mv_princess
mv = margaritaville
A digital picture frame? Pros/cons?
Does anyone have...
- Thread starter mv_princess
- Start date
mv_princess
mv = margaritaville
Did she have any issues uploading pictures? Or it cutting off parts of the picture?RoseRed said:
kwillia
n/a
The Photoshare 7" is not perfect and it's not necessarily the best digital frame money can buy. But for only $100 or so, it is an excellent deal. Some of the poor reviews stem from the lack of understanding on how to size the images. Once that's done properly, the unit displays them beautifully. I've had friends over and they are instantly drawn to the Photoshare, and want to just sit there and watch it cycle through my family pics.mv_princess said:
After some trial and error late one evening, here is a workflow that yields very good quality:
Photos should only be sized to all "portrait" style or all "landscape" style pictures for your slide show. If you mix the two orientations together it won't work. Since most people take all their pictures in landscape anyway, you should be fine. I'm a media producer and graphic designer so I tend to take most of my pictures in portrait mode, which works just as well too. Just choose an orientation for your digital frame, and then conform all the photos to that and you'll be fine. Occasionally one won't quite fit and you can add some small black borders to it if you need to.
First import the pics for the Photoshare into Photoshop, or some other picture program and then follow these steps:
Landscape Workflow:
* Scale the width only by 76%
* Set the crop tool to 740x544 pixels and crop to this size, centering the subject(s) in the picture
* Save as a jpg, with a quality level that yields a 50-100kb file
The pictures will now cover about 96% of the Photoshare LCD and they do not look distorted at all. Portrait mode works the same, with just an extra step or two needed. Remember, the pics should be 740x544 resolution, squashed on the x-axis to about 80% of their original width.
Portrait Workflow:
* Scale height only by 76%
* Rotate CCW 90 degrees
* Set the crop tool to 740x544 pixels and crop, centering the subject(s) in the picture
* If image crop cuts out too much of the person(s) then go back before step 3 and add some small black borders by increasing the canvas an inch or so in the width, then crop again.
* Save as a jpg, with a quality level that yields a 50-100kb file
The only other thing you might want to do is reduce the brightness and color saturation of your pics slightly, as the LCD cranks up the brightness and the colors a bit too much for my tastes.
In summary, the main problem seems to be that the Photoshare people do not help the average person in this part of the task. If they had a small program that someone could download to do these few steps, that would go a long way toward making a high-quality slide show for anyone. And a happy customer that proudly displays their digital Photoshare frame is a plus for everyone.
If you are able to follow these steps, your slideshows will look great, and the unit will be worth the money.
Additional note: I recently made a set of Photoshop actions to do these steps automatically. If you would like the actions, contact me and I would be happy to email them to you.
Update Sept. 9, 2006: I slightly revised the above steps, due to a firmware update. The Photoshare now stretches (expands) the image a bit more to use more of the screen space. Unfortunately the several hundred pics that I converted are now all a little stretched out! Oh well, I need to lose a few pounds anyway...
http://www.amazon.com/PhotoShare-Di...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1178627413&sr=8-1
kwillia
n/a
Also from the reviews...
I keep this frame on all day and night. The LCD backlight should last longer than 4 months but mine just burned out.
The quality of the pictures are okay if viewed from a distance but the low res. is not good if viewing up close.
There is no external power controls or a remote so turning this unit on and off is a drag. Regular LCD backlights should last a few years even if it stays on all day and night. This one just lasted 4 months. So the image is almost non-existant now. In the glare, you can barely make out the image so it's still there but with no backlight so good as dead.
I would recommend a more expensive Philips ones. My friend has had it for about two years and it's still going. plus it's higher res and and has more controls such as a timer function and also can play video clips, which this one can't.
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bought this frame in Jan. '07 and the screen burned out March '07. I returned it and the newest one burned out last night - April '07. This product needs a redesign - the screens don't work for long.
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Purchased this item in Dec 06' Screen burned out Mar 07'. On top of that screen quality was not that great. Do not order order this item.
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I bought this product from a nearby retailer. The packaging is deceptive. The Photoframe must be plugged into an external power source or you must buy a uniquely designed battery from the manufacturer. The battery is $35.00 with shipping, and it is poorly designed so that when installed the battery case rubs the connector wiring. This frame has no on-board memory, so to use it you must have one of the two types of memory it accepts. This is an additional expense. After purchasing the Photoframe I discovered the plastic frame was chipped and the device did not perform as the instructions said it should. I took it back to the store and opened eight boxes before I found one which had an unbroken frame. I took that Photoframe home and discovered the device would not work as the instructions described. I then went to another of the retailers' locations to exchange the device (the original location had shipped their entire inventory back to the manufacturer). With the retailer's very helpful clerks I tested three more PhotoCo Photoframe devices, none of them worked as described (they would not scroll through and album of photos). I returned the item to the retailer and received a full refund for the device, then by email I requested a refund for the price of the battery. Photoco replied that if I sent them the battery they would refund its price. I mailed the battery on May 6,and then inquired about my refund on May 14. PhotoCo replied that the only employee who could process the refund was out sick. On 3/17 I sent an email demanding immediate processing of my refund. PhotoCo said that my credit had been processed but that I might not see the credit for 7 to 10 days. I still have not received my credit for the battery. If you want to avoid a headach, avoid doing business with this company. Read the other reviews before considering this product.
I keep this frame on all day and night. The LCD backlight should last longer than 4 months but mine just burned out.
The quality of the pictures are okay if viewed from a distance but the low res. is not good if viewing up close.
There is no external power controls or a remote so turning this unit on and off is a drag. Regular LCD backlights should last a few years even if it stays on all day and night. This one just lasted 4 months. So the image is almost non-existant now. In the glare, you can barely make out the image so it's still there but with no backlight so good as dead.
I would recommend a more expensive Philips ones. My friend has had it for about two years and it's still going. plus it's higher res and and has more controls such as a timer function and also can play video clips, which this one can't.
---------------------
bought this frame in Jan. '07 and the screen burned out March '07. I returned it and the newest one burned out last night - April '07. This product needs a redesign - the screens don't work for long.
-----------------------
Purchased this item in Dec 06' Screen burned out Mar 07'. On top of that screen quality was not that great. Do not order order this item.
---------------------
I bought this product from a nearby retailer. The packaging is deceptive. The Photoframe must be plugged into an external power source or you must buy a uniquely designed battery from the manufacturer. The battery is $35.00 with shipping, and it is poorly designed so that when installed the battery case rubs the connector wiring. This frame has no on-board memory, so to use it you must have one of the two types of memory it accepts. This is an additional expense. After purchasing the Photoframe I discovered the plastic frame was chipped and the device did not perform as the instructions said it should. I took it back to the store and opened eight boxes before I found one which had an unbroken frame. I took that Photoframe home and discovered the device would not work as the instructions described. I then went to another of the retailers' locations to exchange the device (the original location had shipped their entire inventory back to the manufacturer). With the retailer's very helpful clerks I tested three more PhotoCo Photoframe devices, none of them worked as described (they would not scroll through and album of photos). I returned the item to the retailer and received a full refund for the device, then by email I requested a refund for the price of the battery. Photoco replied that if I sent them the battery they would refund its price. I mailed the battery on May 6,and then inquired about my refund on May 14. PhotoCo replied that the only employee who could process the refund was out sick. On 3/17 I sent an email demanding immediate processing of my refund. PhotoCo said that my credit had been processed but that I might not see the credit for 7 to 10 days. I still have not received my credit for the battery. If you want to avoid a headach, avoid doing business with this company. Read the other reviews before considering this product.
M
Mousebaby
Guest
I am getting one as my mothers day present. I will let you know how it works as soon as I get it. I got mine from JC Penney's. 
ServiceGuy
New Member
I just got one for the wife for Mothers Day, 10in Kodak. Comes with power cord, just plug your media card right in. Has a remote, picture looked Awesome in the store. A little pricey for the 10 in but who wants to look at such little pictures. I wanted the 14 in but the picture wasn't as good at different angles as the smaller one.
jenbengen
Watch it
mv_princess said:
We bought one for both sets of grandparents for Christmas and they both really enjoy them. We got ours from Radio Shack when they were about $10 off. They expensive, but seem to make a great gift. Both grandparents are not very tech savvy and seemed to be able to figure it out without issues. We also purchased a super small memory card so they could have it available just for the picture frame. They are really cheap.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Yeah...
...I'll e mail it to yah!
mv_princess said:
...I'll e mail it to yah!
desertrat
0_0
Larry Gude said:...I'll e mail it to yah!
I've got one I bought at Best Buy. It's pretty low end, but I like it. It would be great to have a larger higher res model, but the cost is up there. They need to have a file organization like an IPod though. If you store 100s of photos on them it takes a long time to show someone your big fish or new puppy.
N
Not4you
Guest
mv_princess said:
nightowl
New Member
My husband bought me a 7" one (at Wal-Mart $59) for our anniversary last week. I just copied my pictures onto a SD card and plugged it in. It was really simple to use and depending on the SD card you could have a lot of pictures. Mine will hold about 250 pictures. I have landscape and portrait pics on mine and they all look fine. It's not as good a resolution as it is on my computer but it's close. I would have prefered a nicer frame (it's just black plastic) but over all a good value. I'm sure whatever one you pick you'll really like.
M
Mousebaby
Guest
nightowl said:
Just got mine in the mail today. JC Penney's was a little more expensive and it sounds just like the one she got.
Anyway, I loaded a bunch of pictures of my family and critters on it and it's sitting here working beautifully! My husband just asked me to get him one for his office!!! Anyway, I think they are really cool! Would make a great gift for your mom with preloaded pics of all her kids and grandkids.