Philips DVDR3475 Tunerless 1080p Upscaling DVD Recorder

• 1080P HDMI Upconversion
• Progressive Scan
• Dual Media-Records on both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW
• iLink digital input for perfect digital camcorder copies
• Plays DivX, MP3 and JPEG digital camera Photos

I bought this unit about 7 months ago and it works perfect! The picture when playing DVDs is great, and I had no problem recording dvds (and using them on other DVD players). I noticed that other reviews seemed to be negative because of issues that were the users fault to begin with.

1) If you finalize the DVD properly per the instructions, it works fine (and will play on other DVD players).

2) Yes of course it is region locked (as most players are). You can't fault the unit because YOU didn't read the description when you bought it.

It has come in handy many times when I wanted to keep a copy of a TV show but no longer wanted to take up room on my DVR. I highly recommend!

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I bought this thing back in the day (4-5 years ago) to record whatever was being displayed on my TV. Works great and is reliable/durable. I bought a different brand DVDRec and it broke in the first couple weeks under light use. Did my research, got this one and never had any problems. This DVDR actually looks great too, nice shiny/glossy (not cheap looking) finish on the front of the device. This is the perfect replacement for a VCR if you don't want to rent a DVR from your cable company. Has HDMI up-convert which is nice. I have never had trouble with viewing these DVDs on other DVD players. Maybe it's because I have it configured correctly...

Very happy with my purchase. I would buy this product again. It can only record in Standard Definition (480p) so getting older, but this way you don't have to worry about HDCP and other technologies that can cause problems with HD recordings.

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I cant believe the bad reviews some people have left. I love this recorder. I have used it for six years now and made hundreds of recordings. Simple to use and great results. I have used this so many times I am shocked its still going but I am very glad it still goes on greatly doing what it is supposed to do.

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If you do NOT fill the entire disk with your recording the the unit will create a title with the remaining disk space on the menu named "EMPTY TITLE". You are NOT able to delete this. However you may overwrite this title if you don't finalize. Deleting of tiles is very slow, but Finalizing of disks is very fast. I have no compatibility issues with disks recorded on this unit and played back on other brand DVD players. It does not record to Dual Layer or DVD-RAM Disks. But those disks are not worth the cost. Other than that it plays and records great.

It will even up convert to 1080p. This unit is sure worth the price if you get it for $70 or less.

I had no issues with this piece of equipment, in fact I LOVE IT!

After seeing the first review, I made sure to follow the instructions regarding the finalizing of the DVD. The disks recorded just fine and played on other players, perfect picture. It has come in SO handy for recording movies and shows. I checked the first couple of DVDs after recording them, and they were great. I also transferred holiday video from my camcorder.

I think the last review mentioning the problem with the region code is not the fault of the DVD recorder...most players/recorders have region codes (world wide), so if you want to take the unit to another country, you would need to check if it is compatible beforehand.

All in all, I would recommend this recorder to anyone interested in purchasing one.

4 channel 120 FPS H.264 Complete DVR Package with 19 inch LCD Monitor

The product works fine and was delivered very quickly but it didn't come with the monitor like it was advertised. The picture and the links are a bit shady so read what you click on.

The J-Cube, Camera Shoe-mounted Video Accessory Mounting System, with 3 Mounting Points - Silver/Bl

I love this J-Cube device. I use it on a Canon 7D and Panasonic GH2 for mounting audio accessories and sometimes LED lights. But this little piece of gear was pushing $85!!! Why on earth does that have to be THAT expensive?!? Really, there is nothing else out there in the market that can do what the J-Rod can at this size, so I guess J-Cube is the only game in town. Please, someone make another product to compete with this.

You might think you don't need something like this, but once you get it, you'll never know how you lived without it.

PROs

1. sturdy build, all aluminum, SOLID all around

2. small, perfect fit on DSLR cold shoe

3. enough separation of the shoe mounts to hold an LED light, wireless transmitter, and Zoom H1

CONs

1. price is absurd, this thing should have been $40 TOPS!

2. why does J-Cube need to put their product name and info on the device? Seems tacky

3. no competition out there to lower the price of such a necessary contraption

This product would be a lot mor effective if the side hot shoes were rotatable. As they are, it is impossible to mount, for example, a shotgun mic and a light at the same time unless the light or mic can swivel, which many cannot.

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The J-Cube feels substantial in your hand this is a serious piece of equipment. It is very solidly built, uses high quality components, and adds just the right amount of additional shoes to my camera. The spacing of the added shoes on the J-Cube is just right to mount equipment without any encroachment. And because the J-Cube is very compact, it does not add much height to the camera. It also offers a far more secure mounting platform that does not wobble around and has a low center of gravity.

If you have accessories with rectangular hot shoe plates, you will be stuck with mounting them vertically on the side shoes. I had this problem. So I contacted Jeff at J-Rod and he made me a new J-Cube with the side mounts turned through 90 degrees. Now I can mount accessories with rectangular hot shoe plates so that they point forward or backward along the top of the camera, and not straight up. A lot of accessories come with square hot shoe plates which will slide in to the standard J-Cube. But just to let you know that if you need a J-Cube with the side mounts rotated 90 degrees, all you need to do is ask.

Before I contacted Jeff about the modified J-Cube, I tried to dismantle the one I had bought from B&H to see if I could rotate the mounts myself. I am not too bad with a screwdriver and a pair of mole grips but I have to admit that without some serious physical force (that I did not apply), those mounts are not going anywhere. They are so solidly embedded in the metal mount that there is little fear of them breaking free.

The J-Cube, Camera Shoe-mounted Video Accessory Mounting System, with 3 Mounting Points Silver/BlackAt $80.00, this piece of equipment is not the least expensive option by any means. But once you buy it, you can be pretty sure that you will not need anything else for some time to come. You can also be far more confident that once mounted, and with equipment attached, the J-Cube is not going to let you down.

It might be an old saying but it is very true that you get what you pay for and the customer service is terrific!

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Philips HDR212 TiVo 20 Hour Digital Video Recorder

• Enjoy tapeless recording with up to 20 hours of storage space
• Features instant replay of live TV and interactive program menu
• Automatically records your favorite TV shows and suggests new ones
• Includes remote control, 4 picture-quality settings, multiple browse modes
• Compatible with most antenna, cable, and satellite TV sources

Philips is going to hate me for writing this, but I have found TiVo to be useful even though I am not a subscriber to their service. I hesitated to buy this for a while becuase I thought either a small monthly charge or a large one-time payment went with the cost of the recorder. I read in the documentation that the recorder would have "limited capability" without the subscription to the service, but that amount of capability was really what I was looking for, so I don't plan to EVER subscribe to their service.

Without subscribing, I can pause live TV, do an "instant replay" of it, and record by time and channel. TiVo is more convenient for doing these operations than a VCR because I don't have to fool with tapes and cue them up to find the beginning of a show. Because TiVo is digital, the video quality is better than a tape. On the highest quality setting I have the same level of digital quality of my satellite dish. The thing that I've found the most useful is that I can watch a recorded show while making a recording of another, which a VCR can't do.

I realize that some people like the features that come with the TiVo subscription. If people choose to pay for those things, that's their choice. I can't use the TiVo guide to look through the listings and select by name a program to be recorded. TiVo doesn't make suggestions for me based on the shows I've previously selected, and it doesn't automatically record my favorite shows if the time changes. But I know which shows I want to record every day, and DirecTv has a good guide that I can search through to find other shows to record. When I come home in the evening, I still have good shows to spend my limited TV time on, and I still have the money that I would have spent on the service.

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I started out about a year or so ago with a 14 hour Tivo unit and LOVED it. The problem was they lie about capacity... sort of. 14 hours or in the case of the 30 hour unit are really more like 6 hours and 11 hours with the recorder set to record at BEST quality... anything lower and the picture looks bad. I then paid Tivo to send me a new unit that had been upgraded to 30 hours.... Then that was still not enough time with the system set at best quality.

I finally found out I could upgrade the thing myself... so my recomendation is to get the cheapest on that you can and upgrade it. This VOIDS you tivo warrenty but hey we all like to live on the edge right :)

I now have a 117 hour Tivo because the company I used to upgrade my Tivo ... added an 80GB disk and now instead of having to delete my recordings early or being more picky about what I record I can go nuts and record anything and everything. I even saw on one website ... a guy who has a 151+ hour Tivo.

... They have parts for sale and directions on how to upgrade your Tivo (The easiest is a 14 hour unit since you just add a "blessed" drive)

happy Tivoing...!

PS If you can't tell I love this thing!

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My only complaint with the Philips unit that I bought was that it has become faulty after one year (just after my guarantee ran out). The picture & sound is 'sticky' which seems to indicate a hardrive problem. I was advised by Tivo to buy a new unit as it would cost a lot to repair this :(

On a more positive note I would strongly recommend buying some kind of personal tv recorder. They are fantastic and I cannot live without one now. I seldom watch live TV (except for the news). I have told Tivo exactly what I want to watch and it records it.

I would recommend a buy BUT make sure you get some kind of service plan with these units. A friend bought a Sony and his became faulty after 3 months (same problem). Maybe it is a bit of a design flaw to have these units contantly recording 24 hrs per day!

The other thing to check is the privacy policy of the service provider (Tivo/Ultimate TV). My Tivo box sends details of everything I have watched, when I have changed channel and other viewing habits. This greatly concerns me. Tivo did assure me that no customer identifier is sent with this but I still feel like this is a move towards Orwell's 1984.

I would have given these units a 5 were it not for mine breaking!

Have fun and get one!

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We just love this product for the following reasons.

1. It is easy to set up and use. Simply follow the instructions in the guided setup and it downloads your cable or satellite or regular program information every night. After using the Tivo with Direct TV for a year, we recently switched from Direct TV to digital cable (too many satellite drops from thunderstorms). We entered a few pieces of information on the Tivo and it automatically changed all the channels for us without having to reprogram our season passes.

2. The software recognizes first runs vs. repeats. This means that when we ask for a Season Pass for West Wing, we can set it to only record new shows (or not). Great Feature.

3. How many times has the phone rang during a movie or sports event at a critical time? With Tivo,you can pause live TV, take the call, and pick right up without missing a second. We use this all the time.

4. Slow motion, rewind, fast forward.......

5. We now watch our favorite TV programs, movies and sporting events when we want to watch them rather than when the networks put them on. Yes, I know that VCRs are supposed to have allowed one to do that for the past decade or so but how many times have you programmed your VCR to record something and come home to find that it did not tape? Won't happen with the Tivo. It even lets you search for future programs and tape them too. So, let's say you never saw Schindler's List. You simply instruct the Tivo to tape it next time it is on tv and forget about it. Then, when it goes on TV,it gets recorded automatically without you having to enter anything else.

__________

There is a subscription fee and I recommend you buy a subscription. It is worth the price.

Enjoy!

NOTICE: This review relates to TiVo, not this specific hardware device. I have a Sony SAT-T60 DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver.

My wife and I became addicted to TiVo within 1 month after installing it. We have gone from watching 90% live TV/10% recorded (VCR) to 90% Tivo/10% live TV! We hardly watch anything anymore at its regular time. We simply pull up the "Now Playing" menu, which lists all the shows I have previously recorded, and watch whatever we're in the mood for drama (Law and Order or Once and Again), comedy (Friends, South Park), reality TV (Survivor, Fear Factor), or sports (Illinois basketball, cliff diving).

There are so many cool things about TiVo, but these are my THREE FAVORITE things:

1) Season Pass, which once you set it up, allows you to record a particular show EVERY time it's on or all shows with a particular actor or subject,

2) Easy to record (simply choose the show, not the time and channel) and easy to find and play (scroll through "Now Playing" list of prerecorded shows and choose "Select" to play),

3) Record two shows at once (like Survivor and Friends, which both start at 8:00 on Thursday) with a DirecTV/TiVo combination receiver, which we have.

We started with the monthly subscription and moved to the lifetime after just a month (it's good for the life of the box, not you). We have a Sony model, and I've found Sony to always be reliable (two TVs, one VCR). I bought a 4-year warranty as a safety precaution (new technology and insurance against the lifetime subscription). DirecTV customer service is decent, but not great (they handle the TiVo side as well). The BEST resource for TiVo is the TiVo AVS forum, which you can link to from the Buzz section of the TiVo Web site. It's a "must read" prior to buying this unit. But I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the coolest, most liberating invention to come out since the World Wide Web. No joke! You will fall in love with your TiVo too.

Magnavox DVD Recorder

• Records on both DVD +R/+RW and DVD -R/-RW discs
• Includes 25 Blank DVD-R's, Remote and component video cables
• Component video out , S-video output , Digital audio out (RCA)
• Zoom (1.2x, 1.5x, 2x), Progressive Scan
• Slow motion (forward and back)

I got mine 4 months ago for the purpose of copying my entire stock of vhs tapes onto dvd. I have been faithfully making at least 1 disc per day since then. With the exception of copywrite protected ones (mostly Disney I've copied well over 240 movies (2 per disc in EP), and only have about 24 in my pile of movies that wouldn't copy), it has performed admirably and I have no complaints.

Regarding the clock problems that other reviewers mentioned, I suppose that would be a problem for timed recordings, which I'm currently not doing with the unit. However, I found that when the clock is not set (which happened when the power here went out), the unit doesn't display the unwanted information of when a particular title was recorded. (Honestly, I don't want to know what day and time I happened to copy my Ghostbusters movies onto a disc. I just want to know that they're copied and I don't have to rebuy them in dvd format.) Therefore, if you're not doing timed recordings, I'd highly recommend that you don't set the clock (which is what I decided once I discovered that). That also eliminates most of the default title so you don't have to delete as much when you enter proper titles.

I have never had a problem with my unit, and am nearly finished with my collection.

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After owning this product for six weeks I couldn't be happier, it has performed perfectly and was easy to set up and not hard to learn how to use. Keep in mind that since I've owned the unit such a short time I can't vouch for its durability but if it's anything like an older Magnavox DVD player I own, it should be good. The manual is written well enough that even a novice should be able to have this unit up and running in a short time.

There is a learning curve if you've never owned a product like this before but it's not very steep. My advice is start out with some DVD+RW's and make a few short test recordings and play with the various functions until you get the hang of the many settings. Don't overlook the fact that DVDs other than DVD+RW's need to be finalized before they'll play on other DVD players. If you run into problems the manual will probably be enough to help you out. I can't rate Magnavox's customer support because I've not needed it yet. This unit will also play standard DVDs as well as those it creates.

Mine was purchased at Sams Club for about $89 and as of February 2007 they and Walmart still have many in stock. Shop around for the best price.

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I got this DVD recorder for $150 from Amazon last week and it exceeded my expectations. The quality of recording is great and the playback is razor sharp. I owned a JVC DVD recorder before this one but it wasn't that great. This one from Magnavox is superior to all DVD recorders that I have ever had and is priced so low too. I am giving it 5 stars and I definitely recommend it.

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The Magnavox MSR90D6 that I bought a year ago has worked sporatically at best. Now, after a year, the clock will not set. I don't think Magnavox got all of the "bugs" out of this unit before they put it on the shelf. If you are considering buying this unit, get a LONG extended warranty, you will need it.

I have 3 of them. I found them easy to install and set up, and editing a disc is relatively easy. However, on one of them, the clock no longer works, so I record manually rather than setting up a timer. That's a little annoying. I'm looking to replace it with another, and it's important to know whether a dvd recorder has a tuner. The hook-up to a cable box and tv is very different if the recorder doesn't have a tuner, so I would recommend getting one with a tuner. This model produces a good picture and is easy to use. The remote and the keys on it are small.

Visual Land V-Touch 2.8-Inch Touchscreen 8GB MP3/MP4 player with Camera including In-Ear Headphones

• 2.8" Color TFT Touch Screen
• Built-In 2.0 Megapixel Camera for Stills, Video and Webcam
• Video Support: AVI, 3GP, MP4 / Audio Support: MP3, WMA
• Picture Viewer, FM Radio, Voice Recorder and E-book Reader
• Expandable MiniSD Card Slot and Built-In Frontal Speaker

My 10 yr. old, of course, wanted an iTouch for Christmas but at her age, it would either get lost, broken, or left on a shelf to collect dust so this was the perfect substitute. The addition of the FM radio and the camera (2MP; typical cell phone quality) with the ability to take video via the camera was the icing on the cake. The eBook reader is another nice feature.

She can't put it down. She's used the voice recorder, the camera, the radio, and obviously, the MP3 player. She really wants to download a book and what parent can argue with a child wanting to read a book whether electronically or not? At Christmas, all her "older" cousins asked her "Is that an iTouch?" and she proudly stated "No, it's a V-Touch..." (Whew!)

Pros:

-8GB is 8GB. Plenty of space for everything. (Plus it's expandable.)

-Camera/Video Recorder. (Big plus for non-cell phone carrying kids.)

-Nice size screen and the colors are sharp and bright.

-eBook capability.

-Stylus included. (Which allows even me to use it.)

-Computer connection and file transfer is very simple.

-Price. For memory size and functions I don't think you can beat it.

Cons:

-At first look, it seemed fragile to me ("cheap"). After more use, it's not so bad. It is obviously not as solid as an iTouch but it's more than 2 1/2 times cheaper. Unsure if a 3 foot drop would be it's demise and hopefully I won't ever find out.

-Charger cord is extremely short.

-Battery life(???). It seems that the charge doesn't last as long as I think it should but my daughter is using it all the time so maybe it's fine.

-Headphones. Not the highest quality but those can be replaced.

Unkown:

-eBook. Have not used that feature yet.

-Movies. We have yet to put an AVI/MP4 on it but I am confident it will be fine and the screen size should be perfect for viewing.

It's a great buy in my book! No, it's not an iTouch but it's a perfect little MP3 player with a ton of extra features and functionality. We haven't had it very long so I will update if things change but so far, so good.

*****************************************************************************

UPDATE: 12/19/2009

Well, what I figured would happen, happened... My, now 11 year old, daughter has lost ("permanently misplaced") her "V-Touch". Almost made it a year. Up until she lost it, she used it often. Never had a problem though. She was afraid to tell me that she lost it until after a couple weeks; it must have been tearing her up inside. In any event, I am glad I didn't get her an "iPod Touch" (Wouldn't want to offend anybody by calling it an iTouch...) It worked perfectly and was a worth while investment.

However she has iPod Touch on her Christmas list again... Oh, boy.

*****************************************************************************

Buy Visual Land V-Touch 2.8-Inch Touchscreen 8GB MP3/MP4 player with Camera including In-Ear Headphones Now

The first two days I owned this device I was pleased with it. The touch screen is not very responsive but for the price I could hardly complain. On the third day this device refused to power on. I hit the reset switch on the side which seemed to fix the problem . . . but not for long.

Two weeks later this device is in one of two states:

1. Frozen at the "Please Wait" (Load screen)

-or-

2. Dead and not responding to the "On" button.

While the device was working I enjoyed its features, though the AVI video would record in XVID or H263 making it unplayable on the Windows Media Player without a plug-in. There is no menu system for navigating through MP3's, so if you have a lot of music be prepared to do a lot of scrolling through your massive song list.

If the product had lasted longer it would have probably been worth the price.

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Perfect for those shoppers looking for an inexpensive MP3 player. I purchased the 8GB V-Touch for 70USD.

Pros:

Nice, easy-to-use interface. Small form factor. Touch screen is responsive. Lots of nice features (audio/video record/play, camera, FM tuner). The camera is acceptable for 2MP.

Cons:

Sound is average at best. Some slight delays when loading play lists, etc. Selection is made by double-touch would rather have single-touch selection.

Overall nice media player for those who are on a budget.

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I bought the v-touch for Christmas. It does take video, play video. You can put a slideshow of digital pictures on it and take pictures, although it's not a great camera. Pictures look grainy. It does everything it's supposed to do.

TWO BIG HANGUPS:

1. the volume is terrible. the lowest setting is way too loud. I'm going to have to buy new earphones with a volume adjustment built into them.

2. it doesn't read, genre, artists and albums. the only way to categorize things on the v-touch is to put in on different favorites lists, but you can't name them, so you just have to remember which favorites list is which. Maybe it's because syncing with WMP is a real problem. It'll sync, but it would literally take 6+ hours. I don't have that kind of patience.

Unless you're just in love with the touch screen technology, get something else or pay more for something better. These two quirks will drive you nuts!!!

My daughter bought this item with her Christmas money; she had wanted a touch screen mp3 player. With her limited money, this appeared to be suitable. She has treated this product with kid gloves; yet it has had bits of trim fall off, and continual problems that require the device to be reset. The sound is poor and has now ceased functioning with headphones connected. This product is bad enough, but the customer service from Visual-Land is just dreadful. Impossible to contact unless through e-mail, and then be prepared to play e-mail tennis without any resoloution. I would not recommend this product or the customer service, at all. Save up for something better.

Samsung T509s myFaves Plum Phone (T-Mobile)

following the line is my old review, which is mostly true, but, having used this phone for a while now, I must say that it is too quiet for lil old hard of hearing me (too many concerts without ear plugs?) and also I need to add that the battery needs to be charged every other day, unlike my old nokia, but this may be common for camera phones.

the photos are also very grainy by today's "megapixel" standards. and it is very very very very quiet for me.

I would drop my rating to 3.5 stars if amazon would let me.

_________________________________________________________________________

old review:

so I am not so super techie when it comes to cell phones. my last phone was an ancient free nokia that was only a phone. this time around, I wanted a phone, camera, video & voice recorder...that was it. I text only a bit and didn't need a radio/mp3 player or game thing or email thing.

I wanted a solid camera phone. wasn't drawn to flips or sliders. didn't care to spend too much.

I tried out (through t-mobile...they let you try out a phone for 14 days (30 here in cali) to see if you like it) a nokia 6133 and I hated it. way too quiet for me. not intuitive enough...felt like it could break at any moment.

switched to this and it's like night and day. simple. solid. slender. I am very much in love.

I do wish that the headphones and charger had separate ports. they share one and that is the only gripe I have with it. well, that and the snooze alarm is only 5 minutes but I should prob ween myself off of that little addicition anyhoo.

but I am very satisfied with how this functions as a phone and a camera and recommend it to anyone needing something simple. nice bright display. sweet jingly options for ringtones...Good Times!

This phone is nice and thin and very comfortable. The only problem that I have had with this phone is that the charger and the hands-free use the same slot on the phone. I have had problems with the contact and I have to sometimes put a rubber band around the charger to get it to charge. My sister has the same phone and has had to have hers replaced twice because hers won't charge at all.

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Great phone, i got it in plum but it still looks black and manly. It melts away in your pocket, i literally forget I have it and have to pat my pocket to make sure. The data download rate is excellent and unlocking the phone was a breeze. The camera was OK not a plus or a minus, but i did wish i could record longer video. BlueTooth is awesome, i love the object push which i use nearly everyday, and the BlueTooth won't slaughter you battery like some other samsung phones. And the battery will last a good 48 hours with moderate usage. 5/5

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I bought this phone a little over a year ago and the only problem that I ever had with it is it doesn't work in Jacksonville, AR for some silly reason. It will go off other servers towers but not there. And its really tiny too but I love it. My phone is still in great condition after a year and believe me, I've dropped it a few times. But you get get the t-mobile web and it takes pictures and videos. Overall it's a great phone.

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I bought this phone. Works great in the US, but does not work at all with service providers in India. It's a delicate phone and pretty long. I am unable to hold in my trouser pockets.

BestDealUSA 1280x960 Mini Key Camera HD DVR Cam Surveille Pinhole

This camera is good for the price, which is why I am giving three stars. However, it is NOT HD! The ad states that the Video Resolution is 1280x960. That is just not true. Its 720x480 at 30 frames per second. That is just 480P. Quite misleading / dis-honest of the seller.

Sorry, this product is not worth it, the directions are useless wrong language (no English).

It will not stay running either.

They did give me my money back which makes the seller tops!

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Still haven't been able to update the date and time signature. I followed the instructions but it would not display current date and time.

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bought two,,one for wife and one for myself for R/C aircraft for inflight video...wrks excellent..great audio and video...weights roughly one gram..micro aircraft can haul it aloft..takes a hdhc micro sd card and nodropped videoframes..

highly recoomend seller andthe camera

wife loves it as well

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VideoSecu 100 Feet Video Power Cable with 12V DC 500mA Power Supply Kit for CCTV Security Camera DV

I bought a car back-up camera for a project and needed a 100 ft cable, my luck is that it came with a power supply. I was worried about signal loss, but picture still came in pretty good for having a 100 ft cable.

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Mini Portable Car Dashboard DVR Camcorder Camera F500L HD Full 1080P with LED Light

• Mini full HD 1920 x 1080P@30fps portable DVR car camcorder. 2.0" LTPS TFT LCD display. Recording resolution: 1920 x 1080 (30fps); 1440 x 1080 (30fps); 1280 x 720 (30fps); 848 x 480 (60fps).
• Video reverses recording 180 degree (Menu setting). Loop recording, time and date stamp. Still Image (jpeg) Resolution 2592 x 1944 JPEG 3200 x 2400, 4000 x 3000.
• Video Codec MPEG-4 AVC/H.264. Video output: HDMI: CTS1.2 Compliant. Audio Mic and Speaker (Mono) Equipped. Port USB 2.0/HDMI/TV OUT. Shutter Button Electronic shutter.
• Recording format: Mov. 4X digital zoom (Full HD resolution non), Sensor: 5 Mega pixels CMOS, Lens: 7.0mm (4.5mm optional), Focus: 10cm - infinity.
• Supports 1080i/720p output mode, Composite: NTSC/PAL. Connection ports: USB 2.0 / HDMI / TV. External SDHC/MMC card (Max 32G SDHC Card). Battery: 3.7V 1000mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery.

UPDATE: After five weeks of constant use with this product, I've had no problems. The thing doesn't miss a beat. I record an average of 29 gigs per day, looping constantly.

...This is a long review because I believe potential buyers need to know all of this...

This product is exactly what I expected -a true HD looping dashcam (1920x1080) that I can (and do) run continually while I'm driving, for a very low price. I have been using the f500l every day in my car, even when I'm parked, for a few weeks now and have had no problems. I've captured a lot of fun video so far, though no accidents or anything really exciting.

Pros:

1. Real HD at 1920x1080. Fantastic quality videos.

2. Numerous options to tailor the camera to your needs.

3. Comes with a lot of accessories, except SD card.

4. The included windshield mount produces no vibrations or other degradation of video, even though it's cheaply made.

5. Good quality audio recording, which can be disabled.

6. Date/time stamp optional.

Cons:

1. Cheaply made. It seems quite fragile and light weight, so I have been treating it very carefully to prevent mishaps. So far so good. I picked up a small case at a local Radio Shack to protect it when transferring between cars or bringing inside the house. Cheap build quality is not a deal killer, especially for the price they're charging.

2. Menus are in Russian out of the box. Three minutes of fiddling (and laughing) fixed it. Not a deal killer.

3. Night shooting is grainy. This is to be expected for a $100 camera. The videos are fairly good at night, though. They're still HD and capture plenty of detail to enjoy watching the clips. This is not a deal killer -it's plenty good.

4. Battery seems to last 5 minutes. This might be a menu setting for battery conservation. I really haven't dug into this because I have mine plugged in at all times. Not a deal killer.

General Info:

I highly recommend this camera if you want something to continually record in your car (looping / recirculating) for the purposes of catching insurance fraudsters and liars, or just want to capture interesting driving incidents. I've transferred many of the clips to my Windows PC and edited them without too much trouble (see below for details). They look really, really good.

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO BUY

1. Because the videos are .mov natively, Windows Movie Makers need to do the following to edit the clips: download Freemake Video Converter from download.com and convert the .mov files to .wmv. To view the clips, without editing, download Apple Quicktime for PC. Warning: use Freemake to convert to .wmv or be prepared to have Windows Movie Maker choke on the files, causing hours of frustration. Trust me.

If you have a Mac or use Adobe Premiere or some other quality video editor for the PC, you can probably skip the conversion steps.

2. The camera is cheap, even though its specs are impressive and the quality of the video is high. If you buy, I recommend being very careful. Cover it with some kind of scratch-free, lint-free cloth and keep store it in a rigid case when transporting. Buttons are cheap, so set the camera the way you want, then resist the urge to fiddle.

3. Buy the fastest SD card you can afford. I bought a Class 10, 32 GB card and it is flawless. Card below class 10 cause large gaps between videos. Don't be cheap on the SD card or you'll miss a driving event.

4. The menu button stops working when the camera is plugged into the cig lighter. I almost returned the camera because I couldn't access the menus, until I discovered that the menu button works fine under battery power. Very strange. I can picture an engineer named Igor or Zheng shrugging and saying, "Good enough."

5. I found it useful to change my cig lighter socket so it's always powered, even with the engine off and key out. I wanted it to record while I'm shopping, at work, or parked on the street. Never know when somebody parallel parks, crashes your car, then speeds off. You can nail them if you're always recording, even away from the car. Licenses plates are clearly readable up close.

CONCLUSION

Don't hesitate to buy this camera if you want really great looking driving videos at a very low price *AND* you're willing to be gentle with a cheaply made product. This camera is very unique because the videos are fantastic, and the price is so low. Honestly, if you get unlucky and yours breaks, you can get another for $100. It's an easy sell, really. Seller / vendor was good and reliable and no problems.

Buy Mini Portable Car Dashboard DVR Camcorder Camera F500L HD Full 1080P with LED Light Now

I am not professional driver. Luckily I had not accidents until now unlike my friends. I paid attention that the biggest problem is to prove that it was not your fault. The camcorder is always an unbiased witness of an accident which will save lots of your time with police. As a bonus, you may use it to record your recent trip and share most interesting moments with your friends :)

I should admit that camera by itself is very light weighted and can be easily cared in the pocket. Unlike other camcorders which are difficult to setup/remove, this one uses special locks, which allows you to setup/remove it in seconds. The lens is pure wide angle and because of that, some videos may look unusual or even funny :) Camera uses regular Nokia phone battery, so it can be easily replaces if needed. It can make high resolution photos (I noticed that photos are NOT wide angled and looks as normal ones). The only thing it is really missing caring bag, to protect lens from scratches (if it could be scratched of course).

I will give 5 stars to day time recorded video quality. There is a little bit more white color but you can easily fix that via settings. Gadget has option to rotate video upside down, so that allows you to setup camera on top or bottom of window. There were not delays, jumps or even waves (which usually can be found on cheap camcorders). The video looks Full HD 1920x1080 pixels.

Camcorder also records the sound but I personally did not test it. It has nice option to start recording automatically (when camera is powered) but I personally prefer to have feature to start recording once it notices voice inside the car.

UPDATE: I just found a motion detecting feature, so now the camera starts recording automatically, when it detects motion!!! AWESOME!!!

BTW camera comes without SD card, so do not forget to order it separately. I personally will suggest buying min class 7 SD card or SanDisk with 30 or 45 MB/s writing speed. This is needed to prevent any time gaps between video chunks (videos are recorded in small chunks, which allows circle recording).

As an overall this is really stable gadget. I forgot to say that camera has option to mark any chunk as 'interesting' and in that case, it will not be overwritten automatically. That's useful if you recorded something really interesting and you prefer to keep it on camera.

Read Best Reviews of Mini Portable Car Dashboard DVR Camcorder Camera F500L HD Full 1080P with LED Light Here

Unlike other reviewers, everything was already in english. It was really easy to setup and I am really surprised at how well everything works. I was expecting a lot of bugs but the thing is solid. I have it recording non-stop and it gets really, really hot in my truck and it doesn't skip a beat. 3 or 4 days after I bought it, an accident happened right in front of me. Got the whole thing on dashcam. Take a look. Quality is much better before youtube compression of course.I will probably ending up buying 1 more for my boat.

UPDATE: The camera stopped working after a week. I just sent it back to them. Sucks because now I'm out an extra 10 bucks to ship it back :( I'm rating it 2 stars until I get a unit that lasts more than a week!

UPDATE 2: Got the camera back and have had it for a while. It's been working great. The only issue is that it shuts down on it's own sometimes. It seems to shut off when it's really hot and that might be a on purpose so the unit does not get damaged. I leave it on 24 hours a day so when I get in the car, I just check to make sure it's running and if not, just turn it on. Overall satisfied.

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Camera bought from seller "Loftek" is a fake. The version on the manual is HDC-500. The settings in the menu are also different from the real F500LHD.

The real F500LHD has a firmware that ends in "T2L-KH" that can be updated. The company has released about 10 updates total for this camera model, the newest being V8.9 T2L-KH.

The F500LHD is a good camera, maybe the knock off version is also good. But with the price point of the knock off the same as the original, I rather just get the original version. Would recommend trying another seller on Amazon other than Loftek and maybe you'll get lucky.

Ordered from BrainyTrade since other reviewer warned against ordering from Loftek. The one that came was HDC-500. After a quick search on the Internet (dashcamtalk dot com/dod-f500lhd/), I found out that it's a fake! Sorry Amazon, I'm returning it.

CE Compass 6Ft Digital Toslink Audio Optic Cable Optical Fiber S/PDIF Cord Wire HDTV DVD PS3 Xbox

With simple items like this, usually all you can say about it is either it works, or it doesn't. Well, it works.

Bought this one so I can hook my new HD TV to an older version of receiver, and this one works as expected.

Price is fair, and it does what is needed.

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I remember when these came out. For the price you paid you'd expect they were full of gold. Now, the price is ridiculously low and it works as good as a TOS link 10 years old that cost 20x the price. I am using it on the audio out on my Panasonic VIERA TC-P60GT50 60-Inch 1080p 600Hz Full HD 3D Plasma TV to connect to a C2G / Cables to Go 28733 Digital To Analog Audio ConverterDAC Black so I can listen to my Ultrasone HFI-780 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones and not disturb the house late at night.

Read Best Reviews of CE Compass 6Ft Digital Toslink Audio Optic Cable Optical Fiber S/PDIF Cord Wire HDTV DVD PS3 Xbox Here

It snaps into socket firm and works flawlessly. I wiggled it around some and never lost sound at any time.

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Prompt delivery, DVD player was as described. I like the USB feature, Now other cables required. I would recommend this for a first or second drive. I am using on a 10" laptop that came with a DVD drive.

Canon VIXIA HF R20 Full HD Camcorder with 8GB Internal Flash Memory (Black)

The Canon Vixia HF R20 is a basic HD (hi definition) flash memory camcorder that is capable of producing very high quality 1080p video in MPEG4-AVC/H.264 format, thanks to its 1/4.85-inch CMOS sensor and DIGIC DVIII processor. The unit is rated at 3.28 Megapixels (2.07 effective).

Canon positions this product as offering the ideal combination of price and performance for the budget-conscious consumer who wants Full HD 1920x1080 video.

The camcorder comes with 8GB of built-in flash memory, and accepts 2 additional SDXC memory cards, each of which can be up to 2 TB. Yes, that is terabytes. Suffice it to say, you can record a LOT of video on this unit if you make use of the expansion slots. The camcorder switches automatically from one storage device to another without interruption. Nice feature. With just the built-in memory, at highest quality, you can record 40 minutes of video. As inexpensive as flash memory is, there's no reason not to fill both slots with at least 16 GB SD cards in each ... 32 if you're feeling extravagant.

As a budget HD camcorder, the Vixia HF R20 seems a likely upgrade for pocket camcorder users. I shot indoor and outdoor video with this camcorder, and with a pocket camcorder that shoots 1080p video also. I viewed the Canon Vixia video first, and observed the quality, then watched the pocket camcorder video and made comparisons. I'll share comparisons at the end.

First, here are some Pros and Cons I observed while using the Vixia camcorder.

PROS:

Excellent 20x optical zoom lens produced very sharp video in adequate lighting. This means outdoor daytime, and bright indoor lighting.. There is a 28x "advanced" setting and 400x digital zoom. The advanced zoom is supposed to yield more zoom without compromising image quality. I'll stick to optical zoom myself, but it's a nice feature if you're into zooming.

Auto Exposure worked very well outdoors, exposing bright scenes and shaded ones very well, and smoothly transitioning between the two. Indoors, I was less thrilled, because even during the daytime indoors, the video seemed a wee bit contrasty.

Combined processor/lens/metering produced stunning outdoor video. Perfectly exposed, very sharp, vibrant color without being super saturated ... if this is the main way you use your camcorder, you would be completely satisfied with the product.

Opening the LCD doesn't turn on the camcorder. You have to press the on button too. However, once it's on, closing the LCD puts the device into a standby mode and shuts the automatic lens cover, so that opening the LCD again puts you into shooting mode in less than a second. While out and about, I recommend operating in this mode ... however it likely consumes extra battery, so be sure to power down completely when you're done shooting for the day.

3" touchscreen for settings and preview. It's a good size while maintaining the light weight of the device.

Face detection works well at acquiring faces. Even cat faces. Well implemented feature.

CONS:

No onboard light. There is no accessory attachment for adding light (you have to move up to the HF21 model for that), and unbelievably, there is not even a booster LED onboard. For a camcorder of this price, and for the quality of video it is capable of producing, this is just inexcusable. Even phones today have a LED for lighting. My $100 pocket camcorder has one. Seriously Canon? Because of this, indoors, even during daytime, the camcorder had a tendency to hunt for focus a bit, and indoor video was more contrasty than I like.

No viewfinder. While this adds cost, I have always found it very difficult to use LCD screens in the daylight for composing scenes. You have to move up to the HV40 to get a viewfinder. More than double the cost of this unit.

The image stabilization just didn't do that much. I tried both Auto and Dynamic modes. The jittery effect is most noticeable when zoomed in, so be aware of this.

Battery life seemed short to me. I shot video and looked through settings for no more than 1.25-1.5 hours.

So-So:

The GUI. Most of the settings are made on the touchscreen, and the menu system is easy to navigate without needing to go to the manual to figure everything out. Contrarily, there are actual buttons on the body of the camera opposite the LCD (record/play, video snap, auto/web, disp/battery info). Why the mix? I spent 10 minutes trying to find the playback button in the menu system, until I was forced to go to the manual to figure out how to playback video. Sheesh. It's 2011. Can't we be consistent with GUI design? Please?

Daylight and daytime indoor white balance was set properly by the camera, but under compact fluorescent light at night, the balance was very very warm.

Comparison with pocket camcorder:

Canon Vixia produces much sharper and clearer video. This is likely due to a larger sensor, better optics, and Canon's prowess at processing.

The Canon Vixia zooms in HD modes. The pocket camcorder does zoom, but only in SD modes.

Solid colors are noisier/grainier in the pocket camcorder.

That one little LED makes the video shot indoors better exposed on the pocket camcorder. It's just enough light to fill in the shadows.

Stabilization works better in the pocket camcorder. It seems very weak in the Canon Vixia.

Outdoors, the pocket camcorder video is a little washed out, and overall exposure is a little brighter.

The pocket camcorder is much worse at processing panning video. The video image gets semi-scrambled by the pocket camcorder ... the Vixia keeps up with video processing during panning scenes.

The pocket camcorder does not handle bright to dark (and vice versa) transitions as well as the Vixia does. It's smooth as silk with the Canon. Choppy exposure transition with the pocket camcorder.

BOTTOM LINE:

The Canon Vixia HF R20 is an easy-to-use, lightweight camcorder that produces stunning full HD (1080p) video on the easiest media of all to use, flash memory. It operates at full default, full auto settings for the novice, and allows many manual settings for more advanced camcorder users. It even lets you shoot 24p cinema-mode video. The strongest features of this camcorder are the lens, exposure, and image processing capabilities. Daytime and bright indoor video is excellent. However, Canon needlessly compromised the indoor capabilities of the camera by failing to include any onboard light. As well, the image stabilization could use some improvement, as zoomed video seemed needlessly jittery to me. Still, an entry level product cannot be at the pinnacle in every aspect of use, and Canon rightly focused its efforts on excellent quality video in what it judges as the most likely venues of usage. Battery life could be longer, so plan to have a spare (or two) on hand for a full day of shooting.

I've use the Vixia HF R20 to record this review. The built-in mic and external mics show the real life results. Mac owners should note the great info around here about dealing with the AVCHD files. Get a monopod/tripod and decent mic, and you'll be ready to play Spielberg!

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For all the appeal of this small and proficient camera, the battery life is quite short, and the bottom-mounted battery doesn't allow for a larger battery to be used. And extra batteries are quite expensive! ($70 with no free shipping).

Yes, the internal memory + two SD slots will allow for hours and hours of continuous recording...from an AC power source! But the battery? The "mini instructions" that come with the camera suggest a typical recording time of 45 minutes. 45 minutes? I've NEVER had a camcorder with such short life on a new battery!

I've been testing, and the actual maximum continuous recording time, with no zooming or focusing, is about 75 minutes to an external SD card. Recording to the internal memory increases the recording time slightly, as does setting the viewscreen to 'extra dim' mode.

Conclusion: the extended recording time of the multi-memory system is completely wasted, as the battery will be the limiting factor for almost every user.

Other issues: I like the touch-screen, but it helps to have fingernails.

The flashing red "access" light on the back of the camera is really annoying.

Low-light performance is not as good as previous Canon camcorders.

The lens mount has threads for an accessory, and there's a mic jack and headphone jack option (unlike an otherwise attractive Panasonic competitor).

The camera defaults to recording on the internal memory, even after you put in a memory card, which is confusing.

The full instruction manual is included only on a CD disc; very annoying.

Haven't yet looked into the file format, but if, as suggested, it's non-standard, that would be quite a drawback.

Sad to say, I'll be returning this camera AND the Panasonic. Maybe by next year chip cameras in this price range will be worthwhile. This year (7/2011), not so much.

--Gary

Read Best Reviews of Canon VIXIA HF R20 Full HD Camcorder with 8GB Internal Flash Memory (Black) Here

==Summary==

The Canon Vixia HF R20 offers many of the features found in a larger, more expensive camcorder, but is small and light enough not to be a burden. While the higher-end Vixia models provide some serious upgrades for the enthusiast for a significant price, the casual point-and-shoot crowd will find plenty to love about the Vixia HF R20 and only one thing to hate. The R20 shoots clear, vivid video with only minor weakness in low light, image stabilization and motion. The .mts file format will be alien to most users and may require time-consuming file conversion on additional (not the included) software to retain full HD quality for viewing on common devices.

==Construction==

Weighing only 9.5 oz. and measuring 2.4" x 2.4" x 4.8", the Canon Vixia is just small enough to it in a large pocket and light enough to pack in a backpack without weighing you down. The overall construction feels a little cheap simply due to the light weight and this will also make it harder to shoot steady video. The lens is noticeably smaller than those found on the more expensive Vixia models, but still vastly superior to the majority of cheap point and shoot video cameras that have been flooding the market.

The touchscreen measures 3", which should be big enough for most, but I'd have liked at least 3.5" and capacitive instead of pressure-sensitive response. Aesthetically the R20 is quite attractive and comfortable to grip. The buttons, ports and slots are all laid out efficiently and ergonomomically. Hdmi, composite and audio ports and two slots for SD/SDHX/SDXC cards round out the package.

==Video Quality==

The Canon Vixia HF R20 provides an Auto shoot mode as well as scene modes for more specific environments. In auto mode it only takes a few frames for the camcorder to adjust from shooting indoors to outdoors. The image stabilizer (dynamic/standard(default)/off) works great overall, except for close-ups. The lens provides a very clear image with only minor distortion and provides a 20x optical zoom (28x advanced zoom). Low light performance is only okay.

Frames rates of 24p, 30p and 60i are available. Five bit rate qualities are available, the two highest shoot in 1920x1080 resolution while the 3 lower ones shoot in 1440 x 1080. The following bitrates can be selected: MXP-24Mbps, FXP-17Mbps, XP-12Mbps, SP-7Mbps, LP-5Mbps. The default shooting mode is SP with 60i frame rate. You can shoot 2hr 20min in deault SP, 1hr in FXP or 40 min in MXP using the internal 8GB. Keepn in mind that higher quality bitrates may not save onto lower speed SD cards. Maximum shooting time is 12 hours. Pictures are saved at either 2 (1920x1080) or 2.4 megapixels depending on aspect ratio.

==Ease Of Use==

Most owners should be able to dive right into using their R20 for shooting home videos. The buttons are (for the most part) clearly labeled as to their function(s) and logically laid out so you can find things intuitively. Both composite and hdmi (mini-hdmi to hdmi) cables are included as well as 8GB of internal memory. The only times I had to look at the manual were to figure out the Vid Snap button (sets camcorder to shoot for 2/4/8 sec at a time) and look up how to get at some of the more advanced settings (touch "Func" on the touchscreen when NOT in Auto mode). A minor complaint is the inability to shoot stil pictures WHILE you're filming video.

The major complaint I have for the R20 is the file format that every video is saved in: .mts. It took me a while to find adequate software to convert the .mts files into .avi and even longer to convert a few short videos (on my last generation computer). I suspect most people don't have software on their computers already that will convert or even play MTS video files. I've been a long time user of Pixela software for my photos, but video software is a joke (the video browser disc required me to uninstall what i had installed only minutes before from the image transfer disc). The included video converter will not convert the MTS files without reducing the resolution significantly! Thankfully the pictures save as .jpg files. I ended up removing the included software from my computer and simply drag and drop the files from the Canon onto my desktop.

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A nice little affordable digital flash memory video camera from a trusted name. I'm glad I purchased it on Amazon. I would highly suggest buying additional batteries and a battery charger. I find I have to swap out batteries if I record for a long time.

PROS:

1)small

2)light

3) easy to operate

4) built-in-features are nice

5) zoom is good

6) records to flash memory

7) expandable memory with added cards (upto 128G with 2 64G cards) [be sure to get class 10 cards]

8) quiet operation

9) USB

10) wonderful quality picture

11) nice resolution

12) nice recording options

13) affordable

14) automatic lens protection mechanism

15) touch LCD screen from which most features can be controlled

16) external mic connection available

17) HDMI output connection

18) easy access to memory cards

19) easy access to battery compartment

20) standard camera mount for tripod

21) DOLBY stereo

22) batteries charge relatively fast compared to others.

CONS:

1)battery life is just barely adequate best to have a spare battery or two or more on hand

2)the zoom control is located in the usual place, but the small size of the camera makes it a little difficult for someone with big hands to operate optimally. Will take some getting use to.

3) proprietary video upload utility software to get video from camera to PC which is very slow. To transfer video from the camera to the PC requires use of a proprietary software utility (provided). It would have been much better had the camera had the ability to import video simply using native video import functions built into Windows. This is very inconvenient especially if you want to import the video to a machine that does not have the proprietary software installed.

4) despite having the ability to control how video is recorded to memory such as setting the mode that will first fill internal memory then automatically continue onto added memory cards, the camera loses this configuration selection when powering off the PC and goes back to the default mode of recording only to internal memory. It's easily remedied by setting the configuration option again after powering up, but it is very inconvenient that the camera does not remember these settings between power ups.

5) the battery and electric power is provided via a proprietary AC Adapter with a very proprietary connection. I would have preferred they use the USB connection to provide electrical power and battery charging perhaps the camera draws more current/voltage than a standard UDB connection can provide to be able to power the camera or charge the battery. It is very inconvenient having to carry around a special adapter like this if one has a PC USB connection available.

Remanufactured Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

I originally ordered a refurbished Philips DVP642 from Overstock, and it was a comedy of errors (did not work at all -could not read any discs -came with a photocopy of the manual instead of a real manual, and came with the wrong remote such that even if the machine had worked, I would not have been able to use it [no "setup" button on the remote or on the front panel]). I am glad to say that I immediately returned it (and told Overstock [who I found out often/always ship the wrong remote! Bad!!!] I wanted a refund, not a replacement, and I'd go and order it from Amazon instead).

Amazon, you are wonderful! My refurbished/remanufactured Philips DVP642 arrived in great condition, perfect working order, had the real manual, and had the correct remote!

As for the player itself, it does what it claims. It happily plays regular DVDs (and even over composite and through a video switch, it outputs a really clear, sharp picture--far, far better than the Sampo player it is replacing). It happily played random avi/mpg files off a DVD-R. I have not actually tried playing non-region-1 discs in it yet, but that's purely due to my lack of time to play with it, not due to any difficulty. As I understand it, it's very easy to switch regions or put it into multi-region (region 0?) mode, which I'll do at some point.

Bravo Philips! Bravo Amazon.com!

I've enjoyed this unit and just bought my 2nd after the first one died ... lasted about 1 1/2 yrs. Other reviews indicate that these units seem to die after some time and I've read it's related to a power capacitor (probably an easy fix for someone skilled in electronics). Other problems are that some DVD-Rs won't load in this ... seems really arbitrary though, not any specific brand. I like it to play .avi files from the computer. If I were just playing store bought DVDs, I think I would choose something a little more reliable. I bought my second one from a retailer that offers a 4 year extended warranty for $20. I figure the extra money is worth it as 4 out of the 5 DVD players I've owned have died within 3 years. So my advice ... make sure you have a good warranty and expect to replace it, enjoy it while it works.

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Worked well for 30 days and then started having problems turning on. Really a pain. Won't turn on normally and have to spend 10 min. or so pushing the stand-by button to get it go on. Don't be a remanufactured one.

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Great little Divx player with progressive scan. Component outputs provide great digital signal and optical output provides digital sound. Divx has been great as we can watch movie files from camcorders and cameras without reformatting to DVDs. Would recommend. Also very thin and has great form factor to fit into tight spots if needed.

Cons: No HDMI/DVI output, but for this price, nothing does... yet.

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Great valued unit but buy it new. Bought a remanufactured unit as a second DVD/DivX player died on me just after the 90 day warranty ended (No Disc error for DVDs, plays CDs fine). Meanwhile, my original non-remanufactured unit is still working fine after a year and a half.

2-Shelf Wall Mount for Audio / Video

This mount gets an A+ for simplicity and looks. It is very easy to put together and mount on the wall. But in terms of overall quality I give it a C. The spine of the mount comes as 3 separate pieces with two plastic pieces used to connect them in the middle. Once pieced together, they never are fully snug so the spine has a little play. The screws used for mounting on the wall are no flat or philips head, but hex. This makes it annoying to drill into wall because of fear of stripping. My mount is holding up a dvd player and dvr box just fine. Overall it looks and functions great. But anyone who puts it together and mounts it knows the build quality isnt quite there.

Product arrived ahead of time. Easy to install and it held my Yamaha home theater receiver and blu ray player with ease. Also my Direct TV DVR as well.

Buy 2-Shelf Wall Mount for Audio / Video Now

junk dont buy this cheap made junk look some were else after mounted to the wall very loose plus wall brackes dont line up

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2-Shelf Wall Mount for Audio / Video fits my needs and assembles very easy i thought. I'd recommend this to everyone!

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Great price and it worked perfect for what I needed. I had checked other vendors and this was definitely the best buy.

Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite

• Edit and produce movies with special effects and transitions
• Create DVDs and Blu-ray Disc media with custom menus and graphics
• Share movies on PSP, iPod, iPhone, online, and more
• Follow along with Show Me How tutorials and learn as you go
• Includes 360 exclusive music soundtracks

I have been a Vegas Movie Studio user for three versions now. Each one just gets better and better.

"Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite" comes with three separate programs and some very cool extras thrown in.

You get Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 to do all your editing and video making,

DVD Architect Studio to make your DVD's and BluRay Discs,

and Sound Forge Audio Studio which is a stand alone audio recording and editing studio great for Podcasters and anyone making voice overs for talking books or tutorials.

With this production suite version comes a new bonus 3D Text Generator and extra 3D Transitions and Effects from NewBlueFx. The biggest addition to Version 11 is a new "Title and Text" tool that gives you the ability to create animated text titles. Also you can now edit true 3D Video and import more types of video from DSLR cameras -which is becoming very popular now with videographers.

I have been using Version 11 of the program continuously, and have NOT experienced any major problems so far. I am using a newly built computer with the new i7-2600k CPU and Windows 7 64bit OS and also use an older laptop running Vista OS. I have made plenty of 1080p HD projects 60-90 minutes in length, and the program has been working just fine. Sometimes I experience small glitches, but what program is perfect 100% of the time?

Please don't be scared off by the negative reviews that have started to come in, and I am sure will continue to pile up over time.

Some of the reasons why people may experience problems and crashes with this program is because:

-Their computer is not fast enough to process HD video

-Lack of memory (RAM) and too many junk programs and basic crap clogging up the computer and causing software conflicts

-Trying to process a far too complex project in one sitting (Movie Studio is only a 32bit program)

One gripe I do have with Sony Creative Software is that the minimum computer requirements stated for Vegas to work properly are a gross understatement. Their minimum requirements are only useful for people who work with Standard Definition video, which is going the way of the dinosaurs. If you own a HD Video Camera that produces AVCHD video, and you want to edit that video smoothly with no computer crashes, then you need to have a fast and modern computer. Your CPU needs to be a FOUR Core processor running at 3.0GHz minimum. You may be on a three year old computer right now that's probably not going to be good enough. Intel and AMD now have new CPU's which are built to handle the huge processing power that HD Video requires, so if you are serious about video editing using Vegas MS11, upgrade your computer to that latest specs.

Vegas Movie Studio is not for the faint hearted there is a steep learning curve to climb. Most problems in Vegas have easy solutions and there are some great resources out there (Forums & YouTube) now that can teach you how to use this program without too many headaches all you have to do is ask for help from the many experienced users who post online. If you are hopeless with computers and have no patience with problem solving, then this program is not for you stick with Windows Movie Maker. Why I love this program so much, is because it contains many features from Pro level video editing software that would cost up to six times more than this great value package.

All the best.

p.s.

I don't work for Sony, I just really love this program because it has taught me so much and allowed me to be very creative without spending thousands of dollars.

If you have any concerns as to whether this program is going to work with your computer and do what you want, then do the smart thing first and download the FREE 30 day trial direct from Sony Creative Software then you will know whether to buy it from Amazon or not how easy is that?

***UPDATE as of August 2012***

New Version of this Suite has now been released.

The suite which I just reviewed has been given a slight name change and is now called "Movie Studio Platinum 12 Suite".

This newer version is now a 64 bit program!!!

So if you have a 64bit Windows Operating System, I would encourage you to have a serious look at the newer Version 12.

It can now use ALL available RAM installed on your computer, whereas V11 was capped at only 4GBs.

Also has GPU Acceleration, which means V12 can now utilize the power of your Graphics Card to Speed Up rendering times and improve playback quality in the Preview Window.

Buy Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite Now

This review is for brand new beginners like me. I've never used any of the many software programs for video capture or editing. A friend told me that Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum was the easiest and least buggy. BTW, I don't know what the word Platinum refers to or, for that matter, if there is a silver or gold version. Everyone but this one friend told me to shut up and buy a mac in order to use Imovie. I ended up going with Vegas rather than buying a new computer just to edit video.

Here's what I've noticed in the first week of use: I was overwhelmed reading the instruction manual but then I stumbled onto the incredible sony training website. Sony provides a website dedicated to training for an earlier version of this program-

This training website had a minor problem: I couldn't figure out the "plug in" update stuff, which I think does something to your browser to enable you to watch these training videos. However, it is easy to download each training video to your computer to play whenever you want, without dealing with those plug ins. Click on the word "download" toward the bottom left of your browser if the "plug in" stuff doesn't work on your computer. There are 12 training videos, each of which is about 3-5 minutes long. Even though the training videos were for Movie Studio 9 rather than 11, they provided everything I needed to make a ten minute short video project that includes Hi Def video and older clips that are not Hi Def. My project also included photos and had background music.

Using Movie Studio Platinum seems pretty easy for this novice--ONCE I found those training videos from that website. The program in its original box also came with an extra DVD loaded with training videos. These were good but should be viewed AFTER the ones on that website. Finally, the program itself has a "show me how" button, which literally walks beginners through editing their own video. Arrows pop up and point you to the exact spots you need to click when working with your video and audio. This was a great addition to the training videos.

Another note about that training website--If you happen to scroll around the various sonycreativesoftware websites, don't make the mistake I did: Vegas is a word used in at least two completely separate software programs that have almost the same name. One is this "movie studio" program, which is in the hundred dollar range. The other is called Vegas Pro, which I think is a much more expensive and advanced version of Movie Studio.

If you watch the website training videos and the accompanying DVD videos, you're out about 90 minutes. But that's all I needed to use the program the way most people will probably use it--to make cool vacation or family event videos that are 15 or 20 minutes long. Again, I'm a beginner and don't envision myself using this more than a few times a year.

Nothing has been buggy and my computer has not frozen or crashed. Maybe it's important to know that my computer is a 2011 PC running windows 7. You should also know that I am not using the Vegas Movie Studio 11 version that was in the box--Vegas prompted me to upload the latest version, which probably included fixes to the original that came in the box.

SIX MONTH UPDATE: I have now used the program for six months. Not one crash. My favorite use for it involves archiving old mini-DV video. I captured these clips into a hard drive but they are unreadable for most players that attach to TV sets. For this reason, I import them into Vegas and render them as "mpeg 2 NTSC Widescreen" files, which are readable by various players. Another render option is "Sony AVC/Memory stick SD NTSC widescreen 6256 KB" but some players won't play this file type.

The Vegas program renders the video very fast, about 20 minutes for a 25 minute video using the computer I mentioned above. These old clips look great on modern TV's. I play them on my TV using a WD NET TV player, which has a USB input where I attach a one TB Hard Drive. No more DVD's, which don't play as clearly as these files. Instead, I have at least a hundred family videos on that 1 TB hard drive. My newer videos are in the AVCHD format, which is a Sony Hi Def format. The program is much slower rendering these HI Def videos, about 40 minutes for a 10 minute clip. I try to limit the final clips to not much more than a gigabyte so that the video player attached to my TV doesn't get overwhelmed.

After seeing the difference and ease comparing .mpeg 2 files in a modern player/hard drive combo to a traditional DVD player, I think most of us will be tossing our DVD's in 5 years. It's like comparing an Ipod to a CD player. The newer AVCHD videos look ridiculously good and are far superior to DVD's. I think they even look better than blue ray. Because this Vegas program is so good, I've decided to use Sony cameras to take video because the file interchange is seamless. My camera is called a Sony HX9, which creates amazing Hi Def clips.

Addendum: Below is the link to training website for the earlier version of Vegas that I described in my review. As I mentioned above, you can download each video if you can't play them the usual way by clicking on each one. When you click on a video and see something about "plug in's not working", there is an option on the bottom left to "download". These downloaded versions play fine in Windows Media Player.

Read Best Reviews of Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 Production Suite Here

Brief and to the point: Reviewed Corel pro/Pinnacle, Adobe and Sony. I did the trials.

Sony was the most easy to manipulate and had the most bells and whistles. It did not crash when I rendered to DVD or to Youtube or to IMDB (IMDB's got some upload rules).

Yes, there's a lot of information, but I went to Sony and found "support" under there is "training" and under that was webinars. I watched three webinars and all the training videos.

I am a novice and did have to figure out the windows.

For the money: their features, their interface and they way things work ESPECIALLY: "SHOW ME HOW!" are brilliant.

NO, I do not work for them. I have nothing to do with Sony, but I do read all the post to see what people say and that adds to my buying decision. Given the choices and support, I take Sony. I bought the suite and saved nearly $40 ($124.95 on Sony--why, no idea, because I printed both spec sheets and compared notes: they were the same). So, if you're looking for video editing software and you're just starting...this software works. If you, like me, are looking to grow and not to get to a point where the software is no long viable, then buy Sony.

Adobe was out of my price range and didn't have the features.

Pinnacle had too many consumer complaints about bad service.

Corel kept crashing when I imported video (yes, contacted corel support, went to the website, did an update and it crashed again---sent it back)

I wish you well and recommend: do the downloads--trials. Then you get a real taste. I'm lovin the Sony Vegas Pro 11.

Good luck!

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I still have some kinks to work out, but it does just about everything I need a video editor to do.

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Sony Movie Studio HD Platinum Suite 11 V. 11 is great. It comes with so much stuff besides the actual software, like 1,001 sound effects, 23 borders, 31 illustrations, 414 songs, and 42 title cards that can be used for anything. What more can you ask for? The video editing software is hard to use at first, but the "Show Me How" built-in tutorials help out with that, and once you get the hang of the software it really is amazing. You have plenty of effects and transitions to really make your videos pop and look amazing. This program has not lagged or crashed on me at all, which is great! I advise this product to anyone looking for an affordable, professional grade movie editor. If you want something simple to use, then I advise something else, just because its not that easy to use for those looking for a program to do it all for them. If you're a striving videographer or movie maker/editor and want to make your videos professional looking, this is definitely a good choice.

TIP: If you do buy this product, the sound effects, songs, ect. are not automatically put onto your computer. You need to browse the disc and under the "Content" folder you'll find all the stuff. Just highlight all the folders within the "Content" folder, and copy them to a folder on your computer that you wish to have the files at.

Samsung YP-MT6X 512 MB Digital Audio Player Blue

• Supports MP3, WMA, ASF and Ogg files
• Built-in flash memory holds up to 512 MB
• FM Tuner and recorder
• Line in & voice recording
• SRS WOW optimization

I've had the player a couple weeks and really like it. I don't have a lot to add in terms of pros/cons, but here is some info which you may find useful.

From the YP-MT6 user manual it is not clear that REPEAT ALL can apply to all the songs in folder (rather than all of the songs in the player), but it is possible. Set PLAY MODE to REPEAT ALL. Using NAVIGATION, navigate until the desired folder is highlighted. Press the PLAY/PAUSE button.

If, however, you navigate to a song within the folder before pressing PLAY/PAUSE, then all songs in the player will be repeated.

I've only tested this with firmware 1.2.

For those considering purchasing a YP-MT6 who are not clear on the PLAYLIST function, the PLAYLIST function only allows defining one group of songs at a time as the PLAYLIST, i.e., you cannot have multiple PLAYLISTs and then select which PLAYLIST you want to repeat. (The PLAYLIST group is defined by marking each desired song using the M button.) This only-one-PLAYLIST restriction is why I searched for a way to repeat a folder.

Personally, I really like the YP-MT6X, but was questioning my purchase decision until I figured out how to repeat a Folder.

Also, if you are trying decide between the 512MB X and the 1GB Z, my X is full at 102 songs in WMA format at the default bit rate, which gives reasonable quality. These songs are, I believe, a normal-sized mix -if you were playing classical music, obviously you would get a lot less. I had read that OGG-format files were smaller and offered better quality, but my test with a few songs indicated that the file size remained about the same -so I decided to keep my life simple. Beyond my cursory test, there are extensive tests of formats and bit rates available on the web. For those who want to evaluate alternative formats, the free dBpowerAmp Music Converter works well.

Also, if you using Real Player, I found that even when you download Real Player playlists to the YP-MT6, RP places the songs into the YP-MT6's root directory. So I used Windows Explorer to create a Folder on the YP-MT6 and then dragged the songs to the Folder. Then downloaded the next playlist using RP. (For any anti-RP advocates, I started using RP because it has a Sony NetMD driver.)

Also, I've found the Koss QZ-99 headphones to be a good match to the YP-MT6 in a noisy environment (e.g., 16-HP lawn tractor). The YP-MT6 has just enough power to drive the QZ-99 adequately --but not enough power to threaten your hearing. The QZ-99's are bulky and heavy, so there are better choices for other environments. The QZ-99 has a long coiled cord, which can be kept out of the way by tying it to the top of the head band with nylon ties (definitely kludgy) -then you can stick the player in a shirt pocket, thereby reducing the risk of the cord becoming entangled.

Buy Samsung YP-MT6X 512 MB Digital Audio Player Blue Now

This stylish little MP3 is great. It's so feature packed and tiny. You have to see it in person to see how small it is compared to other players. I bought it to use when I workout but I'm finding that I'm using this device pretty much all day long.

PROS:

1. Small stylish design

2. Clear screen that displays tag info

3. Plays all popular music formats including WMA! I'm sorry I'm not gonna buy some proprietary *rap from Sony or Apple where they only offer certain formats, stupid. I use mainly WMA and sometimes MP3. ExetremeTech.com rated WMA as the best encoding format (yes they compared sony and apple's format too) for I think at 128kbs.

4. You can create folders and keep an order to your songs.

5. You can create playlists right from the device itself.

6. SRS WOW surround is amazing, especially when listening to music w/ electronic sounds or even Enigma. Pink Floyd sounds like they are singing right in your head when listening in Rock mode.

7. Can record from the built-in mic, FM tuner, and line-in into a MP3 file. Yes I thought I'd never use line-in but I ended up recording a bunch of tapes.

8. Nice clear case included, thought it was a nice touch.

Cons:

1. Wish the line in recording could record in a format other than 128kbs, maybe offer a 64kbs?

2. Maybe offer this device in other colors? I like blue but others may not.

3. Only 42hrs of battery life? Come on, gimme 100hrs+ guys!!!!!! (wishful thinking)

4. How come no one offers AM radio support? I'd actually love to record some programs that are offered only on AM, like sports? Anyone?!

Basically it's as simple as you want it or as customizable as you will end up using it.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung YP-MT6X 512 MB Digital Audio Player Blue Here

I owned a Creative 6Gig Mp3 before I bought this one. Dropped the Creative and needed to get a new one. I was a little worried about buying a 512mb unit thinking I would not have enough space. However, the storage is fine for a whole days worth of music. I listen to my Mp3 every day and also use it in the car via an adapter. I think the Samsung product is a great buy for the following reasons.

1. Battery life 42hrs. I did not know how nice it was not to worry about the battery until I bought this unit. My Creative needed new batteries every 4-6hrs, a big pain if I wasnt at home.

2. The sound is awsome, earphones worked fine. The preset EQ settings sound great and I also set my own for car use. It is very easy to go from one setting to the other.

3. Ease if use. You just hook up the unit to your computer and drag & drop files, that simple. You create folders on the unit with your computer i.e pop, rock ect. Transfer the songs to those folders then disconnect and start listening. I read the manual and had a grasp on it by the 3rd or 4th hour of listening.

4. Has built in radio with 20 presets not 6. You can record off the radio with the click of a button and it gives you a counter of the remaining storage space. No guessing if you have enough space.

5. The size is awsome too, not much bigger than the AA battery. I hang it around my neck to play sports and it is very light.

I really don't have alot of complaints about this unit.

1. It is not as powerful as my Creative, so you can not drive unpowered speakers with it. Which I expected from something as small as a battery.

I would buy again.

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I just bought this player a few days ago, and can safely say it was the best $120 I ever spent...when I was making my choices, I looked at this as well as the 512 MB IPod shuffle, and this has the IPod shuffle beat in just about everything, and for a scant $20 more...well worth it! Now on to the pros and cons...

Pros:

-Small size (not much bigger than the 1 AA battery that powers it)

-Screen that holds a lot of information in such a small space (HUGE PLUS over the Ipod Shuffle!)...also has a great backlight for night usage

-Battery life 40+ hours on one AA battery

-Very easy to load songs onto it...just plug it into the USB port on your computer and use Windows Explorer...no special software needed (though it does come with a CD that is optional)

Cons:

Slightly awkward controls...if you want to use the controls one handed, I found it much easier to do it if your holding the unit in your left hand, despite me being a righty, but if you have really big hands it might be hard to move the joystick control...also it is very easy to inadvertently press buttons or move the stick, though there is a "Hold" feature that locks out all the controls which helps...

I've researched just about every mp3 player/digital audio player for the last few months and finally decided on the YP-MT6X. You truly can't beat the performance of this tiny player for the price. It's loaded with features that are easy to use, a clear easy-to-read 4-line screen, and the sound quality of all of the different equalizer settings is awesome (Yep, you can choose Classic, Jazz, Rock, etc. or create your own!). There are other great choices besides the iPod, and this is definitely one of those choices.