Customer Reviews

Coby DP1042-1G 10.4-Inch Digital Photo Frame with MP3 Player (Woodgrain)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been in the market for a digital picture frame for quite a while. Finally decided on this unit for its good price at this size/resolution. Some highlights from my experience:

- Nice appearance: good quality wood finish, the 10.4" image area is large enough for my elderly parents to see the faces in the pictures;
- Image quality: 800x600 and good contrast ratio, but lacks the finesse of a good quality LED monitor;
- Ease of use: it worked well as a basic picture frame. The user manual is not very detailed, but that seems to be a common complaint for all digital frames from the lesser known brands. If you apply some common sense of using computers, it will work fine. For file management, I recommend figuring out all the folder locations and always managing the files from a PC directly.
- Functionality: the frame actually comes with a lot of bells and whistles, and can play many media type. It also comes with a VividShare software that builds customized slide shows with an intuitive UI.

Some suggestions for making this product better:
- Provide the ability to save the work in progress in the Vividshare software. It may take a few iterations to get a slide show right. It is annoying that one has to start over to refine a slide show.
- Add an option to play all pictures and music in a random sequence. The default behavior of the frame is to play all pictures and music, but they are always played in the same sequence. Would be nice to randomize that.
- Make the labels on the remote more readable

Overall, digital picture frames still feel like an immature product category across the board. But if you need to have one now, this is a solid choice given the price, size, and function.

This is such a great digital frame. It has built-in memory, a HUGE plus. Once you figure out that all you have to do is plug it into your computer and choose the right drive, you can copy and paste pictures SO easily into the memory, add music, disconnect and enjoy your photos. It's wonderful and has plenty of capacity. I've bought a second one as a gift. The user's manual stinks, but the on-line help is useful.

After trying 3 other frames, I decided to keep this one. The picture is above average, the software doesn't crash, the speakers sound better then most others (relatively speaking), it displays video files without any hesitation. It has an on/off time setting.

Cons:
1. The volume control has three settings: off, background, and blasting. Any higher number is way too loud.
2. The remote must be held up close to the display.
3. No shuffle mode or alphabetical sorting of files.

The looks are great. I'll give it that. Picture quality drops off if you look at it from too great an angle. We have it on top of the TV cabinet and the pictures look wrong from the chair closest to the TV. The power cord could be a bit longer. But the big problem lies with the automatic on/off timer. You can program the unit to shut off and on automatically at any time but when it comes back on, you have to scan through the icons on the screen with the remote, click on VividShare, click on the pictures you want to see and it will begin the slide show. It will not automatically begin where it left off. It is very irritating to have to "restart" the picture frame every morning. We try to save power by programming it to shut itself down when we go to bed and have it turn itself on in the morning. If this feature could be important to you DON'T BUY THIS. I tried to contact Coby about this but got no response.

First contact: this digital frame is really! BIG! (thanks to wood frame)
Buttons located on the top are not very well usable, remote works better.

For video playback its necessary to convert HD video to 720*420 resolution using AVI container with Xvid video and MP3 audio.

This is a very nice picture frame. Very clear images and making slideshows are fun. The only complaint I have so far is that the remote control won't work. I think it could be the battery. I am picking up a new battery today so hopefully this will fix it. I recommend this picture frame to others.

I ordered at a great price. It's for a Christmas gift for my mom. I received very quickly. Loaded it full of pics and music and videos. Mom loved it!!!! Great gift!!!

Originally we liked this so much we bought another as a gift. The problem arose when the fragile plastic frame support broke when being extended. No way on the website to buy replacement parts. Emailed customer support asking for a replacement and the cost of same. Got a reply written in such broken English it was not understandable and certainly did't answer the question. Have given up trying to get a new support and just lean it against the wall.