Timex T5G751 Data Recorder 2

This product works as advertised. The associated software works as well. Thus I have no complaints about the product and therefore can recommend the purchasing of this product.

However, my intended use of this product was to work in conjunction with my Timex heart rate monitor, speedometer, and watch. Thus this data recorder is part of a larger system for collecting fitness data.

I went with Timex vs. some of there competitors in this space as the watch and HR monitor were gifts. Overall I have been pleased with the system (although the HR sensors went bad sooner than I thought they should). But the Timex philosophy was to keep the size of the watch unit relatively small so that it could be used as your day to day watch. Therefore the overall system is broken up into pieces (this data recorder being one.)

To use the overall system, you have to strap on the watch, the HR band, the GPS unit, and the data recorder. Then you have to get the system working and synched up with the watch prior to starting your workout. This process, while not painful, is not elegant. Thus I am not convinced this multi-unit approach is optimal.

Again, this unit (and the overall Timex fitness system) work as advertised. If you don't mind having several units strapped to yourself to generate and record your workout information, then this system is likely something you should consider purchasing. If you would prefer a single unit that is larger but more integrated, then keep looking.

The Timex data recorder is great for training. I am in the process of training for an early summer marathon and an early fall Ironman 70.3. This product (when used with the Timex 3D GPS and heart-rate monitor) tracks altidude/elevation, speed, pace, heart rate, and longitude/latitude. It comes with PC software to capture downloads from the data recorder. I have found it to be a great way to capture feedback from my workouts.

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The data recorder is an ok toy. I've had it cut out on me while it was supposed to be recording a couple of times. It doesn't link to the watch, so any timing infor from the watch is not kept. The PC program supplied with it is ok, would be much better if the plotted track could be coordinated with google maps or something of that sort. But it does a nice job of tracking work-outs and stores info in a very logical form. Overall I would just say that it is ok.

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This product is wonderful at recording workout data. And it easily and reliably links with your Timex chest strap.

My only gripe is that the software is not customizable to record and categorize data more toward users' needs. But it does do a great job of tracking your workout. I give it 4 of 5 stars!

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To make the data recorder work you have to watch a very dim light flash and interpret the flash pattern to know whether it is recording only the GPS, only the HRM, both, or neither. The data recorder can take a long time, and then fail to begin recording, or worse yet, start recording, and then stop unexpectedly. The watch tells you the speed, distance, heart rate, etc, but when you finish your run and try to download the data you find out the recorder stopped mid run. This is very frustrating. If the data recorder worked it would be a great product at a reasonable price, but I can not recommend it.

Samsung YH-925GS 20 GB Digital Audio Player

• Compact, lightweight 20 GB hard drive multimedia player
• Compatible with MP3 and WMA; also Secure WMA from online services
• View JPEG photos and album cover art via 1.8-inch LCD
• Line-in recording from voice or CD/cassette to MP3
• Internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery with up to 10 hours of battery life

Hardware look and feel is very polished, cooler than ipod, nice form factor and audio recording features not found on ipod. But software is quirky. Out of the box had to do a firmware upgrade over the net, and I mistakenly unplugged USB at the wrong time and hosed the drive and had to start over again, though had a similar experience with ipod too. One major annoyance is though it looks like a drive to Windows when you plug it in to the USB port, if you drag and drop MP3 folders over to it, they are stored but will not be recognized by the player, and wont play. Only files transferred with the sync from WMP or Napster will play. This is very annoying if you already have a large collection of MP3 folders and arent too interested in purchasing online right away. Another annoyance is it will only sync to one PC, if you sync it on a different PC, it may delete all the files!! This kind of fascist copy protection scheme is going too far, imho. Another major annoyance is the Napster signup, the default is to bill you 9.95 a month! It wasnt clear to me I had signed up for automatic billing till I got the bill. Sneaky! Napster has an 'all-you-can-eat' option for downloading given a fixed monthly subscription, but the fine print says if you ever stop subscribing then all the files you downloaded become unplayable!! What an amazing 'innovation' that is!! Is this progress? I think not. As far as the WMP interface, it works pretty good, though if I edit track genre info on WMP doesnt get updated to device, have to format hard drive and reload all songs apparently, to update new WMP genre changes. Overall the quirkiness is marginally acceptable, a little more than what I would expect for the third generation or so of this technology, e.g. it still reminds me of the early generation PDA quirks.

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Alright, it's the 21st century now. It's getting to the point where portable CD players are nice...but are so 20th century. I decided I needed a less-bulky and nicer portable audio device. Searching around Best Buy, I came across this. Let me tell you, the iPod is probably the most overrated portable electronics device ever.

Okay, first off by reading the 1-star or 2-star amazon.com reviews, many of them are either unfair or haven't given it a chance/didn't read directions.

Okay, I've heard A LOT about Napster software. For starters, which is a dissappointment, If you don't have Windows XP, go back to the search engine, because it's only compatable with XP. Macs don't count. Maybe, not guarrantee this, but maybe it will work on Windows ME. Not 100% sure, but all stores have a money-back guarantee...right? Also, it's not JUST compatable with Napster. Just because it says Napster on the box and player, does that mean ONLY Napster? No. It's also compatable with Windows Media Player 10, and I've also heard some people got it to work well with RealPlayer. Napster isn't the ONLY software compatable with this player.

For features, it has way more features than the standard, or even photo iPod. First off, yes, it has a built-in digital camera. The pictures aren't crystal clear, but I have a digital camera to do this for me. The pictures are fair to good, but don't get this just for the camera.

What you should get this for is for the wondeful MP3 player/organizer, radio, and MP3 recorder (both line-out and microphone). First off, the menus and organizing is unbelieveable. The menu has a few options, then those options have options, and so on. Example, if you click Music, you have artist, album, genre, song. Then, one you get into the organizer, if you click on a song, it will show up in "Now Playing". It would be better if it had a button to go back to the main menu, but it's only a minor problem. The FM tuner was better than expected and actually better than most portable radios out there. The microphone was also a great feature, and recorded voice very clearly. There is also a line-out to hook up the player to a set of speakers. If you need a car adapter, a lot of electronics stores sell cassette adapters for only about $10. The line-out also lets you record to another audio device. (Example: You can connect the TV to the MP3 player and the player will record the TV.)

The MP3 player holds around 5,000 songs on the MP3 format at around 192 kb/s. Personally, I use 128, so I have about a hundred extra. It depends on how much quality you want out of your tunes. If you want so-so sounding, you'll get more than 5,000, and if you want high quality, it will likely be less. And, it also supports WMA files, so then you'll have far more than 5,000 songs.

The sound quality is excellent. The player features presets for the equalizer, similar to the one in WMP, without the distortation. It also features a 3D equalizer, which many companys (Samsung, Panasonic, RCA) have been doing with their audio products as well. The MP3 player will power most, and about all headphones.

The LCD is in fact proven to be colored, and it is very sharp. It is 1.8 inches, which is equivalent or bigger to the size of an iPod screen. Some players like the Rio Karma have gigantic screens; though, the look is very unappealing. The player also allows you to view your own photos, or the album art. Or, you can look at the headphones, which to me gets hilarious after a few looks.

The biggest dissappointment is battery life. Ten ohurs may seem long, but in reality, not really. Most MP3 players have around 15-20 hours of battery. Though, this isn't much of a gripe for the non-travelers.

Also, the USB 2.0 was nice of Samsung; giving us the best cable link from the MP3 player to the computer.

Overall, unless you don't have Windows XP, and aren't a serious traveler, the YH925GS kicks the iPod in the trash. Well, you would throw away an iPod, right?

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I ended up with my Samsung as a replacement for my Rio Karma through a major retailer's service plan. It was either the YH-925 or the ipod, and even though the Samsung was brand new and basically unreviewed, I still preferred it to an ipod for a variety of reasons, which really don't matter for this review. What I can say, though, is that I liked my Rio a lot except for the fact that I had to occasionally beat it against a desk to "un-stick" its famously horrible hard drive; not something you want to do to a small, somewhat advanced piece of technology.

I was getting nervous about my new Samsung for two reasons. First, there are basically no professional reviews that I could find anywhere. And second, the few amateur reviews I did find (i.e., Amazon), basically blasted the YH-925 for its poor software. Let me say that the software isn't near as bad as the two reviews here make it out to be. The only thing I don't like about it, and the main reason why I docked a star from the rating, is the software tie-in with Napster. I don't need Napster, don't want to subscribe to Napster, and I really don't care to have such a far-reaching program just to transfer music to my player. That said, the ability to format ID3 tags and organize your music library is as good as any other software I've used. The other reason why I couldn't give it five stars is the long boot-up time and the lack of a "stop" button, which isn't a big deal, but not having a stop button definitely throws one for a loop at first.

I use my MP3 player for listening to music and not much else, so I haven't played around with the picture display or recording capability of the YH-925 yet, although I will soon. As far as sound quality goes, I'd have to say that this Samsung sounds quite a bit better than my Karma, and that had a 5-band customizable EQ (my earphones are Etymotic ER-6's). There are plenty of pre-set options in the Samsung, and each has a limited number of adjustments.

Overall, I'm pleased so far with the YH-925. It looks good, has a bunch of options and features, and most importantly sounds terrific. If you're looking for a 20gb player you can't go wrong here.

******Response to C. Waters*******

Now I'm no apologist for the YH-925, but I think in your frustration you overlooked something with the Napster software. After you create a username and password to sign-up, they give you the OPTION to enter credit card info and start paying, but you do not have to and can use Napster Lite. This still allows you to edit ID3 tags, import your library, and rip cd's to either WMA or MP3 (MP3 with a plug-in download). So true, you do have to sign-up, but all it consists of is creating a user/pass and opting out of all their promo email. Nothing more.

As far as the pix transfer, there is a list in the box of compatible cameras, so I don't think you can just plug in any old device and transfer data. I'll admit this limitation wasn't clear until you open the box and see the list.

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I've read all the reviews about how inconvenient it is to load music to this player using WMP and Napster. You don't have to go this route though.

This player will function as a drag and drop if you do two simple things.

1: Change the windows settings to show hidden files. Then click on the device and open the music folder in the device. You'll see all the songs you have loaded in there. From there just drag and drop all your new songs right in the folder.

2: After this is done use the utility suite that came with the player to 'rebuild your library'. In doing so, the software will have your device recognize all the music you just dragged and dropped into the player. It's a little easier than syncing.

As for the 4 stars rather than 5, well....as far as I can tell the napster program is the only way to create playlists for the player. This coupled with the lack of accessories and all the searchability issues when you begin to compile quite a bit of music on the player are far from ideal. However, I've owned one since about 3 weeks after it was released and I am very satisfied with it. Never had any problems at all.

Hopefully when they release a general firmware update to it they take some of these issues into consideration.

Also, apparently (though I've never checked it out myself) the Samsung Music Studio program works wonders with this player as well. If anyone has access to this software, I'd love to hear your take on it.

Bought the player about a month ago, and am satisfied so far.

Some of my main points are:

Works fine with WMP10. You DO NOT have to use Napster to use this player, although the documentation that comes with it makes it appear that you do. I have had no issues, other than playlists, using media player to manage my music.

Only music db issue are tags with my music. It will display track name, artist and album fine, but for some reason, genre is a mess. No matter what I try, I can't get a clean genre list.

Sounds is fantastic, buttons well laid out, and have a clean slick look to it.

Searching through your music is easy, and shuffle seems fine so far. My only complaint there is that is will not remember what has already been played if you shut the player off and come back later, but that is a fairly minor complaint.

It is sturdy. Have already dropped it six feet onto concrete, and other than a nasty ding on a corner, it functions perfectly.

Interfaces flawlessly with my Nikon D70, but you can only download one picture at a time which sucks if I need to empty my 1gig card, but nobody else does it better from what i have read.

Battery life is definitely not the advertised 10 hours. I would guess more like 6.

My bottom line: Needing Windows XP, the lack of drag and drop and the mess with id tags are the reasons I give it a 4 instead of 5. But, for $100 less than a comparable mp3 player, I can live with that.

Evertech CCTV Security Camera - 700 TVL, 36 IR, 2,8~12mm Wide Angle ZOOM Vari-focal Lens Metal Dome

This camera works really well and the wide angle is great for covering the entrance area. The IR works better than the Swann and Zmodo cameras I have. I would buy another one and probably will to replace one of my others. The other review stated the Zoom didn't cover things well. I zoomed it in and out but decided to leave it zoomed out in order to get the full coverage of the wide angle view of the area in question. It has a clear picture and works really well for the security of my business.

This is fundamentally a good vandal-resistant NTSC dome camera, but with two important limitations. First, it is quite difficult to adjust the field of view and focus unless you temporarily run a cable from the back of the camera to the front of the camera, and have a wrist mounted video monitor to obtain real-time feedback. Second, the documentation is poor, and written in "Chinglish". The one sheet of paper which comes with each camera has no installation instructions, and is pretty much useless. The one sheet "installation instructions" PDF available on the Evertech USA website is both misleading and incorrect. I had to call Evertech (NJ) for assistance. The camera is easy to disassemble, install, and adjust once you have done it once. A good price for a good quality NTSC camera, but you may need installation help.

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[Evertech CCTV Security Camera 700 TVL, 36 IR, 2,8~12mm Wide Angle ZOOM Vari-focal Lens Metal Dome Camera for Indoor & Outdoor 36 Ir LED Color Home Security Surveillance Dome Camera]

I purchased this camera from Maxvision CCTV in Sept 2012. Right out of the box (the very day i received it) I noticed an interesting problem with the camera. With the lens set (via the zoom dial) at the widest view angle of 2.8mm focal, the camera image would simply NOT focus ! The image was **COMPLETELY** blurry at this wide angle setting and adjusting the focus over the entire range of the focus dial would not fix (focus) the image. The image could only be focused after I zoomed IN well past the camera's widest angle setting. This essentially means that to use the camera, one has to give up the widest view angles advertised for the product.

It may be that I simply received a defective unit. I can't say for sure at this time -Sept 10. I have contacted the Seller and will post an update after getting closure. If the issue is addressed and/or my experience with the camera is improved, i will re-rate this product accordingly.

9/15/2012 Update: Seller (MaxVision) offered apology and replacement but I opted for a refund since i was spooked. A camera with issues right out of the box might just be a simple stroke of bad luck or a sign of poor quality product. I wasnt interested in finding out so i returned the camera. My rating of the product stands at 1 star.

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Sony ICD-BX112M 2GB Digital IC Voice Recorder with Mic

I BOUGHT IT FOR MY DAUGHTER WHO LIKES IT VERY MUCH. SHE USES IT TO RECORD LECTURES AT COLLEGE. SHE HAS

A COCHLEAR IMPLANT WHICH WORKS VERY WELL BUT DOES NOT CAPTURE ENOUGH OF THE SPEECH IN THE CLASSROOM. THE SONY RECORDS MORE OF THE SPEECH SOUNDS WHICH SHE LISTENS TO GET ALL OF THE LECTURE. SHE HAS HAD IT FOR ABOUT TWO MONTHS NOW AND IT CONTINUES TO PROVIDE AN EXCELLENT BACKUP TO THE CLASSROOM LECTURES.

Equiso Streaming Smart Stick

I got the Equiso Smart Streaming Stick because I wanted to watch YouTube, Netflix, and other Android functions on my TV. However, this device does not always want to work, and even when it does, it doesn't perform that well.

1. Control issues. Using the remote to interact with the menus usually works, but sometimes there is a "sticky" effect to dragging items on the screen, that the menu continues to interact a full second after letting go of the center button. Gaming may also be difficult, as this remote wasn't really designed for it; it could likely do simple games, like angry birds, but not MineCraft, or many of the other advanced games.

Also, some of the buttons do nothing, which is not convenient when watching videos (no forward/back buttons, have to use on screen controls). Keyboard setup is makes it so that you don't always know whether you're going to get a capital/lowercase letter, symbol, or number. Even worse is that sometimes that the alpha-numeric keys don't work, which makes it even harder to type in passwords.

2. Display issues. Some times the stick does not display anything on the TV, and pressing the power button on the remote does nothing (same with holding the button down). A lot of times, you have to unplug the thing from the TV before you'll get anything. When it does work, it never goes into power saving mode, and never dims the screen.

Another issue was scaling the screen; it starts off displaying an image 40% larger than the screen, so you have to downscale it. While adjusting it for the first time, it skipped on to the next part of the tutorial. Thankfully, I was able to go back by going into settings, and HDMI. No setup up process should ever force you on to the next step, ever.

3. Video playback is not great. Even though the device supports 1080P, it will not play Netflix at any quality higher than 480P. YouTube playback is erratic, and the device honestly acts as though I'm accessing the internet via mobile internet access, rather than broadband. This means that high definition video playback will constantly stop to buffer.

Does the device do anything right? Well, it does play videos, and run Android applications, but this is when the device decides to work. It isn't worth the price, and I'll be returning mine soon.

I bought this to run XBMC for Android, downloaded and installed XBMC Frodo 12.2 with no problems. Running with Aeon Nox skin, and haven't had many issues. It does sometimes get hung up, necessitating a reboot of XBMC, but primarily with one of the streaming music add-ons available in XBMC, still haven't figured out why. If you are using this to stream local media, it works well up to 720p,higher than that and it stutters and generally refuses to play. I have been using XBMC for years, since the original xbox version, most recently I was running it on an small pc next to the tv, and while the playback isn't as smooth as it was with the pc, the size more than makes up for it. The remote takes some time to master, but isn't bad to work with, the keyboard function is decent, if inconsistentsome onscreen menus require you to point at and select your letters. Overall a decent purchase, as I said I use it entirely for XBMC, so have not evaluated it for any other purpose.

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One word....TERRIBLE

Due to all the bad reviews on their other Amazon sales page it looks like the scam tactics of team Equiso have attempted to post a 2nd sales page for the lousy product.

If you are looking for a streamer go with ROKU

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i bought one and its really awesome!!! I love it... we can really use Netflix, Pandora, Youtube and other programs and app very easy directly from the tv without computers and others systems.

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Samsung SC-D372 MiniDV Camcorder with 34x Optical Zoom

I am not an expert at using a camcorder by any stretch of the imagination so I approached this product's mass of settings and controls with somewhat wary an approach. A family vacation up to New York and Canada earlier this year gave me the opportunity to put it through its paces and it passed with flying colors. I also was able to hook it up to my DVD recorder with a firewire cable (not included) and transfer it easily onto regular DVD. One thing that surprised me (given the reviews here concerning lighting) is that my camcorder works great in poor lighting. Watching it with my travel companions as I transferred the home video to DVD they remarked that the shots at an aquarium were brighter than they had been to the naked eye and brought out more detail. One troubling detail about the camera is that it needs to be hooked up to recharge the battery (which itself lasts about an hour). However I bought a TechFuel Premium Advanced Desktop Battery Charger as well as more powerful batteries by TechFuel (both given as accessories on the Amazon product page) and they work great.

This is pretty nice considering the SC-D372's price range. The best feature is the conveniently located "Easy Q" button seems to figure out the best settings.

It has easily accessible VCR-style multi-function controls that are not under the LCD fold-out. The contour of the camera is comfortable to the hand.

The SC-D372 is an affordable way to capture moments.

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i like the camcorder, no complaint here. battery life is not that good , so u need another battery.picture is good. i taped my sons party with it, the video is clear. i just got it a month ago. so far i like it.

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I bought this because I like to snowboard, and I thought having a small camcorder to capture footage would be awesome...

**

When the camera got cold (not wet), it just shut-off.

The battery doesn't last long, especially if the display is open.

It takes a while to start, and before it begins recording... the tape rewinds 0:03 seconds, deleting some past footage.

The color/quality isn't very good, and it takes a long time to focus.

If you speak too loudly/close into the mic. it has a 'high screeching noise' during playback.

***

What's good about it?

It has good zooming capabilities, the lens is a Schneider Kreuznach, small/portable, easy to function, pretty sturdy, small light for night, and the low price.

****

Samsung has good products, but this isn't one of them. I would recommend another camcorder.

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I always trust Samsung and they impressed me more with this camera. probably the cheapest video camera availible, it is better than you would expect it to be. Although it isn't so good in night or dim light, not a lot of other cameras are anyways. It's perfect for anyone who simply wants a basic video camera.

Tascam CD-500B Single Rackspace CD Player

• Slim and lightweight 1RU chassis fits into any standard equipment rack
• Slot-loading mechanism takes up less space and is less prone to breakage than tray-loading drives
• Supports audio CDs, plus CD-ROM discs with WAV files up to 16-bit/48kHz and MP3 files up to 320kbps VBR
• Playback options include all, single, random, A/B, 99-track program, incremental play, call function, power-on play and skip back play, plus a 16% pitch control
• Analog stereo XLR and RCA outputs are provided, which also offer mono output capability

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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CIB K808AV500G8653 8CH Network Security Surveillance KIT w/ Eight CCD Cameras...

I bought the 8 camera system from USA Security listed here. I would have given five stars, but it's four for the product not the firm.

The company shipped out a package missing a power supply for the main DVR unit. However, when I wrote and called to complain, they immediately shipped out a replacement power supply without any trouble whatsoever. This firm seemed committed to resolving sales problems for its customers, and for that I'm grateful. I'd definitely buy from them again, and would recommend others purchase from the firm as well.

The device works as advertised. Images from the cameras are straight 480i, and what's recorded is really about 320i, but then again so what. I'm not making a movie, I'm recording video of the exterior of a property. I don't care about image quality, I care about having proof for insurance adjusters and law enforcement. I've installed about half the cameras and got the DVR working, so I can say for certain that it works as advertised.

However, and here's why the fifth star is missing, the DVR system is based on Linux. It's clearly imported hardware from China. Unfortunately, the manufacturer doesn't include source code for the Linux portion of the product. Yet, that's a requirement of the GPL license agreement for Linux. Frankly, I doubt USA Security has any control over their Chinese manufacturers they're likely just buying in bulk and selling an imported product. But they should know that if they could get their customers source code, folks like me just might improve it. I'll need the root password too.

For the vast majority of potential buyers, this is not an issue. If you want a cheap 8 cam security system, this device will do the trick. But it sure would be nice if these manufacturers actually read and followed the license agreements of the Free Software they base their products upon. Following that license would actually benefit them and their customers as well.

Very complete kit, including a nice power box, pigtail wires, cables, cameras and great DVR and software.

Cameras have nice resolution and good motion sensing.

Took me just a few hours to setup the first 5 cameras. Very easy setup, the software with the included mouse makes setup a snap, in no time I had it emailing me snapshots.

I really like the snapshot on motion, it emails me jpgs from 2-3 active cameras at once.

Overall great value with plug and play experience.

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I purchased this unit 7 months ago and I love it. I operate a home daycare and buying these cameras have been the best investment hands down. I consider myself mechanically inclined and all by myself, was able to hook up the cameras without much trouble. The hook up of the equipment is pretty simple and it took me 2 days to hook them up. The hardest part was running the wires through the attic but if you have help, I'm sure they can be set up in a day.

After a day, one of the cameras stopped working. I contacted the seller and he immediately sent me out a new camera with a prepaid box to ship the defective camera back. I also contacted the seller before I bought this system and spoke with a woman and she took the time to explain the system to me and answered any questions I had. That was the main selling point for me. Customer service now days is ridiculous and I appreciated the time she took explaining everything to me and the promptness of the return of the defective camera.

I did have problems hooking up the cameras to the internet. I am not very computer literate, so I had Geek Squad come out and try to hook it up but he had problems also. Apparently, the user login kept asking for a password that was never created and the only way to obtain that password was to contact the vendor or manufacturer. I checked YouTube and was able to figure out that the password was password.

I normally only buy products off of Amazon by ratings and this product did not have a rating at the time of my purchase but I am glad that I took a chance. Unfortunately, the other person who gave it a 1 star was commenting on a different item.

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Q-see is one of the worst company I've ever dealt with.

I purchased their product and couldn't get it to work.

I emailed the company many times before I received any

acknowledgement. When I finally was able to get replacement parts

for the unit, I only had one week left under the warranty.

Needless to say, the replacement parts didn't fix the problem.

I tried to recontact with the company via email...and they blew me

off until the warranty ran out.

After which, they told me they wouldn't even look at the unit..

a unit that never worked,

unless I paid them $90.00 in advance.

Do not give these thieves your hard earned dollar.

Stay far away from Q-see

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Panasonic DMR-EH75VS DVD Recorder / VCR Combo with 80GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input

• DVD recorder with 80 GB hard drive for PVR functionality; measures 16.9 x 2.3 x 13.9 inches (WxHxD)
• Up-converts to near high-definition resolution via HDMI; easy one-touch dubbing of DVD to VCR and VCR to DVD (non-copy protected sources)
• Records onto DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, and DVD-RAM; plays back dual-layer DVD-R/+R and CD-R/RW
• Connections: composite (2 in, 1 out), S-Video (2 in, 1 out), component (1 out), HDMI (1 out), RF (1 in, 1 out), Firewire (1 in), SD card slot
• Optical digital audio out for Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound

I have been holding out on buying a DVD recorder until one came out with VHS, DVD, and a hard drive (HDD). This unit finally delivers! It definitely has some cons, but this unit is the best you'll get if you want to record onto a hard drive first, edit out the commercials, and then transfer to DVD. The advantage to this method is that you can record say 2.5 hours in SP mode (2 hr mode), edit out a half hour of commercials, and then transfer to DVD. If you have to record directly to DVD before editing out the half hour of video, you would have to use a longer recording mode and therefore reducing the video quality.

Some of the things that can be improved upon:

Consistency of auto-chapters: When copying directly to DVD, I've gotten chapter stops at 5 minutes and 8 minutes. When copying to the hard drive, there is no rhyme or reason. Why is this not consistent?

Chapters are not maintained when copying from HDD to DVD in different recording mode: After copying to the hard drive, you can set your own chapter stops. These chapter stops are maintained when the video is copied to DVD in high speed mode (and therefore at the same video quality setting). However, if you record to HDD say in XP mode, edit out commercials, and then copy to DVD in a mode where it fits onto one disc (say, SP mode), it makes the DVD without any chapters! It should maintain the chapters that it allowed me to create. (The reason you would use this method to make a DVD is because you might not know how long the program is without commercials prior to editing them out. So you would want to copy to HDD in the highest quality mode possible)

Loss of sound when "shortening a title": When you edit out a section of video, I have sometimes noticed a loss of sound for a few seconds before and a few seconds after the edited section. It also pauses briefly during the removed section.

Can't copy a VHS to HDD or DVD and edit commercials on the fly: I should be able to easily play a VHS tape and record it to DVD and press the PAUSE button at the start and end of a commercial to edit it out. My old Go Video VHS to VHS deck has this simple feature... why wouldn't a brand new $500 VHS to DVD unit be able to do this? Are you listening, Panasonic?

TV Guide built in DVR is not easy to navigate: If you want to skip ahead through 3 days of listings, it's not so easy to do. But for a DVR with no monthly fee, I can't complain too much here.

Need to use both coax AND RCA cables: Most combo units allow you to use only the coax connections in case you have an old TV. With this unit you are REQUIRED to use both, which doesn't make any sense.

Bad remote layout: The 'Function' and 'Navigator' buttons are too close to the directional wheel which is used for editing your videos and typing title names. The result is that you will often hit the wrong button by accident and leave the screen you were working in.

There were a few other basic features that you would expect to have, but I can't think of any other drawbacks right now. Overall, this is actually a really GOOD UNIT, certainly the only one of it's kind... I just figured I should tell you of the drawbacks to make sure you can live with them before buying it.

Buy Panasonic DMR-EH75VS DVD Recorder / VCR Combo with 80GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input Now

I've been using the DMR-EH75VS recorder for about four weeks now and I love the quality of the picture, the ease of copying from HDD to DVD, and the quality level of VHS transfers (recorded LP) to HDD or DVD. This is with the unit connected to a 20 year old Sony Trinitron television with an RF Modulator. I've also used the fire wire connection to connect my Sony MiniDV camcorder to transfer footage to DVD and it worked beautifully. I would give the unit 5 stars if the manual were better and if I had successfully installed the included feature of the TV Guide listings.

First about the manual: I work as a television editor and even I had trouble with the manual. The terminology is vague and the procedures often assume a level of knowledge that is unrealistic. The glossary should make up for the terminology problem, but does not. I did email questions to Panasonic and received satisfactory answers, but the manual should be self-explanatory.

Regarding the TV Guide listings I have yet to get them. I followed the procedures from the beginning and the unit searched for them, but after the prescribed 24 hours of having the unit off (I did this several times), the unit kept telling me that it could not find the listings. I have talked to Panasonic several times, have changed configurations, then tried getting the listings a few times (which is annoying because I can't record anything during the 24 hours it's off), and finally Panasonic did a software diagnostic that they are sending off to TV Guide and they said they would get back to me.

To be fair, I started off when I first got the unit with Cablevision and a Scientific Atlanta cable box, and last week I switched cable services and now have Verizon Fios fiber optic television service with a Motorola cable box. With both boxes, Panansonic had me reset the unit, adjust the settings and turn the unit off for 24 hours. I still don't have listings, but I hold out hope.

In the meantime, in between testing for TV Guide listings I have done many manual recordings direct to DVD and direct to the HDD, and am very happy with those functions. If you have problems manually setting up a vcr for programmed recordings and you can't get the TV Guide listings either because of the type of cable box or satellite service, think twice about getting this unit, because manually setting up programmed events might give you trouble.

Previous comments about the remote and the menus are ligitimate. It takes a little getting used to them, but if you're not a techno-phobe they shouldn't be a problem. Getting rid of the commercials can be tedious, but once again when you get how it's done, that's not a big deal.

Though free Panasonic help has been available online and by phone, the technicians I've dealt with have ranged from fairly knowledgeable to not so much.

In closing, after all these problems with the listings and the manual, why don't I give this unit a lower rating? The reasons are because the quality of the picture is really fabulous, the ability to record to a hard drive and delete commercials as well as come in on a program that's already started and watch from the beginning while the machine tapes the whole show is really great and I'm getting a big kick out of that, and I love that I can do all this without paying a monthly fee.

So even if I never get the listings because they are not available with my service, I'm still happy with the unit and will either manually set up recordings or attempt to use the VCR+ option. If I finally do get the TV Guide listings, I'll write a supplement to this post, but overall the DMR-EH57VS is a really great unit.

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic DMR-EH75VS DVD Recorder / VCR Combo with 80GB Hard Drive, HDMI, SD Card, and DV Input Here

Several people have written excellent reviews of the Panasonic's ability to edit and record TV, in addition to VCR-DVD archiving, and I suggest looking at those reviews below. I would just like to add a few comments on my, so far limited, experience with this deck.

-HDMI upscaling is very good, and in my opinion is as good as my stand-alone Toshiba DVD player with HDMI upscaling. In addition, all video is upscaled to the format of your choice, and is a nice feature. Because of this, I found video playback of recorded shows to be of excellent quality. Very close to actual broadcast, if not the same on certain channels.

-TV Guide setup was simple, and asked for your postal code. The deck takes around 24 hours to get guide data, and I recieved 2-3 days of programming after about 18 hours. You must also periodically place this unit on standby in order to recieve updated TVGOS content, which is sent over the cable during late evening, and early morning hours, from my observations. My setup: analog cable directly fed into the Panasonic deck (no cable box), HDMI out to HD-ready TV. After reading the manual, TVGOS is not available to everyone, please be sure to check with your local cable co. just in case, if this feature is important to you. In additon, do not autotune this deck for channels, doing so loses the TVGOS capability, unless you do not want TVGOS.

-DVR capabilities: excellent video quality, TVGOS does a decent job of organiziation of channel listings and recording que. Recorded shows are shown as thumbnail videos and is a very nice feature of this unit. You can watch any thumbnail video saved on the HDD. The deck also has VCR+, but I do not use this feature, however some you propective buyers may like this feature.

-The deck is silent. the fan is quiet, there is little to no noise (just HDD noise at startup) emanating from the unit at all. very nice to see imo.

-The deck can record when in standby mode, thereby conserving power consumption, again a nice feature.

-The manual is not an easy read. Very technical, however this deck is not for the average user. Be prepared to spend some time reading certain parts of the manual in order to setup this deck properly.

-You can watch a DVD movie or VHS movie while simultaneously recording on the HDD, in additon to watching HDD content you have previously recording while the deck records. Nice feature, and for me, was a must have.

-This deck has high speed DVD burning built in, and allows for 1h-2h of content to be burned in 20 min or so. One caveat: For example, if you have high speed recording set to "on", you can burn a DVD fast, but you cannot record in dolby audio, nor widescreen. Therefore if you are recording a show (say CSI in widescreen) and you have this unit set for high speed recording, the picture will be in 4:3 format on the DVD. Something to consider.

-This deck cannot simultaneously output digital audio from HDMI and Toslink. you are made to chose one or the other. If you want Toslink, the unit disables Audio from HDMI, and vice versa. Not a big problem, but an annoyance when I want to watch a DVD movie through my DTS decoder (that does not have HDMI inputs).

-This deck has component inputs for recording, but only supports 480i (normal NTSC) and 480p (enhanced TV). so if you wish to record HD content, you are out of luck. I recorded OTA HD content in widescreen into this deck and found it to look and sound excellent, even though it was recorded in 480p.

-Last but not least, This deck is not constantly recording to the HDD, therefore TiVo-like features such as pausing live TV is not possible with the touch of a button. You must first record what you are watching to use the pause feature. I own a TiVo box and I love its capabilities, and the fact that anyone from young to old can use the TiVo interface within 30 min to an hour, but I don't like the monthly fees. If you are like me, and wanted to break free from the monthly fee, then I highly recommend this deck.

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It is a good VCR-DVD video recorder, by far its working ok...Good image on VHS, fast and easy one touch recording.

The manual is awful. I own a Sony RDR-HX900 which has a much better owner manual, and even so, it is not as good as expected.

It lacks an eject button on the remote, but do we need it? Anyway you have to stand up and go for the DVD or VHS...

It is quite slow in activate TV functions, and its TV Guide panel and Setup tabs and steps are a little tortuous with sub menu and sub-sub menus anywhere.

Anyway it has one of the best image available on DVD and VHS. Dubbing to DVD a VHS is a breeze and the image obtained is superb

Recommended

The instruction manual is complicated and poorly compiled, lots of symbols and page re-directing, illogical order, etc. At first I was very frustrated. I found Tech Support to be extrememly patient, if not impressively knowledgable. I appreciated their assistance. But mostly I just spent several hours at a time over the course of a couple weeks to learn each feature one at a time. Some things do make sense and can be learned through playing and trial and error.

But now that I've got the hang of it I love it! Granted, this is my first DVD recorder and I've never had TIVO so I am extra impressed with how easily and well the TV Guide works (again, after some initial frustration to set-up). I had originally bought the step-down version of Panasonic's DVD/VCR recorder, but as I had been warned by other reviews, it ate my VHS tape within the first week of use. So I returned that Amazon's customer service was exceptional and opted for the new improved and w/ hard drive version. I am so glad I did!

I also am using it to record old home videos from VHS to DVD; I love being able to set-up chapters with titles. Too bad it doesn't let me record my old store-bought VHS movies onto DVD, but those are copyright-protected so I guess that's only fair.

I have to confess, I haven't even hooked it up to an HD TV yet I'm saving to buy one in the next few months. So for me, picture quality is fine but nothing to rave about. If I had to nitpick, besides the terrible manual (there are multiple typos in confusing context!), I really wish I could watch something on TV while recording another channel. And I wish I could watch DVD RAMs on other DVD players without finalizing the disk so they can still be recorded over after. As is, I have to watch everything that I may want to record over on this player and TV. And I think the price is a little steep, though i couldn't find any cheaper alternatives available. I also really miss my multi-disk DVD changer since this is just a single but, again, I couldn't find any comparable options that featured that.

All in all, a terrific purchase!

UPDATE: 9/14/07 Like so many other Panasonic reviewers warned me, it's off to the repair shop. The DVD stopped playing or recording on DVDs. Luckily it's still under warranty, but after unhooking everything, sending it in, waiting 3-5 weeks, and having to go through the complicated process of re-setting it up, I don't feel confident that it will working in stellar condition. Starting to regret this purchase though I had mostly postitive experiences with it until recently. Bummer!

Sony SLV-D300P Progressive-Scan DVD-VCR Combo

• DVD/VCR combo unit with progressive-scan DVD output and 1-month, 8-event VCR programming
• Plays a wealth of formats, including DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, MP3 CD, JPEG image CD, and S-VHS tape (at VHS resolution)
• DVD bookmarking, resume, and picture zoom
• 4-head VCR offers commercial skip, 19-micron heads for clear images from EP recordings
• Includes multibrand remote control that operates most TVs

I just returned this unit because of the same problems people had with the earlier SLV-D100. The first line on the addendum says "DVD's with scratches may cause the disc to pause". Not a good sign. Scratches or not the machine paused on every dvd I played. New, used, played once or twice it didn't matter. They all froze at some point in time during playback. I tried eight dvd's and had trouble with them all. I called Sony and of course they had nothing to offer. I wanted to keep this item but I had to return it, it was useless. I'm going to look at Panasonic next, hope they are better. I really used to admire Sony products. I have an older Trinitron TV and the picture is still amazing, nothing like it today. But today's Sony equipment is price competing junk.

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We purchased this DVD/VCR combo with a little hesitation due to some negative reviews here and on other sites but have found that, for the money ($179) it is a very decent DVD player/VCR player-recorder. Setup was a breeze -less than 5 minutes with only a glance at the instructions.

Since buying this unit last week, I've played about 10 DVDs on it. All played flawlessly with a beautiful picture. Last night we watched a DVD from the library and near the end, the picture began to break up as some other have complained about the unit. When we examined the borrowed DVD, we saw that it contained several severe scratches near the end and this is why the picture was breaking up -not the fault of the player.

The VCR works flawlessly -mostly we just record the news and Comedy Central and we use our tapes over and over. Even old tapes that had been recorded on many times played back beautifully on this player. (...)

I can't quite give the unit a rating of 5 because the response time on some of the commands is a little slow. Also, I have had one incidence of having no response when I pressed the eject button the DVD player. I had to switch the power off and on and press the button a couple more times before it worked. That was the second time I used the DVD, but it has worked every time since then. We have not yet completely read the manual nor learned to use all of the controls on the remote, but we are quite satisfied with the performance of this unit.

Read Best Reviews of Sony SLV-D300P Progressive-Scan DVD-VCR Combo Here

After debating, I must say to others to pass on this unit. While not enough for me to return my item to the store, if I knew what I know now, I'd pass on getting it.

I've not had most of the problems posted in previous reviews. No problems with the VHS deck, no blue lines, no physical damage done to tapes. My only real VCR concern was an odd entry in the options setup where you tell the tape size, 120, 160, etc. Why? Shouldn't the unit ONLY care about the tape size when it detects the clear leader tape at the beginning and the ending? If not, then, it appears to me this option is for some kind of fast rewind, which I've always hated in VCR's. They did nothing but tear up my tapes because they never recognized the leader tape.

Main points that stick out that potential buyers should know. First is the included remote. Unfortunately, should you need a replacement, you probably won't be able to ever control the unit again. The buttons on the console itself are few. The remote commands are too numerous, meaning a universal remote probably will be useless on this, though I've not tested this. The remote buttons are fairly small, and, you will need a full light source to see what buttons are where and what they do.

Next, the manual is surprisingly lacking. Several set up options weren't covered anywhere in the manual I could see and key areas that should have been included in the Index at the back were not listed.

Finally, the main reason I believe people should not buy this unit. It does accept DVD writable discs, however, it is WAY too picky! Within the manual itself, it warns the unit may not be able to play discs that have label stickers on the label surface. While it is not recommended to use labels as they may peel off in the drive, to have the drive somehow detect labels or the drive bay have so little space for a margin of error that it physically prevents the disc from playing is simply outrageous to accept! The manual also warns that scratches on a disc may prevent playback. While this is certainly acceptible, IF scratches are what were causing my discs not to playback, then, this unit is too sensitive to them. When I read here of the DVD being picky, I loaded all of my library, disc by disc, to see the results. 11 discs simply refused to play with the drive's "THIS DISC CANNOT BE PLAYED! CHECK THE DISC!" error. No other explanation. Just a generic error that blames you for it. Were there more detailed error messages, it might be tolerable.

No, the laser within the disc reader is simply too picky. Using rewritable DVD discs, I was able to rebuild these 11 discs into a format the drive liked. However, all 11 of these discs played before, and I tested them again, STILL played fine in four other test players that they had passed in before! A Panasonic DVR, 2 PC drives (One of the the Sony DRU-500, amazingly!) and the Playstation 2. (Another Sony reader!)

Bottom line, 2 other Sony drives played them fine, but, this unit didn't even want to read them. The DVD drive is just too picky here. Not enough for me to return it because it has yet to fail on any DVD pressed discs, just writable ones. Granted, there are a lot of miracles involved, more than people realized, in getting a writable DVD disc to work. But, for discs that worked before in drives that still work, including 2 from the same manufacturer as this combo unit, that's simply something a buyer shouldn't have to accept.

A few annoyances that can be lived with, but, were I someone else knowing what I know now, I'd pass on the drive. Again, not enough for me to return it yet, but, I also cannot recommend anyone else getting it.

EDIT: I DID end up returning it.

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The VCR part works great, we've never had a playback problem of either a new or rented tape, and the rewind speed is awesome!

The DVD part plays back fine, both video and audio, but does have the irritating problem, mentioned by many other reviewers, of occassionally pausing for some 20 seconds and sporadically freezing altogether requiring the stop button to be pressed followed by the play button. I take one star off for this annoying habit.

As at least one other reviewer mentioned, there is a design flaw in the video outputs: only the standard RCA outputs share the VCR and DVD signal, the SVHS and component outputs are DVD only. If you want to use a single video cable for the VCR and DVD signals, it therefore has to be the standard RCA output. Our TV won't display the standard RCA signal if a SVHS cable is plugged in, so unless we want to connect/disconnect everytime we switch from VCR to DVD mode and back, we can only use the standard RCA signal for both VCR and DVD playback. I take a second star off for this design flaw.

Just bought mine at Wal-Mart as part of Sony's pre-packaged home theater system. I should have checked the reviews here firat. I tried 3 different DVDs and it stumbles on all of them -pauses and pixellation. Very disappointing. Everything goes back tomorrow!

Euroge Tech® 4GB Gold Bar Shape USB Flash Memory Drive

I thought I was purchasing digital voice recorders. These came up on a search for digital voice recorders. The product description states

* Telephone recording function allows you to record detailed conversations

* Long time voice recording, it is a best choice and good assistant for you

* This digital voice recorder supports Windows and Mac system

* Connect to computer to play the recording file

The listing is somewhat misleading as well since it pictures three items sided by side, when they're sold individually.

It`s beautiful and perfect to use at work.

All my friends love it.

I love it.

It was exactly as I expected.

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Sharper Image U-Video Camera

this video camera is ...uhhh... decent lol. the camera has built in zoom a bit so if your holding the camera out and recording yourself then its either going to show only your eyes and forehead or your mouth and chin lol. this camera is good to medium distance. video clarity is pretty good. this is a good camera just for pulling it out and capturing something. dont expect it to be awesome.

the recording is good. the sound and picture are both o.k. we cannot figure out how to make useable dvd's, which was the reason for buying it.

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I dont know if im the only one but DO NOT BUY!!! Compleate waste of money!!! When i try to view the vids and pics I mjust took and or recorded it says file error every single time. When i hook it up to my computer it says that the file cannot be read to all of my pics and vids. This camera will not work i have tried and tried and tried......

Read Best Reviews of Sharper Image U-Video Camera Here

Medialink - HDPro Mini Media Station

• High Resolution HD File Play Supports 1920x1080 Resolution for Optimum Picture Quality
• Supports a Variety of HD Files, Such As TP, TS & TRP Files, As Well As MPEG, DivX, XVid, DAT, ISO, DVD and MKV
• Supports a Variety PF Music Sources Such As MP3, OGG, WAV, AC3, FLAC, and DTS
• Supports JPEG and BMP Images

I purchased one of these and installed it behind a LCD TV at the enterence of our building to play a video off. I use a flash drive for storage. It runs 24/7 and the TV turns itself on and off on a schedule. It has been running for about a year without a problem.

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Apex PD-660S 6.5-Inch Portable DVD Player

• Portable DVD player with DVD/SVCD/CD/MP3 disc playback and 6.5-inch 16:9 display
• Compatible with JPEG image discs
• Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel digital output for immersive surround sound (with compatible AV receivers and speakers)
• Switchable AV input/output lets you hook up a camcorder or a gaming console
• Includes AC adapter, remote control and DC car adapter

I PURCHASED THIS PORTABLE DVD PLAYER FOR MYSELF BEACAUSE I AM ALWAYS ON THE MOVE. WHEN I SPOTTED IT I THOUGHT FOR THE MONEY IT WAS A GOOD DEAL. IT IS PACKED WITH FEATURES THAT THE MORE EXPENSIVE ONES HAVE AND YET IS AFFORDABLE. THE PICTURE QUALITY IS GREAT FOR A 6.5 INCH SCREEN.THE SOUND QUALITY THROUGH THE SPEAKERS COULD BE BETTER BUT AFTER TESTING MORE EXPENSIVE UNITS AND NOT GETTING THAT MUCH MORE OUT OF THEM I DECIDED IT'S WITHIN LIMITS. I ALSO LIKED THAT YOU CAN PLUG IT INTO YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER. IT HAS ALL THE PLUGS AND WIRES TO HOOK IT UP TO ANY SYSTEM. ANOTHER NICE FEATURE IS THE 3-WAY POWER SUPPLY: BATTERY, CAR ADAPTER, AC.ADAPTER,AND EARBUDS FOR PRIVATE LISTENING. IT ALSO HAS A FULL FUNCTION REMOTE. THE BATTERY ALSO GIVES YOU ABOUT 2+ HOURS OF USE.

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I purchased an Apex portable DVD player at CircuitCity that, after a couple of months, the battery was found to be defective. I spent weeks trying to contact them via their toll-free line. When I finally got a hold of a live body, he instructed me to return the battery for replacement. That sounded great, so I returned the battery. Approximately five weeks later, still no battery or any contact from Apex. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau regarding Apex's conduct and, hopefully, they can push them to rectify the situation. I'm very disappointed in their customer service and, when I needed to buy a DVD player for my basement, I decided to avoid future headaches and bought a Toshiba unit.

The DVD player itself works great. Nice picture for a portable unit and the price was right (had the battery not been a piece of junk).

Read Best Reviews of Apex PD-660S 6.5-Inch Portable DVD Player Here

I PURCHASED THIS PORTABLE DVD PLAYER FOR MYSELF BEACAUSE I AM ALWAYS ON THE MOVE. WHEN I SPOTTED IT I THOUGHT FOR THE MONEY IT WAS A GOOD DEAL. IT IS PACKED WITH FEATURES THAT THE MORE EXPENSIVE ONES HAVE AND YET IS AFFORDABLE. THE PICTURE QUALITY IS GREAT FOR A 6.5 INCH SCREEN.THE SOUND QUALITY THROUGH THE SPEAKERS COULD BE BETTER BUT AFTER TESTING MORE EXPENSIVE UNITS AND NOT GETTING THAT MUCH MORE OUT OF THEM I DECIDED IT'S WITHIN LIMITS. I ALSO LIKED THAT YOU CAN PLUG IT INTO YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER. IT HAS ALL THE PLUGS AND WIRES TO HOOK IT UP TO ANY SYSTEM. ANOTHER NICE FEATURE IS THE 3-WAY POWER SUPPLY: BATTERY, CAR ADAPTER, AC.ADAPTER,AND EARBUDS FOR PRIVATE LISTENING. IT ALSO HAS A FULL FUNCTION REMOTE. THE BATTERY ALSO GIVES YOU ABOUT 2+ HOURS OF USE.

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I took mine out west on a trip and the battery life was about 15 minutes (fully charged). I ran it off the power adapter and could not get through a full movie.

If your DVD/CD's have ANY imperfections this player won't play them. I finally got a brand new audio cd to play straight from the package, although it still skipped whenever you walked through the room.

Not recommended.

This is a cool little player I've used it for over a year. My only complaint is that it doesn't actually display native DVD resolution, so on screen text in movies can be difficult to read. This thing will play just about any format of DVD except for DVD-RW (+RW works fine, though). DVD's with MP3's on them play well too.

When you charge the batter, you should not do it while hooked up to the player. If your battery doesn't work, you can calibrate it by hooking a 12 volt vehicle light bulb to the + and terminals of the battery over night, and then charging it up to full (leave it plugged in for about 12 hours). As I used it my battery life went down, but calibrating it (as I mentioned above) got me back up to about 3 hours of life.

I've also used this attached to a TV using the S-Video, and I have used the option to connect my PS2 to it (very cool!)

TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL DVR (Black)

• Connects to your cable service and replaces your cable box; monthly subscription required
• Records up to 150 hours of HD programming
• Record your favorite shows and discover new ones with TiVo's new HD interface
• Full HD support, including 1080i and 1080p
• THX Certified for exceptional sound and video quality

This is finally a worthy successor to the Tivo Series 2. While there have been 2 previous HD Tivos before, their relative cost and the lack of available options for lifetime subscription made them unattractive financially compared with the cable company DVR. If you purchase directly from Tivo, there is a (...) lifetime subscription option to those with a previous lifetime subscription. That makes this a worthwhile deal, even if it takes about 30+ months to break even.

If you've not used a Tivo before, I would say it is head and shoulders above Comcast's ugly, ill-conceived interface. If you've used Verizon, it will be a step up, but not nearly so dramatic. If you've used Tivo before, you'll feel right at home. It's basically the 8 year old Tivo interface that's been spiced up here and there, with supporting links to Netflix & Blockbuster for streaming movies.

This Tivo requires an M-Series cable card if you're not recording from an antenna. If you're not sure, call your cable company to see if they support it. Verizon did struggle with this question, although eventually I found someone to confirm the Verizon cable card supports multi-stream. However, the Verizon tech they sent was helpful and had the job complete in about 15 minutes.

Although the Tivo supports resolutions up to 1080P, it is only available at 1080p/24, so if you have a slightly older set that only supports 1080p/60, you'll have to drop back to 1080i. That isn't spelled out anywhere on Tivo's site, although it probably doesn't make much of a difference.

This Tivo networks nicely with older Tivo's allowing you to transfer video between them, although it's not possible to transfer from an HD Tivo to a SD Tivo, although the reverse works nicely. You can also use the Tivo Desktop (a free download) to transfer to your PC. You can even save it to watch later or on your portable (Google "kmttg tivo").

I won't write a review of the Tivo interface. More people have done it better than I could, so Google for reviews. You should know, although the new menus are in high definition, once you get away from the primary menus, it drops back to the old 480/SD menus. The only reason I can tell is the screen on the TV flips a bit until it resyncs with the lower resolution.

This version of the Tivo has a backlit remote, although by default that isn't turned on. It also supports separate volume and muting with an A/V receiver, although it doesn't give you the ability to turn it on with your remote. My A/V receiver did not work with the codes provided, but a chat with Tivo pointed me to a page on their support site where you'll find the new Tivo has a "learning" remote. That did the trick.

If you use Tivo's Chat support, the agents are well-informed and patient.

I've had one brief incident as I messed around with various menus where the HDMI lost sound sync with the TV. A quick resync through the A/V receiver got me back and running in a few seconds. Time will tell if that was a one-time glitch or a problem.

Previous Tivos have worked with Amazon video on demand (which works reasonably well). Now there are additional options to select high-def material, and you also have options to download from Blockbuster and Netflix. Keep in mind there is a charge for this type of on-demand movie, similar to what you'd expect from your cable company. However, this function is integrated beautifully into the overall search function. As an example, let's say you're interested in a program such as "Chuck". As you search for the program, not only will it find the upcoming episodes on TV, but will also present you with the complete episode guide, giving you the options to either record from cable/antenna, or for shows that aren't available you can download them to your Tivo to watch. That's very clever and convenient.

Overall, it's an expensive purchase, but Tivo does their best not to make you feel stupid for buying it.

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I've had a TiVo or two since the Series 1.

Some observations:

1.) Bought one here from Amazon and one from TiVo directly. Buying from Amazon is just so much better than buying from the manufacturer... TiVo shipped theirs via some weird shipping arrangement, whereas Amazon Prime ships it 2-day and tracking is always accurate. I had an upgrade offer from TiVo, but by the time they charge tax, etc. the price was like $429 and Amazon's $499 price on this was offset by their $50 Amazon OnDemand credit so kind of an ok deal to go with Amazon. A no-brainer if you don't have a TiVo upgrade offer.

2.) These units are slick-looking. Sure, some people will complain that they have lost their fancy clock on the front, etc., but the thinner height and black case are great looks great with our 40" LCD sitting on top of it.

3.) Smoothest install ever and that was with Comcast. Comcast in my area (Pittsburgh) drives me nuts in fact, these new TiVos were impulse buys after Comcast screwed us with not being able to "transfer" two of their DVR's with our recordings on them to our new address they said it simply wasn't possible and they would need to collect the boxes and give us new ones. Yep, we lost all of our recordings on their boxes. Idiots. So I was surprised when the installer showed up with the CableCards and we had two of them up-and-running in 15 minutes. Quite a bit different than my first TiVo CableCard installs from yesteryear. But probably a few things in my favor:

A.) When booking the appointment, I stressed I needed the installer to bring M-cards (multistream) instead of S-cards (single stream). I also stressed to them that the installer should actually bring 4 of them, as it is not uncommon to have bad cards floating around in inventory, etc. I stressed that these notes be placed in the work order prominently. Low and behold the installer showed up on-time, with M-cards and 4 of them!

B.) The installer hadn't done many and was more than willing to let me guide the process. I had the boxes set-up and through Guided Setup, latest system software upgrade installed, etc. before the appointment so that all that was needed was popping the M-card in. I also showed him best practice of taking a picture with my iPhone of the CableCard (to capture serial number and such) *before* putting the card in (b/c ejecting the card after inserting it can re-generate new pairing info, etc.) and recording the relevant information that appears on the screen after inserting the card. I can't tell you how many prior CableCard appointments I've had where the installer has jacked things up so badly by popping them out so many times to get information or doublecheck if it was a 0 (zero) or an O (oh). If only Comcast would let customers pick-up the cards and install them themselves... I thought some areas did, but the Pittsburgh market evidently doesn't as I asked several people (on the phone, in person at the service center, etc.).

C.) You have no control over this one, BUT I LUCKED OUT the back-office person the installer called into to activate the CableCards was *COMPETENT*. He didn't even need to repeat one digit of any number and the person on the backend properly entered the information, told us to go to the Info screen and wait til a MSG count went past 3500 and voila all channels, even premium channels, worked perfectly from the start.

It seems Comcast has gotten a lot better with CableCards ever since their newer set-top boxes are required by the FCC to have CableCards in them (permanently mounted, but nonetheless, they are CableCards and work the same way on their system as they would on third-party boxes. Or, I recognize that after years of bad Comcast service, I was finally overdue for a great experience.

4.) ABSOLUTELY NO LOCKUPS or problems here at all in my two weeks I've had them. I don't know why other people are having such issues other than luck of the draw but my experience has been perfect.

5.) I was introduced to iTivo for the Mac which is awesome! Transfers and converts TiVo shows (none copyright flagged content) to a number of formats even imports into iTunes for auto transfer onto your iPhone for on-the-go viewing.

What am I disappointed with? A few things typical TiVo moves:

* Why can't they build wireless into these boxes? Having an external adapter stinks.

* Along those lines, why release your latest boxes and THEN a month or two later plan on making available a Wireless-N adapter for the box. Being stuck with Wireless-G to transfer recordings is lousy. Yes you can use a 3rd-party wireless bridge, etc. and I used to do that kind of stuff, but these days I just want solutions that work well out of the box!

* TiVo did indeed get these boxes out before they are polished. It's kind of lousy that the HD menus are rather topical and when you drop down into deeper menus the old standard-def stuff is still there. The boxes can be a bit laggy when doing things on them. I still hate the fact that flipping through digital channels is slower than old-school TV's and on TiVo there's like 3-5 seconds of gray screen between each channel.

* TiVo is a bit abusive on their subscription model. Basically, their goal is to lock you into a contract which you basically can't escape from. I've paid an early termination fee from them before and wasn't happy about it, but hey, I signed what I signed and knew it from the start...

All in all though, very happy with our purchases of these two and our luck with CableCards this go-around. We'll be close to getting pay-back on the purchase of the equipment after 2-years of not paying $16 per Comcast DVR and have a lot more functionality/flexibility to boot.

I hope the above has been helpful just always know what you are getting into with technology. The reviews from people that had no clue CableCards were needed/used are useless that information is everywhere. If you aren't willing to deal with growing pains associated with emerging technology, just stick to the cable company's boxes you'll get some stability with the trade-off of less functionality.

Read Best Reviews of TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL DVR (Black) Here

This is my fourth TiVo box, and I upgraded only because the hard drive in my Series3 died (for the second time in 3 years), and I didn't want to pay Weaknees $250 for a 1TB replacement drive. TiVo got me with their upgrade offer of $100 off on the Premiere XL, so I got it for "only" $399 and bought it directly from TiVo.

I've had the unit working for about a week now, and I am definitely less than impressed. As others have noted, the UI is very inconsistent, and there are numerous areas where you default back into the old, 480i Series2 or Series3 screens. There is still the inconsistency between Netflix and Amazon pages (which also use the low res screens) and the rest of the UI. Worse, the screen often flashes or turns grey for a moment as the unit switches resolution from 1080i so that it can display the lower res screens. It is still unacceptable for a company that built its reputation on a simple, great looking UI to produce software that looks like this, but I have gotten used to it somewhat. But my wife saw these transitions the other day and remarked "uggh, that looks awful".

My unit has crashed -and I am mean a hard lockup -twice in the 6 days or so it has been powered on. I had to unplug the unit and wait for the lengthy reboot process both times. If TiVo is going to build such flaky software, they need to put a reset button on the front of the unit. It is a total pain to have to deal with these crashes, especially when the system is in the middle of a recording.

From a feature perspective, the system still will not stream from a media server unless you install 3rd party (in my case beta) software. The system still wants to copy over the entire file, although you can start playing it quickly after the copying starts. Given the competition from extender boxes from various companies, this is just unacceptable.

Did I mentioned that the UI is slow? Yes, it is slowwwwww.

TiVo also (at the request of copyright holders I assume) continues to lock down more and more recorded content, so you cannot save it to another computer or media server to play back later. The vast majority of my recordings on this box now prohibit transfer to any other device. I respect copyrights, and it really bugs me that TiVo is treating everyone like a crook.

Overall, I don't know what TiVo has been working on for the last 3-4 years. The software on this box is clearly immature -it is clear no better than beta quality, and with all the crashes it might even be alpha. It is clearly not feature complete. I have hopes that it will improve as TiVo pushes out updates, but my 10 year love affair with TiVo is strained at this point. This system is NOT a worthwhile upgrade from the Series3, and it really makes me question how long TiVo will be around if this is the quality of products they are pushing out the door.

Want TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL DVR (Black) Discount?

Per TiVo customer service in an email sent to us today, "As stated, the $99 Premiere (and the $299 Premiere XL, also mentioned) are eligible for $19.99 monthly service only. Unfortunately, our Multi-Service Discount pricing cannot be applied to these boxes." We own a TiVo box with a LifeTime Service Agreement which qualifies us for the Multi-Service Discount per TiVo's published Agreement online. We bought a Premiere and an XL for use with Verizon FIOS based on that Agreement as published on the TiVo website. We would not have bought them if we had not expected to get the MSD pricing. When we requested this pricing, TiVo informed us that our purchases from Amazon were a promotional bundle and not eligible for anything other than the $19.95 monthly service fee each. This is not mentioned (a) in the Amazon presentation of these items or (b) in the Multi-Service Discount Agreement. TiVo quoted us a payment plan document and apparently their feeling is that this document is more important than the published MSD Agreement and overrides it.

So be very careful if you don't buy the box from TiVo, you're going to be paying the $19.95 monthly fee per box whether you have existing MSDs in place or not. In our case, that's an additional service fee of $120 per year per box which we think wasn't advertised adequately and is not stated in the MSD Agreement. We will ask Amazon to update their webpage and TiVo to update their agreement to make this fixed price agreement clear to purchasers. But if you read this before the companies take any corrective actions, at least you'll know that the current pricing is a promotional bundle and it effectively keeps you from getting any kind of other monthly rate except for $19.95.

I have rated this purchase a 1 because of the misleading and expensive situation. We have been TiVo customers since 2001 and like the service. But we are very disappointed in TiVo's actions here. They reflect on the business side of the company very badly, in our opinion. Someone used the words "bait and switch" in another posting. Whether it meets the technical definition is hard for us to know, but it certainly feels like that is what happened here to us.

After reading the negative review related to the need for a CableCard, I had to respond with how the product actually operates. I found the Company's literature to be very straightforward in explaining what was required to operate the unit. The whole process worked really well for me. I had preordered the Premiere XL and it arrived on Monday, upon which I called Verizon for a CableCard. They arrived Tuesday morning and it took 10 minutes to install the card and download all the channel data. Done. Painless and works flawless. Verizon Fios folks currently charge a few bucks a month for the CableCard and did not charge me for the Tech to come over for the install.

The TiVo itself works great, exactly as outlined in the literature. The menus and search features are far easier to use for my family than any of the other company DVR's I've used in the past. I do miss the Verizon on-demand, but being able to access my Netflix online, plus the other options from Amazon and Blockbuster makes up for it. Have already used free software available on the internet to transfer shows on the TiVo to my Mac, PC, and iPhone. Takes awhile to perform the transfer, but it's many GB's of data.

Love the auto-backlit remote and the onscreen menu's are very slick. Great purchase, very happy with the unit so far. When activating with TiVo I did purchase the 3 year warranty, but the cost was offset by the Amazon On-Demand credit received when purchasing from Amazon.

Should note the unit does not have wireless capability, so if you don't have the ability to plug the unit directly into an Ethernet port, make sure you get the wireless-N accessory when purchasing.

[UPDATE]

The Optical audio out port has stopped working. TiVo is replacing my unit and making it easy, but it is a little annoying that a unit less than 30 days old has this type of malfunction. Changing my rating down to 4-stars as a result.

Panasonic PV-L354 VHS-C Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

I wanted a camcorder that was reasonably priced, not too large and with the ability to use a VCR tape that could go directly into my VCR. This camcorder more than met these requirements. The VCR-C tape goes into an adapter and can be immediately viewed on a VCR. You can dub a tape directly to the normal size VCR tape directly from the camera. There are great digital effects possible fading in and out of the picture in a number of different colors and shapes. It has both optical and digital zoom for a total of 70x. There is an image stabilizer for use when riding in a car or walking. Plus more features. Great LCD view screen.

With the newer digital and DVD recorders, this one may seem a bit out of date, but it is much more reasonably priced and is VERY EASY to use. The manual can be a bit unclear, but if you read it carefully, a few times, everything becomes clear.

Excellent product.

I am from the old school. So I not only loved the VHS recording format, but if I wanted to dip into modern day technology the photo feature on this particular model will allow me to. Compared to other camcorders under $250 the picture isn't as great but good enough! Remember you get the best of both worlds with this one!! It's easy to use and it's cheap!!!!!!!!!

Buy Panasonic PV-L354 VHS-C Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom Now

I bought a Panasonic Camcorder a few years back. I continually got a Dew Detected message. Got that fixed and shortly there after the sound was intermitant as noted in so many other reviews here and elsewhere though I did not know it at the time. So I gave Panasonic another chance. I bought this model and it worked fine again for about a year or so...Then, Halloween comes around and the sound is not there, then there, then so low you can barely hear it then static then back. Needless to say as with others the moment was lost, FOREVER!

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic PV-L354 VHS-C Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom Here

We bought this camcorder because we were going on Vacation to Disneyland and our other camcorder would not work. This camcorder is so much better than our other one was. When ever you moved the old camcorder to get various shots, it had to refocus, which took a few minutes. This one does not need to refocus. This camcorder is a little bit heavier than our old one, but it is easier to use. And the better quality makes up for the weight difference. This is a very good product and I will recomend it to a lot of people.

Want Panasonic PV-L354 VHS-C Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom Discount?

I, too, thought this was an excellent camcorder for several months until I did a playback of one of those events that can't be repeated and....NO SOUND!! The video looks great, but...NO SOUND!! It had worked fine on several occasions and even now, I can shoot a quick video and check to make sure there is sound on the playback before I shoot the important moment I want to capture. Then I shoot the main event and, again, NO SOUND!! Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn't...very unpredictable. I thought it was operator error on my part until I saw Mark Noll's review.

Panasonic's customer service was no help at all. It's time for a new (non-Panasonic) camera.

So...you might get one that works fine, but with this camcorder, you are taking a chance that, at some point, you will miss something great.

RCA DIRECTV System DVR40 - DVR - TiVo - 35 hour(s) - DIRECTV

I've had to share a Tivo with my brother since '05 but now that I have my own room, I have the power to watch whatever I want. The only problem I have is that those DVR showcases come on while I'm asleep. Why is that a problem? 1 I sleep with music on to cool me down after a hard day, 2 I only have 1 sattelite connection cord (so I can't get 2 channels at once).

All in all when I'm bored I usually flip over to those showcases and watch whatever they got. The 3 that are always there are Dominos, Orecea and my favorite, Brinks Home Security. They changed the commercial for Brinks. Normally it used to be the one where a teenage girl thinks her date has shown up early. Now it's where 2 guys break in while a girl is using her treadmill. I also love the one for Esurance and Star Trek. Another one I hope they bring back is the one for the Complete Get Smart Collection from Time Life.

I only have 2 remotes left in the house. 1 is mine which stays in my room and is not used outside it. The other one is missing the clear panel on the front and the DirecTV button. Mom uses that one in the kitchen, bedroom and living room Tivos. We used to have one in my sister's room, but when she moved out and I moved in, we traded that Tivo for the one in my room. My room's Tivo has alot of programs marked "Keep Until I Delete". My brother kept the other one because we have different TV likings.

It's a great console, highly recomended and for a guy like me, this is a perfect product. Great job DirecTV.