

Put the projector aspect ratio as 4:3

Set the computer feeding it the video to 1024x768, which is the highest 4:3 resolution that will work ... The next highest 4:3 would be 1280x960, but the projector can't use it because 960>800.

 

If the source device is widescreen ... You can either attach a 4:3 monitor if it's a desktop - or put up with black bands on the sides if it's a laptop.

 

If you set the projector to 4:3, and feed it a 16:9 or 16:10 resolution input, it will still clip the image.

Edited November 28, 2016 by KevinH

[sketch]

Thanks, I will try what you said tomorrow. THe black bands you speak of will be on the laptop - right? not the screen? I could change and put a desk top up there, never thought of that. Thanks for the help. I will let you know,

[KevinH]

The bands will show on the laptop screen if it's a widescreen - had a native 4:3 projector hooked up to a widescreen HP laptop, when I set the laptop to the projector's native resolution it filled the laptop screen vertically but then obviously had leftover space horizontally.

 

My teacher was the "go with the flow" type who didn't mind (at least not enough to have a hissy with me about it) the scrunchy screen on the laptop ... but if the person who has this room is more demanding ... a desktop with a 4:3 monitor hooked into a vga splitter will get them off your case.

 

I'd start with the laptop - it should be obvious quickly that the output shape will now fit the Smartboard with a bit of projector adjustment - and once you've confirmed that 4:3 aspect ratio in projector and 1024x768 on the display settings will work, you can always swap in a desktop if you need to calm the room's occupant.

[sketch]

HI Kevin from the west side of the pond, I am the "demanding person who is in this room" lol. I really am not that demanding, just wanted my tech stuff to work like it should. That is the pen to work outside of Notebook, the pen to work at all and finally the board to be filled as it should be ( as it is in every manual shown). Well I googled and found the quick answer to the first two on this site after our tech guys were having a meeting about it (really days of consult). So sorry if teachers come across as demanding. If I did my job with as good as it gets attitude I would not be working long. Usually I find the tech people here to be so determined to find a solution. I admire and appreciate that beyond words. I realize the tech people have put two items together that do not belong together. If they chose to do that I would hope they have a solution. THey do not. I have tried all of the suggestions. The problem seems to be laptop. The laptop has the two black strips ( the scrunchy screen so I guess I am not too demanding), which I don't care either way but it does not change the projection much or at all. THe funny part is I hooked up an Ipad and it worked better but it is hard to work from the ipads and they do not have Notebook on them ( IGuess they could - have not tried) . I would like to put a dell touch screen and see what that does but I am not sure what cables are needed or if we have them. I am at my wits end as are my children as I cannot use all of the tools I would love to. The kids love the smartboard but are as demanding as I am. What can you do?

[KevinH]

I came across the wrong way with that ... sorry.

 

Did some more digging ( found manual)

http://downloads.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/support/product/interactiveprojectors/lightraise60wi2/guides/slr60wi2usersguide14feb14.pdf

 

And the news isn't good. The projector has no way to force 4:3 in the "Normal" fashion. My first reaction was - that's stupid. Then I thought on it a bit, and there's a reason - an interactive device (used as it's supposed to be) will always be trying to use the entire display, because it must be able to respond to input over the whole display area.

 

A "dumb" widescreen format projector you'd just change the aspect ratio to 4:3, the projector would just not use the outside edges of the chip, and you'd be done with it. This projector can't fathom that you want it to be dumb.

 

Your IT people have done the best they can (Overall) of pounding a square peg into a round hole by taking the widescreen display all the way out horizontally - and this leaves white space vertically.

 

The only other option - and it's hardly an option - would be to set the projector aspect ratio to "match input"

That setting (with the laptop still set to 1024x768) will make the image look worse - it will produce the same black bands. But if the projector is moved away from the board, the image gets bigger (horizontally and vertically), and you could fill the screen, with the black bands projecting onto the wall. Whether that particular flavor of ugly works, only you can answer. But if you do that, and hook up a DVD player, the edges of the image would display on the wall, not the board.

 

Bottom line, there's no good answer, the best I can give you is a kludge - widescreen projector vs 4:3 Smartboard has been done many times - but that particular projector is just too good for the job at hand.

[sketch]

Thanks, for searching. There is a lot I do not understand when I read the tech stuff. It is just too bad they did not check out these projectors use before buying a boxload of them. Now they are trying to Macgyver things. I will ask then to be on the long list to get the proper projector. They say the projector is too sensitive to be used as it was intended but did not try it in our school I think if might work as we are an old, solid settled school rather than a new shaky one. They won't try anymore with me the demanding teacher. It is awful as I am a teacher whose used tech all the time and I just want to throw it all away. I am tempted to buy my own projector. I ave bought my own document camera and other things so what is one more. Thanks for your reply. It was funny - they are calling me fussy. I am a guess, tech is amazing and should be used how it was designed to be. Thanks again. Merry Christmas.

 

I do have one question why did the image change to more closely fit ( quite well) when I used an old Ipad?

Edited December 1, 2016 by sketch

[KevinH]

And the plot thickens once again!

 

The old (original, ipad2, and the early airs) are all 1024x768 ... if the image from that is fitting, something else is going on here.

 

Please post back the exact make/model of the laptop, and the operating system being used.

 

It's not inconceivable that your laptop outputs something different to the projector than the screen ... but to provide intelligent commentary rather than posting an unhelpful essay, I need to know what gear we are both fighting with.

 

There's a huge difference between wanting the impossible (I've been asked for it) and wanting your gear to work. My SIL was a teacher in a public that had an IT budget that I would love to have what they wasted. And her support staff didn't have the horsepower to do the simple stuff. I've cobbled together the best I can with zero budget (Private parochial), so I've seen both sides of the fence a bit.

[sketch]

Hi , sorry I forgot to look as Santa letters were due and needed to be walked with the class and posted. Priorities of grade 3. I will look on Monday. THanks

 

The model number on the Ipad is MC769C/A on the "about" .I am thinking it is an Ipad 2 as the model number on the back is A1395. The laptop is a "newer" Dell but I have to look at school. It probably is at least 2 years old. Thanks again.

Edited December 3, 2016 by sketch