PCPhoto
Get It TogetherDisplaying, sharing and carrying your photos and media by getting digital products to play nicely with each other |
|
|
|
Page 4 of 5 Simple Display Sometimes you might not necessarily need to go through the tangled web of device-to-device connection. The USB cradle of the Casio Exilim EX-V7 ($349) digital camera has an A/V outlet for direct connection to televisions, even supporting widescreen 16:9 image and video output. The camera also records and attaches 30-second audio clippings to stills, and the EX-V7 has onboard resizing, cropping and image adjustment. SanDisk’s Photo Album ($49) outputs through RCA cables to display your photos, video or MP3s. JPEG files up to 16 megapixels in size can be organized into up to 16 customizable albums, and you can add your own soundtracks, too. The 8-in-1 reader/writer can use most popular memory card formats, and the included remote control makes the whole thing a couch-based experience.  The HP Photosmart 6221 Premium Camera Dock ($59) transfers photos to your PC with a one-touch button download. The HP Photosmart 6222 Wireless Dock Base ($149) will combine with the Photosmart 6221 to form a wireless picture manager that can extend the images from HP’s R-series of cameras to your television. There’s support for 802.11b/g wireless networking, and the included remote plays photos from any PictBridge-enabled camera.  Memory Retention The portability issues and quick life cycle of heavy memory drives don’t make them a good choice for camera installment, so the industry has opted to use a variety of warring memory card formats. Lexar, for instance, offers its top-of-the-line Platinum 4 GB CompactFlash and Platinum II 2 GB and 4 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo cards, which is enough space for a healthy selection of images, even at RAW file sizes. Prices will vary by size, speed of transfer and format. Digital photo frames are a simple way to share photos straight from memory cards. Smartparts 8 3⁄8-inch Digital Photo Frames ($179) come with internal software for slideshows, photo optimization and image resizing. An internal media card reader supports CF, MS, SD and xD cards, and you can use the 128 MB of dedicated memory to maintain a permanent playback of your favorite images.  Sony’s DSC-H9/B 8.1-megapixel D-SLR camera ($479) captures to Memory Stick PRO Duo cards, and with the Sony VMC-MHC1 HD Output Adapter Cable, it outputs your stored images directly to compatible HDTV screens. The slideshow presentation is run by the included remote, which also can be used to control camera functions. You can add downloaded musical selections as a soundtrack, as well.  Philips Cineos 42-inch HDTV ($2,700) can play directly from CF or SD cards or through any of the USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi or dual HDMI inputs. With full 1366 x 768p resolution of multimedia content, images will look crisp, and the Ambilight Full Surround mode adds a subtle ambient framing to your images on the screen.   |
