Photo frame recommendations

I am very keen of the idea of a electronic photo frame to let me mother see what is happening within the family. I bought a photo frame a few years ago and it turned out to be a disaster which she unplugged and now keeps in the wardrobe. It was an utter pain.

Clock needed reset after any power interruption Photo storage was tiny Photos needed custom preparation for the frame Frame, which was used in the bedroom, was like leaving the TV on all night. Awkward to set clocks and the frames inactive periods. I was struck by how many subtle human factors had been missed by the designers. Looking around the shelves at PC world, I am now struck by how the availability of any cheap feature now means it has to be included in the frame. After this experience and some thought I am now looking for.

- RSS or ATOM based control what the frame displays - Photos are downloaded and cached in the frame, (does not re-download each photo again and again.) - Say one 1GB, plus ability to use USB and memory cards - NTP or SNTP based automatic clock setting - Wireless LAN with WPA - DHCP and fixed IP addressing - No sound/RC/clocks/alarms or other non picture frame functions (or at least ones that can be disabled.) - No touch screen, or one that can be disabled. (to deal with dusters and small kids!) - Does not depend on special services such as flicker - (optional) Can display HTML pages - (optional) Web based admin functions - (optional) https/http support - (advanced) Combined time and light/dark sensing to disable frame - (advanced) Combined time and noise sensing to enable frame

Reviewing the market it looks as though some of the Samgsung frames are good, but the 'tech specs' do not really cover much.

Any ideas, recommendations or comments.

Reply to
Fergus McMenemie
Loading thread data ...

It sounds to me like you need a cheap laptop.

Rich W.

Fergus McMenemie wrote:

Reply to
Rich Wonneberger

About two years ago, I got a frame for my parents that seems to cover most of these.. It was a Kodak W1020 frame..

It can store pictures in internal flash, load from one of several flash devices (compact flash, SD, etc.), or display an RSS feed.

Check

Don't recall the internal memory size, but it only reads pictures from the flash cards, it doesn't use the device as a cache..

NTP setting

Check

Check

They do not need to be turned on.

It isn't a touch screen per-se, it does have a touch sensitive border used to control the function. Dusting and kids have not seemed to be a problem.

It can pull pictures from flickr, or other framechannel sources, but it can also use any RSS feed.

No..

Check

Haven't tried this, but I suspect it doesn't do https..

Can turn off based on time

Can turn on based on time

Overall it seems to be a pretty decent frame. It has had two software updates since we got it.

Hope that adds a data point to your search.

marcus hall snipped-for-privacy@tuells.org

Reply to
marcus hall

Marcus,

Thanks very much. £117 is its current price, and it appears to meet most of the requirements. The fact that it is be> > >I was struck by how many subtle human factors had been missed by the

Reply to
Fergus McMenemie

Granted. Howver my mother does not need a cheap laptop. It has to look like and act like a photo frame. It is just that I need control over what is displayed in the frame.

Reply to
Fergus McMenemie

Try to find one in the stores. Eeverytime I see one for the last two years they are tgone when I come back.

I bought a Sony frame and they are Wi-Fi but mostly depnedant on internal memory, another uPNP server with memory and constant connection (wired or wireless) or their service. I haven't experienced their "service" yet but after first initialization it takes a "Service" to set the time zone on the damn clock!

Nice part about their "service" is that others can remotely dump pictures into their frame via the online website. This is similar to the old dial-up frames from Ceiva except with better algorythms and access.

BTW: The Ceiva frame had a not-bad interface from remote but the resolution, clarity and brightness was a POS. AVoid them. I don't beliebe they have improved any from their first 320 x 240 pixel (shhh..it's a well kept secret) garbage. Sony's service is free...for now and I am sure there is a tonne of features that you can pay for YMMV.

THe frame is long and nasty to setup with a home server but once associated with everything pictures and time on/off are just a click away with a remote that has an amazing 2-3 feet range. Vidoe files are playable but not over Wi-Fi. The hiccups can last 5 seconds each.

I have been watching these frames for years and what is out there is mostly junk that doesn't work the way you want it. It's easy to tell by the box...they never say anything you can "put your finger on"

The future has to be brighter.

A laptop would be the only answer from what I have seen out there so far.

Thanks very much. £117 is its current price, and it appears to meet most of the requirements. The fact that it is be> > >I was struck by how many subtle human factors had been missed by the

Reply to
Josepi

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.