Smart Parts SPX8 Digital Picture Frame
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- Type: Digital Picture Frame
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Great features, if only they worked better...
Pros
Great resolution and feature set for price, remote works well
Cons
Dead pixels, usb compatibility issues, video playback lacking, slow
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
Buy the cheaper version without video playback since it doesn't work well anyway.
We decided to purchase this frame after comparing to others on the market and seeing them on a demo next to other frames. All in all they looked good and this frame is has a great feature set in the price range. It will do photos, video, sound bytes, read from most types of cards, internal memory, includes remote.
Setting up the frame was quick and easy (once I got the stand on the correct way). When you first turn on the frame and go into the menu system you will notice one of the first downsides, the slow speed of the integrated processor. This can be seen in all of the menu system as well as during the photo slideshow as evidenced by the some of the transitions being choppy.
Next up I was loading pictures which worked fine from a card and from USB on my windows XP machine. Then I wanted to try to load photos from my Vista machine and my mac and the problems began. In Vista there is a common issue with USB drives where the drivers are not available for these devices to work as mass storage devices, this device suffers from those driver woes. I was never able to get this to work in Vista. I figured OSX had to be better but the device never shows up as a drive even though it indicated that it was connected and I was never able to get it working.
The videos are nice and smooth and look very good on the display but the sound is another story. All clips that I tried played the sound for only a second or two leaving you wondering what the random noises are coming from the side of the room.
Now to the main reason we purchased the frame, the photo slideshow. I noticed when looking over the displayed images was a dead pixel, which shows up white on darker images. While it is out of the middle of the photo area it can still be annoying when you know it is there. Other than that the images are wonderful looking on this display, much higher resolution that others in the price range and it shows. The slideshow is nice but some of the transitions are not as smooth as others and you can tell they are taxing the processor that is included in the frame.
Photos should have been the only feature because they worked well.
Price paid: $149
Setting up the frame was quick and easy (once I got the stand on the correct way). When you first turn on the frame and go into the menu system you will notice one of the first downsides, the slow speed of the integrated processor. This can be seen in all of the menu system as well as during the photo slideshow as evidenced by the some of the transitions being choppy.
Next up I was loading pictures which worked fine from a card and from USB on my windows XP machine. Then I wanted to try to load photos from my Vista machine and my mac and the problems began. In Vista there is a common issue with USB drives where the drivers are not available for these devices to work as mass storage devices, this device suffers from those driver woes. I was never able to get this to work in Vista. I figured OSX had to be better but the device never shows up as a drive even though it indicated that it was connected and I was never able to get it working.
The videos are nice and smooth and look very good on the display but the sound is another story. All clips that I tried played the sound for only a second or two leaving you wondering what the random noises are coming from the side of the room.
Now to the main reason we purchased the frame, the photo slideshow. I noticed when looking over the displayed images was a dead pixel, which shows up white on darker images. While it is out of the middle of the photo area it can still be annoying when you know it is there. Other than that the images are wonderful looking on this display, much higher resolution that others in the price range and it shows. The slideshow is nice but some of the transitions are not as smooth as others and you can tell they are taxing the processor that is included in the frame.
Photos should have been the only feature because they worked well.
Price paid: $149
