Product Description

The new CEIVA 3 Digital Photo Receiver¿ looks like an ordinary picture frame but it displays an endless slideshow of digital photos received from virtually anywhere in the world. The new CEIVA 3 has updated styling, a new silver frame, and is now Broadband ready to connect to a home network. The CEIVA Digital Photo Receiver is not limited to viewing photos from a camera memory card. Thousands of photos can be sent to just one CEIVA Receiver. The vivid 8.2-inch LCD screen showcases your own personal photos and pictures sent by family and friends. You don't even need to have to have a computer to enjoy this unique living picture frame.

Product Details

• Color: silver and black
• Brand: Ceiva
• Model: 81726-00052
• Released on: 2005-10-15
• Dimensions: 9.50" h x 10.00" w x 5.00" l, 2.00 pounds

Features

• Vivid 8.2-inch LCD screen display
• Receives and displays new pictures daily in a digital picture slide show (requires paid subscription that must be purchased from CEIVA)
• Broadband ready,optional CEIVA Broadband Kit to connect to home network
• Simple set-up: plug in the power and phone cords, push a single button
• With permission, anyone can send photos for free from virtually anywhere in the world

From the Manufacturer
The new CEIVA 3 Digital Photo Receiver looks like a contemporary picture frame, but displays an endless slideshow of digital photos received from virtually anywhere in the world. Newly released, the CEIVA 3 has updated styling, a new silver frame, and is now broadband ready to connect to your home network. The CEIVA 3 Digital Photo Receiver is not limited to viewing photos from camera memory cards. The vivid 8.2-inch LCD screen showcases thousands of your personal photos and those sent by family and friends, automatically. You don't need even need a computer to enjoy this dynamic picture frame. It's the ideal gift for the entire family and special clients.

Two interchangeable frames are included to match any decor.

The CEIVA 3 does not require a computer, expensive memory cards and cables, or complicated technology to operate. Just connect the phone cord, plug in the power cord, push a button, and you are ready to receive new photos. CEIVA is the only digital frame that easily and automatically connects family and friends miles apart. You can even send photos directly from a camera phone miles away.

With home networks or office digital phone systems, simply add the CEIVA Broadband adapter and your CEIVA 3 automatically updates and displays up to 30 new photos hourly. That's over 700 photos a day! If you connect using a traditional phone line, the receiver will silently dial a local phone number nightly, free of charge, and display 30 new photos every morning automatically.

The PicturePlan service enables the CEIVA 3 to retrieve pictures sent from around the world while providing safe photo-album storage, automatic updating and photo display, service support, printing options, and easy-to-use photo-editing tools. Family and friends can be invited to share photos for free. CEIVA also provides free access to news, local weather forecasts, sports, daily calendars, horoscopes, and TV listings, to include in daily slide shows.

The CEIVA 3 comes with two interchangeable frames in dazzling silver and classic black, to match any decor. CEIVA continues earning rave reviews including profiles on Oprah, Dr. Phil, Good Morning America, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Time, and Newsweek.

Specifications:

The CEIVA 3 comes with an AC adaptor, phone cord, and splitter,

• High resolution 8.2 inch LCD screen for easy viewing
• Each Receiver comes with two 8-by-10-inch interchangeable designer frames in dazzling silver and classic black
• Displays up to 30 new pictures daily in a digital photo slide show, or 30 every hour through a broadband connection (add CEIVA Broadband adapter)
• CEIVAMobile feature receives photos sent directly from camera phones
• Silently and securely dials into a local phone number, updates new photos everyday
• With owner's permission, anyone can send photos for free, from anywhere in the world
• Senders can customize photos with captions, messages, photo editing, and more
• Send photos in any format--The CEIVA Network will automatically convert the image to fit the screen
• Safely stores up to 2000 photos in personal photo albums
• PicturePlan service enables receipt of photos, provides daily photo updates, safe photo album storage, service support, printing options, photo-editing tools, display and sharing preferences
• Includes free access to news, local weather forecasts, sports, daily calendar, horoscopes, and more displayed in your daily slide show

What's in the Box
CEIVA 3 Digital Photo Receiver, AC adaptor, phone cord, phone splitter, and one-year limited manufacturer's warranty.

Customer Reviews

Happy no more
We've bought a total of seven Ceiva units for relatives and ourselves since they were first introduced. Before buying a Ceiva III you might want to consider some of the things we've learned.

1. These things do break, so you'd be well advised to buy extended warranty coverage - add $20.

2. The subscriptions are relatively expensive ($100/year) and have tended to get more expensive over time - in an era during which everything network-related has gotten cheaper.

3. Ceiva insists on downloading renewal notices to receivers nearing the expiration date of a subscription. As other reviewers have noted, that's very annoying both to the people using these things and to those of us who pay for the products and services. I don't see where Ceiva mentions this practice either on their web site or in the Terms and Conditions, but there's nothing you can do other than complain (I have many times, to no avail).

4. Ceiva's sales reps will tell you that existing, unexpired subscription plans can be transferred to new units (I verified this on three separate occasions), but in fact Ceiva will make you buy new subscriptions first.

5. Ceiva has never offered upgrade plans for older units. As an existing customer you'll actually pay more to upgrade an older receiver in mid-subscription than will a new customer.

The bottom line is that it's difficult to recommend this product to new customers on either a value basis or for customer care. Good idea, bad execution. Pity.

Nice Gift....Service Needs Improving..... Expen$ive Upkeep
My sisters and brothers bought this for our 83-year old father. It's a great concept: Share photos from anyone in the family, from anywhere in the world, and without the need for a computer connection. He really loves it, and the fact that each morning there are new pictures, electronic greeting cards from all of us, local weather, and other "channels" like "This Day In History" from The History Channel and CNN News. The setup is very easy, and picture quality good enough. He has something to look forward to each day and that in itself is priceless. But be warned of a few drawbacks:

The subscription is really what makes this thing work, and runs about $100 per year.

The pictures are saved on the Ceiva site but, as another reviewer noted, they will be lost when and if the subscription ends.

The reciever freezes every once in a while, sometimes for days. Troubleshooting doesn't help - I called tech support on a few occasions and they said it was due to high user volume. And although it is supposed to only dial in overnight, it has periodically attempted to dial in throughout the day causing my parents' phone to be busy for the duration.

You can order prints and photo gifts, however Ceiva works with just one photo outfit. Cost is 22 cents/ per 3x5 print; steep by comparison with other photo companies. And that doesn't include shipping.

The usability of the website could be better. Incoming photos are in a queue. If you want to change the order of incoming photos, there is only one option: Move to front. A better plan would be to have the ability to place photos in queue wherever you want them.

Overall, I do think it is a great concept and gift, especially to help grown children stay in touch with their parents and grandparents. I would buy it again. However, I would hope the Ceiva execs periodically read these reviews and make changes based on feedback by myself and others like me. They have the power to turn what is a good gift idea with several drawbacks into a truly extraordinary product.

Pretty neat
It took us a while to get this puppy set up, but once it was done, it works really nice!

Here's the background. We purchased an older Ceiva 2 frame for my parents. They have loved it. We always wanted to get one for my in-laws, but they didn't have a local access number. However, the Ceive 3 frame can use a broadband adapter, so decided to take the plunge.

The first unit shipped was the wrong one, a Ceiva 2. The next unit was indeed a Ceiva 3. However, it had some strange behavior that is not talked about in the manual, nor on Ceiva's support web site. In particular, when we tried to connect, the screen would "jitter" (the customer service rep called this "fuzzing"), and the unit would appear to lock up.

I had thought that the unit was defective. However, it turns out what the unit was trying to do was upgrade its software. Apparently, this process can take a while. After 25 minutes on the phone with Ceiva customer service, we get the issue straightened out. The unit now works like a charm -- it's wonderful that it can get photos every hour via broadband, instead of having to dial in just once a day (overnight).

I give this product just 4 stars instead of 5 stars because it should be made cleared that the "fuzzing" we saw was a normal functioning, and that we should have waited it out, instead of having to talk to customer service. Once you get it going, though, it's a great little device!

One tip, although you can't do wireless access right now right off the bat, there are "wireless bridges" that let a wired device, like the Ceiva frame, be turned into a wireless device. One such bridge is the D-Link DWL-810+. We are going to try to use this with the Ceiva frame!

EDIT/UPDATE: I just tried it out with the bridge mentioned above, and it works like a champ! So now, we have a wireless broadband Ceiva!