It's alright now....

After possibly too much mucking around, I am proud of my new computer set-up and work table in my studio.

Again it is a large screen Tv mounted on the wall that really lifts this work area, integrated the computer technology and adds flexibility.

• Bigger images as reference
• Wider viewing angle, Less affected by ambient light
• You’re not chained to a desk. Better when standing (eg at an easel)
• Affordable, Repurposed rather than new consumption
• Can still be a TV and/or Chromecast.

Some Frustration along the way

The computer system in my studio has developed over time. Computers have come and gone, devices have been added and taken away or died, interfaces changed, and monitors of different sizes swapped in and out. The use of an older Bravia LCD TV wall mounted was a game changer at the time. Allowing me to redesign my work table to suit both sitting-down art-making, and/or standing at my easel (now my favourite way to work). However, this ad hoc approach meant I had a plethora of cables, power, video, audio and lots of tangled USB cables. Some actually go nowhere and are no longer used. It was a mess.

As it was playing up the old Bravia TV had apparently modified the graphic card drivers or reset something deep in the operating system. So on first attempts, I couldn’t get the repurposed TV replacement to work at all. A fair bit of time was wasted not knowing what was wrong, Attaching the computer to other monitors showed that the screen only worked when connected to the older style VGA cable but not to HDMI. Well very inconsistently on HDMI. So I dug out a very old flat-screen monitor I hadn't used for years. This gave me two screens and let me waste a lot of time checking the graphics card setting, updating drivers, swapping cables and also fiddling with the settings on the TV. Eventually, I got it going reliably.

Now to simplify that wiring….

Oh no….

My large screen TV used as a monitor in my studio was a great friend. It worked well as a sit-down position, or moving around with a wireless keyboard, but it was also wonderful for standup work (eg painting at my easel), It had a reasonable built-in sound so I avoided speakers on the table. It did what I wanted without getting in the way.

Unfortunately, it became terminally ill and I have had to pull the studio apart to find an alternative (at a reasonable price) …   Uggh, all those wires.....

User Interaction on Chromecast

I have been using Chrome cast to put my photos on a big screen (primarily on a Big LCD Screen, but also on my “home theatre” projector*) and the results are great but I have very limited interaction. The remote control falls short in so many ways. I can use my mouse and pen/stylus BUT the lag is unbearable if you are looking at the big screen and you can not see the mouse cursor anyway. So Chromecast FAILS on the user interaction front, its strengths are streaming videos and automated slideshows (it is a consumption device)

For this reason I have a short-ish (3m) HDMI cable and always plug my laptop in via it if I want to do any photo editing on the big screen. I can easy put the laptop down on the coffee table and use my wireless mouse (or even my blue mouse if I want more distance). Also I have a Wacom Bamboo Tablet (with a 1m USB cable just long enough to reach the coffee table)). So I can sit back on the couch (2.5m back from the TV) and work comfortably from the TV screen, no lag and I can see the cursor. I can also set the TV up as a second monitor (another thing you can not attempt with Chromecast).

I have long held the view that images (and particularly photographs) look different at different sizes, and you really are not taking photographs until you blow them up, frame them and display them on the wall, preferable some else’s, or an exhibition. Previewing an image on a Large Screen TV or Projector is getting very close to that criteria.