Displaying photos in the living room....
Discussion
Hi all,
I would like to display my many many jpegs in a nice way in my living room. Now, the problem is this... my livingroom is quite big and one of them electronic photo frames is way to small, the thing would be lost and invisible.
I don't want many cables (well my wife doesn't), and I want to show the pictures permanently and not only when my TV is not used - so no displaying them on TV.
I also don't want a noisy dedicated PC in the corner, and I don't want to use my laptop for the purpose as I use it often for other purposes.
So what to do. I came to the conclusion (with the better half) that a 32" dedicated screen would fit the bill as regards size. 32" monitors are still too expensive and would pose the cable problem... and 32" LCD or plasma TV's with a card slot are few and far between and quite pricey, as far as I can see....
I thought about a 32" combined with one of them cardreaders with a video out - but I'm afraid the quality would not be good enough. Anyone tried that?
So, I am now thinking about a 32" with a integrated dvd player. These things can play jpeg CDs so that's be OK. They're not too expensive - around 300-350 quid. I wonder though what the quality will be, and also how long one of those will last when the dvd player runs all day.
Anyway, maybe I'm asking for too much... any ideas or comments from the collective??
Thanks,
Maarten
I would like to display my many many jpegs in a nice way in my living room. Now, the problem is this... my livingroom is quite big and one of them electronic photo frames is way to small, the thing would be lost and invisible.
I don't want many cables (well my wife doesn't), and I want to show the pictures permanently and not only when my TV is not used - so no displaying them on TV.
I also don't want a noisy dedicated PC in the corner, and I don't want to use my laptop for the purpose as I use it often for other purposes.
So what to do. I came to the conclusion (with the better half) that a 32" dedicated screen would fit the bill as regards size. 32" monitors are still too expensive and would pose the cable problem... and 32" LCD or plasma TV's with a card slot are few and far between and quite pricey, as far as I can see....
I thought about a 32" combined with one of them cardreaders with a video out - but I'm afraid the quality would not be good enough. Anyone tried that?
So, I am now thinking about a 32" with a integrated dvd player. These things can play jpeg CDs so that's be OK. They're not too expensive - around 300-350 quid. I wonder though what the quality will be, and also how long one of those will last when the dvd player runs all day.
Anyway, maybe I'm asking for too much... any ideas or comments from the collective??
Thanks,
Maarten
enderbylass said:
Have you heard of global warming ? Save the planet etc ! - bo
ocks
Are your photos really that interesting that anyone would want to see them more than once never mind on permanent display? So do you not have any pictures in your house? If so what makes them so good to be on permanent display? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But my view. Would a big 32" TV hung on the wall look a bit intrusive? I'm just not sure it would look as subtle as a picture frame. How about some big canvas's?ocksAre your photos really that interesting that anyone would want to see them more than once never mind on permanent display? So do you not have any pictures in your house? If so what makes them so good to be on permanent display? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
David
Edited by Gingerbread Man on Friday 2nd November 19:56
In my last two houses I have built an LCD screen into the wall and then hung a picture frame over the top (so it looks like a painting/print)... behind (in a cupboard) is an old 'past sell by date' PC, onto which I can load whatever screen saver pics I want. It doesn't stay on all the time so the electricity police (see above) don't raid my house. (Being almost carbon neutral, I feel my house has some leeway!) But I can of course, turn it on/off as I require...
Good use of a redundant PC!
Good use of a redundant PC!
enderbylass has a point, big screens suck a lot of power and it seems a tad frivilous for permanently showing photos on....besides, call me old fashioned, but what's wrong with printed image/canvas? ok you can't change it at the click of a button but you don't have the irritating hum, glaring glow (when the lights are down) and general ambience-spoiling aesthetic of a big tele. not to mention the lack of detail, part of the charm of a large printed image is getting up close and noticing the stuff you don't see at first, and anyway i spend enough time looking at a ing screen at work all day!
sorry for anti-technology rant, but i really feel sometimes that we are making life more complicated than it needs to be! i'm off to read a book....
ing screen at work all day!sorry for anti-technology rant, but i really feel sometimes that we are making life more complicated than it needs to be! i'm off to read a book....
True, I would buy some big canvases. See Fluid Images by one of the PHers on here.
For the price of a 32" TV and the electricity bill, you could buy quite a few and change them every so often.
David
For the price of a 32" TV and the electricity bill, you could buy quite a few and change them every so often.
David
Gingerbread Man said:
True, I would buy some big canvases. See Fluid Images by one of the PHers on here.
For the price of a 32" TV and the electricity bill, you could buy quite a few and change them every so often.
David
For the price of a 32" TV and the electricity bill, you could buy quite a few and change them every so often.
David
A mixture of canvasses and prints in nice frames would look really good. Some friends of mine change the pictures on their walls according to the seasons, I really like that idea but haven't taken enough seasonal photos to do it yet.Well thanks for the reactions so far... As for being intrusive, the wall the thing would be hanging on is about 36 feet long and probably 10 feet high, and all white; so far only 2 pictures on it. In my view anything smaller than 32 inch would look lost.
Quality - when I show pictures on my normal 42" lcd they look stunning from anything further than 2 feet away. Now that is a good TV, 1920x1080i resolution, but I'm pretty sure the pics should look fine on anything from 1024x768.
Quantity - well I do have about 20 gig of pictures these days and even if only one in 50 or so merits a second look there are still way too many nice ones to restrict myself to a few prints. My wife had come up with the seasonal canvas idea and I like that but 10 canvasses don't really make a dent in the volume. We like to watch photos, many of the family, travel etc. and in these days of digital photography prints, however nice, are no match for the sheer numbers of pictures... there must be millions of nice or even fantastic pictures stored on harddisks or CDs never to be watched again...!
Carbon footprints - well don't go all green on me please... this is PH right
? I do my 160 mile commute in a diesel, that's how green I am. Seriously, a 100-year old farmhouse likely does not really qualify for any carbon-neutrality whatsoever and believe you me, another 55 watt appliance for 8 hrs a day won't even make a significant change to my electricity bill. I have a jukebox switched on all day just because we like the lights... so not very interested in behaving particularly energy-conscious just yet.
I liked getcarter's idea but my neighbours wouldn't be to enamoured by a TV backside sticking out of the wall. I thought about the old computer solution, but that would mean too much cabling and some old desktop humming away in a room corner.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback, guys... I suppose I'll indeed go and check one out in a shop. I think however that the quality of dvd drives these days does not allow you to run one all day. Do people have any experience with the quality of video output from video cardreaders? That seems to me the way to go...
Quality - when I show pictures on my normal 42" lcd they look stunning from anything further than 2 feet away. Now that is a good TV, 1920x1080i resolution, but I'm pretty sure the pics should look fine on anything from 1024x768.
Quantity - well I do have about 20 gig of pictures these days and even if only one in 50 or so merits a second look there are still way too many nice ones to restrict myself to a few prints. My wife had come up with the seasonal canvas idea and I like that but 10 canvasses don't really make a dent in the volume. We like to watch photos, many of the family, travel etc. and in these days of digital photography prints, however nice, are no match for the sheer numbers of pictures... there must be millions of nice or even fantastic pictures stored on harddisks or CDs never to be watched again...!
Carbon footprints - well don't go all green on me please... this is PH right
? I do my 160 mile commute in a diesel, that's how green I am. Seriously, a 100-year old farmhouse likely does not really qualify for any carbon-neutrality whatsoever and believe you me, another 55 watt appliance for 8 hrs a day won't even make a significant change to my electricity bill. I have a jukebox switched on all day just because we like the lights... so not very interested in behaving particularly energy-conscious just yet.I liked getcarter's idea but my neighbours wouldn't be to enamoured by a TV backside sticking out of the wall. I thought about the old computer solution, but that would mean too much cabling and some old desktop humming away in a room corner.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback, guys... I suppose I'll indeed go and check one out in a shop. I think however that the quality of dvd drives these days does not allow you to run one all day. Do people have any experience with the quality of video output from video cardreaders? That seems to me the way to go...
They promised if I drove a gas guzzler we'd get global warming, I did my bit so where when does the warm weather start?
A 32" LCD only needs to pull 120 odd watts when powered on - the same as 2 light bulbs - big deal.
Quality wise - my 32" LCD with the laptop hooked up looks great, as long as you size the images you are displaying to the native res of the screen you will be fine - don't use a DVD player though, the res is just way too low. Buy a cheapo laptop off ebay and use that - it can be older than dirt it will still work fine for showing piccies.
I think if executed well (ie chase in all the wires, and mount the TV nicely) it could look great - done badly and it will look tacky.
(global warming joke shamelessly stolen from somewhere, can't remember where though)
A 32" LCD only needs to pull 120 odd watts when powered on - the same as 2 light bulbs - big deal.
Quality wise - my 32" LCD with the laptop hooked up looks great, as long as you size the images you are displaying to the native res of the screen you will be fine - don't use a DVD player though, the res is just way too low. Buy a cheapo laptop off ebay and use that - it can be older than dirt it will still work fine for showing piccies.
I think if executed well (ie chase in all the wires, and mount the TV nicely) it could look great - done badly and it will look tacky.
(global warming joke shamelessly stolen from somewhere, can't remember where though)
Or take a slightly different approach and check this out:
http://www.shopdekko.com/viewrange.aspx?PID=96350&...
I'm quite tempted myself! You could simply rotate photos every now and again - printing is cheap these days.
http://www.shopdekko.com/viewrange.aspx?PID=96350&...
I'm quite tempted myself! You could simply rotate photos every now and again - printing is cheap these days.
GetCarter said:
In my last two houses I have built an LCD screen into the wall and then hung a picture frame over the top (so it looks like a painting/print)... behind (in a cupboard) is an old 'past sell by date' PC, onto which I can load whatever screen saver pics I want. It doesn't stay on all the time so the electricity police (see above) don't raid my house. (Being almost carbon neutral, I feel my house has some leeway!) But I can of course, turn it on/off as I require...
Good use of a redundant PC!
I am tempted with doing something along these lines using a monitor and old laptop. Is there any way to set up the pc to come on and off by setting a program to act as a time clock and then having the screensaver activate? This way the screen would only be on at certain times and help keep the energy police at bay! I just feel if it was up to me to switch on and off it would be left on or off for weeks at a time. Good use of a redundant PC!
GetCarter said:
In my last two houses I have built an LCD screen into the wall and then hung a picture frame over the top (so it looks like a painting/print)... behind (in a cupboard) is an old 'past sell by date' PC, onto which I can load whatever screen saver pics I want. It doesn't stay on all the time so the electricity police (see above) don't raid my house. (Being almost carbon neutral, I feel my house has some leeway!) But I can of course, turn it on/off as I require...
Good use of a redundant PC!
Had a similar thought in my last place but with Wyse-esque dumb terminals. Of course, being the geek that I am, that then turned into networking several throughout the house, including speakers and writing something to interface with all my movies, tv & music etc as well as pictures and being remote controlled from anywhere in the wor.....I gave up Good use of a redundant PC!
Famous Graham said:
GetCarter said:
In my last two houses I have built an LCD screen into the wall and then hung a picture frame over the top (so it looks like a painting/print)... behind (in a cupboard) is an old 'past sell by date' PC, onto which I can load whatever screen saver pics I want. It doesn't stay on all the time so the electricity police (see above) don't raid my house. (Being almost carbon neutral, I feel my house has some leeway!) But I can of course, turn it on/off as I require...
Good use of a redundant PC!
Had a similar thought in my last place but with Wyse-esque dumb terminals. Of course, being the geek that I am, that then turned into networking several throughout the house, including speakers and writing something to interface with all my movies, tv & music etc as well as pictures and being remote controlled from anywhere in the wor.....I gave up Good use of a redundant PC!
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