Digital picture frames: Models for Mother’s Day

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and if you're struggling to come up with the perfect gift idea, here's a suggestion: A digital picture frame. With prices for these frames dropping and more big-name players like HP and Samsung entering the market, now's a good time to pick one up for your Mom.

We recently tested 10 frames that measured 7 or 8 inches diagonally. The five best had very good picture quality. Among that group, our top picks include two newer models from major names—the HP df800, $140, a CR Best Buy, $170, and the Samsung SPF-83V, $190—along with the Smartparts SyncPix SPX8, $180.

[UPDATE: May 9, 2008: As one of our readers noticed, the price of the HP df800 (seen above) has changed to $170. Also, we've posted on ConsumerReports.org the complete, updated report on digital picture frames. Our latest Ratings (available to subscribers) contains information on 10 new models, including the HP df800. It's no longer a "CR Best Buy" due to the price change, but it remains one of our three recommended digital picture frames. (Also available to subscribers only.) —Ed.]

All have internal memory, so you can store photos in the frame and return the memory card to your digital camera, as well as a USB port for transferring pictures directly from your computer. Each works with a wide range of memory-card types. The HP and Smartparts include a remote control. With its WiFi feature, the Samsung allows you to view pictures wirelessly from a networked computer. The Smartparts uses a motion sensor to automatically turn on and off.

To see your photos at their best, look for a frame that's eight inches in size and has a resolution of 800x600. Avoid widescreen frames as they may distort your images. Also watch out for frames with glass over the screen, which can create glare.

Online subscribers can check our full Ratings of digital picture frames and other CR-recommended models, both of which we'll be updating soon to reflect the new models.

—Donna Tapellini

CES 2008: Life in the third dimension

Though it's a challenge to identify significant trends in the hardware at this year's CES, there's one that has been creeping up on us for a few years and could break through as the "next big thing"—if the industry gets it right. It's 3-D TV.

Digital TVs have gotten big, bright and sharp enough, by anyone's measure. But, though sales have been anything but flat, the picture on the screen still is. Movie and game producers would like to change that, and bring the enveloping visual experience you might have seen in a 3-D IMAX film into your living room.

Presented well, as in a few of the CES demonstrations we've watched, 3-D can be strikingly effective in drawing you closer to the action, adding realism and depth to scenes, especially ones portraying movement towards or away from the viewer. The degree of 3-D's enhancement to video is much like the move from monophonic sound to stereo was in the 1950's, at least in this viewer's experience.

The "magic" needed for 3-D is simply to have a slightly different view of the content presented to your left and right eyes, just as you see in real life. The technology is actually waiting, in some new TVs from big makers like Samsung and Mitsubishi, labeled "3D-Ready." These DLP or plasma TVs can show successive images fast enough to allow alternating right-eye and left-eye views while keeping the motion smooth. (LCD TVs are currently unable to switch images quickly enough for this kind of 3-D.)

Two more devices need to be added on to a 3D-Ready TV to complete the picture. First, you need special glasses that can rapidly switch each lens from clear to opaque in sync with the TV images. Second, you need a special DVD player—or game console, or PC adapter—that can feed the 3-D content to the TV. We expect to see the home-theater and gaming industries trickle out add-on systems—perhaps later this year—that will enable 3-D viewing.

Of course, you'll need to have the content itself. Some movies already "in the can," both animated ones like Polar Express and live-action ones like Beowulf, were produced in 3-D versions. These movies will probably be released on 3-D-enabled Blu-Ray discs.

And, most games produced today, for either computers or game consoles, are easily adapted for 3-D presentation. In fact, there are already several technologies being applied to computer displays that can present game graphics in 3-D. (Our upcoming tests of displays will include one of these.) Each of these technologies has its limitations, and it remains to be "seen" which ones prove to be practical and effective enough to catch on.

—Dean Gallea, Senior Program Leader