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Projector image too dark when I use my MBP 13, but ok when I use MBP 15

Today when I connected my Macbook pro 13 to a projector the videoimage was too dark. When I later connected a Macbook Pro 15 to the same projector and with the same video source, the image was better.

I use quicktime.

Macbook Pro 13, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Apr 16, 2010 9:28 AM

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16 replies

Apr 21, 2010 11:13 PM in response to flyguy22

I gave a presentation a couple of days ago using my girlfriend's macbook 13". I used to have a 2008 MBP unibody that I used to give many talks with.

It was my impression that the 13" was much darker than I expected and the images were VERY different than the screen. I was actually looking for a new color profile to see if it would correct this issue. I am getting a new MBP and I hope to try it out with the same projector to check for differences.

Apr 23, 2010 3:00 AM in response to bruno afonso

I just had this problem yesterday. I was able to fix it by "calibrating":

System Preferences --> Displays --> Color --> Calibrate

You need to have your computer connected to the projector when you do this and to look at the image that is projected onto the screen in order to calibrate it properly. It takes a few minutes and the you save the settings so you don't have to do it again next time.

My question is "Why has this problem appeared suddenly?" I never had to calibrate before but suddenly found it necessary to do so yesterday.

Apr 24, 2010 7:16 AM in response to KirkMasden

Calibrations are stored on a per display basis. So if you never before had connected the MBP to that particular projector, it would not have had a stored setting for that projector.

And to other posters on this thread, generally it is the gamma setting within the color calibration process that will most affect the darkness/lightness of the image.

Apr 26, 2010 6:18 AM in response to BSteely

BSteely wrote:
Calibrations are stored on a per display basis. So if you never before had connected the MBP to that particular projector, it would not have had a stored setting for that projector.


The problem appeared suddenly with projectors I had used previously without problems -- three different projectors in three different classrooms.

Apr 27, 2010 5:50 AM in response to friskfisk

About one month ago, when using a university projector system that had been fine all semester, my projection image came out so dark that photos could not be seen. This happened suddenly, the same night, on two separate projector systems. I own my own projector at home, and the image is fine with that. Calibrating did not seem to help on the university system projectors. This came about, as noted, after several weeks of problem free projecting.

Apr 27, 2010 9:44 PM in response to sawiggins

sawiggins wrote:
Calibrating did not seem to help on the university system projectors. This came about, as noted, after several weeks of problem free projecting.


I thought I'd add what little I know about calibrating. BSteely wrote that "Calibrations are stored on a per display basis." Indeed,

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3712

says "Mac OS X v10.6 automatically generates a color profile for most projectors based on the capabilities of the device." However, when I actually did the calibrating myself, I was able to save a new profile each time I calibrated with a different name. Then, I could easily test each of the saved profiles with different slideshows or movies to see which one was best. For this reason, I was surprised to read Sawiggins' comment about calibrating now working. If you saved different profiles, I would think that each would look somewhat different on your classroom screen. Remember that you need to calibrate when the computer is connected to the projector and you need to look at the classroom screen to check the effects of you calibration -- not your computer screen.

May 3, 2010 8:53 AM in response to bruno afonso

Update- spent 5 minutes and was able to change gamma and other color settings so that the images were back to normal on the projector. Thanks for the suggestions!

My question- I know for a fact I didn't have this problem with this same projector and same computer before upgrading to snow leopard- did Apple screw up something with detecting projectors? Kind of annoying to adjust gamma and colors every time I connect to a new projector. Can't recall this happening in the recent past with other macs or PCs.

Jun 10, 2010 1:18 PM in response to flyguy22

I am having the same problem with my MBP 17. Like others, this has never happened before. For my work, I have to do presentations all the time; at sites all over the world. This problem is becoming embarrassing for me, and I am sure not so good for Apple either. The calibration issue is not the solution; not all projection installations can work with you to alter their brightness and contrast settings; many say 'this problem only happens with Macs'. Would be good for Apple to generate a solution soon.

Jul 12, 2010 2:02 AM in response to friskfisk

Thanks for the heads up on the color calibration.

I've got a MacBook Pro 13" and use it to give lectures at the university where I work (to avoid having to use PowerPoint and their insanely locked-down campus PCs). I discovered today to my great frustration and annoyance that the same Keynote lecture I gave last year running Leopard now has impossibly dark images on some slides. I made an aborted attempt to fix it during the lecture and had to continue with the near-black images, waving my laser pointer suggestively.

Afterwards, I could only figure out how to create and retain a new color calibration on the projector screen when I had mirroring turned on. I've now got to hunt down how to set a different color calibration for the projector and my MacBook when not mirroring, if that's even possible.

Grrr. It's been a very un-Apple like experience. It just works?

So thanks for the tips on how to patch this up but I'm still in the dark (yes, pun intended) about why I am needing to bother with this at all.

Jul 13, 2010 2:51 AM in response to friskfisk

Further to my last post, I figured out how to set the color calibration to the projector separately from the Macbook screen. It was blindingly obvious in hindsight. Clicking the "Displays preferences" when mirroring is not on opens up a separate window on each screen with the screen size and color preferences. I'm not sure how I missed that in the heat of my lecture yesterday.

Sep 21, 2010 2:37 PM in response to friskfisk

I've tried everything, from recalibrating to changing the brightness on the projector/TV in the classrooms in which I teach. I NEVER had this problem before (taught for 6 years in the same rooms with same equipment, always using my MBP or earlier PowerBook), and now all the clips I drop into Keynote to show my students are USELESS. Un-f *ing-believable. Our local techies have been round to try to help, to no avail. Choosing different pre-set calibrations doesn't work, either. I am actually contemplating using a bloody PC, or buying an older Mac, or reformatting what now has become, for me, an almost useless brick of a MBP. I may have t turn back the clock and install Tiger or something. How could this happen?

I don't even want to think about something like this happening when I go on the road to give a talk at a conference. Christ.

Sep 22, 2010 3:16 PM in response to TinyTony

Ok, I went back to one of my classrooms armed with a MacBook 13 running OS X 10.6. The picture and clips played perfectly without any adjustments on the Panasonic plasma tv. Then just for giggles I tried my MBP again, as I was poised to wipe the drive and reinstall 10.6, abandoning the updates to .3 and .4. I turned on mirroring, unchecked the box to show profiles only for this screen, and tried each one of them in turn. I hit the jackpot with the Wide Gamut RGB profile: all clips now play nicely. I have yet to try this with the projector in my other classroom, but it looks like I may not have to screw with my system after all. This has been a foul-mood-inducing experience, that's for sure.

Projector image too dark when I use my MBP 13, but ok when I use MBP 15

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