Fotga Mini Camera Suction Mount Tripod Holder Car Wind Screen

The tightening knob on the one I got was useless, even after tightening it all the way down it still would not tighten

As a side note the seller spammed me some 10 times trying to bribe me with a $3 offer to remove my feedback.

Go ahead, send me another spam and I'll report you to Amazon

Update this spamming inconsiderate seller continues to spam me to change my review some 15 dam times now and has been reported to Amazon in violation of seller rules

I will NEVER purchase anything from this jerk seller ever again!

This holds on to my windshield pretty well most of the time. It has fallen off a few times, but for the most part its a great buy.

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The top came off and the ball moves no matter how tight the screw is. Waste of $5. No reason to buy this.

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In itself the mount is OK. The real problem though is that because of the length of the mount all car vibration is grossly magnified making my recording very shaky. The idea behind the mount is good, I guess it's just not suitable for mounting a video camera which is attempting.

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I give it 5 stars no complaints what so ever. decent product and it gets the job done. I use this for my car, I have it mounted on the upper part of my windshield near my rear view and it hold my camera no problem. Midwest weather approx. 30 degrees right now. ps it holds up to vibration, I have a 150+ db sound system = everything flexes

Kodak PlaySport HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera 2 Item Travel Bundle: Micro USB to USB Cable (3 F

Leading out with the bad news, the first USB cable and wall charger I received did not work, but instead of dumping a bad review on Gizmo Dorks, I sent them an email through Amazon. Gizmo D. responded very quickly and sent me a new USB cable and wall charger that works just fine (No charge? No charge...for a replacement). The problem with the first shipment, I believe, was a bad USB cable (not designed for both data transfer and charging). It was a bit of a hassle, but considering that Kodak charges $24.99 for the USB cable sans wall charger, it was a stupendous deal. I recommend Gizmo Dorks...great seller. And actually, I use the little blue carabiner too...slather some more icing on my cake please!

The reason I didn't rate it 5 stars is because the little blue clip, it really is just an extra waste of money. I realize that it might help for something but I think we should have a choice if we want the blue clip or not.

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The original that came with my daughter's PlaySport fell apart, and the replacement from Kodak cost enough to pull the company out of bankruptcy. We tried this, it's worked well.

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What can I say? It did what it was supposed to do. My Kodak Sport did not. However, I will keep this neat little tool for other items...

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just as described and works as expected for my unit as the previous one was left somewhere while on a trip~!

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jWIN JDVD141 Compact 2-Channel Progressive Scan DVD Player

• Hdmi Out & Mpeg4 Playback
• Progressive & Interlaced Scan Video Outputs
• Dolby Digital Decoding Capable
• 2-Channel Audio Output
• Multiple Subtitles & Viewing Angles

Jwin Jdvd141 Compact, 2-Channel Progressive Scan Dvd Player

I have found the JWin DVD-141 to be a video-playing workhorse. I was so impressed with it's reliability that I bought a second one for my other TV. It's so very reasonable, simple to install and extremely easy to use. The only thing I can think of that's at all negative is the remote must be aimed exactly at the player for it to work. I highly recommend this for anyone needing a no-frills DVD player.

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This player stopped working for me after only 5 weeks, which was unfortunately one week too late to return it to the seller for a refund. One minute it was working, then all of a sudden, without warning, every DVD I put in the unit read "Disk Error". I tried e-mailing the manufacturer as it's supposed to have a 90-day warranty, but their mailbox was full and my mail was returned unopened. Would not recommend this unit and would give it "0" stars if I could! I won't ever buy another Jwin product in my lifetime! I would recommend to anyone that they purchase something a little better; this is the 3rd "compact" dvd-style player I've purchased in the past 6 months and I've had nothing but problems. Seems to me that it's better to pay a little extra and buy a full-size DVD player with some of the extras than to put up with this!

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Best compact dvd player! this is truly a fantastic dvd player! i had been searching for a compact dvd player but I kept coming across players with bad reviews and not alot of 5 star ratings! until I came across this Jwin player! I was already familar with the brand but had never came across the particular player! It very compact shows a great picture and not complicated to work!!!! you won't go wrong buying this one!!!!

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Bought two of these. Both broke within 3 months of use. One says Disk Error and the other hangs half way through the movie. Called CC and got VM. Never got a call back. DO NOT BUY! Defective CD technology sold cheap just to capture market share. DO NOT BUY!

I agree with the other reviews DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! I bought it in June, the audio and video quality was mediocre and it stopped working after 2 1/2 month, the image would freeze and the dvd wouldn

t play anymore... I threw it away :((((( Had i known that before hands I'd never would have left positive feedback to the company that sold it to me...

Akai EWI USB Wind Instrument Sythesizer Controller

• Electronic wind instrument controller
• Plug-and-play USB connection to Mac or PC
• Custom Garritan Aria Player software, contains wind instrument sounds
• Multiple fingering modes: sax, traditional EWI, flute, oboe, and EVI brass
• Removable, dishwasher-safe mouthpiece

I have used the Yamaha WX7, WX5, EWI-3020, EWI-4000s and this newest instrument, the EWI-USB. Not only is this instrument an incredible bargain at under $300 but it is much simpler to setup and use than all of the other wind controllers.

You do not have to mess around with 6 or 7 little knobs or screw adjusted controls in order to get this instrument set up to play properly.

In my opinion the EWI-USB has better dynamic range than the other wind controllers, plus it does not require an additional cable to connect with an optional power supply nor, because it gets its power via the USB connection, does it need batteries.

It includes a very nice selection of acoustic intrument samples (software synthesizer sounds) from the Garritan "Jazz and Big Band", and the Garritan Personal Orchestra package (it has a subset of sounds from these packages).

Some people prefer the Yamaha WX5 wind controller because it has mechanical keys which move, unlike the EWI-USB (or 4000s) whose keys do not move but work simply through touch (capacitive sensing). I would certainly agree that it takes a bit more time get used to the static touch action of the EWI-USB than for the mechanical keys of the Yamaha, especially if you are a student of the clarinet or saxophone. The action of the EWI-USB is more like playing the alto recorder -there is no key movement. My experience of having played recorder, flute,saxophone and then a Yamaha WX7 (mechanical keys) before moving to the static touch action of the EWI instruments was quite positive. I adjusted fairly rapidly and found that I much preferred the responsiveness of the EWI instrument, but people's experience varies.

I can think of only one negative aspect of the EWI-USB and that is the cramped spacing of the upper and lower end of the octave controllers (4 rollers). The roller at the upper and lower end are not free to rotate and the walls of the instrument are spaced too close to the up-most and bottom-most rollers making it sometimes more difficult to play very, very high and very, very low notes. Akai really ought to have designed this part better. The much more expensive EWI-4000s has 8 rollers so you are never cramped at either end.

If you are interested in playing lots of instruments including the trumpet, trombone, tuba, french horn, flute, oboe, bassoon, saxophone, clarinet, and even violin, viola or cello without having the time, money or sufficient talent to learn all of these, then this is the way to do it. Once you learn the fingering (much like the flute, recorder or saxophone), you can play any of the instruments listed above, provided you get good samples (synthesizer samples).

Not all synthesizers have really good samples of acoustic instruments (as opposed to poor imitations of acoustic instruments sounds or merely "electronic sounds"), and not all that do, are made to work especially well with wind controllers.

After many years of searching and re-searching I can recommend the "Ketron SD2 Orchestral Wizard" as the best hardware synthesizer for really good acoustic sounds. It's also one of the least expensive.

However if you want the absolute best trumpet sound then you need to get the "samplemodeling Mr. Trumpet". It's totally incredible. Sounds just like a real trumpet with all of the complex tonal variations that change with loudness and attack and virtually all of the subtlety of the real instrument. It is the most responsive of any virtual instrument and has been especially designed to work with wind controllers. If you already play flute, oboe, saxophone, or clarinet, then you will find it quite easy to learn to play a wind controller. In fact the EWI-USB has a trumpet valve fingering mode for brass players (which I have not tested), so it's even more versatile.

The samplemodeling Saxophones (Tenor, Alto, Baritone) are also really good, although I found it took a bit more time and tweaking to get the best sounds out of these compared to the trumpet. Not only is the sound very authentic but it is very responsive.

If you would like to hear some audio samples find 2010Jazz on the kara-moon website where I've uploaded lots of songs, or for the latest samples, including French Horn, go to

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After seeing an extremely negative review on the Akai EWI USB I had to chime in. I've been composing for years with a Yamaha WX5 and have grown accustomed to scoring with wind controllers there's nothing like the performance you can get from them. After dealing with waning support on older wind controllers and specialized accessories and dead batteries all the time I finally jumped onto the Akai mainly to simplify things via USB and up to date software support. I don't regret it one bit. The keys lack action which takes a little getting used to, but this is now my go to instrument. For the price I completely recommend it for anyone with wind instrument experience looking to get a more natural sounding performance out of their digital work.

And of note I primarily work in Cubase and have never had any software issues with this. It's treated as a standard USB keyboard with the wind data simply sending extra controller information.

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I was apprehensive about buying a wind controller, as I've played good old fashioned woodwinds and brass all my life. However, I was shocked to find how expressive and emotive one could be using an electronic controller like this. The EWI comes with a nice library of sounds out of the box, some are better and more natural than others. My experience with the setup and software was great, it worked flawlessly on my MacBook (2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo). I installed the software and plugged in the EWI, restarted and was up and playing in minutes.

The hardest aspect for me to adjust to was the octave scroller. If you go to the Akai site and look at the images, you'll see metal rollers that allow you to switch between multiple octaves. It took a few days to be able to run through material without accidentally shifting octaves, and at times was extremely frustrating. But now, it's no longer an issue.

The other issue, is that the EWI's mouthpiece has a very restrictive airflow. By allowing air to escape as I play, I was able to attain a breathing pattern that works well.

I don't want to mislead anyone, as I have not tried the other wind controllers on the market. But, given the price point, this was the right purchase for me. Do you're homework, there is a lot of great information and opinionated pieces (like this one) on the web. I really enjoy this instrument alongside all my lacquered ones and hope you have as much fun as I'm having.

Side note: When paired with 'Sample Modeling Mr.Sax or Sample Modeling Trumpet' the results are truly fantastic in my opinion.

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I couldn't be more pleased with the EWI USB!! It does exactly what it is supposed to do.

I've seen some reviews that complained about the airflow through the instrument. I find it quite easy to blow. In fact, if it were not easy to blow, I wouldn't be able to play it. I have had Bell's Palsy for 14 months and it is impossible for me to develop enough pressure to play my clarinet and my saxophones. Yet I have no trouble with the EWI. Akai recommends that you let some air escape around the mouthpiece because it requires such a small amount of airflow. I didn't find that necessary at all.

One problem that a lot of people have and that I had too, is with latency, which is the delay between touching a key or sttacking a note and the sound coming out. I found that this is caused by the sound card. Akai recommends a sound card with ASIO drivers. I found on the internet a free driver called Asio4all and it solved the latency problem perfectly. It works with most sound cards. Mine is just the built in sound module in my laptop so it isn't a very good card, but with asio4all, it works fine. I plan to try getting a better sound card so see if the sound quality improves, but if it doesn't, I am very satisfied with what I am getting.

The sound banks in the Garritan Aria software are quite good. My favorites so far are the clarinet and the strings. The flutes are pretty good too. Tweaking the settings apparently helps, but I haven;t dona a lot of tweaking yet, so I may end up with more favorites.

One thing I don;t like in the Aria software is the round knobs for adjusting the various settings. They are hard to adjust. Fortunately, I found the site (not affiliated with Akai at all) and they have a free replacement "skin" to substitutes linear slides for the knobs. Mush easier! That is also where I learned about the Asio4all driver.

So, the only problems I had were easily fixed and I am now able to play again! Couldn't be happier!!

Mike

Just an update now that I have been playing my EWI for several months.... I am playing mostly clarinet in performances, but have also played oboe cues and english horn cues. I needed a quick way to switch between voices to play the cues and I found the Reaper digital mixer/ recorder/ editor. With it, I can set up multiple channels with different instruments and enable and mute them separately or in combination as well as adjust the settings such as volume. I bought an add-on touch screen for my laptop so now I can switch between different instrument voices quickly and easily... just like using a mixer board.

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My EWI-USB arrived early today and I spent a good portion of my afternoon and evening tinkering with it. I'm giving 2 stars and I'm also giving some thoughts to returning it. My only other wind controller experience is with my Yamaha WT-11. So I'll be using that for comparisons. Coincidentally, I bought 2 Akai products this week and both for the same reason: a midi input tool to use with Band in a Box on my laptop. The other is the Akai Pro LPK25 Laptop Performance Keyboard which I really like, but the problem is that I'm NOT a keyboard player. I do brass, woodwind and guitar/bass (and I'm actually a decent violist, but admitting that is like admitting you're a bed-wetter). So let's get to details.

Pros:

* The EWI can be configured for its default fingering system (sax subset), sax fingering, flute fingering, oboe fingering, or brass fingering. I DID try the brass fingering. There are cons to it and I'll address that below.

* You can configure latency/response on the fingerings. One of the reasons I ceased using my WT-11 for composing/arranging electronically was its tendency to glitch. When moving from C5 to B4 requires lifting the middle finger and placing the index finger. On a RL sax, your mouth and basic physics gives some tolerance in the shift. Not so the WT-11. You get either a C# or A grace note before you land on B. The EWI let's you set a deliberate lag on the transition so those glitches are reduced.

* In regard to things like setting sensitivity, it's way easier to do that with a control panel on your computer versus trying to tweak with a screwdriver on the WT-11

* The EWI is a solid bit of instrument. It does not feel like a toy and exhibits a good bit of good engineerig consideration

Cons:

* The worst thing is catastrophic failure. While testing today, the EWI would emit a note start and then just sieze up. The reset feature on the device did nothing to cure the problem. Further, it wasn't related to the software. I tested with Aria (supplied with the EWI), Band in a Box and Finale. In all cases, under no circumstances I could establish, the EWI just switched off. If I re-selected the MIDI device the problem cleared. While this is an aggravation that you can push past in the studio, there's no way I'm going to do a live performance with an instrument that shuts off without provocation.

* It's way too honking big. It's easily double the size and weight of the WT-11. I can't think of a technical reason for it to be quite so big.

* Crossing octive breaks are awful. The WT-11 had it perfect. If you're playing C5 and need to briefly move above that note to D5 to F#5 all you had to do was hold the C (actually, it worked wiht B/Bb/A) and then play D through F# on the right hand and the octave above was assumed. I tinkered with finger combinations on the EWI but got nothing other than expected half-steps.

A bit more smart was needed for this poduct. I won't give it at a 1-star becuse there ARE some redeening features.

* The brass fingering was innovative. However, no brass players are really going to wrap their minds around it. Trumpet was my first instrument and I stuck with it for years. I enabled the brass fingering mode and toyed with that for some time. It's a great example of cognitive dissonance. The right hand does the valve work for the instrument. But replacing lip and breath with and index finger on or off combined with the octave rollers is... well... I lack a proper word. I'm a very flexible person, but I just couldn't adapt to this.

Q-See 8-channel Surveillence System 8 CCD Cameras w/ 40 Ft. Night Vision H.264 DVR w/ 500GB HDD Rem

I bought the QT4 from Costco to be used as home video surveillance. Depending on how many features you want to use, it will take you hours if not days to setup it up. The manual leaves some important information out regarding port forwarding. The dvr address (i.e. 192.168.0.100) does not always show up in your router listing so you must remember to enter it manually. The manual leaves that important step out. Also, port 80 is usually blocked by most ISPs such as Charter so I used 82.

Technical support is some of the worst I have ever experienced. They don't they even know how their product works. You will never be able to talk to them. Your only hope is to chat and even then, the technical support person will try to pawn you off on someone else when he or she does not know the answer.

If you want to access your dvr from your Blackberry, you can only do it if you leave the default passoword at 123456. It took three days before I finally got a tech guy to tell me that. The guy before him told me there must be something wrong with my Blackberry. Supposedly there is a fix due in 2011.

Now I am able to access dvr from anywhere on the Internet including my Blackberry plus it emails me pics when the motion is detected. The system is finally somewhat usable.

Diamond HD Media Wonder Mini Media Player

• USB 2.0 and compatible with USB 1.1
• Supports RM, RMVB, AVI, MPEG1(VCD), MPEG2(DVD) and MP4 video formats
• Supports JPEG, M-JPEG, BMP, TIFF and PNG photo formats
• SD, MMC and hot-swappable
• Support USB and card insert at the same time, and can switch to each other

Does what it says ... sort of. I bought this item mainly to play mp4 files but when I tried none of my mp4 files would play "unsupported file format" was the error message. I tried the photo function for playing slide shows of jpg files and that worked fine. I produce my own mp4s using an iMac and iMovie as well as one other software program so I thought this could be a compatibility problem. I contacted the Diamond support desk and they were quite helpful although they confirmed the problem was that there are several types of mp4 files and the ones produced by my Mac weren't compatible with the HD Diamond. There is a solution though if you're faced with this dilemma. I checked and found DivX conversion software () and downloaded the trial version and converted my unplayable mp4 file to a DivX file which played with no problems on my TV using the HD Diamond Media Wonder. This software costs about $10 so it's an added cost if you have a Mac. I have no idea if Windows-produced mp4s are OK or whether similar problems would be encountered on other media player products but if playing mp4s is what you're after, before you spend your hard-earned dollars you might want to check to see if your files are compatible.

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Ignore the rebate on this item, because you use Amazon Receipts that you print out on the printer since a packing slip is NOT a receipt they will not honor this rebate (I sent the packing slip and the printed receipt and was denied). Do yourself a favor and find at least a good player and do not be taken in by this. It works somewhat, but has a bad habit of freezing up and also every time you have to find something new you have to go through the entire list to get back to the folder you was in, it doesn't just automatically go back like you would expect it to, annoying to say the least especially if you have a ton of digital files on a hard drive and you're switching episodes in a season of whatever... If you do get it, good luck, but really I wouldn't waste the stamp again to try to send off for the rebate here is what they emailed me:

Dear XXX XXXX

Thank you for submitting your recent Mail-In Rebate Application. We have

reviewed your claim and discovered that it is invalid for the following

reason (s):

Original Store Sales receipt or invoice/ packing slip (for mail/ catalog orders) are missing (copies not accepted).

We appreciate your purchase of our product, and thank you for your

participation in this promotion. We regret that we cannot honor your claim.

Sincerely,

Best Data Products Incorporated/Diamond Multimedia

Audit Department

Tel: 818.773.9600

Fax: 818.773.9619

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Like the the title says the Diamond Multimedia Mini Wonder MP700 Player

Works Great and at the price (I ordered at the $32.99 price and also got the

$20 mail-in rebate bringing the price down to a whopping $12.99 incl. shipping)

how could anyone complain as the other reviewers stated 'it mostly does what is stated that it's capable of... That is it plays many formats streamed to ANY television. I could see how this would be a nice feature for older flat panel wide-screen TV's but It seems many of the newer LED Flat panel TV's have this technology built in they come with USB and Memory Card slots to allow playing of data files.

Where this little unit really shines is for use with old-school analog tube TV's.

With only an RCA plug for L/R and Video I'm able to watch (with very nice quality I might add) all the content on my little 500GB WD Passport portable USB drive (no additional power supply needed the Mini Wonder provides all the power needed to run your external USB drive). It also allows for plugging in your memory card at the same time and switching between the two via the remote. It brings photos up in thumbnail format for your choice of viewing and also offers slideshow ability with customizable

transitions and you can even have it play your choice of music (off the same drive/card) in the background while the slide show runs.

Format recognition is not very diverse but enough are recognized to make the unit more than useful. Another user mentioned using a DivX converter and that will come in very handy for the 10 out of about 100 movies I have on my external USB drive.

That's right only 10 out of 100 of my titles wouldn't play without conversion.

That's a decent enough ratio to make the Mini Wonder well worth the money.

If you get the Diamond Mini Wonder MP700 Multimedia Player expect to have a little learning curve about media formats. Not all AVI, MP4, MPEG etc. files are created the same. The unit DOES play all the formats mentioned but not every type of those formats.

As long as you plan on needing to convert some things and that most stuff will play fine this product should more than meet your expectations.

I also wanted to touch on the size and portability that many mention is important to them. Yes the unit is half the size of an iPhone; and yes it is extremely portable, perfect for carrying around with you. BUT, unfortunately the small size is somewhat negated by the fact that you must have the power adapter, TV patchcord and remote along with the unit for everything to work. So yes it very portable all things considered, but it's not like all you have to carry around is the little 2.5" x 2.5"

player.

At the current $32.99 price the Diamond Multimedia player is a good value, if you can find it for less it makes it a GREAT value! Buy one NOW!

Edit Addition:

Forgot to mention a few things which I find important features of the Mini Wonder.

The player recognizes and will 'play' (bring up on screen) plain text (.txt) files great for lists, descriptions, reminders etc.

One of the major assets when using the Mini Wonder is having the ability to copy and/or delete files directly. You can choose single or multiple files (in the same directory) to delete or copy to the same device or the other device. So if you have

a new movie on a memory card and you have an external USB drive connected you can copy between the two. Copy and delete operations are pretty fast -almost instant (though I would think the class/speed of a given memory card has something to do with that speed).

Especially handy when you have a large drive that needs 'weeding' you can just sit back on the couch and using the Mini Wonder remote, go through the drive to delete

what you no longer need/want. Also handy to delete the movie you just watched but don't intend to keep/archive.

All-in-all I'm liking the Diamond MP700 Mini Wonder Multimedia player more and more the more I use it.

I can't say much in regard to the long term durability and reliability of the unit since I've only had it about a week seems fairly sturdy but I could imagine frying the thing if it is left powered-on 24/7.

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This product does what it says. For the size and the price a good buy. Able to play recognized formats straight off external hard drive, or flash drives. Does not play MP4, most of my stuff .avi, so not a real issue. Only problem I can see is if you loose or break the remote the device is useless. Take good care of the remote.

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(1)This machine can only recognize English and Spanish. If you download a movie with a foreign language of Title, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and etc, it can not read. You will see $##&^%$ on the TV screen.(2)The product I received was defected with the picture color. The screen will become a reddish color in the background. I returned it.(3)It can not read Apple-MP4 format.

(10) AG2 397 396 LR726 SR726 SR726SW G2 BATTERY

These are the same batteries that you will find one for the same price at a drugstore as you pay for all of these. I think, they were actually cheaper so if I never need the others before they die, I'm still ahead.

My Piano

• Piano-learning software with animated character, Pam the Piano
• 100+ lessons taught by former Juilliard School of Music instructor
• Animated keyboard; interactive feedback; full-motion videos
• Interactive games; audio and MIDI tracks with adjustable speed
• For kids ages 6 and up; metronome and digital recorder included

I started teaching my 5 year old daughter piano using the Faber My First Piano Adventure books a few months ago, and I saw this and thought it would be a fun addition to our lessons. We just used it for the first time yesterday, but she REALLY likes it so far and could play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" just after using it this one day. We hooked it up to our new Casio Celviano digital piano and as she played, it would give her a score and tell her what she did wrong (played a note too late, played the wrong first note, etc.). At first this disappointed her because she wanted to score 100% but I encouraged her that that was the point of the score...so she will learn from her mistakes and get better scores as she practices more and makes progress. I also explained how great it is that this scores her on her rhythm so someday she could play with other instruments or accompany singers or choirs if she wants to because there are a lot of people who can play the right notes but if you can't play in the right timing, then you can't play with other people. My daughter liked the software, including the talking piano, the instructional videos, and listening to the audio samples. I also like that you can print the screen so I could print "Mary Had a Little Lamb" so she can practice even when I'm not right there with the computer. My daughter is in kindergarten and is learning to read pretty well, but even if she was older I wouldn't turn any kid loose with learning to play piano. They could learn too many bad habits with their posture, hand positions, fingering, etc. (things the software can't score) if there's not an adult sitting with them to correct them, and those habits would be hard to break in the future and could prevent them from really excelling at piano in years to come. So, I did sit with my daughter during it, but I was planning to do that since I'm her teacher and it was our lesson yesterday. I would recommend this software as it brought a new level of fun to learning.

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I found this to be a great product in teaching kids to learn to play. I am 30 with no music abilities and I have learned to play part of a song in the first few mins. My daughter is 4 and she loves to watch and play the games at the end of each lesson. Then she goes to the keyboard and tries. I did not expect her to learn since it is recommended for age 6 and over, but the interest is there and she will learn someday.

I have Windows XP and no blank screens

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I bought this for my 8 yr old dd. She really enjoys it. It;s great for beginners and keeps her attention. The only drawback is being on the computer, but I knew that when I purchased it. My 6 yr old son also enjoys using this program. We haven't used the option where you can plug your keyboard in yet.

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for the price it cant be beat

the songs are great for a child, the instruction is a bit wierd until you get used to it but its great

we are using it with wii rock band keyboard and a midi to usb cable also bought from amazon

this will provide hours upon hours of quality time

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I purchased this software as a supplement for my 6-year old's regular piano lessons. The animated lessons are fine, but my big complaint is the feature where you can play songs along with the computer (using a keyboard). There is a scoring system but no feedback about what notes were missed, or what rhythms were wrong. Despite lots of fiddling with the software settings, I could not remove the time lag between pressing the key and seeing the response on the computer screen. Worst of all, the games are meant to be played with a computer keyboard, not a piano keyboard! For example, if you see the note "C", you press the letter C, not the piano C. What is the point of that? The software still depends heavily on regular computer commands and mouse keys. You cannot drive the navigation purely on the piano keyboard. That means the piano keyboard and the computer keyboard needs to be hooked up and accessible. This is really confusing for children.

I play piano and I don't know why this product has such high ratings. I do not recommend it for either teaching or supplementing piano lessons!

Koss KS3101 Progressive Scan DVD Home Theater System

• DVD player and 50-watts-per-channel audio/video receiver with 5 satellite speakers and a subwoofer
• Plays DVD, CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Picture CD, DVD-R/-RW, and DVD+R/+RW
• Progressive-scan video output renders seamless, flicker-free images on high-definition and HD-ready TVs
• FM/AM stereo tuner with 20 station presets
• Includes full-function remote control and all requisite cabling

Got the Canadian version KS3102-2 from a membership warehouse store and it was highly recommended by the staffs there even over some Japanese systems. The biggest surprise was the wonderful sound, which at 300w is more than enough for a home setup, as I found now. The system makes movie watching very enjoyable and if I close my eyes, it feels just like I am at the theater. In my option, the price is worth the sound system alone (very powerful amp, great sub and speakers for the size) and the progressive scan DVD player is just a Huge plus. The dvd playing is smooth even for dvds/vcds that I had problems with my new-ish Panasonic. Simply, a very amazing and user-friendly system that I hope people weren't discouraged by the Koss label.

Buy Koss KS3101 Progressive Scan DVD Home Theater System Now

I just got this system and the sound quality really is great, especially for the price. Its one of the few systems in this price range to have digital optical input, which is necessary if you're connecting certain components for dolby digital suround like an x-box. Although there is a setting called "Prologic", I'm not sure that it actually has a prologic decoder since the manual only says that it gives out prologic sound if hooked up to a prologic receiver. I'm only giving it four rather than five stars because I've noticed that sometimes it will read no disc when there is a disc there so it has to be ejected and restarted. Otherwise, its really a nice system.

Update11/29/04 My system died like many other reviewers. Can't recommend for that reason.

Read Best Reviews of Koss KS3101 Progressive Scan DVD Home Theater System Here

The price is definitely right, looks nice, sounds great. Unless you're setting it up in a closet you'll need much more speaker wire though. One big problem with mine, however while playing DVDs the audio will mute at random times during playback, usually 3 or 4 times. Simply hitting the volume button on the remote brings it back, but it's quite annoying. Perhaps it's overheating (I have it set up in an entertainment center, not a lot of airflow) so it could be that the problem is on my end. If that's the case I would give it 5 stars for value for the money.

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The reason I wanted a home theater was the built in radio tuner. Since, I wanted to buy a dvd player anyway, I thought why not have the whole package eliminating the need for a hifi system.

So, bottom line is that I love this thing. Probably my ears are not the most sensitive ones but I find the sounde perfectly clear.

It was very easy to set up.

You can even make it region code free if you search the net a bit.

Enjoy

My first review, and it's because I dislike this product so much I have to break the silence. I got the KS3102 nine months ago. Good speakers, lots of options, I thought it was a great deal. After 60 days, the sound went out completely. Tech support had me unplug the unit and wait. The sound came back but it never was the same again: DVD subtitles would be enabled sometimes when I powered it up to watch a movie, or the speaker levels would reset, or sometimes the Digital sound wouldn't properly use all speakers if I had been playing Playstation II in Stereo.

Now it's been 9 months. and it's completely broken and out of warranty. No sound comes out even with resets. The Front-Left channel started buzzing, then the center channel too, and now nothing works.

This unit is a piece of junk. I'm going for a Sony receiver now; I should have just paid a little more and done that the first time. I'll use the speakers from this Koss system and that's about all it's good for now.

Sony ICD-B25 Digital Voice Recorder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Best Reviews of Sony ICD-B25 Digital Voice Recorder Here

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

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

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

Want Sony ICD-B25 Digital Voice Recorder Discount?

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

Americopy 100 Green Color Paper CD Sleeves with Window & Flap

Not much to say. I received exactly what I was expecting. I used these sleeves for my DVD collection that I hold in a series of CD boxes. I use different colors as an internal code to help locate stuff more easily. Shipped promptly.

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MINIX NEO G4 Android 4.0 Dual Core RK3066 DDR3 1GB RAM / 8GB ROM Google TV Box Mini PC Dongle Wi-Fi

• Running Android 4.0.4 ICS OS (4.1.1 Jelly Bean upgradable)
• Rockchip RK3066 Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor
• Quad Core Mali 400 (Open GL ES2.0/1.1, Open VG1.1, Flash 11.1)
• 8GB NAND Flash ROM, 1GB DDR3 RAM
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, USB 3G Dongle support (not included)

I have a secondary computer that I use for web surfing, watching streaming video and listening to streaming radio stations. When the computer died last week it occurred to me that I could save several hundred dollars by replacing the broken machine with this little Minix Neo G4 "computer on a stick" instead of a traditional full size box computer.

Most people buy the Minix Neo G4 as a way to turn their TV sets into "smart TVs" or in other words to make their TV Internet capable. What tends to get overlooked is that this little device is actually a fully functional computer, capable of doing most, if not all, of what many of us ask of our home computers.

When I received my Neo G4 I found that all the parts that I had saved from my broken computer worked fine with the new little device. My monitor had an HDMI plug, which the Minix requires. It also had an earphone jack, into which I could plug external computer speakers in order to hear the sound. (the Minix itself has no audio out jack, so it is important that your monitor has either speakers or a headphone/audio out plug). My keyboard, mouse etc. all had USB plugs. The Minix has only one USB port, but that is no problem as I had a powered USB hub. Belkin 7 Port Desktop High Speed USB 2.0 Hub with Power Supply I just plugged all the USB devices into the hub and plugged the hub into the Minix device.

The Minix uses the Android operating system. Folks who have Android phones will be right at home navigating around and using apps, etc. This is a full version of Android, with the Play Store. Apps that you already have on your playstore account can be installed on your Minix, along with the thousands of apps in the store.

I installed the Chrome browser, Netlix streaming movies and most of the apps that I already had on my phone. Now I can do just about everything with the Minix that I was doing before on the old computer. All for less than $100!

You may have read in the news recently that sales of PCs are down. Folks are balking at paying $500 or more for full size computers when they can do pretty much everything that they need to on a much less expensive tablet. Well, I have a tablet, and while it is fine for a lot of things, there are still quite a few chores (such as writing this review) that I much prefer to do on a full size keyboard and with a full size monitor. This is where, in my opinion, the Minix Neo G4 shines. It costs just a fraction compared to a full sized computer, it draws much, much less power. It uses an operating system that I am already comfortable with and lets me use my existing smartphone apps, and yet has the advantage of a full size screen and keyboard. This certainly works for me. It just might for you, too.

Buy MINIX NEO G4 Android 4.0 Dual Core RK3066 DDR3 1GB RAM / 8GB ROM Google TV Box Mini PC Dongle Wi-Fi Now

Wi-fi is the big thing with these devices! ... most every other device has antenna/soldering issues ... even then, with the wi-fi chipset they use, they're 65mbps, max!

This is one of the very few that use a different wi-fi chipset to afford up to 150mbps ... I have two routers ... one for DSL ... one for streaming recorded TV ... the latter is about 1/3 the distance, and probly better quality, as well ... at times, I've seen it dip down to 75mbps ... but usually it's pegged at 150mbps!

I'm now streaming recorded .wtv from WMC to Skifta/MXPlayer ... probly a dropped frame here 'n there ... but audio is in-sync ... and video's much higher resolution than Netflix (on my AppleTV, Roku, or Sony BD)! Speaking of which, I installed the free Netflix app, and that works every bit as well as all them other devices!

I've got three of these, now! ... on every one, first-use, I think it auto-updates "Play Store", and sometime shortly thereafter, "Play Store" locks up ... simply reboot ... no more issues!

Before this, I had an MK808 ... flashed ROM's ... tried my hand at soldering ... what a nightmare!

Oh ya ... plan to get a wireless keyboard ... I'm using the Logitech K400, with no issues! The (included) remote is basically a throw-away! ... don't know of any other such device that even includes such a thing?!

Supposedly, the new 4.1.1. firmware update affords XBox and PS3 controllers ... I don't have one ... and after the MK808 nightmare, I'm feeling somewhat less brave!

ETA: ordered the Logitech m325 Thursday... with 2-day free shipping... it came !... works perfectly!... I'm about 10ft away... it's like it's wired!... I checked out the range (but I have no mouse pad, so with a better surface, ya might get better results... at 10ft, I use the armrest of my leather chair)...I'd say it's still very good, to 20ft... past that, it starts to get jerky... it's responsive at 30ft, but probly not a lotta fun, at that range!... no conflicts using the k400 (on a different device, in the same room, at the same time)

With the k400, I was using the trackpad about 99.9% of the time!...bear in mind, this is just like any Android tablet/phone... when ya click on a text field, the on-screen keyboard will automatically pop-up... at which, ya can use that, with a mouse, to enter what ya need!... if you're gonna be writing dozens of love letters every day, on your TV, I'd go with a keyboard... at that, something quite a bit nicer than the k400!... it's fine for $30... but it's smaller, and a few keys ain't precisely where they should be!

For signing onto your Wi-Fi, one time, and your gmail, one time, and searches in the play store, or even navigating the interlinks, and moreso, for navigating Netflix, playing angry birds, or just general navigation/use of Android, itself... with this G4, I'd strongly recommend a wireless mouse (not Bluetooth, though... that don't work)... but, the Logitech m325 works perfectly!

A trackball might also be a real good way to go!... I saw a nice one for around $30... I might give that a try, at some point!

Smoke Detector Hidden Spy Camera DVR with motion detection, Wi-fi n, Recording & Remote Internet Ac

Arrived very fast. Other than the power connector on the back of the unit, it looks just like ordinary smoke detector, even up close. Installation was a breeze. The picture quality is excellent. I have been using it for over two months now, no complaints, very happy with my purchase.

Koss KS3112 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

• Plays DVD-video, CD audio, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, MP3, JPEG picture CD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW
• Fast forward/reverse; up to 5X zoom; resume play memory for up to five different discs
• Parental controls and PIN lock
• Hi-resolution video output; progressive scan/component video output; coaxial digital output; s-video and composite video output; stereo audio output
• Full-function remote control

I bought this dvd player because I just got a dvd burner and I needed a dvd player that played dvd-r disks. Well this one was advertised to do that; it even says it on the box. When i pull it out of the box and plug it up, I put a dvd-r in to watch it, and it gives me a "no-disk" error. I'm sending this back and getting my money.

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I bought a Koss 5 disc progressive scan home theater system for Christmas last year. I should have known when the one I brought home didn't work, that I was making a big mistake. The machine had trouble reading discs (as did the first one I purchased). It then worked for a while. Long enough to expire the warranty. It has now been exactly 10 months since I bought it and it will not even power up. Do not be seduced by a great price on a product that "looks" good. Koss is a horrible brand and I've had nothing but problems since the day I bought it. I should have just gotten my money back when I could instead of hoping it would turn out to be a great deal. I could have just mailed them a check for $150. I've got nobody to blame but myself. Consider yourself warned.

Read Best Reviews of Koss KS3112 Progressive-Scan DVD Player Here

So I get this DVD player for Xmas from my parents to make up for my VCR that died recently. I had never heard of "Koss" before. I had never touched a DVD before. So my wife and I pondered the cryptic setup instructions which did not match the machine at all and finally got it set up. No remote. We found it hidden in a small crevice in the styrofoam. How disorganized. So we just got it. So far so good. It still works. After -one week. But it's a new year. Wish us luck! And thanks for the crummy reviews. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Olympus AS-2400PC Transcription Kit

Ended up returning this product because the files I needed to use were not compatible with the software, and the foot pedal is not compatible with any other software, so the whole thing was useless. The software only supports a few types of audio files and there is no capability to support video. I was working on transcribing focus groups with at least 6 people so I needed to be able to use the video for reference. Olympus does not even sell a software that supports video. Olympus uses proprietary coding to communicate between the foot pedal and the computer, so it is impossible to set up the foot pedal to work with any other program and no patches are available. When I called customer support to find out if there was a way to convert the files to a supported format, they told me that the format I had (asf) did not exist, which of course is ridiculous. I ended up going with an Infinity foot pedal and the free software ExpressScribe, which supports video and many different kinds of files. In the end I spent less than a third of what I spent on this kit. Quality-wise, the foot pedal was good and the headset was cheap.

The transcription kit works well. The foot pedals are a bit small, making it difficult to control. The software is great and user friendly. It definitely makes transcribing recordings much, much easier than trying to work from a recorder or computer media player.

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Essential to transcription. Very versatile, works as advertised. Helps transcriptionist to organize work and know the status.

Read Best Reviews of Olympus AS-2400PC Transcription Kit Here

I recently purchased the Olympus Transcription Kit AS-2400 to perform my new job as a medical transcriptionist. I had no clue what to expect. I had no clue how much science and techniques have grown over the years. This kit had all that I was required to have.

Thank you Olympus. And thank you to Amazon. I feel that I have made a purchase for all the right reasons and I don't regret it at all.

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We recently upgraded from cassette to digital in my office and this is the equipment I chose to use with our Olympus Voice Recorder DS-71. It works just as I need it to. If your pedal is backwards when you connect it, simply go to the tool bar in the software, click on device, and select "foot switch settings." You can put your rewind, play and fastward in the right order there. I also learned to connect the foot pedal and software first, then connect your voice recorder. Great product that does what it should...play dictations!

ARKON CMP205 Motorcycle and Bicycle Handle Bar Mount with 5 Inch flexible extension for Cameras wit

Tried this mount with a flipcam on a road bicycle. Probably not the right application for this product.

The clamp mount fit the top tube (which was the good news), however road vibration was too much for the mount to hold the camera steady at speed (the video was unusable).

Will try my luck with a non-flexible rigid handlebar mount next.

J

I have had several different camera holders mounted on my motorcycle over the years but this device does a better job than many more expensive models I have tried. It is simple to mount and simple to use and durable. One caution: Before mounting it on your motorcycle, take it apart and coat the threads on all bolts and screws with Loctite. Vibration will cause the none treated threads to loosen on a long road trip.

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This mount lasted for only 3 rides and then it fell apart in my hands as I was trying to aim the camera and click a shot. Very flimsy and wobbly. Not good for video at all even if you have electronic stabilization. If you buy it, be sure to secure your camera so that it can't fall when the arm of this mount breaks on you. I was lucky I had the wrist strap interlocked around my rear view mirror. Otherwise it would have hit the pavement at 70 mph.

Read Best Reviews of ARKON CMP205 Motorcycle and Bicycle Handle Bar Mount with 5 Inch flexible extension for Cameras wit Here

nice product, but not practical at all. Very shaky. No way to make it more stable. Very disappointed. I do not recommend it to anyone. $ 20 to throw out the window.

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The unit itself is sturdy and affixes nicely to handlebars. However, it offers no stabilization for shooting video while in motion.

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DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD

• High Definition Video Recording; Video reverse recording 180 degrees
• 4x digital zoom in/out function; 12 mega pixels portable camera feature
• LED light for night photography & Motion Detection recording functions
• Wide Angle 120 degree lens; Screen rotation 360 degrees & Lens rotation 180 degrees
• Supports up to 32 GB SDHC Memory Card; Convenient assemble/dismantle Windshield Bracket

Pros:

-It works. It supports loop recording, automatic recording upon power-on, and a car mount these are the only reasons why I purchased it over a conventional camcorder. In fact, I have two of these in automated operation in the front and rear of my car.

-Automatic exposure control seems to work well.

Cons:

-The included user manual is not too informative. It is also written in broken English.

-The user interface is not too friendly, but it works if you use it right. You'll get used to it. The only time I ever have to touch is when correcting for daylight saving time changes.

-Don't expect the best optics. With the device mounted on my windshield, I would have liked for the video to be good enough for me to read the license plates of cars, but the only plates I can read are those of the car immediately ahead of or behind me, and only if the light is right. I guess not all HD camcorders are the same.

-The video capture angle is reduced when recording at 1080p. "Wide angle" is available only with 720p. Personally I have been recording at 1080p instead so I have a better chance of capturing readable license plates.

-The video is written to files with the MOV extension. This is less preferable than say MP4, etc.

Bugs:

-Loop recording mode seems like it has a software bug. The device breaks the video file even though the specified period of time has not elapsed for a particular video. This was observed with the largest advertised loop duration of 45 minutes.

-In loop recording mode, there is a substantial gap between the end of one file and the beginning of the next file. There shouldn't have been any gap at all. This is a sign of inferior software design. The gap was observed to be approximately five seconds for the largest possible loop duration of 45 minutes. The gap was observed to be nearly two seconds for the smallest possible loop duration of 1 minute. With a 30 minute split, the probability that a random five second block is not recorded can be approximated to be 5/((30*60)+5) = 1/361 = ~0.3%.

-In automatic recording upon power-on mode, if the car/power is turned on and then turned off before the recording has had a chance to begin, the right thing to happen would be for the device to shut down, but this doesn't happen. Instead, the device starts and idles displaying the current view on the screen. If the device is then ignored, it may technically drain its entire internal battery and lose all its non-default settings thereafter. You therefore never want to leave it indefinitely in this state. To reset this state and have the device shut down (or begin recording), restart the car/power, wait till recording begins, and then turn off the car/power as necessary. Alternatively, manually power the device off using its power button. To avoid entering this state altogether, always make sure that you allow recording to begin before you turn the car/power off.

Comments:

-The file format is MPEG-4 QuickTime. The video encoder is Ambarella AVC with a variable bit rate of about 8000 Kbits/s at 29.970 fps. The audio encoder is Ambarella AAC with two channels and a constant bit rate of 128 kbps. The file can be played with VLC media player. If your computer is old, just play the file at a reduced play speed, e.g. 0.67x or 0.5x.

-Be sure to check the website dod-tech.com for more info about this model before purchasing it.

-I picked this over the GS600 model because I intentionally did not want GPS recording, and I wanted an integrated display.

-In addition to SDHC cards, an SDXC card is also technically usable, but a 128GB SDXC card was formatted by the device to only a 26.96GB FAT32 volume, as if it were a 32GB card. I manually formatted this card to have a ~128GB FAT32 volume, but the card was then not recognized as being usable by the device. I currently use a 32GB SDHC card.

-I'm currently using it in 45 minute loop recording mode with automatic recording upon power-on.

-FAT32 has a max file size limit of 4GiB. Given the max observed data rate, a 45 minute file can typically be expected to be no larger than about 2.8Gib, which is safely less than the limit.

-There was an unrated seller on eBay advertising this item for a much lower price, but the seller turned out to be fraudulent. Don't fall for such scams.

I will update this review if I have more to add. If you know of an alternative car camcorder that you believe is superior, please let me know!

Buy DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Now

Apparently four other people who wrote reviews here bought FAKE DOD F900LHD car DVR made in China. The only authorized DOD reseller here on Amazon is CameraTec who sells real DOD cameras (and where I bought it from).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=1&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&seller=A56FNWS5K0M3V

So, before you buy F900LHD see this page:

Read Best Reviews of DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Here

It didn't come in the box like the one in the picture; in fact, it came in another box for another camera unit. So at first it appeared I received the wrong product until I opened it and checked against my order.

I am disappointed.

The 1920x1080 option records very choppily. When sound recording is on, the unit lasts only ~50 minutes on battery. It lasts ~70 minutes without sound recording. The default video resolution is 1280x720 (720p). With this resolution, license plate numbers and letters can be read when vehicles are stopped less than 3 ft away. While in motion, the only things legible are highway signs. This only applies during the day.

Night time recording isn't any better, and neither is the transition of coming out of a tunnel. When emerging from a tunnel in the daytime, it's like you're seeing the light (i.e., can't see anything for a second). Night time recording is like having extreme astigmatism; highway signs cannot be read at night, license plates become white due to headlight glare, and street lamps are just orbs of light.

The default recording length is 2 minutes. Other options are 5 and 10 minutes. With sound on, each 2 minute video file is ~230MB. It will overwrite the oldest file when it runs out of room. A 32GB card will do the job. This is the only good thing I can find about this unit.

The unit will turn itself off after a few minutes if you leave it on without doing anything. Any settings you set will have reverted to the defaults when you turn it back on, except for the time and date and time/date formats.

The unit comes with a mount and a suction cup windshield mount. The mount that I received wasn't very snug to the unit. Sometimes the unit will fall, and sometimes the mount to the suction cup apparatus will come off. If the unit does drop off the windshield mount, it will "freeze". A quick battery in-and-out will get it back to normal. The windshield mount is not very compact.

It also comes with a 3 ft USB wire, and an extremely long car charger wire (~8 ft?).

Unfortunately, it is not very durable. After only two weeks of use, the unit refused to record video, even after pressing the "Reset" button. The idea is good, but the quality is missing.

Thus, I have returned it. I am waiting for my refund.

Want DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Discount?

Camera is large but does not as much, worse I ever seen, I paid $70 and I am regret I did it.

Bugs:

Main one it can't record when card is full. It is freezing or saying no more memory available, should it loop recording?

Can't recognise SD card one time from 3

Video recording is weird and horrible in quality. Motion detection is slow.

Mount is horrible, not as easy to detach camera, not much flexability to move camera around, doesn't hold camera well on windshield

Battery can't hold < 10 min of work

Good:

HDMI and USB car charger cable I could use them somehow

This is not the DOD, it is of very poor quality fake. The real cost her $ 10. Immediately after opening the box, she fell off the plastic ring on the lens. Sticker pasted on the monitor displacement curves with a 2 cm! The recording quality s***. Sound is written with strange noises. I'm very disappointed. I do not recommend either this product or this seller.

The recording quality and sound:

Ring on the lens:

The sticker on the monitor:

Seagate Pipeline HD 500 GB 5900RPM SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 8MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Bare Drive ST3500312CS

I bought this obsolete drive because it was one of the drive listed to replace the Western Digital dead drive in my Dish VIP722 DVR.

Although I was sceptical it could record 2 HD tuner at once with the drive speed, it actually does the job fine.

I would not buy this drive if it was for a computer although I love Seagate for their reliability (except the green model) and no hassle warranty

Bought this for a Dish DVR that had hard drive problems, popped it in and it automatically formatted (took about 2 minutes) and rebooted. The DVR function now works again, restoring the box to perfect condition.

It is a little thinner height-wise than the old one. Hopefully that means it will keep that drive temp down. The reasonable price and 2-day shipping were both big positives. Replacing the hard drive only required one screwdriver and took 5-10 minutes. Couldn't get much better.

Edit: Less than two weeks later, and the drive is dead already. My review went straight from 5 stars to 2. Luckily it died so quickly that I can get it replaced. If the next one dies, I'll have to drop this down to 1 star.

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Arrived on time, packaged well (box within a box to protect the HD). I am using this HD for a Zmodo CCTV system. Installed the HD, formated it, and is doing its job. Has only been operating for a few hours, but so fat so good. I will update this review if I run into any future problems.

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Bought as a replacement for a dead hard drive in my Iomega NAS. The hard drive arrived safely packaged and went to work immediately. Not much more I could have asked for.

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Buy this Hard disk and put on a dish dvr, work great but 20 days later the HDD fail it.Loose time,money.

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Sony HDR-SR1 AVCHD 2.1 MP 30GB High-Definition Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I received the camcorder a couple of days ago to replace my older Sony miniDV camcorder that is nine years old (still works well). I bought the new one after buying a Samsung 46" LCD flat screen and seening what I have been missing in HD television and it made the my existing camcorder look mediocre. I needed an HD camcorder to go with the HD display.

I have seen other photographers using hard drive camcorders with USB ports and decided then that I would go that for next purchase of a camcorder. I saw two advantages over the miniDV tape of the hard drive: (1)the ability to transfer the images onto a computer quickly (it is more than twice as fast as transferring a miniDV tape using firewire) and (2) the HD had 4 hours or more of operation without changing tapes. I film my son's sporting events that run two hours and changing tapes is always ackward.

I have used on trial basis a camcorder that had the small DVD burner built inside and it worked fine but the need for for having the camcorder operate on the charger for 15 minutes or more to "finalize" the disk was very annoying. I also worry about the miniDVD disks skipping during filming while using miniDVD camcorders in high shake environments such as in the back of speedboat. The just seem intuitively more vibration prone, but I could be worried about nothing. Thus I chose the hard drive version over the miniDV tape and the miniDVD disk similiar camcorder that Sony sells.

Thus far the device has worked well and looks great on the HD large screen TV. I film my son's first football game in HD tommorrow. I had to go back to the store to buy the bigger QM71 battery. The battery the come with camcorder claims to work 90 minutes, but this goes by quickly. The QM71 battery lasts for more three hours. I amd considering also buying the QM91 battery but it very thick and takes up lots of space behind the camera. I like to have two batteries, one to charge and one to use. I also bought a travel charger for the camcorder that makes it possble to charge the battery at home while using the camcorder untethered with a second battery.

I read reports about some people no liking the touch screen and finding it confusing. This is a complicated and it is at time confusing but I like the touch screen.

The worst part of the camcorder is not the camera at all, the software is not up to the rest of the amazing capabilities of the rest of the gear. I use the camera with Windows XP and so I used the free sony software the came with the camera. THe camera puts out .m2ts files. I would guess that none of your current software recognizes this. Mine certainly did not and I have lots of different current software. Apparently .m2ts is the file extentions for the new AVC/H.264 the Sony and Panasonic (of VHS tape fame) are jointly trying to establish. I bought this camera because I this this new disk format with dominated the prosumer video space and many companies will sell slick software for it.

One surprise (it should not have been but I did think about it) was that the HD video images require much more computing horsepower to display than the prior generations of video. A 3 GHz Pentium 4 is the bare minimum to allow a PC to show the video images without jerkyness (Also the new Pentium DUOs work was well). If your current computer is a little old you can use the camcorer to play the videos on your flatscreen but this is not a long term solution. Is possible to fairly easily move videos back forth between the camcorder and your old computer using the USB port. The transfer speed is around 500 MB per minute so the entire 30GB may take an hour. I may a little optimistic on this transfer rate but it not way off. I have just done a few transfers thus far and never have I transfer the whole drive. The longest transfer was 20 minutes and this around 1/3 of a drive. This is much, much fast than the 120MB per minute that I have been getting using my miniDV tape drive on my old Sony camcorder. The radical increase in transfer speed is what I was looking for. While the now think of this as being awesome fast, it will not take more than a few weeks before I think that even this speed is painfully slow. That is why technology is, never enough.

The camera controls, zoom, etc are fairly conventional. Although the detail in the images is awesome since they are HD. I use the 10X optical zoom with a 2X digital zoom mode selected which give me plenty of zoom range. There is a 10X digital zoom range mode but the images are very pixelated at the extreme end of the zoom.

The camera is surprisingly small and compact, moreso than my old camcorder.

The sound is awesome (Dolby 5 channel surround sound). I never new how important sound was until four years ago when I got the surround sound for my DVD player. Have surround for football games and basketball game filming will put the crowd behind me and the field noises in front of me. I will learn more how works out in the future, but inital test show it is working as it seems it should.

The real test will come after using the camera couple of months and seeing all the difference in the new film results. I sure the camera will out well. I many have to buy a new computer or a new video card to using my computer as a player, but I still have some software changes to try.

I can burn traditonal DVDs or a new kind of HD DVDs (called AVCHDs). If I get a bluray burner I can make Bluray HD DVDs. Many options for playback. I store all of our currently family videos on a 750GB hard disk for which I have a USB 750GB drive for backup. I like this method of storing the video collection. Many Blurays or othe DVDs is not my first choice. I have seen dedicated HD video players that can operate through the ethernet. This another avenue to explore. Meanwhile I will use the camera as a video player and see if buy a new video card for my computer fixes my jerkiness with my 2.5 GHZ Pentium computer.

The best thing about the camera is the awesome look of the videos on the large flatscreen LCD display and the worst thing is the annoying software that comes for free with the camera (although it does 75% of what you want).

This camcorder uses a new file format (AVCHD) which is based on current popular standards. AVCHD is simply a streaming version of H.264 video with Dolby 5.1 surround sound audio. When producing an HDD camcorder, Sony had to decide between using the current standard and making a new one. Since the current standard is MPEG-2 video and stereo audio (eg: HDV) at a constant bitrate of 25mbps, the AVCHD format provides a number of features: 1) Better audio, with 5.1 channels recorded by the camcorder. 2) Better video as AVC is H.264-a modern codec that privides much higher quality data for a given bitrate than the ancient MPEG-2 video that HDV is based on. 3) Much more flexibility-to be HDV compatible would have meant recording constantly at 25mbps, and this is too fast for the CDR version (the HDR-UX1) and is unnecessary. 15Mbps H.264 should provide better quality video than MPEG-2 at 25Mbps!

The downside of moving into the future in this way is that current editing software does not yet support the new format. Thus, either you use Sony's supplied software on windows, or you wait until your software company produces an update that supports the format.

AVCHD is the next generation in consumer video and I expect it will be widely supported. I am betting good money (eg: I bought an SR1) that Apple will release updates to Final Cut and iMovie this January that support AVCHD.

However, if you are happy shooting in SD for now, you can get a workflow that works on the mac. The SR1 shoots SD in MPEG-2 format, and while iMovie doesn't yet support Dolby 5.1 sound, it can be easily converted.

All that's necessary to work with an edit SR1 video (in SD mode only) on a Mac right now is the Apple $20 MPEG-2 decoder add on to quicktime (from the Apple site, but included with Final Cut and DVD Studio Pro) and a conversion application to make use of it. I found StreamClip to be a great (Free) solution from Squared 5... their website is at www squared5 dot com.

Additionally the picture taking mode saves data to the hard drive, so this camera really is the one solution for all my imaging needs. 30G will store a lot of pictures!

If you want to work with HD right now, you need to go with the Sony Windows software, or go buy an HDV camcorder. But if you're willing to use it in SD mode now, you can get a workflow going on the Mac with the SR1. And I really expect full HD support for this camcorder will be in the next revision of the software.

Don't bash a product because it uses a new spec that the software doesn't yet support! The products have only been on the market a week or two. Apple and Adobe and everyone else will surely support these cameras.

And when they do, these will be the solution that can't be beat!

I bought an M71 battery and spent 4 hours driving around shooting video-at the end of it, only had 5GB of video and still had batterylife left... this camera is nice to the batteries, and the hard drive is so big that in SD mode, you can get 27 hours of footage at the highest bitrate! Its nice to not be limited by having to swap tapes.

Great Camera all around, fully featured and image quality is great, though if you do a lot of night shooting you probably want a three-chip camera.

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I have gone through several camcorders in the past 5 years and recently began my search for a hi-def camcorder. One of my frustrations with DV tapes is that for me, they tended to sit on the shelf and gather dust. They took tons of storage space to encode (way more than AVCHD). Editing to DVD also seemed to be more complex than necessary and time consuming. As a result, I have many tapes that I just don't bother to burn to DVD. It was just easier to plug in the camcorder and watch the video from there.

So through my research, I discovered disk based camcorders. Most of the reviews criticized the image quality. This second generation seems to have improved quite a bit. With the compression and ease of transfer to a PC (literally plug in and push one button) I was sold on the Hard Drive format. I'm not a big fan of mini-DVD formats either because of the unique DVD's used and some compatibility issues.

I was pretty much set on a 3CCD JVC Everio GZ-MG505. This is a standard definition camcorder but with 3CCD's and pretty highly regarded. I had a hard time deciding between 3CCD vs high def (AVCHD) +$300

After reading more and more reviews, I realized that even with 3CCD's, the image quality just can not compare to high def. Even high def converted to standard def is better. So I went with the Sony.

The Sony is so easy to use that I was out shooting immediately after charging the battery. I haven't even cracked open the instruction manual yet. That says a lot for how intuitive the camcorder is. When I ordered from Amazon, they expected it to arrive after Christmas. I contacted Amazon and they stated they were scrambling trying to get them before Christmas. Sure enough, Amazon delivered and I have already filmed my daughters Holiday Recital and her meeting with Santa. (The SR1 is great in low light by the way).

My thoughts on AVCHD is that it will be supported soon enough. We have a high def projector but most of our TV's are still standard. Also, we do not own a high def DVD player or BlueRay. We will probably get a PS3 next year. I bet AVCHD software will arrive well before we actually get a high def DVD player so I'm not too concerned about the delay. The SD video in the meantime has been superb and easy to share with friends and family. If I really need to show off the high def, I just plug in the camcorder.

I have no complaints and as a result gave this camcorder a 5 star rating. But I do have a few minor tweaks that would have been nice.

Battery life could be a bit better. Included battery is about 70 minutes. 2 hours would have been ideal but an additional high capacity better solved that problem but added to the weight.

Camcorder is a tad bigger than comparable hard drive based camcorders (those JVC ones are tiny). I actually like the feel in my hand though and it is not too big.

Included software could be a little bit better especially since there is no real support for AVCHD yet. It is very easy to use though. You can edit start and stop points of clips but you can't rearrange the order or include any transitions and the title screens are very limited (about 5 or 6). But again, works well and easy to understand.

Photos during filming limited to 3. My last JVC, I could shoot unlimited still photos during filming. Not that big of a deal though as this is probably rarely used. Just stop and start filming again to shoot 3 more photos.

Hard Drive is somewhat limited at 30GB. For such an expensive camcorder and inexpensive hard drives, I'm surprised the Sony did not come with an 80gb drive which is pretty common and even low end today. I haven't explored this but I doubt Sony made it easy to upgrade the hard drive myself. Of course when you have a high def camcorder, most people will want to record at the highest quality settings as they can always reduce the output for their intended viewing device so having a high resolution source is ideal. Unfortuanatly, at the highest quality setting AVCHD 15MB XP you get about 4 hours of recording time. I personally don't think this is quite enough time for a standard week or two vacation. I usually travel with my laptop and can download the video so this is not a concern for me but with an 80GB drive, one could get 10 hours which seems adequate for the typical vacation.

I didn't deduct for these shortcomings because even without these, the camera is unique in its category and is an amazing camera. I didn't feel like I should penalize the camcorder for my "wish list."

Overall, after months of reviewing camcorders, I am very happy with my purchase and would make the same purchase again.

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The quality of the video from this camcorder is amazing. I consider myself a videophile, and I own a lot of HD equipment and TVs. I use a Mitsubishi 720p front projector with a 108" screen that is capable of showing most if not all video imperfections; however, this camera's video passes the test. I will not go so far as to say it is perfect, but the quality is amazing and far exceeded my initially high expectations. Video taken under good lighting conditions is absolutely fantastic, and I would say it is on par with broadcast HD minus a lot of the broadcast HD motion artifacts. Videos taken in low light are not quite as good, but much better than I had expected and many times better than my older miniDV camcorder. The lower light video is grainier, but it is a consistent very fine, gray film-like grain (imagine Black Hawk Down on blu-ray). The grain in my older miniDV videos was much more distracting with larger bluish, green blobs everywhere. Some reviewers have reported a lot of motion artifacts from the avchd compression, but I have not seen it yet. For those with this problem, it may be helpful to adjust the compression settings on the camera. Out of the box the camera defaults to HQ compression HD video (7 hour HD mode). Upon seeing this, I changed the compression to the XP mode (4 hour HD mode). I have seen no such problems at this setting, and 4 hours of video at a time is plenty of time between downloads.

I also own a very good 7.1 surround sound system, and I can again say that audio wise this camera is up to the task. It is wonderful to hear your home recordings play back in 5.1 surround sound with very good clarity and without any tape motor noise. I was taking pictures of a friend's baby, and you could hear her clearly from the front channels while the out of frame family members audio was present in the front and surround channels depending on their orientation to the baby/camera. Even my wife was wowed, and she is hard to impress since she has become so desensitized to my many gadgets.

Recording onto a hard drive is also great. The ability to play back your videos instantly without having to worry about tape position is very nice. It is easier to review and delete unnecessary clips, and the camera even has a few very basic editing functions built in. My wife was intimidated by our older camera, but she is already using this one more due to the lithium ion battery and hard drive. She doesn't have to worry about recording time/battery life in most cases. She can just pick it up and go.

I can't attest to the editing of avchd video or the mac compatability because I haven't tried either yet, but I did install the included software onto my PC. The videos download very quickly over the USB 2.0 connection. I was able to download video and burn a DVD+R to avchd format using the supplied software. It is very quick and does not degrade the avchd quality in any way. I was then able to play back the disc in my PS3 blu-ray drive in full HD with surround sound with the same results as hooking the camera up via HDMI. You can even put multiple clips on one DVD and it while play them back in order with a slight pause in between. It is nice to be able to go from video on the camera's HDD to a blu-ray compatible DVD in less than 30 minutes with little to no effort involved. The camera even has a one-touch disc burn button on it (haven't tried it yet though) so in theory you don't even need to open the software and go through any menu settings, it should be all automated.

I love the touchscreen. It is wonderfully designed with context sensitive menus that limit the selections based upon the cameras operating mode. It is very intuitive and almost makes the manual unnecessary. It even has a help function that explains the different settings in easy to understand terms.

So far I don't miss firewire, and I know that eventually the editing software will be there. For now, I will enjoy my beautiful avchd DVDs.

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I have had my HDR-SR1 for a week now. It is my first high-definition camera, and my second hard-drive based camera.

First, I'll get the bad comments out of the way...

The camera takes about 7.5 seconds to power up and be ready to shoot. Although this is shorter than my last hard-drive camera (JVC was 10 seconds), it's still longer than most tape-based cameras. It isn't unreasonably long, but I like a quick power-up time so I don't miss an opportunity to shoot something happening NOW.

The AVCHD format is so new that it is not yet supported by any other software other than the Sony software that comes with the camera, and it only allows playback no advanced editing. However, I did not take away any stars in my rating for this, because I fully expect the AVCHD format to be widely supported soon enough-otherwise I wouldn't have bought the camera. Besides, even if I won't be able to edit the footage until sometime in the future, I figured it's more important that I'm at least shooting my footage in high-def... these moments will never occur again!

The camera is a little bit on the large side (compared to most new cameras available today). But it's not so large that I would consider it "bulky". It's probably about the size of a typical new camera a few years ago.

And now for the good...

The picture quality is excellent. In bright light, the video is crystal clear and there are absolutely no visible compression artifacts at the XP and HQ settings. I've never seen HDV footage but can't imagine it being better than this. SP and LP modes are not to bad, but the compression issues become noticeable. In low light the camera does have the typical amount of noise in the image, but it looks more like analog noise than digital compression noise, which I find much less annoying. I consider this camera to be a good low-light performer, but of course it's all relative and this is just my opinion. There is a Night-Shot mode (infrared light/greenish image) which workes well in TOTAL darkness up to about 20' away, at full frame rate. Super NightShot mode and Color Slow Shutter modes offer even more light in the image, but sacrifice shutter speed and everything gets blurred.

Sound is incredible. 5.1ch surround really makes you feel like you're there. Note however that there really is not a centre front channel microphone. A centre channel of sound is digitally created by the camera combining the front left and front right channels. Still sounds fine to me though.

Automatic lens cover is a joy! Opens when you turn it on and closes when you turn it off.

The SteadyShot mode does NOT affect picture quality. With most cameras this does decrease image quality in some way, but not with the SR1.

The lag time from pressing the record button to when the recording actually begins is only about half a second. Pretty reasonable. When you press the button again to stop recording, it takes about 1 second to respond.

The photo quality (4.0MP) is the best I've ever seen on a camcorder, but still doesn't measure up to a 4.0MP still-camera. In other words, personally I won't give up my 4.0MP still camera yet for very important photos, however if I only have the SR1 with me, I will still take photos with it (the photos are good enough to make decent 4x6 prints). With previous camcorders the photo quality was so bad I always carried my still camera with me too. Now I don't have to. Please note that if you're taking photos with this camera while in video mode (either while the camera is rolling or not) you are limited to only 2.3MP images. Nice thing is that this camera DOES have a flash for photos. The only time it won't work is while the camera is recording video. Also, if you try to take photos while the camera is recording video, you are limited to only 3 photos until you stop recording so the camera can save the images.

InfoLithium battery is wonderful. The screen always displays reminaing battery life in minutes. It even takes into account the current state of the camera's use (for example if you turn on the NightShot IR light, it will decrease remaining battery time by about 15% since it takes more power). It's even accurate right down to the minute. Of course, if you're doing a lot of zooming then you may notice the minutes counting down a little faster than real-time, as it recalculates the power usage. By the way, installing the battery does not add length to the camera is it does with most, as it is actually recessed into a slot in the back. Only the extended-life batteries will add length/bulk to the camera.