Sony RCD-W1 CD-R/CD-RW Digital Recorder

• Records CD-R and CD-RW discs
• Plays audio CD, CD-R, and CD-RW discs
• Dual deck with 4x high-speed dubbing
• 24-bit digital-to-analog converter
• 1-touch synchro start/record

Considering the fact that you can burn music to CD at all is a great thing in itself. There are some features that I would liked to have seen on this machine. Not being able to erase a goof from a CDR kind of sucks. The 3 seconds of silence that automatically adds a new track is only good if you are recording a record that has at least 3 seconds of complete silence in between songs. Otherwise it does require alot of monitoring. Another feature that would have been nice is volume balancing on synchro recording so one song doesn't sound so much louder than another. I do 4 track recording so I'm used to sitting in front of the recorder for hours to get the final result. There's only so much a machine can do when making a compilation CD the rest is manual work. I guarantee if someone gives you a CD that was done with a completely automatic system, it will have mistakes. Have some patience and this machine will give you good results.

Buy Sony RCD-W1 CD-R/CD-RW Digital Recorder Now

I'm one who tends to put some thought probably more than is the average into purchasing electronics hardware, expecting that I'll get years of service out of the purchase. So, what I tend to look for when it comes time to replace a piece of gear are (a) reputation of the manufacturer, (b) performance specifications, (c) "build" quality, and (d) apparent absence of built-in planned obsolescence.

For the most part, this approach has worked very well, and electronics gear (including music reproduction components) tends to last me for many years. I don't need to be "the first kid on the block" when it comes to gear, and don't consider myself a "gearhead." This has certainly been the case for the CD players I've owned over the years. While my first CD player (one of the "first" generation models actually acquired in Japan before they were on general sale in the U.S.) had many flaws (a price I paid for being an "early adaptor" to the technology) and needed replacing after only a few years, I've had only one component-level player since that time, prior to acquiring this Sony RCD-W1 unit. And that one, too, was a Sony.

Considered solely on the basis of its specifications as a single-drawer CD player, the Sony RCD-W1 would probably be considered too pricey, but not extravagently so. Its specifications, and particularly its 24-bit D/A converter, are splendid, its features and display are fine, and the build quality is rock-solid. Strictly as a player, I find this unit to be measurably better than the older Sony unit it replaced: smoother, almost "silkier" sound, and an improved ability to play discs that the earlier unit choked on. Chalk THAT ability up to overall improvements in playback head optics and error-correction systems. And the second drawer, when not being used for dubbing, is perfect for multi-disc playback; its playback performance is indistinguishable from that of the main drawer.

But I also have upwards of 200 LPs (the barest of residues of what was once a few thousand LPs) desparately needing transfer to a better, more permanent (and more convenient), medium. So the ability to "burn" CDs from these LPs is of more than passing importance to me.

In principle, this (copying of LPs onto CDs) can be done with a computer burner, provided that one has an extra RIAA-equalized preamplifier not doing anything else; something that I don't happen to have. There also don't seem to be any preamplifier-type low-level input devices available as computer peripherals to take the place of an audio-component preamplifier, although peripherals that accept line-level (i.e., microphone, tape and tuner) inputs to feed into a USB port ARE available.

So I've got it figured that the Sony RCD-W1, as an audio component, is just about perfect for dubbing LPs onto CDs (a project that is yet to take place, but one for which I don't anticipate any particular problems). And, since this Sony component will also write to (rewriteable) CD-RWs, the question of "wasting" CD-Rs as "interim half-steps" before cleaning up the files on a computer never really arises: Those LPs needing signal clean-up will get that clean-up after being copied to CD-RWs, after which their cleaned-up WAV files will be copied to CD-Rs. Time-consuming, but not wasteful of materials.

I should also mention in passing that this component does a fine job of straight copying of CDs, either at "normal" speed or at 4x speed. Great for making "compiliation" CDs and for extra "fair use" copies for the car or the Discman.

In summation, there are definitely cheaper pieces of audio hardware out there that claim to do the same thing, but I've come to rely on the Sony name for the audio playback quality that suits my listening needs. And now the integrated convenience that fits my LP dubbing requirements. This is one fine piece of audio hardware, designed for excellent audio performance and built to last.

Bob Zeidler

Read Best Reviews of Sony RCD-W1 CD-R/CD-RW Digital Recorder Here

This is a great product for burning CD to CD, however, I want to copy from LPs to CDs. I borrowed it from my brother-in-law whom misplaced the "User Guide" and I haven't figured out how to make that feature work without it. Suggestions on where to locate it or excepts (instructions) from someone' copy can be forwarded to: gen_pur@msn.com. Thanks for the help!

Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD Camcorder

Purchased this camera for my wife last month, and have since taken a vacation, and recorded several family gatherings. The video quality this camera gives is wonderful, and creates a steady image, even with my shaky hands. The zoom range is impressive as well. Still images were great during the day, and the camera is FAST. It captures the image almost immediately, better than our stand alone digital camera. The focus isn't always dead on when you move the camera around quickly, but it recovers well enough. The reason for the 4-star rating is that this camera didn't offer a lot in the area of night time picture taking and video capture. The video leaves less to be desired, as the lenses capture enough light to make sense of what is going on, but the camera is not usable at night. Now that may have more to do with the fact that I haven't figured out better settings, or am just completely missing a flash feature I haven't seen, but in either case, I still need to carry around my digital camera for night shots. As a video camera, this product blows everything out of the water that I have ever used in the video quality department. All in all, I am happy with my purchase, and will maybe find that the one shortfall with the product is in fact a problem with the user (me) and not the product.

I've had this item for approximately 6 months and am just now getting into doing reviews. Below are my thoughts on the Sony DCR-DVD650 Handycam Camcorder:

Pros:

Nice design

easy to use

great viewfinder

able to take still pictures in addition to the video

option to use DVD or Memory Stick for recording/photos

Cons:

DVD's on standard quality will only record for 30 minutes-this is not ideal for those wanting to record their childs play, or a graduation or anything that may last longer than 30 minutes. For this you would need a large memory stick to accomodate then you can use your home PC to put the recording from the memory stick to a standard sized DVD.

As expected the digital zoom gets "grainy" in appearance when you zoom in close to the maximum allowed. This is tolerable, but just realize you aren't going to get as good a picture of something you are zooming in on as you would get if the image was actually closer.

All-in-all I am extremely happy with the purchase and think that it is possibly the best buy in its price range. I would purchase it again in a heartbeat. With that said, the day I win the lottery or have a lot of money to spend I'm sure I'd purchase a more expensive model with slightly better zoom and built in memory in addition to the DVD recording capabilities.

Buy Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD Camcorder Now

I just bought this camera to replace my old Hitachi camcorder and this camera is awesome. The video quality is great the sound is excellent and it is Mac compatible for those who may be wondering it will work on imovie. But this camera is lightweight and the discs do not need to be finalized before you put them in a dvd player or import them to a computer, you just hook up the usb cord and import the video quick and easy. It does come with it's own software that is only compatible with windows which I dont have so I dont know if its any good.

But so far I am very pleased with this camera perfect for anyone who loves to film themselves and edit the footage. Really good buy for a great price.

Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD Camcorder Here

If you have been confused by conflicting claims about whether or not Sony camcorders are compatible with the Mac OS, this is what our experience shows. We are MAC users and bought this, in part, based on reviews that while the included software by SONY does not support the MAC OS (nor does SONY claim that it does), that I-movie would recognize the camcorder and file format used by this recording device. Alas, when we first connected the camcorder to our MAC, it did recognize the camcorder but did not recognize the file format (MPG) as a movie format, hence we could not open our recordings and edit them. After some further research, we discovered that Leopard software works with this format while Tiger cannot. Moreover, freeware video conversion programs like Handbrake, are no longer being supported for Tiger OS.

I did not try, but suspect, that upgrading to Quicktime Pro or its MPEG add on may resolve the issue.

As for the camera, it is compact, the touchscreen is convenient and relatively user friendly but the menus are not completely intuitive. As I received the camera shortly before having to use it, I ran it on the easy mode automatic settings. Standard Play (SP) seemed to produce better quality than High Quality (HQ) settings, oddly enough, but that may have had to do with ambient lighting. The battery lasted a good two hours with the LCD screen active. A 4 GB memory stick holds a little over an hour of recording, as advertised. The quality of the image and sound seems very good for this price point.

Our first camcorder, also a Sony, did very well for us and still works, but it is over ten years old and we wanted something that would allow easy conversion to digital format for sharing on line or on DVD. I look forward to learning more about this camcorder.

That said, I now find myself being forced to upgrade to Leopard OS if I want to use this camcorder as I intended. This essentially adds . to the cost.

Want Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD Camcorder Discount?

This camcorder was a present for my husband. It was a second try--I had ordered another make camcorder for him previously. He is not the most technologically-savvy guy--and it was not the product for him. The Sony Handycam was a lifesaver! It's easy to understand and easy to use. He loves it and that's the most important thing to me.

X201 540M 2GB/320 Dvr Bt F C W7-32

Not much to say here for introduction, I guess if you are reading this review chances are you know why we professionals buy ThinkPads... ;) :P

Pros:

world-famous, excellent quality FULL-SIZED KEYBOARD (=essentially Lenovo built an ultra-portable road-warrior around a regular-sized keyboard sans dedicated numeric pad which is available as accessory)

COMES WITH ULTRABASE w/ DVD-RW dockin station (model #32492FU from J&R, at least) included in the box ($200 savings!)

Ultrabase can charge a second battery and sports loads of extra ports while does not block any on-board ones

runs COLD, even after 5+ hours

netbook-class dimensions and battery life but much faster than a netbook and it can pretty

very good battery life/CPU performance ratio with mid-range battery and fast (i5-540) CPU combo: I regularly score above 5 hours on WiFi with medium-light usage (VPN Client connected, putty/SSH, Firefox + Chrome, both running 10+ tabs and loads of plugins including Flash Player etc)

good weight at 3.xx lbs w/ 6-cell battery

Windows 7 Professional license included

decent-sized 320GB hard drive

finally a 'reasonably slow' integrated (on-die) Intel HD graphics core

full Intel vPro stack including vT-d (DirectIO) means future Citrix XenClient support (launches in October 2010)

excellent security: fingerprint reader, Intel AMT, optional encrypting hard drive upgrade

excellent status lights with proper 'icons', readable even with closed lid

very convenient, very useful ThinkVantage Tools: all updates, profiles, locations, warranty, support issues etc can be accessed by the push of a button

dedicated hardware buttons all around: radio on/off/ volume mute/down/up, ThinkVantage Tools button to access everything else

usual unbreakable ThinkPad chassis (though feels a bit less sturdy than old IBM ThinkPads)

mile-long list of options (accessories, warranties/support, upgrades etc)

and of course, built-in ThinkLight, a switchable LED light source for nighttime typing, checking card numbers etc! :)

Cons:

2GB memory -> Windows 7 Pro 32-bit preinstalled, you need to reinstall from scratch to get 64-bit (serial works for both)

no bloatware (no, ThinkVantage Tools are NOT bloatware)

wimpish battery life with 4-cell -> only buy it with 6-cell!

9-cell gives great battery life but stands out in the back and pushes the weight well above 4lbs

rather craptastic LCD colors out of the box -> run a calibration tool, it makes a difference though viewing angles etc won't be better (cheap screen panel tech:

X201/i is 'only WXGA (1280x800), not available with WXGA+ (1440X900) -> only ultra-light X201s got it but then say goodbye to webcam... dumb compromise?

personal grievance: Fn button is outside instead of Ctrl... aaahhh, you shouldn't use anything other than ThinkPade, period. :)

Summary: for $1,200 it is the best all-around ultraportable road warrior with the most power and longest battery at the same time.

PS: make sure you check your warranty status because J&R apparently screwing around with your dates, mine came with a June 2010 warranty start date, that's a 2-months loss right there... just contact Lenovo and fax them your actual invoice, they will fix it (takes some time.)

Warning: if you want to upgrade your warranty to ThinkPad Protection (accidental damage etc) you MUST add in the first 30 days!

VIBE Digital Audio Player (256MB)

• Multifunction digital audio player, USB flash drive, voice recorder, and FM radio
• 256 MB holds up to 8 hours WMA or 4 hours MP3 music; does not support copy-protected WMA
• SRS-WOW sound enhancement; 5-mode equalizer
• EL backlit LCD graphics display
• Includes ear bud headphones, USB extension cable and lanyard

I have bought two of these Vive players, a black 512 MB version and a white 1-Gigabyte version. The 128 MB Vibe is the same except for the reduced capacity.

The unit is about the size and shape of a tube of lipstick. It is very light and hangs from your neck on a lanyard as some people wear a cross. The Creative Vu2 Micro NX 200, which competes with this player, does not have a needed metal stub to attach a lanyard or chain.

These things are too tiny and too expensive not to attach to your person in some manner. If you lose pens on a regular basis, you should pay attention to this detail in the Vibe's construction.

I plan to replace the supplied lanyard with a gold chain someday. I usually drop it inside my shirt for covert use. The Vibe comes with a higher end set of black ear buds.

It lasts around 12 hours on an AAA battery. I buy super alkaline AAA at the local drugstore for about thirty-five cents each when on sale. You cannot accidentally turn the VIBE on and wear down the battery because most controls are under a sliding faceplate. The only two external controls are up and down volume.

The hidden buttons are

AB switch

Fast Reverse

Mode Menu

Fast Forward

Record

Play

The Vibe pulls apart to reveal a USB connection. It draws its power while connected to the PC from the USB port. You can plug this into a cable or directly into a USP port if there is room. There is no need for any special software except for Win98 drivers to access the Vibe with Explorer. All the functions of Explorer, format, rename, delete, copy, paste, etc. work while using the Vibe attached to your PC. You can also use the Vibe as a USB flash drive.

There are three functions in this player of interest.

MP3 Play

One is the obvious MP3 or WMA playback. The blue back lit LCD shows three lines of text or a line of icons depending on the mode. The Vive LCD displays more information than the Creative Vu2 Micro NX 200, which is a similar player. There is a user defined equalizer and several presets like WOW, SRS, FLAT, BASS, and some other choices. This player can drive a nice set of external amplified speakers with a subwoofer with some amazing music. I also have feed the Vibe audio output via a Belkin's FM transmitter or a cassette adaptor to mobile radios with good results.

You can fast forwarded or reverse within any file that is playing. When you power off and back on and hit play it resumes exactly where you left off. You can tag folders or files if you want to limit playback to a list of choices. There are also choices that randomize playback, play once, or loop the list.

Voice Recorder

The Vibe has a built in microphone that is very sensitive. It produces acceptable recordings as long as you get `into' the microphone or if there is little other background noise. I once recorded TV audio from across the room and it was quite good. I had bad results when I first tried a Vibe held a waist level inside an automobile with the AC running at full blast a minute after I bought the first one. I almost immediately returned it as unacceptable. I am glad I did not! You could turn this on to record, drop the unit out of sight, and covertly record until the battery died eight to twelve hours later. The recording is stored as wav file internally. These files can be uploaded to your PC to be played there or stored as notes. You can also rename the file on the Vibe using Explorer.

FM Radio

The FM radio in the Vibe is comparable to some better FM units found in cars. It features search, auto program store of the sixteen strongest signals in presets as well as manual tuning. You can record any FM signal and play it back using the Voice recorder mode.

I use it with an XM Roady 2 to time shift the XM satellite broadcast. The Roady down converts the satellite channel to the FM band and the Vibe can pick this up as far as twenty feet away in the house. While driving I sometimes have it pick up XM content while I am listening to the car radio or books on tape in the cassette. I then carry this with me and listen to XM inside buildings. The Vibe makes a good companion to XM. What is funny to some geeks is that Delphi is now selling a similar time shift solution for XM for $350 and that one only stores five hours. The Delphi unit does include a built in XM receiver.

If you got any ideas from this post, be sure and vote about this review on Amazon.

Vic

Buy VIBE Digital Audio Player (256MB) Now

Nice sized little unit that fits in the small pockets of my workout pants. Great sound for the price. I did, however need to order some small earbuds since the ones that came with the unit were too large.

Read Best Reviews of VIBE Digital Audio Player (256MB) Here

I got this to use as an mp3 player with fm radio. I was not expecting much if anything from the recording function but that is what I am using all the time. It can record an amazing amount of information. The battery seems to last forever. My only complaint is the small size of the unit and the controls. I bought this because it was small but I wasn't planning on trying to use its other functions so I didn't think how small the controls would be.

Want VIBE Digital Audio Player (256MB) Discount?

I used this as a voice recorder on ghost hunts and am so pleased with it's performance. I bought this with low expectations and it has more than exceded what I would have expected for something priced around $100. Everyone on the ghost hunts is jealous of the size of this recorder and how well it picks up sound. Yes, I have recorded evp's on it! I used the software included with it to convert the evp recordings to mp3's that I could post. I have yet needed to replace the battery and love the fact that I can just plug it into my laptop via it's usb plug.

I was attracted by the multifunctionality of Vibe. I am a professional electronic engineer. And yet, I spent hours to figure out how to use this thing. I recorded FM file and then tried to delete it. The manual has no information about this elementary procedure. Its web FAQ file has only 16 questions that do not deal with "delete" or "file". My naive attempt to delete the file via USB connection with my PC failed since the file turned out to be protected. The device has 6 buttons and 6 modes. This inevitably creates the necessity of memorizing six 6X2 connectivity tables or keeping the manual and the device always in front of your eyes. I do not like ether of that.

Nokia 6085 Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot-International Version with No Wa

Pros -

1) Good reception and this phone beats Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola (Razr) and Blackberry in this regard.

2) Sturdy but small and compact. Drop it you won't break it.

3) Bluetooth 2.0

4) Flip design means the screen does not get scratched.

5) Good speaker/mic good sound quality both inbound and outbound and on speakerphone.

6) Customizable menu put stuff where you need it. Not where Nokia thinks you need it.

7) Basic VGA camera with usable surprisingly decent pics (good color and resolution but grainy under low light). Video also usable.

8) Good battery life.

9) Quad band means can be used worldwide with no reception problems (Tri-band suffers from reception issues).

10) Keys are nice, large and easy to press with a solid click. All nicely backlit.

11) Micro SD for storing data/music etc 2 GB works fine in mine. All sound/photo/video recording can use this card by default. Can thus record for ages..

12) Battery lasts 3 4 days with some usage thrown in.

13) Loud ring. Robust vibration you won't miss that call.

14) Good mp3 player.

Cons -

1) Does not use USB jack for data or charging.

2) Not as cool looking (like this junk called Razr)

3) Headphone jack proprietary. Charging jack proprietary. Data jack proprietary

4) FM radio requires use of proprietary headphone.

Inspite of cons listed I give this 5 stars for its great reception (my #1 criteria).

Note The other word for "T-Mobile" is "Bad-Reception". This phone will alleviate your woes to a great degree and allow you to continue with the cheaper cell phone provider.

Let me start by saying I don't need a phone with a ton of bells and whistles, but I do need to be able to hear when it rings and hear the person I am talking to. This phone meets, maybe even exceeds, my hopes. For the benefit of anyone with the same problem, go into "Profiles" where you are asked to choose between "normal", "meeting", "vibrate" and "outdoor". Since these seemed to indicate how you might be notified, in other words, a louder ring tone if outdoors than in a meeting, I selected "outdoor". When asked to indicate volume, showing 3 or 4 colored buttons, I activated them all. I then went to tones and decided on "desk phone" instead of music and "ascending". I then called my cell phone from another phone and was overjoyed to find that I could hear the cell phone's ring more clearly than my home phone. This is the best phone I have ever had in that respect. Subsequently I tested the music tones but they were not loud enough for me.

With respect to volume of the voice of the caller, there is a button on the case that controls that. But you can be sure that you can increase the volume at least as much as with any other phone, and probably more than most. I called a friend to test the phone and was told I could be heard loud and clear.

Other pluses, at least for me, are the large keys and the large numbers that appear on the screen when you are dialing a call. Additionally, there is a setting where you can use large letters in the address book and elsewhere.

Being one myself, I think this phone is a very good choice for senior citizens.

For those who want them, there are camera and video, but you must provide your own SD card. You also have a media player, music player, recorder, internet capability, and Bluetooth. I note from the comments of others that they are not up to snuff compared to some of the higher-tech phones that are available, but they are fine for me since mostly I use a phone to make calls. Being able to easily hear the ring tone and the person I am speaking with is reason enough for me to give the phone 5 stars.

The so called "Cellular User Manual" that came with the phone is terrible. Just a couple of pages of text, no illustrations, and of little value. It took me far too long to put in the SIM card, for example, because the directions were not clear. I kept doing what I thought it said to do, but that was not correct. I then went on line with my computer and found a complete user guide, including illustrations, and highly recommend that anyone who buys the phone do the same if the "manual" that comes with the phone is a murky to you as it was to me. You will save a lot of time and frustration. I tried to include the link to a pdf user manual but Amazon apparently does not permit this since it was left out of the published review. I am now editing the review to recommend a Google search for a Nokia 6085 User Guide.

The phone is good looking and has a solid feel. I've had Nokias at different times in the past and know they give good service.

Buy Nokia 6085 Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot-International Version with No Wa Now

I am an international traveler and thought of buying this phone so that I can use local GSM SIM card of the country I travel to. It works well with Germany, India & Australia service providers. I received only phone and AC wall charger in the package but did not receive hands free. This is the only drawback of this phone. So I am removing one star from this rating.

Read Best Reviews of Nokia 6085 Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot-International Version with No Wa Here

Here's what I needed from a phone, which this Nokia 6085 delivers quite well:

1. Does *not* require a data plan. I.e., cheap monthly bill. I currently pay about $42/month for my T-Mobile service, and this phone allows me to keep that plan.

2. Has a decent amount of customizablility. Before I ordered this I tried the Samsung Gravity TXT, which is a current T-Mobile offering that doesn't require a data plan. It's a decent enough phone, but, for example, for its main shortcut menu, the Samsung had a very limited number of options you could assign; in contrast, on my 6085, I can put pretty much any app or setting screen in the shortcut menu.

3. Syncs with my Mac. After pairing via Bluetooth, iSync recognized the phone and transfered my contacts (over 300 of them) without any fuss whatsoever. I didn't even need any 3rd-party plugins. I tried a lot of different things to get the Samsung to talk the Mac, and nothing worked. (Yes you can use iSync with Lion. You just have to save a copy of iSync somewhere before you upgrade to Lion, because iSync isn't included with it. Then, after upgrading, you just put the saved copy of iSync in your Applications folder, and it works just fine!)

4. Cheap up-front cost. I bought one of the refurbished ones listed on this page, and paid $38 including overnight Prime shipping. Now of course, there are many current phones that cost nothing. But this was unlocked, and required no contract extension (although I'll never leave T-Mobile if I can help it). And, if you consider that most talk/text/data plans start at around $80, this phone paid for itself in one month.

5. Easy-to-use buttons; easy navigation. The Samsung had a full QWERTY keyboard, but Nokia's predictive text entry is so good, that I don't really miss a full keyboard. The 6085's buttons are nice and big, with good tactile feedback; my fingers aren't huge, but they aren't small either. The Samsung had an "optical" joystick that drove me nuts; the Nokia has the usual four directional buttons.

Other notes:

I had the 6085's sister model, the 6086, many moons ago, and it was perfect; I kept it so long the case started to get really beat up, but that was after three or four years of use. And the phone's innards worked perfectly until the day I recycled it. (The 6085 and 6086 are exactly the same, except the latter could make calls over wi-fi; I don't need that feature this time around.)

The 6085 was offered by AT&T, so it has that logo printed on it. But this was an unlocked phone, and it works flawlessly with my T-Mobile SIM card.

Another thing that's handy, that many newer models don't have, is its external micro SD slot. You don't have to take off the back cover and remove the battery to get at the memory card. I'm pretty sure that if you buy the USB data cable for this phone, you can plug it into your Mac (or PC) and use the phone as a card reader. (Note that the biggest card this phone will take is 2GB; bigger cards will be un-formattable and unusable.)

If you're looking for a music phone, there are obviously tons of better options than this old shcool Nokia, but it's worth noting that even though you can't plug in a regular set of headphones (at least not that I know of), it *will* stream stereo sound over Bluetooth. And it's got an FM radio, although I don't use it so I can't speak to its quality.

Voice recorder: worked great on my 6086 (used it to record lectures, albeit from the 1st or 2nd row), so I'm pretty sure the 6085 will be the same. If there's enough room in phone's memory (or on the SD card, if you're recording to that), it can record up to 60 minutes at a time.

Voice recognition. Here's another reason I like Nokia. I don't have to pre-record my friends' names before using them for voice dialing. Occaisonally the phone guesses wrong, but most of the time it works quite well.

In conclusion, if you want an Android or iPhone-like device, a big screen, a 7-megapixel camera, or more storage than 2GB, you're obviously not going to get this phone. But if you just need a cheap, reliable, *very* useful talk-and-text device--one that syncs contacts and calendars with your Mac's iSync application right out of the box, then this phone is perfect.

Want Nokia 6085 Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot-International Version with No Wa Discount?

Nokia phones have great easy to use menus, always. And, this phone has an added "plus" in that it's buttons are really good for "bigger" (you know like GUY) fingers! The buttons themselves are not "bigger" but they are slightly rounded (as opposed to so many phones with cool flat button pads) and so the buttons feel really secure and you just can really tell what you're pushing...I bought this phone for my husband and I really like it...and so does he.

Zmodo 8CH H.264 DVR Security Surveillance Camera System with 8 Sony CCD CCTV IR Security Black Came

Although the price of around $230 is great for a nearly complete 8-channel surveillance system, one which only lacks a hard drive, the cameras included in this package are the worst I've used or seen in action. The cameras are claimed to be CCD, but if they are, the video captured through those CCD's is worse than through my 10 year old cheapo CMOS's. I only compared capturing video during daylight and indoors, yet I had problem recognizing my own son who was less than 10 feet from the camera. The main problem with these cameras is the extreme pixelation in the videos. I understand that pixelation may be observed when colors change from one object to another, but it is inexcusable to see pixelation over a large area with uniform color. How is that possible, you ask? Well, these cameras can't generate a pixel with uniform color throughout the entire pixel, and while one side of the pixel is one shade of a color, the other side is of different shade. This causes a grid-like pattern on large areas of the same color. Another issue I observed with these cameras was that my black couch had a yellowish outline. There is something obviously wrong with these cameras' pixels, and when it comes to capturing a crime on one's surveillance system, these cameras are not up to the task.

Since I already have a recorder, I did not bother testing the one in this package. I left it in its bag and sent the complete system back. Too bad, because I was excited to replace my old CMOS cameras with these and use the DVR as a backup recorder. I guess I'll need to spend a bit more for a more competent system.

BTW, I notice the remote control and the mouse included in this package differed from the ones pictured. Although the remote in the picture seemed basic and cheap, unbelievably the included remote was even cheaper. The mouse seemed of the same caliber as the one pictured.

Camera show appear to be less quality CMOS not listed CCD, have asked but no response as of date.

Big difference

Buy Zmodo 8CH H.264 DVR Security Surveillance Camera System with 8 Sony CCD CCTV IR Security Black Came Now

Panasonic DVD-A320 DVD Player

• Built-in Dolby Digital decoder
• DTS 5.1 surround sound compatibility
• Coaxial and optical digital-audio outputs
• 10-bit video, 24-bit audio digital-to-analog conversion
• Illuminated universal remote control

I've had this player for close to a year now, and it's an absolutly amazing piece of equipment. I'm very picky with things like this, and this was my third DVD player. I'd previously returned an RCA player, and a Hitachi player before settling on this one. No disapointment whatsoever. Great for those of us with a 6-ch input receiver, but no built in decoder in the amp. It gives you the ability to adjust almost every different aspect of the picture right on the player. You can adjust the volume and delay on every individual speaker, as well as tell it what size your speakers are. If you like lots of surround sound effect, just hook up some decent speakers, and tell the player to crank up the surround sound volume. Likewise for the subwoffer setting. The remote is GREAT and gives very easy to use features. While I'm completly satified with this player, here's my complaints with it...

1. it's only a 2x player, so when you fast forward in double speed, you can see every frame being played, but beyond that, it must skip frames to advance rapidly. Computer DVD-ROM's come at 12x already, so I think they could have made it faster. As it is, the player will advance anywhere from 2x to 100x in fast forward mode depending on your prefrence.

2. The dual layer DVD's give a VERY BRIEF pause while switching layers. Almost all players do this, but it'd be nice it the manufacturers would use a buffer to avoid the pause completely.

3. The "illuminated remote" is glow in the dark buttons that you can't see after the light's been off for more then 3 or 4 mintes. It'd have been nice if the remote was back-lit with an actual light inside.

4. The 1999 Hitachi and most 1998 Sony DVD players had dual laser pick-ups. The picture was read with one laser, and the audio with the other. This makes no noticable difference in the quality of viewing movies, but only players with the dual laser pickup will play CD-R discs like the ones you make in your computer's CD writer. Hitachi, since dropper the dual laser from it's player, and Sony now only has it on their top-of-the-line model.

5. If you stop the movie and do a picture or audio adjustment in the configuration menu, you have to manually re-find the spot you were at in the movie. If you just hit 'stop' and 'play' the player automatically goes back to where you were when you hit stop.

These are just small complaints, and for what it's worth, this is an awesome player.

Buy Panasonic DVD-A320 DVD Player Now

This is an awesome DVD player, and I haven't even been able to use all the features. The remote is real easy to use, and the remote will also turn your television on/off and you can adjust the TV volume and channels. This player offers great picture and sound quality (I haven't used the DTS mode), and being able to choose which kind of television you have to improve the picture quality is a great feature. It also does a great job at playing scratched DVD's. This is an expensive DVD player, but it is worth every penny--especially if you really love DVD's!

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic DVD-A320 DVD Player Here

A great DVD player with superb quality. There are no annoying lines traveling across you screen either. If you have and S-Video connection (with is on most newer TVs) I suggest you use that. However there are RCA jack connections. I lpve the sound too. If you have a good stereo on your TV or the external speakers it's like having the same experience of a LOEWS Cinema! Words do not express the greatness of it. Get it and see for yourself. Oh and it also plays CDs and maybe CD-R(I haven't tried CD-Rs on it yet).

ZMODO 8 CH CCTV H.264 Security DVR System + 8 Outdoor IR Waterproof Camera With 1TB Hard Drive Pre-

The ZMODO 8 ch CCTV H.264 camera system was as advertised. The IR does work just fine in the dark. The system is very easy to set up. Plug and play so it takes very little effort to figure out the set up. I had the system up and working in mere minutes. As with all cameras the picture is much, much clearer with light. The daytime picture is very clear and you get a much better night pic with an IR light. I use them for ghost hunting and for a lower cost type system it performs very well. You sure can't beat the return on the investment. For home security purposes it works great too. Nice system for the price.

I am a certified Electronic Engineer, have been working with CCTV systems for over 15 years, i have used products from a vast number of manufacturers and suppliers, but it the first time we purchase ZMODO.

Purchased this item for a customer of mine, for the price i was expecting a cheap product, however the quality is below of what i was expecting.

The item is way small and so are the cameras, the images portray a larger and more robust unit.

The quality of the materials are not very good, i have purchased other Chinese manufactured DVR systems in the past, and have never seen one like ZMODO, honestly if you need security, please spend some more and get a unit that you will be able to depend on.

Mine arrived dead, does not work, and , 4 channels don't work, video playback is choppy, and the quality of the image is very low.

ZMODO customer support, thats another thing i have been trying for 3 days now, they seem to have just one person or many customers with problems, because it is almost impossible to get support.

Bottom line... please consider other brands, not recomended.

Buy ZMODO 8 CH CCTV H.264 Security DVR System + 8 Outdoor IR Waterproof Camera With 1TB Hard Drive Pre- Now

Coby MPCD450 Portable CD/AM/FM Stereo Cassette Player/Recorder - Black/Silver

• Top Loading Compact Disc Player,Plays Up to 14 Hours of MP3 Formatted Music
• CD, CD-R, CD-RW Compatible, Play/Pause, Search, Repeat (Repeat 1, Repeat All) Functions,Backlit LED Display
• AM/FM Stereo Tuner,Telescopic FM Antenna
• Full Auto Stop Cassette Player/Recorder
• 2-Way Cassette Recording (CD & Radio), One-Touch Automatic Level Control Recording
• Top loading CD player
• Plays regular CDs and CDs with MP3 files
• CD, CD-R, CD-RW compatible
• Programmable track memory
• Digital LCD display

I was looking for a boombox that could play MP3's burned on CD's, with a cassette player. Unfortunately, the number of portable units that met these two basic criteria was quite limited. The Colby MPCD450 is one, and it is a basic no frills player that while somewhat crude, delivers pretty decent performance, at a relatively low price.

Players often have issues with reading MP3's burned on certain brands of blank CD or CD RW media. So far the MPCD450 hasn't had any such issues, and has been able to play everything, including material recorded over ten years ago. After reading a CD, the player begins automatically playing the disc.

Sound quality isn't the greatest, mostly treble, with very little bass. You are stuck with what you get, as there are absolutely no tone adjustment controls. Not the best situation for music, but it's not that bad for the spoken word, things like podcasts, audio books, or talk radio programs. Given the size of its speakers, the unit is capable of quite high volumes. Since it favors the treble end, heavy distortion usually isn't a problem.

The controls are basic and quite crude. The knobs and switches feel cheap and flimsy. The AM/FM radio gets good reception, but is tuned manually using a dial tuner, instead of a digital one. Thankfully the CD player has a lighted LCD display. For no apparent good reason, the control buttons for the CD differ from the traditional layout. At a time when almost everything has a remote control, this unit does not have one. There are also no provisions for connecting an Ipod or MP3 player. Aside from a headphone jack on the left side of the unit, there are no line ins or outs.

It's a pretty ridiculous, but cassette tapes almost always fail to seat properly when inserted, so you have to reach inside and tilt the cassette slightly in order to close the door. The buttons are pretty stiff and clunky, and the player auto stops only in the Play and Record modes, not Rewind or Fast Forward. Forget to turn it off, and you may burn out your motor, or drain your batteries. The unit uses eight D sized batteries (12V), which adds to its bulk. The window over the cassette is translucent black plastic, but it is so dark that you need a flashlight to see through it.

If you are interested in high quality audio, look elsewhere. This player is mostly for those times where you just want some basic sounds. The primary function I needed, the ability to play MP3's, it does very well indeed, and I am very satisfied with its performance. The cassette player is also nice to have as well, and does a good job of recording from radio or CD. Hopefully the player will have a long usable life.

Buy Coby MPCD450 Portable CD/AM/FM Stereo Cassette Player/Recorder - Black/Silver Now

First, the positive This player arrived quickly, well-packed, and when I had to return it, I did so with no problems and received a credit very quickly. The player was small and lightweight, which was a plus for me. But alas, now the negative. I was initially pleased to have found such a reasonably priced player with everything I wanted in one device. But, reasonably priced (and I should have known this) translated to cheaply made. First I played a cassette, and though the sound was okay (I'm not a purist), I noticed that the tape deck cover was rather fragile, and thought it might be a problem with much use. Then, I tried the radio, and reception was almost nil, but we are in an area where that happens. Then, I began an audio book on CD. The first CD was fine. That was the last CD I was able to play. The player just refused to play another. To sum up, the seller was great, the product almost useless.

Read Best Reviews of Coby MPCD450 Portable CD/AM/FM Stereo Cassette Player/Recorder - Black/Silver Here

PROS:

1)CD/MP3 CD player.

2)Cassette deck

3)FM/AM Radio.

4)Radio has clear sound and picks up lots of stations.

5)Compact size and easy to carry around.

6)Low price

CONS:

1) Not very loud sound.

2) Looks somewhat cheap.

3) Hard to read the labels on CD controls.

4) No sound equalizers.

5) No sleep timer.

6) No remote.

This serves a great portable player for my home office. Also, for an extra player that I can travel with. Considering the low price and the fact that a player with MP3 capabilities and cassette deck are almost impossible to find, I am pleased with my purchase.

*Note: The reason that I gave it a 4 was because it is hard to read the controls for the buttons above the CD area.

Want Coby MPCD450 Portable CD/AM/FM Stereo Cassette Player/Recorder - Black/Silver Discount?

I purchased this recorder in January from Amazon, and by June the CD player had stopped functioning. The limited warrant for labor had expired, and given the shipping cost of $6 to return plus paying for labor, repairing this piece of junk just isn't worth it. You get what you pay for! Although I just purchased a Panasonic boombox with MP3 player for a lot of money, in the long run I feel I'll save money with a quality product.

Save 10% Off

Huge rip-off: came "new" with broken cassette player (couldn't play a tape) from day one. Does Coby have a Quality Control Dept? Does anyone check their products for major defects before they leave the factory? I doubt it!

This was brand new? It was a piece of junk that arrived broken! Very cheaply made. Avoid Coby products due to the worst quality control in the industry (IMHO).

Supersonic SC-709 Portable MP3/CD Player

• Top Loading CD Player
• Built in AM/FM Radio
• Plays MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW
• Records from CD and Radio
• 20 Programmable CD Memories

Needed a CD player that can handle mp3 books on CD for an elderly sight-impaired friend. This was up to the task, affordably.

Buy Supersonic SC-709 Portable MP3/CD Player Now

I was pleased with this online purchase. I had no idea what to expect, but it came on time, brand new and in great condition. Everything works! I just had to take back a store-bought product from Target right after opening the box (a vintage boom box that didn't work at all). When I got this boom box, I was happy. Great product for the price.

Read Best Reviews of Supersonic SC-709 Portable MP3/CD Player Here

I was looking for a boombox that would play CD (including MP3), cassette (yes, I still have those!), USB input and AUX input. I bought this purely because it met all my requirements on paper and it looked decent in picture. It all worked, although it looks a bit cheap. Very decent product for the price.

Want Supersonic SC-709 Portable MP3/CD Player Discount?

I couldn't get the CD player to work. When I notified the company, they didn't have technical support, but were great about letting me send it back. The process has been a little slow because their machine that makes their return labels was down. I'm waiting for the return label. Again, they have been very nice to work with and have explained the delay. My rating is based on the fact that I couldn't get the CD to work. The radio works fine. I don't know about the other functions. Since I purchased it primarily to use it to play CDs, I knew I wasn't interested in keeping it without being able to play CDs.

Save 45% Off

I bought this for my mother. My father just passed away and he had several burned CDs from his quartet days. Her other CD player would not play them. This plays them and also a Bible CD that was MP3 format. She loves it.

AGPtek® USB 8x DVD+/-RW DL Notebook SATA Burner Drive for HP Pavilion DV4 DV5 DV6 DV7 HP G50 G60 G

The drive fit perfect and works great. The only thing is it is not a lightscribe drive. At least it works unlike the drive that came in the HP laptop.

The deviceperforms as expected. It fit the HP Pavilion 7xxx series like a glove. The bezel(faceplate) does not conform to any HP case so you will have to swap them. Simple task, just carefully removed the old bezel and snap it in place. Total change out time was 5 mins, saved my friend $40 in parts and 5-10 days in the shop.

Buy AGPtek® USB 8x DVD+/-RW DL Notebook SATA Burner Drive for HP Pavilion DV4 DV5 DV6 DV7 HP G50 G60 G Now

The device was and performs as expected. It fit my notebook and was easily installed. The basil (face) does not conform to my notebook contour but that could be seen in the advertisment and was expected and acceptable. I am pleased with the performance.

Read Best Reviews of AGPtek® USB 8x DVD+/-RW DL Notebook SATA Burner Drive for HP Pavilion DV4 DV5 DV6 DV7 HP G50 G60 G Here

I order this product a little under a month now after the drive in my HP dv4-1125nr stopped working. It works perfect, just like the one from the factory, and was reasonably priced also.

Want AGPtek® USB 8x DVD+/-RW DL Notebook SATA Burner Drive for HP Pavilion DV4 DV5 DV6 DV7 HP G50 G60 G Discount?

As promised, this drive perfectly fits the HP G60 series laptop. The original drive had the LightScribe functionality, which is what caused it to burn out so quickly (I made the mistake of leaving discs in the drive); I opted for a replacement drive that does not support LightScribe. The new drive is much quieter than the original drive, whether playing a disc or ripping MP3s from a disc.

I followed an installation video for optical device replacement SATA (Laptop) 7053 (about 2 minutes long) that I found on the web. It clearly showed how to transfer your original drive's mounting bracket and cover plate--smoother fit than the replacement cover plate that comes with the drive. Swapping out the drives took about 5 minutes.

CAR CAMERA SYSTEM

Bought this unit from Costco. Installation was fairly easy on my 2001 Pathfinder. The camera is unbelievable, so much detail! I can see anything behind my truck from tail light to tail light, about 1 foot to 50 feet night or day. The problem I have is that the screen is evidently defective. It started out with about 5 veritcal lines of various colors on the far right side of the screen. Each time I use it it gains new lines, now about 25 vertical and about 5 horizontal. Needless to to say the image field is becoming more and more difficult to use. It's too bad because it's all I expected when it worked but if it keeps going I soon will have nothing but colored lines. I'll talk to the manufacturer and if they don't replace it Costco will refund it.CAR CAMERA SYSTEM

Nice product, relatively inexpensive, fairly easy to install. My only complaint is the field of view (listed at 120 degrees) could be a bit wider.

Buy CAR CAMERA SYSTEM Now

I have been in the security and investigations business for over 15 years. I routinely install pinhole cameras and such in businesses and private homes. I have to stay up on technology because of this. When I saw the cheap price on these I was skeptical. After receiving the camera, the installation was a breeze. My wife even put one on her vehicle herself, and had no problem with the install. I am impressed by the image clarity at night, as well as how far you can really see. I got mine for more of a personal safety thing, but it's great to prevent accidents from backing up as well. I have already recommended the camera to several clients.

Read Best Reviews of CAR CAMERA SYSTEM Here

Installed on 2003 Dodge Ram Quad Cab with short bed.

Good:

This camera works well and produces a clear picture.

Bad:

If you want to have a clean installation, be ready to cut and fabricate.

Video wire is not long enough for my pickup. Had to buy extension. Should be just fine for cars.

Even with adjustment rings, I could not get enough of an angle downward for my installation. The bottom of garage door is still about a foot away from the truck (see pic)

I installed this camera because it is difficult to see through 3 layers (back of cab, front and rear of cap) of tint though the rearview mirror. Wanting to install it similar to the new factory trucks, I first tried the handle but it would not fit. Though about the top of the cap but did not want to fabricate a enclosure. Did not want to install to low on the truck due to glare from other cars headlights. I installed it so that the camera can come on while vehicle is in drive, not just reverse. Since I wanted the camera to be concealed, I was ready to drill a hole in the back of the tailgate (not for the faint of heart).

Tip: When drilling, dont forget to prime and silicon the cut opening to prevent rust. I forgot and surface rust developed quickly.

Want CAR CAMERA SYSTEM Discount?

PHILIPS SPEECHMIKE PRO PLUS LFH-3205

I could never get my buttons to preform properly... I was constantly reconfiguring them. Windows OS 7... Plenty of RAM...

I felt tethered to the computer with the wire, possibly damaging my USB port. If your going to invest in a Mic, I recommend going with the Philips SpeechMike Air, which is wireless and I have had very little, if any trouble programing buttons to do exactly what I want. It's cradle stays on my desk, which means I am never pulling against the USB port and I am free to walk around my office without worry of damaging my computer by the mic and I can focus on what I'm saying.

It works perfectly with Dragon Medical speaking. If there is there is an error in transcription, I'm the one responsible, not the mic.

Save 24% Off

Everio/hd Share Station Portable DVD Burner

This is an awesome product. I purchased the JVC Everio camcorder and the software to download it to a DVD from the computer came with it. However, not being very computer savy, I struggled and struggled with it. I finally talked my husband into purchasing the DVD burner and within 15 minutes I had the DVD made of our son's Army basic training graduation. Well worth it! I wish I would have purchased it with the camera as it would have saved two days of frustration. It's as simple as connecting the camera to the burner and selecting what to burn and pushing the start button! I highly recommend it.

Very user friendly, no need for a computer, attach to your camcorder via USB cord. For those of us not very computer savvy, will save time & frustration. Takes about 30 min. to burn a 60 min.DVD. Not limited to JVC Everio, ex: can be used as an external DVD Burner for your PC. Small & sleek in design. Amazon has the best price out there. Can't go wrong.

Buy Everio/hd Share Station Portable DVD Burner Now

This portable DVD burner is so easy I was able set it up in 5 mins attach it to my video recorder and burn my sons play in less than 30 mins. Then removed the DVD and put it in my DVD player and watched his play. EXCELLANT product and sooo easy. IN ADDITION, YES it does come with a USB 2.0 cable attached to the burner. I read a few reviews that said the burner did not come with a USB cable and you need to purchase one (which I did) but there was one attached to the burner. I recommend this product to any one who likes ease to their life.

Read Best Reviews of Everio/hd Share Station Portable DVD Burner Here

This product works good, but everyone should know

that you cannot select the quality of the dvd you are recording.

If you recorded your video in high quality then that is what it will record onto the dvd. So that means for the HDD setting I had mine on 1 dvd was only good for 1 hour of video.

One last thing I haven't figured out yet how to get the date on the video. It is on the camera when you play it back on it, but when you burn the dvd the date is just on the menu and not on the actual video like the old cameras did.

Overall this product works good and I would buy it again.

Want Everio/hd Share Station Portable DVD Burner Discount?

I bought this product with high hopes....We have owned our JVC Hard Disk Camcorder for many years now & rarely use it because it is SO difficult to make a movie from it on our computer. The camera is a major source of frustration for me because of this.

When I saw this share station & the good reviews I immediately bought it. Unfortunately, it is NOT compatible with my JVC HDD. Be sure to check the model number on your camera BEFORE ordering or you, too, may be dissapointed. This is just another reason I can't stand my JVC HDD!

As a side note I returned this product to the day after I received it & it took them TWO WEEKS to process my refund. I thought that was a bit long, compared to other sites.

Ritek Ridata DVD+R 4.7GB 16X, White Inkjet Printable, 50-pack

This is my second time buying this set, just because it's such a good deal for the price. First set was not bad, only had a few discs fail. Second set was a huge disappointment. More than half of the discs failed to burn. I'm going to look for another brand, DO NOT BUY THIS CRAP!

For the money these werent a 'bad' deal but I noticed I had much higher percentage of failuries when burning with these discs than with the brand I normally purchase. I really like the white label on these though and for some things I don't mind losing a few more dvd's since the white label allows for much clearer writing on the disc.

Buy Ritek Ridata DVD+R 4.7GB 16X, White Inkjet Printable, 50-pack Now

Philips DVD701AT DVD Player

• Reads CD-Rs and CD-RWs
• Optical and coaxial digital-audio outputs
• Composite-video and S-video outputs
• Discrete dual-laser optical pickup
• Allows you to program up to 80 discs for parental lock

This was the first DVD player I bought....and I have no complaints. I was immediately blown away by the video and sound quality improvements over the VCR.

The only problem I had was related to the fact that my television did not have the neccesary line inputs to hook this bad boy up. I had to spend an extra $30 after the fact to get it to play certain videos without the copyright protection of my vcr distorting the visual.

I would VERY much recommend this item. For the price and DVD quality over a VCR, you can't beat it.

Buy Philips DVD701AT DVD Player Now

I purchased one of these from another retailer (sorry Amazon), and returned it 30 days later.

After 28 days it developed a disturbing habit of "freezing up" after an hour or so of playback. The only recourse at this point was to turn off the machine (directly at the unit), only to have it freeze again after a few more minutes of playback.

I was sure the first time there was a problem with the DVD I was playing. However replaying a DVD that had successfully completed some days before turned up the same problem.

When it worked correctly, I found the playback quality acceptable. This was used only as a 2nd DVD player for a 20-inch TV with no extra speakers, so picture and sound quality weren't that important.

The on off switch is awkward. This unit seems to be designed for the European market. Consumers there insist on an actual "mains" switch that allows them to shut of an electronic component completely, rendering the remote control useless. Yes, it goes into "standby" when "turned off" using the remote, but if you ever shut it off directly at the unit, it's dead until turned back on from that location. A minor point I was willing to overlook, if it weren't for the playback failure.

It does have one feature that my primary DVD home theatre system does not: it remembers the last position played for the past 5 DVDs. Very useful if you stop watching before the end; it prompts you to resume where you left off when next you turn it back on.

Read Best Reviews of Philips DVD701AT DVD Player Here

I shopped around for about a year before purchasing this model. I was looking at other more expensive brands, but this model really surprised me with its abilities. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a DVD player that won't break their budget and still delivers excellent sound and video.

Want Philips DVD701AT DVD Player Discount?

Very Good DVD player, it has everything for the price The only missing thing is digital decoding(U don't need that) But u can play ur own VCDs, copied CDs etc Do U know "Philips is involved in the DVD tecnology invention" excellent value for money GO FOR IT...

What more can you ask? Plays everything, has a decent display so you don't have to do everything with the TV on, allows programming up to 100 audio discs (and remembers them), and has the usual good sound and video you expect. Very nice. A sleeper....

TDK DVD-R Media 4.7GB for Data- General Use 10 Pack (non-authoring)

I have made about 22 or so disks. Not yet a single coaster made. This disk does get a little worse in picture quality toward the middle of the disk. BEWARE

VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player

• Full HD 1080p playback and access to BD-Live
• 7.1 Digital multi-channel audio via HDMI
• Built-in audio decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TruHD and DTS
• Plays Blu-ray discs, DVDs, Audio CDs, MP3s and JPEGs
• Illuminated touch panel that disappears when the player is off

I bought one of this when they first came out early last fall from a large discount store. I was really impressed as I unboxed it it looked very nice and had a nice "hefty" feel to the case (unlike so many other players). I hooked it up to a 37" Vizio 1080p TV. The Blu-Ray quality was decent nothing to write home about though. While it was better than an upconverted DVD of course, it didn't have the crispness to the image that I was expecting. I ran about three recent movies through it and all had the same result good enough, but not great. Then I tried upconverting standard DVDs. That's where it really fell down. The image quality was much worse than my upconverting DVD player. No depth, fuzzy, stuttering in fast motion. Other disappointments were the weak sound quality with both DVDs and Blu-Rays and a very short range for the remote. I literally had to be in front of the player to activate it. The DVD player or TV had no issue with the same angle. All in all a weak effort from Vizio (and it went back).

Black Friday I grabbed a Toshiba BDX-2000 from Amazon. It has more or less the same specs as the Vizio but its performance is like night and day better. Sharper Blu-Ray, better upconverting (still not as good as my DVD player though), much better sound and greater remote range. I thought maybe I was being too harsh on the Vizio, but after having the Tosh for a few weeks I can see that I wasn't.

Buy VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Now

Purchased this unit as my first BluRay player after waiting more than 2 years to purchase one due to the BluRay/HD battle and general lack of stability in the hardware and playback quality of existing units. I'll keep this short. The VBR100 has performed flawlessly for me. I've watched 6 BluRay movies thus far, including Australia and a concert video by the band Rush (Snakes & Arrows MUST HAVE for you Rush fans!). No problems whatsover. The 6 BluRay discs I've tried all loaded up in less than a minute. I've seen other units over the years take 2-3 minutes, which is just ridiculous. Like the prior reviewer, I actually bought mine at WalMart too since it was cheaper than Amazon's price. I've since done a firmware upgrade, which was a piece of cake. Highly recommended!

Read Best Reviews of VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Here

If you are a hardware manufacturer that wants to capture market share based on pricing you have to take advantage of your own lower pricing while you can because your competition normally won't want to let you keep that advantage very long. Eventually those competitors will drop their pricing into the same area you've targetted and that competitive advantage will be gone as customers opt to up sell themselves on competing products with better features, better reputations, etc.

Such is the problem that would seem to be facing Vizio with their 'entry level' VBR100 Blu-ray player. Well, that problem and a few others as well. Read on for a run-down of my thoughts about the player (at least the thoughts that I had at the time I wrote this review, early October 2009).

First, I'll about guarantee that these players will drop in price, just like their competition, over the not so distant future. For one, a price drop is guaranteed since I just bought myself one of these players a few weeks ago. No, sorry, not purchased through this particular web site, as a local mart that is loaded (wall to Wal) had the best pricing for the product and offered instant gratification if I wanted to pick up the product in store. As I did want the product in hand asap, I opted to buy in store rather than mail order, so I was able to take the device home the same day and start setting it up.

Setup was fairly simple, but I would note that the box doesn't have an HDMI cable in it, nor does it have a Component video cable. Nope, there was a composite video cable (Yellow connector with the Red and White audio cables tied in) but if that cable is used the video output quality suffers as NO upscaling is done unless the connection is HDMI or Component. Considering how inexpensive HDMI cables are, it would have been nice if Vizio had included an HDMI cable in the box. At most, I'd expect the inclusion of such a cable to add a few dollars in cost per unit, even if you factor in additional shipping weight on pallets of boxes. It seems that in this area Vizio has gone instead for keeping their own costs low. Granted, many people might not be able to use HDMI anyway, or they might prefer to buy the cable separately so they get the right length or a better quality cable, etc., but it still seems silly not to have the cable in the box.

On the other hand, I have to admit that HDMI cables is one area that the big box stores love to gouge customers on when selling them HD gear. Consider the costs of buying a cable here at Amazon versus buying a cable that you would find at one of those so-called Best places to Buy from, or one of those marts of Wal's, and you realize quickly that you can easily pay a small fortune for an HDMI cable with little or no difference at all in the audio/video quality of the end product no matter which cable you use.

Some cable manufacturers will tout their own specifications and claim that their cables are capable of carrying more data or something like that, but there's no real difference, or at least not one that justifies paying 4 to 25 times more for the cables.

Sorry about that detour about cables and such, and admittedly, I must say that the lack of inclusion of the HDMI cable in the box is something that many other competing products has the same problems with. Just about all of the products in this category would have that problem.

The VBR100 player is a decent player but not without some nits to pick. First, it claims BD Live compatibility. Well, sure, but only if the user adds (their own, not included) USB memory stick to the unit. If you don't add a USB flash drive with 1GB or more of RAM to the unit and properly set the unit up to use that stick for BD Live then you'll never get BD Live working on the unit even if you hook the unit up to your own WIRED network.

That's another of the potential problem for this product -wired networking only. Sorry, no wireless network built-in. It's nice that the unit has a network connection available, but many customers may find that they don't want to hassle with pulling a network cable to a location by their HDTV equipment. You can add a wireless bridge or power line adapter to your network (perhaps), but that makes the cost of using this unit considerably more expensive and puts the price into the neighborhood where you'd find the LG BD390 Wi-Fi Network Blu-ray Disc Player or even the PlayStation 3 120 GB. On the other side, if you don't need/want BD Live features, then you don't need to hook up to the network at all -not even for firmware updates.

Firmware updates are something that anyone using a Blu-ray player will be familiar with, as the never-ending security and content protection schemes and other 'features' of Blu-ray discs may require that you update the firmware on your player. In this area the lack of ability to upgrade the unit's firmware over the wired network is a mixed blessing, though I prefer to label it primarily a failure (especially when compared to the PS3, as an example). Going back to the HD DVD players, I had a Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player that I used (and liked) and found it very easy to upgrade firmware on. Simply use the menu option and off you went checking for, downloading, and then applying the downloaded firmware. Alternatively you could download the firmware to a memory stick or to your computer and create a 'firmware update disc' and be all set to upgrade the firmware with that. This last method is basically what Vizio is doing with the VBR100. Customers will have to download the firmware to their computer and then create a CD that contains the firmware. That process isn't too difficult, but it is an added burden for customers. I suppose, though haven't yet experienced this, that Vizio may mail out firmware discs to customers so that the customers don't have to create their own. I doubt that will happen though as doing that would add support costs that would eventually become too expensive. (They may make the firmware available for some small 'support fee' or something like that, but again, I know of no current plans for this to happen.)

Upgrading the firmware to the most current version, once downloaded, is a fairly simple process and only takes a few minutes, if that. If there is a problem, the system is smart enough to detect that the firmware on the disc is not good and the unit will automatically revert back to the last firmware version so you don't break the unit by failing to complete an upgrade.

Owners of Vizio TV's get an added benefit from these units in that the remote control will also control the volume for the TV, but otherwise the remote control that is included is for control of the VBR100 and not for controlling other devices. Owners of other TV brands are out of luck, as are owners of home theatre sound systems. (Sorry, you'd need to continue to use your own remotes for those products, or buy a Logitech Harmony or similar product.) The remote control is ok, though seems to be sluggish in responsiveness at times, and/or seems to have to be 'aimed' at the unit much more than should be needed. It is possible that Vizio's design for the unit is to fault, with the shiny black face filtering out more of the infrared remote control signal than Vizio expected. Whatever the issue is, the responsiveness of the remote is somewhat lacking.

The face of the unit is, as noted directly above, a shiny black plastic. There are no buttons on top of the unit, nor for that matter even on the face of the unit. There are instead touch sensitive areas that are used to control the unit. The 'power button' area is marked, but not terribly easy to see when the unit is powered off, and most users will likely be looking for the remote control to turn the unit on or off with. Once the unit is powered on the other touch sensitive areas light up brightly enough that they are easy to find and make use of. Additionally, when the unit is powered on the Vizio logo will be lit as well as the unit having a blue light bar above the drive tray that lights up to let you know that a disc is loaded in the drive. When the unit is powered off the Vizio logo turns orange, though the color is a bit different than the muddy orange that is used for the logo on Vizio TV's.

Getting back to the use of USB Flash drives on the unit, users are not limited to just using such drives for BD Live storage. Users may play content directly from a connected USB Flash drive if they wish, though using a drive for such purposes opens up another apparent design flaw: the location of the USB port (which is on the back of the unit). Given the mixed use for the USB port that port should have been located on the front of the unit. Certainly users can buy their own USB extension cables, but that shouldn't be necessary and again adds costs to the unit that shouldn't be there. If the port had been located on the front of the unit instead it would be very easy to swap flash drives on the unit at any time.

One last comment about the use of the USB flash drives -if you wish to use the drive for BD Live support you must run the unit without a disc in the drive (or with the drive bay open) then select USB, and finally select the option for BD Live where you tell the unit that you want the flash drive used for such purposes. If you don't do that you'll never get BD Live working as you have no storage for BD Live purposes. That information can be found in the manual (somewhere), but for those that never read manuals, the entire process could be more intuitive and/or simpler.

Whew, finally on to performance of the unit.

First, load times are not terribly impressive, though not out of line with the load times with other units on the market. Any time you feed the unit a disc expect it to take a few seconds to load and get to the menu. Longer on some titles, shorter on others, depending on the complexity of the menus, etc. While loading to the menu the unit seems to make a fair amount of noise, but once the disc is playing the drive is not loud enough to notice.

The video quality on the unit is good, including the upconversion capabilities. I've fed the unit a few DVDs and noticed fairly impressive picture quality, despite knowing that I'm using standard definition DVD and not Blu-ray. Blu-ray picture quality is as expected.

If you are looking for a Blu-ray player for your home and you have a Vizio TV this would make a nice companion to that TV. If you are using another TV and aren't using a home theatre sound system (working on a tighter budget), this is still a decent player, though you may find competing products offer more/better features at a very competitive price. If you are looking for a higher end product then I'd expect you never read this far, if you even found the Vizio player at all.

Worth a purchase, though educate yourself before buying and check competing products for feature sets and/or price.

Want VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Discount?

This is a great product, however make sure your firmware is up to date. I ran into a few problems with my newest blurays.

I purchased this Blu Ray Player at Walmart. I was very easy to set up and had nice feature BUT that's where the good stops. During the playing of the first Blu Ray disk, the picture froze. I couldn't fast forward, stop, rewind...nothing. I could not even eject the disk. After calling the company and learning how to get my disk out I took the unit back for an exchange. Walmart gladly exchanged the unit for another and guess what...same thing. About half way into my movie the picture froze. I took back and returned for an LG player. No problems with my LG unit. No more Vizio crap!

USB 8x DVD+/-RW DL Notebook SATA Burner Drive for Gateway MS2285

Great product, but do be aware that you will need to save two parts from your old drive:

1. The faceplate (bezel)so you can have it fit flush with your laptop. If you do not have the faceplate it is still okay,but it sits back in there a bit...

2. and most important the REAR MOUNT bracket from your old dvd drive in order to secure this part in your computer. Without that, it will just fall out. Nobody wants that!

As long as you have the parts it will be perfect for the Gateway NV5302u/ MS2258.

Verbatim 16X DVD+R, 100 pack, Verbatim logo on top

Have had problems with all the other brands, except this one. I continue to buy this product because of, and I assume this, quality control. Keep up the good work Verbatim......

I got my order in a timely manner and it was everything they said it was, and at such a good price too!

Buy Verbatim 16X DVD+R, 100 pack, Verbatim logo on top Now