Proxima Digital Overhead Projector

• Items Needed for Basic Setup
• Setting Up the Laptop and Projector
• Adjusting the Projected Image
• Troubleshooting

• PC Laptop or Macintosh Laptop
• Projector
• Power Cord for the projector (black 3 pronged wall plug)
• D-Sub Video Link Cable (looks like standard monitor cable, but both sides are same gender)
• Power Cord for the laptop (optional, you can live without it for a few hours on battery power, if of course it has been properly charged beforehand.)

Setting Up the Laptop and Projector

1.  Make sure the laptop is completely turned off before you begin setting up the projector/laptop combination. Don’t worry, it won't hurt the laptop if it is not turned off, but you will not be able to get the laptop to talk to the projector properly if you don’t make sure it’s turned off before you begin.

2.  Set up the projector on a flat (or reasonably flat) surface. If necessary you can adjust the projection angle of the projector to a small degree by rotating the screws on its base (big black knobs). Turning the black base screws one direction lifts the front of the projector, turning the other way lowers the front of the projector.

3.  Connect the supplied black power cable to the projector’s back; only one end of the cable will fit into the back of the projector. The power plug receptacle is on the lower right of the back panel. Plug the pronged end into a wall outlet.  Notice that some lights will come on on top of the projector. This does not mean the projector is turned on, just that it is connected to power.

4.  Connect the laptop’s power cable to the right hand side of the laptop. If you are facing the viewing end of the screen, it will be along the right hand side of the unit. It is a small round hole. While you can go without this step and run off of battery power it is recommended that if all possible you plug it in. (You do not want the computer to go out on you during a presentation.)

5.  Now connect the monitor cable between the back panel of the laptop (there is, again, only one hole in which it will fit.) If you are behind the laptop with the viewing end of the screen facing away from you, it is the second port from the right.

6.  Connect the other end of the monitor cable to the back of the projector to the port marked “computer in”.  There is only one place on the back panel of the projector that this cable will fit.

7.  When the green “ready” light comes on (it is probably already on by this point), on top of the projector you should push and hold the power button on the projector’s top panel until the projector starts up. You will notice when it does as it will project the “Proxima” logo on the wall that the projector is pointed toward.

8.  You should now turn on the laptop. (mac or PC)

For PC Laptop only:  If the screen has been opened, you will see an oval shaped button right underneath the screen between the screen and the keyboard right underneath the “Transport TREK 2” logo. Push this button and hold for a moment to start the laptop. Once you see the little green indicator lights come on you may remove your finger from the button.

For Macintosh Computers: Make sure monitor settings are on Video Mirroring.

10.  After you are done using the projector push the power button. The projector must go through a cool down phase at this point. When the cool down phase (approximately 1 minute) is complete, it will shut off and the little green “ready” light will come back on. You can now disconnect the projector from power. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE PROJECTOR BE ALLOWED TO GO THROUGH THE COOLDOWN PHASE BECAUSE IT IS DAMAGING TO THE BULB NOT TO DO SO.
 

Adjusting the Projected Image

NOTE: The projector is not intended to be a computer monitor, so you should expect that very small font text will probably not show up very well. If you are going to be doing a presentation and want your audience to view text, it is advisable to make the font you are writing in larger than (at the least) 14 point. Making the font bold sometimes helps in increasing it’s readability. To get an idea of how your presentation looks before you actually give the talk, you should set up the projector on a table and see how your presentation looks so you can adjust fonts here and there to make it more readable. That being said, there are some hints I can give you to make the projector image as sharp and clear a possible.

There are several features that the Proxima projector allows us to make use of. Probably the most immediately useful is the Auto Image, Zoom, and Focus buttons.

Auto Image
The laptop monitor changes resolution many times while it is starting up, and finally settles into it’s normal windows viewing resolution after it has completed booting. Because it is necessary to have the laptop off until after you have connected and turned on the projector, sometimes the projector gets confused as to just where the borders of your screen are. The laptop provides a built-in feature to remedy this.

Once you are in Windows and logged in as Guest, simply push the Auto Image button located on the top of the projector.  This will center and readjust the borders of the projected image. It takes approximately 5 seconds to complete.

Focus
You may notice that the image appears a little blurry once you have the projector set up. The Focus control on the top panel of the projector allows you to adjust the focus so your picture appears as sharp as possible.

Zoom
This feature should be used to adjust the image to be as big as possible. (You may have to refocus your image after you change the zoom settings.) This control is on the top panel of the projector.

Contrast/Brightness

• First press the menu button
• Then use the right arrow button to move over to the image option
• Then press the button in the center of the arrow buttons to get sub-menu
• Next use up/down arrows to navigate this menu
• Move to contrast or brightness (whichever needs to be adjusted)
• Then press the center button to change the value
• Finally press the menu button to exit all menus

PROBLEM:  The laptop's screen appears abnormally small, with big black borders around a very tiny windows area. (PC Only)
SOLUTION:  The resolution of the laptop’s monitor has been set too low. To fix this do the following on the laptop:

• Right click on the Desktop
• Go to Properties in the menu that pops up. The Display Properties screen should show up.
• Click on the tab marked “Settings” at the top of the window.
• There is a slider bar where you can adjust the Screen Area. Push the slider bar as far to the right as possible (1024x720 resolution).
• Also check the color depth drop down list and make sure it is set to at least 16 bit color (32 bit usually works great).
• Once you have fixed the improper settings click okay at the bottom of the window.
• Follow the instructional popups, and when it asks you if you wish to keep the new setting, click “Yes.”

PROBLEM: The PC laptop won't turn off.
SOLUTION:  PRESS and HOLD the power-on button for about 6 seconds. Then it will turn off.

PROBLEM:  The projected image is way too bright.
SOLUTION: Adjust brightness and/or contrast. See above under Adjustments section.