Viewsonic announces new digital photo frames, neither with WiFi

ViewSonic's half-heartedly announced a pair of 8-inch digital photo frames for your all of your half-hearted holiday shopping needs. The DPG801BK and the DPG807BK are basically the same product, with 800 x 600 resolution displays, a 500:1 contrast ratio, and 512MB of internal memory. If that's not enough memory for your um... memories, you can of course load in a memory card or USB drive (there's no wireless integration in either frame). The DPG807BK also has a remote control, which is going to be handy when you want to quickly cycle past photos of your "lovely family" from across the room. They're both available and the DPG801BK will go for $119 while the DPG807BK is $159 -- a small price to pay for the gift that says "I got this for you last night and you're lucky I even thought of it at all."

Read - DPG801BK
Read - DPG807BK

[Le Big Mac @ Nov 10th 2008 3:27PM]

Why do companies keep introducing the same thing? A frame that uses memory cards. Aren't there enough options already?

How about one that really works on wifi. And better yet, one that allows me to send pictures to my mom's frame on her wifi network. Without a huge expense. adn works with Macs and PCs (or just Macs, but yeah I know).

[ThomD @ Nov 10th 2008 3:35PM]

Dlink's 10" frame really does work on Wifi. it uses Frame Channel (free service) to pull photos from any RSS feed or photo sharing site.

[rcappo @ Nov 10th 2008 4:31PM]

estarling's is pretty good as well. I use it to e-mail pictures to my parents 300 miles away. And my parents can e-mail pictures back to my frame.

[Loban @ Nov 10th 2008 4:37PM]

How about a frame that randomly pulls picture from a network share on my home network. That can't be very difficult. That's what I really want. I don't want to have to define an RSS or upload my pics to a website. My network is already there, my network shares are already established, why can't the frame just pull pics from my network?

[ThomD @ Nov 10th 2008 5:09PM]

Loban-

I'm starting to feel like a fan boy here. Dlink will pull from local servers, although I think it wants windows media server, not a straight share. I didn't need that feature, so I didn't look at it too closely.

[Bruce Lewis @ Nov 10th 2008 11:23PM]

When you say "really works on wifi" are you talking about the Samsung SPF-83V not supporting WPA2? I've heard that, but my home network is open so it hasn't been an issue. I also discovered it doesn't require Windows XP like the manual says. It actually has a web interface. I liked it enough that I enhanced OurDoings, a photo-sharing site I run, to improve its support for wifi frames.

[Hannes @ Nov 13th 2008 2:20AM]

Quite nice!

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

[htd @ Nov 10th 2008 3:29PM]

companies keep introducing LCD monitors with almost nothing new as well, as long as it sells, but for this, I am not too sure.

[glenn s @ Nov 10th 2008 3:35PM]

I don't understand why engadget is so down on digital picture frames. I like mine, and it is a helluva lot easier than actually printing my photos. Just keep good backups.

[sodapop @ Nov 10th 2008 3:54PM]

I think the problem is that there is nothing new about a picture frame that plays images from local data. The whole point of digital photos is flexibility. Using non-networked frames is too similar of a chore to running a slide projector. With tons of photo sharing sites and electronic communication, all picture frames should be networked so we can update them on the fly and remotely.

[integor @ Nov 10th 2008 4:26PM]

What will be next for LCD displays? LCD walls so you can change the color of your wall if you get bored with the way it looks? I love how our lifestyles are trying to go more sustainable yet we're making "powered" picture frames so we can have pictures being cycled through when in reality how often are they going to be looked at??? Turn it on when friends come over......

[Game_playa @ Nov 10th 2008 4:29PM]

"I even though of it at all"
I think you meant thought

[Eli @ Nov 10th 2008 4:35PM]

Our current digital picture frame is a 24" iMac that shows random pictures from our ~12gb collection. No, it's not a dedicated unit; it just sits in a highly visible spot and that's the screensaver for 10 minutes until energy star kicks in.

Why can't any company release something on the order of >= 17" that do the same off of a wifi / samba share? I don't want to build it myself; I don't want to pay more than it would cost to buy a dedicated iMac. 20" LCDs go for like $200 bucks. Put it in a f*cking photo frame, charge me $350, and give me something I can hang on the wall!

PS: Frame Channel is ok, except you have to upload pictures and they are limited to 100 per channel. There is something to be said for pulling pictures off the internet (PicassaWeb/Flickr/etc) but I'd be happy for local data done right.

[liv @ Nov 10th 2008 4:55PM]

the little kid in the picture is absolutely adorable...

[Charles @ Nov 10th 2008 5:26PM]

Aren't these things exactly what Microsoft Sideshow and Bluetooth were intended for?

To have a non-bluetooth digital picture frame makes absolutely no sense to me...wtf...

[Marc @ Nov 10th 2008 7:15PM]

For $99.00, turn your existing flat panel tv into a giant Digital Picture Frame using the WD TV HD Media Player - its slideshow interval range is from several seconds to 5 minutes. Oh yeah, it does video and audio as well, has 2 USB ports (for flash/hard drives) and a remote control. Output is via HDMI, Composite (old school), and TOSlink/optical.

[Jeff @ Nov 10th 2008 8:06PM]

CHUMBY ftw

[Wwhat @ Nov 11th 2008 1:29AM]

The resolution is pretty decent for a photo-frame at that pricepoint, although the contrast ratio is a bit low, but it might work, you don't want to have a photo-frame that is overly bright glaring away the room after all, and that would probably happen if they tried to up the contrast I guess.
As for features, I'd like it if photo-frames had a video input so I could use them for other things if I wanted.
And yeah wireless is nice but then you can expect the price to jump in a new bracket (license fees I expect, the chips are cheap now) and it's a whole different ballgame.

[CosterMonger @ Nov 11th 2008 9:49AM]

when will someone make a netbook that doubles as a DigiPictoFrame?
(I mean in the sense of not looking like a netbook after it transforms!)