27" Meural Canvas Leonora WiFi Digital Photo Frame w/ Meural Swivel Mount EXPIRED

As a photographer who uses full-frame digital SLRs, for me the failing of the Meural frame--- and all other large digital frames, save one--- is that it is based on a widescreen TV LCD panel, all of which have a narrow rectangular shape ("aspect ratio") of 16:9. The image that comes out of a full frame digital SLR, in contrast, is a less-skinny, closer-to-square rectangle, with an aspect ratio of 3:2.

What happens when you try to fit a 3:2 digital SLR image onto a 16:9 screen? It doesn't fit, and so the picture either must be cropped to fit, which often wrecks the composition, or, ugly "filler bars" will be placed on either side of the image so the whole picture can be shoe-horned onto the screen. Neither option appeals to me aesthetically. I want a frame with a 3:2 shape so my images fill every inch of the display, no black bars, no cropping. To my knowledge, the ONLY product that ever existed in this category was the Memento frame, which was a stunning, 35" 4K frame with a genuine 3:2 LCD panel--- a very rare bird. The company tanked unfortunately--- seems the audience for $900 frames was a bit too limited. And to my knowledge, no one has picked up the 3:2 frame baton since Memento failed.

Doesn't seem to bother the art crowd who buy the yearly Meural art subscription service that many (if not most) of the paintings exhibited on the frame are also cropped to fit the display. Guessing not too many Dutch masters painted on 16:9 canvases...

I have had mine for the better part of 6 months now and love it. I would get it again in a heartbeat.

The matt image quality is really stunning, most folks that come over do not realize it is in-fact a digital display until the image changes.

I do not have the paid subscription, However i have made my own playlists or groups of Art / Photos / Posters etc of files i have curriated from online sources such as the US Library of Congress, http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en, various Auction Houses, My kids School art (so i can purge more of their physical crap) etc.

Where the Meural software shines is where you can "swipe up" and it brings up info about the art you are looking at. With the subscription and the sample art provided its like a mini humanities lesson on what you are looking at. Fortunately through the software you to can do this on your own procured collection.

After testing it out and liking it i decided to recess an electrical outlet behind the frame to conceal the electrical cord.


Could i have made something similar with a raspberry pi set up, yeah possibly. Would it have gotten the wifey approval, probably not. I am not an Engineer, I am a graphic designer by trade. i know there is a lot of thought and development that has gone into this product.

But is there a better option that works as well? I really like mine. Anything home-made tends to look shitty compared to this.