Re: Photo frame recommendations

["Josepi" <JRM@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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.


"Fergus McMenemie" <fergus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1jvbac8.1ojq10y1m2ty40N%fergus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Marcus,

Thanks very much. £117 is its current price, and it appears to meet
most of the requirements. The fact that it is being activly maintained
is also a plus.

marcus hall <marcus@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In article <1jv9a9t.1rrqafrfugtqN%fergus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Fergus McMenemie <fergus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >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.
>
> About two years ago, I got a frame for my parents that seems to cover
> most of these..  It was a Kodak W1020 frame..
>
> >   - RSS or ATOM based control what the frame displays
>       It can store pictures in internal flash, load from one of
>       several flash devices (compact flash, SD, etc.), or display
>       an RSS feed.
> >   - Photos are downloaded and cached in the frame, (does not
> >          re-download each photo again and again.)
>       Check
> >   - Say one 1GB, plus ability to use USB and memory cards
>       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 or SNTP based automatic clock setting
>       NTP setting
> >   - Wireless LAN with WPA
>       Check
> >   - DHCP and fixed IP addressing
>       Check
> >   - No sound/RC/clocks/alarms or other non picture frame functions
> >         (or at least ones that can be disabled.)
>       They do not need to be turned on.
> >   - No touch screen, or one that can be disabled. (to deal with
> >         dusters and small kids!)
>       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.
> >   - Does not depend on special services such as flicker
>       It can pull pictures from flickr, or other framechannel sources,
>       but it can also use any RSS feed.
> >   - (optional) Can display HTML pages
>       No..
> >   - (optional) Web based admin functions
>       Check
> >   - (optional) https/http support
>       Haven't tried this, but I suspect it doesn't do https..
> >   - (advanced) Combined time and light/dark sensing to disable frame
>       Can turn off based on time
> >   - (advanced) Combined time and noise sensing to enable frame
>       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
> marcus@xxxxxxxxxx