Team-BHP - Digital Photo Frame - Advice, Suggestions, reviews

Hi Guys,

Have been thinking of gifting my wife a Digital Photo Frame as a new year gift. I had seen one of these at the Vijay Sales outlet but unable to decide which one and what should I be looking for in a Digital Photo Frame. All I could gather were the following requirements:

1) Display - LCD screen with min 7" display. Should display portrait/landscape views.
2) Memory - Should have internal memory plus should support SD cards, USB etc. Store atleast 500 images
3) Formats - Should play JPEG/other photo formats. Also play Video's
4) Other feature - Slide show, display time/date, wall hanging/table top, Built in alarm clock.
5) Budget - max 5K.

Is there anything more I should be specifically looking for. The brands I have come across are Phillips, Kodak, Transcend. Expert BHPians pls suggest a good option.

Digital frames are the in-thing now a days. Looks really cool on work-desk or at home.

One of the most important thing that i give importance to while selecting a digital frame is resolution. I have Sony's digital frame which even though 7 inch has a 800x600 resolution. Resulting output is crisp, clear photos.

You can also look at Sony's Dash. Its all-in-one digital viewer has covers everything including wi-fi, weather, browser and stuff.

Now a days, most frames play audio/video along with photos. So that's another thing important to me. That's again where the high resolution is useful. Rest of the features are as you mentioned. I have seen frames upto 15 inch and have gifted one too. It also acts as a monitor if you want. Its real cool, but expensive.

You can look at some of this brands - Sony, panasonic, phillips, samsung. Avoid chinese brands, most of them have good features but doesn't last long. I am not aware of pricing in India so won't be able to give you price range for above brands. Sorry about that.

Hope this helps you when you finalize the frames.

Check this on amazon
Viewsonic'S VFM1042-52 10.4-Inch Digital Media Frame (Black)
Note the features its has, I almost got it when comming back from US but wasn't availble in stock at pickup stores and I didn't have time to get it shipped.

You should also consider :

- Whats the power consumption
- Whats your requirement of keeping it alive, will you keep it switched on 24*365 days.

Most of the time I have found that the craze fizzles out after a few month and then when you visit and ask them "Oh! you've got a digital frame", you get an instant reply "Battery's gone" or "its not working".

I have seen a digital frame being put to use at a bakery. It runs a slideshow of the various cake designs that are available. It really looks cool.

So if you have a business consider this is a simple and easy way to catch the customers eye.

I got a el-cheapo one yesterday. 39.99$ (41 with taxes)
There were others as well. Phillips 7" for 49.99$.
Kodak upwards of 67$.
Others were wider and expensive. They went all the way upto 129$.

I enquired in Bangalore and I got quotes of Max 5000 INR and minimun 3900 INR.

I picked up this one for 1900 INR ~

Details here.
GiiNii 7" "All-In-One" Digital Picture Frame

In my opinion, Transcend photo frames are good value for money. There is not a lot of hi fi technology involved in photo frames. The products are all commoditised, so go for a product that is not too expensive. Will last for a year or two and by then there will be some latest and greatest technology! :)