Best solution for simple photo display?

I am new here, so I apologize if this has been discussed already.

I am looking to aquire a simple digital photo frame, but the available options seem to be either way too small or way too expensive. For example, the commonly available frames are significantly under my desired minimum and the only sizable displays (the 19' frames from PhotoVu) are too expensive for what you get.

There are any number of articles about converting old laptops into frames, but this is not a path I wish to pursue. I lack a spare laptop and the desire to rip one apart, plus the screens are still too small for my taste.

So...My plan is to frame (in a shadow box of coarse) an LCD monitor. I want the unit to be self contained, so it cannot be driven from my media center PC. What a need is an inexpensive media streamer (the cheaper the better as it will only be used for photo display). What is the best option from your experiences?

It needs to have some sort of high res output (DVI would be preferable) so that eliminates many of the lower-priced SD-video streamers.

The DVico HD-5000A is out because its form would be impossible to integrate into a photo frame. The unit must be sleek enough to fit in the frame.

The Mvix MX-760 HD seems to do what I need, but it is expensive and overkill for this task. I will use it if nothing cheaper can be found.

The Avix and Modix streamers are cheaper, but they do not have any sort of computer monitor outputs.

The Kingwin KH-300 has VGA output, but I don't know how the picture would be. Does anyone know the quality of the photo output. I am guessing that it would not be high resolution (definition) even over the VGA hookup.

If anyone can think of any other alternative, or if you have experience with these devices and photo display, please let me know. All I really need is a device capable of outputting a picture over a DVI or VGA connection at a reasonable resolution, say 1024x768 or higher.

Thanks for any help!

N

Well, I have continued to look for a solution, and it is great to see some interest on this topic now. Here are some more bits of information.

* While I am not ruling out component input - since one can always get an LCD TV rather than a monitor, and those would most certainly have component - I would have to know that the output over component would be high-definition. Sure, a lot of these boxes claim to output video in high def over component, but from what I have seen jpeg output is not so good.

* The TVisto still looks promising, but can't find any supplier of the VGA cable either.

* The Dell x50v with output may work for some - but it is costly with the VGA cable, plus the output appears to be 640 X 480. I am still holding out for something that can display at at least 1280 X 1024 (like the photovu frames) or at 1080i. I am more than willing to resize my photos (PS actions make that simple) but I need something that will give high definition fidelity.

* I found a site selling 19" frames for $499 (half what Photovue charges). The specs on the displays do not appear to be quite as good, and the frame is basic, but they may work for some people. I can't yet provide a proper link (anti-spam site policy), but the url is bigeframe(dot)com

Good luck to everyone who is in my situation as well, and thanks for the info!

N

Well, from a cost V.S. benefit perspective, the TVISTO seems to be worth a try IF it will output jpegs at 1024 X 768. The problem is...getting that cable seems difficult.

Worldspan appears to have them in stock for $34.95, but I don't know about shipping. The cable is for the MVISTO, but it is supposed to be compatible with the TVISTO (according to owners on Amazon.)

You can check span(dot)com and search for MVISTO VGA if interested.

I don't have the unit yet, as I am still waiting for a bit more positive info one way or another. There was a review in this forum saying that photos are often stretched, but from what I've heard (again from users around the net) it seems like if one resizes the jpegs manually, there is no problem.

At this point, the TVISTO still looks to be the least expensive - if it will do what is claimed. The only prebuilt frames in this price are the bigeframe DPF1119 or 1120 BUT they render at 640 X 480 (even though the screen can display 1024 X 768) so the internal hardware can easily render the image. That is too low for my tastes, and they offer no way to disable that function other than buying the more expensive frames - and by that time you are better off buying from PhotoVu.

Anybody else having any better luck?

Yes, a review on Macworld confirms that the card reader will not function on its own - it must be plugged into a computer to function.

Back to a previously suggested alternative...

Does anyone have or know someone who has a mediagate m25 device? It only has component outputs, but it claims to output to 1080i, but does that include jpegs. For example, lets say I formatted my jpeg files as 1920X1080 and loaded them on the internal drive. Would the M25 render them as such, or render them lower and then upscale, or (worst of all) render AND output them at a lower resolution. The obvious answer would be why re-render something that is already at native resolution, but if it was that easy, then the jpeg output on these devices wouldn't be so substandard and soft.

If the M25 can display high res jpegs, then one could just buy, and frame this unit along with an LCD HDTV and still save money over the PhotoVu frames.

Then again, most of the less expensive LCD HDTV screens use that 1366 X 768 resolution, so who knows what you would get after that conversion.

I have searched the forum here, but there doesn't seem to be any info on this.

And the search goes on...