Digital Photo Frame Recommendations?

[Al]

I'm after a digital photo frame (I'm starting my Christmas shopping early :)) and don't really know what's good and bad. It must have wi-fi but other than that I'm open to suggestions. Anybody?

[FourBear]

I'm not very familiar with them, but how about this one:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/cameras/7edc/
It is LCD, Flickr-enabled, and has Wi-fi. Seems pretty decent to me, although I'm not sure whether it's in a reasonable price range or not. I need to compare some more, I think. I'll get back to you :)

[keith]

A digital photo frame >_<
I must be falling back in terms of technology.... argg...

The recommendation by FourBear looks cool, plus it's wifi enabled.

[Tiago]

Here is a simple one, a digi frame with clock+alarm - http://www.latestbuy.com.au/digital_photo_frame.html

The estarling has the cool flickr rss feature that gives unlimited photos forever, while the one I mentioned can only have 63 photos. That is why one costs $250 and the other $70.

[Al]

I do like the one at ThinkGeek and did look at that before but it's out of stock (and my nickname is not Mr Patient), the cheaper one at latest buy looks okay but I need Wi-Fi as I'll get bored of updating pretty quickly otherwise.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, any more?

[Tiago]

You can try to do one yourself and end up with a similar digital frame like the one that is for sale at thinkgeek, here are the instructions - http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/a4a95adebbf6a010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

[Al]

That's pretty good Tiago, now if only I had a spare laptop lying around :rolleyes:

[Punchey]

I can strongly recommend the Monet CK-080RE frame at LCDPhoto.com. It doesn't have WiFi, but other than that, it is very fully featured and is made so that you can place your own picture frame around it (they will ship the frame with the custom-cut padding needed to mount it in a regular frame on request, for free no less). The display itself is one of the best, comparable, and maybe even a bit better than, the Westinghouse. It has one of the highest dot pitches I've seen, making it look really smooth and photo-like. It is one of the highest resolution frames at 800x600. It plays DivX videos, MP3s, etc. The viewing angle is great, and the contrast is good so it doesn't look washed out in a well-lit room.

They have a 30-day satisfaction guarantee so you can order it and try it out to see what you think. If you don't like it, they'll take it back. I can personally attest that their customer service is excellent! If you use their support form and submit a question, they will typically get a response to you within an hour or two. Seriously.

As for the ThinkGeek frames, I can't speak for some of their others, but their 10" frame is no good. I ordered it before I got the Monet and the ThinkGeek 10" frame is very poor quality. (Bigger is NOT better in this case.) The display is probably the shoddiest I've ever seen. The constrast is horrible, the resolution is bad, there's actually ghosting on the display, and I couldn't manage to get the photos to display in the center of the display. Instead, they were actually pushed up into the upper-right corner a bit, leaving a blank gap on the left and bottom of the display. The menu screen filled the panel, but when photos were displayed, they did not and were off-center. Terrible! Perhaps their other frames are decent, I don't know. But I do know that the LCDPhoto.com frames are great and I can heartily recommend them to anyone.

Plus, LCDPhoto.com is currently running a pre-Christmas instant rebate (not a mail-in rebate, it's basically a straight discount).

I'm telling you all this because I was recently in your shoes. I was reading every review I could find on the 'net for digital frames and desperately wished I could find someone who could make an unreserved recommendation. I got burned with the ThinkGeek 10" and wound up being out the money for shipping. The good thing is that ThinkGeek makes it REALLY easy to return something to them, so that took some of the sting out of it. But I then went to some brick and mortar stores to look at the various frames and found that the Westinghouse was one of the best looking store-bought frames you could get. But after doing more research and reading the LCDPhoto.com reviews, I decided to go with them, and I was not dissapointed. It is every bit as good as the Westinghouse and is more flexible and fully-featured. Plus, if you need support, you'll get it. Whereas dealing with a megacorp can be a much less personable experience!

Hope that helps.

[Al]

Thanks for the in depth answer Punchey and welcome to the CG forums. I'll check out LCDPhoto, however Wi-Fi is on my most wanted list so I'll probably keep searching.

[hulkster]

Dang - picture frames have come a long way. I wonder if anyone has taken that to the next step and done a truly large wireless picture frame - i.e. something that could be hung on a wall like a piece of art?

[misskittymskt]

There are some larger (19") frames available that are wireless through a router. They do still require power, and they are rather expensive.

http://www.photovu.com/products_g.html

[Scott]

You'll maybe get one from google as there is a little one that's their pressie this year!

[Al]

You'll maybe get one from google as there is a little one that's their pressie this year!

That's what I'm holding out for, no sign yet though. Do you know if anybody in the UK has received theirs yet?

[Scott]

No sign yet Al, haven't heard of anyone else, but my earnings are up so I hope I'm on the list!, I remember it being late last year, Elaine knew I wanted that package and it arrived in the last week before Xmas, she took great delight in pretending she missed the courier and told me they put a card through the door :mad:

It was my first one and I didn't care what it was, I just wanted to feel loved/special :p

Hopefuly we'll strike lucky by Fri next week.

[Al]

I think I just missed out last year, I only really started making noticeable amounts in the last quarter. This year I've seen very steady growth and should be joining you in the 5 digit club this month (fingers crossed).

[Scott]

Good job Al, that's superb work you have done in the last year or so, pretty remarkable, I used stumbling about & luck more than a long term gameplan and strategy, I guess if you have motivation then it's all there!

[Al]

To be honest luck has been on my side a lot. I had a game plan but I'm still pretty amazed it worked as well as it has.

[Scott]

My photo frame just arrived 10 minutes ago by courier, a rather slow courier!
Dispatch date 12th December!

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[Al]

Geez that is slow, I've still not seen anything here yet but I won't totally give up on the idea of getting one just yet.