The Rules of Creating Graphics for TV and Large Displays
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1 - Understand that Computer monitors give MUCH BETTER colour and image quality         
    reproduction than CRT-based or Projection TV screens.  The modern TV system
    was designed in the 1950's  and 1960's when modern high resolution computer graphics
    didn't exist, therefore TV's simply cannot handle certain colours, combinations of colours
    and small sizes of text.  

    TV screens are 50% brighter than computer monitors. What looks bright on
    your computer will look even brighter on the TV. and TV requires that there be more     
    contrast between light and dark colors and larger font sizes for better readability.
    Creating TV graphics requires one to understand that Less is More.      
    For complex slides, break them up into bite-sized chunks of 2 or 3 slides.  
    Use smaller amounts of text at a larger size, using simpler colors.

2 - When creating presentations on your computer, you must take into account that
    TV is overscanned while computers are underscanned.  This means that
    your TV fills the entire screen with images while your computer leaves a black border
    around images.  You must leave a 1 inch border around the computer screen where
    no text or important graphic can go.  For example, your sales chart could have a
    textured background which extends to the edges of the screen, but any text
    and the chart itself must not encroach into the 1 inch border around the computer
    screen.  Any computer graphics and text which go into the 1 inch border are cut
    off when displayed on a TV screen. Please note that Standard Definition NTSC TV
    has a display size of 720 by 486 pixels, so keep your graphics at least 60 pixels
    from the edges of the screen.

    Many large plasma screens or projection TV's have a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels,
    thus 100 pixels on every side must be kept free from text or important graphics
    since these screens may be built into walls or specialty enclosures which
    may encroach onto the display area.

   True high definition displays of 1920 by 1080 pixels require you to keep a 150 pixel border
   arounnd every side free from text for the same reason as above.

3 - Use the RGB Colourspace, which is comprised of Reds, Greens and Blues combined
    in specific proportions to give you any colour in the spectrum.  The RGB colourspace
    allows colours values from 0 to 255 for each level of Red, Green and Blue for
    computer monitors which are different from TV's.

4 - Keep the colours in your graphics NTSC/DV Legal.   The TV system we use in
    North America is called NTSC which stands for National Television Standards Committee,
    (also not so affectionately know as Never Twice, Same Colour), which
    requires that we restrict the colours and colour combinations we can use for graphics.
    Each Red, Green and Blue value MUST be between 19 and 235 on the RGB
    scale.  Any colours over or under these limits can make your TV go haywire
    with funny moire patterns, buzzing noises and colour blooming where the edges of
    graphics are very fuzzy.

5 - Use contrasting colours such as White on Black,  White on Blue,  Yellow on Dark Blue and
    Yellow on Blue are perfect on TV.   White on Cyan,   Yellow on Red,  Light Green on
    Red simply do not work because the brightness of TV simply washes out the
    graphics. Any two colours that have the same brightness should not be combined.
    RE: no bright text on bright background.  Because of the type of phosphors used
    in TV's the colour RED is nigh well impossible to create accurately. Avoid it at all
    costs - TV hates the colour RED.  If you have to break the rule, darken the red so it
    looks like cherry red.

Soem good colours to use for text & backgrounds are:

                              red      green    blue        Use For
  TV White            235       235      235         Text
  TV Yellow          235      235       19          Text
  TV Green            19        205       19           Text
  TV Black            19          19       19           Background
  TV Dark Grey     60          60       60           Background
  TV Dark Blue     19          19       60           Background
  TV Dark Purple  90          19       90           Background
    
    
6 - Solid colours are best for charts & graphs.  Backgrounds can be enhanced by
    using gradations such as Dark blue at the top of screen with a slow gradation to
    TV black at the bottom of screen or by using semi-detailed textures such as marble,
    rippled water or cloudy skies.

7 - Text should be a minimum of 32 points in height with a sans-serif font
    such as Helvetica Bold or Futura for headlines and a thick serif font for
    body text.  Many serif fonts have thin lines in them which makes for a very bad
    flickering on TV.  Use BOLD versions of serif fonts such as Time Roman Bold
    or New Century Schoolbook Bold for body text.  Fancy script fonts such
    Zapf Chancery become unreadable at less than 72 points in height.
    Script fonts are best used for main titles of less than 4 words in length
    otherwise avoid them for bodies of text.

8 - Text must not take up more than 6 to 8 lines per page.  If necessary break up
    complex text blocks with separate slides.  Use bullets next to important points.
    Text should remain on screen for at least the amount of time it takes to read a
    slide twice.  Individual slides should on screen for no longer than 10 seconds.
    Remember Everyone is a professional TV watcher.  If it don't move, they snooze !
    Use transitions such as wipes, fades & dissolves or photos to enhance your
    presentation.

9 - Lines of any sort MUST be at least 2 pixels in width and must be an even number
    RE 2, 4, 6, or 8 pixels in width.  NTSC television is an Interlaced medium which
    means that the screen is redrawn only every other line. RE Lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 to 485
    are first displayed for 1/60 of a second and then lines 2, 4, 6, 8 to 486 are redrawn
    the next 1/60 of a second.  Because of the way the human eye sees motion, any text lines
    or boxes that are odd or single pixels wide will flicker on the interlaced NTSC TV system.

10 - Use textures to highlight specific points.  If you have some very important text
     that needs to be highlighted, use a box with textures such as a grey or green marble
     or some other semi-detailed texture cloth, weave, metal etc...  These textures
     add some punch to presentations.  Make sure the textures do not have single pixels
     or lines within.  For example a small-sized checkerboard pattern will flicker
     like crazy - Use a grey marble or rippled water for backgrounds.

11 - Keep presentations short 10 to 15 minutes at the MAX or use creative interludes
     such as music, sound effects to smooth over longer presentations. Voice-overs
     need to match what's on screen. If one is displaying financial facts about last
     years sales, the voice-over should reflect what went on with last year's sales.    

12 - If you have followed these guidelines then any graphics or Powerpoint presentations
     originally designed on computers will then properly transfer to TV video.