- Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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3.5 stars
"Not a bad choice - depending on how you'll use it..."
Pros: Sharp display, video playback, tripod-mount
Cons: No audio, no remote, minimal documentation
Summary: I've read the other reviews for this product (and other frames) and can only sympathize with everyone's frustration. No manufacturer has gotten this thing right yet - there is no "iPod" of the digital photo-frame world. Each frame seems to be missing some feature, and this frame is no exception.
That having been said, this is not a bad frame to purchase based on how you'll be using it. I organize, rotate, edit and resize my photos on the PC with Photoshop and then use cheap SD cards and old CF cards. I'm not trying to use USB drives - so I can't speak to those issues.
The slideshows just "run" and there are plenty of options for setting transitions and the speed of the slideshow. You can have the images "stretch" to fit the frame (often annoying) or have them reduced to fit and the frame will add black bars on the top or sides as needed. If you're looking for a straight-forward way to display your pictures this frame does it.
On the downside, it has no speakers, so although it will play the videos from my Canon s80 I get no sound. There's no 1/8" audio jack either, so you'll just have to live with seeing your movies without sound. There's no remote, so you'll have to use the four buttons up top to make changes to the settings. I'll agree with the other reviewer that the menu button is frustrating. You have to press-and-hold it in order to see the menu options, and it doesn't seem to work if you're in the middle of a slideshow.
To win awards with a digital picture frame, manufacturers need to include:
1. Intelligent rotation (my Canon s80 encodes orientation data - as do many new cameras - the frames should read this and rotate and scale images based on that info)
2. Wide support for memory cards and USB storage.
3. Better documentation
4. AVI and MPEG support with audio
5. A Remote
6. Wifi connection (like the estarlet) to support RSS feeds from flickr or other image services and photo sharing to other family member's frames.
If you can wait a year or two, these frames will be cheaper and more capable - by far! We'll all look back at today's models as quaint toys.
