Customer Reviews

Philips 9-Inch Digital Picture Frame (Metal)

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

My wife and I have bought two of these (one for us and one for her parents). The screen is extremely clear and bright. The size is perfect to view your digital photos. It is simple to hook-up to a computer and download pictures from a digital camera or a scanner. With a 1 GB SD flash memory card we have about one thousand pictures loaded and plenty of room for more pictures. It's great to see all your pictures easily instead on them being put away in a photo album or stored on your computer doing nothing. We love the different transitions in the slide show mode that are available. We also like being able to unplug from the AC adapter and sit down and look through them one at a time at our own pace. The rechargeable battery lasts about one hour. The built-in clock allows us to automatically turn the picture frame on and off at set times.

This digital picture frame is a winner. If you have a digital camera then you will absolutely love this. It also makes a great gift for parents and grandparents. Just load your family pictures both past and recent and enjoy the memories.

Bought the 9" digital frame the other day. So far have been very happy with it. Yes, the lcd screen is only 8" not the 9" that I and some others expected. The picture resolution is very good. Even though it states the resolution on this frame is slightly lower than the 7" model, I don't think it really makes a difference. The menu control buttons on the rear could use some improvement. They are not labeled except for the power button. This has lead me to push the wrong button on occasion. The onscreen menu is very easy to navigate. I was able to set up the frame in just a few minutes with very little input from the manual.

As many other reviewers have indicated, the quality of this frame is extremely high in terms of the material, build, and photo quality. The menu system is good but not great; I'd call it serviceable.

I noticed a couple quirks while setting up this frame (Note: my settings: 1GB SD card, all photos are in 1024x768 with no resizing; if you wish to maximize space usage, you can use a freeware Irfanview and batch convert to 720x540. I tried it and it works well, but adds an extra step to the process).

I first created various albums using the menu system. Then I connected it to the PC via USB, copied the pictures into the SD card, and all files are present within the various albums. However, the frame simply does not see some of the photos. The frame for some reason does NOT display all my JPEGs, even though all of them were taken from the same digital camera using identical settings. I made multiple attempts with no luck, and the problem appears to be random. Tech support had little to offer. After several attempts, I had no choice but to conclude this is a bug in the internal software of the frame.

After consulting an Amazon'com friend, I decided to copy all photos to the root (base) directory of the SD card instead of using multiple albums. This worked, as all photos were recognized and displayed by the frame. The only drawback with this method is that all pics are lumped into a single folder ("PC Folder") on the frame, and you cannot display a subset of your photos at a given time (using albums) which I wanted to do. I decided I was willing to forgo this option and just let it display all photos using a random setting.

In summary, I highly recommend this frame to anyone who is looking for an elegant digital frame that looks great. I advise against installing the software, but instead, use USB to drop the files directly to the frame's internal memory, or an SD card.

I chose this frame over its competitors mainly because of Philips brand recognition, and because it looked the best among all offerings. The frame basically works out of the box, and if you don't touch it, you can have nice, smooth slideshows that you'll enjoy. The best mode of operation I found on it was just plugging in a CF card straight from a camera. And honestly, it does look great as a frame I'd put on a coffee table somewhere, compared to its clunky competitors.

Unfortunately, the operative words are "don't touch"!
However, these frames are meant for people who are not tech savvy, and they are meant to be updated with new pictures frequently. The Philips 8' frame failed completely on both accounts, making this purchase one of the worst electronics shopping experiences of my electronics shopping career!

First of all, it doesn't like all JPEGs, it only likes some JPEGs. If you have photos that Adobe Photoshop has even looked at (with standards compliant updates of metadata, for instance) the frame goes crazy and shows giant X marks where the photo should be, taking several seconds to show even the X mark during preview. Everyone else shows the photos (web browsers, the MS picture viewer, photoshop, cameras) but the frame just refuses. For such photos, you have to slog through their own software to have them resized and metadata-sanitized, which works less than half of the time (see below).

Second of all, the user interface on the frame, though not entirely unreasonable, is completely incompatible with the notion of having LOTS of photos in it. Basically, if you're in thumbnail mode looking at photo #500 out of #1000, you have to page through all 500 photos before the one you're looking at, before you'll be allowed to exit the browsing menu. Especially if you're unlucky enough to have presented the frame with 500 of the JEPG files it doesn't like (taking several seconds to show each X thumbnail), getting out of the menu can take up your entire day. Who came up with that brilliant idea?

As others have already said, the PC software for managing photos on the frame is an absolutely unacceptable piece of trash. It doesn't work if you drag and drop photos too fast, it doesn't work with all flash cards (it doesn't like SD cards very much, especially those used with Canon cameras, whereas it's OK with CF cards as far as I can tell), it spends entire days trying to come up with the thumbnails of photos you want to move into the frame (even though MS Windows already has the thumbnails precomputed in the directories already). Furthermore, it keeps failing in interesting yet inexplicable ways, such as claiming you do not have enough space on the storage device, even when you have 80% free on the on-board storage. Forget about removing photos via the software; you'll just regret it. Certainly, don't expect to mix and match photos, manage albums, move in photos from a PC, consolidate photo stores, etc.

To top it all off, on day 3 of its use, one of the two frames I purchased just stopped working. The on/off button was on, but nothing was going on on the screen; no brigthness adjustment, no on/off switching, no resetting with the paperclip got it to relent and start showing something, anything, ever again.

The Philips support was offensive and unbelievably incompetent. After waiting for 45 minutes (I am not exaggerating folks), I got a person who basically recited the pitiful FAQ on the Philips web site for me. There was no way to speak to a technical person to escalate. Instead, I was asked to return their broken frame to them, at my own expense, and wait for 8-13 weeks for a replacement. Are these guys for real? Seriously.

I've owned many Philips devices over the years. It hasn't always been a beautiful experience, but overall I have had no reason to hate Philips before. This frame really changed my view of the entire company. Basically, I will never buy another Philips component again, unless my life depends on it (perhaps not even then...)

It is stated clearly in the manual that this product is Mac OS X compatible. Don't believe it. I bought two of the 8" metal frames as a gift for my parents and my fiance's parents. The idea was to load them up with photos from our wedding. Unfortunately, things did not go smoothly.

Let me begin by saying that I am a computer programmer and technically capable. When the frames arrived, I did a trial run with some old family photos. I shoot in raw with a Canon 30D and use Aperture on a MacBook Pro. I exported half sized jpegs and copied them to one of the frames via USB. Once loaded, I tried to view them, but the frame crashed. When I say crashed, I mean the screen froze for several seconds, then went blank. The only way to restore it was to hit the reset button on the back.

I decided to try loading some images onto a CF card to see if the frame just didn't like the images loaded directly onto it. I erased everything I had put on, then installed the CF card. I got the same result--instant firmware crash.

I resized the pictures in Photoshop Elements to the native resolution of the frame--maybe they'd been too large? I put these edited photos back on the CF card. This time the frame didn't crash, but it only showed some of the pictures. The rest showed up as boxes with large Xs in them. Not very satisfying.

After finding a couple of reviews here that stated pretty much the same thing, I decided to return the frames. It's a shame, because physically they are beautiful. Unfortunately, the firmware just isn't good enough. The sad part is that the latest firmware update is from Nov of 2006, so although Philips knows there is a problem with the product, they have done nothing to address the issue. I'd always thought of Philips as a provider of premium products, but I now question their quality assurance. It will be a while before I purchase another Philips product.

I bought 3 of these Philips frames in the past month for gifts. They are awesome. No trouble with any of them. I read a lot of reviews beforehand which was very helpful and made my experience with the frames trouble-free. The best way (which I read from someone else) to put photos on, is to buy the $9 all-in-one card reader (USB device) which reads a variety of memory cards. This acts like a little hard drive then. Put all your photos on the card in a folder (not on the main level or root). Then insert the card into the frame and you are done! No problems at all! I did not copy any of the photos onto the frame memory, only the card, so I can edit my library whenever I want easily from my computer and dump the new library on the card.
The date function is the only thing I found to be defective. You can't set a date past the 12th. Which I read was a problem for others too. But if that is the only glitch so far, I am pleased.
The metal frame is by far the best I think. Looks and feels expensive and fits to any decor. I would not advise the so-called Wood frame. It's plastic, and looks cheap and 70's-ish.
Awesome frame, a great gift and now I need a 4th one for myself!

I did a lot of research on these frames, and I couldn't be happier with my choice. I got it for a present for my technologically-challenged mother. The intuitive buttons are a snap to learn and make this frame SO much nicer than other frames. There is a joystick and 2 smaller buttons right at the location that your right fingers hold the frame. All of the functionality can be done with this. The screen looks awesome - nice and bright, and adjustable brightness of course. The transitions are cool too. This is definitely a superior product to most of the other frames. I used a 1gb SD card with no issues - the simple software resizes the images automatically and puts them in the albums you create. So you don't have to worry about resizing each individual picture or anything. The frame also has auto-tilt like an iphone; so if you stand it upright, the next pictures will display that way.

The internal battery lasts quite some time and is a great feature. Overall I love this product and would buy them all day long if I had the money!

Having purchased three inferior products at [...]respectively, I must say this frame at [..]is a keeper. Its everything I was looking for in a digital frame, and a few things I was not. The color and clarity are amazing, there are plenty of options for the slideshow, and it even knows when you have turned it on its end in the middle of the slideshow, and re-orients the picture appropriately! It was very easy and intuitive to set up, and within minutes I had 600 pictures loaded on to a SD card and ready to go. (The 1 GB card cost me [..]at Staples, and it is only half full!) I just unplugged it to take it to lunch with a friend and show her, and the battery worked just great. She is buying one for her husband for father's day, and now I guess I'm going to have to buy one too. Really, the only problem with this product is that you are going to want to buy one for everyone you know.

Firstly, I've owned this product for 1 month now, and this product has been running for 1 month now without my touching it. So rest assured that this isn't your overnight overly excited review.

----> Pros:
1) The physical construction of the frame is beautiful, sturdy and solid. You will find no creeks on this frame, and the metal-frame itself is a real eye-candy, if you're into that sort of the whole futuristic white-metal look.

2) The screen is very good, as others have pointed out. It's not as great as a HDTV screen, but it's definitely good enough to give the impression under broad daylight that it actually is a frame holding a picture.

3) I actually found the use of the user interface (UI) to be particularly simple. I believe as long as you keep your mind open and not try to compare the UI to anything, you will quickly find out how easy it is to navigate through the menus.

4) (MINOR) I consider it to be an upside when Im not forced to have to use the supplied program that came with the frame. When it comes to tech-stuff, I like to do things the manual way, so I'm not sure about you.

----> Cons:
1) (MINOR) The build of the buttons and joystick could have been a little better. There are minor annoyances when navigating throughout the UI. For example, if you're moving the stick left, it records as a push down on the stick instead. This is also due in part to the fact that the joystick is at the back and you cannot properly coordinate your joystick-push actions. It's really minor, nothing to get upset about, take my word for it.

2) In a month of use, under certain SD cards, the slideshow would stop working. The SD card would not be read in the slot (SD card was a 1 GB Sandisk). I had to physically restart the product in order to get it going again, only to have this happen again after 20 ~ 30 hours of running? However, after changing into a 2GB Micro SD with the SD adapter (Made in Japan model), the frame has been running flawlessly for a month without problems, at all.

3) (MINOR) Perhaps more internal memory could have been supplied? But I'm guessing if that were the case, the price of this product would have gone up further. I put this here because it may be an annoyance for some. It is not for me though.

4) (MINOR) The turning leg-support at the back that allowed you to switch between landscape/portrait could have been designed with more angle flexibility in mind. Again, I put this here for those who are concerned. I do not find any problem with the way it is now.

Having said that, I'd like to express my tips and tricks in knowing how to effectively use this product to its maximum potential.

1) If you plan to have a lot of pictures without placing them in folders (Just the root of the card), format your card in FAT32. If not, you may not get past 250 pictures or so.
2) DO NOT USE THE SUPPLIED PROGRAM. Simply copy your photos into the SD cards or whatever it is you're using and you're good to go.
3) If you want to edit pictures, do it on your computer. Don't toy around with the pictures through the frame.
4) Don't bother with the USB cable.
5) Use Irfanview to mass-convert photos into the frame's natural resolution (720x540).

My setup:
- No folders have been used. All pictures are stored in the root position of my SD card.
- It is set to turn on for 8 hours a day, and 12 hours during the weekends.
- Running time : a month of going without having to adjust it for whatever reason.
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I hope this has provided you with some sense of how this product is. Just remember, don't use the supplied program and you will be much happier with it. I understand that the CONS are longer than the PROS, but they're mostly just thoughts on how the thing could be improved upon for future versions. For myself, I absolutely love this product.

Cheers.

If you are a Mac user and are looking for an easy to use frame for your parents, DON'T buy this. If you are a Mac user and have photoshop then this is a good quality frame once you have gone through a few extra steps. Personally I really like this frame and would buy it again but the software doesn't work on a mac, in fact it froze my Mac G5 10.4.10 several times when trying to connect the frame directly using USB.

The SOLUTION: use photoshop to crop the images to 688x448 150dpi, native frame resolution. Then transfer the photos to a SD card or similar using a USB card reader which are cheap now days. I picked up a generic reader for under $10 and it works great. By using photoshop I have complete control over which areas get cropped and it fills the frame 100% so you don't have black edges around the photos. It does take some extra time to manually crop each image but the end result is awesome for a pixel perfectionist.

The interface on the frame is average, it could definitely use some improvement but it is not something you have to deal with too often once you have the frame running with the auto timer set. Its really a non-issue for me.

The things I like best are the picture quality, viewing angles, and the timer. It looks the best if the viewing distance is less than 10-12 feet, any more than that and it looks a little small.