How to view JPG/GIF on the SJ33?

[Unregistered]

I'm asking this on behalf of my dad. He owns an SJ33 which I'm not familiar with (mine is NX70v). He wants to put some photos (JPG / GIF) on his Clie. He said he hotsync'ed the JPG files but apparently there's no application to view it on the Clie. Is that true? If so what software does he need to install? I assume the software is on the Sony CD ROM?

Thanks very much.
chen

[elf]

You definitely want to check out by sj33 journal, then (see my sig below). It lists 3 free programs I have found to view JPGs (not GIFs, though) and how they compare.

Be prepared to do some reading :D

[tomk]

Or simply go for the best (IMO) and get Acid Image (http://www.red-mercury.com/acidimage.html) by Red Mercury. He will also need a Memory Stick for this though, but I think it's worth it.

[PaulNB]

Originally posted by Unregistered

photos (JPG / GIF) on his Clie. He said he hotsync'ed the JPG files but apparently there's no application to view it on the Clie. Is that true? If so what software does he need to install? I assume the software is on the Sony CD ROM?

Thanks very much.
chen [/B]

The SJ33 comes with Picture Gear which must be installed on both the PC & the handheld. On the PC side it converts pictures to Picture Gear Pocket format. If you want a program that directly views JPGs without conversion you have to spend some extra $$$ to get it. I haven't had any problems with Picture Gear so it's fine for me.

[arsinmsn]

I recently thought about this myself. Since my thought process involves writing, the following is what came of it.

My goal was to find a program which would read my camera's images off of a Sony memory stick, using my Sony Clie SJ33. One of the reasons I upgraded to the Sony after using my beloved Palm Vx for three years was the possibility of interoperable memory sticks; as Alton Brown says, unitaskers are always a waste.

I was not interested in a program which required images be loaded from the palm desktop install or other hotsynch device. I want to be able to take the memory stick from my camera and put it into my palm. This rules out a large number of fine image programs such as the pioneer FireViewer, and more recent SplashPhoto

The program must read jpegs directly off memory sticks and must support color 320 x 320 screen.

I looked at AcidImage and JpegWatch. Each excels at a given task, and I can imagine reasonable people disagreeing on which is best, unless they define "best" very narrowly.

Acid Image:
Speed: Faster image loading, of these two.
Zoom & scroll: Very Smooth zooming and scrolling.
Directory: Scans MS or internal memory for images and presents user with list. This is handy, since you don't have to go searching around, but I can imagine it could be confusing because you don't know where a given image is, other than that it is on the MS or in internal memory.

JpegWatch:
Annotations: image can be annotated, and annotations can be viewed/edited without opening the image.
Directory: you can cruise up and down the directory tree to look for images.
EXIF: Will show Exif data on a given image (EXIF data is stored within images and might, depending on the camera, include information on camera settings, date, and other shooting variables)

Note on speed:
Neither of these programs is as speedy at bringing up an image as the host of the programs which load images from the desktop. These desktop-based programs optimize images for the plam screen and so images can be smaller, load quicker, and take up less memory.

Mildly amusing musings on program titles:
Both of these programs show throughout the sorts of compromises that developers must make creating programs for handhelds. Even their names reflect this; they make due without the luxury of a space between their two-word names. Not an unusual thing, of course, leaving spaces out of titles; it seems almost a requirement, as initials were a few years ago, and no doubt springs from the dawn of dos when the space was terra incognita--like the zero in roman numerals. Many programs' names are created by jamming two works together but leaving in the capital letters. It is a trend that worries me slightly, as I suspect this might be a gateway orthography, and that in a generation or so we will have strung-together words that rival German, Hawaiian, and Welsh for sheer letter-count.

However, this need to compress extends to the programs as well. I often read about the problems of developing programs for the palm platform, but I am constantly amazed at how much can be fit into so little space. Not that I'd like to give up the full-featured word processor on my desktop, but I wonder whether desktop developers could learn something from PDA application developers who have sever constraints on the amount of disk and memory space their products can eat up.

The downside of this for PDA users is that no one program incorporates all the features one might wish. You must choose carefully among programs for your PDA to make sure your needs are satisfied, rather than laying out for one monstrous program of which you will use only a small set of features. The programs I looked at above were so different that it became impossible to say which was best.

[elf]

Originally posted by PaulNB

If you want a program that directly views JPGs without conversion you have to spend some extra $$$ to get it.

JPEGView, VFSi and CRSi all are able to view image natively and they are free. (JPEGView is the best of the 3 as it does thumbnails).

[PaulNB]

Originally posted by elf


JPEGView, VFSi and CRSi all are able to view image natively and they are free. (JPEGView is the best of the 3 as it does thumbnails).

I've always been comfortable with Picture Gear but I'm curious, what is the advantage to keeping files in their original JPEG format ? Is it simply an issue of being able to directly access images taken with a camera or are there other advantages ? (I'm assuming size of the files is one advantage based on comments I've read).

[tlo99]

i am using the PG POCKET

when transfer .jpg to MS
i have to change those jpg file name to DSCN####
eg, DSCN0001

any comment?

[mrdeucie]

Originally posted by PaulNB


I've always been comfortable with Picture Gear but I'm curious, what is the advantage to keeping files in their original JPEG format ?

I like keeping them in JPEG form because it's more universal than the Palm format.

[PaulNB]

Originally posted by mrdeucie


I like keeping them in JPEG form because it's more universal than the Palm format.

That's one nice feature of PictureGear on the PC, it allows you to resave the converted files back to JPEG form if you don't want to keep seperate copies. (I'm not saying that's what anyone else should do, just pointing it out in case someone doesn't know about the feature)

[PaulNB]

Originally posted by tlo99
i am using the PG POCKET

when transfer .jpg to MS
i have to change those jpg file name to DSCN####
eg, DSCN0001

any comment?

Are you not using Picture Gear Lite on your PC to install & convert the JPG's ? You don't have to change the name of the files normally.

[PaulNB]

Originally posted by elf


JPEGView, VFSi and CRSi all are able to view image natively and they are free. (JPEGView is the best of the 3 as it does thumbnails).

Has JPEGView changed their policy recently ? I did a search on Palmgear but it came up as being shareware $8.00 for the program of that name. (not a fortune certainly but not free either) It does look interesting as it offers resolution & brightness level changes directly on the Clie which is helpful.