Ask Engadget: What's the best digital photo frame out there?

Oh sure, the unremitting release cycle of new digital photo frames is growing a bit tired, but that's not to say these things don't make for the perfect holiday gift. Oh, and after you've contributed to the cause here, drop your own question in at ask at engadget dawt com.

"I'm looking for the best digital photo frame out there to snag for the holidays. My requirements are pretty simple: good picture quality, WiFi, RSS / Flickr support without any fees. Any help?"

Short and sweet there, eh Adam? At any rate, we'll toss in some general screen size requirements (let's say 5-inches and up), and now, we'll let you to it. Light up the comments below!

[Thomas Ricker @ Oct 31st 2008 2:33AM]

If the comments do not appear, do I still exist?

Thomas

[Joseph @ Oct 31st 2008 2:35AM]

The VAIO Wi-Fi Photo Frame might be what you are looking for:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&productId=8198552921665532073&langId=-1

[alex.goris @ Oct 31st 2008 3:49AM]

Anyone know more about this frame?
On the Sony site it says you can stream pictures from a "Sony VAIO PC".
And on this site (http://www.toysgadget.com/sony-vgf-cp1-digital-photo-frame-with-wifi/sony) I found you can stream pictures from a vaio PC using picasa web albums.

I think this frame is really interesting but I need to know whether it will stream pics off of my home server using a regular network share.
I'd even be willing to install some extra software in order to accomplish this.
I just don't want to rely on a webbased picture service like picasa,flickr etc...

Thanks for your replies, this post was really what I was waiting for.

[Ian @ Oct 31st 2008 2:39AM]

As long as it has a screen of decent size, and a USB slot or SD slot so that photos can just be transferred that way, it's OK.

[mike @ Oct 31st 2008 3:03AM]

I have the samsung SPF-72V has wifi and rss, it does the job but freezes sometimes

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5307413/Samsung-SPF-72V-7-High-Resolution-WiFi-Digital-Photo-Frame/Product.html

[dreamanakon @ Oct 31st 2008 3:07AM]

What is the best over 10" frame should you recommend.

[Gylman @ Oct 31st 2008 4:07AM]

The Sony Digiframes (DPF-V900 is the 9" version). I have 4. Easily the best of the half dozen or so I have tried in the past couple of years.

[Mark Gubarenko @ Oct 31st 2008 4:35AM]

I've recently bought sony 900 photo frame.
it's the best

[dreamanakon @ Oct 31st 2008 5:05AM]

I've got a bad experience with ViewSonic frame, it was the 10" . Picture quality was very good but the firmware software is suck. There is no random function for slideshow so you have so watch the same sequence all the time. The slideshow restarts even after you change display mode.

Even the cheap Transcend 7" was better. I wish there is a under-200$ frame with the software from Transcend, pic quality from Viewsonic, and wifi :D

[Derek @ Oct 31st 2008 5:14AM]

I know this won't win any awards in the looks department, but what about using a Netbook as a digital photo frame? It has WiFi built-in and I'm sure you won't have any problems setting that one up. I'm interested in a digital photo frame that can randomly get photos from my flickr photostream; but after reading the reviews of some of the frames with WiFi, I was discouraged by all of the problems with setting them up on your network.

[K Nang @ Oct 31st 2008 6:08AM]

well... i think a chumby would fit all the criteria apart from a 5" screen

when are they headed to the UK??

[bartoron @ Oct 31st 2008 6:35AM]

That one that comes with a virus on it.

[brianspencer-ebay @ Oct 31st 2008 6:39AM]

I just mounted a 2008 17" MBP on my wall. The glossy pictures of my cars and vacation homes look GREAT!

[Nitin @ Oct 31st 2008 10:56AM]

I want to see pictures of this or i'm calling bullshit.

thats like a $1500 17" picture frame

[Muhammad-Oli @ Oct 31st 2008 6:42AM]

"Oh sure, the unremitting release cycle of new digital photo frames is growing a bit tired"

Really? You think that, but yet you still bore us with netbook stories all freaking day? To be honest I can't remember the last digital photo frame engadget featured. But then I guess I can say the same of netbooks because with their identical specs they've all just blurred into one.

[Greg @ Oct 31st 2008 6:47AM]

Can't recommend the Smartparts 12.1". Software was so buggy I couldn't get the darn thing set up.

[trickards @ Oct 31st 2008 7:10AM]

Employ a homeless dude to stand there and change your photo's in a standard frame in exchange for warmth through the winter months.

[ThomD @ Oct 31st 2008 7:11AM]

Just bought a Dlink 10" screen for the parents. Wifi was easy to setup. Motion sensor puts the frame in sleep mode when nobody is around. (It'll cost about $1.25/month to run.) It uses Frame Channel to feed images. FC is pretty slick because it makes it easy to send any RSS feed to the frame. Frame Channel is basically a connector service - 4 different manufacturers have frames that use it. Frame Channel then lets you configure what you want to send to the frame - content from any of the major photo sites or any RSS feed (media or text). FC also has a number of pre defined channels (local weather and traffic, news, etc). You can upload or email images to your FC account and send those to the frame. All channels support time-of-day function, so, for example, you can have traffic and weather only show up from 6-7am on week days.

The Dlink is nice. I can't compare the image quality to any others, but it looks fine. Dlink has already released 2 firmware updates with new features, so I expect support to continue to be good. Firmware upgrade process was automatic. If FC goes under, the frame has a CF card slot or can stream from shares on the local network.

[marty k. @ Oct 31st 2008 7:32AM]

I've heard this one is really good: http://www.estarling.com/

[rcappo @ Oct 31st 2008 9:21AM]

My parents and I have this one. It does work very well. We can just send an e-mail and the pictures appear on the frame 300 miles away. I haven't had to troubleshoot it or walk them through putting new pictures on their frame, so that alone is worth the additional price.

I do wish they had a 11" model though.

[trekbody @ Nov 7th 2008 4:42PM]

You must have heard wrong - that resolution is pitiful.

[inteller @ Oct 31st 2008 8:09AM]

The imate momento. Easily the best frame out there. wi-fi, windows sideshow....and you can pick them up for really cheap on eBay.

[hickhamt @ Oct 31st 2008 10:01AM]

i bought the 10 inch imate momento off woot.com for cheap for my parents.. they love it.. i sent "live" pics from my vacation in san fran back to their living room in st. louis... has the ability to turn off at a certain time and turn back on at another time.... great for screen life, power usage, etc... also supports frame channel, very cool... and imate has their own push method as well.. it lets you invite others to send directly to the frame... great for my parents as i have brothers and sisters in chicago, new york, and orlando.... i have not been disappointed with this frame!!

[Bo @ Oct 31st 2008 1:14PM]

Is this momento the only one frame supporting sideshow? Cannot you use RSS feed as a substitution?

[spam_from_engadget @ Oct 31st 2008 8:27AM]

I was at Photokina a few weeks ago specifically looking at photo frames, and I was far from impressed by what's available. In particular, very few people are making large ones and the software on the others is mostly very bland and generic.

If you're looking for a largish frame, some names to look for include:
- reflecta, who go up to 15", but IIRC they have a new much larger frame in preparation.
- Goodview, whose brochure includes frames up to 15" but who apparently have them up to 19".
Neither of those have wifi; in fact they're both fairly poor software-wise.

Kodak were showing off thier OLED frame. It looks good. Their other frames seemed to have rather better user-interfaces than the other brands. I don't recall anything about wifi on those frames.

Sony have been mentioned in other comments; their frame has won an award for something or other. I think that was the booth where I wanted to see how the wifi worked but they couldn't find anyone who could demo it.

Agfa announced a wifi frame (the AF5080W) back in January and it was still in their brochure at Photokina, but apparently it has been cancelled. According to their salesman, there is "no demand for photo frames with wifi".

There were a few people selling set top boxes for photo viewing; the Kodak Theatre was the best, and using that in combination with a TV would be a much better choice than any of the stand-alone photo frames that I saw.

Personally, I think that the best approach is still to make your own: buy an LCD monitor or TV, dismantle it and take the panel to your local picture framing shop. Stick a pico-itx board or the guts of a laptop in the back.

[Bryce @ Oct 31st 2008 8:33AM]

If you want a high quality picture get the kodak easyshare sv811. The screen size is only 8in but it is high resolution and looks absolutely fantastic.

Usually the higher resolution panels will look better so be sure to check the resolution before you buy.

[Mark @ Oct 31st 2008 8:54AM]

Smartparts 8" WiFi - Annouced at PhotoKina w/Microsoft ... I got my hands on any early unit to review and it is awesome.

1. Built-in Email address to beam images to the frame
2. Free MS Live account for photo storage, RSS, etc.
3. NO FEES!!!!

Killer picture (800 X 600) and easy-to-use!

[framemory @ Oct 31st 2008 9:34AM]

Best digital photo frame are made by framemory

http://www.framemory.com

[Raymond @ Oct 31st 2008 10:05AM]

Old discarded laptop, a shadow box from Michael's, and a little bit of homegrown ingenuity ala instructables.com can net a photo/video/music/wall pc that outshines anything on the market. Add your favorite flavor of OS and get into it for under $100.

[Brent @ Oct 31st 2008 5:28PM]

I totally agree. They don't make them to work as well or as inexpensive as the diy variety.

Here's one I made http://www.geektonic.com/2007/05/converting-old-laptop-into-digital.html

[Hannes @ Nov 8th 2008 2:00PM]

I still prefer professional made dpfs

Regards

http://www.digital-photo-frame-market.info

[Chris @ Oct 31st 2008 10:12AM]

I've found that an old 12" iBook running OSX works pretty well.

[RONBEN_technology @ Oct 31st 2008 11:03AM]

If resolution is one the main considerations for digital photo frame buyers, then I suppose the new generation 7" digital frame with digital TFT panel at resolution of 800x480 will undoubtedly be a candidate as best digital photo frames. Like this one: high resolution but cheaper than above 7" picture frames.

http://www.ronbenmultimedia.com/product/7_inch_digital_photo_frame_with_digital_TFT_Panel_800_480_pixels.htm

If flexibility and suitability for different decor is another main consideration, then try digital picture frame with inter-changeable face plates, like this one:

http://www.ronbenmultimedia.com/product/7-inch-digital-photo-frame-with-changeable-face-plates-DPF-7008C.htm
Spend less and save more in this trouble times, if large screen LCD picture frame costs too much as a gift idea, then try something innovative, differentiating, useful yet affordable gadget for our most loved, Like this mini digital photo frame with 3.5" makeup mirror in flip-cover design.

http://www.ronbenmultimedia.com/product/1.5-inch-alarm-clock-digital-frame-with-mini-makeup-mirror-in-flip-cover-design.htm

[GadgetFreak @ Oct 31st 2008 11:56AM]

I've been looking around for a WiFi enabled photo frame for a while, but I've found an excellent photo frame. There were already some on the market, a lot of them looked a bit cheap and were form unknown brands. Philips released a WiFi PhotoFrame on IFA Iast August! I'm very happy with this frame, the supplied Photo Manager is an easy option to transfer pictures to the 512 MB build in memory.

Good picture quality: 800 x 600 pixels with very rich colors
WiFi: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
RSS: Wireless Photo Streaming (RSS, dlna)

Btw, an easy gift for the holiday season because the packaging is designed as gift box!

Check out the website for more details:

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/us/consumer/cc/_productid_8FF3WMI_27_US_CONSUMER/

[timholtz @ Oct 31st 2008 12:26PM]

Does anyone know of a frame that will work with mobileme galleries?

[Gabriel @ Nov 1st 2008 1:20AM]

Any frame that's capable of reading RSS feeds should be able to do mobileme ... and just about any other photo sharing or blogging site.

[Anton @ Oct 31st 2008 1:30PM]

Please recommend me a frame that has a PVA of an IPS type of LCD panel. All the frames I have seen so far in local stores had TN panels. The main problem with TN is that when looking at an angle (often from top or bottom) the colors become dark or event negate. The image is felt transparent and less realistic. You can read about various types of LCD panels in a wikipedia article "TFT LCD".

[david @ Nov 1st 2008 1:59AM]

I built my own with an old dell computer it came out so nicely.

10gb hdd framechannel support 15inch lcd screen wifi support

best of all it cost me $25 total and is home made

http://mcdpf.wiki.sourceforge.net/

[Maneki Neko @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:15AM]

After reading through all these comments, and checking the reviews on them, the answer seems to be that there are no decent non-half assed digital photo frames out there. 90% of them ship with non-working wifi implementations, and 95% have terrible support that just ignores you if anything goes wrong.

[gurator @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:20AM]

From my point of view the issue of photoframes is plain simple:
One can place a photoframe on the table/other furniture or on the wall.
As for the table, the frame can be small (like 8'') while when placing on the wall, the frame less than approx. 12" is irrelevant.
I tend to work sitting beside my table: there is enough clutter already and no more distraction required.
The wall mounted frame is an only way to bring back all those images shoot. By the way, I'm under an impression that I take pictures only for the sake of the process of taking them. Most of them will NEVER be viewed.
Live the WiFi aside. Mainstream technology is not there yet. I need large (more than 12'') frame with 4:3 aspect ratio (all the cameras I ever saw got this ration as default) with SVGA or higher resolution. It must be plain dumb: only capable of showing only images (only JPEGs) with resolution up to let's say 14 Mpxl. No setups, no file conversion, no part of image cut or blank parts of the screen.
Want to do a superb job? Add autorotation of the images!
No clocks, RSS feeds, MP3, games etc!

[Bruce Lewis @ Nov 8th 2008 10:30PM]

gurator, you're asking a lot. I've got one part of it taken care of, though: For "no part of image cut or blank parts of screen" I've set up OurDoings so that it can feed wireless photo frames just your horizontal or just your vertical pictures. When I first get new pictures I set it to send them all to the frame, but later when I just want a side decoration I'll limit it to one orientation.

[Darran Edmundson @ Nov 2nd 2008 4:14AM]

Do any of these frames have a network API for controlling the display? Specifically after the ability to toggle frame on/off, and to set the current picture? (We are looking for a cheap solution to use a tiled 20x20 array of these frames to create a controllable image mosaic.)

[Viki @ Nov 4th 2008 12:58PM]

A good simple frame: http://taoelectronics.com/57framesmain.html

They have a variety of styles .. all outer frames are interchangeable. They come in 2 sizes - 5x7 and 8x10. 5x7's have 128 MB internal memory and 320x234 resolution. 8x10's have 256 MB internal memory and 800x600 resolution. Both take upto 6 different types of memory cards and a USB flash drive. No WiFi / Bluetooth ... just a simple stable frame. No software either. Makes a great gift for the people that you know wont ever change the photos that you preloaded on the frame before giving it to them.

They also have variations of the frame - keychains, penholders and clocks.

[James Harper @ Nov 13th 2008 4:25PM]

Definitely Pandigital. Their displays are crisp and stunning. Great features, easy to use, stylish frames. They have a PanTouch model with nice touchscreen controls. They also make a kitchen media center that is pretty cool. Also, announced today compatibility with Microsoft's FrameIt.

www.pandigital.net

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Pandigital-Supports-Microsofts-Windows-Live/story.aspx?guid=%7B35C9E428-6907-4EB0-9903-6EB67A704B5F%7D

[Parshva @ Nov 24th 2008 12:20AM]

Pandigital kitchen media center frame comes with only 90 days warranty.

[Frisch @ Nov 25th 2008 11:07AM]

The Cagic8 Digital Frame is by far the best I've used out there. The design is phenomenal... it doesn't do plastic. All metal and wood and actually looks like it belongs in the living room. Syncing is easy.... it seems to be built for sync. UI is so simple my parents didn't need any instructions at all.

Only caveat is no WiFi/RSS... right now the implementation of that is great for Engadget users but terrible for their parents... tends to be very complex. Much easier for parents to deal with things physically. And design-wise, nothing comes close.

http://www.cagic.com/

[Will @ Dec 1st 2008 12:46PM]

Ya know what the problem with all these digital picture frames are. You have to email or send the pictures to a computer and then connect that computer to the frame. But what if you wanted to send your pictures directly to the frame via email or your phone? There is one out there. They also have a cool holiday video where you can upload a picture of yourself or anyone else to be featured with Santa. Check it out here.

http://www.sitonsantaslap.com/?utm_source=bc

Oh and you can enter to win 500$. No biggy

[Mike @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:25AM]

I found one today at TigZoo.com that's 9", has interchangeable frames, is wall-mountable and under $90. That seems like a good deal. No wifi though. Is it still a good deal?

[Mike @ Dec 3rd 2008 11:28AM]

Sorry, the link is http://www.tigzoo.com. Newbie error.

[Micheal @ Dec 9th 2008 4:29AM]

I won't say it's cheap but it's some good quality stuff. I bought an 8" Nextbase digital photo frame from Amazon last week. Wifi was easy to set up. Screen quality was the best so far. A bonus for me is its 2GB memory and the auto timer to turn on and off.