It seems peculiar that with the drive towards making HDTVs all-singing, all-dancing Internet-connected marvels, little had been done to improve something as simple as enjoying your photos on the big screen.
Now Hong-Kong-based Hi-Den Vision has popped up with what it claims is the world’s first HDMI 1080p digital photo viewer.
The HD-0310 is a compact, slim and easy-to-use device that allows photos, video clips and music to be displayed directly from memory cards onto HDTVs.
Hi-Den are – sensibly, I suppose – making the comparison between a digital photo frame and their device, both in terms of the price and the screen size.
"Digital photo frames are one solution to viewing photos," said a spokesman. "But for a quality digital photo frame, it will cost around USD $150-250.00.
"We are offering consumers the ability to view photos on a large HDTV but at a cheaper price."
The HD-0310 features 16 transition effects, slide interval time, random or sequential playback for photo viewing.
Its remote control also allows play/pause, next/previous, rotate, zoom in/out, select between photo/video and music.
The suggested retail price is USD $59.90.