Your LCD TV is a great tool for showing off your work to friends and family but there are a variety of options to produce the end result. So which is best/easiest?
Bottom of the list is the DVD route. Using software such as Pictures to EXE (PTE) or Pro Show Gold (PSG) it is possible to create a (standard) DVD which will show your images with sophisticated animations and transitions when played through a standard DVD Player connected to the TV. The downside of this method is that all of your images are (firstly) downsized to 720x576 to suit the PAL system resolution and (secondly) interpolated back up to the screen resolution of your TV for showing. That is a double whammy in terms of quality and is not recommended unless ALL other avenues have been dismissed.
Next best, in terms of quality, is connecting a computer (preferably a laptop) to your TV and showing your images (PTE or PSG) at a suitable resolution for your TV – 1920x1080 at best. In this scenario there are two levels of quality depending on the capabilities of your TV and/or laptop. If your laptop is not completely up to date it is likely that your only means of connection is via a VGA connector cable – the (old fashioned) kind used to connect computers to monitors. Some TVs will only allow the connection at a reduced resolution and will not cater for full HD resolution.
If, however, both Laptop and TV allow it the ultimate in quality can be achieved via an HDMI cable. The Laptop has to be set to output at 1920x1080 and, depending on your laptop monitor’s resolution, the TV becomes your MAIN monitor. You will not better this setup in terms of quality but there are now methods which will provide a much more CONVENIENT solution, without connecting cables, albeit at the expense of a slight drop in quality.
Newer TVs are now available with USB2 inputs and Media Players and this allows for the convenience of playing MPEG4 files created in PTE directly from a memory key with no wires etc as per the laptop/TV solution. A downside is that the H.264 MPEG4 files at 1920x1080 resolution are LARGE and a typical slide show of 15 minutes duration will be around 1 Gb file size. A large capacity memory key (around 16Gb) is advisable and will store a few hours of entertainment.
If the sophistication of PTE’s animations and transitions are not required the same TVs offer the facility to play suitably sized (1920x1080) JPEGs directly via the Media Player using basic dissolve transitions and slide change times. The quality using this method is second to none and music (MP3 Files) can also be played from the memory key to accompany the slide show. Repeat show and Random Slides are available making the use of the TV as a Digital Picture Frame (on steroids) a possibility.
