Koss DVP2161 Compact DVD with MP3/CD Player

• Compact DVD/CD player with Dolby/DTS passthrough offers ready connection to TVs, computer monitors, car screens
• Plays MP3 CD, audio CD, DVD-Video, video CD; offers full-featured audio CD and MP3 CD menu controls
• Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound passthrough (for use with surround-decoding audio/video receiver)
• Includes full-function remote control, AC adapter
• Easily transportable, but not portable per se (no screen, not battery-operable)

I bought this player about three months ago, and here's my experience with this unit.

-Design: 4/5. The unit is sharp-looking, with a nice silver chrome finish that's pretty durable. I have the purple "hip hues" version and despite its toy-like appearance it stands up pretty well to wear and tear, and the "psychedelic" look is unique. A point off for the lack of functions on the unit itself; it's pretty much play, stop, a/b view, fast forward and reverse. Everything else is on the remote, which could have matched the look of the unit a bit more.

-Portability: 5/5. Small, sleek and easy to transport. Great if you want a unit that you can easily move from room to room, bring to a friend's place, or, of course, for traveling. Setup with the audio/video outputs (or s-video) is a snap for the majority of televisions and adapters are easy to find for monitors without a/v inputs.

-Picture Quality / Sound: 4/5. Despite some limitations with Dolby 5/1 and surround sound (this won't give you the same bang in that area as most standard-sized players) the stereo audio is excellent on this unit. My dvd of "Showgirls" played with Cristal-clear sound ;), and Ditto for its mp3 playback, which comes with a nice onscreen display which lays out any folder structures your pc or mac creates on the cd-rom. More good news: the picture quality is superb, as good as any full-sized unit. Color and definition are outstanding. I hooked this up to a 27-inch monitor and played a DVD of "Last Tango in Paris" and it looked as good as on a full-sized Sony DVD deck which was connected to the same tv.

-Performance: 2/5. And now the bad news...the majority of disks should play on this deck. However, the sad truth is that this unit will reject a good number of DVDs. I've been able to play about 90% of DVDs on this deck. Another 5% had problems with skipping or, most aggravatingly, picture freezing. The other 5% won't run at all on this deck, not even registering a DVD menu. The motor will turn, the player will struggle to register with the material, and after a couple of attempts the unit gives up. This player seems to play single-layer DVDs very well, which don't offer a lot of special features (i.e. only a trailer, a couple of stills). I tried to play my Criterion copy of "In the Mood for Love" which is packed with a fully rendered menu and special features; it was a disaster, the player couldn't even register the DVD menu. A rental copy of John Carpenter's "The Thing" which didn't have any noticeable scratches only played about fifteen minutes of the film, then froze. Another DVD which had a small scratch froze in the last five minutes and would only continue if I skipped ahead to the next chapter. On the upside, the majority of disks I've tried on this player have played acceptably, with only occasional problems (see below). It's just sad that the temperamental nature of this unit would generate more suspense in keeping you wondering if it will make it through a whole movie than anything in the actual film you are watching.

-Engineering: 1/5. It's amazing that this thing made it through product testing, if that was even performed on this model. As others have mentioned, one of the major reasons this player malfunctions so much is that it doesn't have proper ventilation. It overheats, so after 1.5 to 2 hours of play (if not sooner) the picture will begin freezing and skipping. If you are watching a disk of television shows in half-and one-hour chunks, that might be fine, but curling up with three hours of "Apocalypse Now Redux"? Not too darn likely. And if your DVD is loaded with special features, the demands placed on this little cutie will cut your viewing time even further. All the special features slow mo, step frame, a/b view, chapter search work as they should (although you can only access most of them on the remote, so don't forget that if you plan on traveling with this player). Overall, the player's tendency to overheat renders it unacceptable for all but the lightest applications. Considering the possibilities of DVDs, that's a huge liability. Also, the remote's buttons are tiny and take some extra pressure to activate---and compared to my other vcr/satellite dish remotes, its lack of range is annoying. Basically you have to aim it directly at the unit, since it seems to have problems when used at angles.

-Suggestions: as others have mentioned, the ac adapter packed with the unit is really bad. Replace it with a compatible adapter from Target or Radio Shack and performance will improve. Some users have mentioned cutting a hole and installing a small fan---for the mechanically uninclined like me, this is not an option. The ac adapter heats up if it's plugged into the socket even when the unit's off, so unplugging the AC adapter from the socket between uses greatly improves performance. Also, setting the unit on top of a well-ventilated area helps, especially if air can pass under the bottom.

Overall, it's a commendable attempt by Koss to produce a small, portable DVD player for multiple purposes and situations. Had the design/engineering team resolved the player's basic problems overheating, incompatibility with some high-performance DVD software, and erratic performance with even basic functions this would have been a winner. Too bad. It could've been a contender.

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This pint-sized dvd player does almost everything that all the big boys do. This is about one-third the size of a regular dvd. It has a head-phone jack for personal listening. It's very light.

To tell you the truth, when I looked at the brand name I was kind of skeptical to get this player. Usually I'm a Sony guy, but the price and size were right. The picture is just as good as any of the other dvd's I've seen. That goes for the sound as well.

It also has a lot of features not found in other dvd players. One of which, you can select a portion of a scene and view it over and over again by a button called "A-B." Very useful if you want to examine a part very closely without having to rewind then play then stop, then rewind and so forth. Another feature is being able to view a "Scene" over and over again. This baby's got a volume control also within the dvd player. That way you don't have to switch between controllers so much. It's also NTSC/PAL compliant and VCD 2.0 compatible too. Another thing is that if you burn a cd with jpeg pictures (a type of format that pictures can come in) you can view them on this player. You can take digital pictures, burn them, then view for your family and friends to see on the tv. It also tells you on the screen what scene you're looking at if you press |>|. It also has an optional optical digital output for exceptional viewing (if you don't know what I'm talking about don't worry, just know it's there).

Basic features are Dolby Digital 5.1, MP3 playback, CD/CD-R/CD-RW, Parental controls, zoom. It also has a small LCD screen to tell you which scene or time the dvd is playing. It comes with an AC adapter, A/V wires, and a very handy remote. There's pretty much a button for every feature which is handy for quick clicks. It has S-Video output. Handy buttons on top of the case also for play, stop, rewind, fast-forward, etc.

Small quirks that I have with this player are that it is a bit flimsy. It also gets a bit warm after playing a movie (but I guess that's with any dvd player). There also is no DTS surround sound, but for many that feature won't be needed, I know I won't utilize that.

Overall, I am very happy with this dvd player. I bought it because in my dorm room there isn't much space for a bulky heavy one so when I saw this I grabbed it. Plus, mailing it back and forth between my school and home won't be as expensive this this light and small package. It was a very reasonable price for such a small player.

It may look small and dinky but inside's got a full fledge dvd player. If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive small light dvd player, with some extra features (not found in some of those other brands), opt for getting this one.

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In short: this item is so bad that I'm actually amazed that Amazon is carrying it. In fact, giving it one star is far too generous! Sure, the price is alluring, but please -PLEASE! -read the overwhelming number of other negative reviews regarding this item and believe them. I have an extensive (and scrupulously tended) DVD collection (i.e., no scratches, no duds), yet the Koss unit has trouble regarding 9 out 10 discs it's asked to read. The picutre either drops out completely (leaving the tell-tale blue screen) or simply freezes on whatever image in on screen at the time. No amount of coaxing or encouraging will solve this problem. One wonders how, in good conscience, Koss could release this dismal piece of engineering. I've seen much better units in electronics stores for less -do a little searching and your extra effort will be repaid handsomely that way. If you don't want to feel frustrated or foolish (for having paid money for this piece of junk), save your money and go somewhere else!

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I bought one of these with some trepidation after reading the reviews posted here--in particular, the concerns about overheating due to a poorly regulated power supply.

The unit I got (not from Amazon) was factory-refurbished by Koss. (it wasn't much cheaper than a new one--so I'd recommend buying new.) To my surprise, it came with a switchmode inline power supply, rather than the linear "wall-wart" supply described by some owners. My trusty Fluke DMM showed the supply's open-circuit output to be 12.21 volts--very good regulation!--and the player was not noticeably warm even after running for a couple of hours.

Now, I can't guarantee you're going to receive the same AC adapter I did. But it looks to me as if Koss recognized that they had a problem with the old linear supply and replaced it with something a lot better regulated, thus eliminating (as far as I can tell) the overheating problem.

With that trouble spot gone, this is a sweet little player for the price...and an exceptionally versatile one, as others have mentioned.

Andy Baird

I've played with one of these for about 6 months now. There is a bit of a heat problem as others have mentioned, I hacked mine to install a small fan (mpja.com part 12929 FN) and have not had problems since. I haven't found any format it won't read, from VCD to SVCD to CVD, DVD-R and -RW, JPEGs and MP3's on a DVD. (80 hours of music on one disk!) Outputs for composite video, S-video, and component video, as well as analog and optical digital audio. User interface isn't great, but it works. There are buttons for some functions on the player, but Koss didn't include enough to run a typical DVD, you will need the remote (which reduces its portability somewhat). Video filters are very sharp, which looks really good on some movies but introduces a little edge noise on some others. Runs on 12vdc, I've used mine in my small trailer with a LCD monitor, it's great to be able to take your movies and songs on the road.

Night Owl Security LB-4DVR5-8LCD-4CM 4 Channel H.264 D1 DVR with, 4 pack CMOS Cameras 400+ TVL and

This is a great security starter kit. I emphasize the word "starter" kit. I received it, everything worked well, but it is a very basic unit. The cameras are on a fixed focal length so you can not zoom, tilt, or pan them. I wish the lenses had a wider focal lens on them because they would be better in my opinion. Unless you mount it far away you don't get so much in the picture. The lenses do work well in low light which is a plus.

To hook it up to your phone or PC seemed exceedingly complicated but to NightOwl's credit, their phone technical support was extremely helpful and got the whole thing working for me on both my PC and iPhone.

The picture quality is really not too good and the color is really not too good. But like I mentioned, it is a great started kit to see if this is something you might want to use. I plan to upgrade the cameras to the ones that can zoom, tilt, and pan because the DVR it comes with is already programed for these functions.

I like being able to check on the home front when away so it is a great comfort for me to call up all four cameras on my iPhone and see that the dogs are ok, the air conditioner unit or water heaters are not flooding, and no one is trying to come in the front or back door. Like I said, this is a good starter kit.

Have installed this system and am very disappointed in the camera resolution. Even after adjustments, the clarity is extremely poor. Such has now been wired down so any return is impractical. There would be no way the outside camera could read a license plate. Heck, it'd be lucky to distinguish the model of car!! This, plus my inability to yet get it connected to the Internet, has me feeling I was ripped off.

Buy Night Owl Security LB-4DVR5-8LCD-4CM 4 Channel H.264 D1 DVR with, 4 pack CMOS Cameras 400+ TVL and Now

You can buy all the pieces of this separately for around 350. Plus you can get a better dvr, and better cameras with 25+ lcd's. Also none of the cameras have audio. Buy it separately and you will get better stuff.

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cameras are worth anything after dark. they say 30 feet of night vision, at 30 inches you can only see blurry images. recommend a better camera and more space on monitor. I probably wind up giving these 4 cameras away and buying better security system. Night owl not worth $25.00, don't buy.

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It did not work as advertised. I have to do this because I am required to submit a certain amount of words to review when only a few would work.

RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 PLAYER WITH FLIP-OUT USB & DISPLAY

I have owned several sets (50+)of mp3 players. mostly from philips and sony. I need something that can accept aaa battery for a simple reason, I travel a lot. When I am in a foreign country, aaa battery can be found fairly quickly. This is not the case with li-ion battery since most foreign country I have been to use different voltage and outlet than the USA.

I bought 2 of these and so far I am impressed with the sound quality (I used SkullCandy noise isolating earbuds & toss away these stock earbuds).

Panasonic DMR-E55K Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player , Black

• Records DVD-R, DVD-RAM for best of both worlds; plays DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, CD-R/RW, and MP3 CD
• Up to 16 hours on a double-sided 9.4 GB DVD-RAM disc; up to 8 hours on a single-sided 4.7 GB DVD-RAM or DVD-R
• Offers one-touch record, TimeSlip, chasing playback (watching a recording in progress from the beginning), on-disc video editing
• Progressive-scan video output for seamless, flicker-free picture on high-definition and HD-ready televisions
• Measures 16.9 x 3.125 x 11.2 inches (W x H x D)

Normally I don't write reviews about electronics, I'm not an electronics expert nor have I used lots of DVD recorders. I'm making an exception with this piece of equipment. I did my research (reading reviews like this one) before purchasing this machine. I'd been waiting until the price of a quality machine came down to a price I felt was reasonable. This machine has been a jewel. I needed to archive a considerable collection of VHS tapes for my personal use (over 200 tapes, most of which were in excess of 1.5 hours each.) So far I have completed over 100 transfers and made only one frisbee, not bad. The quality of the transfers is all I could have hoped for, in fact it's exceptional. For anyone who wants to move a collection from VHS technology to DVD technology I will make 3 suggestions. First, purchase the SIMA GoDVD! unit. It enhances and cleans up weak signals, you'll thank me for this suggestion. Second, get a good VHS cleaner and use it regularly. Last, don't shoot yourself in the foot using the cables that come with these units. Go out and purchase monster cables or their equivalent. Using the skinny little things that come with the unit will keep you from getting the best possible information transfer. If you're watching your dvds on the new generation of television you WILL notice the difference.

Last but not least, normally I don't believe in extended warranty contracts. With this unit I made an exception. I bought an 3rd party contract since I learned that Panasonic will keep your unit for months if you utilize their contract. The lasers in these things are pricey and in my opinion worth spending a little money on insurance. Oh, one last thing, be very careful that you DO NOT move your recorder with a DVD disc in the tray. The repair technician I spoke to regarding the contract said that this is the #1 way to screw up a DVD recorder.

As to the quality of the user interface. My wife, one of the truly great technophobes of the 21st Century was able to use this machine with a minimum of coaching. It's really pretty easy to use, but like everything it takes a little reading and time to get the hang of it.

I'm posting this review as a way to thank those of you who have posted reviews that have helped me make good purchases. What a great way for us to help each other, very empowering.

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I can't comment on the longevity of this product, as I've only had it for a few days. But I can comment on the features and ease of use which are excellent. Contrary to the reviewer who said it is extremely hard to set up, I say the opposite. For the rest of us who can easily work a microwave or an electric shaver without incident, this thing is as easy as you'd want. Here's the 'exceedingly' difficult set up routine:

1. Plug in all the cables (make sure you get them in the right holes...)

2. Turn it on. You'll get a menu asking you what language you speak. Then let it go for a while and it'll set the channels and time for you.

3. Whew..we made it past that. Now to program something to record: Press the 'funtions' button and go to the 'timer recording' mode.

4. Choose the channel, ENTER, start time, ENTER, end time, ENTER, record mode, ENTER. You're done. Wow. Hard.

5. To watch a recorded program, press the navigator button and choose a recording. ENTER.

6. To watch from the beginning while you are still recording, press the Time Slip button. Then control it as a regular recording, or press stop to go back to live TV. Easy.

For the price this seems to be a great unit. The picture quality is great and it works as advertised. I don't really see the necessity of the 'feature' of being able to use double sided DVDRam discs, because you have to flip them over anyway, so it doesn't really let you record twice as long without intervention.

One more note : It says on the box that it supports DVDAudio discs, (music CDs specially split into 5.1 channels). But it specifically says in the book that they will play on this unit on only 2 channels. That doesn't really seem like support for the standard.

Overall, it is a great replacement for my piece of junk VCR and is indeed easy to use. Can't go wrong here.

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic DMR-E55K Progressive-Scan DVD Recorder/Player , Black Here

I needed a unit that would both record high quality video at the two hour setting as well as decent quality at the four to six hour setting. Saw the five star rating here and knew this was the one.

I am very pleased with this unit. I am recording from a DirecTV signal and it seems as if I am watching the actual broadcast. I highly recommend this Panasonic recorder.

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Bought this for my wife and in 4 days shes taped 12 movies flawlessly. The video and sound qualities are excellent. The output to the TV through the cable throughput is better than my Yamaha home theatre reciever system costing $800. The ram disks work the same as the r/w standard. I had no problems setting up the machine. I would recommend this unit to anyone with a vcr or old vhs tapes of the family. It does a great job cleaning up old tapes for archives.

This unit does everything I want it to...recording off cable tv as well as transfering my dusty and decrepit vhs collection to dvd with surprisingly good results.One of the easiest hookups I've ever experienced,super easy remote control operation and programming. You won't find a better unit for the price or a more user friendly recorder....Love It!!!

Memorex 700MB/80-Minute 48x CD-R Media Black, 50-Pack Spindle

I have used dozens of different brands and colors of CDR's, and the Memorex black ones are the ONLY ones that have NEVER given me any trouble. I have Memorex black cdrs in my car that have been there for 3 years. They've been through the hottest summers and the coldest winters. To this DAY they still play great. All other cdrs that i leave in my car get ruined by the heat. The black cdrs are not exactly the "nicest-looking" cdrs on the market, but they are SUPERB in terms of performance. If you have some valuable information or music that you want to keep forever, i strongly recommend the Memorex black CDR.

MY '96 Maxima has the bose stereo (Clarion) head unit in it and was not liking my Taiyo Yuden (top quality) CD-r's when the temp was high.. so I looked at some reviews for cdr's and found these. Took a chance and ordered a 50 pack and wooo! I couldn't be happier. I burned my first disk today and tested it (it was in the upper 80's here) and my stereo had no problems with these. I reccommend you try these out if you have a picky older player.

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I originally got these disks because I was having trouble with my car's cd player skipping with regular silver disks. I read on the internet that black disks can track better and sure enough, all burns have played perfectly. I have used 4 or 5 different drives (from cheap OEM drives to Plextor) and they all worked. These are the only disks I use for music cd's anymore.

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I've used these for years. I love them. I never have any problems with them. Usually, if I go back and check after burning it was a problem with the audio file on the computer-in the rare event of an error. It was not a problem with these. I've used them in my ford, a bmw, a benz, honda, saturn, pioneer, & various computers + players. I've used them for data and music. They're great and always play. If you do have a problemcheck your burned file's quality. Chances areit isn't these CD-Rs. TIPUSE A SILVER SHARPIE (yes these exit) AND LET IT DRY BEFORE INSERTING IN PLAYER. IT SHOWS UP GREAT AND LOOKS NEAT. No need for the writing space complaint. :)

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The media worked fine for me, got a pack once as a gift and used them all. Between work, home, and laptop burned them on cd-r's and dvd-r's and all worked. No idea why some reviews complain about "black" cds being bad. You can buy cd-r's in red, blue, orange, silver, and ones that look like old 45 records, etc... It's just the color, it's not some other format. So if you're having trouble, don't blame the color. Memorex is a good brand name for cd-rs or dvd-rs so ignore those talking about an issue with "color".

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Philips GoGear Vibe 8GB MP3 Player SA3VBE08K/37

• The small and sturdy GoGear Vibe MP3 Player hits the right notes with Philips FullSound to bring your music to life
• Philips GoGear MP3 Player Vibe 8GB SA3VBE08K/37
• Philips Product. Plus, soft rubber earbuds ensure comfy music enjoyment
• Songbird for endless music discovery and easy synchronization. Plus, soft rubber earbuds ensure comfy music enjoyment
• The small and sturdy GoGear Vibe MP3 Player hits the right notes with Philips FullSound to bring your music to life and
• Songbird for endless music discovery and easy synchronization.

When my iPod Shuffle finally shorted out I began to look for an inexpensive and comparable replacement. The Philips GoGear Vibe 4GB fit the bill perfectly and with a lot more options than my old Shuffle. Great for on the go use (bus, exercise, work etc.) the Vibe provided me with just enough options to get me through the day with little to no hassle in use. Here are my thoughts on this handy little MP3 device;

Pros

+ Superb sound quality.

+ Comfortable and soft rubber ear buds.

+ Excellent auto-preset FM Tuner.

+ Perfect dimensions for an on the go mp3 player. As another review said it's about the size of a credit card and the depth of a Hershey bar.

+ Custom equalizer.

+ Free and optional install of Songbird software.

+ Plays video.

Cons

Ear bud cord could be a bit longer. An additional 6" would have been better.

No Audio Recording capability even though it's advertised as such. There's what appears to be microphone hole on the top of the device but no recording options available. This is the main reason I knocked off a star as I would have really used this option.

Limited video format support.

Small video screen and along with that comes rather poor quality/resolution (expected for the price). Hopefully most people don't plan on watching a lot of video with this player.

User interface could use some tweaking as it's a bit confusing at first.

Volume buttons are a bit too recessed for larger fingers.

Unfortunately the Songbird software consistantly crashes without reason despite repeated software updates.

All things considered this is a good deal for a low end MP3 player. For the price it's difficult to go wrong with this device. Is it perfect? No. Could there be improvements? Absolutely. As I mentioned earlier, my biggest disappointment was the lack of the audio recorder. I'm guessing this probably won't be an issue for most people however. Other than that I'm very satisfied with the Philips GoGear Vibe. Satisfied enough to consider purchasing the 16GB GoGear Muse.

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The specific model I am reviewing is the SA3VBE04K/37 which is important because all of the documentation I can find referring to the 4gb GoGear Vibe mentions audio recording capability which this specific model apparently cannot do. There is no built in microphone, hence, no ability to record audio EVEN THOUGH RECORDING AUDIO IS LISTED AS A FEATURE OF THIS UNIT. The manuals I've found show a different configuration (microphone hole on top) than this particular unit. If you're looking to record classroom lectures (I was looking forward to testing the quality of that) you just can't do it. This also raises into question the capabilities of the other Vibes. Which ones have this feature and which ones don't? Hopefully the Philips folks will fix their documentation and advertising and this won't be an issue.

Otherwise, this is a solid, pretty standard MP3 player. As advertised, it takes about 2-3 hours to charge the built-in, non-replaceable battery. I actually prefer non-replaceables since I don't spend all my time hunting for AAA or AA or button batteries, but you may prefer otherwise. I've had it running overnight and it still has a good charge, but that should be the case with any new battery. If it turns out this unit's battery has a short life-span (less than 1 year?) I'll add an update to this review.

The sound is solid, the interface is decent, the software is all pretty standard. At least, standard for a portable MP3 player not built by a certain company that starts with an "A." In fact, my most recent experience is with a second generation Apple Shuffle (postage stamp sized, no screen) and I prefer this GoGear Vibe to the smaller Shuffle for a couple of reasons. A lesser reason is the Vibe's screen which has a nice visible menu system and pretty easy to use controls. The second is more important to me: the built-in FM radio. I've had no problems using it to tune in to the local NPR station which I prefer listening to, rather than music, during my 2 mile walk to my bus stop. Personally, this is my favorite feature.

The size and weight are good, about half the size of a current Hershey's 1.55 Ounce Milk Chocolate Bar and about as thick as one candy bar. Check the comparative size photo I uploaded for this review. It does fit nicely in the pocket. The earphones are pretty decent for ear buds both in comfort and sound quality and I see no reason to replace them. It doesn't have a clip, nor did it come with a lanyard neither is a deal killer, but either would be nice!

The picture and audio/video display works as good as you would expect with the 1.8 inch display. Videos have to be in the MJPEG format, and are displayed on a 160 x 128 pixel format. The display is legible and clear, but this is a small screen. Because of the memory limitations of the specific unit I'm reviewing (4 GB) I wouldn't use it for video in any case. Pictures? Maybe. But we're still talking about pictures a little bit bigger than a postage stamp (albeit, a larger, commemorative US postage stamp).

Read the specifications carefully and make sure you know what you're getting (with the caveat that the specifications could be in error as noted at the outset of this review). This is, overall, a nice little unit, but nothing about it really rises above the fact that it's pretty much just a standard entry into the non-Apple MP3 Player arena.

UPDATE 22 MAY 2012 (over a year after acquisition): Durability is excellent. For the last year I've been constantly letting this rattle around in my car's glove box and in my pocket. Works just as good as when it was new over a year ago. It has some wear marks (what you'd expect) but has physically held up perfectly.

Read Best Reviews of Philips GoGear Vibe 8GB MP3 Player SA3VBE08K/37 Here

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM) Although Apple has set the industry standard for portable digital music with its iPod line, not everyone wants to pay the price or use iTunes to manage music. This little GoGear Vibe is a good choice for people who want a relatively inexpensive MP3 player that's about twice the size of the Nano but much smaller than Apple's other offerings. NOTE: I'm reviewing the 4GB version. The 8GB version comes with voice recording but this smaller capacity one does not.

This MP3 player is designed exclusively for Windows PCs because its Songbird music managing program does not work with Macs, even though there is a Songbird for Mac program available for free download. That said, I was able to download Amazon MP3s to the device, using it the way I'd use a flash drive by dropping files directly onto the GoGear. It worked perfectly, but I couldn't fill it with songs from my Mac's iTunes library, even when I located the files for them. The songs transferred but wouldn't play, suggesting that the GoGear Songbird converts the file kinds to be compatible with the device. When I connected it to a Windows machine, that version of Songbird immediately asked if I wanted to import my music from iTunes, so the GoGear can indeed do it, just not with a Mac.

The controls are relatively easy to use -once I found them. The black-on-black face, with little supplied documentation, made its use trial-and-error at first. The small screen is large enough to display an album cover but lousy for photos and videos. Some of the other models in the GoGear line have bigger screens, so if you want to display photos or video, you might want to investigate them.

The sound is slightly different than the iPod for the same songs played through the same set of earbuds. I can't say whether one was better or worse; the iPod has warmer tones, but the GoGear has crisp, clean notes.

The earbuds are comfortable, and they stay in place. Battery life is so-so, the one area of the GoGear that I didn't like. I took it on a trip with me, and more than once I'd go to listen to it, only to find the battery drained. I suppose I've been spoiled by the long life of my iPod battery. And the 4 GB capacity is too small for those of us who like to carry around a huge music library to enable a listening decision on the fly. I don't like Philips assumption that Mac users won't want to use a non-Apple product for music listening.

I also am not a fan of Songbird. Although it has some of the features of iTunes, I found its navigation to be somewhat clumsy. I didn't take any points away because of it, however, since it may be that I'm so used to iTunes that I expect other programs to approach it in ease-of-use.

The GoGear deserves five stars just for its value, but it falls far short of the more expensive iPod Classic and Touch. If you don't want to support Apple (and many people don't) or if you want a budget, solid-state player, then the 4GB GoGear Vibe is something you should consider. Otherwise, I recommend looking at the higher end products in the Philips line or at Apple's.

-Debbie Lee Wesselmann

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I very carefully studied the reviews of several mp3 players when my first one died suddenly. I had a player with a 2.8" screen but decided that it wasn't really necessary as I never used it to watch video. I had downloaded a few things when I first got it as it was a "new toy" but then as time passed, used it solely to listen to music. However, it was important to me to be able to view album art as I had spent hours downloading that for my songs ripped from cd's. So thank you to previous reviewers who mentioned that functionality in their reviews.

The Philips Songbird software was easy to use. It synced up with my music files immediately and downloaded everything flawlessly. Since the initial sync though, I prefer to just drag and drop any new songs I add instead of going through the syncing process. I have several songs that I don't want to transfer every time (for example, my husband's favorites and Christmas music). But it was an easy way to get started. Everything is organized by artist, album, and genre and I like the playlist feature. That allowed me to separate my regular music from the Christmas music that I had on the player during the holidays. You can create a playlist on the go, but I haven't used that feature yet.

A really nice feature that I didn't have on my previous player is the delete on the go option. If you find that you have a song you don't really want you don't have to wait to get back to your computer to delete it. You can get rid of it immediately!

I am taking a long trip this weekend and thought it would be nice to have an audio book to listen to along the way. The audible.com site that is listed in the manual charges a monthly fee for their books, so I thought I would see if I could use my local library instead. Worked like a charm! It will accept books in either mp3 or WMA format. My library uses the Overdrive Media software for downloads and it was easy to download the book into that software and then it had a transfer option that recognized the Vibe and transferred the books in seconds! The only negative is that they were downloaded into the music files so they are mixed with my music. To find them, I have to go to artist and then find the author's name. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing that if you were playing random selections from your music file, your book files could be selected to play. But you would just skip to the next song, so shouldn't be a big deal if you want to listen to music while you have a book loaded.

I tried out the FM radio as well and it auto tuned all the stations the first time and does work well in my market as far as tuning in(Bismarck ND). I don't really use this feature though.

Battery life seems good as it shows near full strength after 2 3 hours of play. I haven't played it for such a length of time as to drain the battery fully (it will get its test with the audio book tomorrow as I intend to listen for over 5 hours straight).

Over all, I am very, very pleased with my purchase of the Vibe. If you want an mp3 player that plays music and audiobooks, you won't be disappointed in this one!

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Absolutely love it! Very easy to use and only needed functions. No waist of features and complicated functions. On screen symbols are simple and understandable. Well built device, not resembling any cheat replica of any popular players. Love the small portable size, you forget that you're even carrying a player at all. The screen size is small but has great backlight, makes watching quick videos or episodes fun and enjoyable. The battery life is great!!! Lastly, one of the best features is a sleep timer. No more killing your battery just because you fell asleep listening to your favorite songs. Very good buy for the non-technical, kids and older folks who want to keep up with the latest gadgets!

Livescribe APX-00006 8GB Echo Smartpen EFIGS Voice Recorder

I am a consummate note taker. Note taking is also a memory builder for me as I am a visual learner. I am a tax and business consulting CPA, and I take notes in each client meeting either by phone or in person. This product allows me to keep a record of my hand written notes and save them to our computer network. I can access from any computer. I can also perform text searches on my handwriting! Yes, my beautiful, yet sometimes illegible writing. So, the neater you write, the better. Although I do not use the recording feature with clients, I do use it to track my notes from Sunday School class. The pen can track four different books, so my Sunday School class notes and the recordings thereof are in a separate book. An awesome pen system. Export to PDF or transcribe into text to Word. Upload to Evernote, Dropbox... I bought the 8gb. I synch every couple of days; recharge less frequently. Have never run out of storage memory or battery. Great little calculator built into the front of each book is very handy for an accountant. Just an incredibly useful product, and I have nothing but praise. Wake Forest, NC and Henderson, NC.

The Livescribe Echo pen has worked very well (after I performed a firmware update) and I have found it to be a very useful tool. I use it to audio record meetings with links to my written notes and to transfer my notes to my computer for future reference. I also sometimes transcribe my notes using the utility that they provide. While understandably the transcriptions aren't perfect I find them good enough to be worthwhile. I recommend this pen for others who have faulty memories as I do and could benefit from a way to refer to complete records of meetings.

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The 8GB Echopen has been immensely useful--especially the ability to playback the relevant portion of audio by tapping a section of the notes. I use it primarily to record notes and audio on conference calls.

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I have purchased three of these pens form Amazon and 10 from a local store. I have had a battery problem with one. That problem was solved by a replacement pen. Customer service was great. Before I bought the last two Echos I read all the comments on Amazon as well as the Forms site. It seems there is a repetitive theme that rate the pen as poor. Most of the problems are between the pen and the screen. Read the manual and work with the pen and its qualities. Its easy to understand the drop of the developer programs.Is the paper too expensive, only if your labor is cheap.Livescribe is a great product and better than any alternatives.

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I found the range, clarity, and ease of use to be exceptional; actually far more than I expected. The pen has proven to be invaluable tool for taking notes during meetings. The only thing I do not like about the pen is its cap; it is too easily misplaced and I can see losing it soon.

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Looxcie LX1 Wearable Bluetooth Camcorder, iPhone and Android Compatible

This product is a great idea. A small wearable camera. Who wouldn't want that?

Well, unfortunately, there are a number of flaws with this device.

For one, the quality is not very good. 15 frames per second and low resolution. This means your videos are not going to look as good as the example videos. Also, the camera has a somewhat narrow field of vision. It would be much better if it taped a wider angle, because you are not going to be that good at aiming the thing. (You can kinda see the effect in their sample video on YouTube where the guy proposes to his girlfriend and video tapes mostly her chest... it's involuntarily funny).

Also, somehow the camera would need a serious image stabilizer. I have no idea how that would work with a camera like that, but the reality is that people move their heads a lot and very fast and with the low frame rate and resolution, that is a problem to begin with, and even if that was better, people watching your videos are still going to get disoriented or worse, unless you seriously restrict your movements.

The device also doesn't seem to be very sturdy. My ear-plug part broke off the first day. Granted, I wore it under an ice hockey helmet (and Looxcie even says it isn't meant to be a ruggedized product). But it's not like I took a shot to the head. It was just pushing it under a relatively tight helmet that did it, disappointingly.

The worst aspect of this product however is what must go down as one of the oddest technical and business decisions of all time: The camera requires a smart phone to operate. You can now use an Android phone as well as an iPhone. That is mandatory. I have no idea why. Granted, it is a cute to use the phone display as a view finder. Kudos for that. It is also nifty to be able to quickly upload 30 second snippets of video to all kinds of sites. I like that as well and can think of plenty of uses for that. But I can also think of plenty of scenarios where I need more. And you don't get that.

You have to use the phone to do all video editing. The camera has some proprietary internal storage mechanism you can't get to unless you turn your buffered video into snippets of up to 30 minutes of video. So you use your phone to scan back and forth in videos to cut them. If you have ever used the iPhone video player, you know what a pain that is. Now when you do that, the video is still stored on the camera.

And grabbing these video segments is SLOW. I think what happens is that the phone grabs video segments from the camera, puts them together into a video file, and then puts it back onto the camera. Or maybe it just somehow instructs the camera to do this. Either way, it takes forever. (You can also download videos to your phone, once they are saved as snippets. That is even slower. Downloading 5 minutes of video to my iPhone took 15 minutes or so... and then it crashed the phone). Which is no big surprise really, because neither the camera nor a smart phone has enough power to do a lot of video editing. And your segments are limited to 30 minutes max.

And if it is more than a minute or 2, it is too large to just upload to sites like YouTube of Facebook. So what you will end up doing is this: You have the camera recording (which is a bit fidgety, but OK). Then, you use your phone to try to edit the segment you want. You then wait for that to save (like 10 minutes or more). Then, you repeat the same thing with your next 30 minutes. Except it is almost impossible to find the right stitching points. If you want all 5 hours of video, you need to make at least 10 segments. More likely 15, since you will have trouble with the overlap. You do the math on how long that takes. Then, once you are done, you plug the USB cable into your computer and download the videos. Well, usually it takes a few tries for a Windows 7 machine to recognize the camera as a storage device. But then you can download your video.

Why the heck they would not use a PC to allow for editing and view finding is completely beyond me. They could have used PC Bluetooth. They could have used the USB cable. They could have created a powerful app that grabs everything on the camera and then you could have done advanced editing easily on the PC. Or they could have leveraged existing video editing software. And processing videos that are more than 30 minutes would not have been a problem at all!

Oh, and you better not change your phone. Because if you change your phone (which most people... especially gadget freaks that are likely to buy this camera... do often) then your camera may be useless. Or who knows? What if Looxcie's software (which only runs with some difficulty on the iPhone now it seems) won't be upgraded to the next version of the OS? Then you are stuck with a camera that can only record 30 second segments of video, because that is all it can do without a phone.

This whole decision so boggles my mind, that I would actually like to meet the person who made it, because you really don't often get the opportunity to meet people that think and reason quite so differently from the rest of us. It would be a meeting I would never forget, I am sure ;-)

Anyway: I considered giving this product only 2 stars. But on the other hand, it is not all that expensive. And it is kinda nifty in what it does. If only they hap PC software, it would be much better. The overall concept is awesome. I will certainly buy a newer one once they have HD and higher frame rates and such. But for now, it is just a nifty gadget that has potential but doesn't really quite do what you are hoping for.

Hey, if you're expecting HD quality video on a device you wear over your ear...well, you're kinda out of luck at the moment (though I'm sure that's coming in the not too distant future). But this device actually records better video than I expected. Of course, maybe I just had low expectations. I think really though, I just had realistic expectations and the Looxcie has met or exceeded those. I was thrilled to see this device in the pages of Popular Science a couple months ago, then bummed to find out that it was not available for the iPhone at that time. Luckily they got the iPhone version ready before the Christmas season and my wife hit a home run by making sure it was under the tree in time.

I've only been using the Looxcie for one day so far (since Christmas), but I've recorded a bunch of clips and also downloaded the entire video buffer (a welcome new feature) to my Mac (a very simple process) and the video looked quite good. Yeah, it's a little grainy, but not bad. It's certainly better than my ability to remember every detail of every moment. Also, it looks like they have a new feature coming to iPhones that adds 30fps at 480 resolution, so the quality will be even better (granted with a shorter record time).

I've never seen a device like this before, so I'm willing to live with it not quite being everything to everyone at this point. I'm sure it will get better and even at its current stage I'd say it's pretty darn good. The biggest downside for me is that it seem quite big compared to a standard bluetooth headset. I was concerned that I would get a lot of weird looks and stares from people. But, I quickly realized that most people either were not concerned with what I was wearing on my ear or just thought it was an old school blue tooth headset. I do wish it was a bit smaller though...but I'm sure that will come in time as well. Overall I'm quite happy with the device so far.

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I tend to loose my bluetooth headsets a lot, and since I do a lot of rock climbing I thought I would give the Looxcie a shot (and hopefully since it's a little larger then the normal bluetooth maybe I won't loose this one).

It's been great! It has an excellent earpiece. Pairing it with my Droid was really easy. I've taken several video's while climbing and they've all turned out with really good quality. The Looxcie has been really reliable for me. I also like the fact that it's there when I need it. Several times I've been walking with the dogs or out on the point and have been able to record on the fly. It's made for a lot of fun later on when sharing stories with folks. The Looxcie is really worth the price I highly suggest if your going to look at a bluetooth earpiece give this a try. You won't be disappointed.

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I was so excited when I first saw this product since I've been looking for something like it for so long! I've seen other similar products, but they are so bulky and not at all practical. Looxcie is immediately different in that it is so easy to handle. But Looxcie isn't just a camera, it's a bluetooth headset too. This thing is unbelievable! I was able to make calls and answer incoming calls. And as if that wasn't enough, this is almost a "too good to be true" product given its great price point and ease of installation. If you have an iPhone or Android, you can download it from the control panel where you usually pair bluetooth-devices. Be sure to download the FREE apps from Appstore or Android market (just run the app it's that easy!) There's two apps LooxcieMoments and LooxcieCam. I liked LooxcieMoments best as it records constantly in the background when you wear the device and put it in record mode. With one press of a button you save the last 30 seconds. I used this over and over when my 8 year old was trying to explain to his big sister what Viagra (based on a commercial he had seen). It was hilarious and I never would have been able to do the story justice without the Looxcie!!! And speaking of kids, you can also edit the clips on the phone and share them clips can be up to 30 minutes long. Although the quality isn't as good as video, you need to know that this product isn't meant to be used that way. It's basically a "re-do" resource that is able to capture the times when you should have had the video camera on! Given that, the quality of the Looxcie-footage is perfect.

Looxie is extremely easy to use. I can't overstate this since I am not particularly good at this type of thing I'm a stay at home that just wanted to capture moments from my kids' lives! I did need some tech support because, as I said I'm not good at this type of thing, and I can't tell you how great they were. They were courteous, didn't talk down to me and clearly explained the fix (I made an error in use).

Go get the Looxcie and start having fun! At $199, there is no reason not to!!!

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I've been looking for a wearable cam for some time. When I saw Looxcie I wanted one immediately, it's not just a cam, as an added bonus it's also a bluetooth headset with which you can make calls and answer incoming calls. But of course, the main thing is the cam, I've not seen a wearable cam at this price level anywhere. In fact, I've not seen a wearable cam at all being this easy to handle. It's super easy to install and use. Pair it with your Iphone or Android-phone from the control panel where you usually pair bluetooth-devices. Download the LooxcieMoments-app from Appstore or Android market respectively run the app and you're good to go. By the way, you don't have to install any app or pair it, you can use the device anyway to record stuff. But you won't be able to use phone as a viewfinder and other features the apps contain. But you can still transfer the clips using USB. But of course, you should install the app, they're free. There's two apps, LooxcieMoments and LooxcieCam. I prefer the first one, it records constantly in the background when you wear the device and put it in record mode. With one press of a button you save the last 30 seconds. It's perfect when the kids does funny stuff or similar. You can also edit clips on the phone and share them, those clips can be up to 30 minutes long.

I've seen other people here comment on the video quality. This is not a camcorder, for that I use a slightly larger memory-card based device that shoots 1080p videos and has lots of zoom-capabilities. This thing is not for that, this thing captures all those moments when videocameras should have been on but never is. Considering this, the quality of the Looxcie-footage is perfect, compared to not having had it at all.

Finally, the product is easy to use and comes in a neat package and usually it's very self explanatory to use it. But if you by any chance need to get in touch with product support it's one of the best I've been involved with ever. This will be the best 199 bucks you'll spend in a long time!

TSSS Portable Carcam Car DVR

• LCD Display:1.5" TFT LCD(4:3)
• Camera Lens:120 degree wide angle, 4 fixed focus Lens, aperture 2.0,focus 3.4mm
• Sensor:5M CMOS Sensor,1/2.5" light-sensing surface area
• Video Resolution:H.264 compressed format 1920×1080,30 frame/sec; 1440×1080,30 frame/sec 1280×720,30 frame/sec;848×480,60 frame/sec848×480,30 frame/sec
• Accessories: USB cable, TV cable, HDMI cable , manual, car charger,bracket

Cameras work great. These are GS 1000 blue menu firmware. Comes complete and work great (if a little over priced, but convenient not having it shipped from China). Also works great with the Datakam player software.

eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method v.3

• Over 300 easy-to-follow lessons from distinguished Juilliard instructor, including more than 70 video demonstrations
• Interactive Instant Feedback works with both electronic keyboards and acoustic pianos, and shows you when you play the correct notes in a melody
• Songs and exercises are enhanced by live recorded audio, variable-speed MIDI keyboard tracks, MIDI accompaniments, and an animated keyboard
• Over 100 popular classical, blues, pop, and rock songs, including hit songs from artists such as Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Elton John
• When using a MIDI keyboard, personalized reports show your rate of progress, including scores for specific songs

I think this is a great product. It walks you through the basics through more advanced techniques and songs. It also does a great job of teaching you to read music.

It includes short videos of a person playing piano so you can see proper posture and such. Each song comes with (optional) accompaniment, which can make it funner to play (especially with the simple songs). You can also slow the songs down while learning them. The software grades your playing with a percentage score, and gives you details on your errors (if you want them).

This is a great program if you really want to learn to play on your own.

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I'm a musician but not a piano player, and I've had 4 piano lessons with 3 different people. It turned out to be very hard for these piano teachers, who learned as little kids and mostly teach kids, to understand the needs of a musician adult who is learning piano as an additional instrument. They don't have the appropriate method books, they don't know how to assess what I don't know, they don't know how to make appropriate assignments. I learned very little in those lessons.

This method is just fantastic for me because I can skip over all the things I already know, and I can take the same lesson over and over and over again if I'm having trouble with it, never trying the patience of the computer (unlike the humans!) I've been using it maybe two weeks? and I'm amazed at all the things I've learned, and all the songs I can play. The teacher's videos add just the right touch, the singing on the songs is lovely. There's an accompaniment track for the songs so you can get up to tempo and have fun playing with them. Guitar chords are provided (!) which means I can add the chords I know on selected simple songs to make the lesson more challenging. It's a heavily song-based curriculum, lots of Baroque music, but I'm also working on Piano Man by Billy Joel.

My feeling is once I finish this disk, I will be ready for piano lessons with a human. And I will be playing piano pretty darn well by then, too. I just can't recommend this highly enough.

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This software is great to begin to practice, I have studied piano before, you always need a teacher and a schedule and practice, but nowadays without the necessary time, this tool offers a simple practice you can enjoy with around 300 lessons, being the first 70 very easy ones ( one handed slow pieces ).

Every time a lesson or song begins you can hear the teacher giving an insight about the song, which I particularly enjoy, it's not only practice but also about music periods, authors, styles, and the soft gives out that information to the student, to enrich the music experience.

Also you can see hear the teacher playing the piano and singing the song, and as the songs have the lyrics on them, you can practice singing along as well.

I look forward to continue practing and once I dominate the beginners songs , I will definetely go for the intermediate advance piano software offered by emedia.

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I am a newbie and have been learning to play the piano for the past 3 months on my own, using the alfred's all in one adult course book and no teacher thus far. So far so good, and i decided that i needed to see if my tempo and count were correct, I decided to add this program to my learning tools. I have to say, this is a great program to see how much you have progressed on your own. I found the exercises helped to reinforce the beat, the sight reading of the left hand and music theory. Actually, I really recommend you learn from the text book and then come to this program, as you will get a lot more out of it than just using this program on its own:it does go a little fast.

The program offers music theory, sight reading, ear training tests, lots of little tests to see how much you have learnt thus far, video to explain the positioning of the hand, audio explanations; the finger tracker, which is the best part of the program as it tells at the end, the percentage accuracy of your playing. And if you get frustrated at not getting above 95%, for the perfectionist, you can hit a key that plays it back to you on how it should be played! Note that if you hit a wrong note that also counts against you as well as not hitting it or holding it for the right amount of time! You can go back to a previous lesson again and again, which helps to reinforce the point. There are so many little helpers on each lesson, like video or audio pointers.

There are over 300 lessons, so I am looking forward to plowing through them along with the Alfred's course, which compliments this program beautifully. You will need to have a MIDI cable to connect the computer/laptop to your digital piano, which Amazon also sells at a very good price. So worth the money in lieu of a teacher. I will update every couple of months to comment on this program.

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I have this software also. The previous reviewer is mistaken.

It says right on the box that it CAN be used with an acoustic piano. You need to use a microphone so the program can 'listen' to the piano.

This WILL work with an acoustic piano, as well as a digital piano or a keyboard with a USB/MIDI cable.

The software is really good! Like the previous reviewer, I use it with the Alfred's Adult All-In-One Course.

2-PORT Video Audio HDtv Switch Component Video Ir Remote Cntrl

I have a Canon Projector which has two HD15 RGB/Component female connectors on the rear of the projector. I also have a Comcast cable box and DVD player sharing one Canon HD15 connect and a Wii and PS3 sharing the other. I got tired of switching plugs back and forth in back of the projector.

So I purchased two Aten VS231's and they work perfectly with no picture or audio problems. You can switch manually in the front of the box or use the small remote control included. These do require using the included AC adapters. Aten also sells a 4 port model as well. While a bit pricey, they do work A-OK and much easier than switching plugs back and forth. No loss of performance or video degration.

This is a neat matrix switch (it really feels heavy duty), switching as many as 5 RCA cables at a time. I say it that way so people understand that it can be used in 'composite' (1 video + 2 audio) or 'component' (3 video plus 2 audio) switching applications. I bought the two port version, switching either of two devices to a third. The manufacturer even has a technical hotline, which in my case was necessary because it didn't work right out of the box. The technician helped me debug the problem. The battery in the remote was dead, at least dead enough to not deliver the signal strongly enough. A quick run to CVS solved the problem.

In addition, and the honest reason they get 5 stars, the designers apparently took care that the switching mechanics for the audio RCA sockets, if you use them for your audio cables, eliminate any sounds from disconnecting which could occur during the switching; so it's a quiet switch. Nice!

(Should I ask ATEN for a new battery?)

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Vivitar HD Itwist 8.1MP Digital Video Camcorder Black

I'm not one to do too many reviews for consumer electronic items,such as camcorders and such. But as a photographer it seemed necessary to address many issues regarding this camera. Now I actually thought recently that I really enjoyed the look of HD (high definition) video and the quality it seemed to create via YouTube videos I was watching that used the format. So I was at the local Big Lots store and say this mini camcorder along with many others made by Emmerson,Kodak,etc. Anyhow because this seemed to offer the best features for the best value,and mainly due to my lack of experience I decided to do something very out of character-buy on impulse. Well it's impulse buying by my standards. Never usually pick up any even low end electronic item before looking at data and doing a great deal of research. My own personal experience with this camera isn't what I want to discuss here because I had a lot of trouble shopping for my first SD digital camcorder in the first place. But as with my other two camera reviews I'll just stick with the facts. It's likely the best way to express my thoughts on this device.

First of all I'll start with the pros. The camera is strongly built and the menu provides both a lot of option AND is easy to use-that's actually a pretty rare combination for these types of devices. Also it provides you with a lot of features for the still camera part of it. As a matter of fact it offers more features for that than the camcorder element. Basically it seems to be more geared toward being a still digital camera and from the limited part of that aspect of it I tested it did that job reasonably well for such a small device. It even handled low light conditions well. And that goes into the cons of this device when used as a camcorder. And this con is sadly so big that it almost totally outweighs it's better features. I tested this camera in a variety of lighting conditions. And in all honesty this camera has absolutely no ability to pick up even strong lighting. For all the different lighting settings,including night and beach side photography the videos were very dark and blue tinted in color that all the camera settings seemed for not.

So in the end,this cameras faults don't really lie in the features. Or how it works as a still camera even. It has to do with a cameras most basic function-it's ability to receive light. Something this camera seems to be entirely lacking in. Sadly enough,in the end if you looking for the best quality inexpensively there's simply no way of getting around doing research. If your in the state of mind for impulse buying best to keep it on a more sure bet such as a DVD and/or Blue Ray player. Something that would require the minimum of research and does it's job without a lot of fuss. Because a camera or camcorder is a creative tool as opposed to an static one (such as a television or MP3 Player).......there's no way of getting around the fact that it just doesn't lend itself well to being purchased as an adult electronic toy. It is going to be a serious commitment involving a lot of research and time. And maybe a little more money spent. But it's definitely worth that time and effort so you won't end up with hassles such as this. So if you like high quality results,your just going to have to settle for camcorders in the triple digit price range. I don't like that it has to be that way. But it is. So another word to the conscientious electronics consumer.

Samsung Digimax A50 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

This camera is a steal. The best feature by far is the 640X480, 30fps video mode. Honestly you do not need a video camera if you've got this baby. The video quality is very good and the compression allows for over 1!!! hour of recording with a gig SD card. The picture quality is also superb. There is no conventional viewfinder so the LARGE LCD must be used all the time which cuts battery life not a problem if you get the super-long lasting energizer lithium batteries. All in all I'm very satisfied!!!

A friend of mine had the A50 and after seeing it in action I decided to buy one myself. It takes great photos, it's light, and it was very easy to install and setup. A smart buy for someone looking to spend under $200 for a digital camera.

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I got this camera for Christmas, I've only had it a few days, and already I'm absolutely loving it! The picture is amazing, the screen is huge and I couldn't believe how clear the picture is. It's so crisp. And I thought that it was going to be a heavy clunky camera, but not at all! It's extremely light and fit's perfect in a pocket or purse. The voice playback on movies is easy to hear and is also very clear. It doesn't come with a memory card, so make sure you buy one when you buy the camera.

The only thing I was concerned about was the battery life. I actually came across this page looking for more information on how to sustain better battery life. Apparently from the user's feedback before mine I need to invest in the lithium AA batteries to make sure my pictures won't be interrupted by dead batteries. I went through a whole pack of AA's in only two days, and not that many pictures. I guess the regular old batteries just won't do. So I'm going to try that and see how it works. All in all, this is a great camera, and I am very happy with it!

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Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 7.1MP MPEG4 High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I normally don't use a video camera and generally stick with digital stills. As far as still images go with this camera, they are only "alright". If you want a compact camera for excellent still pictures, I suggest any of the Canon S series or higher end powershots. It is useful if you just want a quick picture of something you're recording, but it's slow to actually take the picture (about 3-5 seconds) and the quality isn't as good as a stand alone camera.

However, for video, I'm highly impressed. The one downside I have with it is that when shooting in the highest quality (SHD), the battery only seems to last about an hour. However, bump it down one notch (HD) and the battery seems last quite a while longer. After an hour of use, the indicator said the battery was still full (it has 3 values for battery life).

Personally I couldn't tell the difference between the 2 high def qualities, so I'll be shooting at the lower one to get more battery life and longer videos. On an 8 gig card, I get (in hour:minute:second) 1:54:26 at highest quality, and 2:49:53 at the lower HD quality.

One other thing, if you plan on shooting extremely long videos, the camera doesn't use the AC input while recording, only playback. This means you can't charge a battery while recording. I suggest getting a second battery and an external charger if you plan on long shoots with this camera.

*****EDIT*****

Just to clarify on the AC while recording: The camera will still record without a battery as long as the AC is plugged in. It just doesn't charge the battery while recording.

I just received this device yesterday. I got to play with it for about an hour so far. So, this review is going to be "first impressions" or "initial quality" review.

Quality, packaging, instruction manuals, and supplied accessories all look good quality.

I couldn't find an SD card in the packaging. I did have a 2GB memory card with me, so I was OK.

I could put in the battery, charge the device, take a couple of pictures, and a couple of videos without even reading the quick reference manual. I would call that intuitive enough and user friendly.

Quality of the pictures and video is acceptable considering that I used the device straight out of the box without adjusting any settings. Actually pictures and video looked much better on my home LCD monitor, but looked pathetic on my work CRT monitor. (This is not the first time I have experienced this.)

I have played the video on a 61" widescreen HD TV using S-Video cable and the quality was acceptable. Nothing compared to off-the-air HD programming, but it was not bad at all.

I have placed a couple of pictures and videos elsewhere on the Web. Amazon doesn't allow URLs in reviews. Search in Google groups and you may find a link to the pictures and videos.

I will come back here and update the review over the next few weeks.

Update 4/12/2007:

I have uploaded a couple of low light videos. Link to the Web site in the first comment to this review. Results are disappointing. With what I know now, I would probably give it only 4 stars. Can't change the rating now.

I could quickly and easily compile and burn a DVD using the supplied ULead software. I didn't try any bells and wistles, just used the simplest path and I was done with the production process in about 10 minutes. Burning process itself (with an 8x burner) took a long time (unattended). DVD played fine on a regular Panasonic DVD player.

MiniDV based camcorders probably produce much better HD footage. But, that is not of much use for me, because burning a DVD out of MiniDV footage is very hard. I don't think I could have posted sample clips on the Internet so quickly if I were using a MiniDV camcorder. So, should we compromise on quality of the video or ease of sharing the footage?

Update 4/16/2007:

This camcorder is going back. While it is very easy to use and very convenient to quickly share the footage (compared to MiniDV based camcorders), I don't think this can replace my existing DCR-DVD201 due to the poor video quality under low light conditions. I am not the kind to maintain multiple camcorders and use different one for different situations.

Buy Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD2 7.1MP MPEG4 High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Now

Pros-

Small.

Light.

Concealable.

Fill flash syncs at all shutter speeds.

Video shutter speed priority and internal mechanical neutral density filter for bright scenes.

Cons-

Focus hunts. Focus fails to lock on nearest central object even when that central object has high contrast and fills >50% of frame. Focus prone to locking on background instead of subject. Focus is substantially worse than every camcorder I've ever used.

Taking stills while shooting HD video is useless. Viewfinder goes black while still is written to card. During playback video freezes. Taking stills while shooting SD video does not interrupt recording only if lowest resolution 640x480 still is selected. Unable to disable still button to prevent accidental activation.

Audio is full of clicks from auto focus hunting and grating from zooming. External microphone is a must. Can't adjust external microphone level while viewing a meter. There is no meter in any display or menu. External microphone level can't be set high enough, even when using battery powered microphone. Zooming during recording adds high pitched whine to audio from external microphone. Likely due to lack of proper shielding in camera and microphone.

Microphone jack smaller than standard 1/8" plug. Adapter cord is included.

No standard USB jack on camera, docking station or cable adapter block. Must use supplied adapter cable and either docking station or cable adapter block to connect to computer.

This camera is a poor substitute for dedicated still camera. Stills have many artifacts. Substantially worse than my oldest 1600x1200 2.1 Mega pixel Canon Elph camera.

No front lens threads. No lens hood. Lens cap prone to marking lens.

Lens adapters and filter adapter use friction push on "mount" instead of secure aligned threaded connector. Lens ring does not turn. Hama rectangular hood is good fit to filter mounted to Sanyo's filter adapter.

Tripod socket not perpendicular to lens axis.

Camera does not naturally point at subject. At telephoto end finding subjects is difficult.

No place to mount an accessory light or microphone on top of camera.

No provision to alter file naming convention.

Video data rate at minimum secure digital flash card rate. Rate is not even close to the transfer limit of current flash memory. Artifacts so prevalent that it is hard to tell if image is in correct focus. Shooting with tripod is a must to lessen artifacts. Image stabilization ok, but not good enough to prevent compression artifacting of background.

Does not come with HDMI cable. HDMI cable not available for purchase 3/2007 .

Fastest shutter speed only 1/2000.

No thumb wheel for manual focus. Manual focus isn't smooth, but jumps in steps. Unable to adjust manual focus during recording.

Changing between focus modes requires one way cycling through all options. Focal length jumps to widest and stays there when cycling past macro range focus setting.

Unable to adjust exposure compensation during recording.

Instead of smoothly changing to new lighting conditions, automatic exposure noticeably jumps between exposure levels.

Recording display confusing. Displays red "REC" even after pause button is activated, "REC" stays on while card is written, long after actually recording has ended.

Screen momentarily goes completely black after pushing video record button. User unable to follow subject motion with black screen.

Settings menu confusing. Box end wrench menu shows two tabs, but only first is used.

Videos require fast computer to play smoothly. 2006 Apple 1.5GHz G4 Macmini unable to smoothly play unscaled 1280x720 video.

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I purchased the hd1a model and returned it since I was made aware that the new model was soon coming out.

Honestly although I want so much to love this camera, I am disappointed and decided to send it back as the video quality did not measure up to my old Sony P350, and the camera stills did not measure up to my wedding camera, which is a Canon 30D.

Then I started thinking. I pass up taking my Sony or Canon anywhere because they are not small enough for it not to be a bother. I realized that now with my Sanyo, I actually take it in my man purse with me everywhere I go so now I get shots and footage I never got before. What good is a great camera if you leave it at home? The point is, my Sanyo is just great if I just except that it does not take professional level HD video and that the pics are just a little grainy indoors even with flash. For casual use, this Sanyo is the missing link. I can at least improve video and stills with software if it becomes critical, but as with my wife, once I stop expecting her to be a superwoman, I realize how amazing she really is. This camera is the best hybrid out there and the macro mode blows me away. It is worth it and I am keeping it!

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I have to say I am very disappointed with this camera. I had really high hopes for this one. I waited for the hd2 to come out and when I saw a lot of positive reviews I bought one, I should have waited. For Sanyo to call this an HD camera doesn't make sense. The picture has more grain and noise then my old High 8 camera. Outdoors in bright light the camera is ok. Low-light is horrible

Pros:

Nice form factor, love the look and feel and it's so tiny it fits in your pocket. Very portable and something you can take anywhere.

Secure Digital cards are great, can transfer and edit on the computer quickly

Still pictures are pretty good. Although still digital cameras are better.

HDMI output can plug directly into your HDTV (although if you are used to watching things in HD you will be disappointed)

Cons:

Indoor and Low light situations very grainy, even with the high sensitivity button.

Don't attempt to take still shots while you are filming, it works but when you watch the film you hear loud noises and the shot pauses for 2 or 3 seconds and then continues. Very cheesy.

You can hear the data being written to the secured digital card on the video which is annoying. I thought SD was supposed to minimize noise.

Watching the playback of movement with this makes me dizzy, not even fast movement either.

Image stabilization is not that great either compared to other cameras I have used.

Audio sounds a bit tinny

In my opinion this camera is geared for portability and being able to capture moments quickly as this is something you can always carry with you. If you aren't too concerned with quality picture it's probably fine. I really think Sanyo has a great concept and one day this could be the end all be all device. For now it should come with a warning of it's limitations. I am not saying it's total garbage, but if you have high hopes like I did, you will be disappointed.

Olympus Stylus 790SW 7.1MP Waterproof Digital Camera with Dual Image Stabilized 3x Optical Zoom (Bl

I will admit I was a skeptic when I bought this camera. I have a toddler and a tech-retarded wife, both of whom are responsible for previous spectacular digicam annihilations. So I turned to the Stylus 790 more out of desperation than anything.

Now I admit to being a total convert. For the price-point, I was just hoping for something that took mediocre pics and wouldn't die in 6 months at the hands of my ruthless gadget assassins. It, in fact, takes remarkable pictures, comes with a ton of handy features barely noted on Amazon, and really is indestructible.

Really. And by indestructible I mean it has survived being burried at the beach, dropped in the bubble bath, thrown in the toilet (more than once), gone through the dishwasher cycle (don't ask), dropped from our 3-level balcony to the sidewalk below, and having been laundered (washer AND dryer).

Plus battery is good for hundreds of shots, the video clips are surprisingly crisp, and I rarely have issues with blurry pictures any more. Also, Olympus' face-finding technology is pretty amazing stuff.

Overall I would highly recommend this camera on its own merits as a great camera. The fact the it survived my household is the icing on the cake, since (I hope) you won't be nearly as rough in testing it. Enjoy!

I have some special requirements for a digital camera, and the Olympus is one of the few that seemed to fit the bill. In particular I needed a camera that had image stabilization and be somewhat weather proof as I use it to take one-handed shots from a moving vehicle. While I am not a photo journalist, I do take a lot of photos for a motorcycle publication and needed something that I could use in less than ideal circumstances.

Unfortunately my last camera had no image stabilization, so about 1/3 to 1/2 of all the photos I took came out blurred. But before I could make a decision on a replacement, my old one died. Apparently some road grit had gotten into the lens and one day it refused to extend or retract. Since most of the compact digital cameras on the market have lenses that extend prior to use, it narrowed the field down dramatically. This was the main reason I decided to go with the Olympus.

I've had it for a few months now and had occasion to use it for both moving and normal photography (I've posted a few good and bad photos here). I'm not completely sold on it, but to me the pros outweigh the cons so I'm going to keep it. There are however, a few design issues that I find frustrating.

The first is the focus time (the time between pushing the shutter button and when the photo is actually taken). With my old compact digital it was almost instantaneous, so "I got what I shot". With the Olympus it takes a second or two, which when shooting moving vehicles (from a moving vehicle) is enough time to allow the subject to change position and now be slightly out of focus. Unfortunately image stabilization will not compensate for that.

Another issue is the placement of the flash. On most cameras the flash is on the opposite side from where you hold it (the flash is usually on the left while you hold it on the right). However, on the 790SW the flash is on the same side as the hand grip, which means that if you are not extremely careful your finger will block part of the flash. I have some group photos taken at night where the people on the right side are in darkness while those on the left and in the center are properly lit.

But the biggest issue I have is with the battery life. Typically I would get between 300-400 shots from the battery on my old compact digital camera. However, the battery life on the 790SW is amazingly short. My first trip I got only 170 daylight shots before the camera completely shut down. As it was only mid morning and I wouldn't be able to charge the battery until that night, I spent the rest of the day with a useless camera while dozens of great photos got away. Since then I picked up a second battery, but still have to keep an eye on my power consumption so that I don't run out before the end of the day. I thought about buying a third or forth battery, but at that point I would be spending a large chunk of the overall cost of camera just to keep it powered.

In short:

Pros:

Bulletproof (water/dust/freeze/crush/shock proof)

Non extending lens will not jam from dirt or dust

Auto open/shut metal lens cover

Image Stabilization

7.1 Megapixel

Cons:

Focus time

Placement of the flash

Battery life

Must remove the battery to charge it

While the focus lag-time problem might be unique to my work, the flash and battery issues are ones that everyone should consider before buying this camera. If you have unique needs (camera robustness, weather/water proof) then this is one of the few choices on the market and worth the money. However, if you don't need the special abilities this camera has to offer, I think you would be better served looking for something else in this (or even a lower) price range.

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I am a pro photographer, shooting with a Nikon D2Xs. I was looking for a compact camera for my wife, when I saw this camera in the reviews, it seemed like a good choice. I did some research and found a SCUBA website that tested it to 64' deep, and although the depth gauge stops at 30 something feet, it performed fine event at over double the rated depth.

I was specifically concerned about the contrast these little point and shot cameras have, coming from the world of pro DSLRs... This isn't a $4500 D2Xs, but I was very surprised how good the picture is. The large screen is very sharp and bright. The integrated lens cover is metal, and seems like it would be sturdy.

I would recommend this camera as a high performance compact point-and-shoot.

Read Best Reviews of Olympus Stylus 790SW 7.1MP Waterproof Digital Camera with Dual Image Stabilized 3x Optical Zoom (Bl Here

First let me say, while not the highest MP's on the block, the advertized "oopps-proofing" of this camera drew me in. Drops from up to 5 feet can be weathered, its submersible, can operate in temperature conditions to 10 below 0, and the portability are all sure fire winners in our family. Now onto the software: Can I say WOW? Very user friendly (as I have YET to crack open the book). Was able to literally shoot right out of the box, navigate the settings on the camera without issue(still more to learn I am sure, though), and with a simple plug in of the USB, uploading is automatic! SOOOOO much easier than my first digital camera circa 1994 (yes, you read me right)....AND WORKS SEAMLESSLY WITH VISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nice editing tools within the software, thus no need to import pics into Photoshop or the like to correct red eye, etc. You can even email right out of the software v. attaching pics of old camera softwares gone-by. Camera boasts the ability to shoot video as well (although I'd recommend the 2GB card, which likewise allows for tons of still images should you be away on vacation and unable to download/free up space). Case colors are eye catching too. All in all, considering the rough-in-tough capabilities (without the tank look of many electronics that are made for active and or clumsy users), the requisite/acceptable number of mega pixels (note I did not say stellar, just acceptable), the software (both in and out of the camera) and the large viewing screen (considering the overall size of the camera to begin with), this was a good buy for our family's needs.

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Pros

He's a tough little guy, he's not going to break if you bump him or spill on him

He's an attractive camera

He's small enough to go with you anywhere

He's easy to hold and handle, he comes with a safety strap too

He's easy to use, no steep learning curve, just point and shoot

He's plug-n-play style with Windows XP, no software install required

Cons

His battery doesn't recharge unless you pop it physically out of the camera and pop it into a separate charging tray

Additional Thoughts

It's a good-looking, tough, small camera -perhaps more bulky than the pictures you see on the web reveal, but still small and comfortable in the hand. I didn't need the manual to start using it right away. I am enjoying new freedom from paranoia! I know that if I knock this camera around a bit it's not going to die on me. The toughness of the camera makes me brave about it, and that's why I bought it. As for picture quality, features, battery life... they all seem very good to me, pretty standard for your daily point-n-shoot. I've have the camera for a few weeks now and I use it constantly. Again, the big selling point is its hardiness. I am not shy about keeping it with me in a bag or pocket because it can handle being bounced around a little. I haven't found a thing about this little guy I don't like! :-)