Sony ICD-UX70 Digital Voice Recorder - Pink

The digital playback is very useful for transcribing lectures without having to go back and forth. Recordings can be easily sorted in the folders, everything is very accesible. I am glad that Sony added the automatic power off when stopped, I have another digital recorder that does't have a power button, and this is a battery saver.

As an academic, voice recorders can be a life-saver. Whether recording lectures or presentations, or making research comments without having to drop a journal to make a note, this kind of product is awesome. The old microcasette recorders were heavy and large by comparison, and lacked many of the cool features of these newer IC recorders, but they had the space in the chassis for a decent size speaker, and the tapes could be used in transcription machines. This particular model is very small, which increases its cool factor, but it does have its share of limitations. The tiny screen packs in a lot of information--but the result is that everything is microscopic. Spring for the bigger screen, Sony. Another drawback of the size is the one AAA battery. This makes it small and light, but reduces battery time. Not that there's anything you'll want to record that it can't handle on a fresh battery, but you will have to change it more often. Finally, and most important, the small size leaves this thing with a speaker that is only 1 cm in diameter, and only 95 mW. That's technical talk for too small and not loud enough. You have to hold it to your ear to really hear it. That means that in most circumstances, you'll have to wear headphones to listen back. Once you do, the sound quality is pretty good, but it takes away considerably from the fundamental convenience of the thing. There are tons of other nifty features, but nothing I found indispensable. I brought it back.

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This is a very user friendly item, and it interfaces nicely with a computer. I've downloaded sound files off of it onto my Mac. Very intuitive. But also very small, and I've already lost it a couple times. Luckily, I found it again, too.

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This is a good recorder, however there is not much volume. Have to hold it up to ear to hear recording. I have not downloaded the files on the computer yet so I can not comment on that feature. Overall, It is good for what I purchased it for.

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Safety Technology HC-ARPUR-DVR Air Purifier Hidden Camera With Built In Dvr

I purchased this hidden camera because I believe my property manager is sneeking around in my apartment whenever I'm not here and I want proof in case any incidents may occur in the future. She is such a nosy witch!! I wasn't sure if it was working so I decided to pull the SD Card and put it in my laptop and see if anything was on it after owning it for about 2 weeks.

I should remember to turn it off when I'm at home. Over 100 videos taken of me with very little clothing!!! It is DEFINITELY motion sensitive and does NOT continuously run. It works absolutely great!!!! I am very pleased because you CANNOT tell that it is running; just what you want in a hidden camera!

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Maxell 3.5 1.44MB IBM MF2HD High Density Preformatted Disk (10-Pack, Assorted Colors)

I actually have customers that are still using a DOS based Point-of-Sale system that I wrote back in 1988. Therefore, I still have a 25 year old DOS computer that can only be backed up via flex disks. I recently moved and felt that I really needed to back up the computer before I even thought about moving it, due to its age. Therefore, I was very grateful to see that I could still buy new 3.5 flex disks since my older ones failed everytime. Needlesstosay, the move went well and the software is still safe on these new diskettes. I can't give these disks any higher rating than pure perfection because they came through when I needed them the most!

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Pctv HD Mini Stick

When I first heard anout this product, I was a bit skeptical, because of some of the bad reviews that this product had recived over the internet.

However, I said what the heck, I can always send it back if it doesn't work out.

Save to say, this little wonder works great on my Vostro 1500, despite the bad reviews. I live in a podunk little town, and I got six very strong Digital and HD signals, and that was even without the use of the external antenna included, wich I would not use anyhow, due to it's magnetic base.

All my Digital and HD stations come in great, with very little or no breakup. If it does this well in a small town like Palm Springs, I am dying to check out what it can do in a major metro area.

However, it is not without some minor flaws; the bundled software it uses is slow, and to be honest , it sort of sucks. I would reccomend using something else, if possible, such as Windows Media Player, or Dell MediaDirect for the best results.

I would highly reccomend this to any college student who doesn't want to fight over waat they want to watch either in thier dayroom, or spending needless money for a tv set for thier dorm room. I would also reccomend it to travelers waiting on a connecting flight with nothing to do, and it would be great for campers who don't want to sink thousands of dollars into a sattelite system for thier rig. All you need is this little wonder, a decent laptop PC, and a few minutes of setup time, and you can have a truly portable entertainment system that rivals any HD Home Theater system out there, at roughly one tenth the cost.

It's also very handy when the local power goes out, as some of the newer PC's have up to 16 hours of battery life, even on full power settings.

So I strongly reccomend this product, despite it's small faults.

If you have Windows 7, do NOT install the horrible software from PCTV. Just install the driver only. This stick works absolutely perfectly with Media Center. Grab a $20 Media Center remote from Amazon and surprise!: you just beat the cable subscription system.

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I saw this item for sale (almost 1/2 price) during Black Friday last year and didn't see great reviews on it so decided against purchasing it since I didn't need another gadget. My brother had one and loved it so he ran out and bought another one and gave it to me, so why not use it since it's a gift? Well, I'm pretty amazed that I was able to get about 50 channels in Southern California and it comes in great, I've tried it at home and in the office on the second floor (with no windows). I also have recorded a couple of shows for playback. This tuner picks up better than the indoor antenna I have hooked up to my tv in my bedroom, I get the stations consistently whereas the Philips indoor antenna in my bedroom goes in and out and I have to readjust it all the time. The software is a bit clunky, I can't run it very well without having my laptop plugged in, on battery it doesn't seem to get enough power (so you're better off using this on a computer that has processing power, mine is a little Asus netbook that I'm using it on). I think if you're a big TV watcher then this product is worth the purchase. I'm not a TV person but it's definitely a fun item to have during long rides or lunch hour at work.

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This is without a doubt the worst and most buggy piece of hardware I have ever owned. 1/2 the time it just doesnt work, it will rarely scan for channels, often freezes when changing channels, is mostly completely useless. If youre thinking of using your laptop as a portable TV, even if it has a fast processor and plenty of ram this is NOT the device to try. You will end up angry and frustrated just as I have.

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Don't let the technically challenged detur you from purchasing this great product. First do not install the the included software. Simply download the native driver from the manufacturer website for the operating system that you are using and then run Windows Media Center tv setup and you are good to go. I have used both the included antenna and my local cable feed and I get flawless HDTV. The timeshifting abilities built into Windows Media Center are a perfect match for this tuner. One cavaet and this applies to all HDTV tuners you have to have a fast enough processor, enough memory and a decent video card to get acceptable results.

Azden SGM-1X XLR Shotgun Microphone

The Shotgun Mike is ideally suited for anyone picking up a prosumer camera and who needs a shotgun mike that offers excellent pickup at a reasonable rate. Be sure to pick up the 18" XLR-XLR cable and the 6" XLR-3.5 cables. The shock mount I received came with extra bands.

This is a good entry level mike for you. Couple this with a UHF lav mike (or two) if you intend shooting fiction or documentary.

A Gitzo boom pole & shockmount (sold separately) along with a Fostex data recorder can give you a killer sound recording kit.

Bought this for use with a panasonic ag-dvx100 and I haven't been disappointed--the audio quality I've captured is much better than that with the factory mic. I wish I had seen the two-barrel version of this earlier...oh well. It takes an XLR cable (well that should be obvious from the description) so a buyer should be clear that they have 3pin XLR jack on whatever equipment it is they are recording into. This is a decent mic for $150, it won't blow you away but neither will the cost. Comes in a little pleather pouch, with a foam windscreen, shock isolating mount which screws into the hot shoe adapter and is better in design than the one standard with my camera, as well as some replacement rubber rings for the mount. The mic takes two AA batteries if I can recall. It has an off /on switch, and it has a cardioid/super-cardioid switch. Pretty basic.

...I'd like to mount this on a boom eventually...

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For the money this is a very good consumer external camcorder mic. There are better (pro grade) mics out there, but not at anywhere near this price.

A couple notes to budding videographers:

1) Shotgun mics don't "pull in" sound from far away. Shotgun mics isolate the sound around the sides and behind the microphone so that the sound coming directly into the microphone from the front is more audible. Built-in camcorder mics don't do this. They accept sound from all directions.

With an external shotgun mic, if someone is 30 feet away, they will still sound 30 feet away. You just won't hear nearly as much of the surrounding ambient noise and reflections, and will hear more of what's directly in front of the mic, even if 30 feet away. The sound will seem more pronounced since side and rear noises are subdued. Given that, someone standing only a few feet in front of the camera, especially if shooting outdoors, will sound fabulous compared to using the built in camcorder mic. The external mic will make the video seem more professional because the audio is better. Really.

2) Video always seems to "look" better when it has good audio (and you don't shake the camera too much of course). Do yourself a favor, and get an decent external mic for your camcorder and you'll be amazed at how much better your videos look.

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This is a wonderful shotgun mic, for anyone on a budget. It's very powerful and it is a great step up from the built-in mic rigs on most consumer camera's as well as some prosumer cams. For instance, huge step up from the built-in on the Panasonic AG-VX100B (which I own). It has a huge range, and has two modes I always use the higher cut mode that removes slighter sounds. This makes the sound a little heavier, but keeps them very clear and not muffled.

Also, if you expect to record high pitch things, this isn't too great at consistently staying high. It is more whole from the low-mid range sounds, but does not fail at high sounds.

Another plus, is the fact that it won't drain your cam batteries because it holds a single AA battery to run. I prefer it that way.

The only problem with this mic, is that with a little more research--I found out that the X2 is only 50 more dollars (approx) and that the X2 can double as either an omni mic, or a cardoid--which is a great nifty feature for the extra 50 bucks.

If you don't think you even need an omni feature, this is a great mic to start with. (and keep for a very long time)

I believe this is the BEST shotgun mic on the market priced at the 150 range.

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I bought this mic in Nov, 2010 for $152.00. I couldn't be happier with it. I'm a film student and the quality of this mic is great. It is a very strongly directional (cardioid) mic and gives me better results than mics twice its price (or more). Also, the included shock mount with extra bands was a nice touch. Mine came with a nice zip-up leather case for everything with it too. I used this and an adjustable painters pole for a short film project and it did excellant.

For any of you all who are interested, I used this with a Blue Microphones Icicle XLR to USB Mic Converter/Mic Preamp and a netbook/audacity to and had great results in combination with a Canon T2i. The only problem I had was that at times my recording was a little bit quiet. However, I'm not sure what part of my setup was to blame.

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Q-1000X: Qstarz BT-Q1000X Bluetooth Data Logger GPS Receiver (66 ch, 1-5Hz Update Rate, AGPS, 200,0

• Time to First Fix (TTFF) : < Average 1/33/35 sec. (Hot/Warm/Cold start) AGPS: < 15 sec.
• Output Message : NMEA 0183 v3.01 (Default: GGA, GSA, GSV, RMC; Optional: VTG, GLL)
• Accuracy : Without aid: 3.0m 2D-RMS <3m CEP(50%) without SA(horizontal) DGPS (WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS):2.5m
• Frequency: 1 - 5 Hz user configurable
• Dimension: 72.2 (L) X 46.5 (W) X 20 (H) mm

This is my first GPS logger, but so far I'm very happy with it. I bought it just in time for a trip to the Puget Sound. This thing worked like a charm, be it Olympic Nat'l Park, Victoria, or Seattle. The only place I had a problem was in the EMP in Seattle, and that was surly due to the thick interior walls.

The software works as it should. Because I shoot RAW, and I use gpicsync to actually write the data to the EXIF, but as far as getting the data, the included software works perfectly.

Oh, and the battery life is amazing. I would usually charge this every night, but it could easily go a couple days (being turned off at night).

Haven't used the Bluetooth feature, can't really think of any uses as this point.

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On a recent AMTRAK Auto-Train ride from Virgina to Florida, I used two GPS devices. One was an Earthmate BT-20 providing GPS data to Street Atlas software on a Samsung netbook * . This provided a moving map display and a recorded bread-crumb trail.

The other was the QSTARZ BT-Q1000X used as a stand-alone recorder.

Both devices were suction-cupped to the window.

The Earthmate completely lost satellite lock on significant portions of the train ride. This happened most often in places where tall trees were close to the tracks. It also seemed to happen when the train changed directions by more than about 45 degrees. It was as if the device was too slow to lock on to the satellites newly visible on that side of the train. When it lost lock, it was very slow to regain it while moving.

In contrast, the QSTARZ never lost satellite lock and provided a complete log of the entire trip. It also provided a complete log of the car trip back to Virginia. I had purchased the QSTARZ a couple of days before the trip and was not aware of all of it's capabilities. After the trip, I discovered that the QSTARZ is compatible with Street Atlas and will provide a moving-map display and a bread-crumb trail. It only requires that the QSTARZ be in the "NAV" mode and that Street Atlas be set to "Automatically detect GPS". From now on, the Earthmate will be in the bottom of the bag as a back-up.

The QSTARZ is more sensitive than any GPS device I have owned, including the Garmin GPS III, and the Tom Tom GO-630. It is so sensitive that I have to wrap aluminum foil around it when I am trying to erase the current log file, because it sits there recording while I am trying to erase. And this is 20 feet from the nearest window.

I highly recommend this product.

* Windows XP SP3

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Does what its supposed to do, tracks GPS coordinates. Battery life great. The problem I encountered is with the QTravel software provided with the unit. Software is able to capture data points from unit, but when I tried to export to a GPX file so I could import into Lightroom I found the resulting file was missing large chuncks of data. I spent a lot of time with their support staff, they not the most responsive but willing to try to help, We were able to determine that there was a bug in QTravel, but Qstarz Data Viewer, also provided, would export correctly. I asked when Qtravel software would be updated, but got no response. All in all, its working for my purpose and I'm happy with it now.

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I bought this device for the purpose of using the Trackaroo Trackmaster app for Android on my Evo 4G. Below are the pros and cons of my experience:

Pros:

Amazing battery life and sleep features. Once setup for the weekend's track event just leave it on and forget about it.

Very accurate at 5hz though tricky to set (see cons)

Locks on to satellites fast even indoors

Wakes from sleep mode on Bluetooth request which helps a lot with battery life.

Used for a two day motorcycle track event and worked flawlessly.

Cons:

The included software is a bit of a mess. It works and does what it needs to but it's sort of all over the place.

Setting the sampling Hz rate is done in a special app but not available in the other apps GPS setup menus.

The battery life indicator has no gradations. You don't know how much power is left.

If you plan to use it for events practice with it on your commute to work or around town. It's easy to use once setup but it does take some getting used to. You don't want to be figuring all this out five minutes before your session starts :).

I had originally ordered the 818X and received this device. Returned it for the 818X and received this device again. So I decided keep it if they really wanted me to have the more expensive unit :).

Highly recommended. I bought one for my girlfriend too who rides the track with me. The data isn't always kind to the ego hahaha.

It works exactly as promised. But I wish that I had bought a devise with a minimal display that shows speed, altitude, distance traveled so I could also use it when exercising.

Sony Walkman NWZZ1050R 16GB Android MP3/Media Player, NWZ-Z1050 RED

• 16GB Capacity, Android 2.3 Powered, 4.3" LCD
• FM Radio, Voice Recorder
• TFT color display with white LED-backlight, WQVGA (400 x 240 Pixels), Screen Size : 4.3" WQVGA (800 x 480 Pixels)
• Sony's one-of-a-kind S-Master MX plus 8 other sound technologies maintain high sound resolution at any volume level.
• Package ContentsSony MP3 PlayerEarbud Headphones with S, M, L Silicone Ear BudsUSB cable

So easy to operate and has the best sound of any mp3 player I've ever had. I would recommend this product to music lovers.

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Very easy to use, it offers several options. This is a solid product. The sound is impeccable.

However, the battery does not last long enough. The software update is difficult.

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Nothing wrong with the product,I like it,good for listening to music,and the price is not high.I buy many sony products.I like them.

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Pros:

sound is great.

Cons:

Unlike IPOD and Phillips mp3 play, Sony walkman cannot play audio book borrowed from library. Hope Sony can provide firmware upgrade to resolve it. battery doe not last long.

Mount-it! MI-803 Triple Shelf Wall Mount - High Gloss Black

• Three Glass Shelves
• Load capacity: 66 lbs./30 kgs (22 per shelf)
• 8 mm tempered glass
• Color: High gloss black
• Easy installation and sleek design to complement your wall-mounted TV

If you've been looking between this unit and the Cheetah version, wondering whether to risk the off brand to save a little, go for the Mount It! version. It seems to be the same unit. Same gold flecked finish on the aluminum body, same high quality glass shelves.

Unit feels sturdy and well built once assembled. One thing to note, with the glass shelves and somewhat large body, it does weigh a fair amount. About 25 lbs. That plus the components is gonna add up, so I highly suggest mounting it to a stud, which would be a good idea for any wall mounted shelving unit.

Glass Shelf Dimensions: 17.5" by 13.75"

Large enough for all of the components I had to throw at it. Be sure to measure yours before purchasing though!

One helpful tip for installation: Thread your hdmi / power / whatever cables you have BEFORE mounting it. That will save you the trouble and frustration of having to fish for the lines after its mounted.

Overall, very satisfied. Lowest cost 3 tier unit I could find, yet still very pleased with the quality.

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I ordered this mount for my parents. We mounted their TV with VideoSecu Mounts Flat panel TV Mount Fits Sharp 36" 37" 38" 40" 42" 46" 47" 48" 50" 52" Cantileve Swivel Black color Wall Mount Bracket 1VH and it looks great. On the top shelf we put the Directv box, on the middle shelf we put the Sony Blue-Ray Surround Sound receiver, and on the bottom shelf we put the Wii. Lots of cables running up and down the track system, we fit two CAT6 cables for the Directv box and blue-ray player, power cables for all three components & TV, all the speaker wire for the surround sound, two HDMI cords, RCA cables for the Wii, optical audio cord, cable line, and others. All the cords fit perfect. It looks great. I guess the only negative thing I could say about it is the Sony BD Surround Receiver is huge, and it sticks off the end of the glass a little. But with everything being black, it's hard to notice and everything still looks great. No one has shelves much bigger than these that I could find anyways. All in all, I would recommend to anyone looking to mount their components to the wall.

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I was a little nervous about this shelf because I saw reviews saying it wasn't big enough to fit some electronics. One reviewer noted that his Direct TV box fit along with his DVD player and other items. I was worried about my DTV box because it was the biggest item.

Unfortuneatly my box does not fit. Depending on what receiver you have you may or may not have the same problem. If I swap my HR 24 living room box with the HR 21 box in the bedroom (where the shelf is located) it would fit great. The HR 24 is a few inches shorter. The HR 21 HDMI cable hits just below the shelve's circular opening for the cable so I may prop it up on something and see if sliding that cable end into the hole gives me the extra 1.5 inches I need or I may just let it hang off the end.

It feels very sturdy and is good looking but I do wish they had made the shevles about 2 inches wider from the wall so that more things would fit. (My older DVD player for instance would have the same problem as the HR 21 box but I upgraded that shortly before getting the shelf.)

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Looks great/hides cables/very professional only problem I had was if can't catch a stud in the wall and you use the white wall anchors that come with the kit they stripped out when trying to attach to the wall. Had to hit Home Depot and get ones with a bit better quality.

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Overall, this unit works very well. it was easy to assemble, and looks very nice on the wall. Clean lines, very minimalisitic. Could have used a bit more room for the wires, but i was able to put in the TV wires, Blu ray wires, Wii wires, and wires for the wii remote chargers.

1GB Pen Voice Memo Recorder

Advantages:

1-Good size for sound recorder.

2Only 2 buttons required for full operation.

3-Good sound quality.

Disadvantages:

1you can't organized your mp3 files for play back.

2The indecator lamp is inside the pen, you have to open the pen to see the lamp before you operate.

3-the recorded sound files are in WAV format not mp3 fromat.

Comes very nicely packaged with the recorder pen, ear buds, 2 key rings as an alternative to the pen and 2 spare ink cartridges for the pen. Recorded continuously for 5 hrs on a full charge. The mike is very sensitive and can pick up sounds at quite a distance.

Operartion is simple and can be done discreetly. USB connection makes listening and saving the audio files easy.

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Very interesting but I have to study and learn all the buttons on it.Easy to retrieve the message, just like a jumpdrive, connect it to usb pc and find the drive and open to listen to it.

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Decent pen, and size is good for bringing around to meetings and interviews. Recording was clear, easy to use, and easy to transfer onto computer. Takes awhile to get used to the controls, especially since the buttons are really small, but that's a reasonable trade-off to get the sleek design and inconspicuous look.

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I used it in the 2 months I have it about 2x and now when I finally figured out the operation I am pretty happy. The mike is quite good, the 3hours lecture it recorded from good 25+ yards distance very clearly, when replaying it back I had no trouble understanding. The documentation is better than I expected after reading the review. Yet making sure the pen is in recording mode (unscrewing, doublechecking that the correct color is blinking, screwing it back together) makes me a bit worried always that I will mess up the modes. Ultimatelly I think it is a very good product and more experience will make me more comfortable using it. But if they want to improve it further, simplifying the controls would make it a 5-star product.

Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabiliz

I was thrilled with how small this camera is. It fits in your hand as if it were a half full 12 oz. can of soda. It's very light, but the fortunately the image stabilization makes it shoot like it was a heavier camera.

I ran into an issue with iMovie '07 (part of Apple's iLife '08) that caused the screen to stretch wider, making people look fat. This will likely be resolved soon by Apple, and for now I've taken to using the 1440 X 1080 resolution which imports just fine.

I've also fitted a 37mm mount size aftermarket wide angle lens which really helps for shooting indoors. Some have complained that the video is a bit more grainy while indoors and in darker conditions than the HD1, but I can't complain.

So far, the battery life seems to run an hour and 10 minutes, which is better than the 55 minutes it's rated for.

This camera does not include an SD card, so you'll want to pick up a 4GB (40 minutes) or 8 GB (80 minutes) card. I got the class 6 version of those SDHC cards for a faster transfer. I think I might stick with the 4 GB size in the future so I can easily burn the files to a blank DVD which holds 4.7 GB. Also, make sure you have a card reader that supports SDHC. It also doesn't include an HDMI cable, so pick one of those up if you have a TV capable of HDMI. Belkin makes the least expensive cable at $20.

And finally, if you're a Mac user, you should know that only the Intel Macs (that have been out since January of '06) support the AVCHD editing.

Some have complained about the low light grain that this camera tends to have. I've noticed it as well, and apparently the HD1 is slightly better indoors. But this wasn't a huge issue for me.

The only thing that would make this camera perfect for me would be an external mic input.

This is the first camcorder I have bought in a while. My last one was a Canon MiniDV that did progressive frame shooting. I've been researching for months on and off and following the progress of HD camcorders.

I personally love this camera, there are only a few, mute things about this camera that I miss.

Pros:

It's small and very light weight; almost too light. I *almost* found myself wishing it were a little heavier to make it easier to hold the camera steady. But it's great like it is.

The picture quality is great. Having had a progressive scan camcorder before, I notice the interlacing, but it's no where near as bad as the MiniDV camcorder I had before that did interlacing. There is a slight grain to the picture in low light, but this is to be expected, and after reading several reviews about how "horrible" the low light was, I thought it was great. It wasn't near as bad for me as people were making it out to be, but that's a subjective thing. (I viewed this on both a 720 and 1080 screen)

Audio is good, it doesn't make me too loud (since I'm holding the camera and the mic is right next to me) and I can clearly hear thing that are farther out.

Battery life is great. I can easily get over an hour, and it seems to indicate it can do more than that, though I haven't put that to the test yet and the manual says I can only get a maximum of 1 hour and 25 minutes (55 minutes actual). So we'll see.

I kind of like that the battery and SD card are tucked away underneath. I don't agree with a previous review that the door and hinge are made cheaply. It seems standard to me.

I love the SD card recording media. No more tapes! No more mini-DVDs! No more having to hook up your hard drive based camcorder to the computer to copy files!

Cons:

I imagine I'll miss that there's no external mic input. But I bought this anticipating to use it as a point-and-shoot camcorder. I'm just starting a family and wanted to capture everything, and this will do it. I don't plan on making any little movies with it. (I'll probably continue to use my progressive scan camera for that)

The field of view is narrow. I don't know if this is just how camcorders are these days, or if I'm just used to my Kodak digital camera that has a wide-view mode. I ended up buying a 0.5x and 0.7x lens to put on it, and this helps be get "the big picture" so I can capture more of what's going on in a scene.

I don't know where to get an extra battery. Do the SD1 batteries work with this? Where do I buy them? The manual gives me model numbers of 3 different batteries, but finding a place to buy them is though; and the ones I do find are $100+!

It doesn't remember my last shooting preferences. Sometimes I turn on the back light or another feature. But if I turn the camera off for a moment and back on, I have to go turn that feature on again.

Recommendations:

Buy bigger capacity memory cards. I bought 2 2GB, and I'm filling them up faster than I can copy them to my computer. I ordered a 16GB one which should help a lot. Another reviewer mentioned that it's good to get 4GB ones so you can easily copy them to a DVD, that sounds like a good idea.

Get a wide angle lens. I really didn't like how narrow the view was, whether this is normal or not. (though with my 0.7x lens, I can only zoom in 2x before everything becomes out of focus and there's no fixing it. Just a warning!)

Check out the back light compensation for low light shooting. It helps a lot!

Check out the contrast compensation feature! I love this! It makes shadows lighter without making everything else saturated and ugly. Very cool!

Other Thoughts:

I have a new iMac with iMovie08. The importing does take a bit, and a lot of disk space. Editing is good, and after an export the quality is good (if you have your settings right).

I'm anxious about the first video editor that natively supports AVCHD, cause it is frustrating that I can't just "shoot and edit" anything. I have to shoot, copy, transcode, edit and then export. Too much of a process to make lots of family movies to give to close family. (Maybe that's a good thing for them, eh? hehe)

This camera is exactly what I was looking for except for the AVCHD (and mic input), but hopefully the future will prove the format to not be a problem anymore.

Buy Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabiliz Now

I had been waiting for my SD5 to ship from Amazon, but I saw the camera at Circuit City in stock and $50 less so I decided to just get it there.

The camera feels great in your hands. It is small and light, but even in my large hands it feels stable. I like that the battery is now inside of the camera and not attached to the back. This lets the center of gravity sit right there on your hand.

The LCD screen looks good, though a little pixelated in darker rooms.

I brought the camera out yesterday to go for a walk with my infant son. Even while walking and trying to film my son the image was quite stable.

One piece of warning, if you use this camera with a Mac be sure to have a large internal drive or get an external one. With the new iMovie 08, it works with the AVCHD wonderfully but when it imports it converts it to AIC. The video still looks great and they are easy to work with, but they files are quite big. If you import at the Large setting, you lose very little in image and one hour of video is about 13GB. If you import at full resolution you're looking at 40GB per hour. Wow.

For my own workflow, I import with Large to save the space. I then put the source AVCHD files on a DVD so I have the option of importing them later at the full resolution. This allows me to reuse my SD cards but still have the original footage.

Overall, very nice camera. The Menu options are easy to work with and the final video is just great.

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic HDC-SD5 AVCHD 3CCD Flash Memory High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabiliz Here

To summarize my overall thoughts about the Panasonic HDC-SD5, for regular outdoor video shooting, the SD5 is excellent! I will skip discussing its still image cabilities because it simply was not designed with that in mind, trust me.

Now, the first question the HDC-SD5 raised for me was "is it better than the one it replaced, the HDC-SD1?" Half a year ago I used the predecessor HDC-SD1 for a few weeks and loved it, and after a few weeks now with the SD5 I find that it is a slightly better camera under good lighting conditions and slightly worse under lowe lighting conditions. On the plus side it is about $200 cheaper, has the same battery life, is lighter, smaller, and yet no less handy to operate. Now, the "$200 cheaper" might raise a flag, and clearly some of the lower cost comes from certain cheaper features. For starters, the new smaller chasis is endowed with a smaller lens, down from 43 mm to 38 mm, smaller image sensors, down to 1/3 inch from 1/2, and the SD1's amazing 5.1 audio microphones have been replaced with simpler stereo ones in the SD5. In general, I say thanks for translating these changes into the greater affordability of the SD5. The bonus with this camera is the Full HD 1920 (on the new, smaller sensors) vs. former 1440 horizontal resolution (on the older, larger sensors).

Outdoors, the SD5's recordings are marginally sharper than the SD1's, with equally beautifully rendered colors. Basically, it took my 70" 1080i screen to be able to discern the extra resolution, and was the main reason I returned the SD1 and waited for the SD5 to come out. I could not tell the cameras apart when played back on smaller screens. Shadows and bright areas are handled as well and manual settings are available to allow you to adapt more precisely to your scene's lighting.

The only drawback to the SD5 is the reduced amount of light that the smaller 38 mm lens allows to enter the camera. The image generated from the combination of a smaller lens, smaller sensors, and increased processing wizardry, falls short of the SD1's low light capabilities. Indoor shooting is grainier and the colors look faded compared to the SD1. That's important to keep in mind for capturing birthdays and holiday get togethers. Add some lighting if you can. Luckily, white balance is very good in auto or manual mode, so if you do have to work with indoor lighting you can get back to very good colors and resolution even indoors.

For those of you following the Panasonic HDS-SD? evolution closely, I have to note that it is too bad the HDC-SD3 never made it to the USA. It was identical to the SD1, except for the better 1920 vs. 1440 resolution, and was the camera I really wanted to buy.

At the end of the day the HDC-SD5 still has the excellence to be an entry level wannabe director's camera, and if like a good director you also address an indoor scene's lighthing needs properly, you will be rewarded. Outdoors, it's a wonderful, easy, point-and-shoot experience with amazing image stabilization that results in excellent video.

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Panasonic got a lot of things right with this camera. It has a fantastic form factor--small, light, and very comfortable to hold and use. It's ready to point and shoot, and for folks with more video experience, there's good options for manual control of white balance, iris, shutter, gain, etc. Auto-focus is quick, zoom control is easy to keep smooth, and image stabilization is exceptional.

I already have high-end prosumer DV cameras, but wanted something light and convenient for informal shots of my new son. The SD5 has fit the bill perfectly. My only complaint is Panasonic's decision to ditch the external mic jack. Ugh! Otherwise, I've been nothing but happy with this camera. I've read some reviewers comment about grain that appears in low-light images. It's endemic to small sensor chips trying to take small amounts of light to produce high-detail video. As small cameras go, I think the SD5 is average to good at low-light, and well above average when it comes to focus, image stabilization, and color reproduction.

Editing wise, I use a Mac, and I'm able to easily pull in the AVCHD video to both iMovie 08 and Final Cut Express 4 for editing.

Nokia 6103 Tri-Band Unlocked Phone

I bought this phone to replace an aging motorola. The phone worked fine for 30 days or so then started to need re-charging more frequently. As of today I've had it for two and a half months and it needs to be re-charged every night. Nokia will let me send it in so they can look at it but their policy is no loaner which means I have to buy another phone anyway. My conversation with Nokia's repair service ended with a conviction that I will never own another Nokia product. Admittedly this is partially due to the unanswered emails I sent prior to calling them.

PHONE HAS HELP UP WELL. BATTERY LIFE IS EXCELLENT AND PHONE SERVES PURPOSE FOR WHICH IT WAS PURCHASED. THIS PHONE IS A REPLACEMENT FOR THE SAME MODEL WHICH I HAVE HAD FOR OVER THREE YEARS.

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great phone and would have given it 5 stars if it had a USB connection, which it doesn't.

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This is the worst cell phone I have ever owned. The call clarity is horrible, the instrument panel itself is clumsy design, the software has a lag and according to a T-Mobile insider it won't last for a year let alone the 2-year contract that T-Mobile made me sign-up for this phone.

This was my first phone from Nokia (I was always happy with Motorola) and it was a dissapointment. But I went ahead and got a 6133 after two faulty 6103's. The 6133 is a good phone ... does everything it says it will and it does it well too!

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DXG DXG-506V 5.1 MegaPixel Multi-Functional Camera with MPEG4 Technology (Silver)

Here's the short and skinny on this thing. It makes for a decent stocking stuffer at Christmas or extra birthday gift. I mean, its usually on sale for about $100 and that's about an extra $150 cheaper than an entry-level "name brand" camera. I bought mine for my teenage son who basically wants to dabble with this thing. If your kids, like mine, are extra rough with things, then you probably don't want to spend $400 for a Sony or JVC.

To begin, the package indicates that it is a "5 in 1" device, meaning camcorder, digital camera, MP3 player, etc. Don't think you'll get out of purchasing a separate MP3 player for your kids though. The MP3 player won't fool any teenager, so you'll definitely need to buy a devoted MP3 player. Seriously, the MP3 capability on this thing is a joke. As far as digital pictures, it takes grainy, sub-par pictures, so only a teenager would likely be okay with this. Don't expect good family photos in other words. The camcorder function is basic at best. This is not what you want for recording whatever memorable, precious moments you wish to capture. It's okay for kids to record "silly" things, but if they truly become interested and want to delve into this as a hobby, then you'll seroiusly need to consider splurging for something better.

What actually makes this player so inexpensive and lightweight is actually its Achilles heel. You see, most digital camcorders come with a rechargeable battery. In fact, the rechargeable battery is what adds significantly to the cost of the camcorder. I don't have a cost breakdown, but I suspect it is in the area of 25% of the overall cost. With the DXG, there is no rechargeable battery---but how I wish there were!!! Instead of a bulky rechargeable, this uses four "AAA" batteries. Cool, right? Well, this thing goes through batteries like a Hummer goes through gas. Seriously, four fresh batteries will be consumed in only a few minutes!!!! The bottom line, you'll most certainly need a separate battery recharger and rechargeable batteries to constantly feed this thing.

In short, this is a decent gift IF and only IF you buy a battery recharger. If you desire only the digital camera function, you ought to seriously consider a devoted digital camera as this one is ho-hum at best. Not a bad gift, but it is really more of a toy than a "big boy" camera.

I have been playing with this camcorder since I got it for Christmas and overall I'm pleased with it. On the up side: it's light & compact as your wallet, easy to use (I read all the instructions first), easy to download the pix & vids to your computer. And it's cheap. I've had no trouble with my battery door or extra memory chip coming open, as some other viewers have. On the down side: the built-in memory really isn't enough to allow for much video shooting or picture taking before it's full (an extra memory chip is essential and according to the DXG website there is a certain type that is compatible), neither the instructions nor the website explain certain functions and icons you really want to know about (such as flash operation). I've had better results shooting outdoors, than in. Light makes the difference. But overall I like my DXG and carry it w/ me in my handbag.

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i am amazed at how many people hold this camcorder INCORECTLY.

you do NOT grip it like a gun, you hold it with your thumb on the bottom of the unit and your index finger and the finger inbetween your index finger on the top of the camcorder where the 3 notches are.

notice how you are not covering the flash, or touching the battery door? i have NEVER had the SD card slot door magicly open, it clicks into place.

again if you hold the camera like a gun, you might be acidently sliding the SD door open with your fingers. THIS IS THE INCORRECT WAY TO HOLD THE CAM.

the flash is activated by pressing LEFT on the ring with the red button, alternatvly pressing right will pause video.

pictures should be taken with the fine setting, and you MUST hold the camera still while shooting ( while the save bar saves the picture )

here is a hint...use a high speed SD card, most standard cards are 32X and are slow at 3 or higher Megapixels. I use a 150X card for fast saving of the pictures which means i do not have to keep the camera still for very long it only takes a second to save a high megapixel picture.

good light is required for the video, pictures i have not had problems with, the flash is fine for dark pictures.

another hint, use AVI for video as it is the least compressed of the 3 options, also if you want night or dark shooting you CAN do this with the camera, here is how, when you play back the video on your pc, turn up the contrast to 75% from the default 50% on Windows media player.

i hope this helps you all.

my only complaint is this....

i noticed on the LCD screen or rather the edge border of the plastic around the screen on both the top and bottom of the border of the screen in the centre there is a cut in the border, i am not sure if this is a manufacture defect or if its supposed to be there, it seems odd that is on the top and bottom border of the screen, and both in the centre of the border. ( you cannot see it head on with the screen, you have to tilt the angle of the screen to see it )

anyone else notice this, it was not like that on the 305v model that i used to have.

Read Best Reviews of DXG DXG-506V 5.1 MegaPixel Multi-Functional Camera with MPEG4 Technology (Silver) Here

Don't be fooled by what people say for this item.They say things break by using it or just fall off of this product. So where do I begin, well first off I could not be more happy with this product then I already am. I got this in a nice box and opened it right away. First thing I noticed was its size. It is nice and small and thats the way it should be. However when I saw how small it was compared to what I originally thought, I was worried about video quality. Then onced I recorded things in different lighted areas, I found it to have great quaslity. One problem I did found was when It was dark, this camera deos not do so well in the dark. It just lowers the quality of the video. So after trying it out I was confused a little at how to work it but I found out how to use it right away. I bought the 10 dollar 1G memory card with it and they work perfectly together. The clip on lens protector is a little unsatisfieing but it will do good in the short term. I have not tried the MP3 player because I did not buy this camera for that, however I did try the voice recorder. Everything works great from the Pictures to the videos to the Voice Recorder. This camera also has nice small features like changing the formats of things you record, and all those little things. For about one-hundred dollars this is a must buy. This camera is perfect if your looking for compatibility, and recording movies. Believe it or not if you record at 30 fps on a 1GB card you can record to about one hour and thirty minutes.

Pros:

-Price (Camcorder is about 100$ HOWEVER buy the 10$ GB card because not all cards can go into this camera, believe me its worth the money. The card is cheap and works perfectly for the camera.)

-Quality (Good quality for such a small thing and you can chose from different frame rates.)

-5.1 Megapixels (This is good for cameras, some expensive cameras might not even have this.)

-Memory ( With the card this is a good amount of memory that will allow you to film for at least an hour.)

-Cables and Programs (A CD comes with the camera to install some programs to save the things you took onto your computer, if you don't have anything already.)

-Compatibility (Nice light weight camera.)

-Included Carrying Case (Comes with carrying case to protect your camera even more.)

Cons:

-(Confusing to use at first, it is possible to delete thigs without you knowing what you are doing, however everything is explained in the manual.)

-Clip On Lens Protector (It is kinda bad after a while, because it deos losen, however camera comes with carrying case anyway so thats good.)

-Memory (The built in memory is not that good at all, so buy the card or you won't enjoy this camera.)

Anyway this camera is perfect for filming those little moments in your life, like on vacations or other things like that. You can easily tuck it somewhere where it won't bother you. However if you want PERFECT quality you won't find that here. This camera deos have great quality but its not perfect.

This is a product that most likely you will love or hate, however I really loved it.

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I love this camera. For what it does--it works great! It's ultra-compact and fits anywhere--in a coat or pants pocket--and the pistol-grip style make it handy to shoot stuff without missing the action. This makes it super-convenient for traveling--where you don't end up spending so much time looking through an eyepiece that you miss enjoying the view yourself. And the MP3 player comes in handy on long plane flights. No, it's not an HD camera and it shoots poorly under low light conditions. For the price--I was pleased and happy with the shots it took. I'd love to see a higher quality version of this, too. But it's not garbage like some of the other reviewers stated. It has some nice features (the price!!) and some limitations. So if it fits your uses--get one. You'll be glad you did.

The best things about this camera/camcorder:

-it works great in daylight/outdoor conditions

-it is super compact

-it let's you point and shoot pistol-grip style (so you can enjoy what you're viewing)

-it's ideal for video that's going straight to the web (it uses avi, mov, asf)

-you can replace the AAA batteries whenever you want/need to--not a proprietary battery that requires a special charger, handy when you travel in countries outside the US

-you can replace the memory cards when they fill up (and I think the cheapest place to get them is Amazon)

-it doesn't attract attention to itself like large camcorders with flashing led recording lights

-it's nice to have an mp3 player, camera, camcorder, and audio recorder all-in-one--truly a multimedia recording device

But, also beware that there are some things it doesn't do really well...

-it really only works in daylight/bright light conditions (don't even try shooting outdoors at night)

-the flash doesn't really work unless you're shooting within 3' of subject

-the battery and lens cover are plastic and will wear out if heavily used/misused

-there is no external mic jack

-the menu for the mp3 player is limited

-the manual is somewhat lacking and the print is really small

eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method v.3

• Over 300 easy-to-follow lessons from distinguished Juilliard instructor, including more than 70 video demonstrations
• Interactive Instant Feedback works with both electronic keyboards and acoustic pianos, and shows you when you play the correct notes in a melody
• Songs and exercises are enhanced by live recorded audio, variable-speed MIDI keyboard tracks, MIDI accompaniments, and an animated keyboard
• Over 100 popular classical, blues, pop, and rock songs, including hit songs from artists such as Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Elton John
• When using a MIDI keyboard, personalized reports show your rate of progress, including scores for specific songs

I think this is a great product. It walks you through the basics through more advanced techniques and songs. It also does a great job of teaching you to read music.

It includes short videos of a person playing piano so you can see proper posture and such. Each song comes with (optional) accompaniment, which can make it funner to play (especially with the simple songs). You can also slow the songs down while learning them. The software grades your playing with a percentage score, and gives you details on your errors (if you want them).

This is a great program if you really want to learn to play on your own.

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I'm a musician but not a piano player, and I've had 4 piano lessons with 3 different people. It turned out to be very hard for these piano teachers, who learned as little kids and mostly teach kids, to understand the needs of a musician adult who is learning piano as an additional instrument. They don't have the appropriate method books, they don't know how to assess what I don't know, they don't know how to make appropriate assignments. I learned very little in those lessons.

This method is just fantastic for me because I can skip over all the things I already know, and I can take the same lesson over and over and over again if I'm having trouble with it, never trying the patience of the computer (unlike the humans!) I've been using it maybe two weeks? and I'm amazed at all the things I've learned, and all the songs I can play. The teacher's videos add just the right touch, the singing on the songs is lovely. There's an accompaniment track for the songs so you can get up to tempo and have fun playing with them. Guitar chords are provided (!) which means I can add the chords I know on selected simple songs to make the lesson more challenging. It's a heavily song-based curriculum, lots of Baroque music, but I'm also working on Piano Man by Billy Joel.

My feeling is once I finish this disk, I will be ready for piano lessons with a human. And I will be playing piano pretty darn well by then, too. I just can't recommend this highly enough.

Read Best Reviews of eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method v.3 Here

This software is great to begin to practice, I have studied piano before, you always need a teacher and a schedule and practice, but nowadays without the necessary time, this tool offers a simple practice you can enjoy with around 300 lessons, being the first 70 very easy ones ( one handed slow pieces ).

Every time a lesson or song begins you can hear the teacher giving an insight about the song, which I particularly enjoy, it's not only practice but also about music periods, authors, styles, and the soft gives out that information to the student, to enrich the music experience.

Also you can see hear the teacher playing the piano and singing the song, and as the songs have the lyrics on them, you can practice singing along as well.

I look forward to continue practing and once I dominate the beginners songs , I will definetely go for the intermediate advance piano software offered by emedia.

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I am a newbie and have been learning to play the piano for the past 3 months on my own, using the alfred's all in one adult course book and no teacher thus far. So far so good, and i decided that i needed to see if my tempo and count were correct, I decided to add this program to my learning tools. I have to say, this is a great program to see how much you have progressed on your own. I found the exercises helped to reinforce the beat, the sight reading of the left hand and music theory. Actually, I really recommend you learn from the text book and then come to this program, as you will get a lot more out of it than just using this program on its own:it does go a little fast.

The program offers music theory, sight reading, ear training tests, lots of little tests to see how much you have learnt thus far, video to explain the positioning of the hand, audio explanations; the finger tracker, which is the best part of the program as it tells at the end, the percentage accuracy of your playing. And if you get frustrated at not getting above 95%, for the perfectionist, you can hit a key that plays it back to you on how it should be played! Note that if you hit a wrong note that also counts against you as well as not hitting it or holding it for the right amount of time! You can go back to a previous lesson again and again, which helps to reinforce the point. There are so many little helpers on each lesson, like video or audio pointers.

There are over 300 lessons, so I am looking forward to plowing through them along with the Alfred's course, which compliments this program beautifully. You will need to have a MIDI cable to connect the computer/laptop to your digital piano, which Amazon also sells at a very good price. So worth the money in lieu of a teacher. I will update every couple of months to comment on this program.

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I have this software also. The previous reviewer is mistaken.

It says right on the box that it CAN be used with an acoustic piano. You need to use a microphone so the program can 'listen' to the piano.

This WILL work with an acoustic piano, as well as a digital piano or a keyboard with a USB/MIDI cable.

The software is really good! Like the previous reviewer, I use it with the Alfred's Adult All-In-One Course.

Sony WM-EX190 Walkman Stereo Cassette Player with Anti-Rolling Mechanism

• Stereo cassette Walkman with Mega Bass enhancement
• Anti-rolling mechanism minimizes distortion when the Walkman is in motion due to active use
• Automatic volume limiter system (AVLS) conserves batteries and guards your hearing
• Includes dynamic, over-ear headphones and a belt clip
• Up to 24 hours extended battery life on 2 AA batteries

If you are just looking for a basic no-frills cassette Walkman and you are not a perfectionist sound aficionado -walk right on by, and buy something else. This Walkman has a nice price, but is a lot less than it sounds.

I had thought I could stand anything, since all I was looking for was a basic Walkman to listen to music and audiobooks. But I actually returned mine (And if I eat the shipping to return an item, that really says something!) What made it impossible for me was that the sound was extremely tinny and hissy, so much so that it hurt my ears. Using the bass-boost actually boosted the tinniness as much as the bass, so that was no help. Using the volume limiter did reduce the tinniness somewhat, but it still sounded terrible. I have bought inexpensive Sony Walkmans for years and loved them, and I bought a cheap Sony microcassette recorder a few weeks ago which is terrific, so I had felt confident enough to buy the EX-190. But the basic sound was unbearable.

To mention the good points, I really like the way it looks. The plastic is cheap, but light-weight. The buttons go on and off easily, unlike some which are too hard to press or which don't engage every time you press them. There is no auto-reverse, so you insomniacs will have to get up, flip the tape, and try to get drowsy again! Overall, I feel it *would* be a decent little machine, except that the sound is just too awful.

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I use this Cassette Player while working out for 45 minutes on the ski exercise machine and believe me it helps pass a boring exercise time while using this device. I purchased this unit last August and use it religiously five days a week. Since that time, the batteries were renewed only once when the sound lost its quality. The sound is superb. Actually, I'm picking up more new sounds on this little unit than my boombox with its large speakers. Having over 500 audio tapes, I need a unit such as this and it fits the bill. I'm thoroughly satisfied with it.

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This cassette player is well designed and well built. We have been using them for over four years in our elementary school and have had only one cassette player out of 25 stop working. Children (ages 7 11) use them to listen to recorded books as they read along silently. We power them with rechargeable batteries. I also use one to listen to music when I am walking, and it sounds fine to me.

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I've been using the cassette player while doing cardio at the gym. In less than a month of use, the sound goes from non-existent to static to fine. It's still covered by the warranty, but Sony has informed me that they usually replace the faulty players with refurbished players and at this time, there have no refurbished players of this model.

I had some trouble fitting the batteries in the compartment, but I won't now that I learned the trick. Otherwise, it's easy to operate, lightweight, and has good sound quality for the price.

Philips GoGear SA3025 2GB USB 2.0 MP3 Digital Music/Video FM Player & Voice Recorder w/1.5" LCD (Bl

• Philips GoGear SA3025 Digital Audio Video Player General Features: Sleek black design
• 2 GB NAND Flash+ storage capacity 1.5-inch color LCD (128 x 128 pixels 65K colors)
• Video (SMV) Playback MP3 and WMA playback Picture Viewing FM Radio
• Playtime: up to 12 hours audio on fully charged battery Built-in microphone Sound Specifications:
• Channel Separation: 40 dB

Well, considering the price, it does what you need. A bit maddening that the shuffle feature keeps playing the same songs over and over, but again what more can you ask for? Holds plenty of songs, and the sound is crisp and clean. Easy to add and delete songs, and the battery life is fantastic! I've had it for 2 months, and I go to the gym 3-4 times a week. I've only had to charge it twice! Definitely worth the price.

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What ever you do, do not buy anything from Phillips! I have two of these things and both are now broken. My wife had hers for about 6 months and used it all of the time. But, it's now broken. I had mine for the same amount of time and didn't use it very much at all. After my wife's broke, I gave her mine. It lasted all of two weeks. Way to go Phillips! That's innovation!

Sony Professional HVRM25U HDV Record/Playback Deck

For professional use, classic Sony quality. There's really nothing else like it on the market. The JVC equivalent costs almost as much and JVC always comes across as more of a "consumer" item.

Menu set-up will be difficult for non-pros, but if you're buying this you're probably already beyond "consumer level," so you'll know how to deal with it. I added a component video out card (from B&H Photo/Video) that Amazon did not carry. The picture output quality to a component video monitor is fantastic especially "downscaled" HDV to a standard definition monitor. You'll be able to use one of these decks in almost any digital video production environment.

Samsung DVD-V9800 Tunerless 1080p Upconverting VHS Combo DVD Player

• 1080p up-conversion DVD/VCR combo
• VCR recorder
• HDMI-CEC (Anynet+?)
• EZView
• Multi-format playback ? DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX?
• 96KHz/24-Bit Audio Processing
• HDMI-CEC (Anynet+)
• Multi-format playback ? DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, CD,CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX

A friend recommended the Samsung, as he has had very good luck with them, so I started looking at reviews over the past month on both DVD/VCR Players and Recorders. I had wanted to convert all my VHS Tapes to DVD, and had initially wanted a DVD Recorder, but since you cannot copy Copyrighted Material, I decided to go for the Player Combo.

Pros: The HDMI Interface is a must with my new Bravia T.V., and the Up-Conversion works great at 1080P. I also have a Sony Blu-Ray, but did not want to wear it out from watching just good old DVD's, besides it's a bit finicky at times and takes a long time to boot and load.

Cons: The VCR only works with the Video Out (Composite), so you still have to run those old Red/White and Yellow wires to support the VCR. I had hoped I could use a single output, but the only commonality across the DVD and the VHS would be the Composite Output and I would have then lost the HDMI Capability and the Up-Conversion.

Over-all, it allows me to have a single unit, and still watch my VHS Tapes, and also supports higher clarity with regular DVD's, providing better quality than my Older Progressive Scan DVD on my older Sony 57 Inch, as it only supports the lower 480p.

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Everything written about this unit in the other reviews is accurate. The combo player/recorder is an excellent example of a dying breed, is well crafted, and (I presume) performs to expectations. So why only 3 stars? Because no where in the description was the most important factor, that the V9800 is TUNERLESS. It must be used with another tuner source...like a set top box. Interestingly, I get cable from Time Warner through regular, in the wall, coax and all three of my HDTV's (Sony Bravia and 2 Sharps) have provisions for coax input. With separate DVD players and "traditional" VCR's this is no problem. Unfortunately I have not found any of the current combo players accepting of coax input for the VCR.

If you receive cable through a set top box this unit would be fine, and for under a $100 represents a nice value for the quality of build. My real gripe is with amazon for not being more diligent in spec'ing technical products that they sell. So 5 stars for Samsung and 0 stars for the amazonians!

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If a zero-star grade was available, I would have selected it. After reviewing the rest of the 1-star ratings, I have two thoughts:

1. Allow me to add my voice to the chorus of negative reviews on the Samsung DVD-V9800. It has gone completely non functional after only 4 months at most of very light duty as a DVD player. I don't think I ever used the VCR function other than the one time when I initially tested the unit after installing it. I received the unit in August or September and it sat in a box while I pulled the rest of my home theater together. Of course, now in December, the failure occurred after the 90 days parts and labor warranty has expired and now I am faced with the choice of paying for labor. Ironically, the diagnosis fee will probably exceed the unit's purchase price. I cannot fault Amazon for not being responsive because I didn't even open the box for 30 days or more. Lesson learned: Be patient and don't order stuff until you're really ready to test it and use it.

2. I simply do not remember the Samsung DVD-V9800 having this many negative ratings. I cannot imagine I would have bought anything with this many complaints against it. Anything will have some negative comments but in this case, the common theme of so many of the DVD-V9800's dying at a young age should be heeded by anyone considering one of these units. Lesson Learned #2: Pay attention to consumer level reviews

Oddly enough, when we bought the unit, it was on sale, and my better half really wanted to keep the capability of playing VHS tapes despite their obsolescence, so we bought two of them. At least I won't have to go far for a spare. Hopefully, it may last longer than its predecessor, perhaps even long enough to re-establish some of the admiration I had for Samsung.

To Samsung Management: Take these reviews with you on your next retreat, read them aloud amongst each other. Then ask yourselves if this where you really want to be, with this many consumers consistently criticizing one of your products. Either you will conclude that you are unhappy with the state of affairs . . . or you don't care.

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I'll add my mite to the negative reviews--the DVD player side no longer loads any disc whatsover, including discs it could load the day before. Neither DVDs nor CDs. And this is just a few weeks over 90 days, so the labor charge to fix it would be as much or more than a replacement. Skip this product--Samsung (if you have any sense you are reading these reviews for customer experience), work on your quality engineering so you will dare to give a full (parts and labor) for a full year.

I think I win the prize for the quickest "die" -I watched exactly 4 hours of DVD and the unit no longer works. I bought it in July of 2008 and only now installed it, so I effectively took 5 crisp 20s and set them on fire. I am going to try to work with Amazon for at least a partial credit. Count me as another person who thinks this product deserves a negative # of stars.

Verbatim 95460 700 MB 52x LightScribe Color Recordable Discs CD-R, 25-Disc Spindle

these discs stink the scribing does not last on them unlike the non colored discs

save your money

I've had good results with other Verbatim LightScribe discs, but I won't use the colored discs again. They looked terrific when I first burned them, but after about two weeks the images started to fade and blur even on discs that were stored indoors and out of sunlight.

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I used to mark my disks with glue on labels. Well after making hundreds of labels they all went bad because of the glue, the ink, or the blank media. It took about a year and a half for the disks to go bad. I really did not know what caused it, but they were slowly ruined as if on a time table. They all sounded as if they were off balance when spinning in the drive and the sound would come out all garbled. Thankfully they were all music and not data. Anyways it was a big disappointment for me losing all that music.

So I started over using a "Sharpie" to mark my disks. A Sharpie is a permanent ink marking pen. The disks were pretty boring looking but at least I felt as though I was safe and the disks would last.

Well I bought a HP computer that had the Lightscribe feature. It was an inexpensive add on. I was blown away by the quality of the finished product. I use the Lightscribe software (it cost me $12 but I think I got it at a discount because I bought the computer) that is very easy to use and very versatile. I have made probably 50 disks so far and no two look the same. I can insert my own images or pictures, background or fonts or use the templates that came with the LightScribe Software. The results look fantastic. It takes about 30 minutes to Scribe a disk but all the information is on the disk. A picture of the CD cover or a picture of the artist, all the songs and a beautiful background of my choosing. They can make very professional looking presentations if you are in business, they are not just for music. You can run other applications while you are burning so I really don't mind the time it takes to burn them. I am sure this is a medium that will only get better and better in the next ten years. Color Lightscribe disks are a way off in the future though.

Thanks,

Bill

Read Best Reviews of Verbatim 95460 700 MB 52x LightScribe Color Recordable Discs CD-R, 25-Disc Spindle Here

There is nothing in particular that I can find wrong with this media. In fact, standalone, the media if great. My problem is being misled by my Amazon.com search. I input a search for labelflash and this media came up; leading me to believe that it worked with a labelflash drive. No. It ONLY works on lightscribe drives. I am only writing this review so that 1) Amazon can change their tagging so others won't be misled and 2) If Amazon does not change their tagging, others will not fall into the same trap that I did.

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I really must say that these lightscribe enabled discs are great. You really can make professional looking labels easily. (...)

It's super easy to use, just select any image to use as a background, add some text, add some text effects if you want, choose fonts, arrange the layout and burn. It takes about 30-40 minutes to burn a full label (with some text and a full-color image as a background).

The discs have a gold-colored backing that allows for the lightscribe writer to burn an image. The quality is great in that the gray-scale seems to have all shades of gray. You can burn images of people (friends, music singers) and it looks great.

My only wish is that in the future they come out with silver backed discs. Unless of course for some reason the gold-colored backing is a necessity. I would also expect that the time it takes to burn will decrease with future models.

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Griffin iFM Radio, Remote, and Recorder for iPod

• iFM integrates FM radio tuning, recording and remote control functionality to the iPod
• Digital auto station scan with wraparound
• Band-Switch function to switch between US, European and Japanese FM bands
• 6 station presets per band
• Remote (Works with all iPod 3G, 4G Photo and Mini models) - Controls play, pause, fast forward, rewind, next song, previous song, volume

The iFM remote worked great for about 4-5 days then the cord that connects to the ipod broke just like another customer reported. The thing now only plays the radio and thats it. No remote functions or recording. The cord seems to be made of really chep plastic. Then another thing is the iFM is just plain ugly to have attached to my jacket, because it has these two cords coming out one end of the controller looking like a jungle has attacked my ipod. Basically I wouldn't buy it again. Nice concept poor materials.

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It's not clear from the description that this product only works with older model iPods with the remote control port. It didn't work with my Classic, and won't work with any recent model iPod. The seller refunded my money with no problem.

Read Best Reviews of Griffin iFM Radio, Remote, and Recorder for iPod Here

It would've been nice if this built on top of the already sleek and efficient design of the iPod remote. Unfortunately, it's only similar in color. My first problem was that there is nowhere to lock the buttons, so expect random fast forwards or pauses while walking. This could be tolerated, but the worst issue is how quickly it fell apart. I've always had issues with the Apple remote wire coming apart, but that usually takes me over a year. I used this remote for about 6 weeks before it started to come undone and 10 days later it was finished.

Not recommended.

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My Girlfriend and I both have this radio. Hers works fine as long as she can get a signal. In the YMCA it is hit or miss. I use mine at work in a factory and could not be happier. I have been using it for about 2 months

and it works great 10-12 hours a day.

I use this every morning to switch between listening to talk shows and podcasts on my iPod, and for me it works great! Reception is almost always good for the FM stations, and I've had no problem with the controls (altho' the tiny buttons are kind of hard to manipulate with my work gloves on) HOWEVER, I had the same problem as other reviewers...the wire that comes out of the piece that connects to the iPod is soon loose and then breaks. I could not use the unit at all. I had it about 3 months when it first happened; I read somewhere else that Griffin will send you a new one. So I contacted them, and was told "I must have a defective unit." They had me send it back to them and promptly replaced it. Good customer service! But the second unit almost immediately did the same thing...I tried wrapping electrician's tape around the wire to keep it immobile but was not successful.