Digital Spectrum MemoryVue 1500 U-30317 15 Digital Picture Frame (Gold)

The picture was nice and the functions worked very well.

The viewing angle was messed up on the first one. The picture could be easily viewed from the top but not from the bottom. It also put horrible lines on our satalite and cable TV even though the digital picture frame was 10 feet from the TV. Bad EMI and it was still there when I used an EMI supressor on the power line.

I returned it and when it was sent back to me, the viewing angle was still messed up but the TV interference was better. The store had attempted to fix the unit and failed.

I returned it and gave up.

I recently purchased the 17" digital frame as a gift for my brother and his wife. He moved away recently to another state along with my two young nephews (1 and 3) for work, so I thought this would be a wonderful gift. This way, we could consolidate the family photos from both sides of the family and have them running all the time so that the kids would have something familiar to look at in their new environment and so that they would not forget our faces.

There are some flaws with this particular model. I have written to the company as well in hopes of some improvements:

1.) The black frame is actually a metal frame poorly painted black.

This means that when I opened the package and slipped off the plastic, the black paint was already starting to chip off to reveal silver underneath. I had not even had the frame five minutes before noticing this. Over time and with any movement, this chipping would be a big problem. It could look very cheap very quickly.

2.) There is no USB port.

Basically this means that the frame supports certain types of memory cards, but you cannot gather all of your photos in one central place, like say, on a removable drive and then have all the photos play from that drive by simply plugging it in. This is the case in most smaller versions. It is fine if you want to randomly put memory cards in there, but really, not many of us have an abundance of extra memory cards lying around and we mostly dump our photos onto our computers. I do happen to own a 2GB card, but trying to consolidate photos from different cameras, people, computers and formats onto my card is proving a very arduous task. Even cheaper, smaller versions have a usb port.

3.) You cannot select a random slide show.

You can play the slide show of the exact order of the photos on your memory card, but you cannot randomly show them. Half the fun of a digital frame is that it displays all of your photos randomly and it can capture your attention for hours. This frame always starts from the beginning with the same order as the card, and with 1000 photos to go through, it is a bit of a bore.

4.) The instruction manual is horrible.

The instruction manual is poorly written and very difficult to understand. It is possible that I am not as tech savvy as I should be, but I should be able to get through the basics easily. It is not user friendly, very poorly executed.

5.) There is no instruction on how to change the frame to fit the decor.

This frame touts "Changeable frame matches your décor (black frame included)" There are NO instructions on how to do this. There are also no explanations of this anywhere in the box. It should be plain and simple and should be in the instruction booklet. There is a link on the website if that helps anyone out there, but the fact that it is not even mentioned is so completely ridiculous.

http://www.dsicentral.com/support/ChangingMV1040frame.pdf

Other than that, the photo quality is truly amazing. Nothing is distorted when enlarged to fit the screen. It played movies from a memory card with sound and I think it could be really wonderful. But, at $400 + to buy it, this thing should be of solid workmanship, easy to use and should have more features than it's many mini cousins out there. I will be returning my frame because of a pin-sized flaw in the center of the display that was easily noticed as soon as I turned it on for the first time.

What is really annoying is that I am having a very hard time finding another company who makes a frame this size. I liked the wall mounted ability because I thought it would be safer to be hung out of the reach of little hands, but the mounting ability of this frame doesn't give me any confidence. And, it is a heavy frame. I am not sure I want this hanging over my nephews' heads.

The frame is good, but not great. There are a lot of bugs to be worked out on this one. You will buy it and someone else will build a better mousetrap, with all the features you truly want in something that is so expensive.

I would wait on this one.

Hi !
When I unpack the picture frame I noticed that inside digital screen was loose, not fastened to frame. I open back cover and I sow loose screws, loose not holding brackets, metal frame holding digital screen bend and damaged everywhere. I was shocked.
After egzamination I concluded that screws was loose fastened and from China to USA and to Canada they went out of mounting threads.
I noticed also the inside thinn plastic frame was brocken.
Also the main big frame have gags in every corner ( poor lousy mittering job ).
This was one big mess. I'm realy disapointed with clumsy quality such expensive products. I think there is no quality control at all.
Becouse I'm from Canada and Amazon won't ship here, I bought the frame and asked my friend a favour to bring it to Canada after his visit in USA.
So now to claim warranty it would be to much problems.
I think you will get more reviews like this.
I only hope I can fix it somehow.

Regards
Waldemar

P.S. Sorry for my bad writing.

So far I really like the frame. Very sharp, clear picture and/but it is very BIG and heavy. Besides the fact that I liked the BIG size with high resolution VS the more common smaller sizes available with low resolution, I purchased this frame because the description states "You can change the look of the MV-1700 to fit your décor with any picture frame and matte combination of your choice"(the black was out of stock) but the instructions don't mention how or if you can do this and I do not see any obvious way to do it. I have emailed the company so I will wait to see if they respond. I was disappointed the frame does not have a typical monitor VESA mount so I can mount it on the wall with more confidence that it is going to stay in place (this is expensive and heavy you know). The electrical outlet I currently have the frame plugged intereferes with our TV picture so that is a concern. I will move to a different plug and see how that works. The grandkids will love it I am sure.