Digital Picture Frames

[LePaul]

Anyone have any experience with these?

The brands I'd think are best (Phillips and Kodak) seem to have mixed reviews on Amazon and elsewhere.

Looking to get the parents a 5 x 10 digital frame.  I see some of the cheaper units are low res, spend more for better res.  Trying to keep it simple for them.  My mother has become a big digital photography nut and I thought this would be a great way to show off her photos at work, etc

Suggestions welcome!

[eskimo2]

Here’s what I did: I bought a 14” flat screen monitor at a garage sale for $40 and hung it on a wall.  Then I took my father-in-law’s obsolete Windows ME machine, added a few thousand photos and hung it from the rafters in the basement.  The monitor, keyboard and mouse wires go through the floor.  The keyboard is hidden and the mouse sits on a nightstand.  Tap the mouse and a minute later the pictures folder screensaver comes on for an hour or however long you want.  

With a new flat monitor and an old PC you could make a better/bigger one for less.

[bj229r]

Originally posted by eskimo2
Here’s what I did: I bought a 14” flat screen monitor at a garage sale for $40 and hung it on a wall.  Then I took my father-in-law’s obsolete Windows ME machine, added a few thousand photos and hung it from the rafters in the basement.  The monitor, keyboard and mouse wires go through the floor.  The keyboard is hidden and the mouse sits on a nightstand.  Tap the mouse and a minute later the pictures folder screensaver comes on for an hour or however long you want.  

With a new flat monitor and an old PC you could make a better/bigger one for less.

Thats exACTLy what my wife did with our old laptop---she got a $99 flat panel from Walmart, recessed it into the wall, fished the cabling to below the cabinetry where laptop sits. Of course, she wants one of the afore-mentioned picture frames, and she will be getting one. I did a service call at Bad, Bath & Beyond other day (felt myself getting gayer by te SECond:O )..they have some nice ones...every memory stick type imaginable can be used on some of these things. I'll prolly get the big $159 one

[eagl]

You really need to look at the screen resolution when you buy, because the screen size doesn't match the resolution at all.  I've seen 10" digital frames with 640x480 resolution and 7" ones with 800x600.  The really crappy ones are widescreen with about 500x320, but those come as big as 8" or so.  I think they look terrible.

I've attempted to buy 2 of these online during sales, and both times they've been damaged beyond usability when they arrived.  I got a 10" that was 1024x768 for about $170 (cracked glass) and an 8" one at 800x600 that was simply destroyed when it arrived, that should have cost $150.

My personal specs are 8" or larger in a 4:3 format (not widescreen), 800x600 minimum resolution, uses SD cards, and has some sort of ability to play avi or mpeg files.  Remotes are sort of cool but sometimes the screen can't be set up or programmed if you lose the remote, so read the reviews.

$160 or so ought to get you a good no-name one, but quality will be hit or miss.  If you go for a kodak or other name brand one, expect to spend over $250 for a halfway decent one.

[Hungry]

I got one of these a few years ago as a christmas present about  4" x 6", loaded it with all my favorite grand children pictures only to find out the pictures looked terrible.

What I ended up doing is resizing the pictures using some software that I have to (300 x 280? been awhile) and everything worked out fine.

The morale is that you have to find out what the best display size is for whichever one you get and size the pitures for it.  

Mine was a Pandigital brand.

Edit add

Make sure that you get a USB cable with it.

[Halo]

Couple years ago we received a gift NuVue with a 3 1/4 x 4 1/2-inch screen.  Perfect enhancement for dark corner above a kitchen counter.  

Copied a bunch of digital photos to a 64 MB card for a little slide show that captivates every visitor as well as us.  No fuss no bother.  Easy and fun setup.  

Some people regularly update or change cards for the seasons.

[eskimo2]

I just remembered that I had this picture online:



If you have or can get an old PC, this is hard to beat.

[LePaul]

True, just looking for something a bit more elegant  

[Ripsnort]

I've never considered them.  Nothing beats a nice leather-bound photo album with large 8x10 prints. Something about handling it, turning the pages...at your leisure, not the seconds on a computer chip, that makes it a more enjoyable experience with pictures., but that's just me.

[Halo]

Our digital picture frame is essentially just a nice little piece of serendipity in the kitchen.  Yes, still hard to beat scrapbooks.  We have many, now mostly three-ring notebooks with clear quality insert pages.  

All our pics now are digital with the originals transferred from camera to computer and then to CD-Rs and or sticks.  

Question is how long any electronic media storage will last or stay useable.  Back up the best stuff on sticks as well as other CD-Rs.  Still don't trust any RW disk for anything but temporary stuff.