Smartparts SP8MIX 8-Inch Digital Picture Frame | 
| Brand: SmartParts
This item is no longer available
Rating:  9 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Display Size: 8
Removable Memory: MultiMediaCard
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.4
Dimensions (in): 12 x 11.5 x 4
MPN: SP8MIX
Model: SP8MIX
UPC: 092566940012
EAN: 0092566940012
ASIN: B000RZ4O82
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| Features:
| • | Large Hi-Definition LCD Display | | • | Interchangeable Frames - Leather orWood Decor | | • | Displays all Your Digital Photos | | • | Remote Control for Easy Operation | | • | Compatible with SD/MMC/MS/CF/xD Memory Cards |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Smartparts carries a complete line of products in the fast growing category of digital photo frames. These stunning displays fit perfectly with today's digital lifestyle, allowing consumers to enjoy their photos anywhere, without a computer.PRODUCT FEATURES:Large hi-definition LCD display;Interchangable genuine walnut wood/leather outer frame;No computer needed;Remote control for easy operation;Compatible with all of today's common memory cards;Automatic variable-speed slide show;MP3 capability.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Easy to Use, Good Image Quality September 30, 2007
Nubster
39 out of 40 found this review helpful
I was drawn to the high resolution when I first saw the 15" SmartParts frame in a local store, but hesitated because the sample photos seemed so dim. I had the same hesitation with the 8" frame a couple of weeks later. Other sites' reviews had given this frame a high rating, though, so I went with it and am relieved I did.
There is a "brightness" control on the back of the frame that put my fears of dim pictures to rest. Another draw had been the photo optimization software that is available as a free download. I found the software easy to use and was pleasantly surprised by quality of the images after they had been compressed to 800 x 600 pixels. I started with an old 64 mb flash drive, figuring I would store a few pictures now until I could get a 2 gb SD card. The card easily held a "few" pictures, so now there are 500 photos taking up 45 mb of the card. A 2 gb card will be more than enough!
I've only used the frame for a photo slide show. Controls on the frame allow you to choose how long the pictures are displayed; whether they are displayed randomly; and type of transition (or random transition). I changed the display time from 3 seconds to 5 seconds but otherwise kept the factory defaults (random display and random transition). Individual pictures can be selected for viewing, and they can be rotated with the frame controls if necessary.
In hindsight the bigger frame would have been better so that vertical shots would not seem so small. Since I want to get my old snapshots out of storage, though, this frame is more than sufficient. If I had wanted to do justice to something more artistic, the bigger frame would have made more sense.
The plain wood frame looks great. I have seen a SmartParts 8" beveled frame, but the beveled edges didn't match up too well. Not sure if that was the frame itself or if the store display had been knocked about too much.
Overall, am very pleased with this frame and hope to use it for years to come.
Great for photos, awful for video November 28, 2007
H. Wright (IL USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I purchased this for my technophobic grandmother. It turns on and goes straight into slideshow mode, which is great for her. Picture quality was great (800x600), the screen is bright, too. If you want to display images, this is a great frame.
However, if you want to also use the video playback... prepare to be disappointed. I spent an entire day trying to convert 30 seconds of my son chasing butterflies into a recognized format. What I found that worked was MPEG-1 at a meager 176x144 resolution. Anything larger would only show the first frame then freeze up the software. I'd have to turn it off and on to get it to respond again. And if that weren't bad enough, the picture lags behind and the audio goes out of sync. For comparison: the $80 Coby frame with a clock plays back the same video at 640x480 w/o any picture lag.
So, if you don't care about video playback... this is a great digital picture frame!
 Who wrote the user manual? January 2, 2008
AV Mainiac (Portland, ME USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
After much research and review reading, I finally settled on the Smartparts SP8MIX 8" digital picture frame. I purchased this item as a Christmas gift for my photo-crazy wife. I liked the two frame option and the resolution is superb! However, if you are technologically inept you may want to choose another product. Let me explain...First, I am a huge proponent of reading the User Manual that comes with all products. However, this User Manual is horrible (in fact the writers ought to be slapped!). It's fine if all you are doing is taking your digital camera's memory card and inserting it into the frame, but who doesn't edit/reorient their pictures before "publishing" them for viewing? Ahhh, that is why they include the "free" Opti-Pix software. I can't speak for the software, because I couldn't get it to load successfully onto my computer. Oh, by the way, don't waste your time searching through the packing material (like I did) for the software CD, because the program is stored in the frame's memory (probably something that should have been mentioned in the manual!). Ah but not all was lost! My wife's photo editing program worked just fine preparing the pictures for download. If you are at all familiar with the copy and paste command or know how to drag and drop files from one folder to another you'll do just fine loading your pictures into the frame.
One nice feature of this frame is it allows you to download music files (mp3 format only) so that you can have music accompany your slide show. The music feature worked flawlessly, that is once I finally figured it out (you guessed it...this process wasn't mentioned in the manual either).
The little remote, that stores neatly in the back of the frame, definitely made navigating the on-screen menus much easier.
Overall this digital frame does an excellent job displaying photos. The images look crisp from all angles. I would have given it a 5-star rating if the software had loaded successfully and the user manual was written more thorougly.
 Difficult Setup!! December 14, 2007
P. Stacey (Carrollton, Texas United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Got this for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Had it sent to me first to load pictures on it and figure out setup. Good Thing!!! Took me HOURS to accomplish viewing pictures on the media that I wanted. Be aware that I have worked extensively with computers for almost 15 years. The remote is very difficult to work. The buttons are hard to push. At first, I couldn't even see the drives when I plugged it in. They finally showed up at some point. Don't even know what I did. Screen won't do anything either if it is connected to the computer via USB. It stays on the logo page. The manual makes no mention of that. The manual doesn't mention much of what you need to operate it. You have to look on the back of the box to see that you need to download the OptiPix software to optimize pictures. This is only way I even got it to work the way it should. For those of us who go straight to the manual, that would have been information that would have been helpful yesterday. This website mentions the remote stores in the frame. I can't find any place it does that. Of course the manual doesn't either. I had gotten some pictures to play before the software download. Some of them said format not supported, eventhough it was a JPEG. It also wouldn't show half of the pictures I loaded which was only 10M total. I had so many problems (even more than stated here), I don't even know if I ever got pictures to successfully play from the internal memory.
Now the good. Does display good pictures. It was about what I hoped for. Some noticeable JPEG compression in the dark areas. Brighter pictures= better quality. No problems with lag either. Transitions are a little jerky, but that may be the same on most of them. The frames are also more attractive than others I've seen.
Haven't even attempted to load music or video. After the review about video before me, I don't think THAT will be attempted.
However, if there are significant problems after I try to set up her computer for it, it will be returned. If you are not a computer savvy person at all, do NOT purchase this frame.
Xlnt quality and easy to set up December 26, 2007
R. Gard (Beacon Falls, CT)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have had this frame for 5 days so far and it is exactly what I wanted and expected. I shopped for quite a while before finding this SmartParts unit - it has the perfect combination of what is needed at a great price.
1- The most important thing for me is clarity and beauty of the picture (duh!) - this frame's 800x600 HiDef LCD has enough pixels and size to actually look as good as photo. Forget about the memory included with a frame and focus your attention on the picture quality. Most other frames are crap resolution. Don't waste your money on low resolution frames.
2- the unit was well packed, easy to set up, and I had it up and running photos in 5 minutes. Both of the included frames (wood and leather) look superb.
3- It comes with a cute remote control, and ability to run video and music. I have not used any of these as I just wanted a picture frame to slowly slide-show my pix, and this frame does that perfectly.
4- the frame has 128M internal memory, which is tiny. So I bought a 2G SD memory card ($19) and loaded a ton of my pix on that, slid the card into the picture and bingo -- instant slide show without any hassle.
5- the frame is designed so that you can take the memory chip from your digital camera and slide it into the frame for immediate viewing. The frame can handle every type of removable memory media, and has a USB connection so you can also transfer music/pix/video from your computer into the frame's memory or any of the removable media slots.
I am very happy with this frame and recommend it highly.
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