NIX X18A Digital FrameMy wife and I purchased this device recently at the end of August, 2012 from Amazon and enjoy it immensely. This unit delivers a bright, sharp, saturated, colorful image right out of the box.
This model is a widescreen model. We own cameras of differing formats. Fortunately we have a widescreen format camera (Canon SD 3500) and I think that is the format of the future. However, we have thousands of images on the older 4/3 size format, and the same is true for my SLR 3/2 format digital camera. Our images are mainly nature photographs with a few family images spaced throughout the slide show. When using the NIX X18A unit the screen is full size for all image formats when the display mode is set for "Optimal". This setting is found when clicking the "Settings" button on the remote and is the default condition. When setting the Display mode to "Original" there is no stretching applied to fill the screen so images of people are far more flattering. However, there will be a vertical black bar on both sides of the images when viewing the older formats. This is not a problem for us, so our picture frame is set for "Original".
My opinion is that if you have mainly people images on the older, almost square 4/3 format, I would buy the smaller NIX X15B which is a 4/3 format unit and you might be happier. The photos would fill the screen, and on the "original" setting, no stretching would occur for any format. If you were to use widescreen images, a horizontal space appears at the top and bottom of the screen on the NIX15B.
I use a San Disc 8 GB SDHC (Class 4) card for the photos and the music. It can be purchased at Amazon for less than $6.00. A comment was made in a previous post that you cannot load the pictures directly into the card and then place the card into the picture frame. I resize all my image files to 2000x2000 pixels (~700 jpg images and growing) in a separate folder on my computer, and then copy that folder onto the SD card. I also place the mp3 audio file in the same folder. That way the music is just for those files. I have no trouble viewing my image files on the NIX. As an aside, I found the PNY 8GB Optima HD card (Class 4) was faster in downloading the picture files from the computer to the card. That is a small issue but where I am putting in 100's of files, it saves me a bit of time.
Our slide show time is set for 5 seconds. This is done by pushing the "Settings" button on the remote. On our NIX it appears that the actual timing depends on the transition (fade) such that the time the image is viewable can vary between 4 seconds and 10 seconds. This is not an issue with us.
If the image has a title, it can be viewed by pressing the "Menu" button on the remote.
The addition of music to the slide show is a bit tricky, but once learned it goes quickly. On our NIX, the slide show comes up if the SD card is in place. I insert and replace the SD card with the unit powered off. With the unit powered up, push the "Exit" button twice to get the screen to show the icon with "Pictures" on it. Push the right arrow button once and the "Combo" icon should be highlighted. Then push the "Enter" button twice. Wait a few seconds until you see the list of picture files on the screen and then push "Enter" again. You should then get an almost blank screen and after several seconds the sound will come on. Make sure the sound volume is up in order to hear the sound because the unit comes with the sound volume off. The volume control is on the remote too. We have found that the sound seems to be too loud or too soft at first, but if you go behind the unit and press the "Up/Down" controls, it seems to adjust in smaller increments.
I have loaded an AVI video file into the included 4 GB thumb drive, and inserted it into the NIX and that worked beautifully, too. If you go to the FAQ on the NIX site for the NIX 18-A, you will find a link to a video converter that works well, but also loaded an unwanted search engine into my computer, so beware.
It seems that whenever a button on the remote is pressed the music goes away and you have to start over again to get it back. The music "Combo" function is an area where improvement could be made.
The NIX 18-A digital picture frame is a great piece of equipment. We thoroughly enjoy it with or without the music.
The included 4GB USB thumb drive worked fine, however, and is a very convenient device for transferring photos from PC to frame and later updating the photos.
Perhaps because of the internal memory problem noted above, I had horrendous problems initially when trying to view the photos from the thumb drive. Some photos loaded almost instantaneously and looked clear and sharp, others (of the same size, format, and everything else) took 30 seconds to load, were horribly pixellated, very low resolution, and almost unviewable. I solved this problem by re-sizing all the pictures in PhotoShop before transferring them to the thumb drive and frame. The frame has a resolution of 1366 x 768, so I re-sized the photos to be no more than 1366 x no more than 768. You can re-size a whole batch of photos in PhotoShop thus: File -> Scripts -> Image Processor, Re-size to Fit W:1366, H:768. There is no loss of resolution when you do this because the frame cannot display any more pixels than this. The result was fantastic: beautiful clear sharp bright pictures; I love it! But if you don't have PhotoShop or similar software, you may stuck with the unviewable pixellated photos I experienced, and you will hate this frame. Hence only 2 stars.I purchased the NIX 18.5 inch Hi-Res Digital Photo Frame about 6 weeks ago and I am extremely please with it. This is the 4th digital frame I've purchased and it is the BEST by far. Unlike CanadianPhoenix I had no issue with loading 1600+ high pixel photos onto a 8GB SD disk and inserting the disk into the disk slot...I got an instant read. This has also been the easiest frame to program. Yes, the remote is a bit tricky but you just have to make sure you aim it directly at the lower right hand corner. I have done this from 10 feet away with no problem. The screen resolution is wonderful, clear and crisp even when viewing from an angle. Yes, you do get those black bars when viewing a photo that has been shot in portrait or not in wide screen but that is a non-issue for me. I use my frame for photos only, no music or videos. I love the on-off program capability. I have it set to come on in the early evening (6pm) and off about my bedtime (10pm). On the weekends I just turn it on manually when I get up and it will shut off once again at bedtime. I highly recommend this digital frame to anyone who loves to view their family and vacation photos. Fingers crossed that it has a long life on my mantle. A Westinghouse frame that I purchased died within 7 months, very disappointing. Update: I have been using the frame for almost 5 months and I still LOVE it. Decided to purchase the 15" frames for our daughters/son-in-laws for Christmas.I purchased this product for my wife as a 10th anniversary gift. I was going to load it up with pictures from the previous ten years but I ran out of time. When my wife opened it, she loved it anyway. Here are my thoughts:
Pros
The screen size is amazing!!!
Very clean look to the product
Provided table stand is very small but effective
Remote and menu system were easy to set up and use
Provided 4GB USB was plug and play
Time feature reduces hours of use and electricty by programming ON/OFF times
Screen resolution and contrast are great
Cons
Packaging looks cheap. Wouldn't be good on a retail shelf but it was great for keeping a gift a secret. No way of telling what it was by looking at the box.
The trim/bezel is about an inch wide. Product would look so much better if the bezel were 1/2 or 1/3" width.
Overall, this product is a 5* value and makes a very impressive dsiplay of your photos.
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