Digital Spectrum MemoryVue MV-800 8-Inch Digital Frame

by Digital Spectrum

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 11.5 x 2.9 inches ; 1.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BP8AMY
• Item model number: U-30301
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Digital Spectrum MemoryVue MV-800 Digital Frame is the ideal way to display your digital photos and video clips. With an eight-inch high-quality TFT LCD display, offering 640 x 480 VGA resolution and video playback up to 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second, this frame is sure to impress your friends and family. One of the frame's many cool features is its ability to add MP3 music tracks to the slide show. You can also connect headphones to it and use it as an MP3 player. An easy to use on board menu gives full control of the slide show and player functions. The MV-800 supports MPEG1/2/4, MP3, and JPEG files.

Product Description

The MV-800 digital picture frame is the newest in a line of photo player, MP3 music player, and video player. The MV-800 sports a bright, high-resolution, 8-inch TFT screen that displays digital photos and video clips in vivid color. Set up as a slide show and play directly from a memory card. The number of images is only limited by the capacity of the memory card being used. The MV-800 accepts CF/MD/SD/MMC and MemoryStick cards for maximum compatibility with major digital cameras. The unit is light, portable and easy to use. A great companion to your digital camera and an excellent way of showing off your pictures and video clips to family and friends. Another cool feature is the ability to add MP3 music tracks to the slide show or just connect headphones and use it as an MP3 player. A remote control is used to access the easy to use on board menu, giving you full control of the slide show and player functions. The unit also supports MPEG1, 2, 4 movie formats for play back of digital camera movies or movies created on the PC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MV-800 Digital Frame Review, December 15, 2005

By 

Evan C. Flechsig - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Spectrum MemoryVue MV-800 8-Inch Digital Frame (Electronics)

The MV-800 seemed to be the picture frame where I could get the most real-estate for the buck. I bought two of them for gifts for the grandmothers of the family.

It's pretty much exactly what I expected, nothing more nothing less. Dead pixel free, and the colors aren't dull, about average. It can be hung on a wall (but the cord would not be very eye appealing) or can be placed on a table (with a stand in the back). The stand seemed slightly flimsy; however it is more then sufficient to hold the weight of the frame.

There isn't internal memory which is good because you're not as limited to as much pictures/movies you can put on, but you'll have to add a sD card or other type of supported memory to your order.

The buttons on the right side seem a little cheap, however once again, its more then sufficient for the few times you'll use the buttons (because you have a very slim remote that comes with it).

The speakers in the back for the mp3s/audio from movie aren't impressive at all. It would probably work fine for audio of the family picnic, but don't expect to be rocking' out to 311 while playing a slide show of your concert pictures.

The matte is interchangeable, as is the frame, so you can match decor of the room; or just change it when you get bored. The matte and frame that come originally are attractive and would fit fine in almost any room.


UPDATED:
Both of the grandmothers of the family absolutely loved them. They both brought many tears seeing the sentimental pictures. Now for what you really want to know...

I noticed a few things before I gave the gifts out.

Before I wrapped them, I thought I'd be a good idea to get a few specs of dust/specs that were inside the plastic facing. Taking the frame and matte off was no problem, and would be very easy to replace. The one thing that I noticed was that the plastic from was rather cheap. I was considering cutting some glass to put in there, however was restricted on time.

The next critique is on the LCD itself. I took a much closer look to the quality of the LCD and it was below average on both. I'm not sure if its possible that I got a bad batch, but both of the ones i bought has a slight "tiger striping" effect. There were about 25-30 (guess) vertical stripes very thin in width that were slightly darker. What brought my attention to it was when they start up, it flashes a pure white screen. Upon further review, I found it affected the pictures as well. Now this didn't make me not want to get these as a gift. They are still attractive for the price, however if you're a techie and you want one for your work desk (and would notice things such as the problem described above), this may not be the LCD picture frame for you.

145 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm Underwhelmed, December 14, 2005

By 

Vinnie A. "CyberVinnie" (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Spectrum MemoryVue MV-800 8-Inch Digital Frame (Electronics)

I just got my MemoryVue today -- a Christmas gift for the in-laws. It's simple enough to operate; simply insert a media card and turn the thing on. It defaults to a nice slide show of the pictures I had on my CF card. Apparently it can also play MP3's and video, but I got it for the photo display.

My issue is that I shoot a lot of close-ups and in doing so I often shoot portrait oriented photos. While the MemoryVue allows me to rotate photos so they display properly, it doesn't remember the setting on the second pass through the slide show. So somehow I need to figure out how to store the photos on the CF card in the proper orientation; I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to do that since my computer seems to automatically rotate photos to their proper orientation.

Another issue I have is the user guide; it is two sheets of paper apparently printed on a laser printer and folded in half. The guide shows you what all the buttons are, but doesn't go into any detail on how the different features work. I am pretty much a power user of electronic devices, so I managed, but I am a little concerned about my retired in-laws.

Also, there is a black bar at the top of the display. 35mm photos are not exactly 4:3, so to fit in the 640 x 480 display, my 35mm photos are resized to 640 x 427. I wish the frame was smart enough to split the difference between the top and bottom of the display rather than leaving a roughly 53 pixel high black bar at the top of the display. You can adjust the vertical positioning of the display but it doesn't remember the settings after you turn it off.

The quality of the display itself is fair -- good enough for the in-laws :-D You can tweek the contrast, brightness, color temp and saturation to make it look respectable, but again once you power-off the unit, the settings are lost.

All-in-all, I wish there was a better alternative at this price point, and considering the explosion of digital photography, I'm really surprised there isn't.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the Phillips, September 3, 2006

By 

Jeffrey "the authority" (Del Mar, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Digital Spectrum MemoryVue MV-800 8-Inch Digital Frame (Electronics)

I purchaed this frame and the Phillips 7" digital photo frame. The Phillips screen while smaller is much much better for displaying photos. I would highly recomend NOT getting this frame. Buy the Phillips due to screen clarity, picture quality, and ease of menu navigation. I liked the wood frame on this, and I liked the larger screen size, but it does not make up for the picture quality difference. One star due to an actual frame and matting and screen size, that is, it "looks" like a picture frame, rather than an LCD screen.