S. Hemmingsen

The problem with digital photography is what to do with all your pictures; the good, the bad, the ugly. The way I have found to at least satisfy myself yourself is the digital photo frame. I have a couple, but wanted to upgrade with prices for what was minimally acceptable in the 200 to 300 dollar range, many drawing chancy reviews from buyers. My solution? For half the price, buy an 18 to 24 inch HDTV with a USB port. The Vizio I bought has a number of "slide show" modes including random, aphabetical, etc. Visitors notice my photos now! It's not the greatest picture, but for the money, what the heck! It's my new coffee table book that people can't refuse to at least look at. I get a lot of: "What was that one?" The major drawback I've found is that the longest display is 30 seconds. A minute would have been better, but I think I can work around that. Hemmingsen

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Very creative. Yes, I get annoyed by the display time and that one cannot seem to stop the play to go back and look again at an image. Sometimes one will catch my eye as they are flipping through and I want to study it more. Can't.

S. Hemmingsen

The TV remote certainly works better than the photo frame remotes I have. When something does work with the photo remotes, I can't figure out how I did it, or make it happen again.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Not quite sure how you set it up, The TV stores the pics after you upload them thru the USB? How many does it hold?

or

Your using the USB and showing the pics thru the TV from a computer???

S. Hemmingsen

Nope. Just loading up the flash drive on the computer and plugging the flash drive into the back of the TV.

S. Hemmingsen

I have over 600 pix (and culling) on a 64 GB sandisk. 20 bucks at Wally World and it will probably hold all I will ever shoot. The TV can do videos the same way, supposedly, but I haven't tried that yet.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Have a cheap digital frame - just load the SDHC card from the latest excursion (after the shots are in the computer) and it runs them -- for us. We know where we were and what we are seeing. They are small and can be put anywhere there is power. The only frustration is that the one I have will only display landscape. I find it enjoyable and will be getting a newer one. I have several unused laptops and a couple of TVs -- prefer the digitaal frame because it is compact, neat, and easily cleaned.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Hey Hemmingsen - I have some thoughts on digital frames having recently replaced an old model with a new one. I am bit amazed / perplexed that no one can make a reliable and easy to use model given the explosion of digital images. That said, I replaced a Philips frame that was only a few years old with a ViewSonic. I really like this frame, but it's several measures short of perfect. I went with the 10.1" size as the frame's 1024 x 600 resolution was closest to my native 3x5 aspect ratio of my DSLR images. Some failings of this model: it will resize and fill the display with anything that is a landscape-oriented rectangle, but anything in portrait is not resized leaving black sides in the display. I'm also sad the easel stand provides zero flexibility to adjust the viewing angle of the frame. If my frame was on a shelf or otherwise located at eye-level, this lack of flexibility would not be an issue. But, my frame is on the kitchen counter and I'd like to be able to adjust the angle given I'm standing over the frame rather than at eye level.

These weaknesses aside, the image display is amazing on the ViewSonic and I'm really happy I made the switch.

For populating with images, I use a collection in Lightroom and run a batch export. As I shoot new images or edit older work while adding into LR5, I just add to the 'digital frame' collection. Periodically, I output the files in date order and rename starting sequentially at 10000.jpg with more than 6000 images on the card / frame at the moment. I've had to run this a few times after finding the portrait images didn't work so well (taking them out of the collection). The images are sized 2048 pixels on the long side and 132 pixels per inch at 100% quality. My 32GB card is just over half full so I have plenty of room to grow.

The frame has a clock / calendar that actually works so from 11pm to 4am it doesn't display and comes back on automatically. I let the pictures display 5-seconds on a continuous slide show. I walk by and I never know what I'm going to see. After adding some older images with this export process, I see a lot of images and memories that have been 'lost' on my harddrive for a few years.

I go into all these details as it's been a process of troubleshooting what was wrong with the Philips frame. I never could figure out what would make the Philips lock-up on a picture after weeks of working fine on slide show. I'd delete the picture it would lock on and then another picture would be the problem. I changed the file names, reformatted the card, scoured the internet, but no luck. So, I chucked the frame. Reading reviews you'd think all frames are junk ... Anyone that wants an investor in a start-up to fill this need, shoot me a note. I really think there's an opportunity for a better mousetrap in the digital frame market ...

S. Hemmingsen

I would think there's a lot less technology in a picture frame than in a TV. I just don't understand all the problems with the frames. It should be simple technology...and cheap. However, I don't think anybody is busting their hump since the value of the frame seems to have dwindled to giving them to Grandma at Christmas.

lemontart Loc: uk

I got one last xmas, still in it's box

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I bought a couple that were way under the $300 level.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=digital+photo+frames

S. Hemmingsen

But what size were they?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If you're asking me, they are about 10" - like an iPad.

Dave R. Loc: PNW

I would agree the tv is more technical than a frame. Nice thing is when you get tired of looking at all the selfies you can turn on Oprah, Dr. Phil or Jerry Springer. LOL
Awesome idea by the way. Thanks for the suggestion.


:mrgreen:

IvanInRichmond Loc: Richmond, VA

I purchased the largest picture frame I could find for my 80 year old mother in law. The picture was still too small to be seen in her living room. I had replaced my old 21" IMac. It still had many family photos in IPhoto. I set that up in her family room and set the slideshow to repeat. I can choose whether to view all of the photos or select certain events to run. I can also select the time to display each photo. It runs 24 hours a day. It is the center of attention when family members visit. Much clearer than the picture frame.