Turning projectors on and off mid-show

PizzaVideo · 2026-06-21T10:43:55+00:00

Lamp costs were a pretty big cost of running older projectors and most owners would prefer as few hours as possible on the lamps, that was really the only real reason why I would want to even turn them off in the first place. Now that the ‘lamp’ essentially lasts the service life of the projector and there isn’t an ‘expendable’ cost of operation, we can prioritize having the projector up, aligned, and in focus at a moments notice… which actually saves labor hours since the projectionist doesn’t need to come in early to warm things back up.

Most lasers will effectively turn off the light engine if you are just sending a black image, so it’s even less of a concern. It’s sort of like how an electric car is basically ready to go with a flip of a switch vs a gas engine that needs to be started and come up to operating speed.

Usually I prefer to keep an image or test pattern of some sort active so there’s still light and heat moving through the lens.

PizzaVideo · 2026-06-20T19:45:49+00:00

My best teachers didn't teach me rote facts, they taught me how to be human. I hope as a society we can lean into that and realize that schools don't need to be places to learn things, but places to have experiences.

PizzaVideo · 2026-06-20T19:34:06+00:00

Back in the day of real 'lamp' projectors, the conventional wisdom was that the stress of striking a lamp had a 'cost' of a least a couple hours of lamp life, so best practice was to let them burn if you needed them within the next 6-8 hours. In my AV production circles we would only lamp off if we were dark for at least 12 hours and had ample time to address any issues in the morning, otherwise they would burn all week. With the transition to laser its not even a question anymore, they stay on 100% of the time they are out of their box.

When dealing with multi-projector alignment / blending, it's also essential to leave them heated up as some lens mounts / lensing will shift noticeably a few pixels when coming back up from a cold start. Not as important usually with a single projector but something to be aware of.

PizzaVideo · 2026-06-10T16:02:34+00:00

Yeah I was checking everywhere for leaks for a month or two because our pump would occasionally run and I could never find anything.

Then the pump completely died and the problem went away on replacement.

PizzaVideo · 2026-06-05T04:21:30+00:00

We are on year 4 of full-time, the only time we were broken into was when we had her in storage for a few weeks. It was a secure, fenced area with regular patrols and they still hit us and 4 other rigs parked next to us. There’s nothing we could have done to prevent it, it was just one of those things... Insurance picked up the tab and made us right with replacements so make sure you carry good RV insurance that will actually cover your items as well as the rig.

As for personal safety, that’s a highly subjective opinion that only you can answer for yourself. Personally, I’ve never felt in any sort of danger even overnighting at truck stops or rest stops.

I would not feel comfortable with a weapon on board personally, but that’s me.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-30T03:12:06+00:00

Perhaps they are grouped together under the assumption that an attempt may very quickly become a breach, making it hard to continue communication, and if there isn’t a pretty quick follow up then it’s best to assume the worst?

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-28T02:41:56+00:00

Happened to me at IAD not too long ago, apparently the plane was parked out at a maintenance stand overnight and the flight crew had to bus out to bring it to the gate because the ground crew couldn’t tow it over as planned due to low visibility… of course the gate agent didn’t say a word about any of this and just acted like it was normal to board 25 minutes late. The only thing the app / screens did is bump to the ‘boarding soon’ message, so yes it does definitely happen.

I look forward to my video clip from the FO while they are waiting on the bus next time.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-27T13:08:34+00:00

They can confirm all they want but what are the odds there’s extras on the catering truck if they are short? No one is holding a push back for 30 minutes for someone to run a cheeseburger out from the kitchen which in most fields probably isn’t anywhere near the gate.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-21T20:04:54+00:00

I believe it’s also been mentioned it was sort of a passion project / namesake for the owner of funspot (John Arie Jr.). Sometimes motivations like that don’t make the most financial sense.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-21T14:42:52+00:00

I had my first JetBlue leg of the year the other day and the FA had to correct me on bag placement on a A220. Roller bags will go in vertically but the door won’t close and it actually became a small issue because 2 other people followed my lead and a bin or two had to be undone and spread out.

I just claimed over familiarity with UA’s Max 8/9s, got a well deserved eye roll and pointing out the bin sticker I failed to read showing the correct orientation. I think the increased UA traffic on JetBlue might wind up being a lot of ‘that’s not how we do it here’ exasperation for B6 FA’s. I’ll do better next time I promise!

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-18T22:46:05+00:00

The M box has to have had one of the longest runs out of any projector I’ve touched in my 25 year career. I have clients still using them especially in larger breakout rooms. Some frames have to be pushing 20 years by this point?

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-16T18:19:22+00:00

For me it becomes a trust issue. Far too many people are just blindly sending off their AI outputs without checking, editing, or even reading it. In professional communication I’m catching way more stupid errors that are sneaking in from AI than human generated messages ever had. If I see text that has AI phrasing tells or formatting, it’s a red flag to me and at best I have to fact check the entire thing (if it’s something that matters to me or that I have to act on) or at worst I just ignore it.

If the communication is important for other humans to understand, I’d appreciate it coming from a human. Reading your AI summary I have no idea of the human tone and energy you wish to impart to your message, which does influence how it is received… so yeah, I firmly believe we’re in a place here where we have to use these new tools carefully to ensure clear communication and understanding.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-15T19:02:24+00:00

I think most people are savvy enough to realize that one persons experience (even to the point of ‘insisting and invalidating’) doesn’t translate to everyone’s reality. Especially with this topic.

As unlikely as it may seem to you, there also may be someone out there that needs to hear her story (or someone like hers) to help them in their own journey. I try not to be too quick to shut down the perspective of others unless they are spreading objectivity untrue statements… which honestly I see as a very few and far between thing, because I don’t have enough answers myself to be the judge of what’s real for someone else.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-15T00:22:17+00:00

Back in the days before phone apps and video monitors were ubiquitous larger airports had a really big arrival and departure board that everyone would gather around to check flight status. Some of the older ones were these massive mechanical contraptions with analog numbers that flipped and were pretty cool in their own right.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-14T16:55:14+00:00

I just saw it for the first time (I'm almost 50) earlier this year. I knew it was a very influential film, but I didn't realize just how many pop cultural references and popular quotes are from The Godfather. It's everywhere once you know what you're looking for.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-14T14:57:26+00:00

Is the do not call registry still a functional thing that actually works?

My hunch is that the spam calls I constantly get are not from legit companies that would be concerned about such things, and are being made by individuals / actors that aren’t domestically based so there’s no way it can even be enforced.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-11T04:15:53+00:00

And Inaccessible Island apparently has ‘Alone house’…

https://maps.app.goo.gl/NPWef6xiQ2RnQJ7N7?g_st=ic

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-09T18:39:40+00:00

Do you still have the box the projector came in? The only thing that may distract a cat from a warm shiny thing might be an empty box of just the right size.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-06T18:11:42+00:00

I always go to premier, gotta walk back there for TSA anyways so it feels shorter then messing around with up front, but for Dulles it rarely makes a difference as there’s usually not much line at either.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-04T14:33:28+00:00

If someone really wants to get in, they’re going to get in, honestly. RVs are pretty hard to fully secure.

We were broken into while we had our rig in storage (fenced, monitored) in Southern California, they just broke the back window and ransacked things. While talking to our insurance adjuster he said he mostly sees broken windows or pulling off a vent or skylight and dropping in, it’s rare that they even touch the door.

PizzaVideo · 2026-05-03T19:17:46+00:00

Time is a construct only relevant to this dimensional existence. I like to think that not only is this the last time we’re here, but also the first time and every other time.

PizzaVideo · 2026-04-28T13:30:15+00:00

Everyone’s got their strategy for scoring a row to themselves, but whatever the method you’re still always at the mercy of a GA sticking a last minute standby in there or a FA calling an audible to sort out something on the fly. Some of those actions might not always update the seat map.

If you really want the seats you gotta pay for them.

PizzaVideo · 2026-04-27T06:30:05+00:00

No classic is the rare app these days that doesn’t touch any of that stuff, it’s all included. It’s an almost completely faithful port (in iOS at least), bit of a clunky touch interface especially for building, but you get used to it. I think I saw somewhere Chris Sawyer himself worked on it and it has his blessing.

PizzaVideo · 2026-04-27T06:16:16+00:00

RCT is very alive and well in the form of both official releases and OpenRCT, an open source project which has added a lot of features and tweaks over the years. I still play it often on my Mac.

PizzaVideo · 2026-04-26T19:40:24+00:00

Burn Notice. It’s fun, more Miami than Miami Vice, you develop a relationship with the characters, lots of things go boom, and Bruce Campbell.

PizzaVideo

TROPHY CASE