Cowon X7-120BL 4.3 TFT LCD 120 GB MP3 Player (Black)

• 4.3 TFT LCD, 16 million colors, res. 480x272, ultra portable
• Play all your digital entertainment: movies, TV shows, photos and music
• Touch sensitive interface
• Bluetooth, Voice recorder with internal microphone, FM radio, TV-out supporting composite connections and built-in speaker
• Maximum 10 hours of video playback and maximum 103 hours of audio playback

I agree with others that the unit is slightly heavier than previous MP3 players I have had but in my opinion, it is a desirable benefit. The sound is fantastic, loading took a bit of time but I was loading over 32 gigs. Still exploring the other features.

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This MP3 player works wonderful. I received it as a Christmas gift and so far I don't have any problems with it.

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I bought one of these two years ago (2011), and I still enjoy using it almost everyday. The biggest attractions for me were the variety of formats it supports, the storage space, and the battery life. Some people might scratch their heads as to why the device has no WiFi support, but it's a media player, not another smartphone. I am not convinced, though, that a touchscreen is the best interface for a unit like this, but it works.

The user's manual is a bit light on some of the features I never use, but using the video and music features is pretty straightforward, and that's about all I really want from such a device. The built-in speakers are better than I expected, and, together with the microphone, have been quite useful when trading language lessons and conversations with others.

As of this posting (2013), Cowon still appears to make updates to the firmware. Unfortunately, it seems only bugfixes are made, and no new features are being added.

Overall, I give the X7 4 out 5. The unit itself is fantastic for music and videos, but occasionally the interface is slow to respond, booting and copying files can be really slow, customizing the unit is not well explained, and the unit becomes very bulky if you carry it around in a case of some kind. That, and the background for the radio is kind of girly too. Still, though, it's a great player, and I am glad I bought one.

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With all the space available I was hoping to put my extensive collection of 60GB MP3's and 30GB movies on this. It would theoretically take all of it, but apparently the operating system and/or hardware is so incredibly slow, it would take many days to transfer from my PC. In other words, even though there is a huge amount of space, from a practical standpoint it is of no use whatsoever. You might as well save the money and get an 8GB for size and practicality.

Supersonic SC259A Portable DVD Player

• 12 Volts DC Adapter for Car Use
• Full Function Remote Control
• UL or ETL Approved Adapter

When we lost power during a recent hurricane, we had no access to a tv. A friend of ours lent us their Supersonic dvd player with tv tuner! This little player worked like a charm and encouraged us to make purchase of one! With just a hook-up to a battery or making use of batteries, we were able to view over two hours of tv time! I would highly recommend this jewel!

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I definately will reconsider before buying the brand again.

SuperSonic SC-259 9" Portable DVD . The buttons are hard to push. The instructions on how to operate it are not clear. Only display the USB and memory cards upon insertion but would not load. If I had not thrown out the shipping Box, I would have returned the product for another Brand.I hope I hope this will not offend anyone but what I experience is the truth.

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I had read the first review of someone who bought this dvd player and i didn't believe it. Then, i threw myself into buying this item. After all, i have to admit the review is totally right. There are some issues with this portable dvd player. Its quality is so bad. I bought the noah dvd player and i had to return it, then now i have the same problem with this one. So sad !!!

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I ordered this item, and then returned it. The seller was very polite, professional, and easy to work with. I think that they have other products that are just fine. This item had some issues, sorry to say. I liked the seller, but not this particular product.

LG BD650 3D Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV

• Enjoy 3D Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p
• Smart TV enables an easy way to access limitless content, thousands of movies, downloadable apps, videos and browse the web all organized in a simple to use interface
• Standard DVD Up-Scaling delivers exceptional image quality from standard DVDs with 1080p up scaling via HDMI output
• Dolby Digital Plus lets you experience all of the enveloping surround sound that Blu-ray Disc, high-definition (HD) broadcast, and streamed and downloaded media make possible
• WiFi ready: connect to your wireless network via LG's wireless dongle (sold separately)

I've had this unit for about a month now. I agree with the other reviewers that state that they released this product too soon, without the proper software in place and tested. For instance, up until a few days ago, I constantly had problems with it loosing it's connection to the internet, even when it was connected via ethernet cord. However, since an automatic firmware update a couple of days ago, the player has worked flawlessly via the WiFi connection. (Please note: with the 650, you DO need the separate WiFi dongle, which plugs into the back of the machine). The last firmware update also added several new apps, such as Amazon VOD. It appears that new apps will be added in the coming months, including a web-browsing app, which I read about previously online (search for info. from the launch of LG's entire SmartTV product line to find this information).

The Netflix application is easy to use and fast. It also allows you to update your instant queue.

The Blu Ray function is fast-loading and I haven't had any problems. Good upscaling of DVD's as well.

Overall, I give the unit a 4/5 stars based on it's current performance and previous software glitches.

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Unfortunately, I bought two of these.

The good news:

1) Of the two I bought, one is still working.

2) One is on it's way to LG for repair under warranty (and within 90 days so they will not charge me $70 for labor).

The bad news:

1) I bought these to play movies from my media server and Netflix. While this feature DOES work, the sound doesn't synch with the video while playing mp4's. When played on any other player device, the mp4 file sound synchs perfectly.

2) For some blue-ray disks, it takes about 3 minutes from the time I insert a factory blue-ray until it shows the menu.

3) These are downloading updates weekly. The updates fail more often than they succeed.

4) Tonight, while I was watching a movie from my server, I paused the movie, fed the dogs, and came back to a bricked BD650. Hard reset doesn't work. LG is nice enough to offer to fix it after 20 minutes on the phone.

Wow, what a dismal failure from LG.

The "customer service rep" told me that it was likely bricked because of the mp4 file I was playing. OMG.

I will be searching for a different player for my media library. These will be up for sale soon.

It's a shame I waited longer than 30 days to decide to get rid of them.

---edit

I am editing this to provide three more details:

To elaborate on the sound sync issue: when played with VLC, Windows Media Player, XBMC on Apple TV, iPad, the sound synchs perfectly. When played on the BD650, the sound out of sync on all mp4's.

I'm preparing to ship this back to LG. Unfortunately, there's a (not cheap) blue-ray disk in the player and I CAN'T GET THE DISK OUT. There's no "emergency eject" hole into which you can insert a paper clip. So I have to send this in with an expensive movie and cross my fingers that they will return it.

The warranty is effectively 90 days. After 90 days, there is a $79 "inspection" charge for warranty service and you pay shipping to LG AND return shipping. It's anyone's guess how much more the repair labor will cost after the $79 inspection charge and $30-40 shipping both ways. Since the unit cost about $100 brand new delivered, consider it disposable after 90 days. I'm undecided if this is praise for the purchase price or a complaint about the repair price.

----Update.

The bricked player has been replaced. It works fine and the DID return the disk that was stuck in the device. However, I still can't recommend these devices because occasionally, they refuse to interact on the network. Just last week the both stopped interacting with the network, so I ordered a 2nd Roku to stream content. As soon as the Roku arrived, they both started working again. I didn't change anything!

----Update 2013-03-01

One of the players now has a disk clamping problem. You can hear the disk slipping when it spins up and it ejects the disk while the disk is still spinning at a high rate of speed. Yes, I said I would be replacing them, but haven't done so yet. The Rokus are effectively replacing them. Rarely do I need to play a physical disk.

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I purchased this player mostly for its DLNA and Smart TV (Pandora, You Tube, etc.)

I have had this player for barely 3 days and there were already 2 automatic software updates. The first software update failed 3/4 times and then it succeeded after some stars aligned. I could enjoy pandora and you tube and a movie in the last 3 days. This morning there was an update forced on the player. I don't clearly remember how that happened but the update was forced on it. After that whatever smart (??) operation is performed (opening pandora or you tube) the player informs me that the software needs to be updated.... but when it tries to update the software it pops up another dialog box stating that the software is already the latest one. Essentially the player is unusable.

A little browsing of online forums revealed that this sw update was forced on all 6xx players and most of them have this problem. It clearly reveals that there was inadequate quality testing performed on this player and it is nowhere near being market ready.

I called up LG customer support. The support rep asked me to downgrade the player to previous version, but that trick did not work. It again got stuck in that forced upgraded and dead state.

[I will wait for a couple of days to see if this thing gets fixed quickly. If it does not, it is still in return period, the player goes back to amazon for being defective item.

If I keep this player, I will update this review with my experience.]

OK -I decided to keep this player now. LG pushed out a new update within 2 days of the problem. The problem is fixed (for now). I will stick with 2 stars and the comment about inadequate software testing. I will update the rating based on my experience over next few weeks.

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This DVD died within 6months of purchase after playing just 3 or 4 DVDs. Any time I put a DVD or a Blue Ray Disc in the player, it will just make a loud grouting noise and display an "ERROR" message. I usually stream my movies online from Amazon or Netflix, so I didn't play the disc very often. You would expect the player to be ready when you need it, but this player is extremely unreliable.

This is a common problem with the LG players. When I called the LG customer service to explain the situation, they seem to be very aware of this situation and confirm this as a common problem with the player. In fact, once I gave the agent the model number and said the DVD is broken, she went on to say "the player is on, but making a grouting noise, right?" Then I went on to confirm that this is a common problem with this model. LG customer service said since the purchase is over 90 days, I would have to pay $69 service fee and they will change the parts for free. Imagine! In summary, this is the worst DVD player I have ever bought!

I have had good luck with this Blu-Ray player. This is not the most expensive unit on the market, but it met my requirements for doing a good job playing Blu-Ray disks, as well as having network applications that will enhance your viewing and listening experiences.

It does a wonderful job playing the movies, with the sound handling being just as good as the visuals. I have had this for about a month, and I have used it on 6-7 Blu-Ray movies, as well as some standard DVDs. It does a good job of enhancement of DVDs, and the Blu-Ray is all that I could ask for.

One of the bigger reasons that I got this player was for the network capability. I do have a wired connection at my Television location. I have had no experience with the Wi-Fi portion. (It might not have Wi-Fi, please check the posted specifications.) I have a very adequate Internet connection and that all helps for the network applications. I can see if using Wi-Fi which has less access to the full bandwidth of your Internet connection that it could slow things down.

I do love the compliment of applications provided. One of my requirements was that it had MLB.COM available, and it does. Some other applications included are Netflix, Cinema Now, Vudu, Accuweather, You-Tube, Pandora, and a lot of new entries into this field.

This is my second LG player and the last one was last year's model. One of the additions for this year is something that I have tried and it works well too. That is the Amazon service for movies. If you are a Amazon prime member, you can watch some of the movies free. You can also make purchases from Amazon from this unit.

Some of the applications will require that you set up an account on a computer prior to using the service. Most of us have a way to do that, so the main thing when setting up is that you have to enter in the user name and password for each respective service to get it to log into your account. Once that is done, the player remembers it for later. This is a one time setup.

Netflix works quite well on it, and they are adding new services all of the time. I do enjoy the Internet Radio application as well. It plays stations of all genres and from all over the world. The quality of the music is more than adequate played through my sound system connected to the television. It will also tell you how the station is streaming, for example in MP3 @ 128 or WMA @ 96 (bps). All of the streams that I have listened to are more than adequate to have great sound quality through my component system.

All of this is simple to hook up if you have HDMI connections. Basically, there are three connections for this, power, ethernet network and HDMI. And then you are ready. However, when I first got my system, I allowed myself the time to go into setup and tailor the system to work well with the equipment that I have. My amplifier for example had recommendations on how to set up external devices that connect to it for the best performance. Another thing that I allowed myself to do was to update the software on it, just as soon as I hooked it up.

Most of these units sit in the box long enough that there will be a software update for it by the time that you get it. I recommend that you consider downloading that just as soon as you hook it up. It will remove many of the bugs in the original software that are likely there. I do know that many manufacturers release products quickly and will find bugs in the system. But since I downloaded the new software, I have not experienced any. This might not have been the case with some of the earlier reviewers.

This weekend, there was a software update pushed to the system, which I found a bit aggravating at the time. I didn't want to stop and be forced to download an update as I had done in the past. But it seems that the ones that they push are very quick and not for the same purpose. After the short download was complete, there were several more applications that appeared in that area, including HULU and a new music service.

The main software updates for the drivers and the core software will have to be requested, which is easily done. You just hit a button to check and see if there are any updates available, and it will let you know if there are and offer to download them. If you choose not to, you can do the same thing later when you have a few minutes (it doesn't take that long, but it does take a reboot of the system) to spend doing this.

My friends have been impressed with the video for MLB and some other functions. I have no issue with Hi-Def video over the network. However, I believe that it is a benefit to have a wired network on these if it is available. If not, there should still be enough bandwidth on Wi-Fi to do the trick. However, I can not verify that.

Overall, a pleasing purchase for the money.

Rode MiCon-2 Connector for 3.5mm Select Stereo Devices

• Micon to 3.5mm Stereo Adapter
• An Adapter for Your RODE Mic! Wireless Adapter/Cable s:lilrode
• RODE MiCon to Standard 1/8" Adapter

Works, but insultingly expensive.

(If these things in fact cost nothing to make, Rode might want to rethink this, and lower the price. People will be much happier with them if a $300+ mic of theirs comes with a whole PACK of these, covering all common sockets. I wonder how many people, like me, receive their stuff, realizing they forgot to get the adapters, and can't use their thing until a 2nd order arrives. An *expensive* second order.)

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These were for my Rode Lavalier. I'm a little concerned at the size of the connector, but with that said, I haven't had any issues so far and the connection seems solid.

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So the pin mic needs phantom power to work, and none of my recording units have phantom power in a 3.5mm jack, only the 3 pin XLR jacks provide phantom power. That goes for mixing boards and what not too.

Polaroid Digital Voice Recorder (PDR302BLK)

I used this recorder for a few days maybe 15 hours of recording total before the record button stopped functioning. Now when I press Record it functions as the Stop button.

The recording quality was decent, the included instructions on paper were poor, but there are better ones saved as a PDF on the recorder.

he recibido el producto y es muy util como herramienta de trabajo, facil de usaar y facil de manejar, interface sencilla

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Pro Articulated Magic Arm with 15mm Rail-block for Dslr Rig Support System

This articulating arm is a great addition for my 15mm rod support system for my DSLR. I had a t first tried a cheaper product and got what I paid for, a cheap item that was below standard. The Pro Articulated Magic Arm works perfectly, and is of excellent quality.

Atomos Ninja-2 Video Hard Disk Recorder

In spite of the one star rating from the guy that could not get the sticker off of the protective film (instead of just pealing off the film), I give this one five stars. It permits me to record long videos, up to the amount of storage you put into it and the video is superb *1080p from my Nikon D800. It gives me the option to use my Nikon800 as a high end extra video camera at weddings when I need one. Also has nice features that I don't need but you never know what the future holds.

The downside is the cost. It's a lot of money for what it is and will take some time to recoup the investment of $1000 plus the cost of cables and hard drives. I would still recommend it to anyone that wants to use their dslr to record high quality video without the time limits of the camera.

I purchased 2 of these wonderful units ...The operation and simplicity of use is amazing. if you are looking for a wonderful , easy way to monitor AND!, record your hi def video, this unit is the answer. Yes, I will agree it seems to a bit of a price to purchase it indeed, yet you will find after the first big shoot the price becomes non existent. From the first use I fell head over heals for this product. It took only a few minutes to get my wife whom shoots with me, to become a proponent of this recorder. We have gone through most formats of recording video starting way back with VHS. I have to say this recorder cleans up so much muss and fuss being it batteries, cables or other things in the past 20 years. To date this recorder tops everything I have used. A long recording time on the 2 batteries supplied was very nice! Yet I always have back up batteries. Pop the hard drive in and record hours of crisp clean video. Remove it and pop it into the supplied docking station and wham!, you are now ready to edit and do what you will with your videos. I have just begun learning all the wonders of this unit and it excites me to know I will be spending more time with them. I have no reason to lie to anyone about this unit. Its seems pricey yet hey..! You get what you pay for. I bought 2 thus far.. I KNOW as fact I will be looking for additional units. This is a KEEPER!

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There is no other device out there today that can record more that 29 minutes and have a lcd at the same time on your DSLR, with that said, please see below for my feedback base on my use cases. Please let me know if you have any question.

My use cases: To be able to do video (longer than 29 minutes) and picture at the same time on my D800, eleminating carrying an addtional equipment to do video. Also able to have a bigger LCD for helping with manual focus.

Pro: Cost (compare to some monitor that does not even record), Easy of operating, lots feature to aid focusing, long/ dual batteries support, portable size/weight (not with the larger batteries), external hard drive, video file format, full screen screen viewing for the D800, hard case to house everything.

Cons: The resolutions could be better/improve, No hood included to use outdoor (can be purchase on Amazon hood man), No HDMI cable is included (can be purchase on Amazon), the latch to remove the hard drive case is very tight (there are time when you need to swamp out the drive quickly), have to remove all memories to be able to recorder at full resolution (which is ok, but if i need to switch over to take picture i have to reinsert the memories).

Here are some assesories that you might need:

Hoodman http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WK5AAE/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

HDMI to Mini HDMI 1.5 feet cable http://www.amazon.com/Aurum-Ultra-Supports-Return-Channel/dp/B00A6VPU5S/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1361079796&sr=1-1&keywords=HDMI+to+Mini+HDMI+cable+1.5+ft

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Maybe it is good, I will update the review if I ever get a functional copy. As with one of the other reviewers, my unit has an impossible to get off warranty sticker stuck directly on the LCD surface. No, there is NOT a protective film to peel off (as is common on many mini-LCD screens) at least not on our units. If you got one with the protective film then be thankful. The sticker is glued DIRECTLY onto the LCD surface on mine, and surely the other guy's as well, and will not come off without leaving a total mess of glue.

EDIT: bumped from 1 to 4 stars now that I FINALLY managed to actually get sent a copy that didn't have the sticker directly glued onto the LCD screen!

Users beware though if the stickers seems to be really stuck and directly on the LCD screen, it is and it is a manufacturing defect, keep sending back until you get a copy where the stick is on a protective LCD film as it should be.

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I have had great luck with the Atomos Ninja-2 on the Nikon D4.

From my blog:

Once set up all I have to do is start Live View (in video mode) and start the Ninja-2 recording. When I cycle the Live View button on the D4, the Ninja-2 starts recording when Live View is on and stops when I shut it off. Each time the Ninja-2 creates a new file for the next take. I turn on the Focus Peaking to ensure perfect focus and it stays on the whole time (does not reset when Live View is cycled). Perfection!

You can check out my rig on my blog.Dan at Vigorotaku

Roxio Easy Media Creator 8.0

• Lets you burn up to 50 hours of music on DVDs with onscreen menus and Dolby Digital sound
• Automatically adds title, artist and genre tags to audio tracks captured from LP, tape or Internet radio
• Converts LPs and tapes into MP3 or WMA in three easy steps
• Manages and organizes your digital photos
• Create CD or DVD compilations of DVD-Video, DivX and WMV files; burn TiVo recordings to DVD

The DivX feature has been a big improvement. There are movies and video clips which I downloaded and now can burn them onto an DVD. Then I can play the newly created DVd onto my DVD player and watch on my tv. This will be really helpful when more studios make programs and movies available through the internet. I then combined several older DVDs onto one DVD with Creators new feature. I've also been doing this on my laptop which is a few years old. I thought I needed to upgrade my pc but so far the program has been working well.

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One reviewer mentioned that he couldn't find the Tivo function. I found the process to be straight forward. You need a Tivo series 2 dvr to download files onto your pc. You have to download the software from the Tivo site first. The Roxio program will then recognize the file type and you can transfer them onto a dvd. I don't want my hard drive filled with all these files so I'm archiving them onto disks. I researched this feature and found that the disk authoring software needs a license from Tivo to handle the files so not every program supports Tivo file format. Hopefully this clears up any problems people have been experiencing

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I bought this program so that I could burn dvds from my pc which play on my dvd player. However I have found myself using the photslide creator a lot. The templates have a lot of features built in so its easy to make an imressive looking show. There are a lot of transitions, plus scanning and panning. The wizards make it fast and easy to create the show.

I used to use Powerpoint to make the photo presentations, but now I can use this program.

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My family just bought an LCD tv. The 16:9 video support is perfect for showing videos on the new tv. It's difficult to gather around a PC unless you have a large monitor. It makes more sense that people want to see home videos and photos on a regular tv. Maybe some day the technology will be more integrated, but for now we have to convert files from pc dvds to regular dvd formats. The Roxio program has this support.

I also agree that the photo slide show creator is terrific. Besides the built in transitions, the program will also match transitions to the rhythm of the background music. What a great feature.

I've had good experiences in the past with Roxios cd burning software. Now that I've upgraded to dvds, this program addresses the different options. These days I want to transfer clips and photos from my regular dvd player and pc dvd. This program has both these options. I transfered some Tivo programs so that I could play them on my laptop when travelling. I also put some original digital video on a dvd so my friends and family could watch them on a regular dvd player.

The editing programs for video and photos have been more than sufficient. They are also very easy to understand.

Zoom H4n Portable Digital Recorder Package with Zoom RC-4 Remote

AMAZING! Cant say enough. Buy one and be amazed with the quality and performance of this little thing. This is a great package with $50 or more in extras for the same price. I use this unit with my Canon 5D mark II to add awesome soundtracks to my movies/videos. FYI: For the open rear channels on this unit do a search for shotgun microphone "HTDZ HT-81" or "14.37 inch Professional Shotgun Microphone" and buy 2. You will find them out there for $32 shipped a peace! They sound comparable if not better than my Rode Videomic! So save some money and search them out.

i've not had time to really delve into all the features, or even use it for the purpose for which i bought it (audio for film), however what i have played with sounds fantastic. for someone like me,(pro) i don't find it too complicated to get around and it's fairly intuitive. with that said, if you're new to audio of don't need bells and whistles, i'd look into a 'lesser version'. if you know what you're doing and want an exceptionally good sounding and flexible recorder, this is your unit. i have found it to be very handy just to have lying around to grab for a quick "idea" catcher for songwriting.

it is (or at least seems to be ) a sturdy unit, solid feeling, not flimsy. but buy a better carrying case and an extra sd card for more storage.

my only beef if not with the recorder itself, but with the cubase le software that was bundled with it. NOT intuitive, NOT easy to set up, NOT as easy to use as they would have you believe, but the customer service from steinberg was pretty prompt and friendly (but still was unable to fix my problem).

Zoom H4n...*****

Steinberg cubase le....*

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I offered to record video at a conference as a favor to a friend, and was looking into how to bring audio into my camera. I saw some camera-specific boxes which would take XLR from the board and bring it into the camera, but got the H4n instead, since it can work standalone and as a camera input adapter.

The best recommendation for me was that the pro audio guys at the venue were using H4n as part of their own gear to make audio-only recordings -a business run by someone who has been doing audio recordings at shows and concerts for decades. I felt like I had made the right choice -and conveniently he showed me the optimal settings to use as well. This is a very versatile tool for all audio recording needs -a high quality interview recorder, a concert recorder, and an audio solution for shooting video on the Canon 7D or a variety of camcorders.

It's not cheap, but a great value.

Read Best Reviews of Zoom H4n Portable Digital Recorder Package with Zoom RC-4 Remote Here

I love the Zoom. It is compact, easy to use, and records really high quality sound for the price. The on-board mics sound good. It accepts XLR cable and 1/4 inch jacks. My only complaint is that when I plug my unit in to AC power, I get an unbearable amount of 60 cycle hum in my recording. I can avoid this by running it on battery power, which is what I do. However, sometimes, I'd like to have it plugged in so that I don't have to worry about whether my batteries will last through a shoot or an interview or a concert. The battery life is very long, and I haven't had trouble yet, but still, it's one more thing that I have to concern myself with.

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As a video producer/videographer/audio operator, beginning in the days or separate camera and audio operators, to the miniaturized world of all-in-one camcorders, it's nice to be moving back in the other direction of having separate operators. The Zoom H4n is a great tool for those looking for an inexpensive way to capture good field (or studio) audio while capturing video on the Canon 5D. Altough the record level controls are not optimum, I have found the captured audio from the H4n to be of very good quality and easy to work with. My team prefers to use wireless lavs or boom mics for the audio capture. I would recommend the H4n as a good tool for small to medium end producers and production houses that do not want to spend larger amounts of money on audio capabilities.

(WHITE) OMIG 6000mAh (Dual USB Output 0.5A/1.2A) Backup External Battery Pack Charger High Capacity

Portability easily fits in pockets with no issue and the built in ipd and micro usb cables make it even better

Convenience can be used for yourself or you can be nice and share the extra power with friends while on the go

Price less than the price of a spare battery

Bottom Line:

This has saved me from scrambling for a wall outlet and spare charger plenty of times and lets me stream music and videos on commutes to work without worrying about draining my battery. It makes a great gift to any friend who has a smartphone and is always complaining about needing a charger or having to shut down their phone to conserve the battery.

Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 AVCHD Camcorder with 10.6 MP Still and 12x Optical Zoom

It was a long wait but finally got it last week and then took it for a trip right away, its performance it's outstanding, I got this camera for a TV show we are producing, after seeing a few options we decided to get this one because of several reasons:

Size, the camera is very compact, for a camera that provides broadcast quality image the size is amazingly small.

Construction, this camera has most of its body made out with metal panels, that makes it very solid and also makes it reliable, also the set up of the buttons are easy to access.

Price, there are other models in the market that could deliver a similar quality or probably a little better but the cost is at least $1k more, if you think like I do "creativity is the main ingredient for a good production", spending the extra cash doesn't really make a difference as long as you are aware of the camera's capabilities and limitations, but there is always ways to improve performance in some conditions that could affect the correct functionality of your equipment.

Tapeless technology, we bought another AVCHD camera a little less than a year ago, we use it mostly for action shots and underwater recording, the transition was effortless, the advantages and capturing time are reduced to minimal and the quality is amazing, with this model we found that its quality is even better than older models and editing is a lot quicker, also recording cost are cut to almost nothing with new SDHC cards that can be used over and over without loosing quality... Just this fact makes it a must buy!!!

After using it for this little time I have managed to work around its many controls and get exactly what I want from it, the response to low light is not the best but it's decent, you can always add a good light for little money and resolve that problem, also the sound quality is excellent, I didn't get the optional xlr adapter piece for it but I am using a 8mm wireless mic system that combined with this little fellow deliver great results!!

In short words: "the new Panasonic AG-HCM40 is not the best camera money can buy but ,to my opinion, it's the best camera money can buy for this price!!"

I just met this camera last week, little brother to the HMC150. The HMC40 brings several welcome upgrades to market. I'm an intermediate producer in training with lots of self study and attended a few great workshops. After two years of shooting 1920 HD on the low end I have to say this camera impressed me.

PROS:

1) MPEG-4. Shoots very good quality in a tiny light weight package. Just love it. Even has time-lapse capability which sure beats roto-ing in post for a time lapse effect.

2) You can squeeze two HMC40s in the same size carryon pelican case as the 150.

3) Start editing your shots on Mac in only 2-3 minutes without waiting for rendering. No transcoding required, no $600 P2 cards either. But you should use something faster than just class 6 SDHC media if you want to bump up the quality a little, otherwise you might get some artifacts (image problems) with fast motion and striped clothing. Same problem as any media recording slower than the camera.

4) I'm cool with renting HMC150 and redrock/letus for higher end projects if necessary. This camera is fine for making DVD projects or streaming HD.

5) Great looking shots with 4:2:0 sampling.

6) We produce our own stuff, make a profit and clients keep coming back. With a $1995 retail price tag I can finally afford to own two very nice HD cameras.

CONS:

A) Manual button lovers will need to learn the softkey menus. I love the softkeys with all the same features. No different than using an iphone.

B) Two choices for sound: Seperate sound (best) or get the panasonic/beachtek adapter for on camera. I like using seperate sound on a tascam or fostex digital recorder with four seperate channels (mic 1, mic 2, wild background). This gives you plenty of room to remix in post or replace sounds. Great sound is still 50% of the production.

C) It's not the same glass lens set as 150/170 so you may need different accessories.

D) No timecode jam sync between two cameras. This camera does have its own timecoding (HH:MM:SS:FF). Oh well, I've been living without timecode sync since I started. It just adds a little to the time in post for manually lining up shots and sound tracks. It's no problem to keep using a clapper board anyway. Clappers do give a kinda nostalgic flair for the crew and spectators.

I hope this helps. Upgrade cameras every couple of years while the resale value is still a good plan. After shooting a short this weekend I think this is going to be a good two year relationship. I wish you the best.

Semper fidelis,

David Cannon

Buy Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 AVCHD Camcorder with 10.6 MP Still and 12x Optical Zoom Now

This camera deserves "6 Stars" on image quality. I am a Realist when it comes to reviewing a product. First: we must consider the items price, $1995.00. In the "Professional Video Camera World", That is tantamount to saying a steal!!! I will not go into features and functions, the description of this Camera is given in detail on the product description portion of this page.

Second: Size and weight, Until very recently, a Pro Video Camera came in two sizes, large and super large. The additional problem here is that the general public became used to seeing these monstrosities at events, and broadcasts. Many Video Camera Professionals still look for these monstrosities simply to appease their clients visual expectations. This is the wrong approach, we should stop breaking our backs with our equipment, and instead educate the public of the technological advances that have benefited this industry. The video quality produced by this camera will please the most discriminating client.

Third: You have all this quality being recorded on SDHC cards (my advise is Class 10 30mbs or better). Recording on SDHC cards will be a liberating experience for people who used tape in the past. The Quality is much better. You cannot record over scenes by accident. It can be recorded on again and again, without loss of quality. It is not affected by altitude like hard drive consumer models. If you are thinking of getting this camera, Just get it.....think later!!!

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 AVCHD Camcorder with 10.6 MP Still and 12x Optical Zoom Here

If you are brand new to professional or pro-sumer camcorders or figure its about that time to step up from your handycam days into the world of professional audio/video, there is no better "starting gate" than the Panasonic AG-HMC40. Its smaller form factor will be a familiar "path" in terms of handling and control but will also give you some more real estate to play with the included on-camera controls. Most of this stuff are things within the menus os high-end consumer camcorders but they have been placed on the camera body for quick reach and control. This enabled a lot of on-the-fly adjusting that was simply not possible with lower end consumer camcorders of today.

Then they add manual adjusting with a focus ring, an iris dial control, three different user-controlled buttons and a wole host of other goodies that will propel your experience into the real of professional videography use.

The included battery that comes with the HMC40 is actually the MID-RANGE model that provides about 3 hours of juice at full charge. Most models of camcorders like this (including the older brother HMC150) usually come with the smallest size 1-hour battery but the fact that Panasonic decided to include the 3.5 hour battery in this kit is simply fantastic. The 8 hour extended battery is always recommended but this three hour long model is definitely a welcome addition that will help offset the cost of buying an extended battery, especially if you don't need longer than a 3 hour model (you can use the money saved for on-camera external microphones, the optional XLR adapter, or external lighting).

Speaking of extras, the optional Panasonic XLR adapter is a MUST if you wish to use a good quality XLR shotgun or omni-directional microphone. External lighting is something you DEFINITELY will need if you plan on filming in low light as this camera's low light recording capabilities are mediocre at best without a decent light.

Also, don't be fooled. This camcorder records perfectly in it's highest quality mode with a GOOD QUALITY Class 4 SDHC card. As long as the SDHC card you plan to use is a good brand such as Transcend, PNY, Lexar, SanDisk, or other quality brands, a class 4 (with MINIMUM 4MBps write speeds) records perfectly. This camcorder records at a MAXIMUM of 24Mbps (That is MEGABITS per second, which equals 3MBps -MEGABYTES PER SECOND-) and a quality Class 4 SDHC cards writes at a MINIMUM of 4MBps (MEGABYTES per second). The ONLY reason you would want a Class 6 or 10 speed SDHC card if if you wanted a higher transfer speed (which is good when offloading the data off the card onto a computer. A Class 6 or 10 card should have a minimum write speed of 6MBps and 10MBps respectively, with good quality SDHC cards even having a minimum write speed of 16MBps 30MBps (Lexar, Transcent, SanDisk being my favorites). I've heard bad things with ADATA cards and this camcorder so please be aware in case you plan on using lower quality SDHC cards as you might get distortion, pixelization, ect.

I hope this helps you in your purchase of this great professional Panasonic camcorder!

Want Panasonic Professional AG-HMC40 AVCHD Camcorder with 10.6 MP Still and 12x Optical Zoom Discount?

This is the most exciting camera that I have ever owned. Not only is this an outstanding HD video camera but it is also an excellent still camera. While I am still exploring the possibilities of what this camera is capable of I have already come to appreciate the advantages that it offers in controlling the picture quality. The ability to accurately focus quickly as well as to control hot spots in the picture area with the manual f stop control is greatly appreciated. The touch tone screen control works effectively and the ability to choose any three settings for quick access is valuable. I've never seen a camera where the controls were be set up than this one. When hand holding the controls are in exactly the right spot. The ability to do Time Lapse photography is something I have always wanted in a camera and this one does a excellent job. The picture sharpness in the highest recording rate (Approx. 21 Mbps) is breathtaking. My only complaint would be that the instruction book comes only as a pdf file. I printed it off and use it all the time in teaching myself the ins and outs of the superb tool. This is a camera for the person who is serious about creating artistic works that go beyond just shooting a video record. While I'm sure that the Panasonic AG-40 would fit in well with professional TV applications I think that this camera will open up a new world for the serious non-professional who desires to create personal masterpieces. I would pick this as the video camera of the year!

Save 28% Off

Sony Ericsson T226 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Pacific Blue)

I had this phone for about 8 months and the inside of the screen cracked out of nowhere.. The graphics on it are terrible. The only thing it has going for it is that you can record music on it and then use that for your address book when people call but then again the sound sucks also so IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY SAVE THE HASSLE AND BUY A BETTER PHONE

Why settle for less, or commit yourself to a specific cellular provider and service plan, when you can get a complimentary unlocked top of the line Motorola RAZR v3i cell phone that works with any cellular service provider and any SIM card. I got mine free at this web site: ilikethis.info/razrv3i

Buy Sony Ericsson T226 Unlocked Cell Phone--U.S. Version with Warranty (Pacific Blue) Now

Q-See QSSIGD2 Decoy Cameras and Warning Sign (2 Pack)

Well it didnt deter the guy that stole if from me, but functionally it did the job! Can you believe it, someone stole it?

I recieved the cameras, one of the cameras did not work. The red flashing light did not work. I call the tech support line, and did al the testing they required, they determined the camera was defective. I was told I would receive a return ticket so I could send the camera back and they would replace it. I have not recieved any thing for the return. Due to the cost of they one camera, About $15.00. it is a waste of my time to keep calling to try and get it replaced. Q-See cameras haqve bad customer service, I give them a rating on "sucks"

Buy Q-See QSSIGD2 Decoy Cameras and Warning Sign (2 Pack) Now

Have worked as an addition to my current cameras helps with the illusion of more coverage and the included sign is a bonus, cameras are the same Q-See bodies as one of their 'true' cameras so they look exactly like the 'real' thing.

Read Best Reviews of Q-See QSSIGD2 Decoy Cameras and Warning Sign (2 Pack) Here

Easy to install, great sign, likely will scare away most potential burglarshopefully they will go somewhere else where there is an easier target.

Want Q-See QSSIGD2 Decoy Cameras and Warning Sign (2 Pack) Discount?

HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series)

The HP210 / 211 / 212 / 214 could have been a truly great product. (They're all the same product: the different numbers indicate the channel and country; i.e., 210 US Consumer, 214 Asia, etc.) But it has a few shortcomings that, in my opinion, reduce it to an average product that should be considered carefully.

First, I am a big fan of PDAs and so-called smartphones and have been using them for years. None of them are perfect. In fact, most of them are far from perfect. In recent years the smartphone category, combining the cellular phone, the PDA and a camera, has really taken off. The standalone PDA is probably an endangered species and the HP211 could be the last of its kind. The emergence of the mini-laptop like the Asus Eee and Fujitsu U810 may, in fact, be the final nails in the coffin of the standalone PDA which I think would be a pity.

HP did a lot of things right with the HP211.

The screen is absolutely gorgeous. Photos and videos shine forth in all their glory. Glare from the screen surface has not been a problem. I have not tested it in direct sunlight, but it holds up well in bright daylight. The screen does require a fairly strong touch, but it is something you become accustomed to fairly quickly. Scrolling, however, in Internet Explorer seems to somewhat difficult. You have to apply firm pressure which the device may be interpreting as repeated taps. Something makes navigation in IE more difficult than it has to be.

For those who use the inking capability, once you get the touch done, it is a great experience. The Marvell processor is fast enough to make inking a delight. If you use an onscreen keyboard like TenGo, you'll be well impressed with how responsive the screen is and how fast your input can be.

Overall, the CPU powers the device with lots of horses to spare. And it is wonderful to have all that memory available, knowing as well that you can add humongous SDHC and CF cards as well. The idea that you can add 32GB of memory with 16GB card in each slot is mindblowing.

WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities are excellent.

The four function buttons are well placed and can be reprogrammed to meet your needs. On left side is another button that starts the recording function. The on/off switch is mounted on the front near the top right corner. While it hasn't happened to me, I am afraid it can be depressed accidentally, but the auto shutdown should render that moot even if it happens.

The D-pad is a major drawback and could be a dealbreaker for a lot of people. The designers lopped off the top of the D-pad. It is smaller than the right/left and down pads and, mounted just below the screen bezel, feels funny. It is also difficult to toggle precisely which is frustrating. As I use it more, it seems to be becoming more natural, but I consider it a dumb design move. I would strongly suggest that prospective owners either try it in a store or buy from a vendor with an excellent return policy.

The other major flaw and this could be a deal-killer for a lot of people is the speaker arrangement. There are two speakers, but they do not work together at the same time. The front one is used only, as far as I know, with Skype. It has just barely adequate volume in a quiet room. If there's any kind of noise, forget it. By the way, the HP211 works very well with Skype.

The rear speaker is just plain horrible. It is inaudible even in a quiet room. It is unusable for playing back voice recordings and trying to use it for music or audio tracks on movies is unthinkable. You can also whistle goodbye to using it for voice prompts for GPS. In a unit this expensive, this design flaw is inexcusable. Making matters worse is that the headphone jack which is, thankfully, a standard 3.5mm is located on the bottom of the unit. I haven't tried it with Bluetooth headphones. one of the big pluses of a standalone PDA like this to me is the recording capability for quick notes. But if I can't hear them playing back without headphones, what good is it? Another reason for a standalone with Bluetooth is GPS. Obviously, you want GPS with voice prompts. But if you can't hear the voice prompts, what good is it?

Considering HP's legendary engineering, I am surprised these flaws made it into the final product, but they did and I think they greatly reduce the appeal of the product.

The unit is pretty big, which I appreciate because I want an ample writing surface and I have big hands. That's the good news. The bad news is that the surfaces are all slippery plastic. If you intend to use this unit without a case, I suspect it will become a casualty within a matter of days. Overall, the construction feels a little on the cheap side. Not awful, but it doesn't feel very robust either.

My primary reason for wanting a standalone PDA is to have a way (other than pen and paper) to take notes throughout the day. The HP211 fills this role well. I primarily use PhatNotes and TenGo. The HP211 screen provides an excellent inking experience with no vectoring problems. The stock Windows Mobile Notes and other applications and the letter recognizer also work well. It's a joy to have a ton of memory with the ability to expand to previously unheard of dimensions. The screen is a marvelous platform for viewing photos or videos. (The CPU, by the way, doesn't have quite enough ooomph to play video back smoothly. Using TCMP, I had lots of dropped frames.)

If I were ranking the device very narrowly, I would give it 5 stars without hesitation and then take 1 star away for the price, which I think is too high. Thus a net 4 stars. Because of the D-pad design and, in particular, the utterly useless audio, I can give it only 3 stars. Considering the high price in conjunction with these defects and I have to strongly urge that anyone considering this device consider it very, very carefully. One of the reasons I prefer Windows Mobile devices is the wide array of software available for them. The main reason for buying the HP211, on my part, was the large screen, which is admittedly much easier to work with than the one on my smartphone.

But at $400+ for the HP, there are alternatives and I suggest that they be considered. The Nokia N800 is less than half the price and provides WiFi, web browsing and email. The screen is great, though converting video for the N8*0 is dicey. The N800 offers SDHC expansion capability. The N810 adds a sliding keyboard. And both have a rudimentary camera which the HP211 should have, but doesn't. The big drawback to the N8*0 devices? They're Linux and apps are still relatively scarce.

On the whole, I think the HP211 is well suited for a notetaking function and moderately well suited for web browsing when Opera is installed. It is an adequate video platform. But the built-in speakers simply stink. The headphone jack is inconveniently placed and the D-pad is something of a design disaster.

The big problem is that there just aren't that many standalone PDAs out there running Windows Mobile 6 with a ton of memory and a great 4" screen. At half the price, I'd live with the problems. At $400+, though, I'm still wondering about it. My smartphone does everything the HP211 does: it's just smaller and more difficult to work on. Is the convenience worth $400+? I'm not sure yet, but am tilting toward saying "no".

Jerry

I've been using Windows Mobile and Windows CE products for almost 10 years. I've owned the 4700, 2595 and now the 211. My wife has the 110. I use these devices extensively and have an entire workflow planned around it. It goes everywhere with me. My requirements are such that a converged device doesn't provide much use to me: processor usually too weak, memory too little, and definitely the screen too small.

I bought the 211 about a month ago. Here are my impressions:

My first reaction was "BIG!". It is bigger than all my other devices. It's thick, more so than the 4700. The weight is ok, though. I don't think about the size any more. I've gotten used to it.

The screen does require more pressure to operate, but again, I'm used to it now and it's forgotten. I haven't noticed different pressure reactions on different screen locations.

The screen is perfect. To address previous comments about being able to see more stuff: I scan all my documents and commit to PDF. Everything. Then I sync to the 211's SD card. I have a lightweight PDF reader, and I can read PDFs easily without scrolling horizontally. I can't come close to doing that with my wife's 110, or my 2495. Yes, you can fit much more on the screen, and it's much much sharper than any other device. Yes, the unit takes advantage of the higher resolution: it's not just bigger pictures on a bigger screen, honestly. Having said that, it's up to the application to do that. Most do.

I have *not* noticed any negative performance difference between this and my previous devices. It's as fast as my 2495 and my wife's 110.

I have approximately 30 applications(!) on it. None have had compatibility issues. And because of the impressive amount of memory, I still have approxiamtely 55% of storage memory left.

Yes, there's a proprietary cable for sync and power. However, there's also a mini-USB port, so the proprietary cables aren't necessary at all. I don't travel with them. I only use a retractable mini-USB for charging and synchronization. It's really not an issue.

Battery life is better than the 4700 and the 2495.

I love the buttons. I honestly don't understand the criticisms I have read about them. I'm happy.

Bluetooth and WiFi have worked without any issues. My only complaint here is for WM6: it can't connect to my work WiFi network because WM6 doesn't support WPA enterprise.

Sorry for the rambling review. Just wanted to give my opinion on issues raised here. It's the perfect device for my requirements: no converged phone/PDA, and I don't need a camera. BTW, my employer gave me a 8525. I don't use it at all. It simply can't do what the 211 does.

Buy HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) Now

got this "monster" this week

the first feeling is "HUGE", my hand can hold it because I have big palm

the screen is eye candy, 4" VGA can make a quite difference, the color is very good, not "yellowish" like other HP products, the screen looks dark when the backlight is off, however, it's pretty viewable under sunlight

the buttons and d-pad are pretty comfortable to press, but up direction of d-pad is a little bit difficult to press because the bottom of screen frame, the arragement is

calendar/contacts (I changed to IE/File Explorer)

Start button (cannot to be changed)

OK and minimize/? (I changed ? to Bluetooth Manager

messaging (not changed)

the application is typical WM, but HP signature application "iTask" is no longer exist, which I can shut down an application with ease, it doesn't have ipaq backup

Monster Chinese users must read, you must use version 5.3, ver 6.0 will mess up the machine, cause it unable to boot, requires factory reset

all jacks are located on the bottom, even headphones jack, that you may want to use wireless headphones instead, luckily, the updated bt is alot more stable, almost no skip/interruption on a2dp; you can almost forget the new data port, the miniUSB can do both async and charging (1A or higher USB charger is highly recommended, the included AC adaptor has supplied charging adaptor to the data port)

the unit speed is OK, slow down a bit when a2dp is active, video is decent, with TCPMP, no slowdown on mpeg (ripped directly from VCD), Divx is fine (VGA @30fps), wmv has some hiccup

the battery is OK, VGA can use good amount of power, it is recommended to setup screeen auto-off to save power, I tested with Pocket Player, play 160-192kbps ogg vorbis, got around 7 hours when bt a2dp is active

this unit has 2 memory card slots, I put 16GB CF (A-Data) and 16GB SD-HC (A-Data), both work 100%

RF on wifi and bt is pretty impressive, can get signal easily, and give wireless headphones more range (though it's not good as class 1 bt)

this unit is a big leap from HX2495 and X51v, HX4705 users will find similar pleasure with this unit

I give 95%

pro:

HUGE VGA screen, buttons are comfortable to press, 2200mA/h battery (you can use HX4705 battery), miniUSB port, stable bt, good RF

con:

weak speaker, headphones jack is located on the bottom, no cradle included, kinda bulky

Read Best Reviews of HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) Here

I have been using the iPaq 211 now for a couple of weeks after upgrading from the iPaq 2755 that I purchased when it first hit the American market 3+ years ago. I haven't had a chance to really test the multimedia capability but am willing to bet the 211 will be better for MP3 and movies. Overall, it is a good devise, but not as much of an improvement over the 2755 as I was hoping for. Below is a comparison between the two devises.

Screen

2755 Bright and easy to read but type gets more difficult as it gets smaller. Web pages are really difficult to view making Internet Explorer nearly pointless.

211Even brighter in comparison to the 2755. It also has automatic brightness adjustment that actually works well. But the biggest difference is the VGA resolution on a comparatively BIG screen. Web pages, books and everything is much easier to read on this devise. I have been using my iPaqs for reading books for several years and this devise is really a pleasure for that! The on screen keyboard is also a lot easier to use, almost good enough to use with just a finger.

Processing power

2755 HP's second unit with the 624 MHz processor blew away the previous units for speed of applications and handwriting recognition. It made the unit much more useful that previous with slower processors.

211It has the same processor which is a mixed blessing. Since the 211 lacks a high powered graphics processor, it is actually slower on some tasks than the 2755 due to having a screen with 4 times the resolution. That said, it is only a little slower and only in certain aspects like initially opening a document. Handwriting recognition is actually slightly better for some reason; possibly the increased memory.

Internal Memory

2755 More than adequate for several documents and programs to be stored. Bogged down or crashed if several apps were loaded at the same time, but that was easily solved by the task manager that allowed you to close individual apps or all of them at the same time.

211 Even more memory, making easy to store loads of applications and files without issue. It does still slow down if you keep the Internet Explorer, Word and other large apps running. I couldn't find a task manager that worked like the 2755's included so installed a freeware program TMAN that works even better.

Touch screen

2755 Good but sometimes difficult near the edges of the screen. It was often hard to hand write anything due to the size of the screen and my writing style (or lack there of.) Taps and gestures were very responsive, but it was nearly impossible to use a bare finder or even a man's fingernail.

211 The screen is only about 95% as responsive in comparison which isn't that bad though occasionally annoying. But due to the screen size you can actually use your finger tip for many applications including the contact list making the 211 slightly better than the 2755 overall.

Included programs

2755 HP included the standard office mobile, image viewers, media players and a backup program. You also got Outlook on the disk for your desktop computer just in case you didn't have Office.

211Actually has less than the 2755, no Outlook and no backup software. As it comes with Windows Mobile 6, the Office apps are better than the 2755. Still, plan on purchasing Sprite Backup and Outlook if you don't already have it.

Accessories

2755 sync cable, power cable and cradle. Options include SD and CF card slots for LOTS of storage space. I have an extra battery and charger that makes it even more flexible.

211 No cradle included. Same optional card slots except that the SD can reads SDHC cards which are a lot more versatile. There is also an optional host cable that allows you to use USB mice, keyboards and external hard drives. There is also an extended battery available that can double the amount of time before charging or exchanging batteries.

Looks and build quality

2755 Looks are OK, though I never really liked the color tan/gray. Great build considering that I have been using it daily for more 3 years without any issue. Buttons are easy to use and can be programmed. NOTE; the first thing I do when I get a new electronic devise is put a screen saver on it.

211It looks great in black! Same or better build quality than the 2755. Despite being lager, it is still very easy to hold and use.

Connectivity

2755 Uses Activesync 4.5 in XP which is still my operating system of choice; sorry Microsoft but Vista totally sucks! Slow and buggy, but can be used with the included Bluetooth as well as cable.

211 Exactly the same accept that does include a standard USB mini port for sync and charging. Charging on the USB is slower but is a welcome addition.

Security

2755 Comes standard with password security and a biometric finger print reader that really works!

211 No finger print reader which is a real disappointment, but does still have the password security.

Portability factor

2755 Easily fits in a pocket and there lots of great cases available.

211 Slightly bigger to allow the great new screen, but still pretty easy to pocket. The included case is OK, but I will be looking for a nice leather one instead.

--Summery of the 211--

Pros

Very readable screen, probably the current leader for any Windows Mobile devise that can still fit in a pocket.

Very powerful with more storage options that most people will know what to do with.

Mobile Office apps are way better under Mobile 6 and very usable. I can really create a full Word document on the devise without too much effort

Battery is sufficient for the devise, allowing several hours of use before charging is necessary.

Quite stable, very few resets and nearly all the programs that I wanted to use work great including a couple designed for WinCE 3.0.

Optional USB host adapter.

SDHC comparable.

Finger touch usable in some applications.

Opera Mobile web browser 9.5 works like a charm!

Plenty of internal memory.

Easy to carry and use.

Cons

A little slower than I would have expected.

No cradle.

No Outlook or backup software.

No biometric fingerprint reader.

No independent graphic processor for the VGA screen slows it down at times.

The speaker is a little weak.

Touch screen takes a little more pressure.

Want HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld (210 Series) Discount?

My Dell Axim X50v died unexpectedly and I had to get another PDA. After using a VGA screen I could not go back to QVGA. Since there aren't too many units to select from I decided on the IPAQ 211.

Already there are some good reviews out there so just a couple of comments based on what's already been said.

1. It is big, but then the screen is incredible.

2. I didn't have any devices that already used the connector so the new configuration was no big deal. The large connector accommodates sync and charging and the mini USB does both as well.

3. As for screen tapping it is a bit stiffer than the Dell, but I've already adjusted.

4. Connecting via WiFi is a breeze compared to the Dell. It just connects quickly without a big hassle.

5. It may be a touch slower, but I'm assuming that's a result of the persistent memory.

6. I have quite a wide variety of software that I've installed with no problems whatsoever.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this unit.

Pioneer DVR-XD09 External Slim Portable USB 2.0 DVD/CD Writer

I bought this drive last week from Best Buy's for $70.

It's cheaper here, but the Best Buy one was made on Dec. 2009, not June 2009.

I only used it for 2 days, so here it is:

**Portability: 10/10

It's as light as a thin paperback book!

Go find one & hold it. Can you get any lighter than this with $60?

**Ease of Use: 9/10

You could use it with Windows XP, Vista, or 7.

If you have Windows 7 like me, you have to wait about 10 minutes while it installs drivers and such.

After that, it's "plug-n-play".

**Additional Software: 7/10

The Nero 8 Essentials seems fast and took 15 min to download while the "Nero securediskviewer" took about 12 min.

I'm sure you could do without the Nero, but I wanted to try it out. (I still haven't, but I'll update this in a few months.) I still thought that the Nero took a little longer than I would've liked to download.

A small warning: The Nero 8 does take more space than I would've liked. (I like to keep my D drive as empty as possible.)

**Sounds & Heat: 8/10

There is NO heat.

However, it makes this annoying humming and high "whoooo" sound when it's working hard.

**Design: 10/10

Unlike most usb external optical drives, this one opens up!

You get to see what you're working with and adjust the cd/dvd accordingly.

The "Open" button doesn't work when there's isn't any power, so turn it over and find the little button on the lower back of the drive, press it the opposite way, and and the drive cover should kinda click up.

I like it this way because it's safer when a cd/dvd jams up & freezes -you could just yank out the 2 usb cables from the computer/laptop, WAIT until you hear the disk stop spinning, and take it out (using the way I just described).

Plus, it is NOT a fingerprint magnet. You can see oily fingerprints if you tip it at a certain angle, but other than that, the somewhat metallic gray finish hides everything.

All in all, I give this drive a 9/10.

It's thin, well designed & built, portable, and is at a decent price.

(I highly recommend it for beginning to intermediate computer users.)

Buy it! You won't regret it!

(at least most of you won't)

Unfortunately, this unit just isn't reliable. The first one I had quit working after a week (it would spin and stop, spin and stop). Second unit (replacement) did exactly the same thing.

Buy Pioneer DVR-XD09 External Slim Portable USB 2.0 DVD/CD Writer Now

This Pioneer DVD drive is the smallest/lightest/thinest of the ones i bought/tried. I have tried the HP which is good but a bit more pricier. I tried an old LaCie which works sometimes. I'm using it on my Apple MacBook Pro 15", 3,1 A1226 Mid/Late 2007. So far the drive is working perfectly. Since i have an Apple computer, i cant run the included software, but Nero is generally a good company and their software is top notch, if you pay for it, free ones will do the job but limited.

The bottom of the drive is metal and the lid is plastic. Bottom will attract some fingerprints but the top is matte so it looks and feels good.

The only problem i have and kind of hate with all these drive manufacturers is the USB cable that is bundled, doesnt work for me 95% of the time. My problem actually lies with Apples's design. Apple being Apple, put USB ports on either sides, having one of each side. Good if you have a huge thumb drive. Bad if you want to use DVD drive.

The LaCie had two separate cables a power and a usb which was good but it didnt work well with my Mac. The HP worked good but the USB cable is a Y-Cable with two USB ports on the end. The cable was just long enough for it to plug it if i ran it over the top keyboard, which made typing inconvenient and putting it on the bottom might cause problems because the aluminum bottom gets HOT. So for the Pioneer DVR-XD09 has a Y-Cable too. unfortunately, its even shorter with the total distance of 5". Yeah.. now I'm running it using an usb extension cord.

Its a good drive and since the built-in drive is broken on my laptop, i have no other choice and it is one of the better choices out there. Should try to find a shorter extension cord than my current 3' long one.

The drive pictured isnt the XD09, should be the older version.

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1. cord too short. (2 USB Connection cord)

2. have to manually eject by hand.

3. does not plug and play.

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I bought this primarily to replace the cable for the unit I already had. For the price I now have a back up (assuming I don't loose the cable again)

Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera 3 Item Bundle Kit: USB Extension Cable (6 Feet), Car Charger, and Wal

I set up my Zi8 as a dash camera and this lit fits the bill for providing 12v DC power to the camera using the charge cable that came with the camera.

This charger only works with devices that can charge through USB. The Zi8 does NOT charge through USB. Thus, it does not work. BEWARE.

Buy Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera 3 Item Bundle Kit: USB Extension Cable (6 Feet), Car Charger, and Wal Now

I lost the charger for my Zi8 camera, which doesn't use a micro-USB cable to charge like newer models. It requires a cable with a special tip. This package looked like a good deal when I searched "Zi8 Charger" but it doesn't contain a cable with that special tip. So it really didn't help me at all.

Read Best Reviews of Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera 3 Item Bundle Kit: USB Extension Cable (6 Feet), Car Charger, and Wal Here

I lost the charger for this.. and I got what I needed, plus some extra stuff from the seller for a great price with delivdery!!!

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Cheap, cheap, cheap! Everything you get with this bundle is cheaply made. Wall charger broke after one use. The USB doesn't fit well in either the wall or car charger. Don't buy this item, just pay a little more from kodak and get something that will work.

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Streaming Networks iRecord PRO Personal Media Recorder

The device would automatically shut down without warning. Does not notify wether or not the recording has stopped. Cannot copy copyrighted DVD's. But easy to use and performs as advertised.

Great item, great service! Thanks for a great item and the speedy turnaround. Really appreciate the great item and service!

Buy Streaming Networks iRecord PRO Personal Media Recorder Now

I've used the iRecord Pro for several years. It's an extremely handy device. Need to digitize old family videos from cameras with different formats (8 mm, VHS-C, etc.)? Then the iRecord is your tool. It works with pretty much any device with either RCA or S Video outputs. It can also record TV shows from a DVR directly on to a phone or iPod. The recordings are decent quality (depending on the source) MP4 or MP3 (audio) files.

The iRecord Pro weaknesses are it's lack of 1080pi HDvideo and no HDMI input. It works great for older devices, converting non digital media into digital files. But it lacks the ability to connect to modern devices through HDMI. I suspect a future iRecord product will bring both 1080pi HD output and HDMI to the table.

Read Best Reviews of Streaming Networks iRecord PRO Personal Media Recorder Here

Wanna digitalize your old LPs?

Wanna digitalize your old VHS tapes?

If you have an iPod, would you like to preprogram recording from a TV or set-top box wherever you happen to stay while traveling?

iRecord Pro is an answer for each of those purposes and, afaik, the only answer for all three. Works perfectly for me for all three purposes. Needless to say that anything you digitalize onto your ipod or usb stick (or smartphone) with the irecord pro is easy to burn as a cd (audio or video) or dvd afterwards.

I should mention that this is not (yet) an HD device. Audio, by the way, I reocmmend recording onto a stick at full/lossless/wave; Let itunes or whatever you use on the computer do the compression to whatever you prefer (I choose 256kb VBR) before you transfer the music to an ipod or a CD or whatever.

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I have been purchasing both professional and consumer grade video encoders for many years and the iRecord Pro is probably the best that I have come across for s-Video/composite input capture. It does a great job of turning even poor quality input into acceptable digitized media and is quite outstanding with good quality input. The de-interlacing capabilities are unparalleled in my experience, even with products costing 10-20 times the price. The MP4 video is a snap to trim with Apple's Quicktime Pro software and it can be imported via iTunes into the iPad easily. The resulting video is rather bulky at approx 1.1 GB per hour and so is more appropriate for local viewing rather than using as is on the Internet. The reports about the unit having a noise fan when in use are correct and that probably should be corrected by the manufacturer. I could imagine that being very inconvenient for some uses of this encoder but I can live with it for my purposes. Since the audio is captured directly, the noise does not get onto the final product. I have not tried transcoding from the media yet but expect that to work fine.

Samsung BD-P3600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

• Experience vivid, crystal-clear visuals that are more natural, more realistic and simply stunning with Blu-ray's full 1080p HD resolution
• Stream Blockbuster, Netflix, YouTube & Pandora
• Multi-format playback lets you enjoy Blu-ray Discs, DVD, CD, MP3/WMA, JPEG, AVCHD and more
• DivX support allows you to enjoy downloaded DivX movies on the big screen
• Connect wirelessly for BD-Live content or streaming services using the included USB Wi-Fi dongle

When choosing a blu ray player, the choice can be confusing at times. After months of searching I now believe the best ones are the ones that match your needs most, after price point. Here is my review after a night well spent learning the ins and outs.

Pros-

Wifi-This year Wifi will be all the rage. Set up with my samsung after a slight learning curve took 20 mins tops and once connected it worked flawlessy. I didn't even need to read the manuel. Superb and blazing fast!

Pandora--what a terrific gem of a music program. And its free! The learning curve is super easy and fun. I was able to program it from my mobile phone, and there it is two seconds later. I am a happy camper!

Netflix-Great. super simple! Netflix needs more choices, but that is not Samsung's fault.

wifi dongle!They could have charged for this. They didn't. Great!

cons, if it is one--The player feels flimsy upon first contact so that you almost want to be super gentle with it. As opposed to the sturdier players out there. If that concerns you, i suggest you hold a floor model first and decide for yourself. Also, still no hdmi plugs offered with the majority of players, this one included. Makes no sense at this point. Luckily i have spares.

Overalla solid player, with wonderful audio and visual clarity. My test for blu ray, The Dark Knight. Looked amazing, sound oustanding. Test for upscale, Wall-E. Looked incredible and rich.

Nice job samsung!!!

UPDATE: Not sure what all the griping is about for a select few, but I watched Punisher Warzone on this player, a hard hitting film if there ever was one and this player did not hiccup. Audio and visual clarity were fantastic!! Also just watched quantum of solace. No issues. A little lag in the load time but I suspect that has to do with the dvd not the player. Sounded and looked great!! Be cautious of those few on here who get one bad lemon and decide the whole basket is rotten.

Three and a half month update: Still no problems to report with this player. I have not had one single issue with any movie I have thrown at it and I have now played over 200 films on it. it's a workhorse. It also plays copies of pretty much any DVD you have burned from a computer hard drive. I'll say it again, great product!

This blu ray player has gone done in price remarkably since it first dropped. It's orginal asking price, for those of you coming to it now, was nearly 400.00 dollars. It is now nearly 50 percent less. This is a real steal folks.

Buy Samsung BD-P3600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Now

I've never felt so conflicted about a piece of home theater gear in my life. On the one hand, the BD-P3600 offers very good to excellent audio and video performance on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs as well as some great internet streaming features. On the other hand the "PC Streaming" feature is frustratingly hard to use and unreliable to the point that I finally gave up trying to get it to work.

A few die-hard audio/videophiles were worried when Samsung chose not to include the excellent Silicon Optix Reon HQV video processor in this year's line-up of Blu-ray Disc players. The DVD upconversion on last year's BD-P2500 was outstanding and many of us were concerned that its omission from the BD-P3600 would lead to noticeably inferior standard def performance. Turns out there was little to worry about as both the DVD and Blu-ray performance of the BD-P3600 are excellent, comparable to Panasonic's DMP-BD80 and superior to LG's BD370.

Also, with on-board decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI/PCM and multi-channel analog outputs, the audio performance and flexibility of the BD-P3600 is also excellent. Throw in the included WiFi dongle, BD-Live support, quick disc loading, Netflix online streaming and Pandora internet radio and you get one full-featured high performance Blu-ray player. That is until you try out Samsung's new PC streaming feature.

With PC streaming, you can access media files (photos, music and Divx videos) directly from a PC with shared folders on the same home network... at least in theory. When we tested this, the "automatic" feature to detect sharable PCs on the network failed entirely and we had to resort to manually providing the IP address of the PC, and even this was not reliable. This process wouldn't be such a pain except that the player does not have a "remember me" function to remember the IP address, share name, userid and password for the next connection, and entering all of this manually using the remote and on-screen graphical keyboard is a time-consuming process. Also, we found that the player hung on multiple occasions while attempting to playback AVIs from the networked PC, and the only way to recover from this was a re-boot (which, of course, forgot all of our network information). Meanwhile, playback of the same content from a USB flash drive connected to the player's front or rear USB port, worked reliably, without all the drama.

As a Blu-ray Disc and DVD player, the BD-P3600 performs very well. It is one of the fastest players to load up both standard DVDs and Blu-ray Discs (faster, in most cases, than even the PS3). Also, the Pandora and Netflix streaming features are very reliable and add quite a bit to the overall flexibility and versatility of the player. But Samsung really should have waited to release the PC streaming feature until it was more robust and more reliable. If you promise not to use this feature, then I'd happily recommend the BD-P3600 as a full-featured high performance Blu-ray and DVD player. But those who do want to take advantage of PC streaming are in for some serious frustration.

A full review is available at Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

Read Best Reviews of Samsung BD-P3600 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Here

Wireless access to Netflix was my key criteria when I started looking for my first Blu-ray player. Once I read CNET's statement that this unit was a huge leap ahead, I was sold.

I bought and connected it to my new Samsung UN46B7100, both of which I bought at Best Buy. Connecting it to my wireless network went smoothly. I put in The Matrix on DVD. It looked as good as a DVD could look. That is, it looked good until it froze up. After several attempts, I restarted the player and put in a new Blu-ray disc. Fifteen minutes later it froze. Samsung customer support quickly recommended that I return the player. Best Buy exchanged it.

Unit 2 had the same issue. Best Buy suggested I try a different brand and mentioned that another customer had returned 3 units. I wasn't ready to give up, and I took unit 3 home. It only seemed prudent that I give it a thorough testing. It played DVDs, Blu-rays, and streaming Netflix films for 12 hours. During that time I noticed that the audio was slightly behind the video, which was especially pronounced in concert footage. Customer support had me change various setting to no avail. In hour 13 the player froze up just as the others had. I gave up. I returned the unit and took home an LG B390. I've had it playing for 24 hours and it has performed excellently.

I have 2 suggestions for anyone reading this: thoroughly test any player and be aware that CNET doesn't review units that it buys in stores. Manufacturers send them units for testing, and you can be sure that those units aren't lemons.

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Dirty Harry once asked, "Do you feel lucky, Punk?"

I ordered my Samsung BD-P3600 on Aug 8th. As usual, Amazon.com under committed and over delivered, getting the unit in my hands on Aug 12th, two days earlier than promised. That and their pricing is why I love doing business with these folks. I discarded the product packaging after the Amazon 30 day return period passed, assuming that I would have no need of it ever again. In retrospect, this turned out to be foolishly optimistic, as I now have to purchase a sturdy box and packing material to ship it back for repair.

I selected this top-of-the-line Blu-Ray because of its rich feature menu, which I thought would compliment my new LN52B750 Samsung LCD TV. True to form, everything went together almost effortlessly and worked well together until the forth time I attempted to use the DVD player. That's when the BD-P3600 completely froze up. Now it not only fails to display the Pandora/Netflix splash screen, it also won't respond to any command from the top-mounted touch controls or the remote. Generally when it powers up, the display says "Loading" on the front even though there's no DVD onboard, remaining so until the unit is turned off or unplugged. Other times it fails to recognize that a DVD has been put in the tray, refusing to load it at all. In every case, it fails to play a disc and/or respond to the set-up menu command, displaying nothing on the screen at all.

I called customer service and found myself talking to a very helpful rep. She had me first try to reset the unit by holding down the top mounted fast forward button for 10 seconds. Earlier, I had unplugged the power cord for 30 seconds and then replaced it, powering the unit up again. I also unplugged the HDMI from my receiver and went directly into the TV on the HDMI 3 input with a brand new cable but those, too, failed to correct the problem. Now I have to return it (shipping and insurance costs paid at my own expense in addition to the packaging materials I have to buy) to N.J. for repair and return. She says this will take between 7-14 days, not counting shipping times each way.

Having extensively researched this unit before selecting it, I was aware of the significant number of unhappy BD-P3600 buyers who have posted feedback complaining about the same problem. Despite these numerous red flags posted by angry BD-P3600 buyers on Amazon, C-Net, etc., I assumed naively that A) enough time and B) enough customer complaints had passed since its introduction that Samsung would have addressed this obvious design fault by now (my units date of manufacture was in late June '09). I thought that in this economy, while scrambling for every paying customer, no major consumer electronics manufacturer would be so irresponsible as to fail to correct such a well-documented shortcoming in their top end $300+ product, and particularly after so much negative customer feedback. This proved to be naively optimistic. The issue is clearly still very much a problem with a significant number of these units shipping today, as evidenced by the CSRs comment "I'll bet I can guess exactly what your problem is" as soon as I gave her the model number. How very, very disappointing for a company such as Samsung.

So, are you still considering buying a Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-Ray player instead of a Sony, Panasonic, etc. If you get one that works and stays working, you'll have a kick-a** player. If not, well I'm sure YOU'RE not one to throw away the original packaging prematurely, right?

"Do you feel lucky, Punk?" Well, DO you?

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I differ with the first reviewer and am very satisfied with the player. It does a beautiful job of playing Blu-Ray disks and the image is immaculate as is the audio (the primary reason for buying any player). Netflix stream is great (it also streams in HD where the content is available much nicer than the image on a PC), Pandora internet radio is a bonus.

I had no trouble connecting to my network. It was very easy and by putting my media into a shared (public) folder there was no complicated set up. I agree that this aspect of the player is a work in progress codec support seems spotty some played, some did not. Samsung has always done a great job of supporting their products (I've owned printers, TV's, etc.), so I expect further improvements.

My conclusion is that if what you want is a great Blu-Ray player with good networking and excellent audio then this IS the player. If you primarily want streaming of computer files to your TV, then a PC attached to the TV is a better solution (I have one of those too).