Your HDTV with a TV Frame doesn’t have to be used only for viewing the latest Hollywood blockbusters in crystal clear HD. You can also set up your HDTV to playback slideshows of your own photos – family gatherings, vacations, nature shots, you name it. Your HDTV can display these photos in a slideshow that will bring out all of the colors, detail and life-like replication of each picture, and can be set on auto to play in the background while you enjoy your company.
There are several ways that you can set up your HDTV and TV Frame to display a photo slideshow. Depending on the configuration of your home theater, you might need to purchase some extra HDMI cables or find a way to connect to your home’s internet connection. Below are some of the most common ways that your home theater can be converted to a photo slideshow room.
Most HDTVs today have a PC-input. This allows your computer to connect to your home theater TV, and effectively uses your flat panel TV as a monitor. Using this connection, you can set up a slideshow to run on your PC, and watch the memories fly by in truly high definition on the big screen. You can connect your PC to the HDTV with an HDMI cable (recommended), or a DVI or analog VGA cable. Once the connection has been established, you can set the HDTV to be the main monitor or a secondary monitor. Whichever you choose, you are going to have to configure your photo slideshow software to run in the window that is visible on the HDTV and TV frame, and voila! – the slideshow begins.
But you’re probably wondering now about that photo slideshow software we mentioned. If you do a quick search online, you should find dozens of recommended software to present your photos in a slideshow setting. Some allow for effects between each photo, music and voice recording, timers, text and much more. Be sure to only download a program that you trust, and do a scan to ensure that it is virus-free. Or, if you prefer, you can use the built-in photo software that comes with most Windows or Mac software. Some of these programs will require that you burn your photo slideshow presentation to a DVD or CD and play it from your PC’s disc drive, while others will allow you to save it to your hard drive and play it from there.
If hooking up your PC sounds like a drag, you have other options for enjoying a photo slideshow in your home theater. Set top boxes like TiVo allow you to easily run a slideshow without additional effort once the box is installed. For a TiVo slideshow, you will need to have your TiVo box connected to a networked PC. To establish this network connection, you may either plug a wired Ethernet cable into the back of your TiVo DVR, or use the TiVo wireless adaptor to establish a wireless connection. Once this is done, you simply navigate the TiVo menu on your HDTV to “Share Music, Photos, & Video”, and select the photos or photo files on your PC. This will connect the TiVo player to these photos. Then, you must highlight the photos you want in the slideshow and choose “Play”, easy as pie!
Some Blu-Ray players have built-in slideshow options as well. These usually require that you burn a disc with the photos on them or use a USB memory stick, and configure the slideshow options on-screen. There are even software packages that will allow you to use your gaming consoles, like the Xbox 360 as a photo slideshow player.
In a few simple steps, you can establish your home theater as a virtual photo-sharing library, fully-equipped with slideshows that offer music, voice-overs and special effects. Have fun tweaking your slideshow settings and be sure to stand back from your HDTV the first time you go through your photos – you might not recognize them in their most pristine HD form!
Lauren is a contributing author for the HD Envy blog. HD Envy is a team of dedicated professionals who want to help you increase the style of your home theater with a flat screen TV frame. You can fully customize your flat screen TV frame to match any wood stain, leather color or other material, and you can choose from a wide range of frame styles. Your flat screen TV frame will be the finishing touch of your home theater, and will be the envy of your guests. And because HD Envy uses industry manufacturing standards, your flat screen TV frame will be so easy to install that you can begin enjoying its sophisticated presence within a few minutes of its arrival.
Tags: Home Theater, HTPC, Intel, Media Center, Slideshow, TiVo
