Smart Parts SP-DPF56E

The worst piece of junk, don't waste you money.

SmartParts makes junk and doesn't stand behind any of it's products.

This frame is just awful. It is very difficult to figure out how to use it, and when you do you find that the picture quality is just horrible. Both resolution and color rendition are absolutely terrible.

Smart Parts SP-DPF56E is hard to use, does not always recognize JGEP file format.

Will not play photos copied onto ANY SD or CF card. Will play photos copied directly from computer to the frame, but will not auto scale them. Also, it will not play video from a SD card. Don't waste your time or money!!!!

Received a Smart Parts frame as a Christmas gift and it was totally inoperative by the 4th of July.

Was not satisfied at all. The Smart Parts digital photo frame lasted for 3 months (maybe).

Smart Parts SP-DPF56E is a piece of JUNK. It sat on top of the piano, only used on the weekends. Just decided to stop reading the SD card, and the company (located in NJ) couldn't care less, since it is past 90 days. Buy digital frames from Costco, and you'll have nothing to worry about. Costco wouldnt carry items from BAD companies like SmartParts. I learned my lesson.

The resolution is as expected for sub $100. The viewing angle is deficient from the bottom, which causes me not to have it up on a mantle or entertainment center. It has to be down at eye level or below in order to not incur the TFT viewing angle problem like the older laptops used to have before they all went Active Matrix. Side angle viewing is OK.

Colors aren't as true as you'd expect, they trend more towards yellow. This could be this author's inability to understand the menu selections (RGB amplitude and Phase)

The better-displaying pictures appear to be the ones taken in daylight with a bright background (white wall or light sky) of one or two people so that you can see their faces as the largest portion of the subject matter. In other words, head shots on light backgrounds. I suppose a sunset would also look good, but I don't usually shoot those!

My Personal Preferences:

No selection of time delay between slides and no selection of type of transition. The slides come at you as fast as two seconds from the completion of one transition to the start of the next. I'd like to have it a bit slower, maybe leave the finished slide up for a full 5 seconds before starting the next transition. Also, there seem to be about a dozen different slide transitions (maybe more, haven't actually counted them). Some I like, some not so much. I'd like to have control to select only one or two different types.

In the end, you get what you pay for. I think for the money, this was an OK purchase. I would buy a couple more, but I don't think I will find them any more. Most of the newer ones have more features (Compact Flash ports, ability to play sounds and video clips, etc) for a little higher price. Like all other electronics, these will drop in price soon. If you can wait, you might soon be able to get a bigger viewing screen with video and Compact Flash for the $$$ I spent on this unit. By then also, I expect the displays will get better in color and viewing angles.

I bought this one so I could get an idea of what to expect, sort of an educational experience! Now that I know, I'd like to get the wireless ones that attach to the network so that you can download pictures from your computer and not have to use a CF or any other flash media card.