Review: D-Link DSM-210 10″ Internet Photo Frame
Written on Aug 1, 2008 by Brian and filed under D-Link, Reviews
There’s a lot to like about the D-Link DSM-210. Whether it’s the large 10” display, wireless and Ethernet connections, or the eco-friendly auto shutoff feature, for an MSRP of $250, the DSM-210 should be on any short-list of high-end digital picture frames.
D-Link DSM-210 Quick Specs
- 10″ TFT LCD
- 16:9 widescreen, 800×480 resolution
- Wired LAN - Wireless 802.11g
- 1GB internal memory
- 3-in-1 memory card reader (SD, MS, MMC) and USB drive support
- Includes black an white faceplates
- Remote control
- Auto-shutoff feature
- Can access photos online from services like Facebook, Picasa, Flikr and FrameChannel
D-link DSM-210 wtih White Frame
Build and Design
The DSM-210 has a good-looking looking black shell with moderate gloss, but thankfully, not fingerprint magnet type gloss seen in the last batch of Sony frames we reviewed. The frame comes with the black interior frame attached, but there’s a white in the box as well, if you want the tuxedo look. The frames actually fit in nicely, with magnetic connections that seat well. The white actually subdues the blue navigation and logo lights that run across the bottom, if that’s a concern. One odd thing that we noticed during testing though is that if you change frames the navigation buttons at the bottom don’t work anymore with a frame in place, so a restart is necessary. This isn’t the biggest deal, just a minor nit.
DSM-210 Top
The front of the frame also contains two sensors, one for motion detection and one for the remote. We’ll go into more detail on the motion sensor later, but essentially it allows the frame to save power by turning off when no one is in the room. At the bottom of the frame are navigation “buttons” that let you pause the slideshow and move forward or back. I call them buttons but they’re really light sensors. The mechanism works well though, aside from the border swapping issue noted above, the buttons are responsive.
D-Link’s stand the back of the frame is okay, it’s not quite as elegant a solution as we’ve seen with many other high-end frames. The stand slots in then rotates to one side or another for a vertical or horizontal orientation. It’s certainly sturdy, but it’s just not as easy to work with as we’d like. The back of the frame also includes holes for a vertical or horizontal wall-mount, something that’s not always found even in frames of this size.
The power switch is on the back of the frame near the top. The switch is a little old-school, but it’s actually much easier to use when you can’t see the back of the frame than buttons employed by other frames. The back also houses the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button, memory card and USB slots and an Ethernet port.
DSM-210 Right Side
Generally the build of the DSM-210 is pretty good. It’s not the most beautiful frame we’ve seen, and the plastics and stand mechanism could have been better, but it gets the job done and does offer the swap-able faceplate, which is a nice plus in this class of digital frame.
Online Configuration
The DSM-210 can get online via wireless connection or Ethernet. The applications for the latter are probably less common than wireless, but if you want an Ethernet port, D-Link is one of very few digital frame manufacturers that offer it.
Wireless setup couldn’t be much easier. Navigate to the wireless connection option in the setup menu and the frame quickly displays the available networks. I was connected to our secure network in under 30 seconds. This is also one of the few digital picture frames that offers a WPS wireless configuration. It’s little surprise that D-Link handles the Internet connection so well I suppose given their experience in creating network gear, but the easy setup is a definite plus given the sometimes convoluted methods of other wireless products.
Memory/Picture Sources
The D-Link DSM-210 can display pictures from a variety of sources including internal memory, USB, Secure Digital (SD), MMC, Memory Stick and online sources.
The SD, MMC and MS cards are all supported via a single slot in the DSM-210. Once you insert a memory card or USB stick, the sources show up, along with internal memory, on the frame memory selection from the menu. For the external sources, simply navigate to the proper folder and the frame will start showing your pictures. During a slideshow, pressing the menu button on the remote will give you an option to save an image to the internal memory. This process doesn’t take long, but there’s no success message, the menu just closes, so the first few times you’re left wondering if it worked at all…it does, there’s just no confirmation.
Another great way to view photos on the DSM-210 is via UPnP-AV servers, such as a PC running Windows Media Player 11 or a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device on your network. D-Link includes a good deal of documentation in their manual (on the included CD) as to how to set this up. We paired with a Vista PC and found that to be a great way to view images, so long as the source is powered on.
Connecting to a network device isn’t the only way to view photos using your network. D-Link also includes FrameChannel with the DSM-210. FrameChannel is a free service that allows you to add, create and manage online channels for your personalized content after you have signed up an account online. FrameChannel also allows you to set up your frame to incorporate images from popular photo sharing websites, such as Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, and more. Your frame will automatically update when changes are made to any of your photo sharing sites. You can also subscribe to news services, stock quotes, comics and other fun content pieces. I don’t really want to get too deep into FrameChannel here other than to say it’s easy to set up and updates properly on the frame. I just wish FrameChannel offered more customization options.
The digital picture frame does have a whopping 1 GB of internal memory which puts it at the top of its class. The real problem is that there’s no great way to get images into the memory. As noted above you can select them one at a time, but that’s tedious. The only way to move files en masse is to install the included Yahoo widget; but the widget isn’t perfect. It struggles when moving dozens of files at once and isn’t compatible with Linux-based operating systems. This is a serious flaw, one that really limits the functionality of the frame. It’s possible that D-Link will find a workaround for this issue and will release a firmware update to resolve it, but such an update isn’t on the table right now.
Display Modes
D-Link goes about as basic as it can get in terms of viewing options. When viewing an image you can select the transition type, of which there are several, and the scaling mode, which includes scale with no cropping, stretch to fill screen and crop to fill screen. That’s it. There are no options to select the speed at which the frame rotates pictures, which is too fast at 3 seconds per picture. You can’t go with a random slideshow. It’s really pretty vanilla, or worse, since you’re really stuck with their one slideshow option. While D-Link definitely dropped the ball here; I’m told a firmware update that’s due out in two weeks will at least allow for more control of slideshow speed. So while the issue is a major hang-up now, D-Link promises the DSM-210 will be better after this next firmware update.
This digital frame only supports still images; there is no video support or speakers for playing MP3 or other audio files.
Menu System
The D-Link DSM-210 is surprisingly simple in its menu system. The main screen allows for selecting picture sources, including memory, home network or Internet and configuration settings like wireless. I also had a firmware option pop up once that quickly downloaded and installed an update on its own, which was actually pretty impressive.
DSM-210 Remote Control
D-Link’s remote is an 8-button unit that’s easy to use. Thankfully D-Link resisted the temptation to load up the remote with buttons that are confusing in their purpose. The only down side is because there are no menu buttons on the frame, if you lose the remote, functionality of the digital frame is severely limited.
Motion Sensor
Something that seems pretty important, though it’s only mentioned in passing twice in the manual, is the motion sensor. Digital picture frames are generally viewed negatively by the eco-conscious because when left on, they consumer a great deal of power, relative to their usage. It’s rare that a frame owner would actually go around their home at night turning off gadgets like this that no longer need to be on. That’s why the motion sensor is so great in the DSM-210. Essentially it checks for movement and when it doesn’t see any, it shuts down after 15 minutes. Re-enter the room and the frame wakes up again, ready to perform.
This is the kind of thing we think every frame needs to offer, especially at this price point. We give D-Link high marks for integrating a feature that works well and not only saves power, but saves your display, which does have a finite productive life. We’ve mentioned firmware updates several times now, but it’s worth noting that D-Link is considering giving users more control over the auto-shutoff option in future versions.
Display
The display D-Link went with for the DSM-210 is 10” with an 800×480 resolution and 16:9 widescreen format. It’s also matte, so you won’t have to deal with some of the reflective issues noted in the Sony frame reviews. It’s relatively bright, though there is no brightness control, and handles direct sunlight well. The viewing angles aren’t very good, once you get too far off center, it’s difficult to see the images. Overall, the display is average, not really a detriment, but certainly not an advantage when compared with other frames in the marketplace.
Other Features
D-Link doesn’t include any photo editing tools or many other bells and whistles, but they do have a Yahoo widget that you can install on your desktop. Essentially you install the widget and you can view the images stored on the frame’s internal memory in slideshow fashion on your PC. As long as your frame is on, you can run another slideshow on any PC connected to the same network. As noted in the memory section, this widget is also the only way to transfer more than one picture at a time to your frame from a PC.
Pros
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Wireless and wired Internet connectivity
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Eco-friendly – shuts off after 15 minutes in an empty room
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Continual improvements via firmware updates
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Easy to configure, easy to use
Cons
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No good way to transfer more than one image at a time to the frame
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Screen is average
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Limited slideshow modes
Bottom Line
There’s a lot to like about the D-Link DSM-210, maybe more in a few weeks. D-Link’s commitment to continual firmware upgrades shows us that they know the frame had faults out of the box and they’re working to address these issues. The combination of 10” display, easy wireless setup, auto-shutoff feature and the promise of future updates makes this one of our favorite digital picture frames on the market.
4 out of 5 stars – Editor’s Choice