Olympus VN-5000 Digital Voice Recorder (141985) (Silver)

Back to basics. This Olympus DVR works just fine for recording mock therapy sessions in my psychology class. It's easy to use. The sound reproduction is clear. It has a long battery life.

I'm not a technie or a teenager. So navigating digital equipment isn't organic to me. I need instructions. The more cookbook-like, the better. Before I bought this model, I considered purchasing a similarly priced Sony model because after all I had a number of other Sony products in my audio visual stable. But, eek, reviews of Sony's murky instructions scared me off. The Olympus instructions sheet isn't the best--pictures instead of words. But when I got stuck, I called the Olympus toll-free line, and got through right away to a friendly customer service rep, who easily resolved my issue.

One nit: The "Hold" button is really the on/off switch. I'm not sure why Olympus doesn't call it like it is.

And a caveat: You can't transfer recordings from this DVR directly into a computer. You'll have a pay more to get this feature.

I have owned three or four digital voice recorders over the years and don't have high demands. I mostly use it to record reminders while commuting. This one performs well enough (good voice clarity), however the design is very poor: 1.the record button is not recessed so it regularly starts recording when in my pocket; 2. recording requires pressing two different buttons, one to record and another to stop recording; 3. erasing a message is a three step process that requires pressing three different buttons. This is not the recorder to use while driving! My old SONY ICD-B5 was much easier to use and thinner, if a little heavier.

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It's the first recording device I ever owned and I'm extremely happy with this purchase.

WHY BUY SUCH A THING:

1. if you have watched THE SIXTH SENSE, you should have remembered that Dr.

Malcolm Crowe used such a device to record down any thoughts he had after he met

his patients. IMHO, since most of my inventive ideas pop into my mind when it's most

inconvenient for me to take notes of such fleeting thoughts, a recorder is by

far the best device for taking them down. Even if most cellphones nowadays have some

functionality similar to a recorder, their performance and usability are much

worse.

2. David Allen's masterpiece about time management, Getting things done, also

recommends various kinds of in-boxes to store all the internal commitments you

may have anytime and anywhere, and a recorder is much easier to carry with you

than paper and pen and to use in various places out of office.

PROS:

+++ VCVA: this is a killing feature! it will only be recording when there is

sound louder than the threshold you set, so all silences in lectures, meetings

and dictations when you are thinking will not appear in the recordings! REALLY

GREAT FEATURE!

+ can be a good toy for children; help them musing over various sounds in Nature

++ amazing battery life: though I didn't use it intensively, that the included

batteries still being indicated as 'FULL' after 4 month of using, is extremely

satisfacory.

++ easy management of recordings: there is A, B, C, D, 4 folders for storing

different kinds of notes, and I found this very useful. I use A as an in-box for

my GTD system, B to store memorable quotes and sayings I encountered when

reading books, C and D for storing any thougths coming into my mind when I brainstorm

about a project.

+ LED indication of recording status:

CONS:

no appending/inserting: recordings cannot be edited later. But I think it's

not a big problem since nobody is going to use it record an album.

no connection to computers (for models without suffix of PC in their model

names): I don't care about the absence of this feature, since I only use it to

temporarily store things that I would never want to preserve for later use. If

some students want to use this to record lectures, they may want to buy models

that have a PC/Mac connection interface.

CONCLUSION:

A must buy for any intellectual worker. I would recommend this to

anybody!

Read Best Reviews of Olympus VN-5000 Digital Voice Recorder (141985) (Silver) Here

I thought I wanted a voice recorder a long time ago, while a student but I never actually bought one. If I remember correctly, I was deterred, back then, by the apparent mechanical complexity of the device, its using non-standard recording media mini cassettes the need to feed it batteries and its overall lack of versatility. I believe they used to be expensive too.

This is my first and voice recorder and it seems to address most of my issues back then. The Olympus VN-5000 DVR's notable features include:

no moving parts other than the several buttons

small

long battery life

no physical recording media needed other than its own physical memory

moderately easy to learn controls

3 level of recording quality and, depending in the quality selected

20, 50 or 300 hours of recording time

voice activated recording

variable playback speed

date/time stamps on files

some rudimentary file management (4 preset folders, files can be moved between folders)

etc., etc.

Overall, this model is a trade off between low price/simplicity and features/flexibility in favor of low price and simplicity. Being my fist DVR, I happen to like it this way but the more sophisticated or the more demanding users may not not appreciate its awkward file management and the fact that, at least in theory, it's impossible to get the files out of the device, into some other form of storage (but it can be done see note below).

I am very pleased with this device. Between 4 and 5 stars, I decided on 4 because this inexpensive, 'entry level' gadget, while making recording easy, is not as good at managing and retrieving the information once recorded, especially when one stores many files.

_______________________________________

Note:

If you want to transfer your files to a computer, it can be done but it can be a time-consuming process. To do so, you need to

Install Audacity on your machine (it's a free download).

Plug a microphone cable into your DVR's headphone slot and the other end into your computer's microphone interface all computers should have these wires and you can use either the 'green' or the 'pink' one.

Set Audacity on 'record' and you simply 'play' your file.

Test for the proper volume setting before recording a long file.

Save your recording as a WAV or MP3 file.

It's going to take as long as it took you to make the recording but, once it's done you have a file that you can do with as you please.

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This digital voice recorder has a good design and easy to use. I found it very simple and did exactly what I wanted it to do. I record different stuff for my website The only drawback is that the built in speaker is not very loud and and the batteries that came with it were weak. I gave this five stars because if you use earphones you can hear it as loud as you want. It was worth the money I paid.

ZMODO DVR-DK61103-1TB 16 CH Security Surveillance DVR Outdoor Security Camera System 1TB

Works good for the money surprised by the quality of the picture! Easy to hook up directions suck have a hard time understanding the broken english!! Overall I would and have told my friends and family about the unit would buy again.

Everything worked straight out of the box. The video images are not great but are more than good enough for my application.

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Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

• 16:9 Full HD 1080p Resolution (1920x1080p) LCD Panel
• DMex compatible; allows seamless feature upgrades
• BRAVIA Sync (Enhanced HDMI-CEC)
• BRAVIA Engine fully digital video processor
• Advanced Contrast Enhancer circuit (ACE)

I wanted the biggest set I could buy and fit into the built-in opening in our home (my wife's only requirement). I knew I would be paying extra for a Sony, but decided to make the plunge, since other 40" screens were several inches wider. This set is slim and atractive.

I have only had this set for a weeks and am still learning about it's many functions. My set is attached to cable, a blu-ray player for DVDs, and an older Denon A/V amp via S-Video for sound output.

Before buying, I researched features availble in a 40" LCD set in the store and on-line. This set led the pack in many ways. The picture is incredable. Plus, if you are into adjustments, you have a great deal of control over the picture settings. I have viewed in a highly lit room as well as in the dark. It's high contrast ratio makes it easy to watch in both situations. I can not detect the blurring, many LDCs suffer from in action sceans.

It packs all the latest video inhancements but most importantly, 120Hz, 24p. The built in speaker is even good, and makes a reasonable attempt at surround sound considerng it's is a single source speaker. Of course when hooked up to a A/V reciever, it makes movies come alive. I have not connected to a LAN yet, but am curious to try, soon.

It is loaded with input options (HDMI, LAN, USB, Composit, S-Video, etc). The only thing I would like to see is a more versitile USB port, so I could plug in a wireless reciever. This system has to be hard wired to a LAN. It would be nice if the computer input ports were on the side of the set, so it did not have to be pulled out to make these attachemnts.

The stand could be improved, it does not allow for any adjustment. It was not a big deal for me, since the set sits at eye level, but if it was sitting anywhere else, you would need to purchase an adjustable mount, which are axpensive for a set this size.

The manual is somewhat limited. There are many set-up options that are not full explained. I called Sony for a setup question. They answered fairly quickly. The first rep had me try several different things, but was not much help. Then he passed me on to the "blu-ray" expert, who answered my question in seconds.

Overall, this is a great set, I deffinately recommend it.

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When the price of this Sony dropped to $1429, I jumped on it, when it launched it was $2299, not that long ago either.

I got my XRB-6 two days ago, the picture quality is amazing! I have never seen colors so vibrant and clear.

I must say though, like I read about clouding issues with other Sony sets, well to my disappointment, it's true, when the screen goes black, there are visible clouds, it's not really a big deal, but since I've been reading about this problem for some time, I would have expected Sony to correct it. Not sure if I'm going to keep this set or not, other than that it's close to perfection, just not sure I can live with this defect or not.

My previous set was a cheap Polaroid 37" 1080i, it had no clouding issues though, this problem seems to be exclusive to Sony.

Gonna try to adjust the settings, this set has many controls to adjust settings, and there is a control where you can reduce the backlight, which is what is causing this problem.

Right now though, I have very mixed feelings, I never had a problem with a Sony before, so I expect perfection.

Will update after I make the adjustments to see if it helps any.

Update: I made adjustments to the backlight control, if you lower the setting 3 levels, and turn the tv to power save mode, the clouding issues are mostly gone, but your overall picture is much darker, a trade off for getting rid of the clouds.

My clouding issues were not too bad, other owners reported clouding covering 50% or more of their screen, my clouding was minimal, sets with this problem seem to have different levels of clouding.

Bottom line, I've decided to keep the tv, the pros far outweigh this minor issue.

I can't help but wonder if the XBR-8 priced at 5 grand has this problem too.

Read Best Reviews of Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Here

The XBR is more or less the "Mercedes" of the TV industry, while everyone else compares their product to the Sony, it remains the pinnacle of the LCD game. I looked at both the Samsung and the Sony, both were spectacular. In fact, Samsung makes the screen for the Sony, so it makes sense they are the same. Bottom line, there is simply more "coolness" to the Sony name.

The TV is great, but Amazon's white glove shipping stinks. I bought the product, and it sat on several docks for days, finally got through to the shipper, scheduled for Saturday. But guess what? no TV. Have to schedule multiple times I guess free shipping implies "worthless". The drivers are late, never call back, and all you get is an answering service. I would have bought this product somewhere else if I had known....

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Purchased the 40" Sony Bravia XBR6 LCD TV hoping that this newest release of the XBR series would be "mura" free. Mura is the technical term for a cloudy looking background image appearing on an LCD screen in dark or black scenes. The mura in the set I purchased covered a good 60% of the total area. Sony agreed to replace the LCD display panel after it was examined by a certified technician in our home. I decided NOT to go that route as the set was only one week out of the box and one month from its manufacture date. Besides, my research uncovered that the cost of the part was twice the cost of what I paid for the new set in the first place. Amazon customer service department and CEVA/Eagle shipping were both very professional and responsive to the problem, and I was promptly credited the full purchase price.

Since we've happily owned a 42" Sony plasma flat screen TV for three years now, we decided to stay with plasma technology. LCD technology has certainly improved over the years, but mura problems still exist, even in the newest models. BUYERS BEWARE save ALL original packing materials for at least two weeks after your new set arrives. MURA DOES NOT SHOW UP IMMEDIATEY OUT OF THE BOX. Carefully examine the screen during "blackouts" on the screen; between commercials or channel changes. AND, sit low to the screen and look up at a slightly upward angle during the examination.

We expected to be blown away by the Sony XBR6, especially since so many people rank it even with or better than the Samsung 750. And the picture is great when you get all the adjustments fine tuned. The Steelers trouncing of the Browns game was gorgeous! We highly recommend it but with a few cautions:

Not the set for the "set it and forget it" type. Many adjustments required but it is beautiful when you get done.

Sound. We heard many complaints about the sound from LCD sets so picked the XBR6 specifically because it has an internal subwoofer. But we found the subwoofer made little difference even when set to maximum, especially if you put the TV in a cabinet where the sound gets trapped inside. We fixed this by hooking up an external powered subwoofer to the sound output jacks on the rear of the set. Made a phenomenal difference I highly recommend this if you can't use a surround sound receiver. And you can't do it on the Samsung (see below).

Network upgrades. Features are evolving fast on LCD TV's so we wanted one that had the Ethernet cable jack to download the latest firmware versions over time. But according to Sony customer support their website that checks for new firmware is down, and even if it was working you still have to do the upgrade by downloading it to your computer and moving it to the TV via the USB port. I think they are wrong but did not have time to debate it with them.

Signal diagnostics. According to Sony customer support this option only tells you the signal strength of broadcast TV. The website and manual make you think it looks at each signal coming into the set to tell you what resolution it is, etc. Again, I think the support rep was wrong but not a big deal.

Not all USB devices work with the XBR6 USB port. To Sony's credit they state this clearly in the manual, but it was still frustrating to move a lot of pictures to a USB drive and then not be able to view them on the TV.

Digital Media Port. This seems to be a confused option. The reviews have way too many complaints about what works and what doesn't when using it to connect iPods, etc. So instead of using the DMP we bought the Apple iPod composite connection cable and it works very well even when playing movies from the iPod.

Pros:

Feature set. All the benefits of 120 Hz, 24p, higher contrast, etc., are real and work well on the XBR6. Be ready to turn the 120Hz off at times (motion enhancer) because it works so well movies can end up looking "artificially good" (soap opera looking is the term we heard). But turning it off and on is easy.

Picture is more natural than Samsung. The Samsung 750 can be stunning in the store but the color intensity can actually be fatiguing when you get it home. You can adjust it, but we liked the natural color of the Sony XBR6 better. The "Vivid" mode on the Sony can still crank up the color when you want it.

Variable sound output. The Samsung only has fixed sound output jacks. The Sony XBR6's can be set to be variable. This made it possible for us to feed a powered subwoofer and control the sound level at the same time as the TV speakers with the remote control. Very nice effect without the complexity of a full surround sound receiver set up.

Slim design. The width of the frame around the screen is the smallest we saw. This enabled us to fit the 40" XBR6 into our exiting entertainment center. Also minimizes the frame when hanging the set on a wall. The Samsung frame is much wider and has that "touch of color" tinting that we think distracts from the TV screen.

No "cloud" effect. Not sure what this is but other reviewers mentioned it. We had no problem.

Many, many input jacks including USB, LAN, HDMI on the side, etc.

Deals can be had. Shop! We originally paid $1700, which was the best deal at the time. Then got a price match to $1560 just before Christmas. But the final deal was the combination incentive with the Sony s550 Blu-ray disc player which put the set at just over $1000! (If you don't need the Blu-ray you can resell it easily for more than you pay in the combo deal.)

BestDealUSA Battery for Sony NP-730 NP-F750 NP-F730H Camcorder

This is just a charger, not a spacecraft.

OMG, can you imagine it works and charges a battery? Yes, it does.

What you can't imagine that every time you take the batter off the charger, the part of the charger slides off the rest of the body and stays connected with battery. Every time you have to separate this part from the battery and place it back where it belongs: = back to the rest of the charger.

I'd recommend another seller, but I'm afraid all the chargers are the same : made cheap somewhere in China

Canon Elura 40MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2"LCD, MMC Card and Digital Still Mode

Armed with lots of research and my wife's two criteria for selecting a camcorder (it had to be small and easy to use) we bought the Elura MC 40 for its list of features in a very small and very cool package -plus the canon quality. This one has all the features of a full-sized DV cam, but fits into a small, padded waist pack with a couple of tapes, batteries, and the charger without a problem. This was key as we are expecting our first child and didn't want to add too much to the extra baggage we'll be carrying.

This one doesn't have megapixel stills at 1020x960, but it's still tons better than 640x480 on most compact cams, and we have a 35mm for the serious photography anyway. Lots of great on-camera editing and shooting features, and some basic photo and movie editing software included. If you're going to do some serious movie editing, I'd recommend purchasing a better software package or taking advantage of one of Canon's mail-in rebate deals.

Mac users, you'll love this one. We had a pre-USB Powerbook running OS 8.6 and bought USB and Firewire PCMCIA cards for it. It runs just great without spending the extra cash upgrading the OS like the card manufacturers say to. Also, I wouldn't spend the extra cash on the expensive firewire cards that a Mac specific. I picked up an inexpensive IBM card [$$] at the local computer store, plugged it in, downloaded the supporting drivers from Apple, and it fired right up.

You will have a lot of fun with this cam. We took it out for the first time on July 4th, and everyone was amazed by it. Plugged it into the S-video on the nearest TV, and we had a great time watching the day's events!

I bought this camcorder for a trip to Europe and I love it. I could store it in my jacket pocket when not using it and didn't have to drag around a huge bag with a bunch of useless equipment. This is my first camcorder (and first camera since an old Olympus 35mm), so I'm clearly an amateur. It's got more features than I'll use in 2 lifetimes, so there should be enough to satisfy almost everyone.

Video--is excellent, especially outdoors. Weather doesn't matter, as long as it's outside. It was cloudy all but one day and the video is awesome. Indoor is grainy if the light is too low, but reading reviews of other camcorders, I couldn't find one which said "great video quality indoors." All are grainy indoors. Live with it. You buy this for the size.

Still Pix--are not great. But are you buying a camcorder or camera? If all you care about are still pix, save yourself a few hundred bucks and buy a still-camera. No small camcorder offers a 4 or 5 megapixel resolution with stills. Even the Sony MicroDV only offers 2MP still resolution. With the exposure set to "super fine" I was pleased with the resolution, but I've seen pictures from a 4 MP still camera, and the images don't compare. The pix are not bad, but not excellent. But then, I care about video...not pictures--it's a camcorder afterall.

Sound--I think is great. Yea, there is the motor whine when it's quiet. But guess what, after a few seconds, you tune it out and forget about it. It is not very annoying at all. It does tend to amplify the voice of whomever is doing the recording. But what microphone doesn't amplify the sound closest to it?

SD/MMC card--is only tested by Canon to 64MB (per customer service) which is bad. They recommend not using anything higher than 64.

Battery--doesn't last too long, especially the smaller one. I forked over the money to buy the larger battery and it is well worth it. This way, when it runs down, you pop in the small one and you have another 30-50min of filming.

Ease of Use--I had filmed some items and was watching it on TV within 20 minutes of taking it out of the box. I had the still camera and fader/digital effects figured out within another 20 minutes or so. You must read the manual. It's real easy.

Buttons--are not small considering the size of the camcorder. If you need bigger buttons, buy a bigger camcorder. Remember, you buy this for the size.

Overall--it is great. Fantastic outdoor video and sound pickup with unbelievable portability and ease of use. This is not a "professional" camcorder. It should be used for "hobby" filming and as a great travel-size camcorder. If you need more bells and whistles (external mic mount, attached light) you need a bigger camera. As far as the "save yourself the trouble and buy a Sony" crowd, I've owned many Sony products and find they don't perform any better than anything else. But Sony always seems to want a few hundred more of your hard earned dollars to make you think their product is better. Ask someone about software compatability with their MicroDV camcorder...then watch 'em squirm.

Buy Canon Elura 40MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2"LCD, MMC Card and Digital Still Mode Now

Okay, I did a little bit of research before I bought. And I do mean little. I did read reviews here and other places. Most of the thumbs down reviews are correct about their statements. Here is what I dislike:

1. There will be a some what higher pitched noise when veiwing the recorded data on Mdv tapes. However, if there is a decent amount of background noise or the object you are focused on is making noise/speaking, it is not that noticeable.

2. Low light complaints are somewhat valid. It does become a little grainy and it records at a slower frame rate, so no fast movements by camera! The focusing during low-light mode is pretty bad if you are are @; which I would estimate, more than a 5x zoom. However, lowlight feature does "enhance" the availiable light quite a bit.

And as long as you do not need a perfect 520 line resoultion (which I don't), it is fine.

3. Included battery will barely get you by, so plan on buying an additional one.

4. The users hand will often get in the way of the optic finder or whatever helps do the focusing, if you are not mindful.

What I do like:

1. Size.

2. Once you become a little familiar with it, it is pretty easy to use.

3. Price, see below.

4. The camera does have a lot of (special) features...but I will probably never use half of them. They are mostly a novelty thing.

5. The still photo quality are not that bad at all.

I haven't used the included software, but one doesn't buy a camera for the software anyhow. Plus if you buy soon it comes with, what I have heard, is pretty decent software as a rebate.

...

... ... Or better yet, go somewhere to test it, record on an MDV tape and play it back on a good TV w/ a S Video input and listen for the hum and check the low light feature. YOu will know right away whether this is acceptable or not. For me it turned it is, especially for recording my 1.5 y/o.

Generic conclusion, if you are going to use it mostly outside and for live action, go for it.

Read Best Reviews of Canon Elura 40MC MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/ 2"LCD, MMC Card and Digital Still Mode Here

Just picked up this camcorder the other day. I had been debating between getting one of Canon's ZR cameras or an Elura for a while. Finally settled on the Elura, mostly due to it's tiny size. Haven't had too much time to play around with it yet, but so far I just love this camera. Fits right in the palm of my hand to carry around and shoot video wherever I go. Works great with iMovie using a firewire cable (not included, grrrr.)

So far, my only gripes are 1) the included battery gives you less than an hour of recording time, making spare batteries ... a must; and 2) the LCD screen and viewfinder is a bit TOO small... way smaller than on the ZR series. Definitely try before you buy. But those are small complaints given the overall coolness of this camcorder.

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I got mine a month ago for a trip to Europe and love it. I could fit it in my jacket pocket so the size is perfect. This is my first camcorder (or first camera other than an old Olympus 35mm), so I'm clearly an amateur with this stuff. But, the video looks fantastic, especially outside. Weather doesn't matter since it was cloudy everyday but one. Video still looked as good as any TV image. It has more features than I know how to use, or even care to use.

Yes, the still pix are lower quality, but what MiniDV camcorder has a 4 or 5 megapixel resolution?? Sony only offers a 2 MP resolution on its MicroDV. But who's kidding who? If you're buying this camera for it's still picture ability, save yourself a few hundred bucks and buy a still-mode camera, not a camcorder. If you want a very small and highly portable camcorder which takes great outdoor video, then this should be on your list. Yes, the indoor video is not as great as the outdoor video, but realize this--you buy this for the size--it can't possibly be everything to everyone. If you need a camcorder for exclusively indoor action, buy one designed for that with all the low light/night modes/infrared/light attachment gizmos.

As far as the "motor whine" picked up from the mic, I don't find it all that annoying. You do hear it, but after a few seconds you forget about it and tune it out. However, I believe the audio is great. I have no issue with the sound. It picks up distant voices and sounds just fine. Yes, if you hold the camera too close to your head as you narrate, then your voice does seem amplified compared to others. But then, what camcorder doesn't amplify the voice closest to the microphone?

I have big hands but I don't have any problem with the buttons. Realize, this is a small camera so if you need big buttons, get a bigger camera.

Canon customer service told me they have not tested any SD/MMC card over 64MB, so they recommended I not use anything larger. I do admit, this is a big drawback, as one 128 or 256 card is much cheaper than 2 or 3, 64MB cards. Plus you'd have fewer cards to keep track of.

I don't believe this camcorder was designed for strictly professional use. If it was, it would be 5x the size and 10x the weight. You buy this camera for its size/portability. This should be used for "hobby" filming and as an excellent travel camcorder.

As far as the "save yourself the trouble and buy a Sony" crowd goes, I've bought numerous Sony components over the years, from TV's to cordless phones. For the $$, Sony doesn't work any better than anything else out there. They just want a few more hundred dollars of you hard-earned coin to make you think you got a better item. Ask the Sony-lovers about software compatability for the MicroDV...and then watch 'em squirm. Read the Amazon.com reviews of the DCRIP7BT. That's what kept me away from Sony.

VideoSecu 4 Pack Built-in SONY Effio CCD Home CCTV Video IR Zoom Bullet Security Surveillance Camer

I have 14 cameras installed just about anywhere you can think of around my farm

Pros

Housing is great, hevey and solid with good mounts and cable management

Very professional looking so anyone who sees it knows it's not a fake or cheap camera.

Cons

The ir LEDs are not very powerful at all compared to some of my other cams with less LEDs.

The ir coverage are is very narrow like a tight cone.

The adjustment screw covers are cheap rubber and if in a completly exposed are (direct sun and weather) they will fail in a year or two which will let water into the camera body.

Unknown at this point.

Image was a bit disapointing considering it is supposed to be 600 lines but I need to check the focus again as it tends to change over time (adjustsment creeps?)

I have it on a dvr card with only cf resolution and via 175 foot cat5 run on a telephone pole so it might be that combination that's giving me less than spectacular images but the 420 line qsee all weather cam that this one replaced had a sharper image and much better ir illumination.

Been up and running for six months now directly in the direct wind, rain, snow, and minus 27C weather with no problems so far

Will see after the usuall 24 month ccd danger zone.

The camera was purchased because of the high resolution, zoom lens and night vision features and it was a good decision. I needed a camera to cover my driveway and steps leading to my home. The zoom feature allowed me to tailor the coverage area to exactly what was required. There are two adjustments a zoom and a focus that you have to work together to get a perfect image. This camera allows you to put a text ID in the image and select its location on the image. You can also set the shutter speed, brightness, back light compensation, AGC, white balance, mirror image, day or night mode, motion area, privacy areas of the screen can be blacked out, contrast, sharpness and color gain. The controls are on the back of the camera to set it up so depending where you install the camera you may have to set it up before it is in its final location. I use the default settings and they work just fine. It comes with a 2 amp power supply and the specs do not state how much current it draws in the night mode with the IR on. I feed the power to the camera with 18 gauge solid copper wire to limit the voltage drop which would dim the IR lights if a smaller power cable were used. Color images are good and what I expected. The IR images are good but not as good as the color. I do not use the motion detection feature of the camera but use the one in the Mini DVR VideoSecu Mini Security CCTV DVR Recorder Motion Detection Overwrite Schedule Videos with Audio Recording 3UAwhich it works great with.

Issues: The only issue I had was very minor. The template provided to drill the mounting holes for the camera mount was wrong. Two of the holes were out of location. So check it before you use it. It is a pain if you are drilling in thick steel and they don't line up, ask me how I know.

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8GB Transcend T.Sonic 860 MP3 player with Radio, Voice Recorder, Video, Photo, E-Book

• 8GB T.Sonic 860 MP3 player
• Plays music and movies
• Photo viewer
• E-Books
• FM Radio

On the recommendation of a friend, I purchased the T-Sonic MP 860. I needed to record an important event which I attended and which would be broadcast on a local FM channel. It surpassed my expectations for ease of use! It was small enough to slip into a pocket, and had a display that was easy to read. [I am NOT a super-tech oriented individual] The record quality, even though I had it set on "low" was very good. I'm looking forward to see what else it can do now, and know I'm covered for upcoming events which I want to record. I am VERY pleased!

Buy 8GB Transcend T.Sonic 860 MP3 player with Radio, Voice Recorder, Video, Photo, E-Book Now

I bought this for my sister and she had many problems with it. It disorganized her music and would drop audio on videos and shut off at random.

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I was looking for a replacement for my beloved Creative Zen Vision M and this was my 4th mp3 player that failed miserably. The specs look great on paper and the 2 year warranty was encouraging. It even came with a nice silicon case and neck strap. Although it would feel pretty heavy around your neck.

I loaded about 14 cd's onto the player and ended up with over 600 tracks. There were 3 to 7 copies of each track which I would have had to remove one by one. I tried the RESET BUTTON , no luck. The radio commands didn't work properly nor did the video or settings commands.

Unlike the other players that I had tried and was able to return to Amazon for a refund, the MP860 had to be returned to Transcend. Transcends website is a runaround of dead links. So I called the company and was told that since I didn't buy the player from Transcend directly I couldn't get a refund, only a repair or replacement. I informed Amazon of the problem and was told to send an email requesting a refund to Transcend via Amazon's website. I quickly received an apologetic response from Transcend explaining that the person I talked to was 'new" and misinformed. There was a link in the email that was supposed to take me to a webpage where I could get a RMA code to return the player. That link took me to the same useless webpages that I had already been at. I sent another email to Transcend requesting an RMA. Their response was another useless link. After a couple more emails I was finally sent a link that worked and was able to print out a refund request form and get a RMA code.

There was about a 2 week delay in Transcend sending me the MP860 and it took 2 to 3 weeks after sending it back for me to get my refund.

I finally found a new mp3 player that I am very happy with, a Sony Walkman. It worked perfectly from from the start. Simple controls, very intuitive, feels sleek and solidly built.

Hauppauge 1128 WinTV-HVR-1850 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder

This is a full height, single slot PCIe X1 board, which means it fit perfectly in the top slot on an nVidia 680i mobo with 2 8800 cards configured in SLI.

The 1800 installed in my Vista 64 Bit system flawlessly despite that the enclosed CD only had drivers for XP. Didn't even need it because Vista installed the drivers from on line automatically. Slick!

Integration with Vista 64 Media Center was automatic.

I'm just hooked up to analog cable and FM so I can't speak about the digital qualities just yet, other than to say the analog picture looks fantastic. Somehow I'm not too worried. The tuner just feels right and solid, not like some funky finicky A*I kludge.

The IR Media Center Remote Control is a real remote control and though some of the buttons are incredibly small I can't complain too much. It comes with batteries and works well with the USB Remote Receiver. Vista 64 installed drivers for this as well. I'm stunned.

And so far very, very happy with this purchase.

Just a heads up, ANTonline shipped me a white box and not a retail package.

Easy Setup and installation with Vista Home Premium! Hooked up a VCR to copy VHS to DVD! It worked great! Remote works perfect with Media Center. Remote is a plus to have when watching DVD's or listening to music on the computer. Have yet to set up satellite but should seem painless after hooking up VCR. Very little instructions given to set up TV or VCR. See manual TV setup in Media Center.

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I picked this card up to record HD channels on our local cable provider. When I tried it with the Windows Vista Media center, it would not decode the digital or HD channels. I grabbed a copy of the Snapstream (snapstream.com) Media Beyond TV software and I was able to pick up the digital channels. The resolution and clarity of the picture is excellent. The included remote and receiver work very nicely. Snapstream provides it's own remote that works with the Beyond TV software and allows control of all the functions that the Hauppaug remote provides. Together, I was able to build a HD PVR for under $200!!

Overall, I am very satisfied with this product. The picture is great, it provides me with the ability to record Digital and HD programs and replay them on my 52" big screen.

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Purchased this card for a new Vista 64 Ultimate workstation. Windows did not see the card to install it. I borrowed an XP machine and it installs in that one fine, but since it isn't mine, I can't use it in the XP.

Update: sent the card to the hardware vendor, who had the same experience. He was finally able to move cards around in the machine and make it work, sending me the configuration, which works here as well. The trick may be that this card needs to be the first PCI-e card in the stack. Hardware vendor technician believed it was related to the card's ability to maintain identity across various bus-to-bus bridges.

If I could edit the rating I'd raise it at least to 3 stars; but installing it in the right slot without any guidance is a matter of luck.

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If you use this product with Windows Media Center (WMC), there is a problem with the FM Radio Tuner. When you try to use the FM Radio, it may go into an infinite loop telling you that you must set up the TV signal in order to use the FM Radio. If you are using just an ATSC antenna, the TV setup will find the one antenna (ATSC) and FM Radio will still not work (and once again tell you go through the TV setup). You MUST lie to WMC, going through the manual antenna setup and tell it that you have BOTH an ATSC and an NTSC antenna. After doing so, the FM Radio will begin working. The downside is that when watching TV, you'll have the NTSC channels (analog static) in your listing. I need to try to figure out how to get rid of those. You still will have your ATSC channels, too.

The other downside is that the ATSC seems to only tune in the primary channel. For example, on my HDTV, I can tune to 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 (primary, weather, RetroTV Network, respectively). On this card the subchannels do not get tuned.

It seems to work reasonably well for what it does pick up, but if you're expecting to be able to get through setup without trouble, and tune to all of the available ATSC channels, you'll be disappointed.

100 SLIM Black Double DVD Cases 9MM

Great space saving size, able to double up movies. Sturdy and the price is reasonable. Received merchandise within a matter of days after placing order.

Samsung 4-Inch Galaxy Player(DISCONTINUED)

• Powered by Android 2.3.5 , with access to over 250,000apps including games, productivity software, and more
• Uses a Wi-Fi connection (802.11 b/g/n) for Internet access
• 8 GB internal storage with a microSD card slot for adding up to 32 GB
• 4-inch super-clear LCD touchscreen with WVGA (800x480) resolution
• 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera and a VGA front-facing camera for video calling

My son got iPod Touch 8G (4th Gen) last Christmas and he likes it overall, but there were several issues that we are not so happy about. So, I've decided to try out the Galaxy Player for my daughter. I preordered it through Amazon and, with Amazon Prime, the Galaxy was delivered on Mon, Oct. 17, which was two full days earlier than promised. :-) So, here's what our family's experience has been over last two weeks.

Galaxy 4.0 vs. 5.0: I settled on 4.0 since it is mainly used as a music player and a hand-held game machine for my daughter and, thus, the smaller size makes it more convenient for her to carry it around. I did try out Dell with a 5-inch screen at BestBuy to get the feel for larger 5" screen, and, although I liked it better for web surfing and videos, I felt the 4" would be just fine for her. So, if you are going to use the Galaxy to stream shows over NetFlix or consume media on the web, then you might be better off with 5.0.

Galaxy vs. iPod Screen: There's only an half inch difference between them, however Galaxy looks much larger and much, much brighter than iPod. Although iPod has slightly higher mechanical resolution at 960x640 than Galaxy's at 800x480, I like the Galaxy's screen better and find it to be easier to look at than iPod's.

Galaxy vs. iPod Sound:

(1) For both machines, sounds coming out of earphones are nothing special. Some earlier post mentioned that the Galaxy's earphones are 'crappy/horrible', but in my opinion, they are pretty much dead even; iPod's earphones are equally 'crappy/horrible'. So, if you want much better sound quality, I recommend you to buy a set of more expensive earphones. For non-audiophile, both of them are adequate and serviceable.

(2) For sounds from built in speakers, Galaxy is much better than iPod. Galaxy produces clearer and more crisp stereo sounds than iPod does.

(3) For in-car sounds, they are comparable. They both generate much better sounds than through earphones.

Galaxy vs. iPod Web surfing: For Youtube videos, Galaxy performs faster than iPod. For other general websites, iPod tend to be slightly faster, but it is because many websites have flash contents and Galaxy loads all of them. Actually, I do like the fact that you can view all the videos on the regular Youtube site with Galaxy; it's not limited to just Youtube Mobile videos. Also, that small difference in screen size makes a big difference in viewing web pages, so Galaxy shines here.

Galaxy vs. iPod Apps/Games: It depends on whichever app/game you prefer. For my daughter, Galaxy has a full range of free games/apps that she can play, including Angry Birds, so it's a non-issue.

Galaxy vs. iPod Battery: Yes, we all could use longer lasting batteries. But we found Galaxy's battery to be excellent for music listening and video playing. However, if you play games all the time, then you'll find both Galaxy and iPod batteries to be inadequate.

Galaxy vs. iPod File Management: If you're married to iTunes, you are going to like iPod better, but I found iTunes to be extremely buggy and slow, not to mention very limiting. So, it felt very refreshing not to have to be tied to iTunes to manage my files. In addition, I didn't have to convert videos to play on Galaxy since it plays most of the known video types. Again, if you're tied to iTunes and don't know what else to do, go with iPod. But if you want flexibility and know what you're doing, Galaxy is better.

Galaxy vs. iPod Camera: This is one of main gripes that I've had with iPod. Galaxy's camera wins, hands down. Also, Galaxy handled Skype video chat with ease and we didn't have any issues with casual picture taking. However, if you want to take really high quality pictures, buy a separate digital camera.

In summary, my son likes his iPod and my daughter is happy with her Galaxy. However, if I'm interested in a media player/mobile internet device and wouldn't want a phone/data contract, I'll definitely pick Galaxy over iPod Touch. I'm actually considering buying Galaxy 5.0 myself this Christmas. :-)

Buy Samsung 4-Inch Galaxy Player(DISCONTINUED) Now

This is a review of the 4 inch model. I bought this mainly for it's ability to surf the web and check email at WIFI hot spots, as I was searching for an economical solution of not lugging around a laptop on trips, and I did not want to incur expensive monthly smartphone / data charges.This unit is very lightweight, slim, and easily slips unnoticed into a pocket.

Until this came out, there was only one other choice: the Apple iPod touch. I evaluated both and decided on Samsung for the following:

Easily replaceable / accessible battery

Wins the "drop" test (see various videos on the web)

Expandable memory (just drop in a microSDHC card)

Larger screen

Tip: I went to Samsung's Website and downloaded and read the complete 140+ page manual, to get familiar with this unit before purchase, and also to quickly get it up and running when it arrived.

WiFi: I can honestly say that this unit exceeded my expectations. When it arrived, the unit charged up quickly ( 1 hr). I headed out to our local library to check the WIFI, and it was excellent. Pages loaded quickly. No dropped connections. I repeated this at several other hotspots around town, all good. Although the screen display resolution (800 x400) is arguably not as nice as the Ipod's retinal display, it was nice and clear, even when "pinched" to high magnifications.YouTube videos played with ease. I was quickly able to set up all my bookmarks, set up all my email accounts, customize the home screen to my liking, and load a few free android apps all within an hour.

Battery life: very reasonable; able to surf for all day with music in the background and still had some battery power left. Tip: turn of the WiFi and GPS when not needed. It is easy to access this functionjust swipe a finger from the top of the screen downwardsyou now have a quick menu to turn these functions on or off. Also you can access the "task manager" wigit and shut down all running programs not needed.

Music player: It synced very easily to all my tunes stored on my Windows media player software on my laptop. The earbuds provided with the unit are a step above the usual cheapies, with a pause and skip button. They fit snugly and comfortably into the ear canal (silicone) to block out external sounds and give a better listening experience. Sound is average.

Warranty: It is 1 year. Initially I could not find any warranty info,so I called Samsung to confirm this. I was able to speak to a customer rep quickly, which is nice.

This unit is based on Samsung's famous Galaxy smartphone series. It Comes with a 1 Ghz processor (not dual core), 512 Mb RAM, 8Gb memory (expandable to 64 Gb with external micro card) and Android's 2.3.5 Gingerbread software platform. It has 3.2 MP camera (no flash on this 4" model, only the 5" has flash), and GPS, It is basically a smartphoone without the phone.

Warranty is 1 year.

One annoying note: if you accidentaly push the volume control bar simultaneously with the power on button when you initially turn on the unit (easy to do, they are on opposite ends) the unit goes into a scary "download mode" . It's eay to get out, just power the unit completely off then on again.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung 4-Inch Galaxy Player(DISCONTINUED) Here

For people who've wanted the capabilities of a smart phone, without the hefty monthly bill, the iPod touch was the best available option. The Galaxy Player provides another alternative. For me the Galaxy Player had the advantage with a removable battery and a mini-SD card slot.

I primarily wanted a device that would easily sync with my Outlook calendar for work and my Google calendar for everything else. The Galaxy Player performs this function flawlessly. It easily hooked up to both of my accounts and shows them in a common calendar without any additional set up. It may give you a prompt about not saving items to Samsung's Kies calendar, but this is irrelevant and can be ignored. The Galaxy easily connected with other Google accounts I use such as Gmail and Google+.

Once you set up a wifi connection in the device it will remember it and automatically switch to that connection when it becomes available. This means I can go from home, to work, to a cafe, and it will connect to each network without any input from me. About the only time I'm without a wifi connection is in the car, and I was pleasantly surprised the the maps and driving directions continued to function adequately with no internet.

As a media player the device performs well. It sounds good and I found it easy to use. Videos are crisp and vibrant. The battery allows me to get through a day of regular use without needing to recharge.

The biggest disappointment (and why this isn't a 5 star review) is the camera. The Galaxy 4's camera has a poor auto focus that only seems to work half the time. It needs a fair amount of light to take pictures that are not blurry. The camera controls are also poorly designed when compared to the controls for the rest of the device.

There were two other minor issues as well. I found the auto brightness feature a little irritating and eventually disabled it. The Google Sky Map did not function correctly until I turned off the magnetism adjustment and restarted the app.

Overall I'm very happy with the Galaxy Player strongly recommend it to anyone who is looking for wifi-based smart phone alternative.

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If you dont like reading or want to see the device here is a video review:

Form/Design: The player is very light me and saleswoman both agreed. For its size you would think it would be alot heavier but it is a nice weight and fits comfortably in the hand. Its is easy to use with either 2 hands or one to control the whole screen.

The player looks really sexy haha, people have said it looks like a white iphone from the back at a quick glance. Everyone asks me if i got a new phone and i say no, and they start to tell me i did its kind of funny to watch people fight about it cause noones heard of it

Screen: The screen looks great, and i choose the 4.0 for this reason. the 5.0 has the same resolution so i figured this screen would look better with a higher pixel density. looks the crisp and colors stay true from all viewing angels. the screen is different from the galaxy s but it looks just as good

Performance: Runs smooth, very responsive, i haven't got it to lag at all, and as far as i know it doesnt heat up much either.

Headphones: I love the headphones that came with this, comfortable and good quality.

Camera: 3.2 rear facing camera is surprisingly good quality with a res of 2048x1536. It also records 720p but the audio on the videos isnt too good, and it wont let you record with the vga (front) camera :(

Reception: Everyone thinks its a phone and will continue to think so until you tell them. Then once you say its like an ipod touch they add in "except way better" its pretty amazing how people are drawn to it

Battery: I have had some weird stuff happen with the battery. It should last you all day, but whenever your not using it put it on idle, the display uses 50-60 percent of the battery on the lowest brightness. Also be aware of applications that use WiFi, they will use wifi even if you exit them in the task manger.

Its a galaxy phone without the phone part, and i love it. I prefer this over the ipod touch and would recommend this to anyone looking for an ipod or mp3 and more. i use this for way more then audio and video its a great device

Wow this device is simply amazing. I have had an Ipod touch for 2 years and I wanted to get out of Apple's grip and buy an Android MP3 player. So I did my research. I found that this device could be the solution to my problem. The camera is way better in the Galaxy Player compared to the iPod. I like the Galaxy's screen better then iPod. It is great for watching movies. The screen size is bigger than the iPod touch which is great. Also, their is an SD slot for up to 32gb of added storage.

The only thing that isn't better on the the Samsung Galaxy Player than on Ipod is the App Store. Apple's store is better than the Android Market but the Android Market is expanding. I think it will soon be better than the iPod's App Store.

This device is probably the only MP3 player that can compete with the Ipod touch right now. In my opinion it is an Ipod killer.

PROS

Great Screen

8gb with micro SD slot for up to 40gb of storage.(Ipod only 8gb)

Camera (3.2 megapixels compared to Ipods .92)

Price ($10 less then iPod)

CONS

Android MarketApp Store is superior for now but won't be for long.

If you feel like you want to get out of Apple's grip and want to buy a quality MP3 player then the Samsung Galaxy Player is the right MP3 player for you.

Micca EP950 1080p 3D Digital Media Player with Gigabit Network, USB 3.0, and 3.5" HDD Drive Bay (Re

I went through quite a few media players recently. Almost gave up on idea of finding the one that plays full HD rips flawlessly. The perfect player for me would be one that is reasonably priced and plays direct (m2ts) HD rip with 24p and HD audio over network from NAS, 3D is welcome too. 1185 based players were close, but were dropping audio during playback, occasionally. Popcorn Hour A-300 was horrible bug fested player. Dune HD TV-101 was almost there, but could not hold the candle with HD Audio and does not play DivX encoded video.

This player based on 1186 Realtek chip and handles full HD video and HD audio flawlessly:

24p check

Audio sync check

TrueHD check

DTS-HD check

Subtitles -check

3D-SBS/TOB check (activate from player popup menu during playback, once in 3D player's playback menu and info popups would work in 3D mode)

3D-SBS/TOB SRT subtitles check

SMB shares check

NFS shares check

UPNP streaming check

It plays iso and BD folder fine. Menus sometimes not shown plays movie straight.

I tried 3D iso some will show menu, some not. You can configure player to prompt for iso playback mode. "Direct play" plays 3D movie version correctly on every iso I tried so far. When "BD Lite" or "BD 1.0" used it may not show 3D movie for playback or just plays 3D movie straight. TV switched to 3D mode automatically. I am sure there will be few 3D bugs there, but it is not critical for me. Besides, my preferred method is "Direct play" and it works correctly.

As far as non 3D player it works flawlessly and quite impressive for brand new product, just released . No fw updates yet published, but I feel like not updating fw, because I do not have any issues yet.

Thanks to Realtek and Micca for making it available. Job well done!

At the moment, this player will wipe floor with the likes of Dune-HD or Popcorn Hour. Not to mention full 3D support.

Time has come to retire WDTV HD Live. It took a while, WDTV is quite a player, but stable only with older fw 1.03.49 and older... With WDTV, it gets more and more crippled as a player with every fw update.

Issues found:

1) Rare audio dropouts with DTS-768Kbps audio tracks. It was present in earlier Realtek based players as well. This is very rarely used DTS bit rate, usually present in SkyHD movies. The remedy is simple just convert it to more common DTS-1536Kbps and problem solved.

2) Some times it takes a few tries to power on the unit from remote. It works ok, but with very short power button press on remote. Looks more like a jitter, long press would turn unit on and then immediately off, so it looks like unit never turned on. This is being like this for many Realtek based players. Front panel on/off touch button works fine all the time.

3) Some AVC BD rips could cause a micro stutter in 24P mode, disabling 24P mode corrects the issue.

4) Only one movie with DTS-HD Master causes micro audio drops every 10 mins or so (nothing special about this movie, may be audio encoding issue, not the player). Remediation: Set "Deep Color"=off. I consider it as useless option anyway. I never encountered movie encoded with more than 8-bit color, increasing HDMI data bandwidth by 25/50% with no benefits.

Note, it is "micro" issues, most folks may not even notice it.

Still, very small issue considering product is just released.

Good Luck!

The device, and all that it does is awesome. Totally worth the money, in my opinion this is the right price vs feature set I think it is probably equal to or superior to the popcorn hour, and *can* boot to Android which is a plus.

If you're anything like me, you spend days agonizing and reading about the realtek 1185 vs the 1186 chipset, and trying to rationalize why Popcorn hour is $300+ for the same feature set, and the CPU is 750 on this vs 900 there, and read reviews online of people struggling with the 500 of 1185 chipset...blah blah blah.

In conclusion technically this device does everything I could ask for, and is the best raw value.

The bummer for me is I've owned it for a month, and had to engage support a half a dozen times (which can only be done via email)..each time I get a response timely (the next day) but it's always a 1 sentence answer. The company is growing and focusing on just getting their product out there, that all the foundations of how to make the device usable to the end user eludes them. The fundamental programming is great (user interface etc)..all that's fine. The problem, is no guide or documentation exists anywhere.

Here are my examples :

1.) Mine came with firmware 1.0.2.6 out of box, I inserted a new hard drive, with all my media formatted NTFS with Win 7. The device could read but not copy. Support said I had to wipe my 100gb of data and let the device format. I did. Device formatted and then could not find the hard drive any longer. It saw it in setup, but couldn't read it in the user interface. So Micca tells me to re-flash firmware. Except they didn't have any firmware on their site for download, and the link they sent me was fake. They posted it to their site that day, and it solved the problem for me (flashing via USB). I flashed to 1.0.26 that struck me as weird. Also this version of firmware introduced a new hard coded asian channel called Hi something. It's weird..I can't even read it..why is it in my face all the time now?

2.) No document says anything for how to make the BT Client work, even in other EP models Micca reps tell people to use a 3rd party app ... nowhere does it say how to use it..only turn it on/off. I found a folder on the hard drive named BT..so I tried copying a torrent file there nope nothing. Then Micca emails me back and says navigate to the device in web browser via IP..and it should work. The web server has error 500, failed to start. Still working with Micca on how to fix this.

3.) It says wifi optional, but they actually only install the drivers for 1 wifi chipset. There are maybe 5-8 manufacturers who created that chipset, and so you have to buy that specific wifi dongle from some manufacturer. None of those are guaranteed to work, except the 2.5 star one sold by Micca, but they are *likely* to work. In no document or link is this information found, once again after contacting Micca I got info link to EP600 compatible wifi dongles... I guess I should have read other model manuals more. That seemed silly to me... the least they can do is test a few dongles against their product and install some generic drivers to open that up. I bought that dongle, and it works, and I'm happy. Frustrated that there is no clarity anywhere about it.

That's only 3 of maybe 4-5 issues like that I've had. Everytime I solve one problem, a new roadblock presents itself. I feel like I want to like Micca as a company, cause this is a cool product that is fundamentally innovative and blends the realm of TV streaming with being rid of physical media. However, they are just feeling the pains of being an immature company. Growing pains make a company awkward. I would advise they open up a forum so they can crowd source these problems, and shift much of their support burden away. I'm sure I'm not the only one with these issues. It would also serve as a centralizing point to prioritize development issues.

Fundamentally the device is good, the bulk of the interface is usable, it's fast, at least somewhat intuitive and plays media great. If my consumer experience were strictly based on the tech device it would be 5 stars. Probably in 6-9 months they will have caught up with my issues. However, my consumer experience for now is painful. I've had my exciting new toy for 4 weeks, and I still can't use it to it's fullest extent. What should have been fun to open out of box and plug in and do neat stuff with, instead has turned into a multimonth pain of copying a giant library back and forth several times and still not working fully. I have to dock 2 stars strictly because nothing should take me more than a month to make work, and I'm an advanced IT person for a living I expect the user challenge is insurmountable for the average Joe at least until these issues are resolved out of box. I believe they will get there, and my review should be considered a point in time snapshot.

Buy Micca EP950 1080p 3D Digital Media Player with Gigabit Network, USB 3.0, and 3.5" HDD Drive Bay (Re Now

I've been looking for a decent Media Player for at least 18 months, and this is by far the best one I've found for my needs. As for connections, it has:

1 GB ethernet port

1 external SATA port (both data and power)

2 USB 2.0 ports (A, Female)

1 SD memory card slot

1 USB 3.0 port (B, Female)

1 HDMI port

RCA composite and component video and audio out

RCA Coaxial port (function unknown)

One optical audio out port.

The unit can accommodate 1 3.5 inch internal SATA drive.

My primary use for this media player is to play video recordings for debriefing, so the fact the Realtek 1186 chip plays .mts files out the starting gate is a definite plus. The addition of a USB 3.0 port, an external SATA port and a gb ethernet port provides for many options to shunt video to/from storage devices quickly without overloading the USB 2.0 bus. The remote control is SO much better than Previous media players I've used that I think it's great, though I suspect there is at least some room for improvement of button placement etc. (like moving play/pause buttons from the bottom of the remote to the center...). Anyhow, buttons are clearly labeled enough that one can figure out their functionality without consulting a manual, which is a definite plus. Once the player is booted up, it is very snappy and responsive to commands from the remote, definite plus.

So far I've tested mp3s, mkvs, divx AVIs, jpgs, and mts files, all seem to play snappily with little lag between button press and media playing. When displaying JPGs the player automatically goes into slideshow mode, with the ability to change slide show settings (random sequence, repeat, fades, time to transition, etc.) This is actually very cool, tempting to use it just for picture viewing! Video was a little frighting at first, as at 1080 60p out, the TV's dejudder caused any camera panning to induce a vertigo effect. Once I turned off the TV's dejutter, video looked fine.

As for Cons, the boot up sequence takes a little while, from turning on the unit to getting a menu it takes 30-45 seconds. It takes an additional 15-30 seconds for connected devices to be recognized, so feels more like a computer boot time than most gadgets. Though it seems to shut down quickly, trying to restart it immediately after shutdown the unit seems to resist, so I suspect the shutdown sequence takes at least 10-15 seconds as well. The device has a fan which fires up as the device turns on. It's resonance can vibrate things near by. When dampened by something, the sound is barely audible from 6 feet away. I'm not sure about the permanence of media library, but I was having some harddrive issues when the media library seemed a little fritzy, so unknown at this point. It doesn't come with a USB 3.0 cable of any kind, nor an hdmi cable, it does come with a (6 inch?) ESATA extension cable, and a composite video out cable. To use the USB 3.0 port, some esoteric cables/gender changers will likely be required.

I haven't tried any networking with the Unit, either wired or wireless. I tried playing one Blu-ray ISO, which seemed to work with no menus, but I didn't investigate this feature too much. I haven't tried any 3d content. I haven't tried any of the Video/Audio outputs except hdmi, for my needs that maybe the RCA stereo out from the Composite Video should do the trick. And I haven't tried any of the internet features of the unit, it has a built in browser, support for Android 2.2 and any apps that can run on it, a section for "premium apps" (12-20 internet widget thingies), etc. Anyway, all of this functionality is interesting, but untried by me at this point.

So in summary, with a good remote, good to very good screen navigation menus, snappy response times, a multitude of connection options, and a price that as of this review is 100 dollars less than similar products with a realtek 1186 chipset, the Micca EP950 seems a winner. If you are considering this product for it's more advanced features (namely playing 3d content), it might behoove you to wait for the product to mature, newer firmware to be released, and competing products to be introduced to drive down prices.

I'm giving it 4 stars only because the gadget is still new to me and there may be serious issues lurking underneath (networking, anyone?) but for my uses it's more like a 5 star Digital media player.

Hope that helps!

Update: 12/29/11

New Pro: the unit will play music and show pictures/jpgs simultaneously, definitely useful for making those vacation photo presentations just a little more enjoyable...

New BIG con: it doesn't play video in slow motion. I know most people won't miss this feature, and very few other media players seem to support slow motion playback, but for anyone who want's to view fast action video (sports fans?) this is a useful feature and not including it in this player is a big letdown.

Update: 1/9/12

Yes, Virginia, the EP950 will do slow motion playback. The remote that comes with the unit doesn't support it, but if you buy a Logitech Harmony 300 and configure it with the HiMedia HD560B profile, then program one of the buttons with the "slow" command, the slow command button will cycle through slow motion playback from 3/4ths to 1/16th. It seems to have some issues with .mkv files, only slowing those down to 1/2 before "fast motioning" the playback until playback is stopped and resumed. But Slow Motion does work. The player has a host of other issues as well, see the forum below:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1380932

... and it seems the price has climbed up 50 bucks since the holidays... But it still seems a good value, if only they could squash some of the bugs and and add support for playlists...

Read Best Reviews of Micca EP950 1080p 3D Digital Media Player with Gigabit Network, USB 3.0, and 3.5" HDD Drive Bay (Re Here

I first got the EP600. My brother liked it so I gave it to him. Then I got this EP950. I have been using it for 5 months and it is delivering! I have it wired to my network so I got a fast connection to my movies. It could play files in multiple audio and video formats. I can play 3D files. I highly recommend this product being cheaper than most known brands but works good. You probably need some technical skills to update firmware but product will work out of the box without firmware update. True that it takes timing to turn it on but once you get used to the trick it won't bother you anymore.

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I did have some teething pains with the EP950 at first but all is pretty much smooth sailing now.

I find the interface responsive and functional. I disable the database/semi-jukebox feature mainly

because I am not fussy about such things. Actual network speed is better than the older Realtek models

but still only around 12 megabytes per second max over wired ethernet. Again I think people expect

way too much functionality from a device at this price point. For what it is supposed to do which is

play media files it performs very well. Also the browser works fine on mine so I am not sure why

the other reviewer was having an issue. Unless they were trying to access a page that used Flash then

yeah that would not work. I also find it runs much cooler than my older briteview unit even with the

internal hard disk installed. Transferring files directly to the internal disk using a USB 3.0 connection

is a dream come true, I have copied files over at 70+ MB which saves me a lot of time. One last note about

the sata connector on the side of the unit. When you plug a drive into this it shows up on the EP950 as

a usb device NOT a sata drive so transfers to and from that port are not gonna be super fast, maybe

20-25 MB/s at most. Just thought I would make that known because I do not see that fact widely mentioned.

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USA Gear FlexARMOR Protective Neoprene Carrying Case for Sony , Olympus and RCA Flash Memory Digita

The bag is perfect for the voice recorder I have Sony ICDPX312.

My only complaint is that the packaging and pics show and describe a "removable arm band" and there is no arm band included. Not that I really needed one, but just FYI.

The carry case was just what I needed for my voice recorder , it has those well defined slots for my memory card , voice recorder, ear phones and fits every thing perfectly. The quality of the zipper and the over material is very good too.

I found this to be a great value buy.

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I bought this case for my Sony Digital Voice Recorder ICD-PX820 and it fits perfectly. Modern shape. Good quality. Thank you very much.

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Allows more storage space than the Olumpus case. Choice of color so you may color code items if you purchase two or more.

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I like the case. It fits the Sony RX-100 camera, with nice zipper for an extra SD card. It's light and flexible. It works.

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Insignia NS-DV720P High-Definition 720p Digital Camcorder (Dark Blue)

When I used it seemed to work just fine. The flip screen is cool. I like how it mounts to my tripod and the picture automatically flips when I turn it upside down. I uploaded the videos that I took. I went to play them back. What I see looks adequate for my purposes. But I am really disappointed with the sound. It's very quiet and scratchy to boot. I think I will take it back for this because that makes these vids useless to me.

It works fine for what you expect a camcorder to do for the most part. It accepts SDHC cards and you NEED to use them otherwise you'll get less than a minute worth of video before the internal memory fills up.

Pros:

1. Video quality excellent, it even catches the slight burn in on my plasma TV.

2. Large 3" screen for viewing your videos.

3. Battery lasts maybe 90 minutes. I consider this a good thing because my old camcorder was literally 20 years old and used VHS tapes.

4. Price is very good for a first camcorder.

Neutral:

1. Only 3x digital zoom

2. Slight learning curve when learning the menu system

3. Requires SD or SDHC (use SDHC) memory cards. Internal memory is incredibly small.

Cons:

1. Creates movies in AVI and MOV formats. These formats don't work for most video editing software. So far I've only found it works with Windows Live Movie Maker.

2. Sound quality is terrible, when I shoot video reviews I have to jack the volume up extremely loud for it to be somewhat audible to the camera. Talking at a distance of > 10 feet will be pretty hard to hear. The speaker is on the right side of the camera, not in front which is strange.

Overall this is definitely a 3 star product. It records video which is great but sound is terrible. 5 star video, 1 star sound makes an average 3 star rating. Everything else is not as important as the quality of the original video. If you are recording yourself for Youtubing it's great, but even making video reviews it's not the best. Here's an example of a review I did with it, I was only a few feet away from the camera at all times.

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I received this camera as a Christmas gift, and it's become an extension of my arm since. I take it everywhere. It has a quick startup time, and it's very easy to start recording. I've also left it in my car in subzero temperatures many times, and it still starts up just fine.

The things I don't like have been written by others already. The video records to .avi and .mov files which is not easy to work with, and the sound quality isn't very good. Other than that, I like it a lot.

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I was shopping for a cheap camera to record some YouTube videos with, but I got SOOO much more than that! This is the ideal camera for me; It's HD (720p), great sound quality, and has a built-in LED flash. The only "problem" with it is that the image gets a little grainy in lower light situations, but I like that. It gives it sort of a vintage-film look. Since getting this camera, I've been able to produce the quality music videos and vLog that I was hoping to do. Great camera at a great price!

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Had it for about 30 months, 2.5 years, 2 yrs 6 months :D. Anyway it's great and records in HD. No problems at all. You can turn the side so others can see themselves as you record them etc. I highly recommend this camcorder. I got mine for $80 on sale $50 off at Best Buy. If you have any questions feel free to message me.

DVB-T USB Receiver & Low-Cost Software Defined Radio (SDR) - Realtek RTL2832U + Elonics FC0013-Based

First off don't replace the included antenna until you have checked to see if the protection diode was included, that takes internet research and a careful if simple partial case dis-assembly. The version I purchased had the electrostatic protection diode, but research says that some don't and if you go to switching out antennas without that protection then you are almost certain to damage the chips.

Yes the included antenna has very VERY poor reception, but until your sure your device has a the protection diode don't replace it. You still can experiment with the device just don't expect to hear distant radio transmitters.(Instead use your own transmitters.)

Once you have found the software and did the research to successfully interface it with the receiver I recommend STRONGLY you have several handheld radio transmitter present that you control and practice setting the software to hear those radios with the receiver before trying it with distant radio sources.(I also recommend these first transmitters be simple AM and FM radios.)

I've experimented with a MUR, FRS and since I'm a HAM a 2 meter handheld as well as a 40 channel CB radio and these nearby controllable radio sources were a big help in learning to use the software and what setting would let me hear/see clear audio/radio signals and what wouldn't.

For example there is a Gain function that is not obvious in the software I've tried that will help to receive a few more distant stations, but don't expect much until you can safely replace the antenna.

Another thing is that most of the programs I've tried "SDsharp" and "HDSR" tend to default and reset the bandwidth to very narrow levels, it's probably something I'm doing, but they seem to do this constantly. You probably won't get decent audio out until you manually increase the bandwidth to the correct levels.

Also a warning with the free downloaded software you need to expect crashes, this might be a function of the fact that I'm pushing an old 1.4 GHz Dell 600 running windows XP home edition. Both free software defined radio programs I've tried would almost instantly lock up if I set sampling rates much above 1 Megasamples often to the point that "Control Alternate Delete" was the only way to get the computer to respond. At just over 2 megasamples the old Dell laptop required a hard shutdown to recover from the locked OS.

In spite of the above warning about high sampling rates if I kept the sample rates below or around 1 megasamples the Dell had no trouble and after some experimentation with settings, it wasn't to long before I was hearing clear AM and FM signals from the CB and 2 meter radios.

I've not tried or even researched using Linux style Operating Systems yet, but it's probably the way to go if your wanting to plug this receiver into a older and slower computer, but what ever computer you use faster is better.

Did I mention the need for research? I had my best search results when I used numbers off the dongles circuit board in my case "EZTV645", RTC 2832U, FC 0013 and realtek, but this is dependent on the circuit board you have.

HDM

The actual frequency range went much lower than spec. Good for me,The best software in my opinion. is SDR#.

The sensitivity is good and I have used this on 6 meter WSPR and received many beacons.

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No need to spend the high $$$ on the over-priced SDR out there, just get this little baby for 20 BUX!

IT DOES THE SAME EXACT THING!

Takes a little while to figure it out, but the right searching on the internet got it working better than expected!

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This tuner module does more then originally designed, it works very well on the HAM bands as well as others. however the use of a powered USB hub may be needed with some systems.

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has new tuner chip. covers more bandwidth than the 4000 series tuner... and works gread with SRP# software and vista...

FULL HD 1080P HDMI Video Scaler and Signal Converter PAL SECAM NTSC, Designed for use with all USA

arrived in time, i took it overseas and it is working perfectly with my Samsung led HD TV,

the remote control is not of a good quality, one has to press the buttons firmly to make it work, otherwise it works perfectly

Toshiba SD4200 Digital Progressive Scan DVD Player, Black

• Digital Progressive Scan
• ColorStream Pro Component Video
• DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW compatible
• JPEG, MP3 Playback
• 14bit Video DAC

For under forty dollars and free shipping this is a great value. It is a basic DVD player with a basic remote. We have had this for about 3 months and have had no problems. It actually handles scratched DVDs better than the Sony DVD player we have. The controls on the face of the unit are just the basics which makes it nice for children to use.

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My less-than-enthusiastic review is based on what my expectations for the player were, not on its actual performance.

I needed a cheap DVD player to go with a cheap TV I have that only takes S-Video input. So I bought this Toshiba SD4200 DVD player specifically because, at least at the time of purchase, both Amazon and the Toshiba website indicated that it had S-Video output. When it arrived, however, I discovered it did not (only component and RCA). A Toshiba rep confirmed the website error and apologized. To compensate, I had to buy an RCA to S-Video adapter, which luckily only cost about $10.

Unfortunately, this was not my only disappointment. The image of the player on both Amazon and Toshiba would lead you to believe that the display includes track timing, when really the only thing that shows is the track number. Given that track timing and S-Video were the ONLY requirements I had in mind before buying a DVD player, I was rather irked to discover this. Another strange feature I've never seen before is the lack of track buttons on the player itself; you can only skip between tracks using the remote control. I should have noticed this before buying, since it's right there in the pictures, but it just didn't occur to me. This is only a minor annoyance, but it's still something that probably would have led me to purchase a different player, especially given the large number of available options.

These problems could all have been avoided had I looked at the actual user manual from Toshiba online, which gave proper information and images. So I've learned to check the manual before buying electronics online, rather than just rely on basic information from the vendor and/or the manufacturer.

As for the performance of the player, thus far I've not had any trouble with either CDs or DVDs (about two months of use). Overall, with the RCA/S-Video adapter in place I've grown content with the unit. I've had good experience with two other Toshiba products (portable hard drive, portable DVD player) and therefore anticipate this one will also wear well.

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If you are looking for a basic DVD player with no fancy buttons or actions, the Toshiba SD4200 Digital Progressive Scan DVD Player is it! Very affordable and easy to install. I purchased this for my 10 year old child. He has no problems using it and the remote is very basic so there is no confusion on what buttons to use. Compatible with all commonly used CD formats such as DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R and CD-RW. We are also able to playback JPEG photo albums and homemade MP3 CD's. Extremely slim and lightweight.

Great buy for under forty dollars!

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This is a nice DVD player for the money. one thing to be aware of; There is an option to order an HDMI cable along with this DVD player but there is no HDMI port on the DVD player. It comes with component connecting cable in the box.

What a buy! I loved the ease with which to install, the picture quality is very good, it's simple to operate, an overall A+++ rating. And the price was FAB!!!!