Comments on: The Best Digital Photo Frame (Review)

By: rcbowman

rcbowman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:46:23 +0000

But…

The one thing Ceiva and (once upon a time) Kodak did, and the sole and exclusive reason I can see for getting a digital picture frame at all, is connect to the internet and download pictures *by themselves*. The whole point was (and the only reason I want such a frame is) to give it to grandma, who wants to see pix from kids and grandkids, and who absolutely will not get or use a computer, let alone set up an internet connection.

What is needed is a version of the Ceiva and Kodak which will connect to the internet via a local access number, for LESS than the cost of dialup internet access (since it need only connect for a few minutes a day, and can be set to do so late at night, like the Kodak and Ceiva), but which will then download from any website, flickr or whatever, to avoid the feeds. It’s a tragedy that Kodak didn’t support their product. Compuserv or AOL or someone like that (with universal local access dialup numbers) should have jumped in and set up this sort of option. I can’t see why no one has bothered.

But as is, these photo frames which just use an existing internet connection through a computer or router, are totally useless for the sole purpose I’ve ever seen for the frames. If you already have internet access set up in your house, why on earth would you need a limited doodad in addition to your computer to look at pix at a lower resolution?

By: Digital Picture Frame ~ Chris Pirillo

Digital Picture Frame ~ Chris Pirillo — Tue, 27 May 2008 04:45:33 +0000

[...] And according to Chris, this is what a digital Photo Frame should be. In fact, Chris calls it the best digital photo frame. That’s high praise coming from a technology pundit. An exciting addition to any home, the [...]

By: John

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:09:09 +0000

Sid, I got the Brookstone photo frame for Christmas. This has none of the advanced features of the Memory Frame and the screen is slightly smaller, but it couldn’t be simpler to set up and get running. One short, clear page of instructions in the well-organized user manual was all I needed. It took no more than 15 minutes to figure out how to connect to my PC and download a bunch of photos. Click one button on top of the frame and you’re off and running.

By: John

John — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:03:01 +0000

The frame may have many capabilities, but the User Manual is very disorganized and virtually incomprehensible, so I have found it impossible to get the frame working, and the Customer Support at Digital Spectrum has not responded to my several requests (email; no phone support) for assistance. What to do?

By: Sid

Sid — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:53:25 +0000

Hi
I am looking for a basic frame where I can just stick in a USB drive, load some pictures (jpeg files, etc) and view them in a slide show (without the USB drive / memory card sticking in). So, I dont need Internet synching. Is there a simple frame that does this well?

By: Don Knott

Don Knott — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:51:08 +0000

How do you get the frame to work with Flickr? I setup my useraccount ID under the settings for photo sharing but when I go to load the slideshow it gives an error that it couldn’t login. I didn’t see a section under the the flickr id in settings for a password. Did I miss something obvious?

I’ve only gotten it to work with using the RSS feed.

By: James

James — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:24:12 +0000

Any advice on getting reviews on basic digital frames, that is, the best available without all the extra bells and whistles my technology challenged family can’t handle? Simply put in Flash card and play type?

By: stu

stu — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:20:27 +0000

I purchased the 15″ IDS wireless pic frame at Sam’s Club which supports Flickr and Google. The big issue I’m having is that the frame displays a list of tags from flickr that correspond to the tags assigned to your photos. However, when you choose a tag, the frame proceeds to display a maximum of 20 photos and then repeats the same 20 photos indefinitely. I think this may be because each tag is an RSS feed and flickr only provides links to the most recent 20 photos in a RSS feed. I’d like the frame to sequence through all my photos, not just the most recent 20. Any ideas?

By: tomg

tomg — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:26:48 +0000

I just purchased a frame at Sams Club that “shares photos wirelessly over the internet” (IDS1500). It does this with a WiFi dongle (included) to your Access Point (WEP or WPA) and gives you the choice of using Yahoo or Google photo services (I couldn’t get the Yahoo service to work, but the Google works just fine). The photos don’t get saved on the frame, they are accessed in real time. The software on the frame is accessed through a bunch of menus…no way to update the SW I can see…it works now, but I wonder what happens when Yahoo/Google change something about their protocol and the frame can’t communicate with the service anymore? I can see why Ceiva works as well as it does. In any case, the frame has card slots that work just fine. This is a 15″ frame for $300. It seems to work just fine (on Google). I’ve looked at a number of these internet frames since my Ceiva accounts expired a couple of months ago. Each one has some “gotchas” (like the Kodak frame that won’t show full frame because the Kodak photo storage WEB site doesn’t save photos at a high enough resolution). It looks like the beginning of the end for subscriptions! bye, tomg

By: Cheaha

Cheaha — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:16:02 +0000

Chris, your comment about not being able to do multiple accounts…well do what I did. Create a new Flickr account and create contacts for all the media you want. Then just sync the frame with that account and not your own. As you need to change it you just change that account.

By: Brent

Brent — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 01:03:47 +0000

Chris,
I’m still pretty partial to diy frames. It takes a little more work, but It’s cheaper and can do anything you want it to including flickr syncing. i think its worth the extra work for those that aren’t afraid of a little hardware hacking. The one I made is here:
http://brentevans.blogspot.com/2007/05/converting-old-laptop-into-digital.html

A whole website of them with photos and how-to’s are here:
http://diydigitalframes.blogspot.com/

I think the for-purchase ones like the one you are talking about are catching up though. Looks pretty good for the price.

Brent

By: rikia

rikia — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:45:04 +0000

I liked your review of the digital picture frame and went to purchase it on line. There are two wireless models, one discounted. Do you have an opinion of the cheaper MF 810W?

Thanks,
Rikia

By: Sam Costello

Sam Costello — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:44:09 +0000

Great review/walkthrough, Chris! Very informative. I’d love to get my hands on one of these to try it out.

By: Glen

Glen — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:50:14 +0000

This sounds like what I am looking for, a frame I can put up at my parents place and upload new pictures of the grandkids to when I want. I have been looking for a networkable frame, and was even willing to try one that was ethernet only, but wireless is a big plus!

Not sure about the internet capability, although in the end it would probably be a lot simpler than remote controlling my moms PC and uploading pictures to the frame that way.

By: Digital Media Thoughts - Digital Media News & Views

Digital Media Thoughts - Digital Media News & Views — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Best Digital Photo Frame Ever?