Customer Reviews

Pandigital 9.2-Inch Digital Photo Frame With 2 Interchangeable Frames

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I spotted this frame at my local BJs and thought it was a pretty good deal at $150 for not only displaying photos but also video. The frame has all the standard camera card inputs including memory stick duo as well as USB. The display size is a quite large 9.2". Also included is 256 MB of internal storage. From an operational perspective, I was impressed that I could take my memory stick duo pro chip from my camera, put it in the frame, and the pictures appeared! So the frame does a good job searching for picture files even when they might be under two layers of folders. Also, the picture quality was acceptable. I haven't seen any of the so-called high definition frames. So, I have no "frame" of reference for photo quality. However, I was satisfied with the picture quality of this frame. The not so good news has to do with video. The frame is supposed to display mpegs, avi, and in particular (to me) mp4. The frame found the mp4 files on my memory stick duo but had problems playing them. Either they were played in slow motion or just froze. So, the frame failed on the video test. I tested out the internal memory by hooking the frame up to my laptop and was unsuccessful in getting the laptop to recognize the frame. After reading reviews of other Pandigital frame, it seems that is a common problem. I believe there is a work around to accessing the frame's internal memory by transferring files from a camera card instead of the computer. In summary, the frame is fine for displaying pictures right from your camera memory card. However, the frame cannot properly display mp4 video and accessing the internal memory is not straightfoward.

I bought this frame for my mother in law for mothers day. She has 4 grandchildren (so far) and not one more available place in her house for more pictures so I figured this was perfect. I also bought a 2GB SD card so she wouldn't have to worry about running out of room. I loaded the pics onto the card and pluged it into the frame and viola! The picture is nice and the ease of the plug and play is great for grandparents. I have not tried the video or music and doubt they ever will. For what I bought it for it's great. The slide show mode is nice and you can change how fast it flips through the photos. We're happy with it and thinking of getting another one for the other grandma.

I'm like you; I have thousands of images on my computer hard drive that I love to look at. But I only see them when I'm sitting here in my office and working with new images whose fate is to be electronically buried with the thousands that went before. I've printed out scores and scores of images, but their fate is similar to their electronic kin -- they're buried in albums or boxes and are usually viewed only when I'm adding others to the collection. I have a few framed prints on my walls, but space only allows... well, those few.

So when the electronic frames came on the market I, like you, was intrigued. But the big prices made me hesitate for a long, long time. I'm glad I waited.

But I should have done a little research...

A month ago my local Radio Shack had a sale on 7-inch Smartparts digital frames and I took the plunge on a whim. Hey, it was cheap. Boy was I disappointed. The image was small in that 7-inch screen; only by sitting a few feet away could you appreciate -- heck, SEE -- the images. And by "images" I mean only those in the strictest .jpg format! Even routinely modified .jpg images (cropped in Photoshop, let's say) would display as a text message declaring "Format Not Supported!" And the slide show displayed those images that passed muster at a pace far too rapid for my taste -- I think it was about every 5 seconds -- and there was no option to adjust the rate. However some images remained infinitely long; the slide show would freeze up on images that were very saturated with reds. Why? Who knows? I packed the Smartparts frame back up and returned it.

Only then did I do some research and read some positive reviews of the Pandigital line. Impressed by what I read, I ordered a 9.2-inch Pandigital frame from Amazon.

I love it. It has displayed every image I've put to it without protest. The large screen is perfect; I can see the images from everywhere in the room. It comes with a compact remote so I can make adjustments from across the room if I wish.

And the ability to make adjustments is what really sold me on this frame. The many options include the pacing of the slide show (all the way up to a full minute) as well as adjustments for brightness and contrast. There are slots for all sorts of flash drives including USB. The unit comes with 2 interchangeable frames which are sturdy and classy-looking.

And finally, the images look great! The LCD screen gives a luminescence to the images that almost reminds me of viewing color slides, or images in a stained-glass window -- backlit and vibrant.

The price is right for a product that gets all of your beautiful images out of your computer and into your living room, in a size that allows you to actually SEE them; and you don't have to cover your walls with frames and picture hooks! Get one and enjoy!

Purchased this before Christmas to replace a smaller digital frame. The advantage of this frame over the previous was clear. The images were bigger, the resolution was better, and I could load up a CF card with photos, slap it in and I was done! No problems at all! No computer needed except to transfer the photos to the CF card. I did not need to crop, downsize or otherwise mess with my photos. Highly recommend. I'm thinking about getting another.

My wife was pleased with the aesthetics and I was pleased with the specs, so we went with this unit from BJ's for $150 after doing a fair amount of research on the 'net. Brought it home and plugged in the thumb drive I had loaded with about 5 pics to test in the stores (can't do at BJ's--buy first, then try), turned it on, and the really beautiful pic's started coming up as a slide show. I took it to my PC to load the first batch of pic's and found it was oh-so-simple. The frame simply looks like another batch of drives (one per plug-in port plus the internal memory) to which I can simply copy from my pic files and paste to the frame's internal memory or device plugged into one of the ports. I toyed with some of the menu settings but really didn't have to change much. I had noticed that each picture "filled the screen" with no annoying black borders (except of course for the portrait pics) without distortion. I was impressed with the number of time intervals available for the slide show. I was also very impressed that I didn't have to reformat-downsize-alter-or whatever my files before loading. Plenty of room for many pics at their original size! I plan to have several folders on my PC hard drive with selections loaded into the various folders (trips, family, Christmas, etc.) so I can simply erase what's been loaded, then download the next batch of pics as I want. The length of the flip-out stand is also adjustable, so one can effectively adjust the viewing angle to some extent. (Important!) So far I'm very very satisfied. Hope I don't have to come back later and post some negative comments! I don't plan on using MP3 files and/or video, so you'll have to consult some other reviews for that. Good luck!

I ordered this for my mom (70th birthday) after shopping around a bit and reading lots of reviews. It was a little pricey for me, but well worth it. The quality of the picture is very good. I loaded all the pictures in for her and some music, but found that really annoying so deleted them back out. Super easy to load via usb cable on a PC. My Mac wouldn't recognize the frame, so had to put the pictures on a flash drive. That was a little more time-consuming. Don't think my mom could handle that one. The remote didn't work, so I called the company and they were happy to send out another. Shipped very quickly and packaged really well. Very pleased with this.

I like the viewable image size (a full 9") but I'd gladly have traded the matting which is ~1" and the framing width of ~1.25" in for more LCD real estate or else a smaller unit overall. With the matting and frame together this item is ~14.5" on the diagonal. In a similar vein, I'm convinced these things can be made much, much thinner. The transitions in slideshow mode are a nice touch without being over-techie. I do not use it for any video, so can not comment on that.

There are several reasons that prevent a glowing recommendation:

First and foremost is the viewing angle. With LCD display technology as advanced as it is at the time of this review, I'd have to say the viewing angle is near abysmal - optimal angles mustn't be more than twenty or so degrees off horizontal or vertical or else quality suffers greatly.

Another thing similar to above would be overall quality of images. It seems to be a contrast thing for the most part, but pictures with a lot of shadow/darkness suffer from what I suppose is a lack of gray portrayal. I have a mix of color and black and white photos on it and I attest that B&W photos as well as heavily shadowed color ones don't look very good, with all different shades of grey and black looking far too similar. However, this product holds its own among its peers (in other words, all of these digital frames seem to suffer from this) and excels only due to the price advantage it enjoys.

Next is the back-lighting. My unit definitely suffers from an over brightness along the edges ranging from ~1/16" to ~3/4". It's pattern-like, with the narrowest anomaly manifesting at the corners and the worst widening toward the center. Improving this, and even going with some long-life LED back-lighting would improve image quality, especially darker pictures.

My final gripe is its attempts to auto-adjust for images not formatted to its native resolution. It crops the images, more often to bad effect as not. A lot of snapshots have some top-of-head lopping done on them. I guess I'll just have to re-sample the images to the native resolution to avoid this problem.

I am very grateful to have received it; it's a great way to display pictures with less clutter. I just wish all the manufacturers out there would step up and put the effort into making these things must-haves for every home.

***** Update - 2011Feb24: Sadly, this unit ceased functioning around November 2010. The problem is not with the AC adapter, since testing it with a Fluke meter showed it as putting out the necessary power. The unit has always been plugged into a high quality surge suppressor. It isn't just the backlight either, as viewing the screen under different lighting conditions has shown that the screen is not being energized at all. So for it's poor longevity, lasting less than 3 years, its review score has been reduced further.

I was amazed at how quickly I got pictures to display. And the multiple choice of input modes is nifty (various memory card types, flash drives, computer). I prepared a flash drive with a set of jpg files, inserted it in the USB port, and easily configured the slide show parameters (I picked shuffle mode, a 30-second period, and mask transition (one of a dozen or so effects). And now it's displaying shots of my recent vacation to Budapest. It was also easy to substitute the brown frame for the alternate black. I also like that, in the one-shot mode, you can easily zoom in.
My only regret is that I didn't opt to spend more money and get a larger frame. This 9.2-in.-diagonal display is approximately 5x7 in., not bad, but 8x10 would be even better.
All in all, I highly recommend this item.

Bought this as an anniversary gift for my parents. They loved it. Easy to set-up. The pictures look great. I am thinking about buying another as a gift for Christmas.