Review: HP df820 Digital Picture Frame

Written on Oct 28, 2008 by MKowalski and filed under HP, Reviews

These days, digital picture frames can do it all: handle multimedia files of every kind, grab fresh batches of images directly from friends and family via the web, even serve as secondary computer monitors. But not everyone wants all of that. Sometimes, you just want your photo frame to look great, and to display your images (and maybe a few movies, too) without hassle or fuss. If you’re the kind of person who thinks that most of the high-tech, high-profile functions making their way onto digital photo frames of late are tasks better left to your computer, listen up: the HP df820 may be the frame you’ve been waiting for.

HP df820 Quick Specs

• 8” LCD screen
• 800×600 pixels
• 512 MB internal memory
• Built-in card reader supports SD/SDHC, xD, Memory Stick, and CF
• USB and mini USB ports
• Audio/video playback
• Direct print via PictBridge
• Interchangeable mat system

Design and Build

The HP df820 is a conservatively styled 8″ digital photo frame from HP. Visually and functionally, the df820 is a no-frills device, with a plain, classy appearance that helps it blend in in home or office environments and a set of features that focuses on image and video playback without “tech head” distractions like Wi-Fi connectivity or touch interfaces.

If you’re thinking that this HP’s basic styling looks familiar, you’d be right. On both the hardware and firmware fronts, the df820 is very similar to a Pandigital model recently reviewed on this site - so much so, in fact, that it’s almost certain that the two models come from the same OEM. Of course, this isn’t necessarily a mark against the HP, just something we thought worth noting.

The HP df820 has a removable frame that’s made of composite material but painted to resemble dark wood, which holds in place a glass pane and double mat just like you’d find in a traditional photo frame. The frame comes with a stack of interchangeable mats in different colors and finishes. With three inner and three outer mats in addition to the cream and white ones that come loaded into the frame, the options for changing up the df820 to match your decor or mood are very robust. I didn’t take the time to count up the number of possible permutations (and it’s been awhile since I’ve had a math class), but the fact that you can use the larger outer mats by themselves as well means that there are a bunch of different color combinations available - in styles ranging from a classic blue/white combo that looks great in an executive office to a flashy black/silver setup more at home in a teenager’s bedroom.

Changing out the mats is a simple matter thanks to four large thumbscrews that hold the frame to the actual display unit. Besides being careful in handling the glass, the only trick is to make sure that the hole for the IR sensor in the outer mat is lined up with the remote control sensor itself on the display. Otherwise, you’ll be taking things apart again to get everything turned around once you figure out that your remote isn’t working.

The df820 sits just under an inch and a half thick from the front of the bezel to the back of case, meaning that it doesn’t protrude so much as to look awkward hanging on a wall. A single nail recess only allows for landscape orientation wall mounting, but the frame’s plastic swing-out desktop stand can be used in either portrait or landscape arrangement when positioning the device on a table or desk. An orientation sensor automatically rotates images depending on how the frame is set up, but the menus always default to landscape orientation regardless - meaning you’ll have to turn your head sideways to figure out what’s going on if you keep the frame set up in its vertical arrangement.

The short stand is a bit flimsy, making the df820 particularly unstable on a desktop when positioned in portrait orientation, though it feels none too solid in landscape mode either. Best to set up the HP in a location where it won’t get bumped or moved around much if you’re using the stand.

Connections are all centralized on the righthand side of the frame when viewing it straight ahead, with two card readers and both full-size and mini USB ports allowing images to be pulled over to the frame from a variety of media types.

Buttons are positioned on top of the display unit itself, sitting well behind the edge of the frame. Five buttons provide complete if a bit clunky access to the df820’s clear menus.

One of the more awkward interface decisions on this frame involves the brightness dial control that sits to the left of the menu buttons. The dial, which overrides any brightness adjustments made in the on-screen color controls console, seems like an odd addition; it’s as if the designers were looking for something to do with a leftover dial, which serves (only slightly more usefully) as a volume control for the headphone jack on Pandigital’s variant of this same design.

Memory/Picture Sources

The HP df820 packs in a respectable 512 MB of internal memory, assuring that you’ll have room for hundreds of full-res images from your typical consumer digital camera - or even thousands, assuming you leave the frame’s default “Auto Image Compression” setting enabled or resize your shots to 800×600 beforehand.

Getting images to the df820’s memory is as simple as knowing where to put your card: the HP’s built-in CF and multi-card (SD/SDHC, MS, and xD) readers handle images and video files from all of the common camera media types currently in use without issue. Likewise, there’s a full-size “host” USB port for connecting flash drives directly to the df820 to copy files.

What doesn’t work well, however, is the way the df820 handles batch file transfers from external media. From all indications, there’s no way to transfer multiple images from a card or drive with this device. Instead, you’re limited to moving through individual files, pressing the copy button on the remote each time a file you’d like to transfer comes up, and then sending it to the internal memory. Given that most frames in this price range will not only allow batch transfers from memory cards, but even walk you through the process through prompts when a memory card is inserted, the lack of any such functionality on the df820 definitely seems like a serious oversight.

Of course, you can connect the df820 to a computer via its mini USB port and supplied cable to transfer lots of files quickly. The device shows up as drive, and moving bulk images this way is a snap. But with the amount of memory this HP packs, you’d think there would be a more intuitive solution for filling up that internal storage space with lots of files directly from your memory cards.

Display Modes

After a relatively long boot-up cycle of nearly 15 seconds, the df820 defaults into slideshow mode, playing back images from any external media before cycling through those on the internal memory unless you tell it otherwise. Two clicks of the menu button call up the source selection prompt, which shows all available file sources and allows you to select where you’d like the df820 to display its images from.

Unfortunately, however, there’s no option for interspersing images from multiple memory sources: once you select a memory location to play files from, the df820 simply cycles through whatever images are available in that single location.

As a multimedia frame with built-in speakers, the df820 lets users add MP3 audio to slideshows; audio files are copied onto the device using the same basic process as images. In setting up the slideshow, a few basic transitions are available, and viewers can also choose how long each image is displayed - from as little as a few seconds up to a full day per image. A wide range of options and controls makes the df820’s slideshow options pretty rewarding.

One of HP’s talking points for the df820 involves its “Digital Matting” function, which applies one of six different borders to your image if selected.

It’s a little bit goofy, and since the borders are labeled generically (Option 1, Option 2, etc.) it’s impossible to know what each one looks like without a test run to find out.

The df820 also provides a nice multi-info mode within the time mode. Users can pick how they want the information to lay out via an option in the setup menu, but the same basic components (a calendar, a clock, and two images) always appear regardless of the specific arrangement selected. For office desktop use, though, the HP’s quadrant display mode looks nice and provides all the important info about time and date neatly and legibly.

The df820 can also be easily programmed to start up or shut down at a certain time of day every day. While this feature may be good for retail or other commercial applications, a sensor that allows the display to hibernate when viewers aren’t around would have been an even nicer touch for home use.

Although it’s capable of multimedia playback, the df820 wanted to stutter some in playing back video clips directly from external memory. Copying the file to internal memory first smoothed out playback (especially audio playback) considerably. Likewise, speaker placement isn’t ideal if you’re hanging the frame on a wall, with sound from the df820’s rear-facing speakers getting severely muffled when wall-mounted. HP doesn’t list what video file types are supported, and although I’m assuming the frame can handle the most common varieties, I was only able to test the unit in person with AVI clips.

Menu System

With its simple set of features and options, the df820 has one of the more manageable interfaces I’ve seen in a digital picture frame. Entering the HP’s pictorial master menu, options for pictures, video, and audio provide direct access to each of these respective file types, and a clock icon enters the time set mode.

For exploring the df820’s options, the setup menu is where you’ll spend most of your time. Thankfully, most of the options in the list are completely self-explanatory, and submenus are easy to deal with as well.

The only real issue worth noting with the df820’s menu concerns the fact that it’s so hard - almost impossible, in fact - and unintuitive to navigate using only the frame’s five built-in buttons. Thankfully the included wireless remote works well, and with its directional controller is much easier to deal with when it comes time to navigate the df820’s menus.

Display

The df820’s 800×600 8″ LCD panel is nothing particularly special for this class of digital picture frame, but it does provide performance that’s acceptable for this price point. Like most frame displays, there’s not much viewing latitude along the vertical axis, with colors inverting pretty quickly if you’re viewing from too far above or too far below the screen.

Side-to-side viewing, however, holds together all the way out to almost 90 degrees in each direction, providing a nice wide field of coverage that makes the df820 work well as a wall unit.

Colors are accurate and contrast is excellent by default, but if you want to give the picture on your frame a tune up, the df820 can oblige. Pressing the color control button on the remote while the frame is in slideshow mode calls up a picture control menu with basic adjustment options: brightness, contrast, tint, and color.

Tweak the settings as desired, press the color control button to save your changes, and the df820 will remember your picture adjustments across sessions.

Finally, while I think the glass plate over the display unit adds a touch of class and makes the df820 look less “digital” than many digital photo frames, it should be noted that it can also cause severe glare and make on-screen images basically unviewable depending on how ambient light hits it. Of course, with the df820’s modular design, you can always remove the glass if it’s causing problems for you.

Extra Features

The HP df820 allows you to print images directly from the frame to any PictBridge compatible photo printer. To configure this option, you’ll need to connect the frame to your printer’s PictBridge input via the frame’s mini USB port and change the “USB Mode” parameter from “PC” to “Printer” in the setup menu.

Once these changes are made, however, printing is as simple as pressing the “Print” button on the remote whenever the image that you’d like to print is displayed in slideshow mode. The df820 will prompt to confirm that you’d actually like to print the image.

Output sizes and quality options will depend on your printer-side configuration, and using the direct print option with images that have been resized for the frame isn’t recommended (as 800×600 at high compression is almost too small for any print larger than 4×6). However, I had no trouble actually printing images directly from the frame to my HP photo printer, and while this feature will be nothing more than a novelty for most users, if you have both the df820 and a photo printer on your desk, there’s really no reason not to hook them up: it makes creating quick prints for friends or family members a snap and yields better quality than the Smartparts digital frame with embedded photo printer.

Bottom Line

The HP df820 isn’t a cheap frame in any sense of the word. It’s certainly well made, but it also commands a pretty high price tag for one of the more conventional and featureless frames reviewed around here in awhile. If vanilla is your favorite flavor, the df820 may appeal with its elegant simplicity and refreshing lack of frustrating and poorly implemented advanced features. It’s the little things that hurt the df820’s appeal, though: no way to copy all the files from a memory card into internal memory with a single button, no way to shuffle images from multiple sources, and sluggish behavior when viewing images or videos directly from external media. The df820’s direct print feature is a nice touch if you’re among those who will actually get use out of it, but overall, the df820 runs the risk of seeming a little boring and simplistic. And while that may be just what some users are looking for, the price tag may seem a little too high for many others.

Pros

• Plenty of internal storage
• Well implemented direct print function
• Easy-to-use interface
• Interchangeable mats

Cons

• Slideshow options a bit limited
• No way to copy all images from external sources

Three and a half out of five stars