Q-See 4-Channel DVR with MAC Compatibility and 500 GB Hard Drive and Full D1 Recording QT454-5

Good price does what it says Cusomer support was excellent was able to use the old wiring and cameras recommended

I found it very confusing when I was looking for a DVR for my 4 camera setup. It appears that there are quite a few brands and they are all very similar. However, there are a couple of very important things you want. And this unit has them.

Full D1 recording at 30fps on all four channels at the same time. This is very important. Many DVDs will show live video at full 30fps at full 720p resolution, but when they record, they knock it does to 320 resolution, which is so tiny, you can't make much out in the video. This DVR has the processing power to show and record full 720p video at 30fps on all four channels.

Support for iPhone and Android video monitoring. This is very cool. I can check my cameras by loading up the app and can watch all 4 cameras to see what's going on. Did my Ups package arrive? Who's ringing my doorbell? I heard a noise, is someone at my back door? You can also play back the video and search for the motion activated events on any of the cameras. Very easy to use interface.

It has all the normal bells and whistles too. Motion activated camera settings with areas to block from motion detection. Email alerts with pictures on motion events ore alarm events.

I was very glad I had this when a kid who was running from the police threw a handgun in my backyard, and then two weeks later left a note on my door demanding his gun back. I was able to call police and show them video and pics of the kids with great shots of their faces and the car they were driving. They didn't come back after they saw my cameras. And I have peace of mind that I can watch my property from anywhere in the world.

Dont be confused by other DVDs and their misleading claims on specs. This is the DVR you want. Drop a Hard drive in and your set.

Buy Q-See 4-Channel DVR with MAC Compatibility and 500 GB Hard Drive and Full D1 Recording QT454-5 Now

I have had this setup and working for about 3 weeks now with 2 security cams connected (planning to add more later) and it has worked flawlessly so far. The new D1 spec is so much better quality than the lower resolution of the older DVR's. My favorite features are being able to view the cameras basically anywhere you can get a internet connection, and the search features for reviewing the recorded video with up 16X playback speeds is great! If you are not tech savy it will be a chore getting your surveillance system setup. You have to run cabling to cameras (unless you purchase wireless cameras), and if you want it accessible over the internet it will have to be connected to your internet router, and you have to install a hard drive in the DVR, etc. but Q-See has alot of documentation on how to setup the DVR up including a giant fold out poster size guide and of course a full manual on CD.

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Easy to install, networking a little bit tricky with ATT router 2Wire but anyway manage to reach all the cameras from the internet through Blackberry, iPhone 4, iPad and laptop.

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product is good but amazon sent me the wrong cable for the hard drive and would not give me the right cable so i canceled the order i have no time to play games when they say on the website that the hard drive was good for this dvr but the cable was the wrong one no thanks

Vinpower Digital USB 3.0 External DVD CD Burner

This is an excellent product which functions perfectly and does what it is supposed to do. I have a very large music library and I use this handy burner to back up most of it. A very good buy indeed.

DTVpal DVR

I bought an HDTV about one year ago. At that time, they were being sold with an SD tuner installed as well, so I could still record broadcast TV shows on my old VCR. I only watch broadcast TV; I live in a rural area that has poor cable service and I didn't want to pay for satellite since I don't watch that much. At the same time, I'm not home when a lot of the shows I like are on the air, so I need a recorder. I thought I could get by with a converter box hooked up to my old VCR, but that only works when you're there to control it. Since the VCR is no longer tuning the channels, you have to be there to change channels on the converter box. Not a great solution, although it has limited use.

For a long time the only option available was TiVo. But TiVo charges you $13 a month for the "privilege" of owning a TiVo. I have friends who love TiVo, and if you're a real TV/cable junkie, I can see where it might be worth the monthly fee. But I already know what I want to record; I already know when the shows are on. Why should I pay TiVo a monthly fee to tell me what I already know?

This DVR is about $100 more expensive than the comparable TiVo DVR. But not having to pay the $13/month fee, you break even in about seven months.

Overall I'm very satisfied with it. I needed a digital, HD replacement for my old VCR, and this product fits the bill. And more. Here are my "Pros":

The advertisments state it has 20 hours of HD storage, but actually it has 35 hours HD storage, not the as-advertised 20.

Excellent picture quality. I see no difference between the broadcast show and the recorded show.

Very easy to set up recording. If you want to record a show one-time, you can just select it when you're in the programming guide, and press the record button. If you want to set it up to do a repeat recording (daily, weekly, etc.) it's only a few easy additional steps.

The programming guide is far superior to the on-air guide my HDTV provides. This DVR gets its program information from the on-air broadcasts just like the TV, but the presentation and ease of browsing is much better.

I love the ability to pause, rewind, fast-forward. Even watching live TV. My TiVo friends were all extolling the virtues of TiVo because it offers these features. Well, this DVR does it all for no monthly fee, and they are great.

OK. It's not perfect. Here's my list of "Cons" so far:

If you buy one, it will be delivered with an obsolete operating system. The very first thing you should do after the initial set-up is complete is go out to the web page and download the latest version of the DVR's operating system. Mine had several annoying issues that were resolved by updating the software, but when you do that you loose all the channel and programming information (though not any recorded shows) and it all has to be reconfigured. Update the software right after you plug it in. I will give 'em this it is very easy to update.

The Guide supposedly stores a week's worth of programming info, but in reality it only goes forward about 12 hours. Most everything else displays as "unavailable".

Part of the set-up is selecting a time for the DVR to update its programming info. You don't want to do this at a time when you would be watching or recording, because it interrupts everything, so I set it to 2 am. BUT, it also attempts to find new "services" (channels). 100% of the time, it finds poor signals that are probably out there but I can never watch, so I have to manually delete them. It's annoying. The software should give me the option of disabling that, but as far as I can tell, I can't.

It started up one evening with time set to 12 noon. The next day it was back to being correct, and it DID NOT mess up the scheduled recordings, but still that indicates an instability in the operating system.

This next one is particularly annoying, but requires some explanation. There are two HD tuners in the DVR so that you can record two shows simultaneously. This really is great, I love it. That's not the annoying part. You can also set a system default to start all recordings a few minutes early and end a few minutes late (you can select the number of minutes). This is also a great feature. The broadcaster's clocks don't always coincide with mine. However, when recording two back-to-back programs on the same channel, it temporarily uses both tuners for the 1-2 minutes of overlap most users set. It is recording the same show on both tuners. If you have another show on a different channel set to start recording at the same time as the second show on the first channel, one of them will not record because there are only two tuners. And it doesn't just not record the first few minutes because of the overlap. Once it detects that there are effectively three shows set to record at the same time, it cancels one of them and never starts it back up. The fix for this is to set a "timer" to record the two back-to-back shows as a single event instead of two events. Now that I have figured this out, I can live with it, but the software should be sophisticated enough to do this for me.

I keep getting an annoying onscreen pop-up message that the ethernet connection has been lost, and it can't check for updates. This happens once per night.

There is no off-switch (no kidding). The only way to turn it off is to unplug it. If your entertainment center is like mine, the outlets are all hidden behind the furniture. No problem when your amplifier or tuner, etc., has an on/off button. But a big problem for this DVR if you ever need to turn it off. Yes, you can hit the power button on the remote, but the hard drive runs continuously and the unit is always putting out a noticeable amount of heat. Also, twice (before I updated the O.S.) it has frozen up. If you read the user's manual, it tells you that the only way to reset it is to unplug it for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. FORTUNATELY, that is apparently not true. It behaves like a locked up PC. If you hold down the power button on the remote for about five seconds, it will reboot itself without having to unplug it.

Here are some "nice to haves", in case anyone from Dish NW reads this:

I would like to be able to delete segments (for example, commercials) from stored recordings.

Why does the DVR wipe out my live TV recording just because I change the channel? It's just a signal. I'm watching what I'm watching. Keep recording whatever I'm watching. I may want to go back to what I was watching (isn't that the point of recording it?).

This DVR is not attractive. Hire someone to design a decent-looking case.

I am disgusted. We bought the unit less than 1 year ago and it's worked fine, more or less, until yesterday. The box has suddenly stopped working and the warranty only 90 days is out. It's not a cheap unit and there's little that can be done to fix it when on the fritz. "We suggest you buy another unit," from customer service is, needless to say, less than satisfactory.

Buy DTVpal DVR Now

Just dumped Dish Network with my 722 high def dual DVR. The rates were slowly increasing and it was no longer worth $60/month as most of what we were recording/watching was on local primetime channels. Plus we replaced our 2nd TV with a HD one so the dual tuner was producing a non-clear picture on the 2nd TV as the dual part only showed one in HD, the other in SD.

First we hooked back up our old TV antenna in the attic. This is NOT a HD antenna, just the old normal kind from Radio Shack. We were impressed with the reception since TV signals went digital. Picture was crystal clear.

We ordered this DPal DVR from amazon.com. Because it only comes with a 90 day warranty, we added a 3 year service agreement with Squaretrade Warranty for $33. This was also purchased through amazon.com.

Setup was relatively easy. There is a setup wizard which guides you through setup. I had trouble initially with trying to move through the setup wizard (so called the 888 number on the screen for help). The help number is basically to Dish Network (who originally sold this product). They were most unhelpful and kept asking if I wanted to re-activate my Dish account. I hung up. Turned out the batteries in the remote were not clicked in fully and once I did this, everything worked great. Upon installation it said it updated the software (not sure how as I didn't have it hooked to any internet). The software was the latest version (or at least the firmware).

I agree, there is no on/off button which would be nice to have. You have to unplug if you want to reset it.

Also, when recording, there is an option to choose ONCE, WEEKLY, WEEKDAYS. I'm assuming this means a repeat timer for weekly shows will be active. Will find out.

If you've used Dish Network's DVRs before, the remote is identical and will be easy to use.

I had to sync the remote with my Sony TV which was easy with their directions. I tried to sync my DVD player and VCR but no luck so far. Too many codes to wade through, so I gave up on that.

So far I've recorded 3 shows, 2 of them simultaneously, with no problem.

One annoying feature is that when you go to the TV guide, it stops playing the current show. With Dish Network's receiver/DVR I had previously, the show kept playing in the corner so you didn't miss anything while checking the guide. The volume goes off and you do not see the picture when checking the guide. I suppose though, you could just hit the back button and see what you missed. So it's really a non-issue, but different from the DVR I had before.

The DVR is quite user friendly, and it's nice to see everything in easy to read/understand format.

Yes, I recommend this product. But I recommend an extended warranty just based on some comments/reviews here. Worth the extra $ if I need to use it.

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Finally fed up with paying over $100 a month to watch tv, I recently ditched cable television. I bought an outside antenna and an internet connected Blu-Ray player with a subscription to Netflix. The only thing we missed was the convenience of the DVR we had through Verizon. The DTVPal is a wonderful replacement! True it might not be as fancy as the Verizon box but after being without a DVR for a month, the DTVPal sure fills the gap. Set-up was easy. A few cables to the tv and a few setup screens once the DVR was powered on and I was up and running in no time, recording our shows, pausing and rewinding live tv, etc. Somehow the box updated itself to the latest firmware after it was powered up so I didn't even have to bother with that! The HD picture on my 37 inch LCD looks great! The programming guide is impressive (even though it only goes about 24 hours into the future) and setting up events for recording our favorite shows is a snap. The remote is similar to most cable company remotes so it's easy to get use to. If you're like me and are making the transition to OTA television, the DTVPal is a great way to re-create the cable television experience.

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I love it. it updated itself in the first five minutes of being connected to the router. The video quality , in my opinion is great. The guide is really sweet. It goes to sleep on its own and handles DVR recording like a VCR only better. I was late recording the Mentalist the other night because I was wrapped up in a movie and it recorded the whole show, in spite of me being late by about ten minutes. You can zoom in your view to fill the whole screen on older tv's and the picture quality is still excellent. The HDTV picture quality on tvs fed by HDMI is unreal! The sound is incredible when you use it this way also. I am not sure about durability yet but I will comment later if anything changes. I covered this with a extended SQUARE TRADE warranty, which I feel was a good idea considering the technology used on this thing. All the features are well thought out, even without PIP you still get a great viewing experience. My old DISH 301 remote also controls this thing. I have a UNIVERSAL remote that controls it as well, only the POWERBLASTER does not resend the signal for some reason. I am looking into this right now and will report back if I get it working with this DVR. I am very pleased with this DVR and may even cancel my sattelite subscription if it proves to be consistent in delivering...

Ion Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck

• Quickly transfer music on your tapes to MP3 format on your computer
• Dual dubbing cassette deck
• Plug and Play USB audio interface, no drivers needed
• Metal and CrO2 tape selector
• PC and Mac compatible
• Metal & CrO2 tape selector
• PC & Mac compatible
• Plug & play USB audio interface-no drivers needed
• Quickly transfers music from tapes to MP3 format

Before I purchased the ION I read many articles on the Internet about how to transfer my audio cassettes to CD/iPod. I was overwhelmed by the technical terms, so I thought the ION would be the answer to my dreams: an easy, trouble-free solution. I assumed, that the ION (at it's steep price) would give me all I needed for simple, stress-free transfers.

I was wrong. The ION is a bad-investment for a number of reasons:

1. The ION is huge.

2. The software included with my ION was defective (Chinese characters appeared when I tried to load the application) -and although the folders opened in English, they still didn't load.

3. The recording software for MAC users is available FREE on line.

4. If you have an old tape deck, or any cassette player with audio-out ports, you can go to Radio Shack (which I just did), buy a standard issue "Y" connector (1/8" stereo plug on one end and a white (male) and yellow (male) plug on the other end and (voila) you are done -you now have precisely what the ION gives you: all for about about $15.

Believe me, I am no computer/tech genius. I'm a forty-something mom. But buying and plugging in the "Y" connector was super easy.

The ION merely gives you an old-fashioned, basic cassette deck, basic software (and, in the case of Audacity, something that is free from the Internet) and a USB connector (which does exactly the same thing as the $15 Radio Shack Y-connecter).

After that, you are on your own. I found the steepest learning curve was figuring out how to use the audio recording software. When I was stymied by the defective ION software, I discovered Garage Band was already on my iMac -but I have since downloaded and use Audacity (on both my husband's PC and my iMAC).

The ION directions are so basic as to be nearly indecipherable. And as far as the Audacity software goes, the ION literature says something like: if you've never used audio recording software stick with the EZ converter software (which I believe only works on PCs).

Please also note that the ION literature doesn't tell you the next most important step you must take to make the ION work (goodness knows how any of the other reviewers were able to use their ION w/o a good working knowledge of their computer and/or audio recording. In short, you must go into your Control Panel (PC) or System Preference (MAC) and make sure you change your sound input option to in-line audio port (if using a Y-connector) or USB (if sticking with the ION).

Buyer Beware: think twice before you click to buy the ION. If you have a cassette player (or access to one) with output audio ports (most have them), you can buy the Y-connector and download the software for free.

To Amazon's credit, it appears they will refund my money and cover the cost of return shipment because of the defective software contained with the ION I purchased.

Buy Ion Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck Now

I have several old cassettes made during my childhood that I really wanted to preserve. I found the ION Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck and thought it looked like a good solution for converting those cassettes onto CD. The device was easy to install and easy to use as well. I don't know how to do anything "fancy" with it and just basically let it do it's thing, which has been good enough without using all the fancy options. I am impressed that the sound quality turns out better than if I just played the cassettes on a regular cassette deck. My cassettes are very scratchy sounding because they've been played over-and-over through the years but the ION Tape2PC is able to filter a little of that scratchy sound pretty well. I am happy with my purchase and I didn't need any special tools or anything to install it.

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I feel obligated to review this item since I bought it and returned it after being unsatisfied with the sound quality. If you're like me, you're trying to get your tape collection onto your computer. I was looking for the best sound quality first, and if possible, an easy way to make the transfers. The Tape2PC didn't do either.

My recommendation is to buy yourself a new dual tape deck that offers auto-reverse and relay play. Most new decks have both features, including the new Sony deck I bought.

The Tape2PC boasts that it comes with Audacity audio software, but you can download Audacity for free (just google it). Hook up the tape deck to your computer's line-in jack using an RCA to 1/8" adapter. 99% of computers already have a line-in jack and the ability to record with relatively little white noise added. The Audacity software is easy to use and will let you convert files to MP3 or WAV. If you're comfortable using a computer, the entire process will be easy for you.

Reasons to buy Tape2PC:

Tape2PC is good for beginners who don't know much about computers. The included software has a wizard that walks you step by step through the process. It will help you name the files and even help split the tape into separate tracks, provided you sit through the whole process and click a button at the exact moment you want to split the tracks (who has time for that?)

It auto imports files into iTunes, and from there you can sync to your iPod easily.

Reasons not to buy Tape2PC:

Number one reason is quality. I thought a USB device would eliminate interference and hums and lead to the best sound quality, but it was less of a factor than I originally thought. The key is the tape deck itself. The Tape2PC deck is a cheap deck at best and even if the USB connection adds no noise, the sound from the deck is lousy to start with. It's mostly noticable on the high-end frequencies they sound muffled or missing altogether.

The Tape2PC is a dual deck, but doesn't have auto-reverse. That means you need to come back to the computer every 25-45 minutes after one side as been recorded, flip the tape over, and start recording the other side. On the other hand, a dual deck with auto-reverse and relay play means you can load up 2 tapes, and have both sides play in sequence. Set your computer to record and come back and hour or two later (or 200 minutes later if you have 100min mix tapes, for example). You can split the tracks manually in the audacity software after the fact. Most computers nowadays can handle recording 200 minutes without running out of disk space.

Lastly, using the built in Tape2PC software was sort of a pain because it requires iTunes to be installed and it always converts files to MP3s at a low bit-rate. I wanted to convert them to WAV files (i.e. lossless format) and to do that I couldn't use the included Tape2PC software. I was required to use Audacity, but again that's free so what's the advantage to buying this Tape2PC system?

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I have a number of irreplaceable cassette tapes that I've been trying to figure out how to convert to CD for the past few years. I'm on a Mac and pretty technical but nothing I've looked at previously seemed quite right. I had looking into the Crossly all in one but that didn't have very good reviews and I looked into the iMic but it seemed a little complicated.

When I read about the Tape2Pc I was very hopeful. I've had it for a few weeks now and it was very easy to set up. If you're on a Mac you'll have to go to the Ion website to download the EZ Tape Converter and Audacity soft wear, the included CD is supposed to be for PC or Macs but the files are .exe which Mac's can't use.

I decided to try the EZ Tape soft wear as I don't have time at the moment to mess with the files and was hoping that it would be simple, and it was! Just Open the program, click a few buttons and press play on the Tape2Pc deck and you're recording! *Important Mac note before you start, you need to go into your sound playback file and choose: USB audio codec this is the opposite of what they say in the booklet. It's mentioned on the Ion forums too.

The sound quality is wonderful seems the same as on the cassette. You do need to stay nearby your computer when your making the file because if the CD has tracks that you'd like to keep separate for your CD, you need to press a 'track' button between each one, then you need to press 'finish' when it's over. After that it automatically uploads and converts the tracks into your iTunes (or any other CD burning program you choose).

Finally an easy way to convert your cassettes thanks Ion!

I recently returned an ION Tape2PC deck to Amazon. It was the worst product and experience with a product's manufacturer I've had in a long time.

Amazon, good to its word, accepted the return and quickly credited my account (ION should learn Customer Service from Amazon.)

My deck seemed to have some kind of odd circuitry problem. Every so often it created loud interference during recording. I isolated my iMac and the ION from any and all interference in the room I was in, meaning no Wifi, no wireless connections open, blackberry in a different part of the house, cordless phone unplugged. I disconnected and reconnected everything. I rebooted the iMac. I tried different cassettes (all commercial grade). Nothing worked.

I called ION Customer Service. After three attempts, each with a hold time of more than 15 minutes, I called back and spoke to the receptionist who told me there was only one tech support person. When I mentioned I needed to speak to someone or return my product to Amazon, the receptionist essentially said to go and return it just the friendly, helpful customer facing employee you want to encounter.

The software was not very good. The EZ Tape Convertor requires real-time attention to capture individual tracks. The included CD had no Mac software though the website did. Audacity is far better but requires a learning curve. What is really annoying is that before purchasing this deck, I actually spoke to someone at ION who told me the software could discern track breaks and therefore I did not have to watch it which is why I made my purchase.

The deck itself seems of insubstantial manufacture. The USB port is great and that's the only reason to even remotely think about buying this deck.

The documentation that came with my deck referred only to turntables.

All in all, a substandard in my opinion product from a company that does not seem to value the customer or the customer's experience.

I'm going to take the suggestions of others here and buy a proven brand and some RCA-to-line/in jacks and use Audacity (free) or Garage Band.

Do not buy this deck.

Coby TFDVD1029 10 Inch Portable DVD Player

• Compact portable design
• Swivel screen with 180-degree rotation
• 10 inch widescreen TFT LCD
• 800 x 400 display resolution; NTSC/PAL
• DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, JPEG and MP3 compatible
• 10-Inch widescreen TFT LCD Compact portable design
• Audio/Video input jack for video games, VCRs, or other AV sources
• Dolby digital decoder,Digital and analog AV outputs allow for use with home theater systems
• Headphone jack for private listening, Multiple language, subtitle, and camera angle support. Parental lock control
• Swivel screen with 180-degree rotation, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, JPEG and MP3 compatible and Anti-skip circuitry

No complaints about this product! I like it so much I'm going to purchase another one. It plays DVDs, CDs, & MP3 well! The 10-inch screen is great & it has a swivel mechanism which is perfect when viewing with the kids. No problem with the sound or viewing! Comes with all the accessories....

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Before I write my comments, please let me say each DVD I rent I clean before using it. Also I've been using a portable DVD player since 2004. So my purchase was well researched and I feel like a jerk. This product has a mind of its own. Here are some examples once the power is on, it starts and then for no reason, the screen turns yellow (that's OK if you would like to watch a movie through a yellow curtain). When running in a quite room, it moans and groans as it reads the disk (and the disk is not XXX rated). In the middle of a movie, I think I am watching TV because the screen stutters, just like on a satellite link. And the controls are awkwardly placed. Methinks I purchased a lemon does anyone know if there is a lemon law for DVD players? Let me know.

LeonB

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Bought this as a replacement for my older model (also a Coby) As about 85% of my dvds are of older b/w films and vintage TV shows, i switched from the 16:5 format to the 4:3 format, and was surprised to see that the image was distorted. Everyone was kind of squished and elongated. I went to J&R to see if I could find another player, as I thought it was just that particular one, but I had the same problem with the display model in the store. If you like watching older films as I do, don't waste your time with this!

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This has to be one of the worst players for the price, It should be about a 60 dollar player, there is noise in the sound, the picture is fuzzy sometimes has lines constantly running thru it. Short battery life about 1 hr is all, just poor all around.

I wouldn't spend the money again on a cheapo like this.

I got so disappointed I tossed it after 3 days of use, took it on the shorts for this one!

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the one i bought broke in 1 week and i exchange another one, and it can't read DVD disc (only read cd) after few week.

DO NOT BUY any product made by COBYUSA. i contact CobyUSA, but they do not offer me warranty ???

by the way, Amazon gave me excelent service when exchange. Amazon is the best

Rode Videomic Shotgun Microphone with Rycote Lyre Mount

• Rycote Lyre Mount
• Half inch professional grade microphone
• Attaches to consumer video cameras
• 0.375 inch standard boom pole threads
• 80 Hz high pass filter

I use a Nikon and Zoom H1 for my video recordings. This mic is of course miles ahead of any camera mic but I'm still doing my testing as to the improvements (if any) over a mic like the Azden.

The shock mount seems to work well enough but I find the coiled cord a little short. I'm mounting my Zoom down below the camera and the cord pulls the shock mount to one side. It's not enough to make pieces touch but it's still distracting enough to make you wonder if it will.

My last recordings were of my kids concerts and the SPL was really high but this mic registered low and I had to turn the Zoom up to 70 to make it audible. You can check out a video at http://youtu.be/fj2oHx_JX64 for a sample.

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I use a Nikon and Zoom H1 for my video recordings. This mic is of course miles ahead of any camera mic but I'm still doing my testing as to the improvements (if any) over a mic like the Azden.

The shock mount seems to work well enough but I find the coiled cord a little short. I'm mounting my Zoom down below the camera and the cord pulls the shock mount to one side. It's not enough to make pieces touch but it's still distracting enough to make you wonder if it will.

My last recordings were of my kids concerts and the SPL was really high but this mic registered low and I had to turn the Zoom up to 70 to make it audible. You can check out that video on youtube if you look for 'QA Choir Final' .

Sony HDR-HC3 4MP High-Definition Handycam MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

I have had this camcorder for about 2 weeks now. Overall I'm pleased. Most of my video playback has been done via a Pioneer 50" plasma HDTV so I do have a very nice playback source to judge the recorded video quality.

Disclaimer I am a novice photographer/videographer so people might correct my few gripes saying, "if you'd just set the flux capacitor settings to ...," but my review should be applicable to people that operate the camera in "easy" mode (all of my recordings have either been done in 'easy mode' or with the auto settings not quite sure what the difference is other than 'easy mode' doesn't let you adjust anything).

Pros:

Incredible detail & pretty good color reproduction when photographing outdoors. Seriously, it is almost (but not quite) as nice as watching cable/satellite HD when hooked up to an HDTV w/HDMI and/or component video connections (I've tried both, not much noticable difference between the two, although HDMI is more convenient). I don't believe (and I've read the specs on the format, so I'm pretty certain), that HDV format will produce true HD quality video but in the right lighting conditions, what is reproduced is definitely better than watching an anamorphic widescreen DVD on a progressive scan player so I'd say it's somewhere between HD and SD in quality (when the lighting is ideal).

Easy to operate. Great menuing system and the controls are easy to use.

Very nice LCD display & view finder

Compact, ergonomic design that fits well in your hand

Very sturdy, robust feel to the camcorder

Cons:

Picture quality degrades quickly in lower light conditions including normal indoor lighting almost to the point that I'm not sure if it's any better than standard DV quality (other than the nice widescreen format). I bought an external 3 watt Sony flash that helps at close range but even then, color reproduction is not as good as outdoors and I notice more artifacts (blurriness in certain images & patterns, pixelation, etc.). I'd probably venture to guess that if all of your videotaping is done indoors, you might be better served with a 3 CCD camcorder than this one but outdoors, there's no comparison.

Images with bright sources behind them get washed out. I videotaped a sunset and everything other than the sunset, itself, was completely washed out. I imagine this is one of the things that the white balance or exposure can correct but in Easy/Auto mode, no such luck (par for the course???).

Camera often requires two hands to hold steady to avoid jittery video. Maybe it's just the fact that the quality with this Sony is so sharp, but even my POS JVC mini-DV camcorder from 6 years ago seemed to have a better anti-shake mechanism. Those w/steady hands, tripods, or willing to use two hands need not worry.

Sony seems to be hiding driver/software support for the camcorder and the HDV format. There's little to no help in the manual about how to upload video to a PC in HD format unless "it's a Sony VAIO." I'm pretty turned off by it. Digging around, it seems that if you're a PC user, you need Windows XP SP2 or else you have to jump through hoops to get it to work. I hooked it up to my mother's Mac and had no problems capturing the HDV video using iMovie. I'd love to know what some of the other reviewers are using (hardware/software) to down convert the video for standard DVD (MPEG-2) format others have said they've had great results. When I down convert, the results look choppy, grainy, and there are compression artifacts everywhere (this really isn't the camcorder's fault, though).

Battery life this might be par for the course with camcorders these days, but I just got back from the zoo where I did lots of record/pause/record/pause recording for a few seconds at a time and the freshly charged battery only had about 35 minutes of recording life. I'll probably buy a second battery.

Some flimsy platic covers that cover the AV outputs and AC adaptor and seem destined to break off at some point in the future.

Unless you're a 'glass is half full' person, it's always easier to cite the cons of a product than its pros. Overall, I am very pleased and if it wasn't the few complaints that I've listed, I would've given this 5 stars. My only serious gripe is the video quality drop-off in lower light settings, but my old mini-DV JVC camcorder had the same problem (it was only $500, though). If they had a 3 CCD version of this for under 2K, it'd probably be perfect. Some form of HD MPEG-4 recording format would also be nice, but for now, I can't imagine a consumer HD camcorder in this price range being any better.

Bottomline, if you're eager to start videotaping in HD format and aren't a professional with at least 5K to drop, you should be pleased with this camcorder, but taylor your expectations for indoor/low-light recording and buy a nice a flash.

After recording and playing video all weekend, my simple conclusion is this video camera is AWESOME. Yes it is expensive, but, WOW the pictures is fantastic when hooked up to my hi-def plasma or played back on my iMac. It is as small and light as any normal video camera. It takes regular DV tapes, and is easy to use and easy to play back on the TV with either HDMI or Component cables if you don't have HDMI.

If you are considering a new video camera, GET THIS CAMERA.

It is absolutely worth the money.

I went back an looked at my old video tapes, video I once though looked good now looks terrible compared to the images from this sony camera. I haven't been this thrilled with a purchase in a long time.

Buy Sony HDR-HC3 4MP High-Definition Handycam MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Now

I have had this camcorder since Friday April 14th and have multiple opportunities to 'play' with it. Most of my videotaping has been in SD mode, not HD.

This camcorder is the perfect camcorder for users who want to position themselves for HD in the future. It is capable of HD recording and the recording quality is very good to excellent. The controls are plentiful for an average consumer. However, the prosumer or professional user may be disappointed that there is no mic or headphone jack as well as no separate controls for White Balance, Exposure, Focus or AE shift.

I would recommend that if you are doing any recording of music, that you purchase one of the microphones that are available for this camcorder. The built in mic is only adequate.

There is a technical review of this camcorder on camcaroderinfo.com that goes into a wealth of detail if you are interested.

So far, after 3 days and a church cantata, I am very pleased with the performance of this camcorder. Good job Sony!

Read Best Reviews of Sony HDR-HC3 4MP High-Definition Handycam MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Here

This is my 4th camcorder and I just love it.

I'm a big photo enthusiast, and despite I own a Nikon D70 Digital SLR camera, this summer on a 3 week trip to Europe (by train) I decided to travel light and left home my Nikon to use only my new Sony Camcorder: It's a great travel companion, light discrete and easy to use. Still photos are very acceptable. Video quality is simply breathtaking.

I've done editing on my G5 iMac using iMovies HD and it works just fine. Edited video needs to be recorded back to tape to keep the HD format, but I hope that problem will be solved in a few months, when HD DVD-R drives becomes more affordable.

In summary if you are looking for great video quality and performence, look no more. This is the best Camcorder you can get without going PRO.

As additional advice: get a case and one additional battery since the one that comes with the camcorder is rather small and doesn't last enough.

Want Sony HDR-HC3 4MP High-Definition Handycam MiniDV Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom Discount?

Bought this camera way back in April shortly after when it came out. Bought it just in time for my first born to join us in the world. The reason why I bought this camera is because it was cutting edge, and at the time, I was in a time crunch and knew that if I bought a SONY camera, then it will be a good buy. Well... its been 6 months now and I can tell you that this camera does rock. here are some things I had to buy for this camera (which by the way I bought for 1499 way back. now look at it, it's only 1099. WOW!)

1) Bought the HD tapes (Bestbuy has these for 30 bucks for a 2pack, amazon has it for 20 bucks)

2) Bought a battery with longer life span.

3) Bought a firewire cable (any firewire cable will do) to connect it to my Mitsubishi WS55511. Found out that MitsWS55511 does not comply with this camera to my big dissapointment and I was about to return the stupid camera out of disgust. I can't believe I can't use the firewire connection with my HD tv. Ticked me off to be honest with you. I then took the camera to the BigScreen Store with a bunch of HD tv's and found out that all the new tv models that has IEEE input does work with this camera. I decided to keep the camera and basically use the component cables (my tv does not have HDMI input) and used that for the TV.

4) Bought a $100+ HD software (pinnacle software) to download the movie from the camera to DVD. $1499 camera and it does not come with download sofware?! C'mon!

5) Bought a Camcorder light and found out it makes a whopping difference with low light.

6) Bought a tripod but hardly use it.

7) Bought a 2GB Memory chip

Things I have issues with:

1) The camera does not have a stabalizer button, Supposedly its built in, however while watching videos, It does not seem the stabalizer is working.

2) The camera does not come with a shoulder strap. Again, $1499, it should come with this.

3) The camera does not allow you to record movies on the memory chip. This would've been a great feature for quick clips and all you have to do is take the chip out and download the file. All movies has to be recorded on the DV Tape.

4) Without a light, recording in low light conditions may affect the quality of your HD playback. Thus, the reason why I bought the Sony Light (see my other review).

Things I think is worth it:

1) The item is compact and light

2) The picture is OUT OF THIS WORLD. BEST PICTURE, BAR NONE!

3) The 4MP is pretty good. I love taking still pictures (widescreen and 4:3) with this thing. I dont have to lug around 2 cameras around.

4) The LCD touchscreen is wide and big enough for quick playback.

5) Zoom is awesome, especially in HD.

Overall, this product does deserve a 5 star. However the package it came with could've been better, esp with the price I paid. $1099 for this product is a steal! Of course the pictures I took with it is priceless. I attribute this to the timing of when I bought the product. Was in a hurry in buying a camcorder but at the same time I wanted something that would at least last me for a few decades. Now to get my ROI, it needs to!

LOL

Hope this helps!

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

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.

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

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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Swann Wireless TV Observation Kit

We have had a few burglaries in our condominium complex. With condominiums, you are not allowed to mount anything outside of your domicile. It has a very communist feel to it!!! I picked up several of these little "eyes in the sky" in an effort to maintain some level of security and surveillance. I do in fact have some level of security and surveillance. With minimal interference the picture can be actually quite clear. I have to warn you, it's not very exciting!!! Sometimes having a camera in the window sill, even if the cord is simply lying on the floor, is rather ominous and a great deterrent. I prefer mine plugged in! If I suspect trouble ... I quickly connect to the VCR on slow play/record. It really helps keep the monkey business to a minimum. Don't let anyone tell you you're paranoid! Paranoia is simply total awareness!!!!!!!!!!!!! The quality does rate a lower price. If you're needs are like mine and it is temporary, furthermore lives don't depend on it, this will work for you. If you truly need the real thing, by all means spend the money and buy a hard wired closed circuit set. It does work though, I was incredibly skeptical at first. It was also incredibly easy to install.

Camera worked ok,the range wasnt quite what I had hoped.Unfortunately the signal interfered with my wifi to my laptop. After initial reluctance to my returning the item the dealer did grant full refund.

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Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Blac

Hi All.

I am comparing this camera to a Flip Mino HD....while it may not be fair, it is the only way I could give an accurate review to this product.

Box Includes:

Camera, removable battery, mini hdmi to hdmi cable (wow), usb extension cable, rubber/silicon skin, and documentation.

So it starts....the battery comes pretty charged and thus it was easy to install and get the unit running. The first set of options you are presented with are the setup for date, time, country. Here is where the first issue begins....the buttons (scroll arrows up, down, right, left) are WAY too sensitive and thus you are moving around even if you dont want to. So I start to set the date...without paying attention....and I quickly notice that the format for the date is dd/mm/yy which is primarily how the eastern part of the world uses the date. I finally figure out that my mind is lacking without coffee and I get the date and time set.... Lets move on.

The camera notifies you that you can hit the play/pause and trash buttons simultaneously to get back to the setup options. Works perfectly. In the setup menu you are presented with the following options:

Time/Date

Video Quality

Instant Record

Anti-Flicker

Tv System

Language

Most of these are self explanatory. The ones with options are as follows:

Video Quality: HD+, HD, VGA

Instant Record: On / Off

Anti-Flicker: 50hz/60hz

TV System: NTSC/PAL

Language: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Bahasa (Indonesia), Turkish, and Arabic

The main screen shows you what mode you are in (record, ready, etc), the available recording time, the mode (hd+, hd, vga), and a battery meter...these are at the top of the lcd screen. The bottom of the screen shows the date (dd/mm/year) and the current time.

When looking at the LCD the mini hdmi port is on the left hand side of the unit and the right hand side has a power button for on and off. The usb connector is at the bottom....folded into the body with a tab sticking out so you can pull the connector out. There is also a standard tripod hole.

The shooting begins....I tried taking small clips of things inside the home as well as outdoors (although with the weather up here its not worth standing outside more then 4-5 minutes :-) ). I shot completely in HD+ mode as there are a lot of units this size that do regular vga and hd.... The image quality on the lcd screen was superb...even when outside under the sun I was able to see what I was shooting. This I like. My issue still remains that the rocker buttons are way too sensitive and it was driving me nuts for a while until I was able to mentally adjust the pressure I was applying to them.

The viewing begins... I plugged the mini hdmi to hdmi cable from the camera into our 46" Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD Panel. The playback was indeed 720p/1080i as the unit should do. It was flawless and the quality of the video stunned me. I loved it. It was comprable to the Flip Mino HD. Of course, I need help with my stability...since I noticed that movement was apparent...but hey this is no image stabilization camera... HAHA!

All that being said, Creative has created a great HD Pocket Camcorder.

What I liked:

Removable Battery

8gb Storage

Build Quality

Included accessories (cables, silicon skin)

What I diskliked (which is why its 4/5):

The buttons (right left up down) are way too sensitive for my needs.

Computer Connectivity:

MAC OS X Leopard:

No drivers needed.

Showed up as a usb Volume immediately.

iPhoto automatically detected camera and came up with import options.

Video Played in Quicktime. Awesome!

Was also able to browse to the camera and manually open AVI file.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit operating systems tested)

Drivers installed automatically.

I did not need the Creative software on the device.

I was able to browse (windows explorer) to the Vado and open the AVI file in Windows Media Player. I love this functionality. I dont like cluttered software on my machine if I dont need it.

In case you are wondering...I am a cross platform user and thus I can review gadgets like the Vado and give accurate reviews. This unit would have earned a 5/5 but I am not quite there on the rocker buttons...

I hope that the review above is informative and helps you make the right decision in this category.

Quick Note for MAC Users: 01/26/09

You will probably need to install Perian to view AVI files on a mac using quicktime. You can get the software free at http://perian.org

This camera is fun, easy to use, works with PC or Mac (surprisingly good on multiple Macs!...more about that in a minute), just like the other knowledgeable reviewers wrote, and best of all it makes an XLNT 720P HD image for viewing on 40" and larger HDTV's. There are caveats to using the Vado HD, but they are few, and just simple common sense would tell you these things if it weren't for reviews and manufacturer advertising:

1) When shooting, you've GOT to hold your hand steady, and sure, or camera shake will ruin your HD movies and clips. You can use a tripod to minimize shake to the maximum amount, perhaps one of the "mini" tripods that you see here at Amazon.com. RE tripods, I found that even my Joby GorillaPod "SLR ZOOM" heavy-duty portable, flexible tripod fit the Vado HD easily, and contrary to other reviews, the USB port on the bottom did NOT get in the way of it one bit

2) This isn't a substitute for a full-sized HD camera, like my Canon HG20 AVCHD camera, but it will suffice for casual, quick takes of virtually anything your creative mind will allow, and up to a 1 hour uninterrupted HD+ quality video in true 720P/1080i HD format, with big depth of field, up to 2 x 1-hour videos of course, utilizing a full battery to the limit

3) You've got to watch out, and protect the lens, otherwise it gets to be full of dust and dirt easily, as there's no lens cap with the camera--I carry my DSLR's lens brush and air "poof" when using Vado HD which solves the problem...give the lens a quick brush off a couple times a day during shooting, just to be sure it's clean, and it's ready for action

4) Accessories are REALLY hard to get right now, but maybe that will change soon, as the camera's popularity and rave success has the manufacturer/seller (Creative Labs) scrambling for inventory on the extra battery, charger, etc. In fact, I am on the "waiting email list" at Creative Labs right now because I want to get the external charger, and an extra battery, for those days when I'm using Vado HD for more than its 2-hour battery and filming "window" of opportunity-caveat on the battery, the normal Vado battery will NOT fit in the Vado HD and function!! If you want the extra battery, it's got to be from Creative Labs at this time, and they have been out of stock for weeks now

Those things being written, the rest is just cake, candy, and ice cream-easy to write about, and describe. Here's the positive things I've found about Vado HD so far, and I'll come back and add more after I use it more...this list is compiled after just about 1 week's use, and doesn't represent even 25% of what I have in mind for using Vado HD:

1) It's just like you imagined it would and should be, using the camera that is--it's easy, fun, and with XLNT ergonomics for being so small, pretty much all-user-intuitive controls which I go into further on in the review

2) The camera makes incredible 720P/1080i HD movie/clip footage for viewing onscreen, immediately without editing, by using the supplied Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable--it's easy to use your HDTV as a viewer/editor vs. wasting all your time downloading the video to your PC or Mac, editing it, etc.

3) A steady hand/tripod yields an XLNT clip or video movie, up to 60 minutes long it turns out (Windows FAT File System limit of 4GB of data problem), so look out for that window once you get rolling and all will work out great...of course you can make 2(two) 1-hour HD+ quality movies which equals the 2 hour "window" of Vado HD

4) To use on a Mac, as I have both PC and Mac here in my studio, it's very simple-have QuickTime Pro (yup, you've gotta upgrade if you want full compatibility with cameras like this, and for other reasons too!) support the movie, use the Export Video command, and a huge array of possibilities is there for the taking--for converting the AVI formatted film from Vado HD into an M4V H.264 QuickTime Video for iPod, iPhone, or other media device from our friends at Apple. Or you can simply import into iMovie/iDVD if you want to go full-boat and edit your footage, add music, etc.

My favorite command is just "AppleTV" command, and in a few short minutes of conversion on an Intel Mac with a lot of C2Duo horsepower, or better yet a Quad single or double CPU in a Mac Pro...but hold onto your hats Mac Heads, I even had success using my "dated" Dual Core 2.3Ghz G5, albeit one with a ton of RAM (16GB), making hour-long AppleTV movies, no editing, no hassle, just straight into ATV format and BAM! It's onscreen with great clarity, depth of field, a true HD experience quickly via Vado HD

5) On the PC, or Virtual Machine in Parallels or VM Ware Fusion, XP Pro/Vista, whatever...I tried them all and they are equally easy. The video codec automagically imports and installs itself into your Windows Client, be it WMV, Windows Movie Maker, or the Vado HD Client itself, Vado Central Software (a bit limited of course in scope, ease of use, or mechanics...but it WILL work if necessary and you don't have fancy video editing software on PC).

Now, to get specific about the controls and functions of the Vado HD, which is important in any review of the camera, let's dive right into it!

The USB 2.0 port, which is necessary to transfer video to your computer for whatever purpose you have in mind, is on the bottom of the camera, and there's a pleasant "Click" that it makes when it's open, or closed, so there's no doubt about it being in either position. I LIKE the flexible port/device USB male plug, which extends out and away from the bottom of the camera an inch so. The design is well-thought out, I think, because there are times when you might need a flexible "cable-like" function, and this provides it. As I wrote above, this does NOT compromise the fitting of a tripod!

Vado HD will take 2 hours worth of HD+ 720P/1080i movies, the default setting of the camera by the way. Then there's HD-quality, slightly less than HD+, but still good quality film, which equals 4 hours of action. Then there's VGA mode, and in this mode (640x480 pixels) Vado HD will shoot up to 8 hours of movies, and that's a LOT of capacity, where you'd need 4 batteries to fill up the camera! Wow! That's an interesting option when you simply want to film things that are not of great import, and you have a lot of it to do, but you'd need that external charger (that I want to purchase badly and can't right now!), and 3 extra batteries!

As to the controls for the camera, let me describe where everything is, and what it does...

The 1.5" x 1" LCD display, a mini-display that is amazingly sharp and well defined, has a "Ready" indicator in the top, left, to tell you the camera is set to shoot. When you are shooting video, there's a RED DOT that replaces the "Ready" indicator. To shoot, just press the "logical controller" once, and to stop, press the control once again...dead straight simple!

At the right, top of the display is the digital Video Quality Display, which is by default set at HD+, and next to it is a Battery Indicator, which shows the state of relative charge of the battery.

In the middle, at the top of the display, is the Recording Time Left indicator, which is in hours, minutes, and seconds, so it's very, very accurate as to what is left in Vado HD's flash memory.

The left, bottom edge of the display has the time, and the right edge has the digital display for the date, all simple, but important functions that you'll use over and over again while filming. The display, "mini" though it is, is XLNT! It gives you all the information necessary about Vado HD without occluding the display at all, each one being small, digital numbers and letters.

The physical layout of the camera is also ergonomically correct, with the lens at the top of the front of the case, up high next to the microphone port. The speaker (it has an external speaker which functions when viewing videos) is on the back in the lower right part of the case. To the left, in the middle of the case, is the "logical controller" as I call it, the master control for the camera. Right side, upper is the Off/On switch, which "clicks" into the case for Off or On. On the left side is the HDMI Mini-Port, and the Video-Out port...all really nicely done!

It's very simple, really, to use and describe the rest of the controls also. There's a 2.5mm button in the middle of the "logical controller", and that's the actuator for everything, the "Selector". That is what you do everything with: film "On", stop, select, and film "stop"...that does it ALL! At the edge of that button is a concave group of touch controls, up, down, left and right arrows, which take a fair press to actuate, just right actually... not too heavy a hand to use these controls. Those control the selection process once into the menus, fast forward, or backward the video clips as you wish to view them, etc...These are LOGICAL controls, and they do exactly what you think they are supposed to do, nothing complex, or "foreign" to this setup.

On the right side are the two "Function" switches, two "clickable" switches, one which selects which video clip you're about to view, the other is the TRASH button, so be careful with it when viewing videos...of course when you want to trash, or "EDIT" the video in question there's a prompt onscreen which confirms your action, so you can't be "burned" by mis-hitting that switch unless it's deliberately done. Again, easy, simple controls that do what you think they are supposed to do.

You use those two "Function" buttons on the right in tandem also. Pressed together, at the same time yields the master menus onscreen, so you can select or change the Video Quality, Time & Date, Anti-Flicker Control (50 or 60Hz filming), Language Used, and the "Instant Record" feature, which I'll explain here and now: Instant Record sets the camera into this mode...any button will actuate an instant recording session, and the "logical controller" turns it off, with 1-minute for power-off and into standby mode. Very nice feature! Just the ticket for getting a quick shot off anytime, and easily turned back off by going into the setup menu by pressing those two "clickable" buttons together at the same time, and getting into the menus.

The Default Mode for Power is 1 minute into "Ready" mode, screen off, and 5 minutes screen off will yield a shut-down of Vado HD, with a pleasant little musical tone that goes off to tell that the camera has powered off.

EASY STUFF, and right-on! These are controls that anyone can get used to in a couple minutes of use...I've just described every single function of Vado HD, and I've done it in about 200 words or so..pretty Kuhl! So that's how you control the action, initiate changes in the menus, everything except:

Play Back Video Clips, which is done by pressing the right side "clickable" switch once, and BAM! You're in "Cue Videos" mode, and the 1st one onscreen is the one you just, or last filmed. Click the controller again to move the clips up, and back, and push down again to view! Simple!!

I like everything about Vado HD's controls, it's a lot to pack into such a small place, and Creative Labs designed the camera to be easy to use, and it is. And now to describe how you use the PC functions briefly:

With a PC an AVI clip is the native format, correct? Make your movies any way, shape you want on the PC with Vado HD, and I'm not going to give a dissertation on that subject here, just suffice to say a fast CPU helps processing a ton, just like on a Mac...it IS video, not photography, and the footprint on the OS, and RAM is huge on PC as it is on the Mac OS, so the more firepower you've got in terms of RAM, and CPU power the better!

Quickly, I'll sum up by giving Vado HD 5-stars across the board. The controls are EASY to master, no room for headway here, zoom works fine with a steady hand, it's just plain simple Jane Simpleton to make great movies, and clips on Vado HD. Like I wrote, be mindful of the caveats above, especially TIME in relation to your content as it will accumulate quickly and an hour will be up before you can admit, "I'm having a great time doing this stuff!"

The LCD is clear, clean, and plenty large enough for viewing/movie making, not in direct sunlight of course, but plenty good indoors with light on the subject. Playing back clips, for viewing and editing in the camera (read "TRASH" the ones you don't like), is simple also...just one click to view, navigate with the controller up and backward in your clips, and BAM! HD video is yours for the keeping!

Vado HD is definitely the Best Bang for the $$$ right now, I mean it's so far ahead of the rest of them it hurts to try to describe all the reasons I bought this instead of anything else. You'll find that 2 hours is plenty of time to do most projects, by the way, and if it's longer, well, take your laptop with you, or netbook, you know? Download the videos into the laptop, erase the Vado HD with the Trash Icon clicker on the controls, and voila! Ready for more shooting!!

You would need an extra battery or two, and the external charger that I am dying to get my hands on and can't buy yet, but that's the state of affairs at this point. Creative Labs said on the telephone that the charger will be in stock next week, and so will be the extra batteries.

That's about it for my "guide" and critique. You Mac folks know that the latest Perian is v1.1.3, right? It has all kinds of enhancements for Mac, so be sure and download the latest driver/plug-in for QuickTime (Pro preferred), and all will be well with Vado HD and your Mac. PC people, you don't have a worry in the world as far as using Vado HD...piece of cake, and remember to not have too much fun!!

Wavey Davey/2-14-2009

Buy Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Blac Now

*** Update*** Please noteby downloading Perian you will be able to use IMovie and Quicktime. Please see the link below and download Perian and you can enjoy Vado videos on your Mac! At some point I will update the video however until then know that I was able to get the Vado HD to work on my Mac.

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/perian_christopherforsythe.html

*********************************************************

The Creative Labs Vado HD Is both a great handheld video camera and one that is useless. If you are a PC owner and using Windows based software you will be well pleased. However, if you are a Mac user you will be unable to watch the videos without downloading a program such as VLC, downloading Perian, or without converting the files using a program like Roxio Crunch Win/Mac.

In my video review I compare the Creative Labs Vado HD to the Flip Video MinoHD Camcorder, 60 Minutes (Black). I will say that both cameras have their advantages the Mino has a better appearance and it works well with Macs. The Creative Labs Vado HD has more functionality, but qithout downloading Perian it is restricted to Windows based PCS.

Here are things that I like about the Vado

Three different setting for picture quality. The truth is that not everything needs to be recorded in HD. In fact, if you are uploading to YouTube HD movies can take forever. The Mino HD only has one capture setting.

I like the flexible USB connection

Large screen for a small hand-held camcorder probably about 50% bigger than the Mino HD

Removable battery I am not sure what you are supposed to do when the battery dies on the Mino HD

Wider angle of video capture the Vado allows you to record a much larger area when compared to the Mino HD.

Comes with HD cables for connection to your television.

Windows based software is intuitive and easy to use.

Areas for Improvement

You must download Perian in order for videos to play on Mac.

Compared to the Mino HD the Creative Labs Vado looks cheap.

Final Verdict -

4 Stars

Buy with confidence if you are using a Windows based PC -there is a little more risk if you are a Mac user Which camera should you buy... The Vado HD may have a slight edge for Window users if you are using a Mac the Vado is still may be a nice choice, but you may need to download Perian or use a converting program like Roxio Crunch.

Read Best Reviews of Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Blac Here

The Creative Vado HD is hands-down the best option among the current breed of three pocket-sized 720p camcorders. Sony's entry into the market segment will surely shake things up next month. Meanwhile, the Vado HD's field of view (wide angle lens) reigns supreme and makes its competitors inferior despite their other advantages.

I'm an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer with a serious set of HD gear as my main equipment at home. I was looking for a back-up camera for use in cop ride-alongs and for home use to capture my toddler when my 3-chip Sony HDV camcorder was left behind because of size/weight/etc.

The Flip Mino HD started the whole craze and I can see its small size/price was attractive. After quite a bit of web research, including the excellent side-by-side video comparison of the Flip Mino HD and Kdoak Zi6 on YouTube, I concluded the Zi6 was superior in picture quality and features for its price point ($150).

The Zi6 is awesome. The macro feature has a fixed focal length of 2" and can take detailed close-up photos better than any camcorder of any price/size. The 60-frame mode also captures fantastic slo-mo shots at twice the frame rate of other camcorders.

However the Kodak designers clearly made a compromise on the lens. They decided since it has no optical zoom, they would "cheat" by keeping the field of view a little tighter (zoomed in) than one would expect. The result is disappointing during real-world shooting. In a car or at an intimate gathering when you're just a couple feet from your subject, the Flip and the Zi6 can't frame a head-and-shoulders shot. They get just the face with the subject's hair and chin cut off by the frame. This simply isn't practical for the vast majority of shooting situations I could envision at work and at play.

So I ordered the Vado HD from Amazon for comparison before taking the Zi6 back to the store for a refund.

The Creative Vado HD has a wide field of view with a comparable image quality found on the Zi6. The lens is superior, though the codec and compression seem just a bit lower quality than the Zi6. At low light, the Vado is darker but does not suffer from the slow-shutter-speed blur that the Zi6 imparts to achieve lower-light sensitivity. The picture is stunning for a camera this size and the HDMI output to TV is a big plus.

The Vado HD is considerably smaller than the Zi6. It comes with the 8GB of storage already built in for two hours recording time at highest quality. The Zi6 requires the purchase of additional SD or SDHC storage which is both an asset and a liability. The Vado can shoot for two hours and then you have to upload to a computer whereas the Zi6 can keep shooting until you run out of SD cards (think vacation).

I use a Mac and found the .avi files of the Vado HD just as easy to use as the .mov files of the Zi6 when editing in Final Cut Pro or viewing in Quicktime, so long as you download the free Perian plug-in. In both cases, rendering is required to import the video into a timeline.

The Vado HD can be recharged using the USB connection (lithium ion removable battery) while the Zi6 uses rechargeable AA batteries and an external charger. The biggest advantage of the Zi6 is that you can use standard AA alkaline batteries in a pinch.

But let's get back to why the Vado HD wins hands down: the wide angle lens. It not only captures MORE of the scene in a single frame, it is STEADIER. A fact of videography is that the more you're zoomed-in, the more shake is amplified in the image. Conversely, the wider the shot, the less shake appears in the image. While neither camera has an image stabilizing system, the wide angle lens makes the Vado HD appear much smoother.

The microphone on the Zi6 does seems superior to the Vado. That and the 60 frame slo-mo mode, along with the macro feature, could be the difference depending on your chosen application. I'd actually like to have both cameras in my tool kit if the budget allowed.

But the Vado HD is the clear winner for me. Add the $29.00 underwater housing good to 5m (16 feet), and you've got a great system for shooting in the rain/pool/snorkeling/exterior car mounts, etc.

Oh, you'll see a lot of reviews saying this camera is shaky -you've got to have a steady hand. It's light and the viewfinder is "screen only," meaning there's no camcorder-style eyepiece viewfinder. In my experience shooting video in Iraq, relying on a screen on any camcorder can be deceiving. As your hand moves, the screen and the background make the shot look more stable than when you're looking through a viewfinder. And that extra anchor point against an eyepiece makes the camera more solid. Finally, this is a VERY SMALL and VERY LIGHT camera. Practice shot composition and holding things steady (not walking for example, slower pans and tilts) and you'll be very happy. Add a Gorilla Pod for portable stability!

So instead of spending $150 on the Zi6 and $50 on SD cards, buy the Vado HD for the same $200 and get a better camcorder.

Want Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Blac Discount?

The Vado HD is awesome. The lens is so wide and gives the true HD feel. The colors are amazing, but definitely best in natural lighting.

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I purchased it for our classical ballet academy. The main qualities I was looking for were reliablility, remote control and variable speed (pitch) control. The dance teacher is pleased. I just wish the IR remote had a bigger range. It seems that RF remote units do not exist. The studio is quite large and the range is about 30 feet from the unit. The sound quality and pitch control are flawless.

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Vivitar DVR880HD-LICHD Digital Video Recorder Video Camera with 2-Inch LCD Screen (Black)

First let me say the camera only gets any stars one because Amazon doesn't let you zero star items and two because the seller sent my camera in a timely fashion and because my camera came in one piece...but...I don't know how Vivitar has the audacity to price people $40 dollars for this, if I wasn't getting a deal by only paying $18 for this I'd be highly pissed with the fact that I wasted any type of money with this camera! This camera is total garbage!! I mean like yea it takes pictures and things like that, but the quality is awful, I actually had a cell phone from the early 2000's with i think about 1.5 megapixels and it shot pictures a little better than this camera does, and God help you if you don't have the perfect lighting, you won't even have a shot, if this is a camera you need quick for the money, get it because it at least takes pictures, but if you have the time, and the money, it's definitely worth spending the extra few bucks to get something that isn't total crap like this one. The material is one thing, but the quality is just horrid...and what's worst, and this is what angered me the most, it doesn't have any internal memory, don't be fooled, they don't like to tell you that little tid bid, you have to get one of those flash drive things, I'm not sure what they're called, just so you can take any pictures...yea one of these little guys here:

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all i'm saying is don't let them fool you, it has no memory of its own and on top of that you have to buy one of those memory cards and then on top of that you have to buy this holder to put the memory card in so that it can properly fit into the camera...either way this is my experience I know the megapixels were crash but the price was only a fraction of what other people were selling it for and I was 10 months pregnant and my son was coming and I needed to get a camera quick, I wanted to capture the first few moments of his life for a cheap price, even if it was on a crappy camera, and that's exactly what I got a crappy camera, I haven't even picked it put since the first day I used it, I hate it, total waste of money, I'm just happy I hardly spent any money on it, too bad I didn't spend the money on something else, like some formula!!!

I purchased this item recently and it turned out to be one of the best finds ever. I needed a camcorder ASAP for my son's graduation and Amazon had this to my door within 2 days. The built in USB makes it a lot easier to connect to your computer without having to have a separate cord. I would not hesitate to buy one of these again. Versatility + Ease of use + great price = Tremendous Value

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