Three Port HDMI 3-Port (3x1) HDMI Powered Switch Switcher w/ IR remote and AC Adapter- Supports Blu

It works. However, the remote controller has a mind of it's own. It will work for a while then will quit until channels are switched manually.

Also, having only three inputs, it can't accommodate four devices, simultaneously, as advertised...

The model I received does not work. The indicator lights function, but there is no signal transmitted to the tv through the hdmi out. Guess I'm out the $30!

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Vizio VBR140 Blu-Ray Player with Wireless Internet Application

• Enjoy 1080p Full HD from Blu-ray and DVD HD up-scaling
• VIZIO Internet Apps delivers - stream movies, TV shows, music and more
• Built-In Wi-Fi (802.11n) enables easy and high-quality connection to your wireless network
• Supports up to up to 7.1 channels of digital audio output via HDMI with Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS audio technologies
• View personal photos (JPG) or music (MP3) using the built-In USB port

I didn't want to even give it half a star; but in order to continue, I had to rate it.

I am sorry that I did not read the reviews first. This product must be unplugged every time you turn it on or off or it locks up. I am writing this review after reading previous reviews and I am having the same problems that they are having. But I would like to take a minute and run through them all

1. Remote Sensor is located somewhere that does not allow for easy use of the remote unless inches from the face

2. Product will not turn on and off. Must be unplugged and reset

3. Connecting to wireless is not easy, and the wireless reception is awful

4. Menus are awful

In closing I would like to mention that the product is so bad, I didn't even take the time to see if it plays blu-ray discs. It might, I don't know. I am returning it immediately. Further, I don't know if anyone at Amazon reads these reviews, but I hope they discontinue selling this item. It is truly the worst thing I have ever bought; and I've bought some trash, in my day.

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It doesn't get much worse than this. I can't stream a movie for more than 5 minutes without it locking up. My playstation 3 streams just fine. Everything else wireless in home works just fine. But this piece of junk just can't seem to pull it off and for the 80 dollar price tag...this is most unacceptable. I've contacted Vizio on multiple occasions which is a useless endeavor. I flat out told them this model is horrendous and should be pulled from shelves. Please potential buyer...save your money and buy a Sony or something.

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Purchased for my elderly mother. Unit requires at least a daily unplugging in order to respond at all. Seems like a firmware update may be required. Not available yet (6/12/12).

Does easily connect to Netflix and Blu Ray functions.

Only complaint is frequent lock ups but that is a huge deal, hence the 1 star rating. Lock ups started after first shutdown right out of the box. If you shop around you will find my complaint to be a frequent main complaint.

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I won't waste time writing a review...just believe what everyone else has already written. This is going back to Wally World tomorrow....

Piece of crap. Locks up all of the time. Have to unplug it and then plug it back in to get it to turn on. Streaming is horrible. All around a waste of money.

Harman Kardon AVR 1565 5.1-channel, 70-Watt Audio/Video Receiver with HDMI v.1.4a ,3-D

• 70 watts X 5 with high-current and ultrawide bandwith capability for accurate, dynamic sound
• Three HDMI v.1.4a inputs with 3-D and Deep Color
• Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding for the latest playback from hi-resolution sources like Bluray
• Exclusive Harman Kardon Logic 7 processing for an encompassing 360 degree soundfield
• Extensive audio/video connectivity for today's latest source devices

I purchased this from Amazon for a great price and it arrived in one day delivery although I only paid for 2 day delivery. Thank you Amazon.

This AVR replaces my Sony of comparable product. I have a comprehensive speaker system with polk and jbl and two sub woofers. The Sony sounded fine even though I am an audiophile from a long line of vacum tube amplifiers. I upgraded to this Harman Kardon AVR because I need more component connections. Not knowing the sound was so much better. This AVR has such terrific sound. I was really impressed by the open sound, great clarity between low and high. There are so much timbre that resonates.

I only opted for the default Harman Kardon Logic 7 surround sound effect. It was great. I am so glad I choose to make this upgrade. It is well worth the money for such terrific sound improvement. Definitely 5 stars, highly recommend.

Update Feb.11,2013

I like this AVR so much I bought a second one. I found this AVR has a power switch in the back so that I can connect both my AVR to the same system of speakers and still be independent. This way I have a lot of flexible of using both of my AVRs. The appearance of the AVR is like an art display instead of the usual switch board style, very pleasing. The unit has strong binding posts for speakers that allows also banana plugs instead of just filmsy clips like Sony any other products in this price range. The Amazon price make this purchase a terrific deal. Thank you Amazon for an excellent product at a very reasonable price.

Buy Harman Kardon AVR 1565 5.1-channel, 70-Watt Audio/Video Receiver with HDMI v.1.4a ,3-D Now

I bought this unit to replace an Onkyo TX-SR707 A/V that took a dump after only 2 1/2 years.I'll have to admit that i was leery about buying another A/V receiver. I was quite surprised when i first heard the quality of the sound.It far surpassed the onkyo.Not only in sound but in ease of setting up.The only thing this unit does not have is a phono input,This was just a matter of buying an external phono pre-amp.After doing so i was very pleased with the sound of my vinyl records.If you are a die hard vinyl fan and also want a A/V receiver at a reasonable price then this is the unit for you! This receiver at only 70 watts per channel delivers a crisp yet warm sound with a punch that suprised me.I feel this unit is fantastic! I would recommend this receiver to anyone that is looking for quality at a reasonable price.

Read Best Reviews of Harman Kardon AVR 1565 5.1-channel, 70-Watt Audio/Video Receiver with HDMI v.1.4a ,3-D Here

Does everything I need it to do. It is big. Looks great sounds better! We upgraded from an Onkyo we had since 2000 and the sound quality is amazing!

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For some looking for a 5.1 this pretty hard to beat. This was on my wish list for about a month when it went on sale for $198. Well from $333 to $198 was a no brainer and I ordered it that night thinking it might go back out or they'd run out. If you don't need or want networking then this is a great way to go. Plenty of clean power to drive the wife and cats from the room and enough connection for TV, Blu-Ray, CD player, VHS player plus. The remote is learning and it learned all of my remotes so that is huge plus.

My only downside is the feet are a rubber that don't slide well on glass so will cut furniture gliders to fit under. Don't let 'Made in China"scare you way what isn't? Yes am sure one or two slip by quality control buy this thing feels like it's built well.

For this a return to audio after 15 years of concentrating on computer hardware so it's a slight learning curve and I'm Lovi' It!

I'm down grading this for now, no menu and making adjustments without an onscreen menu is a royal pain. Also I can find no way to set speakers at large, medium or small and I believe the receiver defaults to large and I have small. Have unplugged everything, let it sit two days and followed their directions to the T and still no menu. Plugging a CD player in with headphones or using very old JLB 100's it sounds very good but I need to use the Energy 5 Pack along with a JBL sub. Sorta disappointed and have tech coming out to have a look.

Update: Menu is working so adjustments can be made for speaker size (and yes it made a huge difference). Menu is very slow, most likely hand shake problems. Had outside tech here trying to set things up, unplugged several times and menu appeared as he was about to give up, we just looked at each other. Although this seems to work this has been a huge disappointment as far the amount of time it has taken to set up. I've added one star just on the menu appearing and the clean sound this receiver delivers.

A for appearance

A for accepting banana plugs

A for connections including the future use USB

C for when making menu adjustments during play back

D+ for HDMI switching (slow slow)

B for TOSLINK (needs two)

3/06/13

Don't know why but everything is what I would call normal. It switches between devices the first time without the need for going back and forth to get something to work. It was like the TV's menu and receive's menu were not working together and they were never used at the same time. Still a little slow getting to the receiver menu but it's less than half the time at the beginning and far better than NO menu.

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Clear, clean, open sound with good bottom end. lotta bang for the buck. Powering Ohm I 's front, large Polk center, small Sony rear channels. The Deep Color seems to enhance the TV picture on Vizio 60" Smart TV. I was able to program the Uverse remote to change channels, volume and on, but will not turn unit off. Panel lights are dim-able but power light is not, bright and annoying. Radio tuner works well but I do not use it. I still have not gone through every function yet and will up date if warranted.

Olympus TG-1iHS 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

(Note regarding video: There has been some talk about how fast the start-up time is, so I uploaded a video so you can see for yourself. Pretty impressive!)

---

I am so excited to be writing this review. At long last I have what I consider to be the *PERFECT* rugged camera.

Before I begin my review, here's my background:

I'm a wedding photographer by trade, so I have some pretty good experience-based insight about cameras (although more so with DLSR's) AND I have owned two other waterproof cameras. My first was the Canon D10 and I loved the new freedom it gave me to go underwater but it was huge and ugly (like a big bubble). I used this for years until it Nikon came out with their new Nikon COOLPIX AW100. This "upgrade" was actually a HUGE mistake as I found it more like a "downgrade" in many ways. Perhaps I'll write a review of the Nikon someday, but I'll mention some comparisons between the two below. To add perspective on that, I sold the Nikon at a loss and waited and studied the competition. Once the new Canon D20 came out, I was about to press `buy' when I saw an article on this Olympus. I ended up waiting a few more weeks for this bad-boy to release and I am SO GLAD I did.

Construction:

The camera looks great and feels sturdy. It's not oversized like the Canon, and not hollow-feeling like the Nikon. It just feels like a well-built machine, and this "feel" is important to me.

The lens is in the center! This is another one of the standout features of this camera. This allows you to hold it from both sides for even steadier shots. The other cameras lenses were off to the far left. Not only is that hard for lefties, but it makes them much harder to hold successfully with both hands (without blocking something).

The strap is thick and adjustable, which you'll want when you take it in the ocean. In comparison, the Nikon DID NOT even come with an underwater strap only non-waterproof hand strap, which I felt was an odd choice. The instructions even stated the strap was not to be used in the water. Perhaps it's like selling a DVD player without an HDMI cord? I never looked to see how much Nikon was charging for an underwater strap.

The buttons are well-placed, logical and were easy for me to use. Some are small, but they're located well so they're easy to push without pushing something else by accident.

The battery case and charger ports are protected with doors that have TWO locks on them. You lock the first, and then you need to lock the second. If you want to open them, reverse the order. I appreciate this added security as I am someone that likes to pick at things in my hands and several times on my Canon I had picked open the batter door in the pool (luckily above water).

The screen is big (3") and, because it is OLED, it is visible from almost any viewing angle and even clear in bright sun. With this being an "outdoorsy" camera, the benefits of this screen are great.

The 25mm lens is really WIDE! This is just what you want for ocean shots. You can really stretch out the underwater scene and add drama. This camera will be your best friend in Hawaii! I also like the wide angle lens in pools as well.

The camera supports add-on lenses that screw on OVER the current lens. In other words, there is no extra vulnerable location for water to get in.

Menus:

The menu system is exceptional and has a lot of similarities with my $3499 Canon 5d Mark III. When you hit the menu button, you get:

Camera Menu 1: compression, shadow adjust, AF mode, metering mode, digital zoom, image stabilizer

Camera Menu 2: accessory settings, AF illumination, rec. view, pic orientation, icon guide, date stamp, super-res zoom

Movie Menu: image size, IS movie mode, mic, wind noise reduction, recording volume

Playback Menu: slideshow, photo surfing, edit, erase, print order, lock, upload order

Settings Menu 1: format, backup, Eye-Fi, custom mode setup, USB connection, power on, sound settings

Settings Menu 2: file name, pixel mapping, monitor brightness, info, tv out, power save, language

Settings Menu 3: time, world time, reset database, beauty settings, tough settings, gps settings

On the Nikon, I would have to hunt and peck to find what I was looking for. I was maddening sometimes as I tried to find where the GPS settings were. This is such an issue on the Nikon, you can Google it and see how many people need help finding where to turn the GPS on/off.

One feature that has really come in handy is that when you stop the cursor on a menu selection, there is scrolling text at the bottom that says exactly what that button does in a complete sentence! This is a HUGE help for anyone who doesn't want to lug around (or memorize) the manual.

GPS:

Not only does this camera tag the pictures with the GPS location, but you also can turn on a feature where it will track your entire route for you. For example, if you hike the John Muir trail, you might take pictures every few hours and with another GPS camera you would have a general idea of the path you took but with this one you would have an actual line of your every step. This is an incredible keepsake for `off the grid' exploring hikes.

Taking pictures:

This camera is SMOKING FAST. Without having to lower the resolution of the photos, you can take 6 frames per seconds, which is the same as my Canon 5d mark III. Incredible! In fact, it takes pictures so fast that when you playback in the camera, it shows them in succession like a movie. This was an incredible way to watch my kids dive into the pool and then swim up to me!

The picture quality is fantastic. On both the Canon and the Nikon I always felt let-down by my end results. Something about these underwater cameras makes them produce pictures without enough contrast. This means that the pictures would lack the "POP" that I love so much in regular photography. Of course you can artificially add this in post-processing, but it's an extra step I don't need. This OLYMPUS doesn't suffer from this problem so the pictures really look great straight out of the camera.

Movie Mode:

I have only done a little with the movies, but the ones I've done so far are beautiful. There's something amazing about being able to shoot a video underwater. It's a lot of fun. As time goes by, I'll report back to add more about the video capabilities.

Fun Modes:

In addition to the standard modes (auto, P, action, low light, and scene), there are also "Magic" modes which are very fun to play with. They are akin to Instagram pictures in that they apply effects to the picture but what makes them more fun is that you see the effects as you take it! Here are the modes with brief descriptions:

Pop art oversaturated colors

Pin hole vignette, like an old camera

Fish eye simulates a fish-eye lens (really fun!)

Line drawing turns the picture into something like a coloringbook page

Soft focus like old school wedding photography (eek!)

Punk turns pictures pink and black (actually more fun than you might think)

Sparkle simulates a star filter, which turns any points of light into stars (great for Christmas lights or city lights)

Watercolor mutes the colors, adds line (see `Line' above)

Reflection like a kaleidoscope

Miniature simulates a tilt-shift lens. If you haven't heard of this style of photography, Google it. Super fun.

Fragmented like a shattered mirror

Dramatic processes pictures with a "grunge" look

I am not usually a fan of these types of special effects, but for the review I thought I'd test them out. A few are gimmicky for sure, but some, such as the fish-eye, sparkle, pin-hole, and miniature are actually quite fun and a few of those will be useful for more than just goofing around (i.e. sparkle at Christmas, fish-eye of skateboarding, etc.)

Conclusion:

I have finally found what I've been looking for in a waterproof camera. Something I don't have to baby that takes GREAT pictures without any of the sacrifices typically associated with "rugged" point-and-shoot cameras.

I wholeheartedly recommend this camera with no reservations.

If you found this review helpful, please let me know! Also, if you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments and I'll try my best to answer them.

---7/3/2012 UPDATE:

I continue to enjoy this camera! The amount of fun pictures I've taken this summer that I wouldn't have been able to take on my other camera (because of exposure to water, sand, etc) has been worth the cost of admission alone. Here's something else I love:

The mode dial on the camera is a such a useful feature (more than you would think). Recently I had the camera in the middle of a lake at a floating obstacle course with my kids. I was taking pictures of them diving off this platform in 60fps mode and then I wanted to switch back into standard mode and all I had to do was twist the dial. It was hard enough treading water in the choppy lake, so having the ability to switch with ease was such a help. It I had to dig through a complicated menu system, I probably would have sunk to the bottom! ;)

Here are the modes available from the dial:

iAUTO Camera chooses the mode based on the scene

Program Auto (this is what I use mostly) Like iAUTO, but allows you to make changes to: flash, macro, self-timer (12 sec, 2 sec), exposure compensation, white balance, ISO, sequential (1 fps, 6 fps at 12mp, 60 fps at 3mp), and photo size (megapixels).

Low light mode Again, thanks Olympus for having this just be a dial so my wife, who doesn't like to spend as much time learning the ins-and-outs of my cameras can just switch it over with a twist of the dial when we're indoors

Action mode Capture fast moving subjects without blur, enables sequential shooting

Scene mode Changes modes based on subject. This is a great way to ensure you get the best picture you can without having to rely on auto-mode.

The choices are: indoor, candlelight (for birthdays), self-portrait, sunset, fireworks, cuisine, documents, beach and snow, snapshot, underwater wide, underwater action, underwater macro, pet mode cat (lol), pet mode dog, snow, panorama, 3d photo, backlit HDR, portrait, beauty, landscape, night scene, night portrait.

If you shoot a lot, it should be pretty easy to speculate what settings each mode makes. For example, sunset mode bumping up the saturation on reds, purples, yellows; fireworks mode using a longer shutter-speed to get light trails; beauty mode using a softer focus, neutral skin-tones, etc.

Magic mode See description above in original review

C1 and C2 These custom modes are incredibly useful. If you find yourself dialing in certain settings for situations you encounter often, you can just assign those settings to one of these 2 modes on the dial. For example, my brother-in-law likes to examine my nephews pitching on the 60fps (3mp) mode so he has assigned these settings the the C1 mode and just remembers that C1 mode is "Zach's Pitching Mode." Now when he takes pictures during a game, he can just flip over the C1 from iAUTO mode whenever Zach pitches. Super-useful!

My TG-1 has a very annoying ticking sound in all the video's that I shot so far (even if I follow the advice from the manual to set the video sound to 'low'). I contacted Olympus, sent them sample vids and they refused the warranty claim because they consider this normal for this camera. Check out this samples to find out what Olympus thinks is "perfectly normal behaviour" for this camera:

These vids were made with one shot AF, IS off, and I can also confirm that this has nothing to do with the sound of the optical zoom (which is hardly noticeable in this camera).

Olympus says this sound is a consequence of waterproofing the camera, but they wouldn't tell me why other waterproof camera's apparently don't have this problem.

It's a real shame Olympus will not warrant this, because the rest of the camera is really good: great 2.0 lens, fast performance, very good image quality (esp. high iso and macro) for its class and nice, functional body design.

You might get lucky with your sample (or maybe not so unlucky as I was,) but be warned that Olympus will not grant any warranty claims if you end up with video sound like this.

Buy Olympus TG-1iHS 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom Now

As a current owner of the Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 for the past several years, I have experienced all the great, and not so great, things about owning a rugged camera. The Tough 6000 is most certainly a tough little thing. It has survived many many lake and ocean swims, including long snorkeling trips and pool days, a Vegas bachelor party where it was dropped several times on the ground and had beer poured on it, been on multi-day snow skiing trips in sub zero temperatures, and even survived for over 20 minutes in the blazing heat of the clothes dryer when I forgot it in my shorts pocket (which also means it survived the wash cycle prior to the dryer!). While its toughness is certainly excellent, there are some things it needs improvement on. Start up speed, speed between taking pictures, shutter lag, difficulty in finding focus in low light, poor quality in low light, non-HD video, and xD picture cards were all things on my wish list for improvement. Thankfully, the new TG-1 iHS has resolved all those problems, which I will detail below.

Start up speed: Using a stopwatch, I consistently was able to hold down the shutter button while pressing the power button and get the camera to take a picture in around 1.5 seconds while in Program mode. This is way faster than the Tough 6000 could ever manage and find it quite satisfactory.

Speed between taking pictures: There really is no lag between taking pictures anymore. The camera will take pictures as fast as you can repeatedly press the shutter button. In the dedicated Sport mode the results are even more impressive. At full 12MP, the camera is taking about 10 frames per second, but if you knock the image size down to 3MP it will capture an insane number of pictures per second. Olympus rates the highest speed at 60fps, but I have not confirmed this. I did test it out on my friend doing jumping jacks and it's really pretty nuts. It is very slow motion on the order of frame by frame video. (I have experience with video editing, so I am not just throwing that term out there blindly.) The sport mode is really cool for capturing people jumping in to a pool, doing cart wheels, or any other action where a set of high speed sequential shots is desirable. Olympus really did a good job on improving this aspect from the Tough 6000. (NOTE: the sequential shooting speed appears to depend somewhat on the speed on the SD card being used as, after a few seconds of taking pictures, the SD card logo on the OLED monitor turns from white to red and the camera stops taking pictures. The picture counter will catch up to the number of pictures taken and then the SD card symbol will turn back to white. I am using a 16GB SanDisk Ultra II class 4 card rated at 15MB/s. I would imagine higher speed cards would enable the camera to take either more pictures per second, take sequential pictures for a longer period of time, or even perhaps both.)

Shutter Lag: Shutter lag is pretty much non-existent. I have been using film and digital SLRs for years and am used to the instant shutter speed of such cameras and the TG-1 compares quite nicely to them, especially for a "point and shoot" style camera.

Focus hunting in low light: I have taken several pictures in low light settings, some with flash and some without, and found the auto focus speed to be vastly improved from the Tough 6000. You will no longer have to tell a group of people to hold still forever while the camera is attempting to focus on them.

Low light quality: The F2.0 lens really makes a noticeable difference here as low light quality is so much improved over the Tough 6000. Quality low light pictures can be obtained, even without using the flash.

Video: The HD video, both 1080 and 720, comes out nice considering this is primarily a still camera. It is certainly not as good as the video from my Canon Vixia HF10, which is a purpose built camcorder, but that is to be expected. I do like that the video is started and stopped using its own dedicated recording button on the back of the camera. That way the camera can be set up in whatever still shooting mode you find desirable for the moment, but start shooting a video literally at the press of a button if the moment calls for it. The camera allows you to zoom during shooting and adjusts exposure on the fly in the middle of recording. This is very nice as you are able to reframe your videos and not worry about exposure changes while in the middle of shooting a video. The one main negative I can point to about video is that the zoom motor noise is clearly audible in the recording. This is unfortunate, but considering the camera's core mission as a rugged still camera, it is acceptable. The noise is not loud enough to drown out all other sounds, but is certainly noticeable. The camera records video in the Apple mov file format, which may be good or bad depending on your preference.

That pretty much does it for the comparison between the older Tough 6000 and the new TG-1.

Other things to note about the TG-1 are:

The strap is quite beefy for a point and shoot strap and is more like the one I have on my camcorder. I find this to be good though as the traditional point and shoot straps are always so thin it makes me nervous when the camera is dangling by it over a precarious position.

The screen is quite large, has great quality, and has an excellent viewing angle.

I like the lens being in the middle of the camera as it reduces the odds of getting fingers in the shot and is just more natural for framing shots in general.

The mode dial has dedicated spots for Sport, Low Light, and two Custom Setup options allowing you to save custom set ups that are quickly accessible.

The access doors are now double locked, meaning they have a slider that shuts the door, then another slider that keeps the first slider from moving. This added security is certainly welcomed.

I have not tried out the GPS function or the manometer function, so can't really comment on those. They aren't terribly important to me, so that's why.

Finally, some negatives:

As others have stated, the button layout is a little cramped. I don't have a problem navigating around the button layout, but those with clumsy and/or large fingers may find it a tad challenging perhaps.

Like the Tough 6000, the TG-1 still uses the lame proprietary USB port that Olympus for some reason insists on using. This forces you to carry around the included proprietary USB cable they provide to hook the camera up to a computer and to charge it.

Speaking of charging, the camera does not come with an external battery charger. This forces you to keep the battery in the camera to charge it via the aforementioned proprietary USB cable connected to either a computer's USB port or the included AC adapter. As of right now, 6/28/2012, there is no external charger available for purchase. This is incredibly lame as it makes it impossible to charge a spare battery and use the camera at the same time; which is something everyone wants to do on a multi-day vacation. Hopefully Olympus will come out with one soon or perhaps a third party will.

Overall I think this is an excellent rugged camera that really nails all the features necessary to excel in this camera segment. The TG-1 is most certainly a big step forward from the Tough 6000 and I am very glad I purchased it. Besides the relatively minor negatives mentioned above, this is a sure fire winner for anyone looking for a rugged camera.

***UPDATE JULY 6th, 2012***

Just got a new SD card and tested out the difference in speed, with emphasis on the sequential sport mode.

Before I present the data, here are the cards being used:

OLD: 16GB SanDisk Ultra II Class 4 rated at 15MB/s

NEW: 32GB SanDisk Extreme Class 10 UHS 1 rated at 45MB/s

Sport mode results:

12MP Sequential:

OLD: 100 frames in 30 seconds, 3.33fps (frames per second)

NEW: 100 frames in 20 seconds, 5fps

3MP Hi 1 Sequential:

OLD and NEW: 100 frames in 7 seconds, 14.29fps (no difference between cards)

3MP Hi 2 Sequential:

OLD and NEW: 100 frames in 1 second, 100fps; yes one hundred frames per second! (no difference between cards)

As you may have noticed, all the tests involved shooting 100 frames. This was not my choosing, but appears to be the maximum allowable sequential images the camera will take at a time. For each of the tests I held the shutter button down until the camera stopped taking pictures, so it was not my choice to stop at 100. You will also notice that the only speed increase is in the 12MP sequential test, whereas the other two modes have the same speed.

While not recorded for time, I would like to note that the time it took the camera to process and save the images after each burst mode seemed to me to take less time with the newer card, especially in the Hi 1 and Hi 2 modes.

Read Best Reviews of Olympus TG-1iHS 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom Here

My previous WP camera was a Pansonic which took great video but the images really suffered from pixel packing and over processing. I bought this Oly primarily for its fast, quality lens. Despite its small sensor, I'd hoped that the lens would keep the images decent in low-light situations which are common for this type of camera.

It seems to work as described. I bought a fast SD card and the camera is very fast with it. I'm not particularly interested in all of the trick "filters" and GPS (I have one), but I did test the auto-stitch panoramas and they were all without artifacts. The fact that the camera is so fast allows taking three images quickly, so that the scene has little time to change between images.

With my other cameras, I typically underexpose my images and shoot raw so that the skies aren't blown out. In preliminary shooting with this camera, it seems like the default values are as good as one can get with these JPGs.

PLUSES: the doors are double-latched and have a really tight fit. The OLED screen is wonderful. The lens is typical good Oly quality.

MINUSES: Because of the large screen, the controls are a little too tightly packed for my fat digits, but I prefer this large screen to having wider spaced controls and a smaller screen. The only real complaint I have is the cheesy in-camera charger. Oly makes an external charger that one can currently only buy on eBay ($40!) but this seems pretty lame in a top-of-the-line model when $100 cameras have the convenience of external chargers. Also, the one-of-a-kind charging connector to the camera requires you to keep yet /another/ special USB cable for each USB device.

I assume the charging issues will lessen as soon as decent no name chargers arrive and the real Oly charger becomes more widely available.

If it shot raw (no WP cameras do, that I know of) and if it had a grown-up charger, I'd rate it as a "5" but none of my complaints with it are very significant. I expect to like it more as I use it more.

UPDATE: Today the Oly charger is $84!! on eBay and $60 plus shipping etc. at B&H. What must it cost Oly to have these made in China, $5?

UPDATED 9/11/12 I recently bought the $40 (!!!) adapter to allow attaching tele and fisheye lenses. It also allows use of 40.5 mm filters and lens caps. Then it dawned on me: THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE CAMERA IN THE FIRST PLACE. As it is shipped, the camera offers no protection for the glass lens cover, which has a special coating to repel water. The plastic do-nothing ring that ships with the camera is useless. The "$40" threaded ring is functional and should have been integrated into the camera in the first place. Now I can use a lens cap on the camera like I should have been able to in the first place. To sell a $400 camera that requires another $40 plastic ring to be complete is really poor design. I'll remove one star in my rating.

Want Olympus TG-1iHS 12 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom Discount?

The first part of this review is an "out-of-water" review; below it is a review of performance in and on the water.

Design and controls:

--Design: attractive, functional. Tradeoff between small size and crowded controls worked out OK once you get used to it.

--Double-latch doors: good idea.

--Other users have reported easily losing the plastic ring around the lens because it has no click latch. Oly must have fixed this; mine makes a loud click when you put it on, and it requires pushing in on one spot while turning, otherwise it won't come off.* (At least not in the living room--but read on.) At any rate, if you lose it Oly says it's "cosmetic" and doesn't affect waterproof capability.

--Menus: OK once you get used to them. The quick Info menu is good.

--Display: the LCD is good, but like most of them virtually useless in bright sunlight. The onscreen display showing basic shooting settings and other info is good.

--The in-camera battery charging is a pointless complication (the camera comes with a plug-in charger, so why not just make it so you can put the battery into it and keep a charged one in the camera, instead of going through the process with an extra cord, etc.). Luckily there are aftermarket out-of-camera chargers available.

--The online manual (which I have downloaded in PDF) is woefully inadequate, poorly organized and tells you almost nothing. Perhaps they want everyone to just leave the controls alone. (For a good manual from a competing product, see the Canon D10 manual.) To compensate, Olympus has posted FAQs on their site; also some informational highlights.

Things to watch out for:

--This is the only camera I've ever seen in which the battery will slide in both ways (right way and wrong way) so the user has to be sure to check that the terminals are lined up or it won't charge. Another example of making things easy for the manufacturer instead of for the purchaser.

--JPEG default is set at Normal, which generates an image of something over 2mp, meaning that most of the data captured by the sensor is being thrown away. (If you set to Fine, you preserve about twice as much data--but you're still losing a lot.)

--Digital zoom or intelligent superzoom is noisy: I shot the same picture with full optical zoom and again with full maximum digital zoom. Then I enlarged both so that the subject had the same dimensions in each. The digital zoom image was full of noise. Stick to optical zoom and enlarge, if you want to, with one of the many PP programs available.

--Olympus recommends sending the camera in yearly to get the seals replaced. This will cost you about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of the camera itself, each year. So maybe the most cost-effective strategy is to keep the seals clean and lubed with silicon, and gamble that you'll get 3-4 years of life before it dies from leakage. Just hope this doesn't happen on the first day of that big diving trip you've been looking forward to for years. (Although you could go online, order a new camera from Amazon with next-day air, and get it in time, maybe.)

--Other users have noted that the TCON will create horrible vignetting unless almost fully zoomed. So when you have the TCON on, you basically have a dedicated lens, with little flexibility.

--*The lens ring will fall off (mine did), regardless of the push-and-turn feature. If you're going in the water, I suggest leaving the ring at home so it doesn't get lost. According to Olympus, it's merely "cosmetic" so you aren't affecting the waterproofing. Keep the ring in case you want to resell the camera, or send it back.

The Good:

--Colors are very nice right from the camera at WB Auto setting.

--Burst shooting and, just as important, burst depth. With a class 10 card I got better than 5fps at full resolution, and I got 18 shots before the camera began to hiccup and slow down. After this, I still got about 3fps. This suits my goal of action shooting.

--I found that using the P setting, keeping ISO at 100 and EV at -1/3, I could shoot into glare without losing highlights, even though this camera really limits user control.

The Bad:

--Can't seem to control shutter speed. I tried the P setting using ISO100 (the idea being that the camera would use a balanced combination of fast shutter speed and smaller aperture); instead, on one shot the EXIF data showed 1/200 sec. and f/18 (still trying to figure out how the TG-1 goes to f/18); on the next shot it was 1/500 sec. and f/11. I did find that using the P mode, keeping ISO at 100 and EV at -1/3, I could shoot into glare without losing highlights.

--Can't shoot RAW, and can't shoot JPEG extra-fine, which limits enlarging and cropping.

--Images are very soft and fine detail (leaves, etc.) is often smeared.

Many of the positive reviews seem to be based on a different set of expectations--people wanted a toy to play with in the swimming pool or let their 3-year-old play with it. Or they are going to make prints at under 8inches or post online at 800x600px. I'm not expecting DSLR quality, but when a 12mp P&S camera like the FZ150 can take outstanding pix at full zoom, one does hope that a 12mp underwater P&S would have some decent capabilities.

Bottom line:

If you want to take pix in a wet or underwater environment, and you want rapid burst, all at a reasonable cost, this is probably your best option. Other water cams have high leakage/failure rates; for example the Hero has a reported 20% failure rate and they will not guarantee the product (read their rather arrogant warning/disclaimer on their product page on Amazon). The TG-1 appears to be the most reliable (least unreliable?), fastest burst, brightest lens, and about average image quality.

Here's what some professional reviewers had to say after the initial "gee whiz" reactions.

"The TG-1 does not offer what we consider to be manual controls--no manual focus, no priority or manual exposure modes. This is typical for a tough-cam, though it's off-putting to some photography enthusiasts who are drawn in by the f/2 lens and excited by the prospect of a more "serious" tough cam. This is not that camera--it's a standard tough-cam with a better lens and screen than any of its competitors."

Another reviewer, talking about IQ: "At its lowest ISO settings, the TG-1 seems to drift between over-sharpened or soft and smeary when photos are viewed at 100 percent. And really it continues that all the way up to ISO 800; above that things just gets soft and noisy.... Video quality is...basically like the video from a pocket video camera or higher-end smartphone."

Here's another: "We ran into glitchy performance with the TG-1, and it even crashed on us a few times. It typically occurred while we were switching between shooting mode and playback mode. The image on the LCD would hang for at least a few seconds, sometimes completely locking up the camera."

In-the-water review follows. Out of the water, it's a solid 3-star performer--average at best.

-----------------------

Ocean test: I would give this camera 2.5 stars in the water (not good), for the reasons listed below.

Before going in the water, I took a couple of hundred shots at the beach.

--As mentioned before, color is nice.

--I used P mode, ISO 100, EV-1/3 and got very good results in terms of WB and highlight preservation.

--Stationary objects came out pretty well, a little soft but acceptable.

--Shooting at moving birds (aiming down from a low cliff at pelicans gliding over water) was not so good, because the AF was poor, even though the AF box indicated that the shot was in focus. I was shooting 10-12 frame bursts at 5fps. The birds were about 80 feet away, and traveling across the field of vision, so there was little change in distance. Most of the images in each burst were out of focus, but every few frames in the same burst one would be in focus. So the AF is jumping all around and missing most of the time. (I considered the possibility of camera shake, but at 1/200sec this would be unacceptable IS; P&S super-zooms at 300mm (450mm equiv) show no camera shake even at 1/125 or slower.)

I then paddled out to a small surf break (with the camera in a neoprene belt pouch) and sat beside the break to take pictures of waves and surfers. I took another 200 shots or so.

--Got some very nice and interesting shots over the water toward the shore, focus was good and as usual color was great. This is basically the same as stationary objects (above).

--The good action pictures were very nice; a little soft but acceptable. The foam of the breaking waves wasn't blown out by overexposure, but at 100% it looked like a collection of small blobs, rather than foamy spray. My old Canon PowerShot SX100is (8mp P&S) did a much better job of detail in shots like this (from the shore, of course!).

-Some images had a weird bluish haze on a large part of the image--appears to be from the lens fogging up due to temperature change (water about 67, air about 75 degrees) as the camera was immersed and then out of the water. This was present in a minority of images, but it was serious; the images that had it were ruined. (No, it wasn't my hand over the lens.) I sent samples to Olympus for their analysis; no word back as yet.

--Just as with the pelican shots from the cliff, there were more OOF pictures than good ones, even though the AF box indicated that the shot was in focus. Again, I was shooting 10-12 frame bursts at 5fps. There was a lower percentage of OOF images. (See comments on possible camera shake, above.)

-The LCD was of little use most of the time due to the bright sun, so it was really hard to see the subject. (Not unusual with P&S cameras without a viewfinder, but Olympus has touted the visibility of their LCD. It seems no better than any other.) A true "point and guess" situation: when I tried to shoot birds flying overhead (using burst), I missed them and got only blue sky. I got a little better luck with a helicopter; in a burst of 10 frames I managed to get part of the helicopter in two frames. The surfers were a bit easier because you could track them by the wake they made going across the wave, but even then (from a distance of about 100 ft.) it was hit and miss.

*--Regardless of the push-turn latch on the lens ring, when I got back home and put the camera in fresh water, I noticed that the lens ring had fallen out somehow. I have ordered a replacement from Olympus. (It has been several days, and no word on when it will ship. Olympus Customer Service does not answer emails on this issue. Overall this is becoming a bad experience and will definitely affect my decisions regarding Olympus products in the future.) BTW the poorly-attached lens ring is a known issue; Olympus even has it on their Q&A/Info page online. Apparently they are in no rush to fix it.

I gave this camera one more try today; the results were no different. Some "OK" images, a lot of images with smeared detail and/or a harsh, artificial look (presumably due to in-camera sharpening, since I didn't change the settings from shot to shot in the burst). I even did some extensive PP with the best images; although with a lot of work I managed to get them quite a bit better, they were still inferior to images from other P&S cameras I have owned. With regret, I give up.

Bottom line: the TG-1 is probably very good for close range, stationary objects, swimming pools, water parks, warm water, underwater (no abrupt temperature fluctuations while shooting and no bright sun glaring off the LCD), and many types of still shots. It's also probably very good if you intend to post images online, email them, view them on a computer, or print them at some size under about 8-10in or so. For anyone considering this camera for viewing at 100%, larger prints, surf, breaking waves, flying birds and other ocean action shots (especially in the water), I recommend against it. I have decided to send this one back and wait for further improvements in the product. The basic concept and design are great, but the above items need work. It's truly a shame, because I love the burst shooting, the color and the handling, and the few reasonably good images make it tempting to keep the camera--but I just don't want to spend time and energy stalking that "special" shot, only to find it unusable for one of the reasons mentioned above.

------------

Later note: Doing more research, I find that for about $50 more than the TG-1, I can get a camera + housing combination that could well give better results. The Lumix ZS15 has full controls, has 16x zoom, has gotten good reviews on IQ, and it fits the Panasonic Marine Case. (There are cheaper cases, little more than a ziplock baggie, but I don't have the nerve to entrust them with a camera costing $200 or more. Why risk it?) Both items may be found listed on Amazon; if Olympus ever sends the lens ring so I can return the TG-1, I'll do so and try the Panasonic combination. I'm also attracted to the Lumix LX7 (not much zoom, but shoots RAW, has good burst), but haven't yet found a housing to fit it.

--------------

Final update:

I finally got the ring from Oly and sent the camera back for refund. Had the ring been missing, Amazon could have charged me up to 50% restocking fee ("missing part")! For a defective item. I had to pay Oly $7 + shipping for the ring, and Amazon charged me postage since the problem wasn't due to their error. (!) At least they took it back.

I then ordered the ZS15 for $165 new on Amazon. I got it a couple of days ago; in good light it is very good for a small-sensor camera (although not the equal of the FZ150--full details in my 4-star review of the ZS15).

I have ordered two underwater housings: the full-dress Pany housing and an "econo" version which makes me nervous but which got good reviews and not one "it leaks!" complaint. When these arrive, I'll test them in the bathtub with tissue paper, and then brave the waves.

It's hard to understand why the underwater camera makers choose to put out these inferior products. My total cost for the ZS15 + housing is a shade over $400--for a package that is far superior to the dedicated underwater models costing almost as much. Why not put a first-rate camera in a waterproof shell and market that? It's really disappointing.

Inland Headset 6000 with Bass Boost adjustable headband includes in-line volume control

The headset itself is nice. Audio Quality is decent for the price point. The problem is their darned strain reliefs. They chewed up the cable such that 2 months after purchase the bass boost was shorting out and causing the USB plug to overheat. Then 3 months after purchase, the microphone started shorting, and now, 4 months after purchase, the left speaker is shorting out. There's better ear pieces for the same price-point out there and they're not going to start shorting out on you 3-or-so months after purchase.

This is the 4th Inland Bass 6000 Headset that I am buying, but not because I had issues with it, on the contrary. I had to buy another for my son since he took a liking to the "bass effects" for his music, games and movies. I also use it for music, games and movies since it does not disturb anyone when you have to play it loud.

The problems with my 1st and 3rd was my computer rear USB ports are used up and I have to use the front USB ports. The computer is on the floor so whenever someone passes by, they accidentally kick the cable with the bass boost connection. The result is a broken USB connector.

I have upgraded my computer system which has more USB ports and finally learned my lesson.

Inland Bass 6000 PROS:

1. Flexible headset for easy fit;

2. Flexible microphone that flexes in almost any direction;

3. Nice soft leather finish that gives it the expensive feel;

4. Is better than a Creative 'Fatal1ty' gaming headset that I bought after the 1st USB broke;

5. Great audio (treble and bass) for the above-mentioned entertainment;

5. The headset actually vibrates on your ears, so I keep one off my ear;

6. If this becomes an issue, you can switch from "bass boost" to stereo.

CONS:

1. If its a warm day, your ears will sweat a lot;

2. The extra long cable for the audio gets in the way, but can be managed by using cable managers.

Buy Inland Headset 6000 with Bass Boost adjustable headband includes in-line volume control Now

2.5" Screen HD 720P Car DVR Driving Recorder With IR 10-LED Night Vision/Cycling Recording/AV OUT

• Uses 500W HD camera lens.
• Night vision function.
• Automatically records once the engine starts.
• When the memory is full, it will automatically cover the previous files

The folks at Alldaymall contacted me shortly after I had ordered this product:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00919ZNQM/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00

telling me they had just sold out of that particular camera, and asked if they could substitute an alternative. I figured something like this situation would happen eventually (since they had only one of that item left in stock), so I said "OK". The substitute was the camera I'm reviewing now. I was a little disappointed that an English language operating manual wasn't included (the only manual was in Chinese, I think), but since I'm a very technically-minded, hands-on kind of guy, I started pressing buttons to see what did what. It didn't take long to figure out how to operate the camera (about 30-45 minutes of trial-and-error) and get the battery charged. It has several resolutions available, from VGA 640X480 to 1080 FHD on the movie camera side, to VGA 640X480 to 12 MP on the still images side. There's also a setting to flip the display 180 degrees, if you use the camera "upside down", and so many others I haven't used yet. It's a definite learning curve...if you press the setting wheel too soon, it defaults to the main display, and so forth. As mentioned, trial and error and about 45 minutes of tinkering, and you'll be operating this camera in no time flat. I've not yet used it in my car, but I plan to at some point, just to test it's capabilities.

It comes with an in-car mount (a heavy-duty suction cup for attaching to the windshield), an RCA video cable to connect to a TV or DVR, a USB A to micro USB cable, and a 12v car adapter. You can also use it as a webcam, if you're so inclined, or a USB mass storage device (although I had some trouble mounting it as the latter...I suspect my computer not recognizing any USB device over 8gb as the culprit). It'll take up to a 32GB SD Card, which, on the lowest resolution settings, will give you over 400,000 still images or over 5 hours of video. It's also night-vision capable, given the array of 10 IR LEDs on either side of the wide-angle lens. With the LEDs turned on, you can see about 30-45 feet in total darkness (about average for night vision devices). Turning them on takes a bit of practice...press the power button once to turn the camera on, then a brief press of the power button will turn the LEDs on or off (the display will indicate when the LEDs are on or off). The display itself is rather small...no more so than an average LCD camera, so it really isn't an issue.

I've not yet tested the battery capacity, but I suspect on battery power alone, actual use times may vary. I tend to use things like this connected to an inexhaustable power supply (such as a LARGE battery, a car charger, or other means), since batteries are so unpredictable.

I plan to tinker with this some more over the next few weeks, so we'll see just how complicated (or easy!) this camera is to use "in the field", as it were.

In closing, I'd like to ask a favor of the fine folks at Alldaymall Please include an English-language manual, or offer an English-language translation of the included manual with your cameras from now on. The directions on the back of the box are not very informative. Thank you!

Toslink Cable-6 Feet Premium SPDIF

We were trying to connect our sound bar to the new tv, and it just wasn't happening. Learned we needed this cable, ordered it, hooked it up (it was a snap literally), and VOILA!

February 11, 2011. Unlike the more expensive, 3-foot optical audio cables I returned to my local Fry's Electronics Store in southern CA, these 6-foot optical audio cables fit my equipments' optical receptacles solidly and remain connected with no sense of looseness. The finger-shank mounted at each end swivels and helps proper seating of the cable in both devices. The outer shield of the cable is attractive and substantial. The protective cover-sheaths at each end are attached to the cable and can't be misplaced. The price is right and the quality is outstanding. Audio performance is superior. If Free Super Saver Shipping were available, I would have purchased several more of these cables. As it is, the shipping cost exceeds the cost of the cable. Still, I am pleased with my purchase.

Buy Toslink Cable-6 Feet Premium SPDIF Now

This cable is actually better than I needed. It has a durable cover to keep it from crimping or getting damaged and sounds great compared to composite sound.

Read Best Reviews of Toslink Cable-6 Feet Premium SPDIF Here

like the title says this is Pretty Solid and strong so it will last you, and the sounds that i receive from it are good, well GREAT actually. this is the first Optical cable/Tosslink that i am using so i cannot say much about it compared to others, but i will say that my audio does sound A GREAT DEAL/HECK OF A LOT better than when hooked up to my sound system direct.

Want Toslink Cable-6 Feet Premium SPDIF Discount?

What is there really to say, this product works, now I have not tested the durability of this product because I don't want to accidentally break the glass inside it. One other point, the metal around the tips are too big to fit in the New xbox 360 slim. You can barely get the very tip inside where it needs to go, you could mod your xbox and make the hole a little bit bigger without really damaging the xbox. But I wouldn't.

VideoSecu 8 Pack 100ft Feet Surveillance BNC Video RCA Audio Cables CCTV CCD Security Camera Wires

OOOPS did not put the 5 stars as they deserve ---human error--now fixed for the price you cant beat this deal--the 4-100 foot cables would have cost me 150.00 at best buy alone

the camers are cheap yes but they do work just fine--and i will be buying more this year for sure-im very happy with the product

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JVC Everio GZ-HM200 Dual SD High-Def Camcorder (Black)

It's been a number of years since I had a camcorder. It was a tape unit, and after the initial infatuation with the new toy, I found that I never used it. Recording was a chore (juggling tapes and batteries), uploading was tedious, and the quality wasn't all that good. For quick ad hoc recordings, my various digital still cameras could grab a few seconds of good-enough video. The camcorder disappeared from my life.

A few years later, things have really changed. I received the Everio GZ-HM200, snapped in a couple of 8GB SD cards, charged the battery, and I was ready to go. We took a day trip to Mount Rainier; the weather was perfect, and I took a lot of video of photogenic glaciers and waterfalls.

When I got home, I wanted to upload the video into my computer. The Everio comes with software for Windows PCs, and Mac users are hardly mentioned in the documentation. I had searched the various on-line discussions of Mac video, and there were many cautionary tales about compatibility issues with the Everios. I anticipated problems.

I was wrong. I connected the USB cable to my Mac Mini, started iMovie (part of iLife '09), and opened up the camcorder. The USB menu opened, and I chose the "Upload" option. iMovie detected the camera, asked me a few questions (video quality, destination, whether to check for stabilization issues), and then imported the video clips. It was trivially easy just the way I like it.

The Everio has a "Snapshot" mode to take still images, and I had tried it out. This meant that while I was working with iMovie, iPhoto also started up and offered to import the photos I'd taken. My verdict: it's OK for casual 1x use, but no substitute for a real digital camera. The problem is that the Everio's autostabilization mode only works for video, not for still images. This meant that a couple of 20x zoomed images, while impressively magnified, were hopelessly blurred. I'll stick with my Panasonic DMC-TZ4 for the still shots.

The JVC Everio is a tremendous little camera: compact, easy, light, and producing excellent HD video. (Yes, my Mac Mini feels a little underpowered for working with this.) The dual slot SD card design is excellent; the camera will automatically switch from one card to the next during recording, and you can swap cards on the fly. In XP mode (17 Mbps VBR 1920x1080) 16GB is good for 2 hours of recording, which feels about right. (You can crank it up to 24 Mbps, which will give you 1 hr. 20 min., or drop down to 5Mbps, at which point you can run for over 7 hours!) No more media juggling.....

There are tons of additional features in this camera, and sometime I may try them out. But for the basic job of plug-and-play HD video, this is hard to beat.

Recomended.

If I was able to give it a half of a star I would rate it as 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Let me start by saying I am not a techie kind of person, so I am writing this review as the average user. The JVC Everio GZ-HM200 is so small it fits in the palm of your hand. I currently own the Sony DCR-DVD305 1MP DVD Handycam Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom so I am use to tapping the LCD screen to select my options. This unit offers laser touch operation for easy menu selection and playback by using a touch sensor bar that runs vertically on the side of the LCD screen. I caught myself trying to still tap the LCD screen but after a little while of playing with it I broke myself from the habit. The dual SD memory cards is terrific idea. No more mini dvds to carry around. Recording automatically continues over the two SD cards so no need to be swapping the cards. You can even set to have your video recordings to go to one card and still images on another. I decided to use 8GB and a 4GB SD cards which will give me a total of approximately one and half hours of recording in XP (Avg. 17Mbps) mode. Powering up the camcorder could not be any easier just open the LCD screen. The LCD screen is crystal clear and playback on the camera for review and deleting is controlled by a touch of one button. The LCD screen also rotates 360 degree. The camcorder takes BEAUTIFUL still images. Vivid colors and what impressed me the most is the perfect focusing of the images. The face detection is a great feature that can recognize up too 16 faces that adjusts the focus and exposure for sharper images. The zoom power is incredible and focuses automatically. Battery life is approximately 1.5 hours of continuous use. Check out the customer images to see how wonderful the images came out. Using the zoom in video recording was not so great. The stability of the video was shaky, but I was also on a rocking boat so it might work better on a tripod.

Now to the not so great functions. The Everio MediaBrowser software is so-so. The easy to search calendar is really neat but playback of videos is choppy and just terrible. I decided to use another program, Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus. With this program the video was not choppy and it was easier to preview and edit. For the next test I connected the camcorder via a IOGear Series 2000 Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable, which is not supplied, to my HDTV and playback was perfect. Since I have a DVD recorder, I also dubbed the video to my DVD recorder and the video was clear and perfect with no jumping or skipping. JVC does offer a AVCHD recorder, JVC CU-VD50 Share Station DVD Burner for Everio Camcorders to burn and play your AVCHD discs but it is quite costly but it might make things easier.

I have inserted a video clip so you can see for yourself how the video comes out.

These are the steps I had to take to do it since you can only upload avi, flv, mov, mpg and wmv files on Amazon. The JVC Enverio saves in mts format.

1. Connect camcorder to PC

2. Choose export to Library

3. Open Enverio MediaBrowser and drag video file to export to iTunes.

4. Start Export, once complete open iTunes (50 second video took 13 minutes).

5. Now you can view it in your iTunes, but iTunes plays mp4 format so next step is to format the video to a savable/playable wmv format to upload on Amazon. Unless you have a program that changes mp4 to another format, this option is was quite useless for me unless I am viewing the videos on my iPod.

Now I attempted to change the format with my own program and this is all I had to do.

1. I opened my video editor program Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus [OLD VERSION]

2. Clicked on one button to convert video to wmv file format. It saved the file automatically (it took only 5 minutes to convert) and I was done and ready to upload on Amazon. So as you can see, using another video editor program makes things much easier and takes less time.

However, uploading to youtube is quite simple. You just need to set the camcorder to upload in the USB setting, open your youtube account and upload the video file directly from the drive your camcorder is connected from on your PC. Since youtube allows pretty much every kind of video format available, uploading the mts file was painless.

So as you can see, the Enverio MediaBrowser is somewhat useless and you are better off using another video editing program to convert and save your files to a format you can use easily.

Overall this camcorder is pretty neat, easy to use for video recording and still images. The small size of it makes it so convenient to carry and take with you anywhere. I purchased the JVC CB-V77U Soft Digital Camcorder Case (Black Blue) that was a perfect size to carry the camcorder and AC adapter. Just invest in a more user-friendly video editing conversion program.

Here are some additional links for items to consider:

More battery power-

1.5 hours JVC BN-VF808US 730-mAh Rechargeable Data Battery for JVC MiniDV and Everio Camcorders

3 hours JVC BN-VF815US 1460-mAh Rechargeable Data Battery for JVC MiniDV and Everio Camcorders

4.5 hours JVC BN-VF823U 2190-mAh Rechargeable Data Battery for JVC MiniDV and Everio Camcorders

Battery charger car adapter-

JVC BN-VF808, BN-VF815, BN-VF823 Replacement Battery Charger (Incl. Car and European Plug Adapters)

Battery charger kit-

JVC AA-VF8US Battery Charger for BN-VF8 Batteries

Buy JVC Everio GZ-HM200 Dual SD High-Def Camcorder (Black) Now

The JVC Everio GZ-HM200 is a very compact and feature rich HD Camcorder that performs well in most shooting conditions. I was very surprised by the small size and impressed with the range of options squeezed into the camera. This is a consumer grade camcorder, lacking some features that would appeal to the prosumer population. Here are my observations:

Pros -

* Great Video Image Quality Especially in UXP and XP Modes (except in low light see "Cons", below)

* Good Still Image Quality Surprising good JPG pictures can be taken even while shooting video, but sometimes a little jittery

* Accurate Face Recognition Helps keep people in focus (it was funny to see it recognize faces in paintings at a museum)

* Good Remote Control Includes Remote Control, a very handy feature

* Very Small Size The small size makes it easy to bring along as it can realistically be slipped into a pocket.

* Built in Light Very bright light can be set to "auto" and can save some shoots that would otherwise be lost or unusable due to poor lighting

* Dual SDHC Card Support The ability to save video to SDHC cards is great, coming from miniDV tapes this is a huge advantage since the footage doesn't have to be re-captured into the computer

* Quick Startup The camera is ready to record almost instantly after opening the LCD display

* Good User Interface The "Laser Touch" interface is simply cool and, more importantly, easy to use

* Easy Upload to YouTube The "One Touch" upload works very well

Cons -

* Weak Image Stabilization The digital Image Stabilization does make some difference, but the lack of mass of this small camera makes it harder to keep steady (especially at higher zoom levels)

* Poor Low Light Quality Video and stills shot in low light are very noisy, the built in light helps to some degree

* Slow Auto Focus Auto Focus can be sluggish when zooming

* Lack of Accessory Shoe Can not use standard video accessories like external light or microphone

* Lack of Microphone Input Jack No external microphone jack

* Weak Software The included software for video and still images is ok for clip management, but not useful for any real editing or project use

* Lack of HDMI Cable This was a huge surprise and disappointment. The camera has a mini HDMI port, but does not include a HDMI cable for connecting to HD equipment (does include composite video and audio cables)

I also picked up the following accessories (see my reviews) -

* 16gb SDHC Cards Transcend 16 GB SDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]

* Protective Lens Filter Tiffen 30.5MM UV Protector Filter

* Longer Life Battery JVC BN-VF815US 1460-mAh Rechargeable Data Battery for JVC MiniDV and Everio Camcorders

* HDMI Cable Mediabridge 5ft Mini-HDMI to HDMI Version 1.3b Category 2 1080p Blu-Ray

Overall, the pros outweigh the cons with this excellent camcorder and the small size makes it really convenient to take anywhere.

Recommended!

CFH

Read Best Reviews of JVC Everio GZ-HM200 Dual SD High-Def Camcorder (Black) Here

This video is test footage at a lake. As you may know water ripples are a true test of a HD camcorder and this one passes!

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I got this from a large discount club whose name starts with a 'C'. I paid $399.99 + $28 sales tax for a special bundle that included a free 4GB class 6 card and a free carrying case as well. My review is based keeping in mind this price point. If you can get this camcorder for under $450, it is worth it. Otherwise look at other models/manufacturers.

Now on to the review...

First impressions: This camcorder is tiny. Coming from a Sony Digital 8 camcorder, it seemed to be real small to me. The ergonomics are ok though and I did not have any major issues with accessing any of the features or usage. I did have a hard time initially where I was pressing the menu items on the LCD screen itself, not realizing that you need to scroll on the 'laser touch' bar on the side of the LCD screen to select a menu item and then press the OK button to activate it.

Build quality: 3.5/5. No major complaints, though I would have liked to see more metal and less plastic.

Video quality in clear daylight: 4/5 (Very good). I shot test videos in XP mode which is the 2nd highest quality. Scenes included a farmers market with lots of colors red tomatoes, yellow flowers, greens, etc and a few minutes of video in a park with lake and trees. Overall very pleased with the results and reds and yellows really came out nice and brilliant. The water on the lake came out nice and blue just like I saw it with naked eyes. Direct playback on my 46" Sony Bravia using the supplied component cable resulted in an image that could almost match the HDTV broadcasts. The zoom is quite fast and effective, though note the issue below.

Hint: 1) You need to set the signal format to output 1080i as the factory setting is 480p. Otherwise you will get poor playback quality. 2) While the zoom is great, you will want to invest in a tripod as the small size of the camera means that even small movements at high zoom result in unstable images.

Video quality indoors: 2.5/5 (borderline). A bit disappointing as the indoor video was quite grainy, even though I had some natural light coming in. For my own purpose, I am not too concerned as I have primarily bought this camcorder for outdoor use. If you plan to do a lot indoor shooting (birthday parties, for example), you need to either supplement indoor light or buy another (expensive) camcorder. This camcorder does have a built in light that can be activated, but it does not make a great deal of difference. Again, keep in mind the price point you need to shell out $700 or more to get a camcorder with decent indoor capability.

Audio quality: 3/5 (Adequate): Human voices were captured quite nicely and the wind cut function worked well. The microphone was sensitive enough to pick up distant music in the park.

Software: 3/5 (Adequate): I had no problems playing videos using Windows Vista Ultimate. Nero Vision was able to recognize the .mts files produced by this camcorder without any issues.

Battery life: 3.5/5 (Fair): No worse than what I have seen with other camcorders. I was able to stretch to almost 100 minutes of combined shooting + playback. For my own use, I do not see a need for an extra battery as I rarely shoot more than 60 minutes of video in one go. I do carry a charger/inverter in my car when going on road trips so I can charge the battery while on road.

Digital still quality: Nothing of note here except to say that you need to get a dedicated still camera if you are serious about photography. For those not so special moments, this camcorder may be used to snap a few pictures.

Manual: This is a bit skimpy and does not cover all of the menus and their uses. I wish JVC would rewrite the manual to include explanations of all the menus and features.

Other thoughts: This camcorder has dual SD card slots which is really useful. The built-in lens cover looks a bit fragile so I suggest a getting a good carrying case.

Bottom line: Nice camcorder for the value conscious customer who realizes that no matter how much you spend, things are going to get obsolete in 1-2 years anyway.

Buy this camera if:

You shoot primarily outdoors in good daylight

Need a small and light device with reasonably good video quality

Can get it for $450 or less

Do not buy this camera if:

Indoor video quality is of primary concern (spend $800 or more on a much better camcorder in this case)

Need a bit more crisper HD video here you need to spend over $1,000 on a camcorder with a bigger sensor.

Mp4 Mp3 Player 2GB 1.8'' LCD with Fm Radio PINK

• NOT AN APPLE PRODUCT AND DOES NOT SUPPORT ITUNES
• INCLUDES EARPHONES, USB CABLE (30 PIN IPOD DOCK CONNECTOR)
• USB charger only or No ac charger included
• simple plug and play,acts like a flash drive

i purchased this mp3 player thinking that looks good,

but do not let the looks fool you.

the mp3 player did not work, it skips songs,

it will play a song for 3 seconds and it would stop.

there is no way i could ever listen to a song. it is garbage.

i have been contacted the seller to return it for a refund, but

there is no way i can talk to anyone, the do not answer the phone,

i have been calling them for over a week, i have e-mailed them so many times,

i just can not get them to talk to me, they will not return any of my emails or calls.

this is B.S.

dont ever buy anything from these ppl because they suck.

i wish i would do smth to those idiots that sell garbage like

this and never take any responsability.

it sucks

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Don't even use it. Mp3 locks automatically, have to turn it off every time to change the song. Very annoying, was not happy with this purchase.

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Bought this for my 6 year old who loves music. Took it out before her birthday to download music on it...it came with NO instruction, NO information, NOTHING...tried to figure it out-added songs, and they would not download onto the player!! They showed up in the location for the drive it was plugged into, but player said "Empty File". This was very frustrating & a huge disappointment!!! Bit the bullet & gave her a REAL i-pod.

Saving money isn't always worth it.

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I got this for daughter since she is 8 and I didn't want to spend alot of money on an Ipod and have her lose it, I figured this was a good look alike. She loved it and is still going strong.

very good product as far as we know. It has not yet been given to it's new owner. the literature on this one confirms it is as was described om web site. Based our other 2 orders of this product on this one without realizintg they were NOT all from Amazon, nor were they all similar in ability

M-Audio Fast Track US44010 USB Audio Interface with GT-Player Express Software

• USB audio interface for recording guitar and vocals on Mac or PC music software
• Dynamic microphone input (XLR) with gain control and signal LEDs
• Switchable 1/4-inch instrument/line input and 1/8-inch stereo headphone output
• Drag-and-drop loop-based music creation > make great music even if it's your first time
• Jam and record your own tracks for guitar, vocals, keyboards and more > embrace your inner rock star

I read several reviews of this product before buying it so I knew what I was getting into. It seemed like the mix of comments were either the product was really good or really horrible. The horrible comments seemed to center around difficulty with the setttings. Hopefully what I write here will help someone else get it up and running b/c I think it really is a nice product for the $.

This product works great with my MacBook using garageband. It sounds really good too and the price is definitely right. That's the good news. The bad news is that it does take some time to fiddle with the settings to get working. Once you know what to do though, it's a snap.

First off, my mac recognized the box right off the bat since its USB compliant. I didn't have to do anything for it to recognize the box. However, two settings must be configured properly on the mac to get it to work the rest of the way: the input and output settings in the "sound" settings of the "System Properties" need to be set to "Fast Track USB." Make sure to crank the volume on the input setting all the way up (to the right). Second, you have to set your garageband settings properly...

Go into Garageband's "Preference" menu item and set the input and output to "Fast Track USB" as well. Then, plug your guitar into the 1/4" jack on the box. Finally, create a "real instrument" in garageband. You have to set the real instrument's track to read CHANNEL 2 and set the "monitor" to "on." That way you'll be able to hear the guitar through your speakers connected to the box (Incidentally, the XLR input on the box s/b considered channel 1 and the 1/4" input channel 2).

On the box, set the "mix" knob all the way to the right (full "playback" mode). Set the XLR "input" knob on the box all the way to the left. Set the "Output" knob high to the right. Now start playing your guitar. You should now be able to hear your guitar just fine through your speakers.

The extra software that comes with the box is awesome too expecially the GT effects software. This stuff has really great sounds. With this, you won't need all the effects pedals; it's all right there with GT.

Now, the manuals are really poor. You'll find no help in them. In trying to get this thing working I poured over the forum comments on m-audio's site. Review comments their gave me some idea of what to do, but not completely. I had to do a little google searching before I got the other answers to the puzzle. Therefore, I only gave the product a total of 4 stars: 4 stars for the great sound and awesome software, but a ding for the crappy manuals and website support. I would buy the product again though.

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I've got to say that this unit works perfectly with my wife's powerbook. Unlike other posters, I had NO problems with it at all on my G5 at work, my G4 at home and her powerbook. The sound is fantastic and it works really well with the Apple audio control program which recognizes it right away. My setup for mic level input includes a professional mic which is amplified by a separate mic amp. The output of that line level amp feeds right into this unit. Additionally, the sound output to my headphones is a step above what is built into my G5.

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Like one reviewer noted I too experienced an extremely high noise level plugging an electric guitar into the 1/4" jack. The direct box into the XLR input is the way to go. I hope this is limited to just our interfaces and not the whole batch produced. This product when using Windows ONLY works with XP It wouldn't install on my Millenium Edition computer. I have set up my laptop with Sonar Home Studio 4.0 and the Fast Track works great for laying down ideas on the road. Latency is minimal, and works well as an external sound card. I'm surprised that M-Audio didn't include a software mixer like other interfaces. It's a value for an interface less than $100.

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I've been using this for a while now under both Mac and Windows. Setup on the Mac was dead simple, but I never did figure out how to manually set the latency in OSX. The latency in GarageBand can get a little rough when you add some effects, but that's likely more to do with my processor (a G4 PowerBook) than the interface. But overall I don't even remember setting it up on my laptop, which is probably a good sign.

On Windows I didn't have too many problems once I got the Vista drivers. I've been using CakeWalk Music Maker 4, and once you get the right audio setting in the application (which can be a bit of a pain, but again not M-Audio's fault) you're set. Though I will say that disconnecting the USB cord while the sound card is busy is the one time I've managed a blue screen in Vista! But that's not entirely unreasonable. As far as latency goes, I've got a fast enough processor that if I set the latency on the Fast Track to the minimum (this can be set through the control panel in Windows) I get no perceivable latency. Oh, and if you're not using the ASIO drivers, that's probably part of your problem.

I've been using the 1/4" jack with little problem...I have to up the input levels in my application (which is a pain in GarageBand, easier in Cakewalk) but as long as I stay away from the monitor and fluorescent lights I don't really get any considerable noise. I may try the XLR route anyway, though.

This is a perfectly serviceable item for somebody just looking to do some casual recording on the PC, or in place of an amp when traveling (also allows for a wide array of amp/effect combinations without buying hardware). If you're looking to do anything even semi-serious (such as recording multiple instruments, or record actual tracks with a band) you might want to spend a little more. But for "personal" use thing thing's great...better than anything else I've seen or sampled in the same price range.

Also I've noticed that a large number of the negative reviews seem to have more to do with setup problems (or incompatibility problems) than the actual quality of the product. Like I said, I don't even remember setting it up on a Mac and on Windows (Vista) it was relatively simple. Provided you're moderately competent with computers you should have little trouble.

The hardware device works great with my Intel Core2 duo MacBook and an electric guitar. I was surprised how well it worked! I had mixed results with an acoustic guitar using a sound-hole external pickup, but was still usable (just really quiet) Here are some things I've learned...

*The knobs on the front of the unit are only used to control the mix and volume of the playback back to you if you are using the RCA-out for monitors or are using the headphone jack on the unit. They serve NO purpose for recording.

*The stereo mono switch is only used to separate sound in the playback. Mono will mix both signals into both speakers. Stereo will play the mic out of one speaker and the instrument out of the other. No recording use on this switch either.

*The signal LED is only for the Mic input. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to be working when you're just laying down guitar tracks.

*It is important to use the line level/guitar switch on the back correctly (this WILL affect recording)!

*In your Mac system settings make sure to set both the sound in and out to the Fasttrack.

*In GarageBand make sure both the input and output in the preferences are set to the fasttrack unit (make sure it's attached and powered up before you launch GB). Plug in your guitar and Mic. Create 2 new tracks in garageband. Make sure to assign the vocal track to channel 1 and the guitar to channel 2 or this won't work. You also want to make sure to turn the monitor setting to ON so you can hear it in your headphones you've plugged into the fasttrack.

*If you are getting a lot of noise and static (like I was initially) move the fastrack unit as far away from your PC as possible. This really helped cut down on the noise. It works even better if I use a powered USB hub to get even farther away from the PC. Same for your Mic and Instrument. Although the sound transmission is digital from the Fasttrack to the Mac, the sound the FastTrack picks up is analog and it doesn't seem to be well shielded or grounded.

*The included Live Lite software is bad. Skip it all together. Even the included tutorial was awful. It kept telling me to click on things in panels that are hidden by default, with no instruction on where to find them to display them. Stick to GarageBand.

Great little unit. One of my favorite Christmas presents ever!

Samsung Impression A877 Unlocked

I've had this phone for over a year now. When I first got it, I loved it! I wanted the qwerty keyboard, and going from a 'regular' cell phone without the keyboard to this, was fabulous! In the beginning, it was easy to text (compared to the 'other' way), but I started to realize it was missing letters in the texts. For example; I would type 'momma' and it would type 'oma'. So you have to go back and add the missing letters. Sometimes when you go back and type the absent letters, it would type two letters in its place, seeming like they were in the queue from the last time it was pressed. Now, instead of being 'oma' it would be 'mmmoma'.

As mentioned in a lot of other reviews, sometimes the text messages don't send (or receive) without turning the phone off and back on. This is certainly an inconvenience, especially if you don't know you were receiving a text. When you turn the phone back on, it takes a few minutes to find data again.

One disappointment is the locking/unlocking button on the right side of the phone. The placement of this button is really an annoyance. When you try unlocking it with one hand and as you're holding it, trying to push the button, the screen starts sliding toward the button. This makes the button go underneath the screen and you have to grab it with the other hand to slide it back together. This is something you can get used to and master but still a major aggravation in the beginning. Not to mention when other people need to use your phone and try unlocking it.

The lack of apps is another disappointment. I know this isn't a smart phone and if it is supposed to be, it is clearly lacking in apps and ability to handle data. If you are looking at this phone for texting or as a cheaper way of having a 'smart phone', I suggest looking at another brand and/or model. I do caution on the Samsung brand 'keyboards' though. With the three samsung phones I've had, the qwerty keyboards all skip or double letters when typing.

I was having problems with a phone that was also samsung. It is the only brand I buy because of satisfaction with the phones. I have prepaid thru tmobile and found that any gsm phone will work. This phone is great. I wish the directions were better but the paperwork does give a website to go to and that does tell you what you need to know. I love my phone. It works great and I think it is a good choice for someone who has never had a touch screen before. I do not know what happened with other customers but I swear by Samsung phones. I need the qwerty keyboard because for me the keyboard on the touch screen isn't a good idea because I have tremors. I prefer the qwerty keyboard. I just can't say enough about this phone.

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Phone working great and very happy with it. Its just what I wanted and got This my second

time ordering on line and Amazon really tries

to to get things right.

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One would not CHARGE any battery(defect in phone).

Neither issue Vendors fault.

One thing you need to know about NEW Samsung phones,Wherever purchased,or bought online.

IF the phone was made 12 months before you purchased it, it has ZERO warranty.

IOW buy a NEW model,or you get no warranty from Samsung.(only way to tell for sure is w/phones serial#, and IME #), which no one can give you, as boxes are sealed.

Most manufacturers warranties start at IN SERVICE date.

Not SAMSUNG.In this regard, they are rated ZERO from me.Phone is new, if it has never been opened or put into service IMHO.

Second NEW phone(Impression Deax),came used,sold as NIB.(Vendor could not have known as it was shipped direct from his Vendor to me).

Vendors in both cases gave promt refunds and,one paid return UPS.

Amazon vendors are great, never had to battle over a return.

Or a credit.

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I bought this phone just over a year ago at a bargain basement price of .01 (yes, 1 penny) so I cannot complain about the price, especially since it was a pretty new model at the time. I wanted the QWERTY keyboard and thought this would be a good starting place for me before investing in a smart phone.

However, I found that there were never any software updates done to get rid of the bug that would cause the phone to freeze up while sending texts.

Three weeks ago, my screen went dead everytime I slid open the keyboard so I couldn't see what I was typing. Eventually it came on again for two days, then went back off again.

I finally got a new phone today and it is not a Samsung brand. I was told at the cell store that this is a frequent problem with this phone and it's been happening to a lot of people. I'd avoid this phone if you want it to work long term.

Overall, I liked the phone when it worked right but I wouldn't buy one again and the phone I had made me shy away from investing in another Samsung phone.

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