Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP

• Easily create amazing slideshows with digital photos
• Personalize PC with 8 screen savers and 4 themes
• Take a break with fun and exciting games
• Easily create music CD/DVD labels and inserts
• 50 video effects and transitions for Windows Movie Maker 2

I purchased this software thinking that I could take my digital images, create a slide show with music, and then burn it to dvd for the family to watch.

Unfortunately, the disk that I got gave me some error messages that when I called tech support (one hour hold time)they told me that my error message meant that I could create files, but they'll only run on my computer, not on my tv dvd player. In addition, you need to buy additional dvd burning software, because the dvd burning software imbedded in this software package will only create dvds that will run on a dvd player with the Microsoft logo on them. (The package says the dvds will run on almost any dvd player)

So I asked for my money back. However, since it took me more than 30 days to find all of this out, they refused a refund.

Buy Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP Now

This software really shows off the power of your XP. Visually it is amazing. I am not so sure I would catagorize it as a must unless your computer is just for fun. For those of us with work to do the appeal wears off pretty quick.

Read Best Reviews of Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP Here

This is the first time I have ever reviewed a product and I do it so that no one else will waste their money on this. It adds virtually nothing to XP. Too bad they didn't make it as interesting as their packaged media edition. That would have been worth the money, but old Bill who doesn't want to be the richest man in the world would rather you spend money on a new PC to get that product. The themes are nice but far too few for the price. The games are a gimmick since you have to pay to play the real things. The DJ is dumb and the dancers are cute but after a while boring. Hard to figure out how to use the music converter and photo stuff. Too bad could have been something but in its present form, not worth the money.

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This software works great, was easy to install and makes recording my old albums and tapes onto my computer a breeze. This is exactly what I was looking for and would recommend it to anyone interested.

Plus! clearly shows off some great visual effects. I have to confess that I have not yet fully explored the entire package, but wanted to share the fact that this software comes incomplete ... they are clearly using this to entice folks to buy more via upselling. For instance, the games show lots of "potential" effects that become available only if you purchase the remainder of that game. I personally don't appreciate being sold a partial package.

Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device

Luckily, I didn't listen to the other reviewers here and actually checked the reviews on Newegg. Glad I did, this product is awesome! The quality is great (however, you must change the the output settings to something other than default of VCD [read the manual on how to do so]). It doesn't have Vista support (but being a gamer, I am staying on Windows XP).

The VC500 is great for recording gameplay on videogame consoles.

It's best if you do install the Software that comes with it. Movie Maker has a hard time capturing from this device, but the software that comes with this works a lot better.

If you are trying to decide whether to buy the Pinnacle Dazzle or this, I would suggest you buy this because:

1. It's cheaper

2. The quality is the same, if not better than the Dazzle

3. The Live Preview allows you to play console games in full screen

4. The software is high quality

5. Comes with a RCA Audio/Video Cable (which is one less purchase to make)

The Diamond VC500 capture device is awesome!

Load the driver program, open the program, plug in the device in the USB, connect to A/V outputs on a VCR or a DVD player, start to play your source (VHS or DVD) and you will see it on your computer screen and hear it through your audio card. Then, when you see the scenes you want, press the record button on the device or on the program and you are capturing.

The tool command on the program allows you to adjust picture capture quality and output mode (and quality).

After years of handling videos by direct transfer from VCR to VCR in order to make a composite, now I can do the editing on my computer. The files created can be used and edited directly in Windows Movie Maker (the device comes with another editing program, but I find WMM to be easier to use with a wider range of output files).

As a person using clips from many movies in an educational setting to illustrate my topics, this device has made my life much easier -and the quality of what I get is much, much better!!!!!

And all of this for a price much less than the usual video-capture internal card.

(and a hint you can use this device with sources such as phonographs or tape decks to capture and edit the sound through your USB port without having to delve into the audio input ports on the back of your PC.)

Buy Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device Now

I couldn't be happier with this. I'm not a professional video person, but someone who just wants to transfer VHS tapes onto disk. A professional might find some objections to this device, but it works and does exactly what I needed it to do. Plug it into the VCR, plug the other end into the USB port, start up the VCR hit the record button and Bingo! My VHS movie is now a MPEG movie. No problems with the software or hardware. Well worth the price.

Read Best Reviews of Diamond VC500 One Touch Video Capture Device Here

I bought this product to capture VHS tapes onto my computer, which I would then edit in another program. I am running Vista. I installed the software with little difficulty and was up and running in under 10 minutes. However, over the course of using the product, I discovered that the video and audio frequently get out of sync...just enough to be annoying. The audio somehow gets ahead of the video, so after a few minutes of capturing, it gets out of sync and boom, it's worthless (unless you don't care about that, but I personally find it annoying when people's mouths aren't moving in sync with the audio). For me, this is enough to get rid of the product, it doesn't do what I need it to do. I gave it two stars instead of 1 because if you're just trying to capture something small, like 30 seconds long, it should be fine. However, for anything longer, forget it.

I also found that the software that comes with it is a bit buggy with Vista. It changes the color scheme when you open it up, which causes your screen to go blank for several seconds. Then, if your computer goes to sleep while you're recording, you can't get it to wake up and have to completely restart which is a huge pain. But then again, if your computer is set to go to sleep after 20 minutes, it won't matter because by then the video and audio will be WAY out of sync (it gets progressively worse as time goes on, starting to be noticeable after 3-4 minutes).

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My system: Toshiba L505 laptop with AMD dual core processor & Win 7

My person: Middle-aged guy who has been swapping out guts of computers and dealing with software issues for 2 decades.

I had been waiting for a gadget like this for a long time. A few years ago, you would have had to buy a box to do this job, so I was pleased to see an inexpensive way to get this done. I really read the reviews thoroughly before buying this item, so I wanted to address some of the issues that worried me when I read them.

First, if you used a tape that cost you $2.98 for 17 of them, don't be foolish enough to think that turning the video digital is going to perform magic tricks. My old camcorder tapes were expensive master tapes, used with a high-end [for the time] Panasonic PV330 camcorder. When I captured video from tapes of lesser quality, it was immediately evident.

I read people saying that they experienced out-of-sync conditions. With my Win 7 system, I saw no such thing. Then there are installation and documentation issues. The documentation is quite lacking, especially when you consider the problems that some users mentioned. Primary among these was the first time I installed the software, I had already plugged in the device. When you do this, Windows automatically searches for a driver and will find one! When you start the software installation, the first step is to load a driver from the disk. Don't do it! If windows has already loaded a driver, SKIP this step, otherwise it will really mess you up! After I had to go back and restore my computer back to an earlier date, I let the win driver load, loaded up the CD and skipped the driver on it and everything was fine. Also, there will be a green bar across the bottom of the screen in the software where you view the captured video so like one reviewer already said, just close the software, start it up again, and everything is fine. That's where the documentation comes in they have no business not addressing these issues in their manual. Granted, there isn't much to this product, but issues like these need to be addressed so the user knows that she/he is not doing something wrong. With the driver, I think we have gotten so use to the installation taking care of conflict issues that we don't even think about this stuff any more.

As far as the software is concerned, it is pretty rudimentary stuff. I always capture in the MPEG (DVD) format on to an external drive, 'cause the files are big. For editing, the Ulead stuff isn't worth too much in fact I've had it stop working all together a few times, so I don't use it. Actually, Win 7 has enough built in do do most of the flat-out basic editing and burning. Just capture the video, close down the One Touch (the file will already be saved in whatever folder), and use whatever editing software you want. Also if you are using software that lets you capture, I don't think you have to use the button on the VC500.

Sorry about all the blabber, but there are problems with this gadget, but they can be worked around. It's a shame that there is any guessing involved. And for me, it's worth the 30 odd bucks to capture 20 year old videos of the kids on a DVD.

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Sandisk Sansa Clip 8GB MP3 Player (Black)

• Plays your MP3, WMA, secure WMA and Audible audio file formats
• FM tuner with 40 preset channels
• Up to 15 hours of play time with internal rechargeable battery
• Voice recording with built-in microphone

About this reviewer: I listen to Lossless music (Flac) and tons of books (200/year) a lot. I use this SanDisk 8GB Clip player about 20 hours a week.

PRO:

1. Sound quality. Not only does this support MP3, OGG, FLAC (the lossless format of choice) WMV, secure WMA, podscasts, & Audible files, it plays them with perfection. Now this is objective, not a "whatever ***I*** buy and review sounds better than what you have" crap. The sound quality is scientifically top notch. I don't know if the URL I put in this review will get killed, but go to the reviews section on cnet.com or Google the article entitled "Audiophile MP3 players, by the numbers."

Let me summarize the article: they found out that Sandisk *did* put an expensive sound processor in this one (apparently unlike the other Sandisks) and used actual scientific hardware measuring frequency response deviation, and signal to noise ratios, etc. the SanDisk Clip beat out everything that Creative, Apple (iPod), Insignia, Sony, Microsoft (Zune) makes.

reviews.cnet.com/8301-12519_7-9968448-49.html

I know it's an odd thing to talk about lossy (Mp3s) quality, but for the sound quality peeps, you will have zero complaints here.

2. Flash based: Meaning no HDD spinning around thousands of times a minute, movable parts=easily breakable or they wear down. Meaning you can also jog with it. I'm from the computer world, and us cats know that all HDD's fail, period. *Especially* if you're moving it all the time. We, who want something that lasts, universally stick to solid state; ie FLASH based mp3 players.

3. Connectivity: No stupid proprietary cable. Standard Mini-USB cable, I'm sure most people have at least a half dozen from various cameras, etc.

4. Physical Size: This thing is small, there are various pictures here, but this one is about the height of an AA Battery and about 3/4 as thick, one inch wide. This is great for jogging, it's weightless. Clip it anywhere without any huge bulge or weight. It weighs less than an ounce.

5. Compatibility. You DO NOT have to use some weird 3rd party DRM CRAP software like iTunes or Windows Media crap (like you do with Ipod's or IRivers) just drag, drop & GO! If you want some of your friends' songs, you don't have to load up itunes, then some hack, or your mp3 player's proprietary software cluttering up your friends computer to get his or her songs. I recall a conversation I had with a friend trying to get the songs of another mp3 player, "FREAK, it took me 40 minutes to find the right software that world work to get the songs off" -and that's not some newbie. All the software to use this mp3 player is on every computer (with a USB port) and operating system on earth. Also, I didn't install any of the included software. No need.

6. Non music Storage: You plug it in you not only drop any of your mp3s/FLACs on it, you can throw some pictures, some huge files, documents, anything, and use it just like a thumb drive. And still listen to your music, it just skips the non-audio files, etc.

7. Mic. The mic is great for recording class, or conversations; just throw it on your desk or shirt pocket and there you go.

8. Fast listen mode KILLER AWESOME if you listen to books, you can turn it to fast mode which speeds up the audio a bit. This means you can listen to books a good bit faster without it sounding like chipmunks. There is only one mode though, (also a slower mode too) but it's so cool if you want to listen to books faster. Your brain can easily understand, so why not save yourself 1/3 of the time -eh? Awesomeness.

9. Radio: And you can record the radio. Built-in FM tuner with 40 presets Awesome.

10. USB 2.0, it transfers mp3s at a rate of 5.67MB/second per my own rough stopwatch method. Mathematically, this would take about 23 minutes to fill up the thing full.

Have you noticed all of creative labs MP3 players also claim to have USB 2.0 but really transfer at speeds at 1.1 speeds. The Creative flash based stuff transfers at less than 500K/sec, usually 120K-400K averaging at 230K. 230K!!! Do you realize this is slower than download speeds at broadband? 4.83 hours to fill up a 4GB Creative Labs mp3 player? forget that.

11. Memory Size, 8GB (They make a 1/2/4GB version too) this holds:

Books at 64Kbit/sec/mono equals about 266 (~11 days non stop) hours of books.

MP3's @ 128kbits/44.1/Stereo about 128 hours (5.33 days non stop) of music (maybe +/1,900 4 min songs).

Flac's (Lossless) ~21 hours (non-stop) ~315 songs or 20-25 Full CD Albums.

That's quite a lot of listening before you need to get to a computer again. 8GB is plenty for music on the go.

12. Screen, the screen is great, mono color, has some graphics, I don't need nor want some huge stupid color screen sucking down my battery. Which is cool because this MP3 Player does go blank after a minute of inactivity, which is PERFECT! Just what one wants. Touch a button again, it comes back up.

13. Yeah it has other features I don't use much, WMA playback, Audible playback support, graphic equalizer, nifty navigation scroll, blah, blah, blah.

14. Updating firmware is super easy, (and you may have to to get FLAC support) just load the Sandisk auto updater, it figures out which mp3 player you have plugged in, checks for firmware, any updates, then updates them and then restarts. Super easy.

Up in the Air: (Pro or Con depending on how you look at it)

-Comes in cool colors, silver & black, but it is a fingerprint magnet as most electronics with a shiny screen are now-a-days. Finally an mp3 that isn't in "I'm-a-lemming" stupid trendy "ipod white". Other colors are probably coming.

-Proprietary battery. It'll do 15-20 hours of books, take in mind books are less "demanding" on a a battery. But you really can't have anything this small and use any standard battery for any usable time. But it may be a con or a pro. I just don't like the fact I can never easily replace this one and we all know how integrated batteries after a few years start to slowly lose their charge. The Pro is that you can use any old mini-USB wall/car charger that if you have bought a few cell phones in the past few years, you'll have one kicking around your junk drawer somewhere.

Con:

-No Bookmark feature. I listen to books for 20 hours a week. This would be nice, as I could have used it a few times. This is just a software item, Sandisk program it up!

I have no comment on the included earbuds. I'm 6'6" and figure that's why no earbuds bundled in mp3 players did anything but hurt my ears and/or seemed to fall out randomly due to poor fit and rotation of the earth. I have my own headphones as most people who are serious listeners do. Earphones are a matter of personal physiology and audio-snob preference. :)

I don't hate ipods, they are really sessy, but they are just not for me. I could list reasons why I can't like ipods but they are just too freaking expensive for too few bells and whistles. I mean, if you look at my "pro" list, the ipod shuffle is small and flash based, but that's it. I don't want to use some crap software, crap dock/cable, expensive battery, short battery life span, can't store anything else, why should I pay twice as much more for an ipod, when it doesn't even get close to HALF the features?

So, I will give it a 9.5/10. But in reality, nothing else touches it. Nothing has the sound quality, space, battery life, size, & FLAC support on the market for any price.

Buy Sandisk Sansa Clip 8GB MP3 Player (Black) Now

Hands down the best mp3 device for the money out there.

With 8 gigs at roughly 80 bucks, how can you not get this? I agree with the other reviewer. This device is an audiophiles dream. For me, personally, this is also a dream for Audiobook lovers. For once, a device gets bookmarking perfect. Sansa really knocked it out of the park with this one. Plays Audible files perfectly, with bookmarking and chapters. Additionally, if you don't go through Audible or have your own Audiobooks, just drop the mp3's in the bookmark folder, and they are bookmarkable. I previously owned the e280, and it did not have bookmarking at all. With the help of Rockbox (), I was able to get bookmarks and a ton of added features, but even then, I was not happy with the bookmarking implementation. I am happy now with Sansa's own Firmware. Additionally, in the past, people like me would opt to install Rockbox because the original firmware was junk, or lacked something like bookmarking. This is the best bookmarking implementation I have seen aside from Apple's Ipod (which is pretty good in my opinion for Audible and m4b files). For once, I do not have to tinker with a device, although Rockbox should be portable to this device soon from what I hear. I think the firmware that comes with it does everything you need for such a small device, and does it awesome. I would recommend this to anyone, and since they are so cheap, have already bought several. I own the 8gb, the 4gb, and the 1gb. This is also the perfect workout device. If you are on the edge about getting something like the Shuffle for working out, skip it and get this. It has more features, more space, and has the clip that you can clip on to your shirt or wherever you want. The Shuffle does have a good build quality, but it is way overpriced, and it terms of features -this blows it out of the water. Like the shuffle, it is perfect for working out.

Pros:

For me -Top One -Very Workout Friendly, On The go, friendly.

For Me -Top one -Bookmarking feature.

I know I go on about this a lot, but for years and years and years, the device makers, aside from Apple's Ipod, never really put much attention into a good bookmarking feature. Even Sansa's e280 was complete garbage. For audiobook lovers, this was a critical feature, espescially if you have a large library from a site like Audible. Sansa got it right with this device.

(Note: The Old Rio Players had it from the start and did it well, but I think the company went bust and they are no longer being made ... I think.)

Supports Audible, Rhapsody, Overdrive, and I think a a couple of other services

Multiple file formats (mp3, flac, ogg, wav ... I think a couple others, but not sure?)

Built in Radio ... not that I use it a lot, but it is nice from time to time. One can also record songs from the radio and then copy them to the computer.

Built in recorder ... Don't use it often, but is great when my digital audio recorder runs low on battery or if I am in a bind.

Clip ... the clip allows you to clip it to a shirt or pants while working out or wherever

Sound Quality ... Awesome. Literally. I am not an audiophile, so I am not an expert, but this is a good sounding player

Screen ... yes, it has a screen, and when you compare it to its chief rival, the Apple Shuffle, this is a big plus

Space ... 8 gigs for such a tiny thing ... what are you waiting for?

Adapater ... mini USB ... no strange connector.

Charger ... usb or a usb outlet charger. I just use my GPS charger, works fine.

MTP or MSC support ... big plus -you can you a program like Rhapsody or just drag and drop like a Flash drive. I hate Itunes, although I live with it for my Ipod 120 gb, because I haven't seen anything as good, aside from this, at bookmarking. This is great if your on the go, deal with a mac at work, a PC at home, and other computers at friends or girlfriends houses. Plug it in anywhere.

Support ... Sansa has thrown a lot of support and updates to this device, I'm guessing, due to its popularity. There are numerous software updates that fix problems with the device. You would think this would be a given for all devices, but for some makers it takes forever to update a critical problem.

Cons ...

Control ... pretty simple, but people with bigger fingers may find it a little more difficult

Build ... the build overall is good, and I have dropped mine a ton of times, and they are still kicking, but it does feel fragile. But what can you expect for so many features and such a lot price? I've handled the new Nano from Apple, and that is probably a lot more fragile than this.

No video, but really, is this a con? Who is a going to watch on such a small screen.

In sum, perfect workout device, or on the go device where you don't want bulk. Has all the features one could want for an on the go device and does them great.

Five stars.

Note: the USB cable that comes included isn't that great for some reason. Don't bother using it. Use a cable that you probably already have or get one for 5-10 bucks. In my experience, it seemed to have problems connecting sometimes, and then at other times, it wouldn't show up at all. Most likely you already have a spare one, but if not, most stores carry them now.

Note: I usually don't write reviews, but I felt compelled to provide a little bit more detail because this is such an awesome device and some of the questions I had when I first bought one were out there but not in as much detail as I would have hoped. So hopefully this is helpful. This review is coming from a person who primarily cares about audiobooks/podcasts/spoken word content. I care that my music sounds good, but it does not have to be perfect. This device sounds great to me.

Read Best Reviews of Sandisk Sansa Clip 8GB MP3 Player (Black) Here

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)Sansa's 8GB Clip MP3 Player came out about a month ago, right after I bought several extra 4GB Sansa Clips during Black Friday's holiday sales. I already have two I still have and use from the many I have bought, many of which have been given as gifts. I knew that the larger size was coming out, but wasn't sure if I would pull the trigger based upon the list price. After all, about $30 to $40 more gets you an 8 GB Zune or Sansa Fuze. (I already have a Zune, but that's another story). Yet even though I couldn't really find this on sale, I ended up pulling the trigger near the list price anyway. Why? Because this guy is the best compact MP3 player that includes a voice recorder out there, and I have found that no matter what capacity player I buy I will always end up needing more space. All of the other great features are still here, and with this added capacity even the higher price isn't enough to deter me from adding this to my MP3 player family.

This is still one of my favorite MP3 designs. As far as I could tell, little of the basic design has been changed relative to the smaller capacity units. There are more color and size options now in the smaller capacity, though this black one is the only option in 8 GB that I have seen. While the product picture makes this black version look the same as the 1 GB black players, it is actually shinier akin to the silver version.

This unit will come down in price, as all the models do eventually. It's still a great value at any capacity. For quick music play-lists this is one of the better optinos, and for the voice recording feature I think this is still THE best option at least of the ones I own. The other added features, like a screen, FM Tuner, and more, make this compact player much more feature-rich than the similarly sized iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle is a little bit more durable though, or at least it was till they got rid of the metal body. Still, the point is the same: even with the cons it's hard to argue against how great this player is.

With sizes for MP3 players growing, buying the largest size you can is probably a good option. You can definitely get better value looking at the smaller capacity 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB units, but this guy gives you a little more capacity to grow into. After all, these super compact players are not expandable. So you can try to get the biggest you can find, or be like me and just buy extras whenever they go on sale. Then keep one for recording, one for your workouts, one for commuting ... you get the picture.

Being able to drag and drop your music is a big convenience, and another strong plus in this player's favor. Check out the pros and cons.

PROS:

+ Nice new capacity gives you room to grow

+ Very Good combination of features, design and value

+ Decent sound quality for a small MP3 player

+ Nice capacity for a decent price

+ Very light-weight

+ FM tuner with 40 presets!!!

+ Voice recording

+ Nice design and color options

+ Nice format compatibility (MP3, DRM WMA, WMA, Audible, etc)

+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity

+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage

+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via software

+ Great 15 20 hour battery life is better than Creative Zen Stone Plus or iPod Shuffle

CONS

Newer shiny body does attract fingerprints and smudges more, so invest in a silicon cover

Slightly larger body than the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod shuffles

Some durability questions linger

Like most of these mini-players, the capacity is not expandable

More low cost options and competing feature rich players make it less of a slam dunk

Still priced near the list price, so less of a value than the smaller capacity units

Included buds will not be enough for most people (almost not worth mentioning, but just be aware of it)

The new Sandisk Sansa Clip may not be as durable as the iPod shuffle, but it still has the advantages of the iPod shuffle with some of the features and benefits of other MP3 player brands. Unlike the Sansa Fuze which has a screen for video, this guy is really meant for audio only. The trade-off is really in the smaller size and integrated clip. The Fuze, iPod Nano, and Zune are all pretty small too and include a video feature. So if you think you really need video, you will want to look to some of those units.

The Clip is a little bigger than the iPod shuffle, but not by much. It has a great feel and a nicer clip. It's perfect for a starter MP3, workout unit, or gift. And now with the added capacity, you can really use this for recording meetings and other such things more than the prior models.

The rechargable battery appears to have been improved a little. It always seemed better than the Creative Zen Stone Plus. The earbuds are passable for beginners but most people will replace them. Check out the skull-candy's for a cheap alternative

I definitely recommend the larger size, especially if you can get it on sale. For those needing more space, Sony, iPod and Zune units are available at 16 GB and up. All of those units have higher price tags.

You may even want to check out the SanDisk Sansa View 16 GB MP3 Player.

CONCLUSION

The trade-offs between size and features are getting more difficult. For those who use the recording and need a smaller size, this deserves consideration. Even for music only this is still compelling, but you may want to widen your search to include those other models as prices fall. This is a great starter unit for yourself or to give as a gift. Hopefully the new batches have improved durability. The same great features are all here that will keep this design around for a while.

Enjoy!

Want Sandisk Sansa Clip 8GB MP3 Player (Black) Discount?

I needed a new MP3 player. I had originally used a 1st gen iPod Shuffle, but really disliked not having a screen to help navigate the device. I decided against another iPod because I dislike how Apple doesn't support older iPod accessories whenever they come out with a new model. So my search began for my first Windows Media Player MP3 device.

I looked at multiple devices, including the Creative Zen, Sony Walkmans, and even the Sansa Fuze. All are excellent players and deserving of hard consideration if you want a non-Apple player. The Creatives and Walkman boast a reputation for excellent audio quality out of the box, as well as intuitive GUI's. And the Fuze is a lot of player for not a lot of money.

However, I chose the 8gb Clip. The player works perfectly as an exercise companion: it's lightweight, holds quite a few songs, and sports surprising audio depth with the right aftermarket headphones (I bought Koss KE295 noise cancellation earbuds, and they sound wonderful).

I decided against the Creative products upon reading that their music-loading software is difficult to use. With the Clip, its either Windows Media Player 11, or even simpler, dragging and dropping through Windows Explorer. The only reason I nixed the Fuze was that I didn't think I'd ever want to watch videos on a portable device (one big point in the Fuze's favor, however, is the port for a MicroSD card, making it a tough choice for me).

Anyways, the Clip's GUI is a blue and yellow OLED, and quite bright in low light levels. It's a bit small, but still legible and reasonably attractive. Getting to your music, FM radio, microphone, etc., is easy and intuitive. If you ever get into some weird submenu, simply hit the 'Home' button to return to the main screen. Great feature. The clip on back is removable, and has a strong spring hinge. Clipped to a waistband, it feels like nothing at all, which is great when wearing lightweight exercise shorts. The dedicated volume rocker on the side of the player is quite handy as well.

The Sansa Clip can be summed up for me in one word: surprising. The amount of features you get for the price point is quite impressive. The unit seems fairly sturdy overall, BUT this is my second 8gb Clip. I returned the first to the big box store I bought it from when I discovered that both the power and volume buttons on either side of the unit were quite loose and rattled with little motion. Fearing a hardware failure, I got a new one and it seems to be much tighter than the first.

I still wonder if my choosing the Clip over the Fuze was a prudent one; if the Clip had expandable memory than there would be no contest. But all in all, this is a fairly inexpensive model that gives you quite a few options to fool around with. Its a solid choice for joggers, bikers, anybody who exercises. And its so small and discreet, it would never be in the way tucked in a pant's pocket for everyday use. Plus the sound quality cannot be overemphasized. Check one out and see what the Clip can do for you.

I bought my Sansa Clip in November 2008 and enjoyed it until it died forever just a couple of days ago. As far as how well it worked for me, I'd want to give it a 4 or maybe even a 5 star rating, but the amount of frustration I went through when it periodically froze and deleted all of my songs kind of killed that. I frequently got an error message on the screen (by frequently, I mean every few months or so) saying that I need to free 30mb of space. The only way I was able to access the player after that was to hook it up to the computer and reformat it which took forever, and then of course, I had to reload all the songs. Sometimes it would just freeze and delete everything without the error message, and I could format it through the player (without hooking it up to the computer) so at least it was courtious SOMETIMES (when it wanted to be a jerk).

Just recently, it became unresponsive, freezing up at the start screen and the computer won't even register that something is plugged into it. After scanning the Sansa FAQ and forums, it has become clear that my clip is dead forever. It was a good, long haul and I'm going to miss it... even though I ended up smashing it with a crowbar after ordering a new one (different brand). Would I recomend it? Yes, as a matter of fact I would. 7.5gb (the actual amount you can use) is a lot of space and the price isn't bad. I'm guessing what happened to mine is the battery finally wore out (even rechargeables die eventually). A way to help extend the battery life is to NOT keep it plugged in too long. Just allow it to charge or load your music/audio books and then unplug it. I didn't do that. Now it's in pieces.

Vinpower Digital USB 3.0 External DVD CD Burner

This is an excellent product which functions perfectly and does what it is supposed to do. I have a very large music library and I use this handy burner to back up most of it. A very good buy indeed.

Intel Pocket PC Camera, CS-630

I wasn't ready to take the leap and get a mega-pixel camera because of the cost and the fact that 90% of the time I would just shrink the pictures down to post on the web anyway.

For what it is, it's pretty good. It's a nice webcam for connecting directly to your PC. It's a convenient camera to carry around with you and take lots of reasonably good pictures. The software that comes with it is nice and works from within my image editing software so I can download, edit, and save very easily. The size is just right for slipping in a pocket and it's survived a number of minor drops intact. This is definitely not a high-end camera, but if you just want something to take pictures to post on the web and work as a direct-connect webcam it's a good deal. Battery life is good and it uses Alkaline batteries. I'd rather have the option of rechargable batteries charged via the USB cable, but that isn't available. The one thing that really bothers me is the button. It's kind of hard to push down and when it finally gives, it tends to jerk the camera a little. If I'm not careful to keep it steady, this results in a blurred shot.

Pros: Good battery life. Enough memory for 128 pictures. Adjustable focus for close-up objects. Shoots 10-second video clips away from PC. Shoots nice higher-res videos when connected to a PC. USB interface with slick software. Timer mode so you can set it down, click the button, and get into the shot

Cons: Cannot upgrade memory. No screen to view/delete pictures. Not Windows 2000 compatible a beta driver is available to download pictures, but it cannot clear pictures from the camera's memory! Video limited to low-res 10 second clips. Low-light pictures do not come out well and it doesn't have a flash. Can only adjust focus when it's connected to a computer

Keep your eye out for rebates. CompUSA recently had a MAJOR price break on these things.

My roommate and I bought this camera about six months ago, and it is one of the most-used and most-enjoyed items in our apartment. It doesn't use up any film, so we never think twice about grabbing the camera when we go somewhere with friends.

Though it has no flash or zoom capabilities, it takes large, clear pictures even when used portably. The video it takes when it is not connected to the computer is a bit lacking because it comes out so small, but it is still useful for some things -I took it on a roller coaster last week and videotaped the ride at 60 miles per hour!

As for the video taken while the camera is hooked up to the computer, it is sharp and good quality when there is plenty of natural light, but at night, even with all the lights on, it has a lot of trouble detecting motion and the video tends to be slow and choppy.

The cute little camera is very durable--we know because we have dropped it countless times and it has never malfunctioned. battery compartment does accidentally come open sometimes, causing the batteries to scatter all over the ground, but the pictures already taken still remain in its memory, so it is really more of a nuisance than a problem.

It comes with its own software which works well for organizing and editing the pictures, but its movie making software doesn't have many features, so it's better to use the movie maker that comes with Windows or a professional one. The pictures it takes come in .jpg format, and the videos come in .avi format, so they're perfectly compatible with other viewing and editing programs.

All things considered, we are very happy we have this little camera; I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to have fun with unlimited pictures and video, though those with concerns about very high-quality video might do better to seek out more expensive digital equipment.

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best value for your money? probably. i've had it for about 3 months now and have not had any problems. the camera is advertised as being able to take 128 pictures at 640x480 but having have taken it on vacation, it took a good 165 before being full. the remote video at 320x240 is okay, light permitting, but for 129 bucks, i'm not really asking for all that much. attatched video and macro lens are REALLY impressive and the software is really consumer friendly. If people are having all of these problems with it, i'm assuming that they are running an OS that is not compatible (ie W2000). I'm running it on 98 and am having no problems whatsoever. Only drawbacks are that it has no flash and no remote audio, but if you know that going into it, its really not a dissapointment. Great pocket cam. Takes really good pictures and has a great supplementary software package.

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I found the packaging for this camera very misleading. The "2 minutes" of video can only be used in 10-second clips. The video does not have sound. The quality of the video is less than expected (even for the price of the camera).

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this camera is good for the price i paid. it serves both purposes reasonably well, though to get good picture quality we need to take pictures in bright light. no flash is a major disadvatage to this camera. software that comes with this is easy to install and easy to use. i could get 120 pictures of good quality out of this camera at a stretch. looks cute and fits easily in the pocket.

Hauppauge Colossus PCI Express Internal HD-PVR

Hi Folks!

As a long-time Media Center user I bought this card after changing over my cablevision to HD. My provider is Shaw and I'm using the Motorola DCX3400 (a DVR in it's own right albeit a 'stripped down' DVR compared to Media Center).

So the goal was to get HD into Media Center and continue using Media Center as my DVR. This card does that and more. Many of the reviews on this site about Media Center support being difficult or buggy are not correct. The install routine is also very easy.

If you're aiming for Media Center integration, don't install anything from the disk. Download the latest Media Center package from their site as well as the latest driver for the card. Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro HDMI Editing Card with PCI Express Also why is this thing so HUGE?? It's double the size of Blackmagic Intensity Pro! I am so glad to have made the switch to Blackmagic, everything including quality have improved greatly. Sorry Hauppauge, I really wanted to like your product but you just couldn't deliver. I give you 2 stars because your tech support was friendly and the card does function, just poorly designed hardware and software.

After reading the review and instructions by Mr. Miller I decided to upgrade my Windows Media Center PC since I certainly wasn't getting the quality he was describing. Followed his instructions and worked just as he said. The capture quality of this card is the best of any video capture card I have used since my Media Center XP machine -4 cards and 6 years ago.

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RCA RP5012 16MB Digital Voice Recorder

This unit carries the best price and longest recording capability on he market. Features and operation are excellent, BUT, the sound quality is not acceptable. Tried HQ and SQ no joy.

I do stand-up and need to record both bits and performances.

There was nothing funny about this unit and it went back to [the store]. Depending on your needs, this still might be the best deal out there, but it wasn't for me.

The device works well connected to a police-scanning

radio, it will record the all-night transmissions

of which i play back over breakfast in the morning!

Works perfect! I monitor police, fire & medical

radio-traffic.

Just make sure your scanning-radio has the

required 'jacks' to patch-up to this device.

I also you a power-cube for the power too

instead of batteries. I have used mine for

a couple of years now and it works perfectly

today with no gliches at all. I bought mine

used. Excellant product and EZ to use.

I hooked-up a larger speaker on the device

to hear it across the kitchen/diningroom.

Use the device in the DICTATION MODE WITH

THE AVR Turned-ON to activate the

auto-recording. It will stop recording

after a radio transmission is done.

Very useful indeed. Entertaining.

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Organize yourself with this Digital recorder. No more stopping to take notes. Has 4 folders. Example. Use folder #3 for phone numbers, accessing is very quick. Use folder #1 for to do list. #2 for project, #4 personal. This main function of this unit is voice recording and organizing your schedule. Sound Quality is great.Your more on top of things due to ease of use and speed. Date and time stamped for reference. Real time clock. No memory loss during battery change. Runs on power or battery. External mic.ear phone. LED indicator during recording. Auto Scan message mode. If you want to be on top of things, discard the electronic organizer ( input to slow) Best bang for your dollar.

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All recordings using the built-in microphone have a very disturbing high-pitch background noise! This makes the unit unacceptable, even though it records fine on an external microphone.

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Polaroid ID450-WHITE Wi-Fi Digital Video Recorder (White)

I got this to do a homespun Youtube project. While the video quality is better than I would have expected, and the wifi feature is a great idea, this little gadget is just hard to hold onto. There's no real handle, and you have to hold your fingers around the width of the device while recording. It does have a tripod screwhole at the bottom, which would have been a godsend if I had had my tripod with me the day I used the camera. The other thing is, when you depress your thumb onto the record button, it's easy to obscure the lens with your index finger on the other side. You have to slide your index finger down, which is bit awkward. The touch screen menu has easy to understand functions, but it is tough to select the icon buttons, because they are very small. But it's inexpensive, has very good video and sound quality, so if you don't mind the other issues, it may be a good choice for you.

takes great movies easy to carry took it on a trip to st martin got some great movies of the island

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I have only been trying it out a few days. I'm not finding the quality very good with low lighting. Did not want to use it for the holidays because was not happy with the few test photos and video I took. I am still testing the cam but so far not happy with it.

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The Seller was great and got the product out right away, this review is about Polaroid and their customer service. I purchased the iD450 in white as a Christmas gift for my daughter. I thought that even though the white one cost more, it would be appreciated more than black. Once opened, we went through the instructions and set it up. Unfortunately after 20 minutes of use, it died, never to come back to life. Even when plugged in to charge, there were no signs of life, no lights, nothing. Thinking the battery might be dead, we left it plugged in for several hours via the regular outlet and then several more via USB, just in case maybe the adapter was bad. Still nothing. Called Polaroid later the next day and technical support couldn't figure it out and said to ship it back, which I did, at my expense. Several weeks later I was sent a black one. Upon calling Polaroid again, was told I was sent the black one because the white one was on backorder and because they sent a camera back, the case is closed. At the end of the day, I paid more for a white camera that was broken, only to send it back at my expense and receive the less expensive black one. Polaroid is not customer centric and will never receive my business again.

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This camera looks great from the outside but it has some serious problems. The fist problem I had was with the back. It falls off all of the time and after 20 or 30 times doing so, the last time it was lost. Normally you'd contact the company and buy another. Polaroid never responded to any of my request and as a result, I have a backless ID450 and both the memory card and battery are hanging in the breeze. Problem number 2 is the touch screen. In a word, it sucks. Plan on hitting everything 4 times to make it work. Problem number 3 is that you can play the HDMI out to watch or record to a recorder but you can not hide the video controls that are constantly displayed with the picture. That means you can only put clean videos on a DVD via a computer and a DVD making program that can work in the AVI format. Simply put, it is a pain in the ass...

I'd advised against purchasing this camera but if those problems not bother you, the best of luck...

ZMODO KDH6-DASFZ8ZN-1TB 16 Channel H.264 Security DVR (1 TB hard drive included) with 8 x 1/3" Colo

I purchased this system to keep an eye on my home while at work or vacation. Some planning before it arrived payed off and in only one day I had 6 cameras up and running. After a couple of calls to Zmodo the system was sending e-mails to my phone and I was viewing my home on the net. Nothing bad to say about the system. It performs well especially for the price. To say the cameras can see 80 ft. in the dark is a bit optimistic and if you wanted to make a blockbuster movie for the big screen this might not be the best choice but If you want to protect your home and have some peace of mind when you are away you can't do much better. The downs are few but include night vision that makes identifying faces difficult and a noisy fan on the dvr. My dvr is located in my bedroom and the noise is a little irritating. I am thinking about using a timer to only operate the system while we are not at home. This is not a big drawback for me because I purchased the system for when I am gone anyway. I suggest ordering an extra 50 ft. cable or two. Four of the eight cables are only 25ft! I managed to use two of them but compromised on camera location. I have added a couple of dome cameras inside and using one of the furnished outdoor cameras in the garage. The domes and the garage are the ones that trigger an e-mail due to leaves, birds, cars, etc. and so far not one false alarm. I am confident my home is protected and that was my goal. Amazon delivered as promised as they always do and i have no regrets about the purchase. I can truly say this is well worth the cost and time.

1 star for this DVR system because it sucks! i only bought it because it was on-sale and affordable, and i needed something cheap & quick. Seems like the DVR system has some kind of defect. The bullet cameras that came with it is great. 4 stars for that. The DVR system however, is my real problem! Not user-friendly, very difficult to understand and use the system, the instructions manual is garbage. Needs serious vocabulary improvements. (ENGLISH DAMMIT, ENGLISH!!!). the fan in the DVR box is noisy, and it (the DVR system) runs slow like an old jalopy computer infected with virus. Some of the buttons on the DVR box doesn't funtion, and the remote doesn't work. I have to do everything by using the mouse that came with it. Also, the other issue i have is with the time. i've set it to regular hours and not 24 hours mode, but it still show as 24 hour. For example, when the time is 12:59pm, when it turns 1 O' Clock, instead of displaying "1:00pm", it displays "13:00". Even with the time & date set to normal. It will take a while for an average joe to figure out how to use this DVR system. Eventually, after having this DVR system for almost a year now and messing around with it, i understand how it operates. Also, Zmodo Customer Service is horrible!!! 1 star for that also. Everytime i have an issue with my DVR system and tried to contact support, i either don't get the help i needed, or, i just don't get help at all! it's like they ignore you while you're waiting on the phone for half an hour already. Same for the 24 hour live support online. They will ignore you and eventually will send you a page telling you to leave your email and questions and they will get back to you, well, in this case, they never returned my email. i do not recommend this DVR system from this brand!

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i love it but still dont know how to record to retive to set up user manual dont under stand i may have to pay someone to teach me not as easy to learn as vcr can someone show me ron twosocks53@yahoo.com

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Uniden UDW20553 Wireless Video Surveillance System with 7-Inch LCD Color Monitor and 2 Cameras

I bought this at Sam's club based on the easy setup. I didn't realize it does not have a built in recorder, but that is not a major issue since it can be hooked up to a computer or recorder. I currently have mine hooked up to a spare 20" tv with built in VHS recorder. I really like the features like scan, zoom, low light, and voice. The main defect for me is that the picture quality is pretty low definition for example, you can tell that someone is standing at your gate, but you can't make out their features(zooming in actually makes it worse). I understand that this is a trade-off for the cameras being wireless; the video image is converted to mpeg format for transmission, and is low resolution to save bandwith. I'm hoping to find a compatible higher resolution camera, or may end up returning it and going to a highher resolution hard wired solution.

I've never written any reviews here on Amazon but after using this system, I felt the need to do so. Like any system, nothings perfect and everyone has ideas to make things better. Out of the box, the camera's are not the best, the software is unusable, and the lcd displays resolution is low. The reason I bought this system is because it's cheap and easy to setup. No running wires and drilling holes everywhere. After a few day tinkering around with this system, this is what I ended up with.

USB video capture card that I ordered for 8.99

Video capture recording with motion detection (you can find these free google search)

Dropbox to upload files to cloud

Teamviewer

I now can record all 4 cameras in quad view with motion detection and when the software detects motion, it sends me a email with 4 pictures 1 second apart. I also have the software setup to record 5 seconds prior to motion detection and 20 seconds after motion stops and these are saved in my dropbox which I can watch on my smartphone or pc while at work. If I want to watch live streams, I log on to teamviewer (not the best quality but it works).

This system now works perfect for my needs.

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I purchased this system from Sam's Club. Their price is $260.00 I had never used a security system before and I found this one to be ideal for my home and experience. It was extremely easy to set up and works great! I have one camera set up at least 100! from my house and the monitor picks up just fine. I had no problem installing the software, very user friendly. I would like to purchase a good DVR, but know nothing about them. If anyone can help me with that, would appreciate it.

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I was given this set almost 2 years ago as a gift (I love it). Because of my age I don't get out much. This allows me to enjoy/see the outdoors and hear the birds and animals. I purchased this as a gift for one of my daughters. We live on acreage and this allows us to see who/what is approaching our homes.

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I was looking for a video baby monitor and the uniden system is the best option for the money. I had looked at most video baby monitors and even the pricey ones could not compare to this system.. we keep the monitor in our bedroom and one camera over each crib the other camera over looking where our dogs sleep. We use a separate sound monitor for the babies because the sound is not the best when monitoring multiple cameras. Set up was easy, night vision works great and it was the best thing we ever bought for our babies. We are looking to add a fourth camera but the are a little pricey at 75.99 without shipping.......hope this helps

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Toshiba D-KR2 Progressive Scan DVD Recorder/Player

• Multi-drive Playback and Recording
• Compatibility: DVD-RAM/DVD-R/DVD-RW
• Digital Cinema Progressive Scan
• ColorStream Pro component video output
• 3-D Y/C Comb Filter/Video DNR for recording

The rave reviews posted here are a bit startling, when you consider that there are three major defects in this unit. First, the input noise reduction is so mild it's ineffective, and the output noise filters are simple blur effects that do more harm than good. Second, you can't get a true black or white level from this machine, so recordings look washed-out when played elsewhere (a professional proc amp doesn't help, either. This machine filters all input to 15 IRE and won't allow a true black from any source, including cable). There are settings for "Darker", "Enhanced", etc. they do nothing for black-white levels, they just dim or wash out the image. Third, DVD-RW is a fantasy with this machine, they just won't work. It's a shame, because even at long recording times there are very few artifacts. Too bad Toshiba designers prefer lackluster images. They seem OK when played on this machine, but look closer and you'll see they're just dark, not richly colored. Another glitch: Record a home-made (not retail) VHS tape into this machine, and when you try to copy it to another DVD recorder the Toshiba will not allow it until you use a pro-level TBC unit on the Toshiba's output. In fact, you can't even make copies of your own, home-made DVD's. Supposedly many of these problems were corrected on later units, but newer Toshibas for 2006 might improve to the point where they could replace your high-end VCR. But don't count on it. Home DVD machines have a long way to go before they can compete with the 30+ years of evolution behind a quality VHS machine. IF this will be your one and only DVD player/recorder, you could live with it. Just don't expect good performance from your recordings if you have to replace this unit or give your washed-out images to friends.

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It really is hard to beat the price of this product, and I have been using mine for over a year without too many problems, but there are some problems for which a good price cannot compensate. Reliability is very important to me in determining the value of any recording device, and this one is not very trustworthy. Recording stops if there is dust on the lens (you won't know until after recording starts, so if you're expecting to come home and watch the show you missed, guess what?), if it thinks the dvd-r is dirty, or if it's just not feeling up to snuff that day.

Picture quality is key. The D-KR2 is okay over a composite connection, but it is red and green and that's pretty much it over a component cable. At least that's how it looks on my lcd tv. Maybe it's okay on something else.

You can't just make extra copies of your home movies or edit them on your computer. This puppy copy-protects your memories. I'm not kidding. So don't toss those Hi-8's. You will need them again the next time you want to make a dvd from the content.

I've ordered another dvd-recorder with a hard disk drive. It may not be much better than this, but at least once I load my home movies, I can burn an extra copy for my Mom. It's her family, too, after all.

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I was looking for DVD recorder include IEEE port for Camcorder and DVD-RAM capacity.

Many brands offer, first one or second, but was so difficult to find latest format technology, IEEE input ports and good brand support in only one equipment, navigation menus are so easy to understand has many options to use as a common VCR, has a wide options for audio output. I'm happy with this selection and price was really good.

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I like this unit so much, I bought a refurb when my first one died.

The primary value of this unit is its ability to record RAM disk, which allows recording copy protected programming. It can only be played back on this unit, which has obvious drawbacks, but I love it.

The UI is clunky and I've never been able to master the editing features, but as I said I bought this for the RAM disk recording, not to create portable DVD's.

THE PICTURE IS EVEN BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. IT WAS A LITTLE HARD TO OPERATE AT FIRST. BUT, I AM HAPPY WITH IT..YOU CAN'T BEAT IT FOR THE PRICE.

Swann DVR 4-Net Digital Video Recorder

I purchased this DVR at Frys Electronic in August 2005. It worked just a little over a year, then just died.

The PC application design is not user friendly. The user manual is poorly written. For some reason it is not possible to go to a specific date and time to review a recording... the feature while present in the software, didn't work. This defeats the purpose of 24x7 recording of motion triggered events.

Overall the DVR 4-Net seemed to be an un-finished product, Swann needs to work out the kinks.

Also I wished the product allowed the user to upgrade it's software. You are basically stuck with the software that was flashed during manufacture (not an issue if it worked properly).

I would not recommend purchasing this device.

DVB-S Satellite TV Tuner Card - DigiStar

not too thrilled w/this --they don't tell you that you cant use your motor drive and this card at the same time until after ya buy it and even then that info is hard to retrieve --put up another (stationary) dish for it or don't buy this guy if you have a motor drive dish ....

SanDisk 64 MB CompactFlash Card

The CompactFlash Card is so convenient, small, and user friendly. This is a great price for a 64MB CompactFlash Card! The 64 MB card will hold Hundreds of pictures, more than you can take on a weekend. The camera's which use these cards usually have a feature to erase unwanted photos, so you have room on the card for only the photos you want. After you down load the photos onto other storage media, you just erase the card and re-shoot! On a large capacity card like this one you can purchase a SanDisk reader for around $25 to read the card like a Memory Disc and download the photos faster than sending them from the camera.

Okay if you're anything like me, than 64 megs is going to be plenty of space. There's more than enough room for high quality digital picture as well as Mp3's or whatever else you can think of. The only down side to having a larger card is that it takes a while to download or upload information. For that problem there is the viking card reader, at around $60 it's not a bad investment if you're planning on using that card a lot.

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I use this CF card with my digital camera and find it quite reliable. Using standard compression on my camera, I could easily take approximately 64 shots (@ 3 megapixels). This saves me the time of always having to delete or offload the pictures into my computer with a smaller CF card.

I couldn't find any differences between the different CF cards that are available from other manufacturers; except for the capacity of the memory. All the CF cards available are the same except for the cost.

Best thing to do is shop around for the best deal/service. Living in Canada, I could only compare with Kodak, Sandisk and Lexar CF cards.

Sandisk was by far the cheapest compared to the other brands.

So far I have taken over 400 shots with no problems. I am quite satisfied and pleased with this CF card's performance.

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SanDisk Compact Flash media cards work excellently in all our devices, from the camera to our Psion handheld.What most people don't realize is that the speed at which their device stores information to the card determines how long the recovery time is between pictures or file saving, etc.We've noticed that some people think the compact flash card itself is the problem, when in fact the speed of storage or writing to the cards is ALSO dependent on the performance of the particular camera, handheld, etc. (on board operational RAM/memory, processing chip clock speed). We recommend that before a person buy a desired device that they check/compare magazine reviews, recommendation lists and manufacturer specs to find out how fast a device write/stores. This will save you much frustration later.

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When my studio went Digital last year we bought a Kodak DCS 330, after learning with a Kodak DC210Plus, and since we use the camera tethered to a computer by a Firewire, we still need good memory capacity in the camera. With two SanDisk 64MB cards in the camera we have enough memory to hold the images of a Portrait session before transferring them into Photoshop for processing. At 8.65 Megabytes per image, two 64s don't provide very much space so we take a laptop with us in the field for transfer. But a professional absolutely must have rock-solid reliability and we get it with the SanDisk 64s no hint of noise or problems after over 1,000 images in each disk. They were recommended to me by another Professional Photographer.

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Verbatim 96434 25 GB 4x Blu-ray Single-Layer Recordable Disc BD-R, 1-Disc Jewel Case

The only reason why I gave this item lower rating is due to the fact that it does NOT work at all with LITE-ON IHBS212. I can't give a more accurate rating since I am unable to use any of them with my blu-ray burner. These disks turned out to be some pretty expensive coasters. Lite-on claims their product works with pretty much all manufacturers, but obviously not Verbatim....

EDIT:

For some reason the burning software just didn't like these. Fixed the glitch and don't have any issues at all with these disks. I actually buy the 6x ones in bulk when needed now. Updated from 3 to 5 stars.

These Blu-rays looks like a great deal when in fact is a losing/losing situation because after some time the data gets lost. I made 2 of them as a backup for photos and they last about 1 year but the ones that I used to burn movies only last a couple of months... Be aware of this so you do not lose important data like me, better paid more for a Japanese Model like TDK or SONY.

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I was NOT able to burned a single one... don't think it was my fault, I've been using BD media for a long time but looking to save some money I lost it all.

Blu-Rays used before without problems:

TDK Blu-ray Disc 10 Pack 50GB 4X BD-R DL Printable

TDK Blu-ray Disc 50 Spindle 25GB 4X BD-R Printable

Panasonic Blu-ray Disc 20 Pack 25GB 6X BD-R Printable

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Buena respuesta por parte del vendedor. Lo recomiendo, tiempo de entrega cumplido según lo indicado. Cumple las especificaciones y descripciones

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I have been using these discs for about 15 months to store my surveillance videos on. I use one per week (about 70 discs so far) and store from 16Gb to 20GB on each one. I have not found a single defective disc.

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Swann DVR16-2600 16 Channel Security Recorder with Remote Access & Smartphone Viewing - White Box p

I've ordered this unit 3 times.. from 2 different vendors. Each time, the unit was shipped used and damaged. I suspect that vendors are buying semi-refurbished units from the same source, which is not good. I had to send each of the units back for the same problems. The units were missing the hard drives and missing screws that mounted the case top to the case. These units all looked like refurbished units. The first two units had to be shipped back to the vendor, but I got stuck with having to pay for return shipping even though it was not my fault. The return process was hell and it took over 2 months to get the first unit returned and another shipped to me. What made it worse, was after two months, I received a different replacement unit, but with the same exact problems hard drive was missing and screws were missing. When I sent the 2nd unit back, I decided to order for a different vendor. Guess what... the second vendor sent me a unit that was used with a missing hard drive and missing screws.

I would be extremely careful buying online at a discount price (I paid about $579 for system only no cameras). Out of sheer frustration, I did not want to hassle with a 3rd return and decided to eat the cost of the hard drive so I bought and installed my own hard drive.

Vendor issues aside. the unit itself is actually very nice. The features are very nice and I really like the remote monitoring capabilities. The ipad and iphone features also work very well for me. For a system with 16 cameras, this is one of the best I have. I use about 10 system for different properties I own, and SWANN by far has been most reliable for me. This system attracted me because I like the 16 camera setup and the very nice iphone and ipad app that i can use to monitor remotely. The system is nice and easy to use. I am very tech savy but needed help with the port forwarding. Fortunately. the Swann tech support team is very helpful (with only a few exceptions). The system will accept most standard cameras without any problems.

If I did not have all the hassle with used systems missing the hard drive, I would have given this product a 5 star. I like it that much. It's very reliable and setup is not too bad. If you are able to find and obtain a completely new system, then I think you would love this system. Unfortunately trying to save a few bucks online can cause you a lot of issues and frustration and a loss of more money if you have to buy and install your own hard drive. This is not a product you should be buy online, and definitely not from unknown vendor.

The Swann 16 worked ok but the remote did not work. I put in the new batteries supplied but they failed too. Unfortunately you need the remote to program the unit properly. Instead I had to install the cheap mouse that was very flakey and on top of a ladder, connect a VGA monitor and program it manually from the front panel. Pain in the butt but I got it to work. If it's purchased as new, shouldn't every thing work like new? This one works like used with so so parts. Oh well i got it from Amazon. Who do you complain to on Amazon. On Ebay I could just trash the seller for bad parts.

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Samsung BD-D5300 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

• Samsung Smart 2D TV
• Fast booting and loading time
• Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital TrueHD, dts-HD Master Audio
• Touch sensor Control
• Samsung's AllShare lets you sync up many of your DLNA-enabled digital devices so you can access music, movies and photos right on your TV screen
• New graphic user interface
• New graphic user interface; 2D
• Wi-Fi-ready,Wireless-ready

Netflix issues [updates below]

I bought this primarily to stream Netflix, so that's what most of this review is about. I've previously used my Xbox360 to stream but since I don't really play online games spending money for a yearly gold membership seemed like a waste. However, now that I've experienced the Netflix app on the player I'm thinking the extra money on a 12 month membership may be well worth it.

The user interface is less than desirable, but it gets the job done. You can browse titles, your queue, etc. All the major functionality is there. One issue is that any command you send to this app, play, pause, scroll up or down, has about a two second delay. Why, I don't know, but it is annoying. After some use (like watching a couple episodes) the app seems to slow down, like it's running out of memory. One time it was so bad it would take 10 seconds from entering a command to execution. A reboot of the player fixes everything, but give me a break. There's obviously some fundamental flaws in the programming of the app, probably a memory leak. Hopefully this will be addressed by an update to the software.

The way the app buffers isn't the best. When the streaming quality drops down it tries to do it on the fly. This can cause some problems with dropped audio, dropped frames, and a/v sync. The xbox interface stops playing to adjust the quality and buffer, but there's none of the above issues. On the players app there's no way way to see the quality of the feed you are getting, where the xbox shows you a nice graphic similar to wireless signal strength bars.

Another buffer issues is that any time you decide to fast forward it re-buffers, no matter how short you are fast forwarding. I never had that problem on the xbox unless you forwarded a large enough amount to overrun the buffer. Why fast forward? I don't want to listen to the celebrity interview during Top Gear or the opening titles of a tv show. Also, with the command delay previously mentioned you'll probably overshoot where you want to stop.

[update]

I've received the latest software updates and the new smarthub starts instantly. But I've had an odd issue with Netflix where an episode stops playing saying there was an issue. Start it up again and it will continue for a 10 seconds or so and stop again. I ended up watching the episode on my computer with no problems, so I don't know what the supposed issue was. I assume something about the way Netflix encoded that episode caused the Samsung app to have an error. I hope I don't run into that anywhere else.

Player issues [update below]

Not really an issue, but the audio setup for BluRay has some misleading descriptions onscreen. What ever you do don't bother sending either of the re-encoded signals to your receiver as you'll definitely have audio sync issues. I just sent the unprocessed bitstream signal and my 12 year old receiver decoded it just fine. It's not 96 kHz Dolby HD but will do just fine until I decide to get a new receiver.

If you also have a Samsung TV the any-net feature can be a pain with your universal remote (Logitech Harmony). Unfortunately the player only has a power toggle command, not separate power off and on commands. After powering off the player I go back to watching tv as normal, but at the end of the day I power off all my devices with one signal from my remote. My tv shuts down as it should, but because the player only has a power toggle command, the player comes back on. And with the any-net feature it sends a signal to your tv and powers it back on. Why they just can't have the extra lines of code for separate power commands I don't know. My workaround was to use an option in the remote software program to always keep the player powered on, which means it never receives a power toggle command unless I specifically send it.

[update]

I have to downgrade the rating on this unit as I've had more time to play BluRay discs. I'm sending a digital audio out signal from the optical port to my receiver and having A/V sync issues. I've watched an action intense movie like The Matrix with no sync issues, but last night I tried to watch a comedy, The Hangover, and immediately the sound is out of sync. Typically it is the action films that cause sync issues as the extra processing added by your TV causes the lag in the display. I'll see a frame dropped every now and then, and thought that might be the system trying to keep sync but I don't believe that's the case. What discs play better than others seems to be hit or miss. Playing the sound through the TV speakers removes the problem. On some discs I've been able to get sync back by rewinding a little bit, but eventually the problem starts to build up again. I've also had it where that trick did absolutely nothing. The way I see it, the only way you are going to get good A/V sync is if a) you only listen through the TV speakers, b) your TV has a digital audio out port that allows the signal to be passed through without downgrading it. Unfortunately my 40" Samsung 6300 doesn't allow that, it downgrades it to a 2.1 signal. c) you have a HDMI compatible receiver. Even c may not help as I read that often people still need to program in a sound delay, so if the root issue is that the delay varies by disc because of some processing issue inherent with the player you are stuck adjusting your settings for every disc. And that's if the delay stays consistent throughout the movie.

General Info

Here are some times I recorded, all approximate (1 Mississippi):15 seconds to power on. 25 seconds to enter smart hub (app interface)[update, now instant as long as your internet connect has established]. 20 seconds to boot Netflix app. 10+ seconds to load BluRay disc, varies with the disc.

Overall I would give this product a 3[update 2]; a 2 for the Netflix capabilities and 4 [update 2] for the BluRay disc player.

[Update 3] Sometimes a disc would not load, it would just try to boot forever so I would need to power off. Also, random freezing issues with netflix. I returned it and bought the equivalent level Sony BDP-S380. Much better user interface, no issues so far. Not looking back; sad to think of the month lost being an unpaid beta tester for Samsung. Love their TV, but have yet to have a good experience with any of their disc players.

Buy Samsung BD-D5300 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) Now

This was my first bluray player. I bought it at a local store because it was on sale and it streamed Netflix. I was looking to replace my xbox 360 as I don't see the need to pay for xboxlive and Netflix anymore.

This player is an excellent bluray player. Load times didn't seem unreasonable to me. Picture quality was great. Sound was great. The menus were a bit choppy when trying to navigate the player and the delay between the remote and the action on the screen was noticeable, but not a deal breaker. Nothing was ever instant on this device. The player found my network (wired) automatically and found all the movies on my computer and played them flawlessly.

Netflix worked well enough, but the menu was slow to respond to commands and choppy. Video played back fine and I never encountered a problem. I never tried any other streaming services because it was too much of a hassle to enter my login information with the remote. I registered for Samsung's app store and by the end wanted to pull out what little hair I have left. Between the sluggish response to button push on the remote and the unintuitive layout of the text input it turned out to be more trouble than it's worth.

I only had this player for a week. Off and on during that time it would have trouble connecting to the internet, not just Netflix. On the last day it refused to connect to my home network at all. I messed with it for three hours before I gave up and returned it. I paid the difference and got a better player.

If you want a bluray player, this is a good inexpensive one to start off with. If you want all the other streaming services, spend the money on a higher end one.

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Bought this player so I could hook it up to my internet and stream Netflix. The blue ray works great and even updates the software automatically, all you have to do is click yes to update. The only complaint I have is that nowhere could I find that you had to have the Samsung wireless adapter to connect wirelessly. I had a USB wireless adapter laying around but the player asked me to insert the Samsung adapter and never gave me the option to use the one I had. Small complaint but I did have to run a cable to it as I was not willing to spend another $80 on the Samsung adapter. My advice is buy the wireless player instead.

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The Samsung BD-D5300 Blu-ray player seems like a good player judging by my in-store tests, appealing to me for these reasons:

1. MKV/DivxHD support (H.264, MP4, AC3, AAC, 5.1 Channels)

2. Netflix streaming

3. "All Share" DLNA type network file sharing

4. Decent brand with regular firmware updates (automatic if connected to a network).

Does it support MKV? This was of course my number one question. The answer is Yes!

The blue-shirts at Best Buy were kind enough to hook up a Samsung BD-D5300 to a TV (Samsung UN32D4000) for some testing. I had generated several MKV and MP4 files using Handbrake for Windows and put them on a 4GB Patriot brand thumb drive. I plugged it into the front of the player. Cool new interface by the way and it felt more responsive than the last generation.

The videos played at true size, so a 480p DVD rip appeared to float real tiny in the middle of the screen. However pressing the remote's "Tools" button during playback allowed me to change the video aspect from "Original" to "Mode1" which essentially scaled the video up to fit the screen, respecting letterbox where appropriate. It also remembered the setting after stopping the current video and starting the next video.

6 out of 9 file tests played successfully. Best of all the most important audio/video codec combinations worked specifically MKV-H.264/AC3 5.1 and MP4-MPEG4/AAC 5.1. Here are the test results, five using an MKV file container and four using an MP4 file container and all 480p DVD rips.

1. MKV H.264/AC3 5.1 -YES (Dolby Digital, 5.1 channels)

2. MKV MPEG4/AC3 5.1 -YES

3. MKV MPEG4/AAC 5.1 -YES (Advanced Audio Coding, 5.1 channels, 640 kbps)

4. MP4 H.264/AC3 5.1 -No (froze on frame 1, forgivable as MP4 container is not suited for AC3)

5. MP4 MPEG4/AC3 5.1 -N/A (using ".m4v" file extension instead of ".mp4" player simply did not see file)

6. MP4 MPEG4/AAC 5.1 -YES

7. MKV MPEG4/MP3 2.0 -YES (320 kbps, Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II)

8. MP4 MPEG4/MP3 2.0 -YES (256 kbps, Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II)

9. MKV VP3(Theora)/Vorbis 2.0 -No (160kbps, Stereo)

Pressing the "Info" button on the remote while playing a movie file showed the format breakdown on the screen, such as "AAC 5.1 Channel". The player also correctly reported "AC3 2 Channel" in my 2-channel Dolby Surround MKV/AC3 test. 720p H.264 video also worked in my Japanese anime test of a MKV-H.264/AAC w ASS subtitles, however the subs didn't show.

The bad news:

* No support for MKV-infused "ASS" Advanced SubStation Alpha subtitles. Bummer for Japanese anime fans.

* 2.35:1 aspect (super widescreen with top and bottom black bars) H.264 video streams stretch taller. Not fully to 16:9 but enough to cut the height of the top and bottom black bar roughly in half and enough to be notice that the actors are taller and skinnier. [EDITED THIS BULLET 12/7/2011]

* 5.1 AC3 streams are sent directly to my discrete amp/receiver. Be sure to change the blu-ray player audio setting to "Bitstream (Audiophile)". [ADDED THIS BULLET 12/7/2011]

MKV support is an exciting development for Samsung. I have bought Samsung blu-ray players in the two previous generation lines and watched as the number of supported movie file formats has grown. Supporting MKV, the mother of all movie containers, is a huge leap.

Now if only Samsung would resolve the 2.35:1 MKV video stretching problem in a future network update I would add that fifth star.

[12/13/2011 UPDATE -Changed from 4 stars to 2 stars]

Now that I have moved the BD-D5300 player from the master bedroom (where it is only lightly used) to the man cave I have additional feedback to share. I just finished troubleshooting a network problem. The player would not get an IP address from my router. I tried different network cables, tried rebooting my routers, everything. Then I took the player back to the master bedroom and networking worked instantly. I brought it back to the man cave and...networking worked instantly! :| My guess is the fix was the complete unplugging of the device from the power socket and plugging it back in. Not only had I read this fixed other user's issues but now it fixed mine. :( What's more is this is the second time a "power cycle" was necessary to fix odd player behavior.

One other drawback to this player is the time it takes to get to Netflix. First you have to load Smart Hub Samsung's apps interface which takes up to 30 seconds. Then and only then do you have access to the Netflix icon. I am loving my old Samsung BD-P1600 blu-ray player (2009) more and more every day because of it's one-click access to Netflix or Pandora.

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For the 24 hours that it worked, the BD-D5300 was a servicable, if slow, player. The UI is impressively unresponsive, and NetFlix took a good 20-30 seconds to load, but once the movie started playing it worked fine. However, that was last night. Today, it rarely boots. When you turn on the power, the unit displays "HELLO", and then that's it. Nothing ever appears on the screen until you hit the power button again to turn it off, at that point you'd see the desktop flash for a fraction of a second before it powered down. I'll be taking it back tomorrow and buying another, non-Samsung, player.