Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

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It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

New Ratings: Digital frames grab your photos in many ways

Picture quality is, naturally, of utmost importance when you’re buying a digital picture frame. Our latest digital picture frame Ratings (available to subscriber) let you know which are best for looking at your photos.

But getting the photos onto the frame can sometimes present a challenge, so it’s worth considering how particular frames allow you to make that transfer.

There are actually a surprising number of ways to get your pictures from camera to frame. The simplest is switching the memory card from your camera to the frame, especially if  the frame has a good amount of internal memory. We tested a few frames that have a full gigabyte of storage, which should let you keep up to 3,000 photos (manufacturer estimate) on the frame at any given time.

Gifts for Dad: Frame your father

The Ipevo Kaleido R7

We’ve got the perfect digital picture frame for the office or study. Ipevo’s Kaleido i7 R7 ($200) exhibits that perfect combination of looks, technology, and usefulness.

It’s shaped like a tiny LCD monitor, so it’ll look cool on a desk at home or in the office. There’s 512MB of memory built in, among the most generous in the frames we’ve looked at, so if you don’t feel like dealing with memory cards, you can store plenty of pics right in the frame.

There’s also a built-in Wi-Fi connection, so you can share photos from Picasa or Flickr. There’s also a remote control. The downside: The frame’s widescreen aspect ratio makes picture-viewing problematic, adding black bars to the sides or top and bottom if the photo wasn’t taken in 16x9 format. —Donna Tapellini

Transferring photos to a digital frame: Part 2

Photo: niallkennedy/Flickr

As we mentioned in part one of this blog post, a digital picture frame is a great way to show off your photos without needing to print them all. However, it isn't always clear how to get your photos into the frame.

We listed several ways to do this in our first post. Here are three additional ways:

• Use a USB card reader: Some computers and digital picture frames don't have memory card slots. In this case, consider buying a USB card reader—something like this from Lexar, SanDisk, or Kensington. SD card readers sell for around $15 to $20; you'll need a reader that works with the card format your camera uses, although some readers include several slots for different card types. Insert a blank card into the reader, then plug the reader into the computer and transfer pictures from your computer to the card. Remove the card from the card reader and insert it into the frame's card slot. If your frame doesn't have a slot, plug the reader (with card in it) into the frame's USB slot.

• Use a USB flash drive: You can also transfer images from a computer to a USB flash drive, then insert the drive into a frame with internal memory and copy them from the flash drive to the frame's drive.

• Go wireless: More digital picture frames have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth technology for transferring photos without connecting any cables. In some cases, you can download images from a photo-sharing site, like Snapfish or Flickr. This can be tricky, since you generally have to set various settings and choose security features.

Just as a reminder, be sure to back up your photos on to a computer before reformatting your memory card. —Terry Sullivan

How to transfer images from digital cameras to digital frames

It's so easy to shoot photos with digital cameras that we often end up with more shots than we could ever print. That's one reason digital picture frames are so popular: You can enjoy your photos without printing them. (For more on new models, you can check out our digital picture frame Ratings, available to subscribers.)

But a friend recently admitted she didn't know the best way to transfer photos from a camera to her new digital frame. The easy answer is to take the memory card out of the camera and pop it into the frame. But there are several other ways to do it that might be preferable.

First, one key piece of advice: Always download images from the camera's memory card to your computer. It's too easy to lose images stored only on a card, and downloading them frees up space for more shooting.

Here are three common ways of transferring photos.

DTV tips from the ultimate TV Mom

Just in time for Mother's Day: Florence Henderson, who lives on in reruns as The Brady Bunch's perpetually perky Mom, has teamed up with the Consumer Electronics Association to promote DTV awareness with a campaign called, “Convert Your Mom.” (Click on the image to download the PDF "Flo's Digital Tips.")

Light-hearted as the approach may be, it makes a serious point: “Florence wants you to help your elderly parents, relatives, and neighbors get ready for the transition to digital television.” Even technically savvy folks can find it challenging to perfect their DTV setup, and those less familiar with inputs and outputs may be hard-pressed to do it on their own.

The online guide offers basic facts and easy-to-follow advice in a colorful, friendly fashion, with videos, set-up diagrams, and links to numerous sites. It's part of a larger, more comprehensive site, Digital Tips, also sponsored by the CEA.

In a related area, the CEA has launched an interactive Connections Guide designed to simplify the sometimes daunting process of connecting all things digital, including not only home-theater devices but computers, cameras, and portable audio/video gear. It’s worth checking out.

(The CEA is an industry trade group representing firms in the consumer electronics business.)

Digital picture frames: Avoid most frills, new test results confirm

Digital picture frames make great Mother's or Father's Day gifts, but a batch of models newly posted to our Ratings of digital picture frames (available to subscribers) confirms our advice to skip most of the frills used to make models stand out in a crowded market.

As we advise in our Buying Advice, including the video at right, when choosing a digital frame, the size, shape, and quality of the screen should be top priorities, along with a decent amount of memory and maybe a Wi-Fi connection.

The frames you'll encounter when you go gift-shopping this spring will try to entice you with all manner of features, from simple extras like built-in speakers and iPod docks to online photo-sharing services exclusive to a particular frame.

For example, the speakers on the frames we tested didn't sound good. Anyway, you probably don't want music playing continually in the background as your frame goes through its slide show over and over.

Another puzzling feature is Ceiva's subscription-based online photo-sharing service. There's no need to pay for storing your pictures on Ceiva's site when other frames let you choose popular free options like Flickr. However, if you are planning to use a photo-sharing site in conjunction with your frame, make sure the frame you choose supports Wi-Fi (it's built-in on some frames, optional on others, and not available at all on still others) and that it works with a site you like. Different frames support different services.

Do pick a frame with some extra memory, at least 256MB. But more is even better. One of the digital picture frames we recommend (available to subscribers) comes with 1GB, another with 512MB. Less than 256MB means you'll frequently be switching your camera's memory card in and out of the frame. Built-in memory is much more convenient. —Donna Tapellini

Top gadgets for Mom

Image: Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline/Flickr

Don’t think that electronics make good gifts only for guys. Women—especially Moms—love them too. A recent study from Retrevo.com found that while more men than women consider themselves tech savvy, more women were able to correctly identify what “MB” refers to (megabyte) and what "1080p" stands for in HDTV jargon (the highest level of high definition).

We picked some gadgets we thought our Moms might like and mention a recommended model or two. (Value was a key factor, given the economy.) For each, also check out our buying advice and Ratings (available to subscribers).

An e-book reader. An electronic book reader may appeal to moms who are voracious readers. Amazon's Kindle has an edge in convenience over the rival Sony Reader; the Kindle receives content wirelessly. However, a new Kindle is expected to be announced on Wednesday May 6, which could complicate your shopping.

A digital camera. Easier to use than ever, many digital cameras today come with presets that will let mom optimize her shots in different light settings. "Smart camera" features, like face detection (and sometimes smile detection) have tended to work well in the models we've tested. Most point-and-shoots also have an image stabilizer to minimize camera shake. If you buy a camera as a gift, be sure to throw in a memory card—the ones included with the camera usually have a paltry amount of space.

Recommended for Mom: The Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS ELPH, $150. This subcompact has many of the above features and fits neatly into a pocket or purse. Digital camera Ratings & Buying Advice: digital cameras

Digital picture frame maker Smartparts calls it quits

Sales of digital picture frames have been amazing over the past few years, But citing the tough economic times, Smartparts is bowing out of the market for digital picture frames. A spokesperson for the company told us that while an economic turnaround could revive production, "as of now, the company is in the process of winding operations down."

The takeaway: Smartparts' picture frames are still available in retail outlet such as Amazon.com and Costco. In fact, we are in the process of testing some very innovative Smartparts models for our upcoming report and Ratings of digital picture frames (available to subscribers).

But previous Smartparts frames weren't the most stylish and didn't have memorable product names. Some models—such as the Smartparts SP8PRT which had a built-in printer—were, perhaps, a bit more "ambitious" than "innovative." And even though a number of Smartparts frames scored well in our Ratings, you'll find better values among the models in our list of Recommended digital picture frames (also available to subscribers).

Should you buy a Smartparts digital picture frame? We'd suggest that you weigh your options carefully. For more information on how to choose wisely, check out our free Buying Guide to Digital Picture Frames.—Terry Sullivan

New software optimizes photos for picture frames

If you own a digital picture frame (see our Ratings, available to subscribers), you know that getting images to look their best on the device can be a hassle. Problems include photos that are so big that they stop the frame's slide show and that display in the wrong orientation.

ACDSee has just announced a new (and, at $40, somewhat pricey) software program, Picture Frame Manager, that seems to address many such problems, based on the demo version I saw at this year's PMA, the trade show for the digital-imaging industry.

Here's how the program works: once you connect your frame (or USB storage device) to your computer via a USB connection, you can create a profile for that particular frame in the software that will optimize the images the same way, each time you want to add new photos. You do this by selecting the size of the picture frame from a drop-down menu, or by typing in a custom size.

Next, you'll select one or a group of images you want to optimize and add it to your picture frame. The images appear as thumbnails, which you can drag and drop into the frame. The images are optimized as they are copied. ACDSee says the software optimizes photos for any size frame, even for screen sizes as small as a cellphone.

The demo I saw at the PMA show certainly looked as if it did the job it set out to do: Images on the picture frame scrolled without interruption. But be aware that Picture Frame Manager does not optimize video clips, only still images.

ACDSee says the software can set up multiple profiles for different frames that may have different screen or resolution sizes. It works on both PCs and Macs, and can convert TIFF, GIF, PNG and RAW files to JPEG. But what I liked most about the demo version I saw was that it's software that doesn't suffer from feature bloat. It's simple, and appears intuitive to use.

—Terry Sullivan