Square Perfect 30 Inch Light Tent Photo Cube Softbox with 4 Colored Backgrounds For Product Photogr

i really like this product. its very useful and its very big! i was expecting it to be smaller. the only reason i gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because the backdrops don't completely fit. the Velcro straps should be placed outward more. its not a huge problem though. great product for the money!

This light tent is compact, easy to set up and works very well. I like the size to handle small and medium sized items without taking up a ton of tabletop space or storage space. You can't make anything that works better or is any cheaper. You can't expect a folded insert to be free of wrinkles upon purchase. Just iron or steam and your set. There are probably better light tents, but nothing in this price range/value.

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This light tent is great. Good size and the inserts work well. I've used a steam iron to remove the wrinkles from the inserts.

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Terrific Product, especially for the money!

Does all I expected and more!

Ample size, fine translucency, easy to "pop up" and use.

My only anxiety is in closing this light tent flat (to its smallest size) after use.

I can get the first reduction fold ok, its the SECOND FOLD (the one that takes it to the size needed to fit in the storage bag) that FREAKS ME OUT!

It feels like its either gonna snap in my hands, or pop open and take out an eye!

Fortunately neither has happened... yet. I'll update you if it happens.

Oh and for the folks having trouble with the wrinkled color backdrops that so conveniently come with this tent, I found that a $30 clothes steamer takes the wrinkles right out (and while you've got up a "head of steam" hit your cotton shirts and shorts too).

If you are needing to take photos of small to medium sized objects (and your'e not fearful of physical injury while folding it) get this light tent ...now!

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as previously mention

great little light box

backgrounds and Velcro a pain

and folding it up is like wtfrick

but all in all, its a great little tool.

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Micca MPLAY-HD Net 1080p Full-HD Digital Media Player and Network Streamer With UPnP Client and Int

More than I expected, for the price this is a great product, it has played every format I have in my external 500GB HDD with great video and sound quality.

These are the Pros I want to highlight:

1.Video & sound quality, this streamer supports up to 1080p and do it great, using HDMI cable the sound's great too.

2.Video modes, I like to watch my movies in full screen mode even if they come in 4:3 or 16:9, this device supports many video modes like: movie mode, subtitle mode, full screen mode, wide screen mode, etc, so no matter how is your movie formatted, you can always get your HDTV screen full.

3.Subtitles, I live in Costa Rica and although I'm doing OK with English I really like foreign films, especially oriental, and this device has no problems with subtitles, you can change position, size and even color.

4.Menu, it comes with a nice menu (isn't the PS3 menu, but come on), and I think the response time and reception from the remote is good, you don't need to be right in front of the device to make it work

5.Additional features, I just wanted a media streamer for the movies and videos in my HDD, however this device has some more features like Internet Radio, Picasa and Flickr access, UPnP streaming from PCs on your LAN, photo and audio files streaming, All of them works OK

And these are the Cons I found:

1.This device can read DVD .ISO images and load the entire menu on your screen, this is a really cool feature and it works most of the time, however I've had issues with some particular images, sometimes I can't enter to all the features on the menu, and sometimes it won't read the file at all, I don't know if there is some particular reason for that, maybe the software you use to make the image or something.

2.You must be careful when watching a movie to avoid touch the Menu of any other button on the remote that take you out of the movie because I haven't found any way to come back again to the point I was watching.

3.Don't lose the remote since there's no way to use the device without it.

Overall I really like this device, it's very functional, cheap and has cool features, I recommend this one if you're looking for something that do the job really well and is not so expensive.

This isn't a terrible product but if you have requirements such as mine, it plain sucks.

The device itself is nice.

The GUI is easy to navigate and is visually appealing enough.

Remote is nice too but again limited in its function(no skip forward, or file info)

It will play virtually any kind of mp4, avi, mkv you name it. Internet radio features work fine. Playback/pause/ff/rew work great.

Firmware upgrade was a snap. Although I'm not sure what it accomplished as nothing really changed with functionality.

Here are the cons: UPNP is the only method of streaming your videos over a network. This is a disaster as UPNP has proven to be mediocre when it comes to streaming hd video on these players and you have to mess with your windows library (yuck!)

There is no way to discover shared folders as they have to be added to your windows library for upnp to stream the content. This is fine except the quality is poor compared to open source folder sharing. A Huge difference in playback from usb drives. Lots of skipping/stuttering when streaming over a network in 1080p or even 720p but nearly flawless with media from a external usb disk or flash drive. And the system will not show you simple file attributes like size or resolution which is always good. No slo-mo.

As a simple media player for use with external devices and flash drives its awesome. As a network media player it fails hands down.

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Hands down this Micca MPLAY-HD Net has been the perfect addition to our home! From being able to play everything we have asked it to do and even more. Had a WD HD TV player and this blows it away when compared to what it can do and it actually comes with a FULL sized remote and many cool features. Received this item 3 days earlier than expected date!! YEAH! Easy to hook up and update the firmware (you have to D/L the firmware from Micca online and use a USB drive)Has media slot for card reader and that is so cool when wanting to see on your TV photos you just took. HDMI hookup and user controls were awesome! Clarity, ease of use and simple straight forward menu choices makes it so much easier to understand and find what you wan to view or listen to. Wow.. tried the internet radio features and this is outstanding! Hooked up to 2 usb drive (1TB and 2TB) and had no problems in loading and finding all connected devices. Playback was so clear we thought we had a new TV! You can also copy and delete files from the drives too! That is amazing! (wish it could read PDF files... maybe in a future firmware update.. we hope!) So much more to try out.. but as of now.. this totally is exactly what we wanted and more! Yes, we would totally recommend this to family and friends. (even those who aren't electronically inclined or device impaired!)

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So far it's run all my HD and AVI files. Easy to use. The only downside, as some others have said is that the remote control is a little weak and you have to point directly at the box. Very happy with this device.

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If you are like me, you may have thought this version of The MPlay could stream wirelessly. It can not... Well, not as of yet. There is an Icon that's on the set-up screen for wireless adaptor, but if you attach one it will show, "Unknown Device." This is a big minus for this device, and Micca on their homepage,in their mannual, and on blogs have stated that they "may" make one which works with The MPlay, but as of now, there is none available for it. Some of these blogs and discussions go back almost 2yrs.;so maybe they don't plan on making one compatable with this device. I just thought you might like to know that if you are thinking of purchasing this device, you will have to wire it up via ethernet cable to your router to get it onto your network, which may steer many customers elsewhere. At the time of this review, The Net version is $5.00 more than The regular MPlay-HD... so dicide for yourself if it is worth waiting another year for them to make a WiFi dongle for this device or another reviewer finds a dongle compatible with this version of the product. Micca does make a dongle for its EP series media players, but it will not work on this version, according to reviewers. Patriot makes a dongle for their media player box. and there is one commonly used by WDTV Media Box users,but made by a Diff. company(AirLink 101).There is also a plethera of non-branded WiFi adaptors. One of these options may work,but I don't know for sure. Another obstical may be, it needs a firmware update to use this function. I have ordered a few nonbranded (cheap)adaptors to test out. I will repost if I find one that works. Right now, don't buy this product,unless you don't mind tethering it up to a long messy ethernet cable to use any of its network functions, such as facebook, internet radio etc. UPDATE: Micca Dist. sent me an email stating that the processor chip in this model is not powerful enough for WiFi. So there you have it. If you need a model that streams wirelessly on your network, you need to step up to The Micca EP line or get The Patriot Box Off., or WDTV Plus or Non Plus.

Panasonic DMP-BD70V Blu-ray Disc/VHS Multimedia Player

• Blu-ray Disc/VHS combination player with SD memory card slot and USB
• Multi-media capability allows for convenient playback and up-conversion of content from any media storage format--VHS, DVD, CD and more
• 7.1-channel lossless audio decode and bit-stream output for exceptional sound
• VIERA Cast internet functionality for enjoying online entertainment from YouTube, Amazon VOD, and more
• Intelligent auto standby for more efficient power usage

Why would someone want to buy a video player that accepts both the latest Blu-Ray format and the perhaps obsolete VHS formats? Well, as someone who has their foot in both the past and the future, let me tell you why I love this player.

Yes, I can definitely appreciate the crispness and clarity of the high definition Blu-Ray format, and I wish to experience that format. But Blu-Ray discs are pricey, so I will likely choose to purchase only a few new select and favorite films in that format. I feel no need, and don't have the wallet, to replace my entire film library in a Blu-Ray format.

I also have a collection of nearly 500 VHS tapes, most of them unwatched, which I mostly purchased in thrift stores. (current standard price for VHS tape in a thrift $1) I also have a fair number of films that have not yet been released on DVD yet.

It is nice to have a player that will accept both VHS and Blu-Ray, along with standard DVD formats. No switching back and forth of cables, etc.

The DMP-BD70V upconversion of the VHS to 1080p is really quite amazing. My current television is a 42" HDTV (one year ago it was a 19 inch color set) When I connected my previous standard VHS player to the HDTV, the picture quality, as expected, was quite poor, with much of the image being rather pixelated it was quite painful and distracting to watch.

Then I hooked up the DMP-BD70V, and lone behold, the picture quality was much, much better and very watchable. At first I almost thought that the VHS tape had been replaced by a DVD the improvement was that great. There was no pixelation at all, and the colors were quite bright. The overall quality of the picture was much better than the picture obtained with my old 19" color TV and VHS player. The upscaling features of the DMP-BD70V is almost as if a magician had waved his wand over your entire library of VHS tapes, and suddenly replaced them, Cinderella-like, with a much higher quality product.

There are some things you cannot do with a VHS tape. The picture size remains at the older 4:3 format meaning there is considerable empty space at the left and right sides of the HDTV screen. You also won't get the added commentary tracks that appear on DVD and Blu-Ray discs, but sometimes all one really wants to do is simply watch a movie, with no other frills involved.

For a few years, I will have several options for my home movie viewing. On one end, the $1 VHS tapes (upgraded to 1080p), in the middle the standard DVD format, and on the high side, the Blu-Ray format. This DMP-BD70V allows me to watch all three formats, and allows me to choose whether I want to pay $1, $15, or $30 for each movie format. That is what I call flexibility.

I did a comparison price check for the DMP-BD70V model, versus a similar model without the VHS tape compatibility the difference was about $50 more. For me, it was well worth it.

Obviously those without VHS tapes do not need this DMP-BD70V model. But those who do have some older VHS tapes, and wish to still view them, will love this model.

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If you want a combination blu ray/vhs player, then this is the only game in town so you are kind of stuck right now. However, I must point out a number of limitations:

1.) As many pointed out (some of which are poor souls who didn't read carefully and bought without knowing this), there is no ability to record material on this. So if you record a weekly/daily program, you will still have to have a vhs or dvd recorder to do that.

2.) The component connection from this player to an HDTV did not work well with VHS tapes as the picture appeared all smudged. The tapes looked fine with an HDMI connection.

3.) I have trouble getting my remote sometimes to recognize I have a VHS tape in the player and often have to manually start the play. I have not had this problem when I want to play a disc, only VHS.

4.) This is not wireless, so to take advantage of the VIERA Cast if you are not close to your router, you must use an Ethernet adapter/access point (somewhere between $35 and $60 or more). I used an Asus WL-330gE purchased on sale at another site and chose the Ethernet adapater setting when configuring. I found this product worked perfectly with this blu ray player as it came with both the Ethernet cable as well either a plug-in power cord or a USB power cord. I used the USB power cord to plug into the USB slot on this blu ray player. Not only does using the USB power cord eliminate you having to plug another item into a power strip, but when you turn the player off, the USB power cord turns off as well, so you are not wasting electricity.

5.) Now, this is my biggest problem with this player. VIERA Cast. I specifically bought this player as a secondary blu ray for my bedroom (my primary player is in my family room), for two reasons-the vhs component (I record off my primary player, so didn`t need to record on this one) and the announcement last year that VIERA Cast would have Netflix. I currently stream Netflix through my other player and was looking forward to streaming in my bedroom with this one as Netflix lets you stream on a number of devices with the same account. I now read (which was NOT in the announcement I read last year), that Netflix will be on Panasonic Blu Rays ONLY built in 2010 or later. Why? Because they completely re-built the technical infrastructure within the blu rays and only those with the new infrastructure will host Netflix. I guess they used up their "old parts" making this player figuring the VHS crowd wouldn't be interested in the newest technology.

I don't quite get the "usefulness" of VIERA Cast. The weather and stock parts are next to useless--if I really wanted to know the weather, I'd simply click to one of numerous weather stations that I get over the air. With regards to the stock market updates--I'd go to something on the internet as I would want to track my specific holding not just look at a generic stock market update. With NetCast (on the LG BD 90 blu ray player I have) I get YouTube, Netflix streaming (obviously have to have a Netflix account to take advantage of), as well as Vudu and CinemaNow that have pay per view rentals (most with option to buy). You do not get Amazon Video on Demand on the LG player as you do this player, but I would wonder how many movies Amazon might have that the other movie rental view options would not.

So, my best take on this player is if you need to record programs, or want to stream Netflix, do NOT buy this player. If you need to connect wirelessly, you must factor into the cost of this player an Ethernet adapter.

Am I keeping mine? Yes, because I bought at super sale price (around 165 dollars), so the cost of adding an Ethernet adapter was not prohibitive. It does eliminate the need for a vhs in my bedroom, and since I record through a dvd/vhs recorder in my family room, the lack of recording in this player does not affect me. However, I must now either choose not to stream Netflix to my bedroom, or buy a Roku.

If I do read that Panasonic has decided to add Netflix to the players with the "old" infrastructure (they are receiving some complaints obviously), I will update my review. If someone else reads such an announcement, please post a comment to my review with the source of the announcement.

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As far as I know this is the only combo of this kind on the market, and I couldn't be happier. Despite the outdated format and my dwindling videotape collection, I wanted to replace my old Magnavox VCR instead of abandoning VHS altogether. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I not only could still do that, I could additionally upgrade to Blu without having to find more shelf space or another power outlet. Since it isn't really all that versatile otherwise, this player is a snap to hook up. There are no inputs (except LAN) and the outputs consist of HDMI, component and composite video, with analog and digital audio (fiber optic only). It only comes with a set of RCA analog audio/video cables, so plan ahead. I am only using the HDMI video and optical audio and it plays discs flawlessly. Pop in a videotape and it automatically switches to VHS mode and reformats itself to 4:3, while still outputting only through the digital ports. Yes, this is only a player--I prefer DVD-RAM for recording these days, anyway--but if you want the ultimate in all-in-one playback, including USB devices and SD cards, this device is for you.

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Have about 300 movies about 70-80% VHS and the rest DVD. After a lot of research chose this make and model. I'm using this with a Monster HDMI connected to a new 46" Samsung 640. Tested with 3 movies: DVD of Parenthood, VHS of Gilda, VHS of Lion King. Lion King looked exactly like HD quality from cable company. The other two weren't as perfect as Lion King VHS, but despite that, I was thrilled at the quality of those two movies. My VHS does play full screen without any black bars. So, I'm happy with the up conversion. As for set up and programming: this unit is very easy to set up and fine tune in the programming features. As a female who hates all this tech stuff, the manual was very easy to follow and understand. I'm so pleased with this unit and it's ease of use that I just ordered a 2nd unit for my bedroom to use with the new 32" Samsung 640. EDIT: Just started playing blu ray and this model does freeze periodically for a about 5 seconds like the other models without the vhs. Also this model does not have any firmware updates like the other models. So, if allowed, I would reduce the stars from 5 to 4.

This unit does what it says it will do, with one exception you won't know until you buy it and delve deep into the manual. It WILL NOT upconvert the resolution of standard DVD's or VHS tapes unless you connect it to your TV with an HDMI cable. If you have an older HDTV that uses composite cables instead of HDMI, you will get standard resolution DVD and VHS (it does stretch 4:3 VHS into 16:9 screen format, however).

Also read the manual carefully when selecting your output format (e.g. 1080p, 720i or whatever). If you set it for an output your TV can't display, you can't see the menu to fix the problem! Again buried in the manual, is the fix: hold down the "stop" and "play" buttons together for several seconds until the unit reverts to its default output (480i) and you can read the menu again.

Pyle PSAC4G 1.3 MP Waterproof Digital Video Recorder with 1x Optical Zoom and 1-Inch LCD Screen (Bl

Used it for about a week, seemed to do well under water, taking good photos and video w/ sound, even submerged. However, can't find a way to set the time & date stamp ( always on video clips). Then it locked-up, and it won't do anything. Tried resetting, still nothing. Never got a chance to try music functions or all het he fancy mounting attachments. No warranty info included in the in-opened package. If it starts working again, I'll repost. Purchase at your own risk...

I'm impressed with this camera. I haven't had a chance to test it in the field, but so far the videos are pretty good. It's a little slow in adjusting to large changes in light intensity. Instructions are not good. For the price I might buy another one.

To set the time create a text file (ex. time.txt) then copy this file to the root directory of the camera. Turn off, turn on and it should read the file (after read the file will disappear). Use military time format as below:

2013.04.11 17:37:59 Y

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The little camera's tuff, seriously i dropped this so many times i can't tell you, i know the case is super tough and the vids always clear.

water has no effect what so ever on the camera, it is small like the size of a flashlight so i carry along mostly but i'v straped it to my bike and it's great on rides.

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i bought a couple months ago..used several times since and completely functioning to date.

the re-charge battery is still doing the job.

picture..vids..phones...everything is tight, sealed and waterproof.

initially i thought imaging would be weak due to the size but it's amazing. i wouldn't trade it for anything.

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Longevity was wicked important to me, so i got this cuz it's rechargeable. Not only that, but the resolution rate is just high enough that I am sure i won't be needing anything much more technical for years to come. the feel is so cool! just like holding a flashlight in your hand. The best part is the bouyancythis bad boy floats in water!

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270 Rotation Dual Lens Dashboard Car vehicle Camera Video Recorder DVR CAM 2" Display HD 720P IR Ni

• Dual lens,Dual Memory card hold,can work at the same time
• support standard TF card up to 32G (not included)
• Car Digital Video Recorder with 5.0 Mega Pixel Lens, Vehicle Mini DV
• Built-in 5000,000 pixels high resolution camera
• 270 degree rotate swivel lens,100 degrees wide-angle lens

Not what I was looking for. When there is enough sunlight, the picture is decent. At night, the picture is as good as your headlights. The microphone pickup is fair at best. Easy to transfer video from the unit to computer. The operation manual is a direct translation from another language. Directions are vague for some things due to translation. I would not recommend it. I wanted one that would record at night too. This won't do that without external lights (street lights, buildings etc).

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Q-See QSM30D2PK Dome Decoy Cameras 2 Pack

I would not install the battery, as I've never seen a real camera blinking... Otherwise a good value! Mix with real cameras to get the security you need with the impression of a much bigger system.

These look OK and are simple enough to install. The paper drill whole guide is wrong in that the suggested holes are in the wrong place. They indicate that the holes should be drilled in the 'open' position, when they should actually be drilled in the 'closed' position otherwise the lens does not look straight ahead.

Don't insert the batteries either, real dome cameras do not have flashing red lights.

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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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Magnavox DVD Player (MDV45817) (MDV45817)

Tried many budget brand DVD players (JVC,Samsung,Zenith,etc.)

This is the best VALUE for under $50. It is built solidly, has a quiet transport, and all of the necessary features-zoom, ff up 100x, audio and video fine tuning, coax optical out, progressive scan etc. Also plays anything thrown at it: Mp3's , VCD's, DVD+r and-r, photo jpegs, SVCD, SACD etc.

Buy it! Reason for only 4 out of 5 you might ask? No eject button on the remote.....

We've had this DVD player since 2004, and I only upgraded because I wanted an upconverting player with HDMI.

I used this with my 32" HDTV; the progressive scan and component video looked great. It is just a standard definition player though.

The only downside is that when you lose the remote, setting it up correctly with a Universal is a pain: six or seven codes work, but not all of the codes have all of the features!

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This DVD player played movies fine until it stopped recognizing any DVD after only 7 months. Magnavox said to buy a DVD lens cleaner ($15) which didn't work, then said that their warranty was only for 90 days so offered a 'discounted' replacement at the exact price I bought it for. For their defective product they wanted me to pay more in support than the original purchase after only 7 months. No thanks, I'll avoid Magnavox in the future.

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JVC CU-VD40 Share Station DVD Burner for HD Everio Camcorders

This unit PROBABLY doesn't do what you think it does. If you read the website and the box, it looks like you can shoot wonderful HD movies, push a button and voila! a DVD pops out and you can SHARE it with friends and family. Notice it is called the "Share Station"! NOT the unit spits out a DVD that "cannot be played on normal DVD players" (page 47 of the manual). This unit is simply an ARCHIVAL unit. It takes whats in your camera and backs it up to a DVD. Thats it. Call JVC and verify it.

The sharestation is probably the worst piece of equipment I have ever purchased. Worked when it wanted to the first couple of months, now it doesn't work at all. I have always liked JVC products but after this dreadful experience, I am gonna have to think long and hard before I buy ANYTHING from JVC. This item will not recognize ANY disc, even the ones I made with it

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I recently bought a JVC sharestation, to go along with the JVC Everio camera I just bought. You are supposed to be able to connect the camera to the sharestation, and start burning DVD's. Sounds great! Every disk I have used creates the error message "Incompatible disk". I am not alone, only now I find out that hundreds of other people are also unable to use the device that they just paid $200 or more for. JVC is not acknowledging the problem. I don't know how JVC can get away with this!

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I purchased the camera and the share station. I took family video and tried to burn to a dvd. The DVD provided by JVD wouldn't work. It kept saying 'incompatable disc' so I purchased the DVD-R by Sony (recommended in their manual) and it still says 'incompatable disc'. I called the JVD Help Center and they said...you have to send it to the factory. No help at all....just send it in. Don't buy this piece of junk.

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Well, I read many poor reviews on the internet about the product, and the reviewer is correct, this is an archival unit only, and won't generate a DVD that can be played on anything other than the JVC ShareStation. Unfortunately, I had already purchased a $1600 JVC camcorder which I could not return due to it having 5 hours of footage of my new baby (which I can't get off of it) on its HDD. So, I went ahead and purchased with these limitations in mind.

Unfortunately, when the unit arrived, it was defective. Won't recogonize any disc of any type. Even the disc supplied by JVC in the packaging showed up as "incompatible disc."

If you have already purchased the camcorder, you may also be stuck purchasing this unit; however, if you have not yet purchased a camcorder, I would strongly consider another brand.

See ya!

Ematic EMS004PN eSport Clip MP3 Video Player with Video Recorder

• 4GB Flash Memory
• 1.8 inches Color Display
• 5MP Camera with LED flash and Video Recorder
• Sports Clip
• FM Radio

The easiest mp3 player I have used. It is really nice to be able to drag and drop files from my music folder to my mp3 player folder.

If you are buying a 4gb mp3 player with a camera and tuner for $22, you better bring your sense of humor with you. I bought my eSport for $30. Since I had my sense of humor handy, I decided to get the pink model. I like the color. I think it sets my dark running shorts off nicely.

When I plugged the player into my computer, it worked! It actually started to charge. To make things better, my Linux Mint operating system recognized it. I was so shocked my mouse hand went numb! I opened up a random music folder and dropped the whole thing into the mp3 folder and the player took it. When I looked at the folder, it contained both mp3 and ogg files. Ogg is the open source music format. Since it took the music so easily, I got cocky and drug an avi file over to see what would happen. To my surprise, all of the music played. As an added bonus, the Japanese music showed up on the display in Kanji. The video did not work because I did not resize it.

The music player worked. The buttons are extremely clunky but navigation is possible. The player comes with a cheap little speaker that works. It is kind of neat to clip it onto the back of my bike jersey and listen to poor quality music. When I am going up the side of a mountain, it is nice to have a tempo to help set a pace. I don't really listen to the music but the tempo is there. I listened to the player through some Bose headphones with satisfactory results. It was not like listening to the music from a PC with a $200 sound card but the sound was okay.

The video camera works. With 4gb of available memory, you can record for a while. The camera works. It has a flash but I am not sure it does anything. Half the time when I take a picture, I am not sure if I took the picture or not. ¾ of the time when I take a picture, I am not sure if I am in the camera mode. The pictures and video transfer to my computer by drag and drop.

I am currently using it as my car mp3 player. It has about 6 hours of battery use and still going strong. When I turn it off and back on, it remembers the track it was playing. Every time I throw it back into its hole for the trip, it changes the song from the touchy controls that are only sensitive when you don't want them to do anything.

Pros:

It is cheap

It works!

Very easy file transfer

Plays variable formats, mp3, wav and ogg. I did not feel like looking for Apple files to drag over.

Lots of memory storage

Expandable memory

Nice colors

Comes with a cool video about a rabbit

Cons:

It is cheap

It is slow

Navigation is frustrating

I can't figure out where the buttons are located

It is big

Final grade Pass

It is a $30 mp3 player. It does what I want and some extra stuff. It is easy enough to figure out. I did not read the instructions and managed just fine. The buttons do not work very well but they get the job done. I will not cry when it breaks. I bought a cheap mp3 player so I could sweat all over it and not cry when I get caught out in the rain. Remember your sense of humor when use something like this.

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This player is frustrating to use and impossible to navigate. Worse still? It broke after the first use. Avois this product!

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I bought this for my 9 year old daughters birthday so she would quit using my MP3 player. It is cute and has more features than my Sony does. The feel is a little cheap and plastic but everything works even after being dropped a few times already. The only complaint I can come up with is the battery life, it lasts about 2 1/2 to 3 hours and needs recharged again.

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It is easy to load music on to this player however that is the only good thing about it. When you push a button it doesn't respond immediately, which is very frustrating. It's difficult to make play list or even to play all your music at random. I would not waste my money on this. Wish I had never bought it.

Worked for 10 minutes then it went dead never to play again. Even though the price is good as well as the stated specifications the product is like a child's toy.

Maxell 298022 60 Minute Digital Mini Video Camcorder Tape - 4 Pack

Found it difficult to find this DV in store. My last purchase in store, I found at CVS, they sold 2 DV for $12.96, bought from Amazon at 4 for $10..Awesome deal and will buy again

DV tapes are ok if you need them. They are becoming obsolete. I bought a camcorder that records in AVCHD which is great. No moving parts.

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I found it increasingly difficult and next to impossible to find these DV tapes for the camera I use in any store.

It is a great camera but it is an older model. The stores that did carry the tapes either did not have enough or they were priced extremely high.

I was pleased to find the tapes online at a reasonable price and although I was worried they might not arrive in time, they arrived two days before the event I was preparing to video. I typically use four of them for each event of workshops for music teachers so buying in bulk was a great savings.

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Since I have an obsolete but still working DV camcorder, I needed tapes. These Maxell's work fine and the price was good.

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The tapes worked fine. The quality of the tapes was good. The items arrived on time, I do not have to replace my camcorder because I could not fine the tapes.

Save 64% Off

Technical Pro DVB80 Professional DVD Player

• Specifications -
• DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, MP3, Kodak CD & CD-G compatible
• Auto region playback & Pal / NTSC Switchable
• Dual Karaoke / DJ mic inputs
• Audio outputs - 2 RCA (main) + 5.1 RCA

finally.... technical pro came out with this new unit... the dvb80... much better quality than the older version/dvd 70... with the dvb80, about the same design, but built with much better quality parts.. sleek design, easy to use, removable rack ears, and a good quality picture... for a non blu ray player, it is well worth the money...

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The product was slim and fit into my portable system well. It had plenty of options for audio hook ups and seems to be a great product for the price. I need more time to fully disclose the quality of all the functions, but I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The company did a great job geting the product to me in a timely and well packaged fashion.

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This has a few really useful featured for me, such as vga out. That's not common on dvd players, and is the standard I use for all my live video performances. So far it's held up for me and done what it's needed to. It's in a case that hits the road regularly, and this coming summer will really be put through the ringer. I really only use it as a backup video source if computers crash though, so it hasn't been run very much. I'll update after I abuse it.

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I purchased 2 of these units 3 months ago. One unit no longer works, and the other has to be reprogrammed on a regular basis. The units are in conference rooms and get moderate use.

This unit worked perfect for a replacement piece. I was in the market to replace an older DVD, and this fit the need

Sly Electronics 4 GB Video MP3 Player with 2.4-Inch LCD and 5MP Camera (Black)

• 4 GB capacity for up to 2300 songs, 20 hours of video, or thousands of pictures
• On-board five-megapixel camera for shooting photos and video
• 2.4-inch color display with four control buttons
• Supports MP3, WMA, WAV, WMV, ASF, RM audio formats; RMVB, FLV, AVI and MP4 video formats; JPEG, BMP images; TXT text files
• One-year limited warranty

While this would be an excellent little music and picture player for an adult on a budget, the reason I've bought several is to give my kids a cheap and easy way to take pictures and videos. My first-grader loves hers, and my fourth-grader who was asking for a phone says this is way better than a phone.

Thanks to its ability to play while connected to its USB charger, I also use one of these to play whole-house music 24x7 via an FM transmitter. (The FM radio on the unit itself works well, but refuses to play at all unless the earphone is plugged in to act as an antenna.)

My only real complaints:

* Pictures and videos are pretty dim with purely indoor lighting -i.e. no daylight coming from any windows.

* It's easy to drag and drop JPEGs and music files onto the device, but its range of supported video formats is narrow and the conversion software is problematic.

This amount of functionality and storage at this price and in this footprint is amazing.

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This is the worse MP3 player I have owned. It no longer works. It turns on and just is frozen on the loading screen. I always had a problem with its interface, it only lets you select a song at a time in alphabetical order in a List. It also Doesn't remember your last played song to pick up were you left off. Also you could only use one feature at a time, No Multitasking. Before this player did die it would always shut off at the slightest tap or movement in your pocket. Save your Money, Do Not Buy !

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i made the mistake of buying this crappy cheap mp3 player its has alot of issues it always go to a white screen and lately when i plug it into my pc it keeps turning on and off i wouldn't recommend anyone buy this thing and the cam is not 5mp

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it was performing real good. icould carry my movies and watch em on any tv. then one day simply stopped working. i didnt use it on a daily basis i simply used it about every 2 or 3 weeks when i was going out of town.

anyways is frozen (?) at the sly electronics screen and nothing happens.

also there is not much information about how to reset it.

it was a good mp4 player while it lasted.

but if you get upset really easy i think you should avoid it

Mygica EZgrabber2 USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter Device

This works reliably with Win 7 64 bit. It is the same device as the One Touch Grabber, also available here.

There is no control of sample rates or specifications. DVD quality is 720 x 480 standard at about 5+ Mbs variable bit rate. I would have

liked a higher bit rate. The audio is a substandard 215 kbs. There is no audio level control, but the capture is at a decent level. The

capture software forgets the video settings such as contrast, which must be manually reset each time you start up.

The main issue I have is that the video capture is somewhat grainy, I suspect due to a low bit AD converter. This is not as high a quality as

Hauppauge, for example. It works fine as long as you do not enlarge the picture beyond standard, and that many people do since they have

higher res monitors.

This device can be found from many sources, some even less expensively than here. There is no facility for Youtube conversion and transfer, although that

is often advertised with this product.

I tried and had to return another product, which was shoddy material and marginal software.

Connecting my hi-quality 4Head Toshiba VCR to my PC with this converter produced outstanding image quality. The first-class software that comes with it does the job simply and competently.

The manufacturer provides all the needed cabling. This product is complete, both hardware and software. And the quality is outstanding.

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Works exactly as promised. Downloads easily and ready to go in just a few minutes no problems. I'm a knowledgable novice (i.e. I usually know just enough to get myself in trouble) and I found it to be very easy to install and use. I have Windows 7 and the package only showed it supported upto Windows Vista but still didn't have any problems. It may not be the top of the line but for the price and what it's able to do it's hard to beat. I used it to transfer old camcorder tapes to my computer so I could burn them onto DVD's ... worked great.

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Having an aging VCR and Hi8 video collection, I wanted to convert these tapes to a digital format that I could burn to DVD's. After several weeks of research, reading every review I could find on video capture devices, I settled for the EZgrabber2. Notice that I said settled. If you perform the same research, you'll find most devices on the market today are dated, (some I researched have old or no web support at all), have both negative and positive reviews (Its tough sorting out the technical savvy of the reviewers)and most don't specify if they will work on Win7 64 bit OS systems. As for the EZgrabber 2, most reviews were positive, one said that it did work on Win7 64 bit OS systems and for $30 I could give it a try without hurting my wallet. Please note, I would have spent up to $200 if I found a device that I had confidence would work with my system. The truth is, I found no such device on the market today. Allot of devices may work with Win7 64 bit OS systems but finding that info is near impossible. The included instructions for EZgrabber2 were vague, especially since it was not updated for Win7 64 bit OS systems. Using the included CD, my first installation attempt failed. I went to their website and downloaded the drivers for Win7 64 bit OS. It installed properly and now works flawlessly. The included software is adequate for producing simple transfers. I gave it 4 stars because it works and deducted 1 star because the CD and instructions need to be updated.

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Upon receiving the product I immediately emailed the vendor to make sure it was the right one as the package just said Ezgrabber and I had ordered the EZgrabber2. It was the correct one. I used a link from the vendor I received in email to make sure I was installing the most current version of the software and drivers for Windows 7. So internet installed; not cd supplied with product. I wanted to make sure before I did any install that I had the correct version/drivers for my pc. I have a very new laptop. The old movies I copied were grainy and if the old vcr tape was worn; there was a buzzing sound. The better quality the old tape of course, the better the end result; I used the VHS to DVD converter software. If I wanted my end result to fit on a single dvd, the first thing to do is determine the length of the original tape. Then I used the "chart" that tells the length that is supported by "normal/best" etc, the resulting choice type. This is found in the pdf Help document that comes with the product. If I didn't do that; the result I created will be split into multiple files and not fit on a single DVD. Capture types NTSC and DVD. If I copied something really short then I just picked "best" to get the best quality possible. It's not a good idea to have both the onetouch software running/open and the vhs to dvd at the same time. Don't let your computer go to sleep/power down mode during a dvd burn; it won't finalize the dvd and you'll waste the dvd. I used the movie capture with a time setting that I set a couple minutes longer than what I thought I would need and then could leave the computer unattended while it did a long copy; worked well.

I used the onetouch software with cassette tapes; under the record setting and set it to go straight to mp3. Nothing fancy here.

I used the cables that came with the product and never tried to use the button on the Ezgrabber. I always used the buttons on the computer software. If you are comfortable with computer software and a "jump in" approach you should be able to get going pretty quickly.

Wish I had done this years ago; the 20+ yr old home movies of my family would have been so much better; the older the tapes the more quality is lost.

Apple TV MC572LL/A (2nd Generation)

• Stream HD movies and TV shows rented from iTunes, plus content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, and MobileMe
• Smaller, redesigned device with HDMI and digital optical audio output; connects to network via Wireless-N or Ethernet
• Silent, cool, and very low power operation in an enclosure that's less than four inches square
• Music, videos and photos can also be streamed from PCs and Macs
• Comes with 7-button aluminum Apple remote; can be controlled by iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch via Remote app

This is an amazing compliment to your home theater.

So many features, yet so simple to use.

My 7 year old son has it all figured out.

I hope you enjoy the video.

Let me know what you think.

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I am not an Apple Afficianodo. I don't wear jeans and black turtlenecks in reverence to Steve Jobs. I don't hang out at the Apple Store and covet becoming a "genius"; however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The last few products Apple has brought out the iPod, iPhone, iPad have been incredible and changed the consumer electronics and media / software landscape. Apple TV is now positioned to do the same, but it will take some more time to fully realize the potential of this device.

Apple TV effectively allows you to stream whatever is on your iTunes to your TV and home theater system. Moreover, it has built in support for Netflix, You Tube and a few other internet based media content providers. The picture quality and performance for these services are worth the price of admission. There is significant potential to advance the platform just give it some time.

System Overview: My Apple TV is plugged into a 60 inch Samsung 1080p LED HDTV via HDMI (video) and a Yamaha Home Theater Receiver via Toslink optical cable (audio). I have AT&T Uverse with their 802.11g Residential Gateway (combination of DSL modem and wireless router) with their Elite DSL service (6 MB per second). iTunes runs on a Dell Desktop with 4GB of memory, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 500 GB Hard Drive operating on Windows Vista (64 bit) and secured with Norton 360 (firewall, antivirus, etc.). The network handles the Desktop, 2 iPhones, a Blackberry, an iPad, the Apple TV, 4 Laptops, a wireless Printer and a networked wired printer. The Computer / Residential Gateway are in the Den and the TV / Home Theater / Apple TV are in the family room. The two rooms are about 100 feet apart and are separated by five walls.

Set Up: Easy as pie. It took five minutes to plug in the HDMI cable, the optical cable, the power outlet and then adding it to the wireless network. Sharing iTunes from my desktop to Apple TV took another 20 minutes, since I had to download the new version of iTunes and restart my computer and Apple TV. Apple really makes it easy I didn't have to make any adjustments to my firewall settings to share iTunes on the desktop with Apple TV. I also downloaded the Apple Remote on my iPhone and iPad, which took another 5 minutes.

User Interface: Apple's secret sauce is the simplicity of their products. Apple TV is no different. The menu is very simple Movies, TV, Internet, Computer and Settings. Movies and TV are for renting content directly from iTunes within Apple TV. Internet gives you access to Netflix, You Tube, etc. Computer gives you access to iTunes on your computer. Settings allows you to change the various Apple TV options. The remote control is Apple's usual model of minimalist efficiency, with a menu button, a play / pause button and an iPod like controller. The supplied remote works well with Apple TV, but is a bit cumbersome when one has to enter data (e.g., e-mail addresses, search on YouTube or Netflix). A much better solution is downloading Apple Remote on your iPhone or iPad. It basically turns the iPhone or iPad into a big touch pad that allows you to use gestures to control the Apple TV (e.g., swipe left, swipe right, double click, etc.). Moreover, it automatically provides a keyboard when one is asked for text input (e.g., for search). Apple remote is free on the App Store.

Netflix Streaming / Video Quality: Setting up Netflix was quick basically just enter your e-mail address / password and you're ready to go. I watched some TV from BBC, a foreign flick and Iron Man. Each program loaded quickly less than 30 seconds. Picture quality was good to great, depending on the source material. Picture quality was comparable to DVD for SD material(perhaps slightly better), but slightly less sharp than upconverted DVD or blue-ray. HD Programming looked like the HD on-demand programming through uVerse. There was enough of a buffer that there was no jittering, pixelation or stuttering on the streaming to the TV. Sound quality on the stream was good I don't think they stream in 5.1, so the video stream doesn't leverage the subwoofer. Considering that I'm running a heavily taxed wireless system on 802.11g with a 100 foot distance between Apple TV and the Gateway, the picture quality and streaming performance are impressive. Having this quality of Netflix compatibility is worth the price of admission by itself.

iTunes Streaming: I streamed some music from my Playlists from the Computer. Sound quality is good, but not great. My Yamaha CD Player sounds better, but it can only hold 5 cds. Having access to my entire library is very useful, so you lose sound quality but gain convenience. iTunes streams not only the music, but also the cover art. After a few minutes, Apple TV switches into screensaver mode and starts transmitting pictures to the TV along with the music. I also streamed some videos from my computer and the streaming was again flawless. One of the issues with Apple TV is that it only supports the Apple video standards, i.e., MP4. I had some DIVX files that I converted over to MP4 by using DVD Fab and imported them into iTunes. So if you have a library of AVI, Divx, Xvid, etc., this will require conversion of those files in order to stream from your computer.

iTunes from within Apple TV: There is access to an iTunes store within Apple TV as well. They have a different pricing structure, in that TV shows and movies are available for rent only. They have a limited number of titles at this point primarily BBC, ABC (since Steve Jobs sits on their Board) and Fox. CBS and NBC are not on Apple TV. Movie selection is decent they have all the latest movies. The Apple TV selection can be easily increased by just downloading the content you want from iTunes on your desktop and then streaming it to Apple TV.

YouTube Streaming: Surprisingly good. The HQ / HD You Tube pieces look remarkably crisp on the TV. The older content that was meant to watch on a small window on your computer looked a little pixelated, but acceptable.

Apple has built a great platform with a lot of potential. With what is available right now Apple TV is a pretty impressive value at $99. It is worth it just for the Netflix streaming and integration with iTunes. Since Apple TV is actually built on the same hardware (at least the processing chip) as the iPhone and iPad and has the same operating system, I wouldn't be surprised if there are "apps" that will eventually make it to Apple TV to further enhance Apple TV (e.g., ABC Streaming, Games, Amazon on Demand, etc.). There is supposed to be an upgrade to the operating system with a new version of Airplay that comes out in November, 2010. This will allow you to stream from an iPad or iPod to the Apple TV as well.

I looked at other streaming devices (e.g., Roku, using my Panasonic Blue Ray for Netflix, etc.) and none of them had the simplicity and reliabilty that the Apple TV offers. The Wi Fi "stick" for my Blue Ray player is $80 anyway and the Netflix integration isn't anywhere nearly as robust as Apple TV. UVerse also has music and picture streaming built in using Microsoft Media Center however, it required some network configuration and it crashes quite often. I didn't purchase a Roku, but a friend of mine has had a number of issues with streaming performance. At under $100, the Apple TV is competitively priced with other streaming options. Now just bring on the "apps".

Update on 4/1/11:

I've had the Apple TV for a few months now and I still really like it. Apple has introduced Airplay, which is worth mentioning as it has potential to be a gamechanger technology. Moreover, there has been significant activity on the "jailbreaking" front for the Apple TV.

Airplay is Apple's system of transmitting video / audio wirelessly between compatible devices. Apple TV, the iPhone and iPad are all Airplay compatible. This has proven to be particularly useful feature as I can stream videos from my iPad to the Apple TV and have them appear on my TV. For example, I may have a digital copy of a movie on my iPad (perhaps purchased through iTunes or came with a DVD purchase). Through Airplay, I can transmit the movie directly from my iPad to the Apple TV and watch the movie on my TV. Similarly, if a friend has an iPhone and we want to listen to their latest music selection, we can stream their music from their iPhone directly to my stereo system through Airplay. The real gamechanger for Airplay is streaming video from websites onto my Apple TV so I can watch them on my TV. For example, I could be on the TED website and they have a video from a TED conference. I can stream the video directly to my Apple TV and watch the video on my TV's 60 inch screen instead of the iPad's 10 inch screen. Several websites have already incorporated Airplay compatibility into their videos, such as CNN and TED. I think Airplay is going to have an interesting adoption cycle traditional media companies (e.g., TV Networks) probably won't endorse Airplay since it goes against their business model. Other websites that rely on video for traffic (e.g., adult sites, news sites, blogs, etc.) will probably adopt Airplay to gain more traction with consumers.

According to Wikipedia, jailbreaking refers to "a process that allows devices running Apple's iOS operating system to gain full access to unlock all features of the said operating system, thereby removing limitations imposed by Apple". Once jailbroken, iOS users are able to load and run applications that are not available on the App Store. Jailbreaking a device is not illegal, much to Apple's chagrin; however, it could void one's warranty. I'm not going into how to jailbreak and Apple TV just google "jailbreak Apple TV" for instructions. Since the Apple TV has been jailbroken, there have been some applications that have been launched to provide more robust usage of Apple TV. The Couch Surfer application is basically a web browser for Apple TV. Additionally, there are applications that allow Apple TV to play formats other than Apple approved formats, such as DIVX and others. I haven't jailbroken my Apple TV; however, one should be aware of what options are available for this device.

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PROS

*Low Power (less than 6 watts)

*Compact

*Good-looking UI

*Netflix support (unlike previous generation AppleTV)

*Remote App for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch

*Airplay (though basically we just have Airtunes functionality until iOS 4.2 comes out for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch).

*Closed Captions (Content dependent)

CONS

*Lots of "Loading..." screens

*No Local Storage! (must stream over Internet or via iTunes on PC/Mac using Home Sharing. I know you were trying to cut costs Apple, but why not at least allow local USB storage? I know, I know: DRM.)

*IR Sensor inferior to previous generation AppleTV (requires more direct line of sight)

*Lag before videos and podcasts start playing (even when located on a local computer)

*Netflix controls are not as good as Roku. Infrequent keyframes makes it hard to rewind to an exact spot. Roku does much better (and even PS3 Netflix controls are better).

*Podcast controls sometimes get confused (screen indicates reversing at maximum speed, but video is actually reversing at 1x)

*Doesn't precache artwork icons (Scrolling down through a list of podcasts or Netflix movies, it loads the screen with empty icons then slowly downloads them. This happens no matter how long you wait before scrolling down. Sometimes, it never gets around to downloading certain icons. Hey Apple, how about displaying the name of the movie while you are retrieving the artwork so we can start using the interface even if all of the artwork isn't there?) [Update: there may be some precaching going on, but just not in a very intelligent manner. I have about 170 movies in my Netflix instant queue and a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection so that may contribute to the slowness displaying artwork. If you have a very fast internet connection, you will probably have minimal delay.]

*No Pandora

*No App support (Yet? Come on Apple, enable App support. It won't take long before we have lots of useful 3rd party apps. I'm sure Pandora would be one of the first and then NPR and local weather forecast.)

*No 1080p 720P only (Yes, most people don't have the bandwidth to support 1080p streaming over the internet, but someday we will. Also, it would be nice to be able to show your 1080p video you shot with your new camcorder or high-end DSLR.)

*Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews are not available for Netflix movies.

*Remote app could display the actual menus for faster selections.

*Home Sharing must be activated for a specific single account. (Result: If both you and your spouse have an iTunes account you will have to choose one or the other and will only have access to media in that person's iTunes account.)

UPDATE:

Removed from Cons:

"*Can't add internet radio stations to a favorites list (and there are hundreds if not thousands to scroll through)." Someone commented that you can add a radio station to your favorites by holding the center button down. I tried this and it works. Not sure how you're supposed to know this as it's not mentioned in the brief instruction book.

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I was looking forward to this product since it was announced early last month. I'm glad I pulled the trigger and bought it when it became available. For $99 it provides most of the functionality I was paying microsoft $50 a year for. I've become less dependent on the XBOX as a game machine, and more as a Netflix/Media Streamer since my family has grown, and not having to pay for XBOX Live was one of the driving reasons behind this purchase. The reason I say "most of the functionality" is due to it not having the codec support that the XBOX360 comes with out of the box. I've had no issues with playback of mp4 or m4v files, and I'm happy with that, but it lacks support for WMV and AVI (as far as I've experienced). This isn't exactly a deal breaker since I can re-encode any content to supported codecs with handbrake and use iTunes to take care of my video library.

The UI is slick, the setup was somewhat easy (but would have been easier with keyboard support) and the ability to control music from my laptop and desktop is fantastic (through iTunes via the currently limited "airplay" functionality).

I'm really happy with the YouTube, Flickr and Netflix support. They are by far the best I've seen from a media center, but I can see certain aspects being a pain if you use the included remote (there is no keyboard to speak of, and scrolling through letter to spell things out is a hassle). The remote app on iOS devices more than makes up for the lack of a keyboard since it provides added functionality (such as alpha numeric input, quick seeking and library browsing). I look forward to video support with airplay and will update this review once I get to play with that (in November?).

One last thing it's quiet. The thing barely makes a peep.

I got my Apple TV two weeks ago and I love it. It took me all of 10 minutes to set up, but I had purchased HDMI and Ethernet cables before hand. I logged onto Netflix and Youtube within minutes, and was watching streamed TV within 20 minutes.

The design is typical Apple elegance. It's tiny and sleek. The remote is almost too small and I'm afraid of losing it. The streaming is flawless and fast.

The only downside is the Apple content is not worth buying the device for. Pair it with Netflix and you have a large enough library to cancel your premium cable channels. The radio stations are also a nice bonus.

Not only has it expanded my TV viewing options and allowed me to watch commercial free what I want, when I want, it has saved me a lot of money because Netflix is much cheaper than HBO, Showtime, Starz, Epix, Cinemax, etc.

CIB R801H60W500G H.264 8 CH Network Security Surveillance DVR w/ 500GB HDD. E...

This is a cheaper system so I didn't expect it to be perfect. However, it does record and the remote viewing works. The motion record or timed record does not work. After several attempts to get the company to fix it, I just keep getting a run around. Finally gave up. I just have it record 24/7. DO NOT download instruction manuals. They are full of spyware and other hidden programs you dont want on your computer. Use your anti virus Program to scan anything from these people.

So a 5 star rating... why, mainly because of the great and gracious help from people at CIB Security Inc and their ability to solve the problem that I and I think many others are having, I would also start with I never right reviews but in this case felt compelled to in order to clear the air for others and thank those at CIB. I replaced my old unit so that I could primarily mobile monitor in a Mac environment, router, laptop and I phone. After 28 days of trying all the ways that people wrote about and suggestions from techy friends I had no luck... so I finally called CIB the day before I needed to return it under the Amazon policy. I first talked to Rechelle who politely said she was helping another customer to get set up, and to call back in a few. When I called back I talked to Peter and he said he could help but I needed to be next to my system... I was at work and that wouldn't happen until 10:00 pm... he said ok and gave a way to reach him when I got home. Within15 minutes we were up and running.... he was as excited as I was, a very kind person.

This is what I have learned: 1. The manual kind of sucks... hence the phrase "lost in the translation." 2. That port 80 for port mapping doesn't work in my area, he switched me to 84. 3. I kept trying to use the dvr's IP address in VideoViewer after the initial LAN hookup, but what it needed was my home IP address and then everything was great... I have not tried all the function and can't testify to the issues others have complained about but my recommendation is this... Don't wait to day 28 like I did; just do as is written at the bottom on one of the included papers, "If you need ANY help, PLEASE call us at-------". Side note, my setup is, dvr then router then modem, in the Mac world it's port mapping and it works just fine.

Also, I have the 8 channel but will be including this review with the 4 channel since I think the same info would apply.

Good luck to all and thanks to those at CIB Security again.

Buy CIB R801H60W500G H.264 8 CH Network Security Surveillance DVR w/ 500GB HDD. E... Now

I have not tried to contact the manufacture yet, however, there is an issue where the device will reboot randomly when it is being viewed. So far it is working well (other than the reboot issue.) I've coupled this with Android software to enable remotely viewing. Compared to much more expensive products, this gets the job done.

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Sony DCR-SR200 2.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

This is my first HDD camcorder. I owned several MiniDV camcorders in the past. I have owned the camera for 2 weeks, so this review should be considered as initial impression.

PROS:

Picture quality is very good in good daylight. I had some shots at night in well lit family room, and the video is not as sharp as day time shots, but still very good.

The Super Nightshot feature is fun to have to take kids video while they are sleeping. As expected, the video is very grainy.

The quality of still pictures is acceptable.

Zoom is very smooth

The touch screen is awsome. Hope the screen won't get scratched in the long run

Camera is easy to use without having to read too much into the manual

The menu is sort confusing in some areas, but not too bad

Lightweight

CONS:

Pricy, compared to MiniDV models of similar quality

Battery sticks out too much off the back of the camera making it look sort of ugly

Allows only 3 still shots during video. I wish I can snapshot still photos from video like most of Panasonic models.

All connectivities are on charging base. This means one more thing to carry with on vacation

No separate battery charger. Battery is charged on the charging base or on camera

Only 10x zoom

Overall, pretty happy with the purchase, and will be a lot of funs making family videos. I did not make a single DVD from my previous MiniDV's. This is a 4.5 stars rating.

The sirens song of a HD based Camcorder was too much to resist. Based upon hours of research I too finally settled on the DCR-SR200. Not quite as high resolution photos as the SR300 but sported longer battery life and CLEARLY a step above the previous models and other vendors. How could I go wrong look at all these 4 and 5 star reviews. I can't speak for their experiences but I'm going to tell you mine. So pull up a chair and get comfortable b/c the ride is going to get bumpy...

I've spent the last 6 months using this device and feel compelled to return to where I purchased it and share the good the bad and the ugly news.

The Good News: I'm not going to drill on the obvious benefits of HD based camcorder. If you like not having to replace tapes/DVD in your Walkman; you are surely going to enjoy not having to do this with a camcorder FINALLY.

Videos: The video it takes is good in full daylight. (Warning see below!)

Photos: Takes nice 2 or 3 MP plain photos in full daylight. (Warning see below!)

Camera Controls: I personally don't mind the touch screen controls. Occasionally I just use the tip of a small finder to invoke the functions more accurately.

Software: Wow! It works with Vista. The software that comes with it does a fantastic job of simplifying copying images and movies from the camcorder to the PC in a organized fashion. Its not saying much click copy to new folder with today's date. But its brain dead simple.

The Bad News: I'm not trying to SLAM this camera out of any kind of mean spirited vengeance; my goal here is to level set buyers expectations based upon my 6 months experience actually using this device. I do feel a bit of buyer's remorse b/c this camera is NO WAY a 4 or 5 star device like I was lead to believe by all the other reviews. Not in million years would I say that I got my $700 dollars worth. Had I known this I surely would have gone to a higher priced model to get the quality I was expecting.

Zoom and Lens No disrespect to Carl Zeiss This camera has a really crappy lens configuration. I'm no f'stop expert but what I do know is even when I zoom all the way out I have to stand really far back to get a group shot b/c the field of view is quite limited. Translate that into lens mm/mm speak if you want; but that's what you get. The optical zoom is so lame. Its like really really lame. My old Minolta SLR, Sharp VL-A10U and Cannon S30 set the benchmark for what I expect in field of view and basic effect of hitting the optical zoom in/out. This thing stinks in comparison. Sure you can turn on digital zoom with about 10 clicks on the touch pad and go like 80x more...but that's the point I was sold a Carl Zeiss lens. Nothing in software makes up for the fact the field of view is so limited. I think someone slipped a decimal point during the design calculations b/c this is a total total let down. Maybe the Sony engineers took a crumpled up design paper out of Carl's trashcan and unfolded it and used it.

Videos: The video camera ONLY takes "good movies" in broad daylight. The video stabilization feature causes a sort of "heat wave" ripple effect when you pan across scenes. Its kind of annoying b/c the camera apparently can't figure out that its not canceling a "vibration/shake" and its panning and the image should stream horizontally across the viewfinder. Get ready The minute you are not in full lit daylight Oh I don't know, say taking a movie of a birthday party indoors of a cake with less than 70 candles on it. You will find the video is, how shall we say, horrible. Absolutely snowy and all faded out as this device completely fails to realistically capture the moment. What a LET DOWN! My 7 yr old $308 tape camera SOARED at moments like this! You do have an option turn on night mode! OOOH-Yea! Now your guests eyes appear as large black circles effectively you are now filming zombie vampires under a pale green light; effectively recreating a Night Stalker episode. $700 bucks no indoor birthday parties?

How about taking a few minutes of video of the first few weeks of a newborn child sleeping to send to distant relatives? Well just be sure to turn on all the halogen lights so you can get this shot too. Or you can choose the night shot mode mentioned above. Depending on how soon you do or don't want them to visit...maybe so.

Photos: OK at first you think Cool! I don't have to bring 2 cameras any more! A camcorder and still photo camera all in one! Mostly WRONG! The still camera has absolutely NO FEAURES NONE! Did you want sepia mode for a "old time effect" while posing at a national landmark? Did you want landscape mode to capture a vast panoramic scene or portrait mode for close up? Forgetaboutit! None. Not one. It stinks! From the company who makes a decent SLR'esque still cameras couldn't we get 1-2 features accessible from the software touch screen as an upgrade? PLEASE? I don't' count selecting flash/no flash and 3MB or less as camera configuration choices. I'm talking real features here and this thing has ZIP Cero! Oh yea and while in movie mode you can snap pictures too. Of course you don't get flash anymore; and you can only take 3 shots while filming. Not 4 mind you, all scenarios under all conditions only need 3 according to Sony. When you stop the move; it takes a few moments to stream the 3 photos to disk/memory stick. I have both flash stick and HD; you would think we could do both in parallel; they almost accomplish it; but some engineering limit I'm sure made 3 the count. Why is this an issue? Assume you are taping your kids' ballet. And you take 2-3 photos during the movie of child #1. Then you keep the tape rolling to have a full video of the event. Child #2 comes on and you only have 1 photo left in the chamber; and you click it off when they weren't looking just this way...Hmm...where is my $130 7 MB still photo camera again??

Camera Controls: Hello FOCUS FOR *%&$ SAKE FOCUS! I only film in the high resolution mode (i.e. SP mode for VCR aficionados). And nothing annoys me more than 15-30 seconds of out of focus video while the stupid camera tries to figure out that the group of people about 15-20 ft in front of me are actually of interested to me and I would like the camera to somehow find a way to focus if is not too much of an inconvenience right now. This doesn't always happen but it sure does enough to say FIX IT SONY!

Software: I'm running Vista these days and you get free super generic movie making software. So you really don't need much here. Also just b/c the moves are *.mpg format doesn't mean you can just plop on a DVD and go. You still have to go through an "overnight" rendering phase to create a DVD w/ menus etc on any personal computer short of something NASA owns. And the videos don't play on an XBox360 media extender right now!

So there it is, in all its glory the true story about this Camcorder based upon my past 6 months of real world use and the reasons why I only can be so generous and give it a weak 3 stars.

So there it is, in all its glory the true story about this Camcorder based upon my past 6 months of real world use and the reasons why I only can be so generous and give it a weak 3 stars. Once again I felt compelled to write this manifesto b/c so many were so gaga over this barely acceptable device.

Buy Sony DCR-SR200 2.1MP 40GB Hard Disk Drive Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Now

Strengths: Excellent Video & Audio Quality. Great Still Pictures. Cool Touchscreen LCD. Night shot video is amazing. In Built Flash is very powerful.

Weaknesses: Battery protruded outside kinda gives a odd look. User Manual supplied is not very informative... u got to explore all the menus urself. u need docking stn to connect to PC.

Summary: Hey , no more additional softwares to convert all other video formats, Directly recorded as Mpeg format, connect to PC and rip your DVD.. its that easy.

Picture Motion Browser supplied with Handycam is cool and very handy, you can trim out unwanted portion of your videos.

I have been waiting for this since long. I purchased this just bcos its predecessor SR-100 was a big hit, and this one has all the features of SR-100 and some extra features.

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I have been involved with MPEG2 encoding since 1999. I know what are the qualities of a good MPEG2 encoder. I can point very minute artifacts that results from MPEG2 encoder. Being said that, here is my verdict on video quality.

* No visible quantization artifacts (Blocky video)

* No visible edge blurring or edge artifacts

* Very little video noise in low light situation (If you are picky like me!!)

* Little visible interlacing (Window blind effect) for fast moving scenes.

Overall, this MPEG2 beats all the software encoders I have tried in past: TMPEGEnc, Cinemacraft, etc.

This video is as close as you can get with commercial DVD movie for very reasonable price.

I am not going to comment on other aspects of the camcorder. You will find them in other reviews.

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Before purchasing Sony DCR-SR200 I have looked at other hard drive cameras few JVC ones, cheaper Sony and latest Canon. Sony and JVC are very ergonomic, they fit more or less perfectly in your palm, whereas Canon was awkward and controls were inconvenient to use. From all those cameras only DCR-SR200 (and higher model DCR-SR300) has very stable zoom. For the rest of the group zoom was sluggish and shaky when you zoom at max. Camera has 4 MP resolution for still images but pictures taken with DCR-SR200, as probably any other camera from the group above excluding Canon, are okay. Comparing pictures taken with 3.2 MP Canon PowerShot S1 with pictures taken with DCR-SR200 latter have too much color artefacts which are very noticable when zoom in. But this will be most likely acceptable for making 4x6 and even 5x7 prints.

Behringer MIC100 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier with Limiter

• Hand-selected 12AX7 vacuum tube with UTC technology for exceptional warmth and lowest noise
• The ultimate sound-enhancing tool for virtually any sound source
• Perfectly complements studio-grade condenser mics
• High-end tube mic/line preamplifier for studio, live and hard disk recording applications
• Eliminates the "dull" sound of standard digital recorders and sound cards

If one desires an easy way to experience the audio advantages of vacuum tubes in the playback chain without the associated cost and heat disadvantages of too many tubes, one can place a vacuum tube buffer stage between one's digital program source (especially streaming audio, MP3, or lossless audio files) and one's preamplifier. The "gold standard" for doing so in an affordable manner is the Musical Fidelity Tube Buffer. Unfortunately, this product is very hard to come by. What to do?

If one purchases two Behringer Ultragain MIC-100 preamplifiers...each costing little more than the replacement cost of the vacuum tube it contains...and four 1/4" male phono to female RCA connectors, one can create a budget tube buffer stage. The trick to making it sound good is to adjust it so it doesn't add volume to the final output. Unity gain. One can effectively approximate the "no add" setting by ear.

Why bother? The strident "grain" associated with computer audio files is smoothed. Voices seem to come forward in the mix. And, for whatever electrical and psycho-acoustical reasons, the final sound seems just a bit more natural.

I use two Behringer Ultragain MIC-100s as a buffer stage between a Behringer U-Control UCA-202 DAC and a Behringer Eurorack UB-502 mixer to provide state-of-the-art amplification for my Vic Firth isolation headphones. The resulting sound is absolutely top-drawer and completely belies the bargain price I paid for these components.

Enjoy!

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I've been using this mic-pre for about a year now and have had no problems.

I have used it as a preamp for a large-diaphragm condenser mic (+48V), as a line level converter (active DI box), and as a high-imp converter (DI box). All three have passed with flying colors. I encounter no noticeable additional hum or noise with this unit, though I recommend letting the tube warm up for a few minutes before recording.

Keeping the gain at minimum (+26dB) is crucial in avoiding excess noise and hum. With many tube-based mic-pre's, it is common to increase gain before accordingly adjust the output level as a means to force the warm, "tube compression" sound, but with this unit, I would recommend the opposite. The output, even at max, is surprisingly clean and noise-free. Only when the output nears +10dB (max) should you start toying with the gain. If you really need the "tube" sound, go for a more expensive model; that's not to say you don't get tube compression from the MIC100 it is just very subtle, which I like.

This unit does get warm to the touch, which is why I wish it had an off switch. It does come with a power cable clip, though, so it's easy enough to unplug without loosing the wire behind all your other equipment. The built-in limiter is a nice addition, though I prefer to disable it and instead record at safer (i.e. lower) level, adding any necessary limiting and/or compression in post. LED level monitors are highly responsive, giving quick, accurate level readouts.

Recommended!

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I use it to record vocals and guitar into an audigy 2 zs sound card using an SM58 mic. The sound is good enough for getting my ideas down and making songs demos. To expect something noise free at this price is just stupid.

If you want high end quality you are going to have to pay for it.

Want Behringer MIC100 Vacuum Tube Preamplifier with Limiter Discount?

Largely based on the reviews I read here at Amazon, I bought one of these MIC100 pre-amps to see if if would 'warm up' the sound of my hollow-body electric guitar. It does that, both on the front end (i.e., between the guitar and my amp) or the back end (between the amp's line out and a P.A.). Lately, I have been using it to warm up the sound of a low-cost mic, sometimes connected line-in to the same amp, and sometimes to a mixer or direct to a P.A.

I have to say that, for me, it works great in both roles. In fact, I may purchase another MIC100, so I have one for the mic and one for the guitar.

I should point out that this is for live performance. I understand that for studio work there are more expensive products that probably work better and, one assumes, have more features. For my purposes, this thing is great. I like it so much, I use it at home when I'm just playing for my own pleasure.

Noise hasn't been an issue, for me. Yes, it will get a bit noisy if you max the Gain knob, but I never do that. Somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 gets me the quality of sound I want. The Volume control doesn't add any noticeable noise at any reasonable level even at home, where there's minimal background din.

On the advice of another reviewer, I ordered a replacement tube for it, but I haven't actually got around to replacing the OEM tube. If there's a dramatic change for the better when I finally do that, I'll send in a supplementary review. For now, I'm sufficiently pleased that I have no feeling of urgency about swapping out the tube.

This is the third Behringer product I have purchased that has met or exceeded expectations. I see occasional comments, here and elsewhere, about their lack or reliability and/or quality control, and used to be a bit concerned about it. However, after a year and a half with my VT50FX amp (used pretty much every day), several months with the MIC100, and some time with a bought-used GM108 amp, I have no inhibitions about Behringer products.

Any mass-market manufacturer is going to have the occasional deffective product get into a customer's hands. The real issue is will they treat you right when it happens. I have read that Behringer does, though I haven't had reason to explore this myself. So far, I am pleased and impressed with my Behringer gear...especially that VT50FX amp.

[One exception is their guitar effects pedals. I've owned three of those (purchased, untested, by mail order); they all worked, but none did what I expected/hoped it would do. This may be more my fault than Behringer's, but once I got a Zoom Multi-effects unit, the pedals were relegated to the cupboard. These are definitely a try-before-you-buy item.]

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Works great, only complaint is that I use this in a RF enviornment and it is not rf sheilded very well, so on some frequencies it is not useable. EG: 21 MHZ.