So I need an IT guy to help me find the right solution

If u have web access at your locatoins a web page can be set where u can do what yo just stated. If you need it stand alone(no web) is a not that harder depends on what u have. Hope it gave u an idea

Cheers

becker

 

I agree, the cheapest and easiest would be to set up a web gallery, then have a low-cost PC at each location. Have the PC go to the gallery and let it go to a slide show. Add or remove pictures from the web gallery to control what they show. There are some very low cost small form factor PC's that could do this. They wouldn't even need a hard drive, just need to boot to Ubuntu Linux and fire up a browser. They could boot off a USB stick or maybe an SD card.

 

I would start with something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856167032

Then you have to add RAM for about $15-20, and easiest to put a small hard drive in for 35 bucks. So you're in to the system itself for around $190 each without an LCD screen. Figure around $100-120 for a 17"-19" monitor and you're looking right around $300 each for hardware. Not sure if there's any specialized hardware that does this but this is pretty easy to do, and the hardware is small and quiet, and can be used for other things if needed.

 

Have you considered a photo frame instead?

I know Kodak makes a very nice one for around $200 (for the 10") but get higher as you get bigger. They have a wifi chip that you can use to get on the internet and sync to a flicker or similar account. Then it's just a matter of making changes on your online account. Don't quote me on this because I'm not sure if it streams the photos or downloads them to onboard memory but I would take a look there.

The entire system would be less than 2k I would think.

Take a look at Best Buy I saw a 10" there.

 

You need a media server/player. You can hook this to your network and to the monitor. To change it, just log in via the network. Link below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833197002

 

Would this work for you
Digital frame with easyshare software - you can control the pictures on each frame from a website

only a little over 200 each

Just a thought


http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/W1020_Wireless_Digital_Frame_with_Home_D%C3%A9cor_Kit/baseProductID.145109600/productID.145109700

 

You can control a million screens with one "account". They just look what pictures are on a certain web server and display them. All you do is update the server.

 

Question: do the sites have internet access thru say a wireless router (Wi-Fi).

You need to have this at each site.

Basic steps to setup solution:

Install software on one PC
Upload pictures to Flickr or Kodak site
Configure each digital frame to connect to your wireless network or Wi-Fi hot spot at each location
Configure each digital frame to connect to flickr / Kodak site you corrected
Done

If you have a PC already - go buy one of these frames and try it out. If it does not suit your purpose, you can always return it and it will only cost you your time

 

I have to say that this is probably the best solution as long as you can get them in the size you need. Regardless of the solution, you must have internet connectivity.

 

What you are wanting is a "digital signage" application. This is a huge and confusing market right now, with many players, and not much weeding out just yet. Prices vary quite a bit considering what features you are after. I have personal experience with the X2O platform, but there are many others, so much so that there is a Digital Signage Expo. It's big business.