Controllable Digital Picture Frames

Ceiva units can update from the Internet. Once per day, in the middle of the night though...LOL

| Digital picture frames could be very useful as annunciators if a host | computer could at least tell them "switch to picture x now". Even | better would be the ability to download a new image and display it | immediately. Think of it as a slow frame buffer. | | There are now 15" versions, and even those little keychain 1" displays | might be useful. | | Web searching shows that the documents on most frames are unhelpful or | nonexistent.

Wow. I was just about to post the same question. Even in cases where the manual is online it isn't clear the devices would do what we want.

In order to do something similar with a Roku's picture browser I have hacked Samba to invoke a process to update JPEG image files when a client performs a directory search of the containing directory. I believe a similar approach might work with the picture frames in round robin mode, but of course it depends on how they cache, and in any case it is a kludge.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

Is there an $89 AVR32 that has X/WVGA out? Otherwise, an old PII Thinkpad has quite a price/performance advantage. But it has a big keyboard and a fan, too.

Sorry about that, your quite correct, no X/WVGA. There are other boards that cost about $200 that have VGA. There may be a few between the $100 - $200 range with X/WVGA. That $500 kit doesn't sound too bad but right now it's not high on my list.

I'm not sure what kind of "host computer" you're talking about, but if it's a PC, wouldn't a second (third, etc) monitor do the job? If not, why not?

I currently use eight-inch LCDs connected to my server PC as VGA monitors. But I'd be interested in using picture frames instead, as they look neater, and might be cheaper. But, as you say, they don't seem to provide active inputs, and the documentation is poor.

You know, seeing my response now, it looks rude. That was not intended, and I apologize if it sounded that way.

Yes, general PC. Additional video cards can be used, except it somewhat limits where the extra display can be located. There are slot and OS limits on additional video cards, and you need another VGA cable for each monitor.

USB gives fair distance, particularly with repeaters or powered hubs. Ethernet is even better.

Samsung makes USB monitors that try to be general-purpose and are expensive, and "network" monitors that appear to be an LCD with embedded thin client and are expensive.

The refresh rate could be in the multiple-second range, so use as interactive displays might not be so good. I'm thinking more of a DPF on the wall that could display weather, calendar, network status, and so on. Maybe even camera pictures, but let's keep the priorities straight.

What really started me thinking about this was searching for a small text LCD and seeing the prices on them. A 16-character, two-line serial display can be $80. A 7" DPF can display color bitmaps for less and wouldn't need a serial port.

The hardware in mass-market DPFs certainly could do it; it's just a matter of firmware. (Sounds like "Solving the problem is left as an exercise for the student.")

I deal with this using CAT5 VGA extenders.

I've seen (but not examined in detail) USB devices that claim to give you one or more extra monitors, and hopefully they have VGA rather than digital outputs. I'd put one or more local to the PC and use CAT5 VGA extenders to get the signal where it's needed.

The 8" VGA monitors I used cost rather about twice that, and give an

800x600 display and the flexibility for me to put what I want on it.

Agreed. Frustrating.

I didn't read anything into it. I just it was more a statement of fact. It was also something I thought about after I posted the information.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Where's the problem?

It should be fairly simple to convert to RF but that really depends on how much room there is inside for a small receiver module (+ µController) like the receivers I list at...

http://davehoust>Digital picture frames could be very useful as annunciators if a host

snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com

snipped-for-privacy@yahoogroups.com

There are some that will use WiFi. There appears to be only one, thus far, that will use BlueTooth. I'd much rather have one that used BlueTooth, mainly because some offices do not have, and do not allow the use of, WiFi.