Smartparts SPX8 8-Inch Syncpix Digital Picture Frame

We gave this as a gift. It is a nice looking frame, and the picture quality is good. After reading reviews here on the frame, I had formatted all of the pictures to be 1024x768 or less. The frame had no issue dealing with them. I only give the frame 4 stars because of the viewing limitations that digital frames still have. If you view the picture from above or a sharp angle, the image gets washed out. Other digital frames are the same way, so this is not a knock against this particular frame. It is just something potential purchasers need to be aware of when considering a digital picture frame. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another high resolution Smartparts digital frame.

One other thing to keep in mind is that this frame is large. The dimensions, as shown in the description, are 18.2 x 16.8 x 4.2 inches. Makes for a nice, large picture but it does take up some table top space.

I apparently got a bad unit because all images start to fade and turn into negatives/inverted colors after three minutes of a slideshow. I wrote an email to Smartparts support yet without reply. I will post what will they suggest I do and how will they behave to fix/replace the unit. In the meantime, I also got a PortableUSA PU-10WE which is amazing in terms of picture quality, overall looks and user interface. I would so far recommend the 10inch PU-10WE from PortableUSA over the 12inch SmartParts frame. Both have 800x600 resolution and about the same features. The 12inch unit is a lot larger than the 10inch frame but more because of the wooden frame around the display. In terms of space, I would not say that 12inch screen adds significantly to the 10inch. After being able to compare both sizes, I would go for the 10inch size rather than the 12inch.

I downloaded my JPEG pictures onto a USB flash drive, Inserted same, plugged the frame in, turned it on, waited a few seconds for it to run through it's boot-up, and everything worked great. It changes pictures about every 5 seconds. Resolution is very good. We shut it off and unplugged it while on vacation; plugged it back in and turned it on again; all is working well. We plan to give some of these as Christmas gifts

Pros:
=====
- Overall quality is excellent. Images are smooth.
- Back stand prop is very sturdy, as is the frame itself.
- Very bright and clear. (Has controls for brightness, contrast, contrast, and tint.)
- Remote control is flat and light. Can be stored with ease.
- Has many photo transition options.
- Can display one or four images at a time.
- Can display only one specific image if you want to.

Cons:
=====
- The one bug I've encountered is that (after a month of use) some images of a high resolution with a perfect 4/3 width/height ratio would be resized to something *smaller* than the frame's resolution and were displayed in the center. Basically, my rectangular images would be displayed in the middle of the frame with a ~40 pixel border of unused space. I've only seen this occur once so I haven't experimented with what causes it or how to fix it easily, but I converted all my 4/3 images size to match the exact resolution of the frame (800x600) and they display perfectly fine now. Note that it could just be a minor bug that can be fixed by removing the card and reinserting it. I haven't been able to play with that yet.

- USB transfer to inserted flash cards is painfully slow. Transferring .6 MB (one reasonable resolution photo) takes over 6 seconds. I would advise that you use your computer(/camera) to put all the images on the card that you want. Only use the USB interface to tweak the existing files, ie to remove and add a couple pictures.
- Slowest slideshow speed is about 27 seconds per picture. Not much of a con but I would prefer something more like one picture every minute or two. (A look at other digital frame specs seems to imply that all other frames have this same restriction.)

Notes:
======
- The digital screen has an 8 inch diagonal. The entire frame itself is 8 and 3/8 inches by 9 and 5/8 inches.
- If you have images of largish resolution (say greater than 1600x1200) that you have displayed vertically, this means that the 1600 pixel height of the image will be scaled down to the frame's 600 pixel height. If the fame does this, it will give a hint of a grainy look. If you care to, you might want to scale the image down using a smart software program to get a better quality scale, and then use that image. Not a fault of the frame, just a practical limitation. Scaling 3 -> 1 makes it hard to preserve detail, especially if the image has lots of detail (ie, a facial close-up with a flash).
- Following from above: If you have pictures that you think look grainy, try resizing them to the frame's resolution with an intelligent software program. It will likely do a better job than the frame can do.
- The default brightness and tint settings may be a bit high. This is most evident in closeup photos with a flash. You may want to lower those two default settings from their defaults by a bit.
- I haven't tested the video/music playback, so I can't evaluate their functionality.

The "cons" section is longer than the "pros" section, but that's because there's more detail to say. In no way do the cons outweigh the pros.

Overall I'm very pleased with the frame. I scoured the reviews of a lot of digital frames before deciding on this one, which had good reviews. I have not been disappointed. I would highly recommend this frame.

Pros:
+ Good resolution which is adequate for a display of this size
+ Nice looking frame with good finish and excellent image quality
+ Plays music files (WMA format)
+ Plays avi and mov format videos
+ Decent software with the system that allows you to manage your pics
+ Good inbuilt software with easy navigation and control
+ Comes with full functionality remote
+ Many slide transition options
+ Accepts two different card at same time (two card slots SD, xD and CF)+additional built in memory
+ Slide-show and music can run at same time
+ LCD screen with a large viewing angle (images can be seen well from sides)
+ Can be connected to PC for direct image transfer (or the cards can be inserted after copying images)

Cons:

- Cannot hang this on wall untill you can find a way to hide the cable (electricity) or if you are ok with the cable being seen
- Speakers on the back on the unit (if there is obstruction on the back side, too close to wall etc sound will be muffled)
- No support for MP3 (only WMA music files)
- Inbuilt music player is very basic, you cannot fast forward or reverse a song, you can skip them thou
- No charging mechanism as such the frame will run only when connected to an electricity outlet (120V to 240V)

Gist:
Does best what it is supposed to do i.e. DISPLAYING IMAGES, crisp images with many configurable options

Highly recommended if you want a frame for full image and basic music and video functionality (which I consider a free bonus at this price)