What to look for in the largest digital picture frames?
The largest digital picture frames have quite a unique appeal. Their large immersive displays make these frames excellent choices for large and well-lit rooms. They usually come with a decent set of features that offer enough versatility and functionality for families and individual users.
Large digital picture frames need to have a practical aspect ratio. We almost always recommend you go for 4:3 as it naturally matches the aspect ratio of pictures taken on most smartphones and point-and-shoot cameras. Photos will use all the available space on the display and won’t be surrounded by annoying black pillar bars or suffer from distortion and cropping. These are common issues with 16:9 and 16:10 displays.
A large digital picture frame should have multiple mounting options. There should be at minimum a standard VESA mount and an attachable stand for resting the frame on flat surfaces. Standard VESA mounts give you a robust and reliable wall mount in various orientations. In some cases, large digital frames can have dedicated hanging holes for situations where you want to wall mount but don’t want to commit to a single location.
Features like Wi-Fi connectivity and cloud storage as great features to have. They unlock secondary features like viewing the weather, listing to the radio, receiving photos from anywhere in the world, etc. They also lay the foundations for compatible mobile apps and web interfaces that let you send photos & other media more easily – and in some cases, let you remotely control connected frames.
Slideshows should be easily customizable with easy-to-change settings. You shouldn’t have to worry about awkward play orders & photo frequency, and you should be able to adjust related settings without leaving the slideshow first. Learn how large digital picture frames can boost immersion and more here!
It’s the intelligent combination of these features that’s necessary to make a frame better than the rest. Not all large digital frames are the same and they each have different focus areas. You need to be clear about what you want before starting your search. It might help to write down 3-5 features you think are the most important. Use these as a guideline to help you filter out frames that don’t match.
Is the Pix-Star the best of the largest digital picture frames?
Pix-Star 15-inch digital picture is one of the best large frames on the market. They have extensive Wi-Fi and cloud functionality and offer one of the most robust feature sets on the market. Pix-Star’s frames have loads of handy secondary features like viewing the weather, listening to web radio & music, settings alerts & reminders, and more.
Perhaps one of Pix-Star’s best features is web album support. You can link selected photo albums from your favorite social media and photo-sharing platforms directly to connected Pix-Star frames. Supported platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Google Photos & Drive, Dropbox, Flickr, and more. These albums can be set to automatically update and sync when new photos are added. It’s a great way to automate sharing photos with minimal effort to all the frames in the family.
Pix-Star offers free-for-life cloud storage that is centrally managed through the web interface. All of your photos, videos, and audio messages are automatically backed up. Everything is also saved to your frame’s 8GB internal storage to ensure offline access. You don’t need to be connected to Wi-Fi to view your photos in slideshows.
Pix-Star’s web interface lets you remotely control & manage up to 25 connected Pix-Star frames. You can change their settings, start & manage slideshows, adjust the screen’s brightness, manage both internal & cloud storage, and much more. The remote-control feature is well suited to families and elderly users. You can control their frames and set them to show the latest photos – or any photos you choose – as effortlessly as possible.
How to set up and install the largest digital picture frames?
As with most other digital frames, you need to connect to Wi-Fi (if it’s a feature of the frame) the first time you use it. Alternatively, this can be done later through the frame’s settings page. If the frame comes with a supported web interface or mobile app, you need to register and add the frame to those platforms. The process is a little different between brands and models – though it’s usually quick and simple. All you’d need is the frame’s email address and serial number (found in the “About” section of the settings page).
You also need to decide where the frame will be put. You need to choose between portrait and landscape orientations and where the frame will be mounted. Wall-mounted frames can either be hung via dedicated and inbuilt hanging holes – or fully mounted using a standard VESA mount. Wall-mounting is a great choice for digital frames with large displays. Alternatively, you can rest the frame on a flat surface using the attachable stand.
Can the largest digital picture frames play audio?
The answer to this question varies significantly between brands and models. Check that the frame has inbuilt speakers or at least the ability to connect external headphones or speakers. Pix-Star’s digital frames offer both inbuilt speakers and the ability to connect external speakers or headphones via the USB port or the 3.5mm audio port. Pix-Star’s frames also offer web radio & music that can be played on their own or over slideshows. Audio files can be sent to the frame via the mobile app or by USB/SD card.
Do the largest digital picture frames use touchscreens?
You should generally avoid touchscreens on larger displays as they are significantly more expensive than with smaller displays. As a rule of thumb with digital frames, avoid touchscreens on any frame with a display larger than 8-inches.
Additionally, touchscreens are less durable and prone to scratching. The oil from your skin builds up over time and can be very tough to clean off. These fingerprints mean that you’ll have to wipe the display after every use – something that can quickly become very annoying. It also harms the viewing experience on glossy screens; whereas touchscreen matte finish displays are incredibly hard to keep clean.
