What should I look for in a digital wall frame?
Digital wall frames are digital picture frames that support being wall mounted. While this is their main intent, many of them also come with a built-in or attachable stand for resting on a table or mantelpiece. As far as mount types go, look for a digital wall frame that has a standard VESA mount with additional hanging holes. This offers the best balance between being easy to move around and sturdiness.
Digital wall frames need a big and bright display that draws attention and fills the space. On top of this, a broad viewing angle and adjustable color and brightness settings are essentials. This is especially true if you’re displaying high-quality photos, videos, or art. 1024×768 pixel displays with a 4:3 aspect ratio (or 3:2) and at least 250cd/m2 of brightness offer a great balance between price and performance. The aspect ratio is particularly important if you want to avoid your pictures being auto-cropped or boxed in by black bars.
Additional features like motion sensors that wake the frame when somebody is in the room as super-helpful too. Other features like auto-on/off and auto-adjusting brightness can be helpful but are very seldom done right. It’s usually a better choice to get a frame that gives you full control of these types of settings.
Try to avoid digital wall frames that use touchscreens as they are generally extremely fingerprint prone. You’ll find yourself having to wipe the display down after every touch. Wear and tear are much faster on touchscreens (especially if you have kids in the house) and scratches will soon show. Touchscreens are significantly more expensive, particularly with larger displays with higher resolutions.
Digital wall frames should be Wi-Fi capable and offer some form of cloud storage or features. You want to be able to control the frame remotely through a web interface or app and be able to change settings and start slideshows no matter where you are. It also eliminates the need to have to stand directly in front of the frame to make changes.
Cloud compatibility gives you access to web albums, cloud backups, and multi-frame control. Once you’ve used any of these features, it’s hard to imagine using a digital wall frame without them. Web albums are photo albums on your social media and photo-sharing platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Google Photos, Flickr, and so on. You should be able to sync these photos to your frame and display them.
Internal storage and USB/SD card support are also essential if you want to use the frame while offline. Internal storage should be 4-8GB and the frame should support a wide range of USB drives and SD memory cards. This is a great feature for displaying photos you took on your camera. On that note, a mobile app that lets you send photos and other media to your frame is also very handy.
Finally, while this last feature isn’t a necessity, it can be extremely personal and useful. Multimedia support lets you view short video clips and audio notes directly on the frame. It’s great for large families that want to see more than just photos.
Is the Pix-Star frame a good digital wall frame?
Pix-Star’s frames make for excellent digital wall frames. Every frame supports a combination of hanging holes, a standard VESA wall mount type, and an attachable stand. You can set the frame in either portrait or landscape depending on the type of photos and videos you want to display. Note that the standard VESA mount itself is purchased separately.
Pix-Star offers two sizes of digital wall frames; a 10-inch frame, and a larger 15-inch frame. Both frames have an impressive 1024×768 pixel display and over 300cd/m2 of brightness. They use an exceptionally versatile 4:3 aspect ratio that’s excellent for displaying both photos and videos.
With a robust feature set, Pix-Star’s digital wall frames are some of the most capable frames on the market. You can control any connected frame remotely via the web interface to change settings, start slideshows, manage the media library, and much more.
Useful features like web radio & music, weather, brain games, web albums, RSS feeds, and more, give you plenty of options. Multimedia support means you can send special audio notes and video clips to your loved ones for a more personal connection.
The Pix-Star Snap mobile app lets you easily send media to multiple connected frames from anywhere – all in just a few clicks. You can also select media from your phone’s gallery and send them to multiple frames at the same time. Pix-Star’s multi-frame control function and fluid web interface mean you can effortlessly control any connected frame (up to 25 frames).
Additionally, you can view web albums from social media and photo sharing sites including Facebook, Instagram, Google Drive & Photos, and many more. They automatically updated whenever you add new photos and it’s a great way to include grandparents or to keep large families connected.
Overall, Pix-Star’s digital wall frames are an excellent choice for ease of use, feature-richness, and value for money. They offer several unique features and don’t have any subscription models or recurring fees (unlike many other top digital wall frames). They are fantastic all-around choices and impressively versatile digital wall frames.
Can I use a digital wall frame to display art?
Using a digital wall frame to display art is simple. Decide on the orientation you want to mount the frame in (landscape or portrait). Depending on the digital wall frame you have, load the artwork you want to display onto a USB/SD card or send them to the frame via email/mobile app/web interface. Copy the pictures to the frame’s internal storage (if they’re on a USB/SD card) and set up a slideshow to display the artwork you choose.
Can digital wall frames be used in both landscape and portrait mode?
Most digital wall frames let you switch between landscape and portrait mode through the settings menu. A limited number of them offer auto-rotation, but in practice, this feature seldom works well. It’s better to display pictures with the same orientation together – otherwise, they’ll often be cropped or boxed in by black bars to better fill the screen. Check the orientation features and settings of the frame you’re interested in to make sure it meets your needs.
Can I use a tablet or TV as a digital wall frame?
While using a tablet or TV as a digital wall frame might seem convenient, it’s often far more expensive and doesn’t offer nearly as many features like a dedicated digital wall frame.
It’s generally much harder to send pictures to a tablet or TV, and you don’t have the same level of customization over slideshows. It’s also a bit of a waste to mount a TV or tablet just to display photos. They’re quite a bit more expensive and are usually harder to navigate on (especially TVs).
On the flip side, display resolution and screen size are often superior to digital wall frames. You need to decide whether or not the severe decrease in features, customizations, and functionality is worth the higher resolution and up-front cost.
