I have just purchased a Ceiva Digital Picture Frame for my father as a Christmas Gift. When I first saw the display at my local computer store I thought to myself that this would make the distance between my home and my fathers home a bit shorter and that the novelty would be great. The cost of the frame was $199.00, but there is a $100.00 rebate through January 2002 which certainly makes it more attractively priced.

I wanted to have the frame all set up so that on Christmas morning when my father opened it, all he would have to do is plug it in and have it work. You see, this frame has to be connected to a service where you can upload your pictures from your pc or digital camera and the frame will automatically download new pictures each night. So, the first thing that I did was call Ceiva to set up this service. I have to say that the support people at Ceiva have been amazing. They were really helpful and got my service set up quickly. The yearly service costs $59.00 per year.

I got all my initial pictures uploaded and pushed the button on the back of the frame which forces a download. Within minutes, my family pictures were flashing across the screen! There is even an easy way to put text on your pictures or make a postcard from your picture and have it show on the screen. The frame will display up to 20 pictures in a "slide show" format. I set my frame to come on at 7 in the morning and go off at 10 in the evening. Even with the frame off, it will still "log - on" to a local access number sometime between midnight and 5a.m. to download any new pictures or preference changes that have been made.

The frame itself is about the size of an 8 x 10 horizontal with a viewing screen of about 5 x 7. It only comes in one color - black - but it seems to go with any decor.

I am anxious to send this to my father and upload new pictures of my children's activities frequently. Yes, I could email pictures to him, but this will be prominently displayed in his livingroom and his computer is not. I know that he will love keeping up with the activities of my children!

Recommended: Yes