Sony 2GB Flash Memory Digital Recorder

Much easier to use than the mini-tape cassette types that were around when i was in grad school. Simple to use (without instructions) and reliable. What else you want??

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Roxio Easy VHS to DVD for Mac

• Roxio Easy VHS to DVD for Mac lets you easily capture video from your VCR or analog camcorder, to preserve your memories for generations to come
• Burn captured videos to VCD, SVCD or DVD with professionally designed menu styles
• Import into iMovie to add effects, titles, transitions and edit your video
• Transfer your videos to an iPod, iPhone or other device; post on YouTube or your favorite social networking sites
• Includes capture software and USB hardware with RCA and S-Video inputs

I would really like to write a review on how this product works, but I cannot because it does not work with Mac OS 10.6 and it doesn't tell you anywhere that it doesn't. I contacted Roxio Support because I could not get audio to be captured and they responded with "Please note that Easy VHS to DVD for Mac is not compatible with OS X 10.6." I have asked if they plan to support Mac OS 10.6 but they have not replied yet.

So, if you are using Mac OS 10.6 DO NOT purchase this product at this time.

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This review could have gone very, very badly, had it not been for Roxio's excellent support website, and their intrepid PR person, who kept the dialog going when I was ready to wash my hands of the whole thing.

That said, the last thing I wanted to do was start yet another review with: "I really wanted to like this product, but..."

Over the last four months, when I unfortunately had a lot of time on my hands (a victim of the current economic unpleasantness, since resolved, and I am again very happily employed), I decided I needed to regain some storage space in my increasingly cramped townhouse. My collection of several hundred VHS tapes had to go. There were, however, 40-50 titles I wanted to keep and decided to put them on DVD. I had planned on doing this almost two years ago, and found a superior (and expensive!) analog to digital video converter, a Canopus ADVC-300, which I was able to find at a very acceptable price on eBay. I set up my VHS deck in my computer room, connected the video and audio outputs to the ADVC-300 inputs, and sent the output to my dual 2.0 GHz Mac G5 tower's Firewire port (still running Mac OSX 10.4), and into my copy of iMovie HD (from iLife '06). Each two hour tape took up 25 GB of disk space in the DV file format. I quickly trimmed unwanted video at the start and end, and inserted chapter markers when the tapes had multiple programs, or if I was putting two 1 hour tapes on a single two hour DVD. These chapter markers directly imported into iDVD where I picked a theme, edited the captions, and burned the final DVD. On my G5 tower, the process of rendering two hours of video before the DVD could be burned, took 4-6 hours.

I repeated this process on my black MacBook with a 2.0 GHz Core2Duo processor, and 3GB of RAM, and everything worked about the same, except the render time took a few hours less, thanks to the speedier processor.

Mostly, I started the recording process just before I went to bed. The next morning, I spent about 30-45 minutes editing the DV file, pushed it to iDVD, and let it render most of the day. By late afternoon, I had another DVD for my briefly empty shelves. It took about 6 weeks to finish the process and I was able to put all the gear away.

Enter own John Nemerovski (that's Nemo to you...) who had heard about my project and thought he had a great review project that was right up my alley. Roxio had just released a Macintosh version of their popular easy VHS to DVD product and was looking for reviewers. In spite of my reputation for writing negative reviews on this site, he gave the job to me anyway...

I received the package, which contained a CD, Getting Started Guide, a Roxio Video Capture USB Device (the brains of this outfit), a short USB to USB extension cable, and a breakout cable with stereo audio, composite video, and S-Video connectors. The CD contained the easy VHS to DVD for Mac software, as well as a (very) limited-feature version of Toast 9.

The Roxio Video Capture USB Device looked suspiciously like something from Elgato, makers of a number of magical video products that bring video content into your Mac via the USB 2.0 port. The big difference, however, is the software. The Elgato-branded device outputs MPEG-4 video, while the Roxio device outputs MPEG-2 files (the same format as commercial DVDs).

I installed the easy VHS to DVD software on my G5 tower, connected the Roxio Video Capture USB Device to the front USB 2.0 port, and connected the audio/video breakout connecting cable to cables from the output of my VHS recorder. When I launched the software, I was immediately directed to Roxio's website to download and update the software, taking the revision level from version 1.0 to 1.0.1. I went through the easy setup procedure (more on that below), and tried to record some video. At the end of 2 hours, I clicked the stop button, and in the next window, clicked the "Send to iMovie" button. My Mac spent the next two or so hours converting the MPEG-2 file to an intermediate format, but instead of opening the file into iMovie as the instructions suggested they would, I got an error message stating the program could not find the iMovie program. Thinking I'd done something wrong, and tried it again (if I'd been just a little bit smarter, I'd have recorded five minutes of video, and not two hours!), and got the same results. After hunting around the hard drive, I found the MPEG-2 file in the Movies folder at the top level of my home directory. When I opened it in QuickTime Player, I immediately spotted a problem--a massive number of dropped frames. I then checked the size of the file--about 600k--it should have been somewhere around 5.4 GB!

I repeated the above step with my MacBook, and at least got a 5.4 GB MPEG-2 file with no evidence of dropped frames, but still got the iMovie error. I went to the Roxio support boards (excellent, by the way, with very responsive support people) and discovered many others were experiencing the same problem.

Thinking it was at least partly my fault, I bought an additional 2GB of RAM, and went to to buy a copy of iLife '08 (I'm still using MacOS X 10.4--Tiger, which is not compatible with iLife '09). I found a great deal for an OEM disk for around $.

About a week later, another updater came out, version 1.0.2. Same problems with both issues: dropped frames on my G5, and no automatic opening of iMovie HD. Around this time, I was contacted by Roxio's intrepid PR guy, wanting to know how things were going. Boy, did I tell him! In a couple of days, I was granted access to a beta version of an upcoming patch. I downloaded and installed it, and viola'°! No more dropped frames (though still no automatic opening of iMovie HD)! It also opened iMovie '08 (part of the iLife '08 package), which only served to remind me how evil iMovie '08 really is. I had forgotten that Apple, in their infinite wisdom, eliminated the ability to enter chapter markers where you want to add them (since restored in iMovie '09).

Here's what I found from my research:

1. The easy VHS to DVD software is not compatible with iMovie HD. It will not automatically launch iMovie HD and load the finished movie into it. That function works fine on iMovie '08, and while I personally didn't have the chance to see it in action, it probably works equally well with iMovie '09.

2. The dropped frame problem was almost universal among dual processor G5 users.

3. The beta patch resolved the dropped frame problem on dual-processor G5 machines, and permitted automatic launching of iMovie 08 (and iMovie 09).

4. As a workaround, you can make iMovie HD process the MPEG-2 file by manually dragging it from your Movies folder directly into the iMovie HD application window. It will take fair amount of time for iMovie and QuickTime to convert the file into something that iMovie better understands.

5. Roxio's web support is very good. Their support staff monitors traffic on the message boards on a very regular basis.

I detailed this story to share my pain with the readers, knowing that most of you would not have had this much patience or persistence, and would likely have demanded your money back, weeks before I finally achieved success. But then again, I am a very tenacious problem solver, and tend not to give up easily.

Okay... Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I can tell you that with the latest beta release software, which will probably be finalized very soon and made available on their support site, it mostly works as advertised (other than the pesky iMovie HD issues).

Here's how it works:

Launch the easy VHS to DVD for Mac software, and the first screen (above) is displayed. This is where you enter a name for your project, use a pull-down menu to set the approximate length of your video, and set the quality level for the file (standard or high) with another pull-down menu. When you click the Continue button, the next screen is displayed.

You are prompted to test your cabling to ensure your connections are functional. A small video monitor screen shows your video source (if everything is hooked up correctly). Click Continue.

The next screen repeats this process for audio, to ensure the software is decoding the audio from your source. Click Continue.

The overview screen continues previewing video and audio. If you don't see the picture, or if you can't hear anything coming out of your Mac's speaker, you get one final opportunity to go back and fix the problems. Once you are satisfied, start your tape rolling and click the Start Recording button. That same button is used to stop recording when you are ready to do so. If you are operating this product unattended, you might want to click the handy checkbox that automatically stops recording, based upon the recording time you set in the first screen. The benefit of doing this is that you won't totally fill your hard drive with garbage if you forget to come back and stop recording after an extended period of time. Remember, in the high quality mode, you are eating up disk space at the rate of 2.7GB per hour. In eight hours, you could wind up using over 20GB of disk space.

When you click the Stop Recording button, you are taken to the Finish Up screen, which gives you the option to automatically open Toast and begin the process of recording the video to DVD. The Edit with iMovie button starts a conversion process that takes an MPEG-2 video file into another intermediate file format before importing into iMovie '08 or iMovie '09. Send to QuickTime player converts the file to MPEG-4 format before opening the QuickTime player application. Note that the Edit with iMovie and Send to QuickTime Player functions require an additional hour or two to convert the video into compatible file formats.

Quality? In a word, it's great, at least with VHS tapes that didn't have a whole lot of quality to begin with. The better the source, the better the converted file will be. At $ it beats the solution I had been using by many hundreds of dollars. This same product can be used nearly anywhere in the world, as it automatically detects and configures itself to output to the analog NTSC or PAL video standards.

This review could have gone a completely different way. Thank goodness it didn't. After a few weeks of troublesome operation, the last software release solved nearly all the problems I was experiencing. In all likelihood, the copy you buy today will include the latest updates and you should have a wonderful experience with easy VHS to DVD for Mac. As with any video project, the faster your computer's processor, the more RAM, and the more fast hard disk space, the more you will be satisfied with this and other video processing products. You will quickly learn that working with large video files requires a lot of patience while your computer, and I don't care how fast it is, plows its way through the file(s).

Even with all the other difficulties, I will say that the software was always stable--it never crashed in the several weeks I used it.

Pros:

Low price brings video conversion to the masses.

Easy setup.

Saving files in MPEG-2 format reduces final rendering time.

Can save in MPEG-2, MPEG-4 formats.

Great quality.

Cons:

Initial problems with very buggy software.

Toast 9 Basic has very limited feature set.

Incompatibilities with iMovie HD in spite of advertised claims.

Processing time is slow, slow, slow, though not really Roxio's fault. Video files are big and take a long time to process.

The final rating would have been higher had it not been for the problems I suffered through with the supplied software. I went through far more hoops than most customers would tolerate, even with the able assistance of Roxio's PR guy--someone most customers would not have access to. In the end, it was worth the effort, and easy VHS to DVD for Mac is now a solid product.

MyMac rating: 3 out of 5.

See original Review with screen grabs here:

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Despite what it says, VHS to DVD for Mac will not produce a file that can be imported into iMovie. It also skips frames when importing producing a fast jerky output. Checkout Roxio's support form and you'll see this is not an isolated occurrence. This is with the "updated" 1.01 version of the software. I would suggest Elgato's Video Capture instead.

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Even with the newly-released version 1.0.1 of this software, this product is not ready for prime time yet. It creates many dropped frames upon importing VHS tapes.

I am trying the El Gato Video Capture program instead next, which got a better review from MacWorld Magazine.

Actually, the best choice of all may be to just use iMovie and a digital videocamera as a pass-through video capture source from your VCR, because it's free (if you already own a videocamera).

In the meantime, Roxio still has some work to do on this product.

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Do NOT BUY this product if you are running SNOW Leopard. IT does not work with it. I got this in June before SNOW...but just installed it 2 days ago and I can't get it to work well. It hangs constantly while trying to finish up the video after you click "Stop recording." If you try to record more than 8 min's of video it never records more either. EIther way the software is a $67 waste for me.

The ONLY good thing is that it does seem to be very easy to use. And in fact i did get it to work ONE time for a 4 min video clip I did. I wish so much it'd work more.

The good thing is their customer service on email is VERY responsive. The BAD thing is they have NO answers for Snow Leopard and told me flat out it "may not work with Snow Leopard." May not work!?!?!?!? Trust me it does NOT work.

They said they are working on a fix...hmmm.

Roxio has diaspointed me very much. They really should give me my money back. Lesson learned..do NOT every buy a product "pre release" like I did with this. What a mistake. So let me be the goat this time...do NOT buy until and IF they ever fix their software. The latest patch makes no difference.

Hate massively!!!

Toshiba SD5300 DVD Player Upconvertsion

• HDMI connectivity
• 1080p Up-conversion
• Built-in Dolby Digital Decoding for Enhanced Realism
• Progressive Scan DVD

I've waited a couple of months to write this review, just to be fair and give myself time to learn the peculiarities of operating this brand and to get used to my new HD TV. I own 2 and use 1 Panasonic DVD recorder and have come to really like them. They've become extinct and I decided to extend their life by using them for recording TV programs only and view the recordings on a separate player Unfortunately the reviews for the newer Panny players are not so hot so I opted for this for it's upscaling, HDMI abilities.

Right out of the box, the remote is too small. I have a slender build and my fingers are always hitting the next key. It's impossible to use in the dark also because the keys are too small and close together. The unit seems to respond very slowly to any of it's tasks except skip forward.The title menu only works when it wants to, which is annoying when I want to switch to the next program. The aspect ratio choices don't come out as well on screen as my TV's choices so that's another minus. As someone else noted, some of the dvds skip (but work fine on my recorder) and the disc drawer opens 85% and thus discs get scratched, trying to load them. When it's working right the picture is great but because of all the drawbacks and annoyances I'm only giving it 2 stars.

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I had to return this piece of junk on the first day. The picture on my TV was flickering.

Get another DVD player.

I ended up buying a LG DVD Blu-ray from Walmart. It worked great and it was inexpensive.

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This is a straight forward DVD player. Had to order the HDMI cable to use with it. Works perfecty fine.

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My only complaint is that the disc needs to be pristine in order for it to play without skipping. My previous DVD player (non HDMI) was able to deal with light scratches without any problems... My two cents.

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Default picture setting was very yellowish and saturated, and up-convert seems grainy. After setting contrast to max and reducing the "color", it is much better and as good as my Sony PS3 video out. I also turn off the audio on HDMI as I use analog audio out on the back of the DVD player. It seems that when it starts playing DVD, the picture comes up first with total silence, then audio comes on, a noticeable lag, but no big deal. Disc load time is a little slow. Push buttons on the player are not very responsive, but remote control seems ok. If you don't need blu-ray, this unit is great.

Spy Sunglasses DVR Mobile Eyewear Recorder Video Camera DV with AC Charger Sun Glass

These glasses are an MP3 Bluetooth item....they have NO Camera...That's Right...NO CAMERA...how they can advertise these as spy glasses is pure fraud...hoped to use them for a weekend concert.. Forget it

I had a pair of the POV glasses that broke. Ordinarally, they sell for $170. These only cost $18, and are the exact same glasses! Cheez! Some people really want you to pay for a name.

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I dont know if there are duds when it comes to these things, but i definitely got a winner. Granted, the audio isnt great, but they only cost 20 bucks and does very good video, i think i found a great deal. Love wearing them while riding my motorcycle. Captures things you cant get on a regular camera. Fast and discreet start up. Love em

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Magnavox up to 620hrs onto 500GB HDD and DVD Recorder with Digital Tuner Watch, Forward, Rewind or

• 1080p up-conversion
• Watch, forward, rewind or freeze live TV while recording
• 4-way dubbing
• Dolby Digital stream out
• Virtual Surround System

This is the MDR535H/F7, one of three in the 53x Series of std def (480i) HDD/DVD recorders... 533 and 537 are the others. This 535 has a 500GB HDD while the others have 320GB and 1000GB (1TB) HDDs.

More info at avsforum.com > Forums > Video Components > DVD Recorders > Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575.Page 1 there is the only page you need to read and bookmark.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Mag 533/535/537 (53x) Series is the 8th, and possibly final, generation of simple, family-friendly, durable, std def (SD, 480i) analog/digital DVD recorders (DVDR) with hard disk drive (HDD) that are yearly improvements of the same basic design and operating system.

They're the ONLY recorders, SD or HD (720/1080), available for daily use in North America with:

-NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners for antenna or cable.

-Easily replaceable/upgradeable/expandable hard-disk drive (HDD).

-Easily replaceable DVD/CD drive for burning DVDs and playing DVDs and CDs.

-Widescreen (16:9) recording.

-Amplified coax passthru w/unit on or off.

-Amplified coax and line inputs.

-DV input.

-Coax digital audio out.

-1080p HDMI upconvert.

-36 timer-rec programs with pre-titling.

-6-hour autorecord buffer.

-Pause & rewind live TV.

-Chase play.

-Skip/replay.

-Simultaneous play/record.

-Record while watching diff. channel on TV via coax passthru.

-Integrated TV/DVDR control via HDMI CEC-link.

-1-2 hour power backup, dep. on whether Auto Clock is off or on.

-Simple editing for your archive copies or home movies.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FOR NEWCOMERS TO DVDRs OR THIS BRAND OF DVDR

The 53x Series are standalone units that can record from antenna or cable coax. They also have line inputs so they can record from cable boxes and satellite receivers or copy from VCRs, DVRs, cameras and camcorders.

They're so easy to use they can be operated by the entire family, from kids to timeshifters to gearheads.

Timeshifters can reliably record a bunch of named shows, unattended and with NO tapes or discs.

Gearheads can upgrade their HDD or create an "HDD farm" of multiple 2.5" and 3.5" external (E-SATA) HDDs with unlimited storage, Cable (Analog/Digital) to make sure your DVDR sees and memorizes the unscrambled channels (if any).

2. OMITTED MAKING FRONTAND END-CUTS IN EDIT, Pp 93-94.

Frustrates many new users! In the Scene Delete menu, only REW stops on 1st frame and only PLAY and FF stop on last frame. 2160, 2160A and 513 also had a totally confusing and unnecessary auto-Preview after an End Cut that should be IGNORED. At least the 53x Series doesn't have the confusing auto-preview!

3. MISLEADING RECORDING 16:9 WIDESCREEN AS 4:3, pg 45.

This half-truth has caused more misunderstanding than almost anything else in the manual. It's a "deep" technical subject that didn't need to be there! It HAS TO record a 4:3 aspect pic FRAME because the DVD Std was built on the old 4:3 VHS Std, but the DVD std allows a combo of square/non-square pixels, variable horiz. rez, compression and decompression within that 4:3 frame. THAT'S what allows your HDTV to stretch the "non-square" (rectangular) pixels of a WS image inside that 4:3 frame to natural 16:9 WS aspect. You just need to set this DVDR's Video > TV Aspect to "16:9 Wide" and your HDTV on its "Wide" aspect setting. However, this DVDR's DEFAULT setting for aspect ratio is "4:3 Letter Box" so you have to change that to 16:9 Wide during setup or none of your recordings will be 16:9 WS!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

More info at avsforum.com > Forums > Video Components > DVD Recorders > Magnavox 537, 535, 533, 515, 513, 2160A, 2160, 2080 & Philips 3576, 3575.

Page 1 there is the only page you need to read and bookmark.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Disclaimer: I have never represented or worked for Funai or any seller in any capacity... and currently don't work for anyone else! -:)

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I cancelled my satellite (and beloved DVR!) in December 2011 and missed it terribly. Not having it made me a DVD-recording-slave. (Using rewritable DVD's is really a pain after using any kind of DVR, but that's what I've been doing for almost two years. X.X) I was thrilled to learn about this machine. I love this product because there's no monthly fee. It gives me the ability to record programs on a hard drive that I can dub onto different DVD's when I have time. Without this DVR, if I was away from home or asleep and I had more than one show to record, the DVD recorder could do it, but they would both be on the same DVD. This machine solves that little problem.

It would have gotten 5 stars except I have a couple gripes. The down side to this machine is that each recording is 'one unit' and dubbing to DVD is an automatic process that I am not allowed to fiddle with. When I would record from satellite to their paid DVR, I would then play the hard drive version and when laying onto DVD, could eliminate all commercials by pausing recording through them, which saved a lot of DVD space, and I could cram like 19-20 shows onto a single DVD if I didn't care about it looking a little choppy. This unit takes the recording and lays down the whole thing onto DVD in one bite. I can still do the pause thingy, but only if I am there in person to do that during the recording of the show I can't do that later. I'll assume this is a by product from being both machines in one.

That brings me to the second thing I didn't like. DVD's which used to give me 8 hours recording time on the slowest speed on other recorders will only give me 6 maximum hours on this machine. That sucks. I haven't figured out how to get a full 8 hours from a DVD on this machine.

So, 2 hours lost, plus commercials not cut out, that nets me more like 11-12 shows per DVD. Quite a loss. But since it is saving me big bux for not being a monthly service, I'll just buy more DVD's and a few more DVD storage albums. 4 happy stars!! ****

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We were trying to find a replacement for our TiVo after moving and had poor antenna reception. It took me 3 weeks to figure out from reading the manual how to program the shows I wanted to record. Then I couldn't figure out how to make it work with the DISH satellite system that we had installed after getting this recorder because our antenna reception was so poor even though I tried to follow the directions from an on-line "techie". It's just tooooo complicated. Then because I was over the 30 days, I cannot even return this. It's not worth even $100 even though I paid $319 for it.

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Great machine. We were hoping it would work on some Australian DVDs that we have. I did not. Still, very useful.

Machspeed Trio 1 GB MP3 Player Voice Recorder Thumb Drive

• Lightweight digital audio player doubles as voice recorder and USB mass storage drive
• 1 GB flash memory holds 16 hours of MP3 and 32 hours of WMA audio
• Plays MP3, WMA, WAV, and ASF files; records to WAV
• LED screen with backlight; 7 EQ presets
• Powered by single AAA batter for up to 10 hours of battery life

Good if it meets your needs. That would be a player that demands small size and low price. Music during exercise, shopping, computer lab, falling asleep, or just as a flash drive.

You must be willing to accept these limitations.

1) Random play. Serial browsing is obviously ridiculous for 1 GB (probably 350 songs at 128Kb), and it doesn't have resume, so you must like random. e.g. you don't mind skipping through selections until you find one you want to hear.

2) Power on / off. Sometimes the unit decides to shut off during power up. You have to briefly disconnect the battery to fix it. Also, you have to return to the main menu (vs. song play) before power off works.

3) Battery. If you fall asleep listening (that's me), your battery is of course dead in the morning. Bought a cheap ($10) nimh charger that comes with some batteries (ray-o-vac).

4) User interface. You have to learn two durations of button press to navigate. Also, the unit appears dead (like 1-2 seconds!) when entering and leaving the play menu; indexing songs I suppose. (This and #2 are probably generating a lot of product returns.)

Sound is fine. I've had equalization problems with more expensive players (GoVideo, Rio). Random play is fine. Random on some players is a joke (Memorex mp3-CD).

Removable battery is great. Who wants to get stuck with a dead lithium that costs more than the player to fix? I'd rather carry an extra battery in my pocket.

Has a hold slide switch, so you can put it into your pocket. Being able to choose the backlight color (from a rainbow) is cool.

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I use this primarily to listen to talk shows that I record so most mp3 are 2 hours long. This creates issues that don't exist with just music use. Files are larger so playing off the player directly from the player with a PC or when attached to the PC is a must. Fast forwarding speed is extremely important for getting past commercials or queuing up to the middle of the file. Too fast will make getting the right place difficult, going to slow will be frustrating to get to the right place. I really wanted a direct insert device so I wouldn't have to carry around a cable. I purchased a Samsung YP-U2J but was disappointed with the fact that files couldn't be accessed directly by an operating system and it required Windows XP with Media Center 10. There are 2 categories of direct connect USB mp3 players: mp3 players and thumb drive/mp3 players. The difference is thumb drives do not require drivers or software to sync or transfer files. I prefer thumb drives/mp3 players.

Pros:

1. Works as portable storage device: no need for Media Center or other software. Works in any OS. No need to sync. Can play songs with PC directly from device. 99% of mp3 players can not do this. Very frustrating for large files.

2. Fast forward works fairly well. Starts at 10x (10 seconds per second), speed ramps up to 60x (1 minute per second). This works very well for me.

3. Uses AAA batteries so you can have backup power when you need it.

4. Pretty colors for back-light. Green, Cyan, Blue, Red, Purple, White.

Cons:

1. By far the most annoying thing is that it does not resume. When you pause and the player turns off, when you turn it on it starts in the menu. When you go to music it starts at the beginning of the first file. Ridiculous.

2. Song order is difficult if not impossible to manage. No play lists.

2. Battery life is terrible. With included alkaline, battery lasted 40 minutes. I've switched to NiMH 600mAH and they seem to last about 2 hours. Still not good for such a limited device but I can manage since my commute is only 20-30 minutes. Would be nice if it included charging for NiMH and NiCd batteries.

3. Shoddy construction. Glass screen cover broke when I was changing my oil. I was careful not to roll over on it but it still broke. Took it off and it works fine.

4. Kinda big. I really like the Samsung's size better.

5. Menu system is annoying. Samsung was very intuitive.

6. Fast forward same as next track. Hold button to fast forward tap to skip. Obviously annoying when fast forwarding 60 minutes into a show just to skip to the next track.

Even with all the problems, I like it better than any mp3 player that requires drivers or special software.

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Bought this because I wanted a good bit of space for as little money as I could manage.. and with that in mind, it's not bad. The controls are not at ALL intuitive, unfortunately (and the manual is NO help with anything), but I eventually sorted out all its quirks. Files can be sorted into folders, which is very nice. The main drawback I've found with this is that you CAN NOT put more songs on it without completely wiping off everything else first. You can delete just fine within the player's interface, but you cannot delete tracks from (in the case of Windows) the My Computer window. And it tells you everything is write-protected if you try to add something more on without having deleted everything first. Given that I only swap things out once a week or so, this is a managable flaw, but still a needless one. Apart from that, battery life is decent, and so far mine's put up with rain and pretty large temperature variations, as well as being dropped a good bit. Sound quality's not fantastic (most of the equalizer settings sound atrocious), but it's not to the point of being irritating.

Again, for the price and the amount of space, it's decent enough. Works just fine, once you sort out the controls. The size is also very convenient, it's perfect for just casually dragging it around with you everywhere in a pocket or what have you. (And much less to worry about than an iPod!)

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This is a very CHEAP player. I bought 2one for my wife and 1 for myself. the faceplates of both broke within a few weeks. In both cases, my wife and I just had them in our pockets and our keys (I guess) broke the faceplates.

Also, if you listen to longer podcasts or ebooks and turn the player off, it does not start where you stopped it at. The navigation is difficult. Another problem is that the microphone button is in a bad location and I constantly hit it and it is difficult to get it to stop and change back to the player. Overall, avoid this player

I took a gamble on this player, and I've been pleasantly surprised. I agree with a previous reviewer about the manual: it's pretty poorly written. But I got the gist of what they were saying, and after 10 minutes of exploring the player I've figured out most of its features.

As for the player's features... the sound quality is good, and the random track feature is surprisingly good when compared to other (admittedly cheap) players I've used. On many other players I've used the random track algorithm has been far from random. But this one seems quite authentic. The controls are kind of odd, but the UI is fairly good. The headphones that come with the player are poor quality, but the player itself seems fairly well made.

It's not an iPod, but for this price you can't really expect the same level of quality. I didn't have to deal with a rebate, so I can't comment on that possible issue. I also didn't run into any OS issues: it just worked seamlessly with XP from the start.

Considering the price, and the fact it's got 1GB of memory, on the whole this is a good little player.

Toshiba SD-2150 Dual Tray DVD Player

• Dual-disc capacity plays DVDs and CDs
• Dolby Digital and DTS output
• Spatializer surround sound simulates surround from 2 channels
• Coaxial digital-audio ouput for optimal hookup to a surround receiver
• Parallel video and audio output for multi-room applications

I spent many hours on-line comparing DVD players: considering price, quality, features, and reliability. I also shopped at many electronics stores in the area. I finally came up with the Toshiba SD2150 DVD Player. Why, you ask? Well most consumers picked the SD220 as the best buy, and I would almost agree with that 100%. The SD2150 has everything the SD2200 has, but with a $100.00 difference in list price. Oh yeah, the SD2200 has two audio features the SD2150 doesn't: a dolby digital decoder and an optical digital output both features you don't need, because you should get the dolby digital decoder feature in your audio receiver instead. Plus the 2150 has a bitstream/PCM audio output that will provide digital audio to your digital receiver or TV. ...For excellent picture quality and superb audio, you can't beat Toshiba DVD players!

Buy Toshiba SD-2150 Dual Tray DVD Player Now

With DVD machines hitting all time lows in cost its easy to get caught up in purchising a poor unit in the 150 dollar range at Walmart. Don't fret, spending the extra 50-75 dollars on this unit will be well worth your money. This nifty machine does it all! It has digital sound, zoom feature, 30x Fast forward or reverse, dual tray disk, and the all important component video output. The component video output will be the standard in years to come in viewing movies. (Basically compare HDTV to regular TV and you get the picture) The draw back to the component video function is that you have to have a TV with component inputs. Toshiba is known for very bad remote controls, on this unit they surprisingly got it right. Its Light, small, and to the point. I have two Toshiba TV's, and have been very pleased with them. So when shopping for my first DVD unit I was naturally drawn to them. But after comparing this unit to others like the Sony, and Panasonic the Toshiba price was more affordable, and the functions more abundant on this model compared to the others. Making this little beauty part of your entertainment center will be money well spent!

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba SD-2150 Dual Tray DVD Player Here

I did a lot of research before buying my (primary) DVD player, please read on. The dual tray is a great option. The biggest thing this player has going for it is 540 lines of horizontal resolution. If you have a TV with component input, but it doesn't support anamorphic, nor does it support progressive scanning, getting a higher resolution output is your only method of improving your picture.

Composite video has a resolution of 380 horizontal lines. S-Video has a resolution of 420 horizontal lines. I do not know what coax (cable) is capable of. And component (three rca plugs of green, red, blue) can do from 480 and up. Most DVD players do 480 to 500 lines of resolution, but certain Toshiba players have the much underrated option of 540 horizontal lines. This may not sound like a big deal to you, but compare to 380 of composite (single yellow rca plug), and you are reaching over 150% the detail.

So if you want to get all you can from your slightly older technology TV set, this is the DVD player to get.

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I've owned this machine for less than six months, and it's gone through TWO laser pickups. With only a skimpy 90-day warranty on laber, this DVD player has so far cost me! There's either a terrible design flaw, or I've been unlucky enough to receive two bad laser assemblies. Personally, I think there's a design or manufacturing flaw involved. There's no reason why I went through two lasers in screening somewhere between 30 and 40 movies, between March 13 and July 25, 2001. STAY AWAY FROM THIS MODEL!!

I bought this machine when it was a little more expensive and I am generally happy with the features and capabilities. This is also the second Toshiba DVD player that I have owned. The only thing that is a drawback (and it's a big one)is the warranty service. The machine' remote suffered a melt-down after being used for two months. After conferring with Toshiba's customer service about warranty support for the remote I brought it to their designated service center in my area. -Remotes are not serviced, they are just replaced. After replacing the remote (under warranty) Toshiba changed the text of their warranty and decided that they weren't going to honor their previous warranty and had the service center bill me (...) Beware the service and get their promises of support in writing. If you never use the equipment, it will never need service.

Escient FireBall ZP-1 Network Music Player

• Use your TV to access and play all your digital music on your home theater system or in different rooms
• Supports streaming PCM, MP3, FLAC (CD Quality), WMA, AAC
• Built-in 10/100BaseT Ethernet networking; Wired IR, RS232 and Ethernet port for 3rd party external control interfaces
• Web interface for remote control via web browser; PDA interface for controlling from any pocket-sized web device
• Wireless network compatible via optional WiFi 802.11 network adapters

I have had two of these for about a year now. In that time, I've discovered these issues:

1. The Fireball PC software used to manage your music from a PC or Mac is kludgy, slow, and unreliable. I have never been able to get it to run without crashing on my iMac running Leopard. Escient claims it works on an iMac, but it doesn't, in my experience. (And I am running a brand new iMac purchased in December of 2007). As a result, I have to run the Escient PC software on a Windows PC rather than a Mac.

2. If you are used to music player software like iTunes, Escient's PC software will drive you nuts because it is so slow and crude. It feels like it was designed in 1996 and has never been usability tested or updated since. For example, there is no way to simply play all songs by an artist--which you can easily do in iTunes or Windows Media Player. With Escient's software, to queue up all the songs in your collection by an artist, you must first add all the artist's songs to a playlist, and then play that. For guests at your house who want to simply hear music by one artist, it's a perplexing, counter intuitive process. Also, the PC user interface is often very slow to load and refresh. (I am running it in a house that is wired throughout with gigabit switches and cabling.)

3. Escient playlists will not hold more than 500 songs.

4. When playing songs in a playlist, I found that the playlists often stop playing for no apparent reason.

5. With the PC software used to manage and play music from your computer, there is no way to scroll through albums and songs. Instead, you have to use a page down button, which only moves you through about six albums or songs. Because there is no way to scroll through your music library, it's a huge pain navigating extensive music collections using the PC software. I have contacted Escient about this, and they said they do not have an update to the PC software planned. Oddly, you can scroll through music when using the TV version of Escient's software. It's just that the scroll functionality is missing on the PC.

6. On the upside, Escient is extremely quick to get back to you when you contact them with support questions. I've contacted them about all the problems above. Unfortunately, the responses I have gotten to most of these issues is either that's just the way it is, or it's a bug in the software that Escient has not fixed. That or they involve complicated workarounds that defeat the purpose of installing a user-friendly system for managing and playing your music collection.

Western Digital 250 GB AV SATA 3 Gb/s 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache Bulk/OEM AV Hard Drive- WD2500AVJS

Replaced the junk drive in my Tivo Series 3 that went kaput. This drive has been working just fine for several weeks now, can't hear it running at all. No complaints at all.

I purchased this product to replace the same make/model hard drive which failed in a digital video recorder after only a year and a half of usage.

Although I have had no problems with previous disk drives from WD, I'm certainly disappointed with this model (especially when the published reliability number (mean time between failure, or MTBF in geek-speak) was so good. I hope this was just an anomaly. The warranty is longer than this, but who cares when you have to fix the product and potentially lose data? Fortunately, the only thing I lost were a few TV shows which were saved on the hard drive.

Buy Western Digital 250 GB AV SATA 3 Gb/s 7200 RPM 8 MB Cache Bulk/OEM AV Hard Drive- WD2500AVJS Now

Ematic EM608VIDHP 3-Inch Touch Screen 8 GB MP3 Video Player with Built-In 5 MP Digital Camera(Hot P

• Hot Pink

Bought this for my daughter and she loves it. Yes it has some issues, but from my experience all of these cheaper mp3 players do. If you want something that is great for a kid or preteen because they may not take the best care of it then this is a great prodcut for you to purchase. If you want something comparable to an ipod...then just buy an ipod. Fun features on it that my daughter loves are the camera, games, touchscreen, etc.

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I had read a lot of reviews about this player and some were pretty bad, and I also saw that Amazon and other places had almost sold out of them. I figured Amazon wouldn't stock a faulty item over the long term, plus the newer reviews seemed to be more positive.

I give it 4 stars because it does what it's supposed to do. I load videos, songs, listen to the radio, listen to recording I loaded on there flawlessly.

I gave it 4 stars because I don't think the camera is as good as advertised. The picture quality is somewhat grainy, but then, I've never taken videos under perfect circumstances.

The complaints I read had to do with the device freezing up. The directions say that it's not made for big files and will freeze up if you try to load them. I think some of the problem is with the somewhat less than perfect interface with Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc and the conversion software that comes with it. The software, if you read it while it's converting, says "unconverting files". Well, that's a program glitch. Every media file that you want to load has to go through the conversion program before it will load correctly only the player. Once I realized that, every video played just fine.

The FM radio is great too. Some of the complaints are that you have to reset the radio every time you play it. Well, not if you hit the right button, you don't. It scans automatically when you hit the scanner button. Otherwise, it automatically goes to the last station you played when you had it on before. It also saves in a list all the radio stations that it picked up. But you do have to let it scan all the way up the first time.

Also, when turning it on and off, you have to press the button and hold it down for about 10 seconds before you see a change. It's a little slow that way.

The problem, as I see it, is that it's not an iPod, it doesn't have the seamless interface that maybe people are expecting.

And you have to read the manual all the way through.

Read Best Reviews of Ematic EM608VIDHP 3-Inch Touch Screen 8 GB MP3 Video Player with Built-In 5 MP Digital Camera(Hot P Here

Very good quality. Love the camera and taking pictures. Reasonable price. Plus there was a radio. Screen quality not the best but its great for the price.

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Not recommended.

1.Device froze up often. Tiny reset button would fix it, but freezing was a persistant and an annoying problem.

2.Windows Media Player would not recognize it. User manual did show that you needed to open player and music files through "explore" and transfer music that way which was managable. But then....

3.Computer stopped recognizing that the device was hooked up to it at all. Maybe just a coincidence, but my computer crashed a few days later. Using recovery disk and running diagnose computer, it said something about a malfunction from a device connected to the computer. Hmmm, could it have been this device?

Bought 2 of them for my granddaughters. Had to start resetting them from the first day. One lasted a month and the other about a week longer. I notified the company and it would have costed another time as much to get replacements. Needless to say I didn't. 2 out of 2 is not a coincidence, it's junk. Very disappointing product and company.

2.5''TFT IR Vehicle Car DVR Dash Cam Camera Road Video Recorder Night Vision LED

• 2.5" TFT Colorful Monitor.
• 6 LED's, support nightvision.
• 120 degrees viewing angle.
• Screen rotation angle: 270 degrees
• 1280x960/720x480/640x480 resolution selectable.

This was a fair price for what I received. The night video is good and the daytime video is good also; I got what I paid for. Keep in mind there is no SD card included in this price.

Hitachi DZ-GX3200A 2.1MP DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom

I love it it is very easy to use and compact plus you save money by using dvd rw over and over again. I used it in a Florida vacation and it was great.

Good buy...

Sam

After 4 months of light use this camera decided to start giving disk errors, resulting in the loss of all video of my daughters first birthday. It will format and start to use the disks, only to show a disk error sometime during the recording. I have be unable to recover ANY data from the disks after an error occurs.

I live in Houston, TX and the closest repair facility is about an 1.5 hour round trip. And because only parts are covered by the cheep-o warranty, it would cost me $75 in labor just to have an estimate done (applied to the cost of fixing it if I go forward). So now I have to decide: Is it worth driving 3 hours (drop off and pick up) and spending at least $75 to fix a camara that broke after just 4 months? Am I willing to trust it to film my daughters 2nd birthday? Guess I've got me a $400 paper weight, because I'll be buying another brand.

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I have only used a couple of times. The disc should give longer use. . I never get it out anymore. You cannot use a longer lasting disc so to much waste for me. May be great for someone else.

Read Best Reviews of Hitachi DZ-GX3200A 2.1MP DVD Camcorder with 10x Optical Zoom Here

Update 1/19/10 This camera was great in the beginning but we started having problems with it about 6 months after we got it. Have now replaced it with a Sony. I wouldn't buy this if I had it to do again. On the bright side, when it's working the picture quality is still pretty high.

We got this camcorder just before Christmas so I've only had a couple of opportunities to use it. That being said, overall this camera has performed pretty well. My only complaint is that it doesn't do well in low light (maybe none of them do). It's very easy to use and gives you a good picture on playback. Compared to other camcorders, I think this one's a pretty good value.

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I bought this camcorder for my kids for Christmas, they are having a lot of fun with it. They kept finding new capabilities/functions on it.

ZMODO 8CH H.264 CCTV Security DVR System With 8 Outdoor Waterproof Security Camera - Not Hard Drive

This DVR isnt all that bad, and unlike my other two zmodo dvrs I am using this one I CAN select D1 recording. YAY.. its about time..

The DVR comes without a fan in the case, So I had to add my own. Believe me you WANT the fan this sucker gets very hot without it.

The cameras are VERY entry level. With the cmos camera, colors are a little out of sorts, the leaves on trees can be purple'ish or blue'ish and if you adjust the colors to fix that, whites turn slime green.. However, everything else in the camera view looks normal so it does not ruin or stop you from getting the footage you need.

It is a wide view lens, So if someone is about 60+ feet away you wont see details of the persons face. However the image is a nice crisp image, and smooth..

The night vision is not great at all and the LED's are much brighter then a better quality CCD camera with more LED's yet the amount of infrared light coming off this camera is less.. you will need some helper lights "like a motion sensor light" if you mount this camera outside.

If you mount this camera inside and its a small to medium size room or a hallway you wont need extra light unless you have dark walls.

Upgrading your video/power cable to something more professional is recommended, as the cables that come with this cause the video quality to drop and be a little fuzzy.

I upgraded mine and noticed a visible difference.

I hope this helped someone in a decision on this system.

This is not a bad system, but if you need something for parking lots, or warehouse security buy better cameras.

If you need this for inside, in rooms 25X25 or less, you will probably be satisfied.

Also make sure you buy a Hard Drive rated for DVR's and not a computer or you will burn it up in 3 months like I did with my first two systems.

a 1TB drive will hold about a month of video on best settings with this DVR.

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Memorex MKS8582 Karaoke home entertainment system with 5.5" monitor, video camera, and cassette rec

• Top-loading CD/CD+Graphics player
• Integrated 5.5" black and white monitor
• Built-in digital video camera
• Cassette player/recorder
• Integrated carrying handles

This karaoke machine would be great with all of its features, except the mic did not work from the beginning and we had to take it back. A big disappointment for Christmas. My husband, who purchased it at Circuit City, said they told him it was the nicest karaoke machine they sold, but he recommended purchasing a 1-2 year warranty because a lot of customers complained about parts breaking... as we saw firsthand.

Otherwise, it has a great set of features you can record on cassette, watch yourself on the camera, read lyrics from the screen, or sing a duet (only 1 mic included, but you can plug in another). You can also plug it in to a TV so that you either see yourself singing thru the camera OR watch the lyrics on the TV. It really would have been a great all-in-one machine...

It seems like to get a quality karaoke machine that doesn't break easily, you need to step up to the next price-point, at around $250-300+.

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daughter received memorex karaoke system w/monitor from santa, she opened it up and we were able to set up. We turned on machine, power light does not work. music was able to be heard, but words would not display on machine's tv monitor, nor could she see herself. she also received 3 cd's that was compatable w/machine that the words would display so you could sing w/music. we hooked it up to her tv in her room, yes it worked on tv. i boxed it up and went to a target store 30 min away w/ receipt and was told to hold on to machine because they do not know if they will get anymore in or if they will even carry it after the season. they told me i had till march to bring this back, and to try getting another online. no luck online trying to get one sent to local store. And my dgt was upset because she loves to sing and wanted to make her own video, she is only 8, and if they do not get anymore in store to replace this, i will be bring this back to the store where santa purchased it.

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My daughter received this as a Christmas Present...the only "toy" she received...CD compartment won't open. Have been everywhere (every day since Christmas) to find one to exchange it with. None available at this time...how devastating! What a disappointment!

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Christmas present for daughter. She's heartbroken. The CD compartment won't open. Took 5 minutes to navigate throught the warranty phone system, only to be told by a recording to leave a message. Life is too short to deal with these people.

Not very well made, failed just over one year old, only the CRT comes on, no display and the power light does not come on. CDROM does not work, tape player doesn't work... looked inside for a fuse and this thing is a mess. The fuses are good but the mass of wiring and patches is a joke for any electronic product on the market. The CDROM connector is bent up because planning was so poor they put a resistor under where the cable needed clearance to plug in. Frankly, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Very probably my last Memorex electronic product.

Mini Gadgets Inc Video Memo Recorder

I'm satisfied with the quality of the video-it is clear enough. The audio is fine as long as you remember to speak up a little when you're recording. The only problem with this product is that once the batteries were installed, it did not stay up on my fridge and slowly slide off. The light does blink if there is a new message, but only when the unit is turned on. It automatically shuts off when inactive for 10 seconds so you won't know if there is a new message for you unless you turn the unit on.

Night Owl Security APOLLO-DVR5 4-Channel H.264 DVR with D1 Recording

ADT was going to put in "their" DVR for

outside video monitoring of my aunt's home. They charge $700 for their DVR. I asked them what the specs have to be for the DVR and if could order my own. They said "yes". I immediately went to Amazon and found this DVR which fit ADT's requirements. Great brand and so much less expensive than ADT's! Thanks, Amazon for always being there to save me $$$$.... :-)

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Polaroid 4GB MP3 Player (PMP430-4) with Video Playback and 4.3" Touch Screen - Black

• MP3 Player Features: Built-In Speakers, Voice Control, MicroSD Media Card Slot, Touch Screen
• Built-In Memory Storage Capacity: 4GB
• Display Features: LCD Display
• Display Size: 4.3"
• Screen Resolution: 160 X 120
• File Formats Supported: AVI
• Music Management Software: Windows Media Player 10
• Wired Connectivity: USB, Headphone
• Battery Cell Type: Lithium-ion
• Battery Charge Life: Up to 12 Hours
• Operating System Compatibility: Mac, PC
• Includes: USB Cable, Ear Bud Headphones, Instruction Manual
• Language: Spanish, English
• Dimensions: 8.19" L x 5.27" W x 3.8" T
• Weight: 0.59 Lb.
• Warranty Description: 1 Year Limited Manufacturer Warranty

Lot of models out there that are practically the same. The Polaroid website shows nothing about this product at all, not even listed on their website as something they offer. Very cheap and probably the market its shooting for especially with all the high end sony and apple models out there. Its a jack of all trades master of none, headphones were the worst that ever came with a media product, touch screen can be unresponsive at times, only charges the battery through your computer not an ac adapter, takes forever to charge the battery, camera is from 2004, external speakers not bad. Its not nearly worth what they are asking for, got it for 50% off from a local store 40 bucks which was a reasonable price for what it offers. Its not heavy but kinda bulky for an mp3 player. I think Polaroid is already out of the mp3 market so dont expect any support. But if is shows up your weekly mailbox ads for a fire sale price I would definitely pick it up.

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I bought one like this for my daughter (this one has a camera that shoots around 480mp) at a local store during a Black Friday sale for $50. My main criticism is that the touch screen is slow and unresponsive at times and takes a long time to load your selection. That being said, it's not bad for the money. Since I just bought it I don't know how long it will last. It's pretty simple to drag & drop files from your home computer to it via USB cable. I like that fact that I can load video on it, since it's easier to carry than a portable DVD player and has more features. Not sure if this is the same model but the one I bought has expandable SD memory. I think it should work OK for my daughter, but I'm spoiled by my touch-screen phone that's much quicker and responsive. Don't expect it to work as smoothly as a high-end MP3 player or smart phone.

Read Best Reviews of Polaroid 4GB MP3 Player (PMP430-4) with Video Playback and 4.3" Touch Screen - Black Here

I got it for Christmas from my Secret Santa. I asked for it primarily because evidently I amongst my friends and family am the only one still stuck in the CD age. Not wanting to bust the bank on my Secret Santa, I saw this at a well known close-out store (!) here in southern Cali and thought hey, this would be a perfect fit to somewhat move into the current age of technology (Now, to be blunt I'm sure there are a multitude of better players out there, again, being that I wanted something simple yet something stylish this worked well for me) Anyway this definitely couldn't compare to any current top of the line mp3/4 players out there but I can say that it does do the job for the most part. With a good pair of ear phones (I agree with the other reviewer about the cheap wanna-be earplugs that came with it, Polaroid must have overstocked on them and figured they'd just drop them in the box as a gum-ball machine bonus) the sound is pretty good. I didn't have any problems charging it from my PC. I have a car charger with the same connection for my GPS so it works out for me very well. I did have to buy ... gasp... a cassette adapter! Since I drive a car from the year 2000 that has a dual cassette/CD player. Even with the adapter the sound is fine. There is a feature on the player that will allow you to boost the sound so you can probably play with it to if you so desire to get optimal sound to your liking. Overall it looks like a slightly wider smart phone. It does have a slot of a mini SD memory card so you can definitely add some major music. The touch screen seems more fitting for a stylus than a touch as I've realized a tap rather than a touch worked better, so another little quark on this little cheap-ee player but I can live with it. Also the camera is a measly novelty of sorts, without any light the camera is worthless, didn't really a care about this feature but I guess if you buy it for an young aged elementary school kid without busting the bank, it will suite just fine. There's also a sound recorder, again, this just seems to be no more than a nice novelty and should be regarded as that as well.

Now, here comes the part that I do take issue with, as it would seem that the loading process is a bit finicky, since I use my Personal Computer's Windows Media player I found this particularly challenging. It would be nice to just drag, drop and load, but I've had to tinker with it for the last couple of days to get the hang of it. The issue when loading is that it will automatically generate a folder within a folder when I sync any mixes from my PC's Windows Media Player (WMP) play list. You'll have to manually go back and bring it out of folder/sub-folder (which was confusing at first, not able to see where all my music had gone) now when I load it, it's just easier to drag and drop from the PC to the MP4 player and forget about using the WMP altogether. Also the inability to keep the tracks in order from my playlist is annoying. Now I'll note that this only applies to the mixes I've made. As for Cd's I've ripped from my collection, they are fine, all the tracks stay in order.

So in a nut shell you really pay for what you get! Though to be honest, the average asking price of $50 is steep buying it from Amazon. As I stated earlier, I got this as a gift and basically they bought it at half the price. I wouldn't pay no more than $25 at most. Best of luck!

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I was sent the wrong product. It had the correct model number on the package but had a different mp3 player inside. I had to call Amazon instead of doing the return online since it was a third party vendor but they were very courteous and e-mailed me a return postage label so it cost me nothing to send it back. It took a couple of weeks to get my refund credited to my account but overall it cost me nothing but time.

I bought this item for $14 from Fry's which is a good distance away. I would return it, but its not worth the gas money for the return trip.

The basic design is nice, it just lacks the basics to make it work well. The major one, any way to lock the controls. So any touching of the screen turns on the device. Of course the screen is resistive, so any touching done to the screen while its in a pocket, turns it on, changes whats happening, and runs down the battery.

Further..it seems to have a very short battery life, of about 2 hours I think. Hard to tell because of the previously mentioned issue. Beyond that, you can't use the device while its charging. You get to look at a charging screen, and no interaction is possible. It has a li-ion battery which is generally good, except you should charge these fully, so you HAVE to plug it in and not interact with it at all for hours at a time. (Thats just the suggested way to maintain that kind of battery for maximum life.)

oh.. and per the manual it doesn't seem to have an overcharge protection. The manual states to leave it plugged in for at least 4 hours, and "never more then 8".

These basic design flaws leave this not very useable. It could have been a kinda nifty device, but they really didn't pay attention to any details, and its obvious they did no user testing.

Astrotel WD1-T/R 2.4GHz H.264 Digital Wireless Transmitter and Receiver

This is a product produces a good picture which is clear and stable most of the time but, there is one problem with the device's. I is not reliable for a security system because, It freezes the picture at times without you knowing it has happened. I look at my video at noon and it is still a frozen image of over night. I must reset the receiver in order to see a live picture from the wireless camera.

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Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver)

I've been looking for a universal remote for a few years and purchased a few but they were always lacking something. The Phillips Pronto was not tactile enough, "universal" remotes either weren't or you needed to spend hours trying out remote codes for your 10 year old VCR or your three day old TV.

That ended with the Harmony Remote. After entering the model numbers of my devices (RCA TV (no, not 3 days old), Sony receiver, Mitsubushi VCR (yes, >10 years old), Sony DirecTivo, Sony DVD Note: spend a little time writing all of this down before you start Logitech even provides a workbook in the documentation), I hooked up the remote to the USB port on my computer and it worked. It wasn't perfect (user error), but that was quickly fixed.

The true test was having someone who has never operated our equipment before come over and give it a test run and it worked out great.

Things I would note: if you turn on something manually, turn it off manually. It's not perfect, but what is?

Update 11/07/08

It has now been three years and I am still in love with this remote. So much so that I have since bought two other Logitech Universal remotes!!!

I love that fact that even as update my equipment at home the remote easily adapts to any changes I make.

This product is one that is clearly designed to last and easily adapt with my changing entertainment system.

I must say that this universal remote is truly amazing!!!! I have had it now for about 6 months and I am still very impressed.

I have 8 different components all different brands. This remote has been able to control them all. (Two of the units are multifunction units)

Pros:

*my non-techno savvy boy-friend actually understands how to use this remote to run our entire home theater system.

* pressing one button turns on everything I need for a given activity. It also switches the TV and receiver to the proper outputs

* It even controls my tower fan and my media center computer

* I no longer need 7 remotes

* I can use it to preform fairly complex functions that before I could only do with the original remote from the component.

* The battery life has been excellent

Cons:

*the Harmony database had incorrect codes for my Toshiba HDD/DVD recorder. (However I was able to 'teach' the remote the correct commands.

*buttons are way too small

Buy Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Now

I've had this remote for about 2 weeks now and really appreciate the ease that it provides for working all of my electronic pieces. I have a cable box, satellite dish, TIVO, DVD player, Stereo, Satellite radio and CD jukebox. The internet setup was nice and easy, but when things get a little complicated or you have little issues like component inputs not changing correctly or timely, you turn to Logitech support. The support was the best I have experienced for any electronic item that I have ever purchased. The Rep literally spent 45 minutes on the phone with me fine tuning every aspect of the remote. It now works perfectly for every piece. I only have 2 knocks.

1. Reviewers are right in saying that the activity buttons are too small.

2. The sensitivity and speed of the infrared commands are not as quick as the remote that I replaced. (Sony RM-VL1000)

I'd buy this remote again and I'm very interested in checking out the Logitech 880 which I hear is very sweet.

Read Best Reviews of Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Here

Like most A/V enthusiasts, I have many devices to control.

A/V Equiptment:

TV

DVD

VCR

LaserDisc (yes they still exist!)

TiVo

HP MP3 Jukebox

Cablebox

Xbox

The Harmony remote setup program makes it very easy to program the device. I got home and had it setup in about 20 minutes. It took me longer to find and write down all the model numbers from the various components than it did to program the remote. After entering your devices, the wizard asks you some simple question about how you watch DVDs etc to program the Activities buttons. Once you answer those quests, voila you are done.

Buttons are well placed around the center of the remote. The LCD it easily readable, the backlit display does not stay on long, I imagine that the battery will not drain too quickly.

The only negative comment I would have is regarding the wizard, why do I need to type the model number. There should be a drop down in my numble opinion.

I highly recommend this to any A/V enthusiast.

Want Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Discount?

I have two of these remotes which I purchased about a year ago and for the most part have been happy with them.

My initial impression was very positive. The layout is pretty good and the backlighting is very bright. Most buttons are in logical locations and using the remote with one hand is fairly easy.

I do have a minor issue with the function selector buttons at the top because they are unreadable in the dark (the backlighting doesn't shine through those buttons) and not very easy to read even in the light. Once you memorize which ones do what (or which colors do what) it's no big deal, but you'll still be turning on lights and squinting to find the ones you don't use very often.

The other buttons are pretty easy to find, especially when you hit the backlight button (which is in a convenient location near the middle of the remote). I'd like it better if there was some tactile difference among the buttons in the big ring though since they're so tiny and difficult to tell apart by touch. The same with the playback control buttons, they all feel the same in the dark so finding Play versus Pause usually means turning on the backlight for me.

The web setup isn't too difficult initially, but changing things once you've gone through their setup wizard is a bit of a pain. Not horrible, but not easy either -it took me a while to figure out how to remove my old amplifier from the setup and use my new one instead. Should you ever need to replace your remote (see below :) then it's easy to just plug another one in and download the configuration from the website.

Battery life has been pretty decent, even with rechargable NiMHs, but the remote gives little warning of low batteries. The backlight stays bright and there's no indication that the batteries are getting low except that my devices start having trouble receiving commands. So every couple of months I find myself getting frustrated that my devices aren't responding well and then eventually thinking maybe it's the batteries (which it usually is). Once I replace them everything is happy again.

The reason I only give the remote a 3 is that several buttons on both of my H688 remotes have either stopped working entirely or require a lot of pressure to engage. This is terrible, especially in a modern and expensive remote -even my cheap remotes don't usually have key failures unless I drop them in a soda or something. I took one apart to see if it was just dust or something and found that Logitech uses little metal dome buttons on the circuit board. I suspect that this type of button oxidizes over time and loses conductivity. Cheaper remotes use a simple and relatively large conductive pad that presses down on plated contacts on the circuit board. Logitech's buttons give you that nice clicky feel when you push them, but I'd trade the clicky feel for quiet, squishy, but reliabile cheap buttons any day. Remotes costing this much just shouldn't become unusuable after only a year or so worth of use.

500 Polyethylene Plastic CD / Booklet Display Sleeves #CDIE04 - 5" x 5", 4 mil Thick! Holds either

Great product. Exactly what I was looking for to replace the paper envelopes I used to store my dvd's and cd's with covers. This allows me to see the cd/dvd booklets without having to remove them from the sleeves.

This was the perfect solution to condensing our CD collection. Unlike the description, these will hold a CD pamphlet and the CD in each sleeve.

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Finally decided to archive my massive CD collection now that everyone is on board the digital era. I was looking for a way to get rid of jewel cases (most of which I didnt even have) yet also store the Album liner art with the CD since I have obsessively saved all of them. The CD went into a Tyvek sleeve which was purchased off Amazon in bulk, and then the tyvek sleeve and album art fit into this Poly Sleeve.

Some double CD albums were a tight sqeeze but they worked even for that. Some of the sleeves have manufacturing defects, but seriously for the price you get 500. Come across a messed up one toss it and move on with your life.

So essentially, now my cds are all safely stored and filed away with their album liners for my grandchildren to one day explore and ask "Who the heck is Bright Eyes?"

Read Best Reviews of 500 Polyethylene Plastic CD / Booklet Display Sleeves #CDIE04 - 5" x 5", 4 mil Thick! Holds either Here

I got these for my Vaultz cd holder. It helps it hold a lot more dvds and blurays than advertised originally. I also love that I can see what the disc is immediately because they are clear sleeves. Quick shipping from this seller. Thanks!

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this is perfect for anyone needing to create your own cds for your recording project or band. tight compact size that fits snug with compact discs. great buy in bulk.

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