Kodak EX-1011 Easyshare 10-Inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability
by Kodak
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: KodakAudio: English (Original Language)
Model: 8776809
Product features:
- 10-inch viewable LCD display; widescreen aspect ratio
- Wireless capability; add pictures from your PC or the Kodak Gallery using Wi-Fi
- Play back video and MP3s
- 128 MB internal memory; compatible with SD, MMC, Memory Stick, xD, CF and MD cards
- Convenient remote control included
- Transcend 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Flash Memory Card TS8GSDHC6
- Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 [OLD VERSION]
- Corel Photo & Video Pro X3 Bundle [Old Version]
- AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters) [Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel]
- AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters)[Supports 3D + Audio Return Channel][OLD MODEL]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Kodak EX-1011 Easyshare 10-Inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability
Customer Review: More than one year's worth of review
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a professional photographer, and was looking or something to put on my desk to show a continuous slideshow of my work. After holding off on buying a digital frame for years, I thought the EX1011 would be just what I was looking for.
Unfortunately, it feels like a product that is not quite done. The WiFi transfer only works with Mac OS X if you buy a $39 3rd party app called TwonkyMedia (more on this later) and you can configure the unit to go online to retrieve photos off Kodak's EasyShare gallery which works OK. The image quality is fair, but disappointing for something from Kodak. The only adjustment is "Brightness" control which normally means white point, but in this case using this adjustment distorts the image. I had to put a color test pattern on a CF card and use this to calibrate the image which is WAY too much work, and there aren't enough controls to allow for a real calibration anyway:
The web-based EasyShare feature is kinda neat, and actually works pretty well. You'll need to go to Kodak's web site and download a firmware update otherwise you'll see that the images lose some resolution, somehow, going from upload to download, plus the photos end up being shrunk in size by about 15%. In other words, you upload a 800x480 image, and it ends up being 680x408 on the screen, and the colors undergo one more level of distortion and decrease in color depth. This was fixed with firmware update 2007.7.06.
Also, when the unit starts up, there is no way to have the unit default to the online gallery. The manual talks about setting an online gallery as My Slide Show, but having talked to Kodak customer support (don't ask how long THIS took to successfully accomplish) this feature was never implemented, so you can only use the default directory to function as My Slide Show (which is what the unit uses as a "Screen Saver"). You need to replace the photos in this default folder with your own. Be advised, when the unit shuts down and restarts (for whatever reason, including if you use the frame's auto timer), it will restart by going to a slide show in this default folder. Unless you want to watch Kodak's sample images all the time, you need to go in and change these photos to your own.
Plus plus: when you update the online gallery, the frame doesn't know this, even though it's connected to the online site. You need to shut the unit down then return to the online gallery in order to have the display update.
The unit is WAY too dependent on the remote control, and sooner or later the remote WILL be lost since it's really, really tiny. Sure, Kodak provides a little compartment for you to install on the back of the frame, but how many people are going to use this? Plus, if you hang the unit on the wall, you can't install the remote control storage compartment - it goes in the same holes used for wall mounting.
The way to get the unit to work with the WiFi file sharing is to download a program called TwonkyMedia (I'd include the link to the software but Amazon won't allow this - do a Google search and you'll find it), pay $39 to register, then open up ports TCP 9000 and UDP 1030, 1900, 9080 on the Mac's firewall. In addition, you need to find the Twonky configuration screen (an HTML file hidden in the Applications folder) to set up which folders you want to share with the frame. All in all, a pain in the rear, even for an Engineer like me. Once I worked through all this, though, I have to admit it's a cool feature, and one I have found myself using frequently. Also, THIS is what separates this frame from the others on the market, which is why I stuck it out until I got it to work.
The improve how the images look on the frame, save them in the highest resolution you can (> 200 dpi if possible) and crop them to a 16:9 aspect ratio. I also wrote a PhotoShop action that optimizes the appearance on the frame, including some sharpening, contrast and levels adjustments, and now they look much better.
All in all, though, it took a LOT of work to get this thing to work as it should have right out of the box. Admittedly, I'm a perfectionist, but just to get the online file sharing to work right requires a firmware update, and to get the WiFi sharing to work require s 3rd party app, then more finagling. Honestly, how many people are gonna go through all this, especially if buying the frame for someone else, who may be less technically adept?
Update 11/15/07: Just upgraded firmware to the 2007.10.09 version. Changed some of the user interface items, and gives a few more options than before (like auto-notice of firmware update availability) but the frame still doesn't recognize ANY video formats I use (and I've tried almost every possible configuration of Quicktime, .avi, .wmv, etc.). Also, still no wireless support for Mac, so you still have to use the glitch-filled TwonkyMedia 3rd party app.
I've noticed several WiFi capable frames come on the market in the past couple months in preparation for the Holiday season, so if I were you, and WiFi were important to me (especially if you're a Mac user), I would again advise you to look elsewhere for your digital picture frame. This unit is STILL not finished.
FINAL UPDATE 9/26/08: After just over a year of use, this produce simply stopped working. Admittedly, I had it on the internal timer to come on every morning and go off every night, but now it turns on and stays on for about 5 seconds then shuts itself off.
When I finally contacted Kodak (after they hung up on me twice), I found out the standard cost of repair exceeded the clearance price my local Costco is charging for this frame by $10.
Amazing. Makes me not want to buy another Kodak product ever again. In fact, makes me want to revise my review to be 1 star, but Amazon won't allow this.
In this day and age, you expect a modern product to last more the ONE YEAR, don't you?
More Kodak EX-1011 Easyshare 10-Inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability reviews:
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Description of Kodak EX-1011 Easyshare 10-Inch Digital Picture Frame with Wireless Capability
The Kodak Easyshare EX-1011 digital picture frame plays vibrant slideshows of your favorite pictures and video set to music. The frames are color-tuned to Kodak standards and use Kodak Color Science for vibrant colors and pleasing skin tones - displaying pictures in brilliant color and crisp detail. Set up is a snap, and you can enjoy any JPEG picture, most video types (MPEG 1 and 4, MOV, AVI) and MP3 music using all the popular memory card formats (CF, SD, MMC, xD and MS). You can also source digital files from any digital still camera, home PC, Jump Drive and Flash Drive via USB 2.0. Stereo speakers are built into the frames for dramatic sound accompaniment to your slide shows. The 10-inch (diagonal) 800 x 480 high resolution digital display features a 16:9 aspect ratio, as well as wireless access of pictures, videos and music from your home PC or online at KODAK Gallery over a standard wireless home network. The frame has 128 MB of built-in memory for storing pictures and videos, built-in stereo speakers, and headphone jack for music.Digital Frames
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