How Do I Display Photographs On A HDTV?

[norfolk_nsfw_maybee]

<p>There must be a correct technique for doing a photograph slide show on a HDTV.<br>

If I attach my laptop with a HDMI cable to my HDTV the pics are all washed out.<br>

Do I need to;<br>

"Photoshop" the pics to a certain size,<br>

Use a specific program to produce the slide show on the HDTV,<br>

or something else?<br>

This seems like a no-brainer, but, Googling the technique just gives results like I have gotten. There is even a YouTube video showing similar horrible results. AND they are bragging about it!!<br>

Help me get pics on my TV that do not look like the display of a Kodak Carousel projector being used with too much light in the room.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>What you should be asking yourself is how to adjust your TV's brightness and contrast so that it's closer to the way you have your desktop display set up. The resolution part is simple: 1920 x 1080 pixels and pretty much any slideshow software including that which comes free with your computer's operating system.<br /><br />But if a JPG looks good on your computer's display and seems too bright on your TV, it's because:<br /><br />1) Your computer's display is set too dark and you're editing images so they look right on it ... and thus they look too bright anywhere else.<br /><br />or<br /><br />2) Your TV's display is set too bright, too contrasty, etc. This is almost always the case.</p>

[ljwest]

<p>What Matt said...</p>

<p>Additionally, it can't hurt to adjust the size of the images (via export, of course. Never re-size your originals!) to the HDTV standard (1920x1080 or 1280x720 if the set is only 720P native). Yes, most TVs will scale almost anything down to its native resolution, but I, for one, trust my instincts better than the $2 chip in the TV.</p>

<p>It also gives you an opportunity - if you like - to re-crop to make the photo look better in a 16:9 box than if the set pillarboxes or letterboxes your image, and, perhaps to tweak the colors so they look better on the set.</p>

[tom_hamilton1]

<p>I re-size my photos in Photoshop for display on my 42" HD TV. I set the width and height to match the screen size-in my case 45 x 30 inches-and set the resolution to 72 pixels/inch. You might have to adjust these settings to get good results on your tv but once you have it dialed in you can process multiple files and be done in a flash.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>You should calibrate your computer/laptop monitor to start with, it ensure that your images have the correct exposure and white balance. Then as suggested above adjust the HDTV set to match. Ideally, you should calibrate the HDTV but whether your calibration device can work on a large set I'm not sure. At the very least, you could have the laptop sitting next to it and adjust the HDTV to match.</p>

[Jeff Lear]

<p>You never mentioned what TV you have. Displaying photos via the HDMI interface isn't the best way to achieve good results. Many TVs have a USB port which will allow you to attach a thumb drive containing your images that will display them as a jpeg rather than an HDMI/NTSC conversion. I'm guessing that conversion is the source of your washed out images.<br /><br />You can optimize your images by following the directions above and formatting and cropping your photos to the native 1080p (1920x1080 for horizontal images and 1080 x XXXX for vertical images).</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>I calibrated my Toshiba CRT TV to a Lucas THX calibration target that was included on a DVD movie I rented. It gives visual targets to aim for in adjusting your contrast, brightness and hue/saturation. This article and others that show up in a google search should get you started... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9433292/Five-ways-to-get-the-best-out-of-your-TV-pictures.html</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Jeff makes a good point. I've never had better luck than when I've prepared matching resolution images (1920x1080 for a proper new HD display), and then placed the JPGs on a USB thumb drive, and plugged it right into the TV's USB/media port. Yes, you have to use the TV's own navigational tools to run a slide show or page through the files - but they really do look best, that way, without any extra "handling" by the HDMI conversion process.</p>

[ljwest]

<blockquote>

<p>I re-size my photos in Photoshop for display on my 42" HD TV. I set the width and height to match the screen size-in my case 45 x 30 inches-and set the resolution to 72 pixels/inch. You might have to adjust these settings to get good results on your tv but once you have it dialed in you can process multiple files and be done in a flash.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>You'd probably get better results having Photoshop re-size the images to 1920x1080 pixels because that is all the pixels you're going to get from an HDTV, no matter how many inches across it is (at least until the 4K sets get into the home in a few years...).</p>

<p>Photoshop is a lot smarter at re-sizing, and you can tweak things in PS that you can't on the HDTV. </p>

[JAPster]

<p>On your HD TV, check the setup menu under the color controls, see if there is a selection that lets you choose from different color profiles. The profile you are currently running might not be the best one for digital photos. Try picking a different color profile that will render your colors more the way you want them.</p>

<p>Also, your HDTV will have its own controls for color brightness and contrast. And the laptop itself will have controls for display brightness and contrast, I would suggest trying to adjust these to see if that help things. On my laptop, the functions for display brightness and contrast are on the top row of function keys, the F keys.</p>

[tom_hamilton1]

<p> Larry: I tried re-sizing to 1920x1280 as you suggested and the photo doesn't fill the screen. I get a larger image by re-sizing it using inches and setting the resolution to 72 pixels/inch. Thanks for your input.</p>

[phule]

<p>[[Larry: I tried re-sizing to 1920x1280 as you suggested and the photo doesn't fill the screen]]</p>

<p>Because 1920 x 1280 is the wrong resolution and the wrong aspect ratio. The TV is resizing it down to fit the screen.</p>

<p>For an HD TV your pixel dimensions need to be 1920 x <strong>1080</strong>. </p>

[anne_kerr]

How strange. What I do is just stick them on a flash drive and put it into the TVs USB port. Your TV doesnt have one?

When I put it in, the TV does everything by itself and it looks great. It even zooms in. This is the case with both my

smaller, crappier Toshiba and my LG. Maybe you can use your TV as a monitor and do it that way? They sell cables for

that. Also, look up tour TV online and try to find the manual. Maybe that'll help?