Customer Reviews

Digital Spectrum MemoryFRAME ULTRA MF-801 8.4-Inch Digital Picture Frame

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

 

 

I purchased a Digital Spectrum MemoryFRAME ULTRA MF-801 based upon the recent "Best Buy" recommendation of Consumer Reports. Frankly, if this is best-of-breed, then this technology is not ready for prime time. In short, I would not recommend buying it.

On the positive side, the display quality on screen is pretty good, the remote control works well (despite limited options), and the frames (sheer black or a wood + matte) look pretty good on my desk at work. But this thing is touchy. Very, very touchy.

First of all, keeping it connected to one's computer is difficult during transfers to the internal memory (~487mb) via USB. The MemoryFrame loses connection to the PC an average of 2-3 times during a full transfer and requires a power cycle to reconnect it. The MemoryFrame copies files from the source PC randomly: it does not do it in ascending order by file name. So when the MemoryFrame drops-out during transfers, one is forced to repeast the entire transfer to make sure everything gets moved over.

Deletes from the internal memory don't always "give back" available storage. I eventually had to reformat it using Windows XP. The Slide Show controls are woeful. There are only three arbitrary speeds: "slow", "medium" and "fast" (with no explanation of what "slow" is) and with no further customization possible. You also cannot control how the MemoryFrame randomizes images (it doesn't seem to do it by file name). Some JPGs that display perfectly fine on my PC are completely FUBAR on the MemoryFrame (like distorted color bars on an old TV) and others fail to display but with a "Format Not Supported" message. All of these are all small JPGs under 5mb and most where shot with the same camera.

The MemoryFrame also has trouble displaying images consistently. For example, on one pass a given image will look fine. On a future pass, part of the image will be shifted left, right, up or down, or a "stripe" will be much darker than the remainder of the picture. I suspect that some of the transition effects between pictures (wipes, etc) are causing this so I've since turned those features off.

Lastly, the adjustable support leg broke in the first five minutes of use which renders the frame prone to falling backward (I had to strengthen it's connection to the rear of the frame with duct tape.)

I give this two stars. Just barely enough for me to keep it instead of throwing it in the trash. But I'm pretty disappointed with this, expecially given Consumer Reports "Best Buy" rating, and I respectfully suggest that you look elsewhere for better choices. . .even if they are more expensive. Good luck.

Pros: Great look and great screen resolution.
Cons: Just about everything else. Unhelpful manual, non-working remote control, and non-working setting for the speed of the slideshow.
This frame was very frustrating to get working. Maybe mine was defective--I'm not sure. But the remote didn't work, even with the included new battery in it. There are 3 speed settings for the on-screen duration of the photos: fast, normal, and slow. These are relative terms. There should be definitive time settings, such as 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc. I could not get the speed to work at all. The photos were on the screen a mere 7 seconds each! I'm going to try another brand altogether next time.

I purchased the Digital Spectrum MemoryFRAME ULTRA MF-801 digital frame based on Consumer Reports recommendation. This is one time they were way off. I had never used a digital frame before and the instructions that come with the unit are sketchy at best. The 90 photos I wanted to put on the frame were scanned photos from 50 years ago. I had placed a sequence number number, starting with 01, at the beginning of each filename for the order in which I wanted the photos to appear. When I loaded the photos, they were showing up randomly. There were a dozen or so that the heads were cut off and I had to go back and resize them. I submitted a question to the company via their web site on the sequencing and after 2 weeks, am still waiting for a response. I finally decided to call them by phone and was told I needed a 3-digit sequential number as in 001 at the beginning of each filename. I went back through renamed the files, reloaded on the frame and they were still appearing in random order. Another call to the company indicated that it "probably" does the show in sequence by the date on the file. I was asked if I used Photoshop and said no I used Picassa and was told they provide no support on that product and had to seek assistance elsewhere. I found a utility that allowed me to change the dates on my files, and manually, one by one, had to change each date. I reloaded the photos on the frame and they still were not in the sequence I wanted. Finally, after doing some internet research, I found that some frame slide shows go in the order in which the photo was added to the frame. So once again, I added the photos to the frame, one by one, and they do now appear in the order I want. Why didn't the support line know this and why isn't it in the instruction book? The photos look fine on the device but every once in awhile the pictures look like there is static interference or something. Consumer Reports was way off in recommending this device. It is not easy to use and if you need support, forget it. When I shopped for a second frame for another project, I did not even consider this brand.

I had originally purchased a frame from Target but it did not last but a few days. This frame has much better picture quality at only a few dollars more than the Target frame. This frame is also the top rated digital picure frame on consumer reports and I know why. The picture quality is great and the set up as well as operation is very easy. I recommend it highly and with the Squaretrade 3 year warranty for only $12.99 it made it a better deal.

I bought one of these at Best Buy for $129.99 in December for my office. I love the piano black bezel and it is easy to use.

The outer diameter is 8" X 10", so I was able to put my own wood frame on it (GOLD looks hot!). My customers always comment on it. I use it as my clock, have it play music in the background and play slide shows of my vacation pictures.

I just bought another one for my wife. She put it in the living room, using the wood frame and ivory matte that were included in the box, to match our wood decor.

Excellent image resolution. Very professional looking. USB to your computer then drag & drop pictures and videos. Cool 1/2 calendar 1/2 slideshow option. Auto-timer for daily on & off times. Cool product!
CON: Would be nice to control settings more simply. The menu is a little complicated (unless we just got a bad remote)and was frustrating but I would buy the frame again.

I had misgivings about buying this frame. Experience with another brand (from a non-Amazon seller) had been bad, and the reviews of the MF801 here didn't give me that much confidence. But I bought it, largely because of the Consumer Reports top rating, and it has turned out well.

The 800x600 images are bright and clear. Using the menu was a bit of a puzzle at first, but then I actually read the instructions and things got easier. I've got a Kingston 16 gig SDHC class 4 card and it works perfectly. To save space and to make the frame's display work faster, I downsize my multi-megapixel images to 800x600 (but with very little jpeg compression) before loading them on the card. I use Visualizer Photo Resize, a free program, for the resizing.

The only significant problem area I had was that the digital frame wouldn't play edited videos, neither MPEG nor AVI, but would play them only straight from the camera. I went to the manufacturer's website for tech support. There was no applicable firmware update. But they offered an opportunity to email them, which I did. They replied within 24 hours and the answer was helpful: download a program from [...] called "Any Video Converter." It took some effort to make the [...] site search function actually reveal the desired download, but finally I got it all done and the program works perfectly. I am now very happy with my digital frame.

A word of caution -- a couple of other video conversion programs that I tried didn't work out so happily -- one of them apparently trashed my Windows Media Player, necessitating a rollback.

I wanted a digital frame, this one works perfectly, images look great and the overall quality of the product is better than I expected.

Never used the audio/video player or the calendar, simply not interested, I'm using it as a picture frame and it is perfect for that job, really easy to set up, just erased the stock photos and replaced them with my own and that's all I had to do.

I use the auto on/off function to save power over the night.

Everything else about this frame was great, but a critical feature I was looking for was a random, shuffle mode, which was not available on this frame. I returned it for that reason. Who wants to put hundreds of photos on a disk and have them go in the same order every time?

I wasn't sure about getting this frame due to the bad reviews, but once i loaded about 100 pictures on it over the computer onto the internal memory I found that I really like this frame. I don't know how to set it to be random, but its really not all that important. The pictures look really nice and the ability to have it auto turn on/off at different times is nice for saving power overnight. I haven't had any problems and will probably buy another one