Swann SW212-MXB Maxi-Brite Cam Indoor/Outdoor Security Camera w/ Night Vision 30ft/9m

I purchased this camera for outside home surveillance, and am returning it due to its marginal night vision performance. I would say that within 20 feet or so, the night vision is good enough to make out features, but after that, the picture got very grainy and quite poor. The best night vision picture was indoors where the Infrared light seemed to reflect off of the walls and illuminate the room better. Probably a good camera for in home use, but too grainy a picture for outdoor use beyond 15-20 feet.

I bought a 4-camera Swann system w/DVR. One of the things that was most attractive was the capability to view the cameras remotely over the internet. Well, we couldn't get the capability up and running, so we called tech support. Their tech support is in Australia. After one hour and 15 minutes on hold, we finally got to speak to a human being. Unfortunately for me, I didn't try the "fix" he gave me while I had him on the phone and the "fix" didn't work. I called back and waited on hold for another 40 minutes before I had to hang up and leave. We never did get the internet viewing option working. AND within the first 3 months, one of the cameras failed. I don't look forward to trying to get it replaced. :(

I replaced the entire system with a Defender Sentinel3 system that I like very much! (8 cameras w/DVR system that's comparable in price to the 4-camera Swann system) Cameras are much clearer than the Swann cameras, they're easier to install and their tech support is on the ball and in the U.S. I again had trouble getting the internet viewing thing set up, so I called them. I had a real person within about 15 minutes and they walked me through step by step getting it set up and made sure it was working before they let me go.

I would NOT recommend Swann. Do yourself a favor and get a Defender Sentinel system!

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Fairly big, impressive looking camera. Burglars will certainly notice it. Picture quality is terrible -very blurry/fuzzy. Night picture is very grainy and has about a 15' range. I bought a cheap $30 camera from Harbor Freight that is far superior to the Swann. Swann tech support said "this is our low end camera so picture is low res."

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I bought this camera to keep an eye on my driveway after having some problems. The camera has a semi-decent picture quality, although somewhat blurry even during the day. My camera is mounted about 40-50 feet away from the driveway so the night vision is pretty much useless, although it seems like it would be decent at closer distances (Its rated at 30' but I would give assume it works best at 15-20'). It is a decent starter camera and for the money you cant beat it.

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Just got this camera today, and the day image is good. The night image is horrible though. The 30 feet IR is simply not accurate. You may get 10 feet at best. Never saw IR lights actually light up before..... The nice red glow gives the cameras position away. The mount is cheap (like the price). Spend a few bucks more and get something that will provide clear nighttime images.

Toshiba D-VR650 Super MultiDrive 1080i Up-Converting DVD Recorder and VCR with Built-In Tuner

• DVD Recorder with Video Player, Recorder, DVD Player
• Plays DivX VODs
• CD-R/CD-RW discs must be recorded using CD-DA method for CD audio playback
• Dolby Digital
• Features Progressive Scan
• Additional Features: DVD recorder
• Display Features: Built-In Tuner
• Includes Remote Control
• Inputs: HDMI
• Modes: Program/Repeat/Random Play Modes

Good:

This unit has been an excellent performer for me. DVD recordings are sharp and have good contrast and color, even at the SP and LP (greater compression) setings. Dubbing from VHS to DVD is simple. The HDMI interface made connection to a LCD television literally a snap.

Not So Good:

It's been 30+ years since the Japanese have been designing remote controls and on-screen menu systems for video gadgets. In that same time the personal computer's user interface has evolved by several orders of magnitude of friendliness and sophistication. Yet this Toshiba's user interface seems like version 1.1, little different from what I would have expected in, say, 1985. The menus are maddeningly awkward to navigate and illogically organized. Making matters just a bit worse is the mushy tactile feeling of the unit's remote control, which must be used for nearly all functions. (I've long suspected that crazy user interface designs such as this represent a form of multi-generational post-WWII retribution against Americans and Europeans.) Be sure to be in a calm, relaxed state before attempting to program this unit.

Still, the effort is worth it if you want a good combo VHS and DVD recorder.

-----------UPDATE----------

Having a bit more actual experience with this unit I feel compelled to amend, and slightly downgrade, my previous review. All of my prior comments remain accurate. The unit really produces terrific-looking DVDs, even in LP compression. Its facility to enable adjustment of black levels really makes a big difference when recording b&w films from the tuner.

BUT beware; the unit's timer recording firmware is a bit buggy. On three occasions I have set the timer to record a DVD only to find a "Failed" message, and no recorded program, when I returned to inspect and finalize the DVD. On the first occasion I figured that user-error must be the problem. Perhaps I had not completely set the Timer-Rec status (which, itself, can drive you nuts as it will deactivate with no provocation). But the other two incidents were definitely the unit's bug. Either the Timer-Rec status turned itself off (which I actually caught it doing once) or the "Source" setting for the material to be recorded reset itself to "Line 1" from my explicit setting of "Tuner". This "Source" reset issue has appeared at least three other times when I returned to triple and quadruple check my timer recording settings.

This unit is still a reasonably good value and good video performer. But its firmware is badly in need of debugging. Be warned before proceeding with its purchase! If I could do so I would downgrade my rating to THREE STARS.

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I was very disappointed with this product. I did quite a bit of research before buying this unit and I chose the Toshiba DVR650 because it seemed to offer everything I needed: Built-in ATSC tuner, 1080i up-converting feature, recorded DVD to VHS and vice versa, recorded all the various disc formats, and had both HDMI and S-Video connections.

My biggest problems with the unit were as follows:

* There was always a 5-6 second delay between when I pushed a button and

got the desired response.

* Sometimes the unit would "freeze up" and would only work again if I

unplugged and re-plugged the unit.

* Some functions never worked--i.e., the ability to delete specific

chapters, the Delete icon was "grayed out" and never worked.

* The manual was poorly written. I like a manual that assumes the user's

ignorance and takes you step-by-step through each process, and lists

processes in a logical order.

* I was irritated by the loud fan, but could have lived with this if all

the functions worked properly.

I had to return this product, because I can't use a "brand-

new" unit that works "sometimes." I feel it has some bugs that need to be worked out. If this happens, I think this unit would be great for my purposes. Unfortunately, the actuality didn't live up to the promise.

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First I had a Panasonic DVD recorder and the remote kept on failing. Then I got a Samsung VR-330 with the well-known (and very irritating) audio sync problem. Seeing as I have a Toshiba TV that is more than 20 years old and still going strong, I figured I'd give this a try.

I've had it for about a month and so far so good. Burned about a half dozen discs and all is well, good picture quality and no sound syncing issues. It's a little difficult to use (manual is thick, remote and menus could be a little more intuitive) but everything is there and after awhile it all makes sense. My only other complaint is that the styling looks a little "dated" compared to other boxes, but who cares as long as it works!

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I was having trouble with the Samsung DVD-R145 DVD Recorder. It was becoming very unreliable. It did no record sporting events very well. Which I usually set for about 3 to 4 hours, which on a single layer DVD +/R has to be set to SLP quality. My previous recorders did a good job at this lower quality, but the Samsung did not. Since the Samsung was capable of recording on Dual layer DVD +/R disc, I tried some dual layer DVD DISC so I could record sporting events at a higher quality. The Samsung did record the sporting events at the higher quality, but did not handle recording items when crossing over between layer 1 & layer 2. Also the Samsung DVD recorder was worse then any computer I ever had and would freeze up and crash on a regular basis. So I started researching other DVD Recorders for a replacement to the Samsung DVD Recorder. I was looking for a DVD recorder that had all of the Outputs I wanted (particularly Digital Optic Audio and HDMI) and had to have a TV Tuner (you'ld be surprised how many DVD recorders don't have a tuner). I came across a Toshiba Combo VCR and DVD Recorder (D-VR650) with up to 1080i HD upconvergance, TV Tuner, and all of the Outputs I was looking for, so I ordered it.

It came on Tuesday, 12 June 2007 and I hooked it up. The Toshiba automatically set the date and time, I didn't have to configure the time. Then I configured the Toshiba to set the cable channels. At first I was a little concerned because it took a long time to tune in all the channels, but I let it finish. After it was done tuning, then I tested the channels. Then I discovered something a little different, as I was going through the channels; I noticed that I was getting channels with dashes (like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8-1, 8-2, 8-2,....21, 21-1.....27, 27-1, etc.). Turns out that these were the HD broadcast of the local TV network affiliates, Like WGAL-8 (NBC), WHP-21 (CBS), WHTM-27 (ABC). It turns out that the Toshiba VCR/DVD Recorder was not just a TV Tuner, it is a ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital/analog tuner.

Awesome, I just watched the NBA Finals game that night in High Definition on 27-1 (WHTM-HD)......WOW!!!!!

I didn't really know what High Definition was really about until I saw a High Definition program with my Digital Tuner Toshiba and HD DLP TV.

Was impressed with this units specifications and outward appearance. Seemed like a real well made and designed piece of equipment. The two stars are for just that. Unfortunately the heart of the machine just isn't up to the task of running it. The only operation that went flawlessly was setting the clock. Toshiba had to be called to help program the analog/digital channels. I was lead to believe there were "problems" in the programs. I worked with the manual and tried to get this unit to work as it should for the best part of a month, to no avail. It did record a timer program on DVD-RAM but could not access the time slip feature to watch as it recorded. The final straw was when it totally froze up after setting another timer program and would not clear, exit or cancel and the power cord was unplugged and the unit got sent back to Amazon for credit. Have always had excellent results with Panasonic VCR's and DVD units and will probably go with the Panasonic DMR-EZ27K next time.

CIB K808AV500G H.264 8 CH Network Security Surveillance DVR Recording System Included 500GB HDD

I purchased this a few months ago based on the stellar reviews everyone gave it, but they obviously haven't needed to actually play back any footage or backup a copy for the police. The software is USELESS... and when I say useless, I mean there's physically no way to select the date you want to playback files from. There's some glitch with the software and the calendar just flips around randomly, sometimes years ahead of the date I want. I spent half an hour just now trying to get a file to catch a shoplifter and it's impossible.

Theoretically you can use the remote control on a tv to use it, but the remote barely works and it's a whole system of unintelligle up and down arrow commands, and once I was trying to input a date and the only characters it would give me to choose from were various types of puncutation no numbers.

I gave it 2 stars because you could actually just use it as a live monitor for a security guard sitting in a warehouse or something, so one star for that functionality.

Yeah yeah the cameras are easy to set up, it starts recording right away, the box is pretty and has lights on it. So what? what's the point of a security dvr if you can't view the recorded footage?

Overall impression: basic system that has some nice features, performance/usage seems adequate.

Setup Plugged in the system, hooked up the video out to a monitor, turned it on, and the 3x3 grid came up, showing 8 channels (plus 1 empty as 8 is max). I had ordered a ccd camera with it, so opened that up, hooked video cable to the DVR and the camera's power to a transformer, and the camera's video signal showed up in the 3x3 grid. So far so good.

To test the camera's infrared function out, I turned out the lights, and immediately could see a grayish display that allowed you to see a person from 40+ feet away. During this time I noticed an 'R' being displayed on the DVR's display (specifically within the grid that held the camera's view), which made me realize that the DVR was recording the video.

The recording brought me to the Playback function, which uses the Search feature to find recordings....the Search is not too easy to figure out, but once I did I could pull up the recording and watch it...seemed to be doing the job.

Once I started the permanent installation, I moved the DVR to it's final location, then started running video cables down through the wall. The cables I used have the video & power both only after pulling 2 cabled down from the attic and trying to plug them into the DVR did I realize that although the video connections are BNC female on both ends, the power connections are male on one end and female on the other my luck (which is always BAD) proved out, when I figured out I had pulled the wrong end down, so I had to pull the cables out of the wall, reverse them, then pull them back down. Lots of work in a hot attic!

Once the cables were pulled, I mounted the cameras then fed the cables to them and hooked them up. On the DVR end, hooked up the video, then had a choice on power could use a wall-wart aka transformer for each cable, or buy the 4-connection 12vdc device which provides power to 4 cameras (more if you buy the 1-into-2 splitters) I used the 4-connection device, and plugged it into the cables near the DVR. By the time I finished adding a total of 6 cameras onto the DVR, there are quite a few cables behind the DVR might want to keep this in mind when planning.

Once all 6 cameras were running, I started working with the motion detection config... each camera channel can be configured with a 'mask' that defines where within the camera's image motion is noticed (or ignored). This makes it very nice when you might have a small tree or hanging plant that might move in the wind you can tell the DVR to ignore motion within a given area. Each camera signal has 4 levels of sensitivity default is 2 I found that 2 seems to miss quite a bit, but when I bumped it to 3 I got better results I tried 4 (the highest) but it seemed to start recording on such small motion that I couldn't actually tell what had triggered the recording.

I also played around with the remote access (via network) from my local network (LAN). The browser requires an Active-X plugin, and even though I turned off every security setting I could find in IE, Windows 7 would not allow me to install the plugin, because the publisher was listed as 'unknown' and Win7/IE would NOT accept that. I finally found that by downloading it in FireFox (had to turn off Symantec Antivirus first) I could install it and run....which gives a nice GUI to work with from your laptop. This Graphical User Interface (GUI) provides the same functions as the DVR's general menu (accessed via the handheld remote that comes with it) including Setup, Record, Playback....it also provides an Export process that exports the H.264 recording to AVI format, so you can play it on your laptop/PC directly.

Overall I feel like I've gotten my money's worth, even considering that each channel requires a camera that runs $40-80 apiece, so the final cost of a full system is $500 & up. The system is simple enough that most DIY'ers that can handle a weekend project can install and configure a basic CCTV-DVR system that should help to figure out which neighbors are letting their dogs soil your yard ;-) Within two days I was able to figure out why my back-yard bird feeder was turned a different direction every morning a cute little doe (female deer) was caught coming up from the city park to feast on peanuts/sunflower/millet BUSTED!!

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I purchased a 8CH CIB DVR a few months ago. When I went to play back video to see how my dog was getting out, I found that the DVR randomly blanks out and stops recording for anywhere from 3 seconds to several minutes per channel. I also tried to hook up some high end Pelco Spectra IV SE 35X PTZ cameras. This unit will not control these cameras. Just FYI. I contacted Customer support over a month ago. I received a very quick automatic response saying they would get back with me asap. Month later, still no attempt from anyone at this company reaching out to assist me with my issues.. I own an integrations company so id consider myself pretty familiar with this type of equipment.. lol I will not be purchasing any more of these for my needs or customers..

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I bought this for 8 pinhole cameras (similar to the ones on amazon but not the same brand) being put up in an office. Requirements were fairly simple, 8 channel dvr that was lightweight and could be viewed remotely and from an iPhone.

I picked up an Acer V173 Djb 17-Inch LCD Monitor Black for the monitor and it works well, with a native resolution of 1280x1024.

The cameras were standard 1v75OHM and they seem to work fine. I didn't use siamese cabling, rather I went with BALUNs and cat5 for the cable runs (this means I also used a dc power distribution center, but regular dc power plugs should be fine for BALUNs as long as the genders match up).

Setting everything up was fairly easy with the remote. Note that some of the network numbers might scare you off (192.168.001.001 for example rather than 192.168.1.1) and UPNP didn't work for me. Either way I just forwarded the ports and gave the DVR a static IP. After connecting remotely I actually found out that the plugin worked way better in Chrome than IE (which is usually required). The iPhone app worked fine, but remember to set up the port and password in the specific mobile section.

I found it fairly easy to work with. Playback worked great over the LAN but watching old videos is semi painful across the net unless you have good upload speeds.

Recommended for the price.

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Udate 4/22/2013:

I owe 5 of these DVRs now and so far so good. I've run into a couple of problems that turned out to be power supply problem for the cameras. The only annoyance is that the browser playback plugin crashes quite often, and lately it doesn't work work well with Google Chrome (may be I'm missing the latest plugin). Firefox still works fine and Android viewing over internet is works great too. Tech support is responsive. My other disappointment is that high end 3rd party DVR software is not compatible with this camera.

Other reviewers commented that there is no way to select date to playback and others suggest playback doesn't work well. Both are not accurate and probably due to some other problem. The software is not very impressive, but play back is as simple is clicking on "Play Back" and then on the right would a be calendar from which you pick a date. After you pick the date you can search by channel or search all channels. Recordings are grouped into 1 hour time chunks (this is configurable) and of course you can only go back as far as your storage space allows. I've uploaded a picture of one of my 4-camera DVR showing the playback interface. I get 22 days of 24/7 recording on this one. I have another 500GB hard drive with 8 cameras recording 24/7 and I get about 10 days worth of recording.

Note that this company has a utility called PlayBack software and that only plays back your archived H.264 footage. You cannot search within that tool. If you use the regular supplied NetDVR software or a browser with netdvr plugin you can search and play back with no problem. You can also search directly on the on the DVR although I don't use that feature very often.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%Review # 2 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After giving this product 2-stars in my initial review due to viewing software problems I've now revised my review to 5-stars. This product is very much worth it. Setup was a breeze. Just plug in, turn on and you are finished. I used VideoSecure dome and bullet cameras. My viewing software problem turned out to be due to missing audio device drivers on the PC. It's a Win2K8 server that I never bothered to install and enable audio since I don't need one. The cameras I'm using don't have audio and so I thought I didn't have to worry about that but it turns out both the browser plugin and client viewing software require working audio on the PC to function properly. Everything is working well now including remote viewing over the Internet. I never had to call customer service, but based on the sellers helpful response to my initial review I can only conclude that customer service would be great.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%Original Review for reference%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I bought this full of hope based on previous 5-star reviews. Setup went quite easily as described, just plug in cameras and it starts recording. Unfortunately that's where the fun ends. My primary access to this system is supposed to be over the local area network but the provided Netdrv software for remote viewing doesn't work. Both the Windows client and browser plugin hang as soon as I enter login password and hit enter. It displays "Login Success! Initializing..." and that's it, the plugin or Windows application hangs. It also says "Login Success" regardless of the password I use (right, wrong, blank) as long as the IP address and port numbers are correct. Has anyone gotten the remote client viewer to work on Win2K8 server or Windows 7? It's probably worth 4 or 5 stars if you have it connected to a monitor for live viewing, but for me it's nearly worthless, hence the two stars.

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Bell+Howell DV5HDZ Touch Screen Full High Definition 1080p Digital Video Camcorder with 5x Optical

When I was a kid, the closest thing to a camcorder that was available were movie cameras that used either 8mm or 16mm movie film. Some had no sound recording capabilities for home use, and some did. Our family had a Bell & Howell 16mm camera, projector, and take-down movie screen on a tripod stand. The camera and projector were very good quality and a top selling brand at that time. This year's offering from Bell & Howell, the DV5HDZ Touch Screen Full HD Digital Camcorder follows in the footsteps of its ancestors for quality and features. Obviously, digital video is more complex than 16mm film, with the advantage that the user doesn't have to send anything to a lab for processing.

The Bell & Howell DV5HDZ Touch Screen Full HD 1080p Digital Camcorder has a 5x optical zoom with 4x digital zoom enhancement for up to 20x zoom range. I received the camcorder ahead of the estimated delivery dates and immediately opened it and read through both the hard copy of the User Guide and the PDF version. The PDF version is more detailed.

When I had set the time and date, tweaked the settings, and was confident enough, I tried out the camcorder, holding it in my hands rather than mounting it to a tripod. I panned around the room, zooming in and out on various objects, narrating as I recorded to check the sensitivity and quality of the mic and sound recording.

I first shot some footage using the "Florescent" white balance setting at Full HD (FHD) (1920 X1080, 16:9) resolution. The results were very good, with very good color, excellent resolution, even in the shadows, where the light was low, and excellent sound quality. On my 50" HD plasma TV, the images were in sharp focus, overall picture quality was very good, and the video played flawlessly. I discovered, however that my computer, with it's single core 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 processor and slower bus speed could not play back the video in Windows Media Player or InterVideo WinDVD without stuttering and freezing the picture mid-stream, even with the nVidia GeForce video card's GPU. The ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre media player that came with the camcorder played the FHD video just fine until I went to full screen. Then it couldn't keep up. Again, the problem was my old, slow motherboard and not the recording or media player's fault.

Next, I shot footage using the "Auto" white balance setting at FHD. This time, the color and overall picture quality was better than before, and again it looked very good on the TV screen. However, I still had problems with the video stuttering and freezing when playing the video on my computer except when using the ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre.

Next, I lowered the resolution to 1280 x 720 pixels, 16:9 screen ratio (HD), leaving the white balance on "Auto", and shot some footage. The color and picture quality were excellent, and the video played without a hitch on both the TV and computer. This time my computer had no problems playing back the video in normal and full-screen mode using WinDVD, Windows Media Player, and ArcSoft's TotalMedia Theatre.

The DV5HDZ camcorder's White Balance settings are Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, and Tungsten (incandescent). It's resolution settings are FHD (1920 x 1080, HD (1280 x 720), WVGA (848 x 480) and WEB (320 x 240). Videos can also be shot in normal color, black & white, or sepia. For very low light conditions, there is an LED light underneath the lens, right beside the self-timer. The mic is built inside the pivoting touch screen, with a speaker on the camera's body underneath the touch screen.

Other features are too numerous to mention here, and the ArcSoft TotalMedia Extreme software that is provided with the camcorder offers further flexibility.

The Bell & Howell Touch Screen FHD 1080p Digital Video Camcorder has some built-in video memory, but also has a regular size SD slot and a micro SD slot beside the battery compartment, underneath the battery compartment cover.

The camcorder comes with a carrying pouch; Quick Guide; an HDMI cable for playing directly from the camera to the TV or for using the TV as a monitor while recording; a USB cable for transferring video from the camera and SD cards to a computer; a video cable with standard red, white and yellow phono plugs; a Lithium battery; a power adapter/charger for recharging the lithium battery; and a software CD containing ArcSoft TotalMedia Extreme, a PDF reader, and a User Manual in PDF format. SD cards must be purchased separately.

For the money, I'm happy with the Bell & Howell DV5HDC Touch Screen Full HD Digital Video Camcorder. I gave it a 5-star rating, because it does everything I need it to do at a reasonable price.

We got this about a week ago. It doesn't have any internal memory, but it does have the capability of holding up to 64gb of video/pictures/audio at one time through the use of it's two SD card slots. One fits a micro SD and the other fits a regular SD card. Each holds up to 32 gb. The video quality is crisp and it handles different lighting situations alright. The LED light on it is very bright. I have recorded about 3 hours of video. We first put an 8gb SD card in and it showed about 2 hours of 1080P record time available. with a 32gb it shows about 10 hours. Well more than I need. The only real complaint that I have is that it records in MOV file format but the program that comes with it doesn't have the codex to convert it to AVI or MPG which would be great. You can get a free converter to do that called FFMPEG if you need to convert it to any other format for streaming or burning to a DVD. Oh, a very very small issue is that most of the controls for browsing through the files on it and playing them are on the touch screen, but if it's plugged into a TV through the HDMI port it turns the touchscreen off. You can still make selections with the buttons, but it's a bit clunky.

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We had to return this item because the screen had a large lune through it that would not ho away. Amazon sent another camcorder of the exact same model and it's battery would not hold a charge. The one bright spot in this purchase was the service from Amazon.

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Sony ICD-SX700D Digital Voice Recorder with Voice Operated Recording

I had been looking for a device like this, and based on reviews had it narrowed down to the ICD-MX20DR9 and the ICD-SX68DR9. But seeing that Dragon Naturally Speaking was already out in version 10, it seemed odd that Sony hadn't updated the recorders to operate with the new software release.

Well, Sony did one better. Not only does the ICD-SX700D feature the Dragon version 10 software (recorder edition, not the full), but the device itself overcomes many of the criticisms of earlier models. You can see all the specs for yourself and see what I mean.

Another source of my earlier hesitation to buy a Sony stemmed from criticims of the documentation accompanying this model's predecessors; users reported having virtually no information about the Dragon software, and having to spend hours on hold with tech support trying to get the device and transcription software to work properly together.

I confess that I would greatly welcome some documentation from Nuance about the codes and special language one can use when recording in order to accelerate accurate transcription.

Nevertheless, I found it was a fairly straightforward thing to get this up and running. (1) First install the Sony software on your computer, (2) then install the Dragon software on your computer, and (3) recite and record your choice of reading passages given you by the Dragon software. Then, (4) transfer your recording from the ICD-SX700D to your computer (using the Sony software), convert it into a transcription again using the software, and watch it type away in the word processor. With time, you'll grow comfortable enough with the device to begin using the special transcription codes.

It works great. Very impressed with it. It was easy to set up and it did not take as long as indicated. It was up and running within an hour. I purchased it mostly for dictation. I wanted to be able to record lectures and interviews and tranbscribe them to text. Basic dictation/transcribing works wonderfully. Recorded lectures/transcribing is 50/50 based on how close your are to the speaker and the surrounding noise. Interviews/Conversation have not been successful for me when it comes to transcribing. The transcribing software cannot distinguish between the two voices and it defaults to [inaudible] to the program. Another issue I had, and this is my mistake for not double checking compatibility, I bought a new computer as well and my new computer being 64 bit, could not read the 32 bit software (this is what was explained to me). So, I have to use my older computer for transcribing. Make sure to double check system compatibility before you purcahse. Its also quite pricey but all in all, I use it for work and it does make my job easier. So, it pays for itself.

Buy Sony ICD-SX700D Digital Voice Recorder with Voice Operated Recording Now

After researching features of several comparable devices, the Sony ICD-SX700D was the only logical choice. The Dragon software I am already familiar with and it's still "okay" and is still learning my voice. It does take work for accuracy. The ICD-SX700 looks complicated, but Sony has a knock of creating intuitive menus that more often than not, make sense. Buttons have a decent tactile feel and the screen is easy to readand I don't even need to use my reading glasses to operate. The main feature I was seeking was the VOR-voice activated recording. That works very well, very natural and clean. I highly recommend buying an additional lapel clip-on mic. Skip the pricey Sony ECM's. An Olympus brand or other lapel mic designed for video camcorders will suffice. I move around a lot in my noisy kitchen and this set-up works well. I'm also the using the ICD-SX700 as an mp3 player, downloading podcasts and music to their own folder. Invest in a better set of earphones at some point, since the ones that come with it are very basic. The Sony software is standard for Windows as is the stripped-down DragonSpeak. I wish they were Mac compatible. They do work well together and there have been no problems with the install or operation on Win XP (32-bit mode only). It's fun to watch the screen typing away what I just spoke a few minutes earlier. After a bit of clean-up, I'm ready to post text to my blog. Overall; good Sony quality, a fair value, Mac compatibility would be nice, but I run Win on my Mac for the best of both worlds. My technical expertise level is mid-range, so I did need to read the manual. Amazon as usual, made ordering and delivery easy.

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Need I say more! Everything I ever wanted in a digital recorder. If you need anything better then you need a professional digital recorder. This little gizmo record voices in big conference rooms with an incredible clarity! great as a Dictaphone, for interviews, and pretty much everything else. It records in Stereo or mono.

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I bought this on April 29, 2010. It is currently February 6, 2012. this is a pretty well-designed recorder. the shape and layout of the recorder is very intuitive and portable. the recorded audio is great quality and is easy to transfer the files to and from the computer. it doubles as an mp3 player that i use to listen to audio books. the batteries charge while you have it hooked up to USB for moving files off and onto it and it comes with a docking station that gives you a more aesthetically and functionally appealing arrangement for using the recorder with a computer. the battery life is very, very good i keep the device on all the time (but not recording all the time). it comes with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software which i do not use since it takes incredible amounts of time to train and still fails far too frequently, but i do not fault the device itself for this. you are not restricted to the 5 file folders the device uses by default for storing files you may rename/delete/add folders using the computer for categorizing the things you record. i've also dropped this device several times from waist height onto concrete and it has not affected the performance at all. this has been one of the most satisfying purchases i have made, as i get a lot of use out of this device for recording notes nearly every day to make sure i do not forget certain things. for me, this was definitely money well spent. my only criticisms is that the carrying pouch that comes with it is basically useless, it doesn't support any open-source audio formats, a couple of the buttons are oddly labelled (HOLD instead of POWER, wth?), and it doesn't display the time unless you're powering the device off or on. regardless, i give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Sharper Image 720P HD22 HD Camcorder with 5.0 MP CMOS, Image Stabilization, 3-Inch LCD, 8X Digital

I am so happy with my purchase!! This camcorder does everything I need it to do. And it's so cheap! I originally got it for my daughter, but I ended up getting another for myself. I fell in love with it. It holds so much memory, and can run off rechargaeable battery or alkaline, so it's great for all our camping trips and vacations.

I would highly reccomend this to a friend!

I like this camera a lot. Very reliable, holds lots of memory, which is important for me. Highly reccomended.

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I was really looking forward to getting this camera. The picture quality is pretty good, but honestly, I haven't been able to use it much. There are a few reasons for this:

When attaching a tripod (a MUST for me... can't stand shaky handheld video), the hole into which the screw goes snapped out of the camera, rendering it completely useless for tripod use. This should have been my first clue that this is a horrible device.

The rechargeable battery does not sit properly in the compartment, which means I can't use the rechargeable battery. It snaps into place and appears to contact the three leads, but the light is green when plugged in (meaning either that it's charged or just using the USB for power), though it occasionally will flicker over to red momentarily, implying that there is a some sort of problem with the battery or the connection to it. Unplugging the camera with the green light simply leaves it uncharged and it will not turn on. AAA batteries work fine, but it's a pain to have to replace and/or recharge them (if I decide to pick up some AAA rechargeable batteries), especially since this thing blows through batteries in no time.

A third "undocumented feature" that I encountered was the SD card slot door. It no longer closes completely.

Since I received this camera as a gift, it was beyond the 30 day return policy for Amazon, so I tried to go through Sharper Image, only to be informed that this product was from the "former" Sharper Image, and that the "new" Sharper Image would not do anything to fix the problem and simply suggested that I take the camera to a appliance repair shop. If it was as simple as that, I would, but these are defects in the manufacturing process that cannot be fixed by taking the camera to a appliance repair shop. Frankly, I won't be buying anything, ever again, that is labeled with the Sharper Image brand, regardless of whether it is "former" or "new" Sharper Image, because of this. I highly recommend that, if you want a quality product, you do the same. Assuming that this "former" and "new" business is real and not just a way to shirk warranting their poorly made products, it's simply someone trying to take advantage of a brand name that people know, and I would suggest that you avoid supporting this practice entirely.

For the record, below is a copy of the e-mail I received:

Dear Steven ,

Thank you for contacting The NEW Sharper Image, unfortunately we are not able to assist you with any of the following concerns:

· Gift Card, Gift Certificate, Reward Card or Merchandise Certificate

· Any order placed with the Former Sharper Image prior to 10-1-09

· Warranty or failure of an item purchased from the Former Sharper Image

· Ionic Breeze or other product purchased prior to 10-1-09

· Refill or replacement parts for any order prior to 10-1-09

We are the New Sharper Image Online and not part of the Former Sharper Image Company. The Former Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy, information about filing a claim and claim forms can be obtained on the following website: .

We are only able to service orders placed on our website after launch on October 1, 2009.



Sincerely,

Sharper Image Online

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This camcorder does not work! I've had 3 of them now, they all turn off when you press the shutter button.

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Samsung U5 MP3 Player 2 GB MP3 Player (Black)

• Unique style, simple to use
• Accessory holes-can be worn as a fashion accessory
• Plays MP3, WMA and Ogg formats
• OLED display
• FM Tuner and recorder

I first bought a COBY-4 MP3 player because it was medium priced, small and slim, and had an FM stereo capability that I wanted to be able to listen to NPR while working out. The MP3 capability is fine (although the touch-pad controls sometimes require multiple finger pressing) but the FM radio reception is poor--regular static and cutting out. I did more research to see if I could fine a better quality and bought this Samsung U5. No comparison on the FM reception, the Samsung has absolutely clear reception in exactly the same location where I was getting lousy reception with the Coby. MP3 features work fine and navigation is easy. Small, slim size (half the width of the Coby) is great if you want something small that will slip into key pocket on your workout shorts.

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If you're in the market for an ultra-portable mp3 player, this product deserves serious consideration.

-Easy drag-and-drop interface allows easy mp3 additions or deletions without the use of proprietary software.

-Built-in tuner offers a nice alternative to your mp3 rotation.

-Belt clip is a nice feature, but could be designed to be a bit more robust.

Overall, one of the better mp3 players in its class.

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ive used sony, iriver, apple, and now this samsung U5. This U5 is soooo light and easy to use i carry it anywhere and everywhere. where ever i go, i dont need a charger because of the built in USB and i dont need a cable, again, because of the built in USB. sometimes i charge it in my navigation usb port in my car. the button use is just intuitive, i dont even look when im changing songs. apple was ok but i had to check the button all the time and i had to have cables to charge.. the apple was expensive and the repair was a nightmare. thats why i decided to go for carefree, low cost, i dont care what happens to it kinda MP3 but still with great sound and easy to use... and light. so i bought this cause i love my samsung led tv and its quality.. and well this u5 has been absolutely great. been using it for the past 4 month and its the best ive used so far. and when you actually buy it, it feels just right in your hands.. its designed really well for a low end mp3. oh and the best part of it is i just drag files into the u5.. no software needed.. and when im traveling, i just plug it into my car usb port and it plays my music and take it out when i leave my car. when im jogging, its so light i cant feel it.. i can feel the wires more than the mp3. and the built is so far solid. so i say this is a solid mp3 that you will have no regrets about. i fully recommend it. oh and by the way, this doesnt feel like those cheap chinese junk.. its well made and feels sturdy while being super slim. thanx.

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Always liked Samsung's small MP3 players. You don't plan to compete the "cool" look of Apple's ipods with these but I'm sure these small (and affordable) mp3 players are well worth their price, quality and portability. I had owned a similar (but of a different model) mp3 player from Samsung over three years ago and it finally broke in my mother's hand. But I'm not going to complain about that because I only paid for about $40 and it served me well all those years. Now, this is the second Samsung mp3 player I own and I'm expecting a good lifespan from it (already having a good experience with it).

I have had four MP3 players. This is a nice one, not perfect but quite good, especially considering the price.

I have been using this device for about six months. There are two things I do not like about it. One is that the controls are symmetrical, so I cannot operate the device by touch. When I want to do something I have to look at it. The second is that I have trouble wearing it around my neck. It has a clip designed for a shirt pocket, but nothing I can attach to a lanyard (other than the clip, which doesn't work too well).

There are many things I like about it. You can use the windows operating system to transfer files. This is not necessary, however, because there is some software which automatically loads from the device to the computer when you plug the device into the USB port. [But be careful of the upgrades. Twice I have upgraded the software in response to prompts, and twice the upgrade screwed up my system. I had to go back to reset points each time]). The screen layout of the device is clear and contains a great deal of information. The battery charge from the USB port lasts a long time. The file handling on the device is easy.

The thing I like the best is that when you fast-forward, the device speeds up the longer you hold the button down. I like to listen to long files, so this is a nice feature for me. I have not used the radio and voice recorder much, but when I have used them found them easy to use.

I recommend this device, but not the software that come with it.

8GB Smoke Detector Hidden Spy Camera DVR with motion detection

• Motion Activated Auto Recording! (3 to 4 meter range)
• 720x480 resolution / 30 fps / 2 megapixel
• Records for 2 hours continuously
• 72 degree viewing angle
• Includes 8gb SD memory card

Well I got it, I charged it, I found a good place to mount it followed the instructions and set the camera on motion detection mode and when I went back and checked it the only video I had was the video of me putting it on the wall... After that nothing at all, I set it to continuously record and it did fine for about 2 hours and 30 minutes when the battery died it records sound forever and takes pictures ok. I have been playing with it for a while and still can't get the motion detection to work other than that everything else is great

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Wow, now this is one cheap piece of Chinese garbage. The detector is incredibly cheaply made and the instructions are a joke. After leaving the camera plugged in and charging for two days, it still will not turn on and the lights flash as though it is still charging. When unplugging the camera, it doesn't turn on at all.

My personal favorite was the packaging for the SD card that states "All in One Menory" and calls it Menory all over. It also has the following line at the bottom of the packaging saying "TF Special High-speed spread to steal".... no idea what the hell that even means lol. Apparently the manufacturer wrote the instructions and packaging in Engrish instead of English.

I've bought plenty of stuff from Amazon and Ebay, including some other cheap products from Asia; however, they all worked perfectly. This thing is by far the worst product I've bought.

If I could give this a 0-star rating, I'd still consider it overrated.

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What Jessie said, got mine yesterday, charged it up this morning and have spent 3 hours so far today trying to get it to work. The lights don't follow what the manual says and I've tried 4 times to get it to work on motion detect. When I remove the flash card and insert it into my computer, it's empty of any photo or video. About 10 minuts ago I turned it on and now the red and blue lights are still on, turning it off and trying again to get it to follow the instructions does not help.... Do not waste your money on this like I did.......

Day two, I have had it pluged in ( charging ) into my computer for the last 6 hours. Red Indicator light is still flashing which suggests it's still taking the charge... yesterday it took 4 hours to charge and the 3 hours I spent yesterday trying to get it to work ( it was off most of the time ) seems to have emptied the battery of all of it's charge. If I can get the thing to work I'll keep it otherwise I will request a replacement or a refund.

Day 3 will not / does not work, requested permission to return for refund.

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I have purchased "cheap" hidden (spy) cameras before, and the problem is the image quality is not very good, especially in low light. I decided to give this product a try based on the two mostly positive reviews of it. I will say that the image quality is not too bad, especially in good light. But other than that, I really can't say anything positive about this product. As a spy camera it is pretty much worthless. As a toy it is kind of fun to play with, at least until you get frustrated with it. The instructions that come with this say the continuous recording times is "over 12 hours", but on the Amazon website, and on the box the unit comes in it says "Records for 2 hours continuously" and "work time about 2 hours". The 2 hour time might be accurate for audio recordings, but I am having a hard time even verifying that. The problem I have is it seems the unit goes into some sort of sleep mode after a period of inactivity. So, if you set it to motion detect mode, it will detect motion and record video for a few minutes, then nothing. If you set it for video mode, the same thing happens. When you go back to the unit and press the button on the remote which is supposed to stop it and save the pics/videos, no lights come on or even flash, unless you press the power button. So it is like the device went to sleep and stopped recording. The picture thing works OK if you want to stand there and click the button on the remote to take pics, but that kind of defeats the spy camera aspect. Also, even in picture mode it seems to go to sleep, so when you come back you need to hit the power button on the remote to wake it up, and then you can take pics. I tried charging the battery, but even that doesn't work like the instructions say. The instructions say to hook the device to your computer with the USB cable, and the blue light will flash when it is charging. But when I connect it to the computer, the red light just keeps flashing. I guess it is charging, but I don't know. I will keep playing with it and see if I can make it work better, but I have played with it for a few days, and so far nothing seems to work as advertised in the instruction manual.

OK, so I have had time to play with this some more. I still don't have any positive comments to add about motion detection, pictures or video. However, I was able to do a good audio recording test and verified that it will record just over 13 hours of non-stop audio in an unattended mode, when the battery is fully charged. So if you are looking for something to record audio, this might be good for you, but I suspect you can find something smaller and cheaper that would do the same thing. I can't really vouch for the quality of the audio recording either, as I wasn't trying to verify the quality, and I just left it turned on somewhere where this isn't a lot of talking. Another thing I will add is not to waste your money buying a higher capacity memory card. The unit comes with a 8 GB SD card. I bought a 16 GB SD card thinking I could record more stuff. The 13+ hour audio recording only used 361 MB of space. And as previously mentioned, you can't record very much video because of other limitations of the device. So the 8 GTB SD card is more than enough.

I received the item and had a problem reading the directions (small writing) plus directions didnt say anything about how to open the door to battery compartment but I figured it out product worked as advertised love it will buy another

Livescribe A5 Single Subject Notebooks 4pk

When you receive the Livescribe pen, you get a starter notebook and this is the size of this A5 notebook, except there are thirty more pages than in the starter notebook. If you have yet to buy a smartpen or no longer have the starter notebook, go into a word document and do a page set up, there should be an option for an A5 page and that it the size of the notebook.

Size: I give this a 5/5 because when you are working on a desk with limited space, like a school desk or on with a computer, this size is perfect. Since it is smaller than the three-subject or single-subject notebook of regular sized paper, you can write easier without needing to maneuver the notebook around to write across the page or down at the bottom. Overall, the size is perfect for what I need.

Layout: I give this a 4/5 because the bottom buttons are laid out across two pages since the notebook is small. So, unless you do not fold the notebook in half and leave it opened, you will have to flip to get to the other buttons. There are no margins in the notebook which is a little weird. The last line does not reach all the way across the page; instead, it is indented some to leave room for the menu key. I think they could have taken that line out and put the other buttons onto the page using that space. Near the bottom by the perforated line is1Subject A5 Notebook #: Page #on every page in all four notebooks, which seems weird since there is already a page number at the bottom corner of the page. You can write over it and the writing still shows up, so that is fine, just annoying. But overall, the layout works just fine for a small notebook.

Front and Back Cover: On both covers are four bubbles. The top bubble is a calculator which works just fine if you need something like that. Underneath that is a status bubble (date, time, battery, storage, audio settings, software version) and a settings bubble (date and time, display (brightness, scroll control, left handed, right handed), volume). Below the status bubble is the menu button called the nav plus which looks like a plus sign with arrows on it. I give this a 5/5 because the controls are what you need to do various tasks with your pen.

Cost: I give this a 4½/5 because it is cheaper than the 1 subject notebooks 4 pack, but not by much. I think that this note book could be a little cheaper since it is smaller and has fewer pages than the single-subject. However, for portability, I think that the price is pretty fair for what it is.

Overall this notebook is a good buy. It is more portable than the 3 or 1 subject notebooks that are regular sized as it can easily be slipped into a purse or a cargo pocket, and it won't take up a lot of space in a briefcase or backpack. If you are looking for something smaller and lighter than an 8½" by 11" options, but big enough to write a lot, then this notebook is for you.

Bite the bullet and purchase these when you purchase the LiveScribe pen so you are ready to go. When I purchased my first pen, I did not realize the notebooks were needed.

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I'm glad to see Amazon has started carrying these books. Previously I had purchased them on the Livescribe site and had to pay postage.

Having used both the full sized notebook that came with my Pulse pen and the elegant smaller bound ones, I have to say the spiral bound A5 books are my all time favorite.

This size makes it nice to sit at a conference room table and take notes with my laptop next to me and not take up too much room. The spiral allows you to fold the book in half. Though I really liked the elegant smaller bound ones they took up twice the width in use and had to be held open (not hard to do, as they were nicely made).

Another thing I have noted is the price for these notebooks in general is comparable to high quality notebooks without the ability to use the Livescribe pen. I can't complain about that.

I've noted for my purposes these books would hold about 4 months of meeting notes, so a pack of 4 would be a years supply.

Note however, that I have 3 books going at all time. 1. for work. 2. for personal 3. for a journal. So if you combine all these you might go through one quicker. If I were a student all bets would be off as I was a prodigious note taker. For me writing stuff down was a way of remembering things. Just sharing this to set a reference for usage.

The only way I would improve upon these would be to have a built in folder, if I wanted to store other papers and a means of noting your progress in the book, so I could quickly turn to the last page I was on. I close the book when carrying, so as not to damage the pages.

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I bought the starter pac and it only comes with a couple of sheets of paper. Make sure to buy some paper. Order it all together and save the shipping. You will need it.

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Not only is this highly overpriced for some paper, but the spirals are not correctly made. They hook themselves together in my backpack, because the factory did not finish looping the last spiral into itself. Also, they put the back cover in front of the front cover, so I can't fold the notebook in half and use it on a small desk, because the spirals will "pop" and the paper will fall out.

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Veho VCC-005-HDGUM Gumball 3000 Edition Muvi HD 1080p Mini In Car/Action Camcorder

After purchasing this item for use in Law Enforcement, I was 100% satisfied. This recorder comes with a wireless remote which allows me to begin video recording and/ or take photos of whatever is in front of me without messing with small buttons which may not be accessible in a unexpected or high stress incident. There is no software needed so you are able to play or edit the videos on any computer with basic programs. The clips and attachments are high quality so I don't need to worry about it flying off in a physical altercation. I will also be using this in my personal life for high definition video recording of mountain biking and family sporting events. I recommend this personal video camera to anyone looking for a compact, sturdy device for work or play. The ONLY complaint I could have is I wish the user manual was a little more descriptive but after a few minutes of playing with it, I figured it out with no problems.

I bought this as a helmet camera for Rollerblading. It works surprisingly well both video and audio. At 1080p resolution you can even read license plates on passing cars. It's more stable than I thought it would be; playback is smooth and sound is good. I didn't like the mounts provided so I made my own from 1/16"x1 1/4" aluminum flat bar and stuck it on with foam tape. The remote works well; the person who couldn't get it working probably didn't read the instructions, they have to be paired just like a Bluetooth earpiece.

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This personal/wearable camera is probably the best on the market right now. I say this after researching for quite some time. And, it serves as duel purpose for me.

1.) I use this camera at work everytime I have interactions with the public, and I'm sure one day soon it will be a career saver for me. In a day and age where everyone has a camera phone to video things they see from their perspective, you need a camera to show things from your perspective, and to video from before an incident occurs. With the included 8gb memory card you don't have to worry about, "do I have enough memory to start this video before ____ hits the fan?" Just start it and stop it from the included remote control.

2.) Sports, particularily off road mountain biking. WOW! It takes amazing video. I can mount it anywhere on my bike, and I can check and make sure I've got the angle I want with the video screen on the back.

The options are endless with all of the mounting kits it comes with. Daytime video is better than you can imagine, and surprised me beyond what I thought it could do. Nighttime video is very much above average, a little grainy when looking into the darkness, but better than expected.

The only change I would like to see is to make the battery removeable. Then you would have the option to purchase an extra battery and change it out if the internal one became low. Now I say this without due cause.... I have yet to have the battery run out on me in an 8 hour shift, but at the same time I'm only recording approximately 2+ hours of footage in this 8 hour timeframe.

Also, It is about twice the size of most wearable cameras, but the video quality definitely makes up for the size concerns.

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I've had this now for a few weeks. Before I get into the pros of the device, let me state a few of the issues I have with it.

My first issue is with the remote. It's awesome that the unit even comes with one at this price, so kudos to Veho for that. However, when the camera is in time lapse mode ( for example, shooting still pics every two seconds ), you cannot properly start or stop this mode from the remote. Using the shutter button on the camera itself does what it should and starts and stops the picture taking mode. The remote seems to want to take one picture and stop. Although sometimes it will actually go into time lapse mode! So it is inconsistent. This is unfortunate for me because I purchased this specifically for the continuous still shooting mode and I need to be able to start and stop it with the remote! ( I've tried a variety of remote button 'press' combinations and I haven't found any that work consistently. )

Another issue with the remote is that apparently Veho thinks it's disposable. From what I've read on their site and other places, the battery is soldered in there and it works for 2000 uses or so and then it dies. When mine dies, I imagine I'll try to solder a new battery in. If that fails, you can buy a new one from them for 30 dollars or something like that.

Don't expect much help from the manual when it comes to the finer details of camera's features. It is a very simple quick start guide. After that you're basically on your own.

My next biggest disappointment is that when I tried contacting Veho about the remote issue, they never bothered to reply. I did get the 'auto reply' so I know they got my email to begin with.

My last two complaints are: In this version you cannot change the FPS in the 720 video mode, you are stuck with 60fps. On their next model up you have a lot more control over the FPS ( frames per second ) at different resolutions. And finally, you cannot change any exposure or color balance. You get what they give you. Just one auto setting for all situations.

-----------

Now, the good bits.

I'm generally happy with the quality. The video is a bit on the grainy side, but for 30FPS 1080P at this price point, I think it does a fine job. I wouldn't call it 'professional' by any means but it gets the job done. I was pleased that it works just fine with a simple class 4 8GB micro SD ( and it includes one ) I didn't experience any frame rate issues or anything. The video came out pretty smooth.

The still pictures are coming out pretty nice and you can get up to 8MP in size, although the sensor is 5MP, so I'm not sure if there is a true improvement in quality at the 8MP over the 5MP or not. This is something I have yet to test out. What I really want is 12 MP stills.

I've noticed that the sky gets a little blown out on a bright day, but this has to do with the auto exposure. I suppose they have to do this to get proper exposure of shaded areas.

The picture is wide but not too wide. It doesn't have too much distortion or anything.

The Gumball version comes with a lot of nice mounts & accessories. It's pretty impressive in that department. You get helmet mounts, a window mount, another mount, straps, velcro, a case, a lanyard and so forth, all very nice quality stuff. Combine that with the camera, the memory card and the remote, and it's a great value. I need to buy a mini hdmi cable to test the hdmi out on it.

To sum up, for the price, I'd buy this again. However, if money was no object, I'd buy the latest and greatest GOPRO 3 for 400 bucks. It has wifi now and it even does 4k, and shoots 12MP and it comes with a better remote. However, the GoPros still do not have what the Veho has standard, and that is a small color lcd screen! (GoPro, this is your main weakness! imho) That is well worth the price of admission. It helps a lot to be able to see the menu and delete pics, clips and so forth.

Should you get this? I guess that depends on what your specific use for it might be. But if you're on a budget, I think it's a good place to start. Good luck and have fun.

p.s. One thing the Veho has that is cool is a standard camera threaded hole for a tripod mount! I don't think the GoPro even has that.

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The camera works great and the angle really is a very wide lens, and any distortion due to the very wide angle isn't really noticeable at all. The angle is clearly well over 120 degrees. Excellent camera to use while driving too as a dash cam. The video quality is good, but wish I could have 1080 and 60 fps, but you can either do 1080/30fps or 720/60fps. Either way it is a very good camera for the price.

PTC 6 ft High Speed HDMI 1.3 Category 2 Certified Cable w/Ferrite Cores (Gold Plated Connectors) -

Using this cable to connect my up-converting DVD player to our new TV. Works fine with great audio at 1080i and 1080p. I tried it with my laptop as well, just because and it worked well too.

The included dust caps are a nice feature as well. I have two of these and the extra sits coiled up behind the TV for when friends bring over game systems and such, so the dust cap was a welcome freebie!

Just bought a 55 inch Sony. Shopped around for different HDMI cables and thought I'd try these out before a spent big money on the more expensive cables. The price difference is ridiculous so I wasn't expecting much. I was plesantly supprised. The cables all (I bought 5 for my various devices) worked fine and delivered a great picture. Why spend more?

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Upbeat Audio Boostaroo Revolution Black Unique Portable Pocket Amplifier Personal Audio Devices

Being hard of hearing, this is a product I had been waiting for all along. It is excellent value for money. I am able to hear very clearly even faint audio signals from my laptop. Fully recommended for people like me.

Just received my Boostaroo. I bought it to listen to videos on my treadmill which sometimes would be too quiet to hear otherwise on my tablet. The good news is that it adds enough volume for me to hear. The bad news is that it takes 2 AAAA (not AAA) batteries. I have AAA rechargeables. I'm not sure if AAAA rechargeables exist and if they do, because they are rarely used, they may cost more than the Boostaroo. Were I aware of the battery issue, I would have tried an alternative product first.

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C2G / Cables to Go - 29743 - 50ft Sonicwave S-Video Cable

For the price charged I'd rate this a top quality cable. I got it as well as a composit and Component Video cable to go with a Panasonic HD1000U projector. Can't say i'd complain about the picture. Granted you can get better cables but good luck at this price point for a 50' length.

I purchased this cable to connect my AV home theater system to my ceiling mounted DLP video projector. The required distance was about 40 feet and i was concerned that the video signal might be degraded. To my delight, the signal was perfect. This is a great cable and highly recommended.

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iLuv i1166 8.9 Inch Portable Multimedia/DVD Player with Dock for iPod

• Compatibility: iPod nano 3G, 4G, 5G; iPod classic 4G, 5G, 5.5G, 6G; iPod touch 1G, 2G; iPhone 1G, 3G, 3Gs (in "airplane mode")
• 8.9-inch widescreen digital TFT LCD screen with convenient on-screen display
• Play iPod audio/video content, DVD/CD/VCD discs, DivX/MPEG4 video, MP3/WMA audio, and JPEG images
• AC adapter and car adapter included; about 3 hours DVD video or 4 hours iPod video on a single charge
• Remote control and user friendly graphic interface

I've been closely tracking this item ever since it was announced back at CES earlier in the year and I was fortunate enough to get one of the first shipments that came out. Here's a brief look at some of my pros and cons with the item.

Previously I had bought a Philips Model: DCP850/37 DVD/iPod portable player and was very happy with it. Albeit the screen was only 7 inch, but it was relatively portable and fairly light and easy to use. Unfortunately it did not support the later generation 160 GB iPod classic, where I store most of my videos (I could only use my 60 GB ipod for the Philips) so I decided to upgrade to the iLuv i1166.

My initial impressions are the following:

The look of the iLuv 1166 is superior of the Philips. It has a nice, sleek black frame with a very nice large 9" widescreen panel on the face of the gadget. Unlike the Philips, which has the screen on the inside of the clamshell design, the iLuv's screen is on the outside, with a little stand to support it on the other side. When you open the iLuv clamshell, that is where the DVD drive and the iPod cradle is. Like most other ipod/dvd hybrids, there are different adapters you can use for your nano, ipod, itouch or iphone. One definite plus of this item is that it supports many of the current gen ipods, which was lacking in the previous model (i1155) and the other philips players. So if you're like me and you have the 160 GB classic, this is the player for you.

I was only able to test the gadget with my ipod and a test DVD. It is very easy to operate (either via remote control or the menu buttons next to the screen) and the menu options are quite simple. The menus are easy to read and it's quite nice to have a battery indicator which gives you a heads up that you're going to run of of juice soon.

The picture quality was quite nice. I ran a DVD video and also ran movies, music videos and tv shows from my ipod. The image is crisp and the 9" large screen is definitely a plus. I have yet to test the SD inputs though. But from my experience there is definitely a noticeable improvement in terms of image quality from my philips player.

There are also 2 headphone jacks that allows multiple people to watch the same video. The battery took me approximately 3 hours to charge in the first run and I ran 2 movies to drain it out as a test. After running it for about 3 hours (before falling asleep) I noticed it was working fine, so that's definitely good (vs a roughly 2.5 hour play time with my philips).

I did have a few gripes that kept me from giving this 5 stars though. First, there is an annoying lack of a chapter search for the ipod movies. So if you're watching a 2 hour movie and want to fast forward, it ain't gonna happen. That's sort of annoying if you want to try and speed through 2 movies on a long trip.

EDIT: (I switched up a few movies to test and found that the chapter search worked on one or two of the 6 I tried out. Not sure why this happened and seemed like the rewind function worked more than the fast forward. Not sure if this is another glitch like what I saw with the ipod videos, which I addressed below)

I also noticed a strange glitch in which for some reason the menu on the ipod wasn't able to read my music videos in sequential order. Say if you had multiple videos of Michael Jackson in 1 category, for some reason I couldn't access MJ's videos in the order I have it on my ipod. Rather, every time I open up one category, every single video in my ipod appears on the list regardless of category. Again, annoying but doesn't impact the performance of the item.

Also there is no video out option (one plus of my philips was that it had a video out that i could connect to my tv). Not a deal breaker for me, but it is a bit irritating for those of you who want to use the DVD option for say, an extended stay at a hotel or at your other home and don't have a DVD there.

If you're a gadget freak like me, I think you'll enjoy the item. I also recommend purchasing a cover for this item (I ordered mine from the iLuv/jwin site) as the screen seems very easy to scratch given its location on the outside of the clamshell design.

In summary:

Pros:

1. Cool, sleek design

2. Works with most ipods/iphones including current gen

3. Decent battery life

4. Huge screen, great image quality

5. Great variety of inputs (dvd, ipod, sd, usb, multiple headphones)

6. Can play in car with car adapter

7. Easy to use menu, remote control

Cons:

1. No video out option

2. No chapter search for ipod movies/tv shows

3. Kind of heavy

4. Screen location makes it potentially easy to scratch/damage

5. Gitchy menu at times (at least for me)

6. Speakers not exactly useful (tinny and not really good for playback)

But net net, it's a pretty neat item on the go

EDIT: So on extended use during a recent vacation ... I would like to add the following notes:

1. After taking extraordinary efforts to keep the screen protected (I bought a cover from jwin), I still noticed surface scratches upon repeat uses. This despite being very careful in placing the item carefully in the storage case. I also didn't drop the unit and didn't scratch it during usage so not sure where they came from but just wanted to offer a heads up about the potential for easy screen scratches.

2. I noticed the battery life was about 3 to 3.5 hours when it was used with the ipod for movies. That seemed a bit shorter than what was advertised, though I did have the crank up the volume substantially at times since it seemed somewhat low for certain movies or clips. I didn't have the brightness cranked up, but perhaps the volume at max at certain times (I was using headphones) may have contributed to the shorter battery life.

3. Video quality is excellent and having a widescreen does make the experience a lot better!

4. I tested the unit with an SD card, and it functioned just fine. Given the design, it can also serve as a nice picture frame of sorts, albeit a big clunky frame. I noticed that the slideshow of the pics also moved somewhat slow. Nonetheless plugging an SD card to view pictures were relatively easy and painless.

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Item feels very cheaply made and came out of the box with a cosmetic defect. Screen attracts dust and dirt like a magnet and if you even breathe on the screen it scratches. If you turn the screen even a little it becomes difficult to see and the quality is lousy unless you look at the screen dead on. Player can't recognize SDHC cards so the biggest card that can go in there is a 2GB card. That will hold one whole movie (written with sarcasm) so what's the freakin' point of the SD card slot. And, if you have updated your 2nd generation iPod touch to version 3 software it is not recognized by the device. You would think that a device that was the innovation of the year for 2009 would have been designed by individuals who were more forward thinking.

My advice is to save your money and don't buy this. That is unless all the other electronics you own are from the early 2000's. Then you should be OK.

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I recieved my iLuv yesterday. I immediately plugged it in so to charge the battery. As most of the guys I know, I used it 1st then read the instructions. This puppy is a dream come true. It played the movies in my 160GB iPod classic flawlessly. As far as the sound goes, this is the only flaw in the ointment. I plugged it in to my Bose Portable iPod dock. Hence, the sound is awesome. This is truly a match made in heaven. The screen is quite BIG. I got on line and ordered a screen saver from iLuv. This is an inexpensive must have. I screamed thru the play lists very easily and as I aid before the sound is fantastic. The remote is handy and very useful indeed. All in all, this was a gr8 purchase and it works very well. It's a keeper. I have also found the screen to be quite good for viewing the movies on my iPod. It's larger then I imagined. The color is very good and the entire viewing experience is a gr8 one on this terrific new toy..

Danny-N-Oregon

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this product although it has some great PRO's it also at the same time has many CON's it seems that it's design and construction were somehow rushed into production

you know how these companies are when a NEW (other companies') product comes out, they all wanna be first to address the new technology (IE the IPHONE)

anyway. here we go

PROS

1 it has the largest screen of all DVD players 9"

2 it has a nice remote control (most don't have remote)

3 it accepts and plays movies from IPOD/IPHONE

4 it accepts and plays movies from both USB and SD card

CONS

1 you can't flip the screen when you turn it off to protect it (it opens and closes to protect the DVD and the IPOD/IPHONE

2 the screen is very sensitive and subject to scratches, a finger nail will leave a mark

3 the remote seems to have more functions than the onboard buttons perform

4 there is no menu feature when you have multiple movies on a USB or SD card, no fast forward or jump either

5 the SD card slot only accepts up to a 2GB SD card (not HD compatible)

6 the IPOD menu's from the screen are so plain and slow reacting, not to mention hard to navigate

7 it only accepts a SINGLE format (DIVX) on the SD and USB movie inputs, and no where is it noted

what format and video encoding to use (i had to spend 3 days trying to figure this thing out)

8 the tech support is CRAP, the people who reply back to you don't even know what this product is. ALL they do is

read to you from the supplied manual (and it's crap too)

in my opinion wait for a better model to come out

JWIN is not the best of companies to create technology

my built in ALPINE DVD head unit does more than this. I did pay $1000 for it though

This product is almost there and I like it a whole lot it plays the dvd's, almost all ipods and ipod touch including the videos on your iphone and can be used as a picture viewer with an SD card or USB Drive. So for software it has it all, now for the Cons no video output, sound could be louder coming out of speakers, should have had a matte finish instead of the shiny surface because it shows to many fingerprints, the screen scratches easily and should at least come with a screen protector and the build quality seems flimsy so don't drop it cause I don't think it could take not even 1 fall and product is a little on the heavy side so basically for the price they could have put a little more work in to it but the product is definitely usable as long as you are careful. I think the next generation of this will be a great improvement because so far each one has been better than the last.

Dictaphone 3750 Microcassette Transcription Machine, Base Unit Only

This is the best dictation transcriber! I bought it to replace an old, cheap sony machine. There is just no comparison! Well worth the extra I had to pay. Makes my old one seem like a toy or floor display.

Dazzle Digital Video Creator DVC-90 Video Capture Device and Movie Maker

I purchased the Dazzle 90 product to convert my 8mm cassettes from an older Sony Camcorder to DVD. I have made about 6 DVDs now, and I am pretty happy with my purchase. The software is fairly simple to use, and the end product looks good. I do not notice any drop in quality. If you simply want to covert your tapes to DVD, with no frills, then I would highly recommend this product. A few notes after using the product...

It takes alot of disk space. Just installing the software that comes with it took 7 gig (you could probably get by with less by not installing all features?). You can get about 60 minutes of high quality film onto a DVD, and this takes up about 7 gig. Also, the software requires space on your harddriver to burn the movie to the dvd. I kept getting a message that I did not have enough space. It was annoying that it would not tell me exactly how much space it required. So I cleared off space, and did not get the message to go away until I had about 12-14 gig of free space. For this reason, I would suggest doing a defrag before starting.

One thing to be aware of, there is a mention option to remove a captured video and free up space. But if you have burned the movie(s) to dvd, you can also build up a great deal of space in My Documents/Pinnacle Studios/Auxillary Files. I was running out of space again, after burning numerous movies, until I found this directory and how much space it was eating up. I then found there is a menu option for deleting these too (when you are in the edit option)

You can create the movies in mpeg rather than avi, and this takes about half as much space. But I did this once, and thought the quality wasn't quite as good as the avi. It was very close, but I am going to go with the avi.

The software comes with the basic features and some extras. If you want to do more fancy things with the movie you create you need to upgrade your software. If you pick certain features that are not available with the base software, you will get a popup box asking if you want to upgrade.

This is not a fast process. The movie converts to your PC in real time. So a 60 minute tape will take 60 minutes. Editing the movie does not take any time at all (if you are doing the basics and once you get the hang of it) Then the burning it to DVD takes awhile. I have not checked exactly because I let it run and come back later, but I would guess it takes at least 4 hours for 60 minutes of tape. This time is much shorter when burning mpegs rather than avi.

I have not had any crashes or major problems. But I have had a couple problems with getting the menu screen to work when editing. But I just start over, and can get it to work the next time. Note. If you don't see images in each of the menu chapters, do not proceed. I made this mistake and waited forever for a movie to burn, before realizing it was stuck trying to make the menu.

Overall it has proven to be a good product. I have had wanted to get my precious memories off of the tape and onto DVD for a long time. This is MUCH cheaper than having it professionally done,and I did not need anything fancy, just the tape onto dvd.

I purchased the Dazzle 90 with the Studio 9 Quick Start program included, not knowing anything about making DVD's or the programs with a rebate which made the final cost under $50. The cost wasn't nearly as important as the results as long as the price was a reasonable value for what I received. I followed the instructions and everything works as advertised. I found "Studio 9 Quick Start" to be more difficult to use and less user friendly than Roxio's "Easy CD & DVD Creator 6". The unit captures video, sound, and anything else it claims on my system without a glitch. My CPU is a 2.66gb Pentium 4 with a 533 BUS, 512 RAM, 2ea 120 GB Maxtor 7200 sp Hard drives, TDK CD & DVD burners, and I'm using my USB 2 ports because I don't yet have a 1394 port which is recommended. I did find that it was important to dump the DVD material onto a clean (defraged) drive (prior to burning to a DVD) which I have dedicated to the program. I really don't understand why anyone is having any problems with this unit when I'm a novice at this DVD stuff. My first DVD had different chapters and was met with rave reviews from some more computer-savvy friends I felt would "dis" it into oblivion. Instead, they wanted to see the system and programs so they could do the same thing. I heartily recommend this unit to anyone who cannot afford the stuff the "Pro's" use, but want good to excellent results from a non-professional system.

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I was looking for a means to convert some of my VHS collection (namely Centennial) to DVD. I had looked in to several systems, and am no complete amateur, as I have done video conversions since my Amiga days over a decade ago. I recently bought a new computer system with a USB2 port and a DVD burner, so I figured now was the time. I read bad things about the other Dazzle systems, but this one had good reviews. They were right. Within minutes of receiving and opening the box I was feeding the video into my computer and ready to burn the DVDs. I have since burned quite a few. It's almost idiot proof. The quality is not exceptional, but it is quite good for home movie conversions for those that are not perfectionists. You must have a USB2 port, and that seems to be adequate speed. You also should specify and remember where you want the output to go, or it tends to hide files on your drive, taking up quite a bit of space. Very simple to use, and fun to play around with. One thing. I use Nero to do the actual DVD burn. The burn function in Pinnacle take forever. No big deal to me, but might be to others. Also, maybe I've had no problems because I have an up-to-date system, with XP SP2, 3.4GB P4 CPU, etc. One more thing...I am stationed in Germany and Amazon would not ship to me! I had to order through J&R, but got it way quicker than I ever have through Amazon, and at a better price. Wonder why they won't ship item to an APO? Okay, maybe should only be 4 stars, but I really do like its ease of use.

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I tried 3 different capture devices in one week, and this was by far the easiest to use and the most portable, with good quality images. Set up is simple, install discs, install Pinnacle Studio Version 9, which has a great instruction video for beginners on how to capture,edit and make movies. USB2 device, which I am using in conjunction with a laptop. Captured old analogue video images, and off many monitors at work with images I need to use for presentations. Reasonable price for what you get.

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Capture device will not install on my system. Windows XP SP2 refuses to install it with the supplied drivers. I contacted Pinnacle tech support, who suggested using their drivers from their website. No change. My Dell, P4 2.0 GHZ, runs fine. This device appears not to be compatible with XP SP2, as the drivers were released in early 2004. Their tech support is responsive, but their last suggestion was to replace my PC. The DVC 90 is now in the trash can. Don't waste your time or money.