 Thumbs up from this reviewer! |
| Review Date: December 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Jeffrey Kepler, Peoria, Illinois United States |
| I have to admit I was reluctant to buy this frame with all the negative reviews, but it was the only frame that included the features I wanted including wireless, RSS feeds, uploads with out restarting and nice picture. This frame has all of the above and contrary to many of the other reviews I have read it was easy to set-up. I think I had it up and running, connected to my network, and downloading pics from framchannel.com under 20 minutes. |
nice digital frame
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| Review Date: April 4, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Mr. J. Kunysz, Rockerjim |
I can't answer why previous reviewers had technical problems but after receiving the frame I had my wep configured and had the digital frame connected to my wireless network within 20 minutes. I haven't used any of the websites like flickr for picture slideshows but I did configure Windows Media Player 11 and have been streaming jpg's from my computer to the frame for the last couple of hours. Image quality is as I expected: superb.
I performed an online upgrade via the wireless network and it worked flawlessly.
I haven't gotten around to test the video or mp3 capabilities yet but I did put in a sd card and the frame does read and display jpg's within folders from the sd card.
I can't compare the digital spectrum u-40101 to its competition because this is the first digital picture frame I have ever toyed with. So far, this device has done exactly what it advertised, and relatively easily.
Cons - It would be nice if the frame had a html interface that one could access via a web browser for configuration purposes. |
The fundermentals are good
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| Review Date: April 11, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Parker, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida |
I bought this for my mother after very careful research into all the frames on the market. When you boil it down you need
1. A good looking picture - has that
2. Wireless - so she can see the pictures without having to download, get emails etc. I found it easy to set up. The frame updated itself afterwards which improved the interface.
3. Good integration with picture sharing sites - let's face it Flickr is the the best and so having that built in is essential.
4. It carries on where it left off - other frames don't do this. Why the should the user have to tell the frame to pictures from the internet every time you turn it on - that's madness. So if your set it to use Flickr then it will do that even after you turn it on and off again. Plus you can set it to goto sleep at night and wake up in the morning, saving power and the screen.
I found the remote worked well, it's no different than my Bose remote that's 10 years old and still working fine.
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I Like It So Far
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| Review Date: October 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Robert D. Goldstein, New York, NY USA |
| This is my first Amazon review. I just received the MF-8104 and like it very much. The picture looks great and I set up the wireless connection with WPA2 security in about 10 minutes. Although the manual is not very informative, the setup is pretty intuitive. I have 2 problems. First, I can't seem to figure out how to make slideshows loop and the instructions do not offer any info on this. Second, the [...] that allows you to remotely upload photos to the frame does not seem to work. I have contacted customer support but have not heard back yet. Overall, the frame does what it says and has a nice picture. It is great being able to have the frame connect wirelessly to my computer to play photos that are in my Pictures folder. |
Worked amazingly for me
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| Review Date: March 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Paul R. Jacobs, Sierra Vista, AZ USA |
I wanted something that could link to on line sites, particularly Facebook. I also wanted something with an RSS capability.
Bottom line, I had this frame showing Facebook pictures within 5 minutes of pulling it out of the box. The RSS feature works very well.
The only issue I expected: some sites advertised this as 1024*768. It isn't: it's 800*600. Pictures look fine at 800*600 but text is not so hot.
All in all, pretty cool. The FrameChannel stuff is very, very cool. At 10 inches, if it was 1024*768 it would be perfect. |
Best of a ragtag collection
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| Review Date: September 25, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Craig Hairrell, Big Rock, IL USA |
At this point in time, there are limited options for internet-enabled, wireless picture frames. I'm aware of the Digital Spectrum 8104, Kodak EX811/1011, eStarling 2.0, and the i-Mate Momento frames. I dismissed the eStarling frame due to a reportedly low-quality display, not to mention the truly disastrous debut of its predecessor. I dismissed the otherwise promising i-Mate Momento due to its requirement of a subscription to its web service, which in turn connected to various RSS feeds from photo sharing websites. Let's face it, there's a pretty decent chance that i-Mate will be a memory sometime soon, then what would happen to the web service? And of course, the ongoing expense is an obvious downside. That left Kodak and Digital Spectrum. I have had both the EX1011 and 8104 in my possession. Both had limitations, crummy remotes, and idiosyncracies, but in the end, both looked good and did pretty much what they claimed to do. Here's a summary of their relative pluses and minuses:
Kodak EX1011
+ Less bulky in back. Looks more like a conventional picture frame.
+ Has a brightness control. Can get very, very bright. In a bright setting, this frame would have a clear advantage over the 8104.
+ Kodak Gallery integration. Not the best photo sharing site, in my opinion, but it's the one supported by the 8104.
+ Plays videos from Media Player 11. On my network, though, videos were choppy. This might not be the fault of the frame.
-- Slideshow playlists from Kodak Gallery are set at the time you select an album and are not refreshed until you exit that slideshow and reselect Kodak Gallery. This means that newly added photos are not automatically displayed. This was a showstopper for me. My 80-year-old mom would be very frustrated trying to restart the slideshow.
-- After restarting, the frame will display only photos on the internal memory card. To reselect Kodak Gallery requires several steps. Again, not good for Mom.
- AC Adapter in the plug itself. Ugly if the outlet is in a visible location.
- 16:9 format. Not the best for photos, but works better than I expected, except for portrait mode photos.
- Frame itself looks plasticy
+- Slightly cool color temperature with high contrast.
Digital Spectrum 8401 Premium
+ Richer-looking frame
+ 4:3 format
++ Free integration with three good photo sharing websites -- Flickr, Webshots, and Windows Live.
+ Restarts with last-selected slideshow, including web-based.
+ Slideshow playlists are, by default, set to refresh every time through the playlist, so newly added photos are quickly displayed.
+ Has both black and wood-grain frames
+ Standard wooden frames fit this unit, so the options are nearly limitless
- Warm color temperature.
- Bulky piece on back makes the frame less elegant-looking.
- While the remote is a big larger (good), the buttons are relatively hard to press.
- Seemed a bit buggier than the Kodak. I have had to turn it off sometimes during setup operations.
- Cord seems a bit short
Both units had some difficulty with my WEP wireless encryption, but I do have a very wacky setup in my home due to my wireless broadband. I'll be setting this up at my mother's home, which will a more conventional wireless setup using an 802.11g DSL router. Hopefully, WPA won't be a problem.
In the end, I chose the 8104, primarily due to the fact that it will be easier for my mother to use and because the photos added to the websites are added automatically. I'm relatively satisfied.
1 year plus update
Things are still going pretty well with the 8104. Occasionally, I have had to turn the frame off and on when the timer seemed to stop. Digital Spectrum has continued to enhance the firmware. All in all, I'm still happy with the frame, despite its shortcomings. There are now several other new models available from other manufacturers and Kodak has improved their offering.
18 month update
The frame can no longer see wireless networks. I can send it in for a replacement for about $85, but don't know if it's worth it. |
A technology, not a product
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| Review Date: July 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Ray Salemi, Framingham, MA USA |
I gave this picture frame two stars because, in the end, it has nice screen and it shows pictures. It's a nice technology.
But, this company clearly doesn't know the difference between a technology and a product. A technology is a wireless picture frame. A product is a wireless picture frame with a helpful owners manual, a clean interface, high quality, and working company website. This frame had none of these.
My first experience with the frame was taking it out of the box and reading the instructions. These were printed on a large sheet in a step by step fashion. The steps did not exactly match what I saw on the screen, but they were close.
The instructions said that the frame should be controlled from the remote. But my remote was broken. So I couldn't use the frame.
I went to the website and found out that the support links gave 404 errors . They were missing pages. The only contact information was for two PR guys.
When I finally found an email address and let them know what I needed they sent me a new remote. Or tried to. First they accidentally sent me the stand that holds up the back of the frame. Then they sent me a new remote.
When I started using the remote I found buttons that control the frame hidden on the back. The instructions hadn't mentioned them.
I tried to get the frame working with Flikr. There were no instructions for this. There was no screen for entering a password. I read another review that said the frame only works with Webshots. I switched.
Interestingly, when I switched to Webshots I found testing data in the dialog box for Webshots. Apparently that interface had been tested. Had the Flikr interface? No idea.
The frame's features are poorly thought through. The frame cycles through pictures, but the durations are fixed. You get something like 5 sec, 10 sec, 1 min, 5 min, 30 min, 1 hr. I wanted 15 minutes but there is no way to set that. In addition, the 30 minutes doesn't actually hold the picture for 30 minutes.
In the end this company has obviously not thought through their product or the customer experience. They exhibited shoddy business practices, poorly thought through interfaces, and a broken website. DSI feels like 3 guys working out of a garage.
I thank my lucky stars I got the frame as a gift. If I had actually paid over $300 I would have been livid. I fully expect it will break within a year. |
I should have heeded the other reviews. Serious interface and design issues ruin what could have been a great product.
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| Review Date: May 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Edward J. Moore, |
As an amateur photographer armed with a Nikon D80 I have taken over 7000 pictures in the last year. A good portion are throwaways but I still have 6300 images spanning 23 or so gigabytes on various computers in my house. I subscribe to Flickr and generally upload the"best" of the lot or pictures that my family might enjoy seeing. Digital image management has turned into something of a chore and since we rarely print our pictures anymore, my wife wanted an easy way to display pictures of family events. We thought that a digital picture frame might fit the bill. I wanted one with wireless capabilities that I could literally "set and forget". Point it to my Flickr account and have it pull images automatically for a slideshow. Frames with wireless capability are still somewhat rare and expensive and after doing all my web research, I decided to try the Digital Spectrum MF-8104. I read plenty of negative reviews but chalked them up to inexperience or unwillingness to intimately learn the intricacies of a complicated device. Well, I purchased one for our 24th anniversary and as it turns out, all the negative reviews were right on the money.
It arrived yesterday and was well packed and individual pieces were all wrapped and protected. The wood frame however was damaged, scratched right through the finish in three places and also dented and dinged at the bottom and sides. Strike one. I plugged the frame in turned it on and after a short boot-up period it came up to the main menu. I pulled the protective tab from the remote battery and attempted to use the IR remote to continue the setup. No response. Checked battery polarity, ok. Pulled the battery and checked it with a volt meter and it was very close to the rated 3VDC. So, dead remote. Strike two. I used the menu controls on top of the frame to continue with the setup and although clumsy, I got fairly adept at using them. Within 5 minutes I had the frame connected to my WAP, had done an automatic software update and input my Flickr user account name(password is not required). The frame dutifully began pulling down my images. Image quality was acceptable but resolution is only 800X600 @256K colors(18 bit). Color dithering is pretty bad when viewing images closely. Back to Flickr. I noticed that the slideshow started repeating fairly quickly. For some reason, if you select "all" images in the Flickr account setup, it was only pulling the first 30 or so out of 556. I don't understand why but I think it only displayed images without a tag or in a set. You would think that it would include everything in my account, but apparently not. Besides "all", you can also set it to only display pictures with tags or in a set and so I moved all 556 images into a new set called "frame" and was able to select and display them. It is supposed to auto update the image list when new pictures are added to my account. We'll see. A few more words on the interface. It's fairly horrible. There is no "back" or "up" button to navigate back one level in the menu. You have to hit "menu" again and start over from scratch. Also, you can set time and date, which I did. I then found a "sync clock" setting which I used and then noticed that the clock was an hour slow. I checked the time zones and had set it to Eastern Standard Time (US). There was no Eastern Daylight Time setting, so clock sync via network will only work correctly when not using daylight savings time. I searched, read the user manual and could not find a "daylight savings time" setting anywhere. An onerous omission.
Another serious problem is that the frame won't read pictures that are anywhere but the root directory on your flash media. My wife asked if she could view her pictures from a recent trip. It's a Sony camera that uses Memory Sticks and like most cameras, it puts its pictures into a folder on the MS. Even though the box states Memory Sticks are supported, there is no built-in reader for them. Ok, no problem, I took the reader from my computer and plugged it into the USB port on the frame. It scanned the MS and then stated that it couldn't find any pictures. That's a serious Strike Three and an unbelievable omission. Didn't they think that people would pull their flash media from their cameras and stick it into the frame for immediate viewing? Do they seriously expect that you would want to move all of your pictures around on your flash media first?
Another minor issue is that the power connector end of the power cord (which looks exactly like a laptop power supply)has a 90 degree bend. If you hang the frame on the wall in the "landscape" position, all the weight of the cords and brick (depending on how high you hang it) will be pulling on that bend and I can guarantee that the cord will break eventually. Bad design.
I was on the fence about RMAing this back to my e-tailer (and eating shipping both ways) but the more I think about the serious flaws coupled with the premium price the more I am resolved to sending it back.
On a plus note their tech support answered the phone within minutes and agreed to send a new remote and wood frame...
**Update**- Still have not gotten my replacement remote control or wood frame. They just released a firmware update V.2.2.5.0 on 5/19/08 that fixes 2 of the major flaws. There is now a Daylight Savings Time setting and the frame now reads pictures directly from subdirectories on flash media. Still on the fence about RMAing it. My e-tailer wants a 15% restocking fee. |
disappointed
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| Review Date: December 17, 2007 |
| Reviewer: ChipsNsalsa, CT, USA |
First of all to be fair, this is a beautiful looking frame and photos looked nice on it.
I purchased this frame for its networking capabilities but was disappointed in how difficult it was to set up. I understand my experience may not be indicative of others but for me the benefits of having a wireless frame outweighed the high cost. It was not convenient.
Set up was tenuous and after several hours of trying to get the frame to recognize my home network I gave up. It just has to be easier.
Before buying I did read a review where I think a more tech savy person than me said it took him a while to get the frame online if he did at all.
I sent the item back and tried estarlings wireless frame version which I set up in about 10 minutes and love!!
This frame again is beautiful and the display is very nice but there are other cheaper frames that do the same thing. I paid a price for wireless technology and without that technology working for me, it was not worth the price premium.
Amazon was great with delivery and return so at least that part of the purchase experience was good. |
Wireless doesn't work
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| Review Date: December 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: JC, Harrisburg, PA USA |
I bought this frame because it had the features, resolution and aspect ratio I wanted. I was nervous about buying a brand I had never heard of, and those fears turned out to be well-founded.
Althought the item was packed well, there was minor damage to both of the included wooden frames. Oh well...this is just how things are made these days. However, the wireless feature did not work which is a deal-breaker. Whenever I attempted to search for a wireless network, I received a message stating an "unexpected error had occurred." The only way to get it to go away was to power the frame off and on again. I thought a firmware update would correct the issue. Updating the firmware was a pain and did not fix the issue anyway. So, the frame is going back.
What a waste of time and a terrible Christmas gift. Pictures loaded from an SD card or USB device looked fine but I still would not recommend product. |
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