Nixvue Digital Album

Print

Email

Bookmark

Share

Storage has always been the Achilles heel of digital photography. There is perennial concern about getting large-enough memory devices so that you don't have to worry about shooting at a lower resolution. Buying higher resolutions has a certain price tag attached to this. This is further exacerbated by the prevalence of competing media in the form of Compact Flash Type I, Sony Memory Sticks and IBM's Microdrive. Buying a digital camera has always been a major investment decision, with the unit of measurement being price per megabyte. Now, with the 10GB-capacity Nixvue Digital Album, things have gotten a lot simpler.

Suck That Tummy In!
Shaped more like an oversized MP3 player measuring 146 x 82.5 x 29 mm, and togged out in an oh-so-last-season iMac style, the 320g Nixvue Digital Album certainly doesn't define "cool". The device looks more like an engineer's firstborn idea, practical to the core, with four baby-sized rubber feet for a good grip on any flat, dry surface.

A dual gray-tone 96x64-pixel LCD display the size of 35mm negative provides a literal window into the machine's soul. Unfortunately, the backlit screen will not allow the user to browse the images. But this is a trade-off as putting in a decent color LCD screen would jack up the cost exorbitantly, as LCD screens are very costly.

Meanwhile, the Lithium-ion battery is good for up to 30 downloads per 64MB card before needing a recharge. The standard 10GB hard drive is good for about 10,000 images.

What�s Supported?
The commonly used CompactFlash Type I adapter is supplied by default. Optional adapters for proprietary and more exotic media such as SmartMedia memory cards, Sony Memory Sticks and CompactFlash Type II (IBM Microdrive) are available. The average time it took to copy 64MB of data from the memory cards was only 2 minutes. Verifying data integrity ranged from 13 to 25 seconds.

TV Or PC? Choose Your Weapon!
To interface with either a TV set or PC, seat the Nixvue Digital Album snugly in the matching cradle as you would with your PDA. Wonderful things happen when the Nixvue Digital Album is connected to the TV via the composite video-in cable.

There is an infrared remote control for the stored images to be browsed via a Windows-like user interface on the TV, complete with File, Edit and View Dropdown menus. Images can even be named by navigating the onscreen keyboard with the remote control! Long file names are fully supported, replacing "Chris_Pa.jpg" with natural names like "Christmas Party 2001.jpg". Both PAL and NTSC formats are supported to ensure that no matter where you are around the world, you can still show off those pictures to their full glory by arranging your own slide show!

To top things off, the cradle features a parallel port for connecting to a printer, allowing you to print images off the TV screen! However, only the Epson Stylus Photo 750 or 870 drivers are presently available on the device's ROM. But additional printer drivers can downloaded from Nixvue's Web site and be added by simply upgrading the firmware.

When connected to a Windows 9x/Me/2000 PC, the Nixvue Digital Album shows up on Internet Explorer as just another storage device. Macintosh support is on the way and will be similarly available for download when it is completed.

Got To Put It Somewhere
A discreet black pouch is included for slipping on your belt or slinging across your chest. Padded to protect the valuable cargo, the pouch sports a hidden pocket to slip in the infrared remote. A Velcro flap offers speedy access to the Nixvue Digital Album

Why An Editors' Choice?
The minimal level of software and firmware support may make the Nixvue Digital Album seem rough around the edges, but these are all easily overcome. Winner of the distinguished DIMA Innovative Digital Product Award 2001 for Storage and Printing system, organized by Photo Marketing Association (PMA), holiday photographers and war photojournalists are likely to find the Nixvue Digital Album a boon. With a higher-capacity 20GB version waiting in the wings, digital camera buffs will never have to complain about storage again!