Product Description

PRODUCT FEATURES:7" LCD displayStores up to 3,000 picturesReal wood frameAutomatic slide show functionalitySupports SD, MS, MMC and xD memory cardsNo computer needed

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Product Details

• Size: 7-Inch
• Color: Espresso
• Brand: SmartParts
• Model: SP72EC
• Dimensions: 6.60" h x 1.30" w x 9.30" l, 2.16 pounds
• Display size: 7

Features

• 7-Inch screen with 480x234 resolution
• Compatible with Secure Digital - SD, Multimedia Card - MMC, xD card, Memory Stick - MS
• Real wood framing in dark chocolate color with custom matting
• Optipix Pro for veiwing verticle photos correct way, sharpening photos, finding and transfering photos from computer to frame
• Includes removable picture stand and AC power adapter

From the Manufacturer
SP72 Smartparts 7-Inch Digital Picture Frame

The SP72 digital picture frame offers a classic design with its real wood framing. The dark chocolate color of the wood mixed with the custom designed matting can compliment any room or office.

7-Inch Display Screen
The seven-inch screen shows-off your pictures with the same crisp quality that you receive from high-quality prints. The full color display offers vibrant, bright colors that provide optimum contrast, allowing you to view your pictures in their natural state. Your memories will be displayed exactly as they were when your pictures were taken.

Three Easy Steps
Displaying pictures on the digital frame takes three easy steps. Simply remove the memory card from your camera, insert the card into the frame and view your photos. There is no need to upload and edit your pictures on a computer.

Slideshow
Once the memory card is inserted into the frame, pictures are automatically displayed as a slideshow. The speed of the slide show is automatic. Photos will remain on the screen for about 5 to 20 seconds, depending on the size of the files. Larger files will take longer to load.

Viewing Modes
Pictures can easily be rotated by pressing the rotate button which allows photos to be turned to their correct position for proper viewing. The mode button allows you to adjust how your pictures will be displayed on the screen.

Picture Files
This digital photo frame is compatible with JPEG files. The JPEG format is in accordance with the camera industry standards and the frame is designed to display photos with the same industry standards. Most digital cameras will save pictures in this format by default. Pictures that are not in JPEG format, such as web, scanned or RAW images, cannot be displayed on the digital photo frame. However, these images can be converted to the JPEG format for the digital photo frame using specific computer applications.

Memory Cards
Secure Digital - SD
Multimedia Card - MMC
xD card
Memory Stick MS

OptiPix Pro
OptiPix Pro is designed to help you find, optimize and transfer pictures to your frame. The software, residing on your computer, will guide you through 3 easy steps. Optipix Pro will help you:

• View your vertical photos the right way
• Sharpen your photos
• Find and transfer photos to your frame
• Fit more pictures on your frame

OptiPix Pro does not alter the originals but instead it will create copies that will be optimized and transferred to your frame. You can store up to 2,000 pictures to your frame using OptiPix Pro. The software’s installation file is preloaded on the frame. You simply register your frame on Smartparts website and you can start using the OptiPix Pro software.

More than a Frame
Use your frame to get the message out. With Smartparts exclusive OptiPix Pro software for Windows, it’s easy to convert and transfer PowerPoint slides, PDF files, and most picture and graphic files directly to your digital frame.

Technical Specifications
Brightness: 220 cd/m^2
Contrast: 400:1
Resolution: 480x234
Vertical Viewing Angle: 45/55
Horizontal Viewing Angle: 65/65

What’s in the Box
Digital picture frame, removable picture stand and AC power adapter

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Customer Reviews

Great Frame and Picture Quality with One Major Flaw!
After doing extensive research on other brands, we settled on this frame because of the price and features. After we bought it, we were pleasantly suprised to learn it is rated the highest by Consumer Reports magazine, and now we know why.

The picture quality is excellent. I started off with a free frame (gift) from another manufacturer that had half this resolution, and it did not give my pictures justice. Upgrading to this frame made a difference in the world to my picture quality. Do not buy anything less than 800x600, or your pictures just won't look good.

My favorite feature about this frame is the auto-sizing software available as a free download from the manufacturer's website. All you do is download it onto your computer, and any pictures you have on your hard drive will automatically be resized when transferred to your frame using the software.

One user complained about how slow it was transferring from a memory card onto the frame. This is because the frame automatically resizes your pictures to 800x600. This does take a little longer, but saves you hours of manually resizing your photos for the frame, so this *IS NOT* a flaw.

The one and only flaw I experienced (and maybe I have a defective unit) was I spent 2 hours copying thousands of photos onto the internal memory in the picture frame. So, I went and took more pictures with my digital camera, and slipped the memory card into the frame. I hit "copy" so it would copy from my card onto the internal memory. Little did I know, and the manual *DOES NOT* say this, but doing this will override any existing pictures on the memory. You can imagine how FURIOUS I was when I discovered that the thousands of photos I had stored on the frame were completely wiped out, and in their place were the 13 pictures I had copied. Please test this feature out first to see if it is indeed working on your unit before you find out the hard way, like I did. I plan on writing customer service about this (and hope I can get someone who speaks understandable English)
and seeing if this is a known flaw. The workaround on this would be to load the photos on your card onto your PC, then load them onto the internal picture frame. This is a major inconvenience, in my opinion.

I have not tried the movie files feature on this yet because it does not support the version my camera uses, and I am too lazy to figure out how to convert the movie files.

The sound is pretty decent, and adding mp3's to the slideshow is such a neat feature.

I also love the motion sensor on this frame. I never have to remember to turn the frame on and off.

All in all, this is a wonderful picture frame for ease of use, picture quality, and overall features. I would have rated it a 5 if not for the one serious flaw I mentioned. As a matter of fact, if this frame did not shine in the other areas I mentioned, I would have rated it less than a 4 because of the serious flaw. But, it has many saving graces, so a 4 is suitable, in my humble opinion. I will post an update from customer service once I hear back from them. I hope it will be easily fixed with a future firmware upgrade, etc.

****UPDATE**** 12/22/07 - I didn't get anywhere with customer service, but found out on my own when you insert a memory card and copy it to your frame, IT DOES NOT wipe out your existing pictures as originally thought.
It just overrides them with the new pictures and will not display the old pictures until you delete the new ones out. At this point, the old pictures are not listed on any menu when viewing from the frame. You have to hook up your frame to your computer, and navigate around until you see a folder in the software called "Spart Pic Software." This is where the old pictures are placed. Why this folder is not on the frame itself is beyond me, and why you have to hook up the frame to a computer to even see it is even dumber. And why this is NOT mentioned anywhere in the manual is just even stupider! (Is that even a word?) This is still a major flaw in my opinion. Why can't it just simply add the new pictures into the existing pictures folder without creating all of these inconvenient problems???? This is something I hope they fix with a firmware update.

Does What I Want, But Not As Advertised
This product seemed to work great at first, but then I started adding a few more pictures from my 7 megapixel camera and the slideshows constantly froze on random pictures. Exchanged the first frame (thank you Amazon) and the second frame did exactly the same thing. After a few hours of trial and error, I finally got the pictures suitable and the slideshows do not freeze anymore. In short, I found that cropping my pictures from my camera was not enough ... apparently the file sizes were too big for the slideshow to handle, so I had to scale the pictures down too. The pictures still look great on the frame (no loss of quality after resizing) and this would not have been a big deal at all if it would have been mentioned in the instructional manual. The manual claims that you can take your memory card straight from your camera, plug it into your digital frame, and the slideshow should work. Didn't work at all like that for me with two different frames. In addition, the control buttons on the back of my frame do nothing. Thank goodness the remote control works.
I love the quality of the pictures, the frame itself looks beautiful, and I have it working the way I want it to now ... so I will happily keep this frame, but the frame does not exactly work as advertised.

You can't write this stuff...one problem after the next!
I can't believe that Consumer Reports recommended anything from this company. I got this frame for my husband as an anniversary gift in August, and I still don't have a working frame (I write this on November 16). The first frame never turned on. It was completely dead. I tried running the update that Smartparts wants you to do online, and that did nothing. I contacted the company and was told I would receive a new power cord. The cord never came. I called back and was told that the cord wouldn't have fixed the problem (which made me realize that this must be a frequent issue) and that they had no record of my phone call. They asked me to run the update again. Nothing. They emailed me a return label and I sent the frame to them for repair for replacement. I got my second frame, but they didn't send back the power cord, the remote, or the stand. Kind of tough to use a frame with no power source. After a week or so, I got those parts and the did turn on...for a day. The morning after I got it, I turned it on and got a white screen with thin, vertical stripes. I called and emailed Smartparts again. This time, the man I was speaking to asked me to stop venting to him (I am super polite on the phone...it's the teacher in me). He told me that my SanDisk was the problem. I tried fixing it by running the online update AGAIN, but nothing changed. He said it might work again if I got an SD card. I told him I was not willing to purchase a separate memory card for a frame that has continued to fail for me and is supposed to work via the USB cable that comes with it (which, by the way, they recommend NOT using right in the user's manual). I insisted that I wanted to return it for a refund. He refused to offer a refund, but sent me a return label after I pushed the issue. That was over a month ago. I still haven't received the third frame. I have contacted them twice about the third frame, and both times was told it would ship the next day.

Basically, I really wish that I hadn't ever purchased anything from Smartparts. Only one customer service rep. I spoke to was helpful. The others were evasive and frustrating. I have spent so much time and energy on getting this frame thing to work. I am taking the time to write this so people can go another route. There are more reputable companies out there who make similar products. I highly encourage you NOT to purchase an item from Smartparts.