Customer Reviews

Digital Spectrum USB Digital Photo Frame (8x10)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This product is fun and makes a good photo frame, but I was not blown away; it met my expectations but did not exceed them.
You get a 5" by 7", 320x240, 4:3 aspect ratio LCD frame. The picture quality is decent, but not spectacular. I would say it is fairly faithful to the original pictures, but viewing them side to side with how they are displayed on a regular PC, they look inferior. But it is a 320x240, so it's not unexpected.
Viewing angle is a little limited, and the picutre colours and luminosity are noticeably different when viewed from different angles.
Setting up the frame was easy; in all, it took me about half an hour to get everything done (including installing drivers, programs, and even updating the firmware) and have it displaying my photos.
A couple of complaints; I would have liked the slide show to have a "random" feature, ditto with the transition effects. Also, it would have been nice to have a drag-and-drop from any Windows folder to the slide show composition screen. As it is, you can only place photos by using a clunky dialogue box to select pictures to be included in slide shows.

I'm conflicted about this product being good value for money, though; on the one hand, the screen is clearly NOT top of the notch and leaves quite a bit of room for improvement.
On the other hand, I looked around for similar products and found that they are substantially more expensive(Digi-Frame DF-560) or are clunky(Ceiva Picture Frame requires subscription and phone line connection). I guess the technology isn't mature enough for these types of products to be affordable and great quality (they are currently expensive and so-so quality).

I bought this to place on my office desk, and I'm pretty sure it will do its job. If you want a great looking frame, I would hold out a little more. If you can afford it, the Digi-Frame products look pretty good. ....

All in all, I find this product fun because it does what it says it does quite well, but the display is its achilles' heel. I have a feeling this category will pick up in popularity and technology soon so wait some more and you'll begin to see truly great products by around 2005. As a relatively early adoptor, I am content with it.

This review is for the 8x10 frame. First it should be noted that the Frame is 8x10 not the screen. The screen is actually 6.5 x 8.5. The product is solid and feels sturdy. It has the ability to be used as either a stand alone frame or hung on a wall. Pictures are entered into the frame via a USB port that connects to either a computer or a card reader. The display is nice but you need to stand back a few feet to appreciate it as it looks washed out up close. The image definitely leans towards the darker side but nothing that would be considered distracting. It also has a nice side angle viewpoint. The product ships with a program called Digital Pixmaster which is where you can create slideshows with text, WAV files and transitions. Pictures can be displayed for various time lengths from 5 seconds to 8 hours. You can also rotate the image orientation picture by pictrue. The real disappointment is in the way the program handles text and .WAV files. First, there is no control over font, size or position of text. It appears as a black bar with white text at the bottom of the picture. Secondly, the WAV files attach to the individual picture and not to the slideshow thus making it impractical to play background music throughout a slideshow. Furthermore, the program only works with available internal memory. This pretty much rules out the ability to load a music track saved in WAV format becasue its just too big to fit in memory. You are relagated to playing sound bytes which do work quite well. Overall the software is easy to use and accomplishes the task of creating slideshows quite nicely. The manual is short, sweet and to the point. You really will be up and running in minutes. Connecting to a PC was easy and painless. So why only three stars? Because it promises things it really can't deliver. The screen is smaller then advertised, the software is very basic and the much hyped stero sound is wasted on small sound byte files because the memory in the frame cannot hold even a 2 minute song. There is promise of the ability to run a slideshow from a USB attached device but no word yet. These are all acceptable items if you do not pay anwhere near the asking price of $499. Overall, if you have the cash to burn and want the best picture frame in this size then this is the unit for you.

I purchased the 8 X 10 Photo Frame as a way to display photos at my wedding reception and planned to use it in my home thereafter. I was able to get the product running and to load a 'test' set of pictures, but the product then 'froze' at the startup screen. I checked the Pacific Digital support website, which provided steps (basically, a sequence of buttons to hold down) to 'unfreeze' and reinitialize the unit. I tried this sequence several times, to no avail, and then called Pacific Digital customer service. After repeated messages left on a voice mail system ("we're sorry we missed your call - we'll get back to you") at all times of the day and night, I was unable to contact anyone at the company and no calls were ever returned. Long story short - our wedding came and went, the problem was never (and will apparently never be) resolved, and the Digital Photo Frame is now a $390 paperweight. Absolutely useless. My recommendation: DO NOT PURCHASE A PACIFIC DIGITAL PRODUCT. This is clearly a fly-by-night outfit.

I was a little worried about buying the memory frame based on some of the reviews here which said the picture quality was lacking and the company's customer service was poor. When I opened the box and found that it contained two USB cables instead of 1 USB cable and 1 plastic stand to hold the frame upright, I thought I might be in for a bad customer service experience.

I called the toll-free number listed on the web site yesterday and left a message. I receive a return phone call this morning. When I explained the problem to the customer service rep he said they would ship out a replacement stand immediately. So top marks for customer service.

As for the picture quality, on a screen of this size 800x600 is more than sufficient. I loaded a few pictures directly from a USB drive without reading the instructions. It was pretty easy to use the menus. I couldn't get the transition effects to work right, but after loading pictures with the included software everything worked ok. There may be something about that in the instructions, but I haven't read them yet.

The software automatically scales the pictures down to 800x600. They look great on the screen. The viewing angle is acceptable, the image is bright, and the colors accurate.

This memory frame was purchased as a gift and will go to my parents so they can have a rotating slide show of the grandkids. I will be purchasing a second one for myself. Other reviewers have said it is better to print your pictures and frame them. That may be the best answer for some people, but I'm running out of wall space for prints. The memory frame will let me display 90 of my favorite pictures in one spot.

I strongly discourage anyone from buying this photo frame.
The screen is too dark, and raising the brightness makes the whole screen whiter, washing out the picture. You will also not be able to see the image unless your are standing to the right of the frame and looking down. The viewing angle is sooo small that you will almost never be able to see the picture as you are walking past it. You have to stop and make sure the viewing angle is right to be able to see the picture as it would look on a computer screen.
In addition, the screen started flickering horribly after about 5 months, needing warranty repair. It would stop flickering if the photo frame was left turned off for a few hours, but would come back after a few hours of being turned on.
New photo frames are comming that are cheaper, have better viewing angles and higher resolution. I strongly suggest you wait for those.

A great idea poorly executed. The construction is cheap. The screen is marginal at best. But worst of all, it refuses to recognize any of the 3 digital cameras I have on hand or a USB card reader.

A piece of junk that I am now returning

I have had the picture frame for 5 months and it works great. Quality control and customer service from Digital Pacific, however, leave much to be desired. The product shipped without the wood frame the box said was included and the wrong software. After 3 tries, the software issue was resolved but the frame never was. Also, the company did not honor the rebate that was advertised. Great product as long as you don't have to deal with the manufacturer.

The 5x7 digital photo frame from Pacific Digital is very cheaply made, the lcd is very dark and flickers constantly.

Very easy to use. Easy to load pictures. Unfortunately the screen quality was very grainy and difficult to look at. Returned the item. Sony frames I've seen seemed much better, although at a significantly higher price. Still this frame is not worth the money. Also, be aware that the viewing size is much smaller than 5x7.

What separates Pacific Digital's Memory Frame from the small flock of other frames is the interchangeable frame, and that it uses a USB connection for loading images. The digital picture frames I've checked out in past required specific types of memory cards, a Web-based subscription service or, in some cases, both. With the MemoryFrame, you need only a digital camera, pictures and a little bit of time. Through the USB port on the back of the frame, you can load your images either by plugging your digital camera directly into it, or by connecting the frame to your PC. It will even work with a memory card reader.