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I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

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Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#31

Post by icedistilled »

rriepe wrote: post #25
baybal2 wrote: post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.

you mean being relegated being used for price tags in whole foods isn't succeeding? I really want some of those and the ability to updated them.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#32

Post by dsr_ »

leipert wrote: post #27
baybal2 wrote: post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

What would you suggest for an affordable picture frame displaying digital art?

If you can plug it into a wall, have a Raspberry Pi 4 series driving a 4K TV of the size of your choice.

The cheapest one I see on Amazon right now is a 40" 4K HDR from Vizio, with quite a small bezel - $240. Hang it on a wall and paint the bezel white, or make a nice wood frame for it.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#33

Post by JKCalhoun »

icedistilled wrote: post #31
rriepe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.

you mean being relegated being used for price tags in whole foods isn't succeeding? I really want some of those and the ability to updated them.

Maybe you've already seen: https://hackaday.com/2020/11/27/repurposing-large-electronic...

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#34

Post by rriepe »

jfim wrote: post #28
rriepe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite all this, E-ink's biggest problem is that Amazon owns all the tech and doesn't want to ever see it succeed.

Can you elaborate on that? As far as I know, E ink corporation and related patents are owned by a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink#Company_history

I thought Amazon held them, my bad. I was interested in this space around the time of the Kindle Fire release. It seemed to me like they just didn't want to chase a form factor that couldn't sell 90% of their media. So maybe there is a way, but no will.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#36

Post by baybal2 »

leipert wrote: post #27
baybal2 wrote: post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

What would you suggest for an affordable picture frame displaying digital art?

A second hand TV?

Large size LCDs got ridiculously cheap with time.

It may be cheaper to by a 40 inch LCD panel, than a 10 inch high-end Eink

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#37

Post by baybal2 »

clash wrote: post #26
baybal2 wrote: post #23

I worked on a number of digital photo frames, including on ones like that. E-ink is not the most suitable thing for it in its current form. First, large size EPD cost an arm, and a leg, and custom one costs even more. Second, there are no 8 bit EPD controllers as of now a mortal can buy, which means grays look very bad. Third, there are inherent physical limitations which make increasing gray resolution of EPDs quite…

At 150 dpi the image depth is not a problem. Here is the 4-bit image of the 1929 Bentley as displayed on the frame for reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/CItoGRLh52n/ On the device you only notice if you get extremely close.

Note, they have dithering, and they likely went for the best one possible.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#38

Post by clash »

baybal2 wrote: post #37
clash wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 150 dpi the image depth is not a problem. Here is the 4-bit image of the 1929 Bentley as displayed on the frame for reference: https://www.instagram.com/p/CItoGRLh52n/ On the device you only notice if you get extremely close.

Note, they have dithering, and they likely went for the best one possible.

They == the ArtFrame's built-in software ;) What I posted was generated by the device. It is an example of the actual picture quality.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#39

Post by Fnoord »

baybal2 wrote: post #36
leipert wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you suggest for an affordable picture frame displaying digital art?

A second hand TV? Large size LCDs got ridiculously cheap with time. It may be cheaper to by a 40 inch LCD panel, than a 10 inch high-end Eink

The costs in electricity bill is gonna be big compared to e-ink. Refresh rate of static picture can be terrible, OK for this use case. There's also color e-ink devices, though not many, and the colors were IMO too pastel-ish.

Although backlight of a second hand TV might also be dying, I agree say Chromecast on TV gives a nice effect. My oldest kid gets impressed, FWIW.

Re: I built a picture frame with a greyscale e-paper that runs on battery for years

#40

Post by scottrogowski »

I had this idea years ago! I'm glad someone finally did it. One thought. From a philosophical point of view, I would want this to be something that "lasts forever". So it would be nice if it were solar powered and ran off of an SD card rather than being web-based. Just an opinion from an HN extremist - take it in context. Still, it's scratching an itch for me. Your website is down so I didn't see how much it costs but I'll check back in a bit.

Also, get behind a CDN ASAP!!

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