Most laptops now have a TV out function, which allows a computer’s desktop to be displayed on a regular TV. This can be a convenient way of displaying a PowerPoint presentation to a group of people where a data projector or large monitor cannot be obtained.

However, the TV out feature provides a fairly low quality option for display of a PowerPoint presentation, and it may be difficult to view a presentation clearly. Here are a few tips for ensuring that your presentation will show up as well as possible on a television monitor:

1. Use a TV-safe template
Designers of graphics content for television and broadcast use the term ‘TV safe’ to describe an area that’s about 10% inside the edge of the ‘screen’ (slide) in which content should be placed. Some television displays will ‘overscan’ and crop the edges off the image, so it’s worth staying inside this boundary. Here’s a TV safe PowerPoint template to download: TV Safe PowerPoint Example.

2. Use large fonts
Small fonts and fine detail simply won’t show up on a TV monitor. Text should be 16 point and above, and you should avoid using any fine lines for content like shapes, graphs and charts

3. Bold colours and high contrast
A TV monitor won’t interpret the colours you use on your slides as accurately as a computer monitor will, so try and use bold, clearly unique colours – for instance, if you have a bar graph, using different primary colours is better than using shades of the same colour for each bar.

Graph - Poor Contrast

Graph - High Contrast

4. Avoid light backgrounds (especially white)
You might notice that very few TV ads use a white background – this is because ‘white’ requires the TV to fire all colours on screen at once, and can create a visible ‘flicker’, as well as being bright and hard to look at for long periods of time – dark backgrounds like dark shades of blue are a good idea.

5. Keep it simple
Where possible, avoid any fine detail – use simple icons rather than detailed photos; use 1 or 2 words rather than sentences; and avoid tables or spreadsheets. If you do need to show photographs, use one slide for each photo, and ensure the photo fills the slide.

Complex Slide

Simple Slide

On a technical note, where possible, find a progressive scan television like a plasma or LCD screen. Many plasma and LCD displays have a VGA, DVI, or HDMI input which should be capable of accepting at least a low resolution computer signal. If they do not have a computer input, they are still a better option than traditional CRT TV’s, as they are higher resolution and not interlaced – a process that significantly reduces the clarity and ability to read static text.

If you do use the TV out function rather than a normal computer signal, where you have the choice, use component video (YUV) if your computer supports it, otherwise use S-Video. If you have no other option, composite signal will give you the lowest quality results.