When I was in the market for a new photo frame, I wanted the best of the best. News was circulating around the Blogosphere that eStarling had created the very first digital photo frame that would support video clips, this intriguing frame was called the eStarling ImpactV Clip Frame.
Seeing that the product was so new to the market at the time, no one had a solid review out of the frame. They added the specs, yes, and mentioned how cool it seemed, but as far as how well it worked, I was able to find absolutely no information!
The allure of the frame, though, convinced me that it would be the ultimate photo frame. It had features that I never thought possible, and being the impatient person that I am, I went ahead and made the buy; $199.99 later, my eStarling ImpactV made it to my door.
The reason I bought the eStarling ImpactV Clip Frame was due to the features built into it. Besides playing video clips, the ImpactV also featured a slew of things that really got the geek in me pumped up.
Purchasing the ImpactV gives you access to a website called SeeFrame. At this website you can upload your photos, sync the frame with RSS photo feeds, Photobucket, Picassa, Facebook, Flickr and more. What makes the ImpactV so alluring to consumers is the fact that there is no monthly fee associated with the use of the site. Many wifi frames on the market today include a monthly membership fee, but the eStarling ImpactV Clip Frame is free.
The Photobucket feature is the most alluring because you can sync the frame up to your PhotoBucket account. Any photo you have stored in your PhotoBucket account will instantly load onto the frames screen. That is not all. You see, any photo you upload directly to the Seeframe site from your PC will also be stored in PhotoBucket. That way you don't have to load the picture into PhotoBucket, the Seeframe site will do it for you.
Moving on to the screen, the ImpactV features a beautiful 8-inch LCD screen with an 800X600 resolution, that will display your photos marvelously, and it will play back video clips in DVD quality. Sexy, wouldn't you say?
The LCD screen is also a touch screen. The side border of the frame can be touched in order for you to gain access to the frames menus and settings. Frankly, I could have done without, because touching the screen only leaves icky smudge marks on its flawless screen.
Next, the eStarling ImpactV Clip Frame has its very own email address. You can email the frame photos and the ImpactV will automatically display the photos on to the frame. You are also free to give this email address out to friends and family, whom can use it to send the frame photos as well.
The eStarling ImpactV also comes with an iPhone application that will allow iPhone users to send photos from their iPhones directly to the ImpactV instantly.
One feature that really stuck out was the ability to set up photo scheduling on the Seeframe website. The SeeFrame website allows users of the ImpactV to add tags to individual photos. For instance, if you have 500 photos of Halloween events, you can schedule the frame to play only the Halloween photos or videos during the month of October. This is especially neat because it allows you to control what photos you want to display, and when.
You also have control over when the eStarling powers on and powers off. If you want the frame to play only from 9am-5pm, you can set it to do so. It will shut off at the time you have it scheduled to shut off, and will power on at the time you set it to do so.
The video that plays on the eStarling ImpactV can only support 4 minutes worth of video. It is a Clip Frame, so keep that in mind.
-The eStarling ImpactV also will support camera memory cards. However, it does not support the newer XD Cards. Honestly though I never would use this feature due to the wifi ability.
Turn to the next page to view the unpacking of the ImpactV, and the ease (or not so easy) of setting the frame up.