SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer (SDV2-A-A30, Retail Package)

by SanDisk

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.4 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0006JKIC0
• Item model number: SDV2-A-A30
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #44 in Electronics > Camera & Photo > Accessories > Photo Studio > Storage & Presentation Materials > Digital Picture Frames
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

SanDisk's Photo Album (SPA) is a compact, sleek and easy-to-use device that enables you to display digital still pictures or video clips on your TV. Instead of crowding around your PC monitor, show off your latest digital images to friends and families using any TV set with an audio-video input. It's compatible with eight flash memory card formats as well as portable USB flash drives. You can use the SPA to play MP3 music files on your home audio system as well as add soundtracks to photo slide shows viewed on your TV.

The SPA supports eight flash memory card formats in four slots--CompactFlash Type I/II, Secure Digital (SD)/MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick/Memory Stick PRO, and SmartMedia/xD. The rear of the SPA has two USB ports--one that can connect to a PC (enabling you to use the SPA as an 8-in-1 card reader/writer) and another that can host a portable USB flash drive such as a SanDisk Cruzer Mini, Cruzer Micro, or Cruzer Titanium. There is also a slot for a second CompactFlash Card can be used as "archiving memory" for storing extended slide shows from images that are displayed from flash cards on the front side or from the USB flash drive, as well as store and replay video clips and MP3 music selections.

In addition to standard JPEG still images and MP3 files, the media player supports Motion JPEG and MPEG-1 for video. Playing MP3 tracks through television speakers or through a separate audio system is easy. Just load the SanDisk Photo Album with a flash card or USB flash drive that contains MP3 files and it will play them just like CDs on a CD player.

Product Description

Digital Photo Album, 2000 photo capacity, connects to your TV, compatible all popular digital camera media formats

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What they don't tell you in the instructions, March 6, 2005

By 

Peter S. Wyckoff "Pete" (Delta, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer (SDV2-A-A30, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)

I recieved the unit and hooked it up to a 27" TV. I then plugged in the compact flash card and turned the unit on. This habit came from experience with card readers and operating systems before WinXP that used to threaten you with all kind of awful things when you inserted or pulled a card out without doing it "properly". Having a card in a reader and turning the power on had always worked for me in the past.

The unit came up and displayed the SanDisk logo like it says in the instructions. However, the unit seemed to be locked up. I fiddled with it, checked cables, connections etc. Turned it off and on several times. Finally, I got frustrated and commented to my wife about how the unit wasn't working. The comments included several colorful adjectives that will not be used in this review. I then pulled the card out of the slot with the power still on and the unit displayed "insert a card".

I did what it said. The little green light blinked. It read the info on the card and started working as advertised.

If you read the instructions closely. Do exactly what it says in step six of the installation instructions. Then as it says - "you will see a message to insert a memory card".

Bottom line is, if you forget to take the memory card out when you turn the unit off, it will not work correctly when you power it back up with a card installed in a slot.

After I got past the power it up without a card in a slot exercise, the unit displayed JPG photos fine. It also played the sample MPG video of the gondola ride that you get with WinXP. It was a little jerky. Don't really know how it would work with digital video out of a video camera. The specs say MPEG-1 up to 8FPS.

There seems to be a slight delay after you push a remote key before the unit responds. The unit reacts more like a VCR than a computer to a remote keypress. Once I realized this, I slowed down my double click instinct. All of the functions worked fine as long as you push the button and wait for the unit to respond.

Pictures that are taken with the camera turned sideways (taller than wide) display smaller than pictures that are taken in normal orientation (wider than tall) The rotate and zoom functions will let you rotate, move around, and "blow up" the taller than wide view. The rotate picture funtion works OK but is a bit clumsy to use during a slide show.

The unit will display only JPG format pictures up to 16MEGS in size. The pictures I displayed were about 2.3MEG JPGs (file size). The picture size was about 18MEGS. The unit showed a crisper picture when the settings were changed to display "original resolution".

I bought the unit to show pictures directly on a large TV screen without any other hardware. If you don't have a TV with three input plugs (two for sound, one for video), you need to purchase a "modulator" to convert to coax cable output for older TVs.

All in all, I like the unit. It is cheaper than buying one of the "digital frames" even when you add the "modulator".

I plan on using the unit to display images on a TV for a relative in a nursing home. Using the compact stoarge media available today, it is possible to transport, store, and view of a lot more photos than you can carry in a suticase full of 3X5 photo prints. The pictures are bigger (better viewing for 80+ year old eyes) and everyone can look and comment on the pictures as you all view them together.

In my opinion, the only thing keeping the SanDisk Photo Album from a five star rating is the lack of a "modulator" built in to allow older TVs to connect without another "gizmo" that adds tranformers, cables, plugs, & clutter to the unit setup.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Affordable and Excellent after all!, January 1, 2006

By 

Elisa 20 - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer (SDV2-A-A30, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)

The SanDisk Digital PhotoViewer (the actual model is more recent than the one pictured here) is far less expensive than the other digital photo viewers. At first, I couldn't get it to work, but then (like the other reviewer here) I went back, started over, and followed the instructions exactly.

In my case, that meant plugging it in to the tv...not to the vcr and not to the tv with the vcr still plugged in. Instead, I unplugged the vcr cables and put the PhotoViewer in their place. I imagine that might not be necessary for everyone, but with my particular tv, it solved the problem completely. AFter that...turned it on...inserted my XD card...and it worked perfectly. It's a great little viewer--lots of fun for slide shows (I haven't tried them with music yet)--and very inexpensive to boot! Definitely recommended.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful add on, January 3, 2007

By 

Keith J. Stratton (FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SanDisk Digital Photo Viewer (SDV2-A-A30, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)

I have used this device on my old 36in Toshiba TV and it worked much better than I expected. Now I have a HD Plasma the images I get are fantastic. I would recommend this device to anyone with a digital camera. I have now purchased a second one for my son and he is as pleased with the ease of use and quality of images at his home.