Call Recorder/Software, plugs into MIC

I use this at work to record sales presentations. I plugged it into a phone jack near my computer (separate from my phones). It took a little effort to adjust the two volumes so that it would recognize a call and record it. I set it for vox so that I don't have to remember to switch it on. It records all my calls to my computer's hard drive. I can play them back and make notes in the included software so that I can find the call later. It also reads caller ID. Sound quality is very good. I had one question about caller ID. Called customer support and got an answer immediately. All in all it's a very good tool.

I have used this product for several years, it's invaluable! I record all important phone calls (IRS). Check the laws in your state before using (Most States allow recording with only one persons (you) consent required).

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You could spend $100k for recording and archiving, or you can buy a few of these. Very simple to hook up, takes a little 'tweaking' of your computers microphone levels to get the right sound, but an excellent option for small offices.

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Happy with my recent purchase, I participate in plenty of technical conference call where attention to details are crucial and with this recorder it allows me to instant replay while recording and include subject/notes of each call. This recording device is computer/software base and doesn't allow you to hook it up to an actual recorder however it makes up with features that can't be found on the market, there even a function where you can you send in your recording and have it transcribe for you. The sound quality is clear and there is a slider on the device that allows you to adjust the record volume to amplify/filter out the white noise for clearer quality. Installation of the device couldn't be easier; just hook the device to your computer, install the software, and set the default mic input to "inline" under the windows sound settings and you're set. I would definitely recommend this product for someone that doesn't mind using a software base recorder.

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This works briliantly. Automatically captures all the calls with perfect clarity. I tried others that only captured at one phone and the quality was horrible or didn't work at all. I set up a Win7 box in the basement, y's the cable and plugged it in. All of the calls are automatically recorded and go to my file server, including ones on VM. They are all sorted by day and I can review them easily from any PC in the network. Awesome and simple product

Sony DVP NC655P/B DVD changer

I was looking to replace my trusty 4 years old Panasonic DVD-C220 dvd player. I had wanted to purchase a Tivo or Replaytv unit, but I hated the fact that I had to pay...just to use the unit. And I had also considered a stand-alone DVD recorder. But since my PC already acts like a TIVO, (without any of those nasty service fees) along with a dvd-rw recorder, I decided to look for a unit that plays all these types of discs: CD-R's, CD-R/W's, MP3 files, dvd-rw, and dvd-r discs, and also the VCD's. My Panasonic did read those dvd-rw discs, but sometimes it had trouble reading the discs. And it doesn't even read MP3 files, or those CD-R discs. So instead of spending...or more on a stand alone dvd recorder, or one of those hard disc recorders, I decided to get the Sony DVPNC655PB.

This unit is awesome. Not only does it play those home burned dvd-rw discs, it plays CD-R's, CD-R/W's, and discs encoded in the MP3 format. Sony also lists that it plays the dvd rw discs. Which is another type of rewritable dvd format. The recordable dvd medium currently has 5 competing formats. These include dvd-ram, dvd-r, dvd-rw, dvd r and dvd rw. The dvd recorder that I have utilizes the dvd-rw format. But this is another story. So I will not go into any more detail on this.

This unit comes in two colors, black and silver. I got the black one since the rest of my equipment is black. But they are basically the same unit. The Sony DVPNC655PB is a 5 dvd changer with selectable progressive scan output. The front panel of the unit is sleek and clean. It has all of the necessary buttons on the front of the unit. So in the event that you lose or damage the remote control, you can still pretty much operate any of the functions.

Hook up was uneventful. You would hook it up like any normal dvd player, whether it is the progressive output, S-Video or the regular RCA jacks. I hooked it up via its S-Video jack, since I have yet to purchase a high definition television set. You would need to have a television set that has component inputs in order to utilize the progressive scan output feature. The unit does not have a built in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder, so you would have to hook it up to a receiver that decodes the 5.1 signals. The back of the unit has one coax output and one digital output. And also sports two analog RCA jacks.

When you first plug in the player, the player goes into the quick setup menu mode, which allows you to tweak the dvd player's picture, sound and other enhancements. Of course you can enter this mode anytime by pressing the button on the remote control. The unit will remember the different settings that you have set for each disc, up to 200 discs. The unit also has a parental lock out feature, but only up to 40 discs.

Upon playback of a dvd, one thing I have noticed about Sony's dvd players is that they have a much softer picture than my Panasonic did. However, this Sony has 3 sharp settings that you can you can set, if you do not like that softness setting. I prefer the sharper setting, so I use the #3 sharpness setting. I guess this is just a personal preference. Otherwise the picture quality is pristine. And so was the audio. The fast forward and fast reverse scan of the player is nice and smooth. No jerky movements when you use this feature.

One major cool factor of this player is that it is able to memorize the point at which you had stopped playing the disc, even if you took out the entire disc. It would resume playback. My old Panasonic did not do this. It would remember the point where you left off, but once you took the disc out, you have to go to the point where you left off manually. Another cool thing is that when you stop the disc, it would display a jacket of the dvd that is currently played. At first I thought that this feature is only available if you are watching a Columbia Tristar dvd, which is of course, owned by Sony Corporation. But as long as the DVD is encoded with this feature, it would work. Otherwise, a plain old SONY DVD PLAYER screen saver just comes on.

The remote control itself is logically laid out, and is easy to use. However, the buttons are somewhat small, and the remote is not backlit. So using the remote in the dark is not going to happen. And also I wish that they had put the arrow keys a little more in the middle of the control panel, instead of towards the end of the remote. This is usually the layout design for Sony remotes. The remote control also controls your television and some receivers.

Normally I would have had issues about buying Sony products, due to the lack of customer service support. But Sony has really out done themselves this time. This is an excellent player, especially at the price that I have bought it at.

Other than these few minor gripes, the Sony DVPNC655PB DVD player is a joy to use. So if you are in the market for a replacement player or a second unit, then the Sony DVPNC655PB is the one to get.

This is my third Sony DVD player (all three are still in use): I got the first as a replacement CD player before DVDs really caught on. Then I wanted a changer once I got into DVDs and got a predecessor to the 655, the 600. I must say the 655 more than exceeded my expectation. This newer model clearly shows how Sony has built on their experiences with past models.

For example, a great feature any family with more than one viewer will love is the memory resume function, which is automatic but it can be disabled. For 50 discs (DVDs, CDs, VCD, etc.) the player will remember where you stopped and resume there the next time you play the disc, even if you have removed and then reinserted the disc in the meantime! You can start a movie, listen to a CD a day later, watch three other movies, and then come back and finish the first one exactly where you left off weeks later! This is a great feature.

Picture quality is outstanding, and there are convenient picture modes, including a user programmable one, to adjust the color, contrast, etc. to suit your viewing material and environment. Optional block noise reduction is also included. The video output easily surpasses that of my other two DVD players.

A final great addition is the navigation feature. One can view thumbnails on the screen of the chapters or titles on a DVD. (It can also be used for slow motion strobe playback.) I think this will be of benefit to those of us who like to find Easter eggs on DVDs, and I have found several on discs many people have! Also, for those who can burn DVDs, navigation will allow you to search the contents of your disc easily, even if you didn't make a chapter menu when you authored the DVD.

One drawback is the remote: it is not as intuitively laid out as the previous ones I have seen from Sony. Why do they keep moving buttons? Who knows, but once I learned where they were on my other remotes I find I need to relearn them for this remote. Also, this remote has a beveled back, which means if it is lying on the table and you go to push a button towards the edge, the remote will probably flip over before you can exert enough force to activate the button. Too bad Sony didn't notice this when they made this design change. I wish they would just ask people who actually use the things, because I knew this would be a problem as soon as I saw the remote!

In case anyone wonders, my player is hooked up to a Sony ES receiver and JBL surround speakers. The sound is awesome, whether playing classical CDs or the latest DTS DVDs, a shade better than many players I have heard. All in all a great unit and a good value!

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I've had the player for alittle over a week and I love the thing.

I've been through a few DVD players, but this is the cats meow. It has great specs, but more importantly it does what is says. It played all my home brew CDs, MP3s, and VCDs. It played all my store bought DVDs that many players choke on. Also, everything loads pretty fast for a carousel, ie no waiting around. For those of you who have VCDs that are blocky/pixelated, it has a nice BNR feature to help reduce the "Block Noise". The random play is sweet and it even has A-B repeat for musican types who pick out tunes. The picture quality is awesome, and it has several cinema modes to view those movies in. The remote is out of the box compatible w/the Sony HD TV that it's connected to. I like the remote, it's small and the buttons I use are in sensible places. Overall, this DVD player purchase is a keeper that won't have to be shipped back to Japan like it's predecessors! One other little treat I found was that it can display CD-XTra info on screen. I hadn't seen this before even though the CD I discovered this on was from 1999. The onscreen stuff is easy to use, unlike those from Denon.

One minor improvement could be to display CD Text and CD time alternately instead of one or the other. ie. It's nice to see the track info for a bit, but then it nice to see the time remaining too!

Another imporvement would be to display the directory structure on screen for the MP3 Cds.

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I have the Sony 57" Widescreen, rear projection, TV and I've had it for a year now. The picture on this display is wonderful with just a standard DVD player.

Well... I purchased this new DVD player right after Christmas and hooked it up. Took me all of 5 minutes to hook it into my system in place of the old DVD player and get it working. A few minor configuration changes in the settings of the DVD player (after reading the manual) and I was outputting 480p pictures to my HD ready TV and the difference was amazing. My significant other noticed the difference and one of my friends said "You know its a good picture if the 'This movie is rated' screens are noticably clearer."

Simply put, this DVD player is awesome. I put Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Rings in (extended version which is split over two disks) and programmed the player to play disc one and disc two without me having to get up. The lag between discs was around 10 seconds with a Sony Screen Saver like page on the screen but it was a lot nicer than having to get up and change the disks out.

Cheers Sony!

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I purchased this DVD changer expecting that it would be able to shuffle play my MP3 CDs. It didn't, so I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Sony Support before I realized it's not designed to. I e-mailed Crutchfield, and they said every other manufacturer's DVD changers will, but Sony's don't. This seems like a big design flaw to me. Don't purchase this player if you want random play of MP3s.

Sony ICD-U50 All-In-One MP3 and Digital voice recorder 256MB

I bought this as a replacement for my other voice recorder that I lost in school. The sound quality is very inferior compared to my old Olympus. It is advertised as stereo but there is only one mic input. So, what you hear in your left ear is the same as in your right, no stereo imagery. Plus, Sony's DVF file sucks. You can only play it on the Windows Media Player, but only if you downloaded the included plug-in. My old Olympus's output are WMA files. So everywhere I go, I can use any PC with Windows Media Player to listen to my files.

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Memorex Digital HD Camcorder 7 in 1 Video Camcorder [Camera

I received this camera in early 2009 as a gift. At first I didn't like it: the build quality seemed a little flimsy in places (most notably near the lens and the rear controls) and the user interface is often not intuitive. After having used it for months on end (often with a Joby Gorillapod) I can say that it has held up to quite a bit of abuse and hasn't broken or malfunctioned. The battery remains strong as well. If I were buying one used I wouldn't have a problem doing so but if I were in the market for something new I'd go with a Flip UltraHD.

1)the video quality is NOT HD(high definition).

It doesn't have true 720p mode because what it does is it takes 480p and stretches from all sides so the video will look bigger but it significantly drops the quality.FAIL.

2)CAMERA WORKED 4 MONTHS ONLY ! I used it maybe 4 times a month so total number of taken videos are like 16 plus 20-25 pictures....no kidding.THE WORST QUALITY HARDWARE I'VE EVER HAD.Now it doesn't turn on,the screen flashes and boom.Screen disappears.BIG FAIL!

3)Very hard to operate this camera,even tho it has only 5 buttons,they made it difficult to find what you need,especially viewing pictures.For example,in normal cameras all you have to do is to press "play" button and it'll show you your database of videos and pictures right? But not in this case....here you have to go through entire menu,find the right option,then find the OK button which is the shoot button not the play button (if you press the wrong one you've to start all over again) then you have to know how to GET OUT from there,otherwise you have to RESTART your camera.HUGE FAIL !! Not consumer-friendly.

4)ahhhh that noise in audio....tshhhhh kshhhhhh kshhhhh...tik tik tik(when you zoom)

5)Why $130 for this low end camera? Add $10-$15 and buy something better,like Canon Powershot .

6)I'm keep trying to find a good thing about this camera but it's hard....maybe impossible.

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I have been happy with this camera for the past two months I've owned it. It is an inexpensive HD (720) camcorder. This field is getting crowded and I haven't tested the other offerings, but this has been a very handy video camera that complements the stills I take with a digital SLR. It is mainly for making home movies of the kids. There are omissions in this product that are similar to all small camcorders in this price range: 1) good outdoors, not so good indoors unless indoor lighting is very bright, 2) anti-shake isn't the best, 3) microphones aren't very good, and 4) small, fixed lens means you don't get optical zoom. If these problems annoy you then spend more money on a better camera, but I have been happy with this memorex, it fits in a pocket, takes a couple seconds to turn on, and the battery lasts a very, very long time.

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I carry this camera on me in my to go bag or in my car usually. Just something to have for instances that may call for video evidence.

Pros:

Light Weight

Decent battery life

Pretty good microphone.

Speedy turn on time (6 seconds for me)

Cons:

Can get warm when charging.

Slow focus when moving.

Price Not worth the amazon price, you can get a better one.

Terrible menu's. Occasional freezing.

I bought this off of woot.com, a one day deal site for half the price.

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To tell the truth, this little contraption doesn't do all what it was made to do. One of the 7 things was the webcam, and the webcam didn't even work. I would prefer this if you have a small budget because this camera stayed with me for about a year, but then i accidentally stepped on it and then it all showed on the LCD screen was black, and it was on. so if looking for portability check this is it, look for crisp looking pics, i would say no unless you have a fancy editing software to make it look better. and lastly for HD, thats a check right there.

Sony Walkman Digital Tuning Weather FM/AM Stereo Cassette Player (Silver)

My first prerecorded cassette was ELO's first album--that's how long I've been listening to them! We all know the day of cassette recording or playing is long gone; even CD's are considered done in this day of MP3's. However, that doesn't negate the millions, maybe billions, of cassettes that have been sold over the past 30+ years. Cassettes have their faults, but there are so many productions out there that aren't available on any other medium.

I've owned cassette players running $300 'way back in the 80's; these are gone also. The challenge now is to find a portable Walkman-type player that doesn't sound like crap, and that's last longer than a week or so. I came across a number of books on audio cassette at home and wanted to do a re-listen. Only a couple have been converted to CD.

I initially purchased a 'Craig' model for less than $20; it's also sold as a Jensen, a Coby, and various other names on Amazon. It was a piece of crap; see my review under the Coby name. Virtually useless radio because of tuner problems, and a cassette function that ran at whatever speed it felt like. Needless to say, an adventure for the book listener and worthless for music listening.

I came across this very inexpensive Walkman and didn't expect much for the $30 price. Have I been surprised! Now, the photo shown at the top isn't my model, as it has a TV band on it that mine doesn't have. Mine has AM/FM/Weather/cassette. It appears identical to the one shown.

Unlike virtually ever other cassette player I've owned, this one only uses 1 'AA' battery--not 'AAA' as other reviewers have stated. The great thing about this is that not only are 'AA' batteries ordinarily cheaper, but they last longer, too. I expected the battery life to be shorter as the result of only one battery, but I was wrong. Sony states they are using some new technology to extend battery life, and it's true. A decent 'AA' will last around 35-40 hours, and when running on cassette, around 30 hours. This will vary, of course, according to the quality of battery purchased.

Unlike the Coby/Jensen/Craig derivative, this machine uses digital tuning with an LCD readout. The tuner has functioned with complete band accuracy; none of that playing with a stiff little wheel trying to find the best signal. As stated in the item description, there are 33 presets for the radio. I live outside Houston and can't imagine needing 33 stations to store, but I guess it's good for someone. Additionally, the procedure for storing and revising stored stations seems unnecessarily complicated. Probably not for the younger, computer generation, but it does require a lot of steps. I will certainly be retaining the instructions! Actually, it seems equally easy just to set the thing on 'manual' and use the rocker switch to find stations. Regardless, through the included headsets, the sound is equal to those players I've had in the past costing 10 times as much.

The tape loads through the back, not visible on the photo above. It is a dark smoked plastic cover that flips open with a fingernail. The cover contains two little tabs that hold the cassette, then the cover and cassette flip closed to contact the tape heads. Again, much, much less fiddly than the Coby version.

Another advantage for this Walkman over some competitors is that it contains a 'rewind' button. Many players, compact and otherwise, have deleted it over the years. If one is listening to a book or music and needs to re-listen, those units require taking the tape out, flipping it, using the 'fast-forward' button, then reversing the procedure. The convenience of a 'rewind' button can't be overestimated.

I don't think there's any Dolby noise reduction on this machine, but I never liked using it anyway. I prefer a little hiss to the muddy sound of Dolby-B.

The tape mechanism has worked perfectly for me on a bunch of different cassettes, both well-used and new. Some players get touchy with used cassettes, and are weak with the power required. I have no doubt this Sony will weaken with age, but for now works great.

Headsets are an individual choice; I prefer earbuds. However, the included headsets give a fine sound, especially for their price.

One practical benefit of this machine is that there is an LCD battery life indicator included. For those of us who do a lot of listening it saves being stranded.

No doubt the market for these players will continue to contract. I'm thinking of buying another example of this little Walkman because I do have thousands of cassettes I still enjoy. Highly recommended for those shopping.

This is the same item as the FX-290, now with a W added. Only difference is the absence of the TV audio band, which will be irrelevent next February. I ve had three of these walkmans in the past couple of years. One shattered upon impact to the ground. I didn't have the case on it, and with the other two the fast forward button, which I use quite a bit fell off.

That being said, this is probably the greatest walkman I ve owned. The radio cassette player is a dying breed and I m glad to see Sony put out a new version of an old favorite. With 35 hours on one AA battery, this is one of the great values. I still have hundreds of cassette tapes that I have taped from XM the last couple of years, and I still take my walks listening to those. Transferring to a CD is an option,but its too much of a bother. With the belt clip its so easy to just walk listening to a cassette, even though the sound quality is not as good as a CD,but it fits my purposes fine.

With AM and FM and all the presets, and a weather band this is a nice value for $30 and free shipping. I m glad I still have my other two units without the fast forward button. This is becoming a relic, and I want to make sure I have this walkman for some time to come. No MP3 for me. I m satisfied with this unit.

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for all of us who insist on using cassette tapes, this is the only one to have. unlike the cheaper models, this one works and it works well and it takes only one AA battery, which for lasts 30+ hours. why I didn't purchase one of these sooner I have no idea. kudos to Sony for keeping them available.

Sony Walkman Digital Tuning Weather FM/AM Stereo Cassette Player (Silver)

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I bought this primarily to listen to language tapes and the unit is more than adequate for that. I was only able to get 2 and 1/2 FM stations--2 clearly, one with interference. The weather stations come in rather weakly. AM didn't come in at all. So if you're looking for a good AM/FM tuner, this isn't it. But if you just want a decent cassette player at a reasonable price this unit is for you.

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Thanks for offering this item. They are really hard to find. It is compact and light-weight and requires only one battery. Very satisfied.

Remanufactured iRiver H10 5 GB Digital MP3 Player, Trace Red

• Remanufactured to like-new condition; 90-day manufacturer's warranty
• Compact, lightweight 5 GB hard drive multimedia player--weighs only 3.4 ounces
• Compatible with MP3 and WMA; also Secure WMA from online services
• Built-in voice recording and FM tuner with FM recording capability
• Swappable rechargeable lithium-ion battery with up to 12 hours of battery life

The refurb unit received looks as new. Before and after purchase I strongly suggest you look at discussion threads on the misticriver web site. You need to understand things like "the ums trick", the differences between the firmware in the US version and the asian version of the player, and the kinds of things that other users have had trouble with. If you buy one, before you load it up with all your music files, load two or three albums or playlists and get a feeling for how it works. Then, after reading he misticriver threads, go to the iRiver web site, download the updater for the latest firmware, and do a reformat/restore of the player. You will end up doing it some time in the future, anyway, so learn how to do it before you fill the player up with all your music. It works, but it has a personality. The music quality is great into a pair of circa $30 Sennheiser headphones. The FM tuner is a great plus if you like listening to FM radio.

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I loved this product for 4 months (it does have lots of gadgets that I love) and then.....for no reason at all my computer no longer recognizes it! Rhapsody doesn't recognize it....It's turned into a ghost although I can see it!

I can play all of the songs that I owned myself but everything through the subscription service has run out and can't be reinstalled. I've done a little research about the disappearing MP3 player and it appears to be a problem that is affecting a lot of the H10's and 1 other model I can't remember right now and iRiver can't figure it out; although I've been told they are trying desperately to find the bug....So buy with caution....

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This seemed like a great bargain. It worked adequately for two days, then began various problems. Downloads didn't work, it skipped, etc.

The refund was very prompt.

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This mp3 player was great when I first got it. However, I've not had it even a week yet, and it has begun freezing up and having other various problems. I would not suggest this item.

Love this IRiver H10. It looks great, the battery is long-lasting and the product is pretty easy to use. Just upload your music onto it no need to change format or use ITunes it just takes the MP3 files from your computer. You can also upload your playlists. Takes a little time to get used to if you're more familiar with IPod, but once you play around with it, you'll be sold.

LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV

• Enjoy 3D Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p
• Smart TV enables an easy way to access limitless content, thousands of movies, customizable apps, videos all organized in a simple to use interface
• Integrated Wi-Fi Connectivity allows you take advantage of Smart TV from any available Wi-Fi connection
• Standard DVD Up-Scaling delivers exceptional image quality from standard DVDs with 1080p up scaling via HDMI output. HDMI Cable is NOT included, 1 year parts and 90 days labor
• Dolby Digital Plus lets you experience all of the enveloping surround sound that Blu-ray Disc, high-definition (HD) broadcast, and streamed and downloaded media make possible, Region (DVD: 1, Blu-ray: A)
• Smart TV enables an easy way to access limitless content, thousands of movies, customizable apps, videos and browse the web all organized in a simple to use interface

NOTE: My player is definitely NOT region-free for DVDs. The product description above appears to be wrong.

Chose this model because it had streaming, DLNA, and wireless built-in (you don't need a separate dongle). I have not been disappointed in any of its functions. Wireless connectivity was a breeze setup was straightforward and this model accepts a 32-character WPA2 security key (unlike previous LG TVs and Blu-ray player models which were limited to 18-20 characters, as I discovered when I bought a wireless dongle for our TV!). The wireless connection seems to be much more stable than with the other wireless devices we have. I occasionally have to turn off and on again to get a connection on startup, but this is unsurprising given how flaky our router is ... :-)

Blu-ray playback is really good. Our first Blu-ray disc looked grainy and I was concerned until I read various forum discussions that criticized this movie transfer. Many Blu-ray movies are apparently intentionally grainy because this duplicates the "film" experience that the director intended. You can use the movie mode on your TV to reduce graininess as this lowers the sharpness setting. Our second Blu-ray disc was really smooth and detailed, as were most of the other discs. Playback resolution is excellent, you can see every pore on someone's face and the depth of field is amazing. There were no stutters, freezes or glitches with any of the discs we have played. DVD upscaling is also good I decided it is not worth replacing any DVDs with Blu-ray discs as the upscaled playback in 1080p looks just as good as Blu-ray playback.

Wireless streaming from Netflix was absolutely painless, once I worked out that the "Netflix ESN" that the player provides in the network setup menu is NOT the code that you need to use for Netflix connection setup. You need to select the LG Premium menu icon which accesses premium streaming services, select Netflix and get the connection code from the setup menu there. Enter the code once on the Netflix website ("Activate a Netflix ready device" in your account settings) and Netflix streaming works automatically after that. Hopefully my experience will save other people hours of trying to connect with the wrong code! Netflix streaming is excellent quality, much better than broadcast TV for most shows. The player seems to stream seamlessly from Netflix with almost no stutters or degraded resolution issues, even for HD movies. The only issues I have seen are when my internet connection is congested (Comcast net access is pretty bad on Friday evenings and Saturdays in my area). I am impressed. [UPDATE: Netflix changed the registration procedure, so that you go into Netflix in the Premium menu option, then enter your login details. The player remembers this login, so you only have to enter this once. I am leaving the previous information up, as you may have to still register the device not sure as mine is already registered!]

A recent firmware update (April 2011) added Amazon Video on Demand, which also works great! It is really cool to have these services. The device also offers Vudu, Pandora, etc. but I haven't used those. Firmware updates are easy, although these do take around 5-10 minutes to load via wireless connection you need to keep your nerve and not turn off the player, thinking nothing is happening. Eventually, you get a message saying that the download has loaded and the player turns off and on again. If the download fails (which did happen once), the device is not affected (good design).

[UPDATE: there seem to be two sorts of update firmware updates seem to upgrade the disc playing features; software updates seem to upgrade the Internet access software, for premium services such as Netflix, Hulu+, or Amazon VoD. Don't blame LG for clunky interfaces on these services, as they just use the software supplied by Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. The YouTube interface is *really* annoying difficult to locate specific videos and it plays the current, teeth-grindingly irritating video-of-the-day all the time you are trying to find what you want. But that is Google's fault, not LG's.]

I was really impressed by how painless it was to set up media streaming from a PC using DLNA. A copy of Nero Home Media Server essentials was supplied on CD I installed this, the player automatically detected my PC and presented me with a list of files I could play from the media folder. This was *so* easy! DLNA file-streaming has worked brilliantly: I only experienced problems with one, huge (10 GB) home movie file that stuttered and stopped. Then I discovered the USB connection on the right-front panel of the player. I had been so taken with all of the streaming solutions that I overlooked the easiest way to play media files, which is from an external hard drive or flash drive! The BD670 played the huge file from an external hard drive with no problems. Since then, the player has played everything I have thrown at it: AVI and MKV, etc. using lots of different codecs. With 3 firmware updates in the month that I have owned it, I have a lot of confidence that it is being updated constantly to play all of the latest disc and file formats. So I am a very happy bunny indeed!

UPDATE: Had this for over a year and I still LOVE it. This is the most fun I have ever had with video services. The quality of Blu-Ray disc and DVD playback is stunning. The streaming video services are alone worth the price of the player. I don't for a minute regret purchasing the BD-670. I uploaded two photos of the Internet entertainment services that you can access from this player. See the customer photos at the top of the item page to see what services are available as of April 2012.

UPDATE2: There is a known bug with the software just occasionally, if you play a (DVD or BluRay) disc and then attempt to stream a video from Netflix, the Netflix player will return an error message "We're sorry, but we cannot play this video just now" (or words to that effect). Talking to LG support, there seems to be a fix for this, but LG have not yet released the software update. You need to unplug the player for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. The player will reboot and this will fix the problem.

Buy LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Now

I bought this player a month ago and wanted to wait and get some ample use time with it before I left a review. The LG BD670 is my second standalone blu-ray player, where my first was the LG BD390 (2009 model). (It also really says something when in 2009 I paid $330 for the BD390, yet only 2 years later pay only $154 for the BD670.) I decided to go with LG again because of my experience with past performance and they give all the features I want. As with most blu-ray players like this one firmware updates are a must, so as soon as I got the player connected to my network (wireless) I got it updated to the latest firmware. So far I am pretty impressed with most, but not all aspects of this player. There are 3 main viewing methods I use to watch videos with this player: discs (30%), USB (30%) and streaming/wireless (40%). I'll give detailed reviews of these since they're what I use.

* DISCS: With both the ability to stream AND watch video files via the USB port (as with the 390) I don't watch as many discs as I use to. There are now of course 2 types of video discs, DVD and blu-ray. What some people don't understand is that DVD and blu-ray are 2 completely different formats, each with there own disc format. The only thing that they have in common (besides playing A/V streams) is that they both have the same SIZE disc.

Blu-rays: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** When I first watched a blu-ray on my BD390 paired with my (then new) Vizio 42" 1080p 120Hz HDTV I definitely saw the improvement over DVD with a much sharper, clearer picture with much more detail. In fact it sometimes sucks to have that much detail for some of the older/low budget movies that I have on blu-ray because it allows you to see just how bad some of the special effects were (wires, etc.)! I thought the picture couldn't get any better on my Vizio because I thought that what the BD390 was giving it was as good as what the TV could produce. Well, when I watched some of my blu-rays on the same TV with the BD670...it turned out I was wrong! This player gives noticeable improvement when it comes to playing blu-rays when compared to the BD390. The picture IS actually even sharper/clearer and the colors are more vibrant; not in any grand, vast improvement kind of way, but it is noticeable. I've played about a dozen or so blu-rays on it thus far, but it's been able to play them all without any problems whatsoever...say for one title (so far). "Daybreakers". I know this title plays just fine because the disc would play in the 390. When I put this disc in to play in the 670, it starts to load up the main menu with its movie icon/progress bar, but then stops about 3/4 of the way through. However the sound will continue to play for the trailers with just a small patch of the video on the screen showing beside half of the logo. I "next track" all of the trailers to try and get to the menu (pressing the "disc menu" button only gives me the "circle cross" icon telling me it can't do that), but once I'm past all the trailers and the menu is suppose to load up...nothing. It just sits there and doesn't load up anything. I called LG to make them aware of this problem and the woman I talked to said she would pass along this info to their firmware dept. and look into fixing the problem. (Who knows how long that might take though?!) Hopefully this one title is a rarity, but it makes me wonder out of the over 100 titles on blu-ray I do own and have yet to play on this machine, how many of those might encounter this same kind of problem?

DVD's: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** Surprisingly, this unit DOES have a slight problem when it comes to playing DVD's! You think the one thing they could get right for this player is to play DVD's with no problems whatsoever, but sadly no. The audio/video plays fine, but every chapter change there is a half-second skip in the play (more for the audio than the video). It's barely noticeable, but it IS noticeable. It's not enough to really bother me, but I can understand other people being bothered by it. If it happened more often in the play, then it would probably get on my nerves more. This is a problem that LG is already aware of and says is working to fix in a future firmware update, but still I contacted them via email about this just to add my complaint to the list. Other than that there is no other problems I've experienced. The audio/video quality is great and every single DVD loads up and plays, even some region 0/PAL DVD's I got from Australia.

* USB: This is the main reason I bought and have stuck with the LG model blu-ray players. I have plenty of USB flash drives, not to mention external HD's where I have all my media files backed up on, other things I download from various sources. I just transfer them to a flash drive and plug it into the port and start watching. This player is a bit different from the 390 in that the USB, not the disc source is the main source it defaults to. I can have a disc already loaded in the unit when I turn it on, yet if you have a USB drive plugged in, it will ask if you want to play something from that first instead of loading up the disc. So far, it has played every single video file/format (.mkv, .mpeg, .avi, .mp4, .m4v) I've thrown at it with no problems at all. I LOVE this ability.

* Streaming/Wireless: Not only does this unit have the USB port up front to play video/music/picture files off of external drives, but with the wireless it has the ability to use DLNA to stream media from your computer (which I haven't messed with yet.) This unit has dual-band wireless, meaning it uses both 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz bands. This is especially useful for those who have a dual-band router (such as myself), so there is less chance of a dropped connection or decrease in connection speed. Mostly all of the streaming I do with the 670 is from LG's Premium service, i.e. Netflix, Pandora, etc. This is definitely where the 670 has improved over the 390 with a lot more services and better interfaces. The interface menu for Netflix has VASTLY improved from the 390 with more choices to look up movies and easier navigation of the "instant queue". The only other Premium service I've used so far is Pandora which is nice too. I have yet to try out any of the other services, and don't plan to for the foreseeable future. I will note that when I first did the firmware update (no problems) then loaded up the Premium service, it started to do an update for the program, but said it failed and just loaded up Premium as normal. The second time I loaded it up it attempted the update again and was successful. All of the movies I've streamed have played fine with no dropped connections/rebuffering and the quality has been at least DVD or better.

Overall, for the time being, I'm satisfied with this player; but only with the understanding that the problems it has will be fixed in future firmware update(s). As these blu-ray players get more and more complex with all the different features they have, it also means there's more chance for various and unforeseen bugs like the ones this player still suffers from will pop-up, hence the need for the firmware updates. I know a number of people believe that they should be like the old DVD players and just work straight out of the box and I wish they did too. In a perfect world they would, but this is far from a perfect world isn't it? These players are becoming more and more like computers, various hardware and software meant to work together to perform certain tasks without errors or conflicts. However ANYONE with a computer knows that it's not that easy. I modify/upgrade hardware and some programs (software) on my system all the time and sometimes these changes cause conflicts. A change in hardware, even with the latest drivers can cause unforeseen problems with other hardware or software. A new update to a driver can cause the hardware it's suppose to improve to work less efficiently or program update can cause conflicts with other software. Most of the time this doesn't happen or can be easily resolved, but sometimes it does. This is the same for these new players. A firmware update meant to fix one issue can cause another. The companies that manufacture these players can only do so much beta-testing before they have to release them into the real world. That is when we, the consumer whom these devices are intended for, put them through their real world paces that the manufacturer simply can't do. There are so many variations (different DVD's, blu-rays, vidoe files, streaming, etc.) made by different studios and other companies that all use various manufacturing/specification standards that it would be virtually impossible for the manufacturers to try and test them all on these players, when they themselves have their own standards and specifications. Read reviews for any other blu-ray player out there right now and I defy you to find one single player that has no complaints against it. I'm not trying to defend this players shortcomings, I'm just saying I understand (more than some people) why they exist and at the same time am trying to make other people understand why they exist.

With this review I am trying to inform you, the consumer about this player. It is a good player and will be an even better one once these small problems it has are fixed in firmware updates. If you buy this player now, be aware of the aforementioned problems and be patient for the firmware fixes. If you are turned off by these problems I have experienced and/or problems mentioned by other reviewers which I have not experienced; either wait until these problems have been addressed to purchase or simply look into buying a different player. Once firmware for these problems have been released and fixes the player, I will update by review accordingly.

**UPDATE: 6/15/11**

After contacting LG a couple times and browsing the AVS forums, it seems that the DVD skip was introduced in the latest firmware update that was put out in late April. It should be fixed in the next update along with a few other little things. So the fault lies not in the player, but the latest firmware. (Just so people will know.)

**UPDATE: 6/20/11**

A new firmware update was released just after my last update. It didn't come up automatically, I went into the "Setup" section to check (like I do every few days, just in case). I updated to this newest version to see if any problems were fixed. For the DVD "chapter change" 1/2 second skip problem, I can say it's been fixed for the most part. I've only watched 3 or 4 DVD's so far (a couple movies and a TV series episode) and I only experienced the skip intermittently or not at all. For 1 or 2 of the movies the skip happened like once in the beginning and a few times closer towards the end, for the other movie and the TV episode I watched, I didn't experience the skip at all. For that particular blu-ray title problem "Daybreakers", this has been fixed (or maybe it was half my fault from the start)! What I discovered is that the reason "Daybreakers" wouldn't load up in the first place is because I always had a USB drive plugged into the front when I tried to load the movie! I don't know why this interferes with this particular title ONLY (so far) and not any other I've loaded up, but it does! I want to say that before this newest update I HAD already tried having the flash drive unplugged from the front to see if it made a difference, so I'm not sure if this update had anything to do with it or not. If you are having trouble with a particular blu-ray (like "Daybreakers") not loading up AND you have a USB drive plugged in, THAT could be the problem! I updated the rating for my review to 4 stars since LG is starting to release firmware updates that are making improvements and are getting the player to proper working order again.

**UPDATE: 6/25/11**

Yet another update was released on 6/21 which, it appears, COMPLETELY fixes the DVD skip problem. I watched some more DVD's and I haven't experienced it on ANY of them, so I guess that problem has been squared away. Since any of the problems I've experienced have now been fixed I'll stop doing these updates, especially since their making my review even longer than it is already! (Can I get an "Amen"?!)

Read Best Reviews of LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Here

The only problem I've had with this unit, is that it loses it's wireless settings 50% of the time after you turn it off and then turn it on a day later.

I'm an engineer. There's nothing wrong with the wireless network in my home.

Even if there was, and say the wireless network went up and down now and then, why why why doesn't this device remember the network and password you've spent time typing in on the on-screen keyboard and automatically reconnect ?

Instead, it prompts me that it isn't connected. I then re-select the Network (which it finds first time), and re-enter the password, and then it always connects sucessfully.

If the Network is there and available, why doesn't the box re-connect on it's own !!!!!

Seriously do the engineers (and worse the QA and management team) over in China who wrote this software think it's OK for a user to have to re-enter their networking credentials everytime they want to watch TV ? Imagine if you had to do this with your PC. At least on a PC you have a keyboard: on this device you have a four-corners remote control and a onscreen keyboard.

--Update ---

Contacted LG tech support. A CSR (whose first language wasn't English) offered this:

" sincerely apologize for the inconveniences, but regretfully, we do not have a firmware for this, since the unit most keep the information at all times, I will suggest you to send us the player and have the technician correct the problem."

So I ordered a replacement from Amazon. It does the exact same thing.

LG 1) fix this stupid bug, 2) hire some decent CSRs.

--Update 2 ---

LG apparently fixed this bug in a subsequent SW release. After taking a download one day, this issue no longer happens. Upgrading my review to 3 stars. (-1 for awful customer service, -0.5 for letting this bug out in the first place, and -0.5 for a slow UI). I want to give it four stars... maybe when I get over the first awful bug.

Want LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Discount?

Upsides: Pandora works nicely. Some other nice internet radio options.

Netflix interface decent.

The best thing here is the SAMBA, CIFs or Windows file sharing (Whatever you call it) is nice. Works fine with Linux, works fine with MediaTomb upnp server. Couldn't find right transcoding options, but didn't need it... good with mp4's ripped h.264 and does mp3. plays flip video files natively no problem. Pause, rewind, fast forward over streaming (cifs or upnp).

LCD display shows timecode when playing streams from samba or upnp.

Bought device to have single device for netflix and home media serving.

Plays mp3's nicely.

Better than ROKU for me since it does SAMBA and UPNP for home streaming, wasn't clear if Roku did that.

Wi-FI, wired.

Oh, and it plays BD's too, I tested one, but not my primary reason for purchase.

Unit stays cool, is nice and small and does what I need.

Downsides: no screensaver in pandora, fearing burn-in.

Menus kind of laggy.

No progress meter when updating firmware. LCD indicates updating but should have separate downloading and applying progress when installing firmware. Have seen samsung do this better with progress meter.

I'd like to add a special item here. LG you did this correctly --you have a sticker for support on the device. Wow. I love you. I called, human answers. No hold time. Sat, Sun, no problem. I had an issue with firmware 268.E within 3 days there was a new 270-something to correct. 268.E added Amazon VOD for me and the other nifty items. Support was very friendly, apologized and was pleasant to work with. I've never owned home electronics where they actually had a support line with humans. And the humans called you back with updates on your problem!

First LG device I own... mad props for the useful human support!

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I am having two issues with my BD670. First, when streaming Netflix, the device randomly freezes anywhere between five and 25 minutes into a movie. Second, the player randomly loses it's wireless settings. When this happens you need to shut off the player, turn it back on, reload your wireless settings, go back and find the movie you were watching, and fast forward to where it stopped.

I called LG. They had me troubleshoot the device, and download the latest software update (which I had already done). The problem happened again.

I called LG a second time. They had me download and burn the same firmware off their website, onto a DVD, and load it onto the machine via that method. The problem happened again.

I called LG a third time. They told me to call Netflix. After I explained that I was not experiencing the issue on my other LG blu ray player, Sony blu ray player, laptop, or desktop, they agreed to service the unit. They only needed a copy of the invoice, because the warranty is 90 days on labor.

I found the invoice and called LG a fourth time. They asked if I had troubleshooted with a tech over the phone. Yes. They asked if I had downloaded the most recent software. Yes, twice. They asked if I had called Netflix. No, this is not a Netflix issue. They asked if I had my invoice. Yes, I purchased the unit seven weeks ago. THEN it was explained that there is a known issue with the BD670 that is exactly what is happening to my player. They do not have an ETA for the fix, and asked me to please be patient for the next firmware update.

I asked about the warranty which expires (for labor) in six weeks. I was told not to worry, since they have all my notes it will be covered if the unit fails after the next software release. I asked the tech why, if they knew of this issue, was I put through the four phone calls of troubleshooting. He said it was standard procedure.

I am returning this, and buying another brand.

Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Black)

I purchased this May 28th, on sale for $170. I did not purchase a memory card as I had a 2 gig SD card at home and wasn't sure that I would be keeping this camera. I charged the battery, put in my memory card and went out in the yard and shot some video and some still photos. It was a bright sunny day. I hooked up the camera to my 50 inch plasma TV with the included composite video cable and looked at the photos, which were really great quality and detail. I was pleasantly surprised that they were the equal of my Olympus 10 mega pixel digital still camera. Next I looked at the video that I shot at 1080P and heard this clicking noise throughout the video. My commentary was recorded just fine but the clicking was a deal breaker. The video quality was also not what I expected for the 1080 P setting. I loaded the CD into my PC and started to read the manual. As another reviewer noted you must us HC SD memory or data will be lost while the memory is trying to keep up with the high data rate of this camera. That night I bought a recommended SDHC card and put it in the camera. The next day I went to a WWII era air show and brought the camera. I shot about 40 minutes of video at 720P 60 frames per second and about 24 photos at the 10 mega pixel setting. There were lots of action videos as the old fighters streaked overhead as well as some newer jets. I hooked up the camera to the plasma TV and viewed the photos, which were really sharp and clear with great detail. You could read the serial number and min/max blade pitch on one of the props. This is using a low quality composite video cable between the camera and TV. The videos were terrific and no clicking noise. The use of the correct memory card improved all the quality levels of the photos and videos. My family was impressed that this small package could do so much. I next loaded the software on my PC and transferring the videos and photos was simple and the while not a high end package there is more than enough functionality to edit the videos, convert them to other formats and upload them to different online services. The only thing missing is the ability to burn them to a DVD, which I can do with Nero. On Memorial Day I went to the Daytona Prototype races at Lime Rock Park and shot a lot more video and photos. All came out terrific. I will purchase a monopod as it is difficult to hold this small camera steady for a long period of time. I will also be purchasing the optional HDMI cable to further improve the quality of the image when watching on my 50 inch plasma. This camera is a keeper and the quality is outstanding. I've shown the results to others with Flips or RCA and they rated the quality of the Samsung output to be superior.

I am surprised by the early negative reviews. I never owned a pocket HD cam before (like the Flip Mino, Creative Vado, or Kodak Zi6) though I've seen them compared online (Tekzilla), so when I pre-ordered this camera I had a good idea of what I would be getting. I've had it for 3 days now and it is exactly what I expected it to be for the price and size. It is not a replacement for larger, heavier higher-end digital SLRs or camcorders with better lenses and imaging chips. It's a convenient, cell phone sized FunCam. The smaller size and lighter weight means it's harder to keep steady, a reported problem with all the pocket HD cams. Another known problem is they don't do low light well. This camera is no exception.

Pros:

I found the 1080/30p video quite good outdoors in daylight, again considering the size of the chip and the quality of the lens you can expect at this price.

The Smart Auto feature does a surprisingly good job of detecting what you're shooting and adjusting accordingly. Hold the camera close to an object and it automatically goes into macro mode. Shoot a back-lit subject and it automatically goes into Backlight mode. It does have an Action mode for fast moving subjects but I haven't had it activated yet so I'm not sure how well it works to smooth out camera shake, if that's even what it's supposed to do. (There is no camera shake correction feature in the included software as another reviewed suggested.) I suspect Action mode may just increase shutter speed to minimize subject blur and not be an image stabilization feature. At any rate, this is a consumer point and shoot camera. These modes are not manually adjustable.

I've tried the time-lapse feature (the main reason I bought this camera) and it works very well, though I'd prefer more choices like 2 and 3 frames per second.

The 3x optical zoom works better than digital zooming though it does dim the image on the LCD screen when you zoom in.

It has a user replaceable rechargeable battery.

It uses SD cards you can swap out for more recording time.

The included video and picture editing software is basic but works and the fact it's included on the camera is very convenient. You can also install it onto your PC if you like. I have higher end programs so I won't be using it but it's always there if you need it away from home.

My cons would be:

1 The lens does not have a cover and I have already smudged it a couple of times. A sliding door or even lens cap seems like a no-brainer but there isn't one. To be clear, the actual lens is deep inside the camera and there is a protective piece of glass (or plastic) over it. I did clean the smudges off the glass with a photo lens cloth with no problem. The other pocket HD cams don't seem to have lens covers either.

2 The still photos are not great. Much better than what my 2 megapixel Razr phone can do but obviously far below what my 8 megapixel Canon Rebel XT can deliver. It's not just the pixels; it's the lens and chip that make a quality image. This cam is not good for important photos and, again, the pictures are much better with a lot of light. With moving video images the grain is not as apparent.

3 I'm not crazy about the USB dongle all these pocket cams have but I understand its convenience. An additional USB port would have been nice.

Other than that I am pleased with the purchase. My camera does not exhibit any of the mechanical noises during recording others mentioned. The only noise is when you use the zoom, as with every camera. You can even set it to mute audio recording during zooming if you like.

Of note, this camera will not take a Compact Flash card and if you're buying an SDHC card for this camera Samsung recommends only three brands: Panasonic, SanDisc, and Toshiba. Other cards are not guaranteed to work. They also recommend a card with a transfer speed of at least 5MB/sec for video recording. It can take up to a 32GB capacity card. That's approximately 225 minutes of 1080/30P recording.

Buy Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Black) Now

I suffered from the flip's limited storage (8GB) and short battery life.. So, I switched to the Samsung HMX-20 for the following reasons:

1) SDHC support: I have a couple of 16GB cards that I take with me when traveling; a computer is not needed.

2) Full HD.

3) Can be charged with bundled electric charger or when plugged to USB.

Cons:

1) Poor low-light performance

Read Best Reviews of Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Black) Here

I would say.. not bad...Here is the pictures I took under different kind of condition-. All are shut in SMART/AUTO mode and there is not much night view cause it doesn't work well without enough lighting. I don't expect 170USD could have a professional sharp quality. But this one is compact and light, easy to carry on.

Want Samsung HMX-U20 Ultra-Compact Full-HD Camcorder (Black) Discount?

Yes, you need a steady hand for all video recording. Just because you stink at taking video doesn't mean it's the camera's fault. Videographers all over spend lots of money on stabilizing equipment for the already skilled hands and already top of the line cameras. This camcorder takes great video, especially in proper lighting. Outside video has amazing rich detail and the TIME LAPSE feature is incredible. A+ product.

Creative MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player

• Easy to use - no cables or software needed
• FM radio and recorder
• Built-in Mic for 16hrs Voice Recording
• USB 2.0 for super fast music transfer
• Sport arm band and belt clip included

I have read reviews here on amazon.com lots of times before when I had to make a decision about buying a product or not and I thought it was about time to return the favor.

I bought the player (I decided to call it "player" since it is not just a MP3 player) directly from Creative Labs. I live in Georgia (USA) and had to pay tax. The player was $167 incl. tax and shipping. I have had the player for about a week now and I love it.

The package included player, ear phones, quick start guide, CD-ROM with ripping SW, arm band, a white battery module, and an alkaline battery.

Transfer speed: Write: ~2.7 Mbytes/second. Read: ~3.2 Mbytes/second. That means that it only take about 100 seconds to fill the entire memory. Not bad.

Menu system: It is straight forward and user friendly. 3 buttons and one scroller make it very easy to navigate. It doesn't let you stay in one submenu for long before jumping back to showing the song playing though, but that is fine when you are actually using the player, and not just playing around with it to write a review ;-) You can't go that "deep" in the menu tree anyway.

Radio: The FM version has a radio. At first I was disappointed with the reception. That was because I scanned manually. Then I tried the automatic scan and boy did that make a difference. The radio quality is EXCELLENT. I can not distinguish between radio quality (stereo of course) and high bit rate mp3's or wma's. It picks up as many stations as my car radio! You can also record what is on the radio (also .wav format). You can even switch between international and Japanese FM radio regions.

Display: The display is small, but not too small. It provides you with the info you need not more not less. You can switch the display orientation and turn it 180 degrees, which comes in handy when it is on your arm. Contrast and backlight intensity is easily adjusted. When playing music files, the display only shows you the title of the song playing, not the artist. Other than that, it shows you time, battery remaining (3 levels), and equalizer setting. The player can turn off automatically if not used for 1, 5, 10 or 30 minute(s).

Equalizer: Normal, rock, jazz, classical, pop, and custom (5 bands). Custom is easy to set.

Playing modes: Normal, A-B, repeat track, repeat all, repeat folder, track once, shuffle repeat, shuffle once, and shuffle folder. I haven't had a chance to try all the modes out (and I probably never will).

MP3/WMA play back: I have tried both mp3 and wma files with 320 kbps and variable bit rate and it works well. You can't display the bit rate. I found that a bit annoying to begin with, but now I am asking myself what I should use that info for anyway.

The voice recording is easy and the quality is good (.wav format).

Ear phones: The normal ear plug kind, where the right wire is longer than the left, so you can take it around the back of your neck reducing the annoyance of the wire. The ear phones are decent, but not as good as the Sennheiser ear plugs that came with my girlfriends Rio.

Arm band: It is working well. I am not sure if the player will stay in the armband, but a key ring will make absolutely sure that the player, if it should fall out of the sheath, will not fall down and hit the ground.

15 languages: The Muvo can display the menus in English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Danish (I am from Denmark, so Thank You Creative Labs!), Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese and what I think is another Asian language and Arabic.

Battery: I have only used one alkaline (1.5V) battery with the player. Before I ordered the player I asked Creative Labs if I could use NiMH batteries (1.2V) and they said yes. I will let you know if NiMH batteries work when I have tried it.

Software (CD-ROM): I think that the software is good. It allows for ripping CD's and saves as either mp3, wma (constant or variable bit rates), wma pro or wma lossless. I haven't spent much time using the SW so maybe I am missing something out. However, since Windows Media Player and other freeware come with the necessary ripping capabilities, the included software is not that important in my opinion.

Conclusion: It is not the cheapest player around; however, I think it is well worth the money. The Muvo is very small and very light. The TX transfers files faster than the NX series, but I am not sure if that justifies the much higher price for the TX. I don't think you can get the NX series with radio, though. If you are looking for a good radio in a MP3/WMA player you should go for the Muvo TX FM. Even though 256 MB is not that much, it is still enough for about 130 songs in good quality. Since the Muvo TX FM transfers files fast, the limited space is not that important. If you want a player for running or if you want to be the coolest in the gym, this is the player for you. It is light, small, easy to carry, and you can actually read the display and operate the player WHILE running.

I can highly recommend the Muvo TX FM 256 MB from Creative Labs to anyone, especially runners.

I give it 5 stars without hesitation.

UPDATE: 1.2V rechargeable batteries work fine.

Buy Creative MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player Now

Background:

This is my first mp3 player. I have played around with my friend's iPOD and iPOD mini before so I have some experience with digital music players.

What I liked:

Great value: Keep in mind that you are not just buy a 256 MB mp3 player. THe Muvo TX FM is also a USB hard drive, a voice recorder, and a FM radio. This was what made me buy the Muvo despite cheaper, comparable 256 MB mp3 players being on the market.

Great sound: The Muvo delievers a really nice sound and I find it indistinguishable from an iPOD.

Great headphones: The included headphones are very good and delivers a good range of sound. As an experiment I tried out a cheap $1.99 headphone and there is just no comparison.

Good battery life: 14 hr on an AAA battery. More if you listen to the radio a lot.

Accessories: You also get a protective cover/belt clip and an armband for exercise. The same cannot be said for other mp3 players.

What I didn't like:

Earphone design: The earphones unfortunately don't fit my ears very well (I have small ears) and the left earphone has a tendency to fall out when I'm moving around.

Inability to skip to the middle of a song. The Muvo only allows you to play a song from the beginning. There is no provision for to to skip into the middle of the song.

Case design: The USB part of the Muvo (the black part) is very thick. This means that it can't be plugged into any recessed USB ports. This is not a problem if you have a desktop or a USB hub. Unfortunately, many laptops (including my Sony Vaio) have USB ports recessed into the case with an overhang. This makes it impossible to plug in the Muvo and requires you to buy a USB hub or an extension cable. Before you buy this product, try the following: take a usb cable and grab it with your pinkie flat on top of the plastic connector just behind the metal part. Attempt to insert the cable into an availabe port. If you can do it and not jam your finger, you are fine. Otherwise, you'll need an extension cable or hub.

Read Best Reviews of Creative MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player Here

I did a lot of research before purchasing the Muvo TX-FM, and one of the things that made sense to me was to consider the manufacturer. Creative Labs has been making quality software and hardware products for years, which puts them head and shoulders above smaller corporations that were just formed to crank out cheap mp3 players for the general public. They seem to understand how to make powerful programs and devices easy-to-use, even for novices.

I had concerns about compatibility with my Sony Vaio, as I have learned it doesn't always like to play nice with non-Sony plug-ins. But this was a snap just pop the device into the USB port and off you go. No cords!

The player itself is very simple; menus are so easy that the instruction book is practically unnecessary. It's hardy and durable, having already survived a tumble to the bathroom tile with no ill effects (the belt clip is good quality but can only handle so much maniacal dancing). I agree with the other reviewers that the ear buds are not the most comfortable, but the sound quality is spectacular!

One thing the other reviewers haven't mentioned much is the accompanying software. The drag & drop capacity is terrific, the MuVo TX-FM works perfectly wonderfully with any software you're already comfortable with a huge benefit. BUT, the software that comes with it is really nice too!! The "SmartFit" feature can automatically convert any tune you want into the smallest possible format so you can fits lots of `em on here. The software can even load songs directly from your favorite CD's onto the player, speedily converting them into mp3's or wma's at the same time. It took about 5 minutes to convert & load an entire CD! Older processors may take a little longer, but that's still pretty impressive. When I think of the DAYS I spent putting together mixtapes back in the 80's, it's mind-boggling!

Bookmark this page and do your own research, but believe me you won't be disappointed with this one.

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This is the first mp3 player I have bought, but I am a techie so I know all about various computer related products. I had spent a couple of weeks looking for a decent mp3 player. I choose a Flash based player because I wanted to use it while I exercise (or when I start to actually) and a hard drive based player is just not a good idea for that. My requirements were that it have at least 256 MB of memory, have a FM radio and be able to carry more than just music. Having said that, I am providing a list of pros and cons.

Pros:

Small Size: Smaller than my cell phone so it can fit in all my pockets and I barely notice its there.

Connectivity: USB 2.0 is so much faster than USB 1.1. Loading music goes quick.

Ease of Use: I opened it and within 5 minutes I had it loaded with music and playing songs. I give it to a few other people who wanted to look at it and they were able to do everything with it right away.

Sound quality: It produces very good sounding music. I connected it to my speakers which have very good bass and all around performance and the Muvo was on par in terms of quality as my PC is.

Buttons: The buttons are nice and big and easy to find. The power button has to be held in for a bit to turn it on and off. At first I thought this was a con but it is actually a benefit as it prevents accidently turning it on or off.

One last thing, some people have said that you can't skip to the middle of a song, well if you press the dial forward and hold it there it will fast forward through a song. Same goes for reverse if you hold it the other way.

Battery: The battery that came with it is a major brand battery and it has lasted a long time so far. I would guess at least 10 hours and its only half way done. Its only a AAA so thats pretty impressive to me.

Cons:

Headphones: These things hurt! I have big ears and they still don't fit me. They sound from them when they are in is good but the discomfort of having them in outweighs this fact.

Included Belt clip: The way the clip is positioned is great if you use it with the armband but if you put it on your belt it kinda digs into your stomach and I'm a really thin guy so its not my stomach causing the problem. It would have been nice if the player could be turned sideways so it is horizontal instead of vertical. That would have made the positioning much more comfortable while I am listening at work.

Belt Clip Case-thingy: The rubber case covers only half of the player. Since it makes it really hard to take the USB part out of the battery pack, it would have been nice if the case covered more of the player to protect all of it or made smaller so its easier to take the player out.

Lanyard holder: Creative could have spent the extra 10 cents and thrown a key ring in with this so you can attach it to a neck lanyard since there is a spot for one.

Did I mention how uncomfortable these included headphones are?

In general, I love this little machine. It has all the right features. It's small, but packed with goodies such as a FM tuner, a voice recorder, a 256 MB USB storage device with an integrated USB plug (no wires), and the sound quality is great.

A few small complaints. First when the clear plastic belt clip holder is on, it's really hard to remove the MP3 player from the battery housing. I guess it's not supposed to be removed with the belt clip on, but I'd like to be able to do that. I ended up cutting a chunk off the clear plastic so I can unplug it easier.

Second, the headphones are poor. The ear buds don't fit well and the sound quality is poor. The wire has an asymmetric joint so the wire to one ear is longer than the wire to the other ear. Ditch the headphones and buy a good one.

Third, I had the unfortunate experience of having the dreaded "File System Error" show up on the screen. Don't know how I got it, but when it happens, you can't turn the beast on. It just flashes the error message and turns itself off. I can plug it into the PC just fine and it will work as a USB storage device. Just won't work outside of the PC.

Formatting it didn't help. Calling Creative tech support didn't help. They told me to return it for an exchange. I did a web search and found some people with similar problems. They were all told to return it to Creative or to return it to the store for an exchange.

By an incredible stroke of luck, I stumbled on a way to fix this nagged problem. I formatted it again (using windows explorer), but this time, I specified FAT file format instead of FAT32. Voila! It turns on and seems to be working just fine now. So those of you who see the "File System Error" message, try that first. You may also try to put a Label on it. Perhaps that helps too.

Overall, I still love this little music machine and would recommend it to anyone.

Sper Scientific 850014 Mini Sound Meter, 8" H x 2" W x 11/2" L

• Auto-ranging 30 -130 dB
• 0.1 dB resolution
• Accuracy of ±1.5 dB
• Fast or slow time weightings
• 5 YR Warranty

This meter is packed with features, accurate and easy to use. It comes with a detailed manual and is backed by the company's outstanding support. Must have for anyone pressing a residential noise case.

Canon ZR85 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

My husband and I purchased the Canon ZR85 MiniDV Camcorder about a week ago in preperation for the birth of our first child in April. We were either going to go with this camcorder, or purchase a Sony camcorder. We thought long and hard in the store, and we really believe that this is a much better camera. Not to say bad things about Sony, but their camcorder only had a 10x optical zoom, while the Canon ZR85 has a 20x optical zoom. The picture quality also seemed to look better on the Canon camcorder. When you are moving the camera from side-to-side the image on the LCD display kind of floats. It was much more jerky with the Sony. We absolutley love this camera. We had fun taking pictures with the still shot last night and I e-mailed them to a friend of mine that I haven't seen in years. The quality of the pictures is excellent. But as with any digital camera, printing the images out on a photo printer might not look as good as on the LCD display or on your computer screen. I do not know, because we do not have a photo printer or plan to get one. But for e-mailing pictures to friends on the computer, I can testify that this camcorder takes beautiful pictures. I even saved one of the pictures to the desktop on my computer, and I swear it looks like a magazine photo. My husband and I were surprised how good the pictures look. We didn't buy the camcorder for the still shot feature, but we love it now and are so happy this camcorder can take digital pictures. The video quality is excellent as well. We haven't done much filming yet, just playing around the house with it. But we have hooked it up to the TV to watch what we have recorded and it looks even better on TV than on the LCD screen when you were taping. The image is very steady, clear, and crisp. Colors look amazing. My old maroon/auburn couch really came to life when taping. It looks better recorded than it does in person. I love the zoom, it is amazing how far away you can see with this thing. I also love how it self-adjusts. You can look at a bright window and the camera will focus and adjust the lighting, then you can turn away from that window and look at a dark corner and it will quickly re-adjust. It's really awesome. We are very pleased with this camcorder. The only thing we are unhappy about is the memory card that was included with the camera is very small and canon put a lot of trash pictures that look like wrapping-paper on it that you cannot delete. This takes up almost all of the memory space on the card, only leaving you with enough room for about 10 or 15 pictures. But no biggie. That is the only complaint that we have, and that is such a nothing-problem. We plan to buy a bigger memory card anyway, so that we can take more still pictures. This camcorder is really great. Make sure you purchase a bigger battery, but that goes for any camcorder. You will love this camcorder.

I am really surprised by these other reviews on lighting. When shooting in the dark I used the night mode button and it allowed me to take great footage in the dark. I also found the DV Messager software to be extremely user-friendly. It allowed me to import my footage for editing (gotta love Final Cut Pro). Overall I think it is a great buy for the buck.

Buy Canon ZR85 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom Now

I had my concers at first about this cam. I've read in several places that the stil pic quality wasn't good, and that the quality of the film was poor in low light. Well I'm glad to say that I have not had those problems at all. There are all sorts of tweaks that you can do with the cam that will make it look great in most places. I've had the cam for about a week now and both the Wife and I find it very easy to use!

Read Best Reviews of Canon ZR85 MiniDV Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom Here

I agree with the 12 year old. I have used this camera for three weeks and think it is just great. I have been to two birthday parties indoors and the lighting was great,I used video and still pictures. I love that it is so quick and easy to go back and forth between the two.I have also used it in a Butterfly Museum and the pictures were so true to color that my friends want copies sent to thier computers.When I first bought this I was just looking for a plan digital camera and I'm so pleased that I chose this instead.When I bought it my children and I (ages 12 and 15)took a tape and the book and learned how to use it and tried every feature indoors and out and had such a good time and now we know how to use it.I suggest to the people who didn't read the book to go and open it and learn something.We think it great and will let our friends that are looking to buy a camera to give it a try. Also a great price for the features.

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I bought this camera about 21 months ago; I have only used it a couple of times but without a problem. When I tried to used it the other day I was able to record sound but no picture. I was prepared to buy a new camera, until I found that Canon has a repair notice on it for this problem. They will fix it free of charge even if out of warranty; I could not ask for more!

Eclipse T180 4GB MP3 Blue -

• Electronics > Audio > Audio Players & Recorders > MP3 Players

I got this about 4 weeks ago i was very excited, it works its a basic Mp3 Player for the price, 8 gigs is great, the only main issue with it is it Turns off by itself in the middle of a video or a song, so i gave tech support a call and they walked me through the settings and got it fixed. very simple. Its a good unit for the price i'm still Happy with the Purchase

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The radio only gets a few channels and static.

difficult to operate...

F******G USELESS. WAS A BIG, BIG, WASTE OF MONEY!

Memorex Blue-Ray Disc, 1x-4x Write Speed, 25GB Data Capacity, BD-R Single Layer Media 15 Discs Spin

5-10 people making the same complaint can't be wrong. I never write reviews, but this stuff angers me so much that I must. First of all, pay attention to what your media really is. Memorex, Maxell, these are just rebrands of Ritek media. Ritek has always been garbage, but at the time I purchased these, they were the only affordable brand on the market. They usually burn fine, and work, at first. But after some time passes, none of them are readable anymore. I will never buy ANYthing Memorex, Maxell, or Ritek EVER again. Go with Verbatims instead, or maybe even Panasonic like others have said. But do yourself a favor and check the media code. If it says Ritek, return it immediately.

Started buying these in Jan 2009 when they were $79.00 / 15pk. I made 30 disks at that time. No coasters. They seemed to work great. I always burn at a slower than the rated speed & I do a verify afterwards.

I needed to get data off of one of the disks in December 2009. I found all the disks burned in January were completely unreadable. One disk that was made in Feb was partially readable using recovery tools. I made 2 disks in March that were fully readable. Altogether I lost 27 Blu-ray data disks that cost me over $150.00. I bought Memorex because I trusted the brand name. Some manager at Memorex figured out how to cut costs on these disks and I'm sure he got a large bonus for improving profits. To the management at Memorex may the fleas of a thousand stag deer infest your armpits.

Buy Memorex Blue-Ray Disc, 1x-4x Write Speed, 25GB Data Capacity, BD-R Single Layer Media 15 Discs Spin Now

I had the same experience as the other person -I have burned six of these BD-R discs, some as recently as November 2009, and now none of those discs will play. I have tried them in several Blu-ray players, as well as the LG burner that created them, and they pretty much behave like a blank disc. This is disappointing, to say the least! Hopefully it was just a bad batch -I bought them in May of 2009. I have some Panasonic BD-Rs that I burned several years ago, and those still play fine.

Read Best Reviews of Memorex Blue-Ray Disc, 1x-4x Write Speed, 25GB Data Capacity, BD-R Single Layer Media 15 Discs Spin Here

You know, one would imagine that once you burn successfully a video production using one of these babies (Memorex BD-R, 1-4x, 25GB) you would expect them to last a lifetime. Unfortunately that is not the case.

I burned a High Definition production about 8 months ago, watched the disk 4-5 times, have kept the surface immaculately clean, only to find out I have lost all the work; this happened to 2 of my disks. At first I thought that the Blue-ray DVD drive had gone bad, but tested them in 3 other players, updated my Sony BDP-S550 firmware, and have not been able to read the DVD disks again.

I do not perform surgical operations in brains...but something tells me that this media (perhaps this brand) can go bad over time. Anybody else with same experiences?

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BUYER BEWARE!!!! 13 of the 15 BD-R's were total coasters. What a total rip off!! I will never buy any Memorex product EVER AGAIN!

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