Since I took the time to post on amazon.ca, I might as well re-quote it here:
Viewsonic’s 15″ digital frame is a cut above the no-name brand frames in terms of both picture quality and frame quality. The frame has a nicer fake cherry wood veneer, with a cream colored matte, much less harsh than the standard black with white matte of most other frames. Be careful to not scratch the frame – the veneer will come off, especially on the corners revealing the light particle board underneath. Fit and finish are good – expect the quality level of a nicer frame from a department store.
The picture quality is very good, IF you can view the picture from the right angle. The LCD has no problems on horizontal viewing, but vertical is another matter. The image will go dark & change colors when viewed from below – making the frame a poor choice to hang on a wall. You will be able to see your photos just fine standing at eye level with the frame, when you sit down to admire your work, you will see darkened off-color images. The frame is clearly designed to sit on a desk, where you tend to view from above. The problem is, this is a pretty large frame to put on a desk, similar to size of a monitor. It is a shame really, because if you can set this frame up on a low shelf or TV stand, it displays colors as good as a monitor, and does a nice job of downsizing to the frame’s 1024×768 native resolution. I estimate the optimal view angle vertically to be from zero to 30 degrees up – only slight darkening above that. Any angle of view below darkens immediately to unacceptable levels. The frame is unusable in portrait mode – unless you can keep the viewer on the “good side” of the frame.
I’d still buy this frame again due to overall better quality. I would not hang this frame on a wall. Note that many other frames suffer from view angle issues – you may want to look at some on display in a store before you buy.
I’ll add to this that nothing has changed since my 3:2 rant from 2010, other than quality has improved. I see at Adorama that they have a 17″ size from Digital Spectrum now. It is 1280 x 1024 which is a 5:4 ratio, even more square than the 4:3 of consumer digital cameras. This means the 8 X 10’s that you expect from a portrait view are native in this frame, and look properly proportioned. 4×3’s still look a little too tall, but most people will find it acceptable. I’d have to buy one to see if the viewing angle is workable or not, perhaps a late Xmas present for myself is in order, we will see.
If you want bigger, you pretty much are buying a large TV to display your images on, which is not classy, and not even close to the right ratio to display images. I still think there is a market for some really big frame you wall mount – especially since such sizes are well under $1000 now for something that would fill a modest sized living room.
