Customer Reviews

Kodak Easyshare W820 8-Inch Wireless Digital Frame

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought the product as a gift for my parents. My hope was to buy a wireless digital picture frame that could download the latest family pictures to my parent's living room. In short: if this is what you want it to do, you're buying the wrong frame.

The positives on this frame include: 1) bright, crisp display, 2) attractive packaging, 3) reasonable price to value (assuming wireless is a pre-requisite), and 4) good picture/video/music format support (you'll likely need to convert videos to MPEG though).

But where it fell short was in my expectations. I didn't want to upload a static set of pictures to the frame's flash card - I wanted to have it download them daily from the web.

So here are the shortcomings:

1) Spotty wireless support - I couldn't ever get it to recognize my WPA-enabled wireless network. I could remove security or access it via WEP , but never could connect with WPA security on. Documentation here is non-existent.

2) Poor computer software - The approach for putting pictures on the frame is to install software on your computer, and have your frame connect to your computer to download pictures. I couldn't do this, likely because my computer has a firewall. Unfortunately the user documentation doesn't provide any detail for me to troubleshoot and resolve.

3) Limited web support - I tried to download pictures from Flickr, but it just hung the frame. I also tried downloading from Kodak Gallery, which actually did work, but was not really usable due to performance. The frame can easily download a few pictures from Kodak, but if you had 20+ pictures, it just sits there and hangs while it downloads each and every picture (not sure why they it can't download pictures in the background).

4) Web vs. flash - You can set it up to either show pictures from the flash card, or show pictures from the web (with the restrictions in #3) - but not both. I guess I had hoped for an option to download pictures in the background from the web.

So in short, it's actually a nice frame - but as with most Kodak products, suffers from poor software (both for the computer and frame).

Just like almost everyone who bought this frame, I wanted it to stream from my Flickr account into my parents home.

The usability of this frame is terrible. It drops wireless connection all the time, it freezes, and the UI is awful. The Kodak software you have to use to manage the frame is also terrible. Nothing is user friendly, nothing is intuitive. Even with the latest firmware and software updates. The slide UI is ridiculous and seldom works as expected.

The lack of control over what streams from your Flickr account is also non-existent. I doubt my parents want to see all my contacts photos too.

I realized after spending two frustrating days with this frame, that handing it over to my parents would be down right evil. If I was frustrated beyond belief with it, they would be completely lost.

Run away from this frame if you are buying it for its wireless capabilities, you will lose many frustrating hours of your life to it, that you can never get back. Seriously, I had high hopes for this frame, and did my best to not let it beat me. I am now returning TWO of them. Why are you still reading? You should be running.

I will keep this review short and to the point as I am full of anger towards Kodak for selling this ill-executed garbage of a product.

Background
I wanted to buy wifey a digital frame for her b'day. One that would easily be updated (wireless). I addition I wanted to buy my parents one so that they could see pictures that we uploaded to the web. Great thought. So we found the Kodak. They claim that they can connect wirelessly to Framechannel and other services and function through a homes wireless network.

We received the frames
We got 2 per the above. Upon installing the first frame it kept on getting stuck in the boot frame. I could not get past it. So I tried 20 minutes of restarting and resetting. To no avail.
Then I tried the second frame and that one booted through and started. I set it up and it worked... for about a day.

Client service
So I got their South American client service on the line. They had NO CLUE about how these frames function. They had no clue how to speak English. Sorry, but the truth. Eventually I asked for a manager to talk to me as I wanted to get an RMA and they kept on saying that I needed to call the company I bought it from (I bought it directly from Kodak store, duh).
Anyways, no luck there and finally someone from the Kodak store said they'd give me a refund if I would send it directly to them.

The second one: after a day or so it would get stuck in the hourglass and when rebooting it would sometimes work and sometimes, for days, it would not work. I thought it was my internet (nothing else has a problem with it) so I tried using and SD card. Same symptom: after about 2 hrs it would freeze, reboot, get stuck and not work for days. No reboot would help.

So we called client service. No speako (I am a non-native English speaker myself and do not say this lightly, but you CANNOT expect clients to remain docile if someone keeps on speaking gibberish on the phone). Finally I apologized myself and called the store again. Since it was now past 30 days I could get no refund. I called the helpless desk in Brazil again and another lost soul tried telling me to reset my router, press the select button (which would not respond to touch) and so on. Finally they said I should send it in at my expense. Are you ^*#%$*&#& kidding me?

Kodak ships junk and I need to pay for it to be fixed???

Going forward
I turned the frame into a little project whereby I am trying to hack the software. 230$ junk. I bought a nice Samsung and both worked SO MUCH BETTER.

Kodak is creating sub-par junk from China and has poor quality control and client service. I recommend looking at online reviews and try the Samsungs instead. Sooo much better.

It works.

Just need to upgrade to the latest firmware
(Mine is using oct 2008). I am able to connect using my G router (WPA2 Personal - AES). So for those that claim it does not work, well it works for me.

I am using it to stream the google picasa and facebook to my living room. Works pretty well.

I purchased this frame for my elderly mother and father as they live out of town and are not able/comfortable with updating the Kodak M820 (same but no wifi) frame that we gave them for Christmas in 2008. Before installing at their house, I setup and tested the frame thoroughly at my own home and in a nutshell I was blown away at the overall value of this frame. I updated the firmware immediately, and the wifi connection to my home network was easy, however it takes some time to select your passcode by arrowing thru the alphabet, but it's only done once in setup. Colors are vivid, and I found the best picture quality by using a high quality jpeg compression and "not" allowing the frame to fill the screen w/ the image.

For total remote control, the key feature is Frame Channel. I ended up using Frame Channel ONLY (no internal memory/cards) which allows complete and total remote control via the Frame Channel website. Using the Frame Channel website you can select any manner of RSS feeds, upload photos to the frame, configure a wide range of premade services such as weather 4cast/radar, news feeds, etc. I found this worked very reliably and my parents loved the weather services along w/ family photos. You can upload photos via the website, or any authorized users can email photos to the Frame Channel service and they will automatically appear. ([...]) I tested this from Android phone and PC and it worked like a champ, so all family can participate easily, plus you or your parents can moderate, delete any unwanted photos easily from the website and it will update the frame within minutes.

If your parents have wifi access, this frame is a no brainer and an excellent value. We are now considering getting one ourselves as during the testing we got used to the regular weather updates, weather radar, famous birthdays on this date, and other feeds that our standard digital frame doesn't provide.

I bought this frame as new year gift for my mother overseas. The wireless capability and the RSS feed are the most great things for me on this frame. I set it up when I was there and now I can easily feed the frame via web with recent photos of mine and she is amazed with that.

The web-portal is easy to use and there are multiple ways of feeding photos to the frame. Now, my brother in Switzerland also feeds the frame with his photos and this makes our mother much more happy!

We decided to upload photos to Picasa and then using the web-portal ([...]) we can select which of the Picasa albums to run on the frame, we can set the priorities to different feed channels and many other useful setting options are available.

The resolution of the frame is not great, you may not see the fine details on the pictures but the colors are really bright and as a frame that provides enough satisfaction for all of us.

edit: Please read the e-mail from [...] on June, 15th
FrameChannel Users -

Due to challenges with the economy and our company's financial situation we've been forced to make a tough decision and will be shutting down the FrameChannel service this month.

We have provided a mechanism for you to download any of your photos that are hosted with us in the My Photos channel or that have been emailed to your device via the My Friend's Photos feature.

You may log into your account at [...] to download your photos, but the service will soon stop delivering content to your devices. To download your photos, log into your FrameChannel account, click the Download My Photos tab, and follow the instructions there.

For those of you using your devices for commercial applications, you may wish to take a look at the SignChannel service. That service is owned an operated by Scala, Inc., a worldwide leader in digital signage. For more information, please visit [...]

We thank you for your support of the FrameChannel service.

-The FrameChannel Team

If I were you, I would ignore the older Amazon reviews. There is a new firmware update that really makes this frame amazing. Right out of the box, my frame found my WAP wifi in my house. It was a pain to enter the security key, but whatever - you only do that once. It then automatically found the firmware update and, about 5 minutes later, my frame had downloaded and installed the update.

Importantly, I have NEVER loaded any software onto a computer or even connected it via the USB. I found that framechannel - which is included in the firmware update - does everything I could need.

I have my Picassa web album updated into framechannel and that runs on the frame. Direct your web browser to framechannel and set up an account. You can even run a simulation of what it will look like on the frame - all before you buy anything.

This thing is really amazing. I have rss feeds, photos, weather, sports scores and more all randomly displayed on the frame in my living room.

My only complaint is size. This is 16:9, so horizontal photos look fine (even cropped), but the vertical photos are only about four inches tall. (The screen is 7" x 4")

You can even set the frame to turn on and off at certain times of the day.

I am really happy with this frame. At this size, the picture quality is fine - there is no issue with low resolution.

I am puzzled by the negative reviews here. My suspicion is that some of these folks are technologically challenged or have their own wifi issues aside from the frame.

I've had this for a week and LOVE it.

(BTW - it DOES work for the MAC. You just get the software online from KODAK)

Great slideshows and I easily added music with a cheap SD card!

The biggest benefit is that online photo storage is FREE (unlike the CEIVA frame which we disconnected due to an expensive yearly fee) and sharable. Also - FREE Internet RSS links.

The only problem - getting the family to the dinner table because they are entranced by the slideshow!

$99????? WOW!!!!

Bought this for my sister and brother-in-law who are techies! They loved it! Said it was easy to use and within minutes they were loading it with pictures and videos of their kids and new granddaughter. Good value too. Priced all different types and Amazon price was the best. Also read previous reviews about other frames and this one and that helped with purchase. Included free shipping and no tax and was delivered on time for Christmas! Couldn't be happier with purchase.

I bought this frame to automatically show my Flickr pictures. It connected to my wifi network seamlessly and I found it actually doesn't need to install any software on my Mac. The frame has a built-in webserver to configure it. So as soon as it gets connected to your network, you just need to find out which IP address it got, and access it from your browser. From there you can configure Framechannel, Flickr or any RSS.

I found I can use it with Flickr in two ways: allowing it to get images from Flickr directly, or using the Framechannel and you configure Framechannel to connect to Flickr. I prefer to use Framechannel, as Framechannel basically allows you to randomly mix as many RSS feeds as you want. Both methods allow you to view all your pictures in Flickr, including images configured as only you can see. Actually there's a third method: you can get the RSS feed URL from Flickr and configure the RSS on the frame, however this method allows the frame to see only images that are public on your feed.

It seems older firmware of this frame had some bugs, but as soon it connects to your wi-fi network it automatically detects if there's an updated firmware available. You just need to accept its offer to update the firmware.

Pros:
- Framechannel works great, it allows me to show any RSS feed I want, including Flickr
- Direct Flickr integration works well
- Wireless works perfect in my apartment, no signal drop (although its only a few meters apart from the wifi router)
- No need to install any software in your computer, just find the frame IP address and access it from your browser

Cons:
- Resolution of 800x480 is average, I've seen higher resolution frames, but they're much more expensive and don't include wireless update