Smart Parts SP15MW Digital Picture Frame

After trying a Kodak Easyshare (10" widescreen) of the same price (~$250 and BestBuy (Canada)), this device is so much better it's not funny. To be fair, the Easyshare theoretically had a Wireless connection feature which the Smartparts does not, but connecting to the wireless was a real pain and the connection was flaky. The size and resolution of the Smartparts 15" (4:3 aspect ratio) is hugely better and the image quality is excellent and the operation is easy and the product is stable. I think that everything else is much less important.

Really now, why on earth would I want a widescreen picture frame - maybe some newer cameras have the ability to crop your pictures so they'd fit automatically, but I have 1000's of picture in 4:3 ratio, and shown on a 10" widescreen, they are effectively being displayed as if on a 8" (And for vertical pictures, it's much worse).

This Smartparts picture frame is really in a different class than all the others I've seen with it's large size and high resolution. The image looks great (oddly, the demo model in Bestbuy looked much dimmer in the store than some of the others, but one can adjust the brightness and contrast and make it plenty bright enough even for a sun-lit room). The wooden frame is classy and the remote control 'eye' is relatively well concealed.

The set-up was very easy, although I think only Windows is supported for their computer side photo optimizing software that it comes with. But you really don't need that anyway - just put the picture files on a flash dive and jam it in and off it goes. You can fix the resolution to be efficient space-wise if you want with any PC photo tool you have.
There was a bit of a gotcha that you need a Phillips screwdriver to open/close the panel on the back of the device to plug in (and conceal) the adapter.

In terms of features, a couple of things not mentioned in the specs on line are that it does have a clock based automatic on/off feature. It happily plays .MOV video clips (as recorded by my Pentax Optio camera) - although I wish it could play them full screen instead of just at the resolution they were recorded - some of my ancient video clips were ~200x300 and show up in a small box in the center of the screen. You can also plug your camera via the USB host port and play a slideshow directly off that (although it's a bit slow).

It also has an adjustable stand, which I know, you're thinking whoopee-doo; but it's actually really important. If you want to place any LCD screen like this on a fireplace mantle or a shelf, you need it to not be angled upwards like a traditional picture frame or else when you're sitting down (or if you're a little kid), you see the screen from too far off axis and it gets dark or even looks like a negative. This frame's adjustable stand allows the frame to stand completely vertical, which really improves it's functionality.

One thing that I do not like is that videos are not played as part of the (randomizable) slideshow - you have to exit out of the slide show, select 'videos', and press the 'play' button and then it just cycles through them all in order. Also, the frame finds all picture and video files on the media even if organized in sub-directories, which is good, but it displays them all as one flat list of image files - when you have 1000's of pictures that makes it impossible to find a particular one. You cannot play a particular directory, if fact there's no way using the frame to even know what directory a particular photo file is actually in.

Another small gripe is that one cannot pause the slideshow, or go 'back' to the previous picture. However you can 'play' the files (non-randomly) and stop the play sequence and then see the filename, cursor back and look at a picture and then 'play' from there. The Kodak frame could pause a slideshow and go back and forth, but it couldn't randomize the order anyway, so it's not really any different.

I should also mention that the first one I got died after about 24 hours, but BestBuy quicky replaced it and I've had no troubles with the new one - but I thing I may buy the 2yr extended warrantee - $50, when it's on sale in January ($5 off).

Addendum (2008/Jan 30)
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Now that I've had the thing for a while, I have a couple of extra comments.
1) There is a limit to the number of photo files that the frame can handle around 3700. With an 8G SD card and optimized photo files, that is only 1/8th full - which is kind of a waste - but maybe you could fill it with video files.
2) Video file formats are a bit pickier that I thought. It plays the .MOV files from my pentax but I can't generate any other .MOV files that seem to work (i.e. one cannot use quicktime to edit the movie). The only video format that I can produce on my PC that works is an .AVI containter with the M-JPEG codec. And then don't try and increase the size more than 640x480 because it goes weird. If you want to edit files on your PC, you can then convert them to the needed format (avi/m-jpeg) with 'super' which is free from www.erightsoft.com
3) Tech support for this frame is non-existent. They never reply by e-mail. They never answer the phone. They do seem to call back if you leave a message a week or two later, but I've never managed to be there for it, and they make no attempt to answer any question in the message they leave, just a 'sorry we missed you, if you haven't resolved the problem call back'.
4) Despite the various little issues, they don't seem to have any plan to upgrade the firmware (as I saw reported by someone on-line who seems to have got through to tech support somehow). It seems like such a stupid move, when they're trying to win the upscale market. If they don't care about it, why don't they make the firmware open-source and let the masses fix things up? But I'm not holding my breath!