Xtasy Theater 550 Pro Xp Ed.

Honestly, having read enough rave reviews of VisionTek's adapted ATi chipset, this was a no-brainer. Crystal-clear video, and incredibly little CPU utilization.

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Kodak PlaySport (ZX5) Waterproof Pocket Video Camera Bundle (Includes Remote Control, Tripod, 4 GB

The Kodak PlaySport Zx3 (the older model) was a pretty good camcorder (better than most in this category), so I was thrilled when I found out there was a new model coming out. However, Kodak made some changes that I was really disappointed about:

SENSOR SIZE:

When it comes to video quality one of the most important things to look at is the size of the sensor. The (new) Zx5 has a 1/3.2 sensor which is smaller than the (old) Zx3 with a 1/2.5 sensor. Basically, bigger is better when it comes to sensor size. Smaller sensors result in more "noise" which will affect the image quality. This is especially a problem in low-light situations. (I think the video quality is good in bright light situations, but it is a bit grainy in low light.)

Now I don't expect too much from a $179 camcorder, but the older model which came out at $149 (and is now even cheaper), has a bigger sensor (with the same CMOS type and 5 MP size). What's up with that? Newer models are supposed to get better, not worse!

BATTERY:

The other significant change is that the Zx5 has an integrated battery. Yes, that means it's non-removable. Which means that you can no longer keep spare batteries for "just in case"... and you know the battery always runs out at the worst possible moment. And, even worse, if the battery malfunctions/dies the camera is useless and you have to send it to Kodak for them to replace the battery ($$). And besides, what's the point of making a camera that is capable of recording up to TEN hours (on a 32GB card) when a single battery charge can't last even close to that?

If you can get past those two BIG negatives then you might want to read about the GOOD changes:

----Macro mode has been added. (7 17 cm). This is a really great feature.

----Focus range: Zx5 is ~4 inches to infinity, while the older Zx3 is ~39 inches to infinity.

----camera is now shockproof. (Good for those of us who drop things. I am guilty of that.)

----Special "Cool Capture Effects" added. This is really great for all you creative types.

----sharing videos online is a bit easier with this model. ("3-step sharing")

----records in MP4 format. The older model recorded in the MOV format. MP4 format is easier to work with in most video editing software.

The other positives about this camera (but these are not new features):

----Waterproof (up to 10 feet)... but being able to record in macro under water is new.

----Image stabilization is pretty good for a pocket camera.

----Face detection ability

----Can record up to 10 hours if you get a 32 GB card

----Small and comfortable to hold on to.

Comparing to Flip and Sony:

I also considered buying the Flip UltraHD, but its image sensor is even smaller. It is 1/4.5. The Sony Bloggie was a good contender with its sensor being 1/2.5, and it takes better quality still photos, but it's not waterproof and it also has the internal battery issue. You're not going to find a perfect, pocket sized camera with all the features you want, and all for under $200. So, essentially, you have to decide which features are most important to you, and which features you are going to sacrifice.

Overall, this is a pretty good camcorder and is filled with tons of good features, but I think it's really too bad that Kodak made those changes with the sensor and the battery. Otherwise, this really would have been an awesome little camcorder. Despite those 2 big negatives, I bought this camera anyway (instead of the Zx3). (I really wanted the macro mode and mp4 format). If most of your filming will be in low-light situations I wouldn't recommend this camera. It's good if most of your filming will be outdoors or in bright light.

If you do decide to get this camcorder, or any camcorder that uses SD/SDHC cards for that matter, be sure you get a fast card (a Class 6 or higher). A slow card can cause problems when recording.

Also, the HDMI cable is not included with the Zx5. They will send you one if you pay shipping & handling ($6.50). The other problem that people may not know of is that if you happen to own the Zx3 and already have an HDMI cable and think you can use it on this camera then think again. You're out of luck. The Zx5 uses a smaller cable. It uses the micro HDMI cable (type D).

I did a lot of research before buying this camera and still had a hard time choosing. Hopefully this review will be helpful to you.

(((I had to compress the uploaded video because of Amazon's file size limitation. The original is better quality.)))

***********************************

~~~Update 3-24-11:

I don't feel this camera is as bad as what some of the negative reviews imply. Sure, I shot some video that was horrible and really grainy, but I was in really low-light and I was moving too fast. I got much better results after slowing down. And filming in really bright light gave great results. What I really love about this camera is that I can get really close to my subject. I was only about 10 to 15 inches away from the birds in the uploaded video. (You can't get closer than 39" with the Zx3).

Also, my HDMI cable arrived today from Kodak so I was finally able to watch my videos on my 55" TV and I have to admit the picture quality was quite good. (so good that I'm changing my review to 4 stars). I actually seemed to get the best results from the 720p recordings. The biggest challenge is low-light. The lower the light levels, the more obvious the graininess is.

Kodak Playsport Zx5, is the more durable, weatherproof replacement for the first generation playsport, the Zx3, this one offers some new features better than the Zx3, yet leaves some features that i yearn they should have left on the Zx5.

I am happy with the waterproof feature, its perfect for any summer holiday with your friends or family. However, dont drop it while your swimming because if it sinks deeper than 10 Ft., the pressure will force water through the seals (always use the included lanyard). Also, dont use it on normal beaches as the water usually isnt clear enough to be able to record anything, recording in swimming pools however, is entirely different. The clarity of a pool makes for some interesting recordings underwater that you dont usually see with regular camcorders like the Flip mino.

The anti-glare feature is a nice touch, especially on the beach, its a software that artificially reduces the glare from your screen, but it does not effect the recording one bit, just the screen.

The menu is pretty cryptic, no words, just alot of symbols which i am fine with, you are gonna read the instructions anyways, and most of the symbols are pretty self explanatory, the only real problem with this is that new people you let borrow the recorder might be a bit confused.

Now, what does Kodak Zx5 offers to substitute the previous model?

The first feature, sharing button system is created to simplify the video or image sharing process to popular social networks. With its new share button applied on the video camera, I just press a button and the video will be uploaded automatically. But to make it work, it has to be plugged into a computer with the software isntalled. Kodak has also added some new popular social network sites like Flickr, KODAK Gallery, and ORKUT.

Second, it has macro mode, which enables me to shoot and focus small objects. This is an interesting feature and in my opinion this is a great main additional feature offered by Kodak. Great for recording small objects such as bugs or items. On recorders without macro, smaller items would just be blurred out of focus if the camera got too close.

third, I can play out my creativity with its four capture effects. Theres black and white, sepia, bright colors and even the 70s film style. With this new feature, you can edit and trim your video with any style effects on the unit itself.

fourth, the battery is not swappable unlike the zx3, so if you like carrying multiple batteries around for convenience, that's not possible. That sucks because with the zx3 the battery isnt all to expensive and you would carry around one or two extra ones in your bag for backup. For the Zx5, the battery has to be charged again until you can use it which will take a couple hours. For one charge, recording in 720p 64 FPS, i managed 137 minuutes which isnt all to bad, but that means when i go out for travel, i will need to bring the charger and charge at night, a bit of an annoyance, however, i am used to apple products being like this, and i have a usb charger in my car so its not a deal breaker for me.

last, all the recorded video files are in .mp4 format instead of the previous .mov format, .mp4 is much more compatible with more programs and easier to edit (as i was so generously reminded by another reviewer). All the files are stored on the HC (high capacity) SD card, i have a 32 GB card in it right now so i can hold up to 10 hours of recording, not bad.

Don't be surprised if HDMI cables and other related accessories arnt there as you will have to pay S&H for kodak to ship one to you.

The other thing I found is, besides with its waterproof condition, Kodak announces this new model will be shockproof and dustproof too. The previous generation playsport only offered waterproofing up to 10 ft, but i guess if its waterproof, naturally, it should be dust proof too right?

Overall, this is a great combination of HD recording filled with editing, social networking, and weatherproofing features.

I bought these to help my little brother record his golf swing, i use the 720 64 FPS setting, which helps address parts of his swing that he is doing incorrectly, its no high speed camera, but its nice that such an affordable camcorder will suffice. I can pause at certain parts, and the swing will clearly stop with only little blur, 32 FPS cameras would skip some portions of the swing as there are not enough shots per second to capture many nuances of a fast golf swing.

Specs:

* Shockproof, dustproof, and waterproof up to 10 ft

* Kodak's Share button lets you choose your favorite sharing destination, e-mail address, or Kodak Pulse Display

* Full 1080p HD videos and 5 MP HD stills, with auto focus

* Get sharper videos and less blur thanks to built-in digital image stabilization

* On-camera editing

* HD720 at 32 or 64 FPS

* HD1080 at 32 FPS

Buy Kodak PlaySport (ZX5) Waterproof Pocket Video Camera Bundle (Includes Remote Control, Tripod, 4 GB Now

i own the zx3. so when kodak said they where bringing out another waterproof camera with macro i couldnt wait to see what it was like.

it is alot like all the other kodak camcorders. it records in the following:

WVGA, 720p 30 and 60 FPS, 1080p

it also has a 5 megapixel camera option on it.

it has 4 extra colour effects which are good if the mood strikes.

normal, High Saturation, 70's film, Black and white and Sepia

it also has the glare shield which the zx3 has. the difference with the zx5 is it has a sensor which change's the screen automaticaly. i have tried it and it works very well.

i found the low light to be better than the zx3. the 60fps low light was really good.

it has an internal battery which some people dont like. i thought it would be a problem to but after having the zx5 for nearly a week i havent even noticed the internal battery.

you can record 2 hours and 35 mins in 720p at 30fps. which is better than the zx3.

you can edit the video on the camera its self and then press the share button to upload it on to facebook, youtube and other sites. you also have the arcsoft software that comes with the camera.

the zx5 has water correction which i would ashume works the same as the H20 setting on the zx3. the underwater video is a lot better than the zx3. it is very clear and the autofocus works very well underwater.

here is some underwater tests using both cameras:

[..]

some people have said about the zx5 having bad audio. i have had a lot of pocket HD camcorders and some of them had bad sound others have had really good sound. to me the sound is ok. i would admit that the zx3 has slightly better sound but to me the zx5's sound is ok.

here is a sound test which was done. i dont think the sound is that bad.

[..]

kodak have said that the zx3 will be discountinued soon. which means that the zx5 will take its place. i think that the zx5 has a lot to offer. the zx3 has some huge shoes to fill but it also has had its issues to.

the only issues i have found so far are that there is a background noise when using the camera underwater. also sometimes when you move the camera infront of the sun you get a bronze flash on the screen. some times the autofocus tries to focus behind you when there is nothing there. its not as bad as the sony bloggie cm5 but it is there.

i do like the zx5 and i have really enjoyed using it. i dont find the sound an issue and having used the zx5 for nearly a week i havent had any problems with the internal battey.

at the end of the day you have to make up your mind what you want and what camcorder fits those needs.

here are some pros and cons for the zx3 and zx5:

ZX3 Pros:

Cheaper. better sound. removable battery.

Cons:

soon to be discontinued. zoom has problem. low light is grainy. some have green pixels in low light. low light not so good. records 1 hour and 20mins per charge

ZX5 Pros:

has macro. has auto focus. better underwater video capture. battery records 2 and a half hours per charge. zoom is better. video quality is better. has special colour effects. low light is better. its dust proof, water proof and shock proof.

Cons:

slight background noise when underwater. bronze flash sometimes on sunny days. autofocus can sometimes jump. which means it goes out of focus for a couple of seconds.

so there you go. i really like my zx5 and i think i will be using it alot more than the old zx3. i hope this has helped.

for more videos and reviews check out Chrisc74 on youtube.

Read Best Reviews of Kodak PlaySport (ZX5) Waterproof Pocket Video Camera Bundle (Includes Remote Control, Tripod, 4 GB Here

For $109 this is the very best PocketCam on the market, no competition whatsoever still here in late 2011.

I bought mine locally in June for a heftier price, but I have had nothing but a great experience with my Kodak PlaySport ZX5.

I was lucky enough to had access to the earlier model, the ZX3, I borrowed it from a friend last summer for a camping trip. It worked great and I was very impressed with it.

The OBVIOUS improvements with the ZX5 are small but worth the extra $10 or so over a new ZX3. If I already had a ZX3 I would have a harder time deciding if I would upgrade, but in the end I know me and I know I would step up to the ZX5.

The improvements I noticed was the awesome quality of the LCD display itself compared the ZX3 and other brands I have used. The anti-glare feature is a huge plus, in the blaring sun I had no issues seeing every detail in the display. At night this model had a slight advantage over the ZX3 and a few other pocketcams I've used. I recorded about 2 hours of footage of wildlife at night in the rain and the video turned out amazing. Only light was the moon and our distant camping lantern. In the city, specifically downtown Minneapolis at night, I have gotten some great footage and the quality is more than acceptable.

Another improvement is the macro feature. I needed to take close-ups of plant foliage and bugs and the ZX3 was OK but when I first used the ZX5 for the same purpose the difference was amazing. I got much improved details in video and picture quality, this upgrade alone is worth the change for me as I do a lot of close-up videos and pics of smaller items in large environments. The quality of the pictures is more than acceptable but nothing great, most smartphones probably have better cameras but it's definitely good enough. I remember having an HP camera back in the day that did 3MP and I thought those were good, so a 5MP in today's standards on a piece of equipment like this is fine for me.

The smaller lenses sensor is actually better than the original on the ZX3, a much wider angle view and the quality upgrade although not very noticeable is noticeable. This sensor is definitely an improvement over the first. Don't be fooled by some reviews that claim it's worse, they fail to understand that bigger is not always better, especially in the pocketcam world.

Many also do not like the "fixed" battery. I love it. Sure it would be nice to be able to switch out batteries when needed, but being this camera and it's battery can film at 720p at 60 frames for hours, I did almost 4 hours on and off, mostly on, before mine went low to where I needed to plug in it. A little planning doesn't hurt. But if your main issue with this camera is you can't film enough with the battery life given, you need to by a professional camcorder already.

Again, the two biggest negatives I have seem from legit buyers is the smaller sensor and the fixed battery. These to me are NON-ISSUES and had ZERO factor in me deciding my purchase.

Another negative I see is that it freezes during filming, this was due to old firmware and the latest update fixes this issue. I never had the issue, but a friend with a ZX5 did and she did the update and it never froze again. Anyone buying a new ZX5 after August doesn't really even need to worry about the update. If you look closely at the 1 and 2 star reviews, most of them complain about this issue and if you notice the last complaint was many months ago. The issue is fixed so it's a MOOT issue. The ZX5 does not deserve so many 1 and 2 star ratings. A good percentage of these folks are giving bad reviews because they needed a professional camcorder and were too cheap to go buy one.

Going over the upgrades again, the focus range is much improved, the macro feature is GOLD, records in .MP4 which is THEE standard currently and a huge improvement over the .mov files on the ZX3, indestructible, feels very comfortable and natural in hand, for $100 what more do you want?

If you're debating between other pocketcams just end that debate and go with the ZX5.

If you're debating between a pocketcam and a regular or professional camcorder, all you really need to know is what you plan on using the cam for. For 90% of the populations need, the Kodak ZX5 meets and exceeds those needs.

I will be buying two of these from Amazon for Xmas gifts.

NOTE: Don't skimp on a the SDHC card, get the class 10. I buy Fuji but it's the only brand I've ever used so I can't comment on the other cheaper brands. Even the Sony cards have had issues, but to each their own.

NEW AS OF 12/9/2011-

I just bought another Zx5 for my brother and I will be buying another for a friend for Xmas. This comment is now from a VERIFIED AMAZON PURCHASER. lol My Zx5 I've had since early summer 2011 and I paid a much higher price than what's offered here now. It's a no-brainer deal.

Price of Zx5 is now $99. I'd throw it 6 stars if I could.

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I don't know why people would give anything higher than two stars. This camera is OK at best.

I'll start with the bad:

1) Low light shows the weakness in the ccd. Tons of noise in the dark areas, just total chaos. Especially if you move around (Like at a club or party). Even in the daylight technicolor noise can be seen in mid-tones and shadows.

2) Packaging. It comes with so little. Just a USB cable, and send away for a HDMI cable? Are you kidding!? Obvious personal-information/advertising ploy and totally unnecessary. Not even a case is included.

3) The Battery is not easily replaceable. I haven't looked into how to really open it up (possibly voiding the warranty) to replace it if it DOES die but I wouldn't want to do it away from a clean workbench. I BOUGHT THE AMAZON SUGGESTED BATTERY. DON'T DO IT!!! Currently I'm trying to figure out how to return it to the 3rd party, but since the battery isn't a plug and play deal do not buy it! You're just wasting time.

4) Menu navigation is sluggish/laggy but works OK since you won't go to it often and is simple and straightforward.

The good:

1) If you stick this thing on a tripod, during a sunny day, and set it to either 1080p or 720p -not 720p60the image is acceptable for a sub $200 camera. Photos are also acceptable, but I've seen sub $150 photo cameras that take better pictures.

2) Super fast start-up. Takes pretty much just a one count and its ready to shoot. Very nice.

3) Tripod hole on the bottom. Also very nice.

4) Not overloaded with a mess of buttons so it's easy to do the major tasks without too much fuss.

5) The anti-shake works very very well.

Ultimately this Camera is OK, not amazing as the specs -and some suspect reviewsindicate. Tripod daylight use is the best you can get I think in a sub $200 camera. Image quality is good unless you move too much then expect some artifacting. I like to work with 16:9 720p mostly unless I'm filming something in the daytime on a tripod then I'll set it to 16:9 1080p. Reason is there seems to be less artifacting in 720p and its easier to work with on an underpowered Netbook if you are away from your home computer. 720p60 fields is just a Benny Hill show, maybe some will like it, but I think it would also interfere with throughput and create chaos in some situations. So that's all I have to say for the review, I hope it was helpful.

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Hauppauge Broadway-HD TV Tuner and Streaming Device for Apple iPad, Android Tablets, Computers, and

I purchased the Hauppauge Broadway for my son for Christmas. We followed the installation guide exactly and got the box up and running on the home network via wi-fi; however, it would not work over the internet or iphone 3G. Calls and emails to Hauppauge's tech support were useless. After a lot of Google searching, I figured out the problem. Some ISPs (internet service providers), especially for residential customers, will block ports. In order for the Broadway to be fully functional requires that port 80 be forwarded to the local IP of the box. In my situation, I had to upgrade my monthly internet service plan and modem. I then had to log in to my internet account and reconfigure the setting to open port 80. I double checked my router to be sure that I had properly forwarded the port. I then used a free internet port checker to confirm that the port was open. Finally, the Broadway sent the live signal to my son's iphone via the 3G. This took several days to figure it all out. Overall, the product itself is great. My only worry is that my son will try to watch live tv while he is in class! One word of caution, be sure that your cell phone wireless account has an unlimited data plan. From what I have learned, streaming the live tv can eat up data like crazy.

I bought this for what is refereed as "place shifting", I have my cable box in another room and want to watch TV on my main PC, Laptop, and Android phone. It does this fairly well, but not perfectly.

On a fast Ethernet connection, it works really well, on wifi, only smaller resolutions look good, meaning wireless laptopfair, Android phone fantastic.

The instructions stink! I configure IT hardware for a living, It still took two hours of trial and error to get it working the way I wanted. If you just accept the defaults, you will not have this device performing to it's full potential.

This product is sold overseas by PCTV Systems, I do not know if Hauppauge has a interest in this company, or is just licensing this product from them, but they are a much better source of information. I additionally emailed Hauppauge support some technical questions and have not received a response yet, not even an automated "we REALLY care".

The overseas version lists two tuners, the Hauppauge US version only has one, and only one user can access the device at a time.

Is this better then the Sling Box, Avermedia's products or the Volkano blast, I do not know, but I have been very happy with Hauppauge in the past, time will tell if they continue to develop and support this product. As of right now, I am left wondering.

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I've been using the Broadway HD for three weeks as of Feb. 22 2013. Despite some negative reviews, I took a chance and ordered the unit, but took care in unpacking it it in case I needed to return it. I was pleased to find that the negativity was unfounded, but the buyer should be aware that the device serves a limited function, which it does well.

First: it is designed primarily to accept input from an antenna, although it does accept SD input from a cable box. It turns out that most cable boxes have only one HD output, which usually goes to the television or DVR, so I'm not sure if it would be fair to fault the unit for not having HD input. In my case, I send the antenna signal to a pre-amp, and then I use a splitter to send separate signals to the Broadway and the television.

Second: The unit serves only one user at a time, so it isn't going to provide multiple channels to several simultaneous users. The unit provides HD live tv to a computer, tablet, or smart phone.

Third: It connects to a computer or router through WI-FI, direct ethernet connection, or ethernet over power line adapter. I've tried the WIFI and power line methods, both of which give me a 15 mbps connection that delivers HD to my iPad.

I haven't tried connecting over the internet to watch my local channels from a remote location. I have no doubt that it would work, but I haven't felt the need for it yet. It has been winter while I've owned the unit, so I haven't used it outdoors yet, but I expect it to work there also.

The iPad app is a little quirky: I can only get it into fullscreen mode when I rotate the iPad to portrait mode, but I can then rotate back to landscape and watch in widescreen. Also, pinching in leaves fullscreen mode, but pinching out does not enter fullscreen mode. It took some experimenting to figure that out, and I was ready to return the unit if I couldn't solve those problems.

For me, the Broadway has provided mobile live HD tv, which is what I was looking for when I bought it, so I am happy with it.

Read Best Reviews of Hauppauge Broadway-HD TV Tuner and Streaming Device for Apple iPad, Android Tablets, Computers, and Here

I bought this product in February. I read 'working Mom's review and made sure port 80 open. It is also important to have the model number of your cable/satellite box as you will need it during setup so correct drivers can be downloaded. You also need the correct cables, S-Video and audio as they are not included. I followed the instructions that came with the box. I did not care for the layout of the instructions but I found them clear. This is not a plug and play device, it takes time to setup but the box worked for me right away. **Note: on iPhone and iPad the privacy setting in Safari cannot be set or it will not work** Broadway can also be viewed on the computer. I also attached an antenna to watch local stations in case satellite goes down in bad weather. I have been able to watch TV anywhere I go and that includes across the country. If you have 3 or 4G you can watch TV without wireless connection. If you have a limited data plan this may not be advisable. I have recommended this product to others who also love it. We have different cable and satellite boxes and it works. The only thing I disliked was having to enter all the stations into the program--the local stations scan automatically.

Update -2013Our router and providers antennae were fighthing each other which kept knocking us offline. Providers made antennae primary which caused Broadway to stop working. I called Wireless provider and they could not fix problem. While technician here I called Hauppauge support and together they fixed the issue by changing port number in wireless providers system to 7799. We use Broadway all the time.

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First review I've ever written and boy was I excited to get this product. It has a fairly small form factor and I was hoping to finally find a solution other than using iRecord iRecord PRO Personal Media Recorder. Now don't get me wrong the iRecord is a great product and does a good job in capturing the signal from you digital cable box then recording it on a USB device. The problem is around scheduling the recording which takes more time than its worth. So I decided to try to find new products that would allow me to capture my cable's channel, record on a USB or SDHD card and take it when I hit the road.

So set up was relatively easy but the box didn't have either a composite or s-video cable, for the price this really should be included. So after finding a S-video cable and about 20 minutes later, viola, the iPad was getting a connection from my cable box through the wifi. I tried to record a program from my iPad, and the signal froze, the unit also locked up. The power button on the front wouldn't power the unit down so I unplugged the unit and waited. Since I work in technology I am use to buggy hardware and software, so I decided to give this little box another shot. After the 4th time I returned it back to Amazon and purchased a different unit from a different manufacturer.

To be fair to Hauppauge, I have other products that they sell and have been very happy with them. This one totally missed the mark, it is poorly designed, feels cheap in my hands, the cords that are included are cheap, the ir blaster in particular and the software doesn't work. Also the UI of the software is totally useless and poorly designed. I never contacted Hauppauge's technical support but after the really crappy performance right out of the box, I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone.

Hopefully the next rev of this product will be better and more reliable. I did find something that work and will be writing a review on this later.

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LTS LTD2316ME 16CH New Generation Advanced Level DVR

Pro: Cheap (price wise) 16 Ch, 4ch audio, PTZ and alarm support (not used) Duel HDD capable up to 4TB (2x 2TB) small light, Many output types. Every aspect is manageable via web for headless operation. Supports external drives for backup. Recorded video looks great, very smooth and sharp (live view read below). 16 ch on motion sense only uses 200 gigs a month (2TB drive). Motion sense is very easy to set up. Recording options are plenty-full and a breeze to setup. Multiple user accounts with varied permissions. iPhone app works wonderfully. Recently updated web-server now supports chrome and safari using webkit

Con: Very deep, Hard to fit in shallow cabinets. No keyboard support, Only mouse. Live view is choppy and pixelated. Video review could use some work, Not hard, But not the easiest thing to manage. You must set DST up or time stamp on video and system time will always be off and make it very hard to find events based on time.

other: I have always chosen LTS for my DVR installs. never had an issue with the 20+ setups I have done. Solid equipment, Don't let the cheap look fool you!

RCA BRC3109 10-Inch Portable Blu-Ray DVD Player

• 10-inch widescreen LCD portable player for Blu-ray and DVD
• Built-in rechargeable battery - for use anywhere
• Outputs: HDMI 1080p and AV jacks; USB ports
• Ethernet for accessing BD 2.0 and BD Live
• AC adapter, car adapter, carrying bag with headrest attachments, and remote control included

First off: If you are only going to use this player as a portable device and never hook it up to an external TV, then it works pretty well.

My needs: I work for a company that is selling an audio device and we want a small Blu-ray player for demos. The RCA was purchased to use at customer sites so we didn't have to call ahead and check to see if they had a HDMI-capable display. For comparison, we have the Panasonic DMP-B500 which works very well, but it is twice the cost. We also have about a dozen different standard non-portable Blu-ray players we use.

Firmware used: 2.0.7428 (latest as of this review)

Issues:

Does not play BD-R discs. Some of our test material is on BD-R, so this is an issue. For a home user, if you ever want to play back HD home movies, this is not the player for you.

Huge lip-sync problem when using HDMI output. When playing back movies that have audio encoded in Dolby Digital or Dolby TrueHD over the HDMI output, there is a large delay between the video and audio. This one issue makes this product unusable for our needs. DTS Master Audio and LPCM content seem to be fine. Also, if you are just using the internal screen, it is fine. This is only an issue when you use the HDMI port. So, if you ever consider plugging this into a TV, you may want to reconsider.

Does not "bit-stream" HD audio over HDMI. Almost all Blu-ray players have a menu option to allow you to either stream the original high-resolution audio (like Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI, or have it down-converted into a simpler format (TrueHD --> Dolby Digital or Master Audio --> DTS). This player does not have that option and only sends the lower-grade down-converted audio over HDMI. So, if you have a sound system that is capable of these latest codecs, this player wont let you use them.

Conclusion:

If you just want to play Disney Blu-rays for the kids in the back seat, this gets it done. If you want to have a flexible solution that can be a portable player and work in the home theater, the only option is the twice-the-price Panasonic.

Other: Amazon seems to be showing the picture for the BRC3108, not the BRC3109.

Buy RCA BRC3109 10-Inch Portable Blu-Ray DVD Player Now

I have to say I was very worried about buying this item and regretting it. I was never able to find a demo model. I am happy to say I really like it. A LOT.

It has a fantastic picture. While I am sure that it is not a 1080P LCD screen it is far better than any portable I have ever owned. I have owned about half a dozen or more portable DVD players and this one is FAR superior in the picture catagory. It is stunning. I did some research before my purchase and was not able to get the specs for the LCD and that was my one worry. I am very glad that it was not an issue. And I am VERY piccky about picture quality. At 10" it is one of the largest screens in the portable catagory and it is great.

Sound wise we have an issue. There are no buzzing, humming, or beeping sounds out of this unit, but the volume is too low. I think some people will be upset with how low it is. It is very crisp when played through the speakers and is OK if there is nothing else going on in the background. I figured headphones would be better. And, they were. Barely. I will have to pick up some headphones that have a volume control on them. Don't get me wrong, with the headphones the sound is perfect but sometimes you want a little louder that what this unit can produce. It came out of the box and the volume was already maxed out. I thought maybe it was low and I was wrong. Not a deal breaker for me simply because headphones with volume controls can fix that.

I tested the unit with BD, DVD, and DVD-R and they all played great. BD takes a little long to load but not too bad. I am just too used to the PS3 loading immediately. I did notice that DVD does not look nearly as good as BD does. That is a great indication that the screen is far better than 480P. BD is extremely crisp.

If not for the low sound volume I would have given this unit a full 5 stars.

At this price this unit is well worth the purchase.

UPDATE: I am now on my 3rd unit. The first one stopped playing Blu-ray altogether after a few hours. It would still play DVD but not BD. I exchanged it for a new model.

The new one died within 2 hours. It stopped my movie at the very end and turned off and then back on. It became a cycle where it wouldn't stay on. It also made a loud noise like the motor was stuck. I exchanged it this morning for yet another unit.

I immediately noticed several things with the latest one. It was very quiet compared to the other 2. I don't mean volume either. The unit was very quiet and loaded my BD fast and with no strange noises. Second thing I noticed is that the volume was greatly imporoved over the last 2 . It was plenty load out of the speakers. I have no complaints about the sound now. We'll see if this one lasts. I will be purchasing the 3 year service plan from Target if this one lasts the next couple of days. I just think the Target I went to initially received a faulty batch. I still stand by my 4 star rating.

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This player has a nice LCD and looks great, you can tell you are watching blu ray in high definition, I usually don't use computer animation to test picture quality but can't help but to admire how "crisp" they look.

I have a few disc playing DTS-HDMA and it was able to decode or at least grab the downmix from it. I have tested the HDMI picture it works just fine, 1080P compatible. But I have not tested the HDMI audio whether it can pass the downmix or bitstream (I think not likely), there appears to be no options to toggle this. In most cases this is not an audiophile's player.

I noticed it seems to load BDs faster than my standalone BD player, which was Sony's 2009 model.

Although it may seem pointless, one of the reason I bought this player is because it comes with composite A/V cable output, which is important to send the picture to a car A/V system, or you go to a hotel with an older TV. It also comes with home and car adapter and a nice fitting carrying case/bag. You can convert the carrying case to strap behind a headrest in the car; I think it's a pretty crude setup, and there seem to be no room to plug in the side connectors with the unit sitting in the bag. A little flap that opens on the side of the case to make these connections would have been nice.

The built in speakers is a bit weak, as in not very loud, but still stronger than most laptop speakers by a margin, and it should work fine in a quiet environment. There are 2 headphone jacks which is a nice touch, be prepared to crank the volume control all the way up, the player plays full dynamite range so the dialogue is a bit soft and explosion is still loud, as intended. But I am concerned if the volume might be too soft on an airplane, but then again you are stuck on the plane with your own 10" screen and watching blu ray, I figure you are already ahead of most passengers. One might need to shop around for headphones with more sensitivity.

I have hooked up the headphone jack via a Y cable to stereo receiver, this is completely analog, the amount of hiss is acceptable unless you press your ears to the tweeter of your main speakers. I have experienced no buzzing. I have also used the A/V output in my car with good results.

A couple of things "cons" I noticed, the battery is not replacable, not officially anyway, but it is lithium so it should last nicely.

And it says do not charge using the car adapter. There is a charge/OFF/ON, so the car adapter can still power the player in ON position indefinitely.

In conclusion, this is a pretty nice product and surprisingly from a entry level brand like RCA. Still a hefty price tag for some. Most people who has not seen HD played on a small LCD like this will argue you cannot tell between DVD and BD, maybe if you walk 4 feet away, but I can definitely tell the difference. Target seems to have good customer service, but I won't be bringing it back unless something goes very wrong soon.

EDIT: Aug 18. I noticed the unit has problem playing the sound of a few Universal movie titles with DTS-HD-MA sound track (King Kong, Death Race, HellBoy 2), I would only get sound on the left side only on those movies. I went on the website () and found a new firmware which I put on a USB stick. This fixed the problem. The firmware was not there when I first bought the unit.

I put in the my latest blu-ray Avatar (2009), the jungle detail looks amazing, especially when the chopper first fly in to drop off the Avatars. I will have to try the included DVD to see the PQ differences. For equipment reference I have a 54" Panasonic Plasma for my "regular" viewing.

The only problem I have now with Quantum of Solace which have 4 vertical thin lines on the screen. The problem seem to only be with this title, I tried other Fox titles and doesn't have this problem.

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Had this product for 2 weeks and took it on a trip to Florida with me. During several movies the video would skip or stop completely, and this was when it was on the table in the hotel room and not in a bumpy car. Then after about 15 blu-ray viewings, the player would not read the blu-ray disk and would say "bad disk". Several disks were tried and many were brand new. Every time the player would read "bad disk". The dvd reader continued to work but the play would no longer play blu-rays. This item was returned and I will be purchasing another brand.

Just got done using for a plane trip. Worked fime for all the movies we took. Could use a vloume boost, but very good unit.

Panasonic DMR-EZ47V Up-Converting 1080p DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with Built In Tuner

• Multi Drive Ram + others
• DV Input for transfer
• VCR Record and playback
• HDMI out put, SD card slot
• 1 Sec Quick Start

My setup: HD antenna directly into the Panasonic's coax input, then connected via HDMI, coax and component cables to the back of my LCD panel (a Sharp LC37D62U, a 1080P panel with HDMI inputs).

The tuner in the Panasonic unit, while capable of receiving HD signals, cannot output a full HD signal, but only 480P. If you are looking for a unit to act as a full-on HD tuner, this unit is not for you, but if your TV already has an HD tuner, then this unit offers some cool features. Before I start though, I want to point out that the unit does "pass" a full HD signal that is, when using my TV's own tuner with the Panasonic set to "TV" (on the "TV/VCR" selection), the TV receives a pass-through of the HD signal coming in over the air to the Panasonic. Other descriptions of this unit had me believing that it would pass-through a 480P signal, but this is fortunately not the case.

Cool Feature #1: Recording HD TV shows over the air. This is one of the first of a new generation of DVD recorders that can record an HD signal onto a DVD disc (although only at the lower 480P resolution). Despite the lower resolution, the picture looks great, obviously not full HD but far better than analog TV. I have recorded "Lost" and "House" and both shows look pretty good. While the unit appears to be able to record on every DVD format known, DVD-RAM format provides some advantages. Using a DVD-RAM disc and the HDMI connection to the TV, the TV switches automatically to a full wide screen picture. Setting the unit on its LP recording mode, I can record 4 hours of HD programs on one disc, and the sound is great.

Cool Feature #2: Chase play. After starting a program recording, you can start watching the recorded program before the entire recording is complete skipping past commercials and so on until you catch up to the "live" point in the recording. This works only with DVD-RAM discs, but is pretty nifty. By the way, the DVD-RAM discs can (according to the Panasonic manual) be re-recorded up to 100,000 times, so they are ALMOST like having a hard drive in the unit.

Cool Feature #3: Disc navigator. This allows you to see all the programs recorded on a DVD disc on a single screen you can then use this to select which recorded program you want to watch. Nifty! No more hunting through VCR tapes for the program you recorded you can't remember when...

The VCR output is also fine (although obviously much less impressive that the DVD output). I can't comment on its ability to output upscaled 1080P as compared to other DVD units with a similar feature, but the outlook looks pretty darn good to me, no noticable "jaggies".

Complaints: The auto-channel setup missed one of my local HD stations, instead tuning a secondary station being broadcast on the same signal. Annoying! There appears to be no way to manually select which channels are tuned by the unit. I have been meaning to call Panasonic about this, but haven't gotten around to it. Also, long-ish startup time (like 15 seconds). Sometimes the DVD output seems a little washed out, but this can be taken care of by re-adjusting the TV's color settings. Having to turn the unit off in order to have it launch a scheduled recording.

Overall, quite happy with the performance.

FYI, the first unit I bought (from Amazon) arrived DOA, but they were great about returning it and I had a new unit two days later. They even paid for the shipping to return the first unit. Nice!

Buy Panasonic DMR-EZ47V Up-Converting 1080p DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with Built In Tuner Now

I bought this model yesterday after a frustrating week: my professional grade (but 4 year old) JVC bit the dust just when I needed to transfer a stack of tapes for a a client. I initially bought a Sony Sony RDR-VX555, which transferred tapes beautifully...but lacked inputs to get any decent quality from a cable box (unless you wanted to have a S-VHS cable sticking out of the front of your device). And even when it was hooked up to the cable box, the picture stuttered when recorded (or wouldn't record at all. Turns out Sony has a chip that 'protects' cable box signals...so it really is false advertising to have "record from cable box" on the item's box)

So I returned it and bought the Panasonic, which was almost $100 more. And I have to say it has been worth it so far. It plays DVDs beautifully and upconverts to my Samsung LCD HDTV like a dream: tested it with "Return of the King" and it looked like the TNT HiDef broadcast. I was able to hook it up to my TV via HDMI with to problems whatsoever (and I've noticed that Samsung is a bit touchy on that regard). And as I was also able to hook it up via Composite out, I was able to test the signal quality HDMI vs. Composite. Personally thought the HDMI was a lot sharper and the colors truer (the Composite signal added a lot of red to the mix).

Had some initial problems hooking it up to my cable box and called Panasonic (who really weren't much help...I figured it out while explaining the problem to them for the fifth time). Basically, I kept getting an error message saying that my TV wasn't accepting the DVI source for some reason. So I didn't get picture, just an error message when I tried to run signal from the Cable box to the Panasonic. I was worried for a moment, as the instructions for the Panasonic want you to run the cable into the DVD/VCR first and then output it to the cable box (which caused a huge breakdown in picture quality and doesn't work for most of the channels). So I was afraid that the Panasonic would also prove to be incompatible with signals coming out of a cable box directly.

Turns out that it was probably the TV not wanting the signal coming from two HDMI inputs or from the cable not wanting to output it essentially to two HDMI inputs (I had the cable box hooked up directly to the TV and the DVD/VCR hooked up to the TV, both through HDMI). When I unplugged the HDMI cable from the cable box, the signal miraculously appeared through the DVD/VCR. So basically, if that happens to you, just unplug the connection between cable box and TV when you are wanting to record a show

(this might be due to the pass-through capabilities of the Panasonic DVD/VCR, and supposedly the signal going to the TV from the Panasonic is going to end up being as good as directly from the Cable box...but I would rather not risk it, since my picture is finally doing great now that Time Warner figured out the problem after a year).

Right now I'm copying a VHS to DVD and the picture quality of the VHS to my TV is incredible: much better than it was with the old JVC. One nice feature I already noticed is that the DVD recorder automatically put in a break when it sensed a change between programs.

Recording off TV last night produced an excellent result and I'm sure that when this tape is over (in 1:30) I'll find the same (if not...I'll be back!)

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If you are thinking of buying this for its "1080P Up-Conversion", look elsewhere! No big improvements here. Get the Oppo DV-980HD 1080p up-conversion DVD player instead if you are sticking with the DVD format. You'll get everything you are looking for. This Panasonic's Up-Converter gives plenty of ghosts, noise, and dragging. It drove me nuts! We had just purchased a Sony 46" 1080P 46XBR2 LCD television and we were expecting to get the promised HD quality out of this new Panasonic since our Panasonic DMR-ES45VS went only to 720P/1080I. We figured perhaps the visual flaws were due to the lower resolutions. The TV works beautifully, however this Panasonic simply couldn't do the job of effectively bringing out that full HDMI-powered picture. We got better viewing out of our old 1997 standard TV and a 2001 RCA DVD player.

However, other than this, it does a fine job of copying non-commercial VHS onto DVD, even cleans up the quality in the process (just make sure to run a test on this to see if there are any visual flaws in the transfer; this happened with the machine we bought, and the prior Panasonic). As a DVD Recorder, easy to use and excellent quality. The only thing that bugs me is that you have to turn off the machine in order for a programmed recording to activate. The DMR-ES45VS that we bought at allowed for scheduled recordings to happen regardless of whether the machine was on or not; a much better design. Anyway, when the finalization process is complete after either copying or recording, it plays in pretty much any player.

The Digital Tuner is a nice add-on, but it seemed to take a little while to load each channel when switching between stations. Not a big deal to me, but it bugged my wife understandably. Then again, we had analog cable instead of digital or HD-digital. BIG NOTE: No matter how much either a TV or DVD-PLAYER/TUNER claims to clean up analog singals, it will still look like garbage. If your getting an HDTV and/or DVD-Player/Tuner, make sure you get at least Digital Cable or HD-Digital. If you don't, all you'll get is extremely grainy TV. Yuck.

The Remote is just like the prior models, with one exception: when pressing the menu button during a movie, it does not go directly to the menu like the prior models. Instead it brings up a glaring box that offers "Menu" "Top Menu" and "Cancel". Personally, if I hit menu, I've meant to hit menu. A little too bothersome.

We never had any use of the SD card input, so nothing to say there. HDMI connection works great. So do the other connections. Also, it does take longer to load than the before-mentioned prior Panasonic, and it can be noisy sometimes.

Also, an odd side note. We bought the similar Panasonic ES45VS and hooked it up to our old 1997 TV, thinking it would pump better quality through it. Nope. The old 2001 RCA DVD player was much better for that type of TV. The Panasonic's de-interlacer messed with things visually and made horizontal lines appear anytime things moved. Just a note so others can avoid this.

Overall, as with prior Panasonics, this model does everything else well except the up-conversion. If this has everything else in it that you need, then do get it. If not, then get an Oppo or go Blu-ray.

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Although this unit has a great set of features & capabilities, it has so many fundamental problems that it's given me nothing but headaches. I even bought a second unit to compare & found that it had *the same problems*! This is not a case of me getting unlucky & buying the 1 bad manufactured unit--these are flaws in the software & programming itself!

Many calls to Panasonic customer service (after looong waits & painful menu navigation & customer service reps who were not very helpful) resulted in 2 firmware upgrade discs being mailed to me in 8/07 & 11/07. They didn't fix the problems.

My unit is now at the local Panasonic authorized repair center, awaiting new parts, which will leave me without my player for about 3-4 weeks in total, if I get it back when they claim it will be done.

In no particular order, here are the problems:

1 The unit freezes up frequently. I'll walk by, look at the clock, see that it's way off, press every single button on the unit & the remote to try to turn it on or get it to respond, but nothing happens. I have to unplug it & plug it back in to be able to use it again. It has missed recording so many scheduled TV shows because it froze up. The period of time between freezes ranges from a day to a month--totally random & inconsistent.

2 While watchng DVDs, the big status window in the top right of my screen pops up occasionally, reminding me that I'm in DVD mode. Duh. This is very annoying. Sometimes it pops up every few minutes. Sometimes I can watch hours of movies with no pop up. Again, random.

3 The SD card playback is sooooo slow that it's useless. I'm using a 4.0MP camera, with 2MB file size, and the time required to flip from picture to picture on the card makes a slideshow utterly impossible.

4 The one-touch dubbing from VHS to DVD has given me huge headaches. First, it will abort the dubbing if you have a segment of static snow on your VHS in between the items on your tape. I'm trying to copy tapes of personal videos to DVD for archiving & easy access & sharing, but I have to babysit the machine to keep restarting the dubbing process.

5 After dubbing a tape to DVD & following the directions carefully, I am unable to make the chapter manipulation menu appear. So, I'm stuck with chapter breaks every 8 minutes and cannot add/remove chapters, so I'm unable to make an easily-navigated DVD menu.

6 After I figured out that I can manually stop my dubbing after each segment on my VHS tape, I had many hours invested & was on my way to making a DVD that had all the breaks in the correct locations to be able to generate a proper top menu. But then I came across one portion of my VHS tape where the machine refused to dub properly. 3.5 minutes into this section of tape (which is just like all the other sections, recorded on the same VCR), the unit stops recording, tells me that it's dividing the recording, rewinds the tape a bit, then starts recording a new DVD segment. This puts an illogical & unpleasant break in what is supposed to be continuous footage, and it adds an unnecessary chapter to the top menu. I tried this twice, with the same result. The manual shows that this should not happen.

7 Unfortunately, unlike every other DVD player I've seen, the menu button on the remote pulls up a menu that lets you go to the DVD top menu. Usually the menu button on the remote just sends you to the disc's menu. Silly.

This product has given me so many headaches & made me *very* frustrated. When I get it back from the repair shop, I hope that Panasonic will give me some sort of refund, because I don't see how swapping out a circuit board will be able to fix what appears to be poor design & programming...but that's all the repair shop could recommend as a fix...

I bought two different models of DVD/VCR recorders at separate times (from vendors other than Amazon) and returned both within days. Either the user's guide was written so poorly it was incomprehensible, or the machine itself didn't function as advertised.

Not so with the Panasonic DMR-EZ47VK Up-Converting 1080p DVD-Recorder/VCR Combo with Built In Tuner. The user's guide is well written and has an excellent index and table of contents, making it easy to find what you're looking for when you have cables and boxes spread all over your living room floor.

The machine works as advertised and has an easy-to-use onscreen menu. The remote control is like any other. After a few minutes with it, the functions become clear.

The fact that the remote does not operate the open/close tray of the DVD or the eject function of the VCR is not really a problem. If you're changing DVDs or tapes, you've got to be at the box anyway.

The one-touch recording is simple to use. You get an onscreen prompt to press the button for three seconds to start recording. I suppose this is to prevent accidental recording.

I've put twenty hours of use on this box, recording ten DVDs, with no problems at all.

This is a good example of "you get what you pay for". My previous two models were significantly cheaper.

Samsung SC-D372 MiniDV Camcorder with 34x Optical Zoom

I am not an expert at using a camcorder by any stretch of the imagination so I approached this product's mass of settings and controls with somewhat wary an approach. A family vacation up to New York and Canada earlier this year gave me the opportunity to put it through its paces and it passed with flying colors. I also was able to hook it up to my DVD recorder with a firewire cable (not included) and transfer it easily onto regular DVD. One thing that surprised me (given the reviews here concerning lighting) is that my camcorder works great in poor lighting. Watching it with my travel companions as I transferred the home video to DVD they remarked that the shots at an aquarium were brighter than they had been to the naked eye and brought out more detail. One troubling detail about the camera is that it needs to be hooked up to recharge the battery (which itself lasts about an hour). However I bought a TechFuel Premium Advanced Desktop Battery Charger as well as more powerful batteries by TechFuel (both given as accessories on the Amazon product page) and they work great.

This is pretty nice considering the SC-D372's price range. The best feature is the conveniently located "Easy Q" button seems to figure out the best settings.

It has easily accessible VCR-style multi-function controls that are not under the LCD fold-out. The contour of the camera is comfortable to the hand.

The SC-D372 is an affordable way to capture moments.

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i like the camcorder, no complaint here. battery life is not that good , so u need another battery.picture is good. i taped my sons party with it, the video is clear. i just got it a month ago. so far i like it.

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I bought this because I like to snowboard, and I thought having a small camcorder to capture footage would be awesome...

**

When the camera got cold (not wet), it just shut-off.

The battery doesn't last long, especially if the display is open.

It takes a while to start, and before it begins recording... the tape rewinds 0:03 seconds, deleting some past footage.

The color/quality isn't very good, and it takes a long time to focus.

If you speak too loudly/close into the mic. it has a 'high screeching noise' during playback.

***

What's good about it?

It has good zooming capabilities, the lens is a Schneider Kreuznach, small/portable, easy to function, pretty sturdy, small light for night, and the low price.

****

Samsung has good products, but this isn't one of them. I would recommend another camcorder.

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I always trust Samsung and they impressed me more with this camera. probably the cheapest video camera availible, it is better than you would expect it to be. Although it isn't so good in night or dim light, not a lot of other cameras are anyways. It's perfect for anyone who simply wants a basic video camera.

Sanyo VPC-PD2BK Full HD Pocket Movie Dual Camera with 10 MP Digital Photos and 3X Optical Zoom (Bla

Contrary to most reviews here that trash the VPC-PD2BK, I just spent 3 weeks with it and I have very few complaints. I know HD video. We've shot our family videos in HD since the Sony HDR-HC1 first came out and currently use the HDR-HC7 as our primary camcorder. I've literally shot hundreds of hours of HD video with our Sony camcorders and this Sanyo model does most things almost as well as they do. I say most because the Sanyo obviously lacks the internal sophistication and optics that are present in the Sony models...But it's also a fraction of the cost and fits comfortably in your shirt pocket. I'm not sure exactly what previous reviewers were expecting when they purchased this Sanyo unit...But it sounds like some of them wanted one of the Mino or Kodak models and probably should've just purchased that in the first place.

Most of the complaints of poor video quality can probably be traced to trying to view HD video through Quicktime on a "standard" PC...It is terrible. But that's NOT the fault of the Sanyo (or any other HD recording device). For example, the video clip that I uploaded was recorded in the Sanyo's 1280 x 720, 60fps "HD-HR" format. However, when you try to watch it through an internet connection with the Flash player, it will start, then stop, then start, get blotchy, freeze frame again, etc. Understand going in that this unit shines by mini-HDMI connection Abacus24-7 Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable, 6 feet to a flat screen HDTV. THAT'S how you view the photos and video captured by this Sanyo. Trying to watch HD MPEG-4 video with Quicktime or Flash or Windows Media Player or VLD, etc on a 3 or 4 year old Windows PC is an invitation to disappointment! I didn't upload the video clip to show the VPC-PD2BK's video quality. It's there to show why most people complain about a device like this as "not working" and "horrible video" and so forth. You simply have to hook it up to an HDTV through HDMI (or to a Mac with iMovie) to adequately judge the quality of the video.

So, our HDR-HC7 recently "flipped-out" (literally) as the LCD screen started rolling and wouldn't stop/stabilize. I had purchased a 4-yr ext warranty when it was new, but had to send it off for repairs. Of course life doesn't stop happening until your camcorder comes back repaired. I needed something to record HD video and take decent still shots of youth football games, a military honors funeral ceremony and a Disney World vacation. This Sanyo did not disappoint and I would buy it again for the $159 I paid at buy dot com a few days before it was even available on Amazon. I will review the VPC-PD2BK considering several factors that are important to me. I also uploaded a few sample photos...But keep in mind that what you see on your PC/laptop screen is not what you see when the "cameracorder" is connected to an HDTV through mini-HDMI with output set to 16:9, 720p. Amazon's upload software took files that were originally 3MB is size and reduced them to around 115KB which is obviously nowhere near 10MP in quality.

* Optics 5/5. The 3X optical zoom really does make a difference compared to the software interpolation accompanying a 3X digital zoom. Photos taken at 10MP are crisp and clear and video quality is exceptional for something this compact when connected to a 50" plasma HDTV through the mini-HDMI connection. There are also no problems viewing the 10MP photos on a PC with basic photo editing software like Picassa. I have no idea why people are complaining about photo and video quality here. There is nothing wrong with it.

* Video 5/5. I haven't even tried to view any video on our PCs, since they don't have the horsepower to edit this kind of footage. But when connected to HDMI on an HDTV, the video quality is superb and comparable to anything shot with our Sony HDR-HC7. I shot our video in "HD-HR", which is 1280 x 720, 60fps HR. Our plasma has 720p native resolution and the video is crisp and clear. No complaints here.

* Audio 4/5. This one is tough. I love the twin microphones (stereo) capability of this Sanyo. Why would you want to record HD video and then watch/listen to it in mono sound anyway? The microphones are super sensitive, perhaps to a flaw. I dock a point here because there is a low level hiss that is apparent in video with extended periods of silence. The optical zoom motor sound is also picked up and is noticeably loud when zooming in and out during video. I find these things unacceptable. On the other hand, these microphones can pick up the sound of passing cars at 50+ yds away when not even facing the highway. If someone in your video farts within 30 feet, it will be forever captured to video. When focusing on the negatives here, I could give it 3 out of 5...But I could just as easily give it 5 out of 5 for the stereo quality of recordings and the sheer performance factor of these twin microphones picking up everything and I do mean every sound of whatever you're recording. You'd think an external mic was used.

* Photo Quality 5/5. Now understand that I normally don't take photos in place of video. I prefer to video what's happening. But I found myself actually taking more photos than usual with this Sanyo. I was PLEASANTLY SURPRISED to find that, like our Sony HDR-HC7, this Sanyo takes still photos (at a lower quality of 1280 x 720, or approx 300KB per photo) DURING video recording. This is a big deal for me. If you have the latest & greatest PC with the capability to capture stills during HD video editing, then this may not be so much for you. But by the time you boot up your PC, load your software and SD card video, select your image capture and then invite everyone into your PC room to show them your lovely picture on your PC screen, I've already shown a complete photo slideshow on the family HDTV with the accompanying video clips showing the entire scene with action...Plus I've gone out and returned with dinner for everyone. Snapping photos during video recording is a CONVENIENCE that doesn't fall flat with me. I'm used to it and I appreciate it. I still haven't printed any still photos (which might alter my opinion of photo quality), but they sure do look sharp and clear on our HDTV. No complaints. [UPDATE: You can press the photo button while video recording to capture a still shot, but I found it's not even necessary. After you've shot a video clip, you can view it on the Sanyo's screen, then pause and move it forward/back frame by frame until you find the exact scene you want to capture. Press the photo button and a separate photo file is created. It will be at the same resolution as the video format you originally used to shoot the footage.]

* Flash 5/5. This is what's been sorely missing on so many handheld video recorders, while it's a given on digital cameras that also shoot video...But this Sanyo provides a fairly powerful flash that's proven useful both inside in well-lit areas and when shooting stills outside at night. I found that using a forced flash produces superior results in 10MP capture when inside, even when ambient lighting seems sufficient. Without a forced flash (i.e., on "Auto Flash"), photo captures can be somewhat blurred and washed-out...Sort of what you would normally expect from using a digital camera or another model of handheld camcorder inside and without a flash. Using the flash inside produces crisp and even vibrant captures. Sanyo deserves kudos for including this feature where others lack it.

* Intangibles 4/5. While the above are what I consider primary performance factors in a unit like this, there are also the intangibles...Things that aren't "primary", but they still affect performance and/or ease of use. For example, this Sanyo has an automatic lens cover. Turn it on, it opens up. Turn it off and it closes to protect the lens. This is pretty huge for anyone who puts a cameracorder like this in your pocket with keys, change and any number of items that can scratch or just dirty up an unprotected lens. You won't need a lens cloth every time you pull it out of your pocket. Another intangible is weight. When you get to items this small, weight is somewhat relative...But I can hold the Kodak Zi8 in one hand and this Sanyo in the other and there is a NOTICEABLE difference in weight. The Sanyo is so much lighter it almost feels "empty". Also, this Sanyo is relatively quick to load. You can take a still shot or be shooting video within roughly 4 seconds of pressing the power button on. That's quicker than our full-sized Sony HDR-HC7.

* Problems I have with this entire category of cameracorders. This is not so much about the Sanyo specifically, but these shortcomings affect this category of electronics when you're used to full-sized camcorders. First, I know I'm in the minority, but I prefer the Sony mini-DV tape system. The thing that bugs me most about all of these slick new handhelds is a lack of a PAUSE button. This means when you're shooting a video with pauses (like a youth football game), each time you press "RECORD" to start and stop recording, you have created a new FILE on the SD card. In the end, you're left with a series of intermingled photos and videos on the SD card instead of watching a mini-DV tape of the event that provides seamless video resulting from pausing and then restarting the record function. This bugs the heck out of me. I haven't figured out how to combine the individual files into a "complete game video" yet and this is a deal-breaker for me when considering what type of events to video with this Sanyo and which ones to video with our HDR-HC7. It knocks these portable SD card-based recorders out of many events because I don't want to end up with many disjointed files instead of a complete video in the end. Understand this limitation when purchasing any of these handhelds. Another is no DV-out. All of these handhelds include some USB connector...But there are a variety of limitations when outputting captured video/stills using other methods. For example, if you visit that relative who still has the 19" color TV with rabbit ears, then you won't be able to hook this Sanyo up to it and show off your captures. You need HDMI. Other brands/nodels have this capability with a "video" jack and even include the cables to connect to older TVs...But none of them I've seen have DV-out, which is how I easily make DVDs from our HDR-HC7. These handhelds also use Electronic Image Stabilization while most larger, higher-end camcorders use Optical Image Stabilization. This means you need to pan much more slowly and be particularly steady when shooting video, especially when zoomed in on the target. EIS is better than nothing, but your video will still show a great deal of "shake" if you aren't steady or using a tripod. Also, don't expect detailed user manuals or sophisticated editing software. Most of the user guides/manuals are PRE-LOADED onto the unit itself and only accessible after you connect via USB. Any editing software is quite basic. For example, the Sanyo software makes it easy to upload to Facebook, YouTube and Picassa...But there's no way to EDIT the video/photos prior to upload. Now how much sense does THAT make? Imagine a world where Facebook and YouTube are littered with completely unedited video and photos. Obviously there are a lot that are unedited already...Now imagine if ALL of them were!

Finally, the merciless piling on with the ridiculous reviews here is unwarranted. Does the battery compartment cover easily slide off when pulling the Sanyo out of your pocket? Yes it can. But it doesn't come completely off in your hand. It is still secured with a rubber/plastic tab. If this causes you so much pain that you feel compelled to write a 1 or 2 star review of this item, then perhaps you should leave the videoing to others who are more tolerant. For example, the Kodak Zi8 has an SD card compartment that is insanely difficult to open. It can only be opened by inserting a thumbnail and pulling it open, and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. Anyone trashing this unit because of an apparent lack of video/photo quality has probably never even shot HD video before. If you are considering the purchase of one of these handhelds, I suggest you do as I did. Buy 2 or 3 different models and try them out head-to-head before deciding which one to keep. I already took the JVC PICSIO GC-FM1A HD Camcorder (Black Ice) back for a refund. It was HORRIBLE. I'm boxing up the Kodak Zi8 even now for a return. It's a decent handheld that I was prepared to live with before this Sanyo was just recently released...But I've decided to keep this Sanyo for all of the 4/5 and 5/5 reasons given above. For the $25 more I paid over the Zi8, this Sanyo model does almost everything I need and does them better...When I don't want to lug around a full-sized HD camcorder, this one is just a pocket away from capturing the action when needed.

Recently, I took this dual camera for a test run during the tour with my wife in Japan. I am so happy with all the results taken, either 10 MP photos or 1080p videos. It is so easy to use and I collected about 40G memory during the 9 day trip. The qualities are not only excellent but also more than I can dream of. I definitely agree with one of the reviewer that regular PC is not the tool to play 1080p videos since regular PC simply is not powerful enough to do the job. The better way is to use HD media player via HDMI connection to your HD TV. If you have done so, you will agree with me that the qualities are exceptionally good from this small pocket movie dual camera.

The only shortcoming to me is that a third party software is required to join the video segments together. I use Magix movie edit pro 15 plus to get my 1080i iso join files. I still would like to get 1080p iso file if I can.

I compare photo quality taken from PD2 (10 MP) with my Nikon coolpix P5100 (12.1 MP). I found no visual difference. I also own Sanyo first HD camcorder, VPC-HD1A for 5 MP photos and 720P videos. Trust me VPC-PD2 is many many times better especially under regular room light or low light condition.

I can only conclude that Sanyo VPC-PD2 is an exceptionally good quality dual camera and I would recommend it for non-sophisticated users.

And I give it a 5 stars.

p.s. I bought two from Amazon.

update: 12/08/2010

Magix Movie Edit pro 15, that I own, can join MP4 1080p clips via "export movie" as different formats and MP4 is one of them.

Recently, I bought Roxio creator 2011 and I can join MP4 1080p clips via "export as" function to original file type i.e. MP4.

Hopefully, these are useful for you.

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I waited for a few weeks to post a review on this unit, such that I could get a pretty solid, real world, feel for this pocket camcorder. I think posting a review very soon after an initial purchase can result in a review that is somewhat biased and influenced by an initial perception.

All that being said, if I had to make one overarching comment about this unit, I would point out that this is a Pocket Camcorder first and a Camera second i.e. the strength of this unit is in taking High Definition H.264 videos. While the still shot aspects of this unit are pretty decent, I would say that, clearly, its strength lies with its video capabilities. From my perspective, its important to point this out so that others considering this unit won't confuse it with standard point-and-shoot still cameras that happen to have HD video capability.

VIDEO SIDE:

I have been using the unit for video at 720p/60fps as opposed to 1080i/30fps, primarily for three reasons (a) I have an older DLP set with a 720p native resolution, (b) 60fps is supposedly better at handling motion than 30fps (though this intuatively makes sense, I have yet to independently verify this, on this particular unit), and (c) the obvious, file sizes are smaller.

I think video quality is superb on the VPC-PD2 with one caveat, it is quite susceptible to lighting conditions. In daylight (full or partial, even indoors), the quality is absolutely superb. When light levels fall, so does quality. The camera seems to try to compensate by boosting the ISO level, which makes the video quality somewhat grainy/pixelated.....if I had to describe it, I would almost say that low light material tends to look more like Standard Def, even when capture in HD. I would add that the low light performance of this unit is no worse than any other pocket camcorder that I've played with, in fact, I would say its probably better than most.

People, you have to be realistic and realize that this is ultimately a pocket camcorder that, no matter how well implemented, will ultimately be restricted by its hardware. This camera is using a very small CMOS sensor and, hence, there is only so much that can be done with the given hardware (on the plus side, CMOS sensors tend to do better than CCD sensors). With proper lighting, I would say this pocket camcorder can easily rival a decent handheld HD camcorder, which, I think, speaks volumes.

Another very strong point is the audio side (I read some reviews to the contrary and am VERY puzzled by the same). The twin mics do an excellent job of picking up audio and, very crisply, I might add. I do agree that you can hear the optical zoom mechanism during playback, but (a) it does not bother me since it is for such a short duration (a second or two), and (b) I really don't use the optical (or digital) zoom much as I like the wide angle lense of this unit and tend to simply walk closer to my subject is I need to "zoom" in. I also think that zooming in tends to reduces the amount of available light that gets to the sensor which exacerbates the unit's weak point, low light shooting.

I think the optical stabilization works quite well. While I haven't done a close comparison of the unit with the optical stabilization on vs. off, (I turned it on as soon as I received the unit) the videos are quite stable with no noticable (or sickening) motion while playing back on my HDTV.

STILL CAMERA SIDE:

I have the camera stills set to 10MP. Using the 12MP with interpolation makes no sense to me as (a) the raw data simply doesn't exist (the camera sensor maxes out at 10MP), its being artificially created,and (b) it reduces the no. of stills that can be taken.

Taking stills can be done in two ways (i) firmly pressing the still shot button and waiting for a second or so for the shot to fire or (ii) pressing the button down halfway, letting the camera focus, and then pressing it down fully to fire the shot. So long as your subject is not moving significantly, method (ii) works better as it enables you to greatly reduce the shutter lag by pre-focusing, if you will.

The flash on this unit -all I can say is wow! It is a powerful flash for such a small unit. The VPC-PD2 is one of the few pocket camcoders out there with a flash, and I think it greatly enhances the units ability to take still shots. The flash effectively enables you to compensate for the lack of low light performance. Again, very impressed with the flash capability from such a tiny unit.

Overall, I would say the still shot capability is quite decent. This is by no means going to replace a DSLR or even a decent point and shoot, however, it will still allow you take very decent still shots if you don't want to lug around you main camera.

OTHER:

I think the build quality is decent. I was expecting the unit to feel very plasticky and it doesn't. Yes, it is quite light and, no, its not going to feel like the magnesium body on your high-end DSLR, however, I still think it feels good in the hand. It has enough heft to it such that doesn't feel chinzy....don't know how else describe it. Yes, the door that covers the battery and memory card can feel a little loose, but, honestly, it doesn't bother me. I am a bit careful with the USB slide out connector, but again, this doesn't bother me. I'm generally careful with my things, especially electronics. If you're going to let your 5-year gnaw at the unit or throw it around, then yes, things will break.

Having the lense automatically retract and cover itself is nice in terms of dust/dirt protection and longevity.

TIPS:

Some handy tips if you don't feel like reading the manual:

1. Pressing and holding down the "Set" button will take you to the "Self Timer" mode for stills.

2. This is a good one.....holding down the "Rec/Play" button, BEFORE the camera is powered on, will allow you to view your stills and videos, without the lense deploying!! I really like this as previously, I was using the on/off button to turn on the unit prior to viewing my pics/videos, which would deploy the lense, making the unit more cumbersome and increasing the risk of damaging the lense.

3. If you hold down the "up" arrow button while powering the unit on, you will get to the "Operation Beep" menu, which will allow you to turn the beeps on or off.

CONCLUSION:

If you're in the market for a pocket camcorder and are realistic about the capabilities of a pocket unit, I think this unit will not disappoint...in fact, I think it will surprise you. My focus was on Video/picture quality and easy of use....the VPC-PD2, in my humble opinion, stands out. If you don't care of about picture quality (which begs the question of why you're spending your money on a camera/camcorder) and form factor is your primary/sole criteria, then consider one of the Cisco FLIP units. I was interested in a unit that performed first and was pretty second. This was the one for me, hands down.

DON'T FORGET:

1. The mini HDMI to HDMI cable. The videos on this unit look great on an HDTV via HDMI. I actually think they look better than viewing the files directly on a PC, at least with Windows Media Player.

2. The case. I picked up the Caselogic Pocket Video Camcorder Case (TBC-312) and it fits beautifully. Very nice case. Please don't confuse this case with the other Caselogic pocket "camera" cases. This is their pocket "Camcorder" case. Use the model no. and you'll be set.

3. Picked up a Transcend 16GB SDHC card. Works just fine. I went with a Class 6 card, given the HD recording. No speed lag issues whatsover. You may be able to get away with a Class 4 card; I haven't confirmed.

THE REAL KICKER:

Picked the Camera up for $142.00 here on Amazon. 6 days later I see the unit on sale for $99. Was pretty bummed. Called Amazon, they refunded me the difference immediately.....now that is called service!! This camcorder is excellent of $142 and an absolute steal for $99. Yes, I would pay $142 for it again.

STAR RATING:

Why 4 stars? Simple, I am judicious with my star ratings. To me, only a perfect product deserves 5 stars. Is the VPC-PD2 a perfect product? No. Is it a very good product? Absolutely. Therefore it gets a 4 star rating.

Read Best Reviews of Sanyo VPC-PD2BK Full HD Pocket Movie Dual Camera with 10 MP Digital Photos and 3X Optical Zoom (Bla Here

Pros:

1) It has great audio pickup. I was definitely impressed as it picked up slight sounds (detectable on playback on a PC).

2) As some others have said, this camera is unusually light. Depending on your perspective it could be good. Some prefer a heavy device in hand to reduce the amount of shakes. On the other hand, its nice to have less weight to carry around. Yes it does feel like a toy because of its weight (don't give it to your kids) but it will make you scratch your head as to how such a light product records HD video.

3) 4 video quality modes, 3 of them widescreen. They record fairly well.

4) 3x optical zoom, not as much mechanical noise noticed while using it as some other customers mentioned.

5) I like the fact that the lens is automatically covered up while it is turned off.

6) Menu takes some getting used to, but once you do get used to it, it's pretty straighforward.

Cons:

1) There is a slight hiss in the audio that becomes noticeable when there isn't any other background noise. This definitely needs to get addressed.

2) The battery compartment door is too flimsy. But even if it comes off, it is still attached to the camera with a rubber strip. Also the SD card, battery remain secure even if the door comes open. This is definitely an oversight on the design, but it amounts up to an inconvenience.

3) On playback on the camera LCD & on PC, the video appeared grainy. As someone commented, this may very well be because its video is meant to be played back on an HDTV via the mini-HDMI port. (the other commenter had success with this). I would still expect that at least on the LCD it should not appear grainy. [makes me wonder if I just happened to have received a defective version of the product]

4) Low-light recording is not too impressive.

5) I don't always read the instructions first, but I do consider myself very tech savvy, and this device was not straightforward out of the box. Be sure you start out with an EMPTY SD-card and format it with this camera itself. For some unusual reason (perhaps internal data transfer) it takes its own time to set up a secondary virtual drive on plug-in with a PC to provide access to some internally stored software. It's a bit mind-boggling as to why it did not show this virtual drive on the first few times I connected it to the PC. Also keep in mind that your camera has to be turned ON before you plug it into the computer, otherwise it just shows up as an inaccessible "removable drive."

UPDATE: 1 month after use and test.

Pros: 7) Crystal clear playback on an hdtv with a separately purchased mini-hdmi to hdmi cable.

8) Photos are great if you can get enough light and solid platform to avoid shakes (not the fastest shutter speed, but considering I gave up my camera to use this, gotto work with it). Flash control works fine. Finding the controls took some learning.

Cons:

6)grainy video for PC/facebook/youtube use. I might experiment later with downgrading video resolution to see if that improves video appearance. As of now, I've received comments about how videos are blurry.

7) Only digital zoom is available during video recording, which is okay, but does make grainy-ness worse on zooming in.

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When you obey the rules of small sensor cameras, this one will take a good picture. It should not be used in place of a good point-and-shoot camera on vacation, but it has it's place. I would use this camera in conjunction with my favorite camera for the video only. The camera shutter speed need to remain above 1/100 to take a good out-door picture. This means that you need good sun light. The iso needs to stay at 50 if you want a decent jpg.

The video aspect of this camera works about the same. With good lighting, it will do a good job. Indoors, the iso will rise, causing noisy videos. Sometimes I can live with the results sometime not, it just depents on how important the video is.

I will not be hard on this camera because it's greatest advantage is it's size. If you just want to capture video of day-to-day life, it's size will make it very easy to take along. If you prefer very good picture quality at all times, well you might need to keep shopping. I give it a (B-), but it will help if you know a little about photography to understand when to use it, and when not.

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After I bought this, I thought to myself something I really should have thought of before. Why is this cable gold plated? What a waste of gold, it never even remotely comes into contact with the optical signal. Anyway, its very well made and has a tough jacket.

I used mine on our surround sound, sound quality is great. The quality is very good, it easily plugs in to our STB.

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This is the second such cable I have ordered. The metal tip makes a huge difference--keeps placement solid and sturdy. Anyone using an optical cable is familiar with how "soft" the connection is and this cable helps resolve the problem. Well made product.

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This is a very nice cable for the price. I didn't want just some crappy PVC coated cable. I can't be sure that this cable is necessarily PVC-free, but the connectors, grips, and cable are all obviously not made of PVC.

The grips are a high quality polished "gunmetal" colored metal. The connectors themselves look gold. The braided cable has a very nice gold and black pattern. For a slight increase in price compared to an average cable, you get something that is actually nice to use and look at.

If you have trouble hiding your cables because of your home audio setup, I highly recommend this cable. Even if you can hide your cables, this cable is a pleasure to use and the price difference is slight.

An important thing to note about the 3ft length. With a cable like this it does not bend easily. 3 feet is just enough for two components sitting next to each other. You will have trouble routing this cable any further than about 1ft away because of the way the wire holds its shape.

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