Planar WN-5040-720 User Manual

WN-5040-720

User Guide

WN-5040-720

Margay

50" Display Wall Unit

User Guide

020-0548-00B

29 March 2007

i

©2007 by Planar Systems™, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission of Planar Systems, Inc.
Trademark Credits

Windows™ is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Planar's Big Picture™ is a trademark of Planar Systems, Inc.
DLP™ and DMD™ are trademarks of Texas Instruments, Inc.
All other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Disclaimer:
The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.
Planar Systems Company makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material. While every precaution has been
taken in the preparation of this manual, Planar Systems shall not be liable for errors or omissions contained herein or for
incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

LIMITED WARRANTY. Planar warrants to Buyer that the WN-5040-720 (the “Product”), if properly used and serviced,

will perform substantially in accordance with the product data sheet and users manual, and will be free from defects in

ii

material and workmanship for one year following date of shipment. This warranty does not apply to air filters and other
consumable parts.

If any Product fails to conform to the written warranty, Planar's exclusive liability and Buyer's exclusive remedy will be,
at Planar's option, to repair, replace or credit Buyer's account with an amount equal to the price paid for any such defec­tive Product returned by Buyer during the warranty period, provided that: (a) Buyer promptly notifies Planar in writing
that such Product failed to conform, furnishes an explanation of any alleged deficiency and obtains from Planar a return
authorization; and (b) Planar is satisfied that claimed deficiencies actually exist and were not caused by accident, misuse,
neglect, alteration, improper installation, repair or improper testing. Planar will have a reasonable time to make repairs,
to replace Products or to credit Buyer's account.

LIMITATIONS. Any written warranty offered by Planar is in lieu of all other warranties, express or implied. Planar nei-

ther assumes nor authorizes any other person to assume any other liabilities in connection with the sales or use of any
product without limitation. Planar disclaims all other warranties, express or implied, including any warranty of merchant­ability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event will Planar be liable to buyer or any other party for procurement costs, loss of profits, loss of use, or for any
other incidental, consequential, indirect or special damages or for contribution or indemnity claims, however caused.
Planar's liability shall be limited to actual direct damages not in excess of the amounts paid to Planar by buyer for the
product. These limitations will apply to all claims, including, without limitation, warranty, contract, indemnity, tort
(including negligence), strict liability or otherwise.

iii

iv

Contents

1 Basic Information About Margay … 1

1.1 Accessories For Margay … 2

1.2 Your Safety and Margay’s Safety … 4

2Installing… 7

2.1 What You Will Do … 8

2.2 Installing the VIM (Video Input Module) … 10

2.3 Installing the Big Picture Key … 12

2.4 Building the Wall, First Row … 14

2.4.1 Building the Wall, Second Row and Up … 16

2.4.2 Building a Banner, Upside Down … 18

2.5 Connections … 20

2.5.1 Connections, Analog & Digital Sources … 22

2.5.2 Connections, Video Sources … 24

2.5.3 Connections, Power … 26

2.5.4 Connections, Control: RS232 & RS485 … 28

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens … 30

2.6.1 Installing the Screens … 32

2.6.2 Opening or Removing a Screen … 34

2.6.3 Opening a Screen Temporarily for Work … 36

3 Aligning and Adjusting … 37

3.1 Adjusting Margay’s Engine: Important Step … 38

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source … 42

3.2.1 Adjusting to Computers, Analog RGB … 44

3.2.1.1 Adjusting Input Levels Manually … 46

3.2.2 Adjusting to Computer Sources, Digital … 48

vii

3.2.3 Adjusting to Video Sources … 50

3.3 Color Balancing a Wall of Margays … 52

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall … 54

3.4.1 Scaling and Cropping … 56

3.4.2 Zoom and Position … 58

3.4.3 Viewport Adjustment … 60

3.5 Saving Your Work & Recalling a Memory … 62

3.5.1 Memory: What Is Saved? And Where? … 64

4Operating… 67

4.1 Selecting a Source … 68

4.2 Normal Start Up … 70

4.3 Controlling Margay with Remote … 72

4.4 Controlling Margay with RS232/RS485 … 74

4.5 Asset Tag and Display Status … 76

5 Troubleshooting … 77

5.1 Troubleshooting Tips … 78

5.2 Reading the On Screen Code … 80

5.3 Reading the LEDs … 82

6 Maintenance for Margay … 85

6.1 Changing a Lamp … 86

6.2 Changing the Air Filter … 88

6.3 Cleaning the Screen and Mirrors … 90

7 Reference Section … 91

7.1 Menu Trees … 92

7.2 Remote Control Buttons … 116

7.3 Drawings … 120

7.4 Connector Diagrams … 124

7.5 Glossary of Terms … 126

7.6 Specifications for Margay … 130

7.7 Regulatory Certifications … 134

Index … 135

viii

1 Basic Information About Margay

1.1 Accessories For Margay … 2

1.2 Your Safety and Margay’s Safety … 4

1

1.1 Accessories For Margay

Check what you received with the Margays

The number in (parentheses) is the quantity you
should have for each Margay.

1. Screen Support (1 for each Margay on the bottom
row; shipped per order, not per display)

2. Front screws, (2)

3. Long side-to-side bolts (1), washers (4), and wing
nut (1)

4. Short side-to-side bolts (1), washers (4), and wing
nut (1)

5. Vertical screws, ¼"-20 bolts (2)

6. Suction Cup (1)

7. VGA cable (1)

8. DVI cable (1)

9. AC power cord (1)

10. Remote Control (1), with batteries installed

11. Screens Shims (6 or more)

2

2. Front screw

1. Screen Support (may vary in design)
One of these for each Margay on the

bottom row.

6. Suction Cup

3. Long side-to-side bolt

4. Short side-to-side bolt

7. VGA cable

5. Vertical screw
¼–20 bolt

8. DVI cable

9. Power cord

10. Remote Control

3

1.2 Your Safety and Margay’s Safety

The fully assembled display weighs about 68 lbs (30.8
kg). When assembling a wall, you will need two peo­ple to handle the Margay.

WARNING

The lamp needs very high voltages to start,
around 15,000 volts.

WARNING

The lamp gets very hot. Allow it to cool before
removing it.

WARNING

The lamp produces lots of light and UV radia­tion (ultra-violet) as well. UV light can damage

your retinas. After the light leaves the lamp
and passes through the DLP optical engine,
there is no significant UV, although the light
will be very bright.

WARNING

There is no electrical interlock on the screen.
Opening the screen does not turn off the high
voltage to the lamps. s

Opening the rear cover does turn off the high voltage
to the lamp. However, the lamp will still be very hot.

that is not available, wrap the electronics module
in aluminum foil.

Lamp(s) inside this product contain mercury.
This product may contain other electronic

waste that can be hazardous if not disposed
of properly. Recycle or dispose in accordance with
local, state, or federal Laws. For more information,
contact the Electronic Industries Alliance at

www.eiae.org

information, check www.lamprecycle.org

. For lamp specific disposal

.

. The plug on the power cord serves as the disconnect

for this product. No user serviceable parts inside.

parts replacement is done at the module level by a
qualified service technician.

All

CAUTION

There are no user serviceable parts inside.
Refer all repair and maintenance to a qualified
service technician.

. Static electricity can damage sensitive electronic

components.

• Always use a grounding strap with handling the
electronics module or the optical engine if there
are exposed components.

• When shipping these parts, do not use styrofoam
“peanuts.” These carry static electricity and can
damage the parts. Use an anti-static bag, or, if

4

5

Este símbolo solamente es válido en la Unión

Europea.

Si desea deshacerse de este producto, póngase

en contacto con las autoridades locales o con su

distribuidor y pida información sobre el método de

disposición adecuado.

■ Deshecho de equipos eléctricos y electrónicos (aplicable a la Unión Euro-

pea y a otros países europeos con programas de reciclaje independientes)

La presencia de este símbolo en el propio producto o en su material de

embalaje, indica que no se debe tratar como residuo doméstico cuando

desee deshacerse de él. En su lugar, debe entregarlo en el punto limpio

correspondiente de reciclaje de equipos eléctricos y electrónicos. Ase-

gurándose de que este producto se desecha de forma correcta, ayudará

a evitar posibles consecuencias negativas para la conservación del

medioambiente y la salud humana, consecuencias que podrían darse si

se deshace del producto de forma inadecuada. El reciclado de materiales

ayuda a conservar los recursos naturales.

This symbol is only valid in the European Union.

If you wish to discard this product, please contact

your local authorities or dealer and ask for the cor-

rect method of disposal.

Español

English

■ Disposal of old Electrical & Electronic Equipment (Applicable throughout

the European Union and other European countries with separate collection

programs)

This symbol found on your product or on its packaging, indicates that

this product should not be treated as household waste when you wish to

dispose of it. Instead, it should be handed over to an applicable collection

point for the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. By ensuring

this product is disposed of correctly, you will help prevent potential

negative consequences to the environment and human health, which

could otherwise be caused by inappropriate disposal of this product. The

recycling of materials will help to conserve natural resources.

sicurando che il corretto smaltimento di questo prodotto, si aiuterà a preve-

nire potenziali conseguenze negative sull’ambiente e sulla salute umana,

che possono essere provocate da uno scorretto smaltimento di questa

attrezzatura. I materiali riciclati aiuteranno a conservare le risorse naturali.

Questo simbolo è valido solo nell’Unione Europea.

Per smaltire questo prodotto, mettersi in contatto con

le autorità locali – o con il rivenditore – e chiedere

informazioni sul corretto metodo di smaltimento.

deren dat u dit product op de correcte manier wegwerpt, helpt u potentiële

negatieve gevolgen voor het milieu en de menselijke gezondheid, die

zouden kunnen worden veroorzaakt door een onrechtmatig wegwerpen

van het product, te voorkomen. De recyclage van materialen helpt het

behoud van natuurlijke bronnen.

Dit symbool is alleen geldig in de Europese Unie.

Als u dit product wenst weg te gooien, dient u contact op

te nemen met uw lokale instanties voor details over de

gepaste methode voor afvalverwijdering.

specializzato nel riciclaggio di attrezzature elettriche ed elettroniche. As-

Dit symbool dat op het product of zijn verpakking is aangebracht, geeft aan

dat dit product niet mag worden behandeld als huishoudelijk afval als u het

wilt wegwerpen. U moet het afgeven bij een specifiek verzamelpunt voor

de recyclage van elektrische en elektronische apparatuur. Door te garan-

Italiano

prendre contact avec les autorités locales ou avec votre

revendeur et renseignez-vous sur la méthode de mise

au rebut correcte.

Nederlands

■ Verwijderen van oude elektrische en elektronische apparatuur (toepas-

selijk in de volledige Europese Unie en andere Europese landen met

afzonderlijke programma’s voor afvalverzameling)

Wenn Sie dieses Produkt entsorgen möchten, wenden

Sie sich bitte an Ihre örtliche Behörde und fragen Sie

nach der ordnungsgemäßen Entsorgungsmethode.

sources naturelles.

Ce symbole n’est valable que dans l’Union Européenne.

Si vous souhaitez mettre ce produit au rebut, veuillez

Dieses Symbol ist nur innerhalb der europäischen

Gemeinschaft gültig.

■ Smaltimento delle attrezzature elettriche ed elettroniche usate (applicabile

in tutta la Comunità Europea ed altri Paesi Europei che applicano

programmi di raccolta differenziata)

Il simbolo trovato sul prodotto, o sulla sua confezione, indica che il

prodotto non può essere trattato come i domestici quando è il momento

di smaltirlo. Al contrario, deve essere consegnato ad un centro di raccolta

■

Mise au rebut des équipements électriques et électroniques usagés

(Valable dans l’ensemble de l’Union Européenne ainsi que dans les pays

européens disposant de programmes distincts de collecte des déchets)

Ce symbole appliqué sur votre produit ou sur son emballage indique

que ce produit ne doit pas être traité comme un déchet ménager lorsque

vous voulez le mettre au rebut. Il doit au contraire être remis à un site

de collecte agréé pour le recyclage des équipements électriques et

électroniques. En veillant à ce que ce produit soit mis au rebut de façon

adéquate, vous contribuerez à prévenir les conséquences potentiellement

négatives sur l’environnement et sur la santé humaine qui risqueraient

de se produire en cas de mise au rebut inappropriée de ce produit. Le

recyclage des matériaux contribuera également à économiser les res-

Français

■ Entsorgung von elektrischen & elektronischen Altgeräten (geltend für die

europäische Gemeinschaft und andere europäische Länder mit separaten

Sammelprogrammen)

Dieses Symbol, zu finden auf Ihrem Produkt oder dessen Verpackung,

macht Sie darauf aufmerksam, dass dieses Produkt bei der Entsorgung

nicht als Hausmüll behandelt werden darf. Statt dessen sollte es an eine

Sammelstelle zum Recycling von elektrischen und elektronischen Alt-

geräten gegeben werden. Helfen Sie mit, potenziell schädliche Einflüsse

auf Umwelt und Gesundheit, die durch eine unsachgemäße Entsorgung

dieses Produktes entstehen können, zu vermeiden und entsorgen Sie

dieses Produkt ordnungsgemäß. Recycling hilft, natürliche Rohstoffe

einzusparen.

Deutsch

Português

■ Avfall av förbrukad elektrisk och elektronisk utrustning (Tillämpbart i

tillförsäkra att den här produkten återvinns på ett riktigt sätt hjälper du till

med att förhindra möjliga negative konsekvenser för miljön och mänsklig

hälsa. Det kan annars orsakas på grund av olämplig sophantering av den

här produkten. Återvinning av material kommer att hjälpa till att bevara

naturtillgångar.

hela Europeiska unionen och andra europeiska länder med separata

samlingsprogram)

Den här symbolen som finns på din product eller på dess förpackning

påvisar att produkten inte ska behandlas som hushållsavfall när du vill

slänga bort den. Istället ska den lämnas över till en lämplig uppsamlings-

punkt för återvinning av elektriska och elektroniska utrustningar. Genom att

que o produto não deve ser tratado como lixo doméstico aquando da sua

eliminação. Em vez disso, deve ser entregue num ponto de recolha de eq-

uipamentos eléctricos e electrónicos para posterior reciclagem. Ao garantir

a correcta eliminação deste produto, estará a evitar consequências poten-

cialmente negativas tanto para o ambiente como para a saúde humana. A

reciclagem de materiais ajuda a preservar os recursos naturais.

■ Eliminação de equipamentos eléctricos e electrónicos usados (aplicável

na União Europeia e noutros países europeus com programas próprios de

recolha destes equipamentos)

Este símbolo, colocado no produto ou na respectiva embalagem, indica

fråga efter lämplig avfallsmetod.

Den här symbolen är endast giltig inom den

Europeiska unionen.

Om du vill slänga bort den här produkten ska du

kontakta lokala myndigheter eller återförsäljar, och

hävitettäessä käsitellä tavallisena kotitalousjätteenä, vaan se kuuluu toimit-

taa sähkö- ja elektroniikkalaitteiden kierrätyspisteeseen. Varmistamalla,

että tämä tuote hävitetään asiaankuuluvalla tavalla autat estämään mah-

dollisia ympäristölle ja ihmisille koituvia negatiivisia seuraamuksia, joita

sen vääränlainen hävittäminen voi aiheuttaa. Materiaalien kierrättäminen

auttaa säilyttämään luonnonvaroja.

Tämä symboli on voimassa ainoastaan Euroopan

unionin alueella.

Jos haluat hävittää tämän tuotteen, ota yhteyttä

paikallisiin viranomaisiin tai jälleenmyyjään ja tiedustele

asiaankuuluvia hävittämistoimenpiteitä.

Este símbolo apenas é válido na União Europeia.

Se quiser eliminar este produto, contacte as enti-

dades locais ou o seu fornecedor para ficar a saber

qual o método de eliminação correcto.

Svenska

■ Vanhojen sähkö- ja elektroniikkalaitteiden hävittäminen (Soveltuva kaik -

kialla Euroopan unionin alueella, sekä muissa Euroopan maissa, joilla on

erilliset keräysohjelmat)

Jos tuotteessa tai sen pakkauksessa on tämä symboli, sitä ei pidä

Suomi

Ten symbol obowiązuje wyłącznie w krajach Unii

Europejskiej.

Informacje dotyczące prawidłowej metody usunięcia

tego produktu, można uzyskać u władz lokalnych lub

u dostawcy.

przez niewłaściwe usuwanie produktu. Przetwarzanie materiałów pomaga

w zachowaniu zasobów naturalnych.

■ Usuwanie zużytego sprzętu elektrycznego i elektronicznego (Dotyczy

krajów Unii Europejskiej i innych krajów europejskich z oddzielnymi

programami zbiórki odpadów)

Obecność tego symbolu na produkcie lub na opakowaniu z produktem

oznacza, że tego produktu nie można wyrzucać razem z odpadkami

domowymi. Należy go przekazać do punktu zbiórki w celu poddania

recyklingowi podzespołów elektrycznych i elektronicznych. Usunięcie tego

produktu w prawidłowy sposób, pomoże w zabezpieczeniu przed negaty-

wnym wpływem odpadów na środowisko i zdrowie ludzi, powodowanym

Polski

6

2 Installing

2.1 What You Will Do … 8

2.2 Installing the VIM (Video Input Module) … 10

2.3 Installing the Big Picture Key … 12

2.4 Building the Wall, First Row … 14

2.4.1 Building the Wall, Second Row and Up … 16

2.4.2 Building a Banner, Upside Down … 18

2.5 Connections … 20

2.5.1 Connections, Analog & Digital Sources … 22

2.5.2 Connections, Video Sources … 24

2.5.3 Connections, Power … 26

2.5.4 Connections, Control: RS232 & RS485 … 28

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens … 30

2.6.1 Installing the Screens … 32

2.6.2 Opening or Removing a Screen … 34

2.6.3 Opening a Screen Temporarily for Work … 36

7

2.1 What You Will Do

The series of steps here give only a basic outline of the installation process. See the specific sections for
details (page numbers in parentheses).

Installation

1. Unpack the Margays. Leave the screens in their
containers. You won’t need the screens for a
while.

2. If it was purchased, install the VIM (Video Input
Module) in each Margay. (10)

3. If it was purchased, install the Big Picture key in
each Margay. (12)

4. Build the wall of Margays, leaving the screens off.
(14)

5. Connect the Margays to power (26), picture
source (22 & 24) and communication. (28)

6. Install the screens, starting with the bottom row.
(32)

Configuration

1. Align each optical engine to the screen. (38)

2. Adjust Margay to each of the inputs you will use:
analog computer (44), digital (48), video (50).

3. Color balance the wall. (52)

4. Set up Big Picture, if you are using it. (54)

5. Save your work. (62)

8

9

2.2 Installing the VIM (Video Input Module)

It is easier to install the VIM board in Margays before they get stacked in a wall.

The Video Input Module option is installed in the
field.
You will install the VIM (Video Input Module) in the
Margay’s electronics module. (The electronics mod­ule is the part the receives all the input and output
cables.)

If the electronics module is installed in the Mar-

gay, you will remove it partially.

1. Turn off the AC power to the Margay and remove
the power cord.

2. Open the door on the right side of Margay (as
viewed from the front) exposing the electronics
module.

4. Pull the module up and partly out.
a. It may take a bit of maneuvering to get the con-

nectors at the bottom to come up with the
module.

b. Do this carefully so you do not damage the con-

nectors. All connectors are latched in place.
They aren’t particularly delicate, but they won’t
stand very rough treatment.

5. Install the VIM in the electronics module.

3. Loosen the two screws at the top of the electronics
module.

10

6. Put in the four screws. Be sure the VIM is pressed
well into the socket.

One of 4 screws.

7. Put the electronics module back in place and
secure it with the two screws.

8. Reconnect power, if you removed it earlier.

11

2.3 Installing the Big Picture Key

Planar’s Big Picture™ key allows a wall of Margays to spread one picture over the entire wall.

The Big Picture key is installed in the field. You can
install the Big Picture key without removing the elec­tronics module.

1. Open the door to the electronics module.

3. Plug the BP key into its socket.

CAUTION

Be sure all six pins go in the socket holes. If
the key is installed incorrectly, the entire elec­tronics module may not function at all.

2. Remove the cover of the Big Picture key socket.

12

4. Replace the BP key cover.

 The Big Picture key can be installed while the Margay

has power. However, the key will not take effect (Big
Picture will not work) until power is cycled on again.

13

2.4 Building the Wall, First Row

It is most important to make the first row straight. Do not put the screens on yet.

Laying the first row

1. Set the first row of Margays side by side without
the screens. Bolt them loosely together near the

bottom with the long side-to-side bolts, washers
and wingnuts.

2. Attach the screen supports to the front edge of the
first row. The screen support only mounts one
way and is used on the bottom row only. It pro­vides a stop or rest for the bottom screens.

3. Check the straightness of this row. This first row
must be absolutely straight.

 Do not use your eye alone to judge straightness. Use a

tightly stretched string or a very long level. It is ok if the
row is not level, as would be the case in a tilted wall, but
it must be straight.

4. Use shims under the Margays to make the row
straight vertically.

5. When the row is straight, tighten the bolts hold­ing them together. Then check straightness one
more time.

6. Go to next section (page 16).

Why is straight so important?

All Planar displays that stack must have a straight
first row. If the first row is not straight, the arrange­ment gets worse as the wall goes up, and the screens
won’t align properly.

Margay is a little more critical of straightness,
because its screens have almost no mullions.

The mullion is the outside border of the screen. In
most Planar products this is a narrow edge of metal
that holds the screen in place. In Margay the mullion
is a thin piece of tape.

The advantage of this “mullion-less” screen is that
the finished wall will have almost no black lines
between images on the screens.

14

First row with screen supports in place

Screen support bolt,

two at each end

Using string to
see that the row
is straight

Side-to-side bolt with wing nut

at bottom of neighbor Margays

15

2.4 Building the Wall, First Row

2.4.1 Building the Wall, Second Row and Up

If the first row is straight and solid, the rest of the rows will be easier.

Continuing to build the wall

1. Stack another row of Margays on the first row. As
you stack, be careful with the pins that align the
rows.

3. Then bolt the Margays top-to-bottom through the
top-to-bottom hole using the Vertical bolts,
¼"-20.

2. As each Margay is placed in the second row,
secure it to the lower unit with two Front screws.

4. Bolt this row side-to-side as you did the first row.
This time the bolts will go through four Margays,
two in the first row, two in the second rows. The

16

end of the row has shorter side-to-side bolts to
secure just two Margays together.

5. Check straightness of this second row.

CAUTION

For high walls, over 2 units high, and for all
tilted walls, see the safety instruction below.

Safety with high or tilted walls

Because the Margay is so narrow front to back,
there is a danger of tipping with high walls. Margay
has tie-back points on the rear to prevent this.

Use these tie-backs to secure the Margay wall to a
structural part of the building. Don’t wait until the
wall is finished. Do this as you build the wall up.

If the wall is tilted forward, tie the Margay all the
way up.

6. Continue in this way with the rest of the rows,
checking straightness as you go.

Make sure the fronts of the
units are flush with each
other. This will make screen
alignment easier.

The tie-back points are ¼”x20 threaded holes.

17

2.4 Building the Wall, First Row

2.4.2 Building a Banner, Upside Down

It is possible to hang a single row of Margays upside down to make a banner. Be sure the ceiling can
hold them.

Planar does not provide any special brackets to hang
a Margay upside down. There are too many variables
to consider, so the method to use is best determined
on site.

Whatever you use to attach Margays overhead, it
must be capable of sustaining five (5) times the
weight of a Margay, which is 68 lbs or 30.8 kg. The
mounting system must therefore hold 340 lbs or 154
kg for each Margay.

You may use the screen supports to cover part of
the Margay, but they are not necessary in the upside
down configuration.

Inverting the picture and menus

In the Miscellaneous menu (under Advanced
Options) check Inverted Installation. This one check
mark inverts the picture and the menus. It also
reverses the left-right of the optical engine alignment
motors so left and right will be correct for you.

ENU > ADVANCED OPTIONS > MISCELLANEOUS

M

Screens when inverted

The screen supports, which normally hold screens
up, will now be above the row of screens. You may
wish to devise some way to push the screens up from
the bottom to press them against this support to pre­vent a gap.

It is not necessary, of course, to use the screen sup­port parts in an inverted installation.

18

.

19

2.5 Connections

Margay has four groups of connectors. All inputs are paired with loop-thru outputs (except RS232 In).
The inputs are toward the rear of the Margay.

Analog and digital connectors

Two analog connectors and one digital (DVI) con­nector have their separate loop-thru outputs. The
Analog outputs (buffered) always carry the corre­sponding analog input picture.

The digital output is different. The digital output
carries a digitized version of the selected input. If you
change the active input in the Picture menu, the digi­tal output changes.

• See 2.5.1 “Connections, Analog & Digital
Sources” on page 22.

Video connectors

Video connections are optional. The Video Input
Module (VIM) is not installed at the factory; it is
installed in the field by the installer. When installed,
the VIM accepts composite, S-video and component
video (YPbPr). Each input connector is paired with its
separate loop-thru output.

• See 2.5.2 “Connections, Video Sources” on
page 24.

Control connectors

You can control the Margay with a remote control
or with serial commands from a computer or other
device. Send commands in either the RS232 or
RS485 standard.

Normally, you send RS232 commands to one Mar­gay’s RS232 In and loop out the RS485 Out to the
next cube’s RS485 In.

RS485 has better long-distance communication.

• See 2.5.4 “Connections, Control: RS232 &
RS485” on page 28.

• 8 cubes when using 230V.

No more than 4

32 6

1 4 5

115 VAC

• See 2.5.3 “Connections, Power” on page 26.

Power

AC power (115V or 230V) can be looped thru to

neighboring cubes. The limit on loop-thru is

• 4 Margays when using 115V;

• 8 Margays when using 230V.

The power supply is auto-ranging.

20

Electronics module as seen from the front. The electronics
module door is open.

21

2.5 Connections

2.5.1 Connections, Analog & Digital Sources

The Digital Out connector carries the selected input.

All of the source inputs, the picture inputs, have
loop-thru output connectors. These loop-thrus are
buffered.

• Analog 1 and Analog 2 are 15-pin VGA-type con-
nectors. Margay will accept a wide range of com­puter resolutions up to 1600 × 1200 and
1920 × 1080. Each of these connectors has a ded­icated loop-thru output. These connectors are
also used for RGB video with separate H&V sync,
composite sync, or sync on green; also for YPbPr
video at 480p, 720p, or 1080i.

 When an Analog input has a source with sync on green

or composite sync, the DVI Out may not show the
picture properly. If the source is present at power up, it
usually works well, but if you disconnect and reconnect
the source, the DVI loop-thru stops working for these
two types of sync.

• Digital In is a standard DVI cable. It has a loop-
thru, but this Digital Out connector is not dedi-

PC

SVGA

A

Connecting with a combination
of analog and digital loop-thru

cated to the Digital In connector. Instead, the
Digital Out connector carries the picture of the
currently selected input. For instance, if the
Analog 1 connector is selected, the picture on the
Digital Out connector is a DVI version of that
Analog 1 picture.

 The DVI does not carry the picture from the composite,

the S-Video, or the component YPbPr inputs.

Limits of loop-thru

No signal can loop-thru forever. There is always
some degradation of the signal along the way.
If you want to loop a single source to a number of
Margays, try one of the methods shown here. In dia­gram A the signal loops thru six times at most. In
diagram B the signal loops thru four times at most. In
each diagram the cubes marked X is the farthest from
the source.

B

PC

SVGA

Connecting with a distribution
amplifier and loop-thru

Distribution
Amplifier

X

Analog

connections

X

Digital

connections

Digital

connections

Digital

connections

X

X

22

In Out

23

2.5 Connections

2.5.2 Connections, Video Sources

Video is a option installed in the field.

If you did not install the optional Video Input Module
(VIM), skip this section. (2.2 “Installing the VIM
(Video Input Module)” on page 10)

Composite video

Connect an NTSC, PAL, or SECAM composite

source to

OUT

S-video

4-pin DIN connector,

Component video

the Y, P b , and Pr
sure the DVD player is not set to progressive scan.
Use the Analog 1 or 2 connector for progressively
scanned DVD.

 When you choose Component Video in the Picture

COMPOSITE IN. Loop-thru from COMPOSITE

.

Connect an NTSC or PAL S-video source to the

S-VIDEO IN.

NTSC or PAL rate interlaced video can be fed into

IN connectors and looped out. Be

menu, the Colorspace automatically switches to YPbPr.
When you choose another picture source, Colorspace
switches back to RGB.

The Analog inputs have a greater range of modes for
component than the YPbPr video inputs. If your
YPbPr source does not work in the video inputs, try
Analog 1 or 2.

Component video YPbPr sources can also be fed
into the Analog 1 or Analog 2 inputs. Colorspace
must be manually changed to YPbPr in this case.

• Use RGB when the analog source is normal RGB.

• Use YPbPr when the source is component analog.

24

25

2.5 Connections

2.5.3 Connections, Power

AC loop-thru means you won’t need as many mains sockets.

Bring in AC power next to the electronics module.
The voltage can be 115 (90V – 132V) or 230 (200V –
254V).

Loop the AC power out to the next Margay, if you
wish, but limit this to four (4) connected Margays for
115V operation and eight (8) connected Margays for
230V operation.

WARNING

Do not exceed the recommended number of
Margays linked in series for AC power or the
current draw will be too great.

The AC switch on each Margay controls that cube
only. Turning off the switch in the first cube does not
cut the AC power to the remaining cubes.

The switch is lit when it is ON and there is AC
power to the Margay.

 The AC input is fused with a 10A fuse. If for some

reason the fuse in any Margay blows, all the cubes
downstream from this one will go off.

26

AC power in and out

No more than 4

32 6

1 4 5

115 VAC

27

2.5 Connections

2.5.4 Connections, Control: RS232 & RS485

With serial control, you can control a whole wall, several walls, and any single display in them.

Connect to the computer

Connect the first cube in the wall to the serial out
port of a computer or another type of controller, such
as a video controller. Connect with computer serial
cable, such as Cat-5, using straight-thru cable.
You will probably need to convert the 9-pin serial port
to RJ45 with an adapter, which you can buy in most
electronic stores.

Wiring the adapter

To go from 9-pin D-sub serial connector on the back of
the ccomputer to an RJ45 connector, use a standard
RJ45-to-9-pin adapter. Wire it internally as shown. The
wiring shown for this adapter is correct for straight-thru
cables. Straight-thru cables are wired 1-to-1, 2-to-2,
etc.

Yello w w ir e pin 3

Black wire pin 2

Green wire pin 5

RJ45 9-pin

63

55

For very long runs of RS485 cable, it may be neces-

sary to terminate in the last Margay in the string. See

4.4 “Controlling Margay with RS232/RS485” on
page 74.

32

1

23

4

5

6798

female 9-pin

Connect from the computer or controller to the first
Margay. It doesn’t matter which cube this is.

Connect this first cube’s RS485 Out to the next
cube’s RS485 In.

 Start with RS232 and loop all the rest with RS485.

Information about controlling with RS232 is in

4.4 “Controlling Margay with RS232/RS485” on
page 74.

For best results, the RS485 cables should be
twisted pair. The pairs are pins 3 & 6 (signal) and
pins 1 & 2 (ground). CAT5 cable has the correct
twisted pairs.

28

29

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens

The Margay screens in a wall are quite close together, so the order in which you remove them from a
wall is very important.

The next two sections describe in detail how to

WARNING

Do not install or remove any screen until you
have read and understand this section. If
screens are installed or removed improperly,
they may be damaged.

About “no-mullion” screens

One of the best features of Margay is its “zero mul­lion” screens. The screens are as close together as
possible, which means there is very little dead space
between them.

The Margay screens “float.” When they are
installed, they will move up, down, right and left a lit­tle. This floating allows them to be position as close
to each other as possible. Screens next to each other
touch each other.

Floating also means that screens higher in a wall
are resting on the lower screens. The screens in the
bottom row rest on screen supports, the “skirt” at the
bottom that holds all the screens up.

The screens won’t fall off if the screen support is
removed or if screen in the bottom row is removed.
However, they may move down a little.

install and remove screens properly.

2.6.1 “Installing the Screens” on page 32

2.6.2 “Opening or Removing a Screen” on page 34

Avoiding damage to the screens

The close, “zero mullion” screen arrangement
comes at a price: You have to be more careful when
installing and removing screens than with other
Planar products.

WARNING

Pulling the screens off incorrectly can damage
the screens. See the example on the facing
page.

Avoiding gaps between screens

When you install screens in a wall, it is important
to put them on in the proper order.

30

View from above a row of Margays

When Margays are installed in a row, the
screens are very close together.

Pulling a screen from the outside of the row
causes it to bind with its neighbor.

Top of Margay 1

Top of Margay 2

Top of Margay 3

Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 3

Top of Margay 1

Screen 1

Top of Margay 2

Screen 2

Top of Margay 3

Pulling a screen
from the outside edge.

DON'T DO THIS!

ouch

S

c

re

e

n

3

The proper way is to make the first pull on the
neighboring edge of an outside row.

Then pull the outer edge to release all the
spring latches.

Top of Margay 1

Screen 1

Top of Margay 1

Screen 1

Top of Margay 2

Screen 2

Top of Margay 2

Screen 2

Top of Margay 3

3

n

e

e

r

c

S

Pull the inside edge
of the column first,

bu t ju s t a little.

Top of Margay 3

S

n

e

r

e

c

3

Then pull the
outer edge.

31

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens

2.6.1 Installing the Screens

Start in the middle of the bottom row and work outward and upward.

First

1. Be sure the wall of Margays is straight and the
corners are square. Measure the diagonals of the
whole wall. If the diagonals are equal, the wall is a
perfect rectangle.

2. The screen supports should be installed on the
bottom row of Margays.

c. With one person holding each side of the

screen, hang the screen on the rail so the pin
goes into the slot.

4. Slide the screen closed, lifting it slightly so the

Screen supports

Then

3. Start in the middle of the bottom row and install
that screen.
a. Pull the screen rails all the way out on both

sides of the Margay chassis.

screen won’t scrape on the screen support below.

Next

5. Install the screens to the left and right of the cen­ter to complete the bottom row.
a. After you add a screen, press it toward the cen-

ter.

6. Install the screens above the center screen.
a. Left each screen and you press it in so it doesn’t

scrape on the screen below.

b. Continue until you reach the top.

7. Check the line of this bottom row of screens. If
they are not straight, use shims on the top of the
screen support until the screens are straight.

8. Complete the second row, working outward and
pressing the screens inward after they are pressed
home.

9. Working upward and outward, finish all the rows.

b. The screen rails have a large pin and the

screens have an L-shaped slot.

32

Final adjustment

Check all the screens for alignment with each
other. The lines between screens should form straight
lines where they intersect.

The four corners
should meet like
this …

… not like this.

58 5 8

47 4 7

36 3 6

12 1 2

In a wall of Margays, install the screens starting with the center of
the bottom row and work out to the ends.

Then install the screens above the middle until you have an
inverted T.

Finally, install the rest of the rows, complete each row before mov­ing up.

33

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens

2.6.2 Opening or Removing a Screen

Removing a screen from a single Margay standing
alone is not a problem. Simply grasp the sides of the

screen and pull forward sharply. The spring latches
will pop loose.

Removing a screen from a Margay in a wall is more
exacting, because the screens are so close together.

On the opposite page, look at the row of Margays.
To remove a screen on the outside column in a wall,
do not start at the outside edge. This seems the logi­cal place to start, but it will cause the outside screen
to crunch against the next screen to the center.

Notice also that if you want to remove a screen in
the middle of a wall, you should work from the out­side of the wall inward.

Hints

 When pulling with the suction cup, always pull at a

slightly up angle. This keeps the screen from scraping
the screen below.

 Place the suction cup puller near the corner of the

screen.

You will hear the screen latch click and release.
Pulling up a little keeps this screen from rubbing
the screen below. Release the latch at top and bot­tom of one side.

Place suction

cup at these

points

CAUTION

When you pull the edges out, pull out only ½"
(2 cm). That is enough to release the spring
latches without harming the next screen.

4.

4

Then pull this edge.

3

 Start at the outside and work in.

 Never pull the “open” edge first.

Steps to remove a single screen from a Margay wall

1.

Suppose you want

to remove this

screen.

2.

Start with this screen
and pull this edge.

2

1

5.

6.

With both edges
free, remove this

screen completely

Next, pull this edge.

2

1

3. Place the suction cup near the corner of the
screen and pull slightly up and outward sharply.

34

7.

8.

9.

4

Then this edge.

3

Now here.

4

Then this edge.

3

2

1

10.

4

Finally, pull

this edge.

3

2

1

This may seem like a long way to pull a single screen,
but this order of operations helps prevent screen
damage.

35

2.6 Installing and Removing Screens

2.6.3 Opening a Screen Temporarily for Work

The Margay screen props open for work from the front.

1. Carefully open the screen of the Margay you want
to work on. See 2.6.2 “Opening or Removing a
Screen” on page 34.

2. Pull the screen all the way out.

3. Use the hook to hold the screen at an angle.

4. Be sure to close the hook along the slider before
closing the screen.

36

3 Aligning and Adjusting

3.1 Adjusting Margay’s Engine: Important Step … 38

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source … 42

3.2.1 Adjusting to Computers, Analog RGB … 44

3.2.1.1 Adjusting Input Levels Manually … 46

3.2.2 Adjusting to Computer Sources, Digital … 48

3.2.3 Adjusting to Video Sources … 50

3.3 Color Balancing a Wall of Margays … 52

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall … 54

3.4.1 Scaling and Cropping … 56

3.4.2 Zoom and Position … 58

3.4.3 Viewport Adjustment … 60

3.5 Saving Your Work & Recalling a Memory … 62

3.5.1 Memory: What Is Saved? And Where? … 64

37

3.1 Adjusting Margay’s Engine: Important Step

The optical engine must be adjusted to aim the picture accurately at the screen.

Although the optical engine was perfectly adjusted
when the Margay left the factory, vibration along the
way may have moved it.

CAUTION

It is important to check this mechanical adjust­ment of the optical engine before any elec­tronic adjustments are made to the picture.

Aligning the optical engine

1. Open the Engine Alignment menu.

2. In the last item in the menu, choose Grid. This
pattern shows all the pixels in the optical engine.

3. Start by positioning the grid pattern to the
of the screen.

a. The Left and Right Side controls move the left

and right sides of the grid up and down. These
two controls react with one another a little, so
moving the right side may affect the left side,
too.

b. Separately the Left and Right Side controls

adjust rotation of the grid image. Together they
adjust the vertical position.

c. Use the Horizontal control to move the grid

image left and right. Again, this control inter­acts somewhat with the up and down controls
of left and right.

4. When the grid image is centered, use the Image
Size control to size the image. Try to lose (hide)
one pixel at the edge of the screen.
a. The other pattern, Alignment Dashes can help

you here. This pattern shows the last six pixels
at each edge.

b. To hide one pixel, adjust the size so that you

see five dashes at each edge.

c. There may be a small amount of curvature

(barrel or pincushion distortion) at the edges.
This is normal. You will have no more than
about one pixel of curvature along any edge.

d. The Image Size control may affect the rotation

or position of the image, so go back and forth
between the controls to find the best adjust­ment.

center

What if you CAN’T move the image enough?

In some rare situations, you may not be able to use
the Engine Alignment menu to move the image far
enough on the screen. If so, you must manually move
the optical engine carriage.

1. If you have moved the image using the Engine
Alignment menu, move the image back to the
“center”. You can find the center of the range of
alignments by finding each extreme and moving
the image to the middle.

 By “centering” the alignment engine you will retain fine

image adjustment settings. In the following steps, you
will do gross adjustments to move the image. You must
still do fine tuning of the image alignment using the
Engine Alignment menu.

2. Remove the rear panel (6 ¼-turn screws).

3. The optical engine carriage is exposed. (Cables
normally attached to the optical engine have been
removed for these pictures.)

Hiding one pixel at all sides is ideal. Try to make it at
least one pixel and no more than three.

38

4. Loosen the two mounting nuts on the left side of
the carriage.

Loosen these two nuts

5. Loosen the single mounting nut on the right side
of the carriage

8. To move the screen image up or down tighten or
loosen the adjustment screws on the both sides of
carriage.

Move image up or down by adjusting this screw...

Loosen this nut

6. To move the screen image to the right, move the
carriage to its left (as you face the carriage from
the back of the unit).

7. To move the screen image to the left, move the
carriage to its right.

... and this screw

a. To move the screen image down, tighten these

screws (turn the screws clockwise).

b. To move the screen image up, loosen the

screws (turn the screws counter-clockwise).

 These adjustments are for large physical movement.

You’ll still need to do fine tuning of the picture position
using the process described in “Aligning the optical
engine” on page 38.

9. After you have moved the image to a more reason­able position, tighten the three mounting nuts
you loosened earlier.

10. Now fine-tune the image position as described in

“Aligning the optical engine” on page 38.

39

40

Alignment Dashes

Use the Alignment Dashes pattern
to show how many pixels are visible
at each edge.

Use the Grid pattern to adjust
rotation and to align all pat­terns in a wall.

41

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source

The source picture—from computer, video, DVD—is not always perfect in its size or strength; it does
not always conform exactly to a standard. Margay has a way to compensate for this.

Computer sources vary quite a bit from computer to
computer. They even vary between video outputs on
the same video card. Video sources vary more.

To make the Margay respond correctly to these

non-standard sources we adjust Input Levels.

• Input Levels for computer sources, analog, see
page 44

• Input Levels for computer sources, digital, see
page 48

• Input Levels for video sources, page 50

How does Input Level relate to Color Balance

To make all the displays show the same color and
brightness across the whole wall, you need to adjust
input levels and do color balancing.

You can do Input Levels first, or you can do Color
Balance first. It doesn’t matter. But they must both be
done.

 Input Levels and Color Balance do not affect each

other, but they both affect the final picture.

• Color Balancing the displays, page 52

What does Input Level do?

For analog computer sources adjusting to the com­puter’s picture output means finding what that com­puter means by black and white.

Black is supposed to be a voltage of zero coming
from the computer’s video card, but it almost never
is. White is supposed to be a voltage of 0.7 volts, but
it usually isn’t either.

The Input Level adjustment process asks you to
provide a picture from the computer that is black,
then one that is pure white. With these, you can
quickly and automatically make the display “learn”
what this computer means by black and white.

The result? Good pictures, using all the dynamic
range of color coming from the computer.

Displays differ from one another because of very
small differences in the color of the light produced by
the lamp and by differences in the dyes used to make
the color in a DLP™ optical engine.

In color balancing you use the display’s internal
test patterns of white, first, then gray. The internal
pattern assures that a pure white is used.

Selecting the source

1. Press

2. Select

3. Select

4. Choose the source you want and press

5. Press

MENU on the remote.

PICTURE and press ENTER.
SOURCE and press the lEFT ARROW key.

ENTER.

MENU again to close all menus.

 For Input Levels, you must use black and white coming

from the computer you will use for the program. You
don’t make this adjustment with your work laptop and
then switch to another computer for the display’s
program of pictures.

What does Color Balance do?

Color balancing adjusts all the displays in a wall so

they produce the same colors across the entire wall.

42

43

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source

3.2.1 Adjusting to Computers, Analog RGB

3.2.1 Adjusting to Computers, Analog RGB

The best way to adjust levels is the semi-automatic method.

Adjusting levels semi-automatically

This is quick and easy if you can get a black pic-

ture and a white picture from the source computer.

1. Display a black picture from the source. This

must come from the computer source that will be
used for the program. It does no good to use your

laptop for this adjustment, then connect to a dif­ferent computer for the program. Nor can you use
the Margay’s black test pattern. (Hint: Make a
black screen from Windows Paint program.)

2. In the M
Level and press

ANUAL LEVELS menu, select Auto Black

ENTER. (There are several paths to

the Manual Levels menu as shown in the pic­tures.)

3. Display a white picture from the source.

4. Select A

UTO WHITE LEVEL and press ENTER.

That’s all there is to it.

The Margay is now adjusted to the black and white
levels of this computer using this video card. If you
change computers or video output cards in the com­puter, you must do this again.

Adjusting levels completely automatically

Open the A

O BLACK/WHITE LEVELS. You can check the other

D

items, too, particularly F

Now press

UTO SETUP OPTIONS menu and check

REQUENCY and PHASE.

SETUP. Margay looks for the darkest

pixel and the brightest pixel in the picture and adjusts
itself so that these are the truly the darkest and
brightest.

When the Black/White Levels item is checked, the
Margay will do this automatic level adjustment
whenever a completely new source is displayed.

When a saved memory is recalled from the Recall

menu, Margay does not do any auto setup.

Which is best: Manual, Semi-Auto, or Auto

The manual and semi-automatic methods are
more accurate. The automatic method is sometimes
not accurate enough for the White Level.

The good news is that you should only have to do
the manual or semi-auto method once for each com­puter source. Save these settings in the Save menu,
“How to Save to a Memory” on page 80. Then use
Recall to instantly bring it all back.

When to re-adjust levels

You should re-adjust black and white levels when­ever:

• the computer is changed;

• the video card in the computer is changed, or you
switch the source for this cube to a different video
card output in the same computer;

you change the electronics module.

Adjusting to computer sources manually

See “Adjusting Input Levels Manually” on page 46.

What is a “completely” new source?

Margay remembers all the values in the last 10 pic­tures. If a new picture comes from a different source,
such as from a different computer, and that picture
has almost exactly the same resolution, number of
active lines, number of blanking lines, etc., the Mar­gay will assume that this is a source it has seen before
and use the remembered setup values. This is a dif­ferent sort of memory from the 40 numbered memo­ries described in “Using the Memories Efficiently” on
page 78.

On the other hand, if the new source is sufficiently
different, Margay will engage all the checked pro­cesses in the Auto Setup Options menu.

44

45

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source

3.2.1.1 Adjusting Input Levels Manually

It is rarely necessary to adjust input levels manually. You can skip this section.

Adjusting levels manually

1. Display an all-black picture from the source com­puter.

2. Press

3. Select M

 Do not go beyond the point where the Minimum just

4. Display an all-white picture from the source com-

5. Select M

LEVEL on the remote.

ANUAL BLACK LEVEL and adjust it up and

down with the +/– keys to make the three C

OINT values go to zero. If they do not all touch

P

ENTER

zero at the same time, use the individual colors
under M

goes to zero. The idea is to just touch the zero level.

ANUAL BLACK LEVEL to adjust them.

puter.

ANUAL WHITE LEVEL and adjust the levels

until the C

ENTER POINT values just touch 255,

adjusting the individual colors as necessary.

 It is not a good idea to use the levels to make all the

displays in a wall match each other. That should be
done with the Color Balance menu. (“Color Balancing a
Wall of Margays” on page 52.)

46

47

3.2 Adjusting Each Margay To Its Source

3.2.2 Adjusting to Computer Sources, Digital

Digital sources do not normally need adjustment, but the controls are there if you need them.

These controls are advance level controls and should
not be adjusted unless you have been briefed by the
factory or are familiar with black level adjustments.
They are used to correct the digital blacks that come
from video cards that have incorrect levels.

 Don’t use these controls unless you have been briefed

by Planar or you are familiar with black level
adjustments. These controls are usually not necessary.

48

This form of the Input Levels menu appears
when the current source is Digital and the
colorspace is RGB.

This form of the Input Levels menu appears
when the current source is Digital and the
colorspace is YPbPr.

49

3.2.3 Adjusting to Video Sources

Video adjustments are quite a bit like the controls on a television receiver.

Adjusting the picture

1. Select a video source in the Picture menu. When
the VIM option is installed (Video Input Module)
Margay has available
a. one composite video,

b. one S-Video, and
c. one component (YPbPr) input.

2. Press

LEVEL on the remote.

 These controls are also used for analog sources when

you chose YPbPr Colorspace.

Now you have two choices.

• Adjust using any picture from the video source.

• Adjust using a standard color bar pattern from the
source.

Adjusting with any picture

This procedure must be done after you adjust color

balance (page 52).

1. Choose pictures that have blacks and whites rep­resented as well as a variety of colors.

2. Adjust Contrast, Brightness, Saturation and Hue
on one Margay until it looks satisfactory.

3. Adjust all the other Margays in the wall so they
have the same values for Contrast, Brightness,
Saturation and Hue as the first Margay.

6. If the color bar pattern has a pluge, you can use it
to adjust Brightness.

Pluge

Adjust Brightness so you cannot
see the different between these
two marks,

but y ou can see the difference
between these two marks.

Adjusting with color bars

1. If possible, use a color bar pattern from the video
source you will use for the program material. You
cannot use the color bar from the Test Patterns
menu.

2. In the Picture menu, check Blue Only. You should
see only the alternate color bars, all of them blue.

3. Adjust Saturation to make the outer two color
bars match. Match them in brightness; they will
already match in color.

4. Adjust Hue to make the inner two color bars
match.

5. Uncheck Blue Only

 When a video source is selected, Auto Setup Options is

not available. Adjustments must be made manually.

50

Saturation

h

Match
these

atch

hese

Adjust Saturation so the outside bars
match when Blue Only is checked.

Hue

Adjust Hue so the inside bars match
when Blue Only is checked.

Matc
these

Match
these

51

3.3 Color Balancing a Wall of Margays

Color Balancing can be done before or after Input Levels.

The object of color balancing is to make the individ­ual units show the same colors. When we see a red
car move across a video wall from one display to
another, we want it to have the same color for the
whole trip, not change from red to maroon to orange.

The displays naturally have slightly different colors
from one display to the next, because of slight varia­tions in the lamp and DLP™ engine. This cannot be
avoided, but we can compensate for it with color bal­ancing.

Color balancing is subjective. It may seem strange
at first, but it gets easier with practice. Fortunately,
you don't have to match all the colors; you only have
to match whites and grays.

When you make all the displays look the same
with White and Gray, all the other colors will look
the same. It is not necessary to achieve a perfect
white or a perfectly colorless gray. It is only necessary
that all the displays look alike when they display
white and gray.

CAUTION

Never try to match the colors of the display
units with the Black and White Level controls
or with the Video Controls. You will not like the
results if you do.

Color Balancing

1. Turn on all the units in the wall and let them
warm up for at least five minutes. The lamps
must be thoroughly warm before you color bal­ance.

2. For each display, press

3. Set Gamma at the bottom of the menu to either
Video or Film, but be sure this is the same for all
cubes.

4. Set White Boost to Off.

5. Set Test Pattern to White.



Always use the internal Test Patterns for color
balancing, not an external pattern.

MISC once on the remote.



If the wall has never been color balanced, make sure
you start with the same color temperature setting on
each cube. If you are not interested in achieving a
specific color temperature, use the default of 8500K,
which is the brightest. If the cube has been color
balance before, it will display
temperature setting, because the balance values don’t
match any of the pre-set color temperatures.

CUSTOM

in its color

6. Look at the Color Balance values on all displays.
All the White balance values should be 100, and
all the Gray balance values should be 7. If any val­ues are not that way, select Reset to Defaults and

ENTER. This is where you should always

press
start color balancing.

7. Select Hide Menu and press

ENTER on each dis-

play. This will remove all the menus so you can
see the whole screen on all displays. (To re-open
the Color Balance menu, press

ENTER for that dis-

plays.)

8. Look at all the displays together. Stand far enough
away from the wall so you are looking almost
squarely at all of them. Pay attention to the large
central area, not the edges.

9. Find the darkest display. This is the baseline dis­play. Do not change this one.

52

10. Pick a display next to the baseline display, above,
below, or to the side. This will be the variable dis­play. Turn on the Color Balance menu for this
variable display by pressing

ENTER. Be close to the

display to do this so only this one display has the
Color Balance menu showing.

11. Match the brightness of this variable display to
the baseline display.

• Match brightness first. Move the selector
arrow to White Balance – All.

• With the left key, reduce the brightness until
it matches the baseline display.

• Select the individual colors and adjust the
amounts of Red, Green and Blue to achieve
the best match in color and brightness to the
baseline display.

12. When the first variable unit matches the baseline
unit, it becomes another baseline unit. Turn off
its Color Balance menu with Hide Menu.

13. Choose another variable unit next to any baseline
display, turn on its Color Balance menu, and
match its white to any baseline display.

14. When all displays match in white, change Test
Pattern to Gray so all the displays show an inter­nal gray pattern.

15. The gray values range from 0 to 15, and they are
all now set at 7. Therefore, gray can be adjusted
up and down. Choose a display that has a middle
brightness and that has very little color in gray.
This becomes the first baseline display for gray. It
does not have to be the same as the baseline unit
used for White.

16. Proceed as before, matching the grays one display
at a time. Always work with adjacent displays.

17. When all displays match in gray, turn off the test
pattern on each display.

Color Balance values are saved for all input sources in
the same memory location. Color Balance is the
same for all sources.

100

Bright

Dark

Changes in the

White value moves

this end point.

Changes in the White values

affect the Gray values.

Output brightness

Black

Changes in the Gray values do

not affect the White values.

Changes in the

Gray value move

Output brightness

this mid point.

Input Signal

15

0

Input Signal

31

0

White

 Copy to Clipboard will save all the current settings to a

temporary memory. You can then make more
adjustments to see if it gets better or worse. Recall from
Clipboard will restore these saved settings. The
clipboard is only for testing. These values are not saved
when AC power is off.

 While color balancing, change the White value by a lot,

not just one step. It’s difficult to see one step in White. A
large change will tell you if you are heading in the right
direction.

 If you can’t decide which way to go or how to get this

cube closer to the others, try any change. If it is the
wrong change, it will be quickly obvious, and you can
go back. Use the clipboard.

53

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall

Whether you use Planar’s Big Picture™ or an external video processor, your goal is to make the picture
fit together properly at the edges. When this is done correctly, the viewer does not notice the black
lines separating the screens.

If you have not checked the optical engine alignment
on each Margay, do so now. (See 3.1 “Adjusting Mar­gay’s Engine: Important Step” on page 38.)

Using an external processor

The processor divides a single picture into several
sections and sends each part on a separate cable.
Connect these cables to the proper Margay. You do
not need the Big Picture key is this case.

You can still position the picture with the Margay
controls, or, with most processors, position and zoom
the picture with the processor controls.

Using Planar’s Big Picture™

Each Margay must have a Big Picture key installed
(“Installing the Big Picture Key” on page 12).

Loop the same source through all the Margays in a
wall (“Connections, Control: RS232 & RS485” on
page 28).

For each cube, set the Wall menu for the same wall
size.

• Unit Column and Unit Row is the position of the
Margay in this “wall.”

• Wall Mode, when checked, turns on the Planar
Big Picture™ feature. When not checked, the cube
shows the whole picture.



Each cube in a “wall” gets the whole picture by looping
the source from one cube to another, or be feeding
them all with a distribution amplifier. The Wall & Aspect
Ratio menu tells the cube what portion of the entire
picture to display.

Scale Mode, Justify and Border Color…

…are explained in the next section, page 56.

• Wal l Wid th and Wall Height are the number of
cubes wide and high for the picture. This may be
different from the physical wall size. You could
build a 4x4 wall of Margays and use Wall Mode to
put a single picture on the four cubes in the upper
left corner, for instance.

54

55

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall

3.4.1 Scaling and Cropping

Sometimes the picture does not fit the wall. If the source picture is video from a DVD, the aspect ratio
is probably 1.77 (16x9), the same as HDTV.

The aspect ratio of a picture is its width divided by its



height. 1024 ÷ 768 = 1.33

The aspect ratio of a Margay is 1.77 (16x9), the same
as HDTV. When the source picture’s aspect ratio is
not the same as the Margay wall, you have to do
something to make the picture fit. You have some
basic choices:

• Fill the area both ways. This will produce some
distortion in the picture. Circles will not be
round.

• Put the picture in without distortion and crop off
the sides (or top and bottom).

• Put the picture in without distortion and fill the
extra space with black or some other solid color.

• Force an aspect ratio, such as 16 x 9 or 4 x 3.

This is a 1.77 picture shown on a 3x3 wall of Mar­gays. The picture fills the wall nicely, and there is no
distortion or cropping.

Let’s start with a 1.33 (4x3) picture, the aspect ratio
of normal TV, and put it on this same wall of Mar­gays. Here is the original picture.

Scale Mode determines how the picture will be made
to fit the wall.

• Fill All means that the picture will touch the bor­ders of the wall all around, even if this means
stretching (and distorting) the picture in one
direction. The picture had to be stretched side­ways to fill the screens.

A picture with an aspect ratio of 1.77 is shown on a 3x3
wall of Margays.

56

• Letterbox means expand the picture until the first
edges (top-bottom or left-right) touch the border
of the wall, then fill in the other sides with a solid
color.

• Crop means expand the picture until the second
edges touch the border and let the other edges of
the picture fall outside the wall and get cropped.
Here the width is filled, there is no distortion, but

the top is cropped off. This would happen when
the Justify is B

OTTOM.

• Widescreen means force the aspect ratio to 16 x 9
(1.77), the standard for many DVD movies.

• Normal forces a 4 x 3 (1.33) aspect ratio, the ratio
of standard television.

Justify determines how the picture will be place in
the wall.

• If the picture is too wide for the wall and is
cropped on the sides, you can choose Left, Cen-
ter, or Right.

• If the picture is too tall for the wall and is cropped
top and bottom, you can choose To p , Middle, or
Bottom.

• Similar choices are made if the picture is letter­boxed.

No Big Picture key

If there is no Big Picture key, the whole picture will

appear on the screen, and the menu looks like this:

You can’t spread one picture over several Margays,
but you can make the picture fit one Margay is the
ways described above.

Border Color determines the color of the “extra”
space around the picture if it doesn’t fill the screen.
The choices are:

• Black

• White

•Red

• Green

•Blue

•Dark Red

• Dark Green

• Dark Blue

When the Scale Mode is Fill All, the Border Color line
will be grayed out, because there will be no border.

57

3.4 Spreading One Picture Over a Wall

3.4.2 Zoom and Position

Position moves the picture on the screen. This is NOT the same as optical engine alignment. Zoom
adjusts the edges of the picture to make it fit with the other pictures in a wall.

Position

Press the
Position menu. The four arrow keys move the picture
on the screen.

The numbers for Horizontal and Vertical Position
refer to the number of pixels from sync to the first
displayed pixel. These numbers get smaller as the
picture moves up and to the left.

Black edge

If you see a black edge on the screen, and you can’t
move the picture to cover the black, you must adjust
the optical engine position. See “Adjusting Margay’s
Engine: Important Step” on page 38 to do this.

Zoom

Zooming is used mainly to make the edges of a
large picture—one that covers many Margay
screens—fit each other side-to-side and top to bot­tom.

MISC button once to open the Picture

Zoom menu entries

• Image Resolution is the resolution of the source
picture.

• This Cube is the number of pixels this unit is
using of all the incoming pixels, followed by the
size of the wall (from the Wall & Aspect Ratio
menu) and the Column and Row of this unit.

Using Zoom and Position

Picture Position is usually used to center the pic-

ture on the screen.

 If the screen has a black edge on one or two sides, and

you try to move the picture to cover the black side, and
this does NOT cover it, see “Adjusting Margay’s
Engine: Important Step” on page 38 for help.

Zoom is primarily used to adjust the edges of the pic­ture when one picture is spread over several cubes.
Whether you use Planar’s Big Picture™ or an exter­nal video processor to make one picture cover several
cubes, the Zoom controls can make the edges fit
together.

58

59

3.4.3 Viewport Adjustment

The Viewport menus adjust the image on the DMD™.

What is the DMD?

DMD stands for Digital Micromirror Device. It is
Texas Instrument’s name for their patented chip that
produces the pictures in a DLP™ (Digital Light Pro­cessing) system.

The DMD chip is about the size of a postal stamp
and contains, in the case of Margay, 1280 by 720 pix­els.

What is Viewport?

The Viewport menu adjust the number of pixels
actually used on the DMD. You can’t increase this
number, naturally, but you can reduce it.

• DMD Resolution shows the resolution of the
DMD chip. This has nothing to do with the reso­lution of the source picture.

• Viewport shows the number of DMD pixels being
used.

60

61

3.5 Saving Your Work & Recalling a Memory

3.5 Saving Your Work & Recalling a Memory

Some saving is done automatically, but there are big advantages to saving your work manually. There
is more information about memories starting on page 78.

How automatic save works

Whatever changes you make with the remote con­trol or RS232 commands, these changes are saved
automatically. If you change sources (switch to
another input connector) and come back to this
source, everything you did before will be “recalled.”
Things will look like they did before.

Suppose you make adjustments to an SVGA
source on Analog 1, then you feed a UXGA source to
Analog 1 and make new adjustments. Then you
switch to the S-Video 1 connector and do some more
setup for it.

Later you switch to the Analog 1 input again, and
this time it has the SVGA source from before. The
Margay will recognize that it has seen this source
before, or at least a source with these characteristics,
and will recall the SVGA settings you established
before.

This kind of recall includes Input Levels, Position,
and Frequency, but it does not include Wall Mode and
any Big Picture adjustments you made. Those need to
be recalled from memory slots.

Manually saving to memory slots

Margay has 40 numbered memory slots, and this
is the best way to save. Recall is fastest from memory
slots.

First, set up the Margay the way you want it,
including all the adjustments listed in this section.
Then press the

SAVE button twice. This opens the

Save grid.

Navigate to an unchecked slot number, or to a
checked slot if you want to overwrite what’s already
saved. Press

ENTER.

This menu shows all the data that will be saved.
You can’t change anything but the name in this
menu. To save immediately, press

ENTER. The appear-

ance of this menu is somewhat different for digital
and video sources, reflecting what is saved for them.

Use the left-right arrow keys to navigate along the
line. Use the up-down keys to change the character at
that point. Press
Save Now and press

PREV when finished. Then select

ENTER again.

If you have RS232 control, there are commands to
send a string name to a memory slot, saving time.

How to recall a memory slot

1. Press

SAVE once to open the Recall grid.

2. Navigate to the slot you want to recall. You can
only land on slot numbers that are not empty
(have checks). Press

ENTER to open the Recall

detail menu. If this slot number has exactly the
same settings are currently being used, a (Cur­rent) message appears on the top line.

3. The only line you can select is Recall Now. Press

ENTER.

 The best practice is to recall settings from memory

slots. It is faster.

To change the name of the memory slot

The default name is an abbreviated description of
the contents. In this case, the name tells you that the
source is connected to Analog 1, which is an XGA
picture. This cube is part of a 2x2 wall, and it’s the
cube lower left corner (column 1, row 2).

If your customer wants or needs a more descriptive
name, select the Name line and press

62

ENTER.

ENTER

ENTER

63

3.5.1 Memory: What Is Saved? And Where?

Margay’s automatic memories work well, but the best way to save and recall is with the numbered
memory slots, because they recall everything.

In the Margay some parameters (values) are associ­ated with the mode. The mode is primarily the hori­zontal and vertical resolution and the vertical
frequency of the incoming source picture. It is more
than this, but if you think of it this way, you will be
close enough.

Some parameters are associated with the input.
The input in this instance means the input connec­tor: Analog 1, Analog 2, Digital, Composite Video,
etc.

Some parameters are global, that is, they are not
associated with either the mode or the input connec­tor. They are universal.

Specific to the

Parameter

ASCII Response Term.

ASCII Response Type

Auto Codes

Auto Lamp On

Baud Rate

Beeper

Black Level: R, G, & B

Brightness (video)

Color Balance (all values)

Colorspace

Contrast (video)

Curtain Pattern

Do Black/White Levels

Do Frequency

Do Phase

Do Position

Frequency

Gamma

Group ID

Hue

Inverted Installation

Justify

Lamp Saver

Menu H Position

Menu Timeout

x

x

x

x

x

GlobalMode Input

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Specific to the

Parameter

Menu V Position

Overscan

Phase

Plug and Play (EDID)

Position, Horizontal

Position, Vertical

Resolution, Horizontal

Resolution, Vertical

Retry On Lost Signal

Saturation

Scale Mode

Sharpness

Terminate RS-485

Unit ID

Viewport Window Bottom

Viewport Window Left

Viewport Window Right

Viewport Window Top

Wall Height

Wall Mode

Wall Unit Column

Wall Unit Row

Wall Width

White Boost

White Level: R, G, & B

Zoom Window Bottom

Zoom Window Left

Zoom Window Right

Zoom Window Top

Memory

The Margay remembers that last 10 modes it
received and all the mode parameters associated with
them.

Switching modes

For instance, suppose you set up the Black and
White Levels for a 1024x768 @ 65Hz vertical from a

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

GlobalMode Input

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

64

computer connected to Analog 1. Then later, using
the same input connector but a different computer
you set up the Margay for a 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. You
re-adjust the Black and White Levels, because they
are different.

Still later you plug in the first computer with its
1024x768 @ 65Hz picture. Immediately, the Margay
recognizes that it has seen this signal type before, and
it recalls the Black and White Levels from its internal
memory.

It does not Do Frequency or Phase or anything
else, because it recognizes that this input was used
before, and the previous settings are probably correct.

Possible issue with Mode specific memory

Suppose that after setting up the 1024x768 and
1600x1200 pictures, you connect a third computer
that is 1024x768, but it has a different requirement
for Black and White Level. In this case, the Margay
would use the wrong values for these levels.

To prevent this from happening, use the memory
slots as described below.

Switching input connectors

Now suppose you use Analog 2 to bring in a pic­ture that uses the component YPbPr video. You
change the Colorspace setting to YPbPr. If you switch
back to Analog 1 in the Picture menu, the Margay
switches back to the RGB Colorspace, because Color­space is specific to the input connector.

• The change is immediate. There is no waiting for
the Margay to Do Frequency or Do Phase or any
of that.

• The switch includes the correct input connector.

• The memory slots can be named something spe­cific to your application: “COMPUTER XL-61,”
“MAIN DVD PROGRAM.”

• And there are 40 of them, not just 10.

Possible issue with Input specific memory

What happens if you switch back to Analog 1 and
the picture there is YPbPr? The Margay has no way to
know this, no way to detect the difference between
RGB and YPbPr, so it will use the wrong Colorspace.

To prevent this from happening, use the memory
slots as described below.

Global parameters

In none of the examples above does the Margay try
to change the Baud Rate or the Color Balance values,
because these items are saved globally.

Memory slots

The Margay has memory slots, 40 of them. Each
slot memorizes all the mode specific and all the input
specific parameters as well as the input connector
used.

When you recall a memory slot, you recall exactly
the way the Margay was set up when the memory
was saved.

65

66

4 Operating

4.1 Selecting a Source … 68

4.2 Normal Start Up … 70

4.3 Controlling Margay with Remote … 72

4.4 Controlling Margay with RS232/RS485 … 74

4.5 Asset Tag and Display Status … 76

67

4.1 Selecting a Source

The “source” is the picture coming into the Margay. It may be from a computer, a video, or a DVD
player.

Selecting the source

1. Press

2. Select

3. Select

4. Choose the source you want and press

5. Press

Selecting a source means choosing an input connec­tor so you can see the picture coming into that input.

If the source you select is not there, you will see a
Source Absent message on the screen. This usually
means there is no picture coming into that connector,
or the picture is not valid.

MENU on the remote.

PICTURE and press ENTER.
SOURCE and press the lEFT ARROW key.

ENTER.

MENU again to close all menus.

This message means Analog 2 is selected now, but

there is no picture coming to that connector.

68

69

4.2 Normal Start Up

It is often helpful to know what the sequence of events is when the Margay starts.

Start up sequence

When AC power is turned on, it seems that noth­ing happens for a few seconds. The electronics mod­ule is starting up and initializing itself.

Next, if the optical engine is warm, the fans start.
During this time, you cannot turn the lamp on. It
shortens lamp life to turn it on when it is hot, so the
fans run for a minute or so to be sure it is cool.
(There is a temperature sensor on the optical engine.
If it is cool enough, the cool-down period is skipped.)

After this cooling down period, you can turn on
the lamp. If Auto Lamp On is checked in the Miscel­laneous menu, the lamp will strike (begin to turn on)
at the end of the cooling period.

Shut down sequence

When you turn off the lamp, the fan continues to
run for 15 seconds to cool it off.

The lamp fan runs continuously when the lamp is
one, and for 5 minutes after the lamp is turned off.
The intake fan runs:

• during Lamp On,

• for 15 seconds after AC power is applied, during
which time you cannot turn on the lamp,

• and for 15 seconds after Lamp Off.

CAUTION

It is bad practice to turn off the Margay by
turning off the AC power. The lamp does not
cool properly. This may shorten lamp life.

70

71

4.3 Controlling Margay with Remote

You can control Margay with the remote control or with RS232 commands.

Remote control

The remote control projects a series of IR (infra­red) pulses to the Margay for control. Aim the remote
control at the screen and press
should be visible, if the lamp is on.

MENU. The main menu

• Something is blocking the IR receiver in the Mar­gay.

• IR remote action was disabled by an RS232 com­mand.



The remote control has a large spread of its IR
radiation. It is difficult from a distance to control only
one Margay in a wall. Step closer.

For a complete list of all remote actions, see

7.2 “Remote Control Buttons” on page 116.

Beeper

If Beeper is checked in the Miscellaneous menu,
the Margay will make a beep each time a remote but­ton is pressed (and the Margay receives the signal).

If the Margay cannot perform the requested action,
it will beep three times, a triple beep. Triple beep will
happen whether Beeper is checked on not.

If the remote doesn’t work

• The batteries in the remote are dead or installed
wrong.

• The remote was not aimed at the screen.

72

73

4.4 Controlling Margay with RS232/RS485

Connect the RS232 In to the computer. Loop thru with RS485.

Remote control with serial commands is a good way
to control a wall while it is operating. It’s also an easy
way to control Margays in a wall during initial setup
using one of the Planar utility programs.

Open Planar’s website in your internet

browser.

opens a new window.

ton for Consultants and Designers.

manuals, utility programs, FRUs and firmware
updates.

Utility programs available:

• Cube Control

•Diag

• Serial Talk

• OnOffer

•… and more

www.planarsignage.com

In the top banner, click on LOGIN. This

Click on the lower, blue LOGIN NOW but-

The User Name is tech.
The Password is help.
Click OK to open the window with all the

• To address all the cubes with a certain Unit ID,
use an address like *0 or *3.

Cube IDs

When the cubes are connected in a series loop
(2.5.4 “Connections, Control: RS232 & RS485” on
page 28), each cube should have a unique ID. The ID
is set in the Serial Settings menu.

The Group ID and the Unit ID go together to
make the cube’s ID. Each of the two parts has a range
for characters from 0 to 9 and from A to Z (not case
sensitive).

Addressing the cubes

When you send a command, it will have an
address. There are five forms of the address.

• To address all the cubes in this serial loop, use **
for the address.

• To address a single cube, use the specific ID of
that cube, such as A6 or 00 or 1B.

• To address all the cubes with a certain Group ID,
use an address like 3* with will address all the
cubes with the Group ID of 3, but with any Unit
ID. If you have three walls, and all the cubes in
one of the walls have Group ID 3, this type of
command would address only this wall.

Baud rate

Each cube’s baud rate must be set to the computer
or controller’s baud rate. The baud rate is not auto­matically established, as it is in modems.

Terminating the series

If the serial string is very long, you may have to
terminate the last cube in the string for good commu­nication. Check the Terminate RS485 box.

In most instances, this is not necessary. Terminat­ing the string unnecessarily can cause its own com­munication problems. The guide line is: If it works
without terminating, leave it alone.

ASCII settings

… are explained in the RS232 manual for Margay,
available or the website. Document 077-0007. All the
serial commands are in this document, too. This and
other documents are available from Planar’s website.

74

75

4.5 Asset Tag and Display Status

The Asset Tag feature allows you to identify each Margay by its serial number or in other ways.

To see the current Asset Tag, press MONITOR.

The Asset Tag is initially blank. You can write in
any short text message using RS232 commands. See
the Margay RS232 Guide, available from Planar’s
website.

Open Planar’s website in your internet browser.

www.planarsignage.com

In the top banner, click on LOGIN. This opens a

new window.

Click on the lower, blue LOGIN NOW button for

Consultants and Designers.

The User Name is tech.
The Password is help.
Click OK to open the window with all the manu-

als, utility programs, FRUs and firmware updates.

• Interlock—If the interlock is Open, the lamp will
not light (unless the interlocks have been
bypassed to service the display).

• Mode ID—the number of the mode (type of sig­nal) currently set

• HPer—the horizontal period in nanoseconds (ns)
of this signal (picture)

• VLines—the number of vertical lines in the pic­ture

This number will be larger than the vertical resolution,
because it includes vertical blanking lines that are not visi­ble.

• Last Fault—the last event that caused that forced
the lamp off, followed by the number of hours and
minutes since that happened, measured in Sys­tem Hours, not clock time

Display Status menu information

• Margay—the name of this product

• 573-2300—the part number for the firmware in
Margays

• Rev—the revision number of the firmware cur­rently operating in this Margay

• Optical Engine SN—the serial number read from
the optical engine in this Margay

• Asset Tag—a text line you enter (see above)

Planar recommends you enter the serial number of this
Margay here, unless your facility has a special method of
identifying property.

• PS Fan and Eng Fans—If these fans are not on,
the lamp will not be on, and you wouldn’t be able
to see this menu at all.

• Lamp—same for this item.

76

5 Troubleshooting

5.1 Troubleshooting Tips … 78

5.2 Reading the On Screen Code … 80

5.3 Reading the LEDs … 82

77

5.1 Troubleshooting Tips

Margay has several troubleshooting aids.

On Screen codes

The On Screen code is a series of red and amber
lights that can flash on the screen to tell you what is
wrong. These flashing lights are particularly helpful
when the lamp won’t light.

See 5.2 “Reading the On Screen Code” on page 80.

Inside LEDs

The LEDs on the electronics module give you
information about the state of the Margay.

See 5.3 “Reading the LEDs” on page 82.

General troubleshooting
Exchange parts from one display to another. This is a

very effective way to find a problem. If the problem
follows the part to the new unit, that part was at
fault.

If the problem stays in the first unit, you haven’t
found the problem yet, but you have learned some­thing: The part you move was not the problem. Put it
back in the original unit and try something else.

Lamp won’t light

Check to make sure the lamp is actually
the lamp is lit, you can usually see light if you look
carefully. Light may come through spaces between
parts

Many things can make the screen black, even
though the lamp is lit.

• The Curtain may be on. If the curtain is black and
it is on, the screen will be black.

• There is no source picture. With no valid picture
coming in, the display will be black.

• There is something blocking the light to the
screen. Is the lens cap on?

• There are parts missing in the optical path. If
someone was working on the display, maybe he or
she forgot to put something back in.

If the lamp is not lit:

• No AC coming in? Check the main AC switch on
the display. It should be lit.

• No ballast power? Some displays have a green
LED near the main AC switch that lights when
the 350 volt part of the power supply is working.
It should be lit. Other displays may have an LED
on the electronics module to show when this high
voltage power is available.

not lit. If

WARNING

Always turn off the AC power and remove the
power cord before working inside the display
and before removing a lamp.

• If you have AC and ballast or 350V power, try
swapping the lamp into a display where the lamp
is good.

Display A

Display B

Lamp A doesn’t
work here.

a. If Lamp A works in Display B, put it back in

Display A. Lamp A is OK.

b. If Lamp A does not work in Display B, the

problem is Lamp A. Put a new lamp in
Display A.

• If the lamp is OK, try swapping the ballast in the
same way. The lamp ballast provides power to the
lamp. It is an electronic part, and all electronic
parts are eventually subject to failure.

• Fan failed. Most fans are sensed. That means the­electronics module knows whether they are run­ning or not. If they don’t run when they should,
the electronics module turns off the lamp and pre­vents it from striking (turning on) again.

Swapping other parts

You can swap electronics modules or fans in the

same way to see if one is bad.

When you swap electronics modules, try to put
them back in their original locations. Otherwise you
may have to do setup procedures again, such as Input
Level adjustment and Color Balance, because these
values are stored in the electronics module.

When you swap fans, always exchange fans of the
same size.

Why not use a new part out of the box?

It may seem like a good idea to take a new part out
of the box and substitute it for a suspected part in the

Move Lamp A
here.

Move good Lamp B
out temporarily.

78

display. However, there is a very tiny chance that the
part in the box doesn’t work.

If you test a part by putting in a known good part,

you get better information.

79

5.2 Reading the On Screen Code

Red and amber lights flashing on the screen can tell you what is wrong.

Turning on the On Screen code

With the remote control, press
should see the red or amber lights flashing on the
screen. This also opens the Display Status menu, but
of course, you won’t see it if the lamp is off.

MONITOR. You

Automatic On Screen code display

If Auto Codes is checked in the Miscellaneous
menu, the code will start showing whenever there is a
fault event that forces the lamp off.

If there is a bright picture, it may be difficult to see
these lights. They are soft, out of focus lights. Move
around to see them.

Or, press
will be easier to see.

If you see a steady, unblinking, amber light, it
means the lamp is on and there are no alarm condi­tions. If the screen is black at this time, there are
other reasons for it being black:

• The curtain is on and black.

• The source itself is a black picture.

• There is no source, which turns the screen black.

• There is some foreign object blocking the light
path.

80

CURTAIN to make the screen black so they

Margay On-Screen Codes

Condition Priority Each block represents 0.2 seconds

Door open

Power Supply Fan failed

DLP™ Fan failed

350V failed

Optical Engine failed

Lamp is off

Lamp failed

Starts with Red

Lamp off (wait, auto off)

Wait (lamp off, cooling)

Lamp off (lamp saver)

Lamp off (ready to turn on)

Lamp striking (starting)

Amber.

Starts with

Lamp on, no alarms

2

3

1

2 R Amber R

3

4

5 R R Amber R

6 R RR

7 R R Amber Amber

8 RRR R R

9 Amber Amber R

10 Amber Amber

11 Amber Amber Amber

12

R = Red To show the code, press

1

With Priority 1-6, to turn lamp on, cycle AC power off, then on. If Auto Codes in the Miscellaneous menu is

R R R R

R Amber R

R R Amber

Amber on continuously

MONITOR button once.

checked, events with Priority 1-5 starts the On-Screen Code automatically, .

2

Lamp Saver turned lamp off; lamp are cooling and will turn on at end of cooling period.

3

A Lamp On command from the remote or from RS232 commands will turn lamp on.

See Footnote 1

81

5.3 Reading the LEDs

The LEDs on the electronics module can give you more detailed information about the Margay’s state.

To see LEDs

The LEDs are on the electronics module. From the
rear, you can see them easily, that is, if there aren’t
too many cables in the way.

LEDs

From the front, open the screen. Then open the
electronics module door to the right.

82

LEDs in Margay

When the LED is…

LED Name Off Green Amber Red

Ready

Source Source absent Valid source present

Lamp Lamp off

Fan Fan off Fan is running

Remote IR Not receiving IR now

Door Open (refers to

rear panel and elec­tronics module door)

Serial Data

Serial Cmd

Lamp Saver

Lamp is on (or no

power)

No power to electron-

ics

No command received

Lamp Saver not active

or lamp is off

Lamp on Lamp striking Lamp failed

Receiving IR radiation

Door closed & rear

panel closed

Lamp enabled

Received any com-

mand

Received command

“meant for me”

Lamp Saver active
Source present
Lamp on

Fan failed recently, but

is now running

Either door was open,

now closed

Must cycle AC power

to reset and enable
lamp

Active
Lamp is cooling
Source present
Lamp will come on

when cooled

Source absent or not

valid

Fan failed
Lamp disabled

Either door open
Lamp disabled

Active
Source absent
Lamp off

Optical Engine Status Optical engine OK

Ballast Status

Ballast Supply

1. At this writing, Ballast Status LED is not implemented, so it is always off.

2. At this writing, Ballast Supply LED will show Red state only briefly.

1

2

Lamp off

High voltage (HV) off

Lamp on

HV on and ready HV on but not ready

Optical engine fault or

communication fail­ure

Ballast fault or com-

munication failure

Had to wait more than

10 seconds for ready
state

83

84

6 Maintenance for Margay

6.1 Changing a Lamp … 86

6.2 Changing the Air Filter … 88

6.3 Cleaning the Screen and Mirrors … 90

85

6.1 Changing a Lamp

You can change the lamp from the front or the rear.

When should I change the lamp?

Change the lamp when it fails. Lamp life is the

median life of a large sample of lamps. Median means
middle. It is not what most people think of as aver­age.

Suppose the specification for lamp life is 5000
hours. If you had a large group of these lamps, more
than 100, and you turned them all on at the same
time, after 5000 hours at least half of them would
still be on.

Suppose 50 of these lamps had failed after only 1
hours of use. Then suppose the rest of the lamps
failed after 5001 hours. The average life of these
lamps would be 2501 hours.

But the median life specification is still valid,
because at least half of them lasted 5000 hours. This
is the way all lamp manufacturers specify lamp life—
as the median, not the average.

Taking a different case, suppose the first 50 lamps
failed at 1 hour and the rest of them lasted 10,000
hours. The specification is still valid, because at least
half of the lamps were still working after 5000 hours.

You can’t tell from the lamp life specification how
long any one lamp will live.

4. Loosen the screw on the light shield.

Margay lamp life

The median lamp life for the Margay lamp is 6000
hours. If you routinely change the lamp at 6000
hours, you may be throwing away thousands of hours
of useful life. And you may be replacing it with a
lamp that is destined to last less than 1000 hours.

How to change the lamp from the front

1. Open the screen. (See 2.6.2 “Opening or Remov­ing a Screen” on page 34.)

2. Open the door covering the electronics module
(on the right).

3. Turn off the AC power switch and remove the
power cord

5. Lift the cover and latch it.

86

6. Loosen the lamp screw to the right rear of the
lamp.

7. When the screw is loose, move the lamp to the
rear about 3/8" (10 mm), then to the left, and lift
it out, still connected.

8. Disconnect the lamp cable.

3. Loosen the lamp screw.

4. Pull the lamp toward you and to the right.

5. Disconnect the lamp cable.

Replacing the lamp

1. First, plug in the lamp cable. Be sure it is fully
seated.

WARNING

If the lamp cable is not fully seated on the
lamp plug, the lamp will not operate properly.
Overheating may occur.

2. Then mount the lamp in its place. Note the two
pins opposite the lamp screw. These fit into holes
in the optical engine.

3. Close the system following the removal steps in
reverse.

Resetting lamp hours

It is a good idea to reset the lamp hours to zero
when you install a new lamp. (See “Diagnostics:
Hours” on page 107.) This is not absolutely neces­sary; it is just a way for you to keep track of lamp use.

Removing the lamp from the rear

1. Turn off the AC power switch and remove the
power cord

2. Remove the rear panel (6 ¼-turn screws).

How to maintain lamp life

There are some actions that can shorten lamp life:

• Turning off AC power when the lamp is on. (Turn
off the lamp with the remote and let it cool until
the fans stop; then turn off AC.)

• Turning a lamp on and off rapidly. (The lamp
should be allowed to heat up fully before turning
it off, at least three minutes.)

87

6.2 Changing the Air Filter

Clean, cool air is essential for proper Margay operation.

When should I change the air filter?

When it gets dirty, change it.

Unfortunately, there is no absolute rule about
when to change an air filter. For some installations
the environment has clean, dust-free air, such as a
corporate lobby. The air filter may be good for a year
or more.

In other environments—airports, subway termi­nals—the air full of dust and dirt all the time. The air
filter might have to be changed every month.

Of course, it also depends on how many hours per
day or per week the lamp is on.

How to determine a changing schedule.

Remove and inspect the air filter after three
months of operation. Make a note of the air filter’s
condition. Then check it again after six months of
operation.

These two inspections will give you some idea of
how often the filter needs changing. If it doesn’t need
changing after six months, inspect again in a year. As
long as the environment doesn’t change, you can
build an appropriate schedule in this way.

If new construction occurs in the vicinty of the
Planar displays, watch out. New construction usually
means DUST.

3. Loosen the light shield screw. Lift and latch the
light shield in its up position.

4. Lift out the air filter, tilting it forward as you lift.

Removing the air filter from the front

1. From the front, open the screen. (See

2.6.2 “Opening or Removing a Screen” on
page 34.)

2. Open the electronics module door. Turn off the
AC power switch and remove the power cord.

88

Removing the air filter from the rear

1. Turn off the AC power switch and remove the
power cord

2. Remove the rear panel (6 ¼-turn screws).

3. Push open the electronics module door.

4. Reach around through this door and loosen the
light shield screw.

5. Push the light shield up until it latches out of the
way.

6. Lift the air filter up and forward, away from you.

89