Rating: 
Summary: Fabulous
Review: I just got one to give to my technophobe mom on Mother's Day. I am extremely impressed. It's attractive; it looks far more like a picture frame than an electronic device. The photo quality, while not quite as good as an average computer monitor, is quite respectable. It was extremely easy to set up and get working. And it works perfectly. The frame cycles between 20 pictures that you've uploaded to the Ceiva web site, showing each for between 5 seconds and 2 hours (the time is up to you). It downloads new pictures from the web site automatically every night; you can also force it to download immediately. You can store up to 1000 (I think) pictures on the web site, and the frame will rotate them, choosing 20 different ones each day. You can also tell it to keep pictures until further notice, or have it choose one picture randomly each day from each of 20 albums that you establish online, or show "channels" like the local weather and prime-time TV schedule, or any combination of the above. You can send photos in JPEG or several other formats. Ceiva's web site recommends editing photos to increase color saturation and contrast, and decrease brightness, in order to optimize their appearance on the frame (as opposed to on your monitor). I think their advice is correct, but I don't want to bother saving 2 versions of each photo, one for me and one for my mom's frame; the quality is still pretty good. Ceiva also recommends saving in 640x480 pixels, but I've found that larger pictures (both slightly larger and way larger) look just as good, so I don't bother saving a small version just for the frame. (I have a fast web connection, so I don't mind the time it takes to upload the image from my PC. I'm not sure whether this results in longer time for Ceiva to download photos to the frame, but I suspect that they convert them to 640x480 before downloading them.) Now the drawbacks: - It's expensive. .... - The image quality could be better. - Th image must be viewed pretty much straight on, not at much of an angle. - The person with the frame can do very little. Basically all they can do (besides enjoy the show) is change the brightness and force an immediate download. Anything else, including telling it what hours to go dark at night, how long to show each picture, what pictures to change the next day, or your changed phone number, must be done on their web site. The assumption is that if the owner doesn't have a PC, he/she doesn't want to get involved with these things. That's probably the case most of the time, so I think this is a reasonable design, but there are probably some users who want to do more. Also, if there are connection problems, it can be cumbersome to troubleshoot and correct them with so little control from the frame. - The web site user interface is confusing. It's actually pretty powerful once you figure it out, but it's way too hard to figure out. - Of course, you need your photos in digital form to send them to Ceiva's web site. If you already do digital, this is no problem. If you will have to start doing this just so you can send them to Ceiva, that's additional time and expense that you need to factor in. - The frame comes in your choice of colors, so long as your choice is black. - Other users have complained of hardware problems. Most of those seem to show up right away, so you can reduce the problem by getting the unit in advance and trying it out before giving it as a gift. But the number of complaints I've seen seems rather high. I expect that most or all of these problems will be fixed over time. The price will inevitably come down, and Ceiva's web site suggests that a new model this summer will accept pictures directly from memory cards rather than requiring a service subscription. (Some competitive products already do this.) Display technology, of course, keeps improving. Their web site promises an improved UI in a few weeks. And it implies that other colors will be available eventually. In a couple of years, I think this will be a much more appealing product, perhaps good enough that I'll want several around my house. But if you have (say) a parent who craves pictures of their grandchildren, a couple of years of pleasure is worth a lot. That's why I sprung for one for my mom last week, and I liked it so much, I ordered a second for my wife's grandma yesterday. I just packed up my mom's after having it running in my office for a few days, and I miss it already!
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Way to Keep Your Family Close
Review: We purchase two Ceiva frames almost 2 years ago-one for far away grandparents and one for in town grandparents. Set up was simple. Did have one of the frames with the infamous "faulty power supply", but tech support was easy to reach and sent it right away. They also credited that one account for the time the frame was down, extending the subscription. Can't ask for more than that. Both grandparents love the daily weather updates and I usually upload the same photos to both frames (which can be accomplished in one swoop, 10 at a time.) I usually reserve two slots for the Ceiva frame to randomly select a photo from two previous albums, just for the kick of "look how much they have changed, just since last year". The new upgraded frame has 30 photos (instead of our twenty) and a print button. They only negative thing is that the more photos grandparents get, the more they want! LOL! I got calls from both sides early on the morning of Nov. 1st because they didn't have Halloween costume pictures on their frames yet! They absolutely adore their frames...expensive but money well spent. They get so excited to wake up to new pictures. We send all kinds of things...scanned art work, photos, messages, and even greeting cards (Ceiva usually has several seasonal cards and stationary to chose from). You can even upload messages/photos to be delivered at a later date. It is nice because they can see all the photos and if there are a few they wish they had prints of, they can go online and order as few or as many as they want. It lets kids and grandparents easily share everyday moments, not just once or twice a year formal portraits. Our Ceivas definitely have bonded kids and grandparents in a high tech way!
Rating: 
Summary: Never Worked & Terrible Customer Service
Review: I bought this item in November as a holiday gift for my grandmother. It never worked. I spent hours on hold and speaking with Ceiva customer support and they could not fix the problem. I finally returned the item to Amazon for a full refund. My grandmother was confused and disappointed with all the activity surrounding her gift. To make matters worse, Ceiva continues to bill me the monthly charge for their service even though I have cancelled it. I have tried email and phone communication to no avail. I strongly recommend not purchasing this item!
Rating:
Summary: Why doesn't everyone know about this product? It's Great!
Review: This is an excellent product, and met if not exceeded our expectations. My wife and I are expecting our first child in February, and my parents are back in Illinois (we're in Pennsylvania). They do not have a computer and are not too up on technology. This seemed like the perfect product to keep them in touch with us. After our first week with it, it appears it will do so quite admirably. I had the product shipped to our house, where we opened it up, registered it, and got it working, all within 30 minutes (I had previously been on Ceiva's website, so I did know my way around). We put it back in the box, wrapped it, and my parents opened it when they came to visit for the holidays. I took a picture of them opening the box, and by the time we got it all set back up again, I had uploaded it to Ceiva, the frame downloaded it, and it became part of the slideshow, all within 10 minutes. My parents loved it, and are really looking forward to all the pictures we'll be sending them. They have since gone back home to Illinois, where they had no trouble getting it hooked back up by themselves (it really is just a matter of plugging it into a socket and a phone line). It's downloaded pictures just fine after they set it up (we did have to change the call-in number before we unhooked it in Pittsburgh, but that's all explained in the manual). To address a few concerns other people have raised in their reviews: 1) Yes, it is a subscription service, but for my parents who don't have or need a computer, it's great. Plus, for my wife's parents, who do have a computer, we can send them email through our account on Ceiva and they can view the pictures we send to my parent's frame--this is free; 2) The screen quality is fine--serviceable, but not great; being familiar with passive LCD screens, I'm actually somewhat impressed by its brightness; 3) for the Weather channel, it apparently doesn't know some zip codes--if you put in one it doesn't know, it says it has added the channel (it doesn't register an error), but it doesn't actually add it to the Photos to Send page--you'll need to find another town close by; 4) this one seems like a bug to me (and a reviewer two or three reviews down apparently found it)--you can set the interval for how long each picture appears in the slide show--however, it appears that this number is stored with each picture, as opposed to being a global setting for the frame; so, the new interval (the default is 5 s, we changed it to 15 s), will only apply to pictures that you add after you change the interval). The last two things are small bummers, but really in no way diminish the usefulness of the device. So in short, this product is great and I would highly recommend it to anyone, particularly to someone in our situation.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for us
Review: Over the last four months, we've purchased five Ceiva receivers as birthday and Christmas gifts for family. Initially, we were nervous about purchasing even one after having read mixed reviews such as those posted here, but our personal experience with the product and company has been wholly positive. Eight days before Christmas, we received our last receiver, only to find that several pixels on the frame face were orange. An email to the customer service brought a reply within 24 hours and within four days, I had a new receiver...even before the one I was returning had arrived back to Ceiva. The set up and uploading of pictures is not difficult if you have some comfort working with computers, which is precisely why we did it all ahead of time (and so that when the gifts were opened, they could be plugged in automatically with photos ready, rather than having to wait for the daily dial in). Now a few days past Christmas, all the receivers are out and our family loves them. No one has had any difficulty with the at home set up (plug in two cords, press a button) and they all agree that continued subscriptions to the site will make great Father's Day/Mother's Day/Birthday gifts in the future.
Rating:
Summary: I love it!
Review: This is a great product. I am sorry to hear that there are those who have had bad experiences with this product. We first bought one for my husband at work so that he can see our son all day long. The picture ended up going out on it. He was on the phone with support thinking he was going to have to send it in. There was a part that he needed, and received it within just a few days, didn't pay for a thing. We then purchased one for my in-laws who tell us, still, at least once a week how much they love it. I had emailed support because we were going to be moving and wanted to see if I could put my service on hold. They got back to me the next day and said that they can't do that but they gave me a months worth of subscribtion time. I love this product!
Rating:
Summary: Keeps the family "close" though far away
Review: OK, so I'm a techie. But my Mom is 80 years old, my wife's parents are close, and they wouldn't even think of learning to use a computer at their age. But, oh do they love the CEIVA's we gave them! Yes, I needed to set them up for them. It's not that difficult, but my Mom has me change light bulbs for her, too. At least once a week we upload pictures, and they are so delighted! It often prompts a phone call, "the pictures are wonderful!" Our family now has 4 of them (a sister and a brother, too), and they also love them. If your parents/grandparents use email, use it and bring joy to their lives by sending some pictures of your family every week. If they don't use email, get them hooked up with a CEIVA, and keep in touch with them with new pictures very quickly and easily! My Mom even had the CEIVA brought to her hospital room for her, when she was hospitalized for a week. Strongly recommend for keeping families close!
Rating: 
Summary: Let the Buyer Beware
Review: I was considering purchasing this gift for my husband for Father's Day, but I'm glad that I spent some time reading the reviews for it. When I stumbled across one that mentioned the possibility of the Ceiva Marketing Department writing some of the Amazon reviews it made me wonder if that was true. Since I had the time, I read more and more of the reviews and there appears to be a common link with some of them sounding more like an advertisment than a real review. In other cases, I'm amazed at how much some of the reviews sound like role-playing that a Ceiva sales rep. would have to learn to address any negative concerns about this product. I could be wrong, but it was enough for me to decide to save my money and wait until more companies come out with a similar product. As for Father's Day, I think I better have my one-year-old give her Daddy a tie instead!
Rating:
Summary: A black gift -- unless you will pay and take the spam
Review: My wife got one of these from an offspring on Mother's Day. I am sure the kid thought it sounded nice. The wife didn't get a chance to play with it, so I thought I might set it up for her. Going to the web site as the instructions indicate, the information requested was severe -- name, address, phone number, email, as well as the code off the box. The privacy policy said that they would spam you -- well ok, all it said was that you would recieve information and offers, but we know what that means. Ads on the display too, it seems from the policies. Then the price! $9.95 a month (discounted to $112 or so/year if you pay in advance) to make it work! Three month minimum to sign up and a fee to cancel. It apparently does absolutely nothing without the service fee, as it has no interfaces but the phone. Looks like if it does work, she can see the grandchild pictures on a smaller dimmer screen than usual, at least she will if the kid goes to the trouble to put them in the right place on the service web page. I will probably be forced to sign up to make the kid feel good about the gift, which will cost me a minimum of $30, and get a ton of spam. I would be happier if it gets into the trash unused.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect but I still love them!
Review: I have purchased three Ceiva receivers over the past several years. I bought my first Ceiva for my (now) 97 year old grandmother when we realized that she was developing Alzheimer's. I liked the fact that I could use captions to jog her memory about names and faces. As her memory faded, I was able to alter the speed of the picture rotation to accomadate her needs. She says that all the residents of her unit want one. The nursing staff must look at the Ceiva too because they know when I put on new pictures. Next I got a Ceiva for my in-laws. They don't need captions to remind them of our names, but they appreciate the postcard option where we can write longer descriptions of the events in the picture. The photos are also good as thank-you cards. We take a picture of our kids using the gift, and have them write a thank-you card in the margin. My parents seemed a little envious of my grandmother's frame. Around that time, the Ceiva 2 came out. Setup was a little more complicated. The new frames allow the recipient to delete his or her own pictures. My parents have used this function to delete pictures they don't want. Everyone else loves the Weather Channel feature, but I discovered that they didn't when they twice deleted it from their frame. My parents really like new pictures. For when I am too lazy to do this, there is a picture rotation function. I like that the new frame holds more pictures than the old one. My inlaw's frame eventually ceased to work. (That one I bought several years ago from ebay) It is difficult to trouble-shoot the frames from a distance. My inlaws brought it back to me so I could interface with tech support. I was able to find the information I needed online and customer support was responsive to my email. I have not tried to reach customer support by phone so I can't comment on the phone support problems experienced by others. These frames do not have extremely high picture quality. However they are great for recipients who are not very computer literate. When my daughter leaves for college this fall, we will probably make photo CDs with PhotoShop, add an autorun feature and let her watch high quality pictures on her computer.
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