Customer Reviews

Smartparts SP8EM 8-Inch Digital Picture Frame

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Pros:
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- Overall quality is excellent. Images are smooth.
- Back stand prop is very sturdy, as is the frame itself.
- Very bright and clear. (Has controls for brightness, contrast, contrast, and tint.)
- Remote control is flat and light. Can be stored with ease.
- Has many photo transition options.
- Can display one or four images at a time.
- Can display only one specific image if you want to.

Cons:
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- The one bug I've encountered is that (after a month of use) some images of a high resolution with a perfect 4/3 width/height ratio would be resized to something *smaller* than the frame's resolution and were displayed in the center. Basically, my rectangular images would be displayed in the middle of the frame with a ~40 pixel border of unused space. I've only seen this occur once so I haven't experimented with what causes it or how to fix it easily, but I converted all my 4/3 images size to match the exact resolution of the frame (800x600) and they display perfectly fine now. Note that it could just be a minor bug that can be fixed by removing the card and reinserting it. I haven't been able to play with that yet.

- USB transfer to inserted flash cards is painfully slow. Transferring .6 MB (one reasonable resolution photo) takes over 6 seconds. I would advise that you use your computer(/camera) to put all the images on the card that you want. Only use the USB interface to tweak the existing files, ie to remove and add a couple pictures.
- Slowest slideshow speed is about 27 seconds per picture. Not much of a con but I would prefer something more like one picture every minute or two. (A look at other digital frame specs seems to imply that all other frames have this same restriction.)

Notes:
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- The digital screen has an 8 inch diagonal. The entire frame itself is 8 and 3/8 inches by 9 and 5/8 inches.
- If you have images of largish resolution (say greater than 1600x1200) that you have displayed vertically, this means that the 1600 pixel height of the image will be scaled down to the frame's 600 pixel height. If the fame does this, it will give a hint of a grainy look. If you care to, you might want to scale the image down using a smart software program to get a better quality scale, and then use that image. Not a fault of the frame, just a practical limitation. Scaling 3 -> 1 makes it hard to preserve detail, especially if the image has lots of detail (ie, a facial close-up with a flash).
- Following from above: If you have pictures that you think look grainy, try resizing them to the frame's resolution with an intelligent software program. It will likely do a better job than the frame can do.
- The default brightness and tint settings may be a bit high. This is most evident in closeup photos with a flash. You may want to lower those two default settings from their defaults by a bit.
- I haven't tested the video/music playback, so I can't evaluate their functionality.

The "cons" section is longer than the "pros" section, but that's because there's more detail to say. In no way do the cons outweigh the pros.

Overall I'm very pleased with the frame. I scoured the reviews of a lot of digital frames before deciding on this one, which had good reviews. I have not been disappointed. I would highly recommend this frame.

You can get all the praises from other reviews.. I'll be more critical and focus on the gripes:

- The screen is not really as sharp as I thought it would be considering it's supposedly 800x600. The pics are grainier than they are on my laptop screen.. and I've tried all kinds of pic resolutions. You can definitely see the black gaps between pixels.. and viewing angle is not that great. Its not horrible.. but I really thought I hit the jackpot as most resolutions on these things are 640x480 (I couldn't imagine having that res on an 8" screen)

- Slideshow intervals is not as flexible as I would like. There is fast (~5 secs), normal (10-15 secs), and slow (30 seconds?). I'd prefer to be able to customize by the second instead. So that I could set it to 30 second interval or 5 minutes.

- Interface.. is pretty outdated.. not the most efficient thing in the world to get around. Practically impossible to get anything done without the remote control.

This is a nice enough product but be warned...I broke a tab off the stand arm while attaching it to the frame (yep, it was my fault). I have emailed Smartparts three times now with a request to purchase the broken part. All three emails have been ignored. Apparently service after the sale is not in their book.

For the price, this has got to be the best deal around for a digital picture frame. The picture quality is great (nice big screen, pics look better than on my laptop), the speaker sound is pretty good, and the customization options are easy to figure out and as much as I could hope for. I bought this for my office desk and it's a great way to avoid having dozens of frames taking up space.

There's plenty of disk space on here as well. I used the photo optimizing software that came with the frame, and I have about 600 pictures on there already, and room for a lot more as far as I can tell. Getting it to play music was a little less intuitive - I realized that they have to be saved to the frame as far as I can tell, but I have about a dozen full length songs on there along with my photos and haven't had a problem yet.
I have the brown/wood finish and its very classy - I def prefer it to the flat-screen-tv looking ones that other manufacturers have.

The best thing I've spent money on in a while!

The Smartparts SP8EM digital photo frame is a terrific item. It is easy to use and doesn't require the use of a computer to operate. You simply place your memonry card into the appropriate slot, plug it in, and turn it on and your pictures appear. The only thing you have to program it for is if you want rotating views of photos, etc. The display is great with excellent clarity, and the frame itself is extremely sturdy and made of excellent wood, unlike most other cameras which are made of a flimsy plastic. This item is well worth the price and is an excellent bargain at Amazon.

I've seen these around for some time and never paid much attention to them. Just another fad, thought I. Then.. I got this one for Christmas. Well, I have (now) over a hundred pictures on it. (On a flash card). It's something I wish I had gotten a long time ago. I have nine grandchilren and five children. What a joy to see them on a daily basis. There are three options for viewing... one, if you like, you can pick a favorite and let it show all the time..you know, like the "old fashioned" picture frames. Change it as often as you like. Or show three pictures at a time in an on going slide show. Or one pic at a time in an ongoine slide show.. Good color, sharp and crisp pics (and you can even adjust all that to your taste)and good quality. I'm gonna' be a good ole boy all year and maybe I'll get another one next Christmas. Seriously, I can highly recomend this to anyone...young or old (like me)..

I purchased the SmartParts SP8EM and it quit working after about six weeks. I contacted Amazon who would not do anything because it was sold through Capital Electorics on Amazon.com. I contacted Capital Electronics who would not do anything because their return policy is 15 days. I contacted SmartParts several times by email wiht no response and then I called their Tech Support and the number had been disconnected. I then call their Headquarters and spoke with a lady who promised to send me a replacement which never came. I called headquarters again and the phone number is not in service. The sad thing is Amazon and Capital Electronics are still selling this product with a worthless warranty and making money with no thought to their customers.

I have now bought 4 different model Smartparts digital photo frames with about the same pixel ratings, and all are excellent. The first one is on a Coast Guard ship in the Bering Stait and keeps family and friends close to the heart. It has played non stop since 1/08. Since this unit came aboard, many were impressed and bought them for themselves. The second one is in an office building, same age, same usage. never problems. The rest are since then. The pictures are clear, the unit is well lit and very easy to start up. I use a digital card so that I can keep lots of memories handy, rather than using the internal memory. I just copy pictures from my camera, scanner or the computer into a folder, copy that to the SD card, insert it into the frame and let the smiles begin! I had tried a smaller 7 " but found that unless I was close, I could not see it as easily as the 8" with my middle aged eyes! Non of us have chosen to add music, so the sound quality is uncertain. This is a great gift and presents as a nice product as well. Very dependable...better than human memory!! You WILL enjoy it.

Product worked great, picture quality and size was perfect for the office. Very easy to use, Plug in power adapter and insert memory card slide show started automatically.

All features can be changed with hand held remote control, no need to pick up frame to access buttons on the back etc... Very pleased with frame quality (wood) and intend to purchase a second.

Got one of these for my spouse for Christmas and was really happy with the way the photos looked. Much better than the 7" version with a lower resolution. The ablity to connect directly to the computer made it easy to load and the options are good too. You can pick the fade you like, or have just one picture on the screen most of the time.

Good product for the money.