Kodak EX-811 Easyshare 8-inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability by Kodak
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Digital camera reviews of Kodak EX-811 Easyshare 8-inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability
Digital camera Review: The Kodak brand is now a liability
Summary: 1 Stars
Many digital frames are now available. In searching for a frame as a gift for elderly parents, I decided to purchase a "reliable" brand rather than a newer entrant into the market. I wanted to minimize any problems and was more than willing to pay pay a premium to ensure low-effort, high-enjoyment for my parents. Granted, George Eastman's legacy is film, not electronics - but this is the 21st century, isn't it?
If you simply want an frame to display digital pictures from a flash memory card, this unit will work fine. The picture quality is certainly acceptable. However, you will be overpaying by about 2x. The wireless connectivy with the Kodak Gallery is absolutely unreliable and unusable. You could get a frame without wireless capability with 2x the display area for the same cost.
I wanted a frame that would allow me to send pictures electronically (didn't care how: web based, email, etc.) to my parents living on the opposite coast for immediate display (or even "almost-immediate" - within 24 hours - refresh). Kodak claims that with their Kodak Gallery web site, with proper setup one can upload pictures to private/shared areas and the frame will automatically be notified and download and display the pictures. And (at the time) there were no fees or subscription required (compared to the original Ceiva frame, for example, which required yearly fees). Of course, I expected that this would function without a full-time IT support staff.
As it turned out, the frame's wireless capability is terrible. I am a computer/network professional. I had no problem setting up the frame to connect to the wireless network. Upgrading the firmware was simple. Pictures from the SD memory card displayed correctly on the screen. However, the wireless connection is totally unreliable. It is not the wireless network as it is stable and the WAP is 10 feet from the frame. I contacted Kodak support, and it was a terrible experience. After going through the scripted questions and rote responses, struggling to educate the 3rd-world support personnel, waiting for return calls that were promised and didn't happen, and interminable hold times, I was finally "allowed" to call a "technical specialist" in the US. At that time I was told that unless I was using a wireless router from an approved list, I would not be supported - so I purchased an approved router. Still the same problem. Then the "specialist" said there was a problem with the Kodak web site and I'd have to wait a week for it to be repaired. Two weeks later and still the same problems. I was finally given a RMA number to return the frame for repair. Three weeks later I received the frame, with a note from the "authorized repair facility". Along with the (same) frame there was a note included stating that they had tested the unit with a memory card, checked the display, and tested to be sure the unit would establish a wireless connection. No malfunction found. They had not even tested the ability to automatically view pictures uploaded remotely to the Kodak Gallery. I don't know if they bothered to read the very specific description I included with the frame, but I doubt it.
I've given up with this item. It is now functioning as a 2x overpriced flash-memory reader with 1/2 the display size. I send a new SD card through USPS Mail every so often with new pictures. Kodak has also now changed their policies regarding storage space on the Kodak Gallery - you have to purchase a minimum amount of product from the site to avoid having your pictures deleted.
Bottom line: the Kodak brand, in my experience and opinion, is a liablity, not something that warrants a premium price. Support is terrible, product does not function as advertised, and this was a waste of my time. I can't think of any reason to purchase this item and highly recommend against it. If you want wireless picture display this will not work; if you want flash-memory picture display many other, larger, less expensive options abound.
Digital camera Review: This is EXACTLY the Digital Picture Frame I have Been Looking For!
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, the picture quality is excellent and in my book, that is most important. Pictures look sharp and contrasty from almost all viewing angles.
The image size is similar to a 5x7 and the overall frame size is like a matted 5x7 photo.
This thing is flexible to the max!!
* You can view pictures on a memory card.
* You can view pictures on your computer (but you have to load Microsoft Media Player 11
* You can view all of your pictures and your friends pictures on the Kodak Gallery.
* You can download pictures to the built in memory from your computer via USB2.
* You can upload pictures from a memory card inserted in the frame to your networked PC (I'm not sure why you would want to do that.)
What's wrong with it? Not much but you will have to look in the manual at least once to figure out what the icons on the remote are all about. The menus aren't that straight forward, but once you go thru them they are good enough. Finally, I had to upgrade my old 802.11 B wireless router to a newer 802.11 G router to get the wireless stuff to work. No big deal, I bought a $35 basic router and it works fine.
Highly recommended!!!
Digital camera Review: Unfulfilled Potential
Summary: 2 Stars
The concept of a wireless photo frame (EX811) has the potential to simplify the process of refreshing the pictures on a photo frame. Most people already upload pictures from a digital camera onto a computer. What if you could simply drag the pictures into a folder on your computer where the frame is "watching" via WiFi. Nice!! No fumbling with memory cards and waiting for the files to transfer. So what's the problem? Well apparently the picture frame couldn't be made smart enough to remember what computer and share drive you want it to view when you power on the frame. I mean it remembers your network name and encryption keys but they couldn't afford one extra bit of data to say "start" here. Instead it reads pictures from internal memory at start-up. So I'll just leave it on all the time. Right? Wrong!! You see it grabs all the picture at the start of the slideshow and it doesn't appear to ever go back for more. In addition, it struggles if the folder has a large number of photos. They couldn't grab some at random periodically. It restarts on its own periodically when it drops its network connection. After mashing on the remote for a couple of hours, I decided that it would be easier and more reliable to fumble with a memory card. In conclussion, my advice is to skip the WiFi features for now. Eventually a manufacturer will focus on how people will try to use the frame. For now they seem content to just stamp "WiFi" on the front of the box.Digital camera Review: What do you mean, 'bad image'?
Summary: 2 Stars
This product works pretty well except for the fact that any photo I try to upload, it complains that it's 'bad'. After scorging the net, I found that if I bring it in to Photoshop and Save for Web, then it all works fine....but what if I didn't have Photoshop? That single issue is enough for me to only give this 2 stars. After all, for those non-graphically inclined, it would render the product useless.
Also, the language options, leave much to be desired (what's with no East Asian character support?)
Digital camera Review: Wifi great, small annoyances
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this for my wife's parents who are allergic to technology. They live in another state so we thought a digital frame might work nicely. This Kodak EX-811 seemed like a good deal. Other frames I've seen have monthly fees and that was a no go. I was a little weary of it based on other reviews.
I tested it out at my house on my network and the setup was relatively easy. At first it didn't recognize my router. Turning the frame on and off fixed this. After that I was able to connect easily. I set up an account on [...]. Again I had to turn it off and back on after entering my login info. After that I was easily able to navigate my albums and friends albums' from the frame.
Wi-fi setup at two other homes also worked after turning on and off the frame. It works with WPA2 although it is slow to navigate the onscreen keyboard with the remote.
To simplify the setup for the in-laws we deleted all local pictures and created a single album on [...]. All of the children share the account and add to the album when needed. We didn't want to complicate things by connecting it to their computer or the Kodak software.
A couple of things I didn't like were that it didn't seem like there was any type of order to the pictures. It was supposed to be by date, but I'm not sure what info it uses. I also would have liked to be able to do a slideshow across multiple albums at the same time. Otherwise you have to open each album separately.
Pros
- easy and stable connection to wi-fi
- simple to use interface
- remote control has a nice dock if you are not hanging up the frame.
- photos look excellent.
Cons
- had to turn the frame on and off during setup to get certain things recognized.
- 2 GB of space on Kodak Gallery for $5/year (I wish it was more space and free).
- lacks a lot of options for slide shows and sorting (of course this is also keeps it simple)
Overall, this is a great item at an excellent price. Great for in-laws, set it up with simple options and then leave it alone. My wife wants one for us now.