Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player

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

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

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

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

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

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

Impressions of the Sony S570:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-UNPACKING AND INSTALLING:

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

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

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

I changed the following settings from the default:

.Audio Mix to OFF

.Gracenote to AUTO

.Network settings to manual IP address.

.SACD to DSD

.IP Noise Reduction to zero

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

-BLURAY/DVD PICTURE QUALITY

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

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

-AMAZON/NETFLIX

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

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

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

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

-OTHER WEB SERVICES

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

-DLNA

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

-USB DISK AND FILES SUPPORTED.

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

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

.MPG No problems, as expected.

.WMV Played without a glitch.

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

.M4V Same as above. Also created by Handbrake.

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

.MOV Same as above.

.AVI Same as above.

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

-SACD

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

MY SETUP:

.Panasonic P65V10

.Pioneer 64 receiver

.Sony BDP S570 player

.U-Verse 18 Mbps Internet Service

.Everything through HDMI links.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Netflix capable

Wi-Fi capable

Additional online content

Economical

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

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

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

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

Crosley Revolution Portable Turntable

Looking for a record player for the house -for both casual listening and making mp3s of my collection. Everything I looked at took up TOO much room -either on my desk when recording, or around my stereo system. Saw this and decided to give it a try. Glad I did.

Was really surprised by the build quality. Although the unit is plastic, it seems to be built around a sturdy metal frame -the hinge mechanism is steel, not plastic as I expected. Controls are right on top, and the 45 rpm adapter is a sturdy rubber and stores in the unit. Tone arm is metal and plastic, with a nice diamond cartridge.

Lots of listening options -headphone and audio out. Internal speaker is a bit tinny, but met my expectations given the small size of the unit. REALLY AWESOME -FM transmitter! This worked great with my stereo. Just dialed in the radio station and listened wirelessly from about 15 feet. Works much better than the junk I bought for my in-car iPod use. Connection via USB to computer was simple, and Audacity software is included. Ripped vinyl sounded very good -finally got my white album on the iPod!

Don't know how much I will use the battery power (6 AA), but I gave it a go. Left the unit on overnight, and it was still playing at the correct speed the next morning. So if you need to go portable, looks like you won't be disappointed.

Highly recommend this unit if you are in the market for a turntable.

I thought this thing would be a great way to have a turntable around the house without the need to permanently set it up somewhere. Was very excited to try it when it came...OH MY =/

This thing sounds TERRIBLE!! That is an understatement. If it just sounded low quality, that would be fine. The bigger problem is that the thing is uneven and wobbles and makes the records sound like the whole thing is going through some kind of awful chorus pedal or fast flange or something. YUCK! Not to mention that the speed is a little off no matter what, so the pitch is also always a little off.

It sucks, because I really wanted to like this! The form factor and USB out is perfect for my needs...unfortunately, the thing doesn't play records worth a damn...which kind of defeats the purpose.

Buy Crosley Revolution Portable Turntable Now

I have been working the Revolution for a few days now and am impressed. I ordered this as a "gift for myself" and am glad I did. I needed something portable because I attend quite a few record shows and like to listen and "test" the vinyl prior to paying for it, especially if it is a rare or expensive album, and this fits the bill. I have seen a number of collectors in recent years with the old "Sound Burgers", and this is no different, but better in my opinion. The build quality is solid. While the outer cover is plastic, there is a metal frame underneath.

The unit has a nice, magnetic cartridge. That surprised me. Also, I was unaware when I bought it about the FM broadcasting capability. It just blows me away to sit in my kitchen and play my albums through my Bose wave radio 10 feet away. Very good sound and very easy to do. The battery life is unbelievable. I am likely nearing 24 hours on the original batteries and things still sound good. I recorded a few mp3's from it as well and the sound quality matches my Technics turntable. I burned the mp3's directly in to Audacity (a copy comes with it or you can download) and then tried my own Wieser software and it worked great. The internal speaker is also nice, but you won't be able to listen to it if there is background noise. You will need headphones or to broadcast it over FM. It also has a "line out" and headphone jack, something I appreciate because I will likely leave it hooked in to my amp when I am at home. If I were to change anything, I would likely upgrade the tone arm with variable weighting, but you can't have everything, especially at the price.

Didn't expect to feel this good about it, but I think this one will be with me for quite some time. I may grab another for a gift for a friend.

Read Best Reviews of Crosley Revolution Portable Turntable Here

I've owned two Crosley products. The first was the Crosley suitcase turntable. It served its purpose and the sound was okay, but after about a year it just stopped working and wouldn't power up. I then invested in a nice turntable and stereo. Eventually I decided I wanted to transfer my records to mp3s, but I didn't want something to take up any more space. I assumed the Crosley Revolution would fit the bill and purchased it. When I opened the package I was shocked at how cheaply it was made. This disappointed me because I expected to be able to take advantage of it's portability, but if you take this thing anywhere I'm sure it won't make it back to your home in one piece. I felt like it was going to break every time I popped it open to put a record on. Also, the tone arm is so exposed and flimsy that its days are numbered. So, I decided that I could just keep it in a drawer and take it out just to transfer music to my computer. However, this thing won't even serve that purpose. With the accompanying software, it transfers music at such a low volume that it's just laughable. The turntable itself puts out so much noise that you can hear it rattle over the music. It also creates a loud hiss as soon as you turn the power on. It records at a terribly low volume with loud static over the top. I used the accompanying software to normalize the sound and filter out the noise, but it just filtered out the music as well. Don't even bother listening to it out loud with the speaker. I had a fisher price tape player as a kid that sounded better than this. The FM transmitter also didn't do anything and I couldn't find the signal. This product is worthless for most of its advertised uses. However, if you have a nice set of headphones you can plug them into the back and get decent sound and listen to records with some portability around your home. So this product may be great for teenagers who just want to sit in their room and listen to old vinyl through headphones until the unit breaks. But it is terrible for everything else. I won't buy another Crosley product. All of their products are high in style and low in quality.

Want Crosley Revolution Portable Turntable Discount?

I really wanted to like this portable. I've been carrying around a Newmark for years now, and it's bulk takes it toll on you after hours of record digging. So for Christmas my wife bought me this since I brought it up to her a few times as a hint.

Sure the Revolution is sleek and has some nice features, but the sound is horrible. At first I thought I may have a defective item so I exchanged it for another which I just received in the mail. It too suffers from the exact problem as the other one did. There is a wobble to the sound that is unbearable. I imagine that it would be the sound you'd hear had you played the turntable underwater. I couldn't imagine trying to grade a record off of this thing.

If Crosley could fix the sound issue I'd be the first in line to get one, but till then, I'll hold off.

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Panasonic DMR-ES20S DVD Recorder Silver

• Multi-format, progressive scan DVD recorder/player in silver; measures 16.9 x 2.5 x 13.3 inches (WxHxD)
• Records to DVD-R/RW, DVD+R, and DVD-RAM; plays back DVD+RW, CD-R/RW, MP3, and JPEG
• Built-in analog TV tuner with 7-day electronic programming guide; chasing playback record function
• Video connection options: composite (2 in, 1 out), S-Video (2 in, 1 out), component (1 out), RF (1 in)
• Digital optical audio ouput for Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound

I needed something to offload my Tivo recordings onto and searched the various reviews for a good quality unit that would record and play in multiple formats. Rather quickly I narrowed it down to Panasonic (Sony had some attractive offerings but I am concerned about their obsessive digital rights management and so they were taken off my list) focusing on their ES10S model but found that it had been replaced by the ES20S. Some Googling revealed that the most significant differences appeared to be in fewer outputs on the newer model plus the addition of a cooling fan. Since I was planning on rather limited applications this was not an issue so I popped for the ES20S. After having used it for 3 weeks I must say that I am impressed overall with recording of DVD-R and DVD-RW discs. I also found that I did need to read the instructions to obtain the results I desired most specifically finalizing the disc after recording so that you can play it in most any other player. I now prefer recording with the DVD-RW in the 4 hour format and can usually get 2 Tivo movies on one disc that play well on my laptop. The remote is very good and can be coded to operate with my Sony XBR WEGA TV. I would have given it five stars if the user interface had been a bit more intuitive but overall I am very pleased and would purchase the same recorder today if I had to do it all over again.

Buy Panasonic DMR-ES20S DVD Recorder Silver Now

I bought this unit to save programs from TIVO my Onkyo 6DVD Changer is about the most sensitive / intolerant units to burned CDs/DVDs there is so I was really concerned, if the burned DVDs would work. The answer is: THEY DO! Reading some of the other reviews, the feeling I get is "forgot to finalize". There is a "Finalize" menu function (I admit it's somewhat burried in the manual), which closes out the DVD and makes it ready to be played on other devices. Used Memorex DVD+R disk, saved two shows of "24" from TIVO to disk, finalized: works like a charm on the Onkyo, works great on my PC, great picture quality.... what else do you need?!!!

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic DMR-ES20S DVD Recorder Silver Here

This is my first DVD recorder. I have used VCR's for the past 20 years so that's what I am used to.

My current over worked 5 year old VCR started to act up, so I started looking for a replacement and decided to go with the Panasonic DMR-ES20. The price was right, $180 at Circuit City.

I needed 3 things; to replace my aging VCR, to dub old VCR tapes I made before they deteriorate (some 20 years old) and to archive video shot from my digital video camera on an almost daily basis.

I won't talk much about the quality of recordings because my source (Adelphia cable) is so bad. Thankfully Time-Warner is supposed to take over early in '06.

My equipment and hookup: Panasonic DMR-ES20 DVD Recorder, Panasonic 27" standard TV, Panasonic PV-V4540 VCR , Panasonic DVD-RV27 DVD Player, Adelphia basic cable (no box). The ES20 will replace the VCR and DVD Player. I split the cable, one directly to the TV, the other to the ES20. S-Video from the ES20 to the TV since that's the best hookup this TV has.

Tuner. Yes, it has one. I think it's a bit weaker than the TV's tuner which is weaker than the tuner in the VCR. Probably won't matter if you have a good signal.

I have read reviews that state you cannot change channels using the numbers on the remote. Yes you can but you have to hit the 'Enter' key if you only enter 2 digits and it's a long reach from the numbers for my thumb. Also, the TV and VCR change channels instantly when surfing using the up/down buttons. The ES20 has a delay. It's not as slow as satellite though.

Playing. I popped in Spider-Man 2. Looked great to me, black level really good. My current player, the Panasonic DVD-RV27, has some features this recorder does not, the most notable instant replay and position memory. The position memory allows me to hit a button, then the next time I play that DVD it starts at that spot. This recorder does have a nice 1.3x speed playback. The benefit is that the audio is still understandable. It also has a 1 minute skip feature, good for passing over commercials instantly.

Recording. Let the fun begin. You can use DVD-RAM or the other non-ram formats it supports. I will be using both depending on what I am doing.

I plan on using non-ram for archiving from my camcorder and for dubbing old vcr tapes. I will be using the -R format as I will not need to write over them. They are permanent and that's what I need. They should also be very compatible with most other players.

Recording starts within 1 second of hitting the record button. It will not record over anything currently on the disk, it automatically finds empty space, instantly. No need to worry about recording over something.

I bought some Philips DVD-R disks for about $1 a piece. I dubbed a couple of classics (Near Dark and The Hidden) I taped off of Cinemax 18 years ago onto 1 disk using LP mode. When you start to record a new title is created. You can change the title, change the thumbnail, and add a disk name. I saw no way to add chapters. However, when I finalized the disk (it took 4 minutes) chapters were created automatically at 5 minute intervals. CNET's claim in it's review that you cannot create chapters is a bit misleading. You cannot do it, but the recorder does it automatically when the disc is finalized. I then tried playing this disk in a memorex player and a symphonic player. Worked just fine.

Using DVD-RAM gives the most options. The disks are about $2 a piece, not bad considering the claim you can record over them thousands of times. You can add chapters after you record. While playing you can hit the 'create chapter' button on the remote and it instantly creates a chapter. While playing you can hit the 'erase' button on the remote and it instantly erases (it asks for confirmation) that title. You can combine adjacent chapters. You can delete chapters. So, you could make a commercial break a chapter, then delete it. No more commercial.

Coming from the world of VCR's, a DVD-RAM recorder definitely has some benefits. I no longer have to find a spot on the tape to record a tv show on, the DVD-RAM does it automatically and instantly. Just hit the record button, it does the rest. It tells you how much time if left based on your recording mode. LP mode gives you 4 hours and is fine for cable / sat recording.

I have always had vcr's that had indexing. The difference now is instead of waiting for the tape to move forward or backward, it's instant.

You can view 6 titles or 12 chapters of a title at a time using the Navigator. Which ever title or chapter you have selected in the Navigator plays while the others are static. You can also easily erase these using the erase button on the remote (it asks for confirmation) without diving into a sub menu.

The time slip and chasing playback are really interesting and easy to use. You can watch something you already recorded while you are currently recording something else. I know, sounds odd, but it's handy. I was recording an episode of Boston Legal at night and while that was happening I was able to watch the episodes of ER I had recorded earlier. If I choose to I could stop watching the ER episodes and start watching the Boston Legal episode while it was recording, from any spot in the episode. Very nice.

Now, for some things I don't like or am not used to.

It does not display record, play, pause, FF, etc.. on the TV screen like a vcr does. I hit record but have to look at the ES10 or hit the status button to see if it's actually recording.

Can't add chapters while recording, have to wait until it's done.

There is a 10 second delay adding chapters. It adds them instantly when while you are playing, but when you hit stop there is a 10 second delay. I only notice this after I have added a chapter so I assume that's what it is.

The remote is a bit cumbersome. To change channels using the numbers you have to hit the 'enter' button and it's not near the numbers. The erase and create chapter buttons are next to each other and feel the same. The record button feels the same as the buttons around it. I like to work the remote by feel without looking at it or having to turn on a light.

To flip between title and chapter views you have to go into a sub menu.

Summary. I really like it. Last year I paid $125 for my dvd player, now I paid just $55 more for a recorder. Unlike a unit with just a hard drive, I can pop these disks out and save them forever if I choose. Camcorder plugs in easily with the front DV input. It's easy to use just like a vcr but with many more benefits. It's fast and fun. Go get one.

Want Panasonic DMR-ES20S DVD Recorder Silver Discount?

Cannot believe that no one else has reported a problem trying to record TV pgms.

Panasonic tells me this is a known bug: when I try to record a number of pgms on the same day/or not, many will not record. or it may record the 1st and 2nd,only to skip the 3rd (leaving it gray) and record the 4th.

if I am trying to record a 1 hr. show and have 3 or even 4 hrs free on a pana dvd-ram disc, it will not accept the pgm in the Schedule section. it places an exclm pt ! next to the item.

Many, many shows have been skipped or whatever with AMPLE space on the disc. last night, with 4:01 hrs of free space, as shown in Scheduling, at 7:57PM I manually set it to record a 1 hr show, which began at 8:00PM.

set channel, start time, end time, mode =EP with 4:01 hrs of ep tim left on disc.

8:00PM came and went nothing happened! when I flipped the disc and gave it 6 free hrs, then it did record!

that is NOT a Scheduling bug, to my mind.

the cpu just does not deal with avail space/time on disc at all properly.

After first call on 11/01/05, pana says a FIRMWARE UPGRADE disc si in the mail, but I have no real confidence that this will correct problems. And have still not rcv'd disc, even after second call, 2-3 weeks after my original call...

will update...

1/03/06 UPDATE #1 STILL NO FIRMWARE DISC! Maybe I Should Just Get A TIVO... would now give ZERO stars.

pana has record of my 1st call/complaint on 11/01/05. Called back 2-3 wk's later w/same problem & disc. not rcv'd. was told disc would be forthcoming. it's now 1/03/06 and STILL NO DISC!

Placed 3d call and spoke to supv. bad machine and bad service.

1/06/06 UPDATE #2 FINALLY!! After speaking to a supv. and getting a bit irate, the firmware disc arrives.

Disc is clearly labelled "dmr es40". Instructions state to only use a disc having the same id number as the unit it's to be used with. I use it anyway, since no damage can result, (according to instructs.) Comes with 2 pages of photos of the display as firmware loads. Words such as "load, firmwre, etc" appear. NOne of these words appear on my unit. Another 50-60 min wait on pana 800-question line. (at least they do provide one with a real person on the other end!). Rep goes to secondary group; tells me that the es40 frimware and es20 is the same, but has no idea why I see none of the msg's as provided with the disc.

Have finished a little bit of recording: am now (at last) able to completely fill up a 6 hour side of a disc with normal recording of TV. did a bit of a torture test by leaving 3 minutes blank on disc, then recording 3 separate 1-minute pgm's to complete the 6 hrs.

Everything appears fine so far... In other words, it is now recording in the way it should have, all along.

My only question: HOW COULD PANA HAVE ALLOWED A PRODUCT TO BE SOLD/SHIPPED IN SUCH A DEFECTIVE STATE FROM THE START?

Update #3 1/27/06 STILL BUGGY!

Firmware still leaves a bug. with a ram disc that has 6 free hrs., if one recrods tv pgm's using the record on "day of the week" setting, say Saturday... I record 3 pgm's on a Saturday, each of 1 hour length. these are set to record every sat., and I have now used 3 hrs on the disc BUT going to the SCHEDULE function, I see that the 3 pgm's do NOT go away. they are at the bottom of the Scheduling area, but the date, saturday's date, is till next to them even though they have already finished being recorded.

Now, NOTHING ELSE WILL RECORD ON THIS DISC ON THIS DAY, (SAT).

The machine sees that 3 hrs of the 6 hr disc have been used. then it sees/thinks that there is/are still another 3 hours to be recorded (these are the same 3 pgm's already recorded, but which continue to show up on today's schedule). This gives us 6 HOURS!

The disc is maxed-out, so nothing furhter will record. If I record pgm's as a on-time-only deal, not as a repeating day of the week item, then the pgm disappears and it does not create a doubling of time used/needed. but then, I have to re-program to record that show every week, rather than just once, and foget it.

Once Sat. turns into Sunday, those 3 pgm's (and the time the machine is mistakenly reserving for them) go away till next week and those 3 "lost hours" are once more avail. to be used for recording.

suppose I could go on the 50+ minute wait-que, but would the info ever really get to the appropriate Pana technical staff, and does anybody really care anyway? Not that I can tell, or how could they have let this thing go out the way it was and is?

Update #4 2/15/06 It's going to "repair" shop.

got hold of Pana again. took 15 min or less! product specialist had me do a "re-initialize/reset" of machine. says my unit's firmware is/was already at the newest level of issue. the reset did not help when recording tv pgm's using the repeating day-of-the-week scheduling, the pgm's already recorded on a given day stay on the schedule as active, until Midnight of that day. pana rep tells me it's time to dig up receipt and make a trip to the shop.

We'll see... (I really have my doubts)

I purchased the unit in December for the purpose of copying about 25 8mm tapes to DVD and using this unit to make DVD's from my new mini DV Camcorder.

Before I updated the firmware (a process that took only 20 minutes), I had the same problems others have indicated. The machine would freeze and would need to be unplugged. Even with this issue, all the DVD could be finalized and work in the 3 DVD players I have. The remaining comments assume the firmware has been updated.

I have have been very pleased with the quality of the recordings and I'm picky. Thus far, I recorded 7 or 8 2 hour 8mm tapes without too many issues. I do not find any difference in the quality of DVD when compared to the original 8mm tape when the DVD is played on a DVD player connected to a 36 inch TV using component video. Before I started making copies, I purchased a high quality camcorder cable and I believe this makes a difference in the overall quality. In fact, comparing video quality is very depandant on the TV, how the unit is connected to it and the quality of the cables.

I have recorded one TV show and the quality was acceptable but not as good as recording the 8mm move. I wouldn't purchase this unit for this purpose that probably goes for any DVD recorder.

I have also recorded from my mini DV camcorder using the DV input jack. The quality of this recording was fantastic. Digital input recording is awesome.

This unit, like all DVD recorders on the market, has is flaws. A couple of times, it stopped recording for unknown reasons. In those cases, I found where it stopped and restarted the recording process and in the end had a good DVD.

This unit does not make it simple to create chapters. The only way to stop stop recording and restart. It does create 5 minute invisible chapters enabling you to jump to the next section on playback. I find this acceptable.

I have read the reviews for all the major brands, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, etc. and all seem to have some problems.

This unit is very acceptable for recording 8mm and DV tapes to DVD. Using a DVD Recorder is much more convienant than using the computer. I suspect the only reason to use the computer is if you plan on doing alot of editing.

I would recommend this unit only because I'm satisfied with the results and all the other brands seem to have their own problems. If a problem free unit can be found buy that one. Be sure to purchase a unit with the DV input jack for best results.

Probably the best feature is having the old 8mm tapes on DVD. I find it more fun to watch the old home movies on DVD.

Sony HDR-CX210 High Definition Handycam 5.3 MP Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Black) (2012 Model)

Let me start off by saying this review is 100% my personal opinion and not fact. I am not a videographer or anything of the like, just an average consumer, looking for a nice video camera.

Look & Feel

The first thing that struck me about the camera is the weight (or lack of it). The camera is very light almost to the point of feeling kinda plasticky (like a TV remote.) I suppose it could be a good thing for some but I prefer my electronics to have a bit of weight to them. I like the look of the camera it is very sleek and clean. The chrome accents really pop and look great.

Video Editing & Conversion

The video editing is very easy and if you opt to store your data on an SD card it is a very quick process. The default folder structure is very easy to navigate to find the files and transfer them to your computer. The camera also has an attached USB cord in the handle so you don't need and additional cords to retrieve your videos/pictures.

Battery Life & Other Features

Battery life is OK not great, not bad just OK. On the highest video quality setting you will get about 120 minutes of filming which seems about right.

My biggest gripe about this camera is there is no power button. The camera automatically turns on and off when you open or close the screen. It is nice because you probably won't need the camera on with the screen closed but I would prefer a power button anyways. There is a switch to open/close the lens cover though which is good thing. The camera also has several different video settings sports, indoor, ect. The camera does a pretty good job of automatically switching between them (if you have that feature on) and generally looks good in them.

Video Quality & Lens

The auto stabilization feature does its job well and it makes the video look significantly smoother. Shooting varies depending on light conditions. Daylight and outdoor look great, very crisp but it's indoors that's my problem. Filming indoor with decent light is extremely grainy. There is a lot of noise in the video; this isn't a complete surprise but a bit disappointing considering the specs given and the alleged low light features.

Using the low light setting just makes things grainy almost to the point of being unwatchable.

As I have used the camera more I will update my review, also if you have any questions please feel free to ask. I will answer as best I can.

Even though I am a bit disappointed in the indoor shooting quality I do like quite a bit about the camera. It is still pretty nice in the sub $400.00 range.

I recently purchased this after reading the mostly great reviews of this camcorder, the Sony HDR-CX210. I love everything about it (price, size, weight, ease of use) but I am very disappointed with the video quality which to me, is the most important aspect when buying an *HD* camcorder.

There are four video quality settings. I first recorded a short video in the standard mode which is the third best mode, then plugged the camera directly into my 50" HD plasma TV for playback via the included HDMI cable. The video resolution was very, very grainy/pixely. I was expecting at least DVD quality video (not Blu-ray) or something close to it, but it was not even close. I then tried the same test in the second best quality mode and the video was hardly any better. I then tried in the best video quality mode and there was a slight improvement, but still noticeable grainy and still not close to DVD quality.

I am returning this camcorder to try Sony's next model up, the HDR-CX260V for $115 more. Looking at the specs on Sony's website, the effective picture resolution of the Sony HDR-CX210 is 1310K pixels and the HDR-CX260V is 2230K. I'm hoping the extra $115 will get me to the video quality I'm expecting from an HD camcorder.

Buy Sony HDR-CX210 High Definition Handycam 5.3 MP Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Black) (2012 Model) Now

The Sony HDR-CX210 is Sony's lowest high definition model. It is also the lowest model with a touch screen. You turn on the camera by opening the video screen. There is no on/off button. It focuses very well even in low light. I have found that it will take about 90 minutes of HD video in the HQ mode which is not the highest resoloution. Which is good since the battery that comes with it is only good for 90 minutes and they recommend that doing any playback be done with the power cord attached. In the High definition HQ setting, it uses about 9Mb per second of video. It transfers the videos to your computer quite fast, and will even burn it to DVD with the software you download. But you cannot use these DVD's in a DVD player unless you first convert it to the .mpg format with some other software first. I guess that and the batteries capacity are my only gripes. On the positive side, I really like the size & weight of the camcorder. Its quick startup time and the sharp focusing of this model.

Read Best Reviews of Sony HDR-CX210 High Definition Handycam 5.3 MP Camcorder with 25x Optical Zoom (Black) (2012 Model) Here

It's got a good sensor, Exmor R but that's about it. Compared to previous model HDR-CX110 this camera has many things that are actually much worse and a big downgrade. For once they have the same Exmor R sensor so low light is great. This one however has a terrible screen and the angle views are really bad. HDR-CX110 had an excellent screen that showed the picture you were recording like in real life. I guess Sony tried to cut costs and put a terrible screen on it. Another bad thing is Zoom noise. It wasn't an issue on 110 but here it is actually pretty loud and you will hear it when you're zooming. I'm returning this camera and would suggest to anyone if you can find HDR-CX110 online to buy that one instead because it's much better than this.

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I recently purchased Sony camcorder model no.HDR-CX210 from Amazon.Have always been in awe of Sony products because of their quality and reputation.I only gave this camcorder four stars instead of five because of the screen.In bright sunlight it is near impossible to see.Picture quality is very sharp as is the color. I feel Sony could and should do better. Lloyd Barnett.

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Denon DRA-685 Multi-Source/Multi-Zone AM/FM Stereo Receiver

• 2-source/2-zone AM/FM stereo receiver and integrated amplifier with 100 watts per channel x 2; 4 ohms stable (using speakers A or B)
• Discrete multiroom, multisource audio and video outputs for 2-source, 2-zone, dual-volume control (even includes 2 remote controls)
• Signal Level Divided Construction (SLDC) keeps low- and high-level signals separate for greater clarity and fidelity
• Composite-video switching: 3 inputs/2 outputs; offers phono input (MM only)
• Measures 17.1 x 6.7 x 16.4 inches (W x H x D)

I had actually been searching for a different piece of Denon audio hardware when I ran across this rather new Amazon listing for the Denon DRA-685 receiver, which has been a key component in my "main" audio system for nearly two years now. It is certainly a "keeper," and a receiver whose capabilties and features one can "grow into" over time. A few of the features are quite unique, and I have yet to exploit them.

I am not one who changes audio components at whim, or according to changes in consumer taste. My general tendency is to buy the best that I can afford, and then only when needed. This in fact happened, when my previous integrated amplifier (a Pioneer Elite A-90, a true state-of-the-art behemoth of its time some fifteen years ago) started acting flaky. (It turned out that the problem was minor, and the A-90 is scheduled for future use in a separate system.) Comparison shopping led me to the Denon DRA-685, a robust 2-channel receiver having impressive specs and performance.

While I don't consider myself a "golden ears" type of person, the music I prefer to listen to can, and often does, place a premium on clean power-handling ability. And my loudspeakers, by the nature of their design, require prodigeous bass-handling capability and very tight damping for them to reproduce music often very complex music accurately. I could immediately determine that the amplifier section of this Denon unit easily outperformed the A-90 it replaced, despite the latter having twice the rated per-channel power. Even more to my liking, the Denon DRA-685 has a pair of "preamp out/main amp in" jacks, just perfect for my outboard equalizer without my having to tie up the tape monitoring jacks. And it has a tone-defeat button for assuring flattest possible frequency response (save for a one-time-only setting of the outboard equalizer that I utilize for accomodating room acoustics).

The tuner is very sensitive (using just a self-powered indoor antenna), with excellent stereo separation and negligible noise/hiss. Up to 18 separate FM and AM stations can easily be preset and recalled using the buttons provided. Tape-monitoring controls are flexible and straightforward. (I happen to use mine for CD burning of "air checks" off the FM tuner, where the functionality is equally straightforward.) The unit has the usual array of inputs and outputs, as well as a few unusual ones.

Among the unusal ones: Not only is there provision for two sets of speakers, but there is also provision for sending separate signals to these two: It is (or at least seems to be) simple and straightforward to hear signals from CD in one room and tuner in another. This is a feature that I have yet to try.

Also among the unusual ones: Another feature I have yet to try is the unit's ability to feed both audio AND video signals to a video monitor/speaker system, from either a TV or DBS tuner or a DVD player. (Keep in mind, though, that this is not a surround-sound system; just two-channel stereo.) These are just a few of the ways I have yet to grow into the full capabilities of the Denon DRA-685.

Two-channel hardware of this level of performance and quality is increasingly hard to come by these days, what with surround-sound receivers of lesser performance and quality crowding out the market, lest one go to a high-end audio salon and spend a bunch more than for what this Denon unit retails. I've been only delighted since the first day I brought it home, hooked it up, and listened. And that was, as I earlier noted, nearly two years ago.

If you're like me (which is to say that best possible stereo sound is your objective), this is a receiver that will serve your needs and then some for years to come.

Bob Zeidler

Buy Denon DRA-685 Multi-Source/Multi-Zone AM/FM Stereo Receiver Now

As a caveat to prospective shoppers of what is one of the high end and costlier brands. Denon had me on a merry chase to get a remote control for an audio product. They have outsourced the parts department to Hermann's in Florida."Sorry sir,your item is discontinued,you would need to buy the whole receiver to get the compatible remote for your deck." Huh? This has a baloney flavor to me that I really do not like. Their HQ didnt seem to know much,frankly. My suggestion is to check out the high end models from Pioneer, Sony and JVC. They make accessories and parts avaiable directly and easily from the company. And no baloney. This is a competitive market and there are goodies aplenty such as inputs and outputs and circuitry goodies to shop for. (Unless the cachet factor is vital to you. In which event, good luck and don't forget the B and W speakers from UK.) Good luck and aloha. Gerry

Yamaha MCX-1000 MusicCAST Digital Audio Server

• 80 GB server supports wireless music transmission to anywhere in the home
• Communicates with MCX-A10 digital audio clients
• Functions as high-quality CD recorder with CD-R/RW compatibility
• CD-MP3 playback for high-quality music compilations
• Built-in CD recognition database and easy-to-use graphical interface

I bought one of the MusicCast systems as soon as it was available (after drooling over it at a couple of trade shows). The first thing I did was upgrade the harddrive to 200GB. Required a trip by my dealer to my house, but it gave me much more capacity. The interface is very intuitive. It's very fast at copying from cd to the internal disk. In the background, it converts from PCM to whatever MP3 compression level you've set for default (I always use 320KB). You can remove the PCM version to save space (I keep it for critical listening stuff, but my wife doesn't care, so her PCM's are deleted immediately :-) I have a couple of the MCX-A10 terminals scattered around the house. I've had them connect through ethernet and wireless and seems to work fine for both. Yamaha just released a software update that allows access to the MusicCast database through a web browser. This makes it very easy to fix titles, artists, etc. (You can plug a keyboard into the MusicCast, but it requires powering down which is too much trouble for me). I have to say that the most annoying thing about the MusicCast is the GraceNote CDDB database. Yamaha's implementation is great. The CDDB database is a mess. Album titles are inconistent, misspelled, etc. That's why having the browser editing is such a big deal to me. The best endorsement I can give is that my wife really likes the MusicCast. She was sceptical, but after seeing how it works and being able to browse her music, she's sold. Highly recommended for anyone who just wants to be able to enjoy their music without having to deal with PC's.

Buy Yamaha MCX-1000 MusicCAST Digital Audio Server Now

I purchased the MCX 1000 Server and 2 Clients over a year ago. They have far exceeded my expectations. When I inquired about upgrading the hard disk, the cost was absurdly high. I checked with Yamaha and with Seagate (who make the drives for the Server) and then purchased a 300GB Seagate Barracuda ATA Drive. I now have over 350 classical CDs recorded in full PCM (That is how I play them over my Hi-Fi equipment and on one client). I have upgraded each of the clients by connecting to small amplifiers and bookshelf speakers. The fidelity is consistently high and bright in eith PCM or Mp3 modes. When combined with a Yamaha RX600 Receiver and speakers and a Yamaha Subwoofer, they deliver a highly respectable performance. When played through my higher-end A/V system, the sound is as good as any CD played on a higher end CD player. Bravo. Reservations: As others have mentioned, the Gracenote CDDB is remarkably inconsistent (especially with classical recording). The PS2 connection allows editing with a keyboard and with the correct connection you can edit on a PC.

Phase II: Just purchased a 750GB Hard Drive and will have Yamaha upgrade the MCX-1000. It currently contains 450 CDs in full PCM. I hope to increase this substantially. I now have it networked to three additional systems in my home. PCM by wireless on my main Hi-Fi (music only) system is excellent, with very litlle loss of signal or dynamic range. This remains a marvelous product.

Read Best Reviews of Yamaha MCX-1000 MusicCAST Digital Audio Server Here

My MusicCAST becomes more of a friend to my music collection every day. Instead of begrudgingly digging for a CD and waiting for the CD changer to find the CD and song, I just scroll through the list and select the music I want to hear. The shuffle play is amazing: by artist, album, the entire collection all without the slow, clunking and grinding noise like a changer! As with others, I upgraded the hard disk drive so I have the full quality CD stored instead of MP3 format. I even found a guy on eBay that can copy the music so I didn't have to reload all 500 of my CDs.

Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera (Violet)

Amazon is obviously filled with fake reviews from either fanboys or competing company employes. I bought this camera, and even reviewed it, compared it to other cameras like the Kodak zi8 (search google for "letsfindjesus bloggie" to find videos of my review). The Sony is the best under $200 camcorder on the market. Its auto focus is quick, the colors are rich and accurate, and the mono mic actually sounds good. It has a built in usb plug (which is also used to charge) and pretty good face detection. The still camera (unlike the pocket cams) actually takes decent 5 megapixel photos. It has a playback speaker which is loud enough. The 5X optical zoom is smooth, and the digital zoom is well... a digital zoom. Bottom line, for the price the picture quality and build is mighty good.

There is some negatives, I listed them below, none are deal breaking.. more of a wish list. The biggest feature missing for me is Steady Shot (image stabilization) on the 1080p and 720/60 frame modes. The Kodak zi8 has this, but it looks like crap on 1080p so I guess I would rather not have this feature if the hardware is too slow to process the steady shot. Which is why im guessing Sony didnt include this feature on the higher quality modes.

Pros:

-Very acceptable video quality

-Good sounding mic

-GREAT accurate colors

-5X optical zoom

-for once a decent still camera

-quick zoom

-SD memory card capable and Memory Stick Pro Duo

-Record and upload.. its in a format that just.. Works.

-Mac and PC friendly

Cons:

-Battery lasts a little over an hour (buy an extra!)

-Steady Shot is only on 720P (30 Frames/sec) and VGA

-lens cap instead of hardware lens open/close

-mic is mono (but its not bad)

-no manual focus

-low light (like all low cost camcorders) isnt the best, and the focus is slow/struggles in low light

I bought this camera as we prepared to go on spring break. We didn't have a whole lot of time to figure things out before we left so we had to learn on the fly.

The good:

Lightweight, easy to use

Good picture quality overall

Color does shift with different light levels though

The bad:

An issue I found was with the image stabilizer. Honestly the images look better with it off. The picture is too jumpy and struggles to frame things up and focus with it on. Seems counter-intuitive but I can't explain it any other way.

The Ugly:

The Sony web site indicates the unit comes with a charger wrong

In typical Sony style the customer service agent tried to imply to me that the charger was only included if I bought it directly from Sony. The problem is that if you intend to travel and do not have a computer to hook the USB cable up to you are out of luck for charging the battery. After multiple calls to Sony pointing out their website is wrong I finally gave up and called the local Sony Style Store. The manager looked up the website info and agreed that it was wrong. He had me come by the store and gave me the charger needed to charge the battery without a computer. A huge thanks goes out to him, I hope Sony corp customer service can learn something from this.

Amazon buyers please be aware your package will not include a battery charger. It will only have the USB cable to charge the camera.

Overall:

Don't expect quality on par with a $1000+ camera. But as far as this camera goes it's pretty good and a good value

Buy Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera (Violet) Now

I bought the CM5 after trying out a couple of other HD camcorders. I just wanted a basic, easy-to-use camcorder that films in 1080p and was easy to upload to YouTube, Facebook, etc. This camera met all those requirements. It is very easy to use, takes great quality video and uploading to YouTube was a snap with the included software. I've never been a BIG fan of Sony's imaging products because they use the Memory sticks but this camcorder will accept either the Memory sticks OR SD cards. It was easy to setup. The camera has software built-in (like the Flip does) but it also comes with a more feature filled version that you can install on your computer. It transfers and uploads easily. The only drawback is that it won't stand up on its own whereas, based on the location of the flip-out USB connection, you would "think" that it should. It has froze a couple of times but not while recording, only when trying to turn it off. I had to pop the battery out and back in and it worked fine again. Certainly not a deal-breaker for me. The mic is good also despite being a mono mic. The camera has an image stabilization feature but it is NOT available at 1080p. That being said, I did not encounter too much shaking (that wasn't my fault) when filming in 1080p. Nice things about this camera vs the Flip (as that is obviously what it's trying to compete with): it films in 1080p/30fps (no Flip does that), it has removable memory (SD or Memory sticks)so you can bring along extra memory, and it has a removable battery (so you can bring along an extra battery without having to recharge it). The view screen is a little hard to see unless it's angled right at you. Other than that, I really like the camera. If you are a non-techie that wants an easy to use camera that films in 1080p, you should get this camera.

Read Best Reviews of Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera (Violet) Here

For those of you that think $200 will get you results of a $1500 video camera, you can forget that! For the price, this is an excellent camera. It's small, easy to use, starts up quickly, and takes great video. It does struggle in low light, but most cameras do. The picture looks great on my Sony 1080P TV.

A great feature the camera has is the ability to zoom while recording. Many point and shoot cameras do not allow.

As for it being 1080P. Of course it's not Blue Ray quality 1080P. But the resolution is there. It does have a sharper picture than the 720P Sony DSC-W290.

This camera is worth every penny. And this is coming from someone who installs home theaters for a living.

As for the review about the 1080P complaint. You need to learn that it's more marketing than anything. There is a difference between low cost 1080 sensors and expensive 1080 sensors. Yes it shoots great videos. No it's not as good as a high end $125,000 piece of equipment. And yes you will get better video if you spend $1500.

As for taking still images, it's your average camera phone quality. But that's what the DSLR is for.

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I purchased this camera and only tested it briefly before going on vacation to Disney World.

It performed beautifully in many sutuations, including the fireworks show. It is slow focusing in low light, but the quality of the videos, once focused, is very good. I also tested the 5MP stills and the quality was very good.

My only complaint is the screen. As with all cameras w/o an eyepiece, or even your cell phones, it is very difficult to see in sunlight. Even with the brightness up full, you must try to stand in the shade to get some idea of what is on the screen. One suggestion is to throw a towel, jacket or whatever over your head and camera, that should help. p.s. I did not try that.

The software supplied is something else. I still haven't gotten it to work correctly and video downloads will not run within the PMB program supplied. I have to use a quicktime video program to view on my PC.

However, that said, the videos play beautifully on my HD TV.

Buy a minimum of 16GB SD class 4 card and another battery and you are all set. USB charging is horrible, agonizingly slow.

Buy a charger and you will get a full charge in 90 minutes and not hours and hours that the USB hookup takes.

Enjoy! It's a fun camera.

Polaroid PRDVDPR050S DVD+R 4.7GB 120-Minute 16x Recordable DVD Disc, 50-Pack Spindle

These seem to work good so far no bad discs. all burns have had no errors. would recommend to others

These were a great value and I had no issues with any of them upon burning many dvd's. I would recommend for anything.

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Just started using these after much success using the Memorex DVD+R 16 x Cool Colors 50 pieces Wheel Cap with Handle, I haven't had an error on these and close to the end of the pack. Viewing quality and speed rate is good everytime. Highly reccommended, in my opinion.

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Why spend more when you can spend less? This product works great, but does not have the nice writing surface. But, hey, it's inexpensive.

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this is a 50 pack of polaroid dvd+r recordable dvds . i have used over half the pack with no problems . fast delivery and the best price for a 50 pack . will reorder again

Aposonic A-BR18B8-C500 8-Channel H.264 Professional CCTV Surveillance Security Camera System with 5

I was looking for a device that is able to monitor more than one location at once. So I read through this unit's overview and found it is capable of what I was planning to do. I bought four sets of DIY kits with the same DVR, one comes with 8 cameras, the other with 5 & 16 cameras. I did spent a good few hours installing these units for my customer on each locations. I love the quality, and the flexibility what i can do on this DVR. Now, my customer is able to view both 4 office locations on a single remote screen.

As far as the video quality, those CCD cameras are giving me way better and clearer images than the old CMOS ones. Now my customer, can view all the locations, and be able to monitor their offices and stores. Customer Services is beyond my expectation, great service and support. all the technician is very knowledgable and resolve the issues quick. This system can be access over the 3G mobile phone device, which is a PLUS for my customers.

Panasonic RR-QR160 IC Recorder

This is my 5th voice recorder. I started with a cheap pen, then a poorly designed olympus, then I had 2 sony units that had a great design but were buggy and dropped messages. This Panasonic is a very nice unit especially for the price. The voice quality is excellent, much better than the sony I had. The buttons could be placed better but they are very usable and I can find the record button without having to look at the unit which is important when making notes while driving. The play button should be on the side, it is too easy to accidentally press when it is in a pocket on the front. Also the sony erase button would play the message repeatedly until you pressed erase again to delete it. This was a great feature for going through notes. The Panasonic lets you press and hold then press to confirm which is OK, better than the olympus that took ten button presses to erase every recording.

Overall I like this Panasonic, especially for the price. I think I will be using it for a long time to come.

This was my frist digital recorder that I bought and I was pretty pleased. The batteries last for quite a while. The only thing I don't like is that on a manual tape recorder, you can erase part of the recording. On this one, it automatically makes a new folder everytime you record a new piece and you can't delete just part of it. But other than that, it works great.

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Altho discontinued, I just picked this unit up for under $25 brand new, and what a great value. It is designed very nicely; easy to operate, has excellent sound clarity in hq, and was very easy to master in no time. It is small and light, and will be perfect as I think of things I have to do while meandering thru my home or when driving. For the money, I really don't think you can go wrong (if you can find one).

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I have owned this product for a couple of years now. Bought it directly from Panasonic. Reproduces very good. I found it very annoying that it depletes batteries very quickly, in a couple of weeks even when disconnected. Also construction is very poor and the case lost the printed indications and color very quickly; looked beaten up in less than six months.

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Have been using this recorder for almost three years now...almost daily..and it is still kickin' butt..I especially like the five folders so I can sort out my recordings depending on content...batteries last about 4-6 months...it is very compact and easy to use...I use this recorder for my bike journal when traveling...takes a lickin' and keeps on kickin' !!!...good little recorder...plenty of memory...JM

Coby DVD525 Compact 5.1 Channel DVD Player, Black

• Delivers over 500 horizontal lines of high-resolution video
• Compact and slim design
• DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, and JPEG compatible
• Dolby Digital decoder
• Digital and analog AV outputs for home theater use /NTSC/PAL compatible

Some say a DVD player is a DVD player, well that could be true in some cases but not in this one. The Coby does what its supposed to, it plays movies but the remote looks like it was designed by a three year old, its rectangular with about 30 buttons, all the same size lined up like soldiers, all black on a black background, in other words when you pick it up you can't glance at it to perform a task and press the right button, they all look the same. FYI you can't program it to work with a universal remote. I went to their web site to get the manufactures code to try and set it up on my universal remote and they said, "use the (piece of junk) remote that came with it." Bummer

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I was really looking forward to this DVD player. However, when I turned it on to watch a movie, I actually thought I was watching a silent film. Volume up to maximum and I still couldn't hear. I watched the same movie in another DVD player, with no issue so it was definitely the DVD player. I also checked other movies in the Colby. No sound. I would definitely not recommend this product to anyone.

Panasonic DMR-E65S DVD Recorder with SD Card Slot (DVD-RAM & DVD-R)

Very happy that I got to archive my old home VHS to DVD with great results.

Great features:

This is an excellent entry-level DVD-recorder. The TV Guide feature is the reason to past over Panasonic cheaper brother the E55s which just have the VCR-plus feature. TV Guide is a simpler and free version to TiVo. It has an on-screen menu of the channels including title, time, info and the option to record. Sadly, TV Guide feature only work for antenna broadcasting and basic cable. Digital cable and satellite users might have to invest more money into a TiVo recording device (lack of component input here).

The recording quality is great, which is almost the same or lesser then the original, but never better. I transfer old VHS home video to this device and it was easy with excellent quality. Recording TV programs through the antenna is simple, but the quality depends on your reception. DVD-r is more common then DVD+r. I use XP or SP mode (1-2hrs) for VCR transfer, and LP or EP mode (4-8hrs) for TV program.

This is one of the most intelligence video devices I have own yet. There are so many option and setting to configure base on your needs. The SD card reader is a nice extra for this device. I have a Panasonic digital camera with a SD card so it is just plug and play. The manual is simple to follow and understand to figure this complex device.

The have not:

As an entry level recorder would mean this device have less of the advance input features. There are no component inputs which mean you can't recorder from higher quality image. No DV(firewire) input for newer digital camcorder. No hardrive for mix and match recording. The recorder is a 4-stars but the DVD playback is a 3.75-stars. The progressive scan has a lot of settings to customize from, but my Toshisba's DVD is a little smoother. The basic DVD-playback feature is just basic and limited. The old Toshiba has many features as zoom, slow forward, display length of the DVD, which I have yet figure/found. Slow boot time, but that is true to most recorders.

Panasonic quality is great. I have a Panasonic's HDTV for almost a year, a digital camera and they all are working fine with great results. I like Panasonic's pricing which is producing great quality for the price, but they leave out some of the more fancy features and style that Sony has that will jack up the prices. I use Verbatim's Digital Movie DVD-r at 4x and Panasonic's DVD-RAM, anything faster like 8x does not seem to work.

For the price and the not so technology enabled person, this is a great peice of equipment. It was easy to set up and use. The only thing that may be a problem is the sd slot. I used this to see a slide show of my pics from my digital camera. The picture quality was not the best, but then this was only to review and edit my pics. Putting them on a disc, the picture quality is great. I am very happy with this product.

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"U99" Error Problem.Piece of junk, one can not do anything with this machine in presence of that error code.The Machine has not been even used for any rcording-brand new and I was using Panasonic Brand DVD-Ram.

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In the year that I have had this model I have had to talk to Customer Support eight times. Not only did I have to call them to help me with a problem, I frequently had to wait a long time (over 45 minutes) to get someone on the phone. Once I was talking to someone I either had a really bad experience or a so-so experince. For the amount of technical trouble I have had with this machine, I would never buy another Panasonic product again.

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Although I have called Panasonic and gotten assistance, after 4 weeks I am still unable to get the on-screen TV Guide to work. I am technology-saavy, and even had a friend help me with the unit. No luck. Programming recording without the TV Guide is fine, but that defeats the purpose of buying this machine.

Zmodo 4CH H.264 Video DVR Security Surveillance Camera System With 4 Outdoor Night Vision IR Securi

I run a big name product surveillance system at work and comparing the two the picture is about the same. The night vision on this is very good and the little extras just set it off. You do have to pay attention when purchasing this brand because do to the fact some do not have the hard drive "4 not 5 stars", All in all I am happy with this company and will buy from them in the future.

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Wireless/Wired IP Pan/Tilt/Night Vision Internet Surveillance Camera Built-in Microphone,two-way au

I was apprehensive about this camera because it was so cheap, but I am fully satisfied by the current state of it.

I fully recommend this camera if you are confident enough to get through the setup. In fact, I just purchased a second one before starting this review.

First off, the manual is garbage. Ive built a few ikea furniture pieces before and those instructions are vastly superior.

General review: The daylit picture quality is fine for me. Color seems to be ok. Im not broadcasting a movie, just monitoring my yard. Night viewing seems fine also. Quick moving objects show blurred in infrared mode. LOL, I just got a motion alert and then got a picture of the guy mowing my lawn while writing this review. There is no daylight motion blur but in the mixed bright light/shadow area (trees and sunlight) I got an over exposed picture and could barely make out the face. Might need to knock the brightness settings down a hair. See the note in the outdoor mounting below... The infrared and glass do not play well together.

Some background: My home network is a mix of apples and linux pcs. No Windows. My wireless network is set up with MAC (address) filtering.

The camera defaults its IP address to 192.168.1.126, if you have a network on a different subnet (mine is 192.168.2.X) then you will need to either switch the network back to .1, do it on someone else's network, or use a crosscable. I hooked up to an old router I had and configured through the wired. I figured Id set everything up through the wired connection first. Hit up the address and logged in (admin, blank password). The Device ID is supposed to be the MAC address...and it is, but its not the wireless MAC address. I still dont know how to find it through their software btw. Anyways, I updated the admin password 30 second reboot occurs. Next I went through the Basic Network Settings and this is where it took a while. In fact, I still need to go back and modify this again now that its working. Since I do MAC filtering, I couldnt set it to "Obtain DHCP" yet which is what I need to go back and switch now. In order to find the MAC address, I had to set the static IP settings and then turned off MAC filtering on the router. **IMPORTANT** Reboot the camera and while it is doing its countdown, unplug the ethernet cable. It took me an hour and a half of cursing and trying different things to figure that out. At this point the camera connected to my router and I was able to check the 'status' section in the router settings to pull the MAC address. Turned filtering back on and it was good to go. I set up the "Mail Service Settings" to my gmail account. I like that you can specify multiple recievers, I send to myself and my wife but I think you can specify up to four addresses. GMAIL SMTP settings Server: , Port: 465, Protocol: TLS, Need auth: check, username: me, password: my password. You have to click set before you can test, dont forget. Moving onto the Alarm Service Settings... Im still tweaking these. Now that the camera was configured, I mounted it outside. The manual says not to, but Im not too concerned about it. Last night, the motion sensitivity was set to 8. I didnt start receiving motion alert emails until about 5am, maybe four of them. Since 8am, whoa boy. I got an email every two minutes. Its now 1:30pm and somewhere around 120 emails later. I just dropped the sensitivity down to 3. Emails are still coming at the same rate. Checking the live feed, I can see the wind is blowing tree branches and there is a lot of shadow movement in the monitored area. Also, the shadows have moved from the sun location. I think I will need to set up the scheduler in the alerts to only run motion sensing at specific times during the day. I figured email option (smartphone) was the quickest way to get alerts, but its proving to be a bit annoying with my setup. Oh well, performing as advertised.

I wanted this camera to be indetectable and that was not going to happen with the obnoxious green flashing light on the front. Two pieces of electrical tape blacked it out. When the light sensor 'activates', you can see the ring of 'infrared' LEDs around the lens but it is fairly dim and not attention grabbing.

The install CD that comes with the cam isnt necessary. The manual implies that software will be installed on your windows computer that will help you configure and view the camera. This is not the case. Looking for the wireless MAC address, I ended up (always the case with computers) going down a path seemingly unrelated to what I was doing. I ended up having to update my vmware software compiling modules etc, ugh and fired up a Windows XP VM. I ran the CD expecting to have some more intimate connection with the camera...but it was just an executable version with a modified interface than the web interface....waste of time.

If I remember, I will post an update on the outdoor durability... Its currently mounted on the underside of an overhanging roof section. Its October 2011, hopefully it lasts through winter (NJ) into 2012. If not, lesson learned I guess. ***NOTE*** I originally thought I was going to sit the camera in a window to monitor a section of my yard. It was fine for daylit viewing, but once the infrared came on, there was a nasty glare on the window that made the night viewing nearly useless. Once moved outside, the picture was fine.

Hopefully this will help anyone trying to set up the camera, I felt like a fool having spent so much time setting up such a simple device AND being computer literate. Knowing the steps above, I dont think setting up camera2 will take more than 10 minutes, and thats with the camera doing its 30 second reboot cycle after each step.

I like this camera. I bought it to monitor my dog in the basement and it does a great job. It doesn't need to have the greatest quality. It just needs to be reliable. I was able to set it up on the basement ceiling. The camera settings flip the image. When the camera is setup so the base is down, it can't point down to the floor, so the ceiling setup is the best.

The output can be viewed from any computer using a service from dyndns.com. I have two cell phones (personal and business). One is a DroidX and one is an iPhone 3G. Both phones can view the live feed from either a web browser or a free app. I use NetCamViewer on my iPhone and IPCamViewer on my Droid. The droid app has Pan and Tilt functions. The iPhone app does not, but the camera can still be controlled from the iPhone Safari browser.

There are a couple of downsides to this camera. The response to changing light is very slow and it can't handle a large gradient in the light level. This means you can essentially make the camera blind by pointing a flash light at it.

Another downside is that the audio is horrible. I haven't been able to get clear audio from the camera.

I have purchased other similar cameras that use the same shell and go for about the same price. The big difference between the cameras is the software and the input/output ports on the back. I prefer the software for this camera, but this camera puts out a low current voltage. This can be used to trigger other equipment. The output of my other camera is connected to a relay which is what I needed to get control my garage door. This was a big deal for me, but I suspect most users won't use the input/output ports on the back.

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Camera works well after a bit of a set up but with exceptions. Still cant get any remote view over the internet after numerous videos and emails. Even just local use the camera view goes out at least every half hour and has to be refreshed often. A shame because the picture is good and pan and tilt work great also the night vision is perfect. No zoom but not a big deal. If I could see this cam from work (LIKE I BOUGHT IT FOR) or didnt have to refresh so much this cam would get a five. But until then....Im being generous at a three. Only because it frustrated me. I could have bought a cheaper webcam for what Im getting now.

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This product worked for a day. After that, video stopped. Everything else worked ... wireless networking, rotate the camera from via browser controls and so on. But no video. Black screen. Returned it. Great product when it works. Recommend you order twice as many as you need; then return the bad ones!

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Works well until it get hot then it tends to reset itself and hang. Then it needs power rest to recover.

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Lexar MSDP4GB-40-664 4GB Platinum II Memory Stick Pro Duo

We have a Sony DCR-DVD610 Handycam and this memory card works great in it. No need to mess with mini dvd's when you can stick a memory card in and go. Good value here.

It works perfect. It's a great product for the price. I recommend it. No problems with my sony camera.

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The LEXAR 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo provides the same quality and construction that Sony provides. There simply are no issues with the back-up and replacement when your device needs such media. Great price and great reliabiltiy.

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I was a bit skeptical about ordering wasn't sure if it was legit but i completely retracted my thoughts i got exactly what I wanted for a great price and fast shipping. completely satisfied

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works with my sony camera..disappointed with the seller though coz i paid for it to be expedited and i think it took a week before it got delivered.

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