Choosing a Digital Photo Frame
Manufacturers of the better brands of digital frames provide users’ guides or product specifications to simplify your choice, as the wide range of features might be perplexing to the uninitiated.
There are a few critical features to know about before committing to a purchase. These include the size and resolution of the digital frame screen. Frames are available in different resolution ranges: 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, and 1280 x 1024 being the most commonplace. The resolution makes a great deal of difference to the quality and clarity of the rendered images.
The colour configuration is just as important, as the frames with a million colours or more will have better display quality than those with several thousand colours.
The active matrix, thin film transistor (TFT) technology that is used in computer monitors is also becoming prevalent. This is also a key indicator as to the likely quality of the image output.
Finally, as we shall see below, the mechanism by which images can be uploaded to the frame is critical as you need to ensure compatibility with your existing equipment and storage formats.
Feeding Images into the Frame
You can view images stored on storage and memory devices, such as pen drives or memory cards. Here it is essential to ensure compatibility with the cards used in your camcorder and / or digital camera if you plan to display images from these devices. In some of the more advanced models, you can even download pictures from the internet and have family or friends do the same, allowing the sharing of images across the globe.
File Formats
Some digital photo frames provide image editing facilities. These may be as simple as control over image orientation (portrait versus landscape which is a common requirement as most photo sets have a mixture of the two orientations) through to image cropping, enhancement and other editing facilities. In reality, many of us already have image editing software on our computers. Here it is important that you check compatibility with the various image formats your editing software supports. Most frames support JPEG images and some also cover, PNG, BMP, or TIFF formats. Finally, check the limits of the file sizes before you attempt a transfer.
Conclusion
Digital photo frames are rapidly gaining in popularity. They come in various models and brands, tailor made to fit even the smallest budget. There are a number of key features and items to check when considering a purchase. These include screen size; screen resolution; supported image formats; supported memory card and transfer formats and of course any more advanced functionality such as internet access and audio options.