Projecting Quicktime Movie from MacBook Pro

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Projecting Quicktime Movie from MacBook Pro

Posted by Daniel Raim on July 28, 2009 at 4:45 pm

I’m screening my movie for an audience of 60 tomorrow, and wondering about the quality of projecting a 720×480/24p Pro Res 422 anamorphic Quicktime movie directly from a MacBook Pro DVI output.

I assume I have to play the Quicktime movie “Full Screen”, and I’m already aware of making sure “high quality” is checked.

Here are my questions:

1) Is it better to have the projector “un-squeeze” the anamorphic movie – or should I set it to 720×404 in Quicktime’s preferences?

2) Is it better to project from a MacPro vs a MacBook Pro?

3) Is there a quality loss, or any other pitfalls one should be aware of when projecting a Quicktime movie from the desktop?

4) Is projecting a DVD better in the long run?

Thanks,

Dan

Llewelyn Roderick replied 16 years, 9 months ago 4 Members · 7 Replies
7 Replies

David Bogie
July 28, 2009 at 5:08 pm

The DVD will be safer, not better. The MPEG2 will not be as lush but it’s a bombproof display. Do the DVD first, then experiment.

If you don’t have a chance to spend a few hours on the system before you get to the venue, make several different versions of your movie using Compressor and just use the one that looks best. You should be able to test five or six in a few minutes.

You haven’t mentioned how your audio will be delivered. Be sure you have time to test the speaker connection and set the volume BEFORE you push play for the audience.

bogiesan
David Roth weiss
July 28, 2009 at 5:15 pm

[david bogie] “The DVD will be safer, not better. “

DVD from a set top player is the best solution for both audio and video.

Unless he has an I/O device such as MXO, Kona IOHD, etc. for playback from the computer, playback via DVD player will be the best and easiest solution.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Daniel Raim
July 28, 2009 at 5:28 pm

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

I’m going to proceed with the DVD option. The movie is 80 minutes and I already used Apple Compressor to encode the DVD with VBR.
5.5 Mbps Average bit rate and 7.2 Mbps Maximum bite rate seems to be the “safe bet” from what I read on these forums.

I’m actually leaving right now to test the DVD at the theater, so I won’t have time to make another DVD, although I wish I had time to make one CBR DVD and test that against the VBR.

I’m using an AIFF for audio, and not AC3. The projectionist said that he could use Dolby Logic to emulate surround sound with a Stereo file and not AC3.

That being said, does playing a DVD with AIFF pose a problem for playback with a DVD-R?

Cheers,
Dan
David Roth weiss
July 28, 2009 at 5:33 pm

[Daniel Raim] “does playing a DVD with AIFF pose a problem for playback with a DVD-R?
“

Raises the overhead necessary to playback on a set top player and increases the file size of the encoded audio, but since you didn’t push the video bitrate higher than the preset standard, you should be good to go.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
David Bogie
July 28, 2009 at 5:34 pm

I stand by my statements: DVD is safer, it’s not better. Burn the DVD first. Have some alternative files ready if you know what you’re doing and have time to play around. If there’s money riding on this, figure out how to get access to the projector now.

I can use digital cinema desktop playback to a projector simply connected to my display card. Looks freakin’ great at the native playback. Mostly. Sometimes it’s glitchy. The raw playback, even if it’s DV, always looks better than the DVDs I burn. Shoot, VHS looks better than most of my DVDs. My old SoundStix deliver fabulous audio alongside the projected image.

bogiesan
David Roth weiss
July 28, 2009 at 5:54 pm

[david bogie] “I stand by my statements: DVD is safer, it’s not better.”

Chill out Bogie… We’re not in disagreement here at all, you’re just so used to fighting with everyone all the time that you expect it from everyone. DVD is better in this case because it’s safer because it’s easier.

Now, go have yourself a margarita and a couple of beers for breakfast and get mellow.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
Llewelyn Roderick
July 28, 2009 at 9:07 pm

I’m with Bogie and David on this one.

Yes, the DVD is safest however…
If you have a projector capable of projecting more resolution than PAL/NTSC and your master is 720/1080 then you’re going to get a much more bang for your buck if you project off the MacBookPro via DVI out.

I’ve projected short films (up to 40min) via my MBPro’s DVI output into a projector. The films were Quicktime movies at 1080 resolution using H264. Beat the socks of the DVD.

For what it’s worth.

Llewelyn @ Fireworks
HD for indies post production
http://www.fireworksfilms.co.za

8Core 2.8Ghz 10GB RAM with BM Decklink HD Pro, 2TB Raid, 20″ Sony PAL SDI CRT & 19″ Sony HD SDI LCD + 4Core 3Ghz edit 2

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