Opteka 12.1-Inch Digital Picture Frame with 1 GB Built-In Memory

5 comments

1. 

   Paul Parker on December 25, 2009 at 5:09 am

   The screen is a nice size for the money but the user interface is unbearable. First off, to use the internal memory make sure your computer is on and the USB hooked up and then turn on the frame. Otherwise your computer will freeze up every time. There is no save button when you make changes in the settings menu so you just have to use the remote to go back to slideshow and hope the settings are changed. Nine out of ten times they aren’t. The clock is digital only and only uses military time. No AM/PM. And most annoying for me is the lack of a shuffle function. Every time you restart this frame it will start off with the exact same picture and proceed in the exact same order. Probably not too bad if you leave the frame on 24/7 or only have a handful of pictures, but if you have a few hundred pics and are energy conscientious you’ll never see them all.

2. 

   ☼ on December 25, 2009 at 5:36 am

   On most other frames I tried, as you insert a memory device (USB or SD card) the slideshow starts automatically — on this frame, you have to punch the remote to get it to work OR turn the frame off and ON – this sucks.

   There is no decent “fill” mode to choose. I have a mix of square and landscape/portrait 3:2/4:3 photos, and there is no acceptable mode to choose that works for all of them. You either get lots of black bars, or your photos get crudely chopped off – this also sucks!

   As the slideshow is playing, you cannot jump back/forward with the remote “< " and ">” keys – this sucks too.

   I thought I was buying a 1024×768 frame, but I got a 800×600. Now Amazon corrected the web-site, but that doesn’t help me.

   The SD card is extremely hard to pull out, it’s not ejected with help of a spring. USB drive sticks out on the left side beyond the wooden frame. That’s just poor design.

   They stole the splash screen (first screen, which says “Opteka TM”) from the default Windows Vista desktop.

   For all mentioned above, I’m not keeping it, because at $74 it’s not a steal, it’s still a POS.

3. 

   D. Mielcarek on December 25, 2009 at 6:10 am

   1. As others have stated, the resolution is 800×600, not 1024×768. The Opteka
   
   website is also wrong. Why is this so difficult to get right?

   2. The frame cannot sort pictures alphabetically. It displays them in the
   
   order they were loaded into memory. Why is sorting such a difficult
   
   task for Chinese programmers?

   3. If there is a way to shuffle the order of the pictures, it is well hidden.
   
   Maybe someone needs to teach these same programmers the concept of random
   
   number generation.

   4. Here’s the most unbelievable part. If you play music while the pictures
   
   are showing, the pictures become fuzzy!! Why in the world would this
   
   happen? Do they ever test these things, or do they just throw them
   
   on the boat?

   It’s going back. The search continues.

   Update: I decided to call Opteka before sending the frame back to
   
   Amazon. They said the “fuzzy” picture problem is a definite defect
   
   and it should not do that. I decided to exchange the frame for another,
   
   mainly because I like the quality of the picture. I’ll keep you
   
   informed.

   Update 2: Second frame received. Same problem.
   

4. 

   Donna A on December 25, 2009 at 7:58 am

   Received as a gift. Has very good picture quality and brightness control, but always starts at picture 1 when it is turned off. I contacted the manufacturer and they responded timely. It does not have a shuffle! They then tried to sell me one that does. Also my TV remote interferes with it as well as my cell phone. It would be a great product if it had a shuffle or started up where it last left off.

5. 

   D. Price on December 25, 2009 at 7:58 am

   I purchased the 12″ frame based on the reviews for the 15″ frame. I am very pleased with my purchase. This is a basic unit without a lot of bells and whistles, but it does the job I want wonderfully. I bought this for my parents, so the large size is a plus. The picture quality is great, even on my lower resolution photos. I like the 1 gig storage on the frame, and it is easy to transfer photos from my computer. I have only had it a few weeks, but so far it is great.