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using digital photo frames as marketing tools at craft fairs

updated thu 22 jul 10

 

Conrad Krebs on sun 18 jul 10


I'm hoping there are fellow potters out there who have experience using
digital photo frames (DPF) as marketing tools at craft shows and art
fairs. I'm developing a series of lanterns and I want to take a short
video of a lantern with a candle flickering inside. The I want to load
the video onto a DPF as the sole computer file and set the controls to
slide show. My expectation is that the DPF will play the file over and
over such that on the frame screen it will look like a continuously
flickering candle. However trying to parse the information that I have
gleaned from the Internet as to which model DPF might be capable of
doing this has proven to be a daunting task. Any ideas, suggestions, war
stories, etc?

Many thanks,

Conrad

Arnold Howard on tue 20 jul 10


From: "Conrad Krebs"
> I'm hoping there are fellow potters out there who have
> experience using
> digital photo frames (DPF) as marketing tools at craft
> shows and art
> fairs.
--------------
At trade shows we play a video on a flat-screen monitor,
which is about 20" measured diagonally. The monitor has a
DVD player in the base. I set the DVD to "repeat," so it
plays all day long non-stop. The video stands out at trade
shows--especially those held in dimly lit rooms such as the
Glass Art Association show I attended last June.

The DVD player is not expensive. I think we bought ours at
Wal-Mart.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

Tony Ferguson on tue 20 jul 10


You can set any photo frame to loop.=3DA0 Kodak has a model out that has a =
bu=3D
ilt in rechargeable battery.

Tony


Cheers,


Tony Ferguson
Artist/Educator...Clay, Web, Photo, Video, Digital
...where the sky meets the lake...=3D20
http://www.tonyferguson.net
Workshops, Websites, Film making
& Online Digital Photography Training

=3DA0

--- On Sun, 7/18/10, Conrad Krebs wrote:

From: Conrad Krebs
Subject: Using Digital Photo Frames as marketing tools at craft fairs
To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Date: Sunday, July 18, 2010, 3:27 PM

I'm hoping there are fellow potters out there who have experience using
digital photo frames (DPF) as marketing tools at craft shows and art
fairs. I'm developing a series of lanterns and I want to take a short
video of a lantern with a candle flickering inside. The I want to load
the video onto a DPF as the sole computer file and set the controls to
slide show. My expectation is that the DPF will play the file over and
over such that on the frame screen it will look like a continuously
flickering candle. However trying to parse the information that I have
gleaned from the Internet as to which model DPF might be capable of
doing this has proven to be a daunting task. Any ideas, suggestions, war
stories, etc?

Many thanks,

Conrad
=3D0A=3D0A=3D0A

Carl Cravens on wed 21 jul 10


On 07/18/2010 03:27 PM, Conrad Krebs wrote:
> slide show. My expectation is that the DPF will play the file over and
> over such that on the frame screen it will look like a continuously
> flickering candle. However trying to parse the information that I have

I don't know of any digital picture frames that can cycle a slide show fast=
enough to create animation. Even if the hardware could handle it, I would=
n't expect them to have an option to change slides faster than one per seco=
nd, which probably wouldn't produce the effect you want.

What you want is one that will take video files, but I have no idea if such=
are available. A "netbook" PC would do it... I got my Eee PC refurbished =
for $150.

What about using an LED "candle" in a real lantern? You might have to buil=
d a "dark box" around it to see the effect clearly, but I would think such =
a display would be much more eye-catching than a video screen.

--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net)
Hey! Lower your landing gear! !@#$*!?% NO HARRIER

Mike on wed 21 jul 10


Just my two cents here. I am not overly impressed with my DPF. I bought
one (mid-range price wise) specifically because I wanted to show video
files, rather than just slide shows of jpg files. My DPF stated in the
documentation that it plays .avi and one other vid format. It also
specifies a required frame rate and that the video be uncompressed.
After creating the video, I attempted to play it in the DPF with no
success. Only the first 30 seconds or so would play, then an error
message would flash too quickly to be read and the playback would go black.

I have since determined that only very short videos are playable. No
problems with long slideshows of jpg files. But, if you are like me and
want to show long videos such as your production processes, make sure
that the documentation of the device specifies a playback length. This
is just a guess, but I don't think the DPF I bought has enough of a
memory buffer to playback large files, even though it will accept high
capacity memory cards and USB memory. Perhaps this would not be a
problem in a more expensive DPF.

The thing is, for more money you can just get a netbook computer anyway,
which is capable of much more than an expensive DPF. This is my current
solution, I set up the netbook, queue up video (s) to play on a loop,
cover the keyboard with a nice piece of cloth, and leave it all day with
no worries.

As for having that video up for people to see, it is absolutely
invaluable. While some folks may not hang around a long time to look at
pots, especially if you are with another customer, they will hang around
to see the video, and it will give them an appreciation for what goes in
to your work. It also gives shy customers an easy way to find out more,
and keeps them in your area long enough that you can be proactive in
explaining things without the need for their asking first.

Mike
in Taku, Japan

http://karatsupots.com
http://karatsupots.blogspot.com

Kiln Building Workshop, Oct. 15 - 22

http://karatsupots.com/workshop2010/workshop2010.html
http://karatsupots-workshop.blogspot.com/


> From: "Conrad Krebs"
>> I'm hoping there are fellow potters out there who have
>> experience using
>> digital photo frames (DPF) as marketing tools at craft
>> shows and art
>> fairs.
>