Archos Gmini402 20 GB Camcorder and Multimedia Player

• Multi-tasking 20 GB multimedia player with integrated video camcorder/still camera
• Capture up to 50 hours of video (MPEG 4 SP); 2x digital zoom; 1.2 megapixel still resolution
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Plays back MPEG-4 SP video with B-Frames with stereo sound; displays JPEG photos
• Up to 10 hours of battery life for music playback, 4 hours for video playback, and 2 hours for video capture

I got this unit to use mainly as a camcorder. I've been looking for one that has a good size hard drive and this one meets that criteria with 20gb. The unit is very small and lightweight. The color is nice and attractive. But it seems that that design is driven by being snazzy rather than functional. While the LCD is located in the center of the unit, the lens on the other side is placed off to the left. It's hard to keep from blocking the lens while recording. I hope this problem will go away once I get used to holding it with my right hand only. The lens is covered by a cheap built-in piece of plastic which I think will suffer a lot of scratches over time. The buttons could have been bigger. There's no place to hook up a strap. I'd like to use one when I'm recording because with its size it's very likely to fall out of your hands.

The video quality is acceptable. Under the VGA setting, the pictures are sharper, but appear to be kind of grainy. It seems especially important to concentrate on holding the camera steady while shooting. Otherwise, the video looks a bit jumpy. Some of the buttons are not particularly intuitive. For example, there is no obvious "pause" button.

The drawstring pouch included in the package is thin with no padding, and doesn't provide protection for the camcorder. I got one from somewhere else and use the pouch for the cables.

The manual is not thorough. Some of the options and even some of the hardware aren't mentioned or explained. There's one adapter that plugs in the top of the unit with line-in on the one side and AV out on the other. It doesn't have any problem plugging into the TV to play the content, but doesn't record TV; I can only guess it's for recording audio. There's hardly any mention of this either. Also I still don't know what kind of rechargeable battery is used in this unit. It wasn't said anywhere in the manual. It just says the battery is designed to last for the life of the camcorder (whatever that means).

As a multi-media player it doesn't have a built-in speaker, which is a major omission.

If your computer has Windows XP, you can plug it in using the provided USB cable. Copying the the clips to the computer is basically drag-and-drop. I don't know with other computers, but with mine, if the file is lager than 500mb it doesn't let you transfer it to the computer; it says the file is too big. When I change the setting in the camcorder for it to be recognized as a removable hard drive, the transfer works fine. Maybe I need to update the firmware. On the Archos website, there's a couple of new updates, but I can't access them because I have to update to version 1.2 before I can use them. Version 1.2 was nowhere to be found. I haven't tried calling tech support yet. They do have the 800 number listed on the website.

Overall, I'd say the Archos 402 camcorder has a lot of room for improvement, but is nevertheless worthwhile in that you can record and store a large amount of video in very small package.

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I have had the Gmini 402 cam for about a week now, and I have been very impressed so far. I started off looking for a device that I could simply dump digial photos on, but the gadget monger inside of me wanted more than just a mass storage device for photos. This was the best option I could find that included the USB Host(direct connect with digital camera) and a good mp3 player on it.

It has a little smaller hard drive than devices like the Cowon X5 and the Toshiba Gigabeat, but to me this wasn't really a problem, 20 GB was fine. The design of the the Gmini is ok, personally I like the looks of the Gigabeat, and (while not an I-Pod fan) the I-Pod better. It looks a little too much like a gameboy or some kind of game only device. But function won out in that battle, and I had to go with the Gmini.

For those interested in the USB host function, after comparing devices for a couple weeks I found out a few things about the other devices that I didn't like; the Gigabeat for example can only use 2 GB of its 30 GB for photos dumped from your digital camera, and I am pretty sure you can not view those dumped photos either. The Cowon X5 does allow you to view images, but limits the size of individual pictures to 2.5MB each. The Gmini does not have any of these limitations, and has a great viewer for the images as well.

Aside from the USB Host function, all the other features on it have been great. The camera is obviously not real good, but I wasn't really expecting it to be. The camcorder on the other hand isn't bad, obviously its no sony handycam, but not bad. The video player is cool, but i don't foresee using it too much. And as I mentioned before the MP3 player, is pretty much all I could ask for, album art, ID3 compatible, good sound as far as I can tell. Battery life so far has been decent, though simply comparing stats with other devices, it is probably not quite as good.

Overall this has been a great device, and I look forward to using it a lot!

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I purchased this unit for a family vacation. I originally wanted a smaller digital camera that could easily fit in a pocket and would'nt be a problem to carry. I spoke with a sales clerk and he had a few sugestions which were ok, then he showed me this. As a techie I was instantly hooked and forgot what I originally came in for. The concept of having a camcorder that fits in a pocket intrigued me. I bought it, and could not wait to get it home. After a few hrs of playing around I've come to the following conclusions.

The good: Overall id say that it is an amazing little device.

* The video camera is excellent, especially at the lower resolution. When the resolution is raised to vga the video becomes a little grainy but is still pretty good.

* The video / audio playback is flawless.

* The MP3 playback is excellent, controls are intuitive, awesome sound with the right headphones.

* The small size of the unit vs it's fuctionality makes it a unique product.

The bad: My biggest problem with this unit is the lousy still camera.

* The still camera is horrible. DO NOT buy this unit for still pictures, it will disappoint.

* This unit is a little light on battery

* The storage pouch is useless, it may prevent scratches but if you drop it, it's over. Buy a better case.

* I agree with other reviews, the manual is less than informative, but, the controls are fairly easy to figure out.

* Headphones are not the best.

* line in recording is audio only, which is not a really a flaw.

* Lense placement takes some getting used to, my hand naturally wants to cover it.

I hope this helps.

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Archos makes a lot of products with great functionality, but they are also very unreliable and when they break, you have to deal with some of the worst customer service around. If it only takes a month to get a working replacement for your broken product consider yourself lucky. It took a month for them to send me another broken product which I had to send back. 5 weeks later I'm still having to call them up and listen to some lady who works part time complain about all the problems they have with their warehouse.

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This is a great item that Archos designed poorly. The still camera isnt all that great, takes blurry pictures. The video isnt great either; nice FPS but the sound is garbage. Plays great video. Has useless games on it that are also impossible to control because of the location of the buttons. Awful multi-use buttons for scrolling through menus, you lose track where you are in the menu process because none of the buttons are labeled and theres no indication on the screen of what you're supposed to click next. From the factory, the back part didnt fit well against the middle & couldnt get it to fit better; could welcome in dirt or moisture and wreck it.

Great battery life; it lasted for 6 days and about 9 hours of use before I returned it to the store and the level indicator was at 50%+. There is NOWHERE to put a wrist strap or lanyard and thats the main reason I returned it.

If this was redesigned with a no-slip design, case, or wrist strap and better menus, this product would rock.

Samplitude 11.5 Producer

• From multi-track recording, audio editing, and composition to mixing and CD mastering ? whatever you have planned, you music is the main focus!
• Whether solo artist or an entire band, this program will let anyone create amazing new tunes. A rich feature set and an extensive number of first class virtual instruments will help you with that.
• The improved recording workspace gets you started right away and comes with lots of useful extras, such as tuners for guitars and bass or info boxes with tips and tricks related to music production.
• The revised FX rack provides access to all effects that are important. Integrated effects such as the 10-band equalizer, reverb, delay as well as the pitch and tempo sections use Samplitude Pro Audio technology and meet the highest quality standards.
• Let the authentic effects from a unique category surprise you: the Vintage Effects Suite offers classic effects devices like chorus, flanger, delay, distortion, filter, and tape simulation.

Samplitude 11.5 Producer is a really nifty program. I am a performing musician whose primary use for this program, so far, has been modifying existing audio files from live performance for posting on my web sites. The program has a very transparent interface which makes the use of effects quite simple. After a few false starts caused by my trying to apply effects while in Wave Edit mode (as I would have done in Adobe Audition) rather than in the workspace view, I found Samplitude to be remarkably easy to use.

My first project was to fix recordings of the Schubert Flute Variations and the third movement of the Prokofiev Flute Sonata on my web site. The existing files were taken from a cassette tape recording of one of my DMA recitals at the University of Miami from over twenty years ago, and had two major faults. The speed and resultant pitch was too high and the sound was a bit muffled through bad mic placement. (Do not record flutes with one mic forward and one sideways as there are two sources of sound on the flute. This placement will result in muted upper partials in the flute sound as the two sources of sound get out of phase with one another.)

I used the Time/Pitch Timestretching function to achieve the correct pitch level and then used the reverb effect to smooth out and clarify the sound. Adding a few upper partials, no doubt. The reverb controls are virtual pots that control the size, color, time, and mix of the reverb. The pitch control was a simple slider with a box for the value.

Anyway, I am very happy with the program. It allows a totally neutral manipulation of the sound, which as a classical musician, I really appreciate. I have several audio files of performances that I will be posting in the near future and will enjoy using Samplitude to prepare.

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I used a Roland multi-track digital recording workstation for years that I paid over $1,000.00 for to record CD's. It had tons of features; however, it was MASSIVE and took up all of my desk space and then some (with all of its detached components). I sold this unit to begin looking at recording software, ProTools to be exact. While looking on Amazon for ProTools, I ran across Samplitude Producer. After some hesitation due to its being new, I decided to download the trial version of Samplitude to give it a try. Best decision I have made yet in regards to recording. This software is, in my opinion, just as good as ProTools and will save you about $500 in the process as well. Everything that I have needed thus far to record, mix, master, and "tweak" my music [and vocals of course] has been contained in this one software package. The interface is very clear and easy to navigate around in (I do recommend using at least two monitors, though..just to give yourself plenty of space for all the features). Each track has its own "mini-mixer" and then can be perfected later on using the master board. I am by no means an expert or a professional, but I do know a little bit about audio engineering, and this little software package is awesome. I would highly recommend Samplitude, to a seasoned pro as well as the beginner. The display can be changed to 4 or 5 different settings, each pre-established for different skill levels. Whether you are a recording professional, or are just beginning your endeavors in the world of audio recording, this software comes highly-recommended!

Belkin AV22305-12-WHT HDMI to HDMI Cable - 12 ft in White

The HDMI cable is great, I use it for my macbook pro, with an adapter, and the picture is lovely. I don't regret getting it, and it's not too pricey either. Much cheaper than store prices for graet quality. 4 stars.

Can't believe I almost spent $170 at Best Buy for a very similar cable! This cable works great for what I needed. I used it to connect my HDMI Apple TV to my HDMI Visio TV. Download speeds are fast and without slowdown. Delivery was as promised. I would highly recommend this company and its cable.

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This is a great quality cable by Belkin. I use it personally to connect my PS3 and TV. However i have also tested it on my computer monitor and my desktop and it works great as well!

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Cable works great for HDMI uses. I use mine for my Apple TV. The price on Amazon makes local stores look like thieves!

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I've had problems with this product connecting my TV to my Apple TV. The contact points always seem to be loose. I frequently have to plug and unplug the cable to get it to work properly. Belkin usually makes good stuff, but this doesn't appear to be a great product.

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Spy Clock Security Hidden DVR Camera Surveillance Motion Detector DV CCTV Camcorder Digital LCD Dis

Product is not congruent with the specification of the product

The specifications of this product are not the same quality that was promoted. The instructions are very difficult to follow; apparently the instructions were translated to English from somebody who does not speak English well. Like a computer translation type. Even if you are smart enough to figure it out, it still not working to its specifications. The video and the sound of this product are very poor. The view is very narrow, cannot see the entire 10x10 bedroom. More disappointed now that I see the price dropped to only $22.99. I paid $42.49 a few days ago. Despite of the price I do not want this product even for free. This is one of the few times I have to say something negative from so many products I had ordered with Amazon over the year. Nobody is perfect.

This camera is dissappointing in that it does not accurately record date and time and does not record on motion but on 3 miniute increments. so you end up having to watch unwanted videos (up to 50) to find the one that actually shows what you need. I was able to catch some videos of someone in the act of going through my belongings.

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I've asked to return this item because it does not do what is needed. But I've yet to hear back from anyone. Not good business in my eyes.

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VideoSecu 4 CH CCTV Security Camera DVR System H.264 Network Embedded Real Time Remote View Digital

I bought this DVR system several days ago, at the beginning I doubted the price, because I have accessed several DVR systems from my friends, and they all cost very high, I never excepted a system at this lowest price, but because of the cash crisis, I had to try my luck and purchased this system at about $200, Package arrived 2 days earlier than scheduled time although I selected regular shipping, I am quite happy with it!

The camera has 30 IR illuminators which making them for day/night surveillance.

I had problem when installing the DVR card to PC. The PC did not detect the DVR card. I emailed the seller and they provide instruction to set the jumpers. Then it is OK to use.

One word, I am very satisfied with the system! I recommend it to anyone who need DVR system and look to save money. One suggestion: please do not forget to purchase separated cables for extension, I am so lucky that I got them from my friends.

This company does not stand behind there product after five months this unit went down and they said only 30 day return,they are hiding behind e-mails and will not give me a phone number to call,yes I'm pissed spending all this Money with AMAZON and this is going to be the way it is,AMAZON if your not going to stand behind ME,I guess I will have to drop you too,Damn shame all the money I have spend with you,Glenn you have my # grow a pair and call me..... 12-16-2011,Ok they e-mailed me a phone# and we got it working,two hours and down,we have to reset this unit for the third time,just think it would have been replaced and all would be well,glenn 12-19-2011..

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Nokia N79 Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, Wi-Fi, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Sil

I will try to summarize how excellent this phone is.

I'll begin with the cons

*OS Symbian can be slow sometimes but I think It can be fixed with the Software Updater

Pros

*Excellent call quality and Signal reception

*Nice design(for me it's the best for now for a N Series Phone)

*Camera quality is really good: maybe not the best of NSeries but it is really good for quick shots...As I always say; a camera phone is not a replacement for a real camera(see my customer images. Pics from my city)

*Very good sound quality and Mp3 player

*Easy to customize

*Nokia PC Software is very useful

*At first, keyboard is hard to use but later, You will get used to it and you will see how it's easy to use

*Several useful applications

*Nokia Maps works great

*Comes with a 4GB Memory/can be upgrated up to 8GB

*3.5mm jack, so you can use any head/earphones

*Great Web browser

*WI-FI works excellent and It's very easy to use for people who are not used to that

OVERALL, An EXCELLENT Phone... Pros are more than cons...

I really recommend it!

This is my first Nokia, and my first unlocked phone.

I've had the phone for a little over a week and these are my impressions:

It's built really well. It feels solid and the screen seems pretty scratch resistant so far. The buttons are also really nice and the number keys are god for texting. From my research it seems to be a characteristic of N series phones. The design is clean as well. It seems well thought out and there's not much missing (an external play/pause button would be nice, but it comes with an inline remote to plug your earphones into), but nothing extra that I could do with out either.

It looks great. I got a white version (even thought the product description says grey) which I actually prefer. There is also a black version of the N79 that has been released recently as well. The changeable backs are cool (I received the white, red and brown covers), but I don't know how much I will change them personally.

The features as you've read in the product description are incredible. And honestly it does all of them well. The music player is good. The camera is decent (Not the best 5 mp pics I've ever seen, but for a phone the pics are awesome, and it has an automatic flash). I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the video recorder, but the quality really surprised me, in a good way. The gps is awesome. You get a 90 trial of the turn by turn voice navigation, I'm not sure how much the subscription costs, but if it's not outrageous, I would absolutely spend money for it. The FM transmitter is a really cool feature, I travel a lot and am in a lot of rental cars and it works like a charm. At this point in time this phone seems to have about every feature out there. It's pretty amazing considering it's size.

I've never used a symbian phone before and there is a bit of a learning curve. It took me a few days of moderate use to get comfortable with it. The N79 was a bit buggy out of the box. I was also disappointed with the software support for Macs. You have to buy a plug in for iSync to work (not yet supported) and even then it recognizes it as an N95 8GB, but it does work. I hope there will be more Mac support in the near future. Nokia has recently released a firmware update and with the amount of things that were improved, it makes you think that Nokia kinda rushed this phone out the door a little. After I updated my phone the OS is much more solid and a little faster and more responsive. If you purchase this phone, updating the software should be your first order of business.

I can't think of anything else I could possibly expect a phone to do that this phone doesn't. I chose this phone over the N82 because of the looks and because it supports US 3G unlike the N82. The N82 supposedly has a better camera, but for me I'd rather have the 3G.

*Update*

This phone is on v20 of it's firmware and MUCH more stable. I've used this phone day in and day out for 6 months, and there still isn't a phone this size that can do everything this phone can.

The only negative thing I'll say is that the battery life is not what I'd hoped. It will only last for one day. Granted I do a lot with it in one day. Music, GPS, Internet, some pics all while it keeps 3 email boxes up to date. I guess you can't have everything.

One big bonus I've recently discovered is that this phone supports a 16 gb micro sdhc card! I recently purchased the 16 gb class 6 card made by Trancend Transcend 16 GB microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GUSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] (The is one that comes with an SD adapter, not in the Amazon packaging, that's the one I bought) and it works perfectly.

I'm happy with this phone.

Buy Nokia N79 Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, Wi-Fi, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Sil Now

Outstanding functions, takes fantastic pictures with great Macro and high-speed capture.

But the keyboardyikes! No sensory feedback at all; it's actually tiring to use the keyboard. I had this phone for two weeksthe first week I toyed with it until I got an inexpensive case to protect it. The second week it was my full-time carry phone.

I just couldn't live with the keyboard which is a crying shame considering the functionality of the device. I'm not a huge guy, but I just couldn't keep from hitting the wrong keys and it was painful after a while even trying.

Pros-

~ Outstanding photos

~ macro, high-speed modes work great

~ Fast focus, multiple shot modes

~ Typical great Nokia reception, holds 3G really well

~ Big, crisp screen

~ Snappy OS

Cons-

~ Unusable keyboard

~ Navi-wheel is nifty gadget, but is only implemented in a handful of places in the OS and not at all in 3rd party apps. Too sensitive.

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I've just bought the phone. I was looking for a phone which I could use for Skype and WLAN. I've upgraded the phone OS as soon as I take it out of box. I've never owned a Nokia before so I hadn't use a Symbian phone. I was using Sony Ericsson phones for ages. But since Nokia is the top seller I was expecting a very good phone.

First of all the screen design is not impressive and very classical. The SE has nice animated themes for like ages. But Nokia does not have any. The only interesting thing here is the Nokia N79 comes with 3 different clip on back covers with a sensor at the back so that the phone can understand what color back cover you are currently using and can adapt screen background color according to cover color.

My first experience with Symbian was not so promising. First of all anything you launch be it Phonebook, SMS box etc are actually small applets and takes up some memory and if you don't quit it explicitly using Exit from the menu it just goes to background when you switch to menu. In time applications take up so much memory and the phone menu handling starts to slow down and even after some point some applications especially GPS tends to lock-up easily when lots of applications are running. In all menu system is complex and an application could be launched from different menus and there's not a single key which could terminate an application when hit (like Sony Ericsson's back key). There's not a built-in facility to display how much memory an application currently occupies or some way to kill an unresponsive applet). In all Symbian is similar to your average windowing OS but not having adequate functionality to support running applications like your OS does.

GPS software have always locked up whe I tried voice navigation and I've tried it like 10 times. The only thing good about it is the cold-boot time for the GPS receiver is extremely short when compared to a pocket GPS device like Garmin etc.

The design is impressive and with the silver bright frame it reminds the older generation iPOD. Screen is just plastic which could easily scratch. My older SE k790i had a mineral screen which is hard to scratch. Keypad is consisted of strips of single plastic stripes containing three numbers in a line which makes tapping extremely hard. It is not easy to switch between typing modes like caps, small, numeric and extremely hard to add a new word to T9 dictionary. With the SE there was a dedicated soft key for adding to the dictionary.

I've really surprised to see that there's no numeric charge level indication that comes with the phone. With the SE phone status info includes the battery charge level as numeric percentage. But I've even could not find an external application which would display charge level in numeric. But the battery life is acceptable and it can survive up to 2-3 days when WLAN is enabled.

The picture quality of the 5.0MP cam is similar to my SE 3.2MP cam and it would be impossible for me to understand which pic was taken with which phone. In fact the problem with built-in cameras in phones is not the the capacity of the sensor but the optic lenses or better the lacking of them due to size limitations. Night shots are very noisy like most phone cameras. I don't think they could replace point and shoots at any time soon. Also I could not find an easy way to turn on cam light to use as a torch in the night. Thanks to incompatibility among different patch levels of the Symbian. The ones I could find did not work on S60 Patch 2.

The screen is full of very small icons and it is not easy to understand the status it indicates easily. The screen is not very bright in the sunlight and it is very hard to read the screen under the sunlight. The back is covered with reflective paper it improves visibility to some degree but my SE was again better in visibility under daylight.

The phone has some burrowed parts from iPod. There's this position sensor and it changes the screen orientation automatically when you hold it in horizontal or vertical. But the sensitivity is not so good. It sometimes switch the screen when tilted slightly or might not turn back to portrait mode again when turned slowly. The same goes with dial wheel. When enabled the wheel does not operate on the initial screen and works only when you launch the menu. then it works erratically when you launch the phonebook in that it sometimes works when you first launch or sometimes it won't work before you tap a key. Then again it is not compatible with every application that comes with the phone or later you download.

Speakers for music playback is loud enough but not very high. The music output is stereo with some useful wide stereo effect. I think the sound quality is acceptable for a phone. The radio applet is well organized and it comes with RDS which is new for Nokia. I'd never understood why Nokia refrained from using RDS for such a long time. The phone has also a phone transmitter with RDS output. It displays "Nokia" on RDS when tuned. But it would be nice if it had broadcast the song id instead. Transmitter eases stereo streaming from your phone wireless without using Bluetooth A2DP which N79 supports but most car stereo equipments are currently lacking.

The built in browser is good and it supports Adobe Flash which iPhone lacks for copyright considerations. So it is very easy to browse any web site using the phone. Somehow it is not possible to understand at any time whether it is connected through WAP/GPS/3G or WLAN. There's no icon for it on the immediate display. You need to browse to connection settings from the menu to check the current connection. It is true for all the other applications that comes default apart from GPS. It indicates the connection type.

In all, though Nokia tried some new features on it it seems that they are not tightly integrated with the OS. Smybian is not mature enough to be the OS of choice for smart phones. So I want to replace my phone with a SE G705 as soon as possible though it lacks some of the functionality of N79 like dial button, and FM transmitter.

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I got this phone as a present from my brother and I have to say, im pretty impressed with this phone. it has a lot of cool features and has two cameras with 5 mega pixels and autofocus. since when did the iPhone had auto focus on its camera, maybe in 5 years but nokia n79 brings tomorrows technology today. love this phone its the best and nokia is the best.

Worlds Smallest Hd Digital Video Camera Mini Dv DVR

At first I was very excited, I wanted the product like many others for airborne operations. I specifically intended to put it on my son's kite and on a weather balloon (after I get a GPS receiver). The camera is very small on weighs next to nothing, 15 grams.

It comes in a very nice tin. It was packaged very well and I received it in a very timely fashion. However, when I opened the instructions included in the cd I actually laughed out loud. The instructions are so ridiculous that it frustrated me for several hours. I charged the little device overnight (it only needs a few hours but I was going to bed). Because the instructions suck I thought it was not functioning. The camera would turn on and appear to go through the different modes and even worked as a webcam. But I could not seem to get it to function as a video recorder as advertised. What I found out through trial and error was that my Micro SD card needed to be reformatted. For some reason it did not want to function. After formatting the Micro SD card it worked like a champ. If the instructions were better I might have found this out a lot sooner.

I will upload a video review of the camera soon, hopefully later today. I managed to get about 83 mins of record time before the battery needed to be recharged. I will include some modified instructions if anyone is interested. They still are not perfect but you will be much better off than before.

HD Mini Camera User Manual

Product brief introduction

This product is a U disk storage, high-definition digital camera, camera motion detection, charge while shooting video, memory support 32GB, connects to the computer, direct storing function Micro SD card memory, security cameras, photo shoot and high-definition screen, the product has the advantages of simple operation, small and exquisite, beautiful and practical, easy to carry, is home security, education, living in areas such as the necessary practical tools, by the user's favor.

I Characteristics of Product

 It has small contour design, It is very fashionable and wearable and matches most outfits.

 Support webcam PC camera and chatting function.

 Support AVI video format.

 It can carry out high definition image recording under low illumination.

 Support 30 fps for 720*480

 Support USB1.1 and USB2.0.

 Support 32GB Micro SD card.(maximum) (This is confusing; here it indicated a 32GB card is supported but elsewhere it indicated 16GB was the largest card supported. I have a 16GB and it works great)

II Operation Guide

1. Charge

Before you use it the first time, charge it completely. The method for charging as following:

1.) Connect to computer: use USB cable to connect the computer, then it can be charged.

2.) Use adaptor: connect charger plug with USB cable, then plug into electrical connector receptacle, it can be charged.

When you charge it, the blue light will illuminate and red light will flash slowly, when finished charging, the red light stops flashing.

Notice: when battery power is not enough, the device will enter into protection mode, so it cannot be turned on. Charge it for continued use. Micro SD card must be formatted prior to use.

2. On/Off

Please confirm the Micro SD card has already been inserted!

Power on: Press power button for 3seconds , Blue indicator light illuminates.

Power off:In the suspended state, press the power button for 3seconds, indicator light turns off.

3. Video

Power on and device enters video mode, the red indicator light illuminates. Press REC (ON/OFF) once, red light will flash, indicating that recording has started; press REC (ON/OFF), the red indicator light illuminates stead, indicating suspension mode and saves the recorded content, if you need to record again , press REC (ON/OFF) once , and recording begins again.

Image resolution : 720 * 480 frames, 29 ~ 30fps / S.

Notice:

a. Please make sure Micro SD card has been inserted, if not, it will power off automatically after about 5 seconds.

b. The maximum capacity of Micro SD card is 16GB.

c. Saving file needs certain time, so please don't press Operation button continuously in order to avoid saving unsmoothly and generating incomplete file.

d. When you make a video, please focus on the object and keep 50cm under sufficient illumination. Then the video will be right, natural color, clear and stable.

4. Take Photo

In the video mode, press mode button for short time, device enters camera mode, and blue indicator light illuminates. Press REC once and blue light flashes once, taking a photo. Repeat the process to take another photo

Image resolution :1280 * 1024

5.Recording (Audio Only)

In the camera mode , press mode button, device enters recording mode, red and blue light begins to illuminate. Press REC (ON/OFF) once, device begins recording as the red indicator light illuminates and the blue light flashes. Press REC (ON/OFF) once, red and blue light illuminates again, stop recording and save. Repeat the process to record more than one track.

6. Motion detection

In the normal mode, press mode button for 3-5 seconds, blue and red indicator light begins to bright, now it enters into motion detection mode. Camera within a moving object, the Blue indicator light flashes once then off, while began recording. Motion detection video, camera range without moving object, the machine stops automatically after 60 seconds, the blue and red indicator light backs light, to continue moving detection status.

In moving detection status, press REC, red indicator light begins to bright, stop and save .

7. Charging while video

Shutdown state, hold the video/camera button, connected to the power line, equipment startup, entry charging while video state.

8．Time set

The detail as following:

1. Insert Micro SD card, connect to computer, find a text called TIME.TXT under root directory of card.

2011-05-01 23:59:59，

2. open TIME.TXT,write correct date and time in the above format. Any other format will result in an error.

9. Auto-power off function

MINI DV-006H will save file and turn off automatically as following:

a. When you shoot video without enough power, file will be saved automatically, then auto-power off.

b. When disk space of MINI DV-006H is not enough, the indicator light will go out and the file will be saved automatically then the camera will power off.

c. Under standby mode, without any operation in 45 seconds, it will be auto-power off.

10．Connecting computer

It can connects computer under power off mode, standby mode or video mode, after that which can be used as U disk, who can copy, cut and paste, delete file.

When you connect it with USB port, a portable disk mark will be seen after several seconds. Red indicator light shines steady, yellow indicator light will be from flashed quickly to always brights.

Notice:

a. When you connect to computer, if the machine cannot identify, or not see the portable U disk mark in 30 seconds, please insert it again.

b. It is better to copy or cut video file into computer hardware then play. Video file which is saved in the camera and played directly and will not play smoothly, the reason is that large amount of data cannot be transmitted fast enough.

11．PC Camera

Connect the device to computer with USB, the computer will identify the U disk, press any key, at this moment and the camera will switch to web cam mode. Then double click the network camera icon of my computer can be used as PC camera.

I too bought this little camera to do kite aerial video. It's very small, rivaling those keyfob cameras, and incredibly light. At $20 or less, it's worth a try.

The downside for me is the video quality. There may be more than one version of electronics for this camera, since other reviews mention smooth video. This is not too uncommon. Search on 808 keychain cameras to get an idea. My video is very jumpy, with a lot of slow rolling shutter distortions. This is with a class 6, 16GB micro SDHC card. Color balance tends to shift all over the place too, even in bright sunlight. I suspect that like some others, this camera really has a lower resolution sensor and upconverts the video to 1280x960. Either the sensor itself is slow, or the cpu can't keep up with the upconversion. Do not try to watch the videos over USB. Transfer the file first and then view if possible. The USB interface cannot keep up with the video stream. It uses MJPEG (motion jpeg) storage so the HD video files are huge, about 60MB/min.

The viewfinder is nearly useless. Not surprising at this size. It's only in focus with the camera 6-8 inches in front of your face, which makes the image too tiny to see.

Overall, for the price it's a fun little gadget to hang on a kite or RC without having to worry about it. The first time out, mine fell into a puddle. It wasn't immersed but it did get wet. It completely lost the video it was recording at the time, and became unresponsive for a long while. After few hours to dry out and a recharge, it was working fine again.

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I bought this just to play with but this product is really a scam.

The video is 1280x960 but they just put regular ntsc video in a frame so you get video with black bars that fill out the rest of the 1280x960 !!

The pictures are not 5MP (2592 x 1944) even in pixel size. The actual size is Width: 2048 pixels Height: 1536 pixels

which is 3MP but the pictures are heavily compressed or expanded and look like crap if you look at them 1x.

The camera has a clock which time stamps the video and pictures but there is now way to set it as far as I can tell so they all say 2007 !

the images say the Exposure Time is 1/15 sec. which is of course a speed which is unusable for a "handheld"

The manual says it has a motion sensing mode which triggers video. NO, in that mode mine records audio files.

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My wife got me this camera as a gift so I did not get to try it out until after the 30 day return period had past. I wanted it to use to take video from places where I would not want to risk a more expensive camera. Ex. The front fork of my motorcycle. The image quality was not bad, that being the pro. Here are the cons. The manual on the CD has been so poorly translated that it's close to useless. The OS on two different computers (one W7 and the other XP) would not recognize the camera. The vendor contact, in his infinite wisdom, suggested I forgot to load the driver on the CD. There were only 2 files on the CD and both were documents. The first was the manual in English (or something close to it) and the second was the manual in Chinese.

Here is an example of the manual: "When you connect it with USB port, a portable disk mark will be seen after several seconds. Red indicator always brights, yellow indicator light will be from flashed quickly to always brights." There is no yellow indicator light. My favorite was the section on the non-existent RESET button. "Use a slim pole to press the RESET button and then finish one reset operation" With a camera the size of a large postage stamp, a "slim pole" is not exactly the tool I would use. Of course it made no difference as there was no reset button.

After much experimentation, I was able to record video, but could only view it by removing the card from the camera and opening the file with an external card reader connected to my computer. I was intrigued by the fact that they manufacturer put a viewfinder on this camera that is too small to be of any use even if the image one sees through it was in focus. Bottom line, if you are expecting an easy "Plug and Play" device, this is not what you want.

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seller establishes high expectations. true it is small and inexpensive but, it is impossible to figure out how to use it. There is a whole industry of you tubes trying to explain operations and they all fail as well.

after hours and hours of hit and miss figured out how to change the date

can not eliminate the date stamp, and this ruins all the videos so basically worthless to me.

can not see the miniscule signal light to tell if it is recording when starting so every single video has a shot of my face looking at the camera with a very puzzled very up close look up my nose.

finally the the view finder is way off. If it was a gun site you would shoot the fellow next to you.

Had a chance to shoot the very elusive key deer, got a lovely picture of the woods, no deer...worthless.

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EasyCap DC60 - USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter with Video Editing Software

It works... I have no idea how other people could not find the product key... It's clearly on the cd case.

This was awesome, and works as promised :)

I bought this to be able to rip old video cassettes to a format saveable to DVD.

Everything connected up easily. The picture you get through this connector/adapter is ok, and the software that comes with it does permit some basic picture adjustment. However, the audio quality is full of static and hiss and is completely unacceptable.

I wound up having to use an older RCA to stereo mini jack adapter to go right from the VCR into the line level input on the back of my PC. Then, the sound was perfect. No static or hiss.

I will be trying to use this device to do my ripping, but the audio connectors should work flawlessly, and they do not, so I can't recommend it.

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Don't get me wrong, it works to a certain extent but I have tried just about everything I could to get it to work fully on Windows 7 (even though the CD itself said it was compatible) and the best I could do was get audio but no video. So my more powerful and convenient laptop was rendered useless with this device. My PC with Vista worked a little better but since it's the cheap knockoff version, it doesn't work with audio very well at all. The video was what I expected but the best I could do with the audio aspect was to use my USB microphone to record game footage, which understandably was of low quality.

I like how the "listed price" is $39.99 for this when it's actually the listed price for the real EZCap.... if you plan on adding your own custom tracks to the final product then this is a great great deal, if not then you better go elsewhere or find a workaround that fixes the audio.

The real EZCap can be found here:

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If you have Windows 7 you need to download Win7 drivers to get this to work (it doesn't come with the package & doesn't install automatically either). There are some good instructions on YouTube on how to set this up and gives the link for the Win7 drivers (go to YouTube and do a search for "Easycap windows 7 driver"). After doing that I eventually got this to work. However, I found the quality of the captured video to be a little choppy. It's still viewable but just a little choppier than when the video was captured via the firewire port.

So if you get this device, I suggest you compare with the video quality via a firewire connection (if you have one). In my case the firewire connection was significantly better.

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My son ordered this item and when it arrived and wasnt compatible he contacted the sellar and they were more than happy to exchange it for the one he needed. They were very helpful and the compatible one arrived quickly. ALl I suggest when ordering this for you laptop just make sure to read what it is compatible with. But if you purchase it from the sellar we did you will have no problems even if you accidentally order the wrong one.

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XBLUE X7 USB Call Recorder, Cocoa (2499-01)

Item arrived, looked nice. No driver discs. Only a download web address on the instruction sheet. Link was broken, had to look around website to find drivers and software. Installed software, hooked it up. Terrible outgoing sound quality. tried gain adjustment in software. Mostly it just made the hum get louder. Yes it had a hum. Sending it back. Shame, I needed it, and really wanted to like this product.

Purchased this device and am very pleased with the quality and the level of recording capability...it worked as advertised and is simple to use, we record calls in our office and am going to purchase more units for the other branches...

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very cool thing to have in your office to record both sides of the conversation, then it auto saves it and you can email your conversation.

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Hi; Got it and I was needing it to work as discribed. Just was a big disapointment,from there tech personel said. I must be totaly unable to opperated even the most basic software program. That's really nice of they to say to me. Still have this piece of... and can't use it. Bought another brand that is a phone recorder using a sd card black opps by spygadgets. Check for there positive feed back. This sd phone recorder works and a big thanks to spygadgets. AJ

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Downloaded the software and thought this should be easy to install, NOPE I was wrong. Maybe this doesn't work with Windows 7. I wasn't able to get any of the buttons to start recording I plug it in and the green light comes on and a red light next to the gren buttons light up. Nothing happens when I press a button. Sending it back. This was a waste of time.

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ITRONICS ITB-100HD 1080p True HD Car DVR "Black Box" Recorder with GPS

• 2 Megapixel - H.264 Compression - Night Vision - Full HD 1920 x 1080p, 1280 x 720p, 720 x 480p
• Record Video, Audio, Speed and GPS Location - GPS is built in
• 8GB Class 10 SD Card Included - Recording Time 3 - 13 hours
• Parking Mode with Shock and Motion Sensors - Record Incidents Even When Vehicle is Unattended
• -20 to 70C (158 F) Operating Environment - Does Not Suffer Heat Issues

Just an FYI, I didn't purchase this here, so I won't comment on sellers or prices.

Short review:

+ Full HD! can read license plates and see details clearly in daylight

+ Built-in GPS is surprisingly accurate with both location and speed.

+ Built-in accelometer records any bumps or "shocks" the vehicle receives.

+ Good quality mounting sticker

+ Several configuration options

+ Updateable firmware if you can find it

+ Automatically over-writes oldest files when card is full

+ Small and semi-inconspicuous

+ Automatically saves video when unplugged

+-Parking mode option if camera is powered

+-Default configuration options don't work well, but are changed easily.

+-Included 8GB card is only 4 hours of HD video. Easily upgradeable to 32GB card though.

Not so great at night this is where the 5th star went.

Expect broken English, as this is a Korean product.

Quick start guide only Korean English manual is on the SD card.

Software tends to crash/lock up fairly often

I believe there is no manufacturer warranty for the US.

No button to permanently keep a recording

Built-in mic records quiet and muffled.

Details:

Only 1 button on camera: Microphone toggle on or off.

List of configurable options for the CAMERA from within the SOFTWARE:

* Only one physical button: Microphone on or off.

* Speed toggle in Kilometers/hour (KPH): on or off.

* Recording quality: 1080p@24fps; 1080p@15fps; 720p@30fps; 720p@15fps; 480p@30fps; 480p@15fps.

* Brightness: Standard & Bright. Literally just makes the recording brighter doesn't seem to improve quality at all.

* Shock sensitivity when driving: Off; insensitive; normal; sensitive. Normal picks up every single bump. I keep at insensitive.

* Parking Mode: Off (stops recording); Record for Shock only; Record for Shock or motion.

* Shock sensitivity when parking: Insensitive; normal; sensitive.

* Motion sensitivity when parking: Insensitive; normal; sensitive.

* Shock alarm: On or Off. Camera beeps when it senses a shock.

* File delete method: By time or by file type. Overwrites oldest file first, or lets you set percentage of each type of file to keep.

* Time Zone: For the date/time overlay on recordings.

List of configurable options for the SOFTWARE:

* Speed toggle: Kilometers/hour (KPH) or Miles/hour (MPH)

* Brightness

* Contrast

* Night mode: On or off. Same thing as brightness control, just simpler.

* Rotate recording

* Capture image. Saves current frame as image.

* Play Speed: 0.4x; 0.6x; 0.8x; 1x; 2x

* Volume

Parking mode details:

Parking mode is supposed to be a low-power mode that is activated after the camera is stationary for 5 minutes. Of course, this will only matter if you keep the camera plugged in and if your car provides power when off. The camera stays on the entire time, it just doesn't write the video to the card unless it detects shock or motion, which I assume uses less power. Yes, this could drain your battery anyways, but the camera uses such little power this is not likely unless you rarely/never drive the car.

Note on motion: The manual doesn't clarify this at all, so I had to test for myself. The camera actually does "see" motion not just "feel" it. In other words, if motion is turned on for parking mode it will record someone walking in front of your car/camera, not just pushing on the car.

Other notes:

* You need a windows computer to install the software, change settings, or view GPS data. However, raw video is stored as standard AVI files, so you will still be able to view video with any computer.

* This camera has no night vision whatsoever. There needs to be some source of relatively bright light to see anything clearly.

* I forgot to measure the length of the 12v adapter cord before installing, but I was able to route the cord all the way around my windshield, out and around the dashboard, and to the middle outlet with about a foot to spare. It may have been 10-12ft long.

* The camera saves a video file to the card every 1-2 minutes OR when power is disconnected.

* Camera takes about 30 seconds after power is applied to begin recording, and averages about 1-2 minutes to obtain a GPS signal.

* To reiterate, if speed overlay is enabled, you will only see KPH in the video. MPH is only viewable in the software.

*Update: There is an English version software update available that works for me on Windows 8 x64, so I assume it should work on Windows 7 as well. It is located on the original manufacturer's "mall" site, which is totally in Korean. Link below if it will allow: ipassmall.co.kr/ipassblack/down_proc.asp?filename=PC+Player%28ver+1%2E3%2E2%29%5FITB%2D100HD%2Ezip

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This is a great camera, for what it is.

With accelerometers (to sense crashes, jolts or sudden acceleration/braking) and embedded GPS metadata, this is much more than just a souped-up GoPro camera.

The camera records audio and video continuously on the included full-size 8Gb SDHC card, but I would recommend buying a 32Gb card or two. It's a good idea to have a spare on hand in case you need to remove the card to view or preserve its contents.

Most cameras in this price range dont even record audio, the ITB100HD does.

Camera settings are done within the (Windows only) player application, which are then transferred via the SDHC card to the camera. The camera itself has one control: A single push button that toggles the internal microphone on and off, and to format the memory card. Worked fine with 64-bit Windows 7.

Settings include choices of frame-rate and resolution, whether or not the camera records continuously (or simply responds to motion or jolts), whether the camera overwrites older files, and in what order event-associated files are over-written.

You can also choose how sensitive the shock sensing and motion detection is -to a point. I have found there are too few steps of resolution to choose from, and the camera is often sensitive even at its most insensitive settings. There are also presets for brightness, time zone, and the ability to export still frames or whole clips to your computer's hard drive.

When the camera experiences shock or jolt, it tags a clip as an 'event'. Likewise, if it records motion while in 'Parking mode' (when it senses you haven't moved for five minutes), it tags those just as distinctly. This is useful when sorting thru files to distinguish travel time from time parked.

The on-screen speed overlay is in Kilometers/hour, requiring a 3rd-party firmware hack to correct it to mph.

Time-stamp information comes from GPS, so that is not only a convenience but essential if you need to use this video in court.

There is a 'Video Out' connector you can use to assist aiming during installation, and later to provide sound and picture if you want to live-stream your dashcam to UStream, Skype, etc. This is an essential option if you need to preserve your video remotely, to protect evidence from theft or confiscation.

The videos are divided into one or two-minute timestamped clips (depending on the frame-rate you choose) and are standard H.264 video playable on any modern computer.

In the event of a crash or power loss, the camera has enough internal reserve power to do a proper shut-down, preserving the video.

At the highest quality setting, the frame-rate is 24fps (rather than 30fps) but is more than adequate. Even the 15fps option performs well, and may actually be a better choice for night driving and economizing memory.

The 'Parking' setting appears to be more for saving recording space than battery power, so if you have a weak car battery you may not want to leave this operating for days without charging your battery.

The pinhole opening for the microphone can be enlarged to improve audio, which comes from the factory somewhat muffled.

The mounting kit is for adhering the camera to the windshield glass. In my vehicle, however, I get better performance mounting the camera to the rear-view mirror, so you may wish to obtain a hefty piece of Velcro. Mirror-mounting also better conceals the camera from theft, and newer vehicles have continuous power available at the mirror so you dont have visible wires and clutter.

Each time you insert the SDHC card, you need to push the 'format' button to get the camera to recognize it. If you forget, the camera will sound an 'SD card error' (4 beeps that repeat) after the camera has been operating for several minutes.

There is an essentially useless LED that faces the front, and flashes when in the 'Parking mode'. I call it the "steal me" light, and you can cover it with black tape.

The oddest thing about this camera is how it is marketed.

iTronics has apparently had issues with some sellers, and honoring the warranty seems to depend on where you bought it.

The manual is broken English, so it would be worthwhile to consult some online forums dedicated to this camera.

The English portion of iTronics website is completely unintelligible, so firmware and software updates are often found on independent forums like dashcamtalk.com or radardetectorforum.org.

Even with the English-language software version, iTronics seems to assume most users will be in Korea. That's unfortunate, because they are underestimating the value of their own product, and missing bigger markets.

You can find the English manual on-line, search for ITB100HD_English Manual.pdf

You can also download and install the player application, by searching for ITB-100HDE PC Player.zip

There are other versions of this camera from iTronics, some have substituted the GPS module for Wi-Fi (so you dont have to fetch the SDHC card) and even one with a voice module (sadly, only in Korean). The ITB-100HD has the better CMOS imager and performs better at night, so beware if you are considering other models.

If you are a good driver, and are ever in the position where you need to prove it, this under-$200 "black box" is a good investment.

If you would like a rock-steady record of a road trip matched with a GPS map, you are also in luck.

One last thought: Using this camera at night will definitely illustrate the value of keeping your windshield clean.

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The only concern I had when buying this product was that I saw that it was km/h only and would only show MPH in the viewing software.

I found a guy on a forum who was selling a converstion for $8.00 and thought that was crazy. Then I did a bit more searching and found a blog post that not only described in detail how to convert the code to work with MPH, but also shared a patched binary for FREE!

has details on how to update the firmware of the camera to use MPH instead of km/h. It took me less than five minutes to convert mine and now I couldn't be happier.

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1080hd for good quality video,

GPS to tell you where and how fast you were going,

shock sensor to tell when you crashed,

Accelerate or Decelerate awareness,

creates separate folders,

So whats missing?

an installation for MAC, are you serious? how did such amazing technology mess this up? i cant even look at the settings, since there is only one button on the device and everything else is handled through the computer when the SD card is inserted, fail...

Bought this from Lone Wolf Electronics (NOW SA Computer Systems) and the first thing was the box did not have any instructions in English as was stated would be in the box in the description. Ended up going online to get instructions and installed the product and then were not able to get the information to download on the computer (that manual would have been great) Decided to return the product right away. When we contacted the seller, they said they had a *** 50% *** restocking fee plus they deduct the shipping and handling from what was left of the refund. WHAT?? When questioning this policy, which I cannot find stated anywhere, the seller states it is an Amazon policy. again.. WHAT??? called Amazon and they said their return policy is a full refund within 30 days (which we were) and that some sellers have a different policy. Buyer beware, if you product doesn't work, you only get half your money back even if you're given instructions in Korean and the return policy isn't stated.

Avermedia NV5000 120 Frames Per Second Video Capture Card with Surveillance Software

I bought this card after a terrible experience with the NV3000. I am writing this review to state that, contrary to my review on the NV3000, this card really does what it says. It will produce a true 30fps on each channel at 740X480 resolution with the highest available video quality setting.

The software for the NV5000 is the same as the NV3000, and I like it. After using for a while, I find it to be easy and quite polished.

IF you are thinking about putting together a surveillance system around this card, you should realize that this card is fairly picky about the hardware. For the most part, it is compatible with Intel chipsets only, and only older ones at that. It won't work with my new Sandy Bridge setup. It won't work with anything with a VIA chipset, which means pretty much all of AMD products. There is a document available from Avermedia that details the compatible hardware that has been tested. It is a grab-bag of motherboards and chipsets from a handful of different companies, but the most recent motherboards that they support are those that first came out to support the Pentium D series. Maybe it will work with other motherboards, or maybe not. This is why it doesn't get the whole 5 stars. My plan of running my DVR on older motherboards I had laying around is not panning out because none of them are compatible.

As I also discussed in my NV3000 review, the Avermedia website is horrible. You will never find what you are looking for there. Fortunately, I found another surveillance website that had links to the Avermedia software and docs. If you search around for it, you'll probably find it too.

I bought this card to capture feeds from two surveillance cameras. Setup was straightforward even though the software and install is a little dated. The card needs to be installed into the PC and was detected and setup without any issues.

I was surprised by the colors and accuracy of the video footage. In general card seems to do well and the software advanced features like email alerts etc. work well. Only gripe is that despite reducing motion sensitivity to a minimum and blocking out areas of the video that don't need monitoring the frequency of email alerts is significant.

Outside of that very happy with this purchase.

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FYI: To configure remote viewing I found the following FAQ at"

1. Make sure the DVR system is connected to the network and able to connect to the internet.

2. Go into the NV software.

3. Click on Setup, then Network.

4. Enable the cameras to make them viewable over the internet.

5. Remember the Server IP and remote console Port that is currently being used.

6. Remember the Web Viewer Port. ( Default is 80, but you can change this if your network has any restrictions on ports.)

7. Click Ok, then OK again

8. In order for PCs to access your DVR, the Network option must be enabled. Click on the Network button shown on the window. The button should change color, which will indicate that the option has been turned on."

The card has worked fine for over a year on several evolutions of mother boards and windows op. systems. When you get the instillation CD for the Avermedia DVR software copy the installation code as future software revisions require the original code. The software has been updated twice since I purchase the card...

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this product is all you will need to have to have a great security system tried others this one has everything and it runs flawlessly easy to use

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Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus High Definition (1080p) Game Capture Device for Mac/PC with

To start off, I'm writing this review solely from the perspective of someone using this to record footage from video game consoles (an Xbox 360, in my case), because that's why I bought it and that's all I've used it for so far.

Upon opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was a component cable included, a nice bonus. The first thing you'll notice is how light the device itself is. The all-plastic body and the lack of weight contribute to give it a slight cheap feeling, but this is not reflective of the overall quality of the device, as I'm about to explain.

The HD PVR has pass-through outputs, which means you can plug your console into the PVR and then the PVR into your TV (with the included component cable), eliminating the need to split the signal. I was a little bit worried about any input lag caused by the pass-through, but I was thankful to discover that there is absolutely none. The one downside of this, if any, is that the PVR has to be on for the pass-through outputs to work. It doesn't have to be recording and the software doesn't have to be open, so it's not that big of a deal, but it's just one more device that is sapping power.

After getting everything hooked up, you have to install the included software on whatever PC you're going to be using to record. The software installation was pain-free, although I recommend getting the latest driver updates from their website and the latest software updates through the software itself. Make sure that you do NOT lose the CD, as you can only download the driver from Hauppauge's website, not the included software. One of the downsides of the PVR is that only the included software and a small list of 3rd party software will work with the device. Luckily, this isn't that big of an issue as the included software works great, with minimal issues.

One of the great things about the HD PVR is that it does all of the H.264 encoding on the box itself. In other words, you won't need a high-end PC to record in HD because the HD PVR does all of the heavy processing. You will need a high-end PC to watch and edit HD video, however. Unless you're just archiving or using the PC as a storage device (and then accessing the recorded videos on your 360, for instance), you're going to want a high-end PC to edit and playback the video that you record. There's simply no getting around this: if you want to produce videos in HD, you're going to need the tools for it.

The preview window provides smooth, full-quality video. There is a significant amount of lag between the source and the software preview window, however. If you were hoping to sit at your PC and play by watching the preview window, you can forget it. The input lag will make it impossible.

Overall, the video and audio quality are excellent. This will produce video miles beyond any SDi capture card you have. The device will record in whatever format you input (1080i, 720p, etc.). I would recommend going with 720p over 1080i. The lack of interlacing outweighs the gain in resolution, in my opinion (unless you're taking a screenshot or taking video with little movement). It support frame rates up to 60fps, maybe beyond. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 720p at 60fps looks absolutely beautiful. The device lets you change the bitrate from 1MBps to 13.5MBps, so you can increase the quality of the video and sacrifice a small file size, if you wish. I find 8MBps to be a good balance. It allows you to fit 1 1.5 hours into around 5GB, and it still provides video that's good enough for YouTube HD uploads and similar casual usage. If you're going for production-quality video with almost no compression artifacts, you can easily increase the bit rate, but you're going to pay for it in file size and the power it requires to process.

All video is encoded in H.264. The software lets you record in 3 container formats: .TS, which is a generic 'transport stream' compatible with many digital media players; .M2TS, which is compatible with the Sony Playstation 3; and .MP4, which is compatible with the Xbox 360. These are somewhat-confusingly labeled "AVCHD", "PlayStation 3", and "Xbox 360" in the software, respectively. It's important to note that *this has nothing to do with what you're recording from* it only has bearing on what device you want to play back the recorded footage. The MP4 format will play back on an Xbox 360, while the other formats will not. I recommend choosing the format that works best with whatever software you're going to use to edit the video, or whatever device you plan on using to watch the video. Note that most software will be able to open/edit an MP4 file, while I've found less compatibility with the other formats. If you plan to burn footage to Blu-Ray disk, though, go with .TS, as it's the format used on Blu-Ray disks and so your video won't require any transcoding, which is very nice (you can burn a Blu-Ray disk in just a few minutes).

If you don't want your footage encoded in H.264, there is an included converter program that can convert to variety of formats, but I haven't tried it yet, so I can't tell you how well it works.

The only two minor issues that I've had have involved the software. Sometimes the capture program will not recognize the device, requiring you to unplug it from the computer and plug it back in, at which point it should work normally. It's not that big of an issue, and it may be specific to my computer, but it's worth noting.

Secondly, the included playback application, TotalMedia Theater, causes a hard reboot whenever I try to start it. This also isn't that big of a deal because there's lots of other software that can play back the recorded files. Based on searches in which I've found only a couple of mentions about the problem it appears to be a very rare issue, but it's still worth noting. (I'm using Vista 32-bit, for reference).

Overall, the HD PVR is great for recording footage from hi-def consoles like the 360 and PS3. It's easy to use, doesn't require an insanely powerful PC, and produces good-quality video and audio in a good format at a reasonable file-size. Although the price is a bit steep, it's worth it if you really want to record high-quality, high-definition game footage from your 360 or PS3. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in a response and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

Here's the summary:

Not a DVR. This is a pass-thru from audio/video source to PC.

Generates H.264 at Baseline Profile 1.0 only -not the High Profile 4.1 that x264.exe-based programs generate. The Baseline H.264 quality is not as good as the High Profile quality using the same bit rate.

Generates default .M2TS files which are difficult to edit -use the .TS file output instead for easier editing.

Arcsoft software is good for capturing and that's it. The software for creating a disk always seems to re-encode -a process that takes my PC days or makes my PC hang.

After capture, I have to use third-party software to finish production.

The product is not an easy out-of-the box solution. Hookup is easy, and the Arcsoft software installation is easy, capturing is easy, but it gets tricky after that.

When you capture, you can set bitrates. I set my 720x480i broadcast to 4.1 MB/s thinking it would be fine. When I made a disk and played it on the Blu Ray player, the video had a horribly compressed look. That was a straight H.264 file from the HD-PVR 1212 unit to disk without transcoding. But when I transcode some other high-quality 480i video using an x264.exe-based application with 4.1 MB/s the video quality is fine.

Now I made the mistake of capturing my first video in .M2TS. Tried to edit it. Lots of software doesn't like .M2TS. I didn't know that then, but I know now. Fortunately I was able to use the freeware TSRemux to convert the .M2TS file to a .TS file. Now apps like H264TS_Cutter and multiAVCHD are happier. Lots of crashes and failures with .M2TS.

Editing. I use H264TS_Cutter to cut out commercials. This app is handy -you take clips you want to save and create a cut without transcoding. This is important in the H.264 video world because transcoding takes days on my PCs, but the H264TS_Cutter makes a cut in minutes. You can also join two files in this manner. H264TS_Cutter has never crashed on me with .TS files. I tried using a little more complicated app for cutting -TS Packet Editor -but I had to reboot my PC after each file edit.

Creating a video disk. I use multiAVCHD. It lets me make a simple menu for the multiple titles. To get this to generate a Blu-Ray format file structure, I had to (after clicking Start) select the button [AVCHD compatible players] -the button [For all Blu-ray players] wouldn't work in my Blu-Ray player.

The size of the output files determines what size disk I can use. I use Imgburn to burn to DVD-5, DVD-9, or BD-25 -this plays in my Blu-Ray player as long as I choose the UDF physical format and UDF 2.50.

That's the quick way of taking the output from the HD-PVR 1212 and placing it on Blu-Ray compatible disk. If all this that I've described sounds like Greek, be wary of this purchase. You'll need to do your homework on using these 3rd-party apps (though fortunately the ones I've described are free) to keep the production time to a minimum and spare yourself days of needless suffering. Had these tools been included and described in the bundled software for this purchase, it would have saved me about two weeks of trial, research, and error.

Buy Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus High Definition (1080p) Game Capture Device for Mac/PC with Now

June posting

ok I would have given this 5 stars but this comes with current problem with it, this has optical in for 5.1DD recording at this time hauppuage can not get this to work so you are stuck with PCM 2.0 or audio from the analog imputs, now to the rest, it records video at 1920x1080 at same or near Blu ray discs, you have a choice of bitrate constant from 1 to 13.5 Kb or on variable all the way up to 20.2, this records in the same codeec (AVCHD) as blu ray and HD DVD discs, it will take any component imput, I have mine through my receiver where my Dishnet PVR HD, PS3, HD DVD and Oppo DVD player runs through, just for test purposes I tried all my devices and what I test recorded from dishnet, blu ray, DVD and HD DVD the test disc looked no different than the original source, once you capture your source you can then edit or add chapters then you get to add a real cheapo menu and then put in what disc you need to burn either a DVD-R or a dual layer DVD Disc, it takes about 10 minutes to author your recording to Blu ray standard and burn on your normal DVD as a true Blu ray playable Disc, beware once you burn your DVD as a blu ray playback DVD you will not be able to read it in your computer again unless you have a Blu ray Rom or Blu Ray Burner, once and if Hauppuage ever gets the 5.1 DD fixed this could be the killer to blu ray Discs, hauppuage claims by next driver release they will include the 5.1 fix. Beware this is Xp service pack 2 or Vista operating system only, also you must have a fast computer to use this device and its programs, I have a dual core 3.4 gig Intel, 2gigs of ram, 2 500 sata HDD and had to buy a nvidia 7600 512 meg video card to get this up to speed and at the fastest bitrate 13,500 I cant do anything else on the computer, but this is the problem with Hi def, its power hungry, now I can finally put my hi def movies of all 6 star wars and 3 lord of the rings on DVD for 1080i blu ray playback, you can also convert the finished files over to movie factory 6 to burn on a normal DVD for HD DVD playback also.

August update...

Ok been doing alot of capturing, have made 40 dual layer DVDs for blu ray playback and 10 dual layers for HD DVD playback. the video qua;ity is great if you keep it above 7.8 bitrate, only major drawback is no 5.1DD audio, I am now Beta tesing the 5.1DD audio driver right now, wow this makes a huge difference with the sound. Problems still, wont work with the arch software yet, sync problems, but works with TSmuxer. There seems to be heat related issues with some boxes, mine stays on 7, 10, 15 hours at a time never gets overly warm and never locks up. I have done well over 100 captures with this device. Having an Lg blu ray burner and blanks getting below $8 each, this might be the future for capturing and buring HD content at the PVR's full 13.2 to 20.0 bitrate in the future. If hauppauge can just tweak this 5.1DD driver a bit more I think this will be a great little device.

October update,

I am now a beta tester for hauppauge and I finally got 5.1DD drivers and TME software that works, so now I got a card that finally works capturing movies the way I wanted it to, 5.1DD and can also edit with the software and no more sync issues, burn to dual layers DVD's or $4 blu ray discs.

December Update

Ok Hauppauge support finally has Drivers and software out for general public that makes this device work properly. you can capture 1080i from any component ouput using the 5.1DD and you get a great captured TS or M2TS file ready to burn to a blu ray or dual layer DVD with or without menu. since october I have captured and burned over 50 movies onto disc in 5.1DD and they look great, the ones from the 1080p sources look really great. Now I manually record all my movies, so I do not know how this works with a timer or sageTV.

Feb Posting

some here wanted me to post to let you know of known problems with this and dishnet, I find there is no exact problems per say with the PVR1212 and Dishnet, you should know that sometimes when you use this device with the dishnet you get out of sync problems and digital tears in the picture, most, if no all is the blame of dishnet or most likey the channel the show is broadcast from. Example: I have tried 7-8 times to capture and record Spaceballs from MGM HD channel every time its out of sync and every time its being played out of sync on MGM HD over dishnet before I even capture it. Please keep in mind when using this device, HD content is never perfect and they "big hollywood" does not want you to capture and record their programs. So dont be surprised if "they" are always trying anything to foil you capturing a Hi Def Digital program, be it dish, cable, PS3 or HD-DVD. so far I have captured and burned onto dual layer DVD's 130 movies from all such sources all coming out perfect, be it analog, 2DD or 5.1DD audio. yeah where else can you watch on a disc, star wars, lord of the rings, batman, star trek movies in hi def, way to go hauppauge. :)

Read Best Reviews of Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus High Definition (1080p) Game Capture Device for Mac/PC with Here

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)As long as you know exactly what you are getting with the Hauppauge HD PVR, you won't be disappointed with the performance of this little black box. It is designed for PC Windows users only, although Mac owners can use it with some add-ons.

First, you'll need to understand and accept what this PVR does not do: without any memory or hard drive inside, it does not store video itself, making the PVR label somewhat misleading, and it does not burn video to DVD. To use it, you must hook it up to a PC or Mac (more on the Mac later) for both recording and playback. And it relies entirely on software running on your computer to record, edit, program, and burn Blu-ray format DVDs. The box itself has no controls other than a power button. It has component, composite, and S-video connections (no HDMI) for video, and optical and stereo audio inputs.

So what does it do? It takes the HD signals streaming into it and compresses them in a format that preserves the HD quality in a savable AVCHD file; you can record/save manually or on a schedule. These signals can come from a set top box, camcorder or other video source that can connect with the above inputs. The included ArcSoft Media software for Windows allows you to record on either the computer hard drive or an external one. Once the files are saved, you may use your computer's DVD-R drive to burn a Blu-Ray-compatible DVD or HD-DVD, edit, play back on your computer or television, convert to iPod-, Xbox-, or PS3-friendly format (MOV, MP4, M2TS, or WMV), or share playback within the same wireless network. The included IR blaster can change the channels on your set top box to the one you've programmed to record. Note: the blaster works with the included software and therefore only on Windows.

Chances are, you're going to have to do some thinking before you decide how to set up the PVR. The conversion box is 7.5" w by 6.5" d by 2/5 " h, so it doesn't take up much space itself. However, you will need a computer next to the HD source. For those who don't have their computer in the same room as the set top box, this may mean buying a computer specifically for video, and naturally, that increases the price of the set-up. However, if you don't plan on recording every day, you can hook up/unhook a laptop very easily just pull out the USB cable and your connection, if any, to the television. Hauppauge includes the basic component cables (HD source to PVR) and USB cable (PVR to your computer), but, if you want to play the video back on your TV, you will need to buy the necessary cables/connections for that. As of June 2009, the bundled PC software includes a program that allows your PC DVD drive to play the PVR Blu-Ray-format recordings. Depending on your set-up, you may want to add a USB hub, an external hard drive, and/or Apple TV.

Unfortunately for Mac users, Hauppauge does not support OS X, which means you'll have an additional software expense. Two software packages currently work with the Mac and the Hauppauge. The cheaper and less elegant solution is a program called HDPVR Capture, developed and sold privately by a Hauppauge engineer. The fuller featured, more versatile option is Elgato's EyeTV , but unfortunately, you can't use several of the features because it doesn't communicate with the IR Blaster to change channels. Both programs are available only online, although EyeTV 3 comes bundled with Elgato hardware products. If you can find a workaround for the blaster issue, the EyeTV 3 will be nothing short of awesome. It converts the PVR files to a wide variety of formats used by iLife programs. Hauppauge really needs to work more closely with Elgato to satisfy the rapidly growing Mac population. If you are a serious videophile and Mac user, you'll probably also want a product like Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro.

The minimum systems requirements for the PVR are: Intel Core Duo processor, 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended), graphics card with at least 256 MB memory, and a sound card. Windows users need either the XP Service Pack or Vista 32. I'm using a three year old Intel Core Duo MacBook without any difficulty. I bypass the MacBook's hard drive to save all my recordings on a portable external hard drive, the Iomega eGo 320 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Portable External Hard Drive 34403 (Ruby Red).

Consumers expecting a DVR with onboard memory and playback may be frustrated with the Hauppauge since it requires a computer, but for those who want to capture HD content and do something with it, you've found your equipment.

With special thanks to fellow reviewer Frank Miller.

-Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Want Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Plus High Definition (1080p) Game Capture Device for Mac/PC with Discount?

Look & Feel:

The device looks pretty slick and has a slim profile to it. It is very light and does not take up much room at all. This is a major improvement over the previous version of the Hauppauge.

Setup:

Comes with easy to follow directions and all the cables you need which is aweosme that I didnt have to buy the HDMI cables separately. Everything went smoothly for me, I followed the directions, hooked up the cables in the order directed, and put in the installation CD to install the driver and software. Everything went great, there was only one hiccup where I was directed to the company website to install a newer version of the driver. Nothing failed, I recieved no error messages.

FYI here is my setup:

PC Sager customized laptop

i7 3610M CPU

Intel 520 SSD, 120GB

Nvidia 680M GPU

16GB RAM

Windows 7 Home Premium

XBox 360

I even have the HDPVR routed through a 4x4 HDMI matrix (allows me to hook up multiple input/output devices to the matrix and easily switch among them with a remote rather than switching cables around)....and it still works great!

I experience zero lag while playing video games through the HD PVR 2.

Features/Customization:

There are lots and lots of configurations you can change to fit your needs. I am still exploring the menus but so far I see everything I need to capture HD video. I have done a few test videos and it looks great so it doesn't even seem like I will have to change much. This may be overwhelming to some folks, but if you just call tech support and let them know what you are trying to do, they will tell you exactly what configurations to choose!

Reaction to other ratings:

Hauppague is a great company with great products. There is pretty much a 50/50 split right now for 5 star and 1 star ratings. This seemed a little fishy to me when I ordered the product, I was worried there were goign to be issues. After my experience it is clear to me that the people giving it one star either A) dont know what they are doing and can't follow directions B) get frustrated very easily and run to their computers to write a negative review before trying to call tech support (who are very helpful by the way, CALL THEM! it is amazing how many people are reporting issues here but do not mention calling tech support...craziness...) C) have a unique computer setup or personal computer issue (which can be determined and fixed if you CALL TECH SUPPORT)

Conclusion:

Great price, great functionality, great support, excellent device

If you are having any kind of difficulty, just call tech support, they are great. They have people dedicating their time to go through reviews of the product and address issues through comments...if they are that helpful in a comment section without being contacted directly, imagine if you just call them yourselves!