Can the Wi-Fi digital picture frame work offline?
The Pix-Star Wi-Fi digital picture frame offers extensive offline functionality, though this isn’t a universally offered feature. Pix-Star’s frames have 8GB of internal storage and great USB/SD card support. Additionally, you can access almost all of the frame’s general & slideshow settings offline. You can also browse the media gallery, start slideshows from specific files & folders (web albums included), and more.
Once photos & other media are saved to the Pix-Star’s local storage (it’s usually done automatically unless otherwise set), they are available offline. Alternatively, you can connect a USB/SD card (no size restrictions) and view slideshows directly from it without having to copy any of its content to the Pix-Star’s internal storage first. Additionally, you can play audio files over slideshows from a connected USB/SD card.
How to set up a Wi-Fi digital picture frame?
Setting up the Pix-Star Wi-Fi digital picture frame is quick and simple. Start by connecting the frame to Wi-Fi during the initial startup. Once connected to Wi-Fi, use the frame’s serial number (Settings > About) to register the frame under “Register a new frame” at pix-star.com. Once registered, log into your frame’s web dashboard on the same site to access the web album, remote-control, and online access features.
Download the Pix-Star Snap mobile app and add your frame(s) to the app via the unique email address. You can add multiple frames to the app (and send photos to them all at the same time). Once you’ve done this, decide whether to wall-mount the frame or rest it on a flat surface. Pix-Star’s digital frames support using a standard VESA mount, dedicated hanging holes, and an attachable stand.
How to send videos to a Wi-Fi digital picture frame?
Pix-Star’s digital picture frame lets you send videos to your frame(s) in two easy ways. The first and fastest method is to use the Pix-Star Snap mobile app. Here you can select a video from your phone’s gallery and send it to your frame. You can’t record a new video directly inside the app, though you can capture new photos via the app’s access to your phone’s camera (you may need to grant it the required permissions when prompted). Videos sent via the mobile app will be saved to the frame’s internal storage and backed up to the cloud.
The second method is to load videos to the frame by USB/SD card. Once the USB/SD card is inserted into the frame’s relevant port, a prompt will show giving you three options. You can copy the entire USB/SD card’s content to the frame’s internal storage, browse the USB/SD card’s files & folders, or start a slideshow containing all the USB/SD card’s pictures. You can use the first or second option to copy video files to the frame’s internal storage. Alternatively, you can view them directly from the USB/SD card – but it needs to stay connected at all times.
What is the best Wi-Fi digital picture frame?
The Pix-Star Wi-Fi digital picture frame is one of the most capable and versatile high-end frames on the market. Despite its high-end feature set and real-world performance, Pix-Star’s frames are very affordable – and unlike top frames like Skylight or Nixplay – Pix-Star doesn’t charge any additional recurring subscription fees.
Pix-Star’s frames are available in either a 10-inch version or a larger 15-inch model. Both have robust feature sets and are made to be easy for everyone in the family to use. Pix-Star’s frames feature free-for-life cloud storage, extensive Wi-Fi & cloud functions, the Pix-Star Snap mobile app, access to the web interface, and much more.
You can play videos and audio in and over slideshows, connect speakers/headphones for enhanced immersion, and highly customize slideshows. Unlike Skylight’s frames, Pix-Star offers extensive controls to play the perfect slideshow. You can adjust the play order, frequency, speed, and style of slideshows – all without having to exit the slideshow.
Pix-Star’s remote-control feature is extremely versatile in that you can manage up to 25 connected frames from a single user account via the web interface. This feature lets you adjust your frames’ settings, start & manage slideshows, update firmware, import photo albums, manage cloud storage (and local storage by extension, and much more).
Another excellent feature is Pix-Star’s web album support. It’s a unique and capable feature that lets you import entire photo albums from almost a dozen social media, photo-sharing, and online storage platforms. Supported platforms include Facebook, Google Drive & Google Photos, Instagram, Flickr, Dropbox, and many more.
You can use Pix-Star’s frames offline thanks to 8GB of internal storage and USB/SD card support. A helpful plug & play feature lets you play slideshows from a connected USB/SD card without having to copy anything to local storage first. This gives you essentially unlimited storage space and is the perfect setup for elderly users or anyone that’s not very tech-savvy.
Do Wi-Fi digital picture frames use touchscreens?
Not many Wi-Fi digital picture frames use touchscreens due to their reduced durability, rarely well-designed interfaces, higher cost, and the need to be constantly wiped down. Almost no premium digital photo frames use a touchscreen – especially those with displays larger than 8-inches.
Larger display panels that use touchscreens get significantly more expensive than non-touch equivalents. Since most high-end digital frames fall into the 10 to 15-inch range, this translates into a much higher cost – a cost that needs to be offset somehow to remain competitive. This often results in touchscreen digital frames missing several key features like intuitive interfaces, video & audio playback, versatile slideshows, remote control functionality, cloud storage, mobile apps, and more.
We don’t recommend buying a touchscreen digital frame as the negatives far outweigh the benefits. Additionally, many of the best frames like the Pix-Star offer comprehensive remote-control features that let you manage and control multiple frames from anywhere in the world. You can change the frame’s settings, start & control slideshows, manage local & cloud storage, and much more.
The combination of this remote-control feature, web album support (importing and automatically updating linked photo albums from social media & photo-sharing platforms), and handheld remotes make the touchscreen digital frame rather redundant.
