Customer Reviews

D-Link DSM-210 Internet Photo Frame

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

 

 

Short review:
Best currently on the market (11/2009), I own 2 and am buying more for friends and family. The people with the negative reviews of this product are wonky or worse.

Long Review:
Let me start of by saying that I'm a photo hobbyist. By that I mean I use a Nikon D700, run Lightrooom and Photoshop, upload to Flickr, Facebook, etc. and generally enjoy photos, both my own and other peoples.

I started looking for a digital photo frame a little over a year ago, and in that time I've rolled through several model of several brands including Sony, Toshiba, and D-Link. Here's what I've learned. First you really want a network enabled (ideally Wi-Fi enabled) frame. You want it for 2 reasons. First you want it for loading the pictures to the device, and second you want it pull content from the network or Internet. Both are killer must have features - you really aren't going to keep updating the frame if you have carry it or thumbsticks to and from the computer.

The D-Link supports both. Network setup supports push button WPK, or manual configuration of all types. It also supports a wired ethernet plug.

The D-Link has a drag'n'drop widget for your desktop (Yahoo Widget actually) which connects upto 10 frames (selected by tab). It shows the pictures on the frame cycling automatically, this can be paused. You can step through them forward or backward, and you can delete pictures. To load pictures on the frame you drag the pictures to the widget and they wireless transfer over, I do this a few hundred at a time (basically I output all my tagged my photos from Lightroom at 800x600 into a folder, select all and drag and drop. I have different directories for the 2 different frames (upstairs and downstairs). Simply, quick, easy. No hassle with cables, our devices. So far I haven't seen this feature present in the other frames on the market.

Next the D-link supports pulling content from a local media server on the network (I pass on this because it means you have to have one up and running all the time) or from the Internet, specifically the free FrameChannel service. This service allows you to log-in and configure content sent to your frame from various places - Facebook, Flickr, Smug-Smug, about 200 other preconfigured offering that keep growing, and it allows you to create custom RSS feeds (text or image) as well. More you can say which content gets shown which days of the week, which times of the day, and how often compared to other streams. Yes that is right you can have multiple channels of content available (I've got about 14). One thing that sets the D-Link appart here from the Toshiba which also supports FrameChannel is that on the frame you can select a specific feed channel from the Framechannel configured choices you set up. Toshiba it's all or nothing on rotation. So you want just Facebook, you need to log into the Framechannel with the Toshiba via a browser - D-Link lets you do it via the remote.

FrameChannel also lets you accept email photos (you get an address and you can authorize other addresses for immediate publish or wait for authorization). Configure friends option to share photos, and a whole lot more. This makes it IDEAL for setting up for grandma and updating her photos remotely.

If you are confused about any of the framechannel features, hit their website and do some reading, create an account and play - it's free.

D-Link will also firmware update via the network - when updates are available a menu item appears for download.

Cost wise, Fry's has had these pretty cheap <$200 which is a marvelous price on a 10" frame with these features AND 1 GB of local memory. However they can't seem to keep them in-stock...

The only down side I've seen on these is the colors on the screen are a little flat compared to other offering out there (Sony's is lovely, but also $300 with a weaker feature set), but not enough to cause me to switch my buying preference here given the feature and prices points.

Really for 2009, the D-Link DSM-210 is as good as you can do.

Streaming content via web is nice, but there is a limit of 99 pictures on the channel.

The Dlink interface for uploading and managing pictures online is not very good. Picassa desktop software is good, but still not great for the frame, because the web upload doesn't synchronize with the desktop software. I have to figure out what to add/remove/upload.

The local disk on the frame isn't accessible via the home network. So, managing pictures has to be done with the remote, directly on the frame, one picture at a time. This is really annoying. It also can't display pictures directly from a memory stick or SD card. Those pictures need to be transfered to the frame memory... one at a time. There is a Yahoo Widgets software option for moving pictures using the computer to the frame over the home network, but its really funky software, and you have to scroll through the pictures one at a time to manage them, too.

These are all good ideas, but I'm looking forward to the next generation of implementation.

D-link is known for their terrible QA department, and this frame is not an exception. Had to RMA the first one I got (not from Amazon), it kept rebooting.

The second one works great. Frame is thin enough to be hung on the wall, very light, the screen is large and bright. Best part of course is the built-in wireless.

Antenna is very strong and I was able to pick up SSIDs from really far away. It took me a little while to get my wireless key to work, but once it works it is rock solid. Framechannel (online streaming of photos) is a good idea, though you are limited to 99 pictures per stream. I don't know why. I am streaming pics from Facebook and Picasa. Picasa is weak, b/c only one album at a time can be selected. Facebook on the other hand works well.

It can also grab pics from NAS. I have not had a chance to try it out yet.

Now on to cons. Frame shuts off after 15 minutes if it does not detect motion with built-in motion detector. Which is cool, but the only other way to shut it off is to physically switch it off on the back. Annoying. Would be awesome if I could shut it off via remote.

Remote is WEAK. It is tiny and signal is not strong enough. No power button on the remote. Basically, remote sucks.

Picture from internal frame or memory cards play only in order. Random play option would've been awesome.

Overall, I still give it 4 stars, as you can live with cons. I hope new firmware version would resolve some of the issues.

EDITED: OK, I have to amend my review below. There is a MAJOR software omission that I hope they fix with a firmware update. The unit does not remember your settings for the source of your pictures if you loose power or turn it off manually. So if you set it up for you parents to access the internet as I did then they turn it off and back on it goes to the settings screen essentially asking for which source you want to display pictures from. If you don't have the remote handy you are out of luck. This is really, REALLY stupid. I experienced this first hand after writing the review below. The rest of the review stands true. It's still a great gift for them after I taught them how to use the remote to select "Internet" as the source. (wasn't too hard, right arrow twice, then OK twice). They LOVE IT!

----Original Review below------

OK, I am an Amazon junkie. I buy almost everything on Amazon now and I rely heavily on reviews. So here is my honest review.

If you are looking for a frame to easily update photos from the internet or essentially from your computer, this is it!

Other than a dead remote battery that I had to replace this worked perfectly out of the box! It took 15 minutes to set up the frame, the internet account and send out invites to family members and have them already sending pictures to it.

Here's how it works. I set it up for wireless so if you are going wired it is even easier. When you turn on the frame you will use the remote to move over to settings and pick wireless settings. It will show you a list of wireless networks it can see. You should see your router just like when you attach your laptop to a hotspot or your home network. Select the network you want and if it is a secure network it will ask for the appropriate passphrase based on the security. Now is the hardest part. You use the tiny remote arrows to spell out your phrase by picking out the letters with the remote. OK, yes, I know it would be nice to use a USB cable to connect to a laptop and set it up that way but this is a one time deal. Once you type in the phrase and click OK it connects. No issues. And you don't have to redo it when you turn it off and on. It remembers it.

Next you pick where you want to display your photos from, internal memory or internet. The internet means from their server where they give you a FREE account that you set up using instructions provided in the box. Very simple. When you pick the internet on the frame it will give you a unique access code that you will type into the account you will setup on their website. This is what links your frame to your account on the internet.

Now you can upload photos to the account you setup by logging in and uploading photos to the main album but here is the best part. You can send invites to email addresses of family members including yourself. The invite includes an email address for your new account that you simply send photos to and it will automatically send them to the frame.

So in a nutshell once you set up your account, your frame and link the two all you do is start emailing photos (as attachments) to this new email address it gives you and within seconds (literally, 15 seconds on our network) they appear on the frame.

And, as the account master you can control the photos sent to the frame so if you have a teenager that starts sending photos you don't like you can delete them from the web account without ever touching the frame.

This is a perfect frame as a gift for a mother or grandmother that has internet. She does nothing but walk into the kitchen and see new pictures daily.

Now, for the frame itself. It is plastic. Yes, I wish they made some overlays that looked more like wood or actually were wood. They could do a better job of this. But since it is plain black it is pretty discrete with no logos or wording on it to distract you from the photos.

Hope this helps!

While the DSM-210 has a lot of potential to be a great multimedia frame, it's implementation is disappointing.

I found the software and interface to be very flaky. In particular, many of the features that would allow it to sync from online picture sites (e.g. FlickR) only refreshed the pictures randomely or not at all.

My goal was to point it to a FlickR site and update pictures on the frame as they are posted on the site, with a reasonable delay (e.g. 1 hour). The pictures were never updated however.

Many other features, such as rotation, didn't work as expected (resulted in duplicate images) and customer support dropped my call.

In the end I returned the device in the hopes that a future version from D-Link or a competitor will support near real-time refreshing and provide a more robust software.

This simple and inexpensive device does a pretty good job in general, one annoying issue I noticed is that the remote is slow in response and no ability to turn the device off using the remote. Other than that it functions OK. Wireless worked out of the box, flawlessly. It automatically discovered shared resources on my home network and played the pictures on the folder I pointed it to. I can safely recommend this device for anyone who is looking for a simple and inexpensive wireless digital picture frame.

I purchased two of these units. I'm guessing they shipped right from D-Link as they actually had sequential serial numbers.

Both units would not respond to the remote and one flickered excessively.

The frames look sharp. Their power saving features and ability to connect to Framechannel make them the most unique frame available. It's a shame D-Link's quality control is so poor.

It is a nice frame overall.
I bought it for my mother, so she can watch pictures that I can control via Internet. Although there are things that could be improved with few functions, this from can definitely do this.

I played with it for few weeks before I passed it to my mother. I recommend similar approach to everyone. There is little documentation in some areas, so few things you just need to try by yourself. It is not complex, but it is easier to do it yourself, rather than guide your parents over the phone trying differnt things with setup.

My improvements wish list: (I hope DLink is reading!)

- would be nice if frame remembered various settings when it's switched off on again it goes back to the same state. (e.g. transition effects, delay, which framchannel channel it was connected to etc.)

- some settings missing. e.g. would be nice to control time before frame goes to standby, or adjust contrast/brightness

- framechannel is generally ok, but more control would be nice. E.g. for flickr, would be nice to be able to select specific pictures set's to view. Selecting one by one from your whole photo stream can be time consuming.
Also you can attach to only 1 flickr account at this stage. Of course you can create multiple framechannel accounts and set them up on the frame, but practially pictures from only 1 channel are displayed at given time, and you do not expect your e.g. parents to be so skillful to grab the remote and reconfigure the frame :).
I also had probelms with having some of feeds to run, especially RSS. I'm sure it works, though I gave up having no time. Documentation would be nice about how to setup each of photo internet services, and what are teh pros/cons of using them. I did not comfirm that but had a feeling that with few services you need to make your pictures "public" so frame channel can pick it up.

- would be nice if frame was running http server and remote configuration was possible.


Even though I'm looking forward to improvements in the firmware, I still give it overall high score - good frame.

I purchased the DSM-210 a little over a year ago. It worked pretty well and had some nice features.

Recently the FrameChannel service was shut down- so now this is basically a large digital picture frame as all of the online features went through FrameChannel.

Works as advertised. The remote went south soon after purchase and within the warranty period. Initially D-Link refused to replace it, saying "accessories are not covered by the warranty." Eventually with a lot of hassle they gave in. The experience did not give me a warm feeling towards D-Link.