Zmodo 8CH Video DVR Security Surveillance Camera System with 4 CCTV IR Outdoor Surveillance Black C

This DVR works really well. I purchased one as a gift and one for myself a few weeks ago. They've both been running and recording continuously for 2 weeks. The user interface on the DVR is very simple and easy to use, unlike some other DVR brands that have a poorly designed user interface. The remote pc and mobile phone interface also works great. This DVR allows you to set up recording on all cameras at the D1(highest cctv) resolution, but you have to adjust the frame rate depending on how many cameras are recording. On one system, I have 6 cameras recording continuously at D1, with 5 cameras at 10 frames/sec and 1 camera at 19 frames/sec. If I added a couple more cameras, I'd have to reduce the frame rate a little on each camera to still record at the D1 resolution. All-in-all, a great system for the price.

I have had this product about a month,every thing working as its supposed to. Very easy to set up had to buy extra length wire as included wire (60') not long enough for 2 cameras. Great quality pictures & good infared night vision. Great addition to anyones home security system.Still has room on DVR for 3 more cameras & PTZ camera .

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Should have done some more research before purchasing. Works fine but the cameras are very low end and have a very limited range at night. If you are just looking for a basic system this will work for you. FYI the networking instructions are horrible!!!! You better be somewhat IT savy!

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New-Sony radio walkman - SRF-59SILVER

This is the 2nd one i have had and works great when i take my morning walk.Just don't drop it. Dropped last one and it met its maker.

This VERY fine little portable radio comes with a BIG clip on it's backside . I fasten it to the outside of my cargo or short pants when walking . I walk eighty minutes , four days a week . The radio has a little switch for sensitivity that lets you choose local or dx ? I don't know what dx is , but i get a good boost from it . I've used my unit since early Febuary . I live in a little town north of Orlando , Florida . The other day , i was about a third of the way into my walk when HEAVY , HEAVY rain started hitting me and my little Sony buddy . I put the radio in my cargo pants pocket , turned it off and put the earphones around my neck . It rained SUPER hard for , like , twenty minutes . When the rain stopped , i was totally soaked . I took off and rung out my tee shirt . Just then , the radio flew out and struck the concrete . The radio was soaked already . To my utter surprise , the radio was in perfect condition . Several minutes later , i slipped on the headset and turned on the radio . It played flawlessly . I got home and removed the battery and set all the gear in front of a fan . Today , in bright , sunny skies , the radio continued to play like a true champion . You gotta hand it to the Japanese . You also gotta hand it to any retailer who will sell you this little jewel , if you're looking . UPDATE (Thursday 9-13-12) 6:21 p.m. Emerging from the Summer rains (got rained on a couple more times HARD) . Still in GREAT working order . Rinse , Repeat!!!!

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It does not bring in the station good. MY husband wants to know why I bought it for him .he llikes to listen to certain stations when he walks and he can't.

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Like the radio. Good hearing quality. Use this radio when riding my bike and working out on the treadmill machine.

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Within 6 months, two of them broke so not very good product. Sound on it good but product has to last longer than a few months.

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Archos AV500 30 GB Multimedia Player and DVR

• Record television programs, movies and home videos and watch them on 4-inch LCD whenever, wherever
• Plays and stores up to 400 hours of video, 250 movies, 55,000 songs or 1,000,000 photos
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, WAV, protected WMA, MPEG-4, WMV and protected Windows Media Video
• Supports the Mophun mobile gaming platform; USB 2.0 port for fast file transfers
• Up to 15 hours of battery life for music and up to 4.5 hours for video playback on the built-in LCD

As many of you have probably done, I have researched and read the few limited reviews I could find on this item, but finally i purchased it yesterday from the Sharper Image. So far its amazing, I did have the Archos AV420 but returned it because the battery failed on me. The AV500 is truly an amazing machine. The screen is so much sharper than the AV400 that it is indescribable. You can record directly from your DVD player, VCR, Satellite or Cable Box, which I am doing as I type this. I already put about five different cd's on the AV500 from my collection from Windows Media Player, and that took a mere twenty seconds for each cd. Also, the AV500 displays the album cover for each cd. The AV400 did not recognize many of the album covers that the AV500 does. The "TV Pod" is much easier to hook up on your tv than that of the AV400, and it seems that there are many less wires coming out from the pod. The built in speaker is good if your sharing with someone else, but the included earbuds have very good audio quality. In the case comes a user guide, 2 sets of audio and video cables, a USB 2.0 cable and USB host adapter, AC adapter and charger, Stero headphones, the TV cradle and IR emitter cable, Remote control with batteries, and the Protective Case. All in all the AV500 is a must buy for anyone who likes music, photos, and videos. I am in luck too because I am going to Washington in a few days which is an eight hour drive. On average the AV500 probably will have about 4 hours of playback on the battery while on video, and 10 hours of playback for music, but I have yet to test that. I am very happy i purchased the AV500 from The Sharper Image.

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I read a review on CNET stating that the Archos AV500 didn't have as good a screen as the Creative Zen Vision 30Gb player. Closer scrutiny shows that there is much more to the story, however. For those of you choosing between these two major competitors in the personal multimedia player category, I'll summarize what I've learned in my research (leading me to buy the Archos AV500).

1. Archos AV500 has higher screen resolution than almost all current laptop computers. The AV500 has a 138 DPI (dots per inch) screen. The current Apple MacBook has a 110 DPI screen (looks gorgeous playing videos). Sony VAIOs tend to have 128 DPI screens, identical to the Sony PSP. If you like video on your PSP, MacBook, or VAIO then you'll definitely like video on the Archos. The Creative Zen Vision has a 216 DPI screen, but see additional points below.

2. The Archos AV500 has a 16:9 screen: perfect for widescreen movies. The Creative Zen Vision has 4:3 screen, so your nice widescreen movies will be little letterbox movies on the Creative. The Creative is best suited for TV shows, but these will display at almost exactly the same size on the Archos (with black on the left and right, as they would display on a widescreen TV). The Archose definitely makes the most of your video files since it displays TV shows at about the same size as the Creative, and does a much better job with movies.

3. The Creative has serious problems with limited viewing angle. You have to hold it just right to get a good picture, and even then many people report that the angle is so narrow that one eye can have a good view and another can see a slightly "silvered" view. The Archos is much more forgiving here, making it a lot easier to enjoy on a long plane flight and a lot easier to watch with a friend.

4. The Creative can't record. The Archos can; it can even record DVDs legally, working with the MacroVision copy protection on the discs you own. I was able to save about $130 on a device to record from my DVD player or DVR. I count that as a $130 discount on the price of the Archos.

5. The Archos is Mac and Linux compatible. The Creative is locked into one operating system (Windows XP) and won't even allow music and video files to be transferred when it's connected as a USB drive. This means that you have to use a bunch of proprietary software and drivers to get the thing to work: not a lot of fun if you want to use it with a friend's computer or if you're having problems with getting the software to install correctly on your system. The Archos can connect as a standard USB drive: universal access and no reliance on a bunch of proprietary software.

6. The incidence of the Creative freezing and requiring lengthy recovery procedures is fairly thoroughly documented in the Amazon reviews. The Archos appears to have a much lower incidence of problems.

So, if you're looking for a portable video player you may want to consider the above in making the choice. Obviously these points led me to the Archos. Your mileage may vary.

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Throughout all of my experiences of shopping for a perfect portable media player I have decided that no such device exists. The Archos Av 500 is one of the closest to that high standard.

The AV500 has all of the requirements for a great pmp and then some. However, it also has it's flaws. It boosts a monsterous 4 inch LCD which is one of the biggest save for the Archos AV700 (that supports a lousy resolution).

I purchased the 30GB model and I was impressed right off the bat with the power of the videocorder function but was unimpressed with the fact that there is no middle ground between the 30GB model and the 100GB model memory wise. I really wanted a 60GB version that cost somewhere in between the two.

The movies look spectacular when you connect a dvd/vhs/tv input and record at the right settings, I didn't even try to go the computer route because the AV500 has such a simple recording interface that there is no desire to use the computer as a middle man between the dvd and the Archos. Several dozen recordings later, I thought about attempting to go the computer way and I found a very interesting peice of info that I would like to pass on to you. The resolution recording settings on the archos are VGA (640x480) and a lower version of 512x(something I forgot). However, the screen resolution is 480X272. When the archos has to shrink the picture, it causes some distortion in the picture quality. This happens because there aren't enough pixels for the video resolution. The archos then decides whether or not to show some of the pixels and when the camera is moving or there is a particuarly large amout of detail on the screen then the garbage quality is shown on the screen. If you can find a good dvd to avi converter program (I used the "dvd to pocket pc" program from www.pqdvd.com) then I recomend that you set the settings to have the output resolution to be exactally 480x272. I did this and I recieved a picture resolution that I thought was literally DVD quality. It blew me away! Note: If you go this route then you cannot use the cropping feature.

If you dont want to go that way, then use the onboard recording feature. Be warned that it is very possible to make the recording look like crap so pay close attention.

The way to avoid this is to set the resolution at VGA and keep the KBS at 1500 (the files become a size that about 16-18 movies can be stored on the AV500). This sweet spot is my key to making the movies that I record look on par with DVDs on my AV500's screen (not a tv output). I encountered some glitches (the AV500 randomly froze during a recording process)that caused me to worry at first but several recordings later and I forgot all about them.

One secret hidden feature that I had no idea about was the editing feature of video files. Due to the fact that I wanted as many movies on my Archos as possible and that I typically only watch the action sequences, I was able to cut out all of the scenes of Anakin Skywalker and Padme in Star Wars Episode III to make a 45 minute movie that jumped from one action sequence to another. I am now able to get all of the aciton from any movie into one file roughly 300-700MBs which allows me to fit 50-60 movies on my Archos.

The photo feature is OK. I say "ok" as a way of being nice. The photo feature is there so i can't really complain. However, it sucks. The photo feature has very limited zoom function that becomes quite annoying. The load times are delayed just slightly which made the device seem a bit slow compared to the fact that it can record a tv signal at VGA resolution with 2500 kbs and sound at 48khz.

The device went above and beyond on the music standards. The AV500 automatically sorted all of my music files into categories such as Artist, Genre, Album, ect. The music from the headphones sounds nice but the built in speaker comes up just a little bit short, a very little bit. The control of a built in equalizer was also a very nice touch.

One of the flaws that I came across was the USB host and what it could connect to. My deepest desire was to connect the AV500 to a portable USB hard drive and cut a corner to save me money from spending 700 dollars on the 100GB version but that plan failed. The AV500 flat out didn't recognize the hard drive. The Archos will however connect to a digital camera and a desktop hardrive but no portable ones.

The feel of the Archos (which I should have probably talked about at the beginning of this review) is that of a peice of solid metal except for those lousy buttons! The face buttons of the AV500 are the worst part of the whole device. I can't stop giggling them while I am watching my non-stop action movies.

All in all, the AV500 is the best gadget for your buck. It has it's minor flaws but the tought of overlooking them isn't really that bad. The AV500 out performed every single other pmp that I have tried and belive you me, my quest for the perfect pmp has driven me to nearly try every single one.

(...)

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Ok, so I spent A LOT of time researching different PVPs online and the Archos AV500 came up as top in its class. Still, after all of my research, I was a bit skeptical in purchasing this device, as there were some obvious cons. I took a deep breath and shelled out the $500 at a local retail outlet and have never been happier with a gadget as I am now. This little device is tops. A solid (i.e. metal) casing houses this PVP which is capable of not only audio and video playback, but recording of both as well. The first thing I tested was the mp3 player portion of this toy. Once plugged in via a USB 2.0 port, my computer recognized the device right away and it was as easy as dragging and dropping the audio files into the Music folder on the AV500. In mere seconds I have loaded the AV500 with about 10 full CDs worth of music. Unlike some mp3 players, the AV500 quickly (seconds) sorts through its new files after being unplugged from the PC. My wife has RAVE mp3 player and it can take up to 5 minutes to sort through new files after you toss them in there. The AV500 was waaaaaay faster. Playback on audio files is a breeze with the easy to use nav buttons on the face of the AV500. You can search by file name, artists name, song name, and even music genre. If you're as anal about your mp3 files as I am, you've probably associated images of the albums to them. Well, the AV500 will pop those graphics up on its 4 inch screen while playing the tune. Playback features include random and repeat. There is a built in, mini EQ, but I didn't mess too much with that. I did notice that while playing back thru an outside audio source, such as through a car or home receiver, it is best to turn down the volume on the AV500 to about 75% in order to get the best playback. I've read some reviewers who noticed some noise in the background during playback, but this seems to be avoided if you reduce the volume on the unit itself. (It also helps if you properly encode your mp3s for optimum playback...don't whine and complain about hissing and background noise if you encode anything under 128.)

Now onto the video....Amazing. The 4 inch (wide)screen does make this device larger than an IPod, but at the same time, this is not to be confused with a simple mp3 player. This is a portable DVD player. It took all of 2 minutes to hook up the AV500 to my DVR and start the recording process. The TV docking pod acts as a gateway between your DVR (or DVD, VCR, cable box, etc.) and tv, allowing you set it up and forget about it. Recording is as easy as plugging your AV500 into the docking pod and pressing one button. I have yet to fool around with the timer options, as I have a home DVR for that purpose, but if I am watching something on my DVR and decide that it's a keeper, I can easily record it into my AV500 and watch it on the go, or even transfer it into my PC and burn it to a DVD. One downside that I discovered too late was that the AV500 will not playback ITunes video files. I realized this a tad too late, as I had already purchased and downloaded about 6 episodes of The Office. Oh well.

The AV500 is 100% compatible with Microsoft's PlayForSure music sites, but the video offering on these sites is limited.

I also sprung for a car mount for the AV500. $22 w/ s & h off of EBay...not a bad deal.

Other options that I have yet to play with include:

TV playback watch files from your AV500 on your television

Remote control

Picture viewing

Video editing tools

Playlist creation

The only cons I can think of are minor

1) It would be nice if the buttons on the face were backlit. Very tricky to maneuver in the dark.

2) The inability to browse the AV500 files while listening to music. The minute you try to do so, the music stops, but with the built in resume feature it quickly picks back up right were it left off.

3) The inability to play ITunes videos. Maybe one day in a firmware update they will address this issue.

All in all, this is a fantastic little gizmo that does a lot. I know that PVPs are fairly new to the marketplace and with time they can only get better, but for a first generation device, this one does fantastic.

First off, I would like to say that when the AV500 is in working order, it is amazing. I encoded all my video with XviD (after turning off stuff the player doesn't like, such as GMC and Qpels) using Gordian Knot and it plays back amazing. The screen can get a little motion blur, but it is hardly ever noticeable. For a device of its size, the picture is very sharp and clear.

Music playback is very nice with my Sennheiser headphones (encoded using VBR mp3). I will say that the ear bud phones that come with the system sound fairly poor. I don't like buds in general. But, even compared to the ones that come with the iPod, they are sorely lacking.

So why give the AV500 three stars, you might ask? Well, the first one I got was great. That is until I noticed that after about 5-10 minutes of use, a bright horizontal, flickering band would appear on the screen every few seconds. They told me it was a faulty screen and I got it replaced. The new one was awesome for about 3 weeks. Then, all of the sudden, the right arrow on my 4 way directional button stopped working. I can now only navigate in the OS up, down, and left. This is a problem, because it renders my Archos into a 450$ paperweight. So now I suppose I will have to send this one back as well. You can imagine the frustration.

Overall, the device performs well... when it works. I think, however, Archos may have a serious quailty control problem. People may want to be careful of this product.

Panasonic PV-GS35 MiniDV Camcorder w/30x Optical Zoom

I just got back from my local electronics store which, to my surprise, had the GS35 in stock and on sale. I was very pleased with the ease of use and accuracy of the thumbstick control. Though, the menu button was a bit out of reach for my thumb thus requiring me to use my other hand to push it. The built-in LED lights help shed some light on dark situations, but I noticed an even greater benefit from the increase in gain when the light was switched on. The lens used on this camera is out-of-sight! Not only does it offer high telephoto optical zoom, it offers what few other camcorders out there have: built-in wideangle. The lens is 1.9-57mm which equates roughly to a 35mm equivalent of 35-1040mm. So, go ahead, shoot video indoors and get the whole group in the shot at once!

I was a little worried about purchasing this camera, the reviews on all the sites i checked were all 5 stars (nothing below that) but i'd never used anything other than cannon and minolta. I wont say I know everything about camcorders/cameras but I know enough to know a good one compared to a bad one, and this is a GREAT camcorder/camera. I have only had it about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks, but I've so much videos that turned out crisp and clear, with great sound. I love the light for low light shots, although I dont take many in the dark, it's still a nice feature. I love that you can take video as well as use a memory card to take photos, thats a great option. I Highly recommend this camcorder/camera to anyone who wants a great zoom, with great features....you'll love this camera, I know I do!!!

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I recently purchased this camera due to my husband being deployed, I wanted something inexpensive that I could use as a camera to take still pictures and for a web cam to talk to my husband over seas. This camera can do all that and then some. The LCD is great for taking self portraits and has a bright enough screen that even in the sun light you can still see the picture. Plus it is small enough that I can take it with me were ever I go. This shipping through amazon is great, I live in Alaska and it only took about a week to get it up here. I would give Panasonic and Amazon 10 stars if I could. I would definetly recommend this to anyone looking for a great camera at a low cost.

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Just bought this camcorder a few days ago and so far, I've been very impressed. The low-light capabilities appear very adequate. The ease of transfer to the PC via the DV-Firewire link is excellent. Haven't had a chance to check out many features yet, but easy of use for picking up the camera and shooting a video is great. So far, I think I've made a good choice.

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There have been several reviews on this model camcorder reporting poor quality video, particularly indoors. I have ben using the GS35 for about 3 months and have not found that to be the case. I have taped family events swuch as birthday parties, Christmas, the kids playing, indoors and outside, and some school plays. This camera has proven to be easy to operate, with an exceptional optical zoom, and very good picture quality.

I copy my digital tapes to DVD. I perform this task on a PC sometimes but have found that this devices transfers very nicely onto a component DVD recorder as well. If you use one of these devices, I suggest using an S-Video or Component cable if your unit handles it, as this does a very good job using the supplied RCA cables, but the S-Video will be superior.

This device also has great battery life.

My only complaintthe controls. I realize that to make something this small with so many features, some concessions are necessary, but a few of the features are cumbersome to get to requiring a few steps to enable.

JVC Everio GZMG37 30GB HDD Digital Media Camcorder with 32x Optical Zoom

At $700 this camera was not a good buy for $500-$550, not too bad.

The biggest complaint people seem to have is with the video quality and while I agree it's not as good as a top quality miniDV or some of the more expensive HD models JVC also produce, it's not nearly as bad as they're making out (or they've somehow managed to buy a whole bunch of bad cameras).

I've recorded movies both indoors and out neither have been particularly poor, and I would place it's top quality setting somewhere around that of a VHS tape. I got none of the artifacts or corruption people have complained about, the quality is a bit fuzzy, but on the whole perfectly acceptable for creating family movies or sending scaled down mpgs via email.

The format it records in is NOT proprietory as some people claim. It records in mpeg 2 format, but unfortunately due to the proprietory software that comes with the camera all the clips have a .mod instead of a .mpg file extension.

No drivers or software are needed just attach to your PC, then access the HD as if it were a USB thumbdrive. After you've copied the data, you can rename the files to .mpg if you wish, this will make them instantly available to any movie playback program, including Media Player.

Editing in Windows Movie Maker however is not possible, as this softare isn't able to handle mpgs it doesn't create with it's own proprietory codec but all versions of Premier or other decent video editing programs work fine.

If you want top quality, don't buy an HD video camera stick with miniDV or spend big bucks on High Definition. If you don't mind a little bit of fuzziness around the edges, then any of these cheaper HD cameras work great.

I've head that the more expensive versions of this camera have higher resolution recording as well as better handling of colour/light/etc. If this is true then you might want to ask a sales rep to do a recording and transfer it to a large screen PC to see if that works better for you. Any salesman worth his salt will do this test for you, after all $500+ is a lot of money, and if they truly want the sale they'll show you how good or bad the camera really is.

This videocam turned out to be a great and expensive disappointment. I spent some time searching through the menus for the right settings--surely something wasn't set properly. I studied the manual until it dawned on me that the settings were not actually misconfigured -that the image quality truly is horrendous.

Even at the highest resolution, there are more compression artifacts than picture. This is especially visible in freeze-frame mode. The contrast is very poor, and the colors look hideous. In Ultra-fine mode (the best mode) the images look like a cheap CMOS webcam. Don't believe the hype that claims "DVD-quality movies". For such an expensive camera I was expecting something much better than this. I'm returning it. This product is not ready for prime-time. I've got an ancient mini-DV Sony DCR-PC100 that has much better picture quality. Also, the battery life on the GZMG37 is very short.

On the positive side, it is quite light-weight and there is no videotape to mess around with. If only one did not have to sacrifice image quality completely for that convenience. Overall, this unit does not live up to its promise.

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The only advantage this camcorder has it size/media. That is it.

While it has a 30gb HDD, which is certainly very convienent, the highest quality setting uses half of the bitrate of what a minidv would use. In addition, the artifacting is multiplied in lowlight conditions.

You can use a USB cable to transfer the videos to your computer, to edit them.. but you have to use their software, or you will lose the audio. (What is wrong with just using MPG files?)

Bottom line is:

It's quite obvious that a HDD in a Camcorder is the way to go. But not until the video quality is comparable to what is out there now.

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I was waiting for the second generation to come out, hoping there would of been some improvments from the first generation hard disk camcorders.

The good: looks and feels reel good. Easy to use, LOTS of room with the 30 gig drive. 32x zoom.

The Bad: LOUSY low light! Maybe I'm spoiled. My first mini-dv camcorder was a JVC-GR-DVM70 that is now 7 years old. Compared to that camera, the GZMG37 is bad in low light. The other thing I was disapointed in is that the movie is NOT recored as MPEG2, but a .MOD file extention. SHAME ON YOU JVC for creating your own file extention and not using a standard MPEG file. If you search you'll find programs that will convert it to the standard mpeg.

Bottom line...This camcorder is great except for low light recording. After looking at several other camcorder reviews that seems to be the biggest issue out there.

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I returned this camera to Best Buy and gladly paid the %15 restocking fee. This is the biggest waste of money I can imagine. There is no documentation on how to convert to PC for editing and the video quality is terrible. Don't waste your money. I can't believe they charge $700+ for this thing!

Zenith DVD2381 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

• Single-disc DVD player
• Supports DVD, CD, CD-R/RW, and MP3 formats
• Parental controls
• Progressive scan, shuttle control
• Digital TV required for progressive scan feature; remote included

We were given an Apex 1500 as a gift,which died after one week of use. When we went shopping for a replacement we were loking for a unit with more than basic features. Image and sound quality were very important but reliability was paramount. CIrcuit City had quite a wide selection with very little price difference from one unit to another. We selected the Zenith DVD 2381. WOW what a great machine at a reasonable price! The unit has every bell and whistle you can imagine. First it is very attractive. Handsome understated face plate that stands apart from the endless look alike black boxes. But look...what is that button on the right?? It is a jog wheel similar to the controls on the back of a Digital camera. It allows you to control the unit from the machine and not require a remote for basic functions! HALELLUAH! We once had a vcr that had only mininal controls on the machine and demanded the remote to function, If you have ever lost, broken, or had the dog eat a remote you can guess what happened there, and we were stuck. This unit aleviates that possibility and I feft, that the designers are really looking out for the customers needs here. When we set the unit up at home we were not disappointed by the electronics either. Picture is razor sharp, sound is excellent also. The unit has a host of otputs for all the latest formats including progressive scan. The remote functions for your TV also and the button glows in the dark. Thejog forward and advance control is fun. The box says that the unit is software upgradable for future developements, but there is no mention of this in the manual or on Zenith's web site. We are very happy with the unit and would recommend it in a heartbeat!

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Especially for the price, this is a fine product. I have not had any mechanical problems with it, and the features are more than enough to keep me satisfied. I especially enjoy the zoom function and the ability to go forward or back frame by frame.

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Lesson learned. I purchased this player without having a DVD disc with me to test it. The main reason that I purchased it was the pirce and the progressive scan feature. I setup this player in no time and played a new movie The One and noticed that the image would pause for about five seconds. I own a Toshiba and it never did this, os I tested the player using The Martix and the player would skip over scenes or skip ahead five seconds in a scene. Someone would be talking and then it would skip to another scend five seconds ahead. I also could not get this player to play a mp3 file and I tried more than one type of disc and different formats and it would not play. I also ran a dirty disc test, by touching my nose and placing my oily finger prints over the disc and inserted in to the player and the player froze and would not open the tray or turn off. I had to disconect the power a few times and pressing the open button it finally open, a good player should play a disc with finger prints on it with no problems. I do like the features on this player, but what good are they if you can't watch a move wihtout it skipping or jumping ahead in scenes or pausing during playback. Zenith states that the player is software upgradeabel, but a visit to the website didn't list any info on this at all and the website didn't list a tech support number to help with this problem. I will return this player and try another.

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We purchased this DVD player last year from Circuit City. It freezes consistently about 10-15 times per movie on all but the newest DVD movie. Rental DVD viewing is so awful, that we can't even invite friends over to watch on our large screen tv due to the embarassment of this. We tried to return it but CC insisted on sending it out to have it repaired vs. giving our money back. The repair attempts were unsuccessful x2, with the technician finding no problems. We are now back to the drawing board and will have to purchase another player. It definitely won't be a Zenith!

My friend recommended this unit and so far it has been excellent. They also have it at Circuit City. I like the little color CD that spins around on the display.

Sony DVP-NC85H/B HDMI/CD Progressive Scan 5-Disc DVD Changer, Black

• 720p/1080i Upscaling Video Output through HDMI Input
• 5 Disc DVD/CD Changer
• Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Channel Output
• Multi-Disc Resume, 6 discs

I consider myself something of a video snob. I've got a $4500 tv for goodness sakes. I've got to say that I love this CD/DVD changer, primarily because the image / progressive scanning quality is excellent. I previously had a $400 Denon DVD changer with the Farjouda processor, which is what the high end DVD players use. The image was great, but the changer kept not loading DVDs correctly. I even sent it back in to the factory, etc ... they never could remedy the problem. But this isn't a Denon review ... I'm just trying to establish that I AM picky, and for me to give the Sony 5 stars is a big deal. I tested a number of scenes on the Sony and it looks beautiful. Sharp image, lots of adjustability (including black level adjustment which really helps if you have an LCD / DLP television) ... Sony has created a nice product.

I also love the feature where the player remembers where you stop a disc, even if you completely remove it from the player and stick it back in later! Great feature for DVD watching.

In summary, if you are looking for a good DVD / CD changer that will look awesome on your high-def tv (and at a great price point), look no further!

Buy Sony DVP-NC85H/B HDMI/CD Progressive Scan 5-Disc DVD Changer, Black Now

The test for me was Star Wars Episode III. It looked terrible on 2 other DVD players I tried, but it looked fantastic on this one. Out of box, the picture was a little dark because it was set to Standard. I turned the black level on component and set the picture to Cinema 1, then it was outstanding on my Sony 46" Bravia. I also appreciate some the sound controls to control dynamic range. Used in combination with my receiver, I was able to hear dialog perfectly at a low level. I played several CDs and thought they sounded great. You may need to adjust the volume some, higher for DVD and lower for CD, but I think that is due to the audio recordings from the source. The only thing it seems to be missing is SACD, but I don't own any of those anyway.

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BACKGROUND: I have a fairly high-end home theater (rich people might pooh-pooh this assessment, but I'm a value-oriented consumer), containing a Hitachi 42" plasma monitor (1080i), a Denon AV receiver, and an iPod dock. For changeable media, I wanted two DVD players, one a changer, and one a single disk unit. I get my high-definition signals off my local cable. All of these play out through a 5.1 array of Jamo speakers, five of which are identical and mounted in the walls. The chunky subwoofer pumps away in a corner. It's all controlled by a Universal Remote MX-850 which I've learned to program. Also, when I was buying the home theater rig, I insisted that all components have and accept the High Definition Multimedia Interface socket(s), which replace as many as six cables per device with one.

After a full year of operation, I am continually impressed with the quality of the picture and sound delivered by this installation. So when it came time to upgrade my old DVD media player(s), I wanted something good, affordable, and capable of tiding me over until the high-definition DVD players becaame affordable (given that we consumers are faced with the stupidity of two competing standards, each with their own salient features, this decision could be delayed years until a clear winner emerges. My guess -there will be a VHS/winner and a Betamax/loser after this is over, but we'll have to be patient unitl this is clear. Forgive the aside.).

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT: (1) It's Sony, which is no longer a lock guarantee of highest quality, but still a fine marque. They seem to understand the design and building of video-based comsumer electronics as well as or better than the rest. (2) Everything worked right out of the box. Since I bought it at the same time as another Sony single-disk DVD player, I was interested in having a minimum of zaniness in the installation. Plug in the HDMI cable, hit "power" and go. A-OK on this one. (3) The HDMI output is the answer to a dream. When the interface fully catches on, it will become sooooo much easier for the unskilled to buy and set up their home electronics gear. Introduction of the standard will proceed faster when consumers realize that they can buy high quality calbes much less expensively from specialty electronics suppliers. But that's another issue. (4) The upconverted signal really works as well as you can reasonably expect. Although nothing photographed in less-than-HD can look as good as HD, there is some amazing movie and TV photography out there that, when provided a clean electronic path, looks GREAT on an HD set. The upconvert feature available on this unit is worth the money if you can't bring yourself to splurge on Blu-Ray or HD DVD while the aforementioned standards battle rages, or if you already have a sizable investment in non-HD DVDs. (5) The unit remembers the viewing status/position of a slew of titles, so that you can switch around between the titles in the player (and maybe some more that have been removed from the player prior to completion of play), and the clever little device takes you right back to where you were. Hitting "stop" twice lets you go anywhere you want on this disk, as do the navigation tools built into the disk. (6) The remote is simple and functional (and identical to the one I got with my other new DVD player -this is a small bonus and essentially irrelevant given my use of a universal remote, but some will find it refreshing to only learn one new remote if you like to have two DVD players at the ready to switch back and forth between movies and CDs with impunity. We media junkies have our quirks, and this is one way to accommodate those quirks with no muss and fuss and little expense. (7) The profile of the unit is slim enough to install in virtually any available slot. Remember to give it airspace for ventilation of heat and you'll be fine. (8) Here's a big one -it plays virtually every kind of disk format you can throw at it. It played some homemade movies of mine that I couldn't get to play on any previous player. Awriiight!

WHAT I DON"T LIKE ABOUT IT: Not that much, actually. (1) You can't rotate the carousel while a disk is playing. Opening the drawer ends play on the disk that's in play. No biggie. (2) The blue LED that indicates operation of the HDMI circuitry is very, very bright. I have all my gear in a closet right outside my theater room, so this is not a factor for me. But I can imagine that this illumination in the same room with the viewing screen could be distracting or maybe even problematic to some users. Tone it down, Sony. Does it really matter to the viewer that upconverting is going on? Shouldn't you figure that out simply by marveling at the picture quality? (3) In the world of the truly picky, here's one. The back panel output for optical audio emits a red glow that could have the same effects as described in (2), above. Sony, why not simply provide a little plastic plug for this socket?

There, I've said it all and more. Now go buy one. They're less than 150 bucks.

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The upscaling of the unit is very nice. DVD's look a bit cleaner than they do from a regular DVD player. I have an older 5 disc player from Sony that I really like, but found a few thing frustrating with this unit.

1) The tray covers that display when it comes out. Fine if the unit is above your head, terrible if its below.

2) The unit start up is surprisingly slow.

3) Sony moved the IR sensor from the middle of the old unit to the far right side on this unit. Horrible for the unit in an entertainment cabnet, if you put the equipment on the left side of the TV. Argh, the remote won't work less you are straight on or to the left of the unit.

This is the ultimate in planned obsolescence. These are SLOW and eventually will fail to load even a new DVD. The unit will display "Loading" ad infinitum. (Yes, I've cleaned the lens)

Used to be that you bought a piece of electronic gear and it would last for three years or more. I have a Pioneer 60" Projection TV that is running fine after 10 years. On the other hand, I've been through three of these players. At the price, DVD players are just about disposable and that is what I'd call this unit.

Two units I purchased lasted only 3 months and the third one about six. Covered by warranty you say? Well, who wants to wait weeks to have the unit repaired or replaced? SONY is not the company they used to be. Never another.

iriver IFP-790T 256 MB Portable MP3 Player

• Plays MP3, WMA & OGG music files
• Plays up to 8 hours of music
• Transfers music up to 3X faster
• Record music from any audio source (no PC required)
• Up to 40 hours of battery life

I've owned this player for about three weeks now and am very happy with it. Very nice sound quality and fairly easy to use. There are a few things that put it over other 256MB players in my opinion...

1. UMS FIRMWARE UPGRADE. This is probably the most important thing I'll list. I did this as soon as I got the player and it made it that much better. Contrary to what some other reviewers may say here, you CAN make this device (as well as ANY products in the IFP-700 or 800 series) function as a regular flash drive, and not have to use the included IRiver software to transfer songs. Just go to the IRiver site and/or Google search for the UMS firmware update for this device (currently it is at version 1.28). Once you upgrade the firmware (the instructions are easy to follow on the site) it will operate not only as an MP3 player, but as a portable storage device for ANY type of file you need to transfer. This also makes it MUCH easier to transfer/arrange/rename/delete your files around on the player, as you can do it in Windows Explorer instead of doing it through the onboard player menus.

2. OGG FILE SUPPORT ALLOWS YOU MORE SPACE FOR SONGS WHILE STILL RETAINING HIGH QUALITY SOUND. For those not aware, OGG is a file type similar to MP3, but with better quality and smaller file size IE, a 128kbps OGG file will sound better than an 128kbps MP3 file. Although it's unfortunate that it won't support any bitrate of OGG, it's a very minor issue. The lowest it will accept is 112kbps, but considering that's practically on par with a 160 kbps MP3, you can fit a lot more songs on here than you could with MP3s of an equivalent quality. I've encoded all my songs at 112kbps in OGG format and it's less than half-full with 32 songs on it and they all sound very good. Should be able to fit about 70 songs on here no problem, which is more than enough for me since I mainly use this as a workout music player. If you're unfamiliar with OGG files just go to vorbis.com and check out the oggdrop program. Very simple to use, set the bitrate and then just drag and drop wavs to encode them.

3. QUALITY HEADPHONES. While they certainly aren't the best money can buy, they certainly ARE better than most pack-in headphones you get with CD or MP3 players. I see no reason to buy seperate ones. (note the ones included with this model are the ear-bud type, I'd recommend putting the included foam-ish covers over them to avoid them becoming uncomfortable)

4. BATTERY LIFE. The fact that it uses a AA battery instead of a AAA battery makes it last longer than many other MP3 players. It won't quite reach the 40 hours advertised, but it's certainly well upwards of 30.

5. EXTRAS. Although the included arm-band won't win any awards, and the only bicep I could see it fitting around would be...oh, maybe Rick Moranis', it fits fine around just about anyone's forearm and the headphones are long enough to accomodate just about anyone...I'm 6'6 and it was plenty long enough for me while running. There is also a neck band included if you want to wear it around your neck instead. The documentation with the product is fairly well written, although there are so many menus and little features that some people may feel a bit overwhelmed at first. It also comes with a protective plastic-ish cover which slips over it and attaches to the armband. I just leave the cover on most of the time so the screen doesn't get scratched. Also includes an FM radio and voice recorder which I don't have much use for but will definitely appeal to most people. Finally, it also has a connector cord included if you need to do any direct line-in recording which is another nice feature, but something I don't think I'll ever use.

MY MAIN PROBLEM with this product is the joystick control. The little joystick is...LITTLE. I often find myself hitting up when I want to hit right, or hitting right when I want to push the stick in. Occasionally I'll be trying to turn the volume up and end up skipping to the next track instead. You'll probably want to be sitting still when you are using it, otherwise it may become a baffling ordeal for even the most brilliant among us.

I'd definitely recommend this if 256MB of space is large enough for you. If you encode your files properly like I talked about above you can fit quite a few songs on this. This is mainly used by me as a music player during workouts and so far it has worked great. I may upgrade to the 512MB version someday, but for now this serves me fine. If it weren't for the annoying controls/interface, this would be 5 stars easily.

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I recently purchased this mp3 player, and I am definitely satisfied with my choice. I used to have a 15 gb dell dj, which is the equivalent to an ipod. I didn't need all that storage space, so I sold it. I bought this so that I would have an mp3 player with just enough storage to put some of my favorite songs at the moment on, and carry it around with me so that I did not need to carry a cd player and cds all the time. I have 25 songs on it at the moment, and it still has plenty of space left. It can probably hold over 60. The reason i picked this over the others was because of the fact that it has a 40 hour battery life. Most have only 20! This is because it uses an AA battery, and not an AAA like most mp3 players. I also liked the fact that it had an FM transmitter. Other reviews said it was kind of scratchy, but I think it's pretty good for a little unit like this. I can receive stations better on this than on my stereo! It also is capable of recording FM broadcasts, and has a microphone for voice recording as well, although i don't think i'll use those features much. Everything is easy to figure out, and I didn't even have to consult the manual until i wanted to preset FM stations, but that was easy too, i just didn't know what to hit. The only con is the small control button, but it works just fine. The sound on this unit is excellent as well, and the earbuds that come with it are great too! I usually get tired of them though, and when I plugged in my headphones, it was even better. You can customize the EQ and bass and stuff like that very easily in the menu too. Overall, this is an awesome mp3 player. I haven't had it for long, but I already like it better than my Dell DJ and if you don't need an mp3 player to hold 2,000+ songs and just to hold between 25-60, then this is the one.

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As some previous reviews claimed, the iRiver is great in that it:

(a) is small and lightweight, with a very convenient arm band for when I do my 5-mile runs.

(b) lasts a long, long time on a regular battery.

(c) is fairly easy to use for downloading, as long as you stick to the WMA format and use the CD software that comes with it.

(d) holds a decent number of songs, although I find that I have to switch my playlists at least once a month.

(e) doesn't skip.

However, figuring out the bells and whistles is surprisingly complicated (even for someone like me who tends to intuit gadgets fairly well). If you download *folders* of music and play straight from those, it's easy enough to figure out how to shuffle tracks and switch between folders, but I've given up on trying to actually program any *playlists*.

Other small nuisances include:

(a) the player occasionally switches songs when I try to adjust the volume while running, because the same small joystick controls both functions.

(b) the included ear buds are no good for running, because they'll fall out.

(c) the radio feature is nice, but I don't get nearly as good or reliable reception as I do with my car stereo.

(d) **** this one is my worst pet peeve **** the "random shuffle" mode doesn't randomly shuffle through all the songs in a folder in any true *random* fashion. Unless I keep my folders small, I find that some of the same tracks come up in the same order every time I run, and what's worse, some songs never get played at all, even if I try to skip ahead to all of them--instead, the player goes back to the beginning of the "random" list and plays the same songs in the same order again. (For those out there who know that random doesn't always *appear* to be random, trust me--this feature doesn't work correctly with more than a couple of dozen tracks.)

Nuisances aside, I am pretty happy with the purchase.

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I bought this unit to replace my Rio, which failed me after three years of faithful service. I am very impressed with the features, the size, and the sound quality of the iRiver.

The navigation leaves a bit to be desired, however. iRiver has done a remarkable job in providing access to lots of features with only a few buttons, but the little joystick is prone to jumping to the wrong thing. With so many functions on such a small device, I suppose it is a necessary evil, but it can be frustrating when you try to push the stick one way and the unit recognizes it differently.

My only other complaints are minor. You have to use the iRiver software (which is actually pretty darn good) or Windows Media Player to move files to the unit. I would prefer to see the unit as a removable drive, like many flash mp3 players. The earbuds sound great, but they hurt my ears after about 30 minutes. I typically don't like in-the-ear earbuds, so your experience may be different. The arm strap that came with the unit is useless; as it is too small, too bulky and ugly as the day is long. There is no belt clip included. I will probably buy the sport arm strap/belt clip to go with it, but I wish they had included that with the unit.

I have had a fair amount of experience with mp3 players, and I think this one rates near the top of the heap. It's a nice little unit with an amazing number of features and only a few small complaints.

I got this MP3 player for christmas. It was not long before I had the Iriver hooked up to my PC via the USB 2.0 link cable. I quickly installed the file managment software included with the MP3 player and moved a song to the Iriver. Let me stop here and tell you how easy this was. I didn't have to do anything with the Iriver itself but turn it on. The managment software was incredibly easy to use. You simply open the folder containing the subfolder or files you want to use and drag them to a screen that represents what is on your Iriver. Once I had the song on, I plugged my Sony studio moniter headphones into the headphone jack and began to jam. (Vertigo rules!!!) Yes, I am a U2 fan. Back to the story. After the novelty of playing Vertigo over and over again wore off, I checked out the FM tuner. It was pretty scratchy on most stations. I don't really listen to FM radio that much so I can't really give an opinion on this feature though. Eventually, I got tired of not having control of what songs I listened too. I decided to turn off the FM and check out the rest of the IFP 790 interface. To access the main menu, I had to hold down the enter button. This took me a little to figure out but never the less, I did not have to disgrace myself by using the manual. You can do several things on the main menu. You can make small sound adjustments, set the clock and alarm, goof around with recording and radio options I did not really understand. I even found a way to get the Iriver to automatically record a radio station at a certain time. Now that I had my Iriver totally figured out, It was time to load er' up and listen to some tunes. The capacity suprised me. I guess I didn't really know how much 256 megabytes could hold. I was expecting to be able to put 2-3 albums on but it can hold much more than that. Right now I have fifty songs on it and I think I have around a quarter of the space left.

All in all I would give this MP3 player a 4.5 out of five.

Pros

Downloading music was quick and exeptionally easy

small size makes it easy to hold in pocket

the fact that it takes AA batteries and still last about 40 hours on one makes it easy to juice up.

Easy interface with several extra features.

Easy recording.

Cons

Battery cover seemed easy to break.

Does not hold a lot of music, but if you want a lot of storage buy a hard drive player, not a flash player.

there wasn't anything to clip it to my belt loops :( At least it can fit in my pocket

Sanyo DRW500 Slim DVD Recorder/Player

This is the worst piece of electronic equipment I have EVER owned. It looks good but it functions poorly with many unwritten, mysterious and unknown attempts at explaning how and why it should work. Initially, there were questions but SANYO came out with a patch to help with the problem of freezing up and having to unplug it to make it work, that should have been a HINT. Then there was the small print stating that you can only use 2x-4x discs and some of those may not work. Now, I have the proper discs but keep getting disc loading, than an eject without any explanation or the ability to record onto them. Their website is usually helpful. But this product functions so poorly that now you cannot even find it on SANYO's website or any other DVD that they produced, imagine that. Information on this piece has been reduced to only a google search with more complaints than positives. SANYO should be embarrassed and should retify this but of course now that it is an OLD product they don't even remember that they sold it to consumers. I will think hundreds of times before purchasing anything from them. Really poorer than poor!

This recorder has been a solid performer for me for the past two years, but now I'm down to my last compatible blank DVD disc. The unit is very picky which discs it will record on. In the instruction manual I found online (the one that came with my recorder was in Spanish) only the following discs are recommended:

DVD+R:

CMC (2.4x/4X)

DAXON (4x)

Mitsubishi (2.4x/4x)

Prodisc (2.4x)

Richo (2.4x/4x)

Taiyo Yuden (4x)

DVD+RW:

CMC (2.4x)

Infodisc (2.4x)

Mitsubishi (2.4x/4x)

Moser Bare India (2.4x)

Optdisc (2.4x)

Philips (2.4x/4x)

Prodisc (2.4x)

Richo (2.4x/4x)

Ritek (2.4x)

Melody (2.4x)

As you can see, those are discs of a bygone era. I know of no software update that would enable the recorder to work with currently available blank 16x DVD+R discs or even many currently available blank 4x DVD+RW discs. As another reviewer mentioned, this unit seems to have been orphaned by its manufacturer so no updates are forthcoming.

As a DVD player, it will not play some DVD+RW discs that were recorded elsewhere that play fine in other players. It has played every commercially recorded DVD-R movie I've given it.

Note that this recorder will NOT record copy protected DVD movies or VHS tapes. As soon as it detects the copy protection feature, it stops recording. A couple of times it mistakenly thought it detected copy protection when there wasn't any and spontaneously stopped recording, thereby ruining a good disc in the process.

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I recently purchased a refurbished Sanyo DRW500 Slim Recorder/Player on Amazon and got a great deal on it! I chose this particular DVD Recorder/Player because it is identical to the one that I purchased new when they first came out around 2001. I have owned many kinds of Sanyo products over the years and loved all of them. Although my old original Sanyo DVD recorder/player was still operable after 10 years of daily use, I loved the idea that I had the opportunity to get a new refurbised one on Amazon, knowing that it too would last at least another 10 years or more. A real benefit of doing this was that it is compatible with my TV connections, so it was very easy and convenient to just unplug the cables on the old one and plug them in to the new Sanyo and it was ready to go. The Sanyo is also very easy to operate and to set up recording on the timer, and I am so grateful that I didn't have to spend time to learn how to operate a new DVD recorder/player which can be challenging at times. Thank you Amazon for providing deals like this!

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When I received my product it was not working but the company stay in close contact with me and we tried to resolve the problem. When they found out the issues could not be fix they refunded my money the very next day. I will buy from this company again and tell my family and friends to consider buying product here. This company was more than fair with me. I give them a five star rating.

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AGPtek® USB Portable Tape to MP3 Converter With Headphones

• Convert your old mix tapes and cassette to MP3 toPlayback on iPod/MP3 player or burn to CD. 3.5mmearphone jack. Plug and play USB device, no drivers required.
• Audio output enables you to listen on your stereo, headphones, or other speaker system. Audio editing software included. Rediscover your old cassette tapes on the go.
• Portable design fits in virtually any bag and enables you to play and transfer anywhere. Flexible battery or USB-powered operation. Comes with tape converter software to guide you through transfer.
• System Requirements: Pentium 4 1.7 GHz CPU or above, 512MB RAM or above, 1GB free HDD space, VGA card with 32MB memory, One available USB 2.0 port, CD-ROM for installation, Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ Win 7.

It is Good for the price that I paid. I had just 1 cassette that I wanted to transfer to an MP3 file. It connects with Audacity to record the Audio file in your computer.

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It is a cheap little thing (you get what you pay for) but it has done what I required it to do. I can see where people would have some problems with the door popping open but it just needs to be handled gently. The only thing I would change is more detailed instructions on the software. I had to re-record about 10 tapes because none of them were saved.. Otherwise it is a useful device.

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I have 12 old tapes that I wanted to copy to my computer and I didn't want to spend a lot to do it. So I took a chance on this little device. It worked just fine. The software that came with it is not so good but the Sony Sound Forge software that I got with my USB Turntable worked with this device also so no problem getting my tapes recored. I can't say how long it might last but if you only have a few tapes you want to copy this will do the job.

Sony CMU-BR100 Camera and Microphone for Skype

This is an awesome camera. The only thing that would make it better would be if it swiveled. Its on the top of a TV that is mounted on the wall so the view is a bit awkward, looking down to the floor. I think the ultimate Skype TV camera would have a swivel of some kind and a remote so we can pan back and forth across the whole room. Anyways, this one is the best you can buy today and we are very happy with the purchase.

This is your only choice for a webcam, for Skype, for your Sony Internet TV (check compatibility before ordering). It can also be used as a regular webcam on a computer.

This small cam/mic is about 6 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. The mounting instructions are pretty much incomprehensible. Once I ignored the helpful little pictures, I was able to get it stuck to the top of my TV. A product at this price point might be expected to have a better mounting system, e.g. a matching peg system that better mates the webcam to the TV. Once you have it stuck to the TV, plug it into the USB port on the TV and you're good to go. Just fire up the Skype app, found under "Internet Video" on your Sony TV remote. You will not be able to text message nor will you be able to send files using the internal TV app, but you may not need to do either. In a typical family room/entertainment room setup, you won't.

If you are using the TV as a computer monitor, as I am, you can plug the Sony webcam into a USB slot on your computer and use the regular Skype app in Windows or iOS (where you are able to select the microphone array under Tools/Options/Audio Settings).

This is a good product for its intended use, and I see that it is approaching a reasonable price after a number of price reductions. If you are looking to maintain the look and feel of your TV, it does the trick. Picture quality and the microphone array are very good, although I would wish for a less wide-angle view. It's great to have Skype video on the "big screen."

I sit about 4 feet from the screen and I find myself to appear on the smallish side due to the wide angle lens. If you were 15 feet away, I fear you might be a mere speck, but that is not my setup and you should look to other reviews on this point. It would do a good job of getting the whole family into the picture, and I guess that is the trade-off.

I use my Sony 32" Bravia Internet TV as a computer monitor, and I use this Sony webcam as a computer webcam (i.e. plugged into the computer's USB port, not the port on the TV). That is pretty much plug and play as well you just have to go into Tools/Options/Audio in Skype to set the microphone to the microphone array in the Webcam if you wish to use that (mic quality is excellent).

If you decide, as I did, that you don't need to actually plug the webcam into your TV, your choices widen considerably and the price point falls. Here is a 4 1/2 star Logitech 720p webcam sold on Amazon that sells for $40 and uses Zeiss glass. It appears that product would be easy to mount with Velcro to the back of your TV/monitor, but it must be plugged into a computer, NOT the back of a Sony Internet TV:

[..]

Summary: This is a snazzy webcam with a crisp picture and a great mic (a 4-mic array) that you can plug into certain Sony internet TV's. It's a bit pricey and the wide angle view may not be ideal for all settings. You can also plug it into your computer and use it like any other webcam, in which case there are other, less expensive choices. It's your only choice if you want to run Skype video on your Sony Internet TV using the built in USB connector and Skype application. That built-in Skype app is easy to use. You may find the process of attaching it to the top (or bottom) of your TV to be annoying, as the visual instructions are unclear.

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This is what you'd expect. It's a webcam. It works fine with my Bravia TV. The downside is that with Skype the image quality isnt super great in general. This uses a wide fov camera to capture the room since it doesnt know where your face is. So unlike with a laptop webcam where your face is really big fillign up the screen with this you appear really small in it. Could be good if a crowd wants to skype, but not so good if it's a single person to a single person. It is fun to be able to see the other person on the big TV though. What it really needs is some kind of zoom/tracking option but that would be more expensive...

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The camera itself may be high definition, but...

All Bravia TVs are limited to 640x480 resolution (), which is standard definition. Confirmed with Sony support staff.

Furthermore, even though Skype debug consoles indeed show 640x480, the picture quality on the other side will be of 320x240 quality. Terribly upscaled.

Checked with ideal network conditions (same room), and confirmed through Skype own debug consoles.

Actually if you go into "see myself" function on the TV, the picture will be suspiciously small... Measured heigh shows a little bit less than 1/4 of the screen height, 320x240, indeed!!!

To sum up, the cam itself may be high definition, but what your Skype counterparts will see will be of very low quality. Regardless of network and TV model year (my is 2011).

Beware.

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At first I was quite annoyed at Sony for restricting the type of cam you could plug in using propriety firmware to prevent third party products but the quality of this cam and its sound system combined with the quality of Sony's TV made up for the, seemingly, inflated price tag. We have had wonderful hours of quality reception from all over the world and a noticeable difference from other cams used through the computer, the quality would, I think, match that of any top-line computer cam available and surpassed that of the Logitech cam I previously used on my Mac through the same TV, which is a Bravia LED, another superior product.

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RCA Digtial Voice Recorder 400hr Record

I bought this recorder for school and it works good. At times I would sit in the back of a fairly large class and was still able to pick up the professor's voice. The only minor thing I noticed was that the time clock sometimes lagged behind a couple of minutes...not sure if it's because of cheap batteries (even though they were new) or due to something else...this is only a minor issue I encountered, so overall I would recommend this product to someone, especially considering it's much cheaper than buying it at a store.

I've had this recorder just a little over a year and the USB stopped connecting to the computer. I'm a college student and I have hours of lectures that I can't upload to the computer...less than a month from graduation!!!

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This is the worst POS that I have ever purchased and I do not recommend it to anyone! There are way better quality products out there that are much more user friendly. I'm strongly advising anyone that is considering purchasing this item to reconsider. It's not worth it!!

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Never, EVER misplace your "owners' Manual it is one giant sheet of paper with dozens of pages on it, about as friendly as a scorpion. The letters on the DLable version are the size of grains of sand, it is basically unreadable. What kind of retarded organization would do something like this? I expect the Chinese to cut corners on paper but not RCA. They could have at very least made it downloadable in a format that is readable but Nooooooo....... Screw the consumer!

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nothing else

i got it for my dad and it allows him to record what ever he wants to record

so get it for your dad too

Q-See QSSIGD2 Decoy Cameras and Warning Sign (2 Pack)

Well it didnt deter the guy that stole if from me, but functionally it did the job! Can you believe it, someone stole it?

I recieved the cameras, one of the cameras did not work. The red flashing light did not work. I call the tech support line, and did al the testing they required, they determined the camera was defective. I was told I would receive a return ticket so I could send the camera back and they would replace it. I have not recieved any thing for the return. Due to the cost of they one camera, About $15.00. it is a waste of my time to keep calling to try and get it replaced. Q-See cameras haqve bad customer service, I give them a rating on "sucks"

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Have worked as an addition to my current cameras helps with the illusion of more coverage and the included sign is a bonus, cameras are the same Q-See bodies as one of their 'true' cameras so they look exactly like the 'real' thing.

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Easy to install, great sign, likely will scare away most potential burglarshopefully they will go somewhere else where there is an easier target.

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Sharp VLWD450U MiniDV Digital Camcorder w/2.5'' Viewfinder & Built-in Digital Still Mode

The quality of the 26x zoom is incredible, and even the lower powers of digital zoom that this camera has are incredible. Imagine being able to clearly read 3pt type from 15 feet away on the viewfinder. And that's just the beginning.

Unpacking the box, I found out that I was glad that I'd purchased a USB smartmedia reader. The only cables supplied were the standard dubbing cables and a serial transfer cable. Standard serial transfer being slow as it is was not an option. That cable is now stashed collecting dust.

The camera was easy to set up and get running right away. I popped the 8mb smartmedia card in its slot, the battery in it's little hideout, and a new blank tape in the tape compartment. The single hardest thing was figuring out how to attach the lens cap to the hand strap. Velcro is your friend (the hand strap pad velcroes shut over the strap adjustment, by undoing the strap pad, you slip the cap cord onto the strap. A very neat, if unintuitive, design)

Still pictures: 640x480 is limiting, but I mostly use this for web work and don't like to publish anything much larger than this. I would like to have some extra area though to make sure I get everything and crop down. Quality is superb in good direct lighting, decent in low light or indirect light.

Video Capture: Surprisingly clear. The camera, as with all such devices, makes a good webcam if you have the right interface hardware. I use a WinTV card for vid capture and discovered that the 450 will 'follow' action around if you leave it still on the tripod. Good for those people with a cam setup that move around a lot. It will automatically pan within its scan area just a few degrees to each side, but enough, usually, if set up correctly.

VCR Mode: A neat feature that I was totally unaware that the machine had until I got it home. If you plug the 'output' ports in so that they're receiving information instead of sending it, you can record on the camera like a VCR.

All in all: I'd recommend this little cam. My only complaint was being limited to 640x480 on still pictures. Cabling was standard and not unexpected. Optics and zoom are exceptional, 26x optical zoom is a big plus. IR and zero-light features are great. Still pictures, though limited in size, can fit 500-1500 depending on quality on a 64mb SM card.

4 1/2 stars

I had the opportunity to use this camera to shoot a wedding ceremony. Never having used a camcorder before, I was hesitant to agree to record such an important event and moreso on a new untested camcorder.

Although the instruction manual was a bit confusing at first, once I got the basic functions down the rest fell into place. The camera is lightweight enough so arm fatigue isn't an issue, yet sturdy enough to hold up to jarring when mounted on a tripod. The auto-focus worked quickly during zoom in/out with no distortion at all when zooming in. All controls are well placed, each with a different feel so the user can concentrate on the subject instead of searching around for the right button.

I found the display screen to be a little small and in certain lighting positions difficult to see. On the plus side, the screen flips so the user may be in the recording and still have control over it. Additionally, there is a very small remote control which will work up to 16 feet from the camera which removes the need to constantly be behind the lens. This was probably the best feature of this camcorder.

The rechargeable battery which came with the camcorder kept it's charge for only 90 minutes or so and took at least that long to fully recharge. Although there is an adapter to run the camera from an electrical outlet, I would definitely suggest purchasing the extended life battery which is an optional purchase.

With many advanced features which I didn't go into in writing this review, the Sharp Digital Camcorder is an excellent buy for the beginner or advanced user.

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I looked long and hard at different cameras in this price range, what I found was you needed to spend $ for a really good camera. This camera is very good. There are excellent low light features that make a world of difference in how your video comes out. I am disapointed in the actuall quality 460,000 CCD. I was going to buy the Panasonic for that reason but that camera had no low light features. After my first made video I could see how dark it came out while shooting in the house, which I though was good light? Don't be fooled that low light features are not important. I reshot the video with the Gamma on and it was as clear as daylight. The controls are easy to use a little cumbersome but after a few minutes you can figure them out. It is light easy to operate once you set the time etc. The extended microphone also makes a great difference in the sound quality. It picks up every sound clear as a bell. The still pictures are horrible so do not buy this camera for that feature. They are grainy and distorted and not good at all. They are easily transferred to your computer though even without a USB cable. I wish they added some video editing software but you can't ask for everything for this price. I am very pleased and would reccommend this camera.

Please purchase the bundled "Pinnacle DV software" and IEEE1394 card version 7.0. It is about $ but awesome and well worth a few extra bucks. You can make full fledged movies with music, voice over, editing, text, etc all with a click of a mouse!

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Pros: Price is definitely was the deciding factor for the features that came with it. Great battery life, light and easy to use

Cons: Have problems during playback, After 15 minutes of playback, display starts breaking up and eventually turns to blue, will play AFTER awhile. Secondly, SHARP's CUSTOMER SERVICE and TECHNICAL SUPPORT is NO GOOD, USELESS and are only trained to send your camera to the NEAREST Service Center which is 300 Miles away at my own EXPENSE (less than a month old camera, brand new)

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The Sharp VL-WD450U has a firewire port, but you need to go to the computer store to get the cable. I have a Mac with the iMovie editing software. Apple doesn't list the Sharp camera as one that is known to be compatible with the iMovie software. I plugged it in and it works fine.

Also, the software that comes with the camera is PC Windows oriented, so I couldn't use it. But reading the still images onto your hard drive via a serial port is not a great idea anyway. I went down to the computer store and bought a nice little USB device that plugs into the keyboard USB port ... You insert the 8MB SmartMedia card into it and it acts like a floppy drive. Each image is a .jpg file. Just click on the image and it pops up on the screen.

The camera is working fine so far. The 27X zoom is great. (Use a tripod) The only problem is finding a local source to buy a backup lithium battery. They don't sell them at the drug store or Wal-mart.

Roland R-26 Portable Handheld Recording Package

I have tested various other portable recorders from Zoom and Tascam. For me this is the best till date.

With this I can record 6 tracks at time (3 stereo tracks), and the best part is i can take those tracks to my PC and mix it again.

I am using it for my short movie soon with Rode NTG2.

The best portable recorder I come across.

This is a very good recorder which is easy to work and set-up, I'm very happy overall with the quality of how well it records sound.

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Microsoft Plus Digital Media Edition - Old Version

• Aperture 3 helps you refine images, showcase your work, and manage massive libraries on your Mac
• Features new ways to organize your photos by the people in them and more robust GPS tools for mapping images
• Apply or remove adjustments and effects to selected parts of your images with nondestructive, edge-aware brushes
• Instantly give your images a custom look or emulate a variety of camera types and processing styles
• Create stunning slideshows that weave together photos and HD video clips, complete with text and soundtracks

If you keep in mind all that's included for the price, you really can't complain. XP's visual interfaces have always been appealing, and the components of Plus! DME are all nicely done and easy to use. I bought it mainly because I was interested in Photo Story, and now that there is a free online upgrade available (Photo Story 2), you can save projects to edit later. That makes this program much more sensible. It allows final saving in only two formats: "medium quality" (240x320) and "high quality" (480x640). There are also two quality choices for audio. Happily, saved "stories" (WMV format) can be imported into Movie Maker and rendered as full DV-AVI with good results.

The audio capture program is also simple, straightforward, and wizard-based. It lets you trim unnecessary parts before saving. I used it to capture audio in order to make CDs from language lesson tapes. It worked great. I haven't tried it on a wide variety of music, but it worked fine with the music I did digitize. You cannot do any fancy editing, but for importing analog music into your PC, it couldn't get simpler than this.

The Alarm Clock integrates nicely with XP, and I use it often. Plus! DME also came with many new transition effects for Movie Maker which are pretty cool.

There are other features, which are mainly just "toys" to me, but even without them, I feel that the price is fair enough for only the goodies I've mentioned above.

Although I confess that this will not satisfy those who prefer high "tweakability" and professional results, I feel that Plus! DME is worth its price for what it does and will please those who want a simple solution to a few digital media tasks.

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OK, my major complaint with the last version of Plus! was that it gave you little to nothing; mostly demo and watered-down programs. Well, although this version seems to be heading in the right direction, it still offers little in the way of usable add-ons. First, I'll address Picture Story, since it seems to be the fan favorite. While I love it's ease of use, the truth of the matter is, you don't need it. Windows Movie Maker, (included in XP and ME), does the exact same thing and offers greater customization and more special effects options. Best of all, it's FREE, and offers ME users the opportunity to create "picture stories" as well (Plus! is now only available for XP). Plus! DME does offer some additional Movie Maker content, however it's only compatible with version 2 (another XP exclusive). Other than Picture Story, there is really very little of value here. The analog recorder seems like a good idea for cleaning up old LP's, however I haven't owned a turntable since the late 80's, so I really can't comment on it. The CD label maker is OK; comparable to the versions supplied with your average burner software. It's a good solution for those who opt to use Windows XP as their default CD-R/RW burning software. The media player add-ons are OK, mostly new skins and a few security features to keep others from listening to your music, (although the only use I can immediately think of is maybe keeping the children from listening to anything you might have containing questionable lyrics). I don't plan to convert my MP3's to WMA, so the converter is useless to me. The dancers and alarm clock lose their novelty after the first 5 minutes. I own a Pocket PC, so the synchronization tools are welcome. It makes converting media files easier and allows you to download media content from the web (although I haven't yet felt the need to do so). All in all, it's "ok". It's nowhere near a "must-have" item. I would only suggest it if you catch it on sale. P.S., like all MS products, it also requires activation and is limited to one computer. Just thought that was important enough to add.

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The software on Media Edition has one real gem Photo Story.

You install Photo Story version 1 that comes on the Media Edition disk then get the free upgrade that comes with the ver. 2 Digital Media Edition download upgrade. Photo Story Ver. 2 lets you edit your story until you get it right.

Photo Story allows you to easily build a moving jpg slide show with added non-copywrited windows media file music. It writes a wma movie file which you can be transferred to a VCD. It will not write your photo story to a DVD. You can convert your wma movie file to a DVD file with other software. I used MyDVD that came with my Sony DVD writer. MyDVD does a direct conversion from Picture Story's WMA to a DVD. The songs you buy from Music Match for 99 cents are copyrighted and will not work with Photo Story.

Here are some examples of Photo Story...

Photo Story is the way to go until you are ready move to industrial strength slide software like Memories to TV. I doubt I'll ever need anything better that Photo Story.

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I don't really use most of the programs in this package...except Photo Story. Photo Story is incredible! I have done video CDs for my parents' wedding anniversary, seniors graduating from high school (we have two seniors in our private school and will use the stories at graduation), a teacher appreciation banquet, etc. Just hook your DVD player to a projector, and voila! You're ready to go. The ability to add music really makes the stories moving. My only complaint is that you are limited to one music track, so if the story is long, the song just repeats itself over and over. Hopefully, with the next upgrade, they'll add the ability to use more than one music track. That's the only improvement I see that it needs. Great for creating memories for your family and friends!

It's ironic that a software package that costs only $20 could still be termed "a poor value". While the intentions behind Plus! Digital Media Edition were probably to enhance the XP experience, these features should have been included with Windows XP as a patch given the price of XP and the limited features of Plus! DME.

For example, we have Plus Dancer. This program puts a small, pre-recorded dancer on the bottom of your screen who moves with the music selection that you currently have playing. After about 5 minutes my amusement with this feature was gone. Some of the other features are useful if you are into photo or music editing, but there are far better tools out there, and many are free.

The only feature that I have ended up using was the Alarm Clock. It is moderately useful as I prefer choosing an MP3 track to wake me up, rather than a buzzer or an annoying early morning DJ.

If you are hardcore into photos and music and need something cheap to enhance your projects, this MIGHT be worth picking up. Otherwise, just hit the Net and look for some decent share.ware