subject: Digital Photo Frame Buyers Guide [print this page] Digital Photo Frame Buyers Guide Digital Photo Frame Buyers Guide
Digital photo frames, also known as digital picture frames, are more common and affordable allowing you to display your digital photos which were previously hidden away on your computer. The hardest part is searching through folders for those perfect pictures amongst the countless blurred and badly lit photos in your collection, or is that just me.
Once you have your finest moments set aside, you will then need a good quality digital photo frame to do your photos justice. As with all electronics advertising, there is jargon, specifications and box waffle to decode before you make your choice. This article will help to explain what some of these terms mean and how they affect your viewing experience.
Display
The most common screen used with digital photo frames is the LCD display as they are widely used and cheap to make in comparison to other types of display. The down side is in the way that LCD displays work, which means they are unable to display such a wide range of colours as other types of display. This means that black will be dark grey and white will be off white. Some manufacturers are using new techniques to make black darker which is why you may see statements like "True Black" in the advertising.
Resolution
One of the prominent features of photo frame is the display size. As with a traditional photo frame, this is usually measured in inches. Though it will probably be a key factor in your decision as to which frame you choose, it tells you nothing about the level of detail your photos will be shown in. For that you need to look at the resolution, measured in pixels in the format width x height.
Computerised displays are made up of tiny elements known as pixels. Each tiny pixel can only display one colour at a time. So to reproduce your grinning face, you will need hundreds of thousands of pixels. Basically the more pixels that are squeezed into a digital photo frame, the more detail will be shown.
For example, 7 inch photo frames commonly have a resolution of 480 pixels wide by 234 pixels high or 800 pixels wide by 480 pixels high. The lower resolution frame has 271,680 pixels less
to recreate your stunning features. Along with the loss of detail the pixel size of the 480 x 234 frame will be nearly 67% bigger than the 800 x 600 frame giving the photo more of a blocky mosaic affect about it. So it is important to buy a digital photo frame with the highest resolution for your budget.
Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio describes how many pixels there are horizontally to how many vertically.
For this you would expect to see aspect ratio of 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9. An aspect ratio of 4:3 means that for every 4 pixels horizontally there will be 3 vertically. If you were watching a TV 4:3 would be considered standard screen and 16:9 would be wide screen.
As most digital cameras have an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 3:2, having a digital picture frame with an aspect ratio of 16:9 is not necessary. As the majority of photo frames support the 16:9 format the chances are you will get one anyway.
When the photo frame displays a 4:3 or 3:2 photo on a 16:9 display the photo will be stretched or cropped to fill the screen or there will be black borders at the sides of your photo. There will usually be a setting available to select how the frame deals with photos that don't fill the screen.
Examples of the effect of aspect ratio on your photos can be found at
www.digislides.co.uk/buyersguide2.html#aspect
Contrast Ratio
Contrast Ratio is a measurement of how bright white is represented compared to black. This is shown as 300:1 which means white is 300 times brighter than black. In theory, you would be looking for a digital picture frame with a higher contrast ratio so the detail in shadows and bright areas of your photos are not lost. In reality, different manufacturers make this measurement in different ways and conditions. So you may as well ignore the contrast ratio when comparing digital picture frames.
Brightness
Brightness is a measurement of how bright the LCD display is, bizarrely enough. This is measured in cd/m2 (candela per metre square) or Nits which is equal to 1 cd/m2. For LCD displays this is typically between 250 and 350 cd/m2. The brightness of a display is important if you are going to position your digital photo frame in a well lit location as a lower cd/m2 rating will mean your photos will be barely visible. If you are using the frame in a darker location then the brightness is less important as you may even want to turn the brightness down.
The other consideration is the life of your photo frame. The more a LCD display is used the dimmer it will get. The life is usually stated in hours for example 20,000 hours. This means that after 20,000 hours or 2.3 years of constant use the brightness will be half as bright as it was when new.
Taking this into account it would be better to get a brighter frame and turn the brightness down and therefore extend the usefulness of the display.
Viewing Angle
If you are in front of a LCD display now move your head left to right and up and down. As you move further from the center of the screen the colours and contrast change. This is the effect of the viewing angle. A display with a good viewing angle is one that lets you move further before the image is degraded. As a digital photo frame would be viewed across a room, you would want the viewing angle to be as wide as possible.
The viewing angle is shown something like Horizontal 120 Vertical 90. What this means is if you are looking straight at the display you can move 60 degrees left or right and 45 degrees up or down before the image degrades. The vertical angle is usually the narrowest angle but can cause the most problems with where to locate your frame.
Imagine you put your frame on a cabinet resting on it's stand. Instantly the frame is tilted back by 20 or 30 degrees. You now go and sit on your sofa which is a lot lower than the height of your cabinet. You have just put yourself outside the vertical viewing angle and loose any chance of seeing your wonderful photos in glorious technicolor. So you do need to consider where you wish to locate your frame and find one with a suitable viewing angle. That's when you realise the power lead is too short.
