Ask A Geek

Q: Our club would like to purchase a system that will allow us to have a camera trained on a person presenting a demonstration and have that demonstration projected onto a wall or screen so the entire group can observe the demonstration. We are quilters and the demonstrations would involve watching someone perform a technique of either hand or machine sewing. We would use this system about 8 times a year.

As you can guess, we are a bunch of grandmothers with about $1000 and no technical knowledge. Any suggestions as to what we should get?

Q: What is a reasonably priced television projector that is Macintosh compatible?

A: The good news is that it is difficult to find a TV projector that isn’t Mac compatible. The reason for this is because all computers, Macs and Windows based computers, use the same connections to connect to monitors, which is what a TV projector is treated as. The key would be to make sure that the Television projector has the same connection you have on your Mac or that you can get an adapter from your Mac to match what the TV projector wants. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Is it possible to hook up a dish network or any other satellite box to a HD video projector home theater system and bypass the television altogether?

Q: I am looking for a reasonably priced television projector that is Macintosh compatible. Any recommendations?

Q: How can I connect my Xbox 360 to my Mitsubishi LVP-X490U projector?

I’ve tried just plugging in the red, yellow, and white cords into the side of the projector (video-in) and the sound works but the picture does not. I do not have component options on my projector like I do on my TV. Is there a “video-in” to component adapter that I can buy or do you know of another way?

A: To get the best picture possible you will want to connect your Xbox 360 to your projector using an Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable. You should be able to find it in local stores as well if you want to get it right away.

Q: How can I connect my xbox 360 to my Mitsubishi LVP-X490U?

I’ve tried just plugging in the red, yellow, and white cords into the side of the projector (video-in) and all I get is sound but no picture. I do not have component options on my projector like I do on my tv. Is there a “video-in” to component adapter that I can buy or do you know of another way?

Q: I’ve made a projector for my computer out of a 15″ LCD panel and an overhead. I dremeled out a lot of plastic to open it up to display more of the screen but I’m still losing about half an inch.

Is there a way that I could resize the computer’s output so that it doesn’t take up all of the panel? Meaning that I want to make the actual desktop and all smaller and bring it all within the viewable area rather than losing a little of it.