Week Five: The Digital Frame

[Nevermore]

I was not that impressed when I got my first digital frame. It is quite small and the actual screen is 4 x 7 (shouldn’t that be 5?). I had no luck at all putting my layouts on it. After they were resized to fit, they were so tiny I couldn’t see them. A couple of years ago, I bought myself a huge 15 inch frame. I despise the fact that they label and sell these by the physical size rather than the screen size. This can be very misleading. The actual size is 12 x 9. Ditto with the new 15 inch frame I got for Christmas.
I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do about my layouts. I realised after a while that it just wasn’t going to work unless I made it very very simple. Much as I enjoyed coming up with a polished, elegant approach, the time required to implement it more or less guaranteed that my art would not jump from the computer screen to the digital frame screen.

For what it is worth, here are my tips for for digital frames:

Don’t lose your remote. It is tedious to have to use the controls on the frame. Please don’t ask me how I know this. Just trust me.
Give some consideration to scrapping in the size of your frame. Even if not the actual size, in ratio. Both my large screens are 4:3 aspect ratio. Scrapping 12 x 9 works perfectly. My small screen is 16:9 ratio. I have given up on it for layouts and use it strictly for photographs now. If this were the only frame I had though, I would start scrapping in ratio to it.
It is highly unlikely you will be able to scrinch everything onto the internal memory of your frames. Unless you are not that prolific and unless you really downsize your layouts. Given the plethora of external memory these frames support and the relative cheapness of external memory, I have opted to forget about the internal memory. The frames allow you to choose the “source” of the photos but do not automatically switch from one to the other if more than one is available. Since I want my entire portfolio to play, I need to have everything on one source.
Please be careful with the external source. One of my large frames will not accept CompactFlash memory cards anymore which is a total drag because I invested in an 8GB one for just this very purpose. It isn’t so easy to get these cards in and out and I suspect that the pins inside the frame got bent or damaged. Based on this experience, going forward I am going to use USB sticks instead. They do not look as nice sticking out of the frame (note to self: please get some new ones that are not shocking pink) as cards which tuck in nicely but they have a lot more storage, can often be found on sale and can just be popped in and out of both the frame and the computer with no bother. On my machine, using a card means it has to read with a card reader on the computer.
Once a month I run an action on my layouts. I save them in monthly folders in PSD format. They are uncompressed and a large file size. I run an action designed to convert them all to jpegs. The action makes sure that they are not bigger than 9 inches high. This leaves the 12 x 9 unchanged size wise and resizes the 12 x 12 to 9 x 9. That does leave them with black around them on the frame. A compromise solution. I set the jpeg compression to very high. It is simply not worth fussing over: I repeat, in the grand scheme of things external memory is quite cheap. Make sure any action saves the jpegs to a different folder: you do not want to overwrite your originals! Transferring from that folder to the external memory is the last step in the action. This can all be done manually of course but I suggest an action for those into that kind of geek thing.

I have my frame set to slideshow and by now have over 600 layouts on it. I kept it in my studio until Joe asked me to put it in the living room. I don’t turn it on that often, not as much as I did in my office and I suspect that that is why Joe gave me a new one for Christmas. This one is even fancier and has folder capability which means I can designate different folders as sources. It also has touch screen controls (at least when I lose this remote it will be easier, if smudgier, to control). It also has Bluetooth capability so I could transfer directly from my computer to the frame. I might try setting that up too. But amidst all this techy stuff, my hands are itching to grab some paints. Real life paints. There are many many mittens waiting in the wings.

I would be extremely interested in hearing other people's experiences and tips in connection with digital frames.

[indybev]

The loud, solid, thump you hear is Bev falling out of her chair! Do you mean I have to resize all my work to get it onto the besotted thing? My kids loaded the family photos on a memory card/stick, and told me it's big enough to load my digital work on the same stick if I wish, and it's set to show randomly. This seemed relatively simple to me....other than the fact I'd have to stand on my head behind my desk to put the memory card in. I can do this, I said to myself. Mind you I am NOT, repeat NOT a techie type. I traveled the U.S. to 13 different offices and trained managers and employees on our company computer system, but a bump in the technological road had me calling the handy company geeks who solved any tech problem for me. I am absolutely tech-challenged! (One of our less than tactful salesmen once said I was probably home having babies when the technological era took place). I nearly killed him (and later applauded hilariously when he inadvertently backed his car off a parking level and landed on top of a car parked below). It couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

But I digress. Kim, you now have me to intimidated I'm afraid to approach the frame for fear it will self-destruct....or more likely I will self destruct! When my children gave me a digital camera, it set on the table by my computer for six months while I eyed it suspiciously before I finally conquered the danged thing. I wish I had a personal computer geek ... SIGH .....

[Nevermore]

Bev, maybe you will not need to resize yours or compress them-- possibly you have created in different sizes.

You should go to the specifications page in your frame manual. It will tell you there what size aspect ratio your frame displays. That is a good thing to know.

Also, most frames have two options for displaying: the original or resized for the frame. If you pick the latter option, your frame will do the resizing for you! The problem is, it is not often intelligent nor the best resolution but it might be just the ticket for the swooning types. Give that a go and see! You might love it.


So, your first try should be just to do what comes packed with the frame ie. choose the "fit to screen" option.

To give yourself an idea of how this works, it is the same thing as desktops on your computer. You know you can use any jpeg image as your desktop. But if you use "stretch" so that it fills the screen, it is often misshapen and out of control. So, you use "centre" instead which makes it look good but is ofen very tiny and surrounded by a ton o blank border. My tips on resizing are to get that photo properly centred in the biggest size possible with the least amount of border.

Hmmm, maybe I should give screen shots for this one?

Bottom line, I can actually help you (can't resist adding that sometimes gnat killing is just the ticket).

P.S. my new frame has a magnet on the back and so does the remote so if you stick it on the back you will never lose it! Guess I am not the only one to have done that. And even better, the card and USB ports are hidden behind a panel so even if you use a USB Stick, it doesn't stick out! The touchscreen stuff is on top of the mat. It still is touching the glass (I do really despise touch screen technology) but on top of the mat so not as apparent as it would otherwise be. Life is good.

[Nevermore]

my gut is splitting re stupid techie guy! Karma! Karma! Karma!

[indybev]

Thank you, Mommy, I feel better already. The sizes of my "stuff" are all over the place, from ATCs to 8x8s and everything in between. I am SO grateful to find there is an automatic resizability. I do not seem to find a remote, nor does manual mention one. Mine's a Kodak Easy-Share. Apparently it comes sans remote.

I have been busy working on cancer journals, as we are trying to get our first "bunch" ready to deliver to the hospital and I got sidetracked with Christmas before I had my quota finished. I have to write a brief essay on the year to come for the writing group, hostess the bridge foursome on Wednesday, and do a 5 x 7 page for the art group swap. Soooo, I'm sleeping on whether or not I want to load my "stuff" on the card with the family photos so all will show randomly, or if I want to keep them separate. Advantages both ways. I have to think about it. I have to say, though, you really got my adrenalin going there for a bit....and at 75, that's not a bad thing !

[craftyamanda]

Hi, ladies- thought I would share my experience, or lack thereof... I was interested in purchasing a digital frame as a gift for my parents this year, because I have made tons of layouts (about a hundred) using old family photos dating back several generations. A lot of them are finished except for the journaling, because even when I have the names, I'm guessing at dates, locations, and other details. So I need to get that info at some point, and I don't want to print them until I've added it. Anyway, I figured with a digital frame I could upload all the layouts regardless, and just update it when I add the extra stuff later. But after checking them out, I didn't want to pay for one of the really big ones, and anything smaller would be too small to really see the details on the layouts. So what I ended up doing, last week, was creating a DVD using iDVD on my mac. I put together 4 slideshows, including music, etc., and burned them to a DVD, made a cover for the case, and bingo... a great (and inexpensive) present. I'd never used iDVD before, but after reading the tutorial, it was pretty easy. Now my parents can watch it on the TV or computer whenever they want, and it is large enough for them to really enjoy it. Plus they can take the DVD when visiting relatives, and share it with them as well. So, that's my two cents, for anyone else out there reluctant to shell out the dough for a big digital frame!

[Nevermore]

My small frame is okay for pictures and kind of fun for that but it just stank for my layouts. I bought the large one two years ago in a fit of madness and did not tell the guys what I paid for it. The new large one was my Christmas gift from the guys-- there is no way I would buy a second. I think maybe the pricing has come down a bit over time? Not sure as I have been steadfastly refusing to look at them in case madness overcame me again :)

[Diginellie]

I bought my 15 inch digital frame in April and I love it.

My thoughts are:

- Any smaller would be too small and a remote control is essential.
- You must have a memory stick.
- I just load all my resized `for the web' files onto the memory stick, it takes about 2 seconds. I keep them in a file labelled `Art for Display'.
- While my 12x9 files are perfect, everything else looks fine too :)
- I have it set up in my living room all the time and visitors are fascinated by it - so am I as I soon realise I have forgotten most of my Layouts :)

In summary I have not regretted this purchase at all - in fact I love it more each day. I think it is definitely an example of `you get what you pay for'. I think too that here in Australia we are used to paying top dollar for this kind of product. Software is really expensive here too as are computers. I guess I just saw it in that kind of category when I bought it. ie a major luxury item :)
As well as that it has reduced the number of photo frames we have around the place - I have all my family photos on the digi frame mixed in with my Layouts.