Onkyo DVSP405S Progressive Scan DVD Player with HDMI Output Silver

• HDMI output with 1080p Upscaling
• DVD Video,VCD,DVD±R/RW* ,DVD±R DL* MP3 CD,WMA CD,Audio CD,CD-R/RW, JPEG Encoded Picture CD Playback
• Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Outputs
• Progressive Scan Video Output
• Disc Navigator for Easy Browsing

UNTIL NOW THIS DVD PLAYER HAS DONE THE JOB, AND I HAVE HAD IT FOR 7 MONTHS ALREADY . IT PRESENTS GREAT PICTURE QUALITY, PLAYS CD'S FLAWLESSLY WITHOUT SKIPPING OR ANY SOUND MALFUNCTIONS AND LOOKS GREAT WITH MY ONKYO 7.1 SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM. DEFINITELY A GREAT BUY.

Sony DCR-HC36 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom

After having used an old bread-loaf-sized Sony 8mm camcorder with great success for many years, I felt it was time for an upgrade. Modern feature-packed MiniDV cameras have become very reasonably priced, as the DCR-HC36's barely $300 price tag attests, so it was only a matter of which features I wanted I prefer a powerful telephoto lens, and Sony has a curious habit of reducing zoom power the higher up the product line you go, so even though the HC36 is middle-of-the-road in the Sony camcorder lineup, its full 20x optical zoom made it a natural choice.

Modern MiniDV cameras are also very reasonably sized; occupying less than half a cubic foot, the HC36 weighs in at less than a pound even with the battery and tape. That's about large cheeseburger size, or the size of a digital camera from a few years ago. Despite toy-like dimensions, the sculpted duo-tone exterior and handsome chrome lens bezel lend to a quality look and finish.

Those of you intimidated by the arms-length list of features who "just want to hit record and go" will be glad to know that the HC36 has an Easy button. Located right next to the Sony logo on the left side of the camera is a blue button labeled yes, really "Easy". Pressing this button puts the camera into everything-automatic mode, and also increases the size of text on the display (very handy for the reading glasses set), allowing the old-school and I'm-not-technical school alike to record full quality video. You don't even have to know how to flip out the LCD screen, the Easy button literally makes the camcorder point-and-shoot.

The more technically inclined are accommodated with tailored personalization. Nearly all the camera's functions are controlled by the touch screen LCD's menu system, but Sony uses a clever shortcut; A personalized menu which you can set to display the features you want any camera function, such as exposure, white balance, etc., can be set as a menu button; A single touch of the LCD brings up the menu of buttons you've set to display. No scrolling through menus to get to some deeply-buried function, just press the screen and there's the menu that you made with your functions. This system is in some cases faster than physical buttons on the camera itself!

And there's no shortage of functions to play with. The HC36 features two different levels of night vision; "Nightshot Plus" employs an infra-red lamp on the front of the camera providing a fully lit view up to about ten feet even in total darkness, while "Super Nightshot Plus" bumps up the light sensitivity by slowing the shutter speed great for distance viewing in low light, or shots of the night sky (night vision can see stars that you can't). A Tele Macro function captures close-up sharp images from a few feet away, and the Spot Focus feature makes focusing a breeze just touch what you want focused on the touch-screen and it focuses to that object.

There's the usual basic palette of picture effects and faders included, but the true video editor will of course want to use the computer, which is what the MiniDV format was made for. An i.LINK jack (i.LINK is Sony's name for Firewire/IEEE1394, they're one and the same) is provided for a quick and quality connection. A note to the uninitiated: *DO NOT use a USB connection to export video to your computer.* The USB format is slower and will result in poorer-quality video. Connecting by Firewire provides a better-than-TV image using the right software I avoid using bundled software when possible, and would recommend using Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 or Sony's own Vegas DVD program, both of which offer free trials to see which you prefer.

The HC36's still picture feature is a novelty; you must purchase/provide a Memory Stick Duo for the function to work, and while 640x480 VGA size images are nothing compared to a digital camera, it can be entertaining when combined with the camcorder's other features using the digital zoom and NightShot for example, you can capture an image from several hundred feet away in near darkness. Fun, but a real digital camera is still the way to go for photographs.

Connections are the HC36's weak point. The aforementioned Firewire jack is there, but the cable is not included. An analog video/audio jack (out only, no in) is provided along with RCA-ended cable to connect to your television or analog source, but because the jack and cable are non-standard and unique, should you lose the cable, you'll have to go to Sony to get another. And there's no mic input. The built-in stereo mic can record 16-bit high-quality audio, but a camcorder with this many features should have this one more.

Overall, the HC36 is the sweet spot in the Sony camcorder lineup, a big-quality features-heavy camcorder in a small, lightweight package, with a tiny price to match. Five stars for Sony's movie-making multi-tool.

(Addendum: Why not DVD? DVD camcorders offer similar features, however you must pay hundreds more for a DVD camera than a similarly-featured MiniDV cam. They're also noticably larger, and DVDs aren't nearly as easy to work with You must format a DVD before using it, which requires setting the camera on a steady surface and waiting several moments. Recording at the highest quality setting, a camcorder DVD will hold only 20 minutes, and then you must "finalize" the disc before playing it in any other DVD player. Should you need to replace the DVD during an important timely event, or forget to finalize the disc before giving it to someone or storing it, you're pretty much out of luck. Because the DVD camcorder system is set up to just play the DVD as-is, editing or getting the video on computer can be a long and very complicated process. Whereas MiniDV tapes last an hour, were made for editing, and offer slap-it-in-and-go convenience. If you have the extra money and just want to play back video as you shot it, a DVD camcorder is a possibility, but at a fraction of the price and complication, the MiniDV cam is the bang-for-the-buck convenience-is-king winner.)

The camera works great but ...Neither Sony nor Pixela, the makers of the Picture Package software that comes with some Sony camcorders with mini-disks tells you that the software IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS XP, SERVICE PACK 2! It will crash your computer or not work properly. DO NOT install the Picture Package software if you have run Windows XP. If you have a DVD player on your computer, you can download the photos from the mini-disk without this dangerous software. Shame on Sony and Pixela for selling the software to Windows XP users or including it with the camera without a warning.

Buy Sony DCR-HC36 MiniDV Digital Handycam Camcorder with 20x Optical Zoom Now

I purchased the HC36 as a backup to a Sony VX2000. I filmed a play in low light and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video. I was able to intermix the video from the HC36 with the VX2000 with only a slight difference in quality. The onboard mic was also excellent! more than I expected. I hadn't planned on using the audio from this camcorder, but in the end I did use about 20% of the audio for a 2-hour production.

I have owned several camcorders over the years and I'm always pleased with the quality of Sony. I will definitely use the HC36 as a backup for wedding shoots.

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I bought this camera tonight, and after a little confusion, I am pleased. There are other reviewers out there that state you can only transfer the video to VCD. The problem is that the documentation is unclear about this. All you have to do is go to Start Menu>Picture Package>Handycam Tools>Video Capturing Tool.

I shot a small test video, transferred it, and all is well. I will recommend getting a Firewire cord when you buy the Camcorder, as it does not come with one. The quality on the firewire vs. USB video is more than noticable.

All in all, a good starter cam with more than enough features to keep you playing for some time.

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I bought it a week ago. Tried some shooting and transfered from HC36 tape to PC smoothly with firewire connection (not USB)and Windows Movie Maker/Sony Vegas 6.0. The picture quality is good for resolution up to 720x480 (high quality). Don't expect too much from this handycam, only the basic video shooting will do. If you want to make 'Hollywood-like' movie, this is not the right choice. You need to have spare battery, the standard is about 80 minutes. One of the reason I chose Sony HC series is you can have an optional battery(NPFP90) up to around 500 minutes. For me it is important as I don't want to carry a lot of spare batteries and keep changing batteries while travelling in remote area.

For me it's a good product for what I paid.

DTVpal DVR

I bought an HDTV about one year ago. At that time, they were being sold with an SD tuner installed as well, so I could still record broadcast TV shows on my old VCR. I only watch broadcast TV; I live in a rural area that has poor cable service and I didn't want to pay for satellite since I don't watch that much. At the same time, I'm not home when a lot of the shows I like are on the air, so I need a recorder. I thought I could get by with a converter box hooked up to my old VCR, but that only works when you're there to control it. Since the VCR is no longer tuning the channels, you have to be there to change channels on the converter box. Not a great solution, although it has limited use.

For a long time the only option available was TiVo. But TiVo charges you $13 a month for the "privilege" of owning a TiVo. I have friends who love TiVo, and if you're a real TV/cable junkie, I can see where it might be worth the monthly fee. But I already know what I want to record; I already know when the shows are on. Why should I pay TiVo a monthly fee to tell me what I already know?

This DVR is about $100 more expensive than the comparable TiVo DVR. But not having to pay the $13/month fee, you break even in about seven months.

Overall I'm very satisfied with it. I needed a digital, HD replacement for my old VCR, and this product fits the bill. And more. Here are my "Pros":

The advertisments state it has 20 hours of HD storage, but actually it has 35 hours HD storage, not the as-advertised 20.

Excellent picture quality. I see no difference between the broadcast show and the recorded show.

Very easy to set up recording. If you want to record a show one-time, you can just select it when you're in the programming guide, and press the record button. If you want to set it up to do a repeat recording (daily, weekly, etc.) it's only a few easy additional steps.

The programming guide is far superior to the on-air guide my HDTV provides. This DVR gets its program information from the on-air broadcasts just like the TV, but the presentation and ease of browsing is much better.

I love the ability to pause, rewind, fast-forward. Even watching live TV. My TiVo friends were all extolling the virtues of TiVo because it offers these features. Well, this DVR does it all for no monthly fee, and they are great.

OK. It's not perfect. Here's my list of "Cons" so far:

If you buy one, it will be delivered with an obsolete operating system. The very first thing you should do after the initial set-up is complete is go out to the web page and download the latest version of the DVR's operating system. Mine had several annoying issues that were resolved by updating the software, but when you do that you loose all the channel and programming information (though not any recorded shows) and it all has to be reconfigured. Update the software right after you plug it in. I will give 'em this it is very easy to update.

The Guide supposedly stores a week's worth of programming info, but in reality it only goes forward about 12 hours. Most everything else displays as "unavailable".

Part of the set-up is selecting a time for the DVR to update its programming info. You don't want to do this at a time when you would be watching or recording, because it interrupts everything, so I set it to 2 am. BUT, it also attempts to find new "services" (channels). 100% of the time, it finds poor signals that are probably out there but I can never watch, so I have to manually delete them. It's annoying. The software should give me the option of disabling that, but as far as I can tell, I can't.

It started up one evening with time set to 12 noon. The next day it was back to being correct, and it DID NOT mess up the scheduled recordings, but still that indicates an instability in the operating system.

This next one is particularly annoying, but requires some explanation. There are two HD tuners in the DVR so that you can record two shows simultaneously. This really is great, I love it. That's not the annoying part. You can also set a system default to start all recordings a few minutes early and end a few minutes late (you can select the number of minutes). This is also a great feature. The broadcaster's clocks don't always coincide with mine. However, when recording two back-to-back programs on the same channel, it temporarily uses both tuners for the 1-2 minutes of overlap most users set. It is recording the same show on both tuners. If you have another show on a different channel set to start recording at the same time as the second show on the first channel, one of them will not record because there are only two tuners. And it doesn't just not record the first few minutes because of the overlap. Once it detects that there are effectively three shows set to record at the same time, it cancels one of them and never starts it back up. The fix for this is to set a "timer" to record the two back-to-back shows as a single event instead of two events. Now that I have figured this out, I can live with it, but the software should be sophisticated enough to do this for me.

I keep getting an annoying onscreen pop-up message that the ethernet connection has been lost, and it can't check for updates. This happens once per night.

There is no off-switch (no kidding). The only way to turn it off is to unplug it. If your entertainment center is like mine, the outlets are all hidden behind the furniture. No problem when your amplifier or tuner, etc., has an on/off button. But a big problem for this DVR if you ever need to turn it off. Yes, you can hit the power button on the remote, but the hard drive runs continuously and the unit is always putting out a noticeable amount of heat. Also, twice (before I updated the O.S.) it has frozen up. If you read the user's manual, it tells you that the only way to reset it is to unplug it for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. FORTUNATELY, that is apparently not true. It behaves like a locked up PC. If you hold down the power button on the remote for about five seconds, it will reboot itself without having to unplug it.

Here are some "nice to haves", in case anyone from Dish NW reads this:

I would like to be able to delete segments (for example, commercials) from stored recordings.

Why does the DVR wipe out my live TV recording just because I change the channel? It's just a signal. I'm watching what I'm watching. Keep recording whatever I'm watching. I may want to go back to what I was watching (isn't that the point of recording it?).

This DVR is not attractive. Hire someone to design a decent-looking case.

I am disgusted. We bought the unit less than 1 year ago and it's worked fine, more or less, until yesterday. The box has suddenly stopped working and the warranty only 90 days is out. It's not a cheap unit and there's little that can be done to fix it when on the fritz. "We suggest you buy another unit," from customer service is, needless to say, less than satisfactory.

Buy DTVpal DVR Now

Just dumped Dish Network with my 722 high def dual DVR. The rates were slowly increasing and it was no longer worth $60/month as most of what we were recording/watching was on local primetime channels. Plus we replaced our 2nd TV with a HD one so the dual tuner was producing a non-clear picture on the 2nd TV as the dual part only showed one in HD, the other in SD.

First we hooked back up our old TV antenna in the attic. This is NOT a HD antenna, just the old normal kind from Radio Shack. We were impressed with the reception since TV signals went digital. Picture was crystal clear.

We ordered this DPal DVR from amazon.com. Because it only comes with a 90 day warranty, we added a 3 year service agreement with Squaretrade Warranty for $33. This was also purchased through amazon.com.

Setup was relatively easy. There is a setup wizard which guides you through setup. I had trouble initially with trying to move through the setup wizard (so called the 888 number on the screen for help). The help number is basically to Dish Network (who originally sold this product). They were most unhelpful and kept asking if I wanted to re-activate my Dish account. I hung up. Turned out the batteries in the remote were not clicked in fully and once I did this, everything worked great. Upon installation it said it updated the software (not sure how as I didn't have it hooked to any internet). The software was the latest version (or at least the firmware).

I agree, there is no on/off button which would be nice to have. You have to unplug if you want to reset it.

Also, when recording, there is an option to choose ONCE, WEEKLY, WEEKDAYS. I'm assuming this means a repeat timer for weekly shows will be active. Will find out.

If you've used Dish Network's DVRs before, the remote is identical and will be easy to use.

I had to sync the remote with my Sony TV which was easy with their directions. I tried to sync my DVD player and VCR but no luck so far. Too many codes to wade through, so I gave up on that.

So far I've recorded 3 shows, 2 of them simultaneously, with no problem.

One annoying feature is that when you go to the TV guide, it stops playing the current show. With Dish Network's receiver/DVR I had previously, the show kept playing in the corner so you didn't miss anything while checking the guide. The volume goes off and you do not see the picture when checking the guide. I suppose though, you could just hit the back button and see what you missed. So it's really a non-issue, but different from the DVR I had before.

The DVR is quite user friendly, and it's nice to see everything in easy to read/understand format.

Yes, I recommend this product. But I recommend an extended warranty just based on some comments/reviews here. Worth the extra $ if I need to use it.

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Finally fed up with paying over $100 a month to watch tv, I recently ditched cable television. I bought an outside antenna and an internet connected Blu-Ray player with a subscription to Netflix. The only thing we missed was the convenience of the DVR we had through Verizon. The DTVPal is a wonderful replacement! True it might not be as fancy as the Verizon box but after being without a DVR for a month, the DTVPal sure fills the gap. Set-up was easy. A few cables to the tv and a few setup screens once the DVR was powered on and I was up and running in no time, recording our shows, pausing and rewinding live tv, etc. Somehow the box updated itself to the latest firmware after it was powered up so I didn't even have to bother with that! The HD picture on my 37 inch LCD looks great! The programming guide is impressive (even though it only goes about 24 hours into the future) and setting up events for recording our favorite shows is a snap. The remote is similar to most cable company remotes so it's easy to get use to. If you're like me and are making the transition to OTA television, the DTVPal is a great way to re-create the cable television experience.

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I love it. it updated itself in the first five minutes of being connected to the router. The video quality , in my opinion is great. The guide is really sweet. It goes to sleep on its own and handles DVR recording like a VCR only better. I was late recording the Mentalist the other night because I was wrapped up in a movie and it recorded the whole show, in spite of me being late by about ten minutes. You can zoom in your view to fill the whole screen on older tv's and the picture quality is still excellent. The HDTV picture quality on tvs fed by HDMI is unreal! The sound is incredible when you use it this way also. I am not sure about durability yet but I will comment later if anything changes. I covered this with a extended SQUARE TRADE warranty, which I feel was a good idea considering the technology used on this thing. All the features are well thought out, even without PIP you still get a great viewing experience. My old DISH 301 remote also controls this thing. I have a UNIVERSAL remote that controls it as well, only the POWERBLASTER does not resend the signal for some reason. I am looking into this right now and will report back if I get it working with this DVR. I am very pleased with this DVR and may even cancel my sattelite subscription if it proves to be consistent in delivering...

Esky C5900 H.264 IP Camera, Internet WiFi Wireless/Wired, Pan Tilt, 2-way audio, Build-in DVR, Moti

The Esky 5900 has a lot of potential and software that kind of works.

Fine (not great) control features, good (not great) video and okay control software.

And the firmware is upgradable! Which is important to me because of the last problem with the 5900.

The biggest problem is you can't use it from the Internet. At least you can right up until the point someone who wants to pwn it takes it over.

From the Esky forum, a small list of security problems:

1: Port 23 is open for telnet with a login of root and no password

2: /mnt/config/login.cgi shows the administrators login and password

3: full busybox installed allowing you to do almost anything you want

4: /mnt/config/system.ini contains the entire configuration of the web setup, including the Wireless networks ssid login and password in the clear.

5: No way to change the root password as it is mounted read only.

6: /mnt/www is rw allowing anyone to modify the web pages since root has no pw.

7: without any authentication you can type http://webcamip/rebootme.htm and it will reboot the camera.

8: Same idea as 6, /mnt/www can store any file allowing it to host files for download without the need of a login/pw.

9: http://webcamip/status.htm does not require authentication

This is my second C5900 camera. I love that it takes a micro SD card (up to 32GB)which allows the camera to record continuously without the need for another device or computer. I can simply log on within Windows IE and watch any recordings that have occurred from any Windows internet enabled device. When on the road, I can watch live video via my Iphone or Android tablet. Plus, I have them set up to email me whenever either camera detects motion and the camera will also send a snapshot of what triggered the motion.

As my title suggests, this camera needs to be updated, both the firmware and embedded web UI to make it function correctly. Plus the latest firmware supposedly has closed the ability for hackers to get into your network. Please log onto Esky's users forum to read about this. The Esky support staff is pretty quick to reply to problems on the forum and offers useful advice.

Buy Esky C5900 H.264 IP Camera, Internet WiFi Wireless/Wired, Pan Tilt, 2-way audio, Build-in DVR, Moti Now

I had purchased this 2 weeks ago. Was a bit of a struggle to set it up (I am an IT professional) mainly because manual is not easy to follow and software is bit weird to set up. But camera works as expected. Can access thru wifi and i have registered for dynamic dns service (free) which allows me to access it from outside of my wifi network. Comes with company ddns but i was not in favor of using Somalia's url (http://xxxx.ipcam.so). Can access via Android but with very limited control options. Only big issue i have found so far is that i can't upload images and video both to my FTP server when an alarm is triggered (motion detection). It only uploads images. I have to store video locally. H264 is a plus. Image quality is good with daylight and/or at night (8-10 feet). Overall it's good but leaves room for huge improvements especially on software side. Support never got back to my email queries, website is a mess (everything on the site is 'coming soon'!!

Read Best Reviews of Esky C5900 H.264 IP Camera, Internet WiFi Wireless/Wired, Pan Tilt, 2-way audio, Build-in DVR, Moti Here

You will need to upgrade the firmware and also the web UI (interface) right off the bat. It's fairly easy to do, though the web UI is still odd and turns a lot of features off depending on your browser. Most controls only work on Internet Explorer, but if you want to view the videos on your SD Card, you have to use either Firefox, Chrome or Safari. Get used to it, because this is just the beginning of the inexplicable idiosyncrasies of this camera.

You'll almost need a Computer Science degree to get this camera set up. When you finally do get it working, your troubles only just begin. It saves the videos in a .h264 file type. I don't mean it saves them as mp4s which use the h264 codec. No. I mean the filetype is .h264, and won't play natively on QuickTime, Windows Media Player, MPEG Streamclip or VLC. In fact, that filetype isn't recognized on Windows or Mac OSX at all.

After hours and hours of trial and error (because the documentation with this camera is spotty and the forums aren't much better), luckily I found the files would play on MPlayer but not very well. As for Mac, no such luck. I had to use a random shareware video convertor to convert the files into a watchable format on Mac. Seriously, would it hurt the manufacturers to use a file format that's universally known such as mp4 or even avi? For this reason alone I'd recommend everyone to skip this camera. It's not worth the headache. Setup is difficult enough, but couple the file type fiasco and the fact that it will need to be restarted fairly often, I give this camera a big fat thumbs down.

Update: There is a way to view the videos in Internet Explorer. There's a little video playback icon at the bottom of the UI. It allows you to view and delete files from the IE browser. I missed it because the documentation on this camera is next to none. And because it's not well documented, I spent too long looking for workarounds for video playback and even bought a conversion software. So the one star stays.

Want Esky C5900 H.264 IP Camera, Internet WiFi Wireless/Wired, Pan Tilt, 2-way audio, Build-in DVR, Moti Discount?

This could be a great little camera, except that a couple of the main selling points don't work. I haven't been able to get the email or ftp alerts to work. These should both be no brainers, but no matter what I try, no joy.

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Bell+Howell Take2HD T200-BK Camcorder with HD Recording, 1x Optical Zoom and 2-Inch LCD Screen (Bla

This was such a great price I had to try this camera out. I had problems with it from the time I took it out of the box. The power switch was very unresponsive and even worse was the record button. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't and it was very frustrating when trying to film to not have it respond. Now I will say the few videos I took were wonderful and the others that I missed because I couldn't get it to record at all would have been good, too! After about 10 days the power button just quit. It wouldn't power on at all. It wasn't the battery or anything else, the little button was just stuck in the down position and it wouldn't release -or turn on.

I contacted Amazon and they were VERY responsive and I got a full refund -after taking the camera to the post office and paying the expense to ship it back. SO I was out the camera and the cost of shipping. My Flip arrived yesterday! Should have gone with the camera I really wanted and that had tons of great reviews.

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Sony HDRCX580V High Definition Handycam 20.4 MP Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom and 32 GB Embedded

I just purchased this video camera on Monday evening, Feb. 6, 2012 from Beach Camera and received it today. I have only been able to work/play with the camera for a few hours, but these are my experiences so far.

1. This was my first experience ordering from Beach Camera, through Amazon. Was a little concerned at first when product didn't ship for a couple of days, but when they did ship, it must have been shipped two day priority, because it arrived halfway across the country by Saturday. Package arrived in perfect shape and sealed in factory condition. So far, impressed by Beach Camera and their service.

2. Camera is physically much smaller than I expected. It feels about the same size of a can of soda laying on it's side. Very nice! My last video camera was a Panasonic mini dv. That camera was a decent size, but this Sony is even more compact and fits very nice in my hand. The controls, zoom, photo button and record button all line up nicely and are easy to use. The camera feels solidly built, just as most sony products.

3. One item that I was concerned about was whether there was an available SD or memory card slot to add memory. The Sony website doesn't really make it clear whether there is that feature, or if it's just the internal memory. Well I can positively confirm that there IS a SD memory card slot on the bottom side of the camera. A little door flaps open and you insert the card. It probably accepts a memory stick too, but I only tried a SDHC extreme memory card 16gb card. Worked perfectly!

4. Now, for the feature that was the biggest hit with my family.... the built in projector! This is truly amazing technology. I projected a few of the short movie clips I just took, onto a large empty wall, and we were all totally amazed at the quality and sound. I backed up about 15 feet from the wall and projected an approximate image of 8 feet across. I am impressed at the image it can project at such a distance. Our wall is painted a medium brown color and it still looked good. Of course it would look even better if the wall was white or was actually projected onto a movie screen. Sound is pretty much what you'd expect from a pair of small speakers, sort of tinny, but it was pretty loud and definitely good enough to sit around and listen to our home movies. Good job Sony!

5. As for the quality of the video, this is what I've experienced so far. I played around briefly with the top two quality settings, 60i and 60p. I hooked the camera directly to my HD tv via the HDMI cable that came with the camera. The 60p looked slightly better, but both videos looked great. The video I took was at night, with only interior lighting on and it still looked great. I can't wait to see what daytime video looks like. It was super easy to view the video on the tv. As soon as I plugged the camera into the tv, the tv recognized the device and displayed exactly what was on the LCD screen. The only annoying thing was the sound coming out of the video camera and the tv at the same time, gave it an echo sound. I'm sure there is a way to turn down the sound on the video camera when plugged into the tv, just haven't figured it out yet.

6. Another feature I love is the crispness of the LCD screen. The high resolution of the screen makes the image so clear and easy to view. Love it! The only minor complaint I would have of the screen is the touchscreen feature. So far it seems like I have to press on the screen twice in the same spot to activate what ever button I was trying to push. Maybe it's just me being to careful and not wanting to press to hard on the screen or the screen isn't as responsive as it needs to be. Either way, I'm sure after a little more use, I'll get use to it and it won't be a big deal.

7. As for software, there is no cd/dvd's that come with the camera. There is a "lite" version of Home Memories software that comes preloaded on the internal memory of the camera. When you first plug the camera into your computer, you upload the software and install it. The software then offers to download additional features from it's servers. I downloaded and installed the additional features and it worked perfect. I have a computer with windows 7 that is about 4 years old. The software looks pretty basic, but it does do a nice job of importing and organizing your old photos and then imports your new video and pictures from the camera. I haven't worked with it enough to know how easy or hard it is to edit video or burn discs. I was able to import the new video clips I recorded tonight and was able to play all of the clips, including the highest quality video on my computer no problem. I played the video in both windows media player and in the Home Memories software and both looked really good!

Overall my initial impressions are very good. The still picture quality appears to be average to good for a video camera. Definitely not as good as a stand alone digital camera, but truthfully I haven't taken very many pictures, so maybe it will be better than I think. I plan on buying an extra high capacity battery, since I have never had good luck with batteries lasting very long, plus it's always good to have a backup.

One feature I haven't been able to figure out yet is what happens when you're recording video and either your internal memory or memory card gets full, does it switch over to the other memory seamlessly? Or does the recording stop and you have to switch to the other memory. When i determine the answer to that question, I'll post an update.

In summary, this appears to be a high quality camera that seems appropriately priced for the features it has. I definitely recommend it. My kids can't wait to make home movies with their friends and have a movie/popcorn night and watch their creations projected larger than life up on the wall!

I have had this camera about 2 months and have not found a single thing wrong with it.

I am a semi-pro photographer filming and photographing weddings, parties. style shows and many other things.

I just finished a weeding where this Sony HDR-CX580V worked outstanding.

Yes it will not automatically switch to the SD card when the memory fills, but never in my life have I recorded and event of over 4 hours. It only takes 4 or 5 seconds to switch, which is plenty flexible for me.

This last wedding I did 2 weeks ago was outside and I feared the wind would be a problem. I use wireless mikes for most of the wedding, but several scenes without the wireless showed no wind problems. I don't use the ridiculous 5.1 sound. I also don't use the ridiculous GPS feature.

The picture quality is as good as advertised. They are near 30mb with very true color. I typically use a Nikon D200 DSLR and find, to the naked eye, there is little difference.

Both versions of the "PlayMemories Home" software loaded with no problems. I used this software to review and transfer all files to hard drive and that works easy enough. I use dedicated software for editing pictures and videos so I don't use the included software for these task.

I highly recommend this camera.

Buy Sony HDRCX580V High Definition Handycam 20.4 MP Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom and 32 GB Embedded Now

I had this for 2 Months and I have to say the picture quality is Great as long as there is bright lighting. In dim (Indoor) conditions the quality gets very grainy, almost unusable. Sony should have went with a bigger sensor for the price this year. Last year they included alot of features such as a mode dial and night shot. They took all that away this year. I ended up selling my CX580v and getting a better Camcorder..

Just becareful before purchasing:

On Sony's website they say it has the mode dial which it does not. Also the 20.4 MP stills are not good at all. My 8MP cell phone camera takes better pictures. If you want a great Sony Camcorder from this years line up then I would suggest going with either the HDR-PJ710v or the HDR-CX760v. They have all the features as last years CX560v & CX700v did plus a few extras.

Read Best Reviews of Sony HDRCX580V High Definition Handycam 20.4 MP Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom and 32 GB Embedded Here

Overall, I am very happy with my latest purchase of the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ580V. I've had it for just under one month, have made two completed FCPX projects and am working on the third. After looking at several camera brands and models, it came down to three cameras: the Sony Handycam HDR-CX580V, the HDR-PJ580V, and finally the HDR-PJ710V. I discovered that the HDR-CX580V and the HDR-PJ580V are identical except for the projector. The HDR-PJ710V, which also has the projector and costs much more, comes with a few different upgraded features which didn't convince me to spend the extra money. Here are a couple extra features that I found on the HDR-PJ710V that the HDR-PJ580V doesn't have:

1) CMOS Sensor 1/2.88"

Res: 6.65 megapixels

2) Min Focal Length: 3.8mm

Max Focal Length: 38mm

3) JPEG 6544 x 3680,

JPEG 4672 x 2628,

JPEG 4912 x 3680

But, that simply didn't make a big difference to me.

I like the fact that the Sony Handycam HDR-PJ580V works perfectly well with Final Cut Pro X, iMovie and iPhoto. The HD quality, color and the stabilization feature are excellent. The owner's manual is not as detailed as I would have liked, but Sony on-line real time support has been excellent for what I didn't understand or for what wasn't included in the manual. For example, there is no on-screen button that tells you when to change from the internal memory to your flash memory card. The manual does not explain this. However, there is a very small "pin-like" icon (the GPS Triangulating Meter) in the upper left hand corner of the screen, which allows you to view the time remaining. Just gently press the icon and you will see the remaining time for a few seconds.

Another feature, the projector, which works very well, is somewhat limited to the raw footage you shoot, or perhaps what you can edit on the camera itself in terms of what you can project. I was hoping that after I edited my FCPX projects, I would be able to import the footage back into the camera for showing on the projector. Not the case...this camera does not allow for that.

One more thing that may be my doing: I noticed that while I'm filming video and totally unaware of it, I apparently am also producing a number of still photos, which are then uploaded to iPhoto when I connect my camera to the computer. I don't know why this is happening yet.

Overall, I found that this was a best buy for my criteria which was 1) able to use with FCPX, 2) not too expensive (under $1,000.00), and reliable with good customer support. Also, I have had good luck purchasing from amazon.com in the past. This was no exception. They had the best price for what I wanted and are a trusted commercial web entity .

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This was irresistible. It's very small and lightweight. It worked right out of the box, without even having to charge the battery. It's so easy to use I was recording video as soon as I picked it up.

And what video it shoots! When they say HD, they mean HD. What amazing clarity. I shot a test run of a fifteen-minute video around the house, in low light, and had it projecting on the wall without needing to look at the directions at all. When I projected it on the wall, it was out of focus, so for the first time I had to look at the instruction booklet and found out there is a little slider that adjusts the focus of the projector. At a distance of about eight feet away from the wall, the projection was about five feet by four feet. So I must say this is practically idiot proof.

The viewing screen is very bright and clear. There are a lot of settings, if you want to really adjust everything. As soon as I opened the screen up, this had me set the date and time, with my choice of how I wanted the date displayed, and asked if I wanted it to remember to set daylight savings time. Then I was off to the races, recording a video.

I love macro photography and this will automatically adjust itself to macro mode and take sharp very close video, and in fact I put a bottle with tiny print up against the lens and it was crystal clear and could be read easily. I could clearly see my fingerprint ridges on the tips of my fingers in the video I shot.

I like how there really isn't anything you need to set on this, since it does all the work, in auto mode. If a face is in the scene it puts a thin red box around it on the viewing screen and keeps it in focus. Of course, there are a lot of options for anything you can think of. It comes with a fully feature loaded small remote also. There is also GPS.

This has a much wider angle lens than my eight year old Sony camcorder. I can get an entire landscape or room full of people in the shot.

This really seems to be almost too good to be true. It will even edit your movies for you, allowing you to indicate which scenes you definitely want to keep in the video. It will add music. All of this in this small, lightweight, easy to hold little sleek package.

It has a nice sized internal memory of 32 gigs, rated for up to 11 hours of recording time, depending on the mode, but you can also use an SD card for more storage if you want to.

I took my first video in ambient room lighting at night, with a few ceiling lights on, and there wasn't any graininess. It was crystal clear and razor sharp.

The lens has an automatic lens cover that closes when the camera is turned off, which you do by closing the screen.

There is a little built in USB cable so you can plug this into your computer. The cable tucks out of the way in a little compartment when not in use. I know there are a ton of features that I haven't listed, but I wanted to get this review online due to having unbridled excitement.

Fun features:

* Automatic smile recognition--snaps a photo automatically while shooting video whenever a smile is detected

* Tap the screen while shooting and it will maintain the focus on the subject

* Shoot a photo while you are shooting video

* GPS--shows where you were on a map, even finds the satelites indoors

* Auto-editing--can automatically edit your videos IN CAM, and add music

* Built in projector--playback your videos instantly by using the built in

projector, project onto any flat surface

* Fantastic image stabilization.

I wanted to say a word or two about this last feature. I shot video holding this camcorder while walking around on rough terraine and there was absolutely no shake to the video. Image stabilization is the best available.

The still photos this shoots will be fine for most people. I wouldn't recommend enlarging them beyond 4.5 X 6 however.

The tones were excellent. I didn't notice any flaring or moire. White balance seems to be excellent also. AF works perfectly and instantly.

A couple of scenes that were backlit were on the dark side, but other backlit scenes were perfect. Colors are brilliant.

This lightweight, solidly built small camcorder is a joy to use. I highly recommend it.

Consumer Reports rates this camcorder as the top pick along with the other Sony camcorders in this lineup. This is truely the best camcorder you can buy for the price.

edit: See my still photos of flowers above. These were taken while I was shooting video. This was the first time I used the camcorder.

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VideoSecu CCTV Security Camera Built-in 1/3" SONY CCD Outdoor Indoor Weatherproof Night Vision IR I

I bought two VideoSecu IR801K Indoor/Outdoor Day/Night Vision Security Cameras. They both work great. I have mounted one outside so far. The daytime color view is real nice and the night vision is too. Good viewing range in the dark. The audio is clear no phantom sounds. One can see the IR lights in the dark if you look for them but not blatantly so. The cable is of good quality and the VHS adapters are solid. Good price for a solid product.

I bought this camera at the same time I bought a higher priced unit from the same manufacturer. I was surprised that this unit provides much better performance than the higher priced unit which appeared to have better features; a higher LED count and a higher TVL count!

This is a mid-sized unit which provides excellant IR night vision out to about 50 feet. The visual clarity is very good, both day and night. The focus is automatic and appears to work well.

I own three different IR cameras and this one is undoubtly the best of the three.

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I bought one of these to connect to a new averdigi card I purchased for my computer. To be honest, the motivation was that it had a Sony image sensor a good number of IR led's and one of the lowest prices I've seen. So far this camera has been excellent. It's not the sharpest resolution, and certainly doesn't compare to what you would get for a lot more money, but for a simple camera it's great.

The picture quality both day and night is good, body and mount are solid. You can see the IR LED's at night (faint red glow), but nothing obvious or distracting. I wish the mount had a little more movement, but you can make it do what you want for the most part.

The 3.6mm lens gives a nice wide view, even at close distances, excellent for an entry, which is what I'm using this one for.

So far it's been a good camera that I would recommend, and will personally be buying at least a couple more of.

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Video quality is avg. IR is good for 20ft then quickly disapates.

Placed order on 9-15 and finally received on 9-26.

I should get a refund on shipping?

Would recommend for non-critical areas that do not require high

definition. Seems durable and is easily installed.

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I purchased this camera for my DEFENDER security system. The original system was sold with only 4 cameras, by design.

I purchased an additional three low profile under eve mount for the front of the house. You would not notice them in the daytime unless you are looking for them.

At night, the infrared glows as a warning to anyone that needs to be warned. (My wife likes it that way). The final camera for the system is the VideoSecu above. This is a rather large outdoor camera (3X) as compared to the original Defender cameras. It appears sturdy and well made. The optics are as good as the original cameras with a wider field of view. The night performance is as good as most quality night (B&W) cameras.

The camera mount is very sturdy. The price with free shipping is very attractive. The VideoSecu cable is of better quality than most. The only reason I did not give this five star is that focal is not adjustable. This however is nit picking, as this camera is not advertized as an adjustable focal length camera.

VideoSecu will sell you one, if you need this feature.

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Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player

• Plays high-def HD DVD discs for sharper, more detailed picture performance than standard DVD discs ; measures 17.7 x 4.3 x 13.4 inches (WxHxD)
• Backwards compatible with current DVD and CD formats; upconverts DVD movie discs to near high-definition
• Ethernet port for upgrades; USB port on front; compatible with MP3, WMA, and JPEG files
• Connections: composite (1 out), S-Video (1 out), component (1 out), HDMI (1 out), USB, Ethernet
• DVD offer Dolby True HD/Dolby Digital/DTS decoding; coaxial and optical digital audio outputs

Being the first to market in the High Definition DVD Player area, with Blu-ray right on its tail, id have to say its one amazing box. I started with last samurai regular dvd popped it in and wow was a standard DVD simply AMAZING, the upconvert in this box is the best ive seen. I then followed up by putting in the HDDVD version of Last Samurai and I was definately more pleased, stuff that was blotchy and pixelated no longer is so, most notable when standing or sitting close to an LCD TV the quality is noticably better. The price is a bit steep, but then again the first DVD Players were quite pricey as well. The prices for the HDDVDs are nice compared to costs for other new media standards such as the UMD Disc in fact about the same price as UMD Disc. The only cons I would have about this player is it takes REALLY LONG startup once turned on and HDDVD can take some time to get going and the thing is HUGE! It wont fit in most setups!

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AND.........i'M GLAD i DID! There has been a lot of reviews out there and all the negatives and positives hold true, BUT most of the reviews, now that I experienced the HD A1, were more like nitpicking. Here's my take:

Bulkiness: yeah this thing is bulky when compared to today's 30-100 dollar cheapo dvd players...but when compared to the more expensive upconverters this thing is not big at all (just look at the denons, pioneers, and other high brand models that can put out the performance that the toshiba does when upconverting) Anyone who is looking to spend this type of money on a this dvd player or any other dvd player in its price bracket will probably deal with this issue.

Remote: yeah its bad....hard to see what button does what and has a bad, uncomfortable feel to it. My harmony 880 had no problem assuming control of the toshiba. Just buy a universal remote. Look into logitech's harmony line, no biggie!

Slow: This is where I scratch my head. I turned it on, pressed the eject button, pop in a dvd, and by the time I go to sit down and get comfortable this thing will start like in 5-10 seconds....everyone needs to go thru this routine to watch their movies! No one pops in a movie and watches it from right there...this slowness issue is a non issue in my book.

Video: SD DVD never looked better to my eyes . I have gone out of my way to look at all the upconverters that I have give thought to(oppo 971, denon 1930 and 2930, and the samsung 860 and 960) with the exception of the 2930 the toshiba IMO was better than the rest. Keep in mind the denon lists for over 800 and only upconverts. When I did HD DVD nothing that I have witnessed Has come even close, not even Blue Ray....so this is where I giggle when I look back and question why the heck I was on the fence about this product to begin with? when you look at the price it is a no brainer, good bargain , and versatile.

Sound: This is where I went crazy! My SD DVD's never sounded better, but then again I wasn't crazy about my cheapo dvd player that I had attached to my Home Theater, but this was the right move. everything sounds louder, theres more bass, vocals are clearer and most importantly the video and audio are top notch and envelop you into whatever you watch thru the Toshiba.

Gen 1 player: yeah gen 1 players are always a risk....anything that's new is always a risk. You become a beta tester for these companies when they first dish out there machines. But that's technology folks and coming from someone who for a living deals with servers and the likes in the IT world.....I'll be the first to say that no technology is perfect. But the fact that Toshiba has made it very clear that they will not neglect the A1 once the A2 comes out is enough for me to pull the trigger on this player which leads me to my next point.

Compatibility: This is a word that in my profession is very important. You don't want to get the biggest and baddest thing just to say that you did and then find out your other stuff doesn't like it. The fact that this gen1 player has analog out and firmwares tells me that: a. this player will stay in tune with most of the technologies (true hd and DD+ in the 2.0 firmware for example) and b. the 5.1 analog will let you keep your current receiver that you probably dished out alot of money for!

I really think the toshiba HD A1 has its bugs and I'm sure future gens will be better, but this format war isn't really going to go anywhere right now so the prices will more or less stay the same for at least another year. So if you're on the fence and want to wait for this thing to be over with, you might wait a while. So why not enjoy this technology now and your current dvd collection as well. You will not be dissappointed.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player Here

I bought this player about a week ago. The picture on standard DVD's is great. The picture on HD-DVD's is awesome! I bought 5 HD movies when I purchased this player. "Perfect Storm","Training Day","Apollo 13","Million Dollar Baby" and "Cinderella Man". The picture on all of these movies is incredible! The sound is also great. My player is hooked up to a 42 inch Panasonic plasma via an HDMI cable. My receiver is a Harman Kardon 240. If you hook up the sound using a fiber optic cable the sound is down converted to DTS. If you use the analog connections the sound comes across in Dolby Digital Plus. I'm using both connections. The sound of the DTS is louder because it's a digital signal, but the Dolby Digital Plus is clearer. It's sounds more like the sounds you'll hear at a real movie theater. Sometimes I watch movies using DTS, other times I'll use the Dolby Digital Plus. Both sound great. I was going to buy a Blu-Ray player but after reading lots of reviews and doing some research, I decided that the price tag on the Samsung Blu-Ray player was just too much. I haven't seen the picture on the Blu-Ray, but I bet that it's nothing like the Toshiba. The only concern I had when purchasing this player was the support of the movie studios. Blu-Ray has the support of most of the major studios. HD-DVD is basically only supported by Warner Brothers and Universal. Hopefully if HD-DVD continues to gain consumer support, more of the studios will switch sides. Nobody knows which format will win out, but even if HD-DVD loses out you'll have a high end DVD player that only cost 499.99 dollars. Buy this player. You won't regret it.

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I've only had this thing for a couple of days, and have been absolutely blown away by the video and audio quality of the two HD-DVD movies I've watched thus far: Sahara and Goodfellas. Both the picture and the sound (when the player is properly connected and properly set up) are far superior to that of DVD when viewed on a high-definition TV.

For video, I set the output to HDMI and the resolution to 1080i (even though my TV is an older 720p model). A supplemental sheet that comes with the manual recommends that, for HD-DVD discs, the resolution be set to the native format of the disc rather than that of the TV. Every HD-DVD I've read about thus far is encoded at 1080-line resolution, so I set the player at 1080i. I haven't yet noticed anything in the manual regarding what to do for regular DVDs, so I experimented a bit and concluded that 1080i is the best setting for DVDs as well. Thus, I set the thing at a resolution of 1080i and plan to leave it there.

I connected the player to my TV's DVI input using an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, then connected the six analog 5.1 audio outputs on the back of the player to the analog 5.1 inputs on my stereo receiver, then calibrated the audio for speaker size and distance using the "Setup" feature. Note: The owner's manual doesn't mention that the "Setup" button is hidden under a sliding panel on the lower end of the remote control.

My only complaint is that the remote control is an un-backlit version of the backlit remote that comes with the more expensive HD-XA1 player offered by Toshiba. The only way I can read it is with a flashlight. Fortunately, once I got things figured out, I found that I really only need to use a few key buttons, the positions of which are easily memorized. Also, there ought to be a label on the sliding panel that hides the setup button.

The menu of an HD-DVD disc can be accessed and operated while the movie is playing. This is much cooler than it sounds. The features that can be operated from the menu are much more sophisticated than those on a regular DVD.

Picture quality is phenomenal, even on my 42" 720p LCD rear-projection TV (a 3-year-old model that's already antiquated). It's obvious that HD-DVD is designed to be optimatlly viewed on a high-quality big-screen 1080-line TV (at least 60") in order to achieve a true home-cinema experience. I calculated that the ideal TV for my living room (viewing distance = 12 feet) would be a 65" screen with 1080-line resolution.

The picture quality is even better than what I get from HD satellite and broadcast channels. I could detect no video-compression artifacts in either of the HD-DVDs that I've watched thus far, even in scenes with lots of complex high-speed motion. In addition to extreme picture clarity, HD-DVD offers a very noticeable improvement in color gamut over DVD. Watch an HD movie, and you'll see real-world colors you've never seen on TV before. Once I switched back to watching a regular DVD, the color seemed a bit phony-looking.

What really caught me by surprise was the quality of the sound when using the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack. Right now, the only way to listen to the DD+ soundtrack in its pure form is to connect to the analog 5.1 outputs on the back of the player, which involves a bit of extra cabling. It's well worth the trouble, however. DD+ apparently allows the use of a much lower compression ratio than ordinary DD or DTS. The surround effects are much more like those you'll hear in a good theater, and the realism and clarity of the sounds is absolutely electrifying. You can, alternatively, connect to your receiver via digital optical cable, in which case the DD+ track gets converted to ordinary DTS (possibly losing some of its quality in the process).

We're in the midst of the TV Revloution, with a combination of new display technologies, new audio/video formats, and new audio/video media. The biggest problem has been the scarcity of HD material to watch on your HD television, and the lack of pre-recorded HD media (the obscure D-VHS format having been the only option until now). It will probably be quite some time before a sizeable portion of the cable/satellite/broadcast universe converts to HD. Even the local ATSC digital terrestrial broadcasts in my area are still standard definition much of the time, and my HD satellite programming package only provides me with 3 full-time HD channels and 3 channels that are mixed HD/SD.

HD-DVD and BluRay discs could enable people to gain access to a lot of high-quality HD material while we wait for the cable/satellite/broadcast industry to catch up. After that, HD discs will be able to fulfill the same function that DVDs and VHS tapes currently provide, enabling you to own or rent a wide variety of programming for viewing at your convenience. Now that I've watched a couple of HD-DVDs on my HDTV, I may never want to buy or rent a regular DVD again (even though, admittedly, the HD-A1 does a very nice job of playing regular DVDs). Sales of HD players and discs could also drive sales of big-screen 1080-line TVs as well, as this is the only type of TV that would enable the home-theater enthusiast to really take full advantage of what HD-DVD and (theoretically) BluRay have to offer.

Gathering from all the positive reviews in Amazon, I decided to purchase the HD-A1 after mulling it over for the past few months. I originally planned to put off buying it till the holiday season but I couldn't wait much longer. I needed to see with my own eyes what it would do to my existing home theater setup. No longer a stranger to HD progamming as I'm an HD subscriber to Comcast, I eagerly hooked up the HD-A1 to my Panasonic HDTV using HDMI Monster cable; furthermore, I connected the audio via optical cable to my THX 5.1 surround EX sound system. Initially, I played "The Chronicles of Riddick"; I wasn't impressed-I was totally flabbergasted! The opening preview of the movie was pure eye candy-six-times sharper and with an exceedingly brilliant color saturation than a standard DVD. The special effects sequence, particularly in the planet Crematoria looked so real you wouldn't have realized it's computer-generated. Details I haven't noticed before came to life-like intricate patterns of the necromonger's armor and facial blemishes of Vin Diesel. The fight sequences are even further enhanced by the Dolby Digital Plus signal it feeds my THX receiver-my system decodes it as DTS-ES + THX. I was in rapt attention all throughout the movie; "Chronicles of Riddick" for me was one forgettable movie when I watched it in the theater two years ago-watching it now is a completely different experience. I was acutely aware of the nuances in picture and sound; it gave me a renewed appreciation of movies I have long forgotten; Sahara, The Bourne Supremacy, Van Helsing, Serenity-these were movies I just browsed through-not anymore. For the first time, I could see picture clarity and hear high-fidelity sound in a format that not only plays HD DVDs but regular DVDs and CDs as well-and all these for half the price of Bluray. On top of it all, HD DVD boasts more titles in its library than Bluray. Only time will tell when all the major backers of Bluray will jump ship to HD DVD.

Update: 9/11/2006

Two major issues found on the HD-A1 are the slow loading times (45 seconds on the average) and the unwieldy remote control. To cut the load time, I simply hit the "open tray" button right away and push the play button once the disc is in the tray (that way I bypass hitting the "power" button and the "close tray" button). I also have resolved the remote control issue by buying the Sony RM-VL600 universal remote control. I have watched over a dozen HD DVD movies and all of them were in pristine high-def glory. I'm just waiting for the firmware update disc coming from Toshiba (I declined to use the ethernet hookup coz I didn't wanna mess up my HD-A1 if I did things incorrectly). The new 2.0 update should add Dolby TrueHD functionality and resolve some HDMI interface issues. Anyone on the lookout for an upconverting DVD player-do yourself a favor and invest a few hundred dollars more and buy the HD-A1 since it outperforms all other upconverting DVD players in the market today; regular DVDs definitely looked twice as sharp as rendered by the HD-A1.

ACP-EP Memory Mobile Storage 1GB Secure Digital SD Card - EPSD/1GB

Works great for my application. The card might be a little slow if ohotgraphing sporting/action events, etc.

I've had mine for two months and no problems. Works great in the camera and computer. Would recommend.

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This card is awesome for the price. No rebates needed. I have an Audiovox PPC 4100 Phone edition that would lock up everytime I tried to make a call. I thought something was wrong with the phone/ pocket pc itself but after I upgraded to the memory stick all problems dissapeared. Super fast write/ read. Definately recommed this product.

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Considering that this isn't the most advanced memory card on the planet it does a very good job. I use it to store music for my handheld computer. I have nearly 250 songs on, with room for about another 25 or so before it runs out of memory. It works without any problems when connected to my handheld or my desktop. It was worth the money for what I use it for.

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Hd Video Camera Pen

very reasonable quality stealth video after painting the gold clip with a black Sharpie after walking into a place

that seemed to hone in on the flashy pen in my pocket instantly...maybe I was self conscious...

Daylight and well lit areas work best all though you can get moody stuff in dim light. I even got the aftermath

of a car flipover accident on it....plus some pretty girls at work that look at you in ways you don't realize until later.

I carry it all the time because I don't want to miss something unexpected.

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Sony CFD-ZW755 Portable CD / Cassette / Radio Boombox with Detachable Speakers

• CD boombox with dual-deck stereo cassette and drift-free, digital-synthesized AM/FM tuner
• Synchronized CD/cassette dubbing
• 4-preset electronic equalizer (rock/pop/live/vocal), Mega Bass low-end enhancement
• Remote Commander remote control (CD/tuner/volume/power/function)
• Clock/sleep timer, Loop/Flash sound effects

I like to play music -mostly classical -at my desk at work. This past week the volume control on my old Sony boombox broke (after nearly ten years of daily use) so I went out looking for a replacement. I was pleasantly surprised at the low prices of most of the units I saw, but they sounded rather tinny compared to the good sound I was used to from my old Sony. At the end of the shelf I found this model. When I inserted the CD which I had brought with me for auditioning, I immediately heard a clear improvement in sound over the less expensive models. In fact, the sound was even better than that of my old Sony with which I had been thoroughly pleased. I bought this model on the spot and the next day installed it next to my desk at work. It's very convenient too use, looks nice (compared to most current boomboxes) and sounds great. Sure it cost a few dollars more than the inferior-sounding units but(...) I'd say it's a great buy.

Incidentally, although I listen almost exclusively to CDs, this unit has two tape drives, which allow for tape dubbing (which a lot of cheaper models don't) as well as a digitally tuned AM/FM radio. Also the CD player has 1-bit conversion -like the best CD players, but unlike most boomboxes -which contributes to the better sound. As I said, it's a great buy.

Buy Sony CFD-ZW755 Portable CD / Cassette / Radio Boombox with Detachable Speakers Now

1 YEAR UPDATE 2/6/05: This Sony boombox has gotten worse since I last reviewed it a year ago. I just discovered that the right speaker (as you face the unit) no longer works when playing CDs. When using the radio or tape deck, no problem. The only sound out of the right speaker when playing a CD is just a very faint crackling sound. Understand that this boombox sits on a tabletop and is hardly moved around even though the intent of a boombox like this should allow for frequent moving. I'm pretty disappointed while I sit here listening to one channel on stereo CDs. Time to go shopping only after 1 yr of use! Not good.

ORIGINAL POST 1/25/04

Pro:

1) Doesn't look flashy and wierd like a lot of recent boom boxes.

2) Still working after 2 yrs. nothing has broken (no CD playing problems).

3) Does a basic job of making sound.

Con:

1) Turns on mysteriously at night probably due to a neighbor's remote controller on the same frequency as my boom box or being triggered by some other random radio wave. (has freaked me out at times causing me to wake up in the middle of the night and get out of bed to turn it off really freaky if the CD is playing my daughter's nursery songs.)

2) Setting radio station presets is not intuitive and simple.

3) Lacks decent bass sound relative to my Magnavox boom box, even with the "Mega Bass" activated.

4) FM and AM radio reception is mediocre. I live in Los Angeles with a lot of strong radio stations but some local stations just don't come in clearly without static.

5) Lacks the Sony quality feel that I used to know.

6) Price to high should cost around $60 for what you get.

Bottom Line: I expected better from Sony given my past experience with their products.

Read Best Reviews of Sony CFD-ZW755 Portable CD / Cassette / Radio Boombox with Detachable Speakers Here

I have owned two of these for two years now, and have another one on my wish list. I cannot praise them highly enough. I am very particular about music sound and quality. The sound on this player is absolutely awesome, whether you are playing a CD, listening to the radio or cassette tapes! And it does quality dubbing from one cassette to another, and fantastic recording from CD to cassette tape. I am not a technical person, but am particular about sound, and I use Sony studio headphones to plug into this for those times when I want to listen solo. (I can also recommend KOSS headphones, available here on Amazon) I use those with my MP3 player and portable CD players.

I can say that my Mom purchased a Bose system for her home (very pricey) and she was so disappointed. After hearing this Sony, she was just sick that she paid so much, because the sound of this Sony player was better. I can highly recommend it.

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I have this system for about 2 years. Initially it was great. Now left speaker does not work with CD's. It's still OK for radio and cassette. I sent e.mail to Sony and they offered refurbished system for 93$ (brand new costs max.99$) or repair for 110$.

It looks like a usual problem with this system (see other reviews). Next time I'll buy Sharp or Panasonic or Philips.

I had this stereo 3 years before I sold it. Great CD player,great

cassette recorder,and great radio. The CD player didn't skip, and

the cassette player made great recordings. Both the G500 and the

ZW755 are great systems, but the cassette player is better on the

ZW755, partly because it was a duoble deck and you could record

off of the other deck. This is a great portable unit! Way to go

Sony!

Lexar MS256-40-431 256MB Platinum Memory Stick Pro

I was looking for a storage disk, and this one was priced very economically. It can be used to store a variety of media.

Our older digital camera needs this memory card to work and it is not a common size and that made it hard to find except on Amazon. Installing the new card gave life to our camera that otherwise would have been trashed.

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The Memory Stick Pro format has gotten quite expensive. This stick was available for a reasonable price and allowed me to get a used camera working so I could give my son his first camera.

Read Best Reviews of Lexar MS256-40-431 256MB Platinum Memory Stick Pro Here

Panasonic RX-D55GC-K Boombox - High Power MP3 CD AM/ FM Radio Cassette Recorder with USB & Music Po

• High Quality Sound and High Power with 2-Way 4-Speaker and Big Size Speaker Box - 280 W[P.M.P.O]
• Music Port on Front Panel for Digital Audio Player Playback
• Natural Surround & High Quality Sound with MP3 Re-Master & Sound Virtualizer
• Plays CD, CD-R/RW and MP3, CD AM/FM radio Cassette Recorder,
• AC 110V to 240V for Worldwide Use. Comes with Remote

This is an overseas version, quality unit you might find domestically in Japan, etc. Having lived in Japan for two years I can tell you that they have consumer electronics that they do not make for export to the U.S., or at least we'll say you won't find it in a Wal-Mart or Best Buy or any big box joints.

In the "old days" you'd had to go to an import store or a military exchange to get it. This is one of those units. It comes with the outlet adapter from the round pins to the flat blades and has the overseas voltage choice as well. This is a very nice portable, and I've had more than my share of stereo equipment and portables over the decades. This is a no nonsense portable. I've bought several Sony boxes in the past for friends and relatives.

This is older school, high wattage, 2-way vintage. The manual shows 10W x 2 RMS max for this "55" model and the 4W max for a "50" model, a model lower, so Amazon has been cutting this product short in its errored description.

This is a fine portable for the money. The casette player even has a separate dampened, hideaway door (dust) cover that hides the buttons on the top so that you don't even see them.

The plastic is thick and the buttons are larger and of a better grade and tactile feel than the typical cheapos straight out of China.

The CD drawer is on the bottom. Smooth as it is!

The remote is full sized and high quality and includes everything you could ask. Even has an input level control on the remote for the line in jack! It has a variable OFF sleep timer, clock, and alarm. It has different modes of choice in how to display MP3 tags, info, etc.

It has a place for four AA cells for memory backup underneath the main power 8xC cells. It will keep your settings, stations, time, etc. unplugged by using its four AAs!

It's manufactured in Indonesia and if you know anything about electronics, especially radio equipment, Indonesia was always one of the better places such products were manufactured.

This is what I'd say is an Ivy League grade portable to be appreciated more by the adults in a quiet setting of a fine room, and not so much a kids airbox, distortion box. A BMW or Audi, and not a Dodge higher end.

It's not cosmetically embarrasing full of chrome and multi-colored plastic junk, fake allen head screws, and lights it's all business.

It has a clear, quality, FT backlit, orange display with solid segments not dot matrix. It seems to have an auto loudness feature that you can tell fades out as you get the volume up high. It goes from a very rich sound at moderate levels to more midrange as it nears the top which is how outdoor systems sound so loud. A narrower sound, but all the power is concentrated there. No distortion, just gets loud at the top and a little narrower for projection say outdoors, etc.

At lower to moderate levels it is a full, but tight, Hi-Fi sound which a single, 1-way speaker, lower powered box just doesn't achieve. It's nothing like a radio sound. Very much the same as a dedicated, small, quality, shelf system with separate bass and treble, which by the way is also on the remote, plus 5 EQ settings.

It's a compact, dense, low distortion, low noise, true Hi-Fi system that is not too big and bulky, and can be carried by its fold away handle.

Don't let the 3.125" woofers scare you away. There are optimal size cones that can be efficiently controlled at given power levels. A higher throw, edge rolled, 3.125" woofer running on a 10W amplifier with a separate ceramic tweeter compared to a Sony 4" full ranger running on 2-2.3W.

Overall frequency response of the casette player is given in the manual as 50-12KHz.

Power consumption is given in the manual as 29 watts. Weight is 4.6 Kg with batteries (10.14 lbs.).

This box is built rugged enough. It has the metal screens on both sides covering the speakers which are recessed as well.

I was shooting for a quality older school box with MP3 capability. I got everything I was hoping for.

Plays MP3s off my thumb drive perfectly. Have yet to try MP3s on CD, but I'm sure it will do great.

Quite pleased with it!

If you're in the market for something rarer and finer quality than run-of-the-mill, big box junkers, this is one to consider.

Take it on your international travels as well, and it will fit in a suitcase with room to spare!

If out of stock here you can purchase at

Buy Panasonic RX-D55GC-K Boombox - High Power MP3 CD AM/ FM Radio Cassette Recorder with USB & Music Po Now

Well beyond a mere "boom box," this is a compact stereo system to truly appreciate. It can run off of an included AC cord or 8 C-size batteries. Have had mine a year now and it is pretty perfect.

To turn on, push the AM/FM button. To turn off, push TAPE/OFF.

In place of a lot of bulky equipment, I have always let boomboxes be my only stereo system, by connecting powered speakers through the headphone jack, just to let you know that you have that versatility if you want (and if you can still find the powered speakers for Walkmen and boomboxes.) But don't worry, the sound quality on this unit is truly excellent "as-is."

There are five equalizer presets including "heavy" (more bass), "soft" which is helpful for late-night listening, "clear," "vocal," and "off." You can fine-tune these by independently setting both the bass and the treble (selecting from eight settings for each.) So, eg., if "heavy" is a little too heavy, set the bass a notch or two lighter.

The virtualizer feature projects sound, and, amazingly, there is a "re-master" feature which reproduces the frequencies lost during recording.

*****

AM-FM RADIO:

First, you will want to get four fresh AA batteries and install them in the player otherwise a power interruption deletes radio presets. And install batteries in the remote.

There are 16 presets each for AM and FM. Setting them is like setting a car radio, with one extra step.

Start by tuning to the lowest radio frequency. On the remote, hold the forward arrow button down for a second and it finds the first station. Say you want a preset there; press "program"; then the number buttons to assign a number to it (eg., press #1) and that is your preset. Push the forward button to find the next station you want; press "program" then the number buttons (eg., #2) and that's all there is to it.

Alternatively, you can use the "auto preset" button and presets for the strongest stations in your area will automatically be set.

To listen to your favorite station press its number on the remote's keypad.

*****

CD'S:

For CD's, you can program the order of tracks, omit tracks, etc.

*****

USB FLASH DRIVE:

Love the port for a USB flash drive to play (MP3 only) music from it. You can use up to an 8GB; if you don't have one, they are only about $12.00 at WalMart. Not only can you get a gazillion songs on one 8GB flash drive, YOU are in control of which songs are there. My most sincere thanks to whoever invented this system.

There are a couple of ways to get music onto the flash:

1) Synchronizing with computer

You want to choose this method if you use playlists that let you set the order songs play in, such as in Windows Media Player. Unfortunately there is no guarantee these playlists will be followed. However, I've seen reviews for several MP3 players where they either don't have playlists, are cumbersome to setup, or don't follow them. Reading reviews, a lot of people like playlists, so this is an area manufacturers may want to develop.

On the Panasonic, have found that about 70% of the playlist order will be followed, if you sync correctly with Media Player.

To get started, open computer and Windows Media Player; insert flash into the USB port and Media Player will recognize it. Click the arrow under "sync" and if you want playlists, choose which ones. Click to start; wait until it says it is done, then read the report to see if some files were not added. You can re-sync or manually add these.

2) Direct copy and paste method

In this method, you don't bother with Media Player; you insert the flash drive into the computer's USB; open My Computer; open the flash drive; open your Music folder; and just copy the files just the music files not the folders and sub-folders! into the flash drive window as you would any other window.

I learned one thing the hard way. My unit is a year old the USB has always played beautifully, so imagine my surprise when only a few of the songs would play recently! I felt horrible, but figured I can still use the boombox for my CD's, cassette tapes, and radio. But truly, I was brokenhearted. Lo and behold, it wasn't broken.

In popping the flash into the computer, I saw it contained all music FOLDERS instead of the music FILES as before. In adding recently purchased music to the flash, I had mistakenly changed all the music on the flash drive as they are on the computer. As soon as I removed all the folders and sub-folders, leaving just the songs on the flash, now the music plays perfectly again. Whew!

Even if you turn off the player and turn it on a week later, it remembers where it was on the USB drive and takes up on that song; you know when it has gone through all the music, as it stops and waits for you to hit "USB" again.

*****

Digital Rights Issues:

Some of my music was ripped from CD's I own. In Media Player, I changed the format to MP3, easy to do. The rest of my music was downloaded from Amazon. Have had NO problems with digital rights, which is appreciated, as the music was paid for.

*****

Adding Auto Volume Leveling to Music on USB Flash Drive:

When listening to music, do you ever find that one song will be too quiet so you turn it up, then the next will be too loud, so you have to turn it down again.

Adjusting music volume is called "normalizing." This makes the overall volume sound similar from song to song without changing the high's and low's inside the songs. Windows Media Player has Volume Leveling available but these features don't transfer to your flash drive.

If you are somewhat "tech savvy," (you needn't be a sound engineer) you can use a free program called MP3Gain.

Start by Googling MP3 Gain for the You Tube demo videos and the website of the product. Get a sense of it and how comfortable you feel in trying it.

If you get this product, please be sure to READ the Help file first; particularly, you want to be sure it is set so that the changes are reversible if you don't like them. And backup your music beforehand.

You can put music on the flash then level it, or you can level your My Music folder on computer before copying to the flash.

With other programs, normalizing re-encodes your music, which changes it slightly. However, MP3Gain makes a point of not re-encoding.

I used MP3Gain following the above advice and could not be happier with the results. If you like the program, please make a small contribution to the author.

*****

MP3 PLAYER:

The port for an MP3 player is a 3.5mm round port which would connect from the headphone port of the MP3 player. I don't have an MP3 player, has anyone used theirs with this boombox, how does it work, is it more functional than the USB flash method?

*****

CASSETTE PLAYER/RECORDER:

If, like me, you have a collection of cassette tapes, it is getting hard to find players for them anymore. Besides playing your cassettes, you can use this player to convert your tapes to MP3 format on your computer for the cost of an inexpensive 1/8" (3.5MM) male and male cable. These come in different lengths eg, 3, 5 or 7 feet. Order it through Amazon or get at Radio Shack, etc. Connect one end to your boombox audio out (earphone) port, and connect the other end to your computer's line-in (light blue) port. Hint: your boombox is powerful; keep the volume down low to begin with.

Download the free Audacity software and the Lame plugin. Now use Google to find the many videos on how to use Audacity. It does look intimidating at first, but turns out it isn't that difficult. Once you get your tape programs in MP3 format, you can copy them to your flash drive or any portable MP3 player.

*****

OTHER FEATURES:

Alarm clock, for those using the unit as a bedside stereo.

*****

If you have read this far, I thank you for reading, and hope this has been of some help to you. Enjoy the music!

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic RX-D55GC-K Boombox - High Power MP3 CD AM/ FM Radio Cassette Recorder with USB & Music Po Here

I bought this Panasonic player for my husband based on researching many many products to play both AM/FM Radio, CAN Record, Casette, CD, port of iTunes from iPod. The reviews on this Panasonic D55 were all PRO, no CONs.

Also...Custom Service from VCT Electronics is fast, knowledgeable, helpful...they phoned me to help 'troubleshoot'.

I suspected I was doing something wrong, I was, and it was a simple 'fix'.

This unit is capable of using both 110 V and 220V.

The plug comes with BOTH configurations.

IMPORTANT: The factory presets the voltage based on the delivery address. But there is no note enclosed stating this fact. Customer Service told me this at the time of the call.

I read and re-read and followed the printed instructions. It states to use a screwdriver to rotate a recessed turn-screw to point to the proper voltage.

Just in case, you need to know this CLARIFICATION:

The markings on the plastic are vague as to where to line up the turnscrew.

Look for the tiny 'deformed' arrow next to the imprinted voltage...

Align the turnscrew to that tiny arrow, not the printed numbers eg.110V.

Here is the IMPORTANT PART:

The Factory ALREADY presets the voltage based on the delivery address. However, there is NO NOTE enclosed stating this fact.

There was NO NEED for me to set the voltage...in so doing, I misaligned the turn screw to Miss the Mark.

The Customer Service Representative explained this to me during the 'troubleshoot' phone call.

She also said that many customers have had this same incident...

VCT Electronics is going to let Panasonic Corp. know to enclose a note telling the purchaser that the voltage has already been set for them and therefore the instructions on this point can be 'skipped'.

There is NO "ON SWITCH"...per se.

The function simply turns on when the function button is pushed.

Example: AM/FM button...push it and the radio function lights up in the digital window.

By the way, there are 16 PRESETS for each AM and FM mode.

To TURN OFF any function:

Push the TAPE/OFF button in the upper left fact of the unit.

The remote is a convenient function.

Now that the preliminary set up is done, it is a complete pleasure to listen to this unit.

It plays with far greater quality than what these small speakers would be expected to put out.

Hope this is helpful.

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This is a great little boombox that you can listen to just about any audio source with. The sound quality is quite astounding for such a small unit (and for such small speakers). I like having the ability to adjust bass and treble separately from the preset EQ settings. This stereo has a great CD player. It plays CDs very well and they sound really nice on this system. Aesthetically, the unit is very handsome looking. It is also quite professional-looking and has that "look" of a strictly-business type of audio system. I wish the LCD display on the stereo was a little bigger, though. Like others have stated in their reviews, the factory pre-sets the voltage selector to the country the unit is shipped to. I didn't have to mess with anything or go out and buy a plug converter. The converter is already on the cord. I have a couple of complaints, though. Even though I do not listen to tapes and don't think I will ever need the tape player, I found that the tape player in the unit was defective. The tape door will not stay closed for some reason. I guess the latch is misaligned or something because the tape door just stays popped up. I had to put a piece of tape on it to keep it closed. It just irritates me that I got a defective unit, even though the "defects" are only confined to the tape player. Oh well... One other complaint I have is with the radio tuner. It's just not very sensitive, especially on the FM band. I was hoping that this stereo would have a pretty good tuner in it since it was apparently manufactured in Indonesia, and Indonesia typically manufactures high-quality electronics, especially radio tuners. I don't know, maybe I'm just being a little too picky. But it just doesn't pick up stations very well. It can't even pick up some of my local stations here that I am only 7-15 miles from! Next time, Panasonic, please include a better tuner in the next boombox you come out with. Other than this, everything works fantastic, and the sound quality is great!

This MP3 player boom box sounds great; plenty of bass for music. I listen to audio books when I travel in the car and this works very well for that. The only problem is that without 8 C batteries in it, it will not remember where you were in the book and it won't fast forward on an MP3 cd. You can go to the chapter that you were on but you must listen to the entire chapter to get to where you were.