Olympus VN-240 PC Digital PC Link Voice Recorder

This is my first digital recorder which I purchased for recording class lectures. This device is very simple to use and includes the software and connectors required to transfer the recordings onto your computer. My only gripe about this product is that it only has 4 hours of recording time on the low quality setting. Recording quality is satisfactory however I wouldn't recommend it for lecture recordings if the professor is not wearing a microphone unless you sit in the front of the class. Overall I am satisfied with this product.

I bought this recorder a couple of months ago, hoping to record some classes and lectures that are too good to hear just once. It's amazing that the classes sound even better on my PC than when I'm there! I absolutely loved it!

I usually place my recorder 5 to 10 feet from the professor, and the sound is perfect even when he walks around and goes further than that. It does not catch much noise from my colleagues, chatting in class but, surprisingly, records efficiently every question or comment!

I could not be more pleased with the quality of the sound, but now that I've used and loved it so much, I wish I had spent twice the money and gotten the Olympus recorder with twice the memory (DM-10)!

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My first digital voice recorder, and I couldn't be happier so far. Within minutes, I was recordering and saving those recordings to my laptop. The software installed without any problems, and the USB download, while not exceptionally fast, is very convenient. I am satisfied with the voice quality. My first meeting using this recorder, there was major construction going on right outside the office. That noise had very little effect on the recording. I agree with wanting longer recording time, but for the price, you can't beat this recorder.

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We just received this Olympus Digital PC Voice Recorder (VN-240) in the mail yesterday, but so far we just love it!!! It has very nice features for such a great price -(1) very compact & lightweight, (2) EXCELLENT sound quality (headphones included), (3) records each recording into separate files with a date/time stamp, (4) allows you to schedule future reminders, and (5) has the PC link to save all of your treasured (baby/kids) and/or important (school/business) recordings. Bottom line, this is a TERRIFIC product @ a TERRIFIC price!!!!!

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1. Can't get the driver to work under Windows XP.

2. No driver download from official website....

3. ...because they want to charge you $19.9 for the driver!

http://www.driverzone.com/viewcomment.php?company=Olympus%20America&masterid=501

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Nikon Coolpix S5 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I recently purchased the Nikon Coolpix S5 to replace my ailing Sony Cybershot P-8. The P-8 was my 3rd Cybershot and I'd never had a Nikon before.

While browsing for new cameras, I'd settled on the Canon IXY 700 as a replacement. However, my friend motioned me over to look at the S5. I'd looked at some of the other Coolpix models and didn't like the menu setup. I figure the menu is something that is going to be used a lot, so I wasn't going to consider any cameras with hard-to-use menus. I'd disqualified a Kodak EasyShare model earlier for that very reason; wanted to buy American, but alas, the menu was horrible. First impressions make or break a sale. And my first impression upon seeing the S5's menu was that it was very easy to use. And it has been.

The camera takes fairly decent pictures. However, not much of a difference vs. my previous Sony P-8 (3.2mp). I was hoping for a bit of an improvement, but didn't really see anything that impressed me overall that was "different."

The root of my review, though, is the design flaw that I believe this camera has. I'd taken several pictures at a going-away party recently and noticed that it looked like there were water splotches on the lens as there were white stars in the pictures. I took the camera to a photo lab and they blew the lens off in the case of any dust being on it. No water marks were visible on the lens (and the white splotches/stars in the pictures were never in the same place twice). When that didn't fix the problem, a photographer friend suggested that there might be dust on the sensor; although that doesn't explain the spots being in different places in each picture. I should note that not every picture has these spots. The common element seems to be that they are all evening, low-light situations using the red-eye flash function.

I took the S5 back to the place of purchase and exchanged for an identical unit. However, the problem has not gone away. A fellow from work noticed that the majority of the spots appear on the right side of the photos. Rarely are any (or any significant number) on the left side. Also, we were speaking of distance to object regarding the different photos, but near (~3 ft.) and far (~15-20 ft.) both resulted in similar splotchy problems. At this point, I suggested that perhaps the flash was too close to the lens and the rapid multiple flashing of the red-eye flashes was causing the bursts/splotches. My co-worker also suggested the lens being small may have played a factor in that, too.

That's where I'm at now. I believe my theory about the flash being too close to the lens is pretty close to the mark. I've never had this problem with any of my previous Sony Cybershots (and their lens to flash proximity was greater than the Nikon S5's).

As a result, I believe I'm going to request a refund and go with my original choicethe Canon IXY 700.

I did have one more nitpick regarding the menuit takes a little menu jogging to turn off the photo info details on the viewer (something that was a one-button deal on the P-8). But other than that, the S5 has been very pleasant to use. I'm disappointed to have found this flaw as the Canon's a little heaver and little thicker than the S5.

So overall, it's a very nice camera. If the red-eye flash + low-light problem was fixed, I'd have no problems recommending this to anyone. As it is, I'd suggest finding a different model in the meantime as this is definitely a deal-breaker to have splotches/bursts/spots in one's photos. Simply not enough time in the day to digitally airbrush every single picture with these problems.

I've had the Nikon S5 for about three months now. I bought it because I'd been looking for a slim digital camera that had a decent resolution, good battery life and was easy to use and carry around. I also thought Nikon, being a camera and optics company would offer me a product superior to the many other digital cameras offered elsewhere. I'd be the first to admit that I'm not super-savvy when it comes to photography but I've had my fair share of cameras, both digital and film.

I would NOT recommend this camera.

1. The picture quality is substandard to say the least. My Sony DSC-P10 from 4 years ago with a 2.1 mega-pixel resolution takes better pictures. Pictures are very grainy.

2. This camera is loaded with features. However it's extremely difficult to coerce the camera to capture a decent picture. I took it on a ski trip, set the camera to the "Snow" mode and resulted in a bunch of underexposed pictures (at different times of day, with varying levels of sunlight)

3. The camera takes an excessively long time to auto-focus resulting in one missing even the simplest of opportunities.

4. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS LESS THAN ADEQUATE

My camera hung at some point during the second month. By hung I mean it wouldn't move beyond an error screen (in Nikon Customer Service rep's words... something he had never seen before). I had to mail it in to get it fixed. Nikon Service refused to pay shipping because that's their policy (even for a two month old camera that suddenly refuses to work). It took numerous phone calls to locate my camera and the status of service. They mail (snail-mail) you your service order number that is used to locate the status of your service request.

I received the camera back two weeks after I had sent it in to their NY facility. The error was gone but now each time the lens moves back and forth to focus (either auto or manual) there's a loud ticking sound. One that can be heard at an arm's length away, one that would put a grandfather clock to shame. Another call to Nikon Digital Tech Support center resulted in me being informed that since there were moving parts in the camera, noise is to be expected (even though the noise did not exist prior to sending it in for service). The clicking noise is so loud that the Nikon rep could hear it through the phone. He insisted that since he had the same camera with him and it too made the clicking sound that this was normal for a digital camera. I pointed out that this might be a design problem or a flaw with the camera which was something the rep was not willing to entertain. An argument and call transfer to a supervisor later, I was told that I would have to call Nikon Service directly and arrange for the camera to be shipped back to them (presumably, again at my cost).

Also, the many times I've tried to contact Nikon Service, their phone lines are incessantly busy. I was advised by Nikon Digital Technical Support that I could either keep trying for 20 to 30 minutes or if I could wait I could try back in a couple of hours.

Bad camera, EXTREMELY BAD customer service. I WOULD NOT recommend this camera.

Buy Nikon Coolpix S5 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Now

I've had the S5 about two weeks now and payed about $150 less than the S1 I bought a year and a half ago...that one went swimming with me by accident. So far, I've notice a few substantial improvemements. 1) faster time from button pushing to picture. So much so that I've been waiting for it to take the picture long after it already has and I'd missed it. 2) Considerable improvement in the movie mode (15fps before to 30fps now) and the playback no longer requires a microscope. 3) the definition has improved even more so than the 5.1mp to 6.0 megapixel bump would suggest. Lastly, the controls are far better positioned and thought out for ease of use.

OVERALL: When the D200 is too big, this S5 is pretty durn close to perfect

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Yes, I was seduced by the "Nikon" moniker. A very nice little camera with a fatal flaw. In flash mode (which it uses a lot, given the slow lens and slow ISO ratings), approximately 1/4 of all images are ruined by white blobs, white halos, white circles, white comets, or other white artifacts that cover portions of the image. They show up randomly, with little rhyme or reason. Appears to be some sort of camera design flaw that allows flash light to bounce around inside the lens system. The artifacts move around in location from photo to photo, and are not the sort of thing you can fix easily in a photo editing program, so it's a deadly flaw, particularly when they pock-mark your subject's face. I received mine new from Cameta via Amazon, and the problem was visible within the first few photos. A test of the camera over a few hours' shooting had me tossing out dozens of photos. I'm kicking myself that I believed the "professional reviewers" of the camera, who seem to have remained blissfully unaware of this basic and glaring flaw. I noticed, but wishfully ignored, other users posting to Amazon who warned of this problem--what a sap! Next time I'll put more weight on the Amazon reviewers' opinions. PS: Since writing this review, I've had a reader contact me to tell me, in all seriousness, that what are appearing in my photos are likely the souls of dead people and ghosts, who show up as white orbs, splotches, and artifacts! (Who ya gonna call? GHOST-BUS-TERS!) This has left me puzzling over why dead people only show up when the flash is turned on? And why can't my Canon Digital Rebel SLR see souls of the departed--do only Nikons have the ability to photograph ghosts? Well, who am I to say, I don't know much about the hereafter or the ultramundane--but if you want a camera for ghost hunting, the S5 is your huckleberry. You'll have more "ghosts" than you'll know what to do with!

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I just bought a Nikon S5 and it hasn't been out of my pocket since it arrived in the mail. This is my 3rd Nikon but first digital camera. I am struggling with the limitations of digital over film but I think this camera is great. It produces beautiful images and I find it easy to manipulate. The camera is small and the photographer has to be careful not to get fingers in the photo as it has limited space to keep hold of it while taking the picture. A person with big hands might not be comfortable with this camera. The LCD is huge which is fantastic, but the biggest drawback is that the LCD is difficult to see in bright sunlight. All of the features are easily accessible, and the menu is reasonably intuitive. Like most digital cameras there is a maddening delay between pressing the button to take the picture and the camera actually capturing the subject. After the 2-3 flashes for red eye reduction, many of the people in my photos have moved onto a different expression or react to the intensity of the flash. The body design and the metal case make it tough, I have smacked it around kayaking and rock climbing and it is holding up under the abuse. I gave it 4 stars because it's not perfect but it's a nice little camera.

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Rock Camera/DVR-PIR Motion Activated, True Night-vision with Invisible IR Illumination and Ultra Li

Not only does it work, it works well! you have to wave your hand at it once placed, but after that, it records very well. Easy to use and review I highly recomend this, not only because it works so well, but the seller is very responsive and helps as much as they possibly can!

Produplicator 1-7 Lightscribe Burner 24X CD DVD Duplicator (No Shipping)

This is a fantastic product... I would recommend this product for any photographer or music artist who wants to get their product out in front of an audience fast..

This product was purchased to use for a church so that we could make certain homilies and special talks available to people to take home and share with others. We were very excited to have the opportunity to do this! However, this product is not very good for people like us who don't do duplication as a career. The manual that came with it is far from helpful. It skips steps and assumes that you already know how to do things and the tech support is only available during business hours on Monday through Friday. For our purposes (seeing as the people using this are volunteers) we are pretty much only using it on nights and weekends so the tech support is of no help to us. The one time we did call to ask a question we were told they would call us back and after waiting for almost 3 hours we finally called them back the response was apologetic because they had forgot about our call however, it was at the end of the day by this point so the "help" was very rushed.

We have also had a problem in that we bought a 7 disc duplicator and 2 of the trays don't work.

When we can get the duplicator to work we are happy with it and it is great, much easier than burning discs one at a time. However, getting a project to the point where we can use it is very difficult.

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Toshiba SD-V392 DVD/VCR Combo , Silver

• Progressive-scan DVD player/4-head hi-fi VCR combo unit; 17 x 4 x 10 inches (W x H x D)
• Plays DVD-Video, DVD-R, video CD, audio CD, CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA, and JPEG formats
• 192 kHz/24-bit audio digital-to-analog converter delivers warm, rich sound
• Component, S-video, and composite outputs for video connection, plus coaxial and optical digital audio outputs
• MTS decoding, Dolby Digital and DTS outputs, and virtual surround sound

Pros:

I was also scared off Sony and Panasonic after reading many bad reviews, and had locally heard good things about Toshiba.

-The unit is reasonably easy to hook up to tv and satellite dish.

-The sound on the TV improved after unit installed.

-Everything works so far, recording, dvd player, etc. Haven't tried special effects on DVD yet.

-The TV image while viewing a VHS tape or a DVD is good.

Cons:

-The VCR only records in SP and SLP, there is NO LP (4 hours on a tape) SETTING! This is the setting most people use, and the most efficient, so why are all the manufacturers dropping it??? The new Panasonic units also do not record in LP, they also

only use SP and SLP.

-Most of the internal components are plastic now, my old 1995 Panasonic weighs at least five times as much as the new Toshiba, as on the older unit most of the internal parts are metal.

The salesman said that on the newer VCR's they have at least a 30% return rate in the first three months, due to broken plastic components.

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In the past I have always spent big on DVD players, TVs and other home cinema equipment as watching movies etc is one of my favourite things to do. In the past I have happily paid over

$1500 for a DVD player and home cinema kit (was back in England so with currency conversion it was more like $3000) this was about five years ago when the things were still fairly new on the market.

However I recently married and moved to the states we are furnishing our first home from scratch so we have had to budget accordingly. Having recently purchased a $40 DVD player for a friends birthday and been impressed with it I was willing to risk buying my own first "low-price" player. And I do not regret it.

The playback for both formats is awesome and it records as well as VHS is going too, the sound quality is great (but that also depends on what you are playing it back through for us its a low end sansui TV and its still ok. It looks sharp with nice lines and it doesnt feel cheap. Its much smaller and lighter than the first wave of combo players too.

It is quiet whilst operating, the buttons are all clear and easily accesible. The player and remote have all the features you would expect and was all tuned in when hooked up. It also has RGB hook-ups on both front and back which I like i can have the permanent cables from the back and out of sight and we can then quickly attach games consoles etc to the front when needed.

Its a small thing but I actually really like the fact that this player has a clock its something that most DVD players dont have and not many combo players have either.

For $80 this really is a great little combo player would have been a great little DVD player on its own for that price too so the VCR is a bonus.

My one complaint about the model though is that it is one of the few (in hindsight as are most Toshibas) DVD players that cannot be "remote control hacked" to make it multi-region. I have a stack of DVDs I bought from the UK and I just cant watch them!

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I've had this unit for several months now. It's always been picky aobut the DVDs it will play. Some skip badly, some won't play at all. Yet these same disks play just fine in other players.

This unit takes forever to power up and come on. The disk drive eject time can be measured with sundial (very slow).

Tonight the whole unit just quite working. It freezes and then powers off. Of course, it's out of warrentee now....

Don't buy.

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Pros:

Really great image for the price

Works great with the ''original'' stuff

Cons:

Didn't have any problem until I tried some DVD-R and recorded cassettes. On the VCR, there were some white lines on the TV. When I tried DVD-R product, the image froze, paused, etc.

Bottom line: I couldn't watch DVD-R with this, even if the DVD is supposed to be able to read them. I read some reviews on the Internet and there seems to be a lot of ''compatibility'' problems with the DVD-R and DVD in general. So be careful.

I've had this DVD/VCR combo for about 2 1/2 months and it has performed quite well. It was very easy to set up and connect (first for cable and then for satellite). It has worked very well for VHS playing and recording. The DVD player is excellent for the price.

The only downside that I see (or can't see) is the remote control configuration which is quite hard to read and use, especially in the dark.

Sony DVP-NC675P/B DVD Player

• 5-disc DVD/CD Changer
• 480P Output
• Precision Drive 3 System with Dynamic Tilt Compensation
• DVD-RW/-R (VR and Video Mode) DVD+RW/+R Playback
• Dolby Digital and dts Decoding Compatible

This unit has all the features you'd wantfully compatible for Dolby Digital, DTS, etc., an optical digital output, progressive scanning. I actually don't have a TV that accepts progressive scan output but there's a switch on the back to stay in normal playback until I upgrade my TV. Video can be output in component form.

The slow forward and reverse playback is much smoother than my old unit. There are separate Menu and Top Menu buttons so you can go back just to the Special Features (or other sub-menu) or all the way back to the initial menu. It also remembers where you were watching on the disc even if you've watched a different one sincereally nice. The set-up is reasonably easy with the on screen menuit only took me a couple of tries to get the right digital output, etc. About 15 minutes overall.

It really does play damaged discsI had an ancient CD that hadn't been in its case and was smudged and scratched. It played perfectly without even cleaning it.

For a 5 disc changer I don't see how you'd find a better value.

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I bought this product couple of weeks back, and it's beautiful. Plays MP3, SVCD, DVD +/R/RW without a hitch. I love it. It's excellent value for money. It also has Digital Optical out, so it's cool if you have a HTR which accepts it!

I love it and for the price and value would highly recommend it!

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I've had players in the past that have balked at the cheaper Dvd media I've stuffed into it. Not this one. I'd buy another one just like it in a second.

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This is a large changer, but for the money it can't be beat!

Why would Sony make a 5-disk CD/DVD changer that can't even shuffle tracks on all 5 CDs?

I bought this model because I wanted something that was as good as my old 5-CD changer but could also play DVDs. Little did I know that Sony had put a 5-disk tray into a DVD player with the reading ability of a single disk player, and then jacked up the price.

In addition, I have to unplug the model to reset it once a week or so. If I don't, it starts chirping like a cricket during playback.

If you're looking for a good 5-disk changer, DON'T go with this model!

New 2.5" HD Car LED IR Vehicle DVR Road Dash Video Camera Recorder Traffic Dashboard Camcorder - LC

• Support SD/MMC card:up to 32GB
• 6 LED's, support nightvision
• please insert the SD card before recording. This camera has no internal memory and does not come with a SD card.
• Because the DVR is DV5v input, please use the attached car charger. it have adaptor 12V/24V transfers to 5V already.

Sound is not the best quality, device make noise by itself, you can hear it when video is recorded in quiet room. Car radio on video was on pretty loud.

8 gb = 2h+

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I think that a car camera is some thing ever car should have. the video has good qualitly and the sound it alright but only good for the cab of the vehicle, but did not expect anything superstar. all in all its a great camrea to have for that just in case. you should get a 32GB card so you can have about 10 hours of video. im not really for sure but i do think that it dose delete the old files and make new ones if its runs out of space but not really sure. have not really run it to that problem just yet. ill update it I find out.

Read Best Reviews of New 2.5" HD Car LED IR Vehicle DVR Road Dash Video Camera Recorder Traffic Dashboard Camcorder - LC Here

I bought one of these to use as a storm footage camera. I am a professional storm chaser for the National Weather Service. I have one of these on my windshield to capture tornado and storm footage. Works extremely well. Not the clearest picture quality but for 28 bucks I am not complaining. The quality of the picture is comparable to most cellular phones. Not too shabby. It works well for exactly what it was intended for so if your looking for a good bang for the buck then this little guy is for you. I don't think you will be disappointed. Only draw back is you have to by an SD-card. It DOES NOT come with the card and without the card this device will not work.

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after 3 day he stop work. not power on and display not working, its very horible. not buy this DVR

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Had a cheaper camera that only accepted 2GB SD cards and after recording would have to run that video through software to enhance, de-interlace, and so on. That had no audio.

This camera though had audio which is awesome and the video can be taken straight from the card and posted without running through software to enhance if you don't want to.

First contact with it was weird in that it the default language was Russian but reading through the small instruction sheet was able to change to English and run with it.

Power cord is long enough to run from the plug-in, under the driver-side dash, up under the trim, across the top and to the unit so you don't have that 'hanging' from the mirror. Dead give away something is attached to the window (which is technically illegal in Minnesota).

Would recommend as a 'gotta have something' to record. Am currently trying out the different 'types' of video quality and should report back on that.

ROXIO EASY CD & DVD

• CD/DVD burning software for faster burning and safer back-ups
• Easily rip, play, edit, organize, and burn digital music
• Copy CDs and DVDs with 1 click; drag-and-drop photo tools
• Create electronic albums or slide shows; design custom labels
• Make DVD movies with professional transitions and animated menus

Installing this program on a computer running Windows XP a HUGE problem. After installing Window gives the message that the software will cause Windows to become unstable, and that Windows prevented the drivers from loading. Then sends you to Roxio website for patch. The patch did not work, and their support service provides a resolution that involves editing your computer's Registry, a task I do not want to attempt.

By the way, the only way you can speak to a live person is to pay $35 per hour, more than I paid for the program itself.

Totally frustrating software for XP.

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I have used Adaptec Easy CD Creator since version 2.0

I just purchased CD & DVD Burner brand new from Amazon. And now I discover it's a "Legacy product!"

It doesn't recognize EITHER of my DVD burners, both of which are MORE THAN 2 YEARS OLD with firmware updates. One is a Toshiba, the other is a NEC.

I went to Tech Support at Roxio and started a "ticket." It still has not been answered after more than a 2 weeks. I have tried twice to Live Chat no one is available, though I'm "first in the que." There is no phone number for technical issues, just "customer support." In short, there is effectively no technical support for this product at all.

I see at the Roxio forum that the product is incompatible with Internet Explorer 7. We're supposed to "roll back" to IE 6.0. I have a new install of WinXP and rolling back isn't an option. Besides, if a piece of software doesn't work with the most ubiquitous Internet Browser, it needs a patch, or, it needs to be pulled off the shelves.

In sum, this is the worst "new" product I've purchased in years, and the tech support is also the worst I've experienced in a long time.

My money is simply shot with no hope of this software ever working. That is unacceptable. When this happens to me, I stop buying software from that company...for good. That means Roxio has lost a faithful, long-term customer.

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After reading mixed reviews about Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator, I decided to give it a shot based on past experience with Roxio products. I've used Roxio products in the past to make flawless music CD creations and copies. Recently, I updated my CD-R drive with a DVD-R burner from a reputable company. The software that came with the burner wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so I decided to give Roxio a shot. I have had nothing but success making music CD's (both copying and making MP3 cd creations). When it comes to copying DVD's.. this is where the problems start. Although this software doesn't allow you to make copies of DVD's with copy-protection, there are ways to get around it with the appropriate software. Whenever I open the Disc Copy feature, and insert my DVD (from my personal collection to back-up), the program freezes, and basically renders my computer helpless. The Disc Copy program is still open, but it will not allow you to click on any of the buttons in the program. Windows Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) allows you to end the program, but my computer still doesn't cooperate. I cannot open 90% of my programs after this happens, and if you attempt to shut down windows ('restart' or 'turn off') it will just go back to your desktop window from it's half-way attempt after your screen has transitioned from color to b&w. If you use DVD Shrink (free download) and save the movie to your hard drive, and then go to the Disc Copy feature and pull the film from your hard drive to back up, it doesn't freeze for some reason. (But I have yet to make it all the way to a 100% copied disc without getting a write error message... so far about 5 attempts equaling 5 more coasters to add to my desk). Let me note... I did go to Roxio's home page to update the software, and my DVD-R firmware is the most recent to date. After all of this... still just frustration. Roxio's tech support is a joke, and apparently you have to pay for phone support. Other reviewers had the exact same problem, so it isn't just a freak glitch. I should have listened to my gut and went another route, but decided to give Roxio a $30 donation. So in a nutshell, if you're planning on using this program to make copies of DVD's... SAVE YOUR MONEY.

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Loaded it on my laptop. It says that a compatible device was not found.

Went to website, downloaded patch. It said I had the latest patch already.

Everywhere you go on the roxio website, it tells you you can upgrade to version 8 for $20 off. It still is more than $50 and if Version 6 doesn't work, why would I throw more money at the problem?

I could find no usefull information on the website and no way to speak to someone.

I took it back to Best Buy. They said they could only exchange it for the same piece of junk. I went next door to Staples and they said if I bought software that does not work from them, they would refund my money if I bought it back within 14 days. So, I found a new source for software.

Pros:

It did not crash my laptop

It did not cause the modem to dial international calls

Cons:

Doesn't work

no tech support

doesn't work

no tech support

I wish I hadn't purchased this product. Once installed I was never able to get any of the features to run because of one error after another and finally my computer froze or hungup, and I had to run my computer in "safe mode" to get to the program and delete it, and then run a rebuild to get my computer back to where it was before the installation, and since this, my computer boots much slower than it did before I installed this program. I've since purchased Nero and it works much better for me, it is a bit complicated. I've also purchased a program from Avantrix, which I appreciate as a senior citizen because the language is not lofty of complicated it is the simplest program I've ever used, for instance if you point to a disc format that it doesn't support, it simply fades out. Most of the "thinking" is automatic.

Harman Kardon CDR 30 Dual-Tray CD Recorder

• CD sync recording from external digital sources
• 4x dub-speed capability
• HDCD and MP3 decoding
• Front panel optical and coaxial digital inputs
• 24-bit/96kHz AKM digital to analog converters

I purchased this recorder primarily to convert several hundred record albums to a format I could listen to more easily. I found that it was easiest to record an album first onto a CD-RW, use computer software to break it into individual tracks, then re-use the CD-RW.

After recording about 50 CD-RW's in the first month the unit developed intermittent problems, sometimes not detecting any type of CD placed in the machine, sometimes appearing to record but unable to read the disc later, sometimes giving a disc error message at random times. Since Harman Kardon's warranty service instructions say that you have to bring it to a registered facility, which are all hi-fi audio retailers, I called some in my area. Their responses indicated they might get around to looking at it in 3 to 6 weeks, and, by the way "where did you buy it?" (implying that internet buyers could expect poor service.) Because the problem was intermittent, it was likely that they would look at it in 6 weeks and not find a problem, and I would get the thing back in the same condition. So I struggled on, and found that CD-R's still worked most of the time, but CD-RW's became completely non-functional. Because of the lack of a national service center for Harman Kardon, I definitely would not buy their equipment again, regardless of features. I would lean toward another manufacturer with a national service center, which would be more interested in keeping me happy, even if they have to replace an intermittent machine.

As far as features go, the CDR-30 is acceptable for my purposes. But it's controls are not user-friendly (even for an engineer like me), and a lengthy reading of the manual is required to try anything new. Some of the instructions in the manual are erroneous and misleading. The CDR-30 is pretty good for copying music CD's onto CD-R's, as it will dub at 4 times speed.

All in all, I would look to another manufacturer if I were buying a CD recorder. I couldn't recommend this machine.

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This is definetly one of the Best product I ever used.

I am musician and sound writer , it's so much easier to burn sample of my music directly from the sequencer and listen and check what to improve in term of quality of sound and combination

of sounds .The Analog options of burning any analog device to a CD is just Great ...

I have see my writing of sound improve greatly because I don't have to spend tousand of Dollars for just sample in Music Studio before the real production.I save a lot of Money with Harman Kardon CDR 30 Dual-Tray CD Recorder

If You are Musician and Sound Writer This A GREAT MACHINE to Play with.

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I never dreamed that I would love this product as much as I do./ I don't even use my computer burner any more. This unit is so easy to use, and so comprehensive, that it eliminates the need for a computer burner... I have used this product incessantly since receiving it. The Harman/Kardon name is synonymous with acoustic excellence, and this is no exception. A must for the music teacher. Great for all aspects of music education, while still holding faithful to copyright laws. 5 easy-to-use stars!

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Whether making an exact backup of a CD or making a 20 track compilation, this recorder just works. Have never made a coaster -just remember to hit finalize when you are done with your recording. Fanatastic deck.

Zoom ZH4N Handy Portable Digital Recorder

• Built-in X/Y stereo mics record at either 90° or 120°
• Four channel simultaneous recording using built-in and external mics
• Digitally controlled, high-quality mic preamp for improved audio quality
• Large 1.9-Inch LCD screen and improved user interface for easy operation
• 24bit/96kHz Linear PCM recording for pristine recording

After having done a quick video test for the Kodak Zi8, I decided to do something which would focus more on its audio recording capabilities. I also wanted to test the Zoom H4n, a portable flash recorded I recently purchased... so, here I am, killing two birds with one stone.

I setup the Kodak Zi8 about 5 feet from the sound source, which is an upright piano... that's me noodling on it. The Zi8 is mounted on a tripod.

About 15 feet away from the piano, I've setup the Zoom H4n recorder. This unit has an XY stereo microphone built into it. It also has the ability to record two inputs, in the form of XLR or 1/4-inch. So, we'll be hearing the built in XY microphone on the unit as well as a pair of AKG 414s which I positioned above the piano, pointing into the open lid.

"Kodak Zi8 Internal Microphone"

Here we hear the internal microphone on the Zi8. Mono, a bit noisy and perhaps a little too close to the piano to capture a clean sound. In any case, this does the trick for capturing an idea, but definitely doesn't cut it if you're looking for high-quality audio.

"Zoom H4n XY Microphone"

Here the stereo image opens up suddenly. This XY microphone which is built into the unit is capturing a very natural, coincident stereo sound. It's a very reflective room, so you hear that, as the microphone is about 15 feet from the sound source.

"Zoom H4n Pair AKG 414s"

Here we're hearing the pair of AKG 414 microphones pointing into the piano. Because the microphones are very close to the sound source, there is significantly less "room" sound. This would be more suitable for a studio recording, while the XY sound would be more appropriate in perhaps a classical or field recording.

"Zoom H4n Mix of XY + 414s"

Here we have the best of both worlds. We have a blend of the direct signal from the 414s AND some of the room sound from the XY microphone. I believe this is the best overall option in most scenarios.

Finally we return to the Zi8 internal microphone to hear the major difference when using external audio equipment. At under $200, I believe the Zi8 does a great job capturing the visual and at under $300, the Zoom H4n does a remarkable job with the audio.

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In looking for a portable handheld recorder for scratch tracks and samples, I weighed the benefits of a few of the handhelds available today and settled on the H4n. The other recorders on my short list were the Edirol R-09 and Sony PCM-D50, and also the H4. So far the H4n hasn't disappointed.

I settled on the Zoom H4n for a couple of reasons:

1) 1/4" and XLR inputs with phantom power Very handy for throwing a mic on a kick and snare, and the H4n will record those plus the internal condensor simultaneously, which is perfect to get the rest of the drum kit for some quick loop scratch tracks.

2) More geeked out features than the others They are not needed but still fun to have. The H4n is like the Leatherman of handheld pocket recorders with plenty of built in effects (which sound really good btw), built in 4 track recorder mode, tuners and metronome, playback speed control, MP3 encoder, acts as USB audio interface (both input and output), built in monitor speaker, and more. I also like the little things I'm still discovering, like when I put Ni-MH batteries in and then plugin in the adapter it recharges the batteries.

3) Build I like the build quality compared to the H4 Not as nice as the Sony but the thing does feel solid and substantial in your hand. The built in mics are a little exposed without a wire cage on the top like others have, it would probably not be a good thing to drop this unit and have the mics hit first.

4) Cost This recorder was midrange even with it being brand new. It's less than the Sony and more than the H4 or R-09. I suspect the price will come down a bit when it's been out for a couple months down to where the R-09 is now. For what it has built in it's amazing to be it's as inexpensive as it is.

5) Sound quality The H4n sounds clean. I believe turning on the built in compressor, or boosting a really weak input signal with a lot of input gain could cause hiss, but for the most part I don't notice any. Usually the noise floor is so low on what I've recorded that it is not audible. Some different mics and setups might have different results, time will tell.

6) Menu and button layout I really like the way they set this unit up. Very easy to navigate and record with, and does what I want quickly with only a few caveats mentioned below.

7) SD card format SD cards are cheap and readily available. I don't care so much for the memory sticks the Sony uses.

Now the downsides, maybe all these handheld recorders suffer from similar issues but I'm going to give my first impressions never having used one before and the H4n is the best I have to compare with:

1) Menu system While easy to navigate, still feels like it could use refining through a firmware update. It feels like it wasn't finished when the product shipped. The fonts look a little like a 5 year old put them together, Zoom could have done better with the screen they put in the H4n. A lot of products like this are rushed to market to meet revenue goals, so hopefully they will get time to take another look at the firmware and make UI improvements. Also the firmware is trying to be a little too fancy with the menus. There is a little expanding box effect that happens when you open a menu, but it ends up just looking like screen artifacts when changing the menus. It would have been better to immediately jump to the menu, it would be faster and would look better.

2) File naming (another UI complaint) I really wish the firmware gave you the ability to delete a character in a file name. The filename can be edited, but characters can only be added or changed, not deleted. If you use divide alot, the name gets larger and larger but cannot be made smaller. This is a bit annoying when combined with the divide implementation....

3) No divide while recording there is no divide while recording that I could find. It seems like it would have been very easy to make one of the unused buttons act like a divide when recording. Instead you can set a "mark" (non editabled btw, after one is set it is permament in that wav file). The marks let you easily jump to that point and divide it later, but when it divides the file you end up with an 'A' or a 'B' tacked on to the filename. Now, imagine recording an entire gig or practice with only marks to use to delimit the songs, and then you have to divide them later with the naming scheme and lack of delete character function I mentioned above. What you end up getting is files named something like 'STE-001A.wav', STE-001B.wav', 'STE-001BBBBA.wav', and eventualy 'STE-001BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBA.wav' etc and there's not a lot you can do on the device to fix it since the best you can do is replace the extra characters with spaces so that you end up with a file named something like 'song blah .wav' (you can plug it in as a USB interface later and fix all the filenames in the folders, but not a lot you can do on site except stop and restart recordings versus using "marks").

4) Documentation I'm not sure what Zoom was thinking here. The documentation looks like it was passed through a translation program without any proof reading before shipping. It is filled with sentences such as "On stereo mode can be made 19 different setting using. WAV & MP3. If you want to change, operate before recording". I get the general intent most of the time but it hurts. Luckily the unit is easy enough to use that you don't have to rely on the documentation too much.

As I see it, the complaints I have are mainly around details of the UI implementation and documentation and relatively minor. All around the unit is great and a lot of fun to use. The sound quality is top notch, and the capabilities of the device are astounding. I would have given it 5 stars if the few UI details had been better thought out and someone had read the documenation. For a great all around handheld recorder with excellent sound quality, lots of features, and a reasonable price, the Zoom unit is going to be very hard to beat.

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Just like the customer above me, I have a fairly early model (serial 2211). I don't imagine them having any revisions or anything, because this unit is really solid. Let me start by saying that this device should not be considered a Mic in its own right. Sure, it has two condenser microphones stuck on top to record in stereo, but I wouldn't use these mics in any studio unless I had nothing better. This unit is for those people who want to record in the field, and be able to capture 4 tracks of audio in a handheld device.

First, the build quality. Obviously Zoom took a lot of criticism to heart from their first H2 and H4 models. The H4n sports a "rubberized" hardshell design that's easy to grip, and seems to stand up well to surface scratches. (Mind you, the rubber texture can attract greasy fingerprints which can get annoying if you're a gadget freak like me). The top of the unit where the mics are is metal. There is some plastic on the unit, but definitely better designed than the previous two recorders from zoom. The buttons are easy to press, and the screen is large, allowing you to see everything you need to very easily.

The poster above me wondered why there was no metal cage protecting the microphones (like the previous H4 had). The answer to this is the switchable pattern on the microphones. Each mic can be twisted and swiveled to change the directionality that the mic pics up. In its native position the mics pic up at a 90 degree angle, giving a pretty good stereo image. But when you twist them, the mics are then a 120 degree angle. This is good for picking up sources that are farther away, or even ambient sounds for a wider stereo image. If there was a metal cage over the mics, you couldn't reach your fingers in to twist them. Overall, I would rather have a switchable pickup pattern, than a protective cage. Just don't drop a $350 recorder.

Second, the packaging. Inside the box, the unit came with a hardshell plastic carrying case, usb cable, foam windscreen, ac adapter, mic stand adapter, manuals and cubase le software, and a 1gb memory card. This is leaps and bounds above the competition. Most other recorders won't come with any of this. Other companies will even make you buy your own ac adapter and memory card. And Zoom went even further and added a plastic carrying case (for those of you worried about dropping it). They were definitely thinking about the customers on this one.

Third, and most importantly, the sound quality. This is why you buy the unit right? The sound quality has to be good or nothing else matters. Overall I was surprisingly impressed with the sound quality. I am an audio engineering student, going to school for sound reproduction, and sound reinforcement. Needless to say, I know my way around a microphone. I was expecting this unit to sound average, just like a pocket (or handheld) recorder usually sounds. But in fact, the H4n sounds pretty decent. The high end is nice and defined, the microphones built into the unit sound really clear. The one thing I can say about the sound is that it is accurate. I have recorded a few tests using my voice, a guitar, and some other misc. elements. I did notice that the microphones gave off a little bit of condenser hiss when the input gain was turned up. This could probably be solved or lessened if you were to get closer to the object and turn down the recording level. But still, it worries me to have a little bit of noise floor coming from the mics, especially if I were to use the recordings for post production video work.

The other thing I noticed was a lack of bass response. This could have been because I was a foot or two away from the microphones, but the bass on the microphones was a little lacking. My voice sounded a little thin. My guitar sounded fine, but guitars don't really have a lot of low end in the first place. Also watch out for handling noise. If you think that you're going to carry the unit around and do interviews while holding it, forget it. All handheld recorders suffer from this (I've read), but its true for this unit as well. Anytime you hold the H4n and move it around, you can hear low end rumbling and handling noise. Just use a tripod, or the included hand/mic clip adapter and you should be fine. (Also get a better windscreen if you're going to use it outside, the one included doesn't do anything outdoors for wind noise. You should buy a fuzzy or "hairy" windscreen if you want to use it outside)

Overall I think this recorder is the best on the market right now. Although there are a few units that have better sounding built in microphones (sony), it's only marginally better. Plus the H4 is cheaper (by about $150) and has more build in features/functionality. Like the fact that the H4n can record with two built in mics, and two XLR mics simultaneously (4 tracks at once). This means that you can record with the built in mics, but also use your own microphones if you want to add variety, redundancy, etc. You can also just use the unit for a preamp if you only want to use your own microphones to record in the field. I won't name off all of the features, but some included features weren't even necessary and Zoom was nice enough to add them in anyway (guitar tuner, audio interface, stamina mode, MTR mode, 96k recording, etc).

Needless to say, if you need a recorder for any reason, even if it's just for a school project, or for recreation, don't buy the cheapest recorder you can find. Spend a little extra money and get the H4n, it's seriously worth the extra cash for something that will last you much longer. It's simply the best value for a handheld recorder on the market right now.

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I purchased the H4n after being unhappy with the H2's performance most significant where I couldn't record a good sounding signal that wasn't distorted with the Line In jack. Only to find that the H4n has the same problem but not as bad. If I try to record a line level signal from a sound board or stereo receiver and connect to the H4n's 1/4 inch jacks, it is almost impossible to not to have a distorted signal. It appears that on both models the line in preamp is too sensitive and clips very easily and because it is clipping in the preamp, adjusting the gain doesn't correct it. I contacted Zoom's tech support about the H2 and was told that I likely had a defective unit. I returned the H2 and decided to give Zoom another chance and try the H4n after seeing many positive reviews.

I really like the H4n's design, the menus and controls are nicely organized. It feels more sturdy than the H2. The recording quality using the built in mics is excellent. Most other recorders in this price range don't have XLR inputs. Since I plan to use it mostly for recording concerts by connecting to a line out or tape out on a sound board, if the line in jacks don't work properly and can't accept a normal line level signal without clipping, I can't use this for what I bought it for. I have used my Sony minidisc recorder for the same type of application for the past 8 years and have never had any problems. I've worked with pro sound equipment for over 25 years and have used many types of recorders and so far the Zoom products are the only ones where I have encountered this problem. If you are using this to record with mics, it works great, but if you need to record from line level sources, the Zoom recorders may not be a good choice. I exchanged this for the Tascam DR-07 and while the Tascam doesn't have as many bells and whistles, It is a nice recorder and I'm very happy with it.

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Among the many other recorders on the market today, I looked seriously at the H2 and the original H4. I ended up not buying anything for awhile because every single one of these devices seemed to be missing something or have a negative aspect that I just wasn't enthusiastic about paying for. Then I heard some rumbling that Zoom was coming out with the H4n, which was supposed to be their response to all the feedback they'd gotten about the H2 & H4. So after all the good things I'd read about those two, the H4n had me at hello. I grabbed one as soon as it became available, which was about a month after they announced it. (Serial # 1438!)

I won't review every little detail of the H4n but I'll tell you the three major improvements that made me buy this:

The screen is now a healthy size and displays everything you need to know clearly.

The interface overall is a pleasure to use. You can operate it easily with one hand. It's very intuitive and all the controls feel solid. I usually go through the manual once anytime I get a new piece, but for basic recording you really wouldn't have to. Even the 4-track mode is a breeze.

Zoom has really stepped up the build quality on this piece. Unlike its all-plastic predecessors, the H4n's case is rubberized and the mics are solidly mounted on... what's this, metal? It has a nice solid weight and feels pro. One thing I didn't understand though: the original H4 had these protective pieces surrounding the mics and the H4n does not. But it's slightly top-heavy and if dropped I can easily imagine the mics hitting the floor first and I'm pretty sure they would be tweaked/broken. Or what if you had this in your back pocket and sat on the mics? It's like, for all the work they put into making this more durable, they left the most important part vulnerable. Which kind of makes me wonder whether the extra heft of this unit is just for feel, not for real. (Time will tell..)

I will primarily be using this to record DJ sets and sounds from the field. I did that this past weekend and the quality is just as good as the other reviews say it is. I'm looking forward to being able to record a stereo mix from the mixer, simultaneous with a room mix with crowd noise, in 4 channel mode. Also this is the first condenser I've owned and I look forward to using it in the studio. I leave some cables hanging off the back of the cable box so if I hear something on TV I can just plug in and hit record. I thought I wouldn't use the 4-track but already it has me exploring ideas in the car. The built-in speaker is really handy. The FX are very high quality and there are some interesting ones beyond the typical reverb and delay.

The H4n is like the Swiss Army Knife of field recorders. The big one, with all the weird blades and tools you'll probably never need. It's one of those rare moments of technical glory when a company collects a ton of great ideas from their customers, refuses to compromise, and you end up with a truly inspired product.

Clover Cdr0440 4-Channel DVR with 500 Gb Hard Drive

I bought this stand-alone 4 camera DVR by itself because I wanted to add my own cams,so I bought the Sony CCTV 1/3" day/nite camera because of its fantastic clear images and SPOTLITE LIKE nite time viewing. I added 2 cameras. The Unit's quad picture to the TV monitor is very clear. The unit comes with a remote which is a plus. The instruction manual is very high tech and not very easy to decipher for the average person. It does not have a trouble-shooting section that would be of immense help.

It is very poorly written. When you apply the sensitivity for motion recording it is numbered from 1 thru 9, The book does not tell you which end is the most and least sensitive. This is just one example. It does not have real down to earth instructions. It has a USB slot for to capture video from a memory stick. It can also connect to the computer if you wish to do so.

I bought the Clover Cam DVR because it was name brand Quality and although I am not happy with the manual it does work for me, a homeowner for surveillance purposes.

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DV7000A SD/SDHC High-Definition 720p Digital Camcorder w/4x Digital Zoom & 2.4" Flipout LCD (Black)

You get what you paid for. For this price it is a fair deal, but I do not recommend for upscale YouTubers or serious Videographers. It advertises 720p, but I have not been able to get that quality on my computer and the software that comes with is lame. Like I said, you get what you pay for.

This camcorder has performed better than i thought it would. It shipped right away & was exactly as advertised. Worth every penny.

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The location of the microphone picks up the motor noise from the camera and not the sound from the subject. The microphone is inside next to the view screen. Videos are useless unless you delete the audio.

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Was kinda hard to figure out how to use and really not what I was looking for. If I could n't figure it out my mom will have a hard time with it too or maybe she might surprise me cause after all it is her's.

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After only a few uses the camcorder view screen would suddenly go green. We had to keep turning it off and on again to get the view screen to play correctly.

The camera has a cheap plastic feel to it. It requires two AA batteries and an additional memory card not included. Save yourself some frustration and buy a more expensive camcorder.

Panasonic PV-HS2000 ReplayTV ShowStopper 30-Hour Digital Video Recorder

• ShowStopper pauses live TV and resumes play at your convenience
• 30-hour hard drive digitally stores programming, eliminates need for videotapes
• QuickSkip feature jumps ahead 30 seconds
• Instant replay allows you to rewind in 7-second increments
• Free ReplayTV programming guide with no monthly service fees

I am very happy with the Panasonic PVHS2000 but wished I had bought the Replay unit instead. I will not try to describe all of the delights of having a personal digital recorder...

I do want to note that Panasonic's version of the Replay unit is different from the similar unit available from Replay. The Panasonic unit will not let you play copy-protected DVDs and video tapes. It appears that they don't want anyone to copy DVDs and video tapes to the hard drive for later viewing. This restriction was not prominently noted and at first it didn't bother me very much. I didn't intend to copy DVDs and tapes to hard drive anyway. It wasn't until much later that I realized what a real contraint that was.

I have only have ONE S-video connector at the back of the my TV. The Panasonic unit is connected to the TV using the S-video connector. When I went to attach my DVD player, I found I could not connect it to the S-video input of the PVHS2000 as it would not play DVDs. So I had to connect the DVD player to a composite input on the TV. This meant that I could not take full advantage of the enhanced picture quality of the DVD player. I had a similar problem with the VCR. It could not be connected to the PVHS2000 because some tapes are protected.

So, just be aware that the Panasonic version of the Replay system is NOT the same as the original. How many other differences there are I can only guess at.

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This product is an excellent example of a product that was made 90% of the way, and the remainder of the details were ignored. In general, the product works well, but with some very significant quirks. (This review assumes you already know of all the benefits of the machine, and you are looking for the problem areas NOT on Panasonic or ReplayTV's web sites.)

The first, and most significant, is that it is incapable of controlling cable boxes via a serial port, even though the serial port is on both the Showstopper and the cable box! It can control satellite dishes via a serial line, but not a cable box. The ramifications of this are huge; the first being that if your TV does not have two tuners, then you can never watch something else while recording another program. The second is that the IR blaster, by ReplayTV's own admission, is quirky, at best. The product makes the claim that multiple antenna sources can be hooked up to the machine, and it will create one consolidated channel guide. What they don't tell you is that the channel guide is not capable of differentiating inputs. So, let's say that you have a cable line going into the unit, and then another line in from the cable box. (Remember that Showstopper has it's own tuner, so it can tune the coax line in, but it uses RCA plugs and an IR blaster for the cable box.) When you setup the unit, and it downloads the programming directory from all your inputs, and creates a channel guide. Unfortunately, the system only uses the cable box to tune your channels. This means that if you want to watch something else, while recording something on the Showstopper, you cannot do that. If, on the other hand, the system recorded off its own tuner, and didn't use the cable box, you would be okay, because you could split the line out of the cable box, and have it go into your TV. I have called the folks at ReplayTV, and while only a few of them actually understand the problem, even fewer actually care. In point of fact, when you call technical support, they don't even know how the system chooses which antenna it will use to record! The worst part of this is that their IR blaster codes are poorly programmed. For example, it currently takes about 4 seconds for me to get to the next channel when I hit channel up! Why? Because the programming of the blaster codes was done at a very rudimentary level. Specifically, when you go to change the channel, it first goes to its own channel guide, which creates a "blue screen" for about a second or two. Then, when it completes that search, it sends a code to the cable box, but it only sends half the necessary code. If you had entered "201" and then hit the enter key, it would send the code "201" to the cable box, but it wouldn't hit enter. So, if you are lucky and you have a cable box that goes to a channel after a lengthy pause, then you will see about 1 second of programming from the prior channel, and then another second of blue screen, and then the new channel, if the IR blaster worked correctly. If not, you may have a problem. This makes channel surfing an absolute nightmare. Unfortunately, the folks at ReplayTV and Panasonic have no fix for this problem.

Which brings me to another serious concern, which is technical support. The folks at both Panasonic and ReplayTV either have not been trained well on this product, or are just not very interested in our problems. In addition to the problem above, they also have a difficult time understanding concepts, such as wanting to watch one program, while recording another. It took me 15 minutes to explain to one lady that if I wanted to record a movie from Showtime 2 (a cable box channel), while watching 60 minutes (a channel using the unit's tuner), I would not be able to do it. Her solution after research: I should record 60 minutes, and watch Showtime 2. (If my sarcasm isn't getting through properly, it was an unacceptable answer)

I would warn you that if you are planning on having anything other than a very simple, plain "vanilla" set-up, then this product may cause you more pain then you might think. The product is not very flexible in dealing with other components, and I have mine working in a way that is sub-optimum. I have spent over an hour talking to both Panasonic and ReplayTV about these problems. Their message back is that they acknowledge these problems, but since Tivo has the same problems, they are not in a hurry to address them.

I could go on about some of the other issues, but this is limited to less then 1,000 words.

Overall, I've gotten used to having it, and while I still miss a few shows because IR blaster technology is unreliable, but it is nice to be able to watch what I like, instead of whatever may be on. My recommendation to anyone who is considering buying this is that you shouldn't think you are buying a high-tech cutting edge product. This is not cutting edge; it uses old technology with a new name; at best it's late '80s technology combined with newer MPEG-II technology. You might want to wait for Replay and Tivo to get their acts together, and create more reliable systems before buying.

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I read A LOT of reviews before purchasing this product and knew most of it's shortcomings before I opened the box. One shortcoming that I was not aware of was that with my current setup (stereo being hooked up to VCR) I can no longer watch TV and listen through my stereo the two are out of sync by less than a second but very distracting to watch. It is also troublesome if you decide to use your cable box remote and not to go through showstopper (to avoid the lag time when channel surfing which I do admit I do A LOT less now) if you do not "reset" the IR blaster (had no idea what this was till I got the thing--you hook it up to your cable box and it changes the channels) by switching the channels a few times it--it gets all confused and thinks that it is on one channel while it's on another--for instance it thinks it's on 551 but it's really on 51--the only way I've notice to fix this is to flip around the channels for awhile. A little trouble downloading the guide--physical set up took only about 15 minutes but setting it up and using the phone line took about an additional 40 and had some problems figuring out if I needed to enter something to cancel call waiting. Had to change #'s to one that I don't know if it is local because the one number that was local was giving me all kind of trouble downloading which Replay TV blamed on Panasonic. Also the guide for Court TV is not accurate and therefore you basically cannot tape a single thing on that channel accurately. It is a problem missing the end of shows esp. sports--they need a "tack on 20 minutes" option. The unit does make noises at times--but more often than not this is not noticeable. All in all I'm very happy with my purchase and now always have something that I like to watch on. Oh and PS don't know why ANYONE would buy a TIVO that doesn't have Quick Skip--with QuickSkip an entire commercial break is skipped in 5-15 seconds. I did not understand until I got the unit that Quick Skip skips over 30 seconds at the touch of a button, much like skipping over a song you don't like on a CD--which is TOTALLY different from fast-forwarding through it which takes about 3X as long. Also not too wild about Replay Zones--like I wanted to set one up for True Crime and tell it not to tape COPS and some other shows it chose to include--no can do. Mostly I set up showbased channels and single record. That has worked out best for me. Really like the guide that Replay provides it very accurate and user friendly--much better than the one provided by digital cable and guide+ if you are familiar with those. Oh one more IR blaster glitch for some reason every once in awhile it decides instead of changing the channel to pull up the digital music guide that my digital cable provides--which you then have to exit out of. No idea why it does this. SO GREAT NOT HAVING TO WATCH COMMERCIALS IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY IT IS SOOO WORTH IT I would like to clear up something another reviewer said about this product-he said that you shouldn't get it because you can't route your DVD player through it or your VCR. This is true of just about any A/V device these days especially true of DVD's almost ALL OF WHICH are copyright protected and therefore have to be routed directly into the TV. So this product does work best if you have AT LEAST two A/V inputs on your TV-and you can really only set it up to watch one channel and tape another if you have a satellite and cable or digital and analog cable (I don't have an analog line in the same room so couldn't set it up to watch one channel and tape another-which does suck)

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I went and bought this looking for the option to record shows that I always miss when I am at work (I really like Anime, for example) and I can give the box certian settings, be that Cartoons, or a specific Show and It can find every time the show is on and record it for me and I can watch it ANYTIME I want to, not having to worry about remembering to watch the show and set the VCR to record the next time I want to see a show (which I had missed just because I forgot to push a button). I don't have to worry about this anymore, I can tell the Showstopper to look for "Music Videos" and I can come home and have a Music Video Channel anytime I want (without having to pay extra for a channel like that). The Replay Zones sometimes come in handy when you would like suggestions for Movies or Shows to watch, but I have not found myself using it that much. But the option to record any shows/movies with a certian actor/actress in it has really come in handy! I love being able to find a program I just saw a commercial for and browse the guide (up to a week) and set the box to record it and get to watch it whenever I want. I have found the 'Extended' Mode is fine for pretty much anything you want to watch, but sometimes Fast Animation can get a little 'blocky'. Most of the time, you can use 'Extended', but you can set it for 'Medium' and it looks a little better. It is best to test with the different recording settings since everyone has their own tastes, I personally haven't ever used 'high' (it takes up too much space).

Following the Instructions, I was up and running within 10-15 min. The Clock is Very precise, which can be annoying since some stations have different time and shows can be a little off, but 97% of the time, the show will get recorded in its entirity.

Replay (the backbone of this unit) will be addding more features this fall such as adding a 'buffer' (extra recording time) for sports, etc, options to record more specific portions of a program, (weather forcast in a newscast) and the option to set your box to record using your internet connection (realize you want to see "Monday night football" but you have to work late, etc).

If you can spend the Money, it is a great Device to get since it HELPS you find shows you want to see and not having to Mess with anymore tapes. I would HIGHLY reccommend this to ANYONE who has missed shows since they forgot to press the record button! (I would reccommend to get the version with the largest recording time possible, you will find yourself using it ALOT!)

(One Note: If you are using an RF/Coax for your cable, you will need to get a splitter if you want to be able to watch a different show than you are recording, but it's no big deal (about $5 at any local electronics store).

I have been a huge fan of ReplayTV since I bought my 20-hour unit a

couple of years ago. Before I list off pros and cons, I want to

stress just how much this changes TV for you and your family.

Essentially, you no longer need to know what time the shows you like

are on. You don't have to be home, you don't have to program a VCR

and make sure the tape is at the right spot, nothing like that. Just

tell the Showstopper what shows you like (by show name, or by keyword

in the title, description, or actor list), and it records it for you.

In fact, even if you happen to be home when a show you like is on,

you'll more than likely not start watching right away. I usually find

some bills that need to be paid or start some laundry. Once the show

is 15 minutes in, then I start watching (which it's still recording

the live broadcast.) When I get to the first set of commercials, I

"QuickSkip" past them with the 30 second skip button (you

can press it multiple times, or hit a number and the skip button to

skip n minutes forward.) I usually catch up at about the time the

show is over. That, folks, is super-cool!

What's even cooler is

that it truely changes the way you watch television. I watch TV

whenever I want. If I hang out with friends Monday-Friday evenings in

a given week, but I can't sleep on Sunday at 4:00am -guess what?

"NYPD Blue" is on. And so is "The Practice". And

so are the last 2 episodes of "The Sopranos"!

The three

complaints I see most often in other reviews are:

1) It doesn't have

2 tuners, so I can't watch 1 show while I record another.

2) The

sound sometimes gets out-of-sync with the video.

3) There's no local

dial-in number, so I pay big phone bills to keep the program guide

up-to-date.

Here is my take on those concerns:

1) It does not have

two tuners. This is true. However, your Audio/Video setup probably

has more than 1 tuner. There's 1 or 2 in every TV, one every VCR, and

one every cable box / DSS receiver. The limitations here are real,

but many can be worked around. The one thing that you cannot easily

do is record something while watching something else that is scrambled

(i.e. by your cable company or over a DSS dish.) If you want to do

that, you need an additional cable box or DSS receiver. But

otherwise, you can watch one show while recording another with no

problems. Just tune through another device. Replay tech support has

been very well trained in my limited experience with them.

2) There

are two possibilities here: There was a bug in an old release of the

software (called Replay 2.0) in which this could happen. You could

have resolved the problem by pressing the pause button on the remote.

But that bug was fixed a long time ago, so if it's still happening,

then you probably have your receiver playing the audio from your cable

box or vcr instead of the Showstopper. There is a 2-3 second delay

from the live broadcast during which the Showstopper is buffering and

recording. That's a user error. If you listen to the audio from the

Showstopper, it does not get out-of-sync.

3) Odds are that you will

have a local number, but it's certainly not guaranteed. In my

opinion, you'd be foolish to lay out this kind of cash without

verifying that a local number is available.

Other notes I'd add: --

There is a new feature called that allows you to

schedule recordings via the web. Those recording requests get

downloaded to your machine the next evening, so if you're on vacation

and forget to record something, hop onto the web.

Archos Helmet Camcorder for Generation 5 Archos Portable Media Players

The Archos Helmet Camcorder is good in the sense that it's extremely easy to use and setup. However, the lack of picture quality is enough for me to start looking for another bullet camera to replace the Archos.

Here are the three things that rock with the Archos bullet cam...

1) Easy to setup... You take your Archos Helmet Camcorder and plug it directly into your Archos recording device, and you're good to go.

2) The Archos Helmet Camcorder is powered by the Archos recording device, (Archos 604 for example). For those of you that have never owned or have seen the other bullet cam systems, most of them require a separate power supply to power both the camcorder and the microphone. The Archos uses the battery power of the Archos 604 to power both the camcorder and the microphone.

3) Control of record start and record stop are at your fingertips. No need to purchase an extra control Lanc. device, or any other third party remote that may or may not work with your setup. The Archos Helmet Camcorder has the controls you need, in a place that's easy for you to get to.

Now the downside...

PICTURE QUALITY!!! Yes, 420 lines of resolution is good, and yes 640X480 is good, but it's just that... Good. If you're looking for great, you need to go for a bullet camera that has 520 lines of resolution or even splurge for the Sony 580 ExView bullet camera. The problem with these bullet cameras however, is the problem I mentioned above. These bullet cameras require extra power supplies. Now, you're probably thinking what's the big deal with an extra power supply? Let me say this. I ride dirt bikes with three other guys that own bullet cam systems, but they never use them because it's such a process to put them together. That's the difference between the Archos helmet cam, and all the others helmet cameras out there. The Archos unit is easy to use and setup... It's as simple as that.

I gave the Archos Helmet Camcorder three stars because Archos is on the right track. They just need to come out with another helmet camcorder, just like this one, only next time with more resolution! Also, the DVR travel adapter that allows the helmet camcorder to attach to the Archos recording device (which is included) is a little rickety. Sometimes the DVR travel adapter will pop off of the recoding unit, making your video stop in the middle of its recoding. This is bad! One more thing... I had to purchase a helmet mounting kit from a third party, (Viosport). Why wouldn't Archos sell helmet mounts? They sell a helmet camcorder, but don't sell mounting kits... Whatever!

If I had to put another helmet cam system together, I would buy the Archos 604 recording unit, and buy a higher quality bullet camera. Get yourself the proper Viosport mounting kit and you're good to go. Pass on the Archos Helmet Camcorder.

The camera seemed to work ok and the picture looked good. I was just hopping something made to mount on a helmet would be much more durable. Sound was low and hard to hear. After reading the instructions I was afraid to use this on my dirt bike. It is not water resistant and it also said not to use in a dust or sand environment. Also the camera attaches to the Archos similar to how the docking station does. It just seems way to weak and easy to break. The mount strap might work ok for a bicycle helmet, but will not work at all for a motorcycle. If you plan to ride a bicycle on the road, this might be ok, but for a dirt bike, forget it! I ended up returning it because I do not think this would be suitable for a motorcycle. Chad

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I love Archo products. I have had no problem using them. The quality has been good and I find them very easy to understand. Except for this one. I have yet to be able to create a useful video from it. In dim light it is useless. In bright light it is merely fair. The microphone's range is minimal. This is the only Archos purchase I have regretted.

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Way too expensive for what you get. The resolution is awful even on the player's screen. Don't think about watching it on your PC full screen or upload it to YouTube.

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Smartline (ESL-001) Extension Cable with Volume Control, Lapel Clip & 3.5mm Audio Jack for i-Mi

I purchased this mic because it works with my phone... but the cable is way too short. If it was longer it would definitely have a greater appeal to more people (i would think).

This has been an excellent addition to my EIM-003 that I use for remote podcasting, video marketing and video testimonials.

Buy Smartline (ESL-001) Extension Cable with Volume Control, Lapel Clip & 3.5mm Audio Jack for i-Mi Now

I've been looking for good microphones as sound is the only thing missing on making video with your cell phone usually. IPhones, etc, have a TRRS input and this is made for the MAC input specifically. You'll enjoy the quality and make your videos sound much more professional.

Read Best Reviews of Smartline (ESL-001) Extension Cable with Volume Control, Lapel Clip & 3.5mm Audio Jack for i-Mi Here

Wansview Outdoor Waterproof Wifi Wireless/wired Ip Camera with Night Vision, Motion Detection Alarm

This cam is a Wansview NC543W.

UPDATE: 2.12.2013

Cam is still functional :) What I thought was wonky color balance is I believe due to no IR cut filter, the IR emitters are always on which screws up the color balance.

UPDATE: 3/15/2012

The cam still works! Yea! The color balance is still awful. Boo!

UPDATE: 4/19/2011

It took about five days of emailing back and forth to finally get ATC-whatever-LLC of Naperville, IL interested in sending me a new cam. Customer service after the sale with ATC-whatever-LLC of Naperville, IL is very poor. I would never buy another product from them ever again.

UPDATE: 3/30/2011

The cam stopped working about two or three weeks ago. If I power-cycled the cam, it would work for about five minutes and then become unresponsive. Wansview emailed me the firmware after I contacted them about the problem, loaded the firmware and then the cam seemed to work okay. After about an hour of operation, it was broken again. I'm done with this cam. I think (not sure though) this cam appears in different permutations Smarteye for one. Dealing with Chinese support via email was very cordial and they were responsive, but completely unproductive.

After reading the seller's (not Amazon unfortunately it was ATC-whatever-LLC) return policy, it was a bit convoluted and I'm not sure what the warranty policy is. After reading ATC's diatribe about returns, I think I'm going to throw the cam away and never buy a product from ATC-whatever-LLC again and probably never buy a Wansview cam or its other variation, the Smarteye (assuming I'm correct about the relationship.)

What a shame...

--End of update--

NOTE: All features and functions will work in Internet Explorer (like two way sound.) You can view the video in Firefox/Safari/Chrome/etc., but you will not have full features and functionality.

I have several webcams keeping an eye on our ranch and I do have a bit of experience with higher-end models (Toshiba/Panasonic) so this review will evaluate this cam relative to my experience.

Basically, you shouldn't expect a ~$90 cam to perform like a ~$900 dollar one. There are a lot of trade-offs with the low-end models a poor quality manual (in this case written in 'Chinglish') that assumes you already know most of what they are attempting to describe to you (they don't want to spend a penny more on a tech writer than absolutely necessary.)

The firmware might not be as fully developed as other higher-priced cams case in point with this one is there are no real color balance controls. You get 50 or 60 hertz or outdoor mode. In lower light conditions, the color balance is really, *really* bad. The color balance might be really bad in brighter light, but I don't know since that is not my application for this cam. And the image sensor might not be first quality and size of it makes a huge difference. This cam will display a max resolution of 640x480, not too bad and a useful size.

So what about this cam?

For about 90 bucks, it is a pretty good deal. Here are some caveats and features:

it is a good deal if you do not need detailed step-by-step instructions to set it up

it is a good deal if color balance isn't a big issue

it is a good deal if you can deal with a *very* incomplete manual it has no explanation about the audio out, audio in, alarm connections, or any API (application programming interface.) In fact, it is like Wanssview allocated xx dollars (Yen?) to the manual when that amount was reached, they pulled the plug on the tech writer. To be blunt, the user manual sucked big-time

the IR (infrared) night view was very good. I don't know about the range since my objective is to keep an eye on an automatic animal feeder which was only about eight feet away from the cam. In total darkness, I can plainly see the feeder in all detail. I was impressed!

it has no built-in microphone or speaker, but has the capability of both. The microphone feature does work I tried it!

in lower light the cam is not particularly fast you will get image blur on an alarm trigger

If you buy this cam, "OSD" means On Screen Display this is not mentioned anywhere in the manual. For "Motion Detect Armed" Motion Detect Sensibility [sic] 1 is the least sensitive and 10 is the most it took an email to China to figure this out. 7 seems to work the best for me.

If 90 bucks won't make a difference with your kids eating and having adequate clothing or not, buy this cam and play with it. If 90 bucks *is* a big deal to you, I would stick with Linksys, Dlink, Panasonic, etc.

Update 7/26/12:

All of these cameras seem to have the same "flashing" problem. It isn't clear if it is the "IR Cut" filter or some other problem. They also might as well be black-and-white given how terrible the color is. If something happened and video from this camera needed to be submitted to authoritiesit would be next to impossible to actually identify anyone in it.

The "flashing" problem seems to occur at a particular light level (much too bright for the "IR Cut" filter if it is working normally), so at least twice a day (or more often in changing weather conditions) the cameras brightness rapidly changes between light and dark for 30 minutes or more. This triggers both the camera's internal "motion detector", as well as the motion detection algorithms in security DVR software like Blue Iris or iSpy. In other wordsyour mailbox, FTP server, or DVR will fill up with completely useless images, very quickly.

Technical support via email says a "Factory Reset" will fix the problem. Not only doesn't it fix the problembut you then have to set everything up again from scratch, which is a problem if you are using them via WiFi in a not-easily-accessible location.

Alsomounting these cameras outdoors means you pretty much have to cut and splice the 5v power cord, and use a lot of tape or an outdoor box to keep the connectors in. They come with a short cable and a set of connectors that you would have to drill a 1.5" hole in the wall to route inside. The power supply is only indoor rated, and is too big to put in an "In-Use" covered GFCI box. Of courseyou can't return them without the factory-provided power supply...

Update 6/12/12:

I dropped my rating to two stars.

While probably still a good value for the money, these cameras have at least one serious issue. I returned one, but the replacement has the same problem. A friend of mine bought two cameras at the same time I did, and has the same issue with hers as-well. The cameras flip randomly between their "IR CUT" filter and normal in certain lighting conditions. This causes random light/dark flashing at various times throughout the day. This flashing, besides being extremely annoying, also trips the "motion alarm", sending hundreds (or in the case of one of my camerasthousands) of bogus motion alarm pictures out. If you use their software to record videoyou will get many-many hours of nothing but flashing video filling up your HDD.

One solution I found online is to either color-over or tape-over the light sensor on the camera. Tried thatdoesn't work. I requested support on Wansview's Web site a week ago, and have heard nothing. There also aren't any firmware updates available for these cameras. I guess we can keep returning them for new ones, but since this is happening on 4 out of 4 (actually 5 if I count the one I've already returned) it's pretty clear it is a manufacturing defect. All four came from different vendors (via Amazon) Wansview should just give one the option to turn the stupid filter OFF! They do seem to work quite well at night, but during the daythey are almost useless for hours at a time.

Leaving my old review here for reference...

I recently bought two of this most-recent version of Wansview outdoor security camera: NC543W. The camera has a solid aluminum housing and appears to be well-sealed from the elements. I bought three similar cameras last year. They are cheap and the picture quality definitely isn't HD, but they are very usable.

The camera's I bought last year came with terrible "Chinelish" manuals that were almost impossible to read. They also didn't come with any kind of viewing/recording software, forcing me to use marginally-implemented browser-based viewers or 3rd-party software. I'm very happy to say that this has changed for these two most-recent purchases. More effort was clearly put into the user's manual, and the included "multi-view" software works very well. The really big bonus with the viewer software is the ability to record video, as opposed to just still images.

As another bonusthe cameras will work with uPnP routers (or you can manually set up tunneling) and Wansview provides a DDNS server, making it very easy to set the cameras up for remote viewing. The manual does a decent job of describing the setup for this, but non-geeks may need to get a bit of help configuring their router if necessary.

The camera has an "automatic" software color filter that is supposed to just kick in when in IR nigh-vision mode. I suspect this may be causing problems for some. I've found the color during the day to be very acceptable. In low-light there is a definite color shift, mostly noticeable at dusk and dawn.

I really only have two issues with these cameras, preventing a 5-star rating:

I can't get the Internet Explorer version of their Web viewer to work. I've tried it on three computers. The plugin install seems to "blow up" and I get nothing but a blank view. It's possible this is due to over-zealous security settings on my part, but I'm not going to lower my standards to install a plugin. I don't get any kind of an error message or pop-up. The other browser version works just fine on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It also works great on iPhone and iPad, although there are some great 3rd party camera viewers for them, as well as Android, that work fine with these cameras.

It is difficult to accomplish a good outdoor mount of them due to the length of the connector cable and the size of the network jack. If you want an inexpensive "clean" installyou pretty much have to drill a 1" hole to route the cables through to the inside. The power adapter and its cable are not outdoor rated, and it doesn't appear any of the other connectors will last long outdoors without some kind of protection. It's probably possible to cram everything into a water-tight exterior box, which is something I'm going to experiment with. I'd much rather drill a small hole for the power adapter cable (and network cable, if necessary) than a 1" one. Tacking things up under an eave seems to be the cheapest option, and I don't believe that will make it through winter. Power-over-Ethernet would make things easier, but would likely raise the price of the camera.

Like I saidit's a great camera for the price. If you want good color balance and a higher resolution with more featureslook at spending 3-10x as much. If you want a reliable (at least in my experience) security camera and don't have a lot of money to spendthis is a great deal.

One bit of adviceit is difficult to tweak the motion-sensor sensitivity, especially outdoors where things like trees and shrubs blowing in the wind can set it off. This isn't really the fault of the camerait's just the nature of such systems. These cameras can generate a LOT of email, so if you use that method of "alarm" notificationsget yourself another email account with a lot of space on one of the big providers. That way you won't flood your personal email account. If you use FTPyou will want to frequently audit the server's disk usage, or use an automated process to delete older uploads. If using the multi-view software to record videobe sure to enable the feature that automatically deletes older videos if you are running out of disk space. I recommend using a dedicated partition or external disk.

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Review Update of 7/25/11

A NEW (replacement) Wansview NC543/W outdoor wireless IP camera arrived today! The seller honored their (3-year) warranty by returning a New camera, not a refurbished unit! Based on this experience, I highly recomment the (Chicago) seller and Wansview camreas! The other two cameras are still working Great on my wireless network!

Review Update of 7/23/11

I was just notified that the seller was sending me a new camera to replace the defective camera. If that's true, I'm impressed! I'll post a final review when it arrives.

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Review Update on Wansview Warranty Problem

Perhaps I was too hasty in my first review, so I have changed it. I finally received a RMA & address to return the camera, which was returned on 7/13/2011. I'll post another update when the camera is returned.

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This review is about a Wansview NC543W warranty problem.

I purchased three of these cameras in a popular auction Website in Nov.Dec. 2010. They have worked very well since installation (only about 6 7 months), until recently when one camera just "died". It has no power and you cannot communicate with the camera via a CAT5E cable nor wirelessly. Additionally, the camera does not show up with the "IP Camera Tool" that looks for any camera on the LAN, even when it's plugged directly into the router.

The problem I have is not so much with the camera, although I'm beginning to be concerned with the quality of Wansview products. My biggest concern and problem is with the Chicago, IL seller in trying to get warranty repair/replacement/RMA shipping instructions. At first they were very helpful in trying to understand the details of the problem. Although it took a little time & patience, when all the details were provided, the seller agreed to examine my defective camera, and replace it.

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Product died within a few hours on being installed. No support by the company, nor will they exchange it under their 'warranty'.

Avoid this company and its products.

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This camera same as HooToo HT-IP212 Outdoor Wired/Wireless Surveillance Camera. Same problems:I am very disappointed with this camera. In the wireless mode camera works only within 10Ft. This is it.

I am Computer and Network Engineer with 17 years of experience. I am setting up a various PCs and computer based devises all day long. I know how network works very well. This camera is a POS.

Do Not Buy it unless you want to use it as a hard wired camera. You can connect RJ 45 directly to you Router. But if you have to run a wire, than you do not need the wireless component.

Software is not too bad, but camera sometimes loses its network settings and you will need to re-set it again.