Optical Toslink to Toslink Mini Fiber Optic Gold Plated Digital Cable - 12 feet

This is the fiber optic cable you need if you have an Apple AirPort Express and want to send your music form you iPhone or iPad to your home stereo.

This cable works just fine to connect the S/PDIF headphone-digital optical out port on my iMac to my Yamaha receiver's optical in port.

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been using this cable for about a year now, and have unplugged it and plugged it back in hundreds of times.

works great, and sounds noticeably better than my old miniplug to RCA connection I was using before it.

don't pay more than you have to, this cable is perfect.

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My Panasonic Plasma TV has a digital audio out jack that usually needs a Panasonic K7CXGYC00002 which goes for about 50 bucks and then a normal TOSlink cable between it and the receiver/soundbar. There is one of those "adaptor cables" in the original cable pack but my TV was a discounted floor model, so guess what was not included... Panasonic does not actually give the specification of the socket as to whether it is optical or electrical. But, in the dark, there was a tell-tale red laser dot coming from it. So, I decided to experiment, and THIS cable is exactly what is needed to hook the TV (mini-plug end) to the receiver directly and save 50 bucks into the bargain. Works perfectly!

Alternative to PANASONIC CABLE OEM Original Part: K7CXGYC00002

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Big sound improvement going to digital audio! Works great with my ASUS G2S notebook's SPDIF output and feeding into a Turtle Beach Earforce DSS. The cable is well made. The optical covers won't get lost either. They're attached as can be seen in one of the product images. Excellent price and fast delivery.

Olympus VN-100 128MB Digital Voice Recorder - Enjoy up to 74 Hours of Digital Recording!

I was looking for an inexpensive digital recorder to use for recording interviews. I don't need to save recordings on my computer so didn't need to pay extra for that feature, and there's plenty of storage on the recorder for my needs. For this item, the price was great and the package is compact and cute to boot. Price was my prioroty, but I also wanted something relatively attractive. This device doesn't look like something from the future, but its simple and clean design will never let on how cheap it is! Later, I purchased the "Olympus TP-7 Telephone Recording Device" (also inexpensive) so I can use my digital recorder for recording phone interviews. It's a great combo. I carry the recorder, microphone/earpiece, instructions, and a spare set of batteries in an old cell phone case and life is good.

A note: I use SP mode for all recordings. For me, LP recording mode is worthless on this device. SP mode isn't perfect either, but it's fine. And there's plenty of storage for me so using SP mode all the time isn't a problem in that regard. If your recordings on this device are crummy, hit the Mode button to be sure you're in SP mode before giving up on it.

Long story short, this little guy meets basic needs for a basic price. If you need computer connectivity, excellent recording quality, or massive storage, go for a more expensive model that offers those features.

I purchased this recorder to surreptitiously record conversations with my doctors. They speak more quickly than I listen. Now I can replay the conversations and be certain to understand their instructions and information.

This recorder works well. It has no way to connect to a PC or other recorder to make a permanent copy of the conversation, but I knew that limitation before purchasing it. That may be the reason for the low price when compared to other models.

The sound quality is adequate for my purposes.

I did fail to set the date and time function even though I carefully followed the instructions. I don't need that feature and I'm not positive it is the recorder's fault.

The recorder is about the size of a fat package of chewing gum.

The controls are easy,well marked, and intuitive.

The recorder is sensitive. When recording in my shirt pocket it picks up the sounds of the shirt fabric moving. To avoid this I wrapped the recorder in a soft eyeglass cleaning cloth. That eliminated the shirt sounds.

The microphone is on the top end so I position the red LED that shows it is recording against my chest to hide it from view while losing no audio.

For anyone who wants to record conversations for later playback, this recorder works, and the price is right.

I see that it is currently unavailable. I'm glad I purchased mine when I did.

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I ordered this product to record lectures. The sound quality is clear and it's easy to use. I have no problems with this product and would highly recommend this to family and friends.

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Sony HDR-SR12 10.2MP 120GB High Definition Hard Drive Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Image Sta

I've now had this camera for about a month now and I couldn't be happier. The video quality is STUNNING as well as the recording sounds. It comes with a base and proprietary power and video cords (both component-HD and composite, which means that they are not interchangable with over the counter video cords), but thats ok. It also has the software for transferring the videos and photos to your CPU. Back to the picture and sound... amazing really. The sound records in 5.1 surround which is so cool, plus you have many options on the video such as night vision, black and white, sepia, old movie mold, etc and some of them you can combine (I did night vision with black and white to make a short zombie movie, it looks wicked). There are so many possibilities with this cam. The play back is all touch screen, which the screen can get smeared by fingerprints (easy to wipe out), but I suggest buying a stylus. Of course if you hook it to your television, it does come with a remote control, and you can do everything with that remote except for deleting images. But that is a positive because you don't want to accidentally delete your images. And it does ask for you to confirm deleting so it's hard to do that accidentally.

Plus, it's a great photography camera. With the flick of a thumb you can change from filming to photographer easy and it takes crystal clear pictures in 10.5 mega pixel. Although I do find it a bit awkward to reach the photo button. Now it takes better picture in photo mode, then it do in filming mode (While filming you can snap a picture also),

Another word on the night vision, I had all the lights off and it films in that greenish color sort of like the movie Cloverfield. But even filming at night without the night vision on, it picks up everything. I had a buddy drive at night, while I was shooting and the only lights were coming from headlights and streetlamps (when we passed them) and you saw everything on the camera that you could see with you naked eye and I even thought it was better than my eye.

Now when you film and take pictures, it organizes the images according to date and when you film several scenes it will play them one after another without a bit of a pause. The camera also has little doors on the back and the side so you can hook up your cords without the base, which is good. Also inside of one of the doors are an hdmi output, a headphones output and a mic input. I ran my iPod through the mic input to make a music video and it turned out great (although be sure not to have your iPod any louder than half).

The camera also has a one touch DVD burning button on the camera and the base, but I haven't used it yet.

The only real negative is that the battery only last 90 minutes, but I bought a bigger battery, which last 14 hours. That battery weighs as much or more than the camera (the camera is really light) and it sticks out the back some but that isn't really that big of a deal.

The software is pretty smart. You hook the camcorder with the use of the provided usb cable (after loading the software) and it finds the camcorder and asks if you want to transfer all the items to your computer. But the cool thing is that you can keep those images on your camcorder after transfer, film other stuff, hook you camera back up to the computer and it will only transfer items that haven't been transferred yet. This is good because you don't have to try to figure out what has or haven't been transfer and you don't get dup copies, or that annoying message about whether you want to overwrite a file. And it organizes by date and you can do a total calendar view and see what dates you filmed on. When it organized and transfer to your CPU, it organized by date filmed, not date transfer, which is extremely helpful, especially if you visit multiple locations during multiple dates.

This is really the last camcorder you will possibly buy for many many years. The only thing is that it has so many cool accessories you can buy, like wide-angle lenses, telescopic lenses, attachable lights, and underwater case etc that you may eventually end up with a $2500-3000 total purchase when you are done. The accessories are not a necessity but they do look like a lot of fun.

Auto focusing can be a pain at times, but it does have a manual focus, which you can set to infinity and if you zoom, set it up on a tripod.

Oh and one last thing, I actually filmed something for 5 minutes that was playing on my plasma in HD and it look as if its the movie itself.

Just took this on a three week foreign tour and it does a lot of things amazingly well. I did a lot of research and am quite knowledgeable, and was originally going to buy one of the new units that runs on flash cards because I liked their size. But they made too many compromise -one of the worst of them being a lack of a viewfinder. I've never seen an LCD screen that wasn't washed out in sunlight (and this unit, while better than most, is no exception), so you NEED a viewfinder. Besides which, you get a lot less jiggling holding the camera up to your eye than holding it at arm's length to view an LCD screen.

The main caveat is its use of AVCHD as its recording format. This is another case of the hardware being ahead of the software. After extensive reading of the reviews of all the programs that currently exist, I've concluded that no one has yet come out with software to make editing this new format a simple affair. Sony's Vegas 8 (which costs $+) seems, from the reviews and my limited testing, to come closest, but my expensive high-powered desktop (2 1/2 years old) stutters and chokes. AVCHD is highly compressed and requires a ton of CPU power. So, for now, I've decided to just show my raw footage to friends by connecting the camera directly to my HDTV, and wait until better software emerges or I'm ready to buy a new computer.

The quality and versatility of the camera are great, however, and I'm glad I didn't compromise to get a smaller unit. The hard drive helps give you a good solid grip using one hand, and I loved being able to stop worrying about running out of space (120gb is a huge amount of shooting).

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I'll keep this short and sweet... After "purchasing" and "returng" camcorders to different stores in my area; FINALLY I found what I was looking for in a video camera... I just cannot begin to explain how crystal clear this camera shoots... Everyone I show the previews on the screen to want to either buy one or jokingly tell me if they can have my camera... The kicker is that it behaves extremely well in low-light situations... the best I've seen so far (and the reason why I returned so many camcorders after trying them out for a couple of days)... This is a no-brainer... The Sony HDR-SR12 is THE camcorder to get... Recording in space saving SP is incredible but when I switch to the highest setting (FH) the picture details became almost three dimensional... The fact that it has a Carl Zeiss lens doesn't hurt either... Beware who you buy online from as I did get burned by a New York based internet company (who shall remain unnamed... NOT AMAZON mind you)... They played a major bait and switch where I ended up paying at least $200 overprice... but oh well, live and learn... buy it here on Amazon and play it safe... 5 Star Camcorder and I can't even imagine how much any company can improve on image quality in the future after seeing what the SR12 can do!

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This camcorder is phenomenal! The shots are beautiful and clear the auto focus is very intuitive. The sound is fantastic. I love this camcorder. This takes very high grade professional videos in HD. I love that it shoots in widescreen.

I haven't had any problems with the software it came with; but if you don't like it then you can rest assured that you don't have to use it much. The only thing I've used the software for is to open the videos; you can immediately and easily convert them to a different file type (using the software); then you can use any software you want to work with them.

I've seen a lot of people give bad reviews for items because they didn't like the software it came with. In my opinion that's a bit like saying you hate a cereal because you didn't like your free toy surprise. The software is a bonus; it's the company's way of insuring that the buyer is able to use every part of their new device. The free software discs aren't generally intended to be your primary video editing software they're just included for convenience.

This camera so far is excellent; I'm beginning my career as a filmmaker and I bought this camera to help me make a high quality film portfolio for grad school. I was absolutely right to do so this camera will definitely help me make high quality films.

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I ordered this camera in mid-August, then used it on a 7-day trip to Cape Cod.

I rate this unit 5 stars because of its great picture quality and general ease of use.

Specifics:

1. Images were beautifully sharp and clear, just what I'd expected from a High Definition camcorder.

2. Image stabilization worked very well.

3. Autoexposure and autofocus worked well for me. Autofocus was quick and accurate. With varied lighting (full sun, heavy shade, back lit scenes), all images came out very well. Sometimes a manual adjustment would improve the exposure a bit, but things were fine with exposure set to Auto.

4. Mac users:

(a) You'll need iMovie08. A lot of camcorder forums describe additional software for using this camera with a Mac, but those threads are old. iMovie08 downloaded and converted the image files, and allowed editing, with no problems.

(b) Amazon's item description says it has "i.Link interface (IEEE1394)." I can find no iLink/Firewire connector on the camera or in the manual, but it worked fine with USB2.

5. The manual is short and not as informative as it should be; coverage of menu options is especially inadequate. I wanted to know about the HD capabilities, but all the manual says is you can shoot movies in High-Def or Standard Def. In the menus on the camera itself you'll find 4 video-quality modes, but there are few details.

6. The supplied battery (NP-FH60) will run 40 minutes of normal recording, per the manual. I had to restrain my shooting early on to conserve power, so missed several opportunities. I should have ordered a larger battery (like the NP-FH70).

7. It was hard to tell whether this camera had switched from "REC" mode to "STBY" mode when I pressed the "START/STOP" button; my last camcorder (also a Sony) had a larger button and more positive feel. I've never shot so much "pavement and pants legs" before (but beautifully sharp and clear), or missed so much action that I thought I'd captured. I'll be more careful in the future.

Pioneer DV-410V-K Multi-Format 1080p Upscaling DVD Player Featuring HDMI

• HDMI Terminal for Digital Audio/Video Out
• HDMI Upscaling (to View on 1080p) WMV (Windows Media¿¿¿ Video) Compatible
• HD JPEG Playback JPEG PhotoViewer(Fujicolor CD) Video Adjust Func
• PureCinema 2:3 Progressive Scan
• 1 HDMI Terminal ,1 USB Input, 1 Coaxial Digital Output, 1 S-Video Output, 1 Audio/1 Video Output, Component Video Output (DVD, Video CD)

I purchased Pioneer DV-410V dvd player to replace a low-end Sony model that I have been using for a year. The Sony DVD player does not have a HDMI port, so I have been relegated to watching my Panasonic LCD TV via component video cable. I narrowed my choice between Pioneer and LG DN898 players. They are the two top rated DVD players according to Consumer Reports. Pioneer, with the score of 86, tops LG player (which gets 82). I saw no reviews for LG DN898 on the Amazon web site; Pioneer (Amazon's second bestselling upconverting DVD player; LG was #7) got 15 mostly positive reviews. So I went for the Pioneer player.

Pioneer DV-410V has a very handsome form factor. There are more controls in the front panel of the player than most other DVD players (even though I probably would not use any of them). Disc tray is very solidly made. The display is easy to read. Pioneer comes with plenty of connection options. Composite A/V, S-video, component video, HDMI, plus coaxial digial audio out. The notable omission is the optical digital output (fortunately I do not need it), which is available in Pioneer's higher-end models. The set up was very easy. Connect the HDMI cable, went through various settings in the Home Menu, and I was ready to watch my first DVD.

The Home Menu is a model of efficiency. It is divided into five major sections: Audio Settings, Video Adjust, Play Mode, Disk Navigator, and Initial Settings. It is very easy to navigate through each section using cursor buttons. I especially like the Video Adjust Menu, which give you control over such settings as Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Hue, and Chroma Level. This may be redundant with many TVs, but my Panasonic LCD display has minimal picture settings, so some of those settings are still useful.

The picture quality is much better than what I have been used to with the Sony, at least due to using HDMI instead of component video cable. The picture is more lively and rich than what I have been used to. The picture quality difference was most evident when viewing JPEG photo files. They were like viewing them on my computer display, except on very large scale. I gave up watching JPEG files with the Sony because the images were so pixelated and the resolution was so terrible.

Audio was very rich and clear, although this only happened when I disabled surround and other special audio features. Sometimes less is more. Too many special settings actually have opposite effect. The player remembers last five discs, and it resumes the play automatically. When I stop a DVD and then press play there is no delay; on my old Sony there was a considerable delay

So why only four stars. Any man-made product has at least a bit of imperfection, so this DVD player is no exception. My major gripe is that Pioneer is noisy. It is not a problem when I am watching a DVD, but when I first turn on the unit or when I pause or stop the noise level is perceptible. Next, the display in front of the unit is fixed at displaying chapter and elapsed time (for DVDs). I rather have the flexibility to change it to the remaining time, which is more useful to me. I can view the remaining time and other informations by pressing Display button on the remote (and I have to press the button two more times to get rid of the onscreen display), but that's not as convenient as just looking at the unit's display. Time format is in minutes and seconds, so 1 hour 25 minutes will show up as 85:00, instead of 01:25:00 which I am accustomed to viewing. The remote control is not a universal remote, so I cannot control my TV with it. It does not even have volume or mute buttons. This is no problem for me because I use Sony RM-VL600 8-Device Universal Learning Remote, which I would recommend very highly. Lastly, it only comes in black, if anyone cares.

My next venture into this field will be for a Blue ray player. I wanted to wait purchasing it until blue ray becomes the de facto standard. I would not mind if I wait a year or two until prices of blue ray players come down to around $100 level. Until then, Pioneer DV-410V will serve as a useful bridge. It's picture and audio qualities (the two most important factors) are very impressive. Pioneer has a long history of making quality audio-video products. As I mentioned earlier, it tops all DVD players in the Consumer Reports ratings. The negative aspects of this DVD player are very minor and in no way diminish the appeal of owning this fine product. Therefore, I would highly recommend Pioneer DV-410V to anyone who's shopping for a DVD player.

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I have been buying all kinds of DVD players (2 years searching) with no luck for the HDMI to DVI. Until this one. It works!!!

Works in 1920x1080p 1920x1080i 1280x720p 720x480p 720x480i

Even tried the Pioneer DV-400V-K. Pioneer said that one would work but it did not. Pioneer also said the only difference was the USB on this is in HD and the DV-400V-K is standard definition.

Pop in a USB key and it lets you scroll through videos and pictures in HD.

The picture is fantastic and the multiple adjustments you can do in the settings for picture and sounds. There are so many settings, you will not believe it.

This is "THE BEST" UP-Convert DVD player.

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Update, this is an older model now, I think I paid $100 new last year.

Pros:

Full controls on front panel

Excellent image quality (no blocking)

Slim and quality feeling

USB 2.0 content with HD images

Cons:

No optical audio out

Some graininess to dark scenes

Who should buy this player? Anyone looking for a full featured upconverting DVD player for a reasonable price.

I like the DVD player. The main reasons I bought this model is that it is upconverting for my HD TV and that it has full controls on the front panel. My TV is only 32" so there is only a slight improvement in image quality over standard DVD. Those with larger TVs might notice more improvement. The quality is nowhere near HD or Blu-Ray of course, but still an improvement. The full controls on the front panel are important to me, because any function can be performed without the remote in case it is lost.

Menus are intuitive and easy to use, and the HDMI output is handy to reduce cables. I run the HDMI cable to my TV and the Digital Audio out to my Amplifier (it doesn't take HDMI at all), and that works great. I just disable the audio output in the HDMI cable (through the menus) and no sound comes out the TV (which is what I wanted).

Overall, this is a great DVD player, and I hope it lasts longer than my previous players from other brands. I like the feel and function.

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I did my research prior to buying this player. For those who are looking for an affordable DVD player that plays ANY region disc as well as UPSCALING...look no further. I have done both of these things with the Pioneer DV-410V-K and it works perfectly. The remote is user friendly and the menu/programming is simple and easy to navigate. IMPORTANTLY when it comes to the upscaling feature there is a little programming however which I contacted the seller and received instructions on this procedure machine will not automatically do this and this makes a big difference! Here are the intructions :

Here are steps:

1) You need to connect both RCA cable and an HDMI cable both together first time.

2) Confirm that you are getting picture using RCA cables.

3) Change the input source on your TV from RCA to HDMI.

4) Take the remote of Pioneer DVD player press the Home Menu Button.

5) Select the Initial Setting menu.

6) Go to Video Output and choose the resolution what ever you want.

Once you do this quite frankly you will get optimum 1080i or 1080p upscaled image quality. I do not have a Blu-Ray player but the cost of these and investment in the discs are only really worth it if you are using a 70" TV. I have played old BBC TV series in PAL as well as newer discs that are currently released and the Pioneer is outstanding. For around $100+ you cannot go wrong!

The Pioneer DV-410 is a very solid performer, but it has one fatal flaw: an inexcusably unresponsive remote. I can't really complain about the video quality or the array of features, but when you're trying to access a menu or even turn the unit on and the remote just isn't working, it gets pretty annoying really fast.

Here are the good features: You get a USB jack right on the front. This is incredibly useful for connecting your digital devices. I also really like the presence of buttons on the front of the unit. Judging by the utter lack of controls on the face of DVD players, I must be in the minority, but I really like to not rely on the remote for essential tasks like play, stop, and chapter skip.

I don't have an amazing TV, so I can't really speak to its upconverting capabilities. If you want flawless video, you probably want a Blu-Ray player anyway. For standard definition DVDs, I'm very satisfied with the image quality.

The strongest feature is probably its compatibility. I've encountered so many DVD players that are picky when it comes to DVD-/+Rs, DIVX, DVDRW, and whatever else you can think of. Amazingly, I've not had a single disc not play in the DV-410.

There are so many great features, but again I have to return to the terrible remote. Seeing as you'll likely need to use the remote every time you use to DVD player, it *will* annoy you every single time. My recommendation is to consider where you'll be placing the unit. Anything beyond a 30 degree angle is not going to work and that is just unacceptable. If you'll have a straight shot with the remote, you'll probably be okay, and if so, you'll get a great deal of use out of the Pioneer DV-410.

Sony DVP-NS70H HDMI Single Disc DVD Player

• Precision Drive 3 System - simplifies the process of dealing with warped discs, by moving the lens instead of the entire optical block - for faster, and more accurate error correction
• Precision Cinema Progressive Technology - detects image changes at the pixel level, and optimizes the picture using special algorithms. Resulting in sharp backgrounds with moving objects that are virtually free from motion artifacts
• 720p/1080i Upscaling of video and delivery through an HDMI connection
• MP3 Playback
• DVD-RW (Video Mode /VR mode w/CPRM), DVD-R, DVD+RW, & DVD+R Playback

Having been through the Oppo 971H and the Samsung HD941 upscaling DVD players and coming away disappointed, I came at this one a little jaded thinking upscaling technology is just marketing hype. Well this player proves it's not. From the instant I first turned it on I knew it was something special. The colors it produced over HDMI (720P) were stunning on my Sharp projector. The difference between normal 480p and 720p was significant with the upscaled resolution showing more clarity and depth. Normally fuzzy background images came into focus. There are many websites that swear upscaling technology is just not possible since the DVD's native picture is only 480p and "you can't make something out of nothing". Maybe true but you sure can sharpen up what is there and that's where this player shines.

The sound it produces is another wonderful feature. Crisp clear highs and booming lows with everything in between is what you can expect from this unit. Sony was even thoughtful enough to provide both optical and coaxial audio outputs.

Others have expressed a picture shrinkage issue with this player. They make it seem like every player has it, not true. I've read the complete forum they mentioned and several folks have said they do not have such an issue. I hate to see this great player get a bad rap because of what may be a player/display incompatibility for some folks.

I knocked a star off because Sony absolutley needs to include an HDMI cable with this. C'mon, would you buy a car and then feel good about having to pay more to get the key?

This is a great player at a great price, give it a shot you won't be disappointed.

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I've been shopping for months for a decent DVD player with HDTV upconversion. This is the first such player that didn't disappoint me right out of the box.

I would give the player itself 5 stars, but I'm knocking one off because the package doesn't come with an HDMI cable included. You have to buy one separately, which is an unnecessary nuisance that can add from about $20 to over $100 (depending on the cable brand) to your purchase. And if you forgo the HDMI connection, you cannot get the player's 1080i upconversion for HDTV thereby leaving little reason to purchase this item, whose other features can be found in many standard players for about half the price.

But that IMHO is a minor inconvenience in light of this player's performance and overall price. The device has an MSRP of about $170, and with coupons I got mine for $115 at Circuit City which is quite low for an upconverting player, particularly one from Sony.

So far I haven't had to endure any of the problems that have plagued other such players I've purchased and subsequently returned. For the first time in my experiences, the 1080i upconverted picture resolution is genuinely better and richer through the HDMI connection than what's available via the component video alternative. The player has a comprehensive menu of onscreen settings and a fairly clear manual that will guide you through them. The remote is designed more intuitively than most others I've used (although the buttons are a bit on the small side) and interacts with the player flawlessly even at fairly sharp angles. Along with the usual backwards-forwards scan/skip options, this player also provides an instant replay and advance feature for shorter hops back and forth. Scans at multiple speeds are relatively smooth, not choppy like many others I've seen. The menu and the remote offer numerous picture and sound adjustment options, but the standard settings have worked just fine for me.

I'm not the most high-tech person in the world, yet I think I am pretty demanding when it comes to picture and sound quality. This small but solid player delivers the goods, especially when its price is compared to others on the market. I know Sony DVD players have amassed countless Amazon reviewer complaints that they often fall apart and break down quickly. But that hasn't been my own personal experience, and I hope that trend continues for me with this one. After all too many failed purchases in this area, I think that at last I may have found a winner.

Read Best Reviews of Sony DVP-NS70H HDMI Single Disc DVD Player Here

First of all I must clarify what some people are saying about having an inch above/below the picture when watching DVDs at 720p/1080i. The issue is NOT with the player. 16:9 TVs have a 1.7777:1 ratio (16 divided by 9). If you read the BACK of your "Widescreen enhanced DVDs" you will notice they are 1.85:1 what is 16:8.648. So the bars you are seeing are there BECAUSE they MUST be there. The issue is on the TV. Some people will not see the problem with their High-Definition sets because of OVERSCAN. The Sony is perfect in this aspect and it is sending what is supposed to be seen. For more information on overscan read this article.

Back to the player.

If you have an HDTV set, try to find the native resolution of the set (for example most EDTV plasmas are 480p). In this case the best signal to be sent to the TV is 480p. If you are using a projector or a DLP TV with a 1280x720 resolution (720p) set the player to use 720p. If you have a native 1920x1080 display (like the Sony Ruby) set it to 1080i (note that 720p MAY look better in some 1080p displays).

The picture in this player is very nice and extremely decent when using the HDMI connector. No noise or artifacts that I could notice. A great improvement in picture when comparing it to my old Pioneer 480p player. Giving its price I would say it is a bargain! The remote is ok (some buttons are too small for me I guess) and their menus are not as good/easy as the pioneer (plus it has less control over the picture). But still a very capable player.

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I've been enjoying this new DVD player for a few days on my new Bravia 26" LCD TV. The picture is breathtaking, I was stunned to see the improvement in picture quality the upscaling feature and HDMI connection made it has breathed new life into my DVD collection and made me fall in love with my TV all over again. Unlike some previous posts, I have had no issues at all with any image shift problems, but perhaps that's because I am using a Sony TV also. I highly recommend this player.

I have tested the DVP-NS70H (with an HDMI cable and upsampling to 720p) against a Sony DVP-NS575P DVD player (with a component video cable and 480p), using a Sony Bravia KDL-V40XBR1 LCD TV to examine the results. A good-quality DVD movie appears to have more vivid color and less noise with the DVP-NS70H than with the DVP-NS575P. A lower-quality DVD, such as an annual release of a TV series, does not demonstrate the differences between the two DVD players.

I do not know whether the HDMI cable or the upsampling is responsible for the improvement, but I suspect that HDMI may contribute to the improvement because HDMI bypasses the TV's A/D convertors. If you purchase the DVP-NS70H for an HDMI-compatible TV, do yourself a favor and buy an HDMI cable from Amazon for less than $20, which is a lot less than the $80 to $100 that you will pay at your favorite electronics retailer.

I am very pleased with this product.

Motorola Ming A1200 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--Internati

I have this phone for 6 months.

Plus eye catcher, ppl turn arnd alyways

touch screen next gen fone has many features even before the ifone came out

linux OS, rarely hangs

cool features like handwriting recognition

minus

does not play music really well, sound quality ok

BATTERY LIFE HORRIBLE, even if u are a medium user, it still is very poor

nice cool, cool stuff, but given a second option i would think twice and go for a nokia

I've used the Motorola A1200 (Ming) for over a year now. I read about the Ming on forums at GSM World and Motorola Fans (motorolafans.com). I liked the smaller form factor, the touch screen which is protected by the transparent flip cover (also minimizes scratches), and the options. Having BlueTooth, 2 MP camera/camcorder, voice and handwriting recognition (including left-handed writing!), and a Java engine were all major pluses.

Because this phone can run Java applications, you can go to a site like getjar.com and find *thousands* of programs that will run on this phone. For example, I use Morange (morange.com) with my phone, so I have an integrated email client (with mulitple accounts), IM, calendar, appointments, tasks, VoIP, RSS reader, and web browser in one application. Morange also syncs with Outlook on my desktop. Best of all, it's a free application.

For me, the battery life has been quite reasonable. My phone charge lasts for about three days before I have to recharge. I talk on the phone for a few hours in that time and I frequently check my email. I also carry an extra battery just in case. Battery life will vary depending upon the firmware running on your phone. I'm using the 24p firmware, which is known for good battery life. This phone does run linux, so of course there are multiple firmwares available. (See http://motorolafans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=110 for information about firmware.)

Even if the technical specs don't say it, it is possible to enable Edge on this phone. My Ming has Edge enabled.

The phone accepts up to a 2 GB transflash card. Motorola Phone Tools (Windows only) also ship with the phone so you can sync your contacts and calendar with your desktop.

Overall, I've been very happy with the phone. I like the fact that it's user friendly and comes loaded with almost all of the applications I could want. I like the fact that you can tinker with it if you want to and install applications without paying a monthly subscription fee for the software.

What I don't like? Edge doesn't come enabled on most phones even though the hardware support is present. The screen can be hard to read in broad daylight.

People definitely are intrigued by the Ming because they haven't seen one before. Definitely geek factor. ;)

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I purchased the MotoMing A1200 WITH WARRANTY through Amazon.com on 29 Sep 08. I did not receive the product until almost the end of October. When I received it, the sound did not work on the device unless I had the headset connected to it. I miss all calls unless I have the phone on my body and it is on vibrate. Trying to get support for it has been a total nightmare. I got onto the Motorola website and found out that the product was previously used and fixed and that the warranty had EXPIRED SEVEN MONTHS prior to my purchase. This will be the last time I purchase anything through Amazon.com that deals with third-party retailers.

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The Motorola Ming is a awesome cell phone that has great reception and a great phone book memory. The downfall to this phone is the texting which is very small keyboard that requires use with the stylus.

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This phone is definitely an eye catcher. I love this phone for its great looks and the only available flip, touch screen PDA phone at the time of purchase. But there are some shortcomings.

Pros:

Great look (someone will ask you what phone it is when you go in public)

Touch screen

Bright, brilliant and large display

PDA with flip

See thru flip with brilliantly designed ear piece

Great audio and video quality (I'm really impressed with the audio quality compared to any other phones)

Voice recorder is awesome

FM tuner (works only with given headset)

Cons:

Poor battery life

Poor camera (picture quality & recorded video quality are awful)

Meager internal memory

Slow & sluggish performance (it takes a while to load)

No complete silent mode (One can set the ringing style to silent but not entire phone little bit of disappointing)

No EDGE or 3G (GPRS sucks)

Can setup only 2 alarms (disappointing)

Slight discomfort in using contact list in the case of making urgent calls. You need to go thru several screens to make a call from contact list unless you save it in speed dial.

The worst is battery life

The best is screen & look

Overall this is a great phone with basic PDA functionality. If you are looking for a basic PDA, great looking phone with bluetooth, moderate internet browser, good audio/video playback, installable apps you will not be disappointed.

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Koss KS3112 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

• Plays DVD-video, CD audio, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, MP3, JPEG picture CD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD+RW
• Fast forward/reverse; up to 5X zoom; resume play memory for up to five different discs
• Parental controls and PIN lock
• Hi-resolution video output; progressive scan/component video output; coaxial digital output; s-video and composite video output; stereo audio output
• Full-function remote control

I bought this dvd player because I just got a dvd burner and I needed a dvd player that played dvd-r disks. Well this one was advertised to do that; it even says it on the box. When i pull it out of the box and plug it up, I put a dvd-r in to watch it, and it gives me a "no-disk" error. I'm sending this back and getting my money.

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I bought a Koss 5 disc progressive scan home theater system for Christmas last year. I should have known when the one I brought home didn't work, that I was making a big mistake. The machine had trouble reading discs (as did the first one I purchased). It then worked for a while. Long enough to expire the warranty. It has now been exactly 10 months since I bought it and it will not even power up. Do not be seduced by a great price on a product that "looks" good. Koss is a horrible brand and I've had nothing but problems since the day I bought it. I should have just gotten my money back when I could instead of hoping it would turn out to be a great deal. I could have just mailed them a check for $150. I've got nobody to blame but myself. Consider yourself warned.

Read Best Reviews of Koss KS3112 Progressive-Scan DVD Player Here

So I get this DVD player for Xmas from my parents to make up for my VCR that died recently. I had never heard of "Koss" before. I had never touched a DVD before. So my wife and I pondered the cryptic setup instructions which did not match the machine at all and finally got it set up. No remote. We found it hidden in a small crevice in the styrofoam. How disorganized. So we just got it. So far so good. It still works. After -one week. But it's a new year. Wish us luck! And thanks for the crummy reviews. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Equiso Smart TV

Stay away from this product is my advice, here is why. I backed this project on kickstarter, as it looked pretty good. When i received the product, i opened the box only to find the micro usb port in the remote had fallen out! Very cheap construction on the unit itself, and the remote. When i plugged in the unit to my TV, it would not connect to my wireless network. When i tried pressing the flimsy reset button on the side, it wasnt doing anything. It then became recessed into the unit, at which point i used a little screwdriver to push it. It stiill did nothing to reset the unit. Troubleshooting with them was a joke, and i was told to send it back. Once they received it, i got a couple of snarky emails asking me why there were marks on the reset button, which i explained to them. After 2 or 3 weeks, they finally emailed me to say that it was my fault, and they were not going to replace the unit. They offered me to purchase another unit from them! Needless to say, i was less than thrilled with their proposition.

I would like to save you all for making a horrible mistake in purchasing this product. I'm one of the original backers and it doesn't do nearly half of what they said it was going to.

The remote is cheaply made and I feel like I'm breaking it every time I use it.

The unit cannot use Plex even though they said it was going to be integrated. They do claim they will fix this in an upcoming software update...You know, the one we were supposed to get when we use it for the first time that now after almost a month is still not to be seen. (They did release a beta update but I can't tell a lick of difference)

YouTube works but you can't log in to it so you can't view your subscriptions. I couldn't care less about playing Angry Birds on this thing and that is hardly anything to use as a benchmark as just about any smartphone can play it. (Even the Nook Touch eBook reader can play it!)

Do yourself a favor and check out the comments on their kickstarter page. I'm not sure what the people who gave this thing a 5 star review were using but it likely is not the Equiso. (Either that or they work for Equiso)

Very dissatisfied with this thing and I would return it if I could.

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Product is great on paper, and some of the features are really good. But there are too many negatives, and the resulting product is a waste of money.

Good:

Remote/Keyboard is a great item. The gyroscopic movement is precise and easy to use. The keyboard is a bit stiff (the buttons are loud), but overall worked well.

Great for quickly setting up a TV to display a web page or Powerpoint slide deck.

Con:

Very poor/spotty wireless connectivity. I have 20 Mbps download on my wireless network using my laptop (that is sitting next to my TV). Equiso will barely break 1 Mbps. The result is you cannot watch high resolution videos that are streaming.

Slow processor. The hardware cannot run Plants vs. Zombies or Jetpack Joyride. The framerate drops off a cliff and no amount of tweaking options/settings will get the games to be playable.

Applications crash. The Android-native apps for Youtube, Hulu, and Pandora crash with too much frequency to be useful. Numerous other applications will display a "application not responding" error, but sometimes they recover without crashing.

Overall: Great concept but poor execution. Wait until the technology catches up so the promise of features can be delivered. Equiso aims high but misses the mark.

Read Best Reviews of Equiso Smart TV Here

I can't even give these away to my friends as they are unstable and build quality isn't great.

One of the Standard's USB ports fell off and if you search the EquisoForums you'll see Im not the only one. The Standards are plagues with wait/close popups and extreme lag. Even with root access, custom build.prop, speed tweaks it still runs horrible. The built-in WiFi is horrible so I had to use a USB Ethernet adapter but this kind of defeats the point of having such a portable device if I have to carry my USB AC Power adapter, USB Hub, USB Ethernet adapter, etc.

The Pro's on the other hand aren't laggy but thanks to the dual cores they run decent. The major gripe with the Pro's are they can't stream Netflix or Live Feeds across the Internet without major pixelation. Looks similar to 8bit resolution on a old PC.

Software updates:

Standard got a beta but it was pieces the community hacked up and they rolled it up into a update.zip file.

Pro Well, still haven't received anything.

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I got the standard version through kickstarter as it sounded like a great idea but when I eventually received the product it had taken so long that there were other products with better specs at around the same price if not cheaper.

Also the software on it is so buggy i could barely do the some things I wanted to do with it and other things I just plain couldn't do.

There are constant popups saying the application is not responding(wich you never see in any of the demonstration videos) which leads me to believe the device is underpowered for what its being asked to do, which leads me to why its bordering on a scam it was advertised as having a 1Ghz CPU when in fact the CPU is running at 800Mhz which they say is to keep the temperature down yet mine is still overheating even at a lower speed than it was advertised as running at.

When I informed them I was unhappy with the product and wanted a refund they simply said they are sorry Im unhappy with the product and left it at that.

So I am writing this review to give all fair warning that this is not a product to invest in and there are plenty of other products leaps and bounds better than this for around the same price point.

I hope this review saves others the disappointment it has caused me.

Extech RHT10 Humidity And Temperature USB Datalogger

I like the feature set and it's well made, but it doesn't work with Windows 7 64-bit.

I bought this Data logger to log temps for Freezers, Ambient Car Temp (in the summer) and various other applications. Its very easy to use, Windows Interface works without complication for downloading and graphing Temp, Dew Point, Humidity. Software only works in Windows, but will work under VMWare Fusion (or Bootcamp / Parallels).

This unit was bought used and but was in brand new condition (it appeared it had never been used) very happy with this transaction and product.

Only drawback I saw was when you download the data, it quits logging new data. You have to reset the logger (and clear its previous logs) before starting a new log. You can't "spot check" the temp and then return it to keep collecting data... other than that, its an awesome product.

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This unit is good for remote monitoring as it has a built in battery that allows is to function without a PC. It does not function well as a PC connected unit as it does not use or charge from the USB port. Reading temperature requires downloading data, which stops measuring. The graphs, save to .xls or .txt are attractive features. The application is a minimal load for the PC as opposed to the EL-USB-RT which can put a disruptively large CPU load. There must be better options for monitoring temperature through a USB port for same room temperatures.

Read Best Reviews of Extech RHT10 Humidity And Temperature USB Datalogger Here

As another reviewer commented, this doesn't work with Windows 7. I bought two of them originally, and of the two only one could be programmed. The bad one was replaced. I placed both in my test environment in November, with an hourly sample rate for a total of 2000 samples. This took us through February 2. One of the two downloaded its data, but the other refuses to communicate with my Windows 7 computer. Two months of sampling for nothing. Time to find another brand to try.

On the Extech website there is a software upgrade from late 2011, but this is only the PC software, not the software in the datalogger itself. I downloaded and installed the upgrade, but the logger still will not download its data to the PC.

There is a similar product available from Dataq (EL-USB-1), which I am going to try.

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Well built unit. Would love it if it worked. Win 7 64x system the drivers and software worked. BUT I can't get more than 768 readings any data after that is in error. Data download fails comnpletly if set for 2000 or more data points. Tech service a little slow but they walked me thru several possible problems, concluded my unit was defective and shipped another. 2nd unit arrived and performed exactly the same. More email tech support and attempts. Tried a second PC with Win 7 64x, than a Win 7 32x PC same performace. Tech support concluded second unit defective and sent a third. Same results. Used supplied CD software and also downloaded (same version) from thier website.

I found the apparent web site for the company supplying the drivers. Downloaded thier software development kit it had different driver version but same result.

I now have 3 units that work well if set up for 500 datapoints (or less). I wanted 2 to 10 sec data collection for my current project, but will settle for 10 minute data collection to get this job done. Will need to do a little bit of 2 sec collection to make sure I am not missing some short term variation. Lots and lots of extra work the only good side is I ended up with 3 units (no return requested for the "defective" units). When I get time I will build up a Windows XP on my computer to see if they will work with older Win systems.

The latest Extech software is version 5.6 as I write this its from early 2011. Win 7 64x driver is version 3.3. If you see later versions available than maybe they have fixed the issues.

Did I get three bad units or does software bug exist that prevents unit from working fully on Win 7 system? Either is bad if your system is Win 7. I think its a Win 7 issue and will continue to correspond with tech support, but regardless of future outcome the unit has earned a two star or less for me.

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Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player

• Bonus View & BD-Live (Profile 2.0) w/1GB flash memory for local storage
• Full HD 1080/60p & 24p True Cinema Video Output
• Dolby? True HD/DTS?-HD decoder built-in with 7.1ch out. Quick start up mode.
• Dolby? TrueHD & DTS-HD bitstream out over HDMI? (V1.3)
• x.v.Color? for AVC-HD

Well, I just got the player a couple of days ago from Amazon, and since nobody has reviewed it, yet, I thought I'd first provide a comparison to the 350 and then my impressions to give a full overview.

COMPARISON

This is the "big brother" of the Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player. What are the differences (Apart from more than $100 at the time of this writing)? One big one (for some) and two minor ones:

It does 7.1 ANALOG Audio out. (Big deal for some people, like myself.)

It decodes ALL next-gen audio formats (the 350 does not decode the one that is not used much, and I am reading that they will upgrade that via firmware, so minor difference).

It is BD 2.0, which is the newest and for now final Blu-Ray format. (The 350 can be upgraded to it by buying and installing a memory card, so also only a minor difference.)

The last two are nice if you want a player that is future proof without you actualy needing to fiddle around with it. Unless you really hate doing things like firmware upgrades, I don't think they are worth the price difference between this unit and the 350, though.

The real difference is that this player does 7.1 ANALOG Audio out (see my experience below). So IF you have a receiver that cannot be connected via HDMI, but that is otherwise so good (was so expensive) that you do not wish to switch it out, and it has 7.1 ANALOG Audio in (often called "External In" or "Pre In"), you can connect this player via 8 (yes, eight, not a typo) analog audio cables to the receiver, and still receive all 7.1 channels of Audio. I, for instance, own a Denon 5805 receiver (original cost several thousand dollars), which I do not want to switch out. By spending the additional money for this player, I can have pretty much the same experience as if I had an hdmi capable (newer) receiver. So mostly, this only applies to people who are willing to spend a lot of money for a perfect audio experience. One thing to note: You can not get the full 7.1 Audio via either optical or normal digital connection. The audio quality will be downgraded to accomodate that those cable formats can't transport the data fast enough for the full quality. Another thing to note: This does not concern the actual picture quality, just the audio.

BOTTOM LINE: IF THIS IS A GOOD UPGRADE OVER THE 350 DEPENDS COMPLETELY ON YOUR RECEIVER, and is more likely if your receiver is older and was expensive. If it wasn't I would get the Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player.

IMPRESSIONS

So, how does it actually work. I have it connected to a 720p TV via hdmi, and a Denon 5805 receiver via 7.1 analog (I have a 7.1 speaker system).

Installation

Installation was pretty hassle free, except for fiddling with the audio to get it to work just like I wanted it to (took about 1-2 hours, which is normal if you add this kind of component to a system like mine). The non-audio setup was only 5-10 minutes (take it out, plug it in, press a few buttons, ready).

For the analog audio, you can tell the unit which speakers (up to 7.1) and speaker sizes (small, large) you have, how far they are from the listener (in feet, fronts and the surround pairs can only be configured in pairs, hard to configure if your sub or surrounds are far away for some reason), and finally speaker level (per each speaker, front and surround pairs can be seperately configured here). It also provides a test tone. Apparently the bass management is done through how you configured the size of the other speakers, and if you tell it small for all you have to have a sub. I am running configured through the unit so far, even though I have a receiver that can redigitalize the analog audio inputs (which I will probably try in the future once I have listened to it like this for a while, so I can compare better). So my impressions below are for having the Sony do all the processing.

Operation

The unit comes on relatively quickly, and starts playing a Blu-Ray disk in about 30 seconds or so, which was a positive surprise after having read the horror stories about waiting times for the last generation of these players. Still noticable slower than a standard DVD player for DVDs. DVDs start faster in this player, though, and can be upconverted. The user interface is mostly graphical, kind of like the PS3s, and you get used to it quickly.

Video / Audio Quality

I was very positively surprised about the video and audio quality produced by the unit, both for Blu-Ray and DVD. The Blu-Ray picture was sharp with great colors and color gradients, and I did not spot any conversion artifacts in 720p (I had the unit do the conversion). In short, the picture is what true HD picture should be. The sound was amazing. Even though right now the movies I played still have no "real" 7.1, but 5.1, I thought localization was fantastic, and the quality crystal clear. The surround was well defined without drowning out the voices. Caveat: I have only played a few movies at this point, so this might be due to fantastic sound engineering. I was not used to the bass management, though, the Denon does that different (it has automatic room correction), so if your receiver does not redigitize the analog signal to apply its own bass management, etc., you might run into a little bit of a problem here (I thought it still sounded great, but then I am not a bass fan). In the end, the unit does not come with automatic room correction, and the bass is one point where that could make quite a difference depending on your setup / room. (This last part applies more to the audio-nut community, for whom it might be a big deal, though, and who are a large part of the target audience for this player as far as i can tell.)

DVD upsampling looks like a "fuzzy" HD picture. I did not spot any abvious artifacts, but then I only took a quick look (I did not buy the unit for DVD playback / upsampling, but for Blu-Ray). Sound was good for DVDs as well.

BOTTOM LINE: Great unit, better than I thought in both picture and audio. If you need 7.1 analog, and can't/don't want to spend 2G on a Denon or Oppo, buy it. You will get 7.1 analog with good basic configuration options, but don't expect automatic room adjustment level results.

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Let me first start out by stating that I'm living in an analog world. I'm using component video and 7.1-channel RCA connectors for audio. This ability, combined with Profile 2.0, was the primary reason I waited for the Sony BDP-S550.

Out of the box, the unit is surprisingly small. It's full-width, but only half the depth of every other component I have in my rack. This all but guarantees the new Blu-ray Disc player will sit proudly at the top of my six-and-a-half foot tower of electronics. It's a pretty unit with a slight bluish black complexion so I don't mind, really. I was just surprised. My previous foray into Sony disc players was the DVP-S9000ES which was a 40-pound, brass-plated monster.

The initial setup was a breeze. I like the matrix-like setup menus. The only tweaks I had to make were to set the Audio Output Priority to multi-channel analog and [eventually] to set the BD Audio Setting to "Direct". This last item was critically important and almost made me return the unit. By allowing menu-based sound effects to be mixed into the BD audio, it introduced a ~150ms audio delay in watching Blu-ray Discs. I was horrified until, on a SWAG, I changed this setting. Phew!

After playing a few minutes from every Blu-ray Disc I bought, I threw in a few reference quality DVDs. The upconversion from 480i to both 480p and 1080i (via component video) was excellent. It was almost too good, showing the limitations of some of my lesser DVDs. Film grain in the recently remastered "Dirty Dancing" DVD [Disclaimer: this is my fiancee's disc] was more obvious on this player than I've seen on any of my other DVD players. There are extensive noise reduction settings available in the player, but the film grain was more a testament to the clarity of the player rather than distracting.

I also tested 4x3 (1.33:1) DVDs and audio CDs, just to be sure the player could be my end-all, be-all player. Initially, the player stretched the 4x3 DVD to fit my 16x9 screen, but I eventually found the Screen Format video settings, which when set to the non-intuitive value of "Fixed Aspect Ratio", displays all DVDs in their proper aspect ratio.

In conclusion, the video on my 1080i RPTV is pristine; the best I've ever seen. The player-decoded 7.1-channel audio is also crystal clear. I didn't expect to hear an improvement over optical DTS-ES or THX-EX, but the difference is amazingly obvious. The player *does*, unfortunately, suffer from the -10dB subwoofer output limitation, which is very irritating (and the cause of only 4 stars). Relative to all the other channels, the line-level subwoofer output is over 10dB too low. This causes a major disparity in perceived output between the seven main channels and the subwoofer. I'm hoping and praying Sony will release a firmware upgrade to fix this in the very near future. Until then, I've got all the other channels set to -10 to -12dB with the subwoofer set to 0dB, which is almost close to the correct value for my home theatre.

If you can live with or compensate for the very low subwoofer output, or use HDMI for audio and video, then I do not hesitate in strongly recommending this player to anyone looking for an excellent, user-friendly, fully-functional and surprisingly inexpensive Blu-ray Disc player.

Read Best Reviews of Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-ray Player Here

I have owned the Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player for about three weeks. It is my first Blu-ray player. With the right Blu-ray program material, the audio and video quality is as good as all the positive reviews here attest. The audio is the tricky part to set up, but I worked it out in about ten minutes. I set the audio mode to "Direct" instead of the default "Mix" to ensure that the player outputs lossless audio (when such a soundtrack is available on a disc) instead of lossy Dolby Digital or DTS core. I connected the player to my non-HDMI Denon receiver equipped with 5.1 analog inputs using three pairs of RCA audio cables. The player's rear surround left and right are left unused in my case. If you don't have a 7.1 channel receiver, you can set the S550 to down-mix 7.1 soundtracks to 5.1, and output lossless audio to the analog outputs. The results are incredible, I never knew my sound system could sound so realistic and dynamic. I didn't need to adjust subwoofer level compared to my previous DVD player.

Next, I want to note some features that are lacking, which I thought should have been included, as well as other nit-picks. None of these major flaws in my opinion, but here they are:

1) The S550 does not have frame-by-frame advance. Only pause and play.

2) No slow-motion.

3) No zoom feature. It would be useful for letterboxed widescreen material in a 4:3 format. You would have to use your TV's zoom, if available.

4) The S550 does not display what chapter you are viewing, neither in the unit's front display nor the on-screen display. Only when you press the chapter back/skip buttons does it tell you the chapter number on-screen. But then you are at a different point in the movie.

5) The USB port cannot be used to play music or view pictures off a USB flash drive. To my knowledge, the USB port only serves as a place to insert the external memory for BD-Live functionality. At least Sony provided a 1-GB USB flash card for that purpose.

6) Fast-forward and rewind are quite sluggish.

7) The display button only reports the video resolution that the player is outputting, such as 1080/24p or 1080/60p. It does not tell you the video resolution of the program material on disc, which may be 1080i, 480i, or other in the case of bonus material.

I do like a few nice touches on this player:

1) BD-Live functionality works great, granted I've only tried it with "Transformers." I hooked the player up to a cable modem directly, and I could download the features in mere seconds.

2) Besides regular fast-forward, rewind, and chapter skip buttons, the S550 has advance or reverse buttons take you forward or back in 10-15 second increments. Press the button multiple times to increase the time jump. It's very useful when you want to catch a mumbled piece of dialog again, or to see an instant replay of an action sequence.

3) The player will resume where you last stopped a non-BD-Java enhanced disc if you power down the unit, as long as you don't eject the disc.

4) The display button puts on-screen the time elapsed or remaining in a movie, audio codec (such as DTS HD Master) with sampling rate and number of active speakers, and video codec with instantaneous bit rate. When playing an uncompressed LPCM track, the display tells you the bit resolution as well (16-bit, 24 bit, etc.).

5) The player allows you to change audio tracks on the fly with every Blu-ray disc I have tried. This might just be a general Blu-ray feature, but I appreciate it because with DVD, some discs locked you into a particular audio track, and you would have to return to the disc menu to change it.

This is a solid player all-around. Despite a few nit-picks, I highly recommend the Sony BDP-S550.

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I just received this unit. It took just a few minutes to plug it into the HDMI port on my Sony Bravia TV and use the quick start menu. The Blu-Ray disk playback is amazing. The older DVD's I have tried look better than my 3 year old Sony DVD that was also connected to the HDMI port. I moved that unit to component video for a backup.

It was nice to have everything go smoothly and have such great quality now.

I just received mine yesterday. It was up and running in 10 minutes. This included removing my old DVD player. The upscaled, standard DVDs looked great. I've only purchase on BluRay disk so far, but the picture and audio were fabulous.

I was worried buying the unit without seeing it in the store first after all the complaints about slow boots and loads with last year's models. However, this unit appears to be as quick as my old DVD player when loading either standard DVDs or the one BluRay disk that I have.

Olympus Digital Voice Recorder - ED-OLY-WS100

I was a little hesitant to buy a refurbished item but it came in like new. I had lost my first recorder of the same model and this one as a replacement works just as good. (It actually came with more stuff than with my previous purchase!) The recorder itself is great, voice quality on the recording is superb and you can record from far away and still hear it as if you were right next to the speaker. A must have and a great deal for college students!

I read reviews about this product before buying it. This unit records in WMA format and I have a Mac but it's not an issue because of freeware called SWITCH www.nch.com.au/switch which easily converts those sound files. It sometimes has a few quirks like the unit is hard to pull apart to expose the USB connector, and occasionally the battery compartment opens, and sometimes I have to reformat to reset the brains. but those things aside the recordings are great. The automatic level control works so well it records speech for my purposes, as well as my imac with an external mic. Its very small and portable. For the price (under $40 with shipping) the problems are relatively insignificant. I like it so such, I bought another one for a friend.

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This is a great little machine for portable usage.

I do wish there were more formats to choose from.

I do wish there wasn't a delay in immediate record time.

I love the USB port so much.

I take this with me everywhere I go around my neck.

All in all, for the price, this is a nice little toy to capture life with when you don't want to lug around anything bigger or more expensive.

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New! Mini 5.0MP Camera HD DV Video Recorder 1280*960 BK

I bought this camera for my granddaughter to use. After several hours of trying to understand how it works the best I could do with it was several blurred images. The viewfinder also was blurred and almost useless. It is so small it is very difficult to hold and even harder to shoot. I returned it after she refused to accept it.

This is the worst purchase I made on amazon. There was little information but many sellers. I see why now. The camera is the size of a quarter and need a separate battery pack to plug into it. It is hard to hold and you never know if you actually took a photo just to find out that the disk to read the photos is not compatible with Windows 7 (not sure on any other OS). It even crashed my computer and I have to re-install everything.

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I hope to get more. I use it for YouTube videos. I attach it to my RC plane quadrocopter and buggy car.

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takes forever to figure out how to use & its practically impossible to see thru view finder,wouldnt not recommend to anyone!

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Nokia 6300 Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera - U.S. Version with Warranty (Black)

I've had my Nokia 6300 for a week. I am pretty satisfied with it. For me the battery last for three days since I make about 6 phone calls each days. The screen is large and the quality of image very clean. Overall, I like this phone and would recommend it to those interested in a simple and reliable phone.

I was given this phone by my company. I have a Nokia 6682 myself and I thought I was going to miss all the features in the 6682 but I was surprised that this phone not only has the same features enhanced but radio is great. The camera is better. The only thing is that I would have liked to keep a previous ring tone from my other phone.

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TV Video System Converter NTSC to PAL for All Video Systems

I bought this product because I have an old tv set which only accept Pal-M signal and some video equipments I have and want to connect to it are delivering NTSC signal.

When I first used this converter I was disapointed because the images keept showing with no colour.

Since I could not return it anymore I decided to open it and found out that the output crystal (the component which converts the frequency of the video signal)is of 4.43 Mhz which is suitable for Pal B, G, D, and I but not for Pal-M or Pal-N.

I removed that Crystal and replaced by one Pal-M frequency taken from an old VCR, which is not working anymore.

Now I have colour on my tv. The image is a bit blur but very acceptable.

For anyone who has this similar problem, you only need to locate the 4.43 crystal very near to the output conectors and replaced it by the one for you colour system.

3.575611MHz for PAL-M

3.582056MHz for PAL-N

The conclusion is that the product description is wrong. Here is what it says.

"The NTSC to PAL Converter converts any NTSC (3.58/4,43) signal into a PAL signal (any PAL B,D,I,G,M,N)."

As I mentioned it can only convert to B,G,D and I. You will need to make the modification I did.

Was tested in the games is very cool and easy TV connection and a small size you can place it anywhere

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I have DVD player with pal output, in order to switch to NTSC signal I need to see display on TV to access setting menu, Unfortunately the scan rate is different from TV, it can not see steady picture on screen and noway to set it to NTSC. I bought this item for converting PAL to NTSC the results is the same, it doesn;t work at all!

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Samsung 3D Blu Ray Disc Player with Built-In Wifi, Full Web Browser, Smart Hub, Plus 6ft HDMI Cable

• 3D ready; enables you to enjoy 3D movies
• Wi-Fi ready; easily connects to your home network for you to enjoy video streams through the Internet
• 1080p resolution; provides clear and crisp HD visuals for your viewing pleasure
• Blu-ray player; lets you play a variety of video formats such as DVDs, CDs, Blu-ray discs, and more
• Quick start mode speeds up the load time on movies so discs start faster after they're inserted into the Blu-ray player. Loads in 0.5 seconds

I initially rated this purchase as poor as the machine quit working within 3 hours of operation, but the company has sent a replacement item and so I regard this purchase as very good.

d. ulrich

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At this time I am giving Samsung a poor rating for not having the 6ft HDMI Cable in the box with the player. I had to e-mail the company for the cable. However, I did receive the cable within 3 days of notication. I have not connected the player as of today. I will update this if I am pleased.

Nokia N91 4 GB Unlocked Cell Phone with 2 MP Camera, International 3G, Wi-Fi, MP3/Video Player--Int

Nokia N91 is a great phone for people who love music and are always on the go. The dialing features are great and superb quality music. You can put in a lot of songs and enjoy videos on real or flash player. The dialing features are great specially with the voice activated dialing. Texting is also nice but could have been better with a little bigger keypad. The only it lacks is a LED flash which would have served the purpose of taking good pictures in the night along with the 2 megapixel camera, even though it does take great daytime pics. Overall the weight of the phone is reasonable and looks very manly. However i do not know if ladies would like this phone becoz of its weight but lookswise it is very fascinating. Connection is great too even in areas with low signal reception. Overall i would rate this phone to be a nice looking phone with very advanced features that would certainly attract people once you slide the steel keypad cover. I have had many compliments on this phone and am happy to have it.

love it....love it....love it!!! i have nothing bad to say about this phone...it's got everything i need and looks really cool!

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Zmodo 4 Channel H.264 DVR with 500GB HDD + 4 x 480TVL CMOS Outdoor Bullet Camera Weatherproof Survi

A little difficult to get going on the mobile but right for the price!!! You have to download the instructions for the most part and follow them....

I researched for several months and found this product to be the most reasonably priced. The DVR is very easy to use. Wires are a little thin but they are run through the attic. The cameras are 480 tv lines. I would not go below 480 tv lines.

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DIGISTOR 25GB 6X Blu-ray Disc Recordable BD-R Blank Media, White Inkjet Printable Surface (100 pack

I give this product 5 stars. I have burned about half the pack with no problems what so ever. At the same time I have been using Verbatim brand, and Digistor seems to work just as well. I am burning in an internal LG burner, and playing disks on my computer and my Playstation 3 console without any problems. I have been trying both 50GB and 25GB, with both Digistor and Verbatim brands, and I can't tell any difference at this point. I give the same review for single and double layer. The difference with the 25GB disks is that they are completely white on the top side, which is nice, especially for those that have printers that print on disks. As for longevity, well there's no way of knowing at this point which brand holds up better over time. 50 years from now I will update this review and let you know the answer to that question. I'm sure I'll still be alive at 99 years old. Quick Tip: To avoid any potential issues, always burn at about 3/4 maximum speed.

Performed my first burn on this blue ray disc. The results were flawless. I also printed a picture on the disc with very good results. These discs are a excellent choice for the price. Will be purchasing more.

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I have never had a DVD thst did not burn or a Bad DVD since I have been using Digistors

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Sony ICD-ST25 Portable Digital Voice Recorder

Buttons are very small, so large handed/fingered people might have trouble with them. Nice sound quality on SP (7 hr); LP (15 hr) is the usual MP3 on low resolution warble, ST is pretty good, but creates pretty bulky mono-sounding files, unless you're using external stereo mics, or a stereo line-in. 5 user folders for sorting can do Add or Overwrite, but takes about 2-3 clicks to change the mode. Display normally stays on, but it's like a digital watch with a backlight. Sound output is quite audible for a little wafer speaker.

Bought as a replacement for a micro-cassette, and used for vocal presentation preparation, so I like the scan/review features and the variable speed playback. Vocal-Up does a modest job of basically compressing the input to equalize amplitude (think of it as auto-gain).

Delicate refers to the overall feel in that it's pretty much all plastic, and I'm worried about dropping it and having a lot of damage from a fall. But that's what one gets for the price, and the size (which is like a couple of matchboxes stacked vertically).

Works great for voice recording. Records hours of lectures.

Upload to computer works great and you can scroll anywhere into the recording to listen to segments. As you scroll just look at the time to decide what part to review. Battery life is good. The buttons work ok for me.

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I've used mine for classes, just asked permission from professors. The voice quality is great even from the back rows. Sometimes, I used external mic to boost the voice. When I listened with accompanied ear bud, it's like noise cancellation one, I heard like the professors were talking into my ears! I used SP (standard) mode... just enough for a 3-hours class.

The control buttons are not great but acceptable for voice quality and easy to use. You can see how much more memory or battery power left.

This recorder costs about an IT or business text book so I'm happy for mine. For my experiences, this is very helpful for evening classes, when I was sleepy and unable to catch up everything. The greatest time was in my philosphy class, the professor talked too much and I needed them for writing assignments. Just be sure to save files in your PC and you'll appreciate them when the professors assigned take home exams

;-).

I also recommend to use rechargeable AAAs. Happy recording!

ps. I don't recommend for bandle, such as with Dragon software. That software needs to be trained with voices (several hours) to transcribe what you recorded. If you're planning to transcribe your lectrues, you'll need your professors' voices to train that softare. How can you get your professors?

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I returned this, after really trying hard to like it. I have large hands, and, the buttons were so small I kept hitting the wrong ones. Further, you have to delicately push back and forth one switch to go from function to function; I don't mean up and down length-wise, but, perpendicular to the layout of the switch, which is extremely counter-intuitive. Also, I could not accept having to toggle through several menu windows just to allow me to erase part of what I was dictating. I really wanted to simply use this like an old fashioned microcassette: forward, backward, erase mistakes and dictate over, but, also have the luxury of voice recognition. It flat-out did not work. Try something else!

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Usually Sony comes up with great products, but this one is a bit shaky.

There are so many controls, so many abbreviations for what they do, that it's a bit overwhelming, even after owning this thing for a few months. I'm use to having the major buttons be record, play, rewind, fast forward, next file. On this unit, there is this incredibly complex big button that controls a dozen functions, some of them you will never need. Not only do you have to fumble around sliding this thing forward, backwards, up, down, and in, but you have to know what the crytic abbreviation that pops up on the LCD screen means. Then there are a few other tiny switches and buttons all over the unit you have to remember how to use, again with little heiroglyphics that suggest it's function. I guess I should have played with one of these units before I bought it -I bought it based on it's features, most of which I will never use.

If the team of engineers who built this device got to redesign the iPOD, there would add about twenty stainless steel switches, knobs, buttons and connectors and call it the "Apple YTD-TU652 Portable Digital Music Playing Device"... now would you think that would be a successful product?

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