I'm going to post this in both the Photography and Gadgets & Gear fora, as I think they'll be interest in both.

I have just bought a Smartparts 15" digital frame from Brookstone. I didn't go looking for one, but saw they had a big sale on all their digital frames and now carried the 15" one from Smartparts (who make good digital frames) for $199.

The 15" screen has a 4:3 ratio, so that means it is 12"x9". That means the 3:2 shots from my Canon DSLR will have a 1/2" border top and bottom in landscape (for an 8"x12" image) and a 3" border in portrait shots (for a 9"x6" image). I've dropped in two SD cards: one was the 4 GB SDHC card from my Canon SD800, which played well and even the AVI videos played well (with sound), andthe other was a 2 GB micro SD card from my phone, in adapter, and the still shots showed well, but the MP4 videos lacked sound.

Three problems so far (other than the MP4 sound):

1. I couldn't find the power inlet. The manual doesn't give any directions.I finally found that you had to remove a screw, lift off a panel, and then I could see the inlet. The reason must be so that the connector doesn't easily pull out.

2. The cable isn't very long, and the section from the power brick to the frame is just a few inches. This is a big problem if I want to mount the unit on a wall - I don't want the big black brick dangling below. I'll have to make up an extension cable for the DC part of the cord.

3. There is a red hot pixel in the center of the top third of the screen. It only shows up with a dark segment there, but it is a real problem.

I've just had the unit for an hour, so I'll post more after a day or so, but I plan to take it back and exchange it for another in the hope it doesn't have a hot pixel.

Note that if you can't get to a Brookstone, Amazon has the same unit for the same price.

Jeff Peterman
"What we got here, is  . . .  failure to communicate." 

Just because I post the same message in two fora doesn't mean that you should post the same reply in both too! <VBG>

Jeff Peterman
"What we got here, is  . . .  failure to communicate." 

>>Just because I post the same message in two fora doesn't mean that you should post the same reply in both too! <VBG> <<

Why not? Not eveyone goes to both fora.

Jeff Peterman
"What we got here, is  . . .  failure to communicate." 

Jeff Peterman
"What we got here, is  . . .  failure to communicate." 

Jan,

While I would not recommend any particular brand I would strongly recommend that you get one that accepts a memory card that can be removed and put into a card reader. That way you can input and delete pictures with ease and, with a second card, have different themes, subjects or whatever you want ready to display.

Does the one you have, when connected to via USB, give full access to all the pictures? If so, you should be able to add and delete the files as required.

Our family bought my wife a 7 inch frame for Christmas and that accepts SD cards, it has various display wait times from 5 seconds to 12 hours and a variety of ways it changes between pictures. 

John

Jan,

The brand is Matsui which, I believe, is specific to a chain of UK stores. It was an inexpensive frame but quite sufficient for my wife's needs.

It sits on a shelf close to where she parks her powerchair and she can look at it as and when she wants.

I have ordered another 2Gb card so that I can pre-load it one day for her to view pictures the next while I re-load the other card with more pictures.

I have enough stored pictures to last for a long time and we frequently get new pictures of our grandchildren.

When time permits I will sort my files into themes such as one showing the development of the grandchildren from birth to today, places we have been, friends and family and so on.

The one job that will take time is making sure that the pictures I select are all the same way up, rotating pictures can be very time consuming.

John