NETGEAR Meural MC327WL Canvas II – the Smart Art Frame with 69 cm HD Digital Canvas, 48x74 cm White Frame (WiFi-Connected)

I was really worried I’d get buyers remorse when the Meural 27” arrived. I had been looking for a digital photo frame online and found this among the listings and got very excited by the promise of having ever changing art on my walls. In the current lock down situation I was unable to see one in real life before I bought it. Excitement may have got the better of me when deciding on the purchase but now I have the Meural in my house I am absolutely in love with the thing. It was really simple to set up with the phone app taking about 10 minutes including uploading some of my own photos to the canvas. The image it displays is fantastic. As you would expect with a 1080 screen you can see pixels when extremely close but at any other distance pictures look sharp and vibrant. The matte finish to the screen is impressive and online photos and video reviews did not do it justice. With some images more than others there are times when I think I would definitely be fooled into think they were prints if I didn’t know better. For my own interest I compared a framed print I own with the same image on the Meural next to one another (Nocturn in Black and Gold). The backlit Matt screen of the Meural kept the image visible in different lighting and at different viewing angles in a way you don’t get with a print behind glass, useful for rooms with lots of sunlight or that get dim lighting. It was appreciable that the Meural lightened the image slightly but I would never have noticed that in isolation. I opted for the art subscription (£70) which I think is worth it although a free trial with the purchase of the screen would seem a reasonable expectation. For the most part the app is easy to use. Setting up playlist of your own images (that are on your phone) is easy. Creating a daily or weekly schedule for the Meural is straightforward including wake up and shutdown times. Controlling the canvas from the app is really easy. There are a few of limitations of the device although non have killed my enthusiasm. The screen is obviously a fixed, standard size meaning any art not in 16:9 will be cropped. You can edit that crop for your own images. It hasn’t bothered me yet paintings you are familiar with may look different as a result. The power switch on the device sits slightly proud on one edge. This is no issue unless resting it in landscape orientation on a surface. Just playing around with it lent against a wall it turned off a few times before positioned just so. This is not an issue when hung. The motion sensors to control the screen with gestures are not the most precise. Doing more than skipping a painting or reading art info would probably get frustrating but you would probably opt to use your phone for anything else and that works great. Finally looking for art through the subscription on the app takes some getting used to. Browsing without knowledge of key search terms is not as straight forward as I would like but after a while I’ve gotten the hang of it. Over all I’m really please with the Meural and would recommend it whole heartedly to any one who likes the idea of getting to see more artwork in their home. A great impulse buy.

I had high expectations of this frame. However on set up I had a number of issues, the frame would not connect to my home WiFi and when I tried to register the product to access the customer support I got a message saying the frame was registered elsewhere. On checking the accompanying documentation it appeared to be in multiple languages, and I thought I had been sold a knock-off. I contacted Meural support and over 24 hours they managed to sort out the product registration. I then contacted customer support live, and they worked through the WiFi set up issue - which took around an hour, but eventually got working. It turned out the documentation was all correct / the frame gets shipped to multiple countries. So. Overall this is definitely a 5-star product. The picture quality is amazing and a step up from the circa £100-£150 frames. I use it to display photographs, and the colours are rich and warm, and come across with a true white balance from the original pictures. The frame is easy to operate. And notionally easy to set up. The customer service I received was first class. I would highly recommend this for those who are serious photographers and want to display their images.

I wasted 3 days of my time trying everything to get this working - with very limited success (including trying all the user community online advice and all the Netgear hints). After 2 days it finally managed to read jpegs from an SD card (BTW it takes SD NOT micro-SD as Netgear incorrectly state). BUT it was never possible to change the display duration or the slideshow. The ONLY control that worked was screen brightness. It was never possible to load an image from my phone (it would claim to send them but they never appeared). It kept reconnecting to wifi (with a big message on the screen), even though my wifi is very good and strong. The app is useless, the website is useless and the device I was sent is useless. The spec is incorrect and the design is flawed (for those of us not wanting to bury the cable in a wall standing it in landscape mode on a shelf would work well - except that the on/off button is at the bottom so you can't (unless you create feet for it). It was posted to me in the manufacturers thin box (with my address label stuck on that - hate that!) so it had very limited protection in transit and maybe it worked okay prior to shipping. This has put me off Netgear for life as they don't seem to support this properly and whoever released the app should be fired (speaking as a software developer). So I sent it back for a refund and bought a Samsung Frame TV which is 10 million times better approximately. Yes a lot more expensive but it's 55 inches, does tv too, and actually works for displaying my photos or artwork and the app works (plus you have an option to feed it from a PC via HDMI if you wish to use your own slideshow system). The photos it did manage to show look okay but the frame does look like a plastic frame and the extra impact of sizing up to a 55 inch Samsung Frame TV screen is massive and game changing - instead of having to view it close up you get to enjoy images from across the room and you get 2 remote controls, and TV too. I don't work for Samsung but I reckon they are the way to go for digital art displays. Personally I don't even plan to use the tv feature, but it's nice to have. Probably I'm not allowed external links here but one of the best websites I found about digital art displays was by a photographer scottsmorraphotography dot com which explains his use of the samsung frame very well. (perhaps better than Samsung manage themselves!)

Top quality, excellent product and completely unique. I agree it's not cheap but quality rarely ever is. The question isn't "is it expensive?" the correct question should be "is it good value and worth the asking price?" and for that the answer is 100% YES.

I owned the first generation Meural canvas before the company was taken over by Netgear. Netgears firmware update on my old Meural canvas stopped it working ‘wonder why?’ So I replaced it with the new Meural 2. It’s an expensive digital artwork/photo frame, looks great and gets many comments. Hopefully this new canvas will more than 5 years. The rotating bracket does not come with it too, you will need to order that direct from Netgear.

I use my meural mainly to showcase my photography work but I do also like to use the artwork gallery as well to show some more traditional artwork. I like the feature where u can swipe near the screen and it brings up information about the artist and image. The display is amazing and crystal clear the auto backlighting is amazing and really brings my images and traditional artwork to life. It really is worth buying the additional mount to make changing the screen from portrait to landscape. Overall I can’t recommend this enough it’s far superior than other digital displays and although expensive is worth every penny.

I bought the Meural MC327HW Canvas II from Amazon warehouse about 5 months ago, it was only £50 cheaper than I could have bought it new from Netgear's own website (approx £630 at the time). But I thought recycle/reuse it was advertised as in very good condition. It was missing the essential part of the hanger but Amazon refunded me the cost to replace it with a swivel mount, which was great. Unfortunately when I tried to turn on the Meural it was already registered to someone else so it could not be used. I had to contact Netgear to get it deregistered and re registered to me. Netgear took approx two weeks to sort this out. It took numerous chats/logging issues on their site and many hours of our time and lots of frustration to get this sorted out, they Just didn't seem interested. When we were able to use it, almost immediately it was apparent there were software/hardware issues. The pictures keep randomly changing also the menu and picture information/title keep popping up randomly, this is incredibly annoying. All the settings are set to keep the picture static and not change until I change them myself. I also had issues with it not connecting to wi fi but that seems ok now. I am now finding it does not dim as much as it did initially when the light is low I have to do it through the app. I have contacted Netgear numerous times and spent so many hours trying to rectify these problems but they refuse to help. All they say is it was essentially second hand as someone returned it previously the warranty/guarantee does not apply to me. Even though it was bought from them through amazon warehouse and is supposed to be guaranteed. I have never experienced such poor customer service and that is saying something. You have to raise a online issue with them and they may or may not get back to you, it could take days if they do, sometimes they reply and close the case immediately. So then because they have not answered the question/sorted the problem initially asked, you have to raise a new case issue which again can take days which means constantly repeating yourself as well uploading photographs of the Meural (for some reason they need this). Amazon have partially refunded me for all the problems I have had and if I returned it would fully refund me. But because of the weeks and so many man hours invested trying to rectify the issues, and the frustration, if I send it back now it seems like all that effort and time was for nothing. And the thing is I actually really like the product, the picture quality (depending on what quality you upload) is really good as is the colour reproduction, the matt screen also gives it a authentic picture quality my sister did not realize it was digital when she first saw it. The swivel mount (purchased separately) is worth it although it does mean the frame does not sit flush to the wall. There are quite a few free downloadable sites for art from museums etc, some you will have to crop because of the mural ratio. I bought the largest size and above my fireplace in landscape mode it looks a little bit small but in portrait it is just right, if it was any bigger it would not look right in portrait. When I registered and logged on to Netgears meural account and read the online community forum, I realized this is not a isolated issue. Many people have the same issues with the Meural even from brand new and most experience the same bad customer service. So its pot luck if the one you get is going to work correctly, I don't think you will be disappointed with it if it works properly. Regarding netgear I will never buy anything from them again, their customer service really is that bad.

A friend of mine has one. I bought one after seeing theirs only to find out you have to pay for picture packs and an annual subscription! After paying so much money I didn't expect an extra recurring fee so returned it, not happy tbh. The item is spectacular though if you want to pay the extra fee. The photos don't do it justice unfortunately taken at my friends but it is great.

Après quelques mois d'utilisation, je trouve que le produit est vraiment top !. Il est devenu un élément majeur de la déco de notre salon. Toute la famille l'adore; Avec le planificateur, on diversifie les affichages tout au long de la journée (peinture, dessin, photos). Ma configuration est un canvas 27" noir , un socle pivotant et l'abonnement annuel à la bibliothèque en ligne. J'avais hésité à prendre la finition noire, car certains commentaires n'étaient pas très favorables, mais dire que je ne regrette pas ce choix et que l'ensemble est classe. La qualité d'affichage est bluffante surtout en mode peinture et on a vraiment l'impression d'avoir un tableau/ Le support pivotant permet d'augmenter les possibilités. En général on change l'orientation du Canvas une ou 2 fois par mois et cela permet de redécouvrir de nouvelles œuvres dans les listes de lecture. Plusieurs fois par semaine, des mails de Meural proposent des nouveautés dans la bibliothèque. Je mets à jour le planificateur régulièrement, en changement le contenu et les heures de diffusion des listes de lecture. Charger ses propres photos est très simple et là également le rendu est très bon. J'avais longtemps hésité avant de faire l'achat car c'est quand même assez cher, mais je ne regrette vraiment pas.

リビングの壁に設置して絵画を表示したが部屋の雰囲気がとても良くなり気に入りました。ただ想像以上に重いです。あとは末永くクラウドサービスが継続される事を願います。

It is what I expected. High quality.

Den Meural Bilderrahmen habe Ich nun seit ca. 2 Jahren in Verwendung und bin inzwischen vollends zufrieden. Die App war anfangs etwas umständlich und wichtige Funktionen haben gefehlt (wie das Sortieren der Bilder innerhalb von Wiedergabelisten) aber inzwischen wurde hier nachgebessert und alles rennt recht einwandfrei. Die App braucht zwischendurch mal einen Neustart … aber das kennt man ja von vielen Anwendungen. Die Bildqualität ist wirklich einwandfrei: satte Farben, lebendige Bilder, die automatische Anpassung der Lichtstärke läuft tadellos und still und unbemerkt im Hintergrund. Es gibt kein Flackern oder Unschärfen … ich verwende den Bilderrahmen für alles: selbst gemachte Fotos, Grafiken, Filmposter, Kunstwerke, die Zeichnungen der Kinder, selbst gemaltes … endlich bin ich das Problem los, dass irgendwo 50 Bilder gelagert werden müssen und immer wieder getauscht werden. Einmal hochgeladen kann man auswählen, was man jeden Tag sehen möchte. Je nach Stimmung und Laune … oder auch abgestimmt auf Besuch. Über den Zeitplan kann man auch genau auswählen, welche Wiedergabelisten wann und wie lange gezeigt wird. Hier gibt es unzählige Einstellmöglichkeiten. Die Gestensteuerung verwende ich kaum. Das funktioniert zwar aber ich persönlich finde es umständlich und nervig. Geschmacksache. Das Abo mit dem man Kunstwerke, die von Meural zur Verfügung gestellt werden, auf dem Gerät wiedergeben kann, funktioniert einwandfrei. Einziger Kritikpunkt: mit € 80,- pro Jahr ist es nicht gerade billig und könnte zumindest für 1 Jahr kostenlos dabei sein. Es ist aber kein Muss: die App an sich mit allen Funktionen ist kostenlos. Eine Handvoll Kunstwerke sind auch gratis dabei - auch hier könnte man nachbessern und ein paar Bilder mehr gratis spendieren. Zum Holzrahmen dunkel kann ich nur sagen dass dieser wirklich aus Holz gefertigt ist und durchaus hochwertig aussieht. Die Verbindung zwischen Rahmen und Gerät wirkt etwas wackelig - warum das nicht anders gelöst und besser fixiert wird?! Es macht überhaupt kein problem und hängt der Rahmen mal, kriegt man davon nichts mehr mit. Nur beim ersten Auspacken wundert man sich mal - nicht erschrecken lassen davon. Es passt wie es ist. Dem Rahmen liegt eine Halterung zur fixen Montage bei (inklusive kleiner Wasserwaage): die Montage ist gut beschrieben und alles klappt reibungslos. Ich habe mir die optionale Halterung dazu gekauft, mit der man den Rahmen an der wand drehen kann vom Hoch- ins Querformat. Mein Rat: hier nicht sparen. Unbedingt dazu kaufen. Andernfalls muss man sich für ein Format entscheiden und das andere Firmat wird später mit Streifen am Rand verkleinert dargestellt: ist möglich, sieht aber nicht so gut aus. Noch ein Tip: ein günstiger schmaler Kabel Schacht lässt das Stromkabel verschwinden und der Rahmen sieht perfekt an der wand aus. Ob Familienfotos, der letzte Urlaub, das filmposter des Lieblingsfilms: der Rahmen zieht die Blicke auf sich und lässt die Bilder wirklich im neuem Glanz erstrahlen und bringt sie aus dem handyspeicher in den Alltag, ins Leben zurück. Und wer Zugriff auf die App hat kann seine Liebsten zuhause überraschen indem man aktuelle Bilder bspw. vom Urlaub aus der Ferne live auf den Rahmen zuhause aufspielt. Von mir eine absolute Kaufempfehlung.

Forse come me siete arrivati a scoprire questo prodotto cercando una semplice cornice digitale per le vostre foto. Probabilmente vi ha sopreso il suo prezzo elevato, nettamente al di sopra di ciò che si trovi su Amazon nella categoria ‘cornici digitali’, e vi siete chiesti come si possa giustificare una tale richiesta. La risposta è semplice: Canvas è in una categoria a sé in cui (purtroppo) manca una concorrenza degna di questo nome. Digerito l’amaro boccone del prezzo, Canvas restituisce un’esperienza che ripaga ampiamente dell’investimento. Una riproduzione realistica dei dipinti (talvolta in grado di ingannare l’osservatore inconsapevole) e una cornice in legno la rendono adatta anche ad un salotto elegante o uno studio professionale. qualità dell’immagine con la cornice in ORIZZONTALE ✭✭✭✭✭ qualità dell’immagine con la cornice in VERTICALE ✭✭✭✭ qualità della cornice e del passepartout ✭✭✭✭✭ (vero legno nelle due versioni marrone chiaro e scuro) facilità di montaggio a parete ✭✭✭✭ facilità d’uso ✭✭✭✭✭ (ottima sia la app che la risposta della cornice ai gesti della mano) compatibilità ✭✭✭✭✭ (Meural propone un servizio in abbonamento ma si può caricare qualsiasi foto, anche trovata in rete) robustezza e durabilità ✭✭✭✭✭ (qui per ora vado sulla fiducia e sulla sensazione positiva che dà maneggiandola) qualità/prezzo ✭✭✭✭ (ho pagato 700€ per la versione in legno da 21 pollici; la mancanza di concorrenza si sente) IN DETTAGLIO Cercavo una cornice digitale da regalare a mia moglie ma tutte quelle recensite qui su Amazon per una ragione o un’altra sembravano avere grossi limiti. Ho esteso la ricerca alla rete e scoperto l’esistenza di una classe di cornici con pretese (e costi) molto maggiori. L’obiettivo ambizioso in questa categoria è quello di riprodurre in modo realistico quadri e disegni artistici, oltre naturalmente alle fotografie degli utenti. Fra le startup che si sono cimentate in questo ambito, Meural è l’unica che abbia avuto un vero successo commerciale. A testimonianza di ciò l’azienda è stata da poco rilevata dal colosso Netgear. Canvas viene commercializzata in Europa da pochissimo, ed è proposta nella seconda versione appena uscita anche negli USA con il nome di Canvas II. L’azienda offre un servizio di streaming in abbonamento con una vasta selezione di quadri (30000) fra cui scegliere per creare le proprie playlist. Oltre al vantaggio di avere accesso ai propri quadri preferiti dalla comodità del divano, il servizio in abbonamento mette a disposizione per ogni opera una breve scheda informativa che l’utente può far comparire a display con l’uso innovativo della gestualità della mano (video). Noi non ci siamo abbonati dato che l’uso prevalente che facciamo della Canvas è di esporre le nostre foto di famiglia. ● Qualità e risoluzione del display Il display impiegato in entrambi i formati (21 e 27 pollici) ha una risoluzione full HD di 1920x1080 pixel, circa la metà di un monitor 4K per PC. A mio avviso questo non costituisce un limite rilevante. Basti riflettere sul fatto che un osservatore posto alla distanza di 140 cm dalla Canvas gode di una densità apparente di pixel uguale a quella di una persona seduta alla scrivania davanti a un monitor 4K (70 cm). Raramente ci troveremo a meno di un metro dalla Canvas. Detto questo siate consci dei limiti del display: non aspettatevi di poter studiare i dettagli di un quadro o di una foto da molto vicino. In compenso il display AHVA utilizzato da Meural brilla per resa dei colori e contrasto, entrambi parametri chiave per una riproduzione realistica delle opere. Trovo ottimo il livello veramente minimo di ‘bleed’ della retroilluminazione, grazie al quale i quadri a sfondo scuro emergono particolarmente bene (foto). Ottima anche l’uniformità di riproduzione quando ci si sposta di lato, e questo è vero fino agli angoli più estremi. ⚠️ Ciò però vale solo a cornice disposta in orizzontale, mentre se posizionata in verticale lo schermo perde luminosità già osservando da +/– 45gradi dalla direzione frontale. ● Formato del display Il display è un 16:9. Per ovvi motivi ciò crea un problema nel rappresentare qualsiasi opera o foto che sia più quadrata di questo rapporto o, viceversa, più rettangolare. Le possibilità a disposizione dell'utilizzatore sono due. La prima brutale ma assai più estetica: ritagliare uno o più bordi quando si importa l’immagine (un passaggio gestito con molta semplicità nella App di Meural). La seconda rispettosa dell’opera ma meno gradevole: far rientrare l’intera immagine nel display lasciando due bordi laterali bianchi o neri (colore a propria scelta). ● Sensore di luce ambientale Una delle caratterisiche più riuscite del Canvas è la regolazione automatica della luminosità del display in base alla luce ambientale. Inoltre, al buio la cornice si spegne per poi riaccendersi automaticamente al ritorno della luce (la funzione è disattivabile). ● Interazione con la Canvas tramite App Il modo più potente per gestire la Canvas è da una App Android/iOS ben fatta. Lì potremo importare quadri e foto dal database di Meural (solo se siamo abbonati), dalla rete o dal nostro archivio foto sullo smartphone ('Foto' su iOS). Potremo organizzare le immagini in playlist, magari divise per genere pittorico o fotografico, viaggi, luoghi, colori ecc. Con una interfaccia funzionale potremo inoltre facilmente cambiare playlist e immagine o regolare manualmente la luminosità del display. ● Interazione gestuale Non dico altro: guardate il video allegato in cui dimostro la semplicità con cui si può interagire con la cornice con il movimento delle mani. Una chicca! ● File compatibili: formati jpg, jpeg, png, bmp, svg, gif, mp4 e mov; dimensione massima 20MB per le immagini e 200MB per i video. ● Gestione delle immagini tramite scheda SD: la scheda può essere formattata anche in Mac OS (FAT32 and ExFAT). Il nome dei file deve seguire questo pattern: ”nome immagine.[tipofile]" (per esempio, “gloria di san mercuriale.jpeg") [solo caratteri alfanumerici]. ● Cavo di alimentazione In tessuto bianco a sezione circolare (foto) di circa 2.5 m (2.3 m dal bordo del quadro); la soluzione ideale, ma non per tutti praticabile, è quella di farlo scomparire nella parete subito dietro la cornice; tenete però presente che il cavo è attaccato permanentemente al blocco di alimentazione (foto), per cui dovrete pensare ad avere una presa a muro non distante dalla Canvas. ● Accessori Volendo potete acquistare un supporto a muro che permette la rapida rotazione dalla cornice fra orizzontale e verticale. Ricordo però quanto detto sopra: nella modalità verticale il display non rende al suo massimo. Il nostro consiglio è di montarlo in orizzontale. PREGI 👍🏼 ▷Ottima qualità del display, in particolare per la resa cromatica e il contrasto; eccellente la resa anche delle opere a sfondo scuro come molte nature morte ▷Cornice in vero legno molto curata; in generale manifattura di gran qualità ▷App ben fatta e intuitiva ▷Interazione diretta con i gesti delle mani grazie ad un sensore nascosto nel passepartout; funziona bene se si tengono le mani di taglio (video) ▷Servizio di streaming di migliaia di quadri in abbonamento: 9$/mese, 70$/anno o 210$/3 anni (non ho trovato i prezzi in €) ▷Possibilità di caricare qualsiasi immagine di quadro o foto, sia trovati in rete che presi dal proprio archivio, gratuitamente DIFETTI 👎🏼 ▷In posizione verticale il display di Canvas diminuisce di luminosità in modo apprezzabile quando lo si osserva da un lato ▷La piastra a muro che fa da supporto alla Canvas è pensata per le pareti in cartongesso tipiche del Nord America e pecca su un dettaglio importante per le nostre pareti in muratura: i fori per le viti passanti sono circolari e non ovalizzati. Occorre quindi essere molto precisi nel praticare con il trapano il foro per il tassello, pena il ritrovarsi con la Canvas leggermente inclinata. Raccomando di avviare i fori con una punta più piccola del tassello, per poi allargarlo quanto basta. Personalmente ho usato due tasselli in plastica della Fischer diametro 6mm x 40 di lunghezza. ▷Benchè la Canvas arrivi in una confezione molto rifinita non si riceve un manuale vero e proprio, ma solo un depliant per l’avvio iniziale. E stranamente un manuale non è disponibile neanche in rete. Ad ogni modo è QUASI tutto molto intuitivo.