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Vialta VistaFrame Digital Picture Frame

Vialta VistaFrame Digital Picture Frame

List Price: $399.99
Your Price: $299.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Graphics + Auto Shut-Off Firmware Fix
Review: Great Product!
There's now a firmware fix for the auto shut-off.
My unit has a line on the setup screen to immobilise this feature.
Good to hear a manufacturer responding to customer feedback - thanks Vialta!
I think earlier units can be upgraded too - need to contact Vialta for that.
I use Vistaframe at home for the family pictures, and also for business presentations. Easy to set up and I can run Powerpoint presentations when the slides are saved as jpeg pictures.
Also use it in office reception window to promote our company services.
Great graphics & really wide viewing area.
Previous reviewer had display problems, but mine are great.
5 Stars from me.Recommended.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Fixing the auto turnoff (power saver)
Review: I agree the auto turnoff is a real annoyance. Especially since you have to scroll around and reselect your photo directory and hit the play button if the unit has been off for two or more hours. This power saver feature can be easily bypassed by placing a white sheet of paper about 1/8" in front of the motion sensor windows. I slip a sliver of paper about 1/4" x 1" into the motion sensor windows tucking the ends behind the metal. Then I pull it out in the middle about an 1/8" so it arches over the sensor windows and can reflect back from one window to the other. It take a little trial and error but the unit will display indefinitely this way.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Works pretty much as advertised
Review: I have purchased 3 of these frames in the last 2 weeks, and, while I agree that there are limitations, I think they work pretty much as advertised. I bought them for various relatives who don't even have computers; I have also managed Ceivas for 3 of my other relatives for several years, so I think I know pretty much how the frames compare.

Ceivas certainly have more clarity and detail, but the Vista Frame has better saturation and color. Ceiva pics really need to be about 25% oversaturated for ideal viewing. And, yes, viewing angle and distance are indeed factors, but no more than with my 3 Ceiva frames. Having said that, the Ceiva frame is certainly better overall, but, bear in mind, the Vista doesn't involve a subscription fee, so after 2 years the Ceiva cost exceeds that of the Vista. Comparing the two is sort of apples and oranges.

I'm not trying to "sell" anyone on the VistaFrame, but I do think the two-star review is a bit off base. None of these frames is going to look as good as a high-end lcd monitor on a digital video card, but both Ceiva and Vista are adequate units. Both have a hint of pixel jitter (the Vista has more), and both have limited viewing angles. The Ceiva looks better the closer you are to it, while the Vista is better with a distance of about 4 to 5 feet. Bottom line: if it's higher photo quality you want, Ceiva is better (but a lot more work if you have to do all the uploading...and more expensive); if you're looking for ease of use, especially for folks who are not overly tech savvy, the Vista is much easier to use and quite serviceable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly recommend! Great gift idea.
Review: I love the Vista Frame so much, I've just ordered 3 more for family gifts. All the original problems listed in the reviews have been fixed by the manufacturer. If the frame goes into sleep mode (overnight when no motion is sensed), it wakes up and goes right back into slideshow mode without having to restart with the menu buttons. The color is great and the photos are viewable from all angles. I haven't experienced any flickering problems.

My digital camera allows me to upload photos from my pc hardrive onto the compact flash card so I was able to create cards with different groups of pictures for different family members.

This digital frame would make an excellent gift!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The screens flickers and green colors show as black
Review: I purchased one of these and returned it the next day. The screen flickers and for any photos that have green colors in them (especially dark green) look black.

I ended up buying a 8x10 digital picture frame with 800x600 resolution from Pacific Digital (no PC required). The pictures are great!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Poor picture quality
Review: I was very excited to see this frame, and thought that would be a perfect gift for a fellow geek. I was extremely disappointed to see poor the picture quality - it looked like the photos were taken using one of the first generation digital cameras that came on the market some 10 years ago. The resolution was similar to my first palm pilot (IIIx), just enlarged.

I sent it back after trying to get it to display pictures where you could actually see peoples faces. I believe that the pictures of this device showing colorful and detailed images were doctored or transposed to make this product look better.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works so far...
Review: Mine must have had the fix already in place for disabling the power saving feature. I bought this for my wife for mother's day and so far... it works... I like the fact you can rotate the image if it was in landscape mode. It does sort of "zoom out" and thus the only real way to do it so it looks good is to use some photo editing software.

One thing I have noticed is that the pics of sometimes have a "flicker" depending on if their are lines in the image (like power lines in the backgrond). Also some colors flicker like crazy like the green leaves in images of Yosemite. This is really minor.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Works so far...
Review: Mine must have had the fix already in place for disabling the power saving feature. I bought this for my wife for mother's day and so far... it works... I like the fact you can rotate the image if it was in landscape mode. It does sort of "zoom out" and thus the only real way to do it so it looks good is to use some photo editing software.

One thing I have noticed is that the pics of sometimes have a "flicker" depending on if their are lines in the image (like power lines in the backgrond). Also some colors flicker like crazy like the green leaves in images of Yosemite. This is really minor.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not at all like advertised
Review: My boyfriend gave me this digital picture frame as a gift, and we were both quite disappointed by the resolution. The picture quality is quite poor, and nothing like the great pictures they show on advertisements or the box. You can see each pixel on the screen, and you must be a specific distance away to truly enjoy the photographs. Perhaps we are just spoiled by the great quality we can see on our computer.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Autoturn off makes it worthless
Review: The motion sensor is not very sensitive...about 3 inches. After an hour the LCD turns off. There is no way to disable the auto-turn off feature. I found, that once off it was forgotten. That's a lot of money for a blank picture frame to never be looked at. It needs to stay on - to draw attention so people will "ooh" and "ah" at it.

Customer support claimes there is no way to disable it. So I sent it back.


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