Customer Reviews

Digital Spectrum Memory Frame Ultra MF-1201 12.1-Inch Digital Picture Frame

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I set out to buy a digital photo frame that would display an 8"x10" picture, which ends up being a nominal 12.1 inch size. This is apparently a size no "recognizable" electronics company has chosen to bother with. In the end, I chose this model by Digital Spectrum after a lot of research among the various obscure manufacturers offering a comparable sized unit. It seemed to have the fewest negative reviews.

I was generally happy with the quality of the displayed pictures. I also found the limited display options not a problem, but then I wasn't looking for anything fancy here. If you're looking for a Random Display feature for example, look elsewhere. Likewise for anything more sophisiticated than fast, medium, & slow choices for slide show intervals.

My main gripe is with the advertised capability to handle folders. The best way to do this is with the remote control. Unfortunately, this is a tiny little piece of junk that balks at almost every turn for anything more than the on/off function, and sometimes even with that. When trying to use the arrow keys to navigate between folders, it simply refuses to go to some of the displayed folder choices (sometimes this can be rectified by double clicking the appropriate arrow key, but not always). At other times, the remote freezes completely, such that no key works. The keys themselves are of the "bubble" type and have the look and feel of early failure.

There is a set of controls on the back of the display unit that can be used instead of the remote, but it doesn't have all the functions that the remote offers. For example, you can't start a slide show from a selected folder there.

There is also a concern with this model's ability to read files on external media. When I tried to display pictures contained on a thumb drive, the unit failed to recognize some of the pictures in a given folder.

Finally, my one attempt to contact the company's technical support via email (the only option provided) resulted in no response after waiting more than 2 weeks. I only wanted to ask if the SD Memory slot had the capability of reading SDHC cards - not exactly a tough technical question.

I gave serious consideration to returning this unit to Amazon for a refund. In the end, I chose not to because I couldn't identify an alternative product from the various "no-name" offerings that promised to be any better based on available reviews.

The frame is nice quality and has good picture quality. It is very easy to transfer pictures between the computer and frame but is a pain to transfer photos in other manners such as USB or memory card. The directions are not very user friendly so it was also a little difficult to understand how to work the frame.

Bought this for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Pre-loaded family pictures and about 10 of their favorite songs. I barely used any of the internal memory--I loaded close to 200 pictures--and the slideshow played seamlessly.

I did a lot of research and found this product to be the best bang for the buck with screen size, memory capacity, and featured functionality (mp3 and video capable). I'd recommend this to anyone. Easy to hook up to a computer via USB and drag and drop pictures. Took me less than 1 min to load the 10 music files and 200 pictures once I had selected them by dragging and dropping them from my computer file into the frame's USB connection folder.

You can make different slideshows by adding different folders onto the internal memory.

DOWNFALL: Cannot imbed video into a picture slide show. Have to play all videos separate. Cannot move (or I couldn't figure out how to move) songs loaded to the internal memory into a certain order of your preference. Also cannot select only certain songs to play with certain slide shows--have to play all the songs or none at all (I think; did not find any instructions that told me I could).

As I say below, I'll add comments as I work with the unit.

The unit works fine for our application (rotating display for historical society display case. Unfortunately, it was a little too nice and was stolen in the first two weeks of use. The thief was an idiot, not noticing that the AC power supply, the remote control unit and the instructions were not in the display case. May they suffer.

We liked the unit so much we ordered a replacement.

Really the only problem with the unit for home use is the rapid turnover on the slide show. The maximum interval is 10 seconds, which may be too fast for some one who wants the photos to rotate maybe every 10 minutes or hour. Other than that, my original evaluation stands:

Works fine right out of the box. Picture quality excellent and no defects. I bought it for our local historical society to rotate what would otherwise be a multi-sign/photo presentation in a display case. I considered 10 - 15 inch displays and decided that 12 inches would be just right. After reading a lot of comments on various brands, I decided this one was less prone to problems and about half the price of a Sony.

As has been mentioned previously, the instructions are poor and the menu screen in the manual isn't the same as my frame. It's easy enough to find my way around though.

A previous reviewer said the photos are shown in alphabetical order. I haven't loaded any photos to the internal memory, but using a memory stick, the photos are shown in the order they were loaded on the stick.

Looks like a very nice unit. I'll report back if any problems occur.

I have had a Kodak and another not heard of brand. This is my third frame.

No complaints, value for money. Not as classy as the kodak though.

The specs for this unit look great. I purchased the first one from Amazon. It has one persistent blue pixel in the middle of the screen. Very disconcerting. I sent it back to Amazon via their excellent return policy. Since time was short, I purchased the second one from Costco. To my dismay, it also had a bad pixel but this time a different color in a different location. I took it back to Costco and picked up another smaller model from a different manufacturer. It was perfect.

On line I have heard other reports of bad pixels on this unit.

Too bad.

I have had this since July 09. Awesome picture frame. Pictures are nice and clear. Why buy a smaller frame when you can get this one for the same price. Only bad thing about is that you cannot randomize your pictures. So whatever you load on there is played in alphabetical order.

It is a nice frame, but the stand has cheap plastic clips that are easy to break off. If you do not have a child who picks the thing up to show friends the photos, you should not have issues. If you have children around, then you will be having issues.

I had been looking for a bigger digital picture frame. My old frame was a 5x7 so this new frame was almost twice the size! The frame and picture quality are great! The only thing I would change about this frame is that I would have liked it to randomize the pictures. However, this does not make the frame a deal breaker.

I have four of these hanging in my pet hotel business, rotating hundreds of pictures of my guests. They work fairly well. Unlike what one reviewer stated, the frame automatically detects if a memory card is installed and automatically plays the slideshow from the memory card instead of the insternal memory. The trick is that your pictures must be stored in a folder on the card and not in the root folder.

Build quality is so-so. Of the four I have, one stopped working in the first month and another stopped working after 14 months. Digital Spectrum replaced the first, but the second is now out of warranty and has been discontinued.

The internal memory holds a lot of pictures, but it is much easier to fill a memory card and just plug it in. Whenever you want to change the pictures, just take out the card, write over it and put it back in. Voila! You have a whole new slideshow.

The one annoying thing for me is that the frame cannot play pictures in random order -- it simply plays them in alphabetical order based on the names of the picture files. I found a little program on the web that randomly renames files, which I run before loading files onto my memory card. Works great.