SusanG
SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Does anyone have a digital photo frame running in their shop showing examples of projects? Are there any special features to look for when purchasing?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Digital photo frame in shop
- Thread starter SusanG
- Start date
I've thought about this, but my first instinct was always that it might encourage customers to just go get a digital frame instead of framing their photos.
Maybe a television with some kind of smart capability. Then you could frame the TV too!
Maybe a television with some kind of smart capability. Then you could frame the TV too!
There are a zillion ways you can go about this. And you don't even need a smart TV. Any TV or monitor with an HDMI port and some kind of HDMI Media player like the one below will get you going. Some even will work with wonky old TVs without HDMI.
https://www.amazon.com/Player-AGPte...ujKHE_NvabtlFLgJ-9ETuVSFhylOUdSYaAjAfEALw_wcB
But that's just the start. Google "tv play mp4 from usb" or something of that ilk and you can spend the rest of the weekend discovering all the ways of doing this.
https://www.amazon.com/Player-AGPte...ujKHE_NvabtlFLgJ-9ETuVSFhylOUdSYaAjAfEALw_wcB
But that's just the start. Google "tv play mp4 from usb" or something of that ilk and you can spend the rest of the weekend discovering all the ways of doing this.
I have a small one on the front counter right next to the credit card terminal. It does a slideshow off of an SD card. Newer ones have wi-fi and can show pictures off of your phone or other device.
Mine is made by NIX. It has been very reliable, and even has an auto-sleep function with a motion detector to wake it up. It gives customers something to look at while I'm figuring framing prices on my computer.
Rick
Mine is made by NIX. It has been very reliable, and even has an auto-sleep function with a motion detector to wake it up. It gives customers something to look at while I'm figuring framing prices on my computer.
Rick
SusanG
SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
I have a small one on the front counter right next to the credit card terminal. It does a slideshow off of an SD card. Newer ones have wi-fi and can show pictures off of your phone or other device.
Mine is made by NIX. It has been very reliable, and even has an auto-sleep function with a motion detector to wake it up. It gives customers something to look at while I'm figuring framing prices on my computer.
Thanks for your reply Rick. That's exactly what I was thinking. Sometimes pricing takes a while. Why not plant ideas in our customer's mind while we are figuring? We have only so much room for shop samples, but I have thousands of customer project photos. I was thinking of Clare's concerns but photo frames are not a big part of our business and technology is here to stay.
SusanG
SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Larry,
Thanks for your reply. I did not know of this. We have an small old tv in our back room and maybe we could put it to good use. One of the reasons, I wanted a smaller frame was to take it on the road to events, so maybe I need two options. Thanks.
Thanks for your reply. I did not know of this. We have an small old tv in our back room and maybe we could put it to good use. One of the reasons, I wanted a smaller frame was to take it on the road to events, so maybe I need two options. Thanks.
Got an old small flat screen computer monitor lying around? With larger monitors being the present vogue, there are tons of old cheap 17-20" monitors out there. A quick look at my local facebook marketplace shows all you can eat for $5-50.
I've been very happy with this little frame. As you say, it's kind of a "silent salesman". Although, nowadays most people just sit and play with their phones while I'm pricing.
I think the other concern is basically an "urban myth". I can't imagine anyone bringing in something for custom framing and then deciding against it because they saw a digital frame.
Rick
I have 23" old monitor running in the shop with a slide show directly from a laptop using an HDMI cable. I would like to get a cheap TV on Black Friday and upgrade to a 60" TV
We have one running, too, on our main POS terminal.
One private screen faces us, the second screen faces the customer and is on a bracket that hovers over the CC machine. It has a couple dozen images, and always images for the current holiday theme. (info about ppfa credentials, slides with current reviews, payment types taken, customer satisfaction policy, project inspiration ideas (jerseys, military medals framing, kids artwork framing, photo collages, fabric wrapped mats, finished corner frames, etc)
We use a program called DisplayFusion to manage it all. https://www.displayfusion.com/ DisplayFusion: Multiple Monitors Made Easy by Binary Fortress Software
There are many ways to accomplish this, but I actually have it change the WINDOWS WALLPAPER every 60 seconds, to randomly pull from the pool. I have the windows taskbar hidden on that second screen. Because of these things, it isn't just a screen saver but shows the images even while we are working on the other screen.
If we want to show the customer a photo of a moulding we don't carry, or our Photoshop screen of their photo restoration results (prior to printing), that same program has a macro defined so we just hit CTRL+F9 to pop the currently active program over to the customer screen. (same command brings it back)
We have used this product for about 22 years, and originally used it when we wanted to show the customer the visualization results.
At the very start and at the old location, we had the monitor in a picture frame and it was mounted to the wall behind the center of the design counter. (for several years) Now we just use a 25" wide monitor that hovers over the side of the design counter, but isn't too distracting.
Our printing workstation computer, and our CMC computer, both use the same slides but with a traditional (Windows) screen saver that kicks in when the machine is idle. These are visible to customers.
Mike
One private screen faces us, the second screen faces the customer and is on a bracket that hovers over the CC machine. It has a couple dozen images, and always images for the current holiday theme. (info about ppfa credentials, slides with current reviews, payment types taken, customer satisfaction policy, project inspiration ideas (jerseys, military medals framing, kids artwork framing, photo collages, fabric wrapped mats, finished corner frames, etc)
We use a program called DisplayFusion to manage it all. https://www.displayfusion.com/ DisplayFusion: Multiple Monitors Made Easy by Binary Fortress Software
There are many ways to accomplish this, but I actually have it change the WINDOWS WALLPAPER every 60 seconds, to randomly pull from the pool. I have the windows taskbar hidden on that second screen. Because of these things, it isn't just a screen saver but shows the images even while we are working on the other screen.
If we want to show the customer a photo of a moulding we don't carry, or our Photoshop screen of their photo restoration results (prior to printing), that same program has a macro defined so we just hit CTRL+F9 to pop the currently active program over to the customer screen. (same command brings it back)
We have used this product for about 22 years, and originally used it when we wanted to show the customer the visualization results.
At the very start and at the old location, we had the monitor in a picture frame and it was mounted to the wall behind the center of the design counter. (for several years) Now we just use a 25" wide monitor that hovers over the side of the design counter, but isn't too distracting.
Our printing workstation computer, and our CMC computer, both use the same slides but with a traditional (Windows) screen saver that kicks in when the machine is idle. These are visible to customers.
Mike
The Mac OS has a built-in screensaver they call the "Ken Burns Effect". It will reference whatever folder of photos you want, and rather than simply do a slideshow, it "pans and scans" the photos to give more of a flowing effect.
Rick
Rick