Hands on with the PhotoVu PV1945
Set Up
Get an Extension Cord
The power cord included with the PV1945 is short and probably won’t reach the outlet you want to plug it into. PhotoVu likely envisions you mounting the frame near an outlet, but since most homes don’t have outlets in the middle of the wall (if wireless frames really take off, this could become common), you’ll need an extension cord to power the frame.
Set Via Ethernet
PhotoVu’s quick-start guide suggests that you set up the frame over an Ethernet connection. Follow this suggestion. Though wireless set up is technically possible, it’s much harder. Setting up the frame by connecting it your home network and following the
included instructions is much simpler.
Get Nameserver IPs
To make the frame download RSS feeds, you’ll need to manually add nameserver IP addresses to your frame. To do this, you can either get your nameserver information from your computer’s network control panel or you can call your ISP and explain your situation to them. Ask them for their nameserver IPs and they should be happy to supply them. Once you’ve done this, log in to the PV1945’s management tool, select Network in the left-hand menu, and then edit the first group of settings on the left.
Use
Adding Photos
Adding photos in other ways can be done via a USB drive plugged into your computer, desktop programs like iPhoto, or RSS feeds. There is no web upload tool. To add photos via USB drives, just plug the drive (not included) into your computer and drag photos to it. To use desktop photo programs, consult the online documentation provided by PhotoVu for instructions on how to configure your program.
Adding RSS Feeds
To use RSS feeds, you must have a USB drive plugged into your frame with enough free space for the photos you’re adding. After that, find the feed address you want and copy it into the web management tool. RSS feeds are an advanced feature for the PhotoVu and are provided as is. You may experience some problems with them until PhotoVu finalizes their RSS implementation.
Employ the Highest Resolution Possible Images
The PV1945’s screen is large, bright, and high quality, so you’ll want to take advantage of it by displaying high-quality images on it. You can do this by using your digital camera’s settings to take high-resolution images or by finding them on the web. The larger and higher quality the pictures you display on the PV1945, the more impressive it will be.
Change Your Letterbox Background Colors
For smaller images that don’t fill the screen, the PV1945 adds “letterbox” bars like those seen on some on the DVD presentation of some movies. PhotoVu lets you customize the color of these letterbox bars. To prevent the colors from distracting from or clashing with your pictures, set the color to either white or black. You can change this setting in the “Display” section of the PV1945’s management tool.
Support
Tech Support – Free and Fee
PhotoVu offers various kinds of technical support. Email support is free. Phone support is $49.95 per call, which also includes a free software update. Bugs fixes are provided free. The company also offers a $49.95/year software subscription service that provides feature updates.
Digital Picture Frames, Tips & Tricks, Wireless Photo Frame, Wireless Picture Frames
Digital Picture Frames, hands-on, PhotoVu, Tips & Tricks, Wireless Photo Frame, wireless-picture-frames
S. McGeady wrote at June 9th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I have one of these, and must say that my wife and kids love it. The motto “out of the shoebox, onto the wall” really comes true.
Some minor downsides: as with most frames, there is an ugly powercord hanging from the frame. After 6 months, I finally fished a power cable and installed a “clock outlet” behind the thing. Since it doesn’t need a transformer dongle, this works great.
The wireless on this is a bit tempramental — it doesn’t work when the microwave is running (I can live with that), but also hangs up for no reason every couple or three weeks. Again, not too bad, but an annoyance. I will next run a hardline ethernet cable, but that’s a bigger job.
Final annoyance is that the thing runs Linux, but they won’t let you have the password. Not only is this a technical violation of the GNU GPL, but it means that I can’t tweak the thing in certain ways that would make it even better. I really don’t like the company’s attitude about this.
So, for about $1k, a pretty good 19″ digital frame. Not for everybody, but a good start.