Electronic photo frames?

[dmention7]

I was kind of thinking one of them would be a good x-mas gift for my mom (maybe even pre-loaded with a few pics of the kids for bonus sentimental points). Has anyone owned or used one before? Are they actually a nice thing to have around, or do they not work nearly as well as one might expect?

 

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I personally think they're a rather cheesy gimmick (I'd rather have select pictures on the wall or such in nice frames), but I know people with them that say they work well, particularly if they lack space or on a desk.

 

[Workdawg]

I bought an offbrand one for Jenny a while back from woot. Pretty big POS. I'd say if you're gunna do it, get a good one.

 

[JustROLLIN]

I have one, its made by Digital Living, bought it at Target. I had originally been given a Kodak brand one, but it required having a memory card in it at all times. So, I bought the lower cost option because it could hold 16 pictures internally. I really enjoy it and the picture quality is actually pretty decent.

I looked at the Kodak one some time later and it had been upgraded with internal memory, but was still about 40% more expensive.

 

[dmention7]

I personally think they're a rather cheesy gimmick (I'd rather have select pictures on the wall or such in nice frames), but I know people with them that say they work well, particularly if they lack space or on a desk.

My mom is always trying to snap pictures of us kids whenever she gets the chance, so i figured it might be a way to be able to actually keep some of those pics on display without having to print and cycle them through frames. I do see where it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.


Joe, how is the battery life, or do they plug in? (I bet we'll be seeing e-ink versions pretty soon....)

 

[YSOSLO]

I've been wanting one of these myself for quite some time. I like the bigger ones though. A 7" picture can be a little tough to see if it's a landscape shot or something, but almost everything is visible when you get up to the 10" range. The bigger sizes are still pretty spendy though.

Joe I see a lot of these frames being marketed with a remote. Do you ever use a remote to do anything with your frame, or is it just to help with the menu selections on initial and subsequent setups?

 

[JustROLLIN]

Jay, mine just plugs directly into the wall.

Pete, mine is the of the 7" variety and did not come with a remote.

 

[JustROLLIN]

I take that back, I do have a remote, but I never use it.

 

[Slim]

I've got one that came free with my set of Contis I bought last fall. It plugs into the wall and doesn't have a remote but has a few buttons on the back. The picture quality is decent on mine, I'm sure when you buy one instead of getting a freebie it's better.

I like it for putting up pictures a few times throughout the year of trips and vacations, etc. I agree with James that most pictures I really like I'm going to frame and put on the wall. But this fills the role for all those pictures I might want to view and share with family friends of our latest trip or event.

It's basically like having a screensaver of pictures on your PC. Mine requires a SD memory card, but they're cheap for decent sized ones. I bought a 512MB that holds over a hundred pictures and has this cool little feature where part of the card snaps out and the end can be plugged directly into a USB port for loading pictures. Pretty trick.

My $.02

 

[YSOSLO]

Yeah, I like the idea of having an SD card for the frame rather than internal memory, so it can be increased if I want. I'd love to keep one at work, but I'm afraid it might disappear...

 

[Z-licious]

I got an idea. Buy a 19 inch monitor and plug an ipod into it set to slideshow. BAM!

 

[keke]

I bought one for my parents this year and I'm scanning all our old pictures for them so they can view them on the photo frame. They loved it.

 

[YSOSLO]

keke what brand and size frame did you go with? Any particular reason you chose the model you decided on?

 

[keke]

keke what brand and size frame did you go with? Any particular reason you chose the model you decided on?

I bought the Sony 9inch model. I liked the style of it and also my dad is a big Sony fan so I knew he would like the one I chose. They loved it and so far I think this is the best gift I've given them ever. When I gave it to them they just looked at all the pictures that I scanned. I could tell it brought back a lot of memories. At this point in my parents life they are more concerned with the memories they had with their children and I wanted to give them that.

BTW, the pictures I scanned from 4x6's turned out awesome! Here's an example of one. (me when I was like 6.) http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img044jd0.jpg

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8695236&type=product&id=1198888218908