Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Premiere Elements 3.0 Bundle

• Use flexible layout options for your photo creations: blank slate, basic frameworks, or professionally designed themes
• Easily upload your creations and Flash-based photo galleries to the web from directly within Photoshop Elements
• Make good photos great with superior photo-editing tools
• Easily assemble your video clips in the Sceneline
• Import video from virtually any device, including HDV and DVD camcorders, web cameras (WDM analog), MPEG-4 video recorders, and mobile phones

This is quality software.

It has the right feature set. No superfluous stuff like backup software and DVD duplication software, as is the case with Roxio MyDVD9.

The user interface is simple and intuitive enough that I was able to start creating a DVD from multiple video clips of our baby that I had scattered around. I didn't use the help file, I just installed it and started. I only referred to the manual for advanced functions.

And advanced functions it certainly has. I like the ability to create multiple audio and video tracks separately and blend them together. I like using Photoshop Elements to create slide shows in my DVDs by porting them to Premiere Elements with a click it's simple, cleaner and quicker than any other product.

The output stage where one encodes a DVD is simple and reliable. I have a relatively slow PC, and certainly didn't want any error messages coming up several hours into an encoding job for creating an hour-long DVD.

The integration between Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements goes more than skin deep. They share the same user interface, and one can send pictures and videos from one package to the other.

It has never crashed, even in Windows.

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Our photo and video editing softwares were both very basic and "old", so we decided to upgrade a couple of months ago. After reading many reviews on different bundles, we decided to get the Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Premiere Elements 3.0 bundle. We've played around with the Premiere Elements a bit, and it's really awesome. Much better than the Pinnacle Studio 8 we had before. All the basic functions are easy to use and very intuitive, though we haven't gone and figured out the more advanced features yet. The Photoshop Elements is a wonderful tool, as well. We recently had to scan in a lot of old pictures (as in 20+ year old b/w photographs). They needed a lot of touching up, and Elements 5.0 worked wonderfully for that. I could adjust the lighting and sharpening, fix the colors and scratches, and the pictures turned out amazing. You'd never be able to tell they were scanned images from such old photographs. The program is also very intuitive. I could do all the things I wanted to do without having to read the manual. Of course, I'm still just touching on the surface of what all is possible, and I plan on reading the manual and studying the program in more detail once I have the time to do so, but for what I need right now, it's easy to use and does a good job. There are only two things I have to comment on that I don't like about the Adobe bundle, and they are the reason why I'm giving 4 stars instead of 5.

1. The stated minimum requirements for this bundle are 512MB RAM. That's what we had on our computer, and while the program worked, it was so painfully slow that it wasn't feasible to really use it. We ended up upgrading to 1GB, and it's been working great since. So if you have less than 1GB RAM, make sure you upgrade before getting this software!

2. The red-eye fix in Photoshop Elements, or lack thereof. There is an auto red-eye fix, but it doesn't work very well. It finds red eyes in all kinds of places, just not where they actually are. Sometimes it covers half the face, sometimes only half of the eye, etc. etc. etc. There is an option to manually show the program where the red eye is, but it still doesn't work right. Maybe there's another trick I haven't found out about yet, but as of right now, I usually give the fix tool a shot, and if it doesn't work I take the picture back into my old editing software and fix the red eye there. I'm really very disappointed with this, as fixing red eyes is something you have to do quite frequently when editing pictures.

Overall, the software has been very easy and fun to work with, even for an amateur like me. :o) If Adobe can adjust the minimum requirements recommendation and fix the red-eye fix tool, it's going to definitely deserve 5 points.

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I started with Adobe Elements Photoshop 3 and Premier 1. This is my 2nd upgrad. My computer is 2 years old and I'm glad I bought Pentium 4 with a lot of RAM and hard drive. This upgrade is great. Major improvement from Elements 4&2. If you used Premier 2 extensively you will find that this upgrade will make your work much easier. An iprovement to axccess all menues, love the new time line (now it has two time lines were you can switch between them, the old one + the new one were you can go to each scene in a click. You can narrate directly to your timeline. I tried my USB mic, it did not work. I read a little and tried my old serial mic, it worked beautifuly. During narration, premier will add a new audio segment in the timeline. The best way is to turn off the sound and used headphone to hear your video and narrate during playback, otherwise you'll get an echo (you'll be recording your voice and the playback at the same time).

Major improvement in photoshop too.

Just double check system requirement before purchasing. It is worth upgrading your copmuter to take advantage of these programs.

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I haven't had an opportunity to try Premiere Elements thoroughly, so this review is based on Photoshop only.

I wanted a new photo editing program to replace Micrografx 7, which I'd had for years. One thing I wanted was a larger selection of automated features. Every week I take pictures of animals for the Humane Society, and I wanted decent shots without spending hours fixing common problems (poor lighting, green and yellow eyes, etc.). I also had gotten a lot of old family photos that I wanted to restore, but there were too many to manually fix every flaw. While the Auto Smart Fix isn't perfect, it frequently gets a shot good enough for my needs with a single click. If that doesn't do what I need, there are plenty of other tools (both automated and manual) for color, lighting etc. It would have taken hours to touch up some of my old color photos without features like "Remove Color Cast" and "Adjust Color For Skin Tone." I've also found the Spot Healing Brush is a great tool for fixing dust and scratches without adjusting the whole photo and sacrificing image quality.

In addition to automated fixes, I wanted more advanced features for fine tuning. Tools like Auto Smart Fix are a great starting point, especially when the picture doesn't need to be perfect, but it rarely gets a really special picture as good as it could be. One of those tools was layers. I've tried working with layers in another program, and PSE was far superior. It's also very easy to fine-tune colors without spending a lot of time. When I'm not in a hurry, I can almost always discover something new that helps me to take my pictures to a new level.

Overall, I'm very pleased with PSE 5.0. However, I didn't give it 5 stars, largely because it lacks toolbar shortcuts for tasks like "Undo" and "Open" that were available in PSE 4.0. This isn't a big deal for me because I prefer the Undo History palette over the shortcut, and I like to use Ctrl+O or the File Menu instead of the Open shortcut. These omissions don't seem to make any sense, though, and they could be very annoying for some people. There are also fewer Sharpen tools than in 4.0, though I've found what remains is usually sufficient. There are some nice new features that version 4.0 lacked, such as "Convert to Black & White," but these aren't enough to justify an upgrade. Many people would probably be happier with the older version, which is still available on Amazon.

If you don't have recent photo editing software, I highly recommend PSE 5.0. If you're satisfied with what you have, or if you already own PSE 4.0, save your money.

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I am a longtime Photoshop user, and bought the Elements bundle to be able to do slideshows. After getting Photoshop Elements to get rid of red eye, I exported the photos to Premier Elements. Once it burned my DVD, all of the photos were gone from my system; the DVD images were very fuzzy (and I had selected the highest resolution and had plenty of disc space left over).

I am very disappointed in these products, and would caution others in using them. If you do, be sure to work from copies of your photos (which I did fortunately).

2012 NEW D6 2.7 Hd 1080p Vehicle DVR Ir LED Night Vision Car Cam Blackbox Dv

So out of the box i got everything listed on the page except HDMI cable. The manual booklet was on 2 languages, both languages had Chinese/Japanese looking symbols. I plugged the camera into the car USB charger and tried numerous techniques to turn it on, but all i got was a red light that was on all the time when the USB power cable was inserted into the camera. Too bad i didn't see the recording quality of this camera, but I don't want to risk and getting this camera again in a non working condition. I'm getting a refund so I am satisfied with the seller. I'll look for another dash cam with positive reviews this time.

P.S. The window mounting suction cup kept falling of my window in BMW x5 after 30 sec ;/

Sony RDR-VX560 1080p Tunerless DVD Recorder/VHS Combo Player

• Does not include Tuner
• 1080p Upscalling Video Output through HDMI Connection for DVD and VHS
• One Touch Dubbing from Digital Still Camera and DVD/Hard Drive Camcorder through USB
• 2-way One touch Dubbing from VCR to DVD or reverse.

Finally, a DVD Recorder and VHS combination unit that allows you to view DVD and your old VHS through your HDMI connection. That's right, you read that correctly. One of the biggest drawbacks of earlier upscaling machines from a variety of manufacturers was that you STILL had to use primitive S or RCA cables to output VHS images onto your HDTV.

Like many folks, I still have a large collection of movies on VHS (for some films, it remains the only version in print), but I was not going to buy another VCR unless I could really view them on my Samsung HDTV. Some VCRs connect with component cables, but cost as much (if not more) than this combo unit, which is so feature laden that I'm glad I waited.

The upconversion is very impressive so far for both DVD and factory VHS releases (lets face it, grainy home recorded VHS copies of TV programs will never look sharp at 1080p, so keep that in mind) and the controls are no more complicated than the average machine (which, may in itself be a problem for some already).

I have yet to fully utilize all the features, including the use of my Sony HD digital camera or camcorder, but those were secondary parts of the purchase. For me, the fact that I can now view my VHS library (and non-Blue Ray DVD library) on my HDTV through HDMI with such impressive image quality is more than enough to satisfy me.

If you are in the market for a combo unit to use with your HDTV, then this may finally be what you and I have been waiting for. Stellar product.

Why 4 stars? Well, I've only had the product a week, so it is too early to throw a 5th star onto the score, but it certainly merits 4 right out of the box.

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Unfortunately, I own two of thse units. They both have the same problem. The unit freezes while playing commercial DVDs that play perfectly on other players including other Sony models. Sony is aware of the problem with the 500 series (check the Sony website), AND SONY CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS SAID SONY DOES NOT HAVE A FIX. The reality is this: If you buy this unit, the Sony warrenty is WORTHLESS because they can not fix the unit and cannot offer any remedy. Hopefully you will discover this flaw in time to return it to the seller. The unit will play most commercial DVDs ok, but many commercial DVDs will fail 100% of the time even if you try a second copy.

Would I recommend this product to a friend?: No

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I purchased this unit to dub instructional video tapes to DVD. After reading the reviews I was skeptical the unit would work, but to my surprise it did. The video quality was about the same as the video tapes and the process was fairly simple.

Please note:

Finalize the created DVDs, otherwise they will not play on other machines, also the automatic finalization was not as effective as the manual version.

I used -R DVDs and they all worked with no errors (unlike my computer).

It will not record encrypted tapes (those with Macrovision from the movie studios), so do not buy this unit if that is your main purpose.

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Please avoid this product! I bought it primarily so I could 1) copy over my old VHS tapes, and 2) be able to record from TV. The TV recording is fine, but the tape dubbing is terrible! Apparently the VHS head in the machine is low-quality, because each tape I played always has fuzzy sound and snowy artifact just enough to distract from the video itself -and it shows up on the dubbed DVD. At first I blamed the tapes, but I bought an LG and it plays and dubs the same VHS tapes beautifully. I initially took the Sony back to Best Buy thinking I had a lemon machine. Well, I'm now on my third of these "bricks", and I'm throwing it away because it is just garbage.

To top it off... about a third of my commercial DVD's freeze up after 20 min of playing. For the money, by either the LG or maybe a Toshiba (has good reviews).

I had this device for about about ten days now and been using it just about every single day. Like many, I needed this type of machine to transfer my VHS tapes into DVD format. I also need a machine that played both DVD and VHS with a single set of connection. This machine fitted that bill very nicely.

But I hate to write this but it did take some trial and error to make it work. The instruction booklet of this machine IS not very easy to read or to understand. The booklet appears to be designed so you have to read every single page looking for clues on how to work this machine.

However, after some experiments and cursing over the manual, I figured it out! Ironically, after figuring it out, I discovered how easy it was to work this machine. For example, with a DVD-R disks, the most common type for DVD recording, all you have to do is stick in the VHS tape, played it and hit that record to DVD button. Make sure that the red light is on and the machine will take it from there. Recording speed is determined by hitting the "Record Mode" on your remote. In the feature section of the Easy Setup, I put "Finalize" on auto mode so it does it when it done recording and right before it eject the DVD disk. But it did take me a while to figure out how simple this machine is to use. There are many other things you can do with this machine and its all pretty simple to do,,,,once you figure out how to do it!!

So this is a good machine after all, my machine is working flawless so far after ten days of very intense usage, including some vocal commands colored with metaphors. I thought the remote was bit on the weak side with the signals but I found it easy to use. I did take away one star for its instruction manual. Whoever wrote it need to be planted head-down on an ant hill if you asked me.

Olympus LS-7 Linear PCM Voice Recorder (142670)

Four weeks ago I bought an Olympus LS-7, and I have to get this off my chest before I explode the thing rocks! Here's is what I have found.

I have been comparing it to the earlier Olympus LS-10 which I also own, and before that a recorder from a different manufacturer. The other manufacturer's recorder sounded good, but the menu was the most confounding, confusing menu I have ever seen. And that is why I bought the LS-10. It was way easier to use.

The LS-7 sounds better than either of the other two, and the LS-7's menu is every bit as easy to use than that of the LS-10. But the LS-7's sound and functions go much beyond the older LS-10. The LS-7 has a better frequency response on the low end because of its middle microphone. And you can turn off that mic when you don't want the low response. The LS-7 also has an additional frequency in the low cut filter off, 100 Hz and 300 Hz. What a difference this makes for keeping out air conditioner and furnace fan noise when recording a seminar. I ran side by side comparisons in a large room where I teach workshops, and the 300 Hz low-cut filter did the trick.

The specs on microphone sensitivity are better on the LS-7 than on the LS-10 and the sound level difference it quite noticeable. The LS-7 comes in at a -70 dbv compared to the -59 dbv of the LS-10. The "high" mic sensitivity setting on the older LS-10 seems to be about the same as the "Mid" setting on the LS-7. And with the LS-7's mic sensitivity set on "High," I can talk in a fairly soft voice from 2 feet away and it "pins" the meter.

The battery life is astounding! I've been using the LS-7 every day, and it still has battery life on the original charge I gave it right after I opened the box. My LS-10 would have long since run down the batteries.

Olympus, thank you. You've done it again. This is a great product for musicians, public speakers, students and anyone who ever wants to record a concert, a seminar, a class, or a workshop.

Don Schenk

I purchased the LS 7 recorder instead of the LS 10 based on a review written by another person. When I called Olmypus for advice re: buying a memory card, I was told that this is not the best recorder for recording meetings & speechs. They did assist me in setting the recorder so I wouldn't require a memory card. I now have 67.5 hours of recording time without a card. I'm perfectly happy with the recorder and the price I paid. The Olmpus tech rep said this is a good recorder for the recording of music. I am very impressed with the help I got from Olympus.They really know their business.

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Small but easy to understand interface. Most important, the sound quality is excellent for interviews and focus groups. I haven't played much with the various mic settings or the software that comes with it but since it works so well out of the box, I haven't felt a need to. Build quality good as well. Feels like it will last.

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There is quite a bit of mis-information, or a clear lack of understanding of what this little beast can do. Aside from the specifications that are readily visible here on the Amazon website, and elsewhere, the LS-7 is clearly capable of a whole lot more. The two biggest points are;

1. Yes, it is capable of line level recording. Most people only see that it has an ext MIC input, but this connection serves the dual purpose of ext mic input AND line level input. The manual clearly indicates this. I have tried it for myself, and it works great. One only needs to watch the level of your source, and the LS-7 does just fine. I suggest the following settings: In the Record menu, set the REC Level to Manual, and Limiter/Compressor OFF. Then adjust your recording level manually to "0" on the LS-7. Phono line level output from my receiver works just fine, and the LS-7 does not peak out.

2. Secondly, there is plenty of information out there in audio forums that say that when an external mic (or line level input) is used, there is a frequency roll-off at 70Hz, basically filtering out anything below 70Hz. This is completely false. Using a precise noise generator tuned down to 20Hz, I have recorded directly into the mic input and verified that this input IS NOT rolled off.

I continue to be impressed by this unit's capabilities. The sound quality is exceptional. My intended uses for this device are to record ambient nature sounds when I'm photographing in the field. I'm also going to record on this device, while simultaneously using it as an external microphone into my Canon 7D camera. I've yet to try this aspect (waiting for a separately ordered mount), and I'll update this review when I do, but I've no doubt that it'll do just fine.

I also intend to capture sermon / conference / meeting audio, as well as use it for field notes. These are all things I have quickly tested, and the early results I've achieved have left me completely impressed.

One final note there is one thing that I'm not too pleased with, and that's the Power / Hold switch. While the rest of the device seems sturdy and well built, I'm concerned about the longevity of this switch. While it works fine, the tactile feel of it seems rather cheap. It's not enough to make me return this device, but it does have me wondering if I'll have a problem with it later on.

I will definitely update this review as I continue to evaluate it before the return policy expires, but after using it for 4 days straight, it definitely looks like a winner.

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Real good mics. Have a couple of things that kept it from 5 stars. You cannot erase just a portion of a track. It's all or nothing. I f you are recording(flute clarinet, sax) it's impossible to see the levels while playing other than the clipping activation light, this thing is tiny.There are many different effects like reverb and such but you can only add them on playback, you can't record with them. So if you go with earphone out to a computer the sound goes in raw and you have to add effects in garage band or the enclosed software which I never uploaded. Another feature which would be handy would to be able to use this recorder as a mic and pre amps for my garage band, the mics are good and the pre amps are fairly quiet. Be sure to print out the full directions from the web or CD, the little book that comes in the box isn't much help. Great rechargeable batteries last very long and recharge from a standard USB cord from a computer.

Ikey-Audio M3 Portable Digital Recorder With 1 Gb Secure Digital Card

• Full color LCD screen
• Records from any mono or stereo line source
• Records 128, 256 and 320 kbps MP3 files and WAV files
• Record directly to included Secure Digital Card
• Record directly to USB key drive (not included)

The previous reviewer wanted to know if the DC input jack is center positive or center negative. It is positive. That is easy to determine with an ohmmeter, which shows that the minus end of the battery string is connected to the sleeve contact of the DC jack. So now you know.

I found a 5V regulated wall cube in my junk box with the right connector. It works just fine with the M3.

So far I am satisfied with the M3. I made a few test recordings from the line input from a SACD album and they sounded just fine. I also did some voice recordings from the mic input, using an electret PC mic, and they sounded fine too.

I accidentally discovered an undocumented "feature". The unit has an Automatic Gain Control (AGC) function. To turn it on, you press the record button, press the Play/Pause button, release Play/Pause, then release record. The mode is shown by the legend "AGC" in the red stripe of the display above the file name, and the level bar at that bottom is not present. This recipe for turning on AGC is not reliable sometimes it works but usually it doesn't. The AGC doesn't work very well; when I recorded music with AGC on, the "pumping" sound was very obvious and objectionable. To turn off the AGC, the same recipe that you use to turn it on sometimes works, but it's easier just to turn the power off and then back on.

I tried an 8 GB SDHC card in place of the supplied 1 GB SD card; it worked. I also tried a 1 GB USB stick; that worked too.

To manage the files (delete, etc), you must either plug the M3 into a computer (via the USB cable) or remove the SD card or USB stack and connect that directly to the computer.

All in all, I'm pleased with the product so far. It does what I need without a lot of extraneous features, and the price is right. The other products that I looked at had a lot of features that I don't need and don't want to have to deal with in the user interface, at a correspondingly higher price.

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We purchased this item to record four three-day conventions with a total attendance of over 24,000. So we had only one chance to record the live programs. The recorder is compact and easy to use. In testing we noticed it would not record directly to a laptop. So we purchased an 8GB USB flash drive plugged it into the provided USB port and turned on the record button. We never had any problems. After the conventions we easily edited each program and made multiple MP3 CD's using a third party free editing software program called Audicity.

The only complaint we had was the first recorder we ordered had scratches on the front, we called Amazon and we had a replacment "in our hands" the very next day. All of this with no shipping charges to us. It was a great deal and we got exceptional service from Amazon.com.

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Ikey M has bugs and the recording quality is not like the older versions, records in one line (left or right) and cuts off some parts in the recording, overall bad experience, when calling to their customer service (at I-Key products), they get defensive and don't give a solution aside of saying you need to buy a new one!, BAD customer Service. If you can avoid buying this, I would recommend to do so.

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I've used this product for maybe two weeks and it was working perfectly fine. So 5 stars for that. One day I wanted to record a mix and it tells me there is no space left on the device, while i have the SD card completely clean besides the files that have to be on there also tried connecting a 4gig flash drive which used to work before with the recorder.. same result. Right when something important comes up for me this thing brakes or w/e happened to it, so should I buy another one? There is absolutely no support for it anywhere.

PS

For those people that can't find an adaptor, just go to RadioShack lol.

Makes great recordings. I use it to digitize LPs and to bootleg XM to play on my MP3 player. Wish it had a microphone.

Defender 21116 PRO Sentinel 16-Channel Smart Security DVR with 8 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cam

Defender USA has a surveillance system that uses the H.264 video compression technology which is the widely accepted standard. While this is not 1080P high definition, it does provide ample resolution to identify subjects that come into a camera's field of view. The company claims the 1 TB hard drive will provide 4 years of video data storage, but you will not get anywhere near this amount of time if you use 30 frames per second, which I chose for a more accurate video playback. Based on my four days of use, I'm estimating one month of video data storage which is plenty for my needs.

The DVR is small and has no front panel buttons; every menu option is only accessible with either the included mouse or the remote.

What impressed me most with this system is the cameras. No cheap plastic housing; these cameras are housed in heavy metal. One small complaint is the size of the hole (5/8") that must be drilled to feed the small siamese cables' BNC connectors through. It would be better to design a quick disconnect for the power and BNC connectors on each end of the cable. This would allow a much smaller hole to be drilled.

This system includes a one year warranty, but Defender USA will double that warranty to two years for the submission of this review.

The video speaks for itself, the system comes with everything you need to install it, but you will need to plan it out, and I seriously doubt you will get it done in less than 2 days, unless you install security systems professionally. Plan out the wiring lengths, and the power access points carefully! And before you start drilling and running cable, test all of the components, and make sure everything is working. Configure the router/central box and test out the various features you plan to use, before you start to alter your house.

Overall, it is a good system, but it could be a little bit better. I wish at least some of the cameras were wireless, so running power to all of the cameras wasn't such a problem, and I wish that the end-caps for the wiring weren't so huge, and I wish that the manual came printed out, instead of on a mini-CD. And the configuration of the system to communicate wit mobile devices was especially painful. But, the core system of the cameras, wiring and power all worked flawlessly, and that is what is important.

4 stars.

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I received this item through the Amazon Vine reviewer program, and have no prior knowledge of or experience with security cameras and systems.

I do have experience building desktop PCs, setting up home theater systems and home networking computers. I am also pretty good about finding information and reading directions. That being said, my review is not that of a professional installer of these systems, but rather your average Joe (or Josephine...) and my experience with this product. Admittedly a tad long, it icludes my impressions of the product as well as specific info, some of it taken directly from the manufacturer's website (as noted).

NOTE: Some areas on this Amazon product page say product info is for 4-Channel/4-Camera unit this is for the 8-Channel, 4-camera Defender Sentinel set-up, which is what I received.

IN THE BOX:

DVR with 500GB HDD

4 Outdoor Security Cameras

4 65ft Extension Cables

Power Adapter

Four-to-One Power Splitter

Mounting Hardware

2 BNC to RCA Connectors

10ft RJ-45 Ethernet Cable

6ft Power Adapter (cUL certified)

6ft RCA video cable

Instruction Manual & Software CD

USB Mouse

IR Remote Controller with batteries

Quick Start Guide

Window Warning Stickers

BEFORE INSTALLATION:

Go to the Defender-USA website and click SUPPORT. Go down to INSTALLATION TIPS and click 'CLICK HERE' to view Camera Mounting Tips. This takes you to YouTube and DefenderDIY's channel of videos which will help you to visualize your installation.

I highly recommend watching the Defender 5-Step DVR Set-up Tutorial. You can do it with just the Quickstart Guide, but this was very helpful to me as I'm a 'visual' learner.

Defender's YouTube channel is a great resource (40 videos most helpful) for installation and operation of this system.

If you don't have Internet access, or prefer a printed version, you can view the PDF User's Manual which comes on the min-sized CD packaged with this system.

All of the 'How-To' will be found in these two sources, as the Quick Start Guide 1 sheet with a basic diagram is minimal and not very helpful for set-up and use.

INSTALLATION: CAMERAS

Recommendations on placement of the 4 included outdoor cameras can be found in the PDF instructions and at the Defender-USA website. The 4 included outdoor cameras are the 600TVL series high-definition cameras which make seeing details in video images much more likely. The picture quality is very good and color reproduction seemed true in the cameras I received.

You can buy additional cameras for this security set-up, as it has 8-channels (8 cameras) and there is an input for audio input via microphone. Defender has information on how to order more cameras, cable and accessories in the box.

If you want to purchase a Defender Pro Sentinel set-up with more cameras from Amazon consider these: Defender 21116 PRO Sentinel 16CH Smart Security DVR with 8 Hi-Res Outdoor Security Cameras or Defender 21113 PRO Sentinel 8CH Smart Security DVR with 8 Hi-Res Outdoor Security Cameras.

Mounting screw hardware for the included 4 outdoor cameras are included, as well as 65' of PRO FT4 cabling with each camera. This cable is rated for professional installation through walls, approved for fire safety.

You can mount these cameras on desktops and ceilings too, but the mounts that these cameras shipped with are specifically for outdoor installation.

The end of the camera cords that go to the DVR have yellow (to the DVR) and red (to the 'octopyus' like power cord that is one of two AC adapters that ship with the unit.

Cameras are set to record as 'always on', but you can set them up to record on a schedule or be motion-activated, which can so be modified to fit your situation. For example if you live on a busy street, you can block certain recorded areas from tripping the motion detection.

You can set up 'Privacy Zones'; up to 4 per camera, and run cameras in 'Covert Mode' with password protection. The cameras will appear not to be live on the montitoring screen to unauthorized users, but they will actually be recording.

INSTALLATION: DVR

If you can hook-up a DVD player, you can hook up this system!

In the box you'll find the DVR, USB Mouse, remote for DVR, 2 AA batteries (for remote), Network cable, AC power supply for DVR (short cord on this one...), CD for software installation and PDF User's Manual.

Again, look at the DefenderDIY YouTube videos to see how to set-up the DVR if it's unclear to you.

A Quickstart Guide is included and small label tabs are on some items that say 'For DVR' or similar.

The unit comes in two boxes, one with cameras and cabling, and the other with the DVR and its accessories. The box with the cameras looks overwhelming, but basically, it's just a lot of cords!

DVR UNIT:

On the back of the DVR are 8-channels (hook-ups0 for cameras, audio 'in', audio 'out',and 2 USB ports (use 1 for included mouse and the other for a back-up hard drive like Seagate Backup Plus 3 TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive (STCA3000101). The DVR has a 500GB hard drive with overwrite feature, and Defender says you can store up to 4 years worth of footage on it, so an external back-up would only be necessary if you want to archive footage. NOTE: If reviewing archived footage, you can search for items by event, putting in a specific search timeline to view.

I hooked mine up to a PC monitor via the VGA hook-up. You can also view what the camera is seeing via a TV by using the video out (yellow) ended cord which is included. The VGA cable is not included with this package.

The front of the unit has two lights on the upper left hand side (facing the unit). One is green, it remains steady when the DVR has powered on and one is red, it blinks as the DVR is recording.

You can use the Defender remote control to enter modifications, set networking information, etc..., no matter what monitoring device (TV or PC monitor) you're using. When using the PC monitor and mouse you can right click to get more options to menus to adjust and set-up the system.

The DVR is set to NTSC video format by default, but can be changed to PAL in settings.

Menus in English, French, Russian, Italian, Portugesse, Spanish and Romanian are given.

Once you have hooked up your cameras to the back of the DVR, connected a TV or PC monitor, connected the USB mouse, and powered up the unit by plugging in the AC adapter, you should see a picture on your monitor with 4 or 8 channels (depends on your settings when the unit powers up).

Depending upon how many cameras you have hooked up, and what channels they are connected to, you will see corresponding video streams from these cameras. These streams will not be recording until you set them up!

NETWORKING & WORLDWIDE ACCESS:

The networking features are more complex to set-up, but again, check out the YouTube DefenderDIY tutorial videos and the PDF Owner's Manual on the CD for that information.

Once your DVR is networked, you've got an AMAZING tool at your disposal for keeping an eye on your location from anywhere in the world!

You can access your control panel for the system via the Internet or an app that can be used by iPhones, BlackBerry Bold, or Android phones.

You can also receive email security warnings based upon parameters you set-up in Advanced tools.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION:

1. Easy to install and use.

2. Quality built.

3. Video quality and zoom feature are excellent.

4. Highly customizable.

5. Online networking for remote views with email warnings, and apps for viewing while away from location.

6. Like that you can back-up to external hard drive.

7. Would work for home or business.

8. Security settings allow for 'covert' surveillance.

9. Adjustments for privacy areas and adjustments for motion sensitivity are nice perks!

10.Great tool for monitoring any area in light and dark situations.

While the price will be prohibitive to some, the Defender Pro Sentinel 8CH Smart Security DVR with 4 Hi-Res Outdoor Security Cameras is a great product, with excellent support and tutoriials online.

The PDF Owner's Manual is well written and easy to follow.

The toughest part about the installation of this unit for most people will be getting the cameras located and properly adjusted, and the setting up the networking components. Both can be done by anyone, it will just take a bit of time to read or view how-to videos, and patience.

If you want security for your business or home that you can monitor no matter where you are, I highly recommend this system which has great features and room to grow!

ITEM SPECIFICATIONS PER DEFENDER WEBSITE:

DVR

Functionality Pentaplex

Video Compression H.264

Audio Compression G.711

Number of Channels 4

Video Input 4/8 x BNC

Video Output 2 x BNC

VGA

Audio Input 2 x RCA

Audio Output 1 x RCA

USB Port 2

Resolution 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024

Recording Total Frame Rate NTSC：60fps@D1、120fps@HD1、120 fps@CIF PAL：50fps@D1、100fps@HD1、100fps@CIF

Recording Frame Rate Per Channel NTSC: 1fps~30fps adjustable

PAL: 1fps~25fps adjustable

Recording Resolution NTSC : D1(704 X 480), HD1(704 X 240), CIF(352 X 240) / PAL: D1(704 X 576), HD1(704 X 288), CIF(352 X 288)

Recording Modes Motion Record, Schedule, Always

Pre Recording Max 10 seconds

Post Recording Max 5 minutes

Recording Media HDD (Backup via USB)

Storage Capacity Max 1TB HDD

HDD Type SATA 3.5"

Storage Capacity Max 1TB (HDD)

Video Format NTSC/PAL

Video Loss Alarm Auto Detect Alarm

Audio Bitrate 8 kbps

Live Frame Rate 30 FPS

Live Viewing Full, Quad, PIP, ZOOM, SEQ

Picture-in-Picture Yes

Network Protocol TCP/IP, DDNS, DHCP, PPPoE,UDP

Network LAN IP Static, Dynamic

Network Connection 10/100 BaseT Ethernet (RJ-45)

Supported Operating Systems Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, OSX 10.5 or above

Browsers Internet Explorer, Safari

Back-up USB Flash drive, USB disk & network

Play Search Mode Time/Date, Event list

Play Speed 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x

Pan/Tilt/Zoom RS-485 Pelco D & P

OSD Language Display Multi-Language

Time and Date Stamp Display Yes

Password Protection Yes, Menu Password, Clear HDD Password

Operating System Linux

Processor ARM 9

Disk Full Warning Yes

Automatic Overwrite Option Yes

LED Indicators Power, HDD

Housing Material Aluminum

Housing Color Black/Silver

Power Input 12V DC 3A

Power Consumption 10W~15W

Power Adapter Input 100V 50/60HZ~240 50/60HZ

Operating Temperature 32°F~104°F

Operating Humidity 10%~90%

Dimensions 8.75x11x2"

Weight 3.75 lbs

Cameras

Image Sensor 1/3" CMOS

Resolution 600 TVL

Outdoor Use Yes

IP Rating IP65

Focal Length 5mm

Focus Type Fixed

Optimal Focal Distance 20 ft.

Night Vision Yes

Number of IR LEDs and Range 36

Night Vision Range 100ft

IR LED Control Automatic (CDS Sensor)

Min. Illumination 0 lux

IR Wavelength 850nm

Video Output BNC/DC

TV System NTSC

Viewing Angle 60 Degrees

Electronic Shutter 1/60 ~ 1/100000 sec

AGC Automatic

ELC Automatic

Gamma Correction >0.45

White Balance Automatic

Sun Shield Yes

IR Cut Filter Yes

Housing Material Anodized Aluminum

Housing Color Black/Silver

Signal/Noise Ratio >48dB

Camera Bracket Yes, anti-vandal

Operating Temperature -10° ~ 60°C / Degrees

Operating Humidity 98%

Camera Power Input DC 12V 300mA

Power Adapter Input 120V 60Hz

Dimensions 6.75x3x5.5"

Weight .9 lbs

Read Best Reviews of Defender 21116 PRO Sentinel 16-Channel Smart Security DVR with 8 Hi-Resolution Outdoor Security Cam Here

Terrible product. After contacting support, I found out that the 16 channel has a more limited recording resolution than the 4/8 channel not documented anywhere. In live mode, the cameras have limited resolution and cannot be used to make out a license plate or facial features at only 4 feet away in daytime. The software interface is clunky. I returned this and will wait until I can afford a nicer DVR system and higher quality cameras.

Pro tip: after I purchased the system, I started searching YouTube for examples of recordings from the kit. I wish I had done that before, as they demonstrate the poor quality of the unit. Do some checking in forums or YouTube for demonstrations or still shots that will provide you with a better idea of the camera quality.

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I have a lot of issues with this product, but to sum it up, the cameras seem to be ok but the DVR isn't close to what the description makes it out to be. Do not buy this if you want a real security camera system.

I purchased this camera system after my truck was broken while parked in my driveway in front of my home.

I began by setting up the system and connecting all four cameras to ensure everything worked properly, which it did. I got good images on all four cameras, they switched from day to night more with a click from the relay. Next I got the network setup to allow me to hide the DVR away in my closet. I completed the installation and setup over the network.

I installed three of the four cameras in strategic spots around the outside of my house to allow me to monitor these areas. I next configured the alarm and recording settings. After playing with the various resolutions, I settled on the highest as the other settings where inadequate. In order to make out facial features, the person had to be no further than 5-8 feet from the camera. Considering the camera was mounted 15 ft off the ground, this only leaves a little margin. Here is when the real issues became apparent....

I could not get the recording resolutions and other settings to work in the highest resolution. I tried many combinations and in the end, I had to call customer service. After sitting on hold for 10 mins I got online and tried their chat interface. After another 5 10 mins, a rep connected with me on chat. After going around and around with this person telling me my network was to blame and another 5 mins, I was finally connected with a rep on the phone. She also insisted at first the issues I was seeing was because I was connected to the DVR over my local network and that they do no support a switch between the DVR and my laptop. Being a network engineer, I found this ridiculous and insisted we move on. What I did find out after some persistence was that the DVR only supports 50 fps across ALL cameras in the highest resolution setting....or that is what they were telling me. In reality, what I found was that it actually only supported 4 fps for one camera in the highest setting. However, when you play it back, the playback speed is accelerated and seems to be proportional to the fps setting. For example, when you set it to 4 fps, it plays back at 4x normal speed. I have since been able to get the middle resolution to work at 8 fps on three cameras. Next I turned my attention to the motion detection and alarms....

I had originally placed the cameras in my attic while I was running the cables. At the default sensitivity, the motion alarm when off every three minutes (also a default setting) even though nothing in the cameras view was moving. I've since mounted them all outside. I've had to turn down the sensitivity all the way to the lowest to keep the alarm from constantly going off. In addition to a car or person coming into the field of view, I've the following is a list of other things which set off the motion alarm. The list was compiled at the lowest sensitivity.

snow falling from the sky

snow falling from trees which previously had fallen from the sky

rain falling from the sky

birds

squirrels

blowing trees

shadows of blowing trees

changing from day to night

changing from night to day

spiders (that was pretty cool to watch actually)

ghosts

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SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve

I was a skeptical purchasing this unit as there was no review available at the time. Unit is well packed and came complete with everything necessary. Bought it from ShopTronics thru Amazon. Excellent notification & delivery service for the transaction. Didn't use the bundled cameras as I already have my own. Having running similar systems like Swann and Qsee for a few years, here are the Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Remote viewing using BlackBerry phones, it was my primary reason to buy it. There was a little caveat. The remote viewer did not work as soon as my BlackBerry enterprise activated. Possibly due to application restrictions with the BES server.

I learned to work around this issue by not having the phone activated. Used Google Sync to sync contacts & calendar instead. For those who require looking up people name in your directory, you'll miss out this feature if you decided to do it.

Programming, clean and simple, easy to configure.

Technical Support, excellent tech support whether via phone call or opening a trouble ticket online. SVAT really followed thru and addressed all the issues I had. They had even arranged for their software developer to assist with my initial viewing problem. A++ for the support.

Cons:

Email alert, another reason for buying it. Didn't end up using it. Email alert requires an SMTP mail relayer. A requirement not mentioned in product brochure or documented in the manual. There are examples in the manual that talked about Google, Yahoo, and MSN alike. None allows SMTP relay. SMTP relay can be done thru own company if allowed or a paid service.

Search and play back, is quite limited in options comparing to others. An area that should be improved.

Overall, I am happy with the unit. It addressed what I was looking for, the ability to view remotely on a BlackBerry. The system is highly recommended.

DVR works well and it's pretty straight forward. I installed 10 cameras and four of them went out within the first three months.warranty claims are difficult. Mounting brackets break really easily and had to purchase extras to complete the install.I would recommend buying high quality camera as a substitute.

Buy SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Now

I have had the CV501-16CH-007 product almost 4 months and I still have not gotten the iphone viewing working. It does work on the iphone 3 and I can see only one channel on the iphone 3s and can't see anything on the iphone 4s. Support has not been helpful and are really not that experienced on this. If you can even get support you can be on hold for hours or if you send an email you may get a response in a week or two. So do not depend on having any issues if you buy this product. The dvr now has a disk access error so now I can't access any of my recordings. Tried to fix with support so now they want me to send it back and they will try to work on it. This should take about 2 to 4 weeks and me without video survillence. Overall I would not recommend this product...

Read Best Reviews of SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Here

Unless you like looking at pastel images of your recordings... the camera's that come with this are CRAP!!! I have done warranty with SVAT 3 TIMES and each time I get replacement camera's they are exactly the same... NO MATTER WHAT DVR AND MONITOR I VIEW THEM ON! I install camera's as a side business and I bought this for a client and I regret buying it ever since. I've tried multiple different DVR's, Cables and even tested different camera's on each DVR when viewing the camera's this comes with and there is NO CHANGE... According to SVAT, this is the ONLY camera available with this series now and there is NO replacement other than these CRAP pastel camera's. SVAT was also supposed to test the camera's TWICE before sending replacements... never happened.

Lik I said, DVR is decent... Camera's are CRAP!

Want SVAT CV501-16CH-007 Do-it-Yourself DVR Security System with 8 Indoor/Outdoor Night Vision CCD Surve Discount?

I bought this system for the house and it works perfect! I got some extra cameras and have now 12 total. I can access this from anywhere via a computer. Great system. Great features.

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Pen Camera with vedio function, Captures HQ 640 x 480 Pixel Video at smooth 30 Frames Per Second

Instructions are in Korean only. I will probably never know how this thing works.

I finally purchased a WINN Mini DV and it works much better. And, the instructions are in English.

Works great, and the built in usb connector is a big advantage over all the others that have to use a usb cable. And a dab of soap on the light keeps it nice and stealthy, but still lets you see which mode you are in(video/photo).

Buy Pen Camera with vedio function, Captures HQ 640 x 480 Pixel Video at smooth 30 Frames Per Second Now

Zmodo CM-T1001BG Weatherproof Pan 0 Degree-60 Degree and Tilt 0 Degree-90 Degree Camera

I always wanted to try a PTZ camera with my DVR system but they were expensive. This one has the pan an the tilt but does not have the zoom which was fine for me. I just wanted to be able to move the camera around and check on my garage. Knowing this unit has no IR I placed a nightlight near to what I wanted to see. The picture is color and sharp near the light source and degrades as you move away from it but I can see the entire garage.

I tested the unit on a Zmodo 8ch DVR and once the correct settings were entered the DVR was able to control the camera. I used the mobile app on both the Iphone and Droid to control the camera. At the DVR location I used the viewing software on the computer to control its movements.

I then moved the unit to a Swann 8ch DVR. If you do this make sure you use the internet viewing sofware or mobile app software to control the camera. For some reason I could not get the DVR GUI to control the camera. Other than that issue the unit works fine with a Swann 8ch DVR as I only use the mobile app or internet app to control it.

The unit has been in service for a week now and I have had no issues with it. Overall I am very happy with this unit. Expect to spend several hours to get it working if you never worked with a PTZ camera before. I followed the guide and purchased a separate power supply for the camera and you also have to run a separate wire for the camera controls in addition to the video and power cable. I used CAT5 network cable because that is what I had laying around.

The only thing to make this product better is if Zmodo made some kind of bracket so this camera can be recessed mounted in the ceiling with just the dome part visible.

I have the Zmodo 8 channel DVR that came with 4 cameras.... really inexpensive IR cameras that have terrible color (known issue) but that were more than adequate for my purpose. But I did have a nice location where I wanted to mount a PTZ camera so I kept an eye on this one to go on sale and grabbed one.... just installed it yesterday and WOW, I love it! It is set for Dipswitch 1 and I was replacing camera 2, so I had to remove the cover and move one switch, everything else was automatic. Oh, and I am currently using the 4 port power switch that came with the DVR (ordering a solo power source now) but the camera works great even tho everyone warns ya to get a solo power source. As some people pointed out, you will need to run 2 additional wires (I just used telephone wiring) to control the PTZ, and since I had to run the new wire anyway, I decided to upgrade the video/power cable that came with it with 100' I got from Menards. First off, the upgraded cables make a huge difference noticeable quality difference and no rolling lines and interference etc, so if I had to do it all again, I woulda started with upgraded cabling. But I was amazed at the low light capacity of this camera with NO IR capability, I wasn't expecting anything at night, but just the ambient light from the street lights makes the sidewalk visible etc while my stock IR camera is PITCH BLACK on the same area... It's not intended to be a night vision camera at all, so I was blown out of the water out of how good of a picture it gave me with ambient light only... the PTZ works with my DVR, computer and my iPad and iPhone... Color is good, range is good... I'm really happy with this upgrade to my system!

Buy Zmodo CM-T1001BG Weatherproof Pan 0 Degree-60 Degree and Tilt 0 Degree-90 Degree Camera Now

Nice camera and is working properly. If you don't need to zoom then it is the perfect camera to control small spaces.

UPDATE:

Using the camera in the afternoon and the light starts to fade you can get lots of white interference lines and at low light they get really bad at slow speed.

Read Best Reviews of Zmodo CM-T1001BG Weatherproof Pan 0 Degree-60 Degree and Tilt 0 Degree-90 Degree Camera Here

Works great have never had any problems with this camera what so ever. I love the fact that it is a real ptz

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Easy install and easy setup. Instructions weren't worth much but the camera works great. Excellent daytime picture and if you have enough light at night it is great. I have a lot of night vision cameras and they help light up things enough that I can tell my truck color at night. Great deal for the price!

Panasonic HC-V10K HD 70x Optical Zoom SD Camcorder (Black)

The 70X zoom is great. Bought this camera for my wife and she is using it as both a still and video camera.Once I showed her how to operate(she hates to read manuals) the camera she was off and running and showing everything to her friends.The pictures are better than the pictures she got with her phone. I took some excellent nature pictures with it.Very small and easy for my wife to carry in her purse.We think the camera is a great value and would recommend it if you want a small easy to use camera.

Postives: Easy to use. No frills. Very light and compact. Amazing telephoto. This is a great camera for detective or spying work. OIS works well. Good software for easy upload to YouTube. I uploaded a sample of its 70x optical zoom capability on my YouTube channel "NEOBARONE". Negatives: No remote control. No viewfinder.

Buy Panasonic HC-V10K HD 70x Optical Zoom SD Camcorder (Black) Now

I have had this Camera for a few weeks now.It is very claer and easy to use/The software makes a DVD easily and you can have still Pictures in them.Great Compact Camera

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic HC-V10K HD 70x Optical Zoom SD Camcorder (Black) Here

I am a mother of two boys, 6 and 9 years old. I was in the market to buy a camcorder to capture all their special moments. I was looking for something that is HD, small, easy to use with a strong zoom. They have started to play sports, so the camcorder had to be able to zoom in from the stands to capture the action. I was torn between the Samsung F80 and the Panasonic V10. The samsung did not offer the same zoom or optical image stabilizer that the panasonic offered. I have a Panasonic TV at home, and I am very pleased with the quality of their products. So the choice was easy at a great price. The software is easy to use and helps you create videos in minutes. Can't go wrong with this product.

Want Panasonic HC-V10K HD 70x Optical Zoom SD Camcorder (Black) Discount?

I had never used a video camera before, even the one on my cell phone. This looked like a good one option wise (steady function, and large zoom range). I've been using it to film my son's baseball games, and was really surprised with how good the quality is from a $160 camera. In fact it's more than good enough to capture everything on the field, although if you really want to follow the play you need a better view finder. (The little screen on the camera is to small to follow the ball). Since my son's a catcher I can simply place the camera on a tripod and let her rip. The first time I played it back on a full sized HD TV I was amazed at the video quality. For the price and ease of operation plus the fine picture quality, and strong little battery this deserves all the stars.

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VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player

• Full HD 1080p playback and access to BD-Live
• 7.1 Digital multi-channel audio via HDMI
• Built-in audio decoding for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TruHD and DTS
• Plays Blu-ray discs, DVDs, Audio CDs, MP3s and JPEGs
• Illuminated touch panel that disappears when the player is off

I bought one of this when they first came out early last fall from a large discount store. I was really impressed as I unboxed it it looked very nice and had a nice "hefty" feel to the case (unlike so many other players). I hooked it up to a 37" Vizio 1080p TV. The Blu-Ray quality was decent nothing to write home about though. While it was better than an upconverted DVD of course, it didn't have the crispness to the image that I was expecting. I ran about three recent movies through it and all had the same result good enough, but not great. Then I tried upconverting standard DVDs. That's where it really fell down. The image quality was much worse than my upconverting DVD player. No depth, fuzzy, stuttering in fast motion. Other disappointments were the weak sound quality with both DVDs and Blu-Rays and a very short range for the remote. I literally had to be in front of the player to activate it. The DVD player or TV had no issue with the same angle. All in all a weak effort from Vizio (and it went back).

Black Friday I grabbed a Toshiba BDX-2000 from Amazon. It has more or less the same specs as the Vizio but its performance is like night and day better. Sharper Blu-Ray, better upconverting (still not as good as my DVD player though), much better sound and greater remote range. I thought maybe I was being too harsh on the Vizio, but after having the Tosh for a few weeks I can see that I wasn't.

Buy VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Now

Purchased this unit as my first BluRay player after waiting more than 2 years to purchase one due to the BluRay/HD battle and general lack of stability in the hardware and playback quality of existing units. I'll keep this short. The VBR100 has performed flawlessly for me. I've watched 6 BluRay movies thus far, including Australia and a concert video by the band Rush (Snakes & Arrows MUST HAVE for you Rush fans!). No problems whatsover. The 6 BluRay discs I've tried all loaded up in less than a minute. I've seen other units over the years take 2-3 minutes, which is just ridiculous. Like the prior reviewer, I actually bought mine at WalMart too since it was cheaper than Amazon's price. I've since done a firmware upgrade, which was a piece of cake. Highly recommended!

Read Best Reviews of VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Here

If you are a hardware manufacturer that wants to capture market share based on pricing you have to take advantage of your own lower pricing while you can because your competition normally won't want to let you keep that advantage very long. Eventually those competitors will drop their pricing into the same area you've targetted and that competitive advantage will be gone as customers opt to up sell themselves on competing products with better features, better reputations, etc.

Such is the problem that would seem to be facing Vizio with their 'entry level' VBR100 Blu-ray player. Well, that problem and a few others as well. Read on for a run-down of my thoughts about the player (at least the thoughts that I had at the time I wrote this review, early October 2009).

First, I'll about guarantee that these players will drop in price, just like their competition, over the not so distant future. For one, a price drop is guaranteed since I just bought myself one of these players a few weeks ago. No, sorry, not purchased through this particular web site, as a local mart that is loaded (wall to Wal) had the best pricing for the product and offered instant gratification if I wanted to pick up the product in store. As I did want the product in hand asap, I opted to buy in store rather than mail order, so I was able to take the device home the same day and start setting it up.

Setup was fairly simple, but I would note that the box doesn't have an HDMI cable in it, nor does it have a Component video cable. Nope, there was a composite video cable (Yellow connector with the Red and White audio cables tied in) but if that cable is used the video output quality suffers as NO upscaling is done unless the connection is HDMI or Component. Considering how inexpensive HDMI cables are, it would have been nice if Vizio had included an HDMI cable in the box. At most, I'd expect the inclusion of such a cable to add a few dollars in cost per unit, even if you factor in additional shipping weight on pallets of boxes. It seems that in this area Vizio has gone instead for keeping their own costs low. Granted, many people might not be able to use HDMI anyway, or they might prefer to buy the cable separately so they get the right length or a better quality cable, etc., but it still seems silly not to have the cable in the box.

On the other hand, I have to admit that HDMI cables is one area that the big box stores love to gouge customers on when selling them HD gear. Consider the costs of buying a cable here at Amazon versus buying a cable that you would find at one of those so-called Best places to Buy from, or one of those marts of Wal's, and you realize quickly that you can easily pay a small fortune for an HDMI cable with little or no difference at all in the audio/video quality of the end product no matter which cable you use.

Some cable manufacturers will tout their own specifications and claim that their cables are capable of carrying more data or something like that, but there's no real difference, or at least not one that justifies paying 4 to 25 times more for the cables.

Sorry about that detour about cables and such, and admittedly, I must say that the lack of inclusion of the HDMI cable in the box is something that many other competing products has the same problems with. Just about all of the products in this category would have that problem.

The VBR100 player is a decent player but not without some nits to pick. First, it claims BD Live compatibility. Well, sure, but only if the user adds (their own, not included) USB memory stick to the unit. If you don't add a USB flash drive with 1GB or more of RAM to the unit and properly set the unit up to use that stick for BD Live then you'll never get BD Live working on the unit even if you hook the unit up to your own WIRED network.

That's another of the potential problem for this product -wired networking only. Sorry, no wireless network built-in. It's nice that the unit has a network connection available, but many customers may find that they don't want to hassle with pulling a network cable to a location by their HDTV equipment. You can add a wireless bridge or power line adapter to your network (perhaps), but that makes the cost of using this unit considerably more expensive and puts the price into the neighborhood where you'd find the LG BD390 Wi-Fi Network Blu-ray Disc Player or even the PlayStation 3 120 GB. On the other side, if you don't need/want BD Live features, then you don't need to hook up to the network at all -not even for firmware updates.

Firmware updates are something that anyone using a Blu-ray player will be familiar with, as the never-ending security and content protection schemes and other 'features' of Blu-ray discs may require that you update the firmware on your player. In this area the lack of ability to upgrade the unit's firmware over the wired network is a mixed blessing, though I prefer to label it primarily a failure (especially when compared to the PS3, as an example). Going back to the HD DVD players, I had a Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player that I used (and liked) and found it very easy to upgrade firmware on. Simply use the menu option and off you went checking for, downloading, and then applying the downloaded firmware. Alternatively you could download the firmware to a memory stick or to your computer and create a 'firmware update disc' and be all set to upgrade the firmware with that. This last method is basically what Vizio is doing with the VBR100. Customers will have to download the firmware to their computer and then create a CD that contains the firmware. That process isn't too difficult, but it is an added burden for customers. I suppose, though haven't yet experienced this, that Vizio may mail out firmware discs to customers so that the customers don't have to create their own. I doubt that will happen though as doing that would add support costs that would eventually become too expensive. (They may make the firmware available for some small 'support fee' or something like that, but again, I know of no current plans for this to happen.)

Upgrading the firmware to the most current version, once downloaded, is a fairly simple process and only takes a few minutes, if that. If there is a problem, the system is smart enough to detect that the firmware on the disc is not good and the unit will automatically revert back to the last firmware version so you don't break the unit by failing to complete an upgrade.

Owners of Vizio TV's get an added benefit from these units in that the remote control will also control the volume for the TV, but otherwise the remote control that is included is for control of the VBR100 and not for controlling other devices. Owners of other TV brands are out of luck, as are owners of home theatre sound systems. (Sorry, you'd need to continue to use your own remotes for those products, or buy a Logitech Harmony or similar product.) The remote control is ok, though seems to be sluggish in responsiveness at times, and/or seems to have to be 'aimed' at the unit much more than should be needed. It is possible that Vizio's design for the unit is to fault, with the shiny black face filtering out more of the infrared remote control signal than Vizio expected. Whatever the issue is, the responsiveness of the remote is somewhat lacking.

The face of the unit is, as noted directly above, a shiny black plastic. There are no buttons on top of the unit, nor for that matter even on the face of the unit. There are instead touch sensitive areas that are used to control the unit. The 'power button' area is marked, but not terribly easy to see when the unit is powered off, and most users will likely be looking for the remote control to turn the unit on or off with. Once the unit is powered on the other touch sensitive areas light up brightly enough that they are easy to find and make use of. Additionally, when the unit is powered on the Vizio logo will be lit as well as the unit having a blue light bar above the drive tray that lights up to let you know that a disc is loaded in the drive. When the unit is powered off the Vizio logo turns orange, though the color is a bit different than the muddy orange that is used for the logo on Vizio TV's.

Getting back to the use of USB Flash drives on the unit, users are not limited to just using such drives for BD Live storage. Users may play content directly from a connected USB Flash drive if they wish, though using a drive for such purposes opens up another apparent design flaw: the location of the USB port (which is on the back of the unit). Given the mixed use for the USB port that port should have been located on the front of the unit. Certainly users can buy their own USB extension cables, but that shouldn't be necessary and again adds costs to the unit that shouldn't be there. If the port had been located on the front of the unit instead it would be very easy to swap flash drives on the unit at any time.

One last comment about the use of the USB flash drives -if you wish to use the drive for BD Live support you must run the unit without a disc in the drive (or with the drive bay open) then select USB, and finally select the option for BD Live where you tell the unit that you want the flash drive used for such purposes. If you don't do that you'll never get BD Live working as you have no storage for BD Live purposes. That information can be found in the manual (somewhere), but for those that never read manuals, the entire process could be more intuitive and/or simpler.

Whew, finally on to performance of the unit.

First, load times are not terribly impressive, though not out of line with the load times with other units on the market. Any time you feed the unit a disc expect it to take a few seconds to load and get to the menu. Longer on some titles, shorter on others, depending on the complexity of the menus, etc. While loading to the menu the unit seems to make a fair amount of noise, but once the disc is playing the drive is not loud enough to notice.

The video quality on the unit is good, including the upconversion capabilities. I've fed the unit a few DVDs and noticed fairly impressive picture quality, despite knowing that I'm using standard definition DVD and not Blu-ray. Blu-ray picture quality is as expected.

If you are looking for a Blu-ray player for your home and you have a Vizio TV this would make a nice companion to that TV. If you are using another TV and aren't using a home theatre sound system (working on a tighter budget), this is still a decent player, though you may find competing products offer more/better features at a very competitive price. If you are looking for a higher end product then I'd expect you never read this far, if you even found the Vizio player at all.

Worth a purchase, though educate yourself before buying and check competing products for feature sets and/or price.

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This is a great product, however make sure your firmware is up to date. I ran into a few problems with my newest blurays.

I purchased this Blu Ray Player at Walmart. I was very easy to set up and had nice feature BUT that's where the good stops. During the playing of the first Blu Ray disk, the picture froze. I couldn't fast forward, stop, rewind...nothing. I could not even eject the disk. After calling the company and learning how to get my disk out I took the unit back for an exchange. Walmart gladly exchanged the unit for another and guess what...same thing. About half way into my movie the picture froze. I took back and returned for an LG player. No problems with my LG unit. No more Vizio crap!

Nyrius ARIES Prime Digital Wireless HDMI Transmitter & Receiver System for HD 1080p 3D Video Stream

Was very skeptical as at the time of purchase, there were no reviews. However I am thrilled. Truly Plug and play and there is no lag or latency. I've got full 1080p and smooth, clear sound transfer running between computer and 50" TV or Projector. No jumping, skipping, lag, anything. Worth every penny.

I had a challenge to install a projector with HDMI input in a place where routing the HDMI cable was a huge issue inside a diesel pusher motorhome to create a home theater environment. This wireless system solved my problem. The receiver and sender sync immediately after power on, there is no line of sight required, I get close to BluRay quality about 18 ft awayIt works ...

Update April 2013 still works ok, some signal degradation observed. Wanted to get another unit for another application and they raised the price from 149.99 to 199.99....I'll have to look for another product33% price increase without any product improvements is unacceptable and unwarranted....lost a customer.

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This device just works.

In my office, there is the wired version of this product.

That works great as is. The frame is not 100% but it's the best you can get.

I was a bit skeptical when I purchased this wireless version.

And when I plugged it in, there was no question about the quality.

It just works. I have a Macbook Pro, using this device, to have Extended Desktop to my 42'' LG TV.

Plug and play. Plug and go. Call it what you will.

[ Things to Note ]

If the connection is not live before you play the video (whether it's from program or from a web),

you have to do the following:

Make sure the link from computer-to-TV is live.

Change the Sound Output to your TV or whatever your unit is connected to.

Then either [1] Restart your browser if you're using a browser to watch videos, YouTube, Hulu Plus/Netflix, etc., and pull up the same video again, after the connection is established.

[2] Use a different browser

[3] Restart the application you're using to watch your content, e.g. Quicktime, VLC, etc.

Other than that, there are no issues that I've ran into.

I often plug and unplug and the receiver and transmitter have no problem with that.

I had AirParrot and an Apple TV the week before I purchased this.

I returned that Apple TV a week after I purchased this.

This is a much better solution if you want to watch whats on your computer, but extend it onto your TV.

Worth the investment.

Read Best Reviews of Nyrius ARIES Prime Digital Wireless HDMI Transmitter & Receiver System for HD 1080p 3D Video Stream Here

I purchased this item and tried hooking it up to my TV and it would not work. I worked on trying to install this device for about 2 hours and made multiple calls to customer service for help. Finally we made the assumption that the device is defective. I sent the item back to the manufacturer on 1/23/13 and to this day I can't get anyone to give me an update on this return. Terrible service.

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After moving out all of our furniture in order to pull up our carpet to cut and tape the pad to install an expensive 30' HDMI cable to hook up a new projector 20+/feet from our screen, receiver and DVD, my granddaughters boy friend somehow bend/destroyed the end of the projector side cable! With all the work and cost it took to install the cable I was really upset! A friend told me to look into a wireless HDMI and after reading reviews purchased the Nyrius. After an easy set up I held my breath and turned on my projector, surround sound and DVD and was blown away that it worked immediately without any quality change what so ever. I highly recommend this product!

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Rode VideoMic Pro Microphone with Sennheiser HD201 Headphones

All DSLRs have a horrible sound board. The 20 DB + option on this mic allows the user to bypass that problem. The free pair of Headphones are an added bonus, making it a great deal!

Great signal. Lots of gain. Great off-axis rejection.

Handling noise still transfers through to mic if you moderately jar the camera (even with the suspension system), but if your movements are smooth, this mic adds direction and clarity to your recordings. Just remember to turn it on (oops)

recommend

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This mic does a very nice job and the shock absorption is great. Really didn't need the headphones, but they were a very nice addition. They have a nice, clean response and are a great general purpose headphone.

Read Best Reviews of Rode VideoMic Pro Microphone with Sennheiser HD201 Headphones Here

This mic is great if you're looking for a frustration-free way to record audio with your DSLR video, all synced up and ready to edit with the footage. The additional gain makes it so all you do is set your manual audio recording very low, then turn on the +20 gain, ridding you of that hissing that DSLR audio input is notorious for.

The headphones are a cool bonus... though, as far as I can tell with a T3i (my own camera), there's no way to utilize them to monitor the sound in real time. But they are a decent set of circumaural headphones that are usually $10 standalone at no additional cost (when I purchased this kit), so why not?

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But as soon as I run a few tests, I was more than happy.. Excellent choice the Mic is the best, and the headphone totally fullfill my expections..

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Better Cables Premium Fiber Optic Cable/Toslink Cable (Optical Cable) - High-End, High-Performance,

i lovethe sound produced by optical cables better then hdmi and this cable delivers !!! great construction and awesome sound reproduction !!

I have been using BetterCables video cables since 2001. I have (1) 5M component, (1) 5M s-video, (1) 5M composite, (1) 2M premium toslink and (2) 1M component. I love their product! read their reviews! This Toslink gave me clear, rich sound that I found to edge out the premium Monster Toslink THX! They make a great product!

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JVC DRMV99B DVD Video Recorder & VHS Combo with Built-In ATSC Tuner

• Playable Formats: VHS Hi-Fi, DVD-Video, DVD-RW, DVD-R, +RW, +R, +R (Dual), CD, SVCD/VCD, CD-R/RW, WMA/MP3/JPEG Digital Still/DivX(R) (CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, +R/+RW)
• Recordable Formats: VHS Hi-Fi, DVD-RW, DVD-R, +RW, +R
• ATSC (Digital) Tuner: 8 VSB (2-69), Clear QAM (1-135)
• HDMI Output with 1080i/720p Up-Conversion (DVD/VHS)
• Progressive Scan Output

I don't love it, but I do like this recorder. I think if you bear in mind the purpose of a combination DVD/VCR, it's close to as good as one can expect.

I bought the combo recorder because there are times I still need VCR recordings from TV signal, and don't want to pollute my AV system with set-top boxes and added connections that degrade signals. The ATSC/QAM tuner solved that issue. While there's no way to make a VHS tape look great, at least I am now recording digital broadcsts and maximizing the benefit with upconversion (to Samsung LN-T4661F). There clearly is a significant improvement. Original VHS recordings are noticeably better. I think upscaling is best when I set the recorder's output to 720p and let my TV upscale from there. I'm not sure if it's because of the JVC's upscaling, or if it's a basic limitation of the unit, which simply isn't meant to be 'high end'. Live HDTV viewed via the JVC tuner isn't quite on a par with HDTV viewed directly through my TV tuner. It's good; it's close; but not quite as sharp for HD broadcasts. DVD recordings of HD broadcasts are also a bit less crisp than the live, but it's not an HD recorder. Store-bought DVDs look great.

It's user-freindly simple, intuitive menus; options to make the most of a combo recorder. Other than changing the output (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i), everything is accessible from the remote. You can watch a disc while recording to the VCR, and vice versa. Timer recording and labeling is a breeze. There is no EPG, but I have no problem with that. More and more recorders are eliminating it due to compatibility issues with various cable and satellite services. Discs, tapes and TV can be output at 4:3 or 16:9. DVDs can be formatted for VR or DVD-Video. It has all the choices of both analog and digital inputs and outputs needed to connect to any home theater system, old or new.

On the downside, it doesn't record to DL discs. This isn't an issue for me; I will leave that to my computer when needed. Also, there is no code currently available for universal remotes. According to JVC, all the manufacturers update and share their new codes annually, so in theory there will be a code available shortly after January '08. I hope so.

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I bought this item because I wanted to have an ATSC/NTSC tuner and it has both a VHS and DVD recorders. After that, it lacks alot. Because I have a JVC system and this is such a new product, I assumed that it would have a compulink cable, so I could control it with my system. It does not, this dropped my rating 1 star. The other problem is that all the connections are very loose, so if you move the DVD player, your optical cable will come out and your electrical cable will come out. This dropped my rating another star. It does have an HDMI cable which is what I want for my Panasonic Plasma TV and this is nice. But the IR Blaster cable I have from my Panasonic, does not have a code for the JVC DVD Recorder that works. When I called Panasonic, they said if it is not in their list of codes, they do not have it. This is frustrating me with Panasonic for not having a way to update their TV, but I will check with JVC to find out what the code should be. This allows me to run the TV guide from my Plasma TV so it will turn on the DVD or VCR Recorder. Fortunately, I can just have the VCR or DVD record by using the Timer function. It would be easier with my TV Guide.

One last hing that is just slightly irritating. When you go through the channels, it first goes through your ATSC channels, then through your NTSC channels. Unlike my Plasma TV that can go through them in order. So on the Panasonic, I go to 4-1, 6-1, 10-1, 28-1, 51-0, 51-1, 53-0, 53-1. On the JVC, I go to 4-1, 61-, 10-1, 28-1, 51-1, 53-1, 51-0, 53-0. I just have to get used to it.

Read Best Reviews of JVC DRMV99B DVD Video Recorder & VHS Combo with Built-In ATSC Tuner Here

I recommend buyers look at the Amazon reviews for defunct JVC VHS/DVD

dual deck products before they purchase any current dual deck model.

They have a proven history of extremely poor build quality. JVC keeps

rapidly changing model numbers, which makes this more difficult for

the consumer to discover. However they all look very similar with

only slight cosmetic differences.

Search on these item numbers and see for yourself:

JVC SR-MV40US

* Built Defective, I bought and returned three of these units (12/2007)

* Faulty DVD Drive is a known inevitable problem on every unit (11/2007)

* Worked well while it worked (10/2007)

* Disk Error on most discs after 5 months of owning the unit (08/2007)

* No luck with this (06/2007)

* Problem unit (05/2007)

JVC HRXVC27U (5 1-stars out of 8)

* 1yr and 1/2 and it died (02/2005)

* Worst home electronic device I've ever owned (03/2006)

* Barely outlived the warranty (10/2005)

* the J must stand for Junk (05/2005)

JVC DRMV5S (8 1-stars out of 16)

* Do Not Buy The JVC DRMV5S DVD ... (09.2007)

* JVC DRMV5S is defective! (03/2007)

* Total Junk and they Know it ! (12/2006)

* There's got to be something better (03/2006)

* JVC should be ashamed! (01/2006)

* Died after two weeks (10/2005)

A search on "Jvc Hi-fi Vcr/DVD Combo" search yields the following models:

JVC HRXVC29S

* I had the unit for under a year, and one day ... it just froze (04/2006)

* What a disapointment after only 2 years (03/2006)

JVC HRXVC15S (1 1-star, 1 2-star out of 2 reviews)

* Factory Defect....Look Elsewhere (09/2007)

Here are some model numbers that WILL NOT come up on a search but CAN be

accessed by working through "see all of my reviews"

JVC DRMV1S (>>> FIFTY-TWO