Using an LCD TV as a monitor

[daviddbfotoart]

What would I need to do to connect my laptop to an LCD TV to use it as a

monitor to edit photos in CS2...or am I wasting my time, the resolution would

be shocking.

Is there a maximum size tv to limit me?

[Ed_Ingold]

You would need an interface with one of the common video protocols - composite video, sVHS or RGB. You would be limited to 720x480 resolution (HDTV is better at about 1080x700) and be unable to profile the monitor in the photographic sense. You could buy a 19 inch, 1280x1024 pixel LCD Monitor for about the same price as a 14 inch LCD TV. The TV would have the same resolution regardless of size, whereas a 20 inch or larger monitor would be 1600x1200 pixels, perhaps higher depending on the monitor and your video card.

 

A professional TV monitor would have better color control, resolution and contrast, but the same number of pixels. A professional LCD monitor starts at about $2200 for a 14 inch diagonal.

[gluteal cleft]

The resolution would probably be average at best. The size, however, would be large. You would want to connect it to the computer via a DVI input. If the TV has HDMI, that's just DVI with audio, and converters/adapters can be had relatively inexpensively.

 

If you want to profile it for accurate color work, try to find a TV that allows adjustment of the individual RGB channels - I imagine that most don't.

 

One of my friends just bought a 32" LCD TV to use as a monitor, just for playing games and watching movies from his PC. :-)

 

steve

[MichaelChang]

David, I think you'll be better off with an external traditional computer monitor. Forget about photography work - I've tried hooking a 27" Viewsonic LCD TV as a second monitor hoping it can serve at least for basic web surfing, but to my disappointment, it was just awful. Pictures were even worse.

[daviddbfotoart]

Thank you all, specially Michael for clearing up the fact that I will most likely be wasting my time....and money.