How does the Nixplay Seed work?
The Nixplay Seed is a cloud-based photo-sharing Wi-Fi digital picture frame. It works by storing the photos you send to the cloud. From there, photos are synced and streamed in slideshows on the Seed. It’s worth noting that these are cloud-only digital frames. There is no separate internal storage.
With Nixplay Seed, you get 10GB of cloud storage space. While some of these photos can be held locally, you need to connect to Wi-Fi to view them in slideshows.
To view photos on the Nixplay Seed, you need to create playlists and fill them with photos. These playlists are limited to 1,000 photos each and a maximum of 10 playlists. You have to manually select the playlists that you want to include in the slideshow. You cannot set the frame to automatically cycle between playlists and you cannot manage/control/configure them remotely.
In terms of slideshows, the Seed frame cycles through the selected playlists in random order. Alternatively, you can set it to play the photos in the order in which they were added. The maximum time you can show a single photo for in 1 hour. There’s no way to display a single image statically for longer periods.
The Nixplay Seed offers short video and audio support (15-second clips) and lets you send them via the mobile app. There’s no USB/SD card support and very limited offline functionality. Additionally, you can only add up to 4 other frames to your multi-frame control group. Any more than this and you’ll need to pay a $20 annual subscription fee.
How does the Nixplay Seed compare with the Pix-Star digital frame?
Compared to competing frames like the Pix-Star, the Nixplay Seed is very limited – especially considering its price. Pix-Star’s frames offer a dozen external sources for photo imports (social media, photo-sharing sites, online storage platforms) compared to Nixplay’s 5-or-so.
Pix-Star offers USB/SD card support, a plug & play feature (for unlimited external storage), and extensive offline performance. Almost every setting is available offline and slideshows are far more versatile. You can adjust their play order/frequency, and create unique playlists that aren’t limited by the number of photos they hold.
Pix-Star offers free-for-life cloud storage and a great mobile app. There’s also a web interface that lets you remotely configure your frames from anywhere in the world. Here you can manage and control up to 25 Pix-Star frames from anywhere in the world (compared to Nixplay’s 5-frame limit).
Nixplay Seed has a reputation for being difficult to set up and use – especially for elderly users. The Pix-Star frame, on the other hand, is specifically made for families and elderly users in mind. This is why Pix-Star’s web albums, remote configuration features, motion sensors, and online access are so prominent.
In terms of value for money and versatility, Pix-Star is a far superior choice. It’s quick to set up, feature-rich, and arguably the best Wi-Fi digital photo frame of 2022!
Does the Nixplay Seed charge a subscription fee?
The Nixplay Seed does not require a subscription fee to work. That being said, if you want to add more than 5 Nixplay Seed frames to your account (to share photos with), you need to pay a US$20 annual fee.
Unlike other Nixplay models, you don’t need to pay for Nixplay Plus to unlock access to cloud storage, the mobile app, and video & audio support.
Nixplay Seed offers short video clips of 15-seconds or less. Note that you can’t play these video clips in slideshows alongside photos as they can’t save to the same playlist as photos.
For comparison, Pix-Star frames offer all of these features without charging any subscription fee. You can create multi-frame control groups with up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames without paying a cent extra (compared to Nixplay Seed’s 5-frame limit).
Pix-Star also offers free-for-life cloud storage, photo imports from a dozen supported platforms, free access to both the mobile app and web interface, remote-configuration support, and more.
Read our guide on Nixplay photo frames to learn more about the Nixplay Plus subscription package. Read our quick run-down on digital frames with monthly fees to see if there are a good choice for the modern home and family – particularly in our increasingly subscription-based world.
How much storage space does the Nixplay Seed picture frame have?
The Nixplay Seed digital picture frame offers 10GB of cloud storage. Note that these frames are cloud-based and don’t offer separate internal storage space. Additionally, unlike other top digital frames like the Pix-Star, Nixplay Seed does not support USB/SD cards.
All photos are saved to the frame’s 10GB cloud storage. This is the only storage to which you have access. Photos need to be saved in playlists. Each playlist has a maximum limit of 1,000 photos. When you play slideshows on the Nixplay Seed, you’ll have to select the playlists from which to play. You can’t select more than one playlist at a time.
Does the Nixplay Seed work with Google Photos?
The Nixplay Seed digital frame lets you import photos from your Google Photos account – but with limitations. You can’t select any photo album from your account. Nixplay Seed only allows you to stream your “most recent” photos.
If you’re not very active on Google Photos, this may only grant you access to a handful of your photos. You cannot sync entire albums or video clips using this method. Alternatively, you can manually download photos to your phone. You then send these pictures to the Nixplay Seed using the Nixplay mobile app.
Can I send photos to the Nixplay Seed via a mobile app?
Nixplay Seed digital photo frame can receive photos from your phone via the Nixplay mobile app. With Nixplay Seed, you don’t need to pay for access to or the use of the Nixplay mobile app – unless you exceed the 10GB of cloud storage.
You can create playlists via the Nixplay mobile app and send them to the Nixplay Seed. Note that bulk photo-sharing isn’t easy with the mobile app.
For comparison, the Pix-Star Snap mobile app lets you send up 250 photos to several Pix-Star frames at the same time. With Nixplay Seeds, you have to send to each frame one at a time.
Additionally, unlike Nixplay Seed, Pix-Star doesn’t require you to create accounts for each sender. With Pix-Star, you simply input the receiving frame’s unique email address (this only needs to be done once) and send. Pix-Star even lets you set the incoming photos to display in the currently playing slideshow.
Do Nixplay Seed support USB and SD cards?
The Nixplay Seed does not support USB/SD cards or offer internal storage. It’s a cloud-based frame that relies on its access to the Nixplay cloud servers.
For comparison, competing Wi-Fi digital frames like the Pix-Star offer extensive USB/SD card support. In Pix-Star’s case, USB/SD cards aren’t limited by their maximum size and they support plug & play. This means you can use them as external storage devices and/or start slideshows from them without having to copy the content to the Pix-Star’s internal storage first.
It’s also worth noting that Pix-Star’s frames offer both free-for-life cloud storage and internal storage. You can hold photos on the frame’s internal storage, but remove them from the cloud. The reverse of this is also possible.
What aspect ratio does the Nixplay Seed use?
The Nixplay Seed uses a long and narrow 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s available with either a 10-inch display or a larger 13-inch display.
A major issue with 16:9 displays is that most photos we take on smartphones and DSLRs are not in 16:9. Smartphones usually capture pictures in 4:3, and most DSLRs capture in 1:1, 3:2, and 4:3.
If you don’t edit, crop, zoom, or distort pictures before sending them to the Nixplay Seed, they’ll be boxed in by empty black space. While Nixplay offers software corrections for this, it just ends up zooming photos via cropping. You don’t get to choose which part of the photos are cropped/zoomed.
For reference, the Pix-Star digital Wi-Fi frame uses a 4:3 aspect ratio. While it’s not the best aspect ratio for video playback (which isn’t something digital frame focus on anyway), it’s far better for photos and picture slideshows. You’ll get more immersive slideshows are fewer photos being cropped and/or distorted!
