Audiovox Electronics Homebase DPF711K Digital Message/Video Center/ Digital Picture Frame

good concept of keeping notes and voice reminders in one spot. the calendar feature leaves A LOT to be desired. No way to customize it. You can post a reminder or event on the day but no way to identify WHAT the event is in text form. The event reminder feature is a light that tells you there is a memo or event on that day but there are too many buttons to push to get to the memo. To post an event, there are about 4-5 icon options and that's it. For instance, birthday is an option but you would have to rely on your memory of WHO's birthday it is-no way to imput text. I was hoping this would act more like hte Outlook calendar on my PC but it is far from it. I'm going to sell this and just use the Calendar with Reminders on my PC. My PC also has my digital pics as it's screensaver so the dig pic frame is not something i need either. Leaving notes on the counter has worked for us this far...might as well save the money and time and keep doing that. we found the magnetic wiggle penn and wiggle pad are very useful on the fridge. Hope this helps

A good idea but very badly executed. Awkward membrane switches. Wade through menus to leave and view a memo. Not a good idea for something that is supposed to be a convenience. This was not thought out. They went from rough design requirements to execution with no prototyping for usability. Dumb design. Just dumb. Oh and the picture is misleading. There is no cam on this model. Just audio messages.

I was scared to order this after reading the bad reviews. but it was exactly what i needed in my kitchen since I leave a note everday. the review about the sound being poor was what worried me most since i thought it would be fun to leave a voice note. well their is a volume button and i had it turned up all the way and it was very loud. it was too loud i had to turn it down . so great that works! picture quality is good. as long as you start with a good photo, if your picture is blurry it will look poor. it is easy to hang up and they give you things to hide the cord. if you have a white wall you will be able to hide it, my wall is yellow and it didnt look good so idecided to change location and its fine. i love this product.

I saw this device being shown in one of the HGTV shows. However, in this post i-Phone era, it is tough to make any other device as user friendly and provide ease convenience that many of the Apple products do. Audiovox Homebase is little behind its time. While we might have been absolutely thrilled with this device a few years back, the menu structure and the use is little uneasy. Everything needs to be accessed through the menu and have to click down to get where you can get something done. Calendar feature for example does not have ability to put time and details of the appointment. The limited feature event description is just that, very limited. Voice memos are supported by very crackly speakers that are hard to hear. Screen is small to ones that people are used to in this digital age.Saving grace for this device is crisp display of pictures on the screen and the current price that cannot be beaten.

I took the plunge on this unit because it was being offered very cheaply. I was expecting a poor-quality digital picture frame combined with a dry-erase surface for leaving myself notes. I intended to mount it on my refrigerator door in my kitchen.When the unit arrived and I unpacked it, I was very pleasantly surprised at the thoughtfulness of the product design. The hardware is designed VERY well. When I realized the unit makes a better wall-mounted device, I was actually very happy, because that meant I could put it anywhere I wanted, not just on the refrigerator (where it would be unwieldy). It can be mounted directly on the wall, so it hangs flat, or it can be mounted against two plastic triangles which allows it to come off the wall at an angle, which is what I decided I liked better .. it could sit lower on the wall (easier to write on that way) angled up for good visibility. The digital screen actually shows my pictures pretty well .. not GREAT, but for the price? More than adequate. I also like the pockets built into the right side for holding a marker and even a post-it pad. It also comes with two little magnets: the bottom strip of the unit is magnetic, allowing you to stick non-self-sticky memos (receipts, whatever) to the bottom of the device. I don't use that much, but the magnets are quite strong and live on my refrigerator now.Another thoughtful touch was the built-in cord management. I did not want to have an unsightly cord dangling around across my wall between the device and the power socket, and the product has a space on the back for you to wrap excess cord up so it stays out of sight.Now I understand the software interface is severely lacking, which is a shame. I was able to configure the device with the current date and time, and get it to automatically run a slideshow of the photos I'd loaded up on an SD card. It does that automatically now every time the unit is powered on, and it runs continuously. I do not leave voice memos for myself and I don't use the calendar, so I've had no headaches with trying to understand those features.What I paid for was a handy little surface to scribble quick notes on to myself, and a nice digital picture frame for my kitchen. This device serves those functions VERY well, and for the price, I think it's a fine product.

Thought this would be a great way to keep everyone in the house communicating. Was rather disappointed after a few days of use. The controls for recording messages is rather finicky, and the board doesn't wife off as easily as you'd expect. Plus you have to keep it plugged in all the time which means it isn't going on the fridge or in most mudrooms. If I had a way to go back, I wouldn't puchase this again.

The idea of this item is pretty cool i think! However, it worked rather slow and navigating through the unit was not simplistic. The erase marker that was included with this item didn't work either. The sound quality was AWFUL. This item is definitely getting returned.