Customer Reviews

Digital Foci Picture Porter Elite 80GB Picture Viewer

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although I own a laptop, I wanted something smaller and more portable for downloading pictures from my digital camera card when I'm traveling. That was my #1 reason for wanting a portable media player.

I read a lot of reviews for the Digital Foci Picture Porter Elite and Epson P-5000 before deciding which one to buy. My assessment was that the Epson was actually somewhat better (at almost twice the price); but the Picture Porter was also a very good choice. My budget being what it is, I bought the 80Gb Picture Porter Elite from Amazon. With their free shipping, Amazon had the best price I could find on the Internet.

For my purposes, I stand by my decision to purchase the Picture Porter Elite. On the other hand, I am neutral as to whether on not I would recommend this item to a friend. That would really depend on how my friend intended to use it.

Below is a list of things I consider to be pros/cons of the Picture Porter Elite.

Accessories:

(Pro) All of the cables you need for computer hook-up, television hook-up, audio/video copying, etc. are included. The unit also comes with a small remote control unit. The carrying case (also included; and actual leather, I think) is well made and has both a belt clip and carrying strap.

(Con) The main unit is also used as the battery charger, which ties up the device while you recharge the battery. (Note: An external battery charger and spare battery is available if you want to spend the extra money.)

Operating System, Control Buttons & Functions:

(Pro) Downloading pictures from a memory card is quick and easy. Just pop in a memory card and the backup menu appears automatically. Choose the desired backup option, press "ok" with the joystick button, and the backup begins.

(Con) The joystick button -- used to navigate, select a function, rotate photos, etc. -- is so tiny and overly sensitive that I find myself constantly choosing the wrong function with it. Just as a side note, I'm a female with relatively small hands. I imagine it would be much worse for a man with larger hands. (Pro/Work-Around) You can choose to use the remote control instead on the onboard joystick.

(Con) The operating system does not have built-in move or copy functions. To perform these operations, you have to cut/copy the item and then paste it in the new location. This is a slow and painful process! Also, the operating system does not have a built-in function for creating a new folder. (Pro/Work-Around) You can connect the Picture Porter to a desktop or laptop computer (via the supplied USB cable). The computer will see the Picture Porter as a removable hard drive. You can then use Windows Explorer to perform file and folder management functions, defrag the built in disk, etc.

(Con) When viewing "portrait mode" photos, the picture porter DOES NOT automatically rotate the picture for you. (Workaround) You can use the joystick or remote control to rotate the picture manually.

Screen/Speakers:

(Pro) The screen resolution and image quality are very good ... even when zooming in on a photo.

(Con) The screen is smaller than I expected. The specs say 3.6"; but mind you, that is the diagonal screen measurement. The actual screen is just under 3" wide. Unless you have the eyesight of a hawk, the screen is really too small for watching videos/movies.

(Con) The sound quality from the tiny built in speaker's is awful. For decent sound, you have to use the earphones (included) or external speaker (not included).

(Con) The earphones act as an antenna for the radio; so you can't listen to the radio without using them.

Other Comments:

Size & portable are relative. This unit is by far preferable to lugging around a laptop; but it is not a tiny, fit in your jeans pocket, device. In its case, the unit measures 5" wide x 3" tall x 1.75" deep and weighs just a fraction over 1 pound.

Don't be fooled by all the "extra features" this media player has. Aside from the ability to download directly from a memory card, and the massive storage capacity, most (if not all) of the features of this unit are available on a much smaller and less expensive MP3 player. There is no way I would it carry this unit with me on a daily basis ... e.g. as my "brag book" for showing off pictures of my grandkids, or to listen to my MP3 music files. It's just too bulky for that! And, as I mentioned earlier, the screen is really too small to be a serious video/movie viewer.

All things considered, if I had it to do over again, I'd buy the 40Gb model instead of the 80Gb. I bought the 80Gb model in anticipation of using it as my photo "brag book" and music player; but as I mentioned above, it's really too bulky for that.

I have tried to be honest and objective in my review of this product and I hope this helps you in making a decision whether or not to buy it.

We are taking an Alaskan vacation this summer and I wanted something to store photos from my digital camera. The Picture Porter seemed the best choice! It can take cards from my Nikon D70, plus the card from my Nikon Coolpix. In addition, I can videotape movies to watch on the plane on our way to Fairbanks. I hooked up the Picture Porter to my portable DVD player and using the supplied cables, I copied a 2+ hour movie right into Picture Porter. It compressed the file into an mpeg4 file of only 860mg! It has great clarity and sound. And once we arrive, I can simply delete the movie file so I have additional space for photos!

The Picture Porter is a bit bulky, but seems substantial enough not to crack like some smaller units (Ipods, etc) if I happen to drop it. The screen is large enough to view a movie on an airplane, and show photos to others.

I know there are other features I haven't even used it, like the FM radio and game feature (a bit like Tetris), but for what I needed, it's perfect!

I am using all of the features and find them all quite intuitive and just as advertised. When I initially received the PMP, the joystick was broken. I emailed the company, quickly received a response with return instructions. I sent it back, received 2 phone calls (actual live people!!) letting me know the status of the repairs, and received the unit back asap. It was a flawless example of great customer service. So I know the product is exactly what I expected and the company has great customer service...

I've always wanted a device that would hold my images after downloading from various memory cards, and would afford me the opportunity to also use it as an album.

The fact that I can also use it to play videos and movies and music when I'm traveling is an added bonus.

What it is:
Its great storage device with a SD and DF cards slots so you can dump and view photos on the go. Great way to view photos and video other than passing around the camera.

Why its great:
While not all files are viewable it will "take" any file format. You can take all you pictures and video off your digital camera without missing a beat. Very functional. Also you can record video which is great for watching movies on a plane.

What its not:
A professional photo viewer. It can handle RAW and JPEG but the quality is not something you want to judge you images on. Again its great to just dump photos and then share them. It can play music but its not an ipod. It has a great "playlist" feature but it is difficult to manage 30 gigs of music for instance.

Why its not great:
It is very big compared to other devices. The screen is not has high quality as I would like.

Why you should get it: A great device and it is the only one I could find that will unquestionably "take" any file format. Great to travel with because of the functionality but it is kinda big. Great customer service.

I have had this product for awhile and my girls have borrowed it several times for their trips and it has been a great item to have. I have several movies loaded on it so when I travel and get stuck in an airport I just find a place to sit and watch a movie. It has even entertained some children of other families traveling. It is easy to us. You do not have to be a tekky to use it.

I purchased the 80GB Picture Porter Elite, and I love it. I bought it for a Belize vacation, and it was super easy to use. I didn't give it 5 stars because I can't figure out how to use the shortcut icons, however I haven't had a chance to contact customer service. We went with a group of friends on a scuba diving vacation, and I got a lot of comments on what a great device it was. We took a lot of digital photos, both topside and under the water, and at the end of the day, we would download all the photos and then have a slideshow on the picture porter - everyone would crowd around and ooh and aah. We did finally hook up the device to a TV and show a slideshow on the TV, which was cool.
I highly recommend this product.

i have one of my own for over 4 to 6 years i own 160GB of this product but there all the same except for memory hard drive space compacity i read one review on here female had trouble with thumbstick im man i have no problem navigating with the thumbstick & i have big hands.

( pro )im not sure about how big the screen really is i never really mesauerd to find out or to care for that much but for i found the speaker to be very well i put my volume halfway when im watching videos that i put on there i can make out stuff from the movies or tvshows i put on there very well, the upload speed it depends on what your uploading basicly if your uploading 100 pictures or more, or full lenthg movie of course its will take some time for it to finish storing the pictures, music or movies that you want on there.

picture quality i can make every little detail whenim watching movies or tvshows on this i dont need to squint or use my glasses to watch it picture quality for movies is great for video for me.

picture quality i never really tried to upload one of pictures that ive taken when i use hd camcorder find out how well they turn out on this device or not but other pictures from computer sites i say they turn out very well.

comes with game which was unexpected when i bought this it does not state this on the company site or amazon description but i liked that as an added game is tetris but its matrix on the device itself tetris game with new name matrix as the titel.

i mostly use this to record tv shows off my tv from satalight box, o listen to music & watch tv shows, movies, or any other kind of video that i put on there

customer service is fast freindly & helpful they get back to you in 1 or 2 buisness days by email i had trouble organize my music it was out of order once i put over 100 songs in there i contacted customer service they said i should put music in this order songs 1-99 should be 001, 002, 003, 010, 020, 030, 040, 090, so on i did this and all music is in its proper order again.

cables are great i can record shows or movies if i like & have them be stored on there & wathc hem anytime i like, have not tried the other cables but im sure they work to for what they meant for.

audio quality for music & movies is very good it takes almost anytype of earphones that you plug into it unlike hte appleipod my sister has where you have to spen 30 or more dollars for single pair of earphones just for an ipod

you can have screen savre power mode to save on battery life when listen to music screen will turn black & music keep playing to save on power

( con ) when watching movies battery life is cut in half when you listing to music but thats understandble your watching something not listineg to it

Short version: If you're a traveling photographer going on a short trip that is looking for something smaller and has a faster start-up time than a computer to backup and even view all your photos on, get this device. If you're looking for a sweet new media player, look elsewhere.

Long version: I originally purchased this item in May of 2009 in anticipation of a 2-month trip I was taking to do research in the Peruvian Amazon. When I purchased it I was mostly interested in its ability to quickly and directly download photos from memory cards. For this it was an absolute lifesaver; I brought my laptop with me on the trip and was anticipating to use it for redundant backup, but after 4 years of nearly daily use I guess the high humidity finally did it in. My laptop died less than a week after departing on my trip and before I even started my research, rendering it useless for backing up or editing my photos (let alone doing any data analysis!). If I didn't have the Picture Porter Elite with me, I would have been totally unable to take more pictures than the single 2GB memory card I had with me could hold. I filled up that 2GB card in just a couple days!

The device survived the 2 months of high humidity and near daily use extremely well. The leather case prevented any damage and is relatively attractive. It also has a zipper pocket which I use to hold the remote and an 8" USB cord for connecting to a computer. As a university student I also use this in place of a thumb drive. It's pretty bulky, but I can also use it for watching movies between (or during...) classes and for listening to music. The movies are a little small on the 3.6" screen but the battery lasts longer than the battery on my new laptop!

The only real problem I have with this device is the way it plays and organizes music. If you want to sort through your music by artist, album, or genre, you have to make subfolders and organize it yourself, instead of the device automatically organizing it by using the track information that can be tagged onto mp3s like Windows Media Player does. It also plays music in these subfolders alphabetically, so if you want to listen to an album in order, make sure the track number is before the track title in the file name. This is rather annoying if your music collection is not sorted in this fashion (luckily, mine is for the most part). It also has no "skip track" or "previous track" feature, so to go to a different track you have to go up to the subfolder containing the music you're listening to and select the track you want to listen to. To do this, you have to hit the menu button and select "Play in Background" before exiting the "jukebox" screen, otherwise the track will end upon exiting the screen. You can look through your pictures in this fashion, which is nice for slideshows etc., but there is no menu item that will quickly take you back to the "jukebox." So if you're looking through your photos but your playlist ends and you want to continue listening to music while looking through your photos, you have to navigate back up to the main screen, navigate back down through the music folders, and select the tracks you went to listen to. Then you have to hit "play in background," navigate back up to the main menu and back down through the photo menus until you get back to the photograph you were last looking at. This is all EXTREMELY annoying and could be EASILY fixed by Digital Foci's programmers.

So to sum things up, this is a great, durable, portable device for photographers, but is definitely not for music fans.

-E.C. Maxwell

While the base features and functions read fine in the ad, the quality of the display was a serious disappointment. This device might be fine for sharing pictures of baby Jean with Aunt Ruth, but it's low res display is insufficient for serious photographers or pros. This device will not show the quality for which you paid if you spent more than $500 for your camera body. Sad, all the other features are OK.