Depending on your current resolution of your computer screen switching to a HDTV is not going to be an advantage. The picture will be bigger of course, but you will not necessarily resolve more detail..

HDTV comes in two flavors (standards):1. 1080 (i/p) 1920 x 1080 or2. 720 (i) 1280 x 720.

Which basically is the resolution of the TV screen. and even though this is quite a leap in TV technology, it's not really ground breaking resolution when you look at computer screens..

If you don't care about resolution but imagesize, let me though out another idea: How about a projector? Prices have dropped significantly and for the budgeted amount you can easily buy one of those..

Cheers,becksi..

Interesting idea. You'll probably get a better and bigger image for about the same budget.Don't wait for the Nikon D-whatever, have fun now!http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_wijnands/..

A digital projector. That way you can go as large as your space allows.Larry Bermanhttp://BermanGraphics.com..

The television sets that end in 1080 are much better than your current television..

And, everything considered, probably a wsie investment over lower resolution systems, just for watching television programs and DVDs. Remember, you need a high definition souce to get the best tv..

Now, to photography....

Remember the need to look at vertical shots on the tv screen, too. And remember, the height to width ratio of the new die screen televisions does not match the ratio of D-SLR cameras, even horizontal..

But a computer projector doesn't solve this problem, either..

What a projector does do, though, is let you take your pictures to lots of other places, just like, in ancient times, we could bring a tray of slides and a slide projector..

But projectors require darker rooms..

BAak to budget for $500 or so, I believe, depending on where you live, you can get a 24 inch wide-style computer monitor, which is the way of getting the highest resolution, brightest pictures, best color balance, but you're limited to that monitor size. (Rich? Apple has bigger monitors).

Furniture... are you going to sit close? The big computer monitor might be a great idea, but if you are sitting eight feet away, the monitor idea is out..

And walls looking around my grey-painted room as I type, there's no clear wall 4 x 6 feet to accept the image from a projector, and we'd need to paint the grey so the picture dod not look underexposed. Buy you could buy a projection screen..

Cables yes, cable quality matters, and medium priced cables work much better than really cheap ones. We wiggle cheaps ones on our cheap TV, and will buy better ones when we get a new television. As for gold-plate; no proof, but I think this is just overkill..

So, there's no easy answer..

BAK..

Thanks everyone,.

A monitor is probably out of consideration since I would have to spend a fortune and it won't probably be big enough to share pictures in the family room..

A Projector is an option but I hate to spend $$$ on a dedicated device that may be obsolete in a short period of time. This is a 3-4 times a month event at most..

That leaves me with an HDTV set so that I can at least get some improvement over what I currently have. I do have some questions:.

1. What type of input in the HDTV set would give me the best possible output?.

2. What is the best way to connect to the HDTV set?.

3. Is burning to a CD and playing via a CD player a better choice quality-wise than connecting from the PC to the HDTV set?.

4. What are the limits for connecting from a desktop to an HDTV via wires?.

5. Is there a way to size and convert digital images prior to displaying on the HDTV set and/or burning a CD that will give you better results?.

6. Finally the consumer report question, has anyone found any HDTV particular set better than others at accurately displaying digital images?.

Thanks again,.

Mike..

BAK wrote:.

But projectors require darker rooms..

Not that much darker. Modern ones can do a good job in near daylight..

And walls looking around my grey-painted room as I type, there'sno clear wall 4 x 6 feet to accept the image from a projector, andwe'd need to paint the grey so the picture dod not look underexposed.Buy you could buy a projection screen..

Which are dirt cheap on the used market now, if you throw away the slide projector that comes with it..

Cables yes, cable quality matters, and medium priced cables workmuch better than really cheap ones. We wiggle cheaps ones on ourcheap TV, and will buy better ones when we get a new television. Asfor gold-plate; no proof, but I think this is just overkill..

Gold plated doesn't matter much. A nice, thick quality cable does. Even so, computer monitors will show signal degradation after 5-6 meters..

Don't wait for the Nikon D-whatever, have fun now!http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_wijnands/..