Customer Reviews

Coby DP772 7-Inch Widescreen Digital Photo Frame with MP3 Player

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I've had one of these for a day, and it seems to do what the manufacturer says.

When properly formatted (see below), the pictures are bright and accurate -- just what you'd imagine a digital picture frame would look like.

Here are the two main lessons I've learned so far:

1. Formatting: Resize your pictures to fit within the frame's resolution of 480 pixels by 234 pixels. It will display bigger pictures (say, 2000x3000 pixels from a six-megapixel camera) but its algorithm for downsampling must be really stupid, as the results are awful -- the pictures look twinkly, oversharpened, overprocessed, and just plain ugly. Downsize them yourself, and all that goes away. If you have a lot of pix, this process can be somewhat tedious, but there is a very good freeware image manager called XnView that will do it on batches of pictures at once with a minimum of muss and fuss.

2. It won't display grayscale pictures (i.e., black-and-whites where the color count is reported as 256). To make these display, you have to convert them to RGB mode. They're still B&W in appearance, but internally they're full RGB, 16 million colors, and that makes little Coby very happy. Go figure.

When you downsize to 480x234, you get a very small file -- less than 30KB, oftentimes. That means you can store hundreds of pictures on even a small memory card of 256MB. Put it in the slot, set Coby to either go through them in order, or shuffle them, and sit back and watch your life pass before your eyes in dazzling color (or dazzling black and white, if you must).

My Coby was a little over $100, including shipping to Alaska. The image screen is only 7" diagonally, meaning you can't really display it on a wall, but it does make an excellent display for your desk. If they can get a wall-size version (say, 11x14) down under $500, I'll probably give that a try next.

In case it's not clear from the product writeup on Amazon, you have to plug this thing into a power socket to use it. There's no battery. And, even if there was, it wouldn't be too feasible -- you'd have to either take the thing apart every few hours to stick in new batteries, or keep it plugged into a charger part of the time. Mo' bettah just to give up and accept that it's an AC device, not a battery device.

Stan Jones
Anchorage, Alaska

We received a Philips digital photo frame as a gift, and had issues with it - lots of freezing/locking up. Looking to purchase a gift for 2 other people, we went with the Coby since it was half the price of the Philips. As the title says, you get what you pay for. I'd probably give it 2.5 stars if that was an option, but it's not a 3.

Pros:
* mp3 - very nice to be able to include music to go along with the photos
* remote - it's tiny, but does everything you need. Great idea
* setup/playback is relatively simple, in theory (see cons below)

Cons:
* picture quality pales in comparison to the Philips. From a distance, it's not bad, but up close the pictures definitely look digitized. We've put the same resolution photos on both, and you can clearly see a difference side by side
* loading photos is hit or miss. Click and drag interface is great, but it didn't always work. Some photos would copy immediately, others just wouldn't copy unless you tried to move them 8 or 9 times. Bulk copying was therefore impossible. Same issue with several memory cards, so I'm inclined to blame the frame. The current card is only 25% full, but the Coby won't let any more photos be copied over. [Using a card reader, all of the above works fine. But if you don't have one, you may run into issues. At the very least, buy the same type of card as your camera so you can copy via the camera instead of the frame]
* widescreen is good, and bad. Make sure that it's actually what you want. If all of your photos are from a widescreen still or video camera, you'll be fine. But standard digital photos are 4:3, not 16:9. Mixing and matching photos looks kind of cheesy in a slideshow.

Depending on what you're doing with it, it's not a bad purchase. To the less discerning photo enthusiast, it's fine. Other than the photo quality, all of the cons can be overcome. But if you really want a fine photo quality, I'd look elsewhere.

Overall: This digital picture frame is a solid product with a moderate functionality. Very good for the price. Nicer picture frames will cost about twice as much.

Here's what I LIKE about this frame:
- Although the display is only 480x230, the image quality is very good.
- Rotary brightness dial.
- Interchangeable face plates (white or black).
- Extending support leg so the vertical angle of frame can be adjusted (mine is almost upright).
- Very nice compact remote remote control.
- Multiple card slots (CompactFlash, SD, USB FlashDrive, etc.).
- USB hookup (not sure if it's 1.1 or 2.0 -- haven't checked) (inserted cards show up as removable drives on Windows PC's).
- Audio/Video Out (but no cables).
- Will automatically start the photo slide show when powered up.
- Can be wall-mounted.
- Plays MP3's (I haven't tried this feature yet).

Here are my DISLIKES for the picture frame:
- When power is interrupted (either by off/on switch or pull the plug), the slideshow does not remember where it left off -- it will start at photo 1 again (not nice when you have 8,000 photos on it like I do).
- The built-in speaker constantly emits a slight hiss (white noise), even when the volume is turned completely down. I overcame this by inserting a rolled up piece of paper (kind of like a lollypop stick) into the Audio Out port, which tricks it into thinking there are headphones connected and kills the speaker connection.
- Does not have any sort of timer (but I don't think any digital photo frames do). It would be nice to have some sort of timer to have it come on only when people are expected home and awake (weeknights, weekends, etc.). It's not practical to turn on/off every time -- especially since it goes back to photo 1 on the slideshow.
- Odd screen ratio (16:9).

The 16:9 screen ratio is probably because Coby uses the same screen on this digital picture frame that they use on their portable DVD players, which also have the cinema 16:9 screen proportions. It a bit cumbersome to format photos to fit nicely on this screen, but it's not that bad if done as listed below.

Preparing Photos for the 16:9 display:
1. Download and install the freeware utility FastStone Photo Resizer (it's FREE).
2. Create a folder called "PhotoFrame" (e.g. "My Documents\My Pictures\PhotoFrame\")
3. Run FastStone Photo Resizer, select your photo source and add them to the left side by clicking the "Add" or "Add All" button.
4. Click the "Settings" button for "Output Format" and specify Quality=80, DCT Method=ISLOW, Photometric=(No Change), Smoothing=0, Progressive=<Unchecked>. Click OK.
5. Specify your output folder (the "PhotoFrame" folder from Step 2).
6. Click the "Advanced Options" button.
7. Under the "Resize" tab, specify In Pixels=<Selected>, Width=480, Height=270, Switch Width...=<Checked>, Preserve Aspect Ratio=<Checked>, Smart-Cropping=<Checked>. Click OK.
8. Set any other options, as desired (e.g. Rename, etc.)
9. Click Start.
10. When done, simply copy the files from the "PhotoFrame" folder to the media card on the picture frame.

The process above will create very small files that display nicely on the frame. Photos in the Portait orientation will be tall and skinny, but it's better than having heads completely cut off. Landscape photos will fit perfectly to fill the full picture frame's screen. A small slice is cropped out at the top and bottom of Landscape photos to make them fit the 16:9 format. Photos take up only about 35 KB/photo, so you can fit about 3,700 photos on a 128 MB card -- Nice, huh?!

I hope this was helpful! Enjoy!

UPDATE on 2008-03-31:
Although you can fit many of the small photos on a small memory card, I found that the photo frame only supports about 2000 file entries. So, if you put more than 2,000 photos on a card, after a while you'll wonder "why haven't I seen any of the photos from ...?" They're there, but the frame won't display them.

Also, I've had my photo frame running continuously for about 1 year and 3 months -- still working great.

NOTE: This review is written with the 7" version of the frame in mind; however I feel that most of the review is applicable to all of the sizes (especially the 10", since it is a Widescreen frame as well).

Overall I am very happy with this frame, although it does require a bit of work for you to get the most out of it. I'll start off by highlighting the frame's major issues to keep in mind before you buy:

1.) It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to understand that the 7" (and 10") frame is a WIDESCREEN frame. This means that the frame will not display normal sized pictures on the whole screen; it is designed for 16:9 pictures. If you have a camera that takes widescreen pictures, this isn't a problem. However, for the rest of us, this frame is less than ideal. You have three options for your 4:3 (the norm/non-widescreen) pictures if you are using this frame. The first is that you can display them as they are, but they won't take up the full screen, there will be black bars on the sides (or top, depending on if you take your pictures with the camera on its side). This isn't a bad option, but if you're a perfectionist like me, the black bars definitely leave something to be desired. Your second option is to switch the camera over to its 4:3 mode, which stretches the pictures out to fill the screen. As you can probably imagine, this is a poor solution; the pictures just look funny stretched out. The third option (and the one I took) is to crop them yourself to a 16:9 ratio. This takes the most work by far, but the pictures will fill the whole screen and in my opinion look the best.

2.) It is very important to know that in order to have your pictures look their best on the frame, you'll need to resize them down to a much smaller resolution (around 480x270 to 560x315). The frame can display pictures with larger resolution, but they won't look good at all (they look sort of fuzzy). This might seem like a pain, but overall I look at it as more of a positive. The reason for that is that resizing pictures is very easy, just download a program like Xnview and you'll have them all resized in no time. It is also nice because pictures with this smaller resolution are very don't take up much memory (around 30 KB each) and you can fit a lot more of them on your memory card.

3.) The frame is odd because it does not organize its files by their file names. For some weird reason, it displays them in by the order that they were copied to the memory card. Now, if you're planning on displaying your pictures in a random order, this won't be a problem. However, if you want to display them in a particular order, you'll have to make sure and copy them one by one (unless you're putting the card in directly from the camera). This is of course quite meticulous, but it has to be done. I am also a little sad that you can't make any picture playlists; all of your pictures are in one big folder. It would have been nice to choose the folders from the card you wanted to play, but the frame lumps all of its files together, so it isn't possible. The same applies for any music/movies you put on there; the only way to make a playlist is to copy the music files onto the card in the specific order you want them to play in. In my opinion this is the frame's biggest flaw.

If you're able to deal with the above issues, the camera isn't a bad buy, especially considering how cheap it is compared to other models out there.

The picture quality is good, probably not as good as higher-end models, but unless you're paying very close attention you won't have a problem at all. You can zoom in on pictures on the frame, as well as rotate them (if you've taken them with the camera sideways). I take a lot of pictures this way, and I was relieved to know that I could rotate them and use the frame on its side.

The sound quality is very good, much better than I expected. Having music play during your slideshows is a huge bonus, and makes the frame a lot of fun.

The movie playback would be nice touch, but it isn't very practical because it doesn't support QuickTime movies. Many digital cameras shoot their movies in the QuickTime format, so the frame's movie playback isn't too impressive of a feature. However, I wasn't really interested in the frame for its movie playback anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed (the movies would be a little odd on the widescreen frame anyway since it would have the black bars on the sides again).

The frame itself looks nice, and I am happy to have the choice of two faceplates. It is a little thick, but you can't notice at all from the front. The stand does look cheap, and I am slightly afraid I'll end up having to replace it. You can mount it on your wall, but it would look odd with the cord hanging down. The frame needs to remain plugged in, so wall mounting the frame isn't too practical, but it is nice to have the option.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have definitely paid the extra money to get the 8" frame and not have to worry about cropping my pictures. However, this is a very good frame for the price, and if you don't mind having to put in the extra work to get the most out of the frame, I would definitely recommend it.

The Coby DP-772 is 7" digital photoframe is really amazing, very cleverly engineered, and fairly inexpensive. For under $75 with fee shipping, it shows brilliant photos, videos, and plays mpg3 files. The 480x234 resolution sounds low but actually shows very clear pictures, although I have not tried viewing text with it. Supposedly it can play back through a TV, but the cord is not included, so I did not try it. It even has a remote control. It accepts SD-MMC, CF, XD cards, all at once. It has a USB cable and you can load all 3 cards (e.g. F:. G:. H: drive) with photos from your PC without the need of another card writer. The stand can rotate for either landscape or portrait mode, or detach entirely for wall mounting It needs to be powered with a wall plug, but can be left on 24/7 for probably around $5-10 of power per year (5-10 watts?).
It replaces the film camera photo album. It makes a good gift for parents so they can see all your digital photos. It might be useful for Alzheimer patients to help reinforce memories.
Crop your photos to 16:9 (i.e. width = 1.778 x height for full fit in the display. If you then resize them to 480x270 (.1MB jpg file) you could store 10,000 photos on a 1GB card (under $10 if purchased together with frame from Amazon), or fewer if you add videos. Even an old 32MB card will hold 300 photos.
Be sure to order a memory card with it if you do not have one. Order 2 of them if you want to keep your parents updated with your latest photos by swapping an updated card when you see them.
Coby also makes a 10" (diagonal) version for double the price, but the 7" seems adequate and unobtrusive, and the display is the same size as a 6.1"x 3.4" photo.

I bought this because of its low price and have nothing but regret ever since. First, there's nowhere stated about its resolution on the product information - it turns out to be 480x234 which means everything is going to be pixelated regardless you crop or resize your pictures. Video function is also not working, may be because of the higher resolution of the videos and it can't buffer. I'm still searching for much better digital frame at this point, it looks like I have learnt my lesson for being cheap. But for sure, you need 640x480 resolution and above for 7" digital frame and unless you have a keychain digital frame (in which 240x120 will be more than enough).

This thing is incredible for the price. Takes many different kinds of memory cards. DON'T buy a new memory card. Find some old card that is too small to use left over from an earlier digital camera (even 16 or 32 megs will do). Load it up with photos cropped according to the instructions of "Engineer". This shrinks them very small. I used an old 256 meg card. Incredibly 180 photos fit on around 8 megs. Made my mom nuts to see the photos flashing on the screen. No problems whatsoever.

I'm happy with this frame, although it's the first one I've owned, so I don't have a means of comparison. It's a big task to resize all my pictures, but as a previous reviewer noted, XnView is a great tool to do this. The resolution listed says 480 x 234, but my pictures have black bars on top and bottom with this resolution. When I calculate 16:9 ratio with the 480 width, the height came out 270 instead. Using that resolution (480 x 270) fills up the screen perfectly.

I previously had a digital frame similar to this one; it had a dead pixel, annoying electronic hum, fairly poor quality, and was twice as expensive. In comparison, this frame is absolutely brilliant.

I was a bit worried the widescreen would be a hindrance; however, after adjusting some photos (as suggested by another reviewer, scale to 16:9 and then resize to 800 pixels wide), I found that limiting the viewing area actually made for a more pleasant viewing experience. Photos have more content and a lot less 'dead area' in which nothing is happening.

I am very happy with the sound, display, and features. I would definitely recommend buying this to anyone, no matter the price range they previously thought they should look in.

By the way...there is no electronic buzz/hum present with this frame!

This frame by coby is a great value entry level frame, and hard to beat in price. Coby is a name that many tend to run away from, they do tend to have lower end DVD players, but I consider them a value brand and own several other product from coby and have had no problem. This frame is no exception. It has the 480x234 graphics, the standard entry level for a 7" inch frame, SD/XD/MMS/CF memory card capability, stereo speakers for MP3/MPEG playback. easy to navagate menues. I must say when looking at this item, a westinghouse 7" frame was next to it, and I actually thought that this had a slightly better picture quality, although both are 480x234. This also has the interchangable frames as pictured here. Decent value for a neat toy to have at the office.
UPDATE, For about about $40-50 more there is now an 8" Coby frame available with High resolution 800 x 600 screen for really crisp pictures. If I had waited about 6 months, hand down may have owned it. But this 7" frame has come down in price since then as well, and is still a great value. Either way, highly recommend the frames, and don't be scared about the COBY entry level name. At this point, I have looked at many frames, and this is as good as the higher priced namebrands in quality and reliability. Check them out.