[Scrap4Cards]

I would like to make a digital scrapbook to be viewed on a flatscreen TV or in a digital frame. Has anyone else done this before? Can you recommend a size? Any tips on how to proceed? It seems overwhelming putting 30 years of photos into digital format. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

[sheriL]

I know people have done it, I'm afraid I'm not one of them, so I won't be a huge help. I think what they do is create the layout, save it as a jpg (or a format your frame will read), and put it on a memory card, then use the card in the frame - really pretty much the same way you'd do it if you were just showing pictures on your frame. I have no idea if there's any certain resolution/size you should use though. Hopefully someone else can help you out with that part!

[ChristyVW]

I have not done anything with a tv, but I do have a digital frame. I make my layouts 8x8 at 300 dpi (so they can be printed at high quality), then I also save a 72 dpi version which works well on-line (galleries) and on my digital frame. When the frame displays the 8x8 layouts, there is just extra black space on the edges, because the frame display is rectangle. If I have a two page spread 16x8, then it fills the whole space.

If you are scanning in your photos, I recommend scanning at 300 dpi or higher. You can always reduce the quality later, but if you try to enlarge from a smaller resolution, they won't look good.

HTH!!

[elibar]

yep, I don't know about the TV either. I've made Digital layouts specifically with my digital frame in mind. Mine has a 7" frame. At first I thought I would just make 4x6 layouts, but then depending on the settings I chose, either the top and bottom got cut off or there was black space on either side. That's ok, but I didn't really like it. So I looked up the specifications for my model and found that the display area is actually 6.1 × 3.4 in. I opened a document that exact size and made my layout on that, flattened and saved as a .jpg at 300 dpi. Worked for me.

Maybe you can do a similar technique for a flat screen tv - in a smaller size, just keeping the ratio. Just do some experimenting.

[Scrap4Cards]

Thanks for all the tips. I had never thought of doing a 2 page layout. And yes I do need to a test run on the frame.