Showing posts with label digital recorder reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital recorder reviews. Show all posts

Sunday, November 16, 2014

PE 8GB MP3/MP4/MP5 Multimedia Player with 2.8 inch Touch Screen

PE 8GB MP3/MP4/MP5 Multimedia Player with 2.8 inch Touch Screen
  • Another proprietary products from Pro Ebiz LLC
  • 2.8 Inch High Resolution TFT Touch Screen with resolution 320 * 240
  • Play most MPEG4, WMV, AVI, RM, RMVB and FLV without conversion (other formats can be converted to one of the 6 supported formats to play)
  • Tested to be compatible with Overdrive Media Console (audio book), Built in micro SD Card slot for expandable memory capacity. 2GB tested.
  • It will play musics purchased from Napster and most other websites. However, it is NOT compatible with Napster to Go or any other service.

I bought this player for myself. I have had many mp3 players but none can beat this one. The pictures are clear, the sound is great. My only problem is that I can not download games to it. I carry it with me everywhere. my wife sends me pictures of my kids, and via internet and this player is the ideal place to store those pictures. The slideshow feature is awesome. Other people in my unit, who have the ipod, are very impressed with this player. They really don't believe that I got so much for such a small price. My suggestion, get you one, you will not be disappointed.

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I bought this to replace the iRiver mp3 player of mine my wife claimed for her own. I bought it based off of customer reviews and price/features that I compared to other mp3's.

It arrived in a nice package, I don't usually have the opinion "Hey, this box looks nice", but it honestly did.

It's straight plug up and copy songs from pc, simple as can be. It was nice not to have to install any add on software like with my iRiver.

You can also look at pictures and such, but I have yet to try that stuff. It comes with a USB cable and an ac adapter that plug up kind of neatly. The ac adapter plugs directly into the USB cable, then connect the other end to the mp3 player. It was different, and kind of neat I thought.

The touch screen worked perfectly, I don't even use the included stylus (which is a nice shiny metal one). The sound quality from the included headphones is really clear and crisp, the built in rechargeable battery holds a charge for quite a while.

For the price, it is a really nice mp3 player. It looks nice and has great sound. It comes with all the cables, adapters, stylus, etc.

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This player is a good one. With 8 gigs built in and the option for an added mini sd what more can you ask for for bucks? I read that people said mp4 files weren't working, but that's because mp4 files are not as standardized like mp3 of wmv or other types. There are so many different encoders for mp4 files that you would probably have a hard time finding something that will actually play all of them. mp4 works on this player though with some exceptions.

As far as the touch screen goes, the only thing I don't care for much is that when I need to pick an individual song or video or photo, it's hard to get the one you want until you get used to it because the text is very small compared to your fingers. I actually figured out how to calibrate the screen though and now even though the file names are small, they are still really easy for me to pick out now. It just takes a little getting used to. Took me a day to get it easy. The stylus that comes with it is useless to me because you can't attach it to the player.

Battery life is excellent on mine. I drive truck for a living and I'm usually running about a 12 hour day on average. I plug the player right into my stereo with an auxilary jack. If I stick to playing mp3s and setting the screen to turn off when you're not touching it, the battery is only a little more than half gone by the end of the day. If I'm watching movies on it while waiting to unload, it still lasts the day. I've seen reviews that say it lasts only a little while, between 15 minutes to 3 hours. Either they got faulty ones or they have the light on constantly.

Customer service responded within minutes when I asked them some questions about it. I asked if there were going to be any additions to the Games section and they said that the game that came with it was part of a firmware update and that it wasn't originally intended for games. He did say though that they are planning on releasing more in the future so that's cool to look forward to as an added bonus.

I really like this player. You can't go wrong for the price and it plays nearly everything. Awesome value. Great and helpful customer service. Poor people like me can't afford the iTouch! Five stars!

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Okay, this thing is great for the price. Keep that in mind when it comes to your needs. I've got all the Greg the Bunny stuff and a bunch of songs on it so I can take it to work. I work in remote outdoor places and it is loud enough without a headset to play music in my backpack and make for a nice background noise. When we settle in I can watch whatever programs I have downloaded.If it should die or get lost because of the rough environment, I'm out the fifty and not $300. It is also a great mp3 player for the car [since getting it stolen will cost you the $50 and whatever time downloading]. At 8G it should have enough to play though for a cross country trip. Bat life is around 5 hrs from what I can tell but comes with a nice wall plug in so you don't have to poke your laptop for juice. The stylus looks like it was thrown in from some other model so there is no place for it. Also, you may have to download and delete things a couple of times to get a full download but that may be my AVI converter which you will need to download [the one it comes with doesn't read most of my files]. There isn't apps crap so no GPS or tossing information between people or internet access. You can record things and put readable material on there as well [for all the authors out there who want to record book ideas and read whatever documents]. This is an entertainment box and little more. So in summary, buy 3 at under 200 bucks total and through them in your ruck sack. If all three go down, your still not hurting as much as when the new zune comes out.

this was a great buy i got it a day afterr christmas an i love it easy 2 use no cd required ..videos r a brezze 2 put on here as is the music.:) i recommened this 2 any1 who wants a touchscreen player but at a good price.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Macally FreeCam2 Securityman Wi-Fi Interference Free Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Bullet Color x2 Kit wi

Macally FreeCam2 Securityman Wi-Fi Interference Free Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Bullet Color x2 Kit with Night Vision and AudioThese cameras have a problem with the frequencies they use. They advertise operation at 900 MHz, and they do, but they also transmit in the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz range which caused interference to nearby cellular and PCS towers. As a result we can't use them. It appears there is a good reason they don't cost much. I would not recommend them.

This was easy to set up and it gave a clear picture during the day and at night. The range is pretty bad; it says 100' indoors but I found it to be more like 50'. There was feedback from the sound so I had to disconnect it. I am returning this item because it isn't what I am looking for. I will have to spend at least twice as much to get what I need.

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I found this system to be better than expected in video quality and construction especially the bullet cameras. They are noted as 510H x 492V pixels and I noticed very good color match even at night in IR. When indoors I could see about twice as far as the advertised night range of 23 ft. Also, at night through a window with the camera about 1 foot from the window I could see at least the specified night range. Transmission range performance through 2 inner walls at 50ft appears to be slightly fuzzy for the IR mode but clear in daylight mode. The only interference I really notice is when I step up close to the receiver and get directly in line with the camera.

If you need to mount the cameras outside your home, consider that each camera power cord is 3ft long and each AC adapter cord is 6 feet i.e., there is 9ft of connected line from camera to adapter. This should be enough length to mount the cameras near the wall and have 3ft of camera cord to feed the connecting plug through the wall and inside the home so it will be safe and out of sight.

One drawback to the system has to be the receiver's camera select and mode switches. They are located on the back of the receiver and are contained in a 3gang micro-toggle dip switch which is hard to operate. Two of the switches are on-off toggles for the display of camera 1 and camera 2. The third is a mode switch. There are two modes, namely "auto-loop" (continuously cycles the display between the two cameras for about 6 secs. each) and "hold" (locks the display to the active camera at the time of toggling from "auto-loop" to "hold"). The active camera is indicated by one of two green lights on the top of the receiver. The switches are difficult because they are physically quite small, too close together, stiff to flip and hard to get to as they are located between the power jack and the RCA audio connector. Other than the switches being difficult, you might say that the cameras' field of view is not wide angle, the LEDs are the visible red type and the cameras are not ID'd. But none of these is really a show stopper.

The receiver itself is only about 5"x4"x1" so it's very compact. There is an on-off switch in front and there is a video and an audio cable supplied for the outputs in back. All this for a reasonable price makes me want to give it a 4 star rating but will give it a 3 because the system I bought was an opened box used item. It was returned for some reason. I don't know. They seldom state why items are returned. All I know is that reliability in commercial electronics is only as good as the quality control.

Good Luck !

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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Hitachi DZ-GX20MA 2.1 MP DVD Camcorder w/10x Optical Zoom

Hitachi DZ-GX20MA 2.1 MP DVD Camcorder w/10x Optical ZoomI'd originally gotten a Sony DV Camcorder but found that it had to have ONLY Sony parts such as batteries, tapes and other accessories at a high price and would not connect directly to my computer. Examined all the other camcorders and settled on this Hitachi. It is terrific. It does everything I wanted very easily. Using the "low light" setting, I was able to get an excellent video with normal room light and the lit Christmas tree. It is necessary to be careful about the mini DVDs you use, but they are easily found and at a very reasonable price.

I wanted a DVD recorder as I was not happy with the results from my analogue tape camera. This Hitachi more than fills the bill. It is easy to use, has great accessories included in the box, even a first DVD disk. The manual covers everything with easy to understand pictures and text. I'm completely sold on the Hitachi.

I purchased this camcorder to replace an old Sony. After 1 DVD-R recording, I have decided to return it. The low-light performance was the killer. I used it to tape our child's first Christmas in normal, indoor lighting and it is very dark, almost unwatchable. The set-up was quite easy, but what good is easy set up if it takes poor videos? I am opting for the Sony 403 model.

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Saturday, August 9, 2014

Sony ICD-B25 Digital Voice Recorder

Sony ICD-B25 Digital Voice RecorderI did quite a bit of research before I bought my Sony ICD-B25 recorder and I am quite comfortable with what I got for $. To begin with, the recording time of around 2 hours for the standard mode and 5 hours for long mode is sufficient for what I use it for (recording college lectures), and I have to say that the sound quality is quite good. I don't believe that you are going to find so-called sound perfection with any digital recorder at $1. For me, I find my recordings to be highly interpretable, which is what my goal is when it comes to sound quality from any voice reorder. However, I do suggest sitting the recorder as close to the source as you can to enable optimum sound quality. It's also nice to know that I don't have to fumble around with micro cassette tapes, which aren't exactly cheap. Instead I burn my recordings on to cd from my computer for a fraction of what micro cassettes cost.

Unfortunately, as with many products, there are some down sides. First of all, I sure as hell wouldn't want to drop it because it would probably have a good chance of breaking. And for a $ investment, it would be nice if the recorder came with a carrying case to help protect it. So, the first thing that I did was run down to Best Buy and bought a mp3 case made out of neoprene for $10 that fits great with this compact recorder. Also, it is a bit odd that there is no on/off switch, which does leave the unit on all the time. However, the only power drain problem that I have had is when I use the pause button because it flashes the pause message until you either push play or stop. I suppose that you could take the batteries out if you become worried about excess power drainage. Finally, I could do without the mic jack that comes with it. I feel this would be a great place to to put a D.C. inlet instead. Oh well, I still highly recommend this recorder to anyone that is looking at recording time, quality sound (not bad in long record mode either), and file bins to store different messages in. If I broke mine today, I would not hesitate once to go out and buy another ICD-B25 just like it.

Acutally, 4.5 stars. But that wasn't a choice.

This is a highly functional unit for the price, though clarity and record time is what I focused on. As such, I'm amazed at the clarity of the recordings even in long-play (LP) mode. Compared to one other I've used (Olympus VN-90), there is no comparison. In LP, there is virtually no static (as with the VN-90), but the voice does sound a little like you're speaking into a tin can. But even then it's still not bad. One could operate this unit in LP mode all the time and miss very little, I think, of what you gain in standard play (SP) mode. But for those times when a clearer recording is required, SP is there, and it is noticeably better. Don't get me wrong, this is not MP3 quality by any means, nor is it designed to be. And of course there will a decrease in quality with distance from the source, as there would be for any device like this. But relative to what I was expecting for LP quality, this is fantastic.

As to the record time...it's up there: 127 min SP, 339 min LP. This is a plenteous amount for recording long meetings or lectures. It will take a long time to fill the memory if the unit is only used for simple reminders.

Some other niceties include a back-lit display. It comes on whenever a function button is pushed. The display itself is large and readable. There's also plug-ins for an external microphone and ear-piece. The unit is small, lightweight, and easily fits in a shirt pocket without a lot of bulk.

As stated above, I'd rather have given 4.5 stars if I could since there are some quirky things with this unit. One, the buttons on the front of the unit are small and sub-flush. Those with other-than-stubby fingernails or small, pointy fingers will have no problem. That, and you have to use two hands at times for some of the operations. For this I gave a quarter star demerit.

Second, the time display is in military format only. I've yet to read in the directions for an option to display in regular 12-hour format. Again, this is rather picayunish, but does deserve another quarter star demerit. Even less worthy of mentioning is the fact that there seems to be a spot to attach a wrist-strap. But none was provided. I didn't give any demerits for this since the unit fits so well in a shirt pocket as stated above.

Over all, I'd recommend this unit to anyone who wants clear sound, with long record time. Perhaps there are better out there, but I'm satisfied with the Sony ICD-B25 thus far.

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I really love my Sony IC recorder. I splurged, and spent more than I had wanted to, but the extra 25 dollars was worth itthe sound quality is great, perfect for recording dialogue or lectures. The incredible recording time (5.5 hours LP, 2.1 hours SP) and tiny size make this a fantastic buy for someone who wants to record conversations or have audio to transcribe notes from.

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I generally have found Sony to make some pretty good stuff. Of course, I will stand back from such a Brand-Bias as I write this. But, even when I do: I am left with mostly positive things say about this recorder. The sound quality is just amazing. Indeed, the speaker is a bit cheesy, but I wouldn't expect much better from something that has such high power-consumption and preferable-size constraints.

I admit that the interface of the device has some oddities (like how you go about searching, and moving messages), and the fact that some functions require pressing two buttons simutaneously. But, through time: it isn't too difficult to get used to and it is nice and flexible. Plus, I am awestruck by all the incredibly useful features it has (such as playback and recording alarms, the backlit display, repeat functions, message splitting/combining and moving, etc.). That "Hold" function (that prevents accidental button pushing) is invaluable.

And let's face it ... it looks so cool! =) I tend to really dig gadgets with geek-appeal: so this contraption has a lot going for it. Honestly, I love this little recorder because it really is both effective and fun to use. Of course, you don't have to be "tech-type" of person to realize how this is such a great recorder. To Anyone who wants to record a series of lengthy lectures/meetings or just a lot of personal notes: this is well worth the price.

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I am a program manager who needs to capture a lot of details in many different meetings. Electronic note recording is the only way to go to keep track of everything. After my last microcassette recorder broke a tape, I decided to go all digital. The Sony ICD-B25 is has the best value and features for the money. Five folders with up to 99 messages in each. My favorite feature is the ability to index by topic on the fly. Showed this to my daughter and she said, can we download MP3's to it? I said no, but you can record any audio source into the microphone jack and simulate the same effect. This product would be perfect if it had USB and MP3 data storage features!!!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Esky® New 4gb Mini PEN Recorder DVR Video Camera Pencam

Esky® New 4gb Mini PEN Recorder DVR Video Camera PencamBetter than expected it is a bit bulky but all the same it appears as an "Expensive Pen" works great

Item lasted 3 days and the camera turned inside so it can not look out the hole. Got camera turned back around and then stopped working completely, no lights or anything. But it writes amazingly well.

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Bought one of these someplace else promising .jpg photos. IT WOULD NOT TAKE .JPG PHOTOS. So, I bought this one because it promised to take .jpg photos

I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO TAKE .JPG PHOTOS. It has a little slide switch to move from photo to movie (.avi)

You have to press just once when the light is blue. It then flashes yellow just for an instant then turns back to blue. You have just taken a .jpg photo.

Also, the instruction to change the date/time does not work. It has nearly driven me nuts. I wish there was someone I could talk to on the phone to help. I am going to try www.hisgadget.com for some help. The video quality is pretty good.

I have been burned twice on these spy cameras. I guess the axiom "you get what you pay for" is true because there are units just like this one that sell for over $100.00.

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DO NOT BUY THIS. Get a more expensive one of higher quality and more consistency. I was having troubles with mine not saving the video recordings, and a little later it started to malfunction. I would turn it on and it would go from standby to recording on its own without me pressing a button, and would not go back to standby. I tried resetting it, this did not help. It was taking pictures before, but no longer, it's stuck on recording video which it doesn't save anyway so it is completely useless now. I just spent over $30 on a hollow pen, do not make the same mistake as me. 90% of these you see are not going to work properly, don't waste your money.

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Sunday, July 20, 2014

iMBAPrice - Pelican iMBA Series - High Speed HDMI cable (6 FEET) - 1080P - Lifetime Warranty

iMBAPrice - Pelican iMBA Series - High Speed HDMI cable - 1080P - Lifetime WarrantyVery clear picture, and sound. All tested with Blu-rays Via a playstation 3 and no issues what so ever with my laptop. Don't get ripped off in the stores with there over priced name brand HDMI cables... And For free economy shipping. HDMI is the way to go, these cables will make great gifts for people getting new tv's, Blu-ray players, Ect.

Looked thin at first glance but work well with both my HD blu-ray and Roku. Can't beat for the price

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As long as you don't mess with it, they work great, This cable is actually rather cheap, again for the price, super high quality should be the last thing on your mind. The ones I bought actually came from newegg rather fast.

Again, set it and forget, if you plan on messing with the cable or have an unstable set up, get a better cable because this one will give you artifacts if you move it around or mess with it too much, other than that it's perfect.

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Fast shipping I received on the 2nd day. I cannot believe the quality is better than my $29 HDMI cable. After I compare both cables by connect with my LG BlueRay and my Samsung LED 3D. Don't waste the money on a high dollar cable. This Seller and HDMI cable I rate 5 STARS.

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Not of good quality. Being a new item it has scratch on the plating of the connectors!

I ordered it from Amazon, but the package came from Newegg's RMA warehouse... not sure if it is a repackaged used item.

Doesn't has the brand name anywhere, looks like an unbranded product. But it was sold as "Pelican iMBA Series".

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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Shure SRH750DJ Professional Quality DJ Headphones (Gold)

Shure SRH750DJ Professional Quality DJ Headphones
  • Frequency range = 5Hz - 30,000 Hz
  • 10ft coiled detachable cable provides plenty of length and easy storage and replacement
  • Replaceable ear cup pads and a second set of pads included in the package ensure long product life
  • Includes a carrying pouch and threaded ¼-Inch adapter

First off let me say I own the Shure 440 and 840, I am not fond of either of them. I find their sound to be too powerful and harsh, especially their bass. People claim it to be accurate, but how can this be if nearly everyone agrees the Bass on them both is just incredibly powerful and too harsh at times. Thankfully, Shure listened to its buyers and made the SRH750DJ. Out of the box they sound okay, nothing special. However after 50 hours of burn in, everything improved drastically. Like the difference between night and day. This set is geared for listening to music, where as the 440 and 840 are really not meant for that, they are monitors, meant to pick out subtle abnormalities in music track editing, like static and pops and such. The 750DJ is purely geared for musical experience, even though the box says they are monitors, too. Sure they can be used as that, as any headphone set can, but they are a total 180 degree turn from the 840.

They come with extra ear pads, which i am sorry to say right out of the box are incredibly uncomfortable. They are stiff and hard, but after some usage and clamping them onto a box or something for a day or two, they break in and become very comfortable. I was incredibly worried about the circular design of the earcups not fitting my ears. By the looks of things, the cups seemed pretty small in comparison to the 840 and 440...they are smaller, but totally circular but still fully over my ears. The downside to this is that my ears have a fraction of an inch clearance, almost no space left, my ears just fit. They are DJ headphones anyway, really meant to be slung down on your neck and have 1 earcup pressed up against your ear. So I suppose it wasnt meant to support average sized peoples heads and fully cover their ears...either that or i am a freak and my ears are huge, which they dont appear to be.

The 750s are comparable to the Denon D1001. The sound is similar, just bigger and more powerful all around, with MUCH more bass. And I mean it...much more. Enough to melt your face off if you wanted and had the right EQ. The bass is nothing like the 440 or 840, not even remotely. Its clean and beautiful and not at all harsh even on heavy bass tracks. They can handle high outputs of power, but remain easily driven by my sansa fuze without a problem. Doesnt sound as nice through my sansa as it does amped of course, but still, i am incredibly impressed with their ability to sound that nice and powerful via an mp3 player with no amp at all. The 440 and 840 fail miserably with no amp. The 750dj pass with flying colors. The Denons are more comfortable without question. But in the near future I expect the 750djs to become superior after sufficient burn in and usage. My denon D1001 and Shure 440/840 are no good for acoustic jazz or classical. Their soundstage is pretty awful for those genres of music. However, the 750DJs can power through nearly every type of genre i toss at it and still sound just awesome. This is something anyone with the above models in their inventory will recognize immediately. "Whoa, they sound great with my Superman the Movie soundtrack!!!" AWESOME! While the soundstage is just not as broad as the 840, is improved on the 440 and flat out KO'ed the Denon d1001. Thats not even fair to compare.

What bothers me is this fetish with stock cables and the bayonet locker. Like the 440 and 840, the cable is unique and twist-locks into place for security. I made a mistake in buying a 3.5mm to 3.5mm mini to mini 3 foot cable of my own to use instead of its stock coiled cable. Turns out its a requires a 2.5mm, not a standard mini. Back to radio shack i suppose, bothersome but understandable.

The headband is likely going to be modded very soon. It offers almost no support at all, and has s strange texture on the fabric. I've a buzz cut hairstyle and it kind of grinds on my head, and its really annoying. The clamp factor is pretty good, meaning they dont vice grip your head like some other headphones...coughcough 440/840,es7coughcough...They are somewhat heavy, but not the heaviest ive used.

The sound isolation is pretty good, id say 40% reduction. They tend to get hot, after all they are full sized over the ears and closed backs...you cannot avoid this.

Overall they are a fantastic buy. HIGHLY recommended if you want to buy via Shure. In my humbled opinion, the Shure 750DJ are an overall better choice for the budget of $100-150. The Denon D1001 was king of closed backs for around $100-150, now hail the new king SRH750dj!!! live long, and prosper!

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If my experience is any indicator, this model should be recalled.

The plastic is weaker than that of a child's toy.

It cracked in FOUR places during the first three weeks of normal use.

Korean warranty was no help, so I've appealed to the US SHURE Office for assistance,

since I bought it from an official reseller.

Will update with response.

Best sounding phones I've ever owned.

UPDATE: Free Warranty Service fixed the headband and I BELIEVE replaced the problematic plastic with something stronger. Not confirmed. They feel stronger.

Ask for free replacement if they break under normal conditions like mine did.

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The Shure 750DJ headphones are the top model in Shure's line targetting toward professional DJ use....that is, people that make their bucks spinning music that you want to dance to at your next party.

Disclaimer: I am not a DJ, so I won't try to speak for the professionals. I did buy this headphone just to try out because I already gave an excellent review for their monitor series SRH840 model and I was wanted to see how this differs from that offering. This headphone is meant for DJ use, and I did talk to a couple of people who have done some DJ'ing and offered me some perspectives on what they look out for:

Ability to withstand the rigors of use. These headphones are a tool, so it has to be durable, withstanding some accidental abuse, and is easily transportable to the venue. These headphones do look sturdy enough, there are no parts that will snap easily, the replaceable cable uses a bayonet locking mechanism and is detachable. The headband can be manhandled and bent and it doesn't lose its shape easily. The headphone comes with extra ear cushions, and there is a vinyl bag that keeps everything together. The headphone folds into a compact shape, swinging upward into the headband area.

Fit. These headphones clamp onto your headphone nice and securely, especially for one sided listening (you have swung the other earpiece off one ear to monitor). However, for regular listening, I found that on my size 7 3/4 head, even at maximum extension, they are borderline too small for my head, the earcup arms need more extension range. For extended listening, my head did feel a bit irritated due pretty tight clamping force. Grade = Bbecause they are a bit too tight on my big head.

Sound isolation. These are good in that they block up to 30dB of sound in the treble range, and around 15dB in the midrange. They don't filter anything below 200Hz. Grade = A-

Sound quality: These are definitely tailored toward DJ use as they have an noticeable emphasis in the bass. Their measurements show that the bass response is rock solid down into subwoofer territory of below even 20Hz. Response in the bass region of 20-200 Hz show that the response is elevated at least 10dB compared to the rest of the spectrum. So it's all about the bass here. The bass quality is quite decent, no obvious resonances, and because of the elevated response, bass is clear and omnipresent at all times, which is important in any loud venue. For general listening, the bass did seem to drown out the vocals significantly. In the upper ranges, treble is well controlled and almost a bit too laid back, there is a slight dullness to the shimmering of cymbals. The whole frequency spectrum is represented well enough, and except for the obvious bass centric sound, everything is basically there. Grade B+ for DJ use. For a general use music headphone other than pop or dance music, I suggest you look at the Shure SRH840

Build quality These headphones look great in pictures and from far away, they look like serious equipment, but they are pretty much all plastic and the metallic looking bits are just silver paint molded plastics. The joints and overall structure does creak a lot as you handle them. All in all, don't expect build quality that exceeds the price. Grade = B-

So all in all, these headphones do live up to their billing as DJ use tools. I think most people are better off with other more balanced headphones if you don't earn a living spinning vinyl.

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Let me just say, these headphones sound GREAT. Before these, I owned a pair of Bose Triport over-the-ear style headphones, and while the improvement is not worth ditching your old pair (except in my case: the Bose ones finally died after 3 years), there IS some added bass, which is great. Also loved is the detachable cord, and the swiveling ear cups.

The reason these don't get 5 stars is because the build quality and comfort just isn't all that. After about 50-60 hours of use, I can say that these are not as comfortable as the Bose, due to a much stiffer foam in the ear pads. Also, it is entirely made of plastic, which sometimes creaks when the headphones shift on your head. But my biggest complaint of all would be that the plastic on the adjustable piece on the sides cracked the first week! Nothing some super glue couldn't fix, but it's not something that bodes well for my experience with them down the road.

Overall, I wish I would have spent a bit more money and purchased some headphones with a better build quality. Luckily, the only category I'm not disappointed with is the sound quality, which I would say is the most important.

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These headphones broke in three months of casual use. The cheap plastic in the adjuster piece cracked and rendered the headphones useless. I'm going to have to deal with manufacture to get a replacement. Also the foam ear pieces fall off easily.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen 4GB Pro-Pack (Black)

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen 4GB Pro-PackThis is obviously a nifty product, and I've been impressed with reviews elsewhere. But isn't $210 asking a bit much given that Livescribe just released a next generation "Echo" model that is 4GB and only costs $170.

The least that could be done, it seems to me, is to drop this package below $200.

In taking my match, english, and world history classes: along with taking notes at HOA meetings. It has been the best thing to use. The HOA would have a "hissy" if they knew that they were being recorded along with my taking notes. Also the college instructors will soon find out from their Deans just how bad that they have been delivering speeches and giving inacurate responces to students and leading the students to make incorrect choices on tests. Yeah for the Smartpen.

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The Smartpen is a great way to keep minutes for fraternal organizations. The written record along with the voice recording makes it easy to check and make sure you have kept an accurate account of a meeting.

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I'm a geek, and even I'm amazed by this pen. How does it do it? It not only records the sound in a way that lets you go directly to a particular part of the recording, it copies your handwritten notes to your computer! And when you're listening, you can watch your own hand draw the letters on the screen. It's eery.

I use it when doing mediations, so I can get down the exact wording of the agreement without having to slow down the process.

Four stars cause the software is kind of clunky, but it works well enough to get the value from the pen.

I also love that the little LED window tells you the time expired, so if clients don't come on the hour, I don't have to keep figuring out when to end the session.

It's also a great conversation piece!

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Monday, June 23, 2014

GE DV1-GG Waterproof/Shockproof 1080P Pocket Video Camera (Graphite Gray)

GE DV1-GG Waterproof/Shockproof 1080P Pocket Video CameraI'm giving this camera 5 stars, not because it takes the best pictures of any camera I've seen, and not because it has more features than any camera I've ever owned, but because this camera survived surfing, snorkeling, a dusty ride on the back of an ATV, and being dropped from a zip-line in the mountains of Costa Rica (take a look at the video that was taken immediately after it was retrieved). For less than a hundred bucks I would not expect any camera, waterproof or not, to survive even half the activities I made this bad boy a part of.

As far as the camera itself, it takes decent pics in good light. It does not have a flash, so you won't get much out of it if used at night or in a dark room, but with the sun is shining and the picture taker facing the right direction, you can snap some really high-quality photos with this sucker. I got some amazing shots that my Canon Elph has yet to shoot.

The user interface is a little confusing to figure out because at first it looks a bit complicated with a bunch of icons on the screen, until you realize that it's really just a basic point and shoot camera and the icons are just there to let you know what you are working with (how many minutes you've been recording or what your zoom level is, for example).

It comes with a little bit of internal memory, but I recommend you pick yourself up a SD card with a decent amount of memory so that you don't have to constantly be transferring pics. If you're planning an long, active trip somewhere, the last thing you want is your SD card running out of memory right as soon as things start to get exciting (speaking from experience).

It takes really good video/pics underwater. And being underwater does not change or affect the mechanical functioning of the camera from my experience. I took more pics and videos underwater and diving into heavy waves in the ocean than I took in a dry environment. And the camera still works as good as it did the first day I got it.

I will continue to use this camera for all active outdoor photos until it can't take any more. And then I will probably buy another.

EDIT: Please note that the video that is part of this review is of much higher quality when watched straight from the memory card. Although it uploaded at poor resolution here and appears grainy and somewhat pixelated, the video is actually crystal clear you can even see the ocean in the distance beyond the mountains. This camera produces much better picture and video quality than meets the eye!

I read loads of reviews for this type of HD cam and was all set to get the kodak playsport, but I was lucky enough to be able to test several, in my local electronics shop. This one is by far the best quality in my view, in not only movie quality but sound and still's. The feture I like best is while your taking movie, you just hit the camera icon and it takes a real good quality photo without disturbing your movie and saves it sepately. I read in some reviews of other brands that there good outside but rubbish inside, not this one, takes movie and stills inside just as good. The only problem I have is that my PC finds it hard to keep up, so I have to render it to a smaller avi size to convert to dvd, not a problem for me as I love doing stuff like that. P.S the sound quality is great as well, I'm well chuffed with my purchase.

P.P.S I use a 4gig sdhc class 4 card and it works great at all resalutions.

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Amazing little camera. It is waterproof. I took it in the shower. Strong water stream and moderately hot water. I found one tiny drop in the USB area. Then I went swimming in the pool and took video and stills under water to a depth of 3 feet. No water found in either the USB or SD card area. Then I took it kayak fishing and sailing in saltwater. Never dunked the camera in the saltwater but it did get splashed and handled with wet hands.

The camera saves video as .MOV files and stills as standard .JPG files. My camera with an 8gig SD card shows about 2 hours and 20 minutes of video record time (720p @ 30 frames per second). The manual gives just the basic functions and was not clear how to charge the camera. Had to figure how to spring open the USB port. The USB charging cable is only about 15" long.

The under water video and stills are amazingly good with bright sunlight in clear pool water. Your not going to win any photo contest with this camera. With the fixed focus 2.8f lens, sharp focus isn't the camera's strong point, but good enough for 4x6 prints with good light. This camera need lots of light. You'll be disappointed in the video of your 80 yr old grandmother blowing out 80 candles. I said fixed focus lens, I should mention fixed zoom lens. It has digital zoom. What a joke. Don't even thing of using the digital zoom. A noisy, unsharp mess in both the video and stills with digital zooming. If you need to zoom, use the professional photographers tip, "Zoom with your feet" get closer.

I am happy with my purchase. I bought it to use on my kayak in wet conditions. Considering the price of other waterproof point and shoot cameras, it's a great bargain.

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I really like this camera as soon as i got it it's a great size fits in the palm of the hand very nicely, looks like a mobile phone people keep asking me if it is a mobile.

Well built or so it seems so far tested in the pool, has sturdy rubber waterproof seals the battery life is pretty decent also as the screen is no bigger than a nokia E72 lasts long enough with a good power save function when not in use.

Not sure if i'm a fan of the USB interface ... click out the USB connector and plug it in directly to a port! i'm always paranoid i'll damage it so i tend to use the supplied extension cable to charge and transfer pics which can be slow when u have HD res movies...

Doesn't shoot on motion or sound detect which would be a cool feature to have. actually this camera is relatively featureless but makes up for it with simple user interface and control.

Movie quality is very good a clean the best i've seen underwater with good low light conditions has a zoom function which is rather slow but useful.

Camera does not take good still any closer than 1 meter at least.

it's also very wide screen so make sure you shoot this thing the right way up or it will just look odd.

Easy to scratch the surface be careful to keep it in a pouch or it'll be looking shabby in no time ... black surround on the back comes off easily.

Apart from that ... one of the best around buy buy buy

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I was a little nervous about buying this camera since it's so new and very little has been written about it. But I'm glad I did. The camera is easy to use, has good battery life, and takes great pictures and videos. I really like that the memory is expandable unlike other palm camcorders.

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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

AVERMEDIA Game Broadcaster HD Record and Stream PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and iPads -- capture up to 1

AVERMEDIA Game Broadcaster HD Record and Stream PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and iPads -- capture up to 1080p60 with HDMI/DVI/VGA/Component inputsThis is my official review for the Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD C127. I learned some new tricks and I want to give you guys a few tips as well.

The Good:

1. Record In FULL HD. 720,1080p

2. Record From PC Full Screen

3. No Lag

4. Different Video Codecs To Record With

5. HDMI

The Bad:

1. VGA Can be bad if you don't have VGA on your graphic card.

2. Program can freeze if you click D-Sub sometimes

3. Program won't recognize D-Sub sometimes (If you have an outdated system)

4. Can't Record PS3 Gaming With HDMI (HDCP Protection)

Tips:

1. You do not need 2 PC's to record from PC.

2. Connect HDMI To DVI or HDMI or HDMI and Duplicate The Display For HD Playback

3. DO NOT CONNECT VGA To DVI....The Playback is HORRIBLE!

UPDATE: Since I've updated my system to I7 I've had no issues at all so far. I changed my review from 4 stars to 5. Overall score 9/10



Today, there are many gamer's out there who commentate over their gameplay. It could either be a video series of video games, or they may even stream their gameplay live. Some may wonder, how do they do all this? There are various tools available to record your gameplay. Some include, internal capture cards or even standalone video capture boxes. The difference between the two is that an internal capture card is what'll allow you to stream your gameplay live. This brings us to our review of AVermedia's Game Broadcaster HD. An internal capture card that will allow you to record or broadcast live gameplay via HDMI or component.

FIRST LOOK:

There's nothing more exciting than looking at an expansion card. They have that great green color with a bunch of little nubs and capacitors. A distinctive smell of electronics. Okay, so maybe not THAT exciting. But, that's pretty much what you'll see at first. Once connected, it's a whole other story. While small, this thing packs the power to capture or broadcast 1080p Hi-def video. It connects internally via PCI-Express X2. On the outside, it has two ports. One for both VGA or Component. For component, you'd just have to use the included component to VGA adapter. The other port is an HDMI input.

INCLUDED IN BOX:

Warranty Card, Manual, Drivers CD

RCA to 3.5mm Audio Cable

Component to VGA Cable

3.5mm Audio Cable

Low Profile Bracket

Capture Card

INSTALLATION:

Installation was fairly easy. Just had to open up the old "Beast"(my actual computer name) and slide `er in an open PCI-E slot. Once in, I put it all back together and booted up. I actually skipped the drivers CD it came with and downloaded the latest drivers from AVermedia's website. It's best to do this with all driver software as the CD could already be outdated and you could be missing some important updates!

INPUT:

I first intended to plug in the PS3 via HDMI totally overlooking HDCP. HDCP or High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection is not supported by this card and didn't let me record or capture anything from the PS3. Since then, I had to go the component route. Because I feel more comfortable playing on my TV, I got a component distribution amplifier which allowed me to take one component input and split it out to two outputs. One for the Game Broadcaster HD and another for the TV. I then plugged the sound in via the Line-In port on my PC. Best of all, it auto-detects the resolution coming out of the console and supports 3D video source playback. VESA resolution is supported as well. To my knowledge, HDCP was only added to the PS3 and not the XBox. Therefore, you should be able to record the XBox via HDMI.

SOFTWARE:

I'm sure there's various programs out there to record gameplay from this capture card, but I just used the software provided. It's called AVer MediaCenter 3D. Which allows you to record gameplay in a variety of formats and does a great job. You can also manage your recordings straight from the software or open up the destination folder and edit the footage in your favorite video editor. You can also manage photos and music kind of like Windows Media Center.

Recording Formats:

MPEG-2

AVI

WMA

WMV

H.264

iPod, iPhone, iPad, and AppleTV

STREAMING:

Streaming is just as easy as capturing. You have the option to use software like Adobe Flash Media Live encoder to encode the live signal into flash for streaming. Another option would be XSplit which is what I prefer most. It's real easy to manage what your audience sees and can broadcast to a variety of sites like Twitch.TV. The Game Broadcaster HD is also pretty flexible so you should be able to use any of your preferred streaming software.

PERFORMANCE:

In my experience, capture cards sometimes have a tendency to lag. Some more than others. After testing the Game Broadcaster HD for some time, it seems to have little to no lag at all. I connected the output to the capture card and TV simultaneously via a component distribution amp and haven't noticed any significant lag at all. Pretty neat since you'll be able to play your game while watching your computer screen.

Overall, I think think the AVerMedia Game Broadcaster HD works very well for what it does. It has no noticeable lag or choppiness. The quality of video looks great! It'd be nice if it could also capture composite video for those intense NES games, but it'll do for now. It's not only great for recording gameplay but anything with an HDMI or component output as long as the output isn't protected. They claim you can even capture your iPad 2 display which I'd guess would be through HDMI. You can also capture another computer's VGA output if you ever needed to record things like BIOS set up or boot up where software can't capture. it'll work on Windows 7, Vista, and XP both 32 and 64bit.

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After reading some mixed reviews on Amazon, the deciding factor to purchase was price, that I couldn't care less about lack of 1080p/60, & that it has a VGA input with VESA support, that last one is HUGE, but you kids out there prob never heard of VESA, so don't worry!

I did NOT use the driver & software disc the product came with, instead just downloaded the DRIVER ONLY from the manufacturer site, I cannot speak for the software you're "supposed to" install, but as long as the latest driver is installed , it works in Xsplit & that's all I need.

It works flawlessly in my Asus Essentio (i7 3770, 16gig ram, with ONLY Intel HD4000 internal graphics). Yes, it sometimes glitches a few seconds when switching sources or starting up, but once it starts up, no problems!

****Running DUAL Avermedia Game Broadcaster cards****

I made the mistake of thinking that running twin capture cards would require beefier graphics & purchased an Nvidia GTX 560. Turned out the opposite was true. After about 2-3 hours of streaming, the computer would start to stutter (even the mouse) & CPU usage jumped from ~15% to ~30%. You would have to exit Xsplit to make it stop.

After removing the GTX 560 & going back to internal graphics the stutter disappeared. I've been streaming over 36 hours straight ( twitch dot tv / arkadeum ) with one of the capture cards @ 1280x720, the other @ 1920x1080 plus a VGA webcam @ 640x480.

I'm guessing a bottleneck developed in the PCI Express bus over time between the two capture cards & the monster GTX 560, whereas Intels integrated HD4000 graphics chip sits within the actual i7 CPU.

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Bought this a week ago. Works great! I do have to comment, you can't record HDMI footage with the ps3, BUT, it still shows up on the screen with HDMI. Just wont record. BUT if you have fraps or a similar program, you can record the footage that way. So really you still can record ps3 using HDMI, just need fraps or something similar to record.

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I was looking for an HD capture device and this seemed to fit the bill, so I eventually took the plunge and I'm pretty satisfied. The card was very simple to install, and I simply downloaded the updated driver and software from the Avermedia website, so I didn't even have to pop in the disk. I've used this with the Xbox 360 and Wii U and it all works flawlessly and easy with no input lag. It works very well for streaming and if you have the processor to handle it (I have an Intel i7 3770K), you can stream in full 1080p with this. You can also record footage to your hard disk, though the recording options aren't the best. The H.264 recording option, which gives you the best quality at reasonable file sizes, outputs a video with a slight delay in the audio. This is pretty much my only complaint with this device. The delay is only like half a second, so it may not be enough to bother some people but it does bother me. I have to record in AVI which gives excellent quality but outputs a gigantic file. It's not a deal breaker but rather a disappointment; I'm don't regret my purchase.

Overall, this card does what it should very nicely and I recommend it to anyone who wants to steam video game footage. Although it doesn't support retro console out of the box, there is a work-around for it. You can buy a video to VGA converter box and use that to connect your classic consoles (or anything else that uses composite or S-Video) using the VGA port. That's what I'm using and it works; I doubt I'd use the VGA port for anything else anyway. So, I can capture just about everything using this card at great quality so I'm very happy.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Professional 8GB USB Digital Audio Voice Recorder Dictaphone Mp3 Player Digital Voice Recorder

Professional 8GB USB Digital Audio Voice Recorder Dictaphone Mp3 Player Digital Voice RecorderThe instructions sound as if they're written by a foreign child. I could never get it to work. I contacted the manufacturer but never received a response. Very disappointing.

The device itself is well worth the price, which wasn't much. Very sensitive microphone, try not to get it too close to your mouth. If you hate taking notes in class, this is a life saver!

Hate the manual! The print is tiny and whoever wrote it only had a cursory knowledge of the English language. It's almost worth your time to scan it, blow it up, and then carefully translate it into good English.

The many buttons on it are somewhat confusing and a good manual would be helpful.

I haven't had it but a few days, but overall I like the purchase.

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Get what you pay, hard to work, poor quality, save your money, look at something else with good direction you can read and understand, I will give to my 10 yr old to play with

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I am satisfied my product does what it is supposed to do :) I recieved it fast Thanks! Will be continuing to order form here

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Friday, May 30, 2014

Sony HDRXR260V High-Definition Handycam 8.9 MP Camcorder with 30x Optical / 55x Extended Zoom and 1

Sony HDRXR260V High-Definition Handycam 8.9 MP Camcorder with 30x Optical / 55x Extended Zoom and 160 GB Hard Disk MemoryThis camera is well worth the money which I picked up for $559.99 through the sony website. The camera can take some amazing video, and still pictures are fantastic contrary to what some may say. I find the color saturation is impressive, perhaps a little bit vibrant but the colors are sharp and vivid. As long as you are not moving the actual camera too much the video is incredibly smooth with 60p, and the sound recording is amazing for a camcorder. Very impressive directional mic which blocks out noises outside the camera recording view, though this can be turned off. The GPS feature I thought was at first kind of lame, but viewing videos in map mode is pretty cool looking at a map with all the pictures located at the spots you took them, very cool feature.

The zoom is absolutely amazing and the video I uploaded showcases this mazed out at 350x zoom back down to 1x, though I have better and was restricted to 100 MB file which was converted from .mts (28 MBps) to .avi (8 MBps) and lost some detail. This video amazes me still at how far away that tree actually is (at least 15-20km or more) which is just incredible. Whether it's 10 KM away or zooming into a ladybug, you will get unbelievably crisp images with accurate color (well as long as you don't zoom in all the way to 350x digital).

Be warned though, at the highest quality you are looking at over 12GB of data an hour and is difficult to upload anywhere (especially amazon, which can barely even handle a 25 second video at 1/4 quality) as this short video is 98MB even in avi format.

Also do not buy your accessories from sony. They charge $200 for the best battery (NP-FV100)! I got that battery plus a whole package of items (case, charger, sd card, tripod, etc.) for $50! 1/4 the price and a whole accessory package also and the battery gets 6 hours recording. So avoid sony branded accessories, way overpriced. Buy this camera, you will not regret it. For the record, I went through sunset electronics for my accessories.

160GB HDD storage! 5.1 surround sound! Built-In USB! GPS!

So those are the positives and they are somewhat impressive. However, keep in mind that it is HDD storage and NOT solid state memory. You'll need to insert a SD card into the included SD card slot if you want solid state memory.

Sony has decided to place the microphone pickups right at the front (under the lens) which means that you are near certain to pickup wind noise while recording. In fairness, it was minimal but it was evident.

Battery use is fast and depletes faster than solid state because of the HDD moving parts. Carry a backup.

BUT.... What is most important is the quality of the video. This camcorder has so many positives but when it comes to picture quality, you'll find a severe lack of pixel resolution. Colors will be impressive and even low light indoor video came in with impressive results. The negative was sub-par video. Just no details. No sharpness. Low lines of resolution. We used both 60i and 60p. Maximum quality settings and as said, got great colors but just no details. Can't see a human hair, a flower, a garden leaf or a blade of grass. Playback was using HDMI to a 1080p TV.

Sony did a fairly good job of including massive storage, 5.1 sound and GPS. What I wanted mostly was resolution and this model doesn't offer that.

I did not use the photo/still aspect as I purchased a camcorder and not a digital still camera.

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I waited to do the review on this until I could use it a lot and give a good review.

The camera is easy to use, the touch screen works well, and the menu is very intuitive. Linking and downloading to the computer also works well. I cant accurately comment on battery life as I purchased a larger battery right from the get go and I can get a day out of that easily with lots of stand by time and active filming. Video quality is good but deteriorates rapidly about 2/3 of the way through zooming.

The one thing that this camera does that is really annoying and a deal breaker for me is it does not function in cold, or even cool, weather. I use the camera in the outdoors in all weather conditions and a camera that wont function below about 35 degrees Fahrenheit is unacceptable. All my other electronics work just fine, even when it is -20 or colder. This thing gives you a message "cannot access media, warm the camera".

If you want to film stuff in the outdoors during fall and winter I would not recommend this product. If that is not an issue than it is a pretty good deal.

Read Best Reviews of Sony HDRXR260V High-Definition Handycam 8.9 MP Camcorder with 30x Optical / 55x Extended Zoom and 1 Here

I had been wanting a video camera for the last couple of years and had kept researching the $100-$150 range cameras. I kept seeing a lot of cons and the last thing I wanted was bad video of good memories. I decided to look at a higher price range and finally ended up deciding on this Sony Handycam. It was more than I wanted to spend, but thanks to the great reviews on here I spent the money and got something halfway decent. This camera doesn't do anything below average. I am not an expert when it comes to video cameras, but I think it does an excellent job. At this point I have taken a lot of video. In good lighting it is amazing and in low lighting it is still pretty good. It has some amazing features including a nice large built in hard drive, good optical zoom, touch screen tracking focus, image stabilization which minimizes camera shake and blur, a built in USB cable, and of course full HD which I always take advantage of when capturing memories. I will note that the battery that comes with it was not to my satisfaction. Not only do you only get the one, but it is middle of the road in terms of what is available out there. The good news is that the batteries are cheap are easy to get a hold of. This is a quality product by Sony that I highly recommend if this is your price range. Many people have said it better than me, but it was worth taking my time if it helps influence someone else to buy this camera and make great videos that they will be proud to have years down the road.

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When I researched for a camcorder to buy, I wanted:

1. The ability to have wireless, external remote microphone for sound.

2. Large capacity hard drive recording.

3. Sufficient quality for high-action video.

The first item was the most difficult feature to find for the price I was willing to pay. Most consumer priced camcorders do not have external microphone jacks. Something that was confusing to me was that this camcorder was listed on the Sony site as being compatible with the Sony ECM-AW2 Wireless Microphone. I called Sony customer service to confirm what the website said, and the clerk assured me that it was compatible. However, after receiving the camcorder, I saw that it does not have the "active interace shoe" required for compatibility with the Sony ECM-AW2 Wireless Microphone. So, I cancelled my order for that item and ordered instead the Sony ECM-AW3 Wireless Microphone -fortunately this camcorder model DOES have an external microphone jack, and as I was able to determine from watching product demonstrations on YouTube, the Sony ECM-AW3 Wireless Microphone will work with the external mic jack.

The video files of this camcorder have the file extension "MTS." I just renamed them to "mpg" and they work fine when played with Windows Media Player and when edited with Sony Vegas.

I am very pleased with this camcorder; it has a sturdy feel to it that my older, cheaper camcorders lack. The quality of the recordings is impressive.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014

500 Black Paper CD Sleeves with Window & Flap

500 Black Paper CD Sleeves with Window & FlapThe cheapest bulk black DVD/CD sleeves i came across. Packed in plastic, divided into 5 sets of 100 sleeves. My only complaint would be that the plastic window was kinda wrinkly... but still a great deal for 500!

i think these were the cheapest (or most readily available)BLACK cd sleeves i could find.

overall not so bad.

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5 stars for these reasons: Great quality paper. Black on inside & outside of sleeves. Plastic WASN'T wrinkly at all. Price was awesome & delivery was super quick. The flaps were pre-folded, but I'm not complaining. My very first purchase & I am pleased.

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

XTREAMER PRO Media Player & Network Streamer (2 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays)

XTREAMER PRO Media Player & Network Streamer
  • Two 3.5" Hard Drive Bay with up to 4TB Hard Disk Capacity
  • Integrated dedicated eSATA controller & PC eSATA bracket included
  • Twice the Memory of the original Xtreamer
  • Stunning HD Graphical User Interface
  • Full 7.1 HD Audio SupportDTS-HS MA & Dolby True-HD NOT YET AVAILABLE (requires a pending firmware update!)

update: so after several firmware updates, virtually all of the xtreamer functionality is broken. Seemly nothing is ever fixed. promised functions have never worked and functionality that once worked is now broken. So the only thing it does now is play DVD isos now. This has been a real let down. I would not purchase anything from this company again. The updates that have been provided have progressively broken features. Never again.

So, I've had a few days to test out the Pro. I have experience with the ROKU SDRoku SD Player box and loved it. I thought I would solve a network storage for media problem as well as eliminating a DVD carousel and CD carousel.

The good: This box is tiny. The box looks nice. The remote is easy to use and has special function keys to speed things up. With fan on low, I only hear hard-drive noise. The UI is usually fast (although it slows down when switching thumbnails) and the boot time is fast. DVD ISOs seem to play without issue. DVD ISOs stream across wireless N without a problem. The device found all of my NAS shares devices automatically. The video quality seems to be good but it is hard to tell as I have had to drop back to composite video as I do not have HDMI.

The difficult:

Firmware:

The firmware provided needs a good bit of work. The functions implemented are brittle. Something works for this file this way and for the next file of the same type it will not. You either get a black screen that you can get out of or the device reboots altogether. Currently, the device reboots all of the time for me as I try something, it hangs and then restarts. The device UI is designed for large screen displays. On my 32", the text is very hard to read. Will not copy files to the box without a flash drive inserted even though it has HD installed.

Music:

The device fails to play any file from my Thecus NAS N2100 Network Attached Media Server (Black). However, it will stream across the network from a PC and will play locally.

Jukebox:

Performance is slow.

Video:

When playing videos through the optical digital cable, it appears that the device is outputting analog signals as opposed to digital. I suspect this because the PCM indication is raised with my receiver rather than just Dolby.

Internet TV

The implementation of the internet tv screens is badly laid out. The thumbnails either do not load or are mismatched in size.

Summary:

The UI is several steps down from the ROKU standard I love.

The reliability of just doing what is supposed to be supported is not there.

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This is my third media payer over the last five years or so. The first was an Mvix/Unicorn product, the second was a WD HDTV, and the third is this box. All three are good in their own ways, but this one beats the other two hands down.

This player may not be for everyone out there, because the menus and some features are a little "rough" as other have said, or at least are not exactly intuitive. Put another was, this is the exact opposite of an Apple product. Note: that's not necessarily a bad thing!

This is what this product does well:

It allows you organize massive amounts of media storage into one simple menu for playback on your TV just set any folder from any internal drive, external usb, etc. to the "Favorites" list.

It plays back just about any file type I can throw at it (My WDHDTV had problems with some MKV formats)

Frequent updates address many of the issues that other users have reported. Also note that the updates can de done directly from the menu (as long as you have the wifi antenna) so no need to search for a download, plug in the laptop, etc.

Internet radio, you tube, internet TV channels, etc.

File transfer feature is pretty cool this allows you to transfer files from one place to another without the need to plug the device into a computer. For example, plug in a flash drive or usb hard drive, then transfer over what you want to the internal drive without having to use a computer.

MASSIVE STORAGE (two internal 3.5 bays, esata, two usb ports, plus the possibility of streaming over the network)!

In sum, if you want ultimate ease of use (and you like paying $10-$20 for compressed video files) get yourself an AppleTV, but if you want ultimate functionality and you can deal with figuring out a few settings and menus, and especially if you want to terabyte upon terabyte of storage for your HD MKV files or whatever format you happen to have your movie collection in (ISO, avi, MP4...etc.), this player may be for you!

Read Best Reviews of XTREAMER PRO Media Player & Network Streamer (2 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays) Here

I was toggling between WD Live Plus and the Xtreamer Pro, just to give a bit o' background on my purchase.

I received promptly from seller (Xtreamer US Distributors) and in fine condition. Box was new and unopened. All items were present an accounted for. They supplied quite a few extras that I hadn't anticipated ie. esata cable, sata expansion card, hdmi cable etc. I plugged it in adjusted a few settings (changed digital audio selection to Tru HD/DTD Master. I also set up my samba connection to Mac Pro and was able to see my shared folders. I also added one of those shared folders as a "favorite", basically making it a shortcut instead of navigating all the way to it.

The menu is bold and visually appealing. I was able to easily navigate through the main menu and all the settings. I fond nothing out of the ordinary good or bad in regards to the main or sub menus. I was able to update the firmware with USB stick (firmware is available here:). Word of caution, I tried using another USB drive initially, and it didn't work. So, make sure the drive is formatted Fat 32 (I formatted w/mac disc utility) and the extracted file from download zip is in the root of the USB stick.

I was able to stream (wired) an m2ts (33.4GB) flawlessly with TrueHD (I have pioneer 7.1 tuner). Info of the file was observable via on-screen text. The video player is able to fast forward in 8 (I think...maybe more or less) different speed increments and in 3 minute increments. No chapter skips, but that's the files fault, not the Pro's. The file was not remuxed with chapter breaks inserted, it is the original file. It also streamed: HD WMV and several mkv(s) with sizes up to 2.4 gb.

I cannot comment on the Pro's movie jukebox via XLive as I have not used it. I did try items through the xstreamering portion of the Pro. I watched several Discovery channel video pod casts. I also watched several movie trailers. I read some bad reviews of the Pro and found them to be unsubstantiated at best.

Hope that helped!

Benjamin

Want XTREAMER PRO Media Player & Network Streamer (2 x 3.5" Hard Drive Bays) Discount?

Plays files a WD Live wouldn't, handles two 2 Tb USB drives (a WD Live crashed with), and sees the PCs on the network. It plays back DD TruedHD and DTS-HD Master too.

It is great. Music is great, pictures are great, video is great. Streaming stuff is mostly SD, if you want that, I only play the HD stuff. Call me picky!

This is great box; so much better than a WD product. All I can say is BUY ONE!

I thought this product was great, I read good reviews about it, but mine just spontaneously reboots!!!!. Upgraded to the new firmware, but didn't fix it! It just reboots anytime it wants too, and somitimes gives me a green screen, and hangs! It reboots while i'm browsing the files of when using File Mananager. Sometimes reboots when I'm in JukeBox just browing movies....

What is worst, it even reboots in the middle of a movie!!!

It is very annoying!!!! I'm going to return it and give it another try, and get another one... I'm hoping that this is just a bad device that I received. I will let you know next time I got the other one.

---------------

5/29/2011 Yes, I bit the bullet again, just to give it another chance... I got the second xtreamer pro more than a week ago now... THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PRODUCT. POOR QUALITY. THIS PRODUCT IS HORRIBLE. Nothing but problems... after a week, jukebox started acting flaky, it can't scrape my new ISO, and the third day, it wiped out the entire contents of my movie folder including all the fanarts, xmls and ISO files,, I spent/wasted 2 weeks time ripping my DVDS, only to be deleted by this poor product... I WILL NEVER USE ANY OF XTREAMER products again, I just lost my confidence to this company. What is worst, they dont have a real customer support, I emailed them again, and all I got is the same answer, "Reinstall your firmware.. blablabla". You have to rely to the community of users if you really need help. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME and MONEY.

I've never return a product to amazon before, I can't believe I will ask again for a refund, second time around, for the same product, I dont think this is a coincidence, This product is horrible, Period!. I'm really DISAPPOINTED. I'm very thankful that I bought this through amazon, and they honor returns/refund, especially for very poor product like this one. It's time to buy a competing product now.

Too bad, I can't change and downgrade the Star from 2 to 1 for my second review. It doesn't even deserve a 1 star.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Sony Professional Digital 2GB MP3 Voice Recorder with Memory Card Slot, Noise Cut Technology Reduci

Sony Professional Digital 2GB MP3 Voice Recorder with Memory Card Slot, Noise Cut Technology Reducing Background Sound, USB Port, Built-in Speaker and an Easy-to-read Display + Additional Ear-Bud Headphones with Acoustic Twin Turbo Circuitry & Charger and Rechargeable BatteriesThe is great voice recorder, I use it in class to record my history lectures and is working great. What I want to know is will work with regular batteries are or only rechargeable ones. If anyone else could respond it would be helpful before I go out and spend money on regular batteries for backup. rechargeable.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Lorex QLR464 4-Channel PCI DVR Card with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera (Black)

Lorex QLR464 4-Channel PCI DVR Card with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Security CameraI first bought the LW2702 wireless system. It would not carry a signal 50 feet through my vinyl sided 1/2 inch sheathed split level. I called Lorex and they wanted to send me a new system right away. In the mean time, I looked over their website snd found this. I decided to try this system since Lorex was so suportive. It is even less expensive than the LW2702.

Four cameras, a 32 bit card and software that sends email alerts and a snapshot; plus you can access the system on the internet via a ddns net run by Lorex. THIS seemed to solve every concern I had; I did not just want to discourage and record, I wanted a system that would email us while we were on vacation and that we could use to call the police.

I decided to put 3 cameras in the house in logical traffic areas. These will be set to alert us. The fourth will go outside to capture vehicle traffic in the drive.

The software allows each camera to be programmed seperately; alert types, when to record, etc. You can also set up schedules for each camera alert and monitor function; for example, basement shop every night between midnight and 5 AM; bedroom hallway every workday from 8AM to 3PM; and all inside cameras for the two week vacation while leaving the driveway camera always set to record activity without sending alerts. Pretty powerful stuff.

You neeed to precisely follow the instructions for setting up internet access which allows you full control of your monitoring system. It took a day for the internet to register my system domain; but it works.

OK, the mediocre. Although Server 2000 is supported, it will not run on windows home server. Or, it must be installed on any 32 bit winXP or higher system. IT CANNOT run on 64 bit; needs a new card plus new software.

There are is one irksome quirk, which is worked around by using internet access. The program window has NO minimize/size/maximize/close icons in the upper right corner. Also not present with a right click. It settles in the upper left corner of your monitor and CANNOT be dragged someplace else (like your second monitor with extended desktop). SInce you access your system via IE (have not yet tired Firefox), you CAN relocate the display and controls since you simply drag the IE window where you want.

We live in a rural area with a lot of ground floor windows. I have always been skeptical of alarm company monitoring services. THIS system allows me to verify for myself what is happening and to call the police; or, since I have a computer based phone answering machine (left very loud so we can hear it thoughout the house) I can call the house and deliver a pretty creepy warning to whover is in the house.

Each camera is provided with a 60 foot video and power cable. This works well for my interior cameras, but I will need an extension for my driveway camera.

I only installed this last week; but I have tested it pretty hard and it works so far. Turns out I am glad the LW2702 did not work as expected; while it would have captured events the LW2702 cannot send out alerts nor provide the control of this system. The "downside" is that you have to run wires to your computer and you must have a computer that is always on and configured to reboot after a power failure.

Plus, you can check the house from ANY computer anywhere in the world either with IE or the provided client software.

AS far as I concerned, this beats paying a monitoring service $10 a month. I hope it continues to work.

I purchased this system to monitor my suburban house. It has performed admirably. Do not expect super high resolution with this kit. However, for the price point, it is very good at what it does. I can check on the live feeds from anywhere with an internet connection, and can also retrieve the saved video remotely. There are four recording options that cover pretty much any way you want to record. Love the holiday feature. If you know you are going on vacation, just type in the dates and it will automatically record. Recommended for home or business users that need an affordable system.

Buy Lorex QLR464 4-Channel PCI DVR Card with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera (Black) Now

I ordered a desktop specifically to install this card and run the surveillance software. Installation of the PCI card was a snap, and the software loaded smoothly allowing me immediate viewing and recording ability. Getting everything set to remotely connect to the system is another matter. After a month of trying, I can connect remotely from another computer within my network, but not outside. Probably firewall issues. Definitely not a smooth, clearly explained process.

One thing you will need to do to view the system remotely is to download a DVR.exe file onto the computer you want to view from. This has posed a security problem with the folks at work (to view my home system).

With the above in mind, I would rate the system highly if you didn't want to remotely view the system (but that's one of the main selling points).

Operating the software is intuitive. Setting up the cameras, how the display looks, and how the system backs up is very easy. Search capability has been trouble free.

The cameras perform as advertised, even in low light. Just keep their range limits in mind if you want to be able to identify someone.

Read Best Reviews of Lorex QLR464 4-Channel PCI DVR Card with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera (Black) Here

easy to do if you have basic handyman/pc skills. even the computer software/firewall setup was easy with ddns. the software could use a few improvements related to more effect FFW and REW functions and motion search but it gets the job done.

i have a laptop setup in the family room with a remove view to the web interface so we can see it while we're socializing or watching TV.

really neat!

I wish I could have offorded the 16 camera version, but 4 is good enough for the main areas of a house.

Want Lorex QLR464 4-Channel PCI DVR Card with 4 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision Security Camera (Black) Discount?

I purchased this camera two weeks ago and have had non-stop problems.

First of all, the software that ships in the box is bad. When you call tech support they will tell you that it has compatibility issues and to download the latest version form their website.

Secondly, even the latest version is very limited on compatibility. Our Windows 2003 Server would not run this software properly.

Third, the "storage management" process makes no sense. The software asks you to decide how much "workspace" you want to allocate to the DVR software, but it does so in strange terms like append, recover, delete, etc. I am an expert user and if I have this much trouble, so will you.

I spent 30 minutes on hold for tech support before someone answered, took down my info, and said they'd call me back. I called again the next day because they never got back to me, and they still could not resolve my issue.

Bottom line: I'm sure it's a great product once you get it working. However, the hoops I have had to jump through in this process have earned it a 1-star review regardless of how amazing it ends up being (that is assuming it ever actually works).

UPDATE: When I left off with them yesterday, they remotely reinstalled my software and said the problem is that I am using an onboard (as opposed to a separately purchased and installed) video card. They assured me I'd be good to go once I did that, so I went and bought a new video card today. It still does not work and I am once again on hold for them. And a note about their tech support: it takes 10-15 minutes for them to answer, and the first 5 minutes of that is listening to a recording talk to you about warranty registration stuff with no opportunity to skip if you've already heard it five times like I have.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Defender Security Mini 2-Channel DVR DIY Installation OSD Menuosd Menu 12VDC 500ma

Defender Security Mini 2-Channel DVR DIY Installation OSD Menuosd Menu 12VDC 500maThis is the best DVR I have purchased for my security system. Home or Automobile. I drive a school bus and needed someway to catch mischevious children. This product worked. It is small and easily hidden. I have now installed it for home applications. works great!!!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sharx Security SCNC3606 Cat5 PoE Wired Weatherproof Outdoor MPEG4 IP Network Camera with Infrared N

Sharx Security SCNC3606 Cat5 PoE Wired Weatherproof Outdoor MPEG4 IP Network Camera with Infrared Night Vision and built in DVRThis review is for the most part a copy of the write up I did for the Sharx 3605 because I own both. I will add a few details that are relevant to the 3606 but overall it is a similar experience.

A few months ago our house was broken into from a very brazen group of three robbers (punks) that backed their car into our driveway, jumped over the fence and smashed the back sliding door in order to gain entry. Luckily our home has an alarm so they quickly made their way through the house and out the front door without taking much. Our neighbor did witness the event but sadly only got to a brief description of the car and suspects. I decided it was time to take home security up a level and cover some key areas of the house with security cameras. After a lot of reading and studying, the Sharx line seemed to be a great way to start a system so I ordered one to try.

When the camera arrived I followed the instructions for set up and everything went smoothly. The manual is very easy to follow and written in clear English. I had the camera configured and running on my LAN system in about 20 minutes. After initial configuration I dialed in the picture quality and basic configuration, then next step was being able to see the camera when I am away from home. I have AT&T Uverse for Internet service and the Sharx manual includes absolutely perfect instructions to configure the 2wire router so you can view the camera remotely via the Internet. Without the manual I probably would have been lost on this step but the manual made the process so simple! After this step my next test was viewing the camera on my iPhone Safari browser using the 3G network to confirm I had a WAN connection, and yes it worked perfectly. After the test I installed an app that a friend who has a handful of Axis cameras recommended called Live Cams and again everything worked perfectly. This is a great app for viewing IP cameras and worth the money ($1.99) if you have an iPhone or iPad.

It was time to have my camera record events (alarms as they are called). Setting your camera to record when there is motion is again very easy and the settings can be adjusted for more or less sensitive motion recording activation. Make sure on this step you expand your open browser window to see the settings. The default window size will not show the settings options unless you do this. Windows IE has a more graphical window to adjust these but it can still be done in any browser by typing numbers (I use Safari). Just remember that the lower the "Threshold" numbers the more sensitive and the higher the "Sensitivity" numbers the more sensitive. You can also block off areas that you do not want to cause the alarm to start recording in this same settings window. For example if you have a busy street in front of your house you can configure the camera to ignore motion in that section of the overall picture.

Another great option is email. I set the camera to send me an email if it detects motion and that works just as intended, sending an email with a photo anytime it detects movement. Note that you can configure the settings to limit how often it sends an email so you don't fill your inbox when some bird, bug or dog for example is creating motion alarms on the camera. I have mine set to send an email no more then every 5 minutes.

I ran the 3605 for over two months without any issue before adding the 3606 and a 2607 (for the interior). I plan to add two more 3606 cameras so I will have almost the entire exterior of our home in view at anytime. I would really like to see Sharx come out with a Megapixel camera in the future but this current line up still has good quality.

If you plan on running several cameras or if you don't have electrical power close, I think it is much easier to use the 3606 with the PoE option so you only have to run a Cat 5 cable to each place you are going to use a camera. There is no dealing with any other power or data wires. I ran Cat 5 for PoE to 3 areas on the front of the house (preplanning for more cameras) including the driveway and sides of the house then homeran the wires into the garage and use a D-Link PoE switch: D-Link DES-1008PA 8-PORT 10/100 Poe Switch, along with a Netgear Powerline over Ethernet to get the camera data to my switch in the house.

My wife also has an iPhone and loves the fact she can check on the house and the dog from her phone at any time. She tells me she keeps an eye on the driveway from her work computer all the time and it makes her feel safer knowing what is going on at our house. The break-in really shook her up for a while, so her peace of mind is worth the cost alone.

Some of the key benefits of the Sharx camera for me:

-Because each camera can record to a MicroSD card built into the camera, it acts like its own DVR. Even if your home is broken into and everything taken, as long as they don't remove the cameras you will still have a record of the dirtbags.

-The camera uses very little wattage so it is easy on your electric bill.

-The picture is clear and sharp both day and night.

-The camera will work with a variety of browsers for configuring, monitoring and playing back recordings. I have tested it with Safari, IE and Firefox. Firefox with the Quicktime plug-in is my favorite and if you watch with the primary stream option you also can monitor live sound (creepy but good for eavesdropping).

-The camera works with both my Mac and Windows computers.

-The build quality seems decent and should last for many years.

-I have been in contact via email with customer support and there was a response within 4 hours.

I will be happy to respond if anyone has questions or comments.

At first I was a bit skeptical about this camera, a good quality outdoor, POE camera with an IR cut filter at that price seemed too good to be true. I had read some positive reviews on the Y-Cam Bullet, of which the Sharx is a rebranded version, but the Sharx version was priced even lower so I figured I'd chance it. I'm glad I did! Immediately after opening the box I was impressed with the quality. It looks and feels solid and well built. Setup was quick and easy. The image is clear and the colors are very good in day time viewing. The IR works well and I can clearly see the image at night.

While the camera does support POE, the wiring harness that comes out the back of the camera contains several other connectors, for power, audio and alarm. Unfortunately these cannot be removed, so any connections you don't use will need to be secured in a weatherproof location. I suppose it was expected that all of those wires be pushed through a wall to terminate indoors, but in my case that was not possible. An outdoor electrical box was recommended by Sharx in the manual. I picked one up at the local hardware store for a few dollars and hid it as best I could.

I using i-Catcher software and as this camera was not on its list of supported cameras I needed to contact Sharx support to answer a few questions about it. They emailed me back within the hour, were very knowledgeable about the product and quite helpful. Over the next several emails I asked them a lot of questions. They were always quick to respond and with complete and useful answers.

Pros:

Supports standard POE

Clear and vivid daytime image

IR lighting and cut filter makes for good night images

Well built, solid, appears to be well sealed

Outstanding email support

Very thorough printed manual

A good amount of adjustments in the menus

Cons:

No user installable firmware, requires Sharx support if you need to upgrade.

No downloadable documentation. Don't lose the manual!

Several hardwired connections on the wiring harness that have to be weatherproofed if not installed through a wall.

Overall I am very satisfied with this purchase. It is an excellent camera when considering the low cost, good quality day and night images and the superb support behind it.

Buy Sharx Security SCNC3606 Cat5 PoE Wired Weatherproof Outdoor MPEG4 IP Network Camera with Infrared N Now

I have been wanting to get security cameras for my house for years now. Whether to catch the people who were throwing their dog's excrement on my porch, the guy stealing my UPS packages, to monitor my dog, or just to quickly check who's ringing my doorbell when I'm in another part of my house and may not want to talk to a solicitor. There are so many times I have wished I had a camera and didn't. As such, I have done a lot of research over the last 6 months into different inexpensive home monitoring options, research that was thrown into overdrive when I had someone break into my bedroom window and help themselves to my TV and Kindle Fire. Ultimately, I settled on several cameras from Sharx. The SCN3606 is an outdoor weatherproof camera with night vision that I use for monitoring my front porch.

CAMERA SELECTION

Initially I had a lot of confusion about which camera to get so I'll briefly list the different cameras and the main differences between them below:

SCNC2606 Wifi Wireless Indoor Camera This is an indoor wireless camera and probably the best option for most indoor applications.

SCNC2607 Wifi Wireless Camera with Infrared Night Vision Indoor wireless camera. This camera comes with infrared night vision, and is mainly designed to be used in low to dark environments. It does not have as good daytime colors as the 2606. It is not designed to be used outdoors, as it is not sealed, but if you use it in a covered environment like under a porch, and you do not have extremes in temperature and humidity, it might be acceptable as an outdoor camera. Be prepared for the possibility that using it outdoors will lead to rust and it may stop working though.

SCNC2700 Wifi Wireless Camera with MicroSD DVR and True Day/Night vision Indoor wireless camera with day and night vision. If you need to be able to record in day and night, get this camera over the previous two. The infrared filter cuts off during the day, so that it doesn't mute the colors, and then cuts on at night to allow video in total darkness.

SCNC3606 Cat5 PoE Wired Weatherproof Outdoor Camera with Infrared Night Vision and built in DVR This is an outdoor camera that requires a wired ethernet connection. It is completely sealed so it will last directly in the elements. It comes with PoE (power over ethernet) so it is useful in applications where you don't have close access to an outlet. As of March 2012, it contains an updated lens that is sharper than the SCNC2606, SCNC2607 and SCNC2607W

Additionally, as of Fall 2011, the SCNC2700 and SCNC2700W contain an updated lens that is sharper. The 3605 and 3606 received the updated lens in March 2012. The SCNC2606, SCNC2607 and SCNC2607W will not receive the updated lens.

INSTALLATION / CUSTOMER SUPPORT

I would say I am an advanced computer user, and intermediate when it comes to working with routers. I thought setup was going to be difficult since I didn't really know what port forwarding, DHCP, or UPNP was, but it was incredibly easy. The instruction manual is extremely thorough and describes everything in detail. This is one of the best and most comprehensive manuals I have received for a product. They think of every question you could have. Even if you have fairly basic tech skills, if you read the entire manual, you should have most of your questions answered. I had the camera set up and recording in about 10 minutes, and had the complete installation done (including running the ethernet line) in about two hours. You can run it wirelessly, but I wanted faster transfer speeds through ethernet. I really thought it was going to be a pain to have to deal with customer support through email but I couldn't have been happier. They answered all my questions (which were numerous) within 24 hours and were willing to provide all the support I needed for my router. They even notified me that the camera had been upgraded that weekend to a new 2012 model with a sharper lens, and allowed me to exchange my camera for the 2012 model, which they shipped out to me immediately (they covered shipping) without requiring that they receive my exchange first. At a minimum, you are going to need to know the address to access your router's administration page (it will be a local numerical address, like 192.168.100.1), and the password to login to that page. You can do a search on the Internet and easily find this information. Contact me through the comments page and I can help you if needed. You will also need to know the login information for your wireless network. I was initially going to purchase a much cheaper camera that I was told uses the exact same hardware as the Sharx, but I think the support you receive from this company is definitely worth the extra cost. I do wish their web site had a forum where users could exchange information and get help from each other. The hardware included with the 3606 is excellent. It comes with plastic plugs to insert in unused screw holes, a junction box for housing the cables that is watertight, and all the screws and hardware you will need. It has 6 different screws for mounting it in several ways. For my application, I wanted to mount it from a ceiling, so I removed the existing brackets and put them on the top, which allowed me to mount it straight down. Other than the size of the camera, it is incredibly flexible for almost any way you want to mount it. If you don't use PoE and have to use the power adapter, but it's too short (the power adapter line is fairly long at about ten feet), the manual even tells you the exact type of wire to get at Home Depot and how to splice it so you can extend the cable to the length you need. Most manuals do not go this extra distance.

SOFTWARE

The interface is very thorough if you use the advanced setup options, and gives you a lot of flexibility with the camera. It comes with a CD, but the program on the CD is really just designed to determine the local IP address of the camera and isn't really needed if you can figure it out yourself (unless you are setting up more than one camera, in which case you'll want to use the Multi Camera software from the CD). Otherwise, everything is handled through your web browser with ActiveX. I had to use Internet Explorer to get the full functionality for the camera, as some of the tools would not show up in Chrome and Firefox. I've added an image showing all the configuration options through the control panel. There is a "system" page that displays all of the current information about your camera, including your local and wide area IP address, UPNP status, Internet connection status, MAC address, and many other variables. This screen is very useful for troubleshooting and setting up the camera. Once you have your camera set up, you should turn on the On Screen Display so it captures the date and time on the video feed. You can set up a Gmail account to have it email you images during alarms or just at specific intervals.You can even set up a dedicated Gmail account and have it send a picture to itself every 5 minutes indefinitely (or until you use up Gmail's storage space, at which point you can delete everything and start again). There is a motion detector on the camera that works very well. It allows you to set up to 4 different windows/areas for monitoring, all completely customizable with different settings. For instance, you can set up the entire viewable area to check for any motion, or you can set up a very time section of the screen to focus on your door handle, so it will only trigger an alarm when someone touches the handle. Since I have bugs flying around on my porch that will trigger motion, I set up very low sensitivity in the main window so the bugs won't set it off, and then I created another window that focuses just on my front door, so I will know if someone opens it. You can also schedule the alarms, so my motion detection alarms will only be active between certain hours. This ensures that my mailman won't set it off. I wish you could set up different alarm schedules for each independent window for even more customization, but for right now, the software is pretty good as it is.

DVR/MONITORING

The main thing you will want, is a way to save your video feed to an external source. If a criminal steals your camera (if you are saving to the SD card) or your desktop the video you saved to it of the crime won't do you much good when you don't have access to it. Initially, I saved my video feed to an external hard drive that I mounted under my locked crawl space, and ran the cables to it through a small hole in my floor. A knowledgeable thief could still delet the video file right from your desktop, but I think that's very unlikely. To be extra safe, you could just password-protect your windows account so it locks after 15 minutes of inactivity. Even better, I eventually just added a link to the camera on my office computer and set it to constantly record there. Even if my house burns down, I'll have a copy of the video saved at a safe location.

The Sharx instructions give you complete details for setting up the camera through your phone's web browser, but I found it to be a huge pain to do. It is much easier to use a third party app. The best Android app is TinyCam Monitor. This program works beautifully. The paid version gives you a few more options and allows you to record directly from the phone, but it's not necessary at all.

HARDWARE

The SCNC3606 has a built in microphone that works very well. I can hear birds chirping in the distance, and it almost sounds as I would expect if it I was actually on my porch. There is also a microphone on the outside of the camera, so if you have a computer with a microphone, you can talk out of the camera. I actually have mine mounted on my porch, and can use it to talk to solicitors without having to see them in person, like an intercom. The camera also has a built-in microSD card, giving you the option of recording directly to the card instead of a hard drive. You can't easily remove the card like you can with their indoor cameras, but if you need to get to it, you can open up the camera and remove it. They even give you a Mini SD adapter for it. An alarm alerts me if someone is on the porch, and if it's a friend and I'm not home, I can just talk into my microphone and let them know I'm out. My main dislike with this camera is the size. This thing is fairly enormous. About the size of a can of biscuits. I wanted my camera concealed, which made it difficult to do due to the size. Even just 30% smaller would be nice.

UPDATES

One disadvantage with Sharx cameras is that you can only obtain firmware upgrades by contacting support, and having them install them remotely. My camera came with the latest firmware installed, but I don't see how anyone would know when new firmware updates are released since I couldn't find anything about it on their web site. Make sure you email them and get the latest firmware before you start setting everything up, because updating the firmware will reset everything.

CONS:

Camera is fairly large.

There is a bug when the camera is mounted upside down, and if the flip vertical option is chosen, then the image is grainy because the flip function is accidentally grabbing a lower resolution stream. You can resolve this by mounting the camera right side up, but removing the sun visor and using the included hex screw.

CONCLUSION

I have used many different outdoor cameras and the SCN3606 is the best camera under $1,000 I have seen. Excellent build quality combined with ease of use/setup and great software make for the perfect solution for home security and monitoring.

Read Best Reviews of Sharx Security SCNC3606 Cat5 PoE Wired Weatherproof Outdoor MPEG4 IP Network Camera with Infrared N Here

I bought the Sharx Security SCNC3605 (similar to this one, but a wired/wireless version without PoE) this past winter & have had it up and running for several months now. I'm putting the review here as the 3605 isn't available now & these comments should be relevant to the 3606. Installation & set-up were quite simple. I have very little experience at computer networking, but managed to do the manual configuration required for setting it up from a Mac. In short order I had the camera streaming & saving video clips & pictures on a motion alarm onto the included SD card. Quicktime on the Mac streams the video beautifully. A little fiddling with my router and I was viewing the camera stream from my iPhone while traveling overseas. A little more fiddling and the camera was storing the files to a Networked Attached Storage hard drive. The fiddling part was mostly with the router & NAS as the camera setup is straightforward and described in the manual. I did contact Sharx customer service with a question on the NAS after I had it functioning & they responded quickly (via e-mail) and helped me figure out my problem, which was more me not knowing about networking than any issue with the camera.

Some things to note:

* Do the setup before you mount the camera!

* The wireless capability of the SCN3605 wasn't that great. It worked, but the wired is much better....maybe that's why they're updating it with 802.11N (out in June 2011 according to their website)

* As noted in other reviews, keep the manual as there is no electronic version available. While the manual has a lot of information, it could use some improvements (e.g., a table of contents, index & an electronic version to allow searching).

All in all, a whole lot of camera for the price. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one.

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This camera is a great buy easy setup IR works great nice sound everything I would expect from a mid level camera. Lots of advanced features for the money. The thing that impressed me the most however is that after a few months of having this camera I had a lightning strike close to my house which took out several electronic devices. I could not get this camera to power on and I thought it was toast. I contacted Sharx customer service and they informed me that most of the time the A/C adapter is the only item damaged from a lightning strike. I tested it with a voltmeter and sure enough it was bad. They sent me a new adapter priority mail FREE OF CHARGE and everything works fine. Very unexpected and the excellent customer service is why I will buy one of their products in future!

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