Customer Reviews

Opteka DF-TFT8 8-Inch Digital Picture Frame with 128MB Built-In Memory (Black)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If you are looking for a frame that displays photos very well, and is easy to use -- this one is great for that! The photos look bright and very crisp. I was impressed with that aspect of the frame.

One of the key drivers for me in buying this frame over others is it's ability to display video (AVI) files. My digital video camera natively creates AVI files so I thought this would be a great way to actually display those little 2-minute clips I take while I'm on vacation. Unfortunately despite hours upon hours of tinkering (creating new AVI files in various configurations using video editing software) I am unable to get the frame to properly display AVI files . . . it does play the files, but the audio plays at normal speed while the video plays VERY slowly.

Perhaps there are some AVI files this frame will play just fine, unfortunately the details of what settings are required are not included in the manual or the manufacturer's website. I have emailed customer service, but have not yet received any response.

Additionally I have discovered there is no way to have a slide show that includes both photos and videos -- you can display one or the other, but not both.

For photos only I'd give this frame five stars. . . but the video aspect either doesn't work well, is totally unusable, or is very difficult to use. . . so I take away a star for that plus the manual, website, customer support are very lacking so three stars.

I purchased this for my husband. He loaded many photos onto the memory card and felt it was easy to load the pictures; Just like loading any other memory card. It performs well and has great picture quality. It is so wonderful watching long-ago taken photos on the digital frame using the slide show feature. I will definitely buy this frame again. I plan on buying another one for Christmas.

I purchased this as a gift for my mother who has no knowledge of computers or electronic gizmos and wishes to have family photos which today are mostly digital.

After a great deal of research checking out all reviews I could find, I decided to go with this unit rather than the others offered so far.

The unit itself is not bad at all. Picture quality to me was fine and the ability to watch camera movie clips with sound was a major plus.

The biggest problem I found was in the user manual. To me the manual is very vague...........especially for someone who has absolutely no knowledge of electronics with menus and settings. It took me quite awhile to figure out just how everything worked and I'm not exactly a novice working with electronics on a day to day basis. In order for my mother to appreciate this gift and not stick it in a drawer or closet, I had to create my own user manual so she could use it when received.

The other issue I have is the fact the box shows various frames you can switch out on this but finding them is another thing. So far I've only been able to locate the base unit in black.

Customer Service? I can't say as I haven't tried; but, go to their site and you cannot find much to help unless you write them.

If not worried about additional frames or not opposed to spending unnecessary time trying to figure things out with the controls and menus, the picture viewer in itself is not a bad little unit. I'm sure my mother will be pleased (hoping she can figure out and follow MY operating instructions).

I got one of these for my wife for Christmas, and it was the most successful gift I've ever given her in 27 years of marriage, I think.

The trick is that I bypassed the 128MB of internal memory and just put 2GB of photos of her grand-daughter and pics from our travels on a CompactFlash card, using the card slot in our PC, and used that instead. That way on Christmas morning she unwrapped it, plugged it in, and right off the bat was looking at pics of her granddaughter.

The 800x600 resolution isn't the equal of even an ordinary laptop (usually 1024 x 768 minimum)--but it's not a computer, remember. And its resolution is good enough to show my pics taken with a 5MP camera satisfactorily. I think anything less than 800x600 would be a problem. However, we use an 800x600 projector for slide shows at our dive club and resolution works even on a projection screen, so don't think this is going to look fuzzy or pixelated (unless your pics are already).

I did try accessing the 128 internal memory by hooking the picture frame up to a computer with a USB cable--available for a few bucks from any electronics store. I was surprised to discover that it uses USB 1.0--about a tenth as fast as the USB 2.0 every computer has used for years. But you're not going to be using this as an external drive anyway, so that's not a serious complaint. I use Windows XP Home as my operating system and had none of the problems Vista users report.

The workaround for Vista users is simple: just put your pics on a memory card like I did. The picture frame takes a variety of cards in a variety of capacities. If your PC lacks card slots--supplied with most new PCs--you can buy a cheap card reader that plugs into a USB port. I can get 2GB Compactflash cards locally for $10, readers for the same or less.

It also runs the kinds of movies a digital camera makes. I was able to run movies from two kinds of cameras (Sony and Olympus). I did notice that the sound seemed to stop after a while--must be filling up the buffer. But for the typical little clips shot by digital cameras it works fine, and having videos of her granddaughter in a picture frame on my wife's desk as work yielded a big wow factor.

I hardly needed the manual, but I know computers, and so does my wife.

At work she discovered she could switch it from the default shuffle mode (random display of pics) to strict sequential display, which she wanted. She was also able to change from the random sequencing mode (pixelation, fade in/fade out, dissolve etc.) to whichever type she preferred.

Note that a number of other reviewers didn't realize you could alter the default settings (and you can't alter them on some other kinds of digital picture frames).

So this is a flexible device produced in the smallest size that really makes sense (that is, 8"), since this format has the same form factor as most digital camera pictures.

Like another reviewer, I saw no sign of alternate frame colors, as was implied by the manual. But the black frame it came with works for my wife, and I like it as well.

These digital picture frames let us put picture albums on people's desks and walls. They're a great idea, and the prices and quality have finally reached a point where most people can use them. I picked this Opteka after reading hundreds of reader reviews and product descriptions on Amazon, and it was delivered really quickly as well, even though it was before Christmas and I only asked for regular shipping.

Plus this combines the natural desire of guys like me to buy electronic gizmos for my wife with her natural desire to get things that come from the heart. I took a majority of the pics on the frame, and all the pics show people and places and events that are precious to her.

I received this picture frame 2 days ago and have already loaded it with pictures. The picture quality is great and you can see it from all angles (no black screens). I love the fact that it has a USB port on the side so you can change your pictures fast without moving your frame. I have discovered converted avi videos on my computer don't play. The manual states it accepts motion jpeg avi videos from your digital camera. I will have to try that. The mp3 files play fine. The speakers are acceptable for the price. Overall, I like this frame and the way it looks as well.

Within minutes of receiving this frame I was viewing photos off of my compact flash - without even reading the manual! After reading it (easy to understand with a little computer knowledge), I was quickly able to load a bunch of photos onto the internal memory directly from my PC by the provided USB cable. It's a simple drag and drop(or copy) system. It is just as easy to remove photos. Note: the order in which you put the pictures into the flash file is the order in which they will play on the frame (unless you choose random play). I wanted my pictures to play in a specific order, so I had to put them into the file in that order. From what I can see, you cannot organize the order of play once they're on the internal memory of the frame.

The photo display quality is excellent. I've been shopping these out in person and this is by far the best resolution I've seen. So many of them are 'pixelly,' but this one isn't at all. The colors are true and you can adjust the brightness. I found that picture sizes between 100kb and 200kb were perfectly fine for viewing without being sluggish in loading. I couldn't quite tell what the frame looked like from the picture, but I really like the sleek, black, flat screen style.

I have no idea about the quality of video or audio files - I did not explore this function.

I bought this frame as a gift for my parents and preloaded photos on it for them, but I have no doubt that they'll be able to manage it by themselves. Now I want one for myself!!

Bought this product as a gift. This product has exceeded my expectations in every which way possible. The picture clarity is great, ability to store tons of picture on internal memory. Strongly recommand this product.

Just got this frame a couple days ago. The product is beautiful. Great Resolution and Very Nice Looking frame. However, the onboard memory drive is faulty and I am unable to upload images. The drives appear in my windows explorer, then dissapear, then reappear....I have tried copying photographs to it, only to recieve an windows error message that the computer cannot recognize the drive/device. This is not a huge deal, but I did have to go out and buy a second memory card.

Also, the frame won't read jpegs that I created in photoshop. They appear as a thumbnails on the device but will not display during slide show. I am not sure what the problem is with that - yet. The manual is very limited. I have tried contacting customer service (only option is via email) we'll see if I get any response.

Overall it is a great frame - this is the third frame I have purchased and the only one I will keep. I returned the other 2 because of terrible resolution and overall shoddy quality. This one, despite its flaws is a keeper.

i've had some bad experiences with digital photo frames in the past, so i was leery about buying this one. read some of the reviews here, as well as elsewhere on the internets, and decided to take a chance. very glad i did. very well built camera, and the image quality is great. native resolution is 800x600 (4:3, same as most digital pictures), so it was a 5 min job to grab 250 of my best pics and run them thru irfanview's batch resize program to bring them down to 800x600 resolution (you can load them as is, but you won't get near as many on the internal memory of 128mb). i originally loaded them all to a viking SD card and plugged the card into the photo frame. i was immediately impressed by the quality of the images as they were displayed on-screen. very true to color, and no visible pixelation. unit comes with a small remote that you can use to pause/stop the slideshow, control the volume (if you have mp3 songs loaded in for the slideshow), change the settings (such as transition effects, time of display, etc). very nice. you are also able to change out the actual "frame" if you don't like the included glossy black frame (you have to buy the other frames separate). i bought this for my mom for Christmas, but after 5 minutes of playing with it, i was sold and went to purchase another for our own home. i've only been using it for half a day, so i can't comment as to "long term", but my initial impressions are very good, and i'm normally one not easily impressed.

Piece of junk. There are MUCH better units on the market. Stay away from this unit and 47th St. Camera. I wish I had. Have to load each photo individually, then it will not display all that have been loaded. I used all .jpg images, resized them to 800x600. Will not display more than about 125 images. TERRIBLE software and freezes up my computers, both XP and Vista, plus photo frame itself freezes. Wasted over 20 hours trying to get this junk to work correctly and I have been working with computers for 15 years. I can usually find a work around, but not with this product. Gave up on the internal memory (1 gig)and went to a memory card. Card worked fine in other devices. I reformatted it, still same poor results. Bought for an elderly relative. Buttons on remote too stiff for her to push and same with buttons on upper rear of unit. Poor menu system, when on the rare occasion it worked properly. Owners manual almost non existent. Do not bother trying to put photos in as a file. Will not work at all. Total pain. Unit is heavy, all glass front, shows finger prints easily. Bought from 47th Street Photo, big mistake. To return for refund have to pay 15% restocking, unspecified "handling", and shipping, plus you have to ship it back on your dime. Still waiting, 3 days and counting, on a return authorization number from 47th St. They have not responded. Not surprising considering their reputation which I found out after I ordered from them. Amazon should drop them.