Monday, August 18, 2014

Sony DPF-D810 8-Inch SVGA LCD (4:3) Digital Photo Frame -Black

Sony DPF-D810 8-Inch SVGA LCD Digital Photo Frame -BlackThe main reason I decided to buy a digital photo frame is because printing out photos from my Sony DSC-H5 on an Epson PictureMate to share with the family got pretty tiresome. Sure, the prints looked good, but printing them took a long time, they cost about 35 cents apiece and some of the older relatives couldn't see them very well. I figured a digital photo frame would improve the whole process. My requirements were simple: the frame must have very high resolution, be small and lightweight (for packing in a carry-on suitcase), and accept images via a Memory Stick and also via a standard USB interface (which many, I found, do not).

The Sony DPF-D810 meets all of my requirements with flying colors. The 800-by-600-pixel 8-inch-diagonal display is clear, crisp, bright and saturated. Photos display instantly, either singly, until you manually advance them, or in a slideshow with your choice of 10 time intervals from three seconds to 24 hours and with your choice of six transition effects. You can show the full image or crop it to fit the screen. If the aspect ratio of the picture is wider than 4:3, thin black bars appear at the top and bottom of the screen--the image itself is undistorted. You can display image information such as the time and date taken, camera type, shutter speed and aperture, EV compensation and more. The unit will show photos directly from an SD memory card, Memory Stick Duo or USB flash drive, or you can copy them to the internal memory, which holds about 150 high-resolution images. A mini-USB connector lets you transfer photos directly from your computer. You can choose from 14 different full-screen clock and calendar displays, or integrate a clock and/or calendar with six of the 10 different slideshow display options. Thus you can place this frame on a desk or mantel and run it all the time as a useful item of room decor. You can even choose whether or not to display the bright "Sony" logo on the lower part of the frame. All in all, this is a very impressive device that should satisfy the most demanding user. Plus, it is small (roughly 9 inches by 7 inches by 1 inch) and lightweight (less than 1-1/2 pounds, including the AC transformer and the remote control).

Speaking of which, the remote control is a great bonus. When I first set up the DPF-D810, I found it difficult to see the on-screen menus while manipulating tiny buttons with minuscule labels on the back of the unit. Then I used the remote. What a difference! You can access all of the frame's well-designed and logically arranged setup and functional menus with ease. Not all frames in this price category offer remotes. I didn't care about it when I selected this frame, but now I wouldn't be without it.

Even though I wanted a digital photo frame for just one simple purpose, I was pleased to find that this one far exceeded my expectations and offered much more than I needed for a reasonable price. If you're considering taking the next logical evolutionary step in digital photography by displaying your pictures on a photo frame rather than printing them, I highly recommend you consider the Sony DPF-D810.

I'm the one in the family...and extended family...that does the shopping for electronics/digital products. You know me, many of you have that guy in your own families or group of friends.

When I decided to buy digital frames for my parents and my wife for this Christmas, I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of digital frames. I read a lot of reviews as well and compared many of the features available. Here's what I liked about the Sony DPF-D810 8-inch SVGA Frame:

Simply to use, yet has advanced features that you don't get in this price range

Sturdy, well thought-out design (even the remote is sturdy...many have flimsy remotes that are useless)

4:3 format...standard photo size, so it doesn't undesirably crop your precious photos

Allows the use of all standard memory cards to include USB thumb drives -great for anyone that might be technically challenged

It's not a knock-off brand and was obviously well tested..I didn't have to wonder how long it would reliably work

It's not the biggest frame on the market...it's not the most expensive (by far)

It is a great buy for $79!

Buy Sony DPF-D810 8-Inch SVGA LCD (4:3) Digital Photo Frame -Black Now

I just loaded this frame up with pictures of the kids for grandma, and can say that this frame is a much better choice for the price than other brands.

I really wanted to offer a contrast to the only review (so far) for this product, since I had a far different experience.

There are many menu options to customize the viewing experience, including a setting to change the delay between pictures from 3 seconds to 24 hours. There are also nine different types of slideshows, plus a random mix of those types available.

Also in the menu options is a Shuffle option to randomize the order of your pictures.

I chose to resize the photos to match the display resolution of the frame (800X480). This dropped the size from 2+ mb per picture to around 50 kb per picture, and they are virtually indistinguishable from a regular viewing distance. At the moment, there are 500+ pictures in the internal memory, with more than half of the room left.

The picture quality is great especially compared to other brands in this price range.

Read Best Reviews of Sony DPF-D810 8-Inch SVGA LCD (4:3) Digital Photo Frame -Black Here

Bought this due to Sony's quality in imaging space and 10-in diagonal screen. After loading photos, am amazed at how great the pictures look and how nice the photo frame is. Had not bought a digital photo frame previously due to cost and small screen size, am glad I waited until now.

Anyway, great product with excellent viewing from all angles and lots of configurable options (interval settings, random, clock, etc.). Did not find any of the limitations or issues that earlier reviewer noted, thankfully went ahead and bought it.

Here is my summary:

high quality screen

good viewing angles

very nice frame for use in living room etc.

easy to configure

good price

One suggestion if you use Picasa or any other photo editing program. You can crop your photos using the "5:3 Widescreen Photo Frame" crop option and they will fit perfectly in the 800x480 frame when you do a File->Export (option Resize to 800). Or if you prefer, you can let the Sony resize/crop for you.

Anyway, great product and in my personal opinion, definitely worth recommending to others.

Want Sony DPF-D810 8-Inch SVGA LCD (4:3) Digital Photo Frame -Black Discount?

I bought a couple of digital frames from another company for my parents and in-laws a few years ago, but they just didn't use them much. There were two principal reasons why: no auto on-off mechanism and no shuffle function. This frame takes care of both issues nicely. The shuffle function is truly random, so you're constantly seeing new pictures. The auto on-off feature is quite sophisticated. It allows you to choose a different on and off schedule for each day of the week. Plus you can have it turn on and off multiple times in each day. So, I have my frame turning on at 6am everyday. On Monday through Friday it turns off at 9am when I leave for work and then back on at 3pm when my kids get home. On Saturdays and Sundays it stays on the whole day. Then every night it turns off at 10pm. It's great having it on the whole time we're home, but then not wasting electricity at night or when we're away from home.

I've been very impressed by the frame in addition to these features. It's very easy to set up and picture quality is great. The remote makes navigating the menus to adjust settings or skipping pictures easy and convenient.

I wanted to also mention a couple of limitations that I would have like to have known when I was buying my frame. They don't change my rating of the frame, but are just useful to know ahead of time.

A few reviewers mentioned that the screen was smaller than they would have liked, based on where they were going to use it. The same happened to me. My frame is in the living room in a place where you can see it from a pretty good distance. Although the picture quality is good enough to see from far away, the size of the screen means that your pictures just aren't that big. As a result, I find myself invariably walking up to the frame to get a better look at whatever picture's showing. So before you decide, it might be good for you to know the actual dimensions of the screen and frame, since the 8" diagonal measurement is hard to decipher and the frame measurement listed on Amazon is wrong. The screen is 4.75" x 6.5" and the frame is 9.2" x 7".

The one other caveat I discovered is that the frame can handle only 5000 pictures at a time. I bought a 8GB SD card and just filled it up with as many digital pictures I could fit. Well as it turned out, that came out to more than 5600 pictures. Now, every time I turn the frame on, it reminds me that the max is 4999 and that it won't be showing me some of my pictures. It's not a big deal since 4999 is plenty to see, but it's good to know. I had considered buying a larger SD card to have even more photos loaded on the frame, but now I realize that it wouldn't be able to show them, so why bother.

All in all, this is an excellent frame that I'm glad I bought. It has a couple of limitations based on the way I'm using it, but that doesn't detract from its quality and utility for others.

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