I haven't been too interested in DPFs simply because they're so small. ...
Actually, small DPFs are not that bad. My sister-in-law bought one for my mother for Christmas a year ago. It went for something like $79 and was nice until it crapped-out. The Sharper Image sells about six different models now. I may buy one or two sometime this year.
That said, I don't see a business case for Apple's entry into this market. If DPFs, then what next? The Apple alarm clock? Unlike flat panel TVs, DPFs have relatively stable prices. However, there is little room for innovation or product differentiation with DPFs. It is a device with a well-defined mission. Nothing could be simpler than current offerings. Pull your Smart Card out of your digital camera and stick it into your DPF. Is there room to revolutionize the ease-of-use that I missed somewhere? My reading of the OP's post is that he doesn't so much want a DPF as he wants an all-in-one Apple TV/monitor for the price of a high-end DPF.
The King of the DPF Hill appears to be Ality. Take a look at its product line.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame. Plus the quality is far inferior to prints anyways. And the framing or electronic picture frames is hideous.
It could work with OLED because they don't need a backlight. But I'm not counting on it.
Nothing could be simpler than current offerings. Pull your Smart Card out of your digital camera and stick it into your DPF. Is there room to revolutionize the ease-of-use that I missed somewhere?
Yes there is if they wanted to and Nostrodamus referred to it - Forget the storage cards, thats not the Apple way. Built in storage on the frame, with a wireless connection to your Mac, send your photo album to display on the frame, Apple TV interface on the frame. Job done.
Ok you still have to get the pictures from your camera to your Mac, but until Apple make a new QuickTake, thats not their problem!
Can't see them doing a DPF myself, seems a bit of a one trick pony, and does nothing that the Apple TV does now on your great big huge HDTV.
I think Apple should do this and it would be huge. I can't believe some of you guys who do not get this. This market is ripe for some seriously good product. I know because I have been looking. I would buy a half dozen. I would get one for my parents so they can see slideshows of the grandkids, and the grandparents would each get one. I'd use a few myself.
Why Apple? Because they make iPhoto and they make digital lifestyle devices like the iPhone and the iPod. The iPod is for music and the "iFrame", or whatever it would be called, would be for photos. One can already run slideshows on tvs and Macs. I'd love to have the option for a few more low cost devices around the house too.
Forget 7 or 8" ones. A 15" LCD costs around $200. I 'd love to see a 15" DPF with a card reader or wireless for about $300. Even $399 would be good. This is way cheaper than an HDTV. Also, most of the grandparents don't do computers, so a Mac to Apple TV is out. HDTV and computer/Apple TV solutions cost in the thousands. We are looking at something in the low hundreds.
I have almost 30,000 photos in iPhoto, of which 2 or 3 thousand are really good. There is no way I could print them out and mount even a tenth of them. Digital Picture Frames are the perfect solution. Put photos on a little Flash storage card and have them display slideshows. Wireless would be cool too. They should also display movies. They would be a perfect complement to home movies made in iMovie.
Nobody controls this DPF market yet. The ones I see are from companies I have never heard of. Makes me scared to buy. They also don't look good either. Apple could market this device and everybody would know and be confident the device would be high quality and simple to use. I think Apple could and should do this.
I never just take pictures and not edit them. So taking a card right out the camera and into the DPF is so last decade. I process them all through iPhoto first. Some I send through Photoshop. Then I am ready to display them. I have a $1600 DSLR with a $1600 zoom lens, reflectors, flashes, tripod, card reader, Photoshop, not to mention the training and hundreds of hours editing - I have made a serious investment in photography. So have others.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame. Plus the quality is far inferior to prints anyways. And the framing or electronic picture frames is hideous.
It could work with OLED because they don't need a backlight. But I'm not counting on it.
So you're telling us that Jonathan Ive couldn't make one of these frames look entirely amazing? If Apple chose to do this, it'd be amazing to look at and interact with. I'm confident that Jonathan Ive could pull it off.
Hell, my dad used slide film exclusively for over twenty years. I have many fond memories of slideshows at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by backtomac
Me, maybe others.
Yea but slideshows are not meant to be passively in the background. They are meant to be actively viewed. And that's what computers and TVs are for.
But also, regardless there are other problems:
Power consumption. Do you like expensive electric bills? Do you like climate change?
Screen longevity. Screens are not designed to be on all the time even if they do have a screensaver or something to prevent in burn in. The lifetime of the display would be very short if it were on constantly.
Backlighted images will always look worse than an image without a backlight. That is why this could only really work well will OLEDS.
It would be cost prohibitive to have a large screen with great resolution. TV screens would likely be used, and HD TV screens are NOT good for still photos. Photos look great on Apple's Cinema Display, but that's expensive!
If it's small it's not very impressive. If it's large you are spending a lot of money on a limited use product.
I think Apple should do this and it would be huge. I can't believe some of you guys who do not get this. This market is ripe for some seriously good product. I know because I have been looking. I would buy a half dozen. I would get one for my parents so they can see slideshows of the grandkids, and the grandparents would each get one. I'd use a few myself.
Why Apple? Because they make iPhoto and they make digital lifestyle devices like the iPhone and the iPod. The iPod is for music and the "iFrame", or whatever it would be called, would be for photos. One can already run slideshows on tvs and Macs. I'd love to have the option for a few more low cost devices around the house too.
Forget 7 or 8" ones. A 15" LCD costs around $200. I 'd love to see a 15" DPF with a card reader or wireless for about $300. Even $399 would be good. This is way cheaper than an HDTV. Also, most of the grandparents don't do computers, so a Mac to Apple TV is out. HDTV and computer/Apple TV solutions cost in the thousands. We are looking at something in the low hundreds.
I have almost 30,000 photos in iPhoto, of which 2 or 3 thousand are really good. There is no way I could print them out and mount even a tenth of them. Digital Picture Frames are the perfect solution. Put photos on a little Flash storage card and have them display slideshows. Wireless would be cool too. They should also display movies. They would be a perfect complement to home movies made in iMovie.
Nobody controls this DPF market yet. The ones I see are from companies I have never heard of. Makes me scared to buy. They also don't look good either. Apple could market this device and everybody would know and be confident the device would be high quality and simple to use. I think Apple could and should do this.
I never just take pictures and not edit them. So taking a card right out the camera and into the DPF is so last decade. I process them all through iPhoto first. Some I send through Photoshop. Then I am ready to display them. I have a $1600 DSLR with a $1600 zoom lens, reflectors, flashes, tripod, card reader, Photoshop, not to mention the training and hundreds of hours editing - I have made a serious investment in photography. So have others.
You bet there is a market for DPFs.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a DPF that is 'smart' and syncs with iPhoto?
For instance if I have a DPF in my son's room, I would like for it to sync wirelessly with my Mac and upload all my 4 star or greater photos that have the keyword 'son' in them. I would also like it to be on with a slideshow from 8;00 am to 9;00 pm.
While I don't have the photo library that you have, I still have more than I can reasonably hope to display conventionally. A DPF is really the only practical way to do so after your get a couple hundred photos that are worth framing IMO.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame.
That's the whole point of digital frames. If the slideshow is done with class (slow dissolves) instead of having cheesy transitions like most frames (barn doors, venetian blinds, etc) it would be nice. One minute you'd be looking at one picture and then you'd notice later that the picture has changed without actually seeing any transitions.
Comments
I haven't been too interested in DPFs simply because they're so small. ...
Actually, small DPFs are not that bad. My sister-in-law bought one for my mother for Christmas a year ago. It went for something like $79 and was nice until it crapped-out. The Sharper Image sells about six different models now. I may buy one or two sometime this year.
That said, I don't see a business case for Apple's entry into this market. If DPFs, then what next? The Apple alarm clock? Unlike flat panel TVs, DPFs have relatively stable prices. However, there is little room for innovation or product differentiation with DPFs. It is a device with a well-defined mission. Nothing could be simpler than current offerings. Pull your Smart Card out of your digital camera and stick it into your DPF. Is there room to revolutionize the ease-of-use that I missed somewhere? My reading of the OP's post is that he doesn't so much want a DPF as he wants an all-in-one Apple TV/monitor for the price of a high-end DPF.
The King of the DPF Hill appears to be Ality. Take a look at its product line.
Hmm, that is a lot better than current DPFs. That would have my support.
You know, something that's a tad more impressive than just a screen for displaying pictures. Those ideas of yours really add value.
They do and they require major overhaul to housing wiring subsystems.
For new home construction it can be absorbed within in the realm of central ethernet/audio/video wiring.
For existing home remodeling it's a niche market.
Never heard of slide show?
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame. Plus the quality is far inferior to prints anyways. And the framing or electronic picture frames is hideous.
It could work with OLED because they don't need a backlight. But I'm not counting on it.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall.
Hell, my dad used slide film exclusively for over twenty years. I have many fond memories of slideshows at home.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall.
Me, maybe others.
Nothing could be simpler than current offerings. Pull your Smart Card out of your digital camera and stick it into your DPF. Is there room to revolutionize the ease-of-use that I missed somewhere?
Yes there is if they wanted to and Nostrodamus referred to it - Forget the storage cards, thats not the Apple way. Built in storage on the frame, with a wireless connection to your Mac, send your photo album to display on the frame, Apple TV interface on the frame. Job done.
Ok you still have to get the pictures from your camera to your Mac, but until Apple make a new QuickTake, thats not their problem!
Can't see them doing a DPF myself, seems a bit of a one trick pony, and does nothing that the Apple TV does now on your great big huge HDTV.
Why Apple? Because they make iPhoto and they make digital lifestyle devices like the iPhone and the iPod. The iPod is for music and the "iFrame", or whatever it would be called, would be for photos. One can already run slideshows on tvs and Macs. I'd love to have the option for a few more low cost devices around the house too.
Forget 7 or 8" ones. A 15" LCD costs around $200. I 'd love to see a 15" DPF with a card reader or wireless for about $300. Even $399 would be good. This is way cheaper than an HDTV. Also, most of the grandparents don't do computers, so a Mac to Apple TV is out. HDTV and computer/Apple TV solutions cost in the thousands. We are looking at something in the low hundreds.
I have almost 30,000 photos in iPhoto, of which 2 or 3 thousand are really good. There is no way I could print them out and mount even a tenth of them. Digital Picture Frames are the perfect solution. Put photos on a little Flash storage card and have them display slideshows. Wireless would be cool too. They should also display movies. They would be a perfect complement to home movies made in iMovie.
Nobody controls this DPF market yet. The ones I see are from companies I have never heard of. Makes me scared to buy. They also don't look good either. Apple could market this device and everybody would know and be confident the device would be high quality and simple to use. I think Apple could and should do this.
I never just take pictures and not edit them. So taking a card right out the camera and into the DPF is so last decade. I process them all through iPhoto first. Some I send through Photoshop. Then I am ready to display them. I have a $1600 DSLR with a $1600 zoom lens, reflectors, flashes, tripod, card reader, Photoshop, not to mention the training and hundreds of hours editing - I have made a serious investment in photography. So have others.
You bet there is a market for DPFs.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame. Plus the quality is far inferior to prints anyways. And the framing or electronic picture frames is hideous.
It could work with OLED because they don't need a backlight. But I'm not counting on it.
So you're telling us that Jonathan Ive couldn't make one of these frames look entirely amazing? If Apple chose to do this, it'd be amazing to look at and interact with. I'm confident that Jonathan Ive could pull it off.
Hell, my dad used slide film exclusively for over twenty years. I have many fond memories of slideshows at home.
Me, maybe others.
Yea but slideshows are not meant to be passively in the background. They are meant to be actively viewed. And that's what computers and TVs are for.
But also, regardless there are other problems:
I think Apple should do this and it would be huge. I can't believe some of you guys who do not get this. This market is ripe for some seriously good product. I know because I have been looking. I would buy a half dozen. I would get one for my parents so they can see slideshows of the grandkids, and the grandparents would each get one. I'd use a few myself.
Why Apple? Because they make iPhoto and they make digital lifestyle devices like the iPhone and the iPod. The iPod is for music and the "iFrame", or whatever it would be called, would be for photos. One can already run slideshows on tvs and Macs. I'd love to have the option for a few more low cost devices around the house too.
Forget 7 or 8" ones. A 15" LCD costs around $200. I 'd love to see a 15" DPF with a card reader or wireless for about $300. Even $399 would be good. This is way cheaper than an HDTV. Also, most of the grandparents don't do computers, so a Mac to Apple TV is out. HDTV and computer/Apple TV solutions cost in the thousands. We are looking at something in the low hundreds.
I have almost 30,000 photos in iPhoto, of which 2 or 3 thousand are really good. There is no way I could print them out and mount even a tenth of them. Digital Picture Frames are the perfect solution. Put photos on a little Flash storage card and have them display slideshows. Wireless would be cool too. They should also display movies. They would be a perfect complement to home movies made in iMovie.
Nobody controls this DPF market yet. The ones I see are from companies I have never heard of. Makes me scared to buy. They also don't look good either. Apple could market this device and everybody would know and be confident the device would be high quality and simple to use. I think Apple could and should do this.
I never just take pictures and not edit them. So taking a card right out the camera and into the DPF is so last decade. I process them all through iPhoto first. Some I send through Photoshop. Then I am ready to display them. I have a $1600 DSLR with a $1600 zoom lens, reflectors, flashes, tripod, card reader, Photoshop, not to mention the training and hundreds of hours editing - I have made a serious investment in photography. So have others.
You bet there is a market for DPFs.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a DPF that is 'smart' and syncs with iPhoto?
For instance if I have a DPF in my son's room, I would like for it to sync wirelessly with my Mac and upload all my 4 star or greater photos that have the keyword 'son' in them. I would also like it to be on with a slideshow from 8;00 am to 9;00 pm.
While I don't have the photo library that you have, I still have more than I can reasonably hope to display conventionally. A DPF is really the only practical way to do so after your get a couple hundred photos that are worth framing IMO.
Who want's a slideshow on their wall. That is cheesy and lame.
That's the whole point of digital frames. If the slideshow is done with class (slow dissolves) instead of having cheesy transitions like most frames (barn doors, venetian blinds, etc) it would be nice. One minute you'd be looking at one picture and then you'd notice later that the picture has changed without actually seeing any transitions.