Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player

• BRAVIA Internet Video , Access movies, music, videos and more.
• Built-in Wi-Fi and Blu-ray 3D playback capability.
• iPhone , iPod touch BD Remote.
• Quick Start , Load to watch movies faster than ever.
• DLNA wireless streaming of photos, videos and music

The sony S570 is a great player. The fast load system is excellent and much faster than the older 300s models. The setup was easy (it walks you through each step) I use the wireless N router and the speeds are awesome. Seamless integration with our Netflix account and the ability to watch Youtube videos is a great addition to what the player can do. Great 1080p picture and good upconversion of dvds. Do not be afraid of this player. If you have a netflix account or would like to watch youtube videos on your TVthis is your player. Also on a side noteyou have several other choices besides Netflix and youtube. You have Amazons video on demand service and several other free video services.

Buy Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player Now

A week or so ago I replaced my Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray Disk player with a new model, the BDP-S570. The S570 is one of Sony's newest players, and in the middle of their consumer line as far as model lineup. It was amazingly low priced at $249.

I decided to upgrade from the S300 for two main reasons. First, the load times on the S300 are excruciatingly slow, and second it cannot bitstream the newest audio codecs so I was forced to use its on-board decoder and analog output. With my new Emotiva prepro I wanted to reduce cable complexity and use HDMI only.

I started doing some research into the newest crop of BRD players and was convinced I would probably get the Oppo 83. But a few reviews on CNET and elsewhere said the S570 had "the fastest load times ever tested" and they ranked it as faster than and 83. It also has some of the new whiz-bang stuff like wifi, SACD compatibility, Netflix and Amazon streaming, Profile 2.0, 1Gb internal memory, HDMI 1.4 and 3D capability. So I looked up the Sony and found it was half the price of the Oppo, and decided to go for it. I figured that for $250 if I hated it I could send it back or pawn it off onto someone else.

Impressions of the Sony S570:

If you are an equipment snob like me and want your gear to feel substantial, like a quality device, this machine is NOT for you. I thought the box was empty when it arrived. The machine feels like it weights a few ounces (actually it weighs 2Kg or about 4 1/2 pounds.) Upon opening it, I was even more disappointed. this thing is super cheap feeling you know how some plastic feels "good" and other plastic feels "cheap" and flimsy? This feels cheap. The buttons on the front are almost repulsive little Chiclets about the size of the buttons on my cell phone and remind me of some kind of toy made by Coleco. The disc tray feels like I will break it if I push it in. At least the remote is pretty nice so I won't have to touch the cheesy buttons. If just feels cheap. The power cord is molded into the chassis. The chassis is a non-standard size, which always drives me mad. It is almost a standard rack width at 17" wide, but it is only 8" deep, meaning it is too shallow for any other piece of gear to sit on top of it. I had to rig some rear "feet" for my DVR to sit it on top the Sony. Initial impressions were not good at all and I thought I had made a mistake buying this thing. At least once it is in the rack it doesn't look cheap. The all-black front is not as nice as the blue tinted plastic on the S300, but it looks like it belongs in a good equipment rack. Just don't touch it.

The connectors on the back feature a single HDMI jack, component and composite video, stereo analog audio (that goes with the composite video), Ethernet, digital coax and optical, and USB. There are no multichannel analog audio outputs if you need these, and I found it odd that it would offer legacy video outputs but force anyone using those to only use digital audio or HDMI for high-resolution audio. The USB connector is interesting as it allows the user to connect a memory stick (and the promise later a hard drive) for storing downloaded video. There is also a USB connector on the front and the machine can display a variety of digital image formats and play back a variety of digital audio formats directly from the USB connections, or via its networking capability. So while I probably won't use it as such, the machine has the ability to serve as a media hub. That's pretty nice.

I plugged it in and connected via HDMI to my pre-pro. The remote codes were in the Harmony database. I fired it up and went through the very logical and intuitive setup routine on-screen without having to refer to the owner's manual. I connected it to my network wirelessly (it has 801.n wireless built in) and had it check for a firmware update. There was one, so before I could try it I let it download and update which took about 15 minutes to complete. After it rebooted, I started exploring.

The user interface looks exactly like the PS3. This is not surprising since this box is pretty much the PS3 without the gaming capability or any on-board hard drive. It was intuitive and easy to navigate. I went to the setup screens and went through all the settings to see if I needed to adjust anything. Then I popped in a Blu Ray disc (Up.)

Wow. I was shocked. Where the old S300 would give me several "loading" screens and I could almost walk the half mile to the nearest Starbucks, get a latte and walk back before a disc was ready to play, this thing flashed the screen a couple of times and boom, it was ready to go. It was literally the fastest load I'd ever seen, faster than the CD player in my car can load a CD. Very impressive. The picture quality was also outstanding, as I expected. The sound, however, was not right.

"Up" has a dts-HD soundtrack, and the Emotiva processor told me the Sony was sending it multi-channel PCM. Hmm. I went back into the setup screens and it said dts was set to output as dts, but there did not seem to be any settings associated with the HD codecs. Hmm again. So I stopped the disc and thumbed through the owners manual. No mention of anything special I need to do. Time to hit up Google. Nothing obvious came up. Back to the owner's manual and I notice in the troubleshooting section a problem called "Dolby True HD and dts HD bitstream does not work." Aha. It seems one must set a user setting called "BD Audio Mix Output" to "OFF" and then the high def codecs will bitstream. Oh really? So I did this, and boom the Emotiva told me the sound track was dts-HD. There is no where other than this troubleshooting guide that mentions this, and the setup information says the "BD Audio Mix" function has something to do with the secondary audio tracks.

So, if any of you purchase this box or it's siblings, be sure to set this function to "OFF" if you have a pre-pro that decodes the new codecs.

After enjoying "Up" I tried the Netflix streaming function and cued up "The King of California." It came up on the screen surprisingly quickly, and the video quality was not HD but acceptable for casual viewing. It did seem to have to re-buffer too often, but perhaps adding a nice big 32G memory stick to the rear USB port will help this.

Next I tried playing back an SACD (Madman Across The Water.) The S570 outputs SACD as either Multi-PCM or Multi-channel DSD. I had set it to DSD, but the Emotiva will not accept a DSD input. The Sony detected this via the HDMI handshake and output the music as multi-channel PCM. It sounded pretty darn good.

Bottom line, my bias against cheap-feeling gear was wrong and I love this box. I didn't think I'd ever use the Profile 2.0 BD-Live features or something like Netflix streaming but I was wrong, I had a good time checking it out. I still think I'll never use the 3D features but who knows. I am happy I bought this and feel it is one of the best bargain buys I have ever made for my HT.

If however it really is as cheap as it feels and it breaks down after a few months, I'll be sure to let everyone here know.

Read Best Reviews of Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player Here

OK , got my S570 and tested everything I could. This is not a professional review since I'm not a pro.

-UNPACKING AND INSTALLING:

The box is very small, half the size of the 460 box. The player is also much smaller than the 460. The installation was a breeze because I basically removed my 460 and replaced it with the 570. I don't need the wireless, just hooket it to my Ethernet switch and set a fixed IP address like I do on any device I have.

The eject button on the player is almost impossible to find. Bring the remote.

The activation of both Netflix and Amazon can be a real pain and I had to register both again.

I changed the following settings from the default:

.Audio Mix to OFF

.Gracenote to AUTO

.Network settings to manual IP address.

.SACD to DSD

.IP Noise Reduction to zero

As soon as I turned the player on, a firmware update came up and its now version 315.

-BLURAY/DVD PICTURE QUALITY

Nothing new here. Bluray is great as it is with any other player and DVD is OK, nothing to brag about but decent. Professional reviews will give more info about cadence and other things, I spend my time watching movies not calibration disks.

Only thing new is the Gracenote that gives some info on the title but will interrupt playback and return the movie to start position.

-AMAZON/NETFLIX

If you know the 460, the interface is the same (very basic) but with an interesting difference on the audio side. With the 460 I can get DD 5.1 from Amazon and only get audio from Netflix if I set HDMI AUDIO to PCM. With the 570, all the streaming comes in PCM even if HDMI AUDIO is set to AUTO. I think it's a bug with the 460 that happens only with few receivers (no audio unless PCM is set) that is now fixed with the 570. I know, a little confusing.

There is an IP video noise reduction that defaults to 2. I set it to zero because I hate any kind of NR. Picture gets softer in most cases.

Picture quality with Amazon is good and so-so with Netflix but nothing that can be blamed on the player. BTW, my Internet connection is good, 18 Mbps hard-wired.

Gracenote doesn't work with Netflix or Amazon, but you don't need it.

-OTHER WEB SERVICES

There are 1 or 2 services not present on the 460 and few "coming soon". The most important is the Qriosity, from Sony, that promises to rival Netflix/Amazon. There is a Qriosity icon as a placeholder on the menu axis. More info here: .

-DLNA

Doesn't exist. Firmware upgrade ? Shame on you Sony.The Sony website is now updated and has a footnote about the upgrade but it wasn't there when I bought the player.

-USB DISK AND FILES SUPPORTED.

I used a pendrive to test quite a few file formats. Here is the result:

.M2TS Both movies recorded from my Canon Camcorder and the Hauppauge HD-PVR played perfectly. Great !

.MPG No problems, as expected.

.WMV Played without a glitch.

.MKV The video recorded with Makemkv didn't play at all (msg about corrupted file). The video recorded with Handbrake played but with a lot of pixelation.

.M4V Same as above. Also created by Handbrake.

.ISO Not recognized at all. Didn't show up on the playlist.

.MOV Same as above.

.AVI Same as above.

I think the only good news so far is the flawless playback of the 2 M2TS files.

-SACD

This is the Grand Finale: Absolutely fantastic . My Pioneer 94 can take DSD direct (no PCM conversion) and the sound is great. I set the receiver to "pure direct" and the sound was warm, tube like, beautiful. Obviously the receiver plays the big role here but the 570 did everything you could expect.

MY SETUP:

.Panasonic P65V10

.Pioneer 64 receiver

.Sony BDP S570 player

.U-Verse 18 Mbps Internet Service

.Everything through HDMI links.

I hope I gave you some highlights on the 570. Overall it's a great deal and a bargain considering what it can do. Let's hope the DLNA upgrade comes soon and works as expected.

Want Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player Discount?

First, a little background. I purchased a Sony BDP-S300 (one of the early Sony BD players) three years ago to use with my home-theatre setup. It was always a great player, just a basic machine with no frills. Not a lot of advanced features, but it always had superb picture quality and it played anything you could put in it.

Anyway, in mid-2009 I started looking for a new BD machine to replace the aging S300. The S300 had wonderful picture quality, no doubt about it, but it was becoming troublesome with long waits for load times, sometimes taking up to five minutes to start playing a Java-enabled Blu-ray disc (from cold power-on to disc main menu). In the process of "auditioning" new machines, I tried out a Samsung BD-P1600 and a Sony BDP-N460, both of which were returned to the store for one reason or another.

Well, my good friends, it appears as though my long wait for a replacement for the S300 is over. I purchased a Sony BDP-S570 on Thursday, March 4th 2010, and I could not be happier with the results.

Now let me say that I am looking at players for playback quality alone. I am not interested in connecting the machine to the Internet -which may put off some of you. I am only concerned with load times, wait times, picture quality, sound quality. All else for me is a moot point because I connect my television directly to my Windows XP Media Centre PC for things such as Netflix, Youtube, Pandora, etc. So this review and comments are only in regard to video playback of various discs on this machine.

Upon removing the BDP-S570 from its box, and connecting it to the television via HDMI, I loaded our first "test disc", the 2009 Java-heavy Paramount Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek". The disc loaded faster than you can say "Klingon". I was also quite impressed when pressing the "Pop Up/Menu" button on the remote control automatically forced the disc to skip through the four trailers (that play automatically at the start most of the time). This is the first machine that could blow past the trailers like that in one fell swoop. (Formerly, you had to use the fast-forward function to forward through each trailer one at a time.)

As many of you know, The "Star Trek" BD was one of the most well-received BDs of 2009 in terms of picture quality. Well let me say the PQ looks extraordinary on this player and my television. The only problem I noted was a brief glitch in the video outputting/processing, when a herky-jerky something happened and skipped a brief second during the climactic space battle at the end of the movie. I reversed the movie and played it again, and the second time around, no problems.

Second test disc was the 2007 Columbia BD release of "Spider-Man 2" (from the trilogy boxed set). This disc loaded quickly and played flawlessly, again perfect PQ and video outputting. No complaints here at all.

Final test disc was the 2006 Disney Platinum Edition DVD release of "The Little Mermaid". This disc loaded very quickly and the picture quality throughout was superb. No jaggies at all like you'd see on some other BD machines when playing standard DVDs. Superb auto upscaling to 1080P from the disc's native 480i.

Some specific features that impressed me with this player: The remote control has an open/close button on it, which was missing on older Sony BD remote controls (particularly the N460). This player has the easiest auto set-up (by far) of any of the various new players I've connected to my TV out of the box. Finally, you can deactivate the lights and numerical (counter) display on the front of the machine, so it is completely dark when powered on. This is a handy feature if you, like me, dislike all those lights particularly when playing a movie in a darkened room.

Also I particularly like the small size of this player. The S300 was a behemoth in comparison. This player takes no room at all in my component cabinet (in fact it is so small I can't keep my Wii on top like I did with my old player).

All in all this is a superb A+++++ machine from Sony. Here is the player I was waiting for. Technology has caught up to the level such that these players have really come into their own. Also this player is 3D capable with the expected firmware coming this summer. So I will be ready to watch Avatar when the 3D BD is released. Celebration all around.

I spent numerous hours reviewing Blu-ray players before deciding on the Sony BDP-S570. Some of my primary requirements were:

Netflix capable

Wi-Fi capable

Additional online content

Economical

I know my requirements are not that stringent, but the player is just for the family. I wanted to be able to do Full HD 1080p and the family/kids wanted to be able to watch Netflix. I wanted/needed Wi-Fi because I did not want to run a network cable.

After reading hours of reviews I decided on the Sony BDP-S570 because it met all of my requirements, as well as, is prepared to be a 3D player with a firmware upgrade. I watched Amazon for about a month and finally it went on sale for $224. I brought it immediately.

I had my new Blu-Ray player up and running immediately. I connected the Blu-Ray to my network and immediately updated the firmware. I registered with Netflix and was watching movies instantly. I have not had any issues whatsoever with Netflix. This is a great box if this is one of your major requirements. I also registered with Pandora and Slacker and have very much enjoyed the online music. My family has also enjoyed watching YouTube as well.

After a month I am extremely happy with my purchase and highly recommend this Blu-Ray player.

Samsung VR8260 4-Head HiFi VCR

• Dual-azimuth, 4-head stereo recording and playback with HQ video circuitry
• Front-panel audio/video inputs accommodate a camcorder, gaming console, or a second VCR
• Digital auto tracking, 19-micron heads deliver the clearest possible picture when recording or viewing in EP mode
• Up to 400x rewind, jet picture search with scan & play
• Onscreen programming with 8-event/1-month timer

I have a satellite dish, and didn't realize until we got this vcr all set up that it wouldn't work with the dish! We started with the setup menu, and tried to program it to record, and it wouldn't recognize the satellite channels! It is going right back to Amazon[.com], and hopefully the next one we try will actually be compatible with the dish. If you have a satellite, don't even bother with this vcr. I am sure it is wonderful, but we didn't even get as far as putting a tape into it, and now we have to pay to have it shipped back. How frustrating!

Sony Professional Micro 3-in-1 Digital 4GB MP3 Voice Recorder with Memory Card Slot, Noise Cut Tech

I purchased the recorder to go with Dragon transcribing software and indeed it works great. The unit is very small and compact, picks up the speaker well and transcribes well into Dragon. Very high quality unit and very easy to use.

Denon DBP1610 Blu-ray/DVD/CD Player (Black)

• BD Profile 2.0, BD-Live enabled via Ethernet
• HDMI, component and composite video outputs
• Standard definition DVD video processing and scaling up to 1080p
• 12 bit video processing with SD digital video noise reduction
• Multiple picture adjustments, including gamma correction

One must wonder where the street price will land on these in a month or even weeks. In a competitive landscape where quality 7.1 analogues are below $300 (ie 320), lightning speed and quality upconversion are below $225 (JVC), and netflix and pandora streaming are available for $200, how a denon can justify a $500 MSRP player without a brand name chipset, mediocre speed, and only two channel out. It is a well-built, heavy player that looks awesome in a rack (not as masculine as a 2500/3800), but neither wins on performance nor wins on value.

The mid-range ($300 to $600) market segment is book-ended by the Pioneer 320 on one end and the Oppo 83 on the other. Players like the Denon 1610 struggle to stand out in regard to either performance or value, which is a dangerous proposition for the majority of us who are not brand-addicted. I know I have been probably a bit overly critical of higher branded players like the Onkyo 606 and 507 and the Harman Kardon BDP1, but I firmly believe in quality and value. This is probably why I have banged on about both the pioneer 320 and the JVC XV BP1. They put very high quality AV performance or lightning fast operation in the hands of normal folks in tough times.

The 1610 (and the 2010 for that matter) are a bit late to the party and too expensive. I would strongly recommend the 1610 were its street price just under $300 (and I suspect it will be come Halloween). The 2010 is one of the few direct competitors to the Oppo for pure BD/DVD performance. It has a better audio section, but worse video capabilities. It could be a real contender at $425-$450, but is comical at $600 or whatever they are going for.

With Denon DVD-2500BTCI's selling for under $300, I would be hard-pressed to recommend the 1610 for its current street price of $450.

With updated firmware, powered off eject time decreases from 17 seconds to 13 seconds (Same as 2010).

Dark Knight: to anti-piracy page

Denon 1610: 37

JVC: 17 seconds

Oppo: 16 seconds

Pio 320: 42 seconds

Pio 51: 45 seconds

Denon 1800: 42 seconds

Denon 2500: 48 seconds

Denon 2010: 36 seconds

Pirates of the Carribean 1: Medallion Coin / Disney Splash

Denon 1610: 41/57 seconds

JVC: 16 /27

Oppo: 21 / 31

Pio 320: 44 /1 min 13 seconds

Denon 1800: 44 /1 min 3 seconds

Denon 2500: 49 / 1 min 9 seconds

Denon 2010: 39 / 49

Synthetic Test Resutls:

Test Pio 320/ Oppo /JVC /denon 1800 /denon 2500 /denon 2010/ denon 1610

2:02 pass/ pass*/ pass/ fail/ fail /pass/ pass

2:2:2:4 fail /pass /pass /fail /fail /fail/ fail

2:3:2:3 (PF-T) Pass /pass /pass /pass* / pass / pass*/ pass*

2:3:2:3 pass /pass /pass/ pass/ pass* /pass/ pass

2:3:3:2 marg /pass /pass /fail/ fail /fail / fail

3:2:3:2:2 fail pass pass fail fail fail /fail

5:5 pass/ pass /pass /marginal /marginal /marginal / marginal

6:4 marginal /pass/ pass/ fail/ fail /marginal/ fail

8:7:8:7 marginal pass pass maginal marginal marginal /marginal

24p Pass pass pass pass pass pass pass

Time-adjusted fail pass fail marginal fail fail fail

Video deinterlacing:

Moderate performance; excelled with scrolling text, but did have very mild jaggies on ship test.

Buy Denon DBP1610 Blu-ray/DVD/CD Player (Black) Now

At the current price ($325.00ish) the 1610 is a nice player with good Blu ray playback (same as their 2010) and pretty good SD dvd up conversion. I tested about 200 titles and it played them all! And I had no freezes to. For the money it is a good Blu ray player with a high end image...

Read Best Reviews of Denon DBP1610 Blu-ray/DVD/CD Player (Black) Here

I purchased a DBP-1610 Blu-Ray player approx. 1 year ago. Have had play problems since the start. After sometime into various movies, the video and audio would pause, start, pause, start, etc. I performed a firmware update on it thinking it was perhaps an easy update would cure the problem. It didn't.

It took me some time and research to figure out that the unit was overheating. It was first located in a standard A/V stand, then I moved into the open (table top) as part of my troubleshooting process.

I quickly concluded that the unit overheats by design. This is not a component failure. The unit does incorporate a rear intake fan, but there is nowhere for the hot air to exhaust from the unit. Finally, I took the cover off the unit and it now works flawlessly.

Contacted Denon Tech Support to report. They were not interested and passed the buck by suggesting I send unit to their "fee-based" OUTSOURCED service & repair company to "investigate the problem".

Unfortunately, I will never buy another Denon product. Not because of the product itself. These things happen in product development. But mostly because its pretty obvious that Denon corporate has decided that after-sales tech support quality is not a major priority. The service & repair has been outsourced and the Denon tech support people read from a script and have no in-depth knowledge/training on the products they support.

I do not recommend this product if you want a problem-free experience.

Want Denon DBP1610 Blu-ray/DVD/CD Player (Black) Discount?

I love this product. All dvd's come to life. I am a huge fan of denon and cerwin vega. My stereo systen and surround is all denon and vega. I know it has a price tag, but you really get what you pay for. It is worth every penny.

I've been using the Denon 1610 for a couple of weeks now. The thing I noticed immediately when playing my very first blu-ray disk was the lack of "body" in the audio even with uncompressed HD audio. The audio sounded a bit muffled, as if attenuated somewhere. To see if this was something I was imagining, I compared several DVDs with Dolby Digital and DTS audio playing on the 1610 with the same playing on my Sony and Oppo DVD players (NS-50p and 971, respectively) with identical audio settings in my receiver (Denon AVR-988). The difference was clearly audible the Sony and Oppo sounded fuller and richer than the 1610. I checked the audio output using both HDMI and COAX Digital out. The results were identical the sound from 1610 was flatter and toned down. I also tested audio CDs, using the 2-ch analog out as well as HDMI. The CDs sound just fine through both of these.

I have looked at all the settings in 1610. There is none that allows equalization or tone control (there is a way to reduce channel levels for multi-PCM, but not to increase the level). At this point, I'm very disappointed with the sound quality one of the key reasons to upgrade to Blu-Ray (to me, this is as important as the picture quality). I have now found at least one professional review where the audio quality issue is mentioned. (/).

Other than this, the Blu-ray picture quality is good, although with some disks I have found uneven contrast (some scenes too dark, others more balanced in "Day after tomorrow") and a lot of noise (Black hawk down). I'm not sure whether this is due to the transfer quality or the video processing in 1610 ( gives both these movies good ratings for video quality).

The DVD upscaling is quite good despite the box not having a fancy chip like Anchor Bay VRS. I find it slightly better than the quality of the Oppo 971, and the upscaling done by my Denon 988 receiver (both use the Foroudja chip).

The Blu-ray load time is not super fast, but tolerable. DVD and CD load times are fast (in fact, faster than my Sony and Oppo DVD players). Power on, tray open and eject are slower than expected.

The remote is adequate, but feels cheap in your hands (it creaks when you apply pressure on certain spots). The menu design is ok, but some functions are irritatingly poorly designed. For instance, to change the audio track of a blu-ray currently playing, you have to press "Audio", then press the up/down button to highlight the "Primary Audio" option, press "select", then again press up/down to select the audio track you want. Likewise for subtitles. During this long-winded process, the menu could time-out if you're not quick enough. To add to this mess, the player is not particularly sensitive to the remote commander you have to aim it with care.

Another irritating aspect is the fact that many Blu-Ray disks cannot be resumed if you press Stop. Looks like this is not a Denon problem, but that BR disks with Java cannot be resumed. The sad part is that out of the 10 or so BR movies I bought with this player, 9 of them have this issue. I just don't see the point of the Java stuff, since I'm not sure if anyone out there is using the interactive or other features supported by Java. Most people, I'd think, would want to just watch the movies, with maximum flexibility. The idiotic idea of putting other stuff that prevents basic features like resume is inexplicable.

Overall, I was a very satisfied customer of Denon 988 receiver, and my regard for Denon has gone down a notch with the audio performance of 1610. I would recommend you stay away from this player if you are particular about AQ.

Sony RDR-VX525 DVD/VHS Player/Recorder

• One-touch dubbing DVD to VHS or VHS to DVD
• One-touch recording using i.LINK Interface for DV & Digital 8 Camcorders. DV & Digital 8 Camcorder Control for Editing via i.LINK Interface.
• Video Head Stereo VHS with 19 Micron Heads. Easy to use graphic user interface.
• Parental Control. Child Lock for locking the disc tray. Disc Capacity: 1 .
• DVD+RW/+R, DVD-RW/-R, DVD+R DL recording and playback. DVD-Video/Video CD/SVCD/CD-DA playback. MP3 on CD-R/-RW playback.

My wife has been bugging me for the last year or so to convert all of our

VHS video tapes that I took of the kids to DVD's. Some are 20 years old

and though stored under ideal conditions could become fragile. I chose

this deck mainly because it was a Sony and I have had good luck with

their products.

I have not been disappointed. It has performed perfectly. Very easy to

use for dubbing. Once you have your DVD loaded and your VHS tape

loaded, it's push one button and it starts. It stops automatically after either

the DVD is full or the tape is empty, whatever comes first. You then

push a couple of buttons on the remote to "finalize" the disk and you are

done. On the high quality and standard modes the picture looks just like

the orginal.

This deck will also record TV shows and sourcing from video cameras.

Excellent value !

Chris

Buy Sony RDR-VX525 DVD/VHS Player/Recorder Now

I have mixed feelings after having purchased this DVD Combo this summer. Some DVDs play flawlessly, but others skip so badly they aren't viewable. Also, sometimes it's impossible to shut off subtitles. Even when going through the DVD menu, the subtitles will still play. You must click options on the player remote and shut it off that way. Several cases...the movie Spygame with Redford and Pitt. Skips and jumps through the hole flick, subtitles cannot be shut off at all. You can actually hear the DVD player head or something internal buzzing trying to do error correction. Transformers..first viewing was flawless. Now it skips towards the end of the movie. Last night wathced Talladega Nights, first 3/4 movie was fine. Got to last 30 minutes or so and and it started skipping. May wind up sending it in for repair. Spygame played flawlessly on my previous DVD only Panasonic.

Read Best Reviews of Sony RDR-VX525 DVD/VHS Player/Recorder Here

I received this as a gift, it WILL NOT RECORD ANYTHING from my satellite receiver, says "copy protected" I planned on using this to record programs I could not watch becaude I was working. A dvd PLAYER would do all this product can do for a LOT less $$$.

Want Sony RDR-VX525 DVD/VHS Player/Recorder Discount?

Ok so it doesn't copy old vhs movies because of copyright issues. I was expecting that. but after 6 tries, I finally got an old vhs of some tv shows to record onto DVD-R disks. The manual is overwhelming and does a rotten job of walking you through a sample recording. So I finally figured out that I needed to Finalize the DVD, but guess what? the DVD was only usable (fully) on the sony unit. It would play on my laptop, but no chapters, I had 360 as one big chapter, plus the time index was only up to the 24 minutes. so chapter 18, at the 24 minute mark, was for minutes 24-360. Apparently the timer thing is busted on the sony recorder as well. because I had same 24 minute marker as the last chapter on it as well.

The dvd wouldn't even play at all on a regular, DVD player hooked up to my TV.

I want my weekend of frustration back.

I have just gotten this dvd player to replace an other of mine. Guess what???? I am taking it back. It will not play other DVD's that I have recorded on my other recorder, and oh yes they have been finalized and they will play with no problem on other dvd players. On the Sony, they will not play. One may play for a moment and then the picture will hang up and sound will stop a few seconds later. Just can't get any of the DVD's recorded to play.

Magbox 12000mAh Travel Chargers Backup External Battery Pack Charger Power Bank Charger Rechargeabl

I received the Magbox 12000mAh Travel Chargers Backup External Battery Pack Charger Power Charger and the only issue that I found is that the only instructions that you receive with the product is in not in English.

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Rode Videomic Shotgun Microphone with Rycote Lyre Mount

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DIGISTOR Personal Archive Blu-ray Burner for PC and Mac (DIG-79112)

I am very happy with this blu-ray burner. First of all, it is very easy to burn, no problem. Secondly, the customer service and customer support are amazing. Always prompt support and great service from Digistor. Very useful, and efficient. No Comment!!! Thank you for your help, Jerome

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Digitac/Jazz Video Recorder with Camera, Color LCD, YouTube/Facebook/Flickr Ready - Black

I paid less than $20 for this camera, so I did not expect much as far as quality. I was therefore extremely surprised by the decent picture as well as video quality. I would recommend this to everyone (especially people who, like myself, place a premium on high value [quality to price ratio] products).

Way to ruin Easter, Jazz. I bought two of these to put in Easter baskets. One works, one's battery compartment was in total disrepair and the battery wire connection was completely torn.

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It comes with a carrying case, and you need to purchase the SD card, and 2 AA Alkaline batteries. Will possibly give an update after the holidays to give you the quality of the pics and video.

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Rando HD Mini Car DVR Video Camera Recorder 2-inch LCD w/ HDMI Cable built-in Microphone

Just recieved the camera today. There are 3 resolutions, 1080p, 720p and native(i think thats what its called) i took videos on all 3 but i cant really tell the difference.

Took it for a stroll during the day. I think the reflection of my radar detector & car made most of everything out of focus, i will need to retest this again and hopefully, it would be clearer.

The so called "Night Mode" is BS. They just added 2 super bright LEDs and it doesnt really do much of anything. On well lite roads, it records pretty well, but on dark roads, u can only see what ur headlights are shining, its not bad though. Wide Angle? It doesnt look to wide to me.

As for most ppl ask, i actually saw license plates better at night than day. Need to be at least 1-2 car lengths to read the plates clearly though. Not sure if theres a way to make it clearer.

watching it on screen also shows this pixalated video, but im watching it no a 27" monitor was i cant blame the camera.

Overall, i like it, though i think my iPhone4 with the same megapixel can probably record a lot better...

I received a package with the camera very quickly in less than a week.

For comparison, a colleague of mine got the same camera from another seller about a month.

For its price the camera is very good clear images during day, and night is quite acceptable.

At the highest resolution of the video is approximately 95mb/min.

Mounting the camera on the windshield is very reliable.

The only negative the complexity of placing the camera behind the rearview mirror on a jeep.

PS. Jelly watch to trash!

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I bought this camera to keep me covered legal wise while I was on the job driving. It works fine but it doesnt want to stay on. Out of no where, it will turn itself off for no reason. It also freezes up and stops recording for no reason. That results in me having to constantly take my eyes off the road and make sure it is still recording. This is a cheap product. I suggest spending a little more money and buying something more reliable.

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The camera worked for about two days then the micro video card stopped working so I got another video card and the same thing happened. For some reason the cards will not work at all now. I had to return the camera. Camera was returned and money was refunded.

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This car cam works great, even after it slipped from my hand and dove straight into my large cup of orange juice I had in the car. After a good drying off in front of a space heater, I'm completely amazed it still works, 2 months later. Initially it took about a month before it arrived in the mail (coming from Hong Kong) and required a signature, which were not ideal, but I'm thrilled with the product. The camera records in 2-minute segments and saves them as separate files. An 8GB mini SD card (separate purchase) holds about 7 hours' worth of driving, then the camera starts overwriting what's there until it says it's full. You don't want to get stuck with a long commute and a full card, so just buy 2 of them. Also, the cards get lost easily because they're so tiny. I've already captured several near-miss roadway incidents, which are exciting to watch later on.

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Samsung HMX-H300 Full HD Camcorder with 30x Zoom (Black)

I spent a long time researching camcorders, read a lot reviews and looked at a lot of test footage before ultimately buying this model.

Many of the better reviews I read compared this model to models several hundred dollars more expensive, which I took to mean that this model was a significant value at this price.

It was a gamble on my part that I think paid off as I am very happy overall with this unit.

There are thee consistent criticism I have seen for this camcorder. I took them very seriously when I was deciding what unit to buy. Now that I have hands on experience with the unit I wanted to share my experience regarding these criticisms:

The camera records its own zoom: This is true but I don't find it distracting. In fact I find it to be a cool effect. You should really only be zooming with the camera on if you are intentionally calling attention to the camera anyway. This is a consumer camera. It is not intended for professional use. The "zoom sound" is really only audible in a very quiet room. I recorded some footage outside on a non-windy day and the ambient noise outside covered up the sounds of the zoom. For reference, I watched some footage I took with my miniDV camera and noticed that on all of the footage you could hear the whir of the tape motor. Probably the zoom would be more noticeable if the tape motor wasn't constantly going. At any rate the noise doesn't bother me on either camera and the miniDV footage was far noisier. I don't see how this issue would be a deterrent. If you are shooting a movie or any professional product you need a professional camera anyway and you also would be using a separate sound recording system.

The camera isn't great in low light: This is also true. The camera produces a better picture with more light on the subject. This is true of all cameras. Cameras record light. This camera doesn't come with a light for dark settings. If you want a camera with a light on it don't buy this unit. This also didn't bother me. I just turned a lamp on and the video quality was fine. Again, this is a consumer camera. Professionals bring their own lights anyway. To be fair though the camera performs much better in daylight than it does indoors.

There is no viewfinder and there is a glare on the LCD screen in sunlight: These things are also true. There is no viewfinder. If you want a viewfinder, buy a different model. As for the glare, you may have to put your hand over the screen to reduce the glare. Easy enough to solve.

A final note. I ran some basic tests and found the 720p to be sharper than the 1080i footage. It's super easy to switch back and forth (even on the same memory card) so play around with it and judge for yourself. I'm sticking with the 720p to because it looks better to me and it takes up less storage space.

I have also been having a lot of fun with the time-lapse setting a function I wasn't even interested in when looking for camcorder.

Overall I found this to be a great little camera. It records quality HD video has a great optical zoom and can be bought for under $300. The camera is tiny. If a viewfinder were added and the microphone was snaked further from the zoom lens it would be a larger camera. I found the issues above to be legitimate but not large enough problems to be a deterrent.

Just got this little thing of beauty tonight and I'm very very pleased. It completely blows my old-school camcorders away and is effectively 1/4 the cost in today's terms. Easy to use and full 1080p HD. Picture and sound quality look great on playback on my 51" plasma. File format works perfectly for playback on my PS3.

What a great little device! Oh and you can't hear the zoom as claimed by another reviewer there must be something wrong with his unit.

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Arived on time and in good shape. 30X zoom is good. I like that you can select 1080i, 720p, or even 480p. 720p looks fine on our 37 inch Samsung 720p LCD HDTV and the files are a lot smaller. I also like that you can drag and drop files directly from the SD card to your PC no conversion required. Screen on camcorder is very difficult to see in bright sunlight.

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This is a fine little camcorder for the money. It would be nice if there was a 'video in' jack, but then it would probably be two hundred dollars more...very easy to use with my Mac.

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30X zoom is nice, and video quality is quite acceptable, as long as there is enough light, and you are not zooming full range; not as good in low light. There are 2 things about this product, though, that made me return it, and give it 2 stars.

It records the sound of it's own zoom, and, to the lesser degree, the auto focus. If outside sounds are not laud, this sound is quite annoying, and spoils the video.

The image stabilization is not nearly sufficient when zooming beyond about 20X; it's clearly inferior in this respect to other camcorders with similar features, like my wife's Panasonic.

I wouldn't recommend this product. Samsung has to do a lot of work to refine it.

Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

• Plays Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p
• Instantly streams online entertainment from leading providers
• Upscales DVDs to near high definition
• BD-Live ready
• Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio decoding

I've had this player for several days now. Blu-Ray playback appears to be good, although I don't really have anything to compare it to. But so far its other attributes leave a great deal to be desired.

Netflix playback is especially poor. I waited to buy this unit for its Netflix capability to kick in, and was using the Roku HD player in the meantime. Even with a wired connection, the Sony's Netflix HD content playback is noticeably sluggish and jerky, almost to the point of being unwatchable, compared to the Roku player connected wirelessly to the same router. I watched parts of the same video on each player and the difference is not subtle; it is pronounced.

Also, the upscaled DVD picture on this player is very, VERY soft, almost to the point of looking out of focus, even with the TV's Sharpness setting turned up to maximum. This is in comparison to the Sony DVP-NS700H upscaling DVD player I had been using previously, which appears to have a sharper, crisper image; again, the difference is noticeable.

I'm going to try a few more DVDs and see if Sony and/or Netflix tech support can address the streaming problem, before I give up and return the unit. I had hoped this player would be a nice addition to my BRAVIA setup (46" Z4100 LCD TV), but so far it's let me down.

UPDATE: I called Sony and went through three levels of support. They agreed with my description and assessment of the Netflix HD picture quality and told me there was nothing that could be done about it. I also called Netflix and they couldn't help either; none of their suggestions worked. If I can't resolve this myself I'm going to have to return the player.

UPDATE 2: Amazon on Demand HD video looks fine; very good, actually. Looks like this is a Netflix issue (probably the onboard software, not the stream, since Netflix still looks fine on the Roku) that will have to be fixed with a firmware update sometime in the future.

UPDATE 3: CNET has now reviewed this product. From their review of the player's Netflix performance: "We also noticed that the overall streaming video quality seemed to be slightly worse than we're used to seeing. We saw more "jerky" playback than we're used to seeing on other players".

UPDATE 4: The Sony firmware update issued on December 22 has had no effect on the Netflix HD streaming quality. It looks the same as it did before.

UPDATE 5: For reasons unrelated to this issue, I upgraded my cable internet service to Cablevision's "Optimum Boost," which among other things is supposed to more than double Internet speed. Indeed, I'm now seeing over 20 Mbps on . Nevertheless, the problem remains; the Netflix HD video is still "jerky". Apparently the problem is not the network. I think it may be that the Sony does a poor job handling the Netflix stream compared to the Amazon stream, such as, e.g., upconverting from 720p to 1080p.

UPDATE 6: I did some more experimenting with the player, this time removing the HDMI connection and using component instead, setting the player's component output to 720p. This did not correct the jerky motion problem; it looked essentially the same.

UPDATE 7: The June 14 firmware update (version 146) has had no effect on resolving this problem. I think it's officially hopeless.

UPDATE 8: Well, after a year, there is finally a solution (and it's not the recent firmware update); great thanks to commenter Dean Ferreyra the review thread. Turning off the CineMotion feature on the Sony TV for the HDMI input where the BDP-N460 is connected appears, for the moment, to have solved the problem. Even sweeping camera shots appear smooth and fluid.

Thanks so much to Dean and everyone else who has tried to help resolve this over the past year. If the problem stays solved, I may come back and change my star review.

UPDATE 9: I'm pleased to report that the Netflix HD motion problem has not re-occurred since I turned off CineMotion. I'm very happy with this, and it's remarkable how much the intrinsic value of this machine has gone up as a result. But I'm keeping the 2-star rating for three reasons: (1) the fact that I had this unit for a year with one of its major features effectively disabled, greatly reducing its ultimate value; (2) Sony's utter failure to recognize this simple solution when I called their CSD about it last year, let alone correct it in a firmware update; (3) the fact that CineMotion is a Sony feature, so the problem itself and the failure to address it in advance, let alone solve it, were entirely Sony's fault.

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I wanted a Blu-ray player for two main reasons, 1) to watch Netflix on my TV, and 2) to watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Enhanced) on Blu-ray. I returned an LG BD 390 because a stupid icon kept popping up every time an "alternate angle"/enhanced scene appeared during an episode. This was many times during each episode. It's only on the screen for a few seconds, but you can't turn it off. Contacted LG and they said you can't turn it off and they weren't planning a firmware update to fix it unacceptable. So now I have the Sony and I am thrilled. No more icon, and I like the option of turning off other icons like "play" and "pause". I think the load time is fine fast enough for me. I'm anxious to get the Netflix firmware update to try that out. I don't need a wireless Blu-ray as I have wired my basement to get more reliable video streaming. I am very satisfied with this player.

Update as of 11/11/09 Netflix enabled! Works beautifully so far. Watched a bit of "The Office". Video quality very good. My TV says it was 1080p cool. I'm guessing that most of the Netflix content will be standard def., though. I watched a few minutes of Enemy Mine and the quality was OK about like Netflix is on my computer. I'm getting pretty spoiled by hi-def. video after watching Blu-ray movies. Anyway, Netflix is easy to do. Just add movies to your Watch Instantly queue (on your PC), and they're there on TV. Brilliant.

UPDATE as of 1/17/11:

I still love this player for playing Blu-rays, but not for Netflix streaming. I changed my review from 5 to 3 stars. As outlined so well by GrafZeppelin127, this player has Netflix streaming issues. Images freeze for maybe a minute or two at a time many times during viewing. Not always, but enough to make it a major inconvenience. When we switch over to streaming on the PC, there are no problems with image freeze. I read that GrafZeppelin127 found a fix for Sony TV's (turning off CineMotion). I have a Panasonic 50" plasma (TC-P50V10)and I can't figure out how to turn off any similar feature on my TV. When I am streaming and I go to the Advanced Picture menu on my TV, there is an option for "3:2 Pulldown", but it already shows that it's off and plus it's grayed out so that I can't change it anyway. There is also a "24p Direct in" option, with options to change from 96 Hz, 60 Hz, 48 Hz. It shows it's on 60 Hz and again, it's grayed out, so I can't change it anyway. If I can't get this figured out, I will likely be buying a Roku player. Most unfortunate. I had high hopes for this player and did really like it initially.

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Bought this player last week along with an Sony Bravia Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-46V5100 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black LCD HDTV. I have the home theater setup using an Onkyo TX-SR605 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) AV receiver. Although the receiver is 2 yrs old. I was fortunate to choose that model as it had HDMI inputts (just 2 for that time). I have assigned the two HDMI inputs to this blue ray player BDP_N460 and the HD sat receiver. It would have been a great player if they had an integrated WIFI . Guess Sony has their price point all worked out.

Nevertheless the user manual says it strongly recommends Linksys Linksys by Cisco WET610N Wireless-N Ethernet Bridge with Dual-Band Wi-Fi bridge. I have this unit configured to work with less expensive TRENDnet Wireless N Gaming Adapter-Black (TEW-647GA) (V1.0R). All I had to do was to manually configure TRENDnet Wireless N Gaming Adapter-Black (TEW-647GA) (V1.0R) using my laptop initially (due to my secure wireless network configuraion).

Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) was able to connect to the network and with in minutes

Please ensure you go through a system update after your unit is able to connect to the network. Since this was my initial setup. It updated my firmware to the most current version (ver. 120 as of this writing).

Netflix Works!! Sony has fixed a lot of issues previous reviewers experienced. such as lack of Netflix connectivity etc. Plus they have added a few more online portals you can connect to for video downloads than printed in their user manual. I was pleasantly surprised.

To get Netflix to work, you will have to register your player at internet.sony.tv/netflix (which is a sony style website). When you do this, they give you another code to register wih on telling them you would like to stream movies to your Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) player.

Assuming you have an account with netflix, you would be able to do the above step.

At this point, i was able to watch Netflix movies from my instant queue. The movies i chose were fairly new and hence i was able to get HD versions of the same streaming in. I was amazed at the quality of the feed and the speed.

However, I do have to mention that I did use a 8GB USB drive in the EXT slot at the back of the unit.

Although the user manual recommends 1GB or higher. The bigger memory offer better buffering capacity I think. Since price of USB drives are more affordable/GB. It would be advisable to get 2GB+.

Surfing other portals was not that complicated such as You tube. Although beware that not all vidoes on you tube offer HD content. Some of they are plain pathetic, although they look great on you PC monitor, it is a whole another playing field watching it on your HD tv. it would also be nice if sony interface let you search video based on a search engine instead of their listed portals (perhaps in the future....Hope sony hears us out).

I have not figured this one yet. I wish BDP_N460 would let you surf and choose other video media (such as .wvmv/ .rm files on an external Hard Drive) on a connected devise through front side USB port. It would be nice if sony would come up with this feature using a firmware update in future.

The only downside or negative I can think of is to get it working as advertised, You need to spend additional $60 + to get the Wireless Bridge and a USB drive.

On the positives Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) is a top notch DVD player, i loved the fact the regular DVD's were upconverted to near HD (it may be my receiver doing it, i cant say for sure).

Blue Ray play back was mind blowing.

Bottom line is that you get quality video/audio on your TV from this player.

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This player is everything the PS3 should be, just without the games. The PS3 was a constant annoyance with the Bluetooth remote, poor game choice, and the lack of any service such as Netflix (the PS Network seemed to have a rather limited selection)... So I decided to liquidate the system and get back in the blu-ray player market.

When this unit loads up, you might think that it is a PS3--the menu is almost exactly the same. The relevant difference is the video options. This is where that laundry list of online video service providers is found. What a list! If all this player could do was play Netflix, it might not be such a compelling player--but it does a lot more than that. What convinced me to buy this unit was it's ability to play Amazon On Demand. It seemed ironic to me that this was not originally an advertised feature on Amazon's website. I had to do some research to verify this capability. In fact, it was a deal-maker for me.

If the PS3 did everything this player does, then I would say to pay a little more and enjoy the near-zero load times and wireless--but it doesn't. Not even close. The PS3 is currently locked into Sony's limited first-party services. This player hopefully signals the future for players, by adding every provider available.

Pros:

Bravia sync (if you have a compatible Sony television)

TONS of providers

Load times are nominal

Firmware updates were quick out of the box

Excellent up-conversion of DVD titles

Lights on player are not at all distracting (and can be adjusted)

Cons:

Even though I am 1080p resolution, the xcross (system) menu looks low-res.

Netflix is "coming fall 2009", so there will be a wait on that for now

So far this player highly recommended!

UPDATE: As of 11/11/2009, Netflix is now available. Works flawlessly!

I am using this BD player to replace a Samsung BD-P2500 which for whatever reason just doesn't want to play nice with my Pioneer receiver. My purchase of this unit was motivated by the reviews here on Amazon. Unfortunately, this has been nothing but a disappointment so far.

Once I had the unit connected my first concern was getting it activated on my Netflix account. I powered it up and it informed me that there was a firmware update available. I thought that was a cool feature, my Samsung never gave me a heads up. I ran the firmware update which went quickly, and proceeded to attempt to stream from Netflix. All I could get out of the unit was an error message; "connection status could not be verified." After messing around for 30 minutes I called Sony and worked my way through Tier 1 and on to Tier 2 technical support. The conversation ended 1 hour and 15 minutes later without the issue resolved. I was told "it looks like our server might be down so just try again tomorrow." Now that's customer service.

I attempted to connect it about 8 hours later and it worked. With my Bravia Internet account now in full effect I added my Netflix account. One thing I must give kudos to Sony on is the interface they are using for Netflix. Instead of giant sized pictures of DVD covers they are using thumbnails for the shows in your queue. Much nicer to navigate.

I want to interrupt my review to give you some background information on my Internet connection. I have Verizon FiOS which is about as good as it gets in the United States at this point. I pay extra for a 20Mbps symmetrical connection. For the uninitiated, that means 20Mbps downstream and upstream. I have used my Samsung BD-P2500 and my Playstation 3 to stream HD video from Netflix for quite a while now. Both work flawlessly over my connection. On to the test...

I started playing a movie in my Netflix queue which was in HD. The video looked great then 2 minutes into it the movie just stopped for about 30 seconds and resumed. Apparently the buffer is inadequate on this unit. I fired up the same movie on the Playstation 3, and it worked fine. I then went to the Samsung BD-P2500 (which I moved to a different location) and opened the same movie; also perfect.

I gave this unit 1 star because when you purchase a product you expect all of the features, especially one this important, to work. This Blu-ray player simply does not work. Sony appears to be on a downward slide in the electronics industry and unfortunately it continues with the BDP-N460. It begs the question, "Is Sony even trying anymore?"

I have a support ticket open with Sony and will attempt to get this resolved through them. If they can't work it out next week then I will unfortunately have to return this unit to Amazon and try an LG BD370.

If Sony is able to provide a solution, I will happily update this review and change the rating.

Update: Sony has released another new firmware version which claimed to help with Internet streaming. At first it did not but over the past several days my Netflix streaming has been flawless. I will continue to test over the next several days and if everything goes smoothly I will probably keep this unit and increase the rating.

Update #2: Netflix has work perfectly since the previous update. I have decided to keep this item. I have upgraded it to 4 stars (leaving off one star for the initial problems.)

SmartMedia 16MB Digital Flash Memory Card

The memory card works great!!!!! Thank you so much! I am very happy with my purchase. Have a nice day!! :-)

I bought this media card to test an old digital camera, an Olympus C-720, and it works perfectly. More of a toy device these days, but fun to test old electronics.

Product was made in Japan.

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hard to write superlatives as this is merely a storage device. but it works as expected and for that, I'm well satisfied.

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Philips BDP3010/F7 Blu-ray Disc Player

• Blue-ray Disc Player plays back BD discsin Full HD 1080p
• BD Live for enjoyment of online content
• Digital audio out plus 5.1 / 7.1 sound via HDMI out
• SD Card slot for media playback and external memory
• 360 mm size fits in small places

Cons:

I agree with the previous review that it does load blu-ray discs pretty slowly. Sometimes, it also has an issue with remembering where it left off when the auto-shut off feature kicks in if you leave a movie paused too long. You also have to be pretty exact with the remote, basically aiming directly at the player with nothing obscuring its' line-of-sight. I also do not like that the remote itself does not have an "Eject" button, but it's more of a preference thing.

Pros:

Picture quality is awesome on blu-rays, 24fps gives great picture quality on a 120Hz HDTV. I normally play BD-R shrinked movies, but they look the same as commercial blu-ray movies. Commercial DVDs upconverted also look really good, and shrinked movies on DVD-/+R look pretty good (more artifacts are recognizable, but 24fps cinema-like playback still makes them look awesome). Playing my copied DVDs through this thing definitely gives them a different feel, almost as if you're watching it for the first time....again.

Comments:

I wanted a cheap stand-alone to play my blu-rays because I didn't want to wear out the BD-RW drive in my computer that costs twice as much as this player. I have not hooked it up to the Internet because I mainly play copied blu-ray discs which do not require updates to play. I have no issues with regions since the copies nullify any region coding. I also have yet to test/or have any use for playback of media on SD since I do all that stuff through a computer hooked into the same TV. I also use the computer for Netflix streaming so I cannot comment on that either. For what I needed a blu-ray player for, this fit the bill for $50 refurbished.

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There are several problems with this player that make it something I cannot recommend.

First, this player is quite slow to boot up, you have to wait more than 30 seconds before you can even open the disk tray. This is a minor annoyance.

Second, if you stop and extract a disk before it is finished, the player virtually never remembers where you left off, necessitating a wait through the fbi warnings, previews if there are any, and then a search for where you left off. This is a very big annoyance.

Third, as we have both European and American dvd and blu-ray disks, we wanted to convert it to an international setting. The salesman assured me this was easy, gave me the website to find the code, and I then discovered that it works only for dvd's and is impossible to do for blu-rays. This is beyond an annoyance and infuriated me, as I had already bought multi-zone blu-rays.

That makes this a bad purchase for us.

VideoSecu Outdoor Weatherproof 1/3" CCD CCTV Security Camera 420TVL Wide View Angle Lens 28 Infrare

I bought this camera to keep an eye on our vehicles especially at night. This camera is exactly what I needed. It has a great wide angle to it and you can adjust it for closer viewing if you need to. The IR feature is great providing enough light to see clearly at night. I was impressed by how bright it was since I have had other IR cameras and they are not as bright even though they had the same number or more LED's. I do not have the audio feature hooked up yet so I don't know how well that works. It also works very well during the daylight hours. I highly recommend this product if you have the need for one. It is a fantastic bargain for the price.

I am using this camera outdoors to observe a driveway. The image quality is what you would expect from a 420 line camera ok, but not particularly sharp. The night vision is good out to 30 or 40 feet, automatically switching to black and white at dusk. The mounting bracket is poorly designed and not totally stable. The IR led's have an obvious red glow when seen at night drawing perhaps unwanted attention to the camera. I have not connected the audio. I will probably spend a bit more and get a higher resoulution camera to replace it.

UPDATE MAY 2009: I have connected the audio on the camera and the mike sensitivity is good.

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ATCK Waterproof Action Camera

I am a police officer and I use this camera when interviewing people. I was initially disappointed with the sound quality, but found the video and capacity with the 2gig card excellent. The problem with the sound is the waterproofing. If you are not going to be using it in water or wet environments all you have to do is remove the mic cover and there is a black square rubber cover over the mic. It is 1mm or thicker and causes the sound distortion and lack of range. Remove it an re-install the cover and you get as good a sound as any other video camera. This camera is well made and a good value at the price. If it had an external mic jack it would rate five stars.

A simple video to show camera and accessories next to bicycle.

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I bought this after being involved in an auto accident and suffering an insurance rate increase because I couldn't prove what happened. Less than three months later I was hit by another driver who ran a red light. She and her passenger claimed she had a green light. I had this mounted on the dashboard and recording as I was hit and was able to prove she was lying. Without it I would have been blamed for the accident. It paid for itself already.

The camera provides reasonable quality video but very poor audio. It does not operate well in low light conditions (say 30 minutes after sunset). It's very easy to use and has the ability to change resolution, frame rate, date and time, and also to delete files using the built in display and buttons. At 640x480 30fps a 2Gb card (4Gb not supported) can hold about one hour of video. At 15fps it can record about 90 minutes. It only records videos up to 45 minutes, then seamlessly starts another file. It eats batteries so I bought two NiMh rechargables from Radio Shack and recharge them every other day. You probably don't want to use regular alkali batteries with this camera.

The construction is good with waterproof buttons and a waterproof end cap covering the USB and video ports, battery compartment and memory card slot. It has a good selection of mounts including a handlebar mount, helmet mount, and a big rubber strap that will attach it to just about anything. I used stick-back velcro to attach it to my truck's dashboard and it's steady over smooth roads, jerky over the rough stuff.

Recording is as easy as turning it on (press and hold the left button for two seconds) and hitting the record (middle) button. Stop recording by pressing the middle button again and turn it off by pressing and holding the left button. The right button is used to cycle through modes.

Downloading video files to your computer is done with the USB (about 45 minutes to download 2Gb) or by putting the memory card directly into the front of the computer which is much faster if you have that option.

As I mentioned, the only issue is the extremely poor audio capture. If you're most interested in video then this is an excellent choice for you.

----Updated -----

I've owned two of these cameras for about 6 months now and I've noticed some serious problems...

1. Mounting clip snapped on one camera. It still mounts but when the other clip breaks the camera will be unmountable.

2. Slow response to button presses. For some reason it now takes 10-20 seconds between hitting the button to stop recording and actually stopping. Didn't do this when I first bought it.

3. Corrupts the memory card. Deleting files does not always release the memory so you eventually run out. I find I have to reformat the memory card every few days to recover the lost memory. The camera cannot do this so you need a computer with a memory card slot. If you don't have such a computer you are screwed.

I was thinking of upgrading to Oregon Scientific's newest model but decided not to given the quality problems I'm having with this one.

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Oregon Scientific ATC2K used on Rt 122 Barre, MA.

Video can be edited using Windows Movie Maker.

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I've had the ATC-2K for a while now and I have to say it's exactly what I thought it would be. It's for extreme sports, is compact, no wires and all in one. The video quality is pretty good but can't be compared to my $500+ Sony camcorders. Obviously the camcorder will have much better quality but I'm not going to strap one to my head or bike, especially as it would be an expensive piece of equipment to smash if I wiped out!

To be honest, for the price, it's well worth buying. I mount it to wherever and then press record, after that I haven't got to worry about it. With the other helmet cams I've tried, the wires sometimes get tangled and I constantly have the thought of my camcorder, in my backpack getting smashed up, at the back of my head.

I was a little confused about whether the ATC-2K was waterproof or water resistant as some websites have different descriptions. I called Oregon Scientific and they said when the camera first came out they had not yet received the waterproof certificate so they had to advertise as water resistant. Upon receiving their waterproof certificate for the ATC-2K they changed the classification of the camera from water resistant to waterproof. They even put it on their website!

Oregon Scientific say they can confirm it is waterproof up to 3 meters. It makes a change from those cameras on the market pretending they're waterproof where you have to use a plastic case to make it water proof. Those things are so much hassle! It is kind of like putting the camera in a zip-loc bag!

The battery time (2 x AA alkaline) is around one and a half hours to two hours flat out. That's an ideal time considering I use a 2GB SD card and film on the highest quality. The max. recording time at 640 x 480 and 30FPS is 1hr and 1 min. If the batteries die I just change them with spares I bring with me.

I'm thinking of using it when I go snowboarding, the manual says to change to Lithium batteries, specifically Energizer E2. I think this is because the operating temperature for alkaline batteries is higher than that of a Lithium battery. If you tried to use alkalines in cold temperatures it would probably only last a few minutes! I also saw that there's a Cold Weather Pouch available. I'm hoping to buy one online, this is great, finally a company who think of multiple use scenarios!

I've made quite a few videos with the ATC-2K now and have to say that although there is a mic. It's not that sensitive. I asked Oregon Scientific, when I called them about the waterproof feature, and they said it was purposely designed this way as it's for extreme sports and underwater use. Thinking about it, who's going to be giving commentary hurtling down a hill at 40mph?!

Anyway, it's fine for my purposes, I'm usually traveling at high speeds when filming and wouldn't want to hear wind on my playbacks! I guess it would be more interesting to just add my own music or commentary to my ATC-2K clips. I've searched Youtube and so on and have found lots of people are using their ATC-2K's to post clips, there's a cool one of the ATC-2K strapped to a rocket! There's also a U.K. gadget show, 5 gadget show I think, where the host throws it out of his 1st/2nd floor window into a shallow pool below! Neat! Someone brought it back up to them and the footage was cool!

The Bottom Line is: For recording my kid's birthday party or my grandma singing, I'll use my camcorder, for my sports I'll use my ATC-2K! Worth the investment and does exactly what it says on the box!

Denon DP-200USB Fully Automatic Turntable with MP3 Encoder

• The DP-200USB Easily converts your record collection to MP3 format on a USB memory stick
• Includes Trans Music Manager PC software that contains either automatic or manual track splitting functions
• Includes moving magnet phono cartidge and swithable built-in RIAA phono equalizer
• Fully automatic operation for ease of use and gentle handling of records
• DC Servo motor coupled with a belt drive system

I did quite a bit searching and waiting to find a decent turntable that I could both connect to my stereo system for LP playing, as well connect to my computer for digitizing of those same LP's. Having owned and used a traditional Denon turntable for 20yrs, I thought I'd stick with a brand that I knew and could trust. My first impressions of this turnable have been mostly favorable....it works with well/sounds good playing LP's and the digitizing is quite easy using a UBS drive and the provided software. Once you've recorded your music onto the USB drive, the "autosplitter" function breaks up your music into tracks. With a bit of renaming, the end result is good for both listening on an MP3 player or burning an audio CD. Things that are really annoying/dumb: 1)the recording function doesn't stop when the LP has ended and the turntable has turned itself off..so unless you're standing by the turntable you end up with a lot of dead air recornded. 2)the turntable belt drive is underpowered....lightly trying cleaning your LP with a Discwasher brush will bring the turntable to a stop. And 3)there is no tonearm up/down lever...so you must manually lift and place the tonearm onto the LP if you want to skip a track. 4) the tonearm feels very light and skips easily with slight scratch on LP or hard step to your floor. Denon should have put about $10-15 more into the turntable design to add basic features that anyone who grew up playing LP's would expect. Overall, however, I like the unit.

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This is the USB turntable for someone like me, who isn't interested in researching and sorting sound cards, software and cabling, and who loves music but isn't a compulsive audiophile.

Here's how it works: unpack and set up the turntable, connect it to a sound system, stick a flash drive in the port, put on a record (LP or 45), push a couple of buttons, and you're in business. Records in real time, files are stored at a rate of 192kbps. The software for splitting files is easy to work with--however, Mac users need not apply (don't know if there's a workaround). "Auto splitter" works okay if the vinyl is pristine; I use "manual splitter" mostly to eliminate the sound of the tone arm drop at the beginning of each side. As another reviewer has noted, the Gracenotes option for naming tracks isn't much use, as that database largely covers only CD era releases. I rename files after importing them into iTunes.

So yes, labor is involved: You have to hang around while the record plays; you have to split and rename the files. Doesn't seem like a LOT of labor (splitting and renaming an album's worth of files takes about 10 minutes at most). If you want to eliminate/minimize clicks and pops, you can look online for other software.

The turntable itself is pretty basic, and definitely not built for hard use. However, it's of significantly higher quality than Ion's USB turntables, and is adequate for use within a home entertainment system. The only annoying feature is, as another reviewer also notes, the lack of a tonearm lever.

I'm perfectly happy with my purchase. Again, it's not for high-end audiophiles or club dj's, but if you just want to port your vinyl-only releases to your mp3 player, it's a fine solution.

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I purchased the Denon DP-200USB to transfer vinyl LP's to CD. It was to replace a TEAC P-A688 amplified turntable that I have had for some time and is due a needle replacement. I considered the Denon amplified turntable to be an upgrade. This did not work out as well as I had hoped. The method of transfer is through the line-in of my Creative Audigy sound card. I have used both Nero Wave Editor 2 and Audacity software. Upon connecting the Denon, I noticed a reduced signal based on what I had expected based on the TEAC. I connected both the Denon and TEAC to the aux input of my Bose Wave radio and confirmed that the TEAC had slightly more volume than the Denon. I had verified the Denon On/Off equalizer switch was in the correct (default) position. This in itself was not a showstopper. The major drawback to the Denon is the lack of a damped tone arm system for lowering the tone arm anywhere but at the beginning of the LP. I do not feel comfortable trying to pick up the tone arm and placing it at the correct spot on the LP if is other than the beginning. This manual "splitting" of the songs on an LP can be simpler than doing it with software splitting.

The Denon DP200 has a USB port designed to allow recording to a USB storage device (thumb drive). The instructions are adamant about not connecting the turntable directly to a PC USB port. I don't understand why, but it is Denon's product and I did not try to do this. To record to a USB storage device and then manually connect it to the PC port is a bit of a kludge. This might be designed so that the Denon can be connected to a sound system as a traditional turntable and as an afterthought be used to record and transfer music to a PC. I reviewed the Trans Music Manager. This is pretty rudimentary software, which will probably do the basics. The Gracenote section of the software included for track identification is pretty useless. It requires a connection to the Internet so that it can compare the recording with their online database. However, if no CD exists to compare your LP to or the CD version is re-mastered, no match is possible. Since my LP transfers are primarily Jazz which are not available on CD or have been remastered, Gracenote is useless. The USB transfer method supports only MP3 and I prefer to use the Waveform through the sound card. I did not try the USB transfer method provided by this Denon turntable so I don't know how well it works.

Therefore, I cannot recommend this turntable if you plan to connect it to your soundcard to record LPs. You are paying for a USB recording system that I consider unusual at best. The lack of a dampening system for the tone arm is a showstopper and I have reconnected my old TEAC turntable to my PC.

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Initially I should mention I'm partial to Denon. I've owned their products for years, because they last for years. Recently I'd experienced trouble with my 20 year old turntable, and had been seeking a USB turntabe from a reputable brand. Viola! I located this Denon DP-200USB from a small stereo shop several months ago, right after it made its US debut.

Although I've never run my LP's on the turntable for dusting/cleaning, I haven't otherwise noted a lack of power, or an unusual amount of skipping, as mentioned in another review of this item. Then again, I also don't have a great knowledge of other brands for comparison, so only take that information at face value. I'm also very protective and caring of my vinyl, so I cannot relate how it may track even slightly scratched or otherwise marred record.

As expected, the sound is fantastic. Listening to Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumors' on vinyl sounds darn close to the recording on compact disc. The USB recording couldn't be easier. I'm vaguely computer illiterate, yet was able to record severel live vinyl recordings without a hitch.

I reviewed at four stars, as my 20 year old Denon turntable, which was manufactured for easy connection to mini componant systems, had a lever to lower the arm. (It was the base model at the time). I like this function and can't understand why it wouldn't have been included with this model.

Overall, per usual, I'm very happy with my purchase and expect nothing less from Denon.

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I got this record player without doing my usual research. I depended on the Denon brand to be a quality product. This was a mistake.

As others have mentioned, this is an OK record player. But it's cheaply made and the design is lacking in key features. Getting it out of the box we broke a piece off of the dust cover.

1. There is no tone arm lift lever.

This means you have to pick up the tone arm by hand and very gently let it down on the edge of the record to start playing. Recipe for damage to the needle and the record. Also very difficult to use if you want a track beyond the first one. As another reviewer said, this is a show stopper.

2. The record player doesn't stop recording when the record ends.

This is also ridiculous. The device is able to auto-return the tone arm to the rest position after playing, but the built-in USB recorder doesn't stop recording. So you can't really do unattended recording.

3. No autosplitting of tracks.

An ideal record to USB recorder would autosplit the tracks, using the normal pauses in the record. Or at least have an option to do this, as quiet passages on some records could have you wanting to turn it off. Instead, you get one long recording of the entire side of a record. Since MP3 is a lossy format, you then have to further degrade the recording by manually splitting it (every time you edit and resave an MP3 you lose quality).

4. No adjustment to MP3 bit rate.

I don't know what bit rate is used on this, but it's not adjustable.

5. Software is Windows only.

(There is free software like Audacity available for a Mac.)

I am astonished that Denon would put its name on something this poorly thought through.

Don't get this record player for its USB recording. If you are willing to deal with the manual tone arm, it's an OK, but not great, turntable.

For its quality level, this thing should cost less than half what it does. I'd give it 1.5 stars if I could.