Microsoft TV Photo Viewer

by Microsoft

Product Details

Product Manual [677kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005Q0SK
• Item model number: Q09-00001
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #94 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Video Capture Cards
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 17, 2005

Product Description

The TV Photo Viewer is a new and exciting, easy-to-use device designed to bring digital photo viewing and sharing out of the home office and into the living room - where the people are! For the first time, consumers can comfortably, simply, and easily look at digital photo albums on their TV screen with family and friends.Microsoft is taking traditional photo viewing and modernizing it for the digital age. With the TV Photo Viewer, families who once gathered around the well-worn, leather-bound photo album or watched slideshows can now gather around the TV and enjoy sharp photo images with the simple push of a remote button.With three simple steps, you can quickly and easily view digital photo albums on any TV screen.First, take some photos with your digital camera and upload them to your PC. You can also use any digital photos you already have on your PC, such as pictures that have been e-mailed, scanned, or retrieved from a photo CD.Second, create digital photo albums on floppy disk, using the TV Photo Viewer software. This easy-to-use software allows you to add captions to set the scene and to do simple photo editing.Finally, TV Photo Viewer connects to your TV via a standard RCA video cable, making setup and repeat performances simple and uncomplicated. Just turn on TV Photo Viewer and insert the 3.5' floppy disk that contains the digital photo album you want to view. A title page shows all the photos that are included on the disk, and the remote control lets you navigate easily through the photos in the comfort of your couch.Easily show your favorite digital pictures to friends and familyCreate digital photo albums of 40 pictures on 3.5-inch floppiesDisplay your pictures on your home televisionNavigate through pictures with ease with the remote controlConnects to an available Video In (RCA) jack

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely recommend it for anyone who takes digital photos, September 29, 2001

By 

"jeffott80" (Fresno CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft TV Photo Viewer (Personal Computers)

The TV Photoviewer gets "two thumbs up" all the way.

I have been taking digital photos for a couple of years, and from time to time scan old photos. After opening the TV photoviewer box, I got it set up on my TV and working in no time. The software that came with it is the easiest album-maker software I've ever used.

I made about a dozen albums on floppy disks. Each had several dozen of my best handpicked photos. I brought them down to the living room and my family has been glued to the TV ever since.

This is a great product I will use over and over again.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very nice product for showing digital photos, October 2, 2001

By 

"bg5422" (Stamford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft TV Photo Viewer (Personal Computers)

Setting up the set-top box was easy. I installed the CDROM software and made my first floppy album. Carried it over to the TV, popped it in, pressed the remote control, and a contact sheet appeared on the screen. From there it works like a slide projector, just press Forward or Backwards to see the photos.

I like this product. Making floppy disk albums is incredibly fast and easy, and floppy disks are cheap. I ignored the software's suggestion to limit the number of images to 20 for best quality, never the less with 40 images on one floppy disk the photos looked very good on my 27 inch RCA TV.

The PC software also lets you e-mail a completed album to a friend. Presumably if they also have a TV PhotoViewer then they can download the e-mail to a floppy disk and see the photos on their own TV.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Simplicity outweighs its lack of innovation., October 2, 2002

By 

G. Oke (Detroit Area, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft TV Photo Viewer (Personal Computers)

You should be able to pick this guy up on the web now for about 1/6 of its original 160 dollar price tag. At that price this device is a great option to have.

Here are my justifications for this product based on what other people have to say:

1. Doesn't you're camera have TV out? Why yes it does, but what if I already off loaded my pictures and renamed the files? My camera will not recognize files that have been renamed, so I can no longer display them on a TV. This device makes it easy to put together a quick photo album for my TV. For immediate viewing a camera is fine, but for future viewing the little albums this product makes are great.

2. A Floppy Disk is TOO small. Why not a CD? I agree and disagree with wanting to use a higher format media, but ever try to e-mail 700mb of data over the web? 1.4mb is much more managable. Plus, do you think mom and dad (or another viewer) is really going to want to look at an album filled with 1000's of photos? 40 photos is the perfect amount for sending and for making a album. An album of 1000's of pictures with text would take quite a while to put together.

This product is not an archive product, this is a viewing product. Archive all you want to CD-R or CD-RW. But for e-mailing and viewing small bits of data this is perfect.

Example, just got back from a trip. I only took 109 pictures total (each about 1MB in size). If I created an album on a CD-ROM or ZIP device I'd be wasting 150-550mb of space. Instead I just choose the 40 pictures I liked best from trip and made a little album and e-mailed them off to friends. I made 2 more albums (wow, 3 whole floppies) and when my parents stopped by I displayed all my vacation photos (with text) quickly and easily from my couch.

To sum up here are my pros and cons:

PROs: Easy to use. Pictures look as good as if viewed from my camera. For a viewer, even Grandma could figure this out. Remote control is a nice touch. If found for 30 dollars or less this is a great buy. 40 pictures is the perfect size to work with. You can view albums both on a PC or using the glorified floppy drive and a TV. Software is simple to use as well for creating album and floppy disks.

CONs: Not an archive product. If you want to store more than 40 photos, do it on you hard drive or burn them to a disk. Proprietary viewer must be used to view/create albums (although it's very small and easy to work with). Wish compression rate was a little higher, but with TV viewing being 640x480 anyway the pictures do look very good. Last con: more and more desktops and laptops are being sold without floppies.

Would have given it 5 stars, but due to the rediculous 160 dollar original price tag I give it 4 and ask: what was Microsoft thinking trying to charge so much for this product? It's a great product that is perfect and doing what it is supposed to do and for digital photo beginers, but 160? Grandma isn't going to like that. For 20-30 a pop, everyone in my family could have one these devices.

Another opinion for displaying photos on a TV is to make a VCD slide show of photos. Roxio and other CD burning packages can do this and give you the flexibility to add music and narrition, full motion video in addition to the stills. Plus most DVD players support VCDs. So if you already own and DVD player and a CD Burner, it's probable not worth it unless you can find this cheap . I do like the little albums you can make with it and it does what is advertised. Hence, the 4 stars.

What would make this product cool is if it could double as a usb floppy drive for a laptop. Then you couse use it with laptop that does not have a floppy.... just a thought.