Is the Pix-Star Digital Photo Frame Really the Best Frame?
The Pix-Star digital photo frame is easily one of the most capable and versatile choices on the market. Despite offering arguably the most robust feature set, Pix-Star’s frames don’t charge any monthly or hidden fees.
Pix-Star’s comprehensive feature set and raw functionality make it one of the best. You get free-for-life cloud storage, access to both a mobile app (Pix-Star Snap) and web interface, online access to manage cloud storage, remote configuration support, web album support, photo imports from social media, and 2-minute video clips, and much more.
When it comes to slideshows and the viewing experience, Pix-Star’s frames are hard to beat. While the resolution may not appear high on paper, the display looks great in the real world. We often find that digital frames with a 2K display go over the top as you won’t notice much of a difference unless you inspect the frame up close – which is rarely the case in the real world.
Pix-Star’s frames use a 4:3 aspect ratio that perfectly matches the photos that most modern smartphones take. This pairs well with the Pix-Star mobile app – which also lets you send up to 250 photos to several Pix-Star frames at the same time.
You can include videos in slideshows, set them to play muted by default, play audio over slideshows, and even connect to external speakers/headphones for enhanced immersion. You have fine control over slideshows, whereby you can control their play order, frequency, style, and more.
Offline functionality is one of Pix-Star’s key components for both families and elderly users. Load all the photos you want to a supported USB or SD card, insert them into the Pix-Star frame, and play slideshows directly without having to copy anything to the frame’s internal storage first.
Pix-Star’s frames offer exceptional value for money and comfortably beat most competing frames with similar prices. Aura’s frames don’t offer internal storage or USB/SD card support. Both Nixplay and Skylight frames are subscription-based and don’t offer nearly as many useful features as the Pix-Star frame.
Pix-Star’s digital photo frames are available in a 10-inch frame and a larger 15-inch frame. You can find them at Pix-Star’s online store or via Pix-Star’s Amazon page!
How many photos can the Pix-Star digital photo frame hold?
The Pix-Star digital photo frame has 8GB of internal storage, free-for-life cloud storage, and extensive USB/SD card support.
On Pix-Star’s 8GB internal storage, you can hold around 30,000 photos – assuming an average photo file size of ~300KB. All incoming photos are backed up to the cloud as they’re received on each of your Pix-Star frames.
The exact number of photos you can hold on the Pix-Star frame varies depending on their file size. This is why we recommend sending pictures that match the Pix-Star’s 1024×768 display resolution. It helps avoid using up extra space for photos with a higher resolution than the Pix-Star digital photo frame can display.
Pix-Star’s USB/SD card support is where much of its prowess originates. Pix-Star doesn’t restrict the maximum size of connected USB/SD cards. You can use a 256GB USB stick just as easily as you can use a 4GB SD card. This is ideal for photographers that take loads of large pictures – and saved you quickly filling up the frame’s internal storage space.
A plug & play feature lets you play slideshows and browse the photos on inserted USBs and SD cards. You don’t need to copy their content to the frame’s internal storage to view them in slideshows. It’s perfect for large families, photographers, and elderly users. Simply insert the USB or SD card, and choose the “Start slideshow” from the popup.
Pix-Star’s USB and SD card support, along with the plug & play feature, gives you access to virtually unlimited storage space for your photos – keeping internal storage space for the mobile app, photo-mail, and web album photo-sharing!
Can I remotely control my Pix-Star digital photo frame?
Use your Pix-Star digital photo frame’s web dashboard to remotely access, manage, and control all of your Pix-Star frames. A multi-frame support feature allows you to manage and control up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames from anywhere in the world.
Pix-Star’s remote configuration feature lets you adjust your frames’ settings, start slideshows remotely, change slideshow sources, import web albums, update their firmware, etc.
You can adjust features like the motion sensor, Pix-Star’s auto-on/off feature, import photo albums from social media via the Pix-Star’s web album feature, and much more.
While you don’t have total control over every setting, you can control all or most of the important settings. Slideshows are easily managed via the web dashboard. Here you can adjust the play order and frequency, change whether to include videos or play them muted by default, and more.
Pix-Star’s remote configuration feature makes it the ideal choice for families and elderly users. When combined with their web album feature, Pix-Star’s frames are nearly fully automated, requiring very little manual input for receiving frames.
Does the Pix-Star digital photo frame charge subscription fees?
The Pix-Star digital photo frame does not charge a monthly or annual subscription fee – despite offering arguably the most robust and versatile feature set on the market.
In contrast, both Nixplay and Skylight digital photo frames charge an optional subscription fee. This “Plus” subscription package is required to unlock and expand upon features like cloud storage, video & audio support, access to a mobile app and/or web interface, online access and management, multi-frame control groups, and more.
Pix-Star offers all of these features, oftentimes more effectively than Nixplay and Skylight – without charging any extra subscription fees. All features come fully unlocked and access is fully granted with every Pix-Star frame.
We recommend avoiding digital photo frames with monthly fees. They offer too few unique features to compete with top choices like the Pix-Star. The monthly fees also add significantly to the frame’s cost over its effective lifespan – making Nixplay and Skylight’s frames some of the most expensive on the market!
