Functional Not Fancy: Westinghouse 0561 Digital Photo Frame

You know those dinky memory cards that come packaged with digital cameras? The ones that hold a handful of high quality photos at best? Well, I have a gadget that makes great use of the useless bit of storage they provide. Consider for a moment the 5.6 inch Westinghouse digital frame.

Once upon a time frames like this were a novel luxury item. Only the Segway crowd had any interest in the pricy technology produced by companies like Ceiva. In the last few years digital photography has gone from a niche market to the primary picture-taking technology. All products related to the field from memory cards to card readers and from personal photo printers to online photo services have gotten incredibly cheaper. Frames like this Westinghouse have gone from more than $500 to less than $100 over the course of just five years.

I've been using the Westinghouse DPF-0561 for a year now with little trouble. It’s simple to use and works nicely on my bookshelf. Basically I use my card reader (prior to that I used my actual camera) to upload photos to a small card that are reduced in size and somewhat in quality. The pictures are much smaller this way and because of the frame's somewhat limited resolution the difference is imperceptible. I used to rotate just a dozen or so photos through the frame and now have closer to two dozen. It works nicely and without any real hang-ups. In fact I find that if there is a problem reading the card if I just turn the frame on and off it once again functions perfectly.

This frame has a 5.6 inch screen with a "normal" television aspect ratio of 4:3 and just 320 x 234 pixel resolution. Remember what I said about the limited resolution? This is where that comes into play. In any case, the photos look nice in the frame from most angles though from the far left or right they are almost impossible to see—kind of like a LCD monitor. Since this is a LCD frame that comparison makes perfect sense.

The cool thing is that you can choose to communicate to the frame via USB 1.1 (yeah, I know...kind of budget) if you’d like. I find it quicker to use my card reader and to upload photos more directly to a card and slip it into the slot on the upper right-hand side of the frame. In addition to boasting (uh, yeah) 8MB internal memory the Westinghouse gadget also supports common card formats CompactFlash, Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, and xD-Picture Card. I have used CompactFlash, Secure Digital, and MMC in the frame. Pictures can be played back via a slideshow or you can choose to show an AVI movie if you're so inclined. There are some basic options which let you control how frequently photos change, but there are really few extra special things about this model.

Speaking of extra special things, the Westinghouse 5.6 inch frame is not one. It is very much an entry level digital frame. What it does include is the option to switch out the faceplates. I use the mahogany colored frame, but if I were so inclined I could choose either black or aluminum. Since the frame is suitable for headboards, desks, dressers, and counters the change may happen in the future. By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet this is yet another device to plug in.

For the money, I am impressed with this product. It's not fancy, but it is functional. I've had no issues with it worth mentioning any more than I already have (that ever-so-occasional card not found error), but I do wish the resolution were nicer and tighter. If you have more bucks to blow and want the coolest technology available you may want to look elsewhere toward brands like the aforementioned industry innovator Ceiva or the expensive but lovely Philips models. There are options out there, but it all depends on how large you want the display to be and how much you're willing to spend on a completely unnecessary gadget.

This $100 frame works for me. And for my family. And for my bookshelf.