Compatible Digital Photo Frame?

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Level 1

9 points

Compatible Digital Photo Frame?

I'm trying to find a digital photo frame which is reliably compatible with Mac files (i.e. iPhoto), for both photos and video. I didn't think it would be such a big deal but now that I've started researching it, I'm finding all sorts of complaints about incompatibility, especially with, for example, .mov files.

The product I'm seeking is intended to be a gift for my elderly grandmother (90 years old) so it has to be simple to use (in other words, I'm not going to get her an iPod touch-- just a simple frame, on which I can pre-load photos and videos, would be ideal.)

Any ideas?

Thank you so much in advance, and forgive me if this question should be posted elsewhere.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Sep 26, 2010 2:53 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,718 points

Sep 26, 2010 3:25 PM in response to emilyooboo

They all are as far as photos are concerned. As far as video I couldn't say as I've not tried adding video files to ours. The one that we have now is a Pandigital frame which takes different memory cards. We use the card route so we don't have to connect the frame to the computer to upload photos. Just put the photos in a folder and put the folder on the memory card. You'll need a card reader to do it. The reason you should put the files in a folder is that the card's format doesn't allow but a few files at the root directory.

You can always use Quicktime Player to Export for Web the movie files to a different format that will work with the frame. The Desktop size is an .m4v format.

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Answer 2

emilyooboo Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 28, 2010 8:20 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad (love the name!)-- Thank you for the response, and the tip on converting the video files. I think I will try that out, and maybe take a card or thumb drive into Best Buy or Fry's and see if I can test it.

Can anyone confirm success with putting short videos (created on an Apple device, such as an iPhone) on a digital photo frame? I spent hours Googling yesterday and could find no actual testimonials of such...

Seems like a pretty basic thing that people would like to be able to do these days, with all the file/video sharing. I know most people just physically hand over a phone or other device and say, "here, look," but I'm sure I'm not the only one with elderly grandparents who never got much beyond using an electric typewriter, and when you can't be physically there to show them something on your own device or computer, there needs to be a simpler solution. I'm looking at frames because those seem to be the least intimidating for an elderly person, as they don't "feel" as much like space-age electronics.

If anyone has any other options other than a digital frame (I was even considering a small, portable DVD player that would play photos & vids burned to a disc, but that's getting sort of ridiculous), I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks so much.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,718 points

Sep 29, 2010 11:47 AM in response to emilyooboo

Pandigital has a frame that you can email photos to it. Each frame has it's own unique email address and you can email photos to it. I think you just plug it into a phone jack and that's it. The info doesn't say if it plays movies.

http://www.pandigital.net/?pageid=192
http://www.pandigital.net/search.asp?Mode=Type&TypeID=13

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Answer 4

emilyooboo Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 6, 2010 11:47 AM in response to emilyooboo

Just wanted to update with my experience. Got an hp digital frame from Target. The documentation says it will play MPEG-1, MP4, MOV, and AVI. I tried the MOV files straight from the iPhoto "originals" folder, but the frame would not recognize the format. I also tried using QuickTime to export the files as MP4s, and then as AVIs. The MP4s were also not recognized. The AVIs were recognized, but there wasn't any audio.

Did a bit more poking around, and noticed mention of the audio needing to be MP3, and that Quicktime was exporting the audio files as AAC. So I used some video converter software to convert the files to AVI/MP3, and that actually worked!

Not sure if this would work with all makes/models of digital frame, but it's worth a try, for anyone else out there who is frustrated. You could try the above (convert .MOV files to AVI/MP3), save to a USB thumb drive, and test in a store before purchasing.

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Answer 5

Dec 28, 2010 6:52 PM in response to emilyooboo

You mentioned that you got the HP photo frame to play videos from your Mac. May I ask which model you purchased and the screen size? Still working out for you?
Thank you!

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Answer 6

Jun 16, 2011 4:05 PM in response to emilyooboo

Did this product ever work for you ? Sorry for the delayed response. Do you recommend any MV4 players?

Message was edited by: PartyGuardian

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