Customer Reviews

Smartparts SP104MW 10.4'-Inch LCD Digital Walnut Wood Picture Frame

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Right now the market for Digital picture frames is immature, so it is difficult to know what to purchase. Even Consumer Reports' top choice (a sibling of this frame) has many detractors (see Amazon reviews for the Smartparts 8" Syncpix). Almost half of the reviews for this frame are bad, for what seems like quality issues.

With that said, once I figured out how to use the frame (and yes, as others have said, the documentation is bad and you pretty much have to use trial and error), it does a nice job of displaying pictures with a reasonable set of features. The colors are vibrant and adjustable - one of the earlier reviewers noted that their pictures were dark, but the frame has adjustments for brightness, contrast, and color. You can randomize the transitions between pictures (or choose a consistent transition from a set of about 20), and stop and start the slide show to spend time on a particular picture. I would have probably purchased the Syncpix, which has more features, except that I wanted at least a 10" frame and the Syncpix frames are only 8" or less. I looked at many frames from multiple manufacturers (Philips, Fidelity, etc.) and this seems to have the best price/peformance ratio.

I could probably write a book to document what is missing from the instructions, but I'll try to list the high points.

1. The frame is 640 by 480, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, or 1.33. Most consumer cameras shoot at this aspect ratio; higher quality cameras shoot at an aspect ratio of 1.5. The pictures I was trying to display had the 1.5 ratio, which will cause some cropping (you can't do a direct mapping). Even though Consumer Reports said that some frames come with a native 1.5 aspect ratio, I couldn't find any.

As it turns out, this frame works fine for 1.5 aspect ratio pictures. The pictures were automatically adjusted with only minimal bars at the top and the bottom (the adjustment technique is similar to the way letter boxing works on TVs, when movies are mapped to 4:3 standard TV screens). If you're a photo expert, you can use Photoshop or other software to adjust and crop the pictures yourself.

I was also concerned about what I considered to be low resolution - other frames have 800 by 600. However, this does not pose a problem - the pictures look excellent.

2. The frame supports many different types of memory cards (SD, CF, etc.), up to 2gb. It also comes with 128mb of internal memory. If you keep your pictures on a memory card, any time you turn the frame on, you will first see a menu screen where you can choose to view the pictures from either internal memory or the memory card. If you store the pictures in internal memory, you can set the frame up to show the pictures right away.

Most cameras use .jpg images. The native jpgs are typically saved at a high resolution, often requiring 1.5mb or more. However, with 640x480 resolution, you can save the .jpgs at a lower quality and not notice any difference. Download Optipix software from the manufacturer (google Smartparts optipix) - it "optimizes" your pictures to much smaller images (typically around 50 - 100K) and allows you to download the pictures to the frame. In this way you can store probably over 1000 pictures in the frame itself. After working with this for a while, I recommend this option.

3. The frame does not have native "step by step" mode. In photo mode, you are always showing the pictures in a slide show, either at slow, medium, or fast speed. If you want to spend time looking at a picture, you must push the play/pause button on the remote to pause the show, then push play to start again. You can view pictures a step at a time in Edit mode, but when you are in this mode there is an on-screen display menu that is always visible.

4. You can't do very much in edit mode. You can copy pictures to and from card storage and delete pictures. You cannot move pictures around - I found that you need to reload the pictures in the order you want to view them.

5. The frame does not have some of the features of the Syncpix. It doesn't have a motion detector, so it won't come on when someone walks by. The Syncpix also has much better editing capability.

So to summarize - these frames seem to be in the "early adopter" phase. If you can work with it for a while, it does what it promises. I give it 4 stars.

I would agree with the previous comment that the product is difficult to setup and run basically due to the extremely poor instructions. With that said, once I downloaded the updated software from the optipix site (optipix pro) and I played around a little with the hookup between my computer and the frame, I was able to upload photos without difficulty. The frame, once photos are uploaded, works with ease and displays photos in a beautiful manner. I would have given the product 5 stars but did not due to the poor instructions.

I bought this for my technology-challenged mother for Christmas. I get so frustrated because she can't figure out how to look at her email and I want to send her pictures of the baby. I set this up for her while we were at her house for Christmas, without even looking at the directions - it was so user-friendly. I downloaded pictures from my camera, that we had taken while we were there, to the frame's internal memory. I walked her through using the remote and now, with a couple of clicks, she can operate it by herself. I plan to mail memory cards to her so that she will have updated pictures. Hopefully, she will be able to manage sliding the memory card into the side of the frame! I love the clarity of the picture, the display size, and how simple it is to operate - I plan to purchase one for myself.

I searched for a month to find the best price without sacrificing quality. There were not many reviews out there for this picture frame. So, I was a little nervous when I did place the order. When I opened it, I was in love. The wood finish is beautiful.

I was a little unsure on how to load pictures into the frame from my computer. I did not want to use the chip from my camera because I like to keep my camera ready for taking pictures. The directions were a little unclear on how to do that. I ended up figuring it out on my own.

I went to my pictures that were saved on my computer. I right clicked it and sent it using the USB connection between my computer and the frame. The frame does come with one.

My only complaint is that the frame makes the pictures a little dark, so make sure you lighten the pictures before loading them to the frame. This is a great buy. It is very easy to use. The remote is awesome!

I bought this frame for a gift so I wanted to preload the pictures onto the frame. Their software is not compatible with my imac, so I found the easiest way to load the pictures was with a USB storage device. Very simple and straight forward. Image quality is excellent and is a true 10"inch frame. Highly recommend it.

I bought two of these to give as gifts, I liked the large size and their other model had a very good review. The wood frame did not have as nice of a finish as I would have liked, it's a little dull. Downloading was easy and one of the units had a very crisp picture quality. The other unit had a picture that looked washed out. I called their service line and they were very friendly, they sent out a pick up order to have the unit returned. Just over a week later I received a new one and it works great. If you want a unit with a large display, and want one with a wood frame, I would recommend this product.

I love this. My brother had one and I just flipped over the picture color and how easy it was to put up pictures. I haven't figured out how to add music...my sons will have to show me...but wow, if you want a great gift for you or a family memeber...this is the thing to get them. Now I want to get small gig photo cards so I can always have a new one to put in and to keep in my camera and it even plays movies you put on the card. WOW. You will love it.

I am extremely happy with my purchase. It has a nice appearance - the wood looks good but could have benefitted from a coat or two of urethane. It was easy to set up and I had uploaded all of my pictures to the internal memory in less than 10 minutes. I was suprised when it advertised 128MB but actually had more like 250MB! Great Suprise!

I had read other reviews by people who had reliablity issues but I have no complaints. Lots of people comment on how great it is. At electronics stores I have seen lesser pictures frames go for nearly twice as much as I found on Amazon. Happy enough with the product that I purchase one for my parents for Christmas and their experience has been the same as mine!

The product itself is well packaged and an excellent 10" frame for viewing your digital pictures BUT it froze up after load it withjust a minor number of pictures. The wosrt part was to get someone to answer the phone for a return pick up authorization. Now after two weeks of calling the warrentee company, manufacturer, and Amazon it is finally going back hopefully for a replacement that works. I really like the products look and actual frame itself just want one that works.

Ordered the Smartparts 10.4-inch digital frame directly from Amazon several weeks ago. Received the product a few days later and set it up. Unfortunately, there were several red stuck pixels on the display in the middle of the picture. Ug!

Called Amazon and they handled the return, though they didn't have any in stock. So, they offered to replace this through a third party, TheFatoryDepot, even making up the difference in shipping costs. Amazon is first class.

The unit from the TheFatoryDepot arrived in a few days, and then...you guessed it, more stuck pixels. This time blue stuck pixels near the middle of the display. I'm returning this unit, but TheFactoryDepot charges return shipping of course.

I had been looking for a digital picture frame for over two years. Most of these frames have mediocre reviews, except for this one and the Sony. The Sony is way overpriced, so I chose the Smartparts 10.4-inch digital frame. Though this frame looks good, they obviously have manufacturing problems. So I'm posting this review so that other buyers don't make the same mistake.