Showing posts with label dat recorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dat recorder. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2014

Your On-The-Go Filming with FLEXCOPE Windshield Mount for Flip UltraHD Camera, Kodak PlaySport Vide

Your On-The-Go Filming with FLEXCOPE Windshield Mount for Flip UltraHD Camera, Kodak PlaySport Video Camera, iPhone 4S, HTC 4G LTE, HTC Vivid, HTC Inspire, Droid RAZR, and Samsung Galaxy S III could not find any camera mount for a standard camera. I saw this on amazon and it was exactly what I needed for it. Works great.

This product was delivered quickly and was in good condition. The directions were lacking but the flexcope was easy enough to figure out. I am useing it for a droid razr and my itouch both fit perfectly because of the holding device. The holding device is a little flimsy but it works good enough to use. Besides that the rest of the product is well made and likes very strong. I would recommend buying this for mounting your device.

Buy Your On-The-Go Filming with FLEXCOPE Windshield Mount for Flip UltraHD Camera, Kodak PlaySport Vide Now

Best bang for your buck. However the cellphone adapter has more play than the screw type adapter. Of course because it has less moving parts but still impressed but the sturdyness.

Read Best Reviews of Your On-The-Go Filming with FLEXCOPE Windshield Mount for Flip UltraHD Camera, Kodak PlaySport Vide Here

I was concerned that the weight of my camcorder would eventually make it fall off my windshield but it's been there for months. Only downside is I have to mount my camcorder upside down because of the slant of my windshield. Tried mounting it on my dashboard but it isn't going to stay there.

And now that I have a droid phone I can use the other attachment to put my phone on the mount when I want to.

Want Your On-The-Go Filming with FLEXCOPE Windshield Mount for Flip UltraHD Camera, Kodak PlaySport Vide Discount?

Recently used the mount on the interior of my vehicle with a Canon 990is... it worked great and was very sturdy. I have not used the phone optional mount, but I'm sure it works as advertised. Very pleased with it and the price is right.. thanks!

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

BestDealUSA HD 1920x1080P Portable Car DVR 8 IR LED Auto Night Vision Camera Video Recorder

BestDealUSA HD 1920x1080P Portable Car DVR 8 IR LED Auto Night Vision Camera Video Recorder
  • Super miniature size, smart design and portable
  • Built-in 140° wide angle lens, 180° rotating lens, 270° rotating display screen, convenient for multi-angle & high-resolution video shooting/photographing.
  • 2.0" LPTS high resolution panel
  • Built-in 1/3.2 inch low noisiness high quality sensor, which can capture high resolution pictures.
  • Double mode DAY/NIGHT switch function

Headline claims 1920x1080P resolution. Okay, they have your attention. Read the fine print below and the best I see is 1280x720. Either its just an honest overlook or its a bit more. Bottom line is beware trying to find an honest 1080P at this price. For me, Ill move on rather than chance it.

Buy BestDealUSA HD 1920x1080P Portable Car DVR 8 IR LED Auto Night Vision Camera Video Recorder Now

This wasn't the cheapest device I found on Amazon, but by-far the best in comparison with the two. This device works with no problem what-so-ever, the battery holds it's charge, and the functions are wonderful. That said, once I did slide the sd card in and it went in between the slot and the plastic and I did have to unscrew it to recover the card.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Inclu

Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical ZoomThis is a great video camera, it feels light, compact, neatly put together, and there should be no doubt about it, its a Sony product they are all like this! However, I couldn't tell why this camera was better than DCR-SR40, or DCR-SR42 which are at most $200 cheaper. So I had to call Sony Sales to have them explain to me that this camera DCR-SR62 has a VIDEO resolution which is 3 times better than DCR-SR42. If you go to the Sony website you find that DCR-SR62 offers 670K Pixels, while DCR-SR42 offers only 260K Pixels. This pixel increase made the decision clear for me since I didnt care about the decreased Zoom for DCR-SR62 (25X and not 40X as DCR-SR42).

A few other things to consider:

This camera is so easy to use it doesnt need the EASY Button feature that it offers (except for the fact that the Easy Button is the only way that I was able to get the Image Stabilization Feature).

The camera doesn't bring its own case, or light you would need to buy those, and cost around $40 for each.

Finally, there probably is another camera (JVC, Panasonic)out there that offers the same basic features as this camera, 30gb, stabilization, battery time etc. Since you are buying the camera on Amazon and don't get to try the camera features, you should make your decision upon the video resolution they offer. Look for Actual Video resolution information in the company's websites or call the company's sales department. The range of resolution for this price should be somewhere between 300-700K, 700 being the best resolution.

The first Sony product I remember was a reel-to-reel tape recorder my mother purchased nearly 50 years ago. It may be biasing my review, but I've always trusted Sony products since then. So when I was looking for a start up camcorder, I naturally started my search with...JVC??? Yeah, I saw the entry level JVC hard drive camcorder at Best Buy. I liked the way it felt in my hand, and the price was about $100 less than the comparible Sony. (Thoughts started percolating in my mind that Sony must be better to be able to charge more for roughly the same camera.) So for the next couple of weeks I was doing my homework. Checking out online reviews (nearly useless), comparing specs and prices. First off, online reviews by people that have bought the product (like me?) are biased by the fact they bought it. I don't want to admit I spent $600 for a piece of junk (I didn't). So reviews like the one you are reading right now, need to be taken with a "grain of salt." So what can I add to the conversation that hasn't already been said?

First, Macintosh users CAN download and manipulate clips from this camera, despite what others have said. Get MPEG Streamclip, a free download from the Apple website, and QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback ($20 from the Apple Store online). When you attach the camera to your Mac, the camera appears as a hard drive. Click and drag the clips from the camera to your computer. Open Streamclip and convert the clips to DV (under the File menu). You can then use iMovie to put the clips together with typical Mac ease-of-use and a few special effects, transition effects and even import music from iTunes. If you want to get a little more advanced, buy Quicktime Pro ($40 from the Apple store).

Second, the Sony SR-62 is point-and-shoot. My wife has a high-end Canon 35mm digital SLR and is spending money, hand over fist, for accessories. I have a Kodak Easy Share I picked up at a big box retailer. I want to record what is happening to me right now. Last year on a road trip to Alaska, a grizzly bear ran across the road ahead of our vehicle. I was the only one to get a picture of it. So when I was looking for a camcorder, I wanted a model that would catch the action. Maybe someday, down the line, I'll turn into a video geek and need a better camera. But this summer I'm riding my Goldwing through the Rockies to Canada and back. I want to capture the depleted glaciers at Glacier National Park, the wildlife in the Colorado mountains, and the interesting people I always meet on my motorcycle tours.

Third, the camcorder will record 30GB on the harddrive. You can drag along your laptop (ugh) to download the clips. OR, I found this handy little device called the Hitch. It's a USB transfer device that acts like a little computer and will transfer files from one USB device to another. I plug the camcorder into the left (input) side, and a DOS formated harddrive into the output (right) side. It only works with DOS (FAT-32) formated memory. I have a Maxtor 60GB One-Touch. Despite that fact it is formated for a Wintel machine, Macintosh computers can read and write to that format. (It isn't that Mac's aren't compatible with Wintel, it's just the oppposite.) So now I have 21 hours of high quality digital video (according to Sony) that I can record while on vacation. If that doesn't prove to be adequate, I can stop by a Staples, Best Buy, Office Depot, etc., and pick up another Maxtor One-Touch.

Fourth, it is a Sony, and that goes back to my childhood memories of a product that was reliable until it was lost in a house fire. You can't take this part of the review any more seriously than the rivalry between Ford and Chevy types. But I like it. It feels good in my hand. The screen has many of the controls for the camera on it, so I can make adjustments while still keeping my eye on the scene. Some people have criticized this feature because you get finger smudges on the screen. But I've found that using the tip of my fingernail is more accurate and doesn't leave a smudge.

So, is this the perfect camcorder. No, it doesn't exist. But it works well for me. I'm having fun making videos of my wife, my students, my life.

Buy Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Inclu Now

First of all I really need to say that this is a really nice camcorder depending on what you like.

Pros: This is highly portable. You cannot beat the size, it is like carrying a picture camera. If you buy one of the larger batteries you can record non stop for about 12hrs in low def. mode. You can actually store about 20hrs of video. The larger battery charges in about 1hr and it is ready to go again. The video quality is not the best, but it is not bad either. Once you have the software set up in your computer, the upload to the computer takes about a couple of minutes depending on how much video you have. It is a lot faster than the capturing of Hi-8 and DVD camcorders. The software is really easy to use and to the point. The nightshot plus function is awesome in low light situations. This little camera is one of the best in low light settings for a hardrive camera. The only way that you can get a better video quality in low light setups in a harddrive camcorder is to buy the high definition camcorder that cost over a thousand dollars. For the price it is really nice. Also, you will never need to buy extra media for your camcorder, you don't have to worry if you are going to be able to find the media on vacation.Even when other media will go out of stile, such as HI-8 and eventually DVD, your memories are in digital format. In the future you will have no trouble tranferring all of your videos from digital format in your computer to blu-ray or HP's high definition disks. If you plan to be gone on vacation for a several weeks you could easily fit 20 hrs of video into your camcorder, forget about taking 5-10 extra accessories. Did I mention that it is next to weightless?

Cons: The video quality is lower than even Hi-8 digital camcorders. The cheapest, best picture comes from camcorder that record to DVD. I will use this camcorder for small outings, camping and where I'm not too interested in incredibly sharp images. Like I mentioned above, the video quality is good, just not as good as other currently available camcorders. I plan to keep using my Hi-8 camcorder every time I'm interested in higher video quality. Another bad thing is that the battery included with the camcorder only gives you about 1 hr. 40 min. of recording time and then you have to recharge it. (I highly recomend the purchase of the bigger battery). Here is another thing that is a little bit annoying: every time that you pause recording, the camcorder "chops" the video. Let me explain what I mean, when using a HI-8 or a DVD camcorder and you pause, then the media pauses and it does not "chop" the image. Those will only "chop" the image when you shut down the camcorder (instead of pausing) and then begin recording again later. This will be significant when you tranfer your video to DVD from your computer. When you transfer all you capture videos to DVD, every time you paused recording you will have a pause in the DVD. This is not so on HI-8 or DVD, where the video usually flows flawlessly unless you have shut down recording and started new. Here is another thing that I believe Sony could have done better, the video quality is not as good as others, but certain video editing software can increment the video quality, at least as the DVD burning goes (such as NERO 2007), sadly the Sony software does not. In other words the Sony software will give you a nice video burning, but NERO 2007 will give you a better one. (Here I again bring back the comment that the video quality is not as good as HI-8 and DVD camcorders).

I give the camcorder a 3 stars out of 5 because I really like it, but it was well below my expectations. I decided to keep it since I don't have to buy any more media for it. The video quality is good enough for my every day use, special occassions I will use my HI-8. If you don't mind having a little bit lower video quality, this is the one for you.

Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Inclu Here

I am disappointed. And I thought that I read all the reviews here and made an intelligent choice. Hah! Shame on me. First off, the video quality rates a B-minus; I have 2 other Sony camcorders, a Digital-8 (bought late '99 or early 2000, can't remember exactly) and an even older mini DVD. However, both have video quality far superior to this one.

I am about to leave for Europe and don't have time left to return this and buy/try) another one. Also, it was a chore to get this unit to sit snugly on the supplied power station.

Granted, I just began working with it this morning, and I am rather insecure when it comes to electronics.

One good point: the DCR-SR62 is charmingly light!

However, I am sorry I did not pay attention to what another reviewer here pointed out: the LCD screen is almost useless in bright daylight, and of course there is no viewfinder to overcome the glare. I bought it knowing there is no viewfinder, and had to actually shoot with it to realize how necessary it is.

I've tried its Super NightShot feature, and it's nothing to write home about. By the way, it does take photos on the hard drive, so you don't really need to buy the MemoryStick Pro right away, just switch the capture mode from video to photo; but bear in mind that the resolution is low. I had hoped that with this one camcorder I'd have a video and photo combo, therefore less gadgets to schlepp around. Especially air travel being as cumbersome as it is these days. Well, yes, you have a movie camera and a photo camera all in one, just not very good quality. If good digital photos is what you want, you will need a good digital camera.

If high quality DVD movies is what you want to record, prepare to spend a few hundred dollars more and get something worthwhile. I am sorry I did not.

Follow up on September 15: Returned it to amazon yesterday. Don't know how long it will take for the refund to be processed, so am left without a camera for now. But it just didn't cut it for me. I dusted off my old cameras, checked again the video quality, and could not justify the cost of keeping this one. Mind you, if you're in the market for your first camera, you might want to buy it anyway, for I see amazon com has just lowered the price from what I had paid. Video quality is poor only because I am comparing it to a Digital-8, and a very old (DCRPC1)mini-DVD camcorder. So, perhaps I am spoiled. At this point I want to save up and up the ante, so to speak.

Want Sony DCR-SR62 30GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Handycam Station Inclu Discount?

I spent several weeks reviewing camcorders and trying to decide which brand/model as well as which format. For ease of use (no media to carry/swap out), speed of start-up and capacity I decided on a HDD model (and now, after having taken quite a few videos, some of which didn't come out that great as I was playing around and experimenting, I'm even happier I chose this format). I've been happy with many other Sony products I've owned, and at the lower price range of HDD cameras the features/abilities/drawbacks are about the same accross brands so I went with Sony again.

My budget was limited considering I was shopping for HDD camcorders, but the DCR-SR62 is a step up from the base model and provides better resolution. Ultimately, the biggest drawback is still the video quality (hence 4 stars; even though this is at the lower end of HDD cameras it isn't cheap and could have a bigger sensor)...but I knew going in this wasn't a three sensor or HD model; I wanted a memory maker with small size, ease of use (my wife and I both find it a snap to use) and decent picture quality, and this camcorder delivers on these points. The picture quality on a computer screen is good...playing back on a normal size TV is where I can tell it's a smallish sensor, but even then it's acceptable. Plus, I haven't tried burning to a DVD or playing too much with manual settings, so there may be ways to improve the picture even more.

The rest of the camera is great; I like the design, for it's size it feels solid, the optical zoom is plenty for me (I don't bother with digital zoom), the screen is a nice size and the menu's are easy to use and well laid out. The image stabilization seems to work, but so far I've found I don't need it so I keep it off (I read it has an affect on image quality when turned on, but I don't know for sure that's true). I've also tried the nightshot feature, but haven't recorded with it yet...it seems to do okay in low light on it's own, plus low light ability wasn't a big concern for me; with the active shoe I can add a video light if I decide I need one.

So overall, I'm satisfied, my wife is satisfied, I didn't break the bank to get it, and we can carry it anywhere (I have a very small bag that holds the DCR-SR62, it's cords and accessories as well as a compact digital camera) and capture memories of our newborn daughter, which is all I was looking for out of a camcorder in this class. So if your needs are the same as mine, I think you'll be very pleased with the DCR-SR62; if you absolutely need top-end video quality look elsewhere and be prepared to pay top-end prices...but for the price this model is great.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

ViewSonic 8-Inch Digital Media Album with Auto On/Off Light Sensor (VFM820-70)

ViewSonic 8-Inch Digital Media Album with Auto On/Off Light SensorI love this frame way too much! I have bought several digital photo frames before and this is by far the best. The display and picture quality is flawless, I really like the color and the feel of it (does not feel cheap), easy to set up, the light sensor is really handy, and the background music option is definitely worth the extra money. I cannot think of anything that I would improve about it; it is the perfect product. The step down of this model is the VFD820-70, which I have gifted before, but this one looks a lot better, has a better feel, and is just an overall much better value. If you are unsure about buying this, do not hesitate. You will not regret it!

It may be small but photos display extremely clear. Not intuitively easy to setup though. Prefers landscape photos over portraits, because of the screen orientation. Portraits are fit to the screen so you have empty space on both sides of the photos.

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Very easy to use, I just put in the memory card right out of my camera and the pictures started to display. The resolution is very good but the sound for videos is not so good. Nice/Clean design. Bottom line for under $50, this is a good deal.

Read Best Reviews of ViewSonic 8-Inch Digital Media Album with Auto On/Off Light Sensor (VFM820-70) Here

Perfect for monitoring anyone sick or dying in your home..Even allows night vision!

Easy Portability and set up. Best Ever purchase!

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Uniden UDW20553 Wireless Video Surveillance System with 7-Inch LCD Color Monitor and 2 Cameras

Uniden UDW20553 Wireless Video Surveillance System with 7-Inch LCD Color Monitor and 2 CamerasI bought this at Sam's club based on the easy setup. I didn't realize it does not have a built in recorder, but that is not a major issue since it can be hooked up to a computer or recorder. I currently have mine hooked up to a spare 20" tv with built in VHS recorder. I really like the features like scan, zoom, low light, and voice. The main defect for me is that the picture quality is pretty low definition for example, you can tell that someone is standing at your gate, but you can't make out their features(zooming in actually makes it worse). I understand that this is a trade-off for the cameras being wireless; the video image is converted to mpeg format for transmission, and is low resolution to save bandwith. I'm hoping to find a compatible higher resolution camera, or may end up returning it and going to a highher resolution hard wired solution.

I've never written any reviews here on Amazon but after using this system, I felt the need to do so. Like any system, nothings perfect and everyone has ideas to make things better. Out of the box, the camera's are not the best, the software is unusable, and the lcd displays resolution is low. The reason I bought this system is because it's cheap and easy to setup. No running wires and drilling holes everywhere. After a few day tinkering around with this system, this is what I ended up with.

USB video capture card that I ordered for 8.99

Video capture recording with motion detection (you can find these free google search)

Dropbox to upload files to cloud

Teamviewer

I now can record all 4 cameras in quad view with motion detection and when the software detects motion, it sends me a email with 4 pictures 1 second apart. I also have the software setup to record 5 seconds prior to motion detection and 20 seconds after motion stops and these are saved in my dropbox which I can watch on my smartphone or pc while at work. If I want to watch live streams, I log on to teamviewer (not the best quality but it works).

This system now works perfect for my needs.

Buy Uniden UDW20553 Wireless Video Surveillance System with 7-Inch LCD Color Monitor and 2 Cameras Now

I purchased this system from Sam's Club. Their price is $260.00 I had never used a security system before and I found this one to be ideal for my home and experience. It was extremely easy to set up and works great! I have one camera set up at least 100! from my house and the monitor picks up just fine. I had no problem installing the software, very user friendly. I would like to purchase a good DVR, but know nothing about them. If anyone can help me with that, would appreciate it.

Read Best Reviews of Uniden UDW20553 Wireless Video Surveillance System with 7-Inch LCD Color Monitor and 2 Cameras Here

I was given this set almost 2 years ago as a gift (I love it). Because of my age I don't get out much. This allows me to enjoy/see the outdoors and hear the birds and animals. I purchased this as a gift for one of my daughters. We live on acreage and this allows us to see who/what is approaching our homes.

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I was looking for a video baby monitor and the uniden system is the best option for the money. I had looked at most video baby monitors and even the pricey ones could not compare to this system.. we keep the monitor in our bedroom and one camera over each crib the other camera over looking where our dogs sleep. We use a separate sound monitor for the babies because the sound is not the best when monitoring multiple cameras. Set up was easy, night vision works great and it was the best thing we ever bought for our babies. We are looking to add a fourth camera but the are a little pricey at 75.99 without shipping.......hope this helps

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Friday, August 22, 2014

BL-VT164WP HD - H.264 Wireless Pan-tilt Network Camera, (White)

BL-VT164WP  HD - H.264 Wireless Pan-tilt Network Camera, I have used Panasonic Network Cameras (C131A and C230A) for years with generally good results, and when my C131A unit failed, I purchased this one, as Amazon referenced this product as a newer version of the C230A. As any users of these Panasonic Network Camera's know, it is not a trivial process to get these cameras up and running with all the port forwarding, and wireless configuration settings, but after a few hours, I did get it functioning with my PC. Turns out though, that unlike the previous Panasonic Network Camera's, this one (BL-VT164W) requires viewer software to be installed on your PC, and to view the picture through this software. Contrary to the package that states "Remote Viewing from any computer or smartphone" no picture can be seen on a MAC, iPhone, or iPad. When you use any non-PC device, it asks to download viewing software, but of course there is no viewing software for any device other than a PC. Panasonic Technical Support verified that this product does not work on a MAC or mobile devices. Waste of time, as this product clearly is not as advertised. Will return.

I was skeptical when ordering this camera, as it has such a poor review rating on Amazon. All other panasonic cameras have excellent track record with consumer, but not these latest BL-VT batches. Why? Panasonic made a foolish decision of designing entire UI around some Windows IE plugin. So if you go to the cameras webpage on anything other than IE, it will not do or show ANYTHING. Even if you go to page with IE at first it shows nothing, you must install the plugin, then tweak IE security setting to allow it to run, and only then can you finally access the admin page. This is a major flow for me as I am mostly an OS X/Apple user. Thankfully there is Virtual Machine, so I was able to get Windows 8 running n OS X, then I spend an hour troubleshooting these tweaks above. And Finally Voila -Admin interface for camera pops up. The interface is powerful and allows many cool configuration tricks -resolution, motion detector, alarm trigger, and so forth.

Contrary to popular belief on these Amazon comments, you can view the camera image in ANY browser, using the . So these pains are onl related to configuring the camera and using some of the advance features. Furthermore, this camera is onvif compliant, so MANY iPhone, Android, OSX, Windows, Linux, and so forth, software supporting onvif will allow you to view the image, pan and tilt, zoom, change resolution, and so forth.

**The One big feature I could not get to work is, two way audio. The methods listed above for viewing video all work well and as far as I could tell miss only one feature, besides configuration tweaks. I could not figure out how to 'speak into the camera' from any iPhone App or non-IE browser. You can hear the sound, but you can not talk back, which is a shame, because using IE Plugin as a client you can speak with the person on the other end, without any additional hardware, which is rad!

So this bring me to this frustration point. I took a leap of faith ordering this camera, having never seen or used a panasonic Ip camera of its class. I was hoping it would look as good as it does on the photos. It looks way better! Its a very well designed piece of hardware. The features are amazing, it has 3 pairs of dry contacts, so you can make it work with ANY standard home automation system, door strike relay, alarm panel, and so forth. The image is good., It not only supports two way audio (with IE only -see above), but the microphone and speaker are built in. It has a well functioning motion and heat sensor. Its is cute to boot! And I think the value is hard to argue with. I could not find many alternatives for IP Cams that cost around $250...this is a VGA price range today. Add the extra features above and and you can hardly find any alternative. The closest maybe Axis M1054, which has no wifi, no pan and tilt, and costs $100 more!

So, yes all this considered, its frustrating that in todays age of so many options interbrowser/interplatform options, some fool at Panasonic decided that the way to go is make this camera fully usable and fully configurable ONLY with the use of an IE plugin and limit their market share to not just window users, but those willing to figure out the plugin install and security tweaks. Its a foolish move, and doubly disappointing when the hardware is so sweet and well thought out. Also it seems that previous version of panasonic cameras have a universal webadmin interface, so this was a conscious change for the worst.

I will keep my camera, because for the price, I am willing to deal with IE only admin panel, and no 2 way sound through iPhone, but I think most people would take the easier route and get an Axis or similar competition camera for more money. So I hope Panasonic reads these little reviews and makes so software changes quick, before this awesome product goes the way of Palm or Motorola. i.e.: companies with amazing hardware, but frustrating as hell UI experience.

Buy BL-VT164WP HD - H.264 Wireless Pan-tilt Network Camera, (White) Now

Bought this camera as a replacement for a BL-C131 that died. I have owned Panasonic cameras from the BL-C30, C131, C230 and now this VT164WP. This is not an improved BL-C230 camera it is an entirely new camera with very little in common. Some improvements, a few steps backward.

It connects to your network much like the older Panasonic cameras. You need to have a working knowledge of IP addresses, port forwarding, and MAC address filtering to set this camera up just like with the older Panasonics. I have my camera connected via a LAN cable to my router. The older cameras had two MACs, one for the hard wired connection, and a seoncd MAC for the wireless interface that was one digit higher than the wired interface MAC. I THINK this camera gets away with one MAC, but I haven't explored that thoroughly. At any rate, the wireless MAC address can be easily viewed under the "Wireless", "Status" menu.

Once you get it on the net, you will find an entirely new user interface when viewing through your web browser. No more PTZ "joystick" type controls in the left control pane. The PTZ controls are below the picture. The presets must be selected from a drop down menu (not the preselect position numbers 1 thru 8), and then you must click a "Go" button. Not nearly as handy as the old interface.

The new sensor provides a clearer picture. The panning range is about the same as the 230 series cameras, but the tilt range is less. The sensitivity in low light situations is improved due to the ability to set sensor shutter speed and thus lengthen the exposure. You will trade off sensitivity for blurry motion, but it does work well and I found a balance between acceptable sharpness with good exposure in dark locations. I rate this feature as an improvement over the older cameras.

The motion detection and controls are all new too. WIth the older cameras you set motion sensitivity and threshold once, it it applied to all positions and the entire viewing screen. Simple, but could be a problem when you had shadows of trees setting off the motion detector needlessly. This new camera has a differeint approach. You set motion sensitivity and threshold separately for each preset position (Home, Far Upper Left, etc.) AND within each preset position you have up to 4 motion zones you can select (by drawing a rectangle on your screen) and set the sensitivity and threshold separate for each zone. What does all this mean? First, if you set the motion for say the Home preset position, then at a later time move the camera once or two clicks to the left or right (or up or down) off of the Home position, your camera will not catch motion it is not in its Home position. You need to set motion detection up for each and every preset postion you have set if you want it to trigger on motion for those positions. This can be a pain, but it does give you much more control over what is captured. Second, for each preset position, you can set up to 4 different zones of motion detection each with a different (or same) sensitivity and threshold. So say you're in your Home position, you could set a zone on the left side to catch all motion with a high sensitivity and low threshold, and on the right side where you have problems with tree shadows moving, you could set a 2nd zone with a lower sensitivity and higher threshold. Again, you can define up to 4 different zones for each position, but you don't have to. For most of my positions I just set one zone to capture the whole viewed area and set the sensitivity and threshold to balance desired captured motion vs false triggers. These new controls can be a bit daunting, and the instruction manual does a very poor job of explaining them in English (nothing new here), but once you experiment with them you'll get the hang of it and have a lot of control over motion detection. Most of the time you'll just set one zone for the entire viewed video area.

And there are additional features new to this camera. A Privacy Zone control where you can select up to two zones that you do not want the camera to display, and backlight compensation where you can set zones that provide very bright illumination and compensate for it. I have not tried these features yet.

Unlike previous Panasonic cameras this camera has no internal memory to capture motion detection and review later. You have to set up email or FTP forwarding to capture triggered motion. I consider this a big disadvantage for my purposes. I really depended on the internal memory to review captured motion. Now I have set the camera to forward all motion to my email address, and I have to perform a lot of email management.

Sidenote: I have no trouble viewing and hearing audio over my Android phone using the IP Cam Viewer app. And I can view the video on my new PC running Windows 7. But I have yet to get audio to come through on my Windows 7 PC. The camera defaults to G.726 audio, and Windows 7 does not natively support the G.726 codec. I downloaded the Sharp G.726 codec to my Win7 laptop and got it to receive the camera's audio, but I have yet to crack the code and get a codec that will work on my new Win7 PC. I'm sure it's me and just a matter of time until I get it working. The camera does allow you to change the audio coding to G.711, and when I do that I receive the audio thru my new PC just fine. But that causes other problems with my Android phones, so I'm gong to stay with the G.726 setting and work through the problems on my new PC. Just a "heads-up."

All in all, this is a new camera, with a new viewer interface and a new control and setup interface. It will take you time to get used to. There are some nice features they added, but they can bog you down at times. There are some mis-steps as well: No internal memory, smaller tilt range, a somewhat confusing interface that is not as nimble as the previous interface. I wish Panasonic had stayted with their previous interface and added the new functionality and setup menus as needed. They just had to go and change things. I doubt I'll be ordering any more of these VT164WP cameras unless Panasonc provides a software/firmware update to the camera that offers going back to their previous interface.

Update 11/8/2012: I finally figured out how to get the audio to come through my new Windows 7 PC. I needed to download and install a new version of Java. After that the G.726 audio comes through fine. I still am mnot happy with the new User Interface. This camera and its interface was obviously designed by "geeks" who play with drivers, ports, and security settings all day. An internet camera for the public should not have to be this difficult to set up and use.

Read Best Reviews of BL-VT164WP HD - H.264 Wireless Pan-tilt Network Camera, (White) Here

Excellent image quality, alarm functionality, and remote access. But, no internal storage of images associated with timers or alarm. Must externally record, FTP to server, or e-mail images in order to subsequently review images associated with alarms. These little cameras continue to work well inside and, if protected from rain, outside down to 15 below zero F.

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Almost all IP cameras are a pain to configure and setup and the Panasonic BL-VT164 WP is no different. If your lucky your efforts to setup port forwarding will be successful. Once setup though this camera has better than average image quality in well lighted areas.

I use this camera to remotely monitor and I don't record or require notifications so I can't comment on those features.

Despite other what other reviews say, I was able to view on my iPhone and iPad without the need of an app or other software.

Simply type your external ip address with the port forwarded to and add /cam.

Ex: 62.257.140.9:80/cam

Viewing on Internet with Internet Explorer will require a small download for audio and video control software.

Unfortunately IP cameras are not yet user friendly so expect to do some research and understanding of router setup and port forwarding.

User Manual

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Saturday, August 2, 2014

SAMSUNG SPH A640 SPRINT BLACK CAMERA CELL PHONE

SAMSUNG SPH A640 SPRINT BLACK CAMERA CELL PHONEI purchased the A640 when I renewed my Sprint Plan last July. From day 1, there were little annoying things about the phone: Way too easy to bump the speaker phone button when you are just holding it, no actual Bluetooth ("extra" pay service), REALLY short standby time, etc.

The kicker was when the thing started shutting off with no warning. First it would happen occasionally, then frequently, then it got to the point where as soon as I powered up the phone it went black and I could no longer make ANY calls.

So, with 4 month old phone in hand, I tried to get a replacement. My Sprint retailer in town is not OWNED by Sprint, so it has only a 90 replacement policy, oh and they don't sell that model of phone anymore.

I called Sprint and they said that I needed to take it to a Sprint repair center (the nearest one is 160 mile round trip on icy rural roads), where they would see if they could fix it. I called the repair center and they told me it would be $55 and if they couldn't fix it, it would have to go back to the manufacturer (Samsung). I called Samsung, the current wait for phone replacement on the A640 is 8-10 WEEKS.

So my options are: 1) pay $55 and probably lose my phone for 2-3 months but continue to pay for service (total $150), 2) replace the phone at full price ($200), 3) cancel my Sprint contract and pay the early termination fee of $175. This is all over a 4 MONTH OLD PHONE!!!!

I finally found a Sprint sales store only 80 miles away round trip who was willing to swap the phone for $35. After telling this story, the associate replied, "I am not surprised, I have had 3 of these things returned already for the power issues".

The take home lesson? DON'T BUY THIS PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I chose this phone because I wanted an easy-to-use, basic phone without a mp3 player and all that.

I haven't experienced any of the problems that the other people here have. I experienced the echo problem with another phone, but it was a problem with the network at that location, not the phone. Re the inside screen not turning off in power-save mode, I just tried it and it does turn off when I close the phone, just as it is supposed to. In fact I can see the screen go on when it hits a certain angle when opening. I think that person had a bad switch in the hinge.

So.

The good:

It is small, or at least small enough. It doesn't feel bulky in the pocket like my old Sanyo did.

The black shiny finish is part of the case and won't scratch off, unlike the silver paint on so many other phones.

It sounds fine, but not as good as my old Sanyo. Sometimes I could wish it went louder.

Reception is fine. I drive all over Denver and I have never had a dropped call.

It has speakerphone. It doesn't have a separate speaker on the outside, it just turns up the volume on the earpiece speaker. So I thought it would sound terrible, but it turns out it works okay.

It looks cool, or at least the high-schoolers I teach tell me so.

It is cheap. I got it for $29 when I renewed my plan.

The bad:

There is no silence button. When I attend a meeting or go to a movie, I have to open it up and hit the volume down button about 8 times. A single button that just turned off all the sound would be much better.

The keypad is a little difficult to use. It feels nearly like a flat surface, with very slight grooves to distinguish one button from another. Further, the buttons are not arranged in straight rows; the middle buttons, i.e., the 2, the 5, the 8, and the 0, are dropped slightly. These two things mean it is basically impossible to use the phone without looking. That isn't unique to this phone, of course. What I usually do is put a tiny drop of super glue on at least the "talk" and "end" buttons, so I can feel them and press them without looking.

When you go to the contact list and hit the first letter of the name you want, there is a delay before the screen shows you the names. It isn't a long delay, but it is there.

The voice command capability is versatile, but it means you have to tell it what you want to do, i.e., you have to say "Voice dial." That is the only voice command I would ever want it to do, but you have to tell it that every time. Also it doesn't work very well. I believe the software for that is not actually in the phone. It is either something like a java applet downloaded to phone on the fly, or it is done centrally on some server. The good thing about that is you don't have to (and you cannot) train the phone to recognize your particular voice. The bad thing is that the voice recognition doesn't work very well, especially with unusual names, of which I have lots.

The top and bottom feel nearly identical, so it is easy to open it upside down. If this problem keeps bugging me, I may file some notches on one side of the case, or do something else to let me feel which side is up.

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I got my A460 for several days. It looks good and feels comfortable in hand. It has all the features listed in the website. Voice call quality generally is good. I can hear the other party clearly and other peoples have no complains about my voice. The speakerphone works nice in quiet environment. In noise environment or if both party speak simutaniously echo builds up occasionally , but it's OK most of the time.

I almost loved my new toy when I discoved a few drawbacks (careless design/buggy software?).

1. In the power-save mode, both the external LCD and the internal (main) LCD are activated by pushing a button or an incoming call when the phone is flipped. While the external LCD will eventurally turn off automatically, the internal LCD STAYS ON FOR EVER! This can be verified (unless I got a bad unit) by looking into the slit between the main LCD and the keypad in a dark environment. So the power of the battery is used for the unneccessary illumination of the internal LCD which nobody can see since the phone is flipped. Call this Power-save ???

2. Ok, get back on power-normal mode. When charging the phone, again, both the external LCD and the internal (main) LCD are lit even when the phone is flipped. People like me usually put the phone on charging before going to bed and remove the charging cable in the morning. That means the LCDs are on THE WHOLE NIGHT when nobody is looking at it. Not only it makes no sence to me to let them on when nobody is using it, but also I suspect that the lifetime of the LCD will be greatly reduced.

3. A minor point. When using the phone with a earbud, you have to hold the quick button in the mic for about 5-8 seconds to active the phone and start a voice service. A little too long for me. 2-3 secondes should be better.

I would rate this phone 5 stars if Samsung or Sprint releases an upgraded software to fix the above mentioned problems soon, especially no. 1 and 2. But for now, 3 stars is the highest that I can give.

Read Best Reviews of SAMSUNG SPH A640 SPRINT BLACK CAMERA CELL PHONE Here

I changed phones when adding my mother to my account. At first, I liked this phone, but the more and more I use it, I wish I would have kept my other phone. One bothersome thing: when I receive a call, the phone displays the wrong time displays the time of the last call received or made. You have to turn the phone on and off to clear the memory or something. Another problem: one does not have the ability to tailor the hot keys on this phone as you can with other models. I'm stuck with this phone until I reach my anniversary date and can trade it in. :(

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This phone lasted only 3 weeks before it would no longer power on. Even before that I wasn't crazy about the phone. I didn't like the location of the speaker phone button. I was always hitting it by accident and locking the keys shouldn't be required in my mind.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Samsung Digimax i85 8.2MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Red)

Samsung Digimax i85 8.2MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical ZoomI purchased this camera after doing some lengthy research. I looked at Casio Exilim EX-V7(suffers from mediocre image quality) or EX-v8 (probably much more comparble to this camera) and Konica Minolta Dimage X1 (also medicore picture quality) models as well, with the criteria being a small, portable camera, with a non-protruding lens. In addition, I wanted video at least similar or better than the Flip Video Camcorders, which can do an hour of low quality video in a small package.

I've owned this camera for two weeks now and used it for still images, video cam, and mp3 player purposes. I have not tested it's ability to play videos (PMP mode) downloaded from the web.

It is compatible with Windows XP (tested), Mac OS X10.5.1 (tested), and Ubuntu Linux (tested). Windows requires the install disc which is included. Mac and Linux auto open their respective photo viewing software for import with no additional drivers and the camera shows up as a removable hard drive on your desktop. The included extra software only works in windows, but it is not essential except if you want to view videos downloaded from the web in your camera. It stores images in jpg format, videos in avi format, and music up to 320kb quality as mp3 format.

The image quality is excellent, with crisp, sharp pictures, and good, accurate colors. Of course it has a million override settings which also allow you more control if desired.

It's best two features are the ASR (Anti Shake Reduction) and Face Recognition capabilities. My hands are not as steady as they used to be and the ASR produces quality shots every time.

The camera is quick to shoot and there is no noticeable shutter lag (at least compared to my previous camera, a Sony DSC-S85, which is now retired). Those other reviewers who complain of camera lag or bad photos in dark are not using the appropriate settings. The camera has different settings, such as night, "cafe", fireworks, and other settings they may be what they need and they may not fully understand settings such as "ISO 1600", and so forth. I encourage them to read the very clear manual and try it again...

This camera uses standard SD cards and I use both a Dane-Elec 4GB 133x SD card and a 2 GB SanDisk Ultra II SD card. I have easily recorded one hour videos with these with room to spare. It has several settings for frames per minute and it can do 30fps at 640 x 480. This format is easily converted into a DVD with your favorite computer software.

The mp3 player produces great quality sound and has an equalizer which will adjust your music according to your preference, such as Rock, Jazz, Classical, etc. The only drawback is that the earphones included are not up to hi fi standards and if you want to upgrade the earbuds, the earphone socket is 2.5mm in size (a smaller size which is usually used by cell phones). If you want to plug in your Grado headphones you will need an adaptor (which is not included).

In summary, I highly recommend this camera/multi-device. If you are looking for an easy to use camera which will produce very satisfying results, this is it.

Pros:

Super compact, fits in your jeans pocket.

Nice size LCD screen for easy viewing.

Very fast start-up.

ASR and Face Recognition modes are a huge help.

Fast focus in most all conditions.

Movie mode is incredible.

Sharpness, colors, all are very pleasing.

Nice build quality, polished metal casing.

Cons:

2.5mm earphone jack is not directly compatible with most hi fi earbuds.

No carrying case included.

As another person has mentioned this camera has one big "con" when taking indoor pictures, especially of darker rooms or items, it can take an EXCESSIVE time after the flash goes off before you are able to take another picture. Either the green standby LED keeps flashing, and /or the word "Processing!" comes across the screen sometimes for up to 12 seconds, before the camera "comes back" and is ready to take another shot.

Another weird annoyance when the camera finally does recover from the last picture, there is a bug that sometimes happens with the shutter button it acts "dead" until you try pressing it 2 , sometimes 3, attempts, at which point it seems to "wake back up". Weird. You'd be really screwed at an indoor wedding if you were trying to take pictures of couples making their entrance, dances, etc.

10 seconds is how long cameras took in the early 90's to recover for "next shot" . Inexcusable today, with 4gig SDHD cards, huge internal memory, fast processors, etc.

Finally after charging the the (very unique) battery it went from 3(full) bars, right down to 2 bars really quickly (doing a mix of stills & video tests) and subsequently dying very quickly.

I used it about a half hour, and the battery was dead?!

Yes this camera has a combination of features and image quality, thats hard if not impossible to match (next closest thing is the rather poor-pictured Casio EXV8).... but there is definitely something funky going on with the i85 that really is a fatal flaw for indoor shooting.

I called tech support, and in typical corporate-speak, they "never heard" that complaint, said they would email the product team to get back to methat was only 2 business days ago. Maybe the next revision if the otherwise great i85 will fix these problems.

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I bought this for my wife for Christmas. She loves it. I researched several cameras and found this to be the best one I reviewed without paying over $300. The picture quality is top notch. I have read many reviews for many cameras about how quality is "grainy, blurred, blah, blah, blah". One review summed it up well. Most cameras will perform very well, you just need to get to know your camera. That is just it! If you don't know much about the manual side of cameras, then use the auto feature. Otherwise, learn about it and use your camera's full potential. This camera has it all. The sound is great, understanding that it is a small speaker in a digital camera. Don't expect to be on a train or a busy sidewalk and be able to hear very well. It does come with ear buds, so use them. Most people don't walk around with a loud boombox up to their ear anymore. You can watch movies on this thing, just make sure you buy a bigger sd card. I bought a 4GB one and it holds a ton of pics, mp3's and vid's. The quality of video is better than most Portable media players and don't forget the 3" screen size. The included software works great for converting movies to watch. And the biggest reason I went with this camera was its video recording capabilities. Awesome!!!! You can zoom in and out while you record, it picks up sound very well, and does a good job indoors and outdoors. I was just at a wrestling tournament for my boys and it recorded video very well. Over an hour and a half of recording with plenty of memory and battery left. Great buy, you can't go wrong!

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Digimax i85 8.2MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom (Red) Here

I really wanted to keep this, but, after a few days of missed pictures, it is going back.

Why?

The flash in low light is blinding! My kids are running away from me!

Sometimes when you push the button to take the picture, nothing happens!

(I have had to push it 3-4 times)

There isn't a way to adjust the red-eye manually

The lag time is unbelievably slow from the time you push the button until the camera actual takes the picture, 1/2 the time my subject has looked away or I have taken a picture of the floor!

Processing flashes across the screen after taking pictures, so if you are at a sporting event, forget iteven on the childrens mode which is supposed to catch them.

So, if you want an mp3 player that takes pictures, go for it. If you want a camera that takes a picture when you push the shutter button, look at Sony or Cannon.

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This samsung camera is awesome. The picture quality is gorgeous colors are beautiful crisp and clear. The camcorder feature is a plus takes great movies sound quality is excellant. Tour guide, mp3 and text are also great. For a point and shoot camera you couldn't ask for more. I highly recommend this camera, easy to operate priced right. You will not find a camera with so many features at such a great price 5 stars and more

Friday, July 25, 2014

VideoSecu Office Home Video Security Camera CCTV Color Quad Splitter Processor 1EY

VideoSecu Office Home Video Security Camera CCTV Color Quad Splitter Processor 1EYThe instructions are good once the processor is installed. They need to include diagrams and written instructions for a person like me who is not electronically adapt. However the instrutions for setting date, time, quads etc, once you figure out how to get it to work with the recorder and monitor, are very understandable. Once it is all installed, the processor works great. I like how you can very easily use 1, 2, 3 or all 4 cameras and change set up whenever you want. For the price, it is very reasonable and works well with an older system.

Works well, sends out good pictures from the cameras. However, I'm still not sure it has auto-switching between pictures during recording, maybe it's just me, but I thought the instructions weren't clear, that's why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

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Works better than I ever thought. Very happy and satisfied. Thank You. Connot go wrong for the price.

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I have 4 security cameras and need to view them on one monitor. This unit fills the bill with lots of extra bells and whistles. Read the product description and it will tell you all about it. This unit is very small in size 6X4X1-1/4 inches. One feature that they don't mention is when the unit is turned on it comes up showing all four cameras on one screen, one in each quadrant. Why is this important? The way this device is used in this my application it is located with 4 mini DVRs VideoSecu Mini Security CCTV DVR Recorder Motion Detection Overwrite Schedule Videos with Audio Recording 3UAin a small hidden locked cabinet. The output of the Color Quad System is feed via one Siamese RG59 coax to a video capture adaptor that plugs into a USB 2 port on a PC. The two wires on the Siamese cable control the power to the Color Quad System. This allows the system to be powered up only when needed from my computer location to view the image which always comes up as all four cameras on screen. This set up also allows you to record the images on the PC. Some one who breaks in and could get to the PC and figure out how to see the images would think that the PC is the recorder and not realize that this was not the case. I would buy this product again as it meets all my needs.

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It does exactly what I wanted a four-way split on a single screen showing my 4 cameras. It has more complex software involved if you're interested (ex: zoom, motion detection, etc.), but this isn't necessary for my situation. I put up cameras to monitor my dogs in the backyard just by changing the input on my television (and one on the front porch to see visitors). For this application, it worked flawlessly and I couldn't be happier. I've had it for about 8 months now, and it works just like new. It also notifies you if a camera goes down (if, for example, a wire or plug gets jostled and becomes temporarily loose) with a loud set of beeps. Cool product. I highly recommend it.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Toshiba BDX2000 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

Toshiba BDX2000 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
  • 1080P Video Content
  • Promotes Blu Ray Live
  • HDMI output

I have followed customer feedback, performance findings, and honest thoughts regarding this model's limitations and third-party manufacture concerns. And when I saw one of you mention the price dropping to $125 and (and even lower on Black Friday), I made the decision to purchase it.

My Toshiba BDX2000 arrived last week and I connected it to my 2009 Toshiba Regza 52" LCD. The high def images from blu-ray disk are stunning and just as crisp as those of my 2009 Samsung BDP1500 that the Toshiba blu-ray replaces. The DVD upconvert works remarkably well, and the DVD image is actually a touch better than on the Samsung. Of note, the sound output is somewhat better than what I got coming from the Samsung. Operation has been seamless with the exception of a high-pitched whine when it first started playing the very first time, but that sound ceased after the first ten minutes of playing the first movie and has not returned.

My Toshiba LCD Television's remote control unit is visually very appealing and is ergonomically well-laid-out, and it works flawlessly on the Toshiba blu-ray player as promised by the Regza link (****Note to those who indicated they had problems with the Regza link activation: Only after the "HDMI CDC" setting was activated on the blu-ray's menu and then also "RegzaLink" activated on the television's settings menu did it begin to function, and then functioned quite well, even the eject button from the television remote opens the blu-ray!). This is a good thing because I am not particularly pleased with the blu-ray remote's layout or appearance, so I pleased that I don't have to use it. I was unable to use a single remote on the Samsung blu-ray player, of course.

For someone like me who is an infrequent user and who is on a rather strict budget, I can live with this model's limitations, especially at this price. I don't need the Netflix or Amazon online movie access, and I can live without the live firmware update download option (I accept that I'll have to download firmware updates to a CD separately for the BDX2000).

In a nutshell, this unit is fine and I am pleased by the remarkable image and sound quality and Regza link convenience considering the low price. However, for anyone who wants the streaming content and directly downloaded firmware updates via (non-WiFi) Internet connection, I recommend the Panasonic DMP-BD60 recently on sale for around $125-$159. My neighbor has one and is very pleased, and I believe it offers access to Amazon's online movie content.

Note Regarding Samsung: My BDP1500 was purchased in late March 2009 when I purchased my Toshiba TV. The Samsung promptly ceased all function at 6 months and 3 days after the date of purchase. Geek Squad checked it out and said it was irreparable. Samsung would not replace it as the model because of warranty loopholes, I wasted eight whole hours on the phone with them over a four week period. That terrible customer service experience is the reason I chose to research Toshiba and Panasonic for my replacement blu-ray player and to swear-off Samsung for now. I found these customer reviews and related comments as a part of that research process and am eternally grateful.

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This is the first blu ray player I have owned. Blu-rays are known to be slower than their DVD counterparts, and this player sticks to that fashion. It seems as it depends more on the blu ray itself though rather than the player. Some discs load extremely quick and some are slower.

Overall the player has a nice sleek design. It's easy to use, easy to navigate. It doesn't have some extras that other blu ray players have such as pandora or netflix, but honestly, how many devices do you need in your living room that have those capabilities?

I would give it five stars except I was hoping that this player wouldn't inherit the inability to remember where you left off in a movie. With a dvd you can hit stop once, if you hit play again it will pick up in the same spot and if you hit stop twice it will restart the DVD. To my knowledge no blu ray player does this.

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Bought one of these on Black Friday as a gift. Stood out in the cold for an hour to get it for $79. I thought I'd test it out before handing it over to the recipient who is not as techno savvy as myself so I could give a heads up of any issues I found.

I have a Panasonic BD-60 myself so that's what I base my comparison on. Load time is up to par with other current stand alone players (30secs-1 min) average. I tested the BD-Live access time with Transformers and it took about 2 mins from disc menu to BD-Live menu. I am playing G.I. Joe right now as I type and picture quality as well as audio quality is great. The menu is simple as is the remote (which won't win any beauty contests). The design of the unit itself is sleek and stylish.

Note that the Ethernet port is for BD-live content only and not for downloading firmware updates like the Panasonic player does (there are none for this player to date) but when there is apparently a disc will have to be made.

Overall I think this a great entry level player and would make a perfect gift for a Blu-ray newbie or someone wanting an extra player for the bedroom.

P.S. PLEASE pay no attention to the 1 star reviews from the bitter HD-DVD fanboys. Though I was on board with Blu-ray from the beginning I commend Toshiba for a smart business decision and putting a darn good player on the market in time for the holidays.

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We just bought this Blu Ray player to match our new HD 55" LCD.

This is a well designed Blu Ray player that has the best looking DVD 480 --> 1080 upscaling I have seen with no major visual artifacts.

I've always liked Toshiba electronics for a reliable low to mid range product so needless to say I was glad to see them come into the Blue Ray player market. After recieveing it for a sale price online, I couldn't wait to spin a BD disc to my Toshiba 47" tv. The first thing I noticed was the loud motor noise coming from this player which never stopped and was distracting during quiet parts of the movie. The other frustration was the remote could not sync with the tv as advertised so I still had to keep both remotes handy. This unit looked nice in my component cabinet but performance was disappointing. I returned it (at my exspense)and replaced it with the ever popular LG-BD390 when it went on sale for black friday. Given that this is Toshiba's first BD player with no reviews available prior to my purchase, I hope this helps others that may be considering this unit.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

DOD GSE550 Car DVR and GPS Logger with 1.5" TFT LCD, 5.0 Megapixel Resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 30fps)

DOD GSE550 Car DVR and GPS Logger with 1.5' TFT LCD, 5.0 Megapixel Resolution, H.264 Loop Recording Upto 64GB, Wide 120deg Viewing Angle, AV & HDMI Out, Vehicle Speed Stamp & Date/Time Stamp, Collision Data Protection, Audio, Latest Firmware V5.4T2F-MFHThe DOD GSE550 promises HD resolution recording with wide view angles and GPS tracking but some major flaws prevents it from living up to its promise.

Flaws:

1. 120 degree view angle is only available in 720p. In 720p mode, the GSE550 does not actually record with that pixel density, instead it records in a much lower resolution and uses software to generate 720p output. You can see gigantic pixels especially in sharp edges. In essence, you're getting a low resolution recording at 720p's memory footprint. This mode is useless.

2. The battery is an internal Li-po battery that can not be changed and has no ebay replacements even if you're inclined to change it. The battery in the unit I got does not hold more than 3 seconds charge. This speaks to the quality of the battery and the eventual problem you will face when it fails.

Having a working power source when the car is unplugged is very important as H264 video files become corrupted if they're unable to save before power is cut. Imagine getting in an accident that knocks out the car's power and corrupting the entire recording. DOD should use a high value capacitor or a user replaceable battery otherwise the entire device is useless.

3. The unit is advertised with a bundled 16GB memory card. That never materialized. False advertising is bad for business reputation.

"This listing is a package deal which includes the GSE550 as well as a free 16GB Class 6 microSDHC Card by 3C Pro."

4. The auto settings don't provide adequate sensitivity at night. This means you must change the settings manually

5. The included software player does not display x,y,z acceleration, GPS location, and velocity pass 5 minutes. Which means if you make longer recordings you will have to look at the log files to find out that info. When you exit full screen on the video it stops showing the video feed. Thankfully you can use VLC or media player classic. (Windows 7 x64)

6. You must press the mute button each time the unit starts up to prevent voice recording. This is annoying.

7. Vehicle velocity displayed on screen lags real velocity by many many seconds.

The Good:

1. True 1080p recording with 90 degree view angle is able to capture license plates if you're not moving and very close to the vehicle ahead.

2. Unit starts and records when the car turns on and stops recording when the power is cut.

3. Records XYZ acceleration and GPS data at a high enough frequency to be useful.

4. The screen makes setup easy since it's folded for storage.

I plan to use the GSE550 as a stopgap solution until a better unit is available. Hopefully the replacement unit has a working battery.

DOD if you're reading this here's what I'd love to have:

1. 120 degree view angle in 1080p mode with true 1080p pixel density

2. High value cap to hold enough charge to guarantee the recording finishes when power is cut.

3. User replaceable battery if you bother to include one or get rid of it to reduce cost.

4. Remember the mute setting across recordings.

5. HDMI out is not very useful, save a few bucks by removing it.

6. Make the auto settings work for day and night.

The resolution of this device is great, and you can actually read licence plates and signs, as long as the roads are smooth. Where I live, sadly the roads far from autobahn smooth, but this is no fault of the device.

The DOD GSE 550 does have three faults in this otheriwse good unit.

1) Users have reported that the battery only holds a few seconds of charge, so do not expect to use this without it being plugged in (USB works as PWR source too). Not a huge negative, as the battery is only there to enable soft recording shut-downs when you turn off the car.

2) The screen is located a few precious pixels off centre and sits about 1/8 inch down, so the timer text is cut in half and not really readable. Other owners of the GSE 550 have also experienced this. I have not connected it to an external monitor.

3) For me biggest concern is the screen turning itself on, while in screen saver mode. At night this is bad.

My only guess so far is that the screen somehow gets activated when driving over a sharp bump. All my "G-sensor" settings are at zero, but the screen just turns itself on mid drive, while recording. The only way around this, is you have to stop and restart the recording, using the fiddly buttons now behind your mirror. Not recommended while driving.

This is my first Car DVR device, so I can't compare it against others. All in all this is a decent car DVR, with quality image and solid design clam shell. If a software update can fix the items above it gets five stars, otherwise a solid four.

Buy DOD GSE550 Car DVR and GPS Logger with 1.5" TFT LCD, 5.0 Megapixel Resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 30fps) Now

I am on second unit DOD GSE550 already. The most of pros and cons were more or less covered by other reviewers (wide angle is not wide, battery and so on), I am not going to repeat those. Here are the problems that I found in both units that I used.

During playback in DOD player GPS tag on the map runs far ahead of video. My clips are 1 min long to avoid time lag between recordings nevertheless GPS tag runs faster than real speed and by the end of 1 min it is sitting more than 0.5 miles ahead of video record which is frustrating.

Another drawback I found on a long trip from Phoenix to LA and back is that DOD player can not accommodate all recorded files from my 32 Gb microsd. Manual and box states that product works with 32 Gb microsd. I can pull out approximately 4 hours of records into DOD player, the rest of the files are not showing but they are on microsd card. Those files could be viewed with regular player but without GPS positioning.

Customer service in DOD Tech is none existent. I have never been able to get any help from them, just promises to call to forward and so on but nothing real.

Overall this product is half baked not even in beta state of development.

Read Best Reviews of DOD GSE550 Car DVR and GPS Logger with 1.5" TFT LCD, 5.0 Megapixel Resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 30fps) Here

I've had mine for about 6 months. Every few days it freezes for no reason. The record icon which normally flashes stays solid, the camera still works but nothing records, the device wont turn off either until the battery dies. Its supposed to overwrite the oldest file on the sd card, but it seems to have major trouble doing that, it seems like when the card gets full, the files get corrupted easily and the device freezes. Its not too hard to fix, just take out the sd card and format it and you're good for a few days, but as everybody knows the day you forget to do that will be the day you have an accident, so this recorder is pretty useless unless they issue a firmware update to iron out the bugs, which hasn't come yet and doesn't look likely.

Its very awkward to set up, and the software is terrible. Its a pity because its a decent idea, and good design, but they are overcharging for an under engineered product. I'd hold off on buying one until somebody gets it right.

Want DOD GSE550 Car DVR and GPS Logger with 1.5" TFT LCD, 5.0 Megapixel Resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 30fps) Discount?

I rec'd my dod gse 550 a week ago. So, far I'm happy with it. It works well, set up was easy, picture is clear during the day time and at night on well light streets (and still OK under darker conditions you can still see everything road signs and traffic lights are still clearly visible), gps works well, speed is shown in both KM and Miles per hr on the computer. the only thing is that I can't change the date settings (it is one day ahead of NY date, while the time is correct). I'm glad I bought this car cam.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARD

Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARDI was an early adopter of HTPC technology. Windows Media Center and I go all the way back to the original version in Windows XP. Since then, Windows Media Center has matured nicely in Windows 7 and is finally ready for Prime Time. Even if you're not a techy, I strongly suggest looking at this technology, especially if you're fed up with the substandard DVRs the CableCo's charge too much buck for too little bang.

DVR v1.0 used an ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. Since there are multiple people in my house, and the ATI tuner can handle only one channel at a time, the Ceton card was a welcome upgrade for DVR v2.0. The installation and configuration is straightforward and will take about 1 hour depending on your level of expertise. Here's a rough outline of the steps you'll need to follow.

1. Pickup a CableCard from your CableCo. (They may tell you a home visit is mandatory, violating an FCC directive. Read on below.)

2. Open up the PC and insert the Ceton InfiniTV card in an empty PCIx slot.

3. Insert the CableCard into the Ceton InfiniTV slot.

4. Visit the Ceton website to install the latest drivers and firmware.

5. Connect your coax cable and reboot.

6. Start Windows Media Center and follow the setup wizards. The first wizard certifies your PC as Cable Ready. The second establishes your channel lineup. Typical configuration time is about 30 minutes.

During your journey to build the perfect HTPC, there are three possible hurdles you may encounter, which are surmountable given some time, patience, and tenacity.

1. Faulty card

2. Poor signal strength

3. Reluctance from CableCo to support CableCard technology

I experienced two of these hurdles, which I'll share with you in the hopes it will bring you to a speedier resolution.

The first card I received from Ceton had a faulty OOB (Out of Band) tuner, which has been documented on several websites devoted to Windows HTPC enthusiasts. To make matters worse, when I initially explained the issue to their tech support department, they ignored my detailed analysis of the issue and sent a canned reply requesting that I jump though a bunch of time-consuming hoops that they would have realized were unnecessary had they actually read my email. After I became more assertive regarding the situation, they apologized, and overnighted a replacement card, which has been running without issue for a month. Since Ceton is a new company, I expect missteps such as these. In the end, they did the right thing and made me a happy customer. I can now record up to 4 programs simultaneously and stream those programs to any XBOX 360 in the house or any Windows 7 PC in the world. (Try doing that with the CableCo DVR!) The recorded programs look and sound great and so does live TV. The diagnostic software is useful and well organized.

As people here and elsewhere have pointed out, the CableCo's are very reluctant to support this technology, even though the FCC has directed them to. Since they will lose substantial income from your DVR rental cancellation, the sales staff will do everything in their power to talk you out of using a CableCard. Then the technician who visits your home will most likely not understand CableCard technology and know even less about Windows Media Center. In other words... they are going to make the whole process as frustrating as humanly possible and you're pretty much on your own. For example, Comcast/xFinity insisted that they had to send out a technician (even though the FCC rules say that they must allow customer self-installs). Once the technician arrived, he had no idea how to set anything up. And to add insult to injury, they wanted to charge me for the visit!

Bottom line is: Why am I paying for an untrained technician to make a home visit that according to the FCC shouldn't be necessary in the first place?

So if your CableCo tries to bully you into submission, ask to speak with a supervisor and refer the supervisor to the rules listed below:

* CableCARD fees have to be the same for everyone, no matter which package you have.

* If your cable company allows any self installs, they must allow CableCARD self-installs.

* Cable companies must support SDV for CableCARD users -this was implied before, now it is black and white.

* By default, all new deployments must be M-Cards (unless you actually request a S-Card).

* Cable companies can include an IP interface in set-top-boxes lieu of a 1394 port.

* One way HD boxes without CableCARDs are no longer forbidden and they don't require IP interfaces.

The irony of course is that DVRs will be obsolete in 5-10 years thanks to advances in on-demand services (Internet TV in Windows Media Center, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, etc) combined with faster broadband and cellular data speeds. But for now, despite the hurdles I described, this is truly the best DVR option out there. Yes, it's a little pricey, but the money you save in DVR rental fees will pay for the card. If you can get past possible equipment failure and your CableCo's frustrating reluctance to support technology the FCC directed them to, it's all worth it in the end.

My HTPC Specs: goo.gl/dHBKr

I give the InfiniTV 4/5 since the first card was faulty and because the repair process wasn't as smooth as it could have been.

The Ceton 4 tuner cablecard tuner is a marvelous piece of hardware that can solve a long standing problem of how to have High Defintion Cable TV throughout your home without paying $17 a month for each cable box for each screen in each room.

First a warning, your cable provider can really turn an install into a pain if they are imcompetent, not an unusual occurence.

I had no problem installing and getting my Ceton up and running within an hour of it being delivered. I had gone to my local Comcast store earlier in the day and picked up a cablecard. My Ceton was delivered around 2 PM. I had the tuner and cablecard paired up and activated by 3 PM, the big 82" in the living room was looking good.. Wasn't long before it was working in the bedroom on the plasma, then in my den on my work PC and finally the Notebook as well.

Comcast ufortunately managed to completely farkle my account setup details when I returned the original cablecard I had been using in my Tivo a few days later... The Tivo HD is a great device which the Ceton has sent to the showers by the way.

After returning my old cablecard to the Comcast store, the rep there had through total incompetence ended up disabling my cablecard in the Ceton at the house. Drove all the way home only to find that cable TV had stopped working properly. I had to to make another tirp back to the Comcast office again to straighten out the serial number issue. I had no idea what was going on but the phone techs at Comcast support were able to see her mistake but were not allowed/empowered to fix. So back I go to the Comcast store to argue with them for awhile before they would even consider they screwed up. Even after the billing mistake was correctd (wrong cablecard serial number, a typo by the rep supposedly, makes you wonder what is the point of using the bar code scanner to check them in and out). I drove back home thinking she had corrected the information but when I got home and reinstalled the cablecard it still would not work correctly.

This whole sequence of events was so suprising as everything had been fine just 30 mintues before I left the house yesterday to return the Tivo's old cablecard. Heck the Ceton had been running several days already. The tech I now spoke to assured me getting the serial numbers fixed on the account was all I needed to get my Ceton up and running again. I hate to beat a dead horse but the customer service rep that scanned the cards with a bar code scanner so it still eludes me how she could make a mistake on the serial numbers. The only thing I can figure is that it is Comcast I was dealing with after all.

Back home again and back on the phone again, the local Comcast tech support group could not fix the next issue, a duplicate Host ID problem, one that resulted from the mistake made on cablecard serial numbers in the Comcast store, a mistake supposedly fixed. I was about to lose it. My issue had to be escalated, the local office tried but they either did not know what they were doing or lacked the empowerment to make the necessary changes, they tried by gosh, they tried. Thank goodness I have a speakerphone.

Another team took over my case and resolved the problem the next day. Pure imcompetence on the part of the employee at the Comcast store led to all that touble, arghh! Anyway, after many phone calls, a lot of driving back and forth and a lot of standing in line at the Comcast Store I was nearly at my wits end. It is probably a good thing I am not writing a review of Comcast Customer Service as it would be scathing. There are two points I am making here, cable companies just don't seem to be able to do things right and when it comes to cablecards they are sort of deer in headlights and what is so simple in theory, can be a nighmare in practice. The Ceton is great! Good luck with that cable company of yours!

Anyway, assuming your cable company doesn't make your life completely miserable, the Ceton is a great solution, especially if you have the infrastructure to fully support it. It takes a good bit of equipment besides the PC it will reside in before the Ceton's 4 tuners are going to be taken full advantage of. Whole house video is what the Ceton really offers that is new. First you need a very good cable signal going to the Ceton otherwise the picture is going to pixelate and it will ramdomaly drop channels. Ceton provides tools for you to view your signal strenght and quality. I bought one of the Motorola Broadband Distribution Amps offered here on Amazon to bring my cable signal up to snuff. You can't run splitters willy nilly, and if you are doing it right the Ceton does the job of several boxes and you shouldn't need all those splitters reducing the signal to zero.

For reference, the same signal that made my Tivo happy was not sufficient for the Ceton with the latest firmware. Give the Ceton a top flight signal and it will lock to your cable provider's programming very well. Perhaps future firmware will allow the Ceton to work with weaker less clean signals, it really needs a good line, seriously! Tivo has had years to refine their firmware so it is not surpsing that what was good enough to make the Tivo happy is not good enough for the Ceton.

So now that you have gotten a cablecard paired up in the Ceton and solved your signal strength issues...

Okay, what do I mean by infrastructure?

Well 4 tuners is a lot, and unless you are recording every program on the dial you will probably want to share some of those tuners with either other Windows 7 PCs or with some Windows Media Extenders or maybe even a healthy mix of both. You will need to be going through HDMI to your displays big or small.

I used the Ceton Network Tuner Utility to reserve two tuners for my main HTPC, one for my main desktop pc and one for my main notebook. I also have an older HP Windows Media Extender plugged in for good measure. All of them are nicely playing any and all of the channels available though my Comcast service tier. I already had cat 5 ethernet running through my house . I also have a 1gb D-link router and plenty of 1gb switches. Gigabit (1000 mbps) is the only way to go if you are steaming lots of content around your network at the same time. That stuff is really cheap these days.

What does all this give me? I pretty much have HD cable TV in every room that matters with just a single cablecard running in the Ceton. No cable boxes, no eqipment rentals, in case you don't know the first cablecard is free. I hate paying the cable company to rent anything, I even own my cable mode, bought a Motorola right here on Amazon .. and who could ever justify putting HD Cable DVRs in every room?

With the Ceton it is not only possible to have HD Cable in every room,it is practical and if you have the infrastucture you can recoup the Ceton price in 2 years easily. I confess I had all the gear needed to make this work up and running for sometime as I had the local broadcast HD channels running into every room for a couple of years now. If it was not for Comcast, the Ceton install would have been a drop in, no muss, no fuss, cakewalk of an install for me.

Since we mentioned HD Cable boxes, let me also confess I can't stand them and that is why I have been using a Tivo HD for HD cable in my living room since 2007. The Windows Media Center Interface for DVR is much better than what is in any cable company box, better in a number of ways than even the Tivo and you can add more storage for recording whenever the fancy strikes you.

I have a very new Dell Notebook with the latest wireless technology from Intel in it. It is 802.11n but with triple streams, that means it delivers speeds up to 450mbs.. what that gives you is a notebook that handles HD Cable pretty darn well over wireless. I can be out on the patio watching HD cable TV without a network cord, if I ever get a router with the features to match the Intel Nic in the Dell,I could probably stream HD cable to more wireless devices, maybe even watch HD Cable TV streamed to my neighbor's house.

Your individual results using wireless are hard to predict, every house is different and wireless routers vary in quality immensely as do wireless nics. The newest latest Netgear top of the line router, has the hardware to fully support the speed you can get with triple steams, that new technology provides for uninterrupted rock solid HD streaming in most normal environments. But, in your house and with your existing equipment, succes in streaming HD can be stated this way, in some homes with the existing wireless gear, streaming HD works just fine, in others using even fairly new gear will only drive you crazy.

So again your mileage will vary and no promises when it comes to HD TV over wireless.

Wireless HD did not work in my house before the new Dell it worked but it needs to be close to perfect or it is really annoying. I have other notebooks with older nics, I won't even bother with them for HD wireless streaming. The Intel nic in my new Dell notebook is the latest and probably the best PC notebook wireless nic in existence today. It is only now that wirless routers are starting to catch up and support the full wireless speed and bandwith of this amazing Intel Nic. So wireless HD cable can definitely be done if you have the enviroment and your gear is good enough.

The Ceton is not cheap, but nothing else will allow me to watch HD cable in a Media Center Window in one corner of the PC's monitor I am using it to type this review on. This is happening while at the very same time my wfie is watching HD Cable in the master bedroom on the plasma. Not enough HD Cable, the HTPC is also playing a basketball game on the big set in the living room. Someone else could be watching another channel on the patio with the Dell notebook and if I had another Media Center extender (I will shortly) someone else could be sinulataneouwly watching TV in yet another bedroom all from a single Ceton InfiniTV 4 installed in my HTPC.

The Ceton is also coexisting nicely with my HD Homerun dual ATSC tuner grabbing free HDTV from the rooftop antenna. Actually the two tuners (Ceton and HD Homerun) complement each other and the integration is seamless in the Media Center Guide. If the same program is available via OTA I will always watch it from the rooftop antenna, the picture is frankly better. Now that is not due to some limitation of the Ceton. It is just because the cable companies compress the signal to run more channels over the wire, they sacrifice piture quality to do this. Theorectically, there could be six different HDTV shows in action at my houese at the same time using the Ceton and HD Homerun dual ATSC tuners I have on tap. I actually have another HD Homerun sitting on the table over here. I just don't need that many tuners going at the same time.

So if you have the PCs, have the network wiring in place, verified the cable signal strength and maybe even have some Media Center Extender(s) then you can do with the Ceton what has been a practical impossiblity until now, which is HD cable TV viewed throughout your house with just a free cablecard and no cableboxes, sure you still have a cable bill but no rentals and no sluggish hot piles of iron sitting on top of your TV to curse at. Bigger houses with more rooms and more TVs, just add more Cetons and more Win 7 PCs and or Win Media Center Extenders, one Windows Media Center PC supports a bunch of Media Cetner Extenders, I think the number is like 10 extenders for each Win 7 PC. Most people are using Xbox 360s as their Media Center Extenders, the new slim ones are nice and word is the price is going to drop shortly.

If you don't want to use the Ceton at full capacity, you could choose to use the Ceton to watch and record shows for only one TV/display. But to me that is like somebody commuting all by himself to work in a big yellow school bus.

Buy Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARD Now

I've had this tuner about 3 months now (wasn't on Amazon at that time), and I can say, it just works and it works well It's really what Cablecards should have done 7 years ago. Had some minor concerns about the Comcast cablecard installer, but the Ceton Diag tools even made the installation fairly painless. Running Win7 on an i3, homebuilt HTPC, and things are FINALLY the way MCE should have been years ago the card doesn't seem particularly problematic with incoming signals (I have mine sitting on a 7 way splitter but that includes an internal AMP) and my signal and SNR both look good Card is quick to tuner to other stations, and it even goes to sleep and resumes correctly (YEA!) There is a slight 30 sec pause on system resume while it seems to "sort of CC encryption stuff", but MCE displays the "spinning wheel" for a few seconds, and then your getting all the HD you want. I have this internal turner next to an analog PCI turner (Hauppage) as well as an HDHomeRun on the network Everything seems to co-exist nicely (although setting the guide up the 1st time took some effort). Finally, I was also waiting for the SD HDPrime, as I thought 4 tuners was overkill and pricy but in the end, I'm glad I have the 4th tuner and the extra $100 was worth it We now watch basically all the TV in the house on extenders, and between recording shows, we've had all 4 tuners busy several times Support has been good from Ceton (read the GB forums), and all it all, while pricey, this card is WELL WORTH IT, if you want HD in your W7MC box It's almost enough to make one forget about the pain of the OEM boxes with ATI tuners... Long awaited, and an excellent product!!

Read Best Reviews of Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARD Here

I couldn't rate customer support because quite frankly I've never needed any customer support with this, and I've had it about 8 months. But everything else is definitely 5 stars. If you are in the market for a CableCARD tuner, this should be one of the products you consider. It might be expensive, but it's worth every penny....plus you get your money back anyway since you avoid renting a cable box or paying DVR fees. The monthly savings add up, and before you know it, this card is actually free.

Cost aside, I really enjoy not having to use the cable box the cable company has. With the InfiniTV4, I can record 4 HD cable channels at once...something my old cable box couldn't do. I can also add as much storage space as I want, so I don't have to worry about running out of space. And believe me, with 4 tuners, I am recording much more than I used to. I hardly ever watch live TV anymore. I just record everything and watch it when I want to.

Want Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe - 4-channel Internal Cable TV Tuner Card for CableCARD Discount?

I built an HTPC four years ago. At the time, the only option to get HDTV in Windows Media Center was use an HDHomerun tuner. Yes, CableCard was available for HTPCs in 2007, but you had to purchase a system from an OEM manufacturer and it cost way too much money.

Fast forward to 2010. I was one of the first people to receive one of these cards. I must say, the only thing that hurt my experience was Comcast. Without question, this card is unbelievable! It is SIMPLE to install the card. Further, assuming you have a cable technician who has any experience, it is easy to set up in Windows Media Center.

Simply put, this card works. No, I do not get On Demand or Pay Per View (maybe if I call the cable co., but not via my remote). However, what I do get is a tuner that records 4 shows at one time without any problems.

Ceton's customer service is unparalleled. When I told them the trouble Comcast was causing, they contacted a Comcast engineer in New Jersey who fixed everything. All of this was done without question and without fail. They also have fast response times.

Yes, the card is not cheap. However, look at it as an investment. It's an investment in sanity as there are no more battles over what gets recorded. It's an investment in technology because my system can do things that a standard cable box could never accomplish.

I NEVER submit product reviews. Period. This product, however, is awesome.

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