Showing posts with label glasses camera with digital video recorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glasses camera with digital video recorder. Show all posts

Sunday, November 9, 2014

VideoSecu 1/3" CCD Security Camera Color DSP Built in 3.6mm Wide Angle Lens for CCTV Security Syste

VideoSecu 1/3' CCD Security Camera Color DSP Built in 3.6mm Wide Angle Lens for CCTV Security System with Free Surveillance Decal WA9This VideoSecu Camera is a decent camera for its price. In general, you can only get a CMOS camera or a fake camera at this price. But now we can get a High Resolution Wide View Angle CCD camera from Warehouseseller. They shipped my packaged so fast. It only takes 3 days to delivery my door. I opened the box, all was new and everything was there. It only took 3 minutes to mount it. It is easy to use. It can capture sharp image and made of plastic.

I'm pleased with this purchase. I installed it in front of my door. And I must say the build-in 3.6mm wide angle lens is very useful. I get a wide view angle through this camera. Now almost whole garden is in my sight. Everything is safe now.

I highly recommend this VideoSecu good price quality camera!!!!!!

I purchased this to swap out the cameras that came with my FS-8500 system from Night Owl. I needed a wider view. When I saw it, I thought, this little thing can't beat my $400 system. When I plugged it in and took a look, I was shocked. The colors were bright; the view was crisp and clear. Compared to my regular cameras, this thing left me wanting to use the cameras that came with my system as dummy cameras instead. By the way, Night Owl is the biggest piece of . . .

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there are a lot of cctv cameras with the 1/3 and 1/4" ccd lens, with and without night vision, coming out of china. personally, they are all about the same and worth about $25.00 (prolly made by the same factory too). any more $$ and you are wasting ur money. It has a good quality pix but the color is off. that is why i gave it a 4-star. but unless you need pan/scan/zoom or need to see a fly on the wall across the room...these are great security cameras.

Read Best Reviews of VideoSecu 1/3" CCD Security Camera Color DSP Built in 3.6mm Wide Angle Lens for CCTV Security Syste Here

the camera is a good camera they said it was color but it show in black an white other than that it a good.ed ce

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I had it up and running in under an hour hooked up to a DVR. It covers an area that is approximately 50' wide of my fence and front yard which is more than I expected. It has very good clarity during daylight hours & I can see clearly anyone standing at the gate. I would highly recommend this camera.

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Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Ematic 8 GB Video MP3 Player with Touchscreen, 5MP Video/Still Camera, FM Radio, and Speaker (Black)

Ematic 8 GB Video MP3 Player with Touchscreen, 5MP Video/Still Camera, FM Radio, and Speaker
  • 8 GB capacity for storage of up to 2000 songs, 7000 photos, or 8 hours of video; expandable via SD card
  • Up to 22 hours of music playback on a single charge
  • 3-inch color TFT LCD display with 320 x 240 pixel resolution
  • Supports MP3, WAV, and WMA audio files; AVI, MP4, and FLV video files; JPEG and BMP images; TXT text files
  • One-year limited warranty

After using the product for several hours, I've got a few things to say about the device that will hopefully answer some questions.

The webcam functionality has decent picture quality. The player sits on its side to get a straight picture. The problem is that this product comes with no stand to hold the camera, so you are forced to either make something yourself, or to hold it the entire time. While using the webcam, the microphone cannot be used, so it is not a all-in-one tool for video chatting applications such as Skype or Google Video Chat.

The navigation of music is difficult to get used to. There is not any easy way to change how the music is sorted, such as by artist, album, song title, etc.

The touchscreen works decently. It is not overly sensitive, and sometimes does not work in certain areas of the screen. This may just be my particular product that has a fault, but I've seen other users say the same.

Minesweeper is the only game that comes with the device. There is no option to add more. The game is low quality at best; it has two levels: easy and hard. It's not regular minesweeper, either. You can literally click a bomb on first click.

It comes with a stopwatch application, but you cannot run the stopwatch and switch to music mode. It stops the stopwatch and erases the time.

Transfer rate of music is rather slow. Maybe 1.5 megabits per second. If you have enough music to fill the device, set aside at least 45 minutes of your time.

The buttons are cheap plastic. The device comes with no silicon case as some sites indicate. It does come with a low quality screen cleaner as well as headphones. These headphones are the antenna that your device uses when using the radio function. Any pair of headphones will work, but some headphones will pop out of the jack.

The stylus DOES fit in the device and you can take it out on the top right side.

Built in speaker is low quality, but it definitely works well enough to play music back for friends.

All ports are found along the bottom of the device, except for the microSD slot which is at the top towards the back side.

Settings are very limited. Time can only be displayed in military time, the date/time sometimes resets when the device powers off.

The device has a screen lock to prevent accidental button pressing while it is in your pocket.

Character recognition in the notepad is dismal, but you can type by pressing letters.

Overall, if you're looking for a remarkable product with tons of cool features and apps and will remember user settings and have tons of capabilities, you'll be disappointed. If you want a media player that can play videos and music, take pictures and video and record sound, this will work well enough for you. It's a heck of a deal for the price.

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Sounded perfect for my son, but the touch screen stopped working. The company said that after 90 days, I would have to pay 40 dollars to get it repaired/replaced. I asked their representative, why they list their warranty as being for one year, he said between 90 days and 1 year they would replace the Ematic E6 8GB for $40.00. On top of all this my son was constantly having to reset it and even though it has 8GB of memory built into the device, that memory is worthless because it get's wiped when you reset it the E6, so you are stuck with keeping everything on your purchased separately microSD card. Why would anybody want to pay $40 to replace an item that costs $40-$60 to buy new, and I would have to pay shipping and handling both ways, what a bargain. I absolutely DO NOT RECOMMEND the Ematic E6 8GB MP3 Video Player or purchasing any of this company's products. The telephone customer service representative did not seem surprised that it did not work or that I was unhappy with Ematic's products, this not a good company or product. F.Y.I. Ematic and XO Vision are the same company, so don't let them trick by slapping another name on the same bad product.

Read Best Reviews of Ematic 8 GB Video MP3 Player with Touchscreen, 5MP Video/Still Camera, FM Radio, and Speaker (Black) Here

I had bought one and it fell two-three feet and the touch screen broke.

I had bought another one, and have taken much better care of it since.

The 8 gig hard drive right now is storing at least over 55 hours of video with still some room to spare. The video out jack is not all that great with larger tv's as it is with smaller ones. hrmmmm. I only had screen freezes with the first one i had bought but after a couple of resets the item seemed to work fine. As far as the second one I had purchased I've had no freezes. Albeit this product is a great product and I do recommend it especially with great format support and its multi utilities(That is as far as a 5 mega-pixel camera can go, which is fair.)I can not say it would be my first choice, but would say I would buy this product/again.

Style:4

Ease: 4

Storage: 4

External speaker: 4 (loud enough for most situations. Can rattle if to loud)

Video/camera quality: 4 (for acceptable)

Screen resoloution: 5 (it's not exatcly "1080i HD" thoah, more between youtube's 320p-720p hd playback)

Battery: 4 (5-7 hours of fm is great but i want more)

Apps: 3-5 (wish they had some for download thoah)

Screen size: A superb 4

Forgot to mention, Screen outside in sunlight is kind of hard to see(may have to stand in the shade,) but indoors it's fine. The player saves the video file as a standard simple .avi movie but it does use a "xVid codec" to generate that format this may cause the video saved not to be capable of being played on your computer if you don't have that video codec installed this may or may not be the case for you depending on what codecs your standard or choice video player software uses(ie real player, media player, quicktime, winamp, etc.) still their website does say the video format is allready youtube compliant im sure this should be the same for all video upload sites. further still the microphone for audio recording and video recording is very poor (a 2 out of 5), it's quite similar to a phone's microphone (better for catching noises closer rather than farther.) other than that I did say the screen was a 5 but to be more specific The picture qaulity is great there is minor dissipation of deatails due to the small screen size but the quality and clarity of the screen still allows you to read fairly small print. And it does come with a cd with software. this software afformetioned is seemingly second market cheap and not very great (1 out of 5) and has no real use.

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I probably wouldn't have ever bought these for my 5 and 7 year old. They are like tiny destroyers. My husband convinced me they would be ok. These gems are durable and make our trips into town (which is about 25 miles) so much easier to tolerate.

Used it for about 2 months then while charging it dies. Does not respond to anything piece of junk.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Sony ICD-UX70 Digital Voice Recorder - Pink

Sony ICD-UX70 Digital Voice Recorder - PinkThe 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.

Read Best Reviews of Sony ICD-UX70 Digital Voice Recorder - Pink Here

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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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Naxa NDL-400 7-Inch TFT LCD Display Portable DVD Player with Digital TV TUNER, AM/FM Stereo Radio,

Naxa NDL-400 7-Inch TFT LCD Display Portable DVD Player with Digital TV TUNER, AM/FM Stereo Radio, USB Input and SD/MMC Card Slots
  • Portable 7" LCD DVD Boombox
  • Built in Digital ATSC TV Tuner
  • Built in USB/SD/MMC Slot
  • 3 Way Power: UL/ETL Approved AC Adaptor, DC Battery Power & DC 12V Car Cord

I had no idea how hard it would be to find a satisfactory boombox that also had the tv/dvd player built in. This looked the best of the three models I could find on Amazon and was the first of the three devices we tried, each with frustrating shortcomings in the design or quality. The other two were GPX BT780B 7 Inch LCD Portable TV/DVD/AM/FM Boombox and the Coby TFDVD7091 7-Inch DVD/MP3/CD Player and ATSC/NTSC TV Tuner, Black All three could be harshly described as cheapo third world junk, but for the money we were not expecting audiofile quality and manufacture. But design decisions torpedoed all three at fulfilling what we wanted from the devices. I don't like hassling with sending stuff back to Amazon, but all three were returned and we ended up settling on separate devices for the portable cd/tv/dvd functionality that we wanted. If these could have been examined in store we likely never would have bought any of them.

I had three main intended uses for this boombox and this one device appeared to have it all, plus it was the only one I could find that had battery, AC, and car adapter DC power options (a huge plus for our intended uses). It turned out to not be particularly good for any of our three main purposes.

First, we wanted it to play audio cds upstairs where we have no stereo. Though it is billed as a boombox, the dvd player does not play audio cds! This may be the unit's biggest flaw and it is hard to fathom it not playing an audio cd but playing dvd. I know cds are on their way out and digital downloads are in, but it has a disc player already installed! And it is a boombox!

Secondly, we were going to strap it to the console of our van for the 12 hour trips we take to visit family and use the dvd to keep our daughter's attention when she got road weary. The sound for FM radio music seemed okay, not great but listenable without wincing, but when playing a dvd the male voice dialogue was hard to discern. They sounded muffled and the only solution was to turn up the volume more than we wanted it. We could find no tone or EQ settings to try and boost the mid-range and figured it would be nearly impossible to understand dialogue over the road noise in our van. The screen image was also brighter and better than the other two models we tried.

The third reason we wanted this was for emergency tv/radio. While we never bothered to attempt the tv because we knew it was going back, the analog FM tuner was very touchy and difficult to dial in stations as if it was an afterthought in the design. But the battery power was a plus for emergency tv and radio if you need them for that.

Comparing the NAXA and the GPX, the build quality appeared reasonably stout on the NAXA and didn't scream cheapo electronics as badly as the GPX model, which is odd because the two models share several design elements and probably schematics for the button controls as they were nearly identical. These probably come from the same Chinese contract factory. The GPX was flimsier but to it's advantage it has a front load disc drive and the NAXA is a top loader after you flip the screen up.

If you don't care that it does not play music cds or may be hard to hear in a moving car, it might work for you. It has a lot of features for the money, but the quality will obvious challenge a long life for this device.

Buy Naxa NDL-400 7-Inch TFT LCD Display Portable DVD Player with Digital TV TUNER, AM/FM Stereo Radio, Now

For what it worths you won't be disappointed and it made a wonderful 12-yr old boy's birthday gift...guarantee to be better than sliced bread. My reason to puchase this particular item was preparation for emergency items since our last experience with San Diego's blackout and with this plug in batteries and you will be uptodate with the Jones's (radio is good and this will be better). Also a magnetized base for TV antenna is provided so it will be in place for better reception. Bad thing is the volume drop lower in tv/dvd mode but compare to the price it is okay. Hopefully the next one in the market will be better.

Read Best Reviews of Naxa NDL-400 7-Inch TFT LCD Display Portable DVD Player with Digital TV TUNER, AM/FM Stereo Radio, Here

this Naxa NDL-400 7-Inch TFT LCD Display Portable DVD Player with Digital TV TUNER, AM/FM Stereo Radio, USB Input and SD/MMC Card Slots is nice looking and nice sounding and work great love it!

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I'm using this in my workshop as a radio/dvd player with the occasional live football on tv thrown in. Does the job great. The plastic is a bit brittle as indicated in another review, but doesn't feel cheap. My only wish would be for a better out of the box TV antenna and maybe a digital radio tuner instead of an analog one (so I could use the remote to change radio stations). All around, not a bad little unit!

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It picks up stations pretty well in a major metro area of Southern California, but it does better in the morning than at night. I've tested the 8C battery usage for the DVD player, and the batteries 'lasted' (using DURACELL'S with a remaining shelf life of 3 years, which were bought 2 years previously), a total of 3 hours of DVD playtime. In another test on another product, using (in that test), a BRAND NEW SET of Duracell's, hot from the big box store, and never stored, I tested a Magnasonic boombox DVD player for DVD playtime (which had no TV). But in that test, I used 'super-fresh' (never stored) Duracell batteries which give me 6 hours of DVD playtime. But we're comparing apples to oranges here. The Naxa was tested with never used, but 2 year old Duracell's; the Maganasonic was tested with super-new, fresh from the big box store, Duracell's. Maybe the Naxa would have played longer if I had used super-new Duracell's like I did in the Magansonic test. (You'll have to draw your own conclusions from those above facts.) Note also: a word of caution about the remote....in 'my' Naxa, the battery does not make good contact with the lower contacts inside the 'remote'. I had to slip-in one thin sheet of aluminum foil (without putting-in the foil TOO far so as not to touch the front battery contacts as well...to prevent creating a 'short'), in order for the remote to activate each time I pressed a button. All-in-all I'll keep this unit as the digital TV stations were pulled-in so well in my area. I'll use the Magnasonic to play DVDs in a power outage. [Oh, one more thing I just found out: this unit's TV works even better with the SuperSonic Flat Digital Antenna VHF/UHF that Amazon sells for about $14. It enables the TV to pick up the lower frequency channels in my area much better than the NAXA supplied antenna. And, at least those 'lower' channels(which are CBS; NBC etc.) stations, and are broadcast in the language that 'I' speak'...while the higher frequencies/channels are mostly non-English speaking channels in my area.]

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Olympus TP-7 Telephone pick up

Olympus TP-7 Telephone pick upi needed to record a cell phone conversation and this was the absolute cheapest way to do it. the earpiece has a microphone on the opposite side that records what is being said by whomever you're talking to, plus your voice (a bit louder). i bought it friday and it got to my house by monday. amazing.

one thing: this mic doesn't have its own power source, so whatever recording device you plug it into must be able to supply power. i used an olympus VN-2100 digital recorder and it worked almost flawlessly. i say almost because the mic doesn't record in stereo, it records in mono. but the record volume is loud and comes out very very clear even if the earpiece/mic isn't right on top of the phone receiver.

you will not be able to do this any better for the money. a lot of online spy shops are charging $200 or more for this same function. i got this mic (which will record cell phone and land line conversations) plus a digital recorder for under $50.

I'm a writer, and I spent way too much time trying to find a good solution for recording phone calls -everything from Skype to Radio Shack gadgets that had to get connected through an analog phone. When I ordered this, I was actually stunned with how simply it works, and how well. I use it with my cell or home phones and it does the job perfectly. It's one of those things that seems so simple, you wonder why no one else came up with this solution sooner. I can't recommend this highly enough.

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I bought this to use with the Olympus DS series recorders, but it should work with most recorders that have inputs. It does come with adapters for mono, stereo, and mini-jack, and, of course you can buy additional adapters...

The phone recording works fine. Have confidence that it's working and remember to keep your own voice low to keep more of a balance in the recording. Sometimes, too, the playback on the computer turns out to be more balanced and better sounding than the sound on the device's own speaker.

And, as a bonus, you may want to use this mic for interviews rather than the tie-clip mic or the RS29. With the TP7 in your ear, it records people speaking next to you, or, across from you, very well.

Bottom line, if I only bought one accessory for recording with a DS recorder, this might be my first and only pick.

If it had a "pause" feature, I'd bump my review from four stars to six....

Read Best Reviews of Olympus TP-7 Telephone pick up Here



Bottom line: the recording quality is certainly servicable. Play the video for a recording sample (using a TASCAM PR-10 Portable Digital Audio Recorder (Black)) and learn about an unadvertized use.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews take the place of first-hand experiences that are lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've gotten from other reviewers and continue to return the favor as best as I can. If you thought this review was helpful please let me know by clicking on "Yes" button where it asks. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

BTW, I feel that honest, effective reviews, accompanied by detailed videos, can take the place of first-hand experiences that are often lacking in online shopping. I've always appreciated the help I've received from other reviewers and try to return the favor as best as I can. I hope you found this review helpful and the video at least entertaining. If there was anything you thought was lacking or unclear leave a comment and I'll do what I can to fix it.

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This microphone seems well made, despite being inexpensive, and the sound quality is good. But there are disadvantages. First, you have to wear it in your ear as you talk. That's awkward for me. I can feel it between the phone and my ear and it gets in the way, sonically -you don't hear as well with it in. Worse, it records my voice much more loudly than the person at the other end of the line.

So, yes, it works, and yes, I can get used to it, but it's not an ideal solution.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

JVC SR-V101US S-VHS Recorder and Player

JVC SR-V101US S-VHS Recorder and PlayerJVC has always manufactured the best S-VHS recorders. You get 400 lines of resolution when you record on S-VHS tape in the SP mode. This unit does have S-VHS ET capability but I still prefer to record on S-VHS tapes for best results. This is an exceptional unit. If you record off cable or Satellite TV the playback picture quality looks outstanding.

Excellent...more then satisfied with all it's pro features & above average quality. A welcome addition to my studio.

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We use the JVC SR Recorder and Player for professional Video Transfer service . This mashine work great and we are happy to purchasing the system.

We will recommend to anybody hu needs the Recorder.

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the product itself is fine but working with the company on returns or questions was awful. No response and if you have to return anything forget about it. It won't happen

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Haven't used it much yet but a professional grade VCR in a plastic box doesn't give me a lot of confidence.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom

Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical ZoomFirst let's correct the Amazon description, this is a 40X optical zoom camera, not 25X as seen on the product itself.

This is a great camera to start out with, the simplicity of Mini DV tapes makes this a good value choice. DVD camcorders in this price range suffer from bad battery life, and disk errors that can render your disks useless. The Mini DV tapes are tried and true.

I use an Apple computer at home and the camera connects to iMovie with no problems using the iLink port on the camera. All you need in most cases is a Firewire 6pin to 4pin cable, and you are good to go.

The video and audio quality are good, and the night vision is fun too. This is not a upper level camera so don't expect several bells and whistles, but it performs great, and has the basic features most people will ever need. The battery life is fair, but that is expected, all camcorder companies want you to buy an extra battery, but at least Sony gives you several options.

With a full charge and a new tape, expect about an hour of record time.

I have been renting a Sony DCR-HC21 from my college for a month or so now. I'm a photographer by trade but I really became interested with editing digital video so I looked around for a camcorder that was a bit above mid range. This is it, it has enough professional functions to make it just right for me. Ability to recored in 16:9 widescreen, touch screen LCD, ability to control exposure, manual and auto focus, 40x optical zoom, and at $234.99 it's an awesome buy.

The one Con I can think of is that the battery provided with the camera is very poor. Only lasts for 115 minutes, which seems nice but in comparison to the NPFH50 that lasts for 3 hours it's poor. Do yourself a favor and buy the NPFH50 Battery for $26 here on amazon.

The other thing that I can't fathom is that none of these minidv camcorders come with the firewire data cable. It seems like including an 8 dollar cable wouldn't be that difficult, Sony afterall bundles the software needed to transfer the video to your PC.

All in all this is the best camcorder for the money, I chose this over the Canon ZR900 and I'm glad that I did. It's well build and has all the features that an amateur or professional would want.

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I purchased this camera in mid October 2008, and so far have been very pleased given the low price. I initially wanted more features, but did not want to spend over $250-270 total (with accessories like MiniDV tapes, firewire cable, bag, extra battery). I use it for recording my children's music performances.

Plus:

The video quality is very good. 40x OPTICAL zoom. This was the highest optical zoom I could find in a camera in this price range.

The sound quality is good in the 12 bit mode, and even better in the 16 bit mode.

Easy to use.

Compact.

Intelligent Lithium battery.

Minus:

No MiniDV tape included. You will need to buy some.

NO PASSTHROUGH MODE. This camera cannot accept input from analog sources (like output from an old VHS-C camera or a VCR). If you plan to use this camera to transfer from older analog to digital video, it won't do it.

Battery life is short, 115 minutes according to book, but I get between 90 and 100 minutes. Buy an NP-FH50 and use the battery that came with the camera as a spare.

No USB port. You WILL need firewire inputs on your computer to capture the video. And if you purchase from Circuit City, do not expect the sales people to know this.

No Firewire cable. Factor that in the purchase price. Firewire cables are expensive ($25-$30) IF you buy from a brick and mortar store; expect to pay $8-10 online

No Remote control. So if you want to put the camera on a tripod, you must manually start and stop the recording.

No memory slot. MiniDV only.

Read Best Reviews of Sony DCR-HC52 MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 40x Optical Zoom Here

I bought this product to replace one of the first Sony Digital8 Camcorders that ever went on the market (DCR-TRV510). I've had that camera for 9+ years and have loved it. I bought this camera because because the reviews were decent, the price was good, and I like Sony products. I've had the camera about two months now and I'm very disappointed with the color of the videos. They are very dark compared to what they should be.

My most recent project was filming a basketball game where I had four different Sony digital camcorders in use on the same court (I film a complete game once a year). The other three Sony camcorders (all older, different models) produced far better color than this one. The colors produced by this camera are, quite simply, terrible. The one caveat to that is outside on a bright, sunny day will produce a rich color saturation. Other than that, though, you're out of luck.

I originally thought it was maybe just my camera, but another reviewer also talks about bad color saturation in his review, so I guess it is product wide problem. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

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I tried to buy this camera from Amazon but their server was trashing on 6/6/08 so I dashed over to the local WalMart and picked up one. After spending the last 7 hours going over every feature and nuance, I wish I'd had this camera last week for videoing a great rock band in Illinois... the spot metering feature would have provided me vastly better results than the old Sharp miniDV it replaced! One review of this camera is extremely biased by the buyer's ignorance of technology... firewire is the only way to go for transferring DV to computer, and this feature works flawlessly on this camera. I'm very pleased to have one, and not even sorry to have paid more at WalMart than Amazon's great price! Image quality is excellent!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Canon XL-H1 3CCD High Definition Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom

Canon XL-H1 3CCD High Definition Camcorder with 20x Optical ZoomThe Canon XL-H1 is king of DV and live video productions!

The low light quality is unmatched on any camera in it's class.

The ergonomics are spectacular, making the camera excellent for smooth handheld shots.

The buttons are accessible in awkward positions and are easy to use, plus there are programmable buttons that can be personalized.

This is a serious camera for any serious job.

All Canon HDV cameras has an important issue: if you record in 24F or 30F modes, the tapes can only be played back in the camera itself. Canon records those signals in a proprietary mode that is not HDV compliant. YOU CANNOT PLAYBACK THE TAPES IN ANY DECK OR CAMERA other than Canon.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Motorola SLVR L6 Unlocked Phone with Video Player/Recorder--International Version with No Warranty

Motorola SLVR L6 Unlocked Phone with Video Player/Recorder--International Version with No WarrantyI have only had Nokia phones prior to this phone but decided to branch my wings out after my Nokia fell in a puddle. Purchased the phone off of ebay and it was easy enough to set up and use with TMobile....

Pros:

Sleak style

clear and colorful screen

loud speaker phone

Good camera

In car option

Bluetooth capable

Size

Cons:

Battery Life is horrible, lasts only a day.

Screen is small

menus are slighly confussing

no screen saver with clock only function

screen blacks out really quickly to save already bad battery life

texting with one hand difficult because phone is so skinny

weird predictive texting that is not as user friendly as Nokia

Dropped calls

Poor antenna

cant hold with shoulder and talk... muffeled voice

horrible manual

Overall, I think I am a nokia person. I like the look of the phone and the size is sweet and I like the ringtones and clearity of phone, but I was so disappointed with the batttery life and reception. My old nokia's battery would last for three days and could find a signal anywhere. Maybe its just because I'm not used to Motorola's but overall I'm underwhelmed.

I intended to purchase a true 4-band cel which I could use in any place, and I trusted Amazon description which states "Unlocked for use with your existing GSM 850 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, GSM 900 MHz or GSM 1900 MHz".

But when I inserted the SIM of a 850 MHz network the cell did not work, after some searching in the cel menus I found out that Amazon description is wrong, since it is intended only for 900, 1800 and 1900 MH.

So be careful if you need to use it overseas..........

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This phone is awesome! All I pretty much needed was the blue tooth and it has it so that serves the purpose. Only thing I am dissapointed with is the fact that the phone service does not transfer over to AT&T. It only stays on for cingular so I often get dropped calls and no signal. That can be a problem if I am in an area where the phone picks up no signal and I have an emergency.

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only problem is that it is easy to drop and the scrren smudges easily

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I PURCHASE THIS PHONE FOR MY DAUGHTER FOR XMAS. AND IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT SHE WANTED.I ALSO WAS VERY PLEASE WITH IT.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Car DVR

Car DVR
  • Color Video,
  • Color display
  • Time and Date
  • Format: AVI,
  • Speed: 30fps

Saying it's not HD is an understatement. Selecting HD (1280x720) actually lowers the resolution to 640x360 which is lower resolution than the standard 640x480 mode. How so? In 640x480 mode, the dash cam records full frame 4:3 video. The resolution is 640x480. The video quality is OK, but well below mid grade analog or digital video recorders from a decade ago. When you select HD, the video is recorded as letterbox cutting off the top 60 and bottom 60 lines for a total horizontal resolution of 360. The video resolution in HD mode is actually 640x360. The pixels are quadrupled to 1280x720 (640*2 x 360*2). You can clearly see the line doubling in the video playback. Even worse, the HD selection which records in lower resolution takes more file space than the 640x480 mode. What this means is this is just a 640x480 standard def recorder with not such great video quality.

The difference between 640x480 and a true low resolution HD of 1280x720 is the difference between reading a license plate or not.

I'm giving this 1 star because this is blatant false advertising and the price is too high for a cheap standard def dash cam. This thing is going back today. It is not the product advertised.

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Definitely, this is not an HD. Quality of the recordings is poor. You will not be able to see license numbers of cars and/or faces of people who pass by your car; But, considering current limitations of the US market for this type of equipment, it may not be the worst alternative to expensive items of this kind. It does record clips and it is possible to understand what is happening. In other words, .... it is just a poor quality video.

Seller, please correct your description. This is not an HD cam; and we are not in a 99 cent Chineese store.

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This DVR is not intended to use as a "black box". The video quality is not real 1280x720 but interpolated from like 240x135. It is not possible to recognize the car licence plate numbers even if staying right behind the car.

The card slot has also poor quality. The flash card jumps out of the slot when passing the bump.

Could not recommend...

PS. The Polaroid SD card reader was not included in the parcel.

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The right size, the right idea. Unfortunately wrong gizmo.

This product is kind of quirky and can let you down when needed.

Product does not re record over SD card as advertised. Instead freezes up and depletes battery losing all settings including date and time.

Resetting device and manual deletion of SD files is required each time it freezes up. Guess thats why the give you the card reader.

For the asking price for this product, one would be better off paying a little more for a Flip type device with a windshield suction mount.

Overall unreliable product.

This device from its appearance in the photograph is a clone of a device I regrettably purchased from Dealextreme (it shipped out of Hong Kong and now I can't find a way to return it). Design-wise the description is not accurate as one of the other reviewers noted: it is not HD. In fact, if you try to switch it to the higher resolution mode, it will crash the device. I used mine in low-res for 6 weeks, after which it started bricking. After a few days of constantly pushing the reset button because of the bricking, it seized for good, and now won't power on at all.

Those are the bad points the device fails outright in just a few weeks. However, this device also has some GOOD points and if they could just fix the obvious firmware problems, it would probably be a really good purchase for the money. What's neat about it is that it comes on automatically when the car starts, and records convenient video segments. When you turn your car off, it writes the final segment to its SD card and shuts itself off automatically you don't have to mess with it. Video segments are easy to retrieve from the SD card. In these respects, it's very well designed as a plug-and-play-and-forget-about-it device for users of lower technical skill.

Except for the fatal firmware flaws, that is. Watch additional reviews of dash cams on Amazon to see if / when the firmware issues are resolved. And for goodness sake, don't buy one of these unless you're sure the problems have been addressed.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sony ICD-U70 All-In-One MP3 and Digital voice recorder 1GB

Sony ICD-U70 All-In-One MP3 and Digital voice recorder 1GBI bought it mainly for speech (not music) recording.

It is a pretty good recording device. However, you can only

listen to the recordings using the recorder or play back on PC

using the software plugins for Windows media player.

The plugins comes with the player on a CD and I had no problem

installing it.

The recoding is in a proprietary SONY format called "dvf" or

"digital voice file". The software that comes with the recorder

can not convert dvf to any other format such as mp3 or wav.

It does not have a conversion feature.

As far as I can tell, you need to buy either a SONY digital vocie

transcript kit that comes wth SONY "digital voice editor" or some

3rd party software to do the conversion. I called SONY support asking

to buy a copy of "digital voice editor" and they sold and sent me

a CD for about $38.00. This CD is the same as the one that came

with the recorder; it is scratched and has no vocie editor on it.

I alled SONY again and was told this CD is the only one they support.

I bought this recorder to do one-on-one interviews. I can't listen to the recordings on the actual player though, I have to transfer them to the computer and play them with an audio playerthe volume of the recordings is too quiet on the recorder itself. The quality of the recordings is fine once you get them transfered. The folders and the amount of storage on the recorder are great, but if I would have known that you can not listen to the files on the recorder I would have never purchased this.

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I got this device for voice recording, specifically notes to myself.The device records well even at 2-3 feet way. The playback volume is pitiful, however, even at the highest setting. Calling support was no help as they just directed me to do what I had already done and then told me it was recommended that one should always listen to the recording through the headphones. That is inconvenient for my purposes and I don't see any place on the package or on the insert which states that.

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It's a great bargain; I use it for its voice recording feature, at which it far surpasses any other brand. Every other mp3 voice recorder I've gotten records in a compressed wav format which is totally unreliable and I've lost messages that are unrecoverable, at random times. This records on its proprietary format, which produces wonderfully small files which can easily be converted to any other format in the world with one click on your PC if you get a 3rd-party program called Switch. I highly recommend it.

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I bought this puppy when it was first available through Sony in September of 2006 for the sole intention of recording all my thoughts while on a 7,000 mile bicycle ride around the country. I made an armband holder for it and away I went. The voice recorder held up beautifully against five months of weather and extensive use every single day. I was able to record and ride at the same time without significant wind being recorded. The AAA battery seemed to last forever, that is until I started using the MP3 playback option -using music, it probably lasts 5 hours or so.

Anyhoo, I was very happy with the voice recorder. It's very simple to operate without having to look down at it. The USB interface worked flawlessly. The hold button serves as the units off button and I must've turned it on and off a million times without any problems. There are multiple settings for recording quality and I always kept it on the highest quality. Even on this setting, you can record hours and hours and hours... I don't know exactly how long, but I never ran out of time.

What else? Hmm... It's real small and light. This is a good thing. I noticed that other reviews are saying that its playback volume is pretty weak. This is true. However, I never used the external playback option so it wasn't an issue for me. Whenever I wanted to listen to the voice recordings, I just put on a set of small headphones I had with me. With the headphones on, the playback is plenty loud.

The one thing that I don't fancy so much about this model is that it's difficult to convert from the recorder's file format to something more common. It records files that end in .DVF and while I can play them on my computer and on the voice recorder just fine, I have struggled with trying to convert them to .WAV or something else for editing purposes. There is minimal resources available to help with this situation though I don't think it's impossible to do if you're a computer nerd. Oh -I just noticed that someone else on these reviews said that you can "easily convert" the files with a program called "Switch"... I'll have to check that out.

This unit served my purposes perfectly. Never broke down. Recorded everything I wanted. Never had any lost of corrupted files despite the elements giving it a daily punishing. It worked out very well.

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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Sony Ericsson W200a Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--U.S. Versio

Sony Ericsson W200a Unlocked Cell Phone with MP3/Video Player, Memory Stick Micro Slot--U.S. Version with WarrantyAfter loosing the phone (samsung 807) which came with my cingular contract, I was on hunt for a cheap, nice phone with not many internet features. Because the guy who stole my phone made huge bill using internet.

After searching for a while I fixed on w200i. And after using it for a week, I am very much satisfied. The good points are

1) Walkman player on the phone is very good. Sound quality is very good with the included earbuds. Also the included 128MB memory stick is sufficient for ~20 songs which is nice, but I want to upgrade it to 2GB stick.

2) FM radio is good

3) Voice dialing. I like the implementation of voice dialing on this phone better compared to samsung D807.

On D807, there is no user control on how a contact is to be pronounced. Based on stored conact's name, the phone assumes a pronounciation. Since names are not standard english words, this always leads to wrong assumptions.Also being from India, my accent is different from American accent. And for me,it never worked on D807 satisfactorily.

On w200i, you can record a sound and associate it with a contact. Whenever you pronounce the sound, the associated contact is called. This way I can use the correct sound for the name and also I can use nicknames. This is much better and for me more natural.

4) Sound volume is good & clear. Unlike D807, I don't have to press the phone to my ears.

5) Light weight and looks cool

6) Limited internet features. This phone comes with no net browsing facility and limited data features. This way I don't end up with extra bill for using internet, after inadvertently pressing some button (many phones I saw have the important buttons associated with internet). This is good for those like me, who don't have/want data plans.

Average w.r.t.

1) Battery life

2) camera quality

Bad

1) The hands free cable implementation is a mess. It can be designed better I feel. The clip should be above the heavy handsfree button. Also for me, the left earbud cable is a bit short

This is a pretty solid phone. The one I got came from Mexico. It still was easy to switch it to english, but some of the stuff is still in spanish, such as the games. Not really a big deal to me, though. It's pretty simple to use and everything. No real complaints as of yet.

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I love SONY cellphones, but this one is a disaster mainly due to the very poor screen. Not enough light, and whatever you do see on the screen seems to be of very low resolution and low contrast.

Very limited menus, although you can download some, it seems. I can't rate the other features because I got sick of it just trying to improve the themes, the wallpaper and the lighting. But, it's low

price, so not too much money wasted.

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Tremendo telefono, tengo ya mas de 4 años con el, y si ningun problema. La interfas grafica mucho mejor que algunos telefenos nuevos y muy facil de usar. La camara si no es de lo mejor, pero como reproductor de musica es genial.

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Good, cell phone, a good quality. A little more than a regular cell. Just perfect!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

VideoSecu High Sensitive Preamp Mini Audio Pickup Tiny Spy Microphone with Power Bypass for Securit

VideoSecu High Sensitive Preamp Mini Audio Pickup Tiny Spy Microphone with Power Bypass for Security Audio Sound Voice Monitoring Recording and Free Warning Decal WD4Rather simple product so it does not need much review. Amazon had a great price so I got it. Received it in 3 days like they promised.

just needed to record some audio in my surveillance setup. ordered this online and was really impressed! the audio quality was surprisingly good.

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I have this rigged on a camera/DVR running on a battery. The pass through power socket is handy. The sound gets buzzy about 8.7v whereas the DVR and camera get to under 8. The PA-3 from Altex reaches 8 but has some clicks at any voltage. Both are fairly water resistant and can handle rain especially with a wind sock.

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Thursday, February 6, 2014

VideoSecu 4 Channel PCI DVR Card for CCTV Home Security Surveillance System C53

VideoSecu 4 Channel PCI DVR Card for CCTV Home Security Surveillance System C53I purchased this card because it offered what I was looking for: an inexpensive DVR solution for my home. The card installed fine. The problems begin after installing the software.

When I ran the Eyeonet software, it automatically changed the resolution to 1024x768. It's not documented here on Amazon or in the .pdf manual that there's no way to revert back to a higer resolution while the software is running.

My understanding of having a PC-based DVR system was that it could run in the background while I perform other tasks; apparently Ameta International (the software vendor) has other ideas; they either want you to just buy their DVR or a second PC to run as a stand-alone solution.

This one issue is the reason I've given this product such a low star rating; it basically requires me to buy a second PC, or be forced to start/stop using the DVR while I'm performing other tasks (or playing games) on my PC. There's no reason this software can't run in a window like a normal application; it actually uses very few resources and could easily be plugging away in the background on any reasonably up-to-date specced PC.

The card works as advertised.

You need to be running Windows XP or Linux, the screen resolution changes to 1024 x 768 when using the software.

In general, I would say the card was worth $30.

I contacted Videosecu by phone because I had some questions on the card, they tried hard to answer my questions regarding the extra connections on the card. The bottom line was the additional connections are not available for general use, it is for alarm connections that require a pigtail connector that is not available, neither is the pin out for me to make my own.

Again, this card and software is worth the $30 + shipping to play around with!

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Purchased this along with 2 cameras for a DVR project. Card works fine, just make sure you have the required Intel based PC and Windows XP. The software it comes with works fine. The manual it comes with isn't much help (stopped trying to understand it after a few pages). Some settings need a little technical knowledge (such as frame rate, video compression, and network settings). I am now able to login to the DVR from my smartphone and check up on the house in real time. Has a ton of settings for motion detection and alarms and alerts (can email you, though I haven't set this up yet). Overall, not a bad value for under $30.

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This total piece of junk repeatedly crashed making it completely useless. After four un-install and re-install attempts yielded the same result I figured it was either the card or the drivers. Went to VideoSecu's site for a software or, moreover a fresh driver download to no avail. In fact, you can't even find this DVR card in their product lineup, most likely discontinued because it's total scrap.

Enter the RIP OFF stage of this less than pleasant transaction.

I get an RMA from Amazon or warehouse seller, through Amazon I should say. So I send it back, at my own expense, couple of days later I get a refund notice from Amazon. The refund is minus the original shipping fee and minus 15% of the purchase price. It is later explained to me that they do not refund shipping, not even when they ship you a defective product, and they will charge you a 15% re-stocking fee, ya know.. to re-stock said defective product back into their inventory so they can sell it to another victim whose just trying to get things done while staying within their budget.

Then the icing on the cake. They try to blame my PC for not meeting system requirements, and or some kind of "installation problem"

I assured them my three year old, totally Intel based, custom built Mega Gamer would have no problem running this card or any other PCI based anything for that matter.

Bottom line, if you serous about video security spend the money on a GeoVision system from a reputable dealer, unlike these warehouse seller crooks, backed by Amazon.

It's not a lot of money but on principle alone, this is the last purchase I will be making on Amazon.com

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I have had this product for about a month now and am very pleased. It has some very nice options and I didn't find it too difficult to learn them. I am using a 32GB flash drive ($19.00) to store the recorded videos and it is more than enough with four cameras set on motion detection. You can also set specific areas (zones) for the motion detection to ignore and record on.It also has an RCA video out on the back of the card to hook up to a TV in another room. It also has some editing options when reviewing recorded video such as zoom, blur, and sharp corrections and screen shot. I am running windows XP with Intel system. My only problem is setting up the remote viewing network. It logs me in from the phone but logs me back out after about 20 seconds. If anyone has any advice to help me resolve this i would much appreciate it.

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Sunday, February 2, 2014

Ematic E-glide Pro X 9.7" Android Tablet

Ematic E-glide Pro X 9.7' Android TabletThe Ematic 9.7 Pro tablet is anything but professional. After 3 days, yes three days, the LCD screen went out. I did research and tried to charge the device over night and still nothing. Then, all of the sudden, the screen flashed on to reveal lines and internal damage to leave the device unusable. I emailed Ematic and they said even though there is no physical damage, which was confirmed with pictures, they will not replace under warranty as they feel it has a cracked screen. They did say that they are willing to repair my unit at a cost of $140 dollars plus shipping.

When unit was working, the device was dreadfully slow with both basic and advanced programs and games. Videos took forever to load and actually become viewable... oh and for those that do not know Ematic does not have an app store so you either have to use Amazon's app store (which has a good selection of apps, but extremely slow on this device) or hack it to run an older Google Play, but again that is super slow also.

Horrible experience with a cheap tablet. Never again.

The power cord broke after a short time We were able to get another one.

I would suggest that the tip that goes into the case be beefed up a bit

other than that It works well .....

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The eMatic Pro tab Exp8 is a low-end Tablet when compared to the Galaxy Tab, BB Playbook and Apple's iPad. However for the price (I paid $135 a week before Christmas), it is a pretty useful device. For applications, one may access tens of thousands of applications from the "1Mobile Market" (incl. Google Maps, NetFlix, WhatsApp, Angry Birds Rio, Advanced Task Killer), as the eMatic App Store and Soc.io (referred by eMatic Customer Service) do NOT work. The pre-installed apps work fine, and I've installed more than 100 apps from "1Mobile Market" so far. So my Personal Rating is 4/5, as it came up short with games with Heavy Graphics.

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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Spy Thermometer Camera Video Cam DVR Surveillance

Spy Thermometer Camera Video Cam DVR Surveillancethis item does work. the instructions are kind of hard to understand. i will rephrase them for u a bit. to turn onpress A for 3 seconds, you will get a long red light (its now in stand-by mode). to activate camera to record constantly: press B for 3 seconds, red light will flash 2 times then go off (now its recording). to stop recording: press B once and quickly press A while the light is flashing(the light will flash 2 times when pressing B and 4 times when pressing A). ((pressing A saves the file and stops recording)). To turn off: press A for 3 seconds. you can now plug into computer and go to (computer tab under start button) to view recording. and now for motion detect recording. to turn onpress A for 3 seconds, you will get a long red light (its now in stand-by mode). press A (red light flashes 6 times) now its in motion detect mode. press B to stop the motion detection (red light flash 6 times) then press A (red light flash 4 times then u get a long red light) stand by mode. press A for 3 seconds to turn off. plug into computer to view.

the distance/range for this item is not very far. maybe 15feet i guess. measurement taken inside house going from room with light to one with no light. maybe its better with a lot of light. picture quality is great upclose. audio works on this also. i dont know about the battery life yet. dont know about putting it outside yet. i will do that. will update on other functions later.

This is a cheap product. Not worth the money you'll pay for it. Once I finally decoded how to turn it on and off, I went to plug hte USB connector in to my PC for the second time and the USB connector had receded into the plastic case so far that I could not plug it in to download my test video. It is now loose and floating around inside the thermometer. After 5 minutes of playing operation with a paper clip, I got it back in place, but it again receded into the body as soon as I tried to plug the USB cable into it. What a WASTE of money! If I could rate it ZERO. I would, because it is of Zero use to me without the ability to actually see what gets recorded.

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Friday, December 27, 2013

Plextor ConvertX DVR for Macintosh Computers (Model PX-TV402U-NA/MAC)

Plextor ConvertX DVR for Macintosh ComputersI cannot rate ConvertX for the Mac any higher than 3 stars, because there are problems with the device. To Plextor's credit, I will say that it is the most affordable PVR for the Mac that compresses video in real-time. The only other Mac-compatible PVR's (El Gato's EyeTV200 and Miglia's Evolution PVR) can cost well over $200. Everything else that's cheaper either cannot timeshift recordings, doesn't contain a channel tuner, or cannot convert video to MPEG-2 on the fly.

While ConvertX provides timeshifting, TV tuning & real-time compression, it suffers from unimpressive picture & sound quality. The visuals are compromised by artefacts, even at the highest bitrates. The picture can get blocky in the frames just prior to a change in scenes or shots. (A big no-no.) Also, the picture's stability is affected momentarily by flash frames, sudden changes from light to dark, and the kind of fast-paced editing you see in film trailers & Hollywood action flicks; the picture seems to jump an inch down the screen and back up again, as if your cable signal was suffering from hiccups.

The PVR records the audio at a noticeably lower volume than in other converters I've seen, like ADS' USB Instant DVD for Mac. With Plextor's unit, I can max out every volume control on my Mac, and I still cannot hear the audio clearly. This summer, I have a fan operating at the lowest speed in my computer room, and it is a strain to hear the PVR recordings on my Mac. By comparison, the USB Instant DVD produces a fine, loud audio signal, even when my Mac's volume isn't all the way up.

With regards to bitrates, you can use it with reliably with USB1.1; while you won't get a bitrate much better than 4.0Mb/s without USB2.0, that will be sufficient for recording almost 2 hours of DVD-quality footage for a single-layer DVD-R. I do wish that the unit could export the videos into M2V and AIFF formats like Quicktime Pro does. My audio software of choice (Peak Express by Bias) cannot recognize the audio files produced by Plextor's PVR, which leaves me unable to increase the gain on the sound files without transcoding the audio up into AIFF through a tedious workaround using iTunes. Also, Plextor's PVR seems to export audio in a compresed MPEG format, rather than in an uncompressed AIFF (again, like USB Instant DVD does, and it does it at USB 1.1 speeds. Why can't Plextor do the same?!)

I will say that if you desperately need a PVR device that can timeshift, then Plextor's device is the most economical choice available for the Mac platform. However, if I knew then what I know now, I would have saved my pennies and tried out either the EyeTV200 or Miglia's Evolution PVR. Buy only if $200 is the most you can spend.

I've used a few TV tuner/recorders for the PC (ATI PCI and USB TV Wonder and Pinnacle's USB TV Tuner) but this one for the Mac is much easier to set up out of the box to program and record events. Nice feature: the tuner powers off when your computer is off (unlike my USB Pinnacle for the PC, which died, I think, because it never turned off) so you don't need to worry about unplugging it. The EyeTV software seems a little stripped-down compared to my PC ATI software, but everything works and Titan TV recognizes Time Warner Cable in my area, which the ATI's bundle did not. Overall, I am more than satisfied and highly recommend this product to all!

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I looked at all the other products in the $200 price range, and this is the only Mac product I found that has a hardware MPEG4/Divx encoder (in addition to MPEG1 and MPEG2 formats as well.) This means that the Plextor unit does all the heavy lifting when recording shows, so it doesn't drag your Mac down to watch or record live TV.

There are different quality options to choose from depending on how much space you want to take up, and you can also customize your recording options. The program also hooks into Titanium Toast, so you can instantly burn your recorded shows to DVD.

It uses the excellent EyeTV software, which is a snap to set up and use. Free program information is provided via the .

The Plextor unit is also very versatile with cable, RCA, and S-Video inputs. The only thing it can't handle is HDTV and higher cable channelsI think it goes up to 99.

It is also a very attractive unit that does not take up too much space. It uses USB 2 but is also USB 1 compatible. If your computer only has a USB 1 connection, keep in mind that you won't be able to record at highest bitrates (still enough to get good functionality from the unit.)

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I've had no problems recording TV shows, converting VHS tapes to digital, and exporting the video in different formats. The EyeTV software works well with this. I wish it had included a copy of Roxio's Toast; Toast integrates well with the unit's software for DVD burning. My first unit died after a week and Plextor promptly replaced it. Flawless in 4 months since.

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I purchased this converter, and I have used it to watch, record TV and also I have transfered an old video tape to test out the software for recording. It works excellent, and the software included for editing your TIVO'd material is very good. For saving TIVO'd recordings, the software makes it very easy to cut all commercials out of the recording before you burn to DVD. As for video quality, it is great. The reception on my computer is sometimes grainy, but that is strictly due to the crappy reception that I receive on some channels through my cable company and not the converter. When I compare it to watching TV on a 50'' HDTV I have in my media room it is very comparable. Plextor is an excellent company that has a great reputation for building and selling QUALITY products whether it is a video converter or a CD burner. I have both from plextor, and I bought this product simply because Pextor was the company that made it. No complaints whatsoever.

A remote would have been nice, but from what I have read, you can purchase one to work with the unit. I am thinking about doing that, but I haven't needed to yet.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Contour ROAM2 Waterproof Video Camera (Black)

Contour ROAM2 Waterproof Video CameraThis is my first Contour camera, and I was lucky that just at the time I decided to get one, the new ROAM 2 came out. The reason I like the ROAM2 over the original ROAM (which can now be had much cheaper) is for the 60 fps filming in 720p. This will produce smoother video, especially if you like to use slow motion effects now and then.

The ROAM 2 comes in attractive packaging and includes: 1 profile mount; 1 rotating flat surface mount; lanyard tether; USB cable; lens cap; 4GB MicroSD card; storage pouch and lens cloth.

Initial tests of the ROAM 2 in 720p @ 60fps and full HD 1080p @ 30fps are very impressive. At 720p you will have a view angle of 170 degrees, which gives you a wide panorama but some fisheye effect (to be expected at that width). In 1080p the view angle is reduced to 125 degrees, which still gives a nice wide view, but much less fisheye. The quality of the video image is very good. In full 1080p it is ultra-sharp and the colors are very good. The automatic white balance in the camera is also extremely good, and will self-adjust to present very true colors even indoors.

Operation of the ROAM 2 is very simple, via the one large "On-Record / Off" button on top of the camera. The mounting options available for Contour cameras is very good, but still could be a bit better. They have the snow and water sports covered, as well as skateboarders, bikers, etc. But I intend to use mine primarily to capture POV video from shooting sports, and there is still a lack of good mounts for that. A mount designed for a hat bill that would allow the Contour to lie flat via the rails would be perfect...

The rotating lens and built-in laser line make it easy to set the camera to frame a perfect shot, no matter what angle you mount it. I accidentally turned off the laser in the software and thought it was broken, until support at Contour provided me a quick response and helped me figure out that I am an idiot (my word, not theirs). Previous ROAM had two laser dots for leveling, the ROAM2 has a solid line, similar to home improvement tools.

The ROAM 2 has a standard ¼" x 20 tripod socket already on it so no need to buy the Universal Mount Adapter (which I did, and now have no need for).

To set up the camera, change configuration options (such as selecting recording quality), you use Contour's software "Story Teller", which is easily downloaded and pretty simple to install and get using. Now, here is one thing I don't like about the ROAM 2 you must use the software each time you want to change resolution of video. To do this, you must be connected to your computer via USB. So, if you're out in the world enjoying your camera, you are stuck with whatever setting you made before you left the house. There is NO option to select different modes via the camera itself. Given the designed purpose of the ROAM 2, I find this to be a bit lacking. Perhaps that is a feature on the more expensive versions of the Contour camera...

So, my first impressions of the ROAM 2 are very good. The quality of the video image is fantastic, the camera could not be more easy to use, and the software is pretty good too.

After a couple of full days of using the ROAM2, this camera performed flawlessly. Used it to capture POV video of a shooting match and attached it to my ear protection. The mic in the ROAM2 is very good much better than any other camera I have. It was so easy to use the on/off button to begin and end each segment of recording from a postion where I could not see the camera. The quality of the picture is superb (I shot at 1080p today).

UPDATE: After weeks of using this camera in real life action sports and other activities, I like it more and more each day. I am amazed at the quality of indoor picture also no yellow or green cast very natural light and it picks up everything very brightly. I find myself using 720p more often now, not only because of the economy of storage space but for the smoothness of the video if I want to go "slo-mo" from time to time. I would gladly buy this camera again... in fact, it might be nice to have TWO!

A couple tips: The 32GB microSD card does work fine in the ROAM2, and I've never even come close to filling it up. Secondly, if you're looking for some of the more exotic mounts and Amazon doesn't have them in stock go directly to the Contour website. I ordered two mounts from them and they shipped quickly and only charged $2 for coast-to-coast shipping. Some of the merchants here wanted $10 for shipping.

I've owned Contour 720HD for several years and it's been a great camera. The one feature I really wanted to gain was the still photo mode.

Enter the new ROAM2.. perfect on paper! It has everything I want with many improvements over my current one.

Here's the MAJOR reason why I will be returning this camera (and frankly I doubt too many would buy it if they understood this *feature*... which is not explained at all if you just look at specs:

YOU CANNOT CHANGE MODE without connecting the camera to a computer!

You must install Contour software to edit settings including mode (1080, 720, still photo, etc).

So.. if you set your camera to shoot 1 picture per minute and go for a ride, that's the ONLY mode you can use until you connect it to a computer!

That, in my opinion, is absolutely ridiculous!!

I got this camera partially to be loyal to Contour and of course because I already have quite a few mounts for it. The price is exactly the same as the new GoPro Hero3. Specs are identical, but guess what.. big MODE button right on the front of GoPro cam.

Contour rep replied to my question with: "ROAM2 is our budget camera. Look into Contour+2 for additional features".

So I have to pay exactly TWICE the price to gain ability to change mode without hooking the camera up to a computer??

Buy Contour ROAM2 Waterproof Video Camera (Black) Now

I had purchased the original ContourRoam camera about a week before they announced this one. Luckily I had saved my packaging so I returned it and bought the ContourRoam2. There are some small but very worthwhile changes to this camera that make it a better choice. First, of course, is the 60 fps video option. I haven't had a chance to test that yet but it's a nice addition and the main reason I went with the 2. Next, there is a locking button on the recording slider. This is useful to avoid either accidental starts or stops, as it locks in both positions. The printed numbers on the lens barrel are clearer, brighter, and far easier to see. The card formatting is now done by pushing and holding a small button. In the previous model you had to use the supplied tool or a paper clip and stick it into a hole to format the card. The new ContourRoam 2 also came with a nifty little cloth bag that has an attached lens cloth and a small pocket to hold the included memory micro SD card and micro SD to SD adapter. All-in-all a few small improvements that make a great little video camera even better!

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I feel like I spend half my life in the water lately. I scubadive and snorkle at least once a week. I needed an underwater camcorder because I usually see things in the ocean that amaze me here in Florida. I had resisted taking any type of camera equipment with me up until now, since I like to be unfettered with any extra equipment when I'm in the water, but finally gave in.

This waterproof camcorder takes beautiful video. Since it is only rated for a depth of one meter, I am only using it for snorkeling. The video it shoots is crystal clear without any type of motion blurring, and I don't see any strange color effects. There is no moire, and all video is well lit and bright. It's easy to use, just push a button and it's on. Some type of strap to hold onto would have been useful on this. But otherwise, I can't find anything to complain about. This is small and lightweight. It's sturdy and appears to be well made. Battery life is good. I recommend this.

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I have only owned my Contour Roam2 for a couple of days now so I can't speak very much to long term reliability, but I can say that so far it is doing what it was designed to do and very well. The body is solid and small, and the cam is overall very easy to operate. The simplicity of this device is great and the design/shape of the cam is perfect for active POV recordings. The other big selling point for me was the fact that it is water resistant up to a meter or so without needing the case. Since I will be using this mostly for jetski and fishing vids...and maybe in the pool to record my toddler son as he learns to swim, it's VERY nice to not need to buy a waterproof case. In fact I tested it out today in my pool and it was dark outside (but decently lit up by the LED pool lights) and the underwater video came out great. On a bright sunny day I know it will be even better. This cam loves having a lot of light.

This is a great cam if you understand what it is designed to do. You are not going to get SUPER sharp, high-quality videos out of a device like this; that is what real HD Cameras are for and they cost many times what these little action cams cost. Also, the low light ability of this cam is a little noisy so don't expect great results when its used in a dark environment. This is more of a day time sports cam and it is truly tough skinned and ready to rumble. In addition, I purchased the Contour suction cup mount and it is terrific. The Roam2 has the threaded hole to mount directly to most tripods and mounts without needing an adapter. By the way, the cam also has 2 different types of stick-on mounts that are included in the box.

I would recommend to invest in a better video editor. The software that you can download for this cam works but is as basic as it gets. However, it is needed to adjust the internal camera settings. I am leaving mine on 720p 60 fps for the best action shots and slow mo. I'm still playing around with the light metering and a few other settings.

So for less than $200 you can have a very solid and simple cam that doesn't need a bunch of extra accessories in order to have some fun with. It even comes with a small memory card. You can start filming right out of the box! So far, I think it easily deserves 5 stars for the overall build quality and for all that it does/includes at this price point. Well done!

Best of luck to everyone, and thanks for reading!

**[UPDATE]**

I have now had the cam for over a month and it continues to perform flawlessly. I haven't decided which light metering method is the best yet, but if you go to youtube and search for "superjet" "roam2" you can see a vid of the cam on my jet ski using average metering. Notice the part where my glove comes up and I am able to adjust the camera's horizontal plane using the laser beam. The light metering at that point can be seen adjusting from the darkness of the black glove to the brightness of the sky, and it does this almost instantaneously. The camera has also held up well being dragged underwater by the jet ski, with NO case being needed. This is a great plus, not to mention the better mounting configurations over a gopro, which is the cam some of my other jet ski buds have.

On another note, some folks think that this camera is a waste of money just because it doesn't have a video mode switch built in to the unit. That is fine, but I couldn't disagree more. In my opinion, that is one of the least used features of the action cams, and Contour probably had this in mind when they designed the camera at this price point. 720p and 1080p modes look virtually identical when viewed on youtube and most computer monitors where many of the videos will be seen. However, the benefit of 720p mode is that it can run at 60 frames per second, so that is where its best to leave it for any type of fast action videos. Some of my friends that have the GoPro do have the mode switch, but guess what, they aren't messing with changing modes either...That's right, they leave it in 720p/60, just like me and my lowly Roam2. If you are a sports enthusiast chances are you will also leave it in this mode ~99% of the time since it allows you to really slow down the video for some nice slow motion shots. Based on this first hand knowledge, I don't see how anyone who plans to use this camera for fast sports type activities should consider the lack of a mode switch a deal breaker by any means.

Put up another video with much more speed on a Yamaha FZS. Search youtube for "roam2" and "fzs" to see it in action.

Again, thanks for reading and best of luck to all.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Sony Portable Digital Tuner AM/FM Radio Tape Cassette Recorder & CD Player Mega Bass Reflex Stereo

Sony Portable Digital Tuner AM/FM Radio Tape Cassette Recorder & CD Player Mega Bass Reflex Stereo Sound System with Program, Shuffle, Repeat, 20 Track RMS Programming, 30 Presets, LCD Display, Auto Scan Tuning, Audio in Jack & 6ft Aux Cable to Connect any iPod, iPhone or MP3 Digital Audio Player *BONUS* DBsonic CD Player Lens Cleaner Included
  • Combining old & new technology, this is the portable sound sytsem with all options. Whether you're playing CD-R/RW discs, listening to cassettes, enjoying your favorite stations on the digital AM/FM stereo tuner, dubbing music on blank cassettes, or connect an iPod or MP3, this compact sound system does it all. Even better, it features large, easy-to-use buttons and deep bass thanks to Sony's Best Reflex Sound System with Mega Bass.
  • Audio in Jack with the included 6 Foot Auxiliary Cable lets you connect any iPod or MP3 Player to hear through this system, or connect this system VIA Output Headphone Jack to an additional home theater sound system and hear your cassettes through the Home Theater speakers
  • Compact & Lightweight Body with Large Comfortable Carry Handle for Easy Portability; Weighs Less Than 6 lbs and works on Batteries Measures only 14.26"W x 5.26"H x 9.1"D Inches
  • CD Play Modes: Program, Shuffle, Repeat and 20 Track RMS Programming
  • Digital AM/FM Stereo Tuner / Best Reflex Sound System with Mega Bass / CD-R/RW Playback Compatibility / Synchronized CD/Cassette Dubbing / Stereo Record/Playback Cassette Deck / Large Easy to use Control Buttons and LCD Digital Display / 30 Programmable Preset Stations / Auto Scan Radio

This is the Sony CFD-S05 listed under a description rather than a name. I have had it for a couple of months and it does exactly what I need it to. I have it sitting on my desk so that I can listen to a CD, tape or the radio while I am working or moving around. I have used all three media and I love it. The sound is good, and all of the controls are on the front and are at my fingertips. I particularly like being able to set my CDs to repeat so that I don't need to be bothered pressing the "start" button unnecessarily. Since I am in a small space I don't play the unit loudly so am not concerned with the volume that it will crank out. The specifications sheet states that the CD player produces sound in the 20HZ to 20,000KHz range, but I am sure that the small speakers don't produce that range. However, you might get it from good headphones. Still, it is pleasant and more than acceptable. I have played a range of types of music on the CD player and listened to two hours of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion on tape. I initially tried to play a decades-old cassette tape on it and found it difficult to close the tape player lid. However, I had no such problem with new tapes. A couple of things that could be improved include having the headphone input on the front of the unit, and having a larger indicator for the CD play mode (such as repeat, shuffle or random play) -I need to use a magnifying glass to read the setting. However, I find this to be a good unit and heartily recommend it.

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I really love this boombox because it came with a four foot long cord, an auxiliary cable and a cd/dvd/blu-ray lens cleaner. The only thing it is missing is a remote control.

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Shipped fast and secured very well. No damages what's o ever and my sister is enjoying it very much.It does all the functions she needs and it's not confusing for her to operate. Thanks

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The quality of the sound is not that great. Very disappointed in it overall it feels very cheap and would not buy anything like this again without being able to see and handle it first.

I am very dissappointed in the sound of this. I'm not even sure I got the product described here. I didn't get the remote and the mega bass is a fake button that does nothing for the terrible sound.