# projector alignment with screen



## Teatro de BERGEN (Sep 6, 2012)

my projector mount finally arrived. I put it together. then i proceeded to mark the base plate of the mount on the wall and then it hit me. what if i screw these in and its not aligned. then im gonna have trouble. 

need some help. on some quick easy steps on how to align parallel with the screen. its hard to tell from 10ft from the screen.

the mount has tilt up and down 25 deg and side to side 15 deg but i cant seem to figure how the mount will swivel side to side. haha.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Aren't the walls parallel to one another?


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Which projector do you have? Most come with some mechanism to adjust up/down and side/side as well. I am thinking you should be able to set the mount up, get it close, and then fine tune with the PJ unless I am missing something....


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
Welcome to HTS.
Cheers,
JJ


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## Yiannis1970 (Sep 2, 2012)

Hiend solution:

You get yourself a laser beam with an LCD display and aiming the two upper corners from where the lens is supposed to be.

Lowend solution:

Two strings of the same length attached to the same upper corners and joining to the lens forming a isosceles triangle.

You mark the point and proceed with the mounting.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

That triangle idea is a good one... Low tech, but exact results!


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## ManCave (Nov 15, 2010)

Keystone correction should correct any offset configuration you have


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## auge.dog (Feb 13, 2008)

Can you move your screen? I just threw my image up on the wall, marked the corners with a pencil, then mounted the screen accordingly.


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## KelvinS1965 (Feb 6, 2011)

ManCave said:


> Keystone correction should correct any offset configuration you have


No, Keystone correction will needlessly rob your display of resolution and create jaggies on diagonals. I would even suggest overscaning the image on the screen surround to hide any slightly trapezoidal distortion that can't be adjusted out, before using keystone. 

Anyway, there is little need for strings and laser levels either: Just zoom your projector's focus test pattern so that it doesn't quite fill the screen. Look for tapering of the image relative to the screen border. If it's smaller on one side and wedge shaped, then turn the projector towards that side slightly. Then use the lens shift to realign the image on the screen. Similar if the left and right edges aren't parallel with the screen border you need to adjust the tilt of the mount (again adjust the projector towards the smaller end of the image). Use the lens shift again to realign. 

Once you have an equal border round the test pattern to the screen border, you then just need to zoom the projector to fill the screen (slight shift may be needed, but do not adjust the tilt or angle of the mount at this point).

Of course if you don't have lens shift adjustment on the projector, then it is much more work and will require a mount that allows vertical and horizontal movement too. However, my comments regarding keystone still apply, so just overscan slightly if you have to rather than touch that control.


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## Yiannis1970 (Sep 2, 2012)

KelvinS1965 said:


> Anyway, there is little need for strings and laser levels either: Just zoom your projector's focus test pattern so that it doesn't quite fill the screen. Look for tapering of the image relative to the screen border. If it's smaller on one side and wedge shaped, then turn the projector towards that side slightly. Then use the lens shift to realign the image on the screen. Similar if the left and right edges aren't parallel with the screen border you need to adjust the tilt of the mount (again adjust the projector towards the smaller end of the image). Use the lens shift again to realign.
> 
> Once you have an equal border round the test pattern to the screen border, you then just need to zoom the projector to fill the screen (slight shift may be needed, but do not adjust the tilt or angle of the mount at this point).
> 
> Of course if you don't have lens shift adjustment on the projector, then it is much more work and will require a mount that allows vertical and horizontal movement too. However, my comments regarding keystone still apply, so just overscan slightly if you have to rather than touch that control.


Sorry to ask, but how are you going to pull all that on a ladder holding a 20 pounds projector that is turned on to throw the image on the screen?:gulp:


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## KelvinS1965 (Feb 6, 2011)

Simple, I buy a projector that has lens shift and I don't use a ceiling mount (though my new X35 will weigh approx 30 Lbs in old money or 15Kgs in new).  I appreciate it isn't going to be easy if you haven't got lens shift, but I thought that there are mounts that allow movement, then can be 'locked' once aligned properly. I just wanted to highlight why I think a flippant 'use the keystone' comment wasn't a very good idea as it will cause resolution loss and jagged diagnals even on very low settings, so it's better to get the alignment correct physically/optically rather than trying 'fix' it with electronics.


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## Yiannis1970 (Sep 2, 2012)

KelvinS1965 said:


> I just wanted to highlight why I think a flippant 'use the keystone' comment wasn't a very good idea as it will cause resolution loss and jagged diagnals even on very low settings, so it's better to get the alignment correct physically/optically rather than trying 'fix' it with electronics.


You are absolutely right on that remark!!

Keystone is just a NOT EVER touching button.


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