Ultimate Travel Kit: Neoprene Dual Pocket Zipper Case (Black), Mini HDMI Type C to HDMI Type A Cabl

Got this to go along with a Toshiba Camileo S30 camera, and it works good, a little tight but, that's good because it don't move when dropped.

I lost my gear and saw this on Amazon and liked the price. Good deal. I would recommend this to my friends.

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I only ordered this bundle for the HDTV cable for my Kodak Camera. When I got the package and opened it up. THE HDTV cable WAS NOT in the box. So upset, don't wast your time and money on this bundle!

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Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV

• 7,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
• Auto Motion Plus 240Hz
• Medi@2.0 Internet@TV - Content Service; DLNA Wireless; Content Library (2GB Flash Memory); USB 2.0 Movie
• Fast 2ms response time
• 4 HDMI — Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) (side)

PICTURE

In terms of video quality, this TV is awesome. I can't imagine how the picture could be much better.

There are some minor picture quality issues with off-angle viewing (as the CNET review states), but I think CNET exaggerates the severity -it's only noticeable to me if I'm far off center.

I haven't yet noticed any blooming effects.

Setting the "judder reduction" to 10 introduces some distortion at times, but a setting of 6 smoothes out motion well without noticeable distortion. However, this varies a bit with different source material. When viewing video files via DLNA that have a lower frame rate, the judder reduction setting can sometimes make things worse. But this is easy to turn off/on by source.

The color level seemed slightly off initially, even with CNET's recommended settings. For example, sometimes a blue sky would look slightly purple (i.e., too much red). But this was easily adjusted in the picture settings.

AUDIO

I don't use the TV's audio, since I have an external speaker setup. However, the TV's audio seemed a bit bland when I tried it.

Unfortunately, digital audio output from the TV does not pass through multi-channel audio from HDMI inputs. You need to run extra digital audio cables from your DVD player and other components to your AV receiver if you'd like Dolby Digital or DTS sound.

ENERGY

I measured the electricity usage at 110-115 watts (energy saving mode at "auto", volume off, picture adjusted per CNET recommendation). Setting energy saving mode to auto doesn't seem to hurt the picture quality at all.

This is very energy efficient -it uses less power than my old 32" CRT TV. I'm amazed at how little heat I can feel coming from the back of the set.

REMOTE

If you have a universal learning remote, it will not be able to learn from the RF remote that comes with this TV (i.e., since standard remotes are IR rather than RF). However, I called Samsung and they sent me a compatible IR remote, free of charge. With that remote, I was able to program my universal learning remote. Ask for remote BN59-00851A.

BUILD QUALITY

One small build quality issue that I encountered: the plastic at the base of my TV extended a bit too far, making it impossible to fit it into the stand. I had to carve away some of the plastic in the slots of the stand just to get it to fit, which made me a bit uneasy. But other than that, the build quality is fine.

MEDIA FEATURES

Viewing video files via DLNA works well, for the file types that are supported. Although I've encountered many files that the TV doesn't play for one reason or another, the ones that it does play work well. I regularly stream 1080p video files from my PC, and the picture looks perfect (with wired Ethernet).

The TV has a variety of Internet and media features. But unfortunately there are lots of quality issues such as:

1. When playing video files through USB, DLNA, or Internet features, most TV controls are disabled. While you can adjust basic picture settings, you can't choose 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios. In playing NTSC video (i.e., any video that came from standard def TV, home movies, etc) from USB or DLNA, the aspect ratio is *always wrong*: 16:9 video is always squeezed too thin and 4:3 video is always stretched too fat.

2. There is no fast forward, rewind, or chapter advance when playing video clips or movies. This is true of playing YouTube videos as well. Although there is a "skip" feature where you can jump in increments (e.g., 10 seconds), this is only available for some video files (most don't support this, in my experience).

3. As the CNET review stated, the Yahoo widgets are extremely slow to start. Note that this has nothing to do with your Internet speed, since I have a 25 Mbit Internet service with wired Ethernet to the TV and it's still painfully slow. I have an HD TiVo with a lot of the same features as the Yahoo widgets, and that is far more enjoyable to use. But the one area where the Yahoo widgets outperformed TiVo was YouTube -the Yahoo YouTube widget can play HD video clips as HD but TiVo plays them as SD.

4. If a media file played through DLNA (and I assume USB) has multiple audio channels, there is no way to choose which audio to play along with the video.

5. Does not support DTS audio.

I assume that these problems exist with all Samsung TVs with the Media 2.0 feature. Perhaps these problems will be fixed in a future software update. If so, I'll post an update (*** still no fixes to these issues as of 5/9/10 ***).

Buy Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV Now

I have had this TV set up for 3 weeks now. Opinion:

Setup

Very simple, the packing box has removable plastic clips that allow you to slide the whole cover off. No annoying heavy staples. You can save the whole box with the reusable clips for moving the TV in the future. Took 2 people to safely lift the TV out of the styrofoam and lay it on the bed. About 15 screws later and the base is on. Pretty simple. The TV with base installed is about half the weight of my 32 inch Trinitron CRT.

Style

The black bevel with clear glass-like edging and brushed metal base is very attractive. When the TV is on there is a subtle blue glow on the bottom of the TV which is pleasant, but you can turn it off if you want. The base allows you to rotate the TV about 30 degrees each way which is a nice feature. The 1.6" thickness is a big wow factor.

Features

Extensive menu features for tweaking the picture. You can tweak the Auto Motion Plus (AMP) very precisely to your liking. You can change the colorspace settings extensively: you can modify each of the RGBCMY colors. For each input the TV remembers each of your calibrations. This is a nice feature. There is a "game mode" which minimizes input lag.

Picture quality

Totally depends on the source material. 1080i video from my comcast DVR looks amazing for certain programing. Vibrant colors, deep blacks. My favorite show to watch now is Glee because it really shows what the TV is capable of (my wife got me watching this...). I do not yet have a blue ray player, so I cannot comment on how this might look. I was impressed with the blue ray quality in the store.

One thing about movies on an LCD screen: all movies are filmed in 24 fps. First generation LCD screens that display at 60 fps always had difficulty with movies because they had to get 24 frames to fit onto a 60 Hz display. This results in judder, most noticeable during pans or smooth motion on the screen. This TV has the AMP capability to interpolate the extra frames to show smooth motion. But the problem is that if you crank the AMP settings all the way up you get a strange looking picture: movies start to look like amateur filmed video. You really have to see it to know what I'm talking about, but it is really annoying. There are 2 parts of the AMP setting: blur reduction and judder reduction. The JR is what gives the soap opera effect. So, for movies I leave the blur reduction all the way up, but put the JR at 0. There is still judder in the movie, but it is far less annoying than the soap opera effect. Oh and regarding the AMP: it is a very useful feature you are watching a reality TV show or live action sports. I crank it all the way up and the picture looks awesome. For almost all other sources I use BR/JR of 10/0.

I am very pleased with how DVDs look upscaled. Pretty amazing that such a good picture can be made from a 480i source. Regular def video from the cable box looks pretty good. The TV has such high clarity that all the digital artifacts that come through the cable box are clearly visible. Playing the XBox on the 46B8500 is awesome. No noticeable input lag here. Very engaging experience.

Color

On this TV seem to be very accurate, although I am no spectrophotometer-wielding color expert. I like my white point a little bluer than most, so I started with the "Standard" setting and put the colorspace to "Native." I backed off on he green a smidge because the bowl game grass looked too green. Skin tones look very good, awesome on some sources. If you like warmer whites you can change your colorspace to warm1 or warm2. I briefly considered professional calibration, but I am satisfied with the colors as they are set now.

Regarding the blacks

They are so deep that when watching a letterboxed video or a 4:3 video with black sidebars, the bevel is the exact same level of black. Depending on how you have your settings, the LEDs on the black part of the screen are totally off. I cannot see how the blacks could possibly be any deeper.

The factory default settings for contrast are too high 95/100 on standard. This results in occasionally noted blooming on the TV really only noticed with one or two bright objects on a completely black background. Turning the contrast down to 80-85 minimized the blooming.

Viewing Angle

At first I thought cnet's description of the poor off angle viewing experience was overstated, but I somewhat concede the point. Once you get out of the sweet spot about 5 people wide at 6 feet, the picture quality suffers. The picture gets washed out and blacks lighten up to the level of some of a traditional CCFL LCD or worse. Blooming becomes much more noticeable. While you still can technically view the image, the experience is not nearly as rich. This means you can't have like 12 guys over to watch the big game if you are gonna sit close to the TV.

There is a reflective screen. If you have windows behind you, you may notice them during dark scenes. I have no windows behind the couch, but do have a ton of light in the room. I see no reflections at all sitting in front of the TV during the day.

Sound

Abysmal. Immediately turned it off. If you are buying a TV this expensive, you will almost certainly have external speakers. The 18 year old $100 Sony floor speakers I have with an old receiver fit the bill. Don't buy this TV for the sound. The speakers face backwards and sound tinny and hollow, no bass. With a 1.6 inch thick TV you cant really expect too much.

Extra Features

Just as mentioned on previous posts, the yahoo widgets are really too slow to be useful. If you want to know the weather, watch youtube, or browse stocks, go to your computer. If you absolutely have to watch youtube on the big screen, it technically does the job but very slowly.

Overall

I still feel like this is the best LCD that you can buy right now. With the right source, PQ is amazing. I researched for months and visited numerous stores to narrow down my choices. If your TV is going in a bright room, this TV is likely the one for you. If you are looking for a mancave TV for tons of darkroom movies, then a high end plasma might be better and cheaper.

B

Read Best Reviews of Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV Here

~*~Updated 01/20/10~*~

Samsung has decided to discontinue the 8 Series (Website has completely wiped them out). Couple of reasons for this is due to the fact that since not many people knew about the 8 series (more importantly this 8500 set), they were losing money off of something no one was buying. Another reason, is because they are now putting the majority of their 'eggs in 1 basket'. That 'Basket' being the new 3D Technology. Which leads me to believe that the next line of Samsungs are NOT going to have as much focus & emphasis on picture quality such as this 8500 HDTV, but more focus & emphasis on the 3D Technology. One supporting fact: Samsung has yet to deny the possibility that NONE of the 2010 models will have Local Dimming which is one of the reasons why this 8500 set is (and still is) the best LED/LCD on the market today. Instead all of the new 2010 models will go back to Edge-Lit LED backlighting, which is a step backwards.

My advice? We all know this new 3D Technology is not going to be the best the 1st time around and within a year or 2 years that 'new' 3D HDTV will then become outdated. This 8500 set is the Best LCD/LED HDTV out there and through the trail and errors of the new 3D technology, this 8500 will still be an HDTV to reckon with. If you see it at a good price, buy it before there's no more.

~*~

For the past decade, there has always been one thing that Plasmas could do that LCD just couldn't even touch = Contrast Ratio & Black Levels. Up until now LCDs always had a hard time producing deep-dark black levels and the consumers are left with pixilated 'inky' 'blochy' black marks across the screen during a dark or night scene. But not anymore...

The Samsung UN46B8500 46-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV is the BEST LED-based LCD HDTV out on the Market today, period. And what makes this HDTV stand out from the rest?

The use of LED Local Dimming Backlight Technology Before, the Samsung LED HDTV used 'Edge-Lit' technology where the backlights were located on the Edge of the Screen which is why some HDTVs had a distracting light effect on the edges of the HDTV (aka Halo Effect). And also had trouble producing deep black levels because the backlights were naturally too far from the source (located on the edges of the screen).

With the use of LED local dimming backlight technology, the backlight is actually throughout the screen (not just at the Edges) and can turn off independently from one another during black scenes; making it the best LED-based LCD to produce the deepest black levels ever. Yes, even compared to the Plasma powerhouse Kuro by Pioneer. Never before has an LED-based LCD HDTV even come close to a Kuro plasma HDTV.

Pros

Local Dimming Backlight Technology = Deeper black levels than any HDTV available

120hz/240hz + Adjustable dejudder Feature (Not seen in a majority of 120hz/240hz HDTVs)

Reduced "Blooming Effect" compared with other local dimming LED-based LCDs

Internet Widgets (Including Yahoo, Youtube, Weather, etc.)

Extremely energy efficient compared to any other HDTV

The style is very Neutral and extremely thin = 1.6-inch deep panel

Intense Adjustable Picture Controls

Cons

Price is a little discouraging (But when you think about it, this HDTV is about 5 6yrs Future Proof)

Poor off-angle viewing (This has always plagued both Plasmas and LCDs)

I've waiting for a long time to get another HDTV and I can honestly say the wait is now over. It maybe a little pricey but for what you're getting this HDTV offers a lot and has features that not many LED-Based LCDs have right now. To put it in short (& agrees with me): This is the BEST LED-based LCD HDTV out on the Market (right now)

No question, Invest and Buy it!

V_O_R

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Some have suggested that the RF remote makes using a universal remote impossible, not true. This TV comes with two remotes, the main remote is RF, the mini remote is IR. My IR STB cable remote instantly recognized and operated the TV since it was already programmed for my older model Samsung TV. As long as your universal remote accepts company codes to work you will be fine (it is only the universal remotes that require you pointing one remote at the other to program, that will require you to get your hands on a 7 series remote).

As for the TV, like the other reviews, the picture quality is stunning. The off angle viewing is not bad by any means, sure there is a sweet spot, but I assure you that unless you are replacing a top of the line TV with the purchase of this TV, the off angle image of your new UN46B8500 will most likely be better than any sweet spot DLP or older model HDTV image that you may be replacing. The only thing that makes the off viewing drop in contrast noticeable is that the TVs picture is so incredible that you tend to notice going from awesome to good. But this does not happen one seat cushion to the next, I only see it when I stand significantly to the side (but the TV stand has a swivel, so if you have a Super Bowl Party and people are strewn across your room, you can easily find the best angle to place the TV).

The sound is on par with my old Samsung DLP, the only problem is that the speakers are back facing, so I feel like I am blasting sound at my neighbors (I live in an apartment).

The one drawback for me is the reflective nature of the TV, however, I am sure I will get used to it (as I did with my laptop), and reflections are only noticeable when the scene you are watching is really dark, and the room is light. However, as many will contend, there is no way to block reflections only defuse them, so matte style TVs actually wash out the reflection and in turn the picture quality (+1 point reflective screen).

Bottom line this TV will not disappoint. But get the best price for it you can, trust me.

My UN46B8500 arrived on schedule on 12/3/2009 via Pilot and was set-up immediately. Great people, by the way. It replaced a Samsung LN-T4061F.

I purchased the Samsung Wireless LAN Adapter (WIS09ABGN) at the same time.

Location: It is located in a sunroom with 14 windows so there is a lot of light during the day. Since it did not have a matte screen like the LN-T4061F I was worried that the UN46 would have real problems with ambient light and reflections. Yes, there are significant reflections when the TV is off. When it is on, the reflections are pretty much unnoticeable, at least to me.

Calibration: I calibrated it using the CNET recommendations and then modified the following ones based on my preferences:

Mode: Standard

Sharpness: 46

Color: 45

Color Tone: Normal

Automotion Pro240Hz: Custom

Judder Reduction: 2

I am basically pleased with these settings.

Picture: Excellent. Much better than the LN-T4061F which I thought was very good. Blacks are really black and I see no issues with action scenes. I will say that some network shows (CSI & Criminal Minds, as examples) appear a bit dark overall. Football games, golf and other shows, like local news, appear to be correctly lit, however. I'd love some suggestions as to why the variation and what I might do to correct it!

Sound: Yes, it is lousy but I don't use it except when I am watching something using the Wireless LAN.

Samsung Wireless LAN Adapter (WIS09ABGN): The instructions are lousy, really lousy. But, it works. I installed the updated version of Samsung PC Share Manager on my laptop and then plugged in the adaptor. Using "Source" the TV found the LAN adaptor and my network automatically. I had to manually connect to my WEP encrypted "g" wireless network which involved typing in the key. No problems. It worked perfectly.

Internet@: So far I rate it pretty much useless but I haven't tried Netflex or any other download. Widgets are slow.

Samsung PC Share Manager: Really poor instructions. I worked a long time before I figured out you had to share "Folders" and not individual files. After that it worked like a charm. I could view pictures, home-shot videos and downloaded TV shows. I have not done any music and have not figured out whether it is possible to transmit something playing on my computer screen to the TV without "playing the file" using PC Share Manager. So far, every file I have tried to play has worked flawlessly as long as it is in an approved format (i.e., jpg) and is in a folder. Pause will work but, so far, skip ahead/back has not. Apparently you can transfer files to the TV's memory but I haven't figured that out and there are no instructions that I have found.

Remote: After about 4 days my remote stopped working. Trouble shooting instructions in the manual didn't help but I did find the answer at the Samsung website but it wasn't easy. I use the remote only to operate the widgets, the LAN Adaptor and to change Menu and Tools settings.

Signal source: I have Dish Network HDDVR with an external antenna attached for added flexibility. The Dish remote worked the TV with no changes from the setting used to operate the LN-T4061F which was nice.

All-in-all, I love it!

Q-See QSWBMC 2.4GHz Wireless Color Night Vision Camera w/ Motion Sensor (PIR)

I have used these cameras since my first daughter was born in 2005. I have had them installed in five different houses and they are still working great.

I loved it when I only had one camera. It works great! Now that I have two cameras (one in each room)on scan mode when it switches from one to the other theres a little scratching static sound. Just enough to be annoying, but liveable. I never tried any other monitors, so I can't say if it would always happen.

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I bought the Qsee baby monitor at costco (it came with ine camera) so i purchased another camera to put in the toy room. This is a great set up because you can add up to 3 cameras and hook it up to your tv and it scrolls between all the camera you have hooked up. a must for busy mothers

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Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical

By many measures Sony DCR-HC42 isn't the best camcorder in its class, but it strikes a good balance for many intended buyers. For instance, similarly priced Panasonic camcorder records more vibrant images. Canon's similarly priced camcorder performs better under lower lighting situation. But it has few nice features that separate DCR-HC42 from these camcorders, particularly if you like widescreen composition.

Let's examine its pros and cons.

Pros:

Excellent form factor, among the smallest and lightest camcorders in its price range.

Excellent DV Widescreen support, including great widescreen LCD.

Long battery life (nearly 2 hours in continuous shooting with LCD backlight turned off, about an hour in demanding situations). Optional batteries offer longer battery life.

Included docking station makes it easier to connect to computer or TV.

Very good outdoor performance.

Automatic settings work well.

Built-in lens cover.

Cons:

Optical zoom is only 12X, which is inexcusable considering lower-end DCR-HC32 goes up to 20X.

Proprietary accessory shoes for attaching accessories such as microphones and light. These accessories aren't cheap.

No headphones jack for monitoring audio recording.

Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click "beep" sound).

Not so good low light performance.

Most functions require you to access touch screen LCD.

Touch screen menu system can be complicated to use.

So-so digital camera image stills quality.

Compared to lower-end DCR-HC32, DCR-HC42 adds many features in an attempt to justify higher cost, including DV Widescreen, widescreen LCD (LCD backlight can be turned off to conserve power), color viewfinder, noticeably superior CCD for better image quality, accessory shoe that powers external microphone and lighting attachments, and higher resolution megapixel still camera. If widescreen does not interest you, DCR-HC32 may be a better buy.

DCR-HC42's most obvious gimmick is widescreen. If you have HDTV set, this is the low-end camcorder for you. As of now, Sony is the only big name manufacturer that includes widescreen LCD, which while not necessary to capture DV Widescreen, helps the experience immensely. Many camcorders with conventional 4x3 LCD do in fact record DV Widescreen as well as standard DV but LCD will have either black bars on top and bottom or worse, squeezed to accommodate wider images onto narrower frame. It is worth noting that while DV Widescreen increases horizontal resolution, it does so at the expense of vertical resolution. DCR-HC42 has real-life DV resolution of about 400x300 and DV Widescreen resolution of about 450x250. But this is still better than "fake" widescreen DV camcorders such as DCR-HC32, which records widescreen composition onto 4x3 frames, which decreases vertical resolution without increasing horizontal resolution.

Taking DCR-HC42 out of the box, I was surprised how small and light the camcorder was. My previous camcorder was bulky Hi8 model, and while I have played with many MiniDV camcorders at the store, its size still surprised me a bit. Recording a long footage without the use of tripod, I appreciated every ounce that DCR-HC42 sheds from heavier models.

Recording indoor in lazy afternoon, I was disappointed by recorded footage at first. But tinkering with the camcorder taught me a trick that cleans up noisy low-light images immensely the back light feature. This feature is designed to brighten up the subject set against brightly lit background (e.g., a person standing before sunrise) but significantly cleans up noise under indoor situation as well. Some footage takes on much smoother appearance with this feature turned on (helped further by using other features).

One of my biggest pet peeves is touch screen menu system. While personalized menu feature helps immensely (in which you can assign up to 28 frequently accessed features available within few clicks), I much prefer using physical buttons. Features such as tweaking exposure, adjusting focus, selecting automatic exposure, and adjusting white balance require using touch screen menu system. Thankfully, very frequently used features, such as enabling fully automatic mode (called "EASY" mode), previously discussed back light feature, and zoom are physical controls.

The main reason to choose MiniDV over other formats (e.g., DVD, MicroMV), is because the format is computer friendly. Using light weight compression algorithm (similar to MJPEG), DV format offers minimal digital artifacts and is highly suitable for linear editing. Before connecting the camcorder to computer, invest in FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394) cable. This cable, along with FireWire connector on your computer, is necessary to edit DV footage on your computer with zero loss in quality. Windows XP includes Windows Movie Maker 2 which is good video editing software and works well with DCR-HC42. Sony includes video editing software, too, but it is pretty limited with many usability issues. If you are using Windows XP, stick with Windows Movie Maker. Macintosh users have even better tool at their disposal, iMovie HD, part of iLife `05. iMovie HD supports DV Widescreen, which lets you work with widescreen footage directly. Using this software, I was able to cut fairly well edited home movie.

All in all, DCR-HC42 is a good camcorder for point and shoot crowd, and particularly appealing to those with widescreen TV set. Its touch screen menu system may detract some buyers, but the Easy mode works pretty well for "set and forget it" crowd. More advanced users will have to put up with touch screen menu, but it wasn't so bad once I got use to it. If you record lots of footage under low light situation, this isn't the best camcorder for you. DCR-HC42 shines under bright outdoor.

I bought this camcorder about a month ago and have used it for recording nearly 4 hours of video so far.

Things that I like most about this camcoreder are

1) Image stability

2) Image Quality (Both Video and Still)

3) widescreen mode (40' angle for widescreen capture)

you loose tiny bit of resolution in wide screen still images

4) handling and portability

all the manual conttols are well arranged

smaller size allows easy portability

5) Battery life (I got almost 1hr 30 mins each time)

6) Touch Screen Menu (I wonder why some found it difficult)

7) Ease of use

8) Docking station

9) Still Image modes

exposure bracketing (three photos taken at various exposure)

normal burst mode (three photos taken consecutively)

10) LCD/viewfinder (2.7" Widescreen LCD screen)

it doesn't solarize like others when viewed from an angle

both LCD screen and viewfinder in color and 123K resolution

Areas where this camcorder lags behind

1) Low light performance

2) Scan rate (it should be 24P)

3) Optical zoom (It offers only 12x optical zoom)

while DCR HC32/21 offers 20X optical zoom

Overall

This camcorder is good for

1) Point and shoot users

2) Techno freaks

3) Outdoor video

4) Indoor video with decent lights

5) If you own a SONY laptop (ease of capturing movies and image)

Recommended Accessories

1) Tripod (set it up and operate camera from far using remote)

2) External flash (Very useful, can be attached on top)

3) Additional battery

If you want to capture more than 1 hr video w/o recharging

If using external flash

Buy Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Now

This is one of the best camcorders in the market today and I would definitely recommend it to anyone planning to buy a Mini-DV camcorder

Positive factors:

Very small and easy to hold with one hand. Can be easily attached even to a mini-tripod with ease.

Excellent widescreen video and hi-fi audio. Your videos finally get that "Hollywood" feel when you shoot movies in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format). Even if you don't have a widescreen TV currently, you will very soon have one as more and more people are buying them. So its better to buy this camcorder and shoot in 16:9 format to enjoy your movies later in widescreen format.

Includes widescreen rotatable LCD so what you see is what you get when you shoot in 16:9 ratio (widescreen format)

Good battery life. One extra battery is enough. You can easily manage a day's worth of shooting with two batteries before recharging them again

Includes docking station making it easier to connect to computer or TV. If you have a good computer with a firewire port, please buy a firewire cable to connect the camcorder to your computer. You can download your movie in excellent clarity in .avi format and edit it as required

Make sure to change the audio setting to 16 bit (instead of the default 12 bit) for very good hi-fi audio

Touchscreen menu system is great. You don't have to search for any buttons as they are all available in the touchscreen menu itself.

12X optical zoom is more than sufficient for ordinary home videos. Anything more produces more "shaking" and would necessiate the use of a tripod. When you shoot without a tripod, 12X is the best zoom you can achieve without worrying about shaky videos

1 MP widescreen still photo. You can use this feature if you forgot to bring your digital camera. The photo clarity is not good so please don't expect great shots. Since the photo is in 16:9 format, you can take panoramic photos and cover more people in group shots

Nightshot: Cool feature that records using infrared light. Useful for shooting at night as you can record a video even in 100% darkness

Color widescreen viewfinder Very useful when you are running down on batteries and need to use the viewfinder. The color widescreen viewfinder gives an excellent picture and is as good as the LCD in clarity

Negative factors:

Outdoor videos especially in bright sunlight are overexposed. So please adjust the white balance when shooting outdoors. Add the white-balance menu to your shortcuts so that you can easily access it and return to default once you start shooting indoors

Sensitive microphone may pick up button clicks (best to turn off the button click "beep" sound).

Notes:

Use a fresh cassette after recording 2 or 3 times on the same cassette. The head tends to get dirty if you re-record on the same cassette more than 3 times

You can edit movies in Windowx XP using Windows Movie Maker, but beware it does not support 16:9 ratio video. Hence your videos look ugly as you shot them in 16:9 but Movie Maker converted it to 4:3. Invest in Pinnacle Software version 9 or 10 for better movie editing capabilities. Pinnacle is the only software, I am aware of, that preserves teh 16:9 ratio. Even Roxio could not allow 16:9 format.

You can also invest in wide-angle lens as it gives excellent coverage

Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-HC42 1MP MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder w/12x Optical Here

After much searching for the perfectly priced, and well performing mini DV camcorder, I came back to Sony's HC42 model. I've owned a LOT of sony products over the year, and have yet to be disappointed. This is a solid camera, packing a touch screen, an upgraded lens, 12x optical zoom, and a docking station which connects your camera to the computer (via a firewire cord that YOU MUST PURCHASE separetly, it only comes with a USB cable for tranferring pictures) and is also a charging stand. It comes with some video editing software, but I would suggest Pinnacle 9 Plus, or a 3rd party if you are really into video editing. The picture quality is awesome, ease of use is great (it even has an 'EASY' mode, where high tech options disappear from the screen!). You cant go wrong at this price point. I wouldnt go for lower models, and the higher runs over 1000 bucks..this is the sweet spot. Enjoy

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I had recently bought one and returned after observing its poor low light performance. This camcorder gives exceptional quality video in outdoors. In indoors with minimum lighting, it produces below average quality video and grainy pictures even with night shot. Especially if you are planning to shoot lot of video indoors (involving kids, for family events), this is not the right camcorder to buy.

Coby MP-C7085 MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory with FM & Color Display

• Portable MP3 player with 1 GB flash memory and 1.66-inch TFT LCD display
• Supports AMV video format, MP3 and WMA audio formats, and JPEG photo format
• DRM-10 subscription service support; ID3 tagging; easy-to-use music library
• Built-in digital voice recorder; integrated FM radio with recording function
• USB 2.0 interface; measures 1.61 x 3.65 x 0.37 inches (W x H x D); 90-day warranty

With all the rave over Apple's iPod line and Microsoft's latest Zune (and every other competing big-name joining the music trend), few and far between are the daring consumers who choose to enjoy the lower-priced underdogs as the not-so-popular COBY. After owning mine for about two months now, I can say that I'm pretty darn satisfied with this product. Minus the minor delays (or freezes) every so often, it's a great buy for the price. The sound quality is pretty remarkable (depending also on brand of earphones used, mine are Phillips athletic earbuds, a highly recommended partner to accompany this device). Picture quality isn't bad, either. Another major aspect that shifted my decision to go with COBY rather than Apple (besides the incredible price for, basically, the same product minus the glamour and popularity) was the larger screen size. Apple's iPod proper has a wider screen display, albeit shorter height. Nano's screen is significantly smaller in comparison to COBY's 1.66" LCD color display. Additionally, COBY packs like a Swiss Army Knife. Whether studenting or traveling, the device comes equipped with everything the active buyer needs. The device features an FM radio, voice recorder, e-Book capability, video player, and of course, digital audio player.

My only qualm with COBY is the device's not-so-frequent, but irritating glitches. I've had to reset my device several times, and reformat it twice. On more than one occasion, (formally well-functioning) files became inexplicably encrypted and were no longer identifiable by my PC. I could neither locate the files on the device, nor add new ones (via computer only; the files were present on the player, and played normally, but would not show themselves when explored through a PC).

If you're willing to accept the small risk for a great player at an incredible price, I strongly recommend purchasing the Coby MP-C7085 MP3 Player. It may not have the celebrity of it's ipop-counterpart, but this inexspensive little gadget is well worth its penny.

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If you have money that is burning a hole in your pocket and you're picky, go ahead and get the iPod nano -otherwise this works fine.

I think by far the worst thing about iPods is their conspicuous lack of an FM tuner -which this one has. Maybe you've listened to all your music and want to listen to something else before you get back to your PC, or maybe you want to actually listen to the news or something... you can do it with this. The FM tuner works just fine. It can get poor reception at times, but what radio doesn't?

The screen resolution is not earth-shattering, but it is more than sufficient.

I say it is way worth the money, and I'd rather buy it 3 times over than pay for the overpriced glitz of an iPod.

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Maybe I'm a bit bias because this is my first mp3 player, ipod look alike. But after I received the product, all I can said is that I'm glad I didn't paid full price for it. The instruction is not very intuiative and the touch pad is not friendly. The reason I took a chance was because I couldn't find any reviews for this mp3. Save your money and buy a cheaper, different brand with the same memory.

Pros:

slim, light and small. Looks like a nano ipod. The dashboard light is bright.

Cons:

device charges via usb, not AC cable charger. Works only with windown media player 10 software. Cannot create song playlist in the device. All the songs will play in the order you sync. Touch pad needs to get use to or have the right touch. Too hard or too soft won't work. Radio is useless and don't work. Earplug is very uncomfortable and too big. The directory listing in the device is only for show to take space.

I had the device for almost a month now and so far, it is still working. Though, I haven't used it much. I haven't try the recorder and import ebook yet. Not sure about displaying pictures either. The device claims to be able to contain up to 250 songs, I only have 50 songs in mine and took half of the 1 GB memory already. So there you have it.

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Pros: Sound quality is great

Battery is ok

Screen is ok...

Ease of adding music or videos

Cons: This is a touch screen???? You need to press really hard before the player responds to the point that you would be very scared that you might crack the screen...

Dont know when it really stops charging coz sometimes, you gotta charge for 3 hours, sometimes it stops charging after an hour...but once the batt is full, it does last...

It looked nice, and to be honest it is a tidy little package with great features...but it's also faulty. Maybe I just bought one from a bad batch but post-purchase research shows I'm not the only one to have uncovered bugs. In my case, fully charged, it will play one song or two then stop of it's own accord, sometimes right in the middle of the track. Very annoying! I'm already looking for a replacement...

So unfortunately I would hesitate to recommend because of the above.

Korg KAOSSILATOR PRO Dynamic Phrase Synthesizer/Loop Recorder Bundle with 8 GB SD Card, 10-Foot MID

• KAOSS X-Y touchpad offers intuitive, realtime control. 200 sounds covering modern synth sounds such as lead and bass
• PCM samples provide dramatic drum kits and ready to rock percussion patterns. Vocoder programs deliver scintillating vocal effects
• Access up to eight of your favorite sounds instantly using the assignable Program Memory buttons
• Four Loop Record Banks each allow up to four measures of loop recording
• Gate Arpeggiator repeatedly triggers sounds in sync with the tempo. The slider controls either the gate time or gate speed

i bought this without any experience with it. i wanted something fun to experiment with. this seemed to fit the bill. and it sure did once i got a usb cord and 1/4 head phone adapter to go with it! so much fun! so happy! get one and try it! you'll love it! i have limited mobility and can play this baby with one finger! awesome!

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Mustek Dv326l Video Camera Black, 3Mp, 4Xdig

I received this camera Mustek DV326l a couple of years ago as a promotional gift from my bank, Bank of America. I didn't have a camera or the money to buy on so I was quit pleased at first to get it. And things got better from there. I have become a photographer. The camera is simple but effective. I have a large capacity chip in the little card slot in the bottom of the camera and can take literally thousands of pictures and hours of video. I bought a lite weight tripod for it for about 10 dollars that improves stability but I don't use it unless I am doing staged photos or videos. I have also used it as a webcam for my computer and can down load pictures to my computer this way or by removing the chip and downloading from it.

I joined a local photography club. I appologized for the humble little camera I have and was told that the eye of the person behind the camera is more important than the type of camera.

I could prase this camera more but I will leave off now.

Thanks

James Turner

the only thing that's a disappointment is it runs off of batteries but i geuss it doesn't matter depends on how often you use this. its a great size for small hands. for my husband it barely fits his hand. i bought this to record major events in my childrens lives so that they have the memory when they're older. love it.

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My son wanted a camcorder for Christmas. Looked at all the varieties and price points and chose the Mustek based on a large number of positive reviews. Put together a package (tripod, camera bag, and memory card) at a very reasonable price. Good value for the. money

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Panasonic Pro AG-HMC150 3CCD AVCHD 24fps Camcorder

I received my 150 a little over a week ago. Bought it because I wanted to move up to HD and get out of the tape business. It did not come with an SDHC card. Bought an 8 GB to carry me over until my 16 GB cards arrive via Amazon. I am still on the learning curve on it. Especially liked the large comfortable color view eye piece. I was also amazed by the clarity of the video play back on my 48" LCD screen. Used the three cable output first, that came with the camera( Video, Lt. Rt. Audio )

Very clear video, much clearer than my trusty old Canon GL-2 It does not come with an HDMI cable. Bought one locally and tried it. Plugged one end into the HDMI out port on the camera and the other end into the HDMI port of my TV. I was blown away by how clear it was !! The video was clearer than some of the stations I view in HD.

On playback, you are given a thumbnail of the first frame of each scene you shot when you turned the camera on. On playback, you can skip around the scenes you want to view , or delete if needed. The focus assist is another nice feature. When you use it, it momentarily zooms in on the middle of your next shot so that you can fine focus if needed.

It has many other features that I have not tried yet. On editing, bought the Pinnacle 12 Ultimate because it is set up to handle the AVHCD format and a PC with the AMD quad Phenom processor with 3 GB of RAM. Waiting for a more powerful graphics card to arrive before trying to edit in this new format. The battery that came with it is small. Would recommend buying the larger battery as soon as you can to balance it out. Right now, it feels a little out of balance because of the smaller battery. Also liked the solid magnesium body. No plastic anywhere ! Overall, I am impressed with this camera.

Panasonic AG-HMC150

I shoot weddings and I have used The HMC150, the Canon AH1.

From the beginning let me first tell you where my opinion is coming from price tag: $3500

First off, neither of these cameras are brilliant in low light. They have 1/3 imagers. I don't care if they are made of gold and there are ten of them.

1/3 imagers are too small to gather enough light, even if you attached the Hubbell telescope to them.

To put such tiny sensors in a $3500 is poor, cheap engineering especially when SLR have larger sensors, shoot HD and don't cost this much.

Who are these camera angled at?

Videographers and indie filmmakers.

As a videographer what are you most concerned with Low light.

Why? Because you cannot control lights at weddings at parties, etc. So your camera has to be able to handle it.

As an Indie filmmaker what are you most concerned with The ability to look like film. It does, with 24p and film gamma, it's about all you need. But you are paying a premium. But for me, equally important to film look as 24fps is lens choice. Here you get none. While 24fps is what is ingrained in the everyone's consciousness as what film should look like, they also don't realize that shallow depth of field and variety of lenses is too. With these camcorders you get no choice, a 13x zoom with extremely wide depth of field at most every focal distance, because it's a zoom and because the imagers are tiny.

Good news The AG-HMC150 can handle most lighting situations.

Bad news AVCHD codec, is noisy in even bright sunlight afternoons. The image is made of blotch.

Measuring image integrity by zoom factor at 100% AVCHD compression is clearly visible. 200% the image is a swarming, infected mess.

Although the Panny can holdup in low light. I shot in a dark club and there was still something to see.

It has a very weird auto iris mode, that brings in more light, even when you do exact settings in manual.

Don't know if there is a magic switch, didn't have it long enough to work everything out.

The Canon uses HDV and instead of compression codec noise, you get digital noise; unpleasant grain (not like film), and washed out video at 100%. At 200% it's like looking at a digital still from a 10 year old point and shoot. And trust me, once an image is washed out and grainy, there is very little you can do (Some gamma correction will bring the shadows back to life, but that noise is there to stay. And the drop down to SD doesn't do it any favors.

Bottom line the Canon sucks in low light, especially in anything other than auto mode. I shot in a low light room and the image was garbage. Despite some settings tweaking, which leads me to Canon's second biggest problem and a problem with these camcorders in general.

The LCD and the Viewfinder are too small to see how your image is holding up. Everything looked fabulous on the Canon's 2.7 LCD...and then when you get it back to edit. Noise city. So you can only use the LCD for just basic image checking.

The HMC150 has a 3.5 LCD, but the brilliant engineers made it a 4:3 ratio! You have black matting in the image! The camera can only shoot 16x9 and they put a 4x3 LCD on it...so in the end you only get about 2.7" of real estate and you see as much as on the Canon, unless you are in focus assist mode which zooms in and uses the whole LCD.

So you have to know your settings and be shutter/iris paranoid, hoping for the best image. What you see is not what you get, you have to know what you want, like with film and set the camera accordingly, knowing which settings will get you want in the END, not what you are looking at through the camera.

The HMC150 definitely benefits from the higher rez. The Canon is 1440x1080. You can see the difference.

The Canon is more professionally built. Both plastic, but the canon feels more professional, and weirdly the HMC feels like a Tonka Toy, hard textured plastic, but like a light and chunky toy. I can hear the optical stabilizer clunking around in it. The Canon aesthetically looks more professional.

Audio on the Canon is better, it has much better limiter, I don't even think the HMC's is useful, but if you plug one xlr mic into the Canon...the onboard becomes unusable. HMC lets you assign channels for the onboard. Bad news is the onboard mic on both sucks, the Canon sounds better because the HDV format has higher rez than the compressed AVCHD codec.

The HMC and it's tapeless/AVCHD codec does not save much time, the transcoding takes almost as long if not longer than real time (HDV tape) and sometimes there are errors, especially transferring from camera, the footage speeds up, the audio remains constant and you have shorter clips. Happened constantly. My guess, USB and it's non constant data rate. Another cheap short cut by Panasonic. The Canon has a firewire, which speed is constant, and they need it for the HDV tapes.

The HMC wins out with higher rez, native progressive imagers, resulting in two true progressive modes, 24fps, the other mode/rez are wrapped in pulldowns. The Canon's 24f, etc modes are fake and you can tell. Everything is interlaced on the Canon. I hate interlaced.

This review isn't structured very well, but I don't have the energy, since I'm so unenthusiastic about both, so they're not worth more time. But I thought I would let potential buyers know, the ones who think these two cameras are the Holy Grail. They aren't, and they aren't worth the high price tag, they are worth $2000 not a penny more. But the problem is, what else is there?

I returned the HMC, and I didn't the Canon wasn't mine, but would have returned it too.

I'm going to try the Canon SLR route. The closest thing you can get to film without shooting it.

Annoyingly these two manufacturers and Sony...are all sticking it to us. Instead of advancing things, they are taking baby steps, giving us one desired function at a time for a price.

If Canon can put a full frame sensor in their 5d II and can give it 1920x1080 30fps shooting, why can't they put that sensor in a camcorder, with a SLR interchangeable lens mount, with XLR inputs?

Because they want to sell camcorders AND slr cameras.

These camcorders are just big consumer cams. They don't have enough image improvement to warrant $2500+ more in cost. You are paying for features, limited manual adjustments, not image upgrade.

But of course I didn't have it for very long, two weeks.

I just couldn't get over the price versus video quality, and workflow.

They don't justify the price, especially when I think we are very close to getting some real breakthroughs in HD imaging.

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One thing you need to keep in mind is that editing AVCCam/AVCHD is a P.I.T.A. I'm using CS4 on a 2.4 quadcore with 8gig of RAM and Vista64 and it's sluggish with frequent lockups. I'm getting Cineform ProspectHD v4 when it comes out to compensate. Vegas 8.0c and Edius works well I'm told, and FCP need to convert it to ProRes (or whatever it's called). I think Avid needs to convert it to a native codec as well. Panasonic does offer a free converter to DVCProHD on there website

[Update 6/5/09... Premiere CS4 4.1 update is out, and editing is much easier. Also, Prospect v4 is out, and editing with the demo I've been trying has been a joy]

That said... the camera itself is awesome. Really. I'm coming from the DVX, and this is leaps and bounds above that (which is saying something). The images I'm getting are beautiful. I'm planning on going out now on my days off to shoot just for the fun of it.

I really can't add anything that hasn't been said already by others. But if you're looking at the HVX200a or HPX170 (they all share the same chips, and the HMC shares the same glass as the HPX), but don't want to deal with the costs of P2 or need all of the features of the HPX or HVX, I would HIGHLY recommend buying this instead.

Just be prepared for some editing headaches at first (the problem with bleeding edge technology is sometimes you need to get stitches).

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I knew I would have to do it sooner or later. Even shooting Super 16mm is (a) too expensive and (b) too heavy. I have seen so many good documentary films that originated on HDV or AVCHD based camcorders that I thought I should really make an effort to go digital.

As it happened, I attended a Panasonic seminar that convincingly touted the value of a modern H.264 type codec for the "filmakers" vision. So the Sony and Canon alternatives were effectively eliminated as options by the smooth presentations given by Panasonic. This left the choice of cameras down to the HMC40 (cheaper and lighter) or the HMC150. Both can do the things I need to do (24P being a requirement)and both are designed to create a "film-like" look to the image.

My choice of the HMC150 was based on the feeling that 3 1/3" imagers are going to be less noisy than the 3 1/4" imagers installed in the newer HMC40 camera. I did not do any side-by-side comparison testing but I am guessing that I am correct in this assumption although the degree of difference may not be noticeable in the final image.

It has been about two months that I have been using this camera. What it can stuff into a tiny SD memory card is amazing to me. The images have been outstanding for a television camera and really not too bad for a cinema camera. I miss interchangeable lenses and controllable depth of field but I don't miss changing the magazine after a few takes and I dont miss heavy battery packs and Nagra sound recorders.

I did find that the manual iris control on the camera is impossible to use while shooting and that manual focus is also clumsly and can create sound noise while filming if you are using the on-board mic or even the mounted shotgun. The simple solution was a Vari-zoom remote and that fixed the two biggest operational problems I had.

The camera was packed with GVG's Edius Neo. That works a treat with AVCHD and as long as you have a decent modern laptop with sufficent speed and memory, it is fast enough to operate and to render out edit files to disk or SD card. I prefer to have the final finishing completed by a real editor (probably using FCP) but I can manage the rough edits with Edius without too many problems.

So, I am not sorry. This is the first digital cinema type camera that I have purchased and it will probably be the gateway drug to a Red One or something like that. I miss film but if you are not making a feature film with multiple rented 35mm cameras (paid for by someone else), why not use a camera like the HMC150? The cost of the hardware is more than offset when compared to running a S16mm camera to create 60 minutes of finished projectable film. SD cards are cheap. Digital projectors are getting better and DI from inexpensive digital cameras to 35mm film neg is possible if the content is good enough to justify the cost.

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Much has been said, but I'll add a bit. We use this camera for live events and produced videos. Here's what we've learned in 6 months.

1) Buy the 150. We also have the 40 which does what the 150 does, but for pro use, the features are slow and cumbersome to access on the HMC40.

2) Great if you use Adobe Premier C6. Not so much if you use Final Cut Pro 7. We have both. Premier is native to AVCHD. With Final Cut, the transcoding is almost worse than tape ingestion. With Premier, you can preview the videos easily, edit them easily, and you aren't so dependent on rendering.

3) Watch the errors. We had one interview error after 45 minutes and lost it. It's the first in 7 months of usage, but we lost about $4000 worth of footage. Panasonic has a recovery tool, but it didn't work. We were using a Transcend card (cheaper) on that shoot, so we won't do that again. We'll go back to Sandisk.

4) Low light is much worse than SD, but I guess all HD is. It works for us because we light everything. Wouldn't work if you don't have lighting control.

5) We really wish it had a 20x zoom. The 13x is a compromise from our old 100A's.

We'll probably buy another one, but we're waiting to see if Cannon comes out with an SD card based HD camera.

Casio Exilim EXZ57 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

My local camera store just got their first shipment of Casio's new Exilim EX-Z57 super-slim digital camera, and I eagerly hopped over to check it out.

The EX-Z57 is a very slight upgrade (and one downgrade... read on) of the very popular EX-Z55 model. The Z55 had a 2.5" LCD screen that was considered "huge" just a year ago, but now that so many other digital cameras also sport a 2.5" LCD, Casio decided to release a 2.7" LCD model, hence the Z57. Amazingly, the overall physical size hasn't changed, and the EX-Z55's industry-leading amazing battery life (over 300 even with flash on and LCD on full-time) has been retained, making the EX-Z57 another battery life champ.

As far as I can tell -and from what the sales clerk told me -the internals of the EX-Z57 are identical to those of its immediate predecessor. This means very good image quality from such a small camera. Three important issues to keep in mind as you shop for this camera or a similarly ultracompact model:

1. The tiny lens and tiny sensor necessarily limit the sharpness of the picture. If you shoot at the maximum 5MP and print out at up to 5x7", you probably won't be disappointed by the sharpness of the picture. However, as you print larger pictures, you'll see the pictures tend to be softer and noisier than from larger cameras. This is simply a result of the law of physics, and it's a trade-off between size and quality.

2. The small camera also means a small, limited-power flash, so your indoor pictures when the ambient lighting is dim will not come out very satisfactory. Again, this is entirely due to the small form factor. If you want to use this camera to shoot a small group of friends at a dinner party, it's okay. But you should know that as you near the flash range and go beyond, you'll get horrible-looking pictures.

3. A camera this small makes it very hard to hold it steady. Many people with tiny cameras like this complain about blurry pictures. This is because as you press the shutter button, you'll move the camera ever so slightly. With a larger camera body (e.g., a digital SLR), the much heavier camera body requires more effort to hold which has the side benefit of providing a counteracting force to the shutter-pushing force. Hence, with a small camera like the EX-Z57, you must remember to hold the camera very steady as you press the shutter.

Whereas the older EX-Z55 had an optical viewfinder, Casio opted to remove it in order to accommodate the enlarged LCD screen without changing the overall size of the camera. Yes, the Z55's optical viewfinder was tiny and hard to use, but at least it was an option -and looking through the optical viewfinder instead of at the screen actually helps steady your shots because you hold the camera close to your body (think the principle of leverage). Also, when you are really low on battery, switching to optical viewfinder can squeeze out a few more shots. For a camera purish like myself, it's a pity that the optical viewfinder is no more on the Z57, but for most casual photographers (the Exilim's target audience) this will likely be a non-issue, since they probably would never use the optical vewfinder to begin with.

In summary, the Z57 provides an unbeatable small form factor yet a crowd-pleasing huge LCD screen, amazing battery life and very good image quality (for a camera this size). You can also record movies (albeit only at a stuttering 15 frames per second) as well as sound. It's very intuitive to use, and my friends who have the Z55 are all very happy with it (once I gave them the tip about holding the camera super-steady or on a tripod to avoid blurs). While I don't have money to buy another digital camera at the moment, but if I had some extra spare dough, I would definitely buy this just for the HUGE 2.7" LCD. To a gadget freak like me, it's priceless to be able to impress my friends with something this cool. :)

Well, I broke my 2 year old 3.2 megapixel digital camera about a month ago and have been researching buying a new one since. I finally decided on the z57 and I couldn't be happier. I knew I wanted a point and shoot digital and definitely wanted more than 3.2 megapixels. I narrowed my search down to the Olympus Stylus 500, the Konica Minolta x60 (my old digicam was a Minolta and I loved it so that's why I was considering buying another one) and the Nikon Coolpix S1. I only came across the Casio Exilim Z57 when I was reading reviews on when they suggested this camera, based on the reviews I was reading. I read the review about it first and the thing that really stuck out about this camera was how fast it was. I then came here on amazon and read reviews and the one thing that caught my eye was that someone said it didn't have a 'trick' flash, which means there's almost no shutter lag. My old camera had this which caused a lot of problems for people keeping their eyes open in my pictures. Since I was so used to a tiny camera, I wanted to go see this camera in person. I went in, saw it, held it and was amazed at how small it was!!! The screen is huge and it's extremely fast. One thing that turned me away from the Olympus Stylus 500 was that the shot-to-shot review was extremely poor. If I'm not mistaken, it said that if you used the flash, the shot-to-shot delay was almost 8 seconds. I know that when I'm in a situation where I want to use the flash, chances are, I want to take a picture asap and 8 seconds is a lifetime, especially if you're waiting anxiously to take another pic. I think they said on the review I read about the z57 that the shot-to-shot delay with the flash was something like 2.2 seconds. What a world of difference! The best shot selections make it easy to decide which one you want to use. I thought that after having a digicam without a protruding lens, I wouldn't like that this camera had one, but I can't even tell the difference. I think this camera is a great value (less than $300!) I've only had it for a few days and couldn't be happier. The more I keep playing with it, the more and more I love it. After doing all my research I think I made a great decision going with this camera.

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It was just a few days ago when I was sitting in the library studying when I thought about "slimming" down my technical gadgetry. After now owning a Motorola Razor and a Game Boy Micro, it was time to choose a digital camera that could in small spaces just like the two mentioned above, it was time to look for a camera that would heed my calling.

I went to the nearest Wal-Mart and I browsed around. I was searching for a camera that fit my budget. It had to have a big, yet decent LCD screen, battery life, great picture taking ability, and of course, compact size.

And there it was. The CASIO EXILIM EX-Z57. I tinkered around with it and I found that it felt nice all around.

The LCD screen was 2.7". It was great to have because when your at a club taking pictures, you would want to have people see how it looked instead of squinting to check it out.

The menus were easy to navigate and simple to understand.

The size is decent. Since this is the first slim camera I've ever owned, it does well. It may not be as thin as a SONY's, but it works for me.

I'm impressed on how there are different modes for your pictures by choosing the right size you need, and the quality. Good!

The flash is great. I'd like to say that it does not have a "trick flash." The flash bulb doesn't flicker or do strange things to make your smile or your eyes do weird impressions. It's a simple straight flash that gets things moving quickly.

Thank goodness! I dislike trick flash.

If you're looking for a camera that has great compact abilities, size, weight, and style, then this is your camera. I would recommend this brand and make to anyone who would like to buy this.

Read Best Reviews of Casio Exilim EXZ57 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Here

1) CAMERA IS COOL TO HOLD AND SHOW OFF.

however ...

2) PHOTO QUALITY IS ABYSMAL:

When I first got this camera, I was so impressed. I took pictures of Queen's Day in Amsterdam where the weather was sunny and everyone was wearing bright orange clothes. The pictures were perfect. Then, I tried taking pictures at night and they were horrible. I took pictures at daybreak and sunset using the so called amazing "best shot" setting. most of the pictures looked grainy and/or blurry.

I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, but the fact of the matter is this camera takes absolutely horrible photos anytime other than in perfect light or indoors. Outdoor photos in general are bad unless in direct sunlight and limited contrast is needed. It seemed like such a cool camera because of the screen size, but as my vacations memories are not at all captured well, the camera is about to go back into the closet or Goodwill. I would recommend people who want to take pictures more frequently than from noon to 2 pm, primarily of people, buy something else.

The screen size is great for showing off to people when you take a really great photo, but don't expect this to happen too often. A smaller screen that takes good pictures would make me a lot happier. I just came back from Prague, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and I have few good pictures.

I encourage you to read review on the other sites listed below as these Amazon posters must have posted the day they got their cameras. Mail comes during the day, when this camera actually does a good job. I suspect that if they were polled again, they would probably repeat my review.

One more thing ... While the size makes the camera very cute to use, is also impacts photo quality. Pictures can come out blury due to camera's size... must focus on holding camera steady.

HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED.

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This camera is above all, an attractive and functional point and shoot. It has the biggest LCD screen on the market. It has a solid feel and construction. You will not be dissapointed with the images until you are in low-light situations. With the less than adequate flash, any medium to low-light shot beyond 5-7 feet gets VERY noisy. Otherwise, the image quality is very typical of any compact 5 mp camera.

The EX Z57 has plenty of options for those of us who want more than snapshots. Manual ISO, white balance, and manual focus are nice. Battery life is also unbeatable.

This camera is intuitive, reliable, and an eye-catcher. I have shot over 1700 photos with no problems, with low-light being the only exception.

** the screen is not easily breakable and very scratch resistant

** you'd never use the viewfinder if it had one

Coby MP-C855 MP3 Player with 512 MB flash Memory, FM Radio & USB Drive

• Compact digital MP3 player with 512 MB of integrated flash memory
• Stores up to 8 hours of MP3 and 16 hours of WMA music; direct USB plug
• Built-in FM tuner; digital voice recorder with integrated microphone
• High-contrast LCD display; supports DRM-10 online subscription services
• Measures 3.58 x 1.1 x 0.75 inches (W x H x D); 90-day warranty

I didn't have very high expectations since this MP3 player was under $30, however it has been very reliable and easy to use. A great starter MP3 player for a teenager or someone nearly 40 like me who is finally buying one.

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As the mother of two teenage daughters I have been on the purchasing end of MP3 players. After observing their enjoyment I decided that I too needed one. The price is great and this player is really easy to operate (even for a forty-something year old mom!).

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I Brought this for my nephew, and i'm glad to report there are no problems with this player. When i first got it i was testing it out at work, where i'm located in the basement of the building, i don't even get cell phone reception down here, but i was able to pick up radio stations with little static. I also love the lcd diplay, this was i good buy.

The only thing is that it's sort of difficult to get back to the main menu when you are in fm mode.

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This is my first MP3 player, and I've had my COBY MPC855 for about 2 yrs.

The first thing I was surprised was that the sound quality was so good.

Amazing for a small device.

And the supplied earbuds are not only comfortable, they provide impressively good fidelity.

So good for music and digital FM is handy, too, works fine as do the presets and equalizer functions.

I'm a reporter, and was surprised to find that the voice recorder's quality was not only good enough to record an interview simply by placing it on the table in front of the interviewees, it was also good enough to use for a Podcast. Impressive!

Takes a little getting used to moving through the files, but after a little practice, becomes second nature.

PROS:

Nice sound, with several equalizer settings.

Great voice recording!

Does well with AAA battery.

Direct USB is very handy versus using a cable, and option to use as "jump drive" is neat.

CONS:

I've had trouble with downloaded purchased protected Windows Media tracks, can't get them to play. Otherwise I'd give this 5 stars.

Ripped tracks drag-and-drop seamlessly using Sync in Windows Media Player, couldn't be easier.

Flimsy buttons?

The back button on mine has become stuck, maybe it was my fault when I used it in rapid succession and held it down too hard.

My buttons are white and stick up from the top, doesn't look like the image on this page,so maybe it's a previous gen model?

And maybe the sound level doesn't go high enough? But plenty for my 50-yr old ears.

Other than that, no complaints, and has provided 2 yrs of great performance. For around $25, a solid starter, gift, or second MP3.

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I've had this a week and love it. It was a little hard to copy songs to it at first but once I figured it out it was very simple. I have used it for 16 hours on one battery without any problems.

mediaxpo 1,000 Black Paper CD Sleeves with Window and Flap

I've ordered 1000's of sleeves because we split it among 3 of us.

These sleeves are of heavier construction and looks much classier than

your normal 'white' tissue paper.

I ordered these sleeves to hopefully get a little more organized. They are made very sturdy. Since they are all black they will also look much more professional when I sell or give away picture CDs.

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When I look for a CD sleeve (I use hundreds of them) I want a heavy paper and the window to be made well no wrinkles or creases. Those from CheckOutStore always meet my expectations!

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I went against my better judgement and chose the little bit more expensive option for this product thinking that if it was being sold by Mediaxpo then it would be the better product. I hope this isn't the case. The paper is decent, but the plastic "window" is very cheap. If I had to buy this product over again I would strongly consider going with another brand before I bought from this seller and this version again.

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I once bought black CD envelopes (from a different company) but the plastic middle was sort of crunched. This time plastic was smooth. The envelopes is also very good quality. I'm glad I got it!

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Sony MVC-FD73 0.3MP Mavica Digital Camera w/ 10x Optical Zoom

I have used this camera extensively for over a year. I use theMavica almost exclusively for pictures at my web site. Many are shrunkfor quick download times, but you can still see the output quality.

After using the MVC-FD73 for this long there are many pros and cons that I have come up with.

Pros:

1 easy to use

2 nice LCD viewer for scrolling through previous shots

3 floppies are a very convenient reusable medium

Cons:

1 LCD viewer gets scratched easily

2 Viewer LCD hard to see in very strong outdoor light (a better camera would have an interchangeable regular viewfinder AND an LCD viewer)

3 Flash always seems too strong a lot of red eye incidents indoors

4 Has a hard time focusing in low light

5 Floppies, while convenient, are FAR too small for high res pics. Why Sony hasn't made a Zip Drive or Super Disk drive version is beyond me.

In the future I will buy another camera that clears up the problems listed above. It probably won't be a Sony since Sony's pushing proprietary media in their future digital cameras.

If you want this camera for the long haul I'd suggest doing a little more homework and being fully aware of the 5 problems I mentioned above before buying this one.

I purchased my camera (display model) when a large chain was relocating to a new store for a very good price. I had been looking for quite some time and a friend had the FD-71 and was very happy with it. So easy to use a 4th grader could immediately use. I was not looking for the features that the FD83 had as I already had a digital video camera. I really like the idea of being able to click in a floppy and start shooting and not having to hook up anything once I get home to start printing out my shots. The only disappointment to me is the low resolution. If you want to print anything larger than a 4 x 6, you loose the clarity. On a scale of 1 10, I would rate the SOny Mavica FD-73 a 9

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I purchased this camera about a month ago and still am taking pictures galore. I have read the reviews given here and I must say, I agree and disagree with some. Personally, I love the floppy disk storage. It's not hard at all to throw a few extras in just in case you need them. I love the idea of not having to use any cables or "special" programs to download my pics. I will say though, I have gotten quite a few pics. that were of poor quality (fuzzy) and then out of the blue...picture perfect. I use a photo program I bought from Walmart for $10, EZPhoto (I used it when I scanned my "old" paper photos) and I normally reduce the size of my picture A LOT to send quicker through emails. This camera does have an email feature though. Quite a few people said that you don't get a very good quality pic. for printing, but I have to say I disagree. Maybe the printer they are using is of poor quality. I have printed hundreds of pics. and everyone has enjoyed them and are so surprised they came from a print off from the digital camera. One thing that disappointed me about this camera is...for the $ you spend, you don't get a carrying case. I bought a cheap "purse" that looks like a camera case and has many compartments to carry all the extras (battery charger etc.). I spent $6 on it and it was well worth more than that. You can't tell it's even a purse. Another thing, I checked all over..stores and internet and the price of this camera does not really vary...and if there's a substantial difference in pricing somewhere..CHECK TO BE SURE YOU'RE GETTING THE BATTERY CHARGER WITH IT! I found a few places that advertised at a cheaper price and also found that the charger did not come with it...

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I have had this camera 11 months. It is very easy to handle, zoom is excellent, using ordinary discs is great, battery system fine. But very often I have been disappointed with the quality of pictures. There is simply not enough pixels. Pictures from houses for instance are good enough, from people so and so, mostly not. Near shots from flowers look little bit waxy and stiff but I have taken lots's of them. Most disappointments I have had with nature pictures, grass looks odd, too much details for such a few pixels. If I would have known this I would have choosen more pixels. Still this has been a great joy and I am hungry for a new megapixel digital camera. Before you shop try to see pictures. For e-mail and web they are OK.

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I got a Sony MVC-FD73 Mavica Digital Camera for Christmas and have used it a lot since receiving it. It is an excellent camera and I certainly would recommend it to anyone looking to purchase a Digital Camera at a reasonable price.

However, a couple of points about the camera. First, the LCD view finder gets dirty and scratched easily. There should be a cover for it when not in use. Second, it is almost impossible to see the view finder when outside in bright sunshine, making it hard to take a picture. Cannot see what you are viewing. I think it would be nice if Sony had put a regular view finder on the camera for taking outdoor pictures.

Sony digital recorder - SY-ICD-AX412

I purchased this recorder for research purposes. I had to conduct many interviews and group discussions. This recorder worked great. It picked up voices of individuals sitting at the far end of the table (when the microphone was placed in the center of the table). And the one-on-one interviews were so crisp. I highly recommend this recorder for researchers, reporters and students. And it was dependable. I taped hours and hours of interviews. The storage capacity is amazing. My only criticism would be the buttons are very loud, so if you have to pause, or stop a recording, and restart, it's very noticeable during a recording. Perhaps there is a way to silence the button tones but I have looked and looked for that feature. No luck. The volume only controls the playback.

Ooma Telo - Free Home Phone Home & Long Distance Service for Life

It appears to be working great! Phenomenal clarity and amplitude. Provided with even the slowest DSL speed, the communication quality is impeccable across the board. The only downside to this devices service, are the taxes assesed by good old Uncle Sam. These fees are minimal and shouldnt break your bank. :-) At or around $60 per year or under $5 per month. Lets face it, we wouldn't be the worlds most superior super power, if it were not for taxes.

I bought this Ooma Telo about 6 months ago it worked for about 5 months, but the last month has been terrible increasingly bad call quality, calls not ringing through to my phone and going straight to online voicemail, etc. I tried and tried through their customer service to get it fixed or get a replacement device but finally had to give up. It was a big waste of money.

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This system works with your internet connection. If you internet connection fails then the telephone system fails and must be reset,(not always quick and simple). It drops calls after a several minutes. Best feature is the voice mail and call forwarding to my cell, (upgraded service 9.99 per month) This beats the high phone bill I was paying for.

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I activated an OOMA device back when it was promised to be free for life. They deactivated my account without notice and now charging me a monthly fee to reactivate the same device. Contract is a contract and must be honored. It is a scam, beware.

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Fuhu nabi Jr. 5" Capacitive Touch Android Tablet for Kids

I bought this for my two-and-a-half year old son. At first he didn't really like it, he was easily frustrated with some of the games that came pre-loaded on it. However, I sat down with him the next day, and encouraged him to keep playing, keep solving puzzles, counting, learning his alphabets, etc.. and within the day, he was hooked. Now he loves his Nabi Jr. and I love that I can have my iPad back. His favorite games are "Beck and Bo", which I downloaded free from amazon app store, and "ABC Puzzles HD" which I only paid $1.99 for (also off the amazon app store).

PROS:

-It's rechargeable, so you're not running through batteries like crazy.

-You don't have to buy cartridges to use it like you have to do with the innotab and leap pad.

-It already comes loaded with age appropriate games/puzzles. My son loves most of them (especially the puzzles).

-Comes in handy when my kid starts getting cranky on shopping trips and having a meal at a restaurant.

-Able to connect to wifi.

-Has a Mommy/Daddy mode that's password protected (you can also access a web browser and e-mail from this mode).

-You can have different user profiles on it, so when my youngest son gets older they could technically share a nabi, but I'll probably just get him a new one since the price is so competitive, $99 is not bad at all.

-Able to download Amazon App Store. If apps are not free, they're only about $.99 $3.99. Still better than $19 cartridge for a leap pad.

-Compatible with Netflix (however, I did have to go into my Netflix settings to configure the video quality. This way, my child's TV shows and movies run smoothe on his Nabi Jr. Not really a big deal, he doesn't have complaints, and rarely watches Netflix on it anyways).

-Has a rotating camera that takes pictures as well as videos. (Just FYI: There are two plastic films over the camera which you need to take off so pictures don't look so blurred).

-Has nice grippy bumpers that work! (He's dropped it on the pavement by accident getting out of the car, thrown it purposely [though I haven't let him do that again] when he got frustrated the first time, and it survived without a a scratch).

CONS:

-While it's rechargeable, the battery life doesn't very long. Maybe 4-5 hours of non stop playing and unfortunatley it takes just as long (if not longer) to recharge it back to full power.

-After a week our nabi jr. stopped charging. I contacted Nabi through Facebook, and we figured out that it was the wall adapter/charger that stopped working. I was then told that the company couldn't send me a replacement charger because they haven't officially released the nabi jr. yet. They encouraged me to return the whole thing back to Walmart (where I bought it) or wait until it is officially released, and then fill out the necessary paperwork to get a new one. Fortunately, I had an extra wall adapter from my HTC cell phone which solved this problem for me. I read a review by another parent complaining about the same problem, and it only validated my hesitation in going with that route. Why would I return the entire tablet (which already has a good amount of new apps downloaded on it) with the broken charger just so I can get a new charger that's only going to break in another week or so anyways? Fix this Nabi.

-It comes with a fake stylus. Lol this is just so silly to me, really Nabi? You couldn't just incude it? Oh but wait, not only do you not include it, it's not even available for sale yet! In fact, most of the accessories for nabi jr. have not gone on sale yet. I wanted to buy a screen protector, no such luck. However, I did keep on screen you're supposed to peal off on. I just snipped off the little tab in which you're supposed pull it off with, and smoothed out the little air bubble. Worked out well for me, I didn't have to spend extra money, and it was already perfectly placed on while in factory).

-Nabi accessories are on the expensive side.

-The Wings Challenges app does not work yet. It says, "Coming Soon". Nabi says its supposed work on the next update, but I have no idea when that's supposed to be. It's May 2, 2013 today, and Nabi has not even given an expected date.

-The Chores List is a great idea, but you have to buy Nabi coins to award your child for completed tasks. I guess it then goes towards apps he wants? Haven't quite figured that out yet because Nabi Jr. doesn't come with an instruction booklet or a "get to know your Nabi" type pamphlet.

-Oh and it has false advertisement. On the website it says something along the lines of learn ABC's with Dora the Explorer, put on a hat parade with Kai-lan, and count with Bubble Guppies. Yeah okay, where? Nickelodeon apps are few and far between.

-Lastly, I have an issue with the free apps which have ads. Unfortunatley if your kid taps on the ad, it'll bypass Mommy/Daddy mode where they are now able to buy/download/install this new app they just tapped on. Does that make sense? This is a chink in Nabi's parental controls. I've tried talking to them about it, to see if there was a solution, but they just gave me a bunch of runaround answers, and refused to admit that this was a loophole for game developers.

Despite all the cons, my kid loves his nabi, and I've learned to keep the wifi off so he doesn't accidentally start charging things to my debit card. I'm actually very impressed with how helpful it's been as a learning tool. I watch him play on it and I can see the gears in his brain working lol. Nabi also made 5 apps free for download to help with autistic children. I think this is wonderful. It may be a marketing tool, but I still think its great they've picked a route that's mutually beneficial.

I bought two for my 3 yr old and 5 year old. It has loads of apps for learning. Amazon has pleanty more games for free! I have control over the downloads and I was able to save SpongeBob and Mario Bros videos from Youtube. I use it when the kids are asleep. My older kids play with it more than with their own ipods. It is well built and I haven't had an issue so far. I only wished it had a manual rather than going on line. I love the look, it is kid friendly but also attractive to adults. For $99 it is worth it!!

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I purchase this tablet for my baby girl 3 weeks later the charger broke contacted this company and was told that there was not chargers avalible...I can not find one to fit anywhere! Please Naby people make it right like you claim in the website and produce some chargers.

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This is the quote from Nabi support on a getting a replacement charger cable: "currently, we haven't finalized our nabi Jr. charger replacement yet. We'd love to get you a replacement charger but in the meantime, we ask that you wait for a bit."

This is absolutely amateurish and unacceptable to not have replacement parts for a kids product. Especially when they use proprietary cables that can't be bought anywhere else.

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Just like the other customer, we have not been able to use our Nabi Jr for the past few weeks because of a broken charger. This is not a single incident. If you google "Nabi replacement charger", the first link will direct you to a web site for a Nabi 2 charger replacement web site. Since it is a widespread problem, they are replacing the charger for free. Not for the Nabi Jr! I searched Walmart, Target, and various online stores including Amazon.com and Best Buy (where I got our Nabi Jr), no one has it except Nabi store as I was told. I am willing to pay for it if I can find it on the Nabi store! No, not available either. What kind of "accessory monopoly policy" is that? They blame the problem on the manufacturer but what about quality control from Nabi?

I emailed Nabi customer service 3 times (no phone number), each time they responded with an automatic email response stating that they have extremely high email volume and referred me to "top 10 questions" in Q&A. Buyer be aware, just hope that you get to use yours more than a few weeks.