Product Description

8" Digital Picture Frame that allows you to play your Movies, Photos and Music. Supports CF/Microdrive/SMC/MS/MSPro/SD/MMC media cards. Includes two interchangable frames (Cherry wood and Black). Built in speakers for audio playback.

Product Details

• Brand: Matsunichi
• Model: PF-800
• Released on: 2006-12-20
• Dimensions: 1.75" h x 9.25" w x 11.25" l, .20 pounds
• Display size: 8

Features

• 8" 4:3 Digital LCD Panel
• Plays your digital photos, music and movie files
• Supports CF/Microdrive/SMC/MS/MSPro/SD/MMC media cards
• Includes two interchangable frames (Cherry wood and Black)
• Worry Free One Year Warranty

Customer Reviews

Great looking frame, easy to use, workaround for small # of pics allowed
I was thrilled to find an 8" LCD frame for under $150---especially one that came with two colors of interchangable wood frames. I was also excited that it came with a remote AND the ability to play MP3s. I like that the media card slots are on the side and not the top (like other frames I have seen). It was also easy enough to set the preferences (this is where the remote comes in handy!).

That said, I am not 100% thrilled with this frame...and let me tell you why.

The minor things? The remote needs to have a pause button in case you want to stop on a certain photo. You can pause it by hitting the ENTER button and then arrowing over to pause, but a pause button would be much easier. There also should be a button to start/stop the music. The only options for playing slideshows are to start the slideshow, start the slideshow with music, or start the slideshow with videos. What if I want to start the slideshow with music but want to quickly stop the music? Or start the music in the middle of the slideshow? A button on the remote would solve this issue quite nicely. But these are just little nitpicks.

The major thing wrong with this frame? Read on... I bought the Amazon-recommended 1GB SD card to go with this frame because I have A LOT of photos. I easily found and loaded 1500+ pictures (which still only filled half the card) and set the slideshow to 10 seconds each--thrilled at the prospect of having 4+ hours worth of photos to watch at work. However, that's not what happened.

I turned the frame on at 8:30am and I was quickly seeing duplicate photos--definitely not four hours worth of photos at a time. But just when I thought I was seeing all duplicates, I would see new photos--but then it was quickly back to the same photos again. At the three-hour point, I would say I'd seen about half the photos at least 4-5 times each (if not more often than that).

I looked through the manual (and actual preferences on the frame), and didn't see any information on this issue. I also didn't see anything saying that that photos were chosen randomly (even if it did run randomly, you would think it would run through all photos first before repeating). The photos also didn't seem to be running in any sort of order (i.e. alphabetical, or as they are named on the SD card, like the other LCD frames I've seen work) otherwise they would cycle through all of them before repeating.

I looked up the specs online and it didn't say ANYTHING about an allowable number of pictures. Interestingly, there was a support question asking about the 5.6" model, saying that:

"The total images supported in a SlideShow is 142 with older firmware.
FOR PF560 5.6" Picture Frame ONLY*:
To increase the limit to approximately 250, upgrade the firmware to the latest version.
*Firmware Upgrade for PF800 8" Picture Frame will be available soon."

I registered at the manufacturer's site to see more customer support answers, but there was nothing there. However, they do have an online ticket system, so I asked them about it. I just couldn't imagine there being a limit on the number of pictures shown in a slideshow, considering the size of cards you can get.

I got a fairly quick response, but I didn't like the answer:

"Yes, there is also a limitation of photo it can be read for this model too. It can only read up to 280, and the coming new firmware an only be approved to read 500 photos. we understand this issue and pushing vendor to fix it. Sorry about that."

I then asked when this firmware update would be available and how I would need to go about installing it. Again, they responded fairly quickly:

"The new firmware will be ready at early of March, we will post on our website with instruction. However, we believe the 500 photos are still not enough, we still pushing vendor to fix it to be unlimited."

I certainly hope they can convince the vendor to increase the number of photos. What good is a frame that can hold any size media card, but is limited to 280 photos? And since this is apparently a KNOWN issue, why is this information not presented ANYWHERE?

I would NEVER have bought this frame with the 1GB card had I known this (in my opinion) critical limitation!! I am quite upset about this, as I spent probably 2-3 hours going through all my photos to transfer them to the card. Also, the technology has to be there to make sure more photos are allowable in a slideshow. It is 100% unacceptable that this limitation is in place.

I really do feel like I should return this item, but I honestly don't want to go through the rigamarole (it is a very nice-looking frame and the picture quality is great).

So, buyer beware...buy a smaller media card or be upset that you can't load more than 280 photos (or 500 in the future).

UPDATE: 6/6/07 - There is STILL no software update for this model. It was promised in March and we're three months beyond that with no end in sight. I am seriously considering giving this frame away to someone who would better utilize the 300 picture limit and find myself a frame where I can actually see ALL my pictures.

UPDATE: 6/28/07 - There is STILL no software update for this model, but there is a workaround. You can create folders on the memory card (i.e. 01, 02, 03...) and copy the maximum number of images into each folder. The frame then cycles through each folder, thereby playing all photos.

UPDATE: 7/29/07 - Well, the workaround doesn't work that well. I thought it was working, because I was seeing picture from at least two different folders I had created (I have 5 folders, each with about 200 pics). However, it has been WEEKS now and I haven't seen most of the pictures on the memory card. It seems to get stuck in one folder (for example, all our honeymoon and wedding pictures) and then one hour you will suddenly see a few pictures from a different folder, and then it's back to the same folder again. You can never tell which pics you are going to see as it doesn't run through each folder in any type of order. It's very frustrating.

Great Value and Screen Resolution
The pros of this frame far out way the few nominal cons that I found.
The Pros:
1) The price for this size frame is very good and when the other pros are considered it is excellent.
2) Someone finally got it right offering a screen resolution that is the same size ratio as most digital cameras (4:3). No more black bars for regular photos straight out of the camera.
3) 800x600 resolution on a screen this small (8") means a super sharp image with 125 dpi, most monitors range from 76 to 100 dpi.
4) The frames are real wood, and I must say the cherry wood is much nicer than the black which is pictured (although it is also nice).
5) Simple playback right out of the box is very easy, plug in a memory card and turn on.
6) Very smart media selection, plug in more than one card at a time.

Now for the cons:
1) There is no built in memory, usually this feature woefully small anyways and only confuses less tech savvy users, it is better off without it.
2) There is no random display option. It would be so very nice if I didn't have to start with the same images when I turn it on. On the other hand, it's better to be predictable than confusing.
3) The remote (and frame) buttons would be better if they added perhaps a couple more buttons over the 4 directional, enter, and 2 volume buttons. A few off the top of my head which would help would be: Main Menu, Escape (or turn off menu now), and a randomize option.
4) Big (and I mean really big images 8+ MP) take a little more time to render, your guests won't notice it, but a slide show set to 3 sec. per photo will last 5-10 sec. on screen instead. If you re-size them first on your PC you will get much better response times.

Hands Down, the BEST Digital Picture Frame...and I've tried a few
INTRO:
I bought two of these frames for Mother's Day, one for my wife, and one for my mother-in-law. Prior to buying, however, I have spent close to two months going to various stores, looking at different frames, comparing, and deciding which one to go with. I must have tried about a dozen of different ones, including such brands as Kodak, Philips, Portable USA, as well as others. All of them had various problems/things I didn't like, but they all shared one thing in common - poor picture quality. I mean, I could live without a wooden frame, but the quality of the displayed photograph is rather important to me, as I'm sure it is to everyone else who's on the market for a digital picture frame. So after numerous disappointed attempts to find one that satisfied my needs in local stores, I've turned my attention to the Internet, and once again, after some research, I've decided to give it a chance, and purchased this Matsunichi frame from Amazon. I haven't heard anything about the maker-company before, and that was obviously one of my concerns. However, I figured that if for any reason it didn't work out for me, I could always return it back to Amazon for a full refund (can't say enough about their great return policy, and customer service). So now, after a brief intro, I'll go straight to Pros and Cons, since I believe it's the most helpful and most favorable type of review:

PROS:
Picture Quality - This one is obvious - we all want the best possible picture quality to be produced by a digital picture frame. That's what they are designed to do in the first place - to display pictures. So who wants to look at some unrecognizable picture, with jaggies and other artifacts? I'm sure no one. So after trying other frames, I realized that it is an absolute must for a digital picture frame to have a resolution of at least 800 x 600. I repeat, it's a MUST!!! Anything lower than that, and you will be disappointed, trust me on this one. Matsunichi offered just what I was looking for - excellent resolution, nice contrast ratio, and a very good brightness. The result - beautifully displayed pictures. I was really amazed, my wife was truly excited, and my mother-in-law is still thanking us, and says it's the best Mother's Day gift that we've given her over the years.

Build Quality - This frame looks and feels very solid. No flimsy parts anywhere, and after a few months, I'm happy to report that it's still working as it was when we just got it. No problems whatsoever. Also, I love the fact that it comes with two interchangeable frames, cherry, and black, both made out of real wood. Excellent craftsmanship, and comes in handy when you want to match it against the interior of your home, and/or office.

Features - In addition to supporting regular picture formats, such as JPG, BMP, and TIFF, this frame is also capable of playing music in MP3 format through built-in speakers, as well as movies in MPEG-4 format. The sound quality is not the greatest, but to me it's still an added bonus, since some frames that I've looked at in the past didn't support movie/music formats at all.

Firmware - It's firmware upgradeable! If there is an enhancement, or a software problem that the company is aware of, and has a fix for, the firmware can be downloaded, and then easily applied to the frame via an SD card, or other media. No need to send the frame out for repairs, or taking it apart yourself. Now that's looking into the future, and caring about the customer!

Smart Media - It supports virtually all existing media types, from a somewhat standard SD card format to a "perky" Fuji specific xD card format. It's somewhat given that all frames do that these days. However, what impressed me about Matsunichi frame, is that it is truly Smart Support, meaning that you could have two different cards in it, and it will play media from both of them at the same time - very nice indeed.

Price - One of my requirements was a reasonable price. We all know how fast electronics equipment looses its value, so I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg for something that would cost half of its original price in a short period of time. Imagine my surprise, when I found the frame that met almost all of my criteria (more on that later), on Amazon (one of my favorite online retailers), for only $114 bucks! As I mentioned before, I bought two of them, and after realizing how good they are in terms of quality, and how good of a value they are, I went back to Amazon with a hope of buying another one for myself as well (for my work office). I was in for a disappointment - Amazon was sold out, and the only other place that carried them, had listed it at $150. I thought I'd wait. After some time Amazon got them back in stock, but they raised their price to $140. Couple of weeks later to $160. And then to $180! I was kicking myself for not getting it earlier. Now, the Amazon is sold out again, and the other couple of places that do have it are more than I want to spend on it. QVC had it on sale, but I also missed it. Now it's back to the original price. Several other online stores list it at a good price, but are all sold out. Oh, well. Live and learn. My advice - if you see it below $140 - grab it!

CONS:
Internal Memory - There is none. That was actually one of my requirements, but later I realized that it's not that important. It would be nice if it had some, but now I think that it only makes it worse, and more complicated. So it's not really a CON after all, but rather a matter of preference.

Remote Control - I can't quite figure it out, but I think it's missing something. I mean it's small, and easy to use, but it's like it lacks a few buttons or something. "Pause" would be nice. Perhaps a "Setup". What I'm trying to say is that I'd like to be able to do more with it than it actually offers.

TIPS/TRICKS:
A word of advice - Resize the pictures to fit 800 x 600 resolution. If you have an 8MP digital camera, then the picture size (at the highest resolution) is going to be around 4 MB. There is absolutely no need to load a memory card full of 4 MB pictures - first of all, it limits the space; secondly, it takes a long time for a picture to render when it's large; and lastly, it won't improve the picture quality.

Another thing - for some reason Matsunichi limited the number of the pictures you can load on the card to 280, which angered a lot of customers (although I don't quite understand why - I've had the same two photographs sitting on my desk for over 6 months, so to me, having a digital frame with 280 pictures would not be such a bad thing). Matsunichi planned on releasing a new firmware which would increase the number of allowed pictures to 500 (Why is there a limit in a first place? I think it should be only constrained by a size of the memory card). Up until now, they haven't released it. In any case, there is a WORKAROUND - Instead of loading all of your pictures to the "root" directory of the card, you can create folders, i.e. Folder 1, Folder 2, Folder 3, etc. on the card, and then load up to 280 pictures into each one of them - IT WORKS.

CONCLUSION:
Excellent frame for the money. Probably one of the best on the market right now. Virtually no negatives, only a few small complaints. I just wish I bought another one when I had the chance. Highly recommended!