Linux/DLPDLCR2000EVM: can't get sample *.mp4 to display on projector

Tool/software: Linux

After several days of trying I still cannot get my DLPDCR2000EVM to show video or even a still image (other than those that come in the embedded flash of the DLP itself.) 

I first do "sudo su", then these two lines from the users guide:

i2cset -y 2 0x1b 0x0b 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 i
i2cset -y 2 0x1b 0x0c 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x1b i

I get a projected image that has some relationship to the screen on my HDMI monitor. The projected image is scrambled and clearly not in agreement with resolution of the HDMI monitor (which, per xrandr, is 1280x720), but if I drag a window around the HDMI monitor, I can see that the projected image is, in a scrambled way, also reflecting the movements of that window. Which suggests to me that the DLP is taking its input from the same frame buffer as my HDMI monitor. I don't want that, of course, I want to feed the projector its own image or video stream that is independent of the HDMI monitor.

I have tried every combination of the next advice from the user's guide:

1. The existing desktop is “0”
     a. "export DISPLAY=:0"
     b. "mplayer <file>" OR "vlc :0 <file>"
2. Generate a new x as “2” if there is no fb being created
     a. "xinit -- :2"
     b. "mplayer –vo x11 <file>" OR "vlc –x11-display :2 <file>"

The "export DISPLAY=:0" seems to work; at least no error messages appear when I do that. I have not been able to get mplayer on my beaglebone, despite numerous attempts that end with apt-get complaining about all the packages it could not find, but I did get vlc installed, and it does show the nhd*.mp4 video just fine on the HDMI monitor. The xinit --:2 fails with a fatal server error: Server is already active for display 0. And the vlc --x11-display :2 nhd*mp4 therefore also fails.

I don't really even understand, at a high level, how the DLP is showing a live image (distorted/scrambled though it be), when vlc isn't running. The projected image is clearly following the HDMI monitor somehow -- what agent is causing frame buffer bits from somewhere to end up in the DLP and then projected? Is the DLP somehow fetching a framebuffer from Debian on a continuing basis? 

Similarly, does the vlc app simply push the video bits into a frame buffer within Debian, and the DLP fetches them as above? Or is the vlc app supposed to be jamming the video into the DLP at the right times and formats?

Thanks for any enlightenment.