Digital Foci Picture Porter Elite 80GB Picture Viewer

Picture Porter Elite - 3.6" Portable Digital Photo Viewer - Store, view, and share digital photos anywhere you go...Your Ultimate Digital Camera Companion: With Picture Porter Elite, you can instantly back up your precious pictures so you can keep snapping away. Simply insert the memory card from your digital camera into Picture Porter Elite & download images into its built-in hard drive.Never worry about running out of memory card space again. You can copy & archive photos directly from memory cards, without the need for lugging around a heavy laptop. With its large LCD display, you can clearly inspect the photos before deciding which are keepers & which to need to be re-shot.Picture Porter Elite works with all popular media card formats, including CF I/ II, MD , MMC , SD Card, Memory Stick, MS PRO, & MS Duo, & MS PRO Duo. You can also easily make yourself copies of photos taken from friend's & family member's digital cameras for instant archival of special picture moments.Portable Digital Photo Album & Entertainment Center: With its high-capacity hard drive, you can now carry your collection of digital photos & video with you & view them anywhere. While viewing photos on Picture Porter Elite's large 3.6" LCD screen, you can rotate, zoom, pan, view EXIF information & histogram, & play picture slideshows of your images (including RAW image content!).You can also connect Picture Porter Elite to a TV & share your photo

This is a Great Item for someone on the go!! (D. Eppich, Eastern Washington, 2008-12-12)

I have had this product for awhile and my girls have borrowed it several times for their trips and it has been a great item to have. I have several movies loaded on it so when I travel and get stuck in an airport I just find a place to sit and watch a movie. It has even entertained some children of other families traveling. It is easy to us. You do not have to be a tekky to use it.

Great product but not perfect...but close. (Jonathan Pugliese, Seattle, WA, 2008-09-15)

What it is:
Its great storage device with a SD and DF cards slots so you can dump and view photos on the go. Great way to view photos and video other than passing around the camera.

Why its great:
While not all files are viewable it will "take" any file format. You can take all you pictures and video off your digital camera without missing a beat. Very functional. Also you can record video which is great for watching movies on a plane.

What its not:
A professional photo viewer. It can handle RAW and JPEG but the quality is not something you want to judge you images on. Again its great to just dump photos and then share them. It can play music but its not an ipod. It has a great "playlist" feature but it is difficult to manage 30 gigs of music for instance.

Why its not great:
It is very big compared to other devices. The screen is not has high quality as I would like.

Why you should get it: A great device and it is the only one I could find that will unquestionably "take" any file format. Great to travel with because of the functionality but it is kinda big. Great customer service.

It's better than lugging a laptop; but ... (J. Mason, USA, 2008-09-10)

Although I own a laptop, I wanted something smaller and more portable for downloading pictures from my digital camera card when I'm traveling. That was my #1 reason for wanting a portable media player.

I read a lot of reviews for the Digital Foci Picture Porter Elite and Epson P-5000 before deciding which one to buy. My assessment was that the Epson was actually somewhat better (at almost twice the price); but the Picture Porter was also a very good choice. My budget being what it is, I bought the 80Gb Picture Porter Elite from Amazon. With their free shipping, Amazon had the best price I could find on the Internet.

For my purposes, I stand by my decision to purchase the Picture Porter Elite. On the other hand, I am neutral as to whether on not I would recommend this item to a friend. That would really depend on how my friend intended to use it.

Below is a list of things I consider to be pros/cons of the Picture Porter Elite.

Accessories:

(Pro) All of the cables you need for computer hook-up, television hook-up, audio/video copying, etc. are included. The unit also comes with a small remote control unit. The carrying case (also included; and actual leather, I think) is well made and has both a belt clip and carrying strap.

(Con) The main unit is also used as the battery charger, which ties up the device while you recharge the battery. (Note: An external battery charger and spare battery is available if you want to spend the extra money.)

Operating System, Control Buttons & Functions:

(Pro) Downloading pictures from a memory card is quick and easy. Just pop in a memory card and the backup menu appears automatically. Choose the desired backup option, press "ok" with the joystick button, and the backup begins.

(Con) The joystick button -- used to navigate, select a function, rotate photos, etc. -- is so tiny and overly sensitive that I find myself constantly choosing the wrong function with it. Just as a side note, I'm a female with relatively small hands. I imagine it would be much worse for a man with larger hands. (Pro/Work-Around) You can choose to use the remote control instead on the onboard joystick.

(Con) The operating system does not have built-in move or copy functions. To perform these operations, you have to cut/copy the item and then paste it in the new location. This is a slow and painful process! Also, the operating system does not have a built-in function for creating a new folder. (Pro/Work-Around) You can connect the Picture Porter to a desktop or laptop computer (via the supplied USB cable). The computer will see the Picture Porter as a removable hard drive. You can then use Windows Explorer to perform file and folder management functions, defrag the built in disk, etc.

(Con) When viewing "portrait mode" photos, the picture porter DOES NOT automatically rotate the picture for you. (Workaround) You can use the joystick or remote control to rotate the picture manually.


Screen/Speakers:

(Pro) The screen resolution and image quality are very good ... even when zooming in on a photo.

(Con) The screen is smaller than I expected. The specs say 3.6"; but mind you, that is the diagonal screen measurement. The actual screen is just under 3" wide. Unless you have the eyesight of a hawk, the screen is really too small for watching videos/movies.

(Con) The sound quality from the tiny built in speaker's is awful. For decent sound, you have to use the earphones (included) or external speaker (not included).

(Con) The earphones act as an antenna for the radio; so you can't listen to the radio without using them.

Other Comments:

Size & portable are relative. This unit is by far preferable to lugging around a laptop; but it is not a tiny, fit in your jeans pocket, device. In its case, the unit measures 5" wide x 3" tall x 1.75" deep and weighs just a fraction over 1 pound.

Don't be fooled by all the "extra features" this media player has. Aside from the ability to download directly from a memory card, and the massive storage capacity, most (if not all) of the features of this unit are available on a much smaller and less expensive MP3 player. There is no way I would it carry this unit with me on a daily basis ... e.g. as my "brag book" for showing off pictures of my grandkids, or to listen to my MP3 music files. It's just too bulky for that! And, as I mentioned earlier, the screen is really too small to be a serious video/movie viewer.

All things considered, if I had it to do over again, I'd buy the 40Gb model instead of the 80Gb. I bought the 80Gb model in anticipation of using it as my photo "brag book" and music player; but as I mentioned above, it's really too bulky for that.

I have tried to be honest and objective in my review of this product and I hope this helps you in making a decision whether or not to buy it.

Digital Foci review (E. Parkhurst, CA, USA, 2007-10-10)

I purchased the 80GB Picture Porter Elite, and I love it. I bought it for a Belize vacation, and it was super easy to use. I didn't give it 5 stars because I can't figure out how to use the shortcut icons, however I haven't had a chance to contact customer service. We went with a group of friends on a scuba diving vacation, and I got a lot of comments on what a great device it was. We took a lot of digital photos, both topside and under the water, and at the end of the day, we would download all the photos and then have a slideshow on the picture porter - everyone would crowd around and ooh and aah. We did finally hook up the device to a TV and show a slideshow on the TV, which was cool.
I highly recommend this product.

Great Product, Excellent customer service (Pat J, Phoenix, Az USA, 2007-03-16)

I am using all of the features and find them all quite intuitive and just as advertised. When I initially received the PMP, the joystick was broken. I emailed the company, quickly received a response with return instructions. I sent it back, received 2 phone calls (actual live people!!) letting me know the status of the repairs, and received the unit back asap. It was a flawless example of great customer service. So I know the product is exactly what I expected and the company has great customer service...