Sony ICD-MS1 Digital Voice Recorder

I received the Memory Stick-equipped voice recorder as a present, originally under the impression that recording a note or memo would quickly be turned into a typed document in Word, Wordperfect, or another similar type of software. What I did find was that while it is EXTREMELY good at picking up your conversation, even in a noisy car, its use is limited initially unless you have a Memory Stick-equipped computer to process the information, and even from there, you need more stuff.

If you have no port for a Memory Stick, you have to spend a fair amount of money for the adapter, which takes the Meory Stick and encapsulates it into a standard 3.5 inch disk for your computer. For voice applications to now use the recordings and type them, you also need to have a voice recognition program such as Dragon 5 or better. This is not a cheap program, and earlier versions won't do if you want the automatic typing done, and of course, you have to take the time to train the program to recognize your voice.

The recorder itself does a great job. It's the additional costs for using it that have been disappointing, and therefore the 4 stars. Still, there is no question that this is a very good recorder.

DX-P7DVD 7 Inch Portable DVD Player

• 7-inch Dynex DX-PDVD7A Widescreen Portable DVD Player General Features: Silver color Region 1
• 7-inch widescreen color display 480 x 234 display format 16:9 aspect ratio Dual stereo speakers
• Zoom feature MP3 digital decoder Built-in headphone jack
• Built-in NiMH rechargeable battery with 2.5 hours of battery life Supported Media: DVD DVD+RW

Per the other review, mine also did not hold a charge very well. However, given that issue, it works quite well when plugged into either the wall outlet or the 12v car jack. Screen is good, controls are easy and user-friendly even if you're in a darkened room. It played factory DVDs as well as my backup copies without problems.

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I have two players, a Sony and this Dynex. I wouldn't recommend the Dynex for battery operation. The battery on mine won't hold any charge. It works fine as long as I plug it in to an AC outlet. I've tried charging it for a full day and it won't hold a charge. If you're looking for one that operates on batteries, I recommend you check out the Sony players. Sony DVP-FX930 9-Inch Portable DVD Player, Black

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Don't buy it unless you plan on throwing it away after the battery no longer holds a charge. After about six months one of two units bought holds no charge at all and the other is weak and dying. It works fine plugged in, but that's it. Won't buy another.

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Purchased one the other day. Plugged it in to the adapter because the battery portion did not work. Played fine, for about 5 minutes, then made a noise like it was shorting out and QUIT ! Half a minute later it came back on... but for only about a half minute then made the shorting out sound again and quit again. This continued several times until I finally got tired of it and pulled the plug. Anyone want to buy this real cheap ? Make a good paper weight.

Well I recieve the item I order & it workers but the seller is rude & dont want to help the people that but his stuff he wont have to worry about me buying anything else from him for now on Have a great day & a great life thank you for the dvd player.

USB Cassette Deck Converter

• Convert your old mix tapes and cassette to MP3 to Playback on iPod/MP3 player or burn to CD. 3.5mm earphone jack. Plug and play USB device, no drivers required.
• Audio output enables you to listen on your stereo, headphones, or other speaker system. Audio editing software included. Rediscover your old cassette tapes on the go.
• Portable design fits in virtually any bag and enables you to play and transfer anywhere. Flexible battery or USB-powered operation. Comes with tape converter software to guide you through transfer.
• System Requirements: Pentium 4 1.7 GHz CPU or above, 512MB RAM or above, 1GB free HDD space, VGA card with 32MB memory, One available USB 2.0 port, CD-ROM for installation, Microsoft Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ Win 7. (Not compatible Mac 10.5 or higher)
• Package Included: 1 x USB Cassette Capture, 1 x User Guide, 1 x USB Cable, 1 x Headphones, 1 x Software CD (Includes capture and edit software and user guide)

First off, if you have Vista or Win 7, DO NOT follow the instructions that are provided!! I did and it was a huge freakin nightmare. Pretty much just plug and play, after you install the software it comes with. Which, that would be another part of it that discourages me. Amazon's product review as well as the quick guide and the online manual for this thing says NO need to install software. Well, thats a bunch of malarky!! You CAN NOT download your old cassettes unless you first install the software. Minor set back. Other than that, it is pretty freakin awesome to hear my old tapes on my new MP3 player. If you purchase this and feel like you are getting the run around, don't return it... I can help!! Contact me at bossman.cod@gmail.com!! Happy data transferring!! Another friendly reminder, you CAN NOT go down to Radio Shack and just pick up a cord to attach your old cassette player to your computer. You need a model like this because it has a USB output!!!

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Received product all excited to convert old recordings I had. First product played all tapes way too slow, returned for replacement, second one ate the tape I was using and then would not work at all after the first three minutes of playing the tape. This company is located off shore and drop ships through a Californian address. The product was not as described in the photos. Very unsatisfied with product and seller.

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A version of the USB cassette deck was mailed that didn't match the image and the return was honored. Good value however.

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Bought this and thought it would work for transferring my old

cassette tapes to my computer.

But this unit is complete junk and does not work and I returned

it as quick as I could.

Then I just used my old boombox with cassette to transfer my

old tapes by just using a audio cable from the headphone jack

to my mic jack on my computer and using my record program which

is called SoundRecorder.

wanted to convert cassettes into C D's, was to complicated never really got it to work , don't waste your money. Even with a friend that is really knowledgable with computers could not get it to work.

Honeywell Ademco 5883H Wireless Receiver w/ High Encryption

The 5883H is a combination transmitter (which must be enabled with dipswitch 6) and a high capacity receiver for ademco systems. For $100, it's a great deal, but it also enables the system to be expanded into the wireless keypad (see my review 5839 Wireless Bi-Directional Alpha Keypad). The wireless keypad mimics all the features of the wired keypad when plugged into a wall outlet or can be run on a 9V battery. With a full 2 line alpha display it informs you of all actions happening on your system.

The ONLY way to use a full alpha wireless keypad is to have a 5883H wireless tranceiver setup in your system, so that makes this unit special. It combines a 5800TM with a H series 5800 receiver into one product and increases value by so doing.

Note: You must put your system into "walk test" mode before programming your new keypad otherwise it will not register with the panel. You must also setup a keypad ID for the wireless keypad and program it on the panel as a full alpha 2 line keypad. Exit the walk test mode to complete the entry of the keypad.

The price offered here is 50% off the retail pricing.

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SIIG CB-0000J1-S1 DVI-D Dual-Link to DVI-D Dual-Link Cable, 2-Meters

When i received the cable it was the fourth cable I ever purchase and it was the purpose for dual monitors. I have bought cables that claim that it was dual and failed to deliver. It had the required pins on the cable but upon testing them with with electronic tester (used Ohms to check if it had connectivity ) I realized it was not dual but just single dvi. I was on an HP web site ( ) when they were advertising and that's how i became aware of SIIG cables. I went to Amazon because I know i would get the best price there and I have no regrets.

The cable was thicker than the other ones I have received (from pcrush-outlet) and when i checked I realized I got a good quality cable. I will recommend this cable to anyone. It was of good quality and it performed!

MAN IT IS AWESOME!!!!

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Sony DCRTRV460 Digital8 Handycam Camcorder w/20x Optical Zoom

Purchased this camcorder about a week ago. Ease of operation and a great operators manual help sort out technical items. Picture quality utilizing only standard grade 8mm tape is excellent. I can only imagine the more expensive metal particle or metal evaporated tapes may have even higher quality pictures. Have not had time to check out the camera picture quality using the memory stick. I do not expect any disappointments. Sony make a terrific camcorder product. Consumers reports recommends this as one of their "Best Buys" for digital camcorders. Sony & Panasonic both continually excell in the catagory as "Models requiring the least amount of repairs" or "Most trouble-free manufacturers". The battery that comes with the unit gives approximately 67 minutes of recording time on a normal charge. A full charge will give approximately 74 minutes. Recommend purchasing the FM-50 battery for extended recording/playing time and for nothing else, simply to have a back-up. I own a DVD recorder that allows me to transfer audio & video from my camcorder to DVD's . The camcorder has an A/V output for the consumer interested in transfering their home movies/digital images to DVD's. It also features an S-Video output for capturing even higher quality video.

Some of the bad things:

The camcorder does not come with a portable/cordless charger. You have to plug the batteries into the camcorder and plug the adapter/charger into the camcorder to charge. Purchase an additional external charger for simplicity.

The camcorder does not come supplied with a memory stick. Consider purchasing at least 128 M. That way you can get approximately 80 minutes of recording time.

The battery supplied FM-30 (see above) is not adequate.

Some of the good things:

Quality product

Image & sound quality excellent

Auto focus & stabilization also excellent

Great zoom feature

All in all, a fantastic product with great performance and features at a very reasonable price. If you want to get into digital video recording for less that $ 500.00, try this one.

GAC

My old 8mm camcorder died around Thanksgiving leaving me with 15 years worth of home movies and no way to view them. The TRV460 was at a great price point and perfectly bridges the gulf between analog and digital. I wanted to transfer the keepers stuff to DVDs and edit the really good stuff in to movies. I'm far from done, but I've worked with this camcorder enough to pass on some tips.

CAMCORDER: Easy to use. Pictures are so much sharper than my analog camera (I know, no surprise here, but it had a wow factor for me). The camera is smaller than my old one, a little bigger than my two hands wrapped together. The touchscreen is easy to use plan on studying the manual though. It's all in there and it's easy to read, but you have to approach it like a text book. It powers up quickly. Two things to beware of -(1) the tape inserts through the bottom and this that if you use a screw tripod adapter you have to take it off the to insert a tape, (2) there are some features that only work on movies recorded to DV tape vs. recording straight to the memorystick for example when you record to the memory stick it only records in mono.

SOFTWARE: Other reviews are correct when they pan the software that comes with the camera. I bought Adobe Premiere Elements and it is great. I bought the adobe software from amazon they were offering a Photoshop Elements/Premiere Elements combo that I opted for after reading numerous reviews. I've used the full version of photoshop for years and the user interface of elements is dumbed-down but still has a familiar touch and enough features to do everything I want. Wait a minute this is a camcorder review, sorry for the tangent.

FIREWIRE/USB2.0: Elements will capture movies recorded to the memorystick via the USB2.0, but to do the same for movies recorded to tape you need a firewire cable. If your PC does not have a firewire port, you can just add a PCI firewire/usb2.0 card onto your motherboard (costs less than $20 for the card). I had bought the card at retail a year ago. But camcorders need a firewire cable with a 6 pin to 4 pin configuration. Found one on line recently (listing: 6ft IEEE 1394 FireWire Cable 6pin-4 DV ILINK IPOD SONY) for less than a buck. Once you plug the firewire cable into the TRV460, you control the camera from the computer through the premiere software no special settings or adjustments needed. By the way, you can do some camcorder to PC transfers using the USB2.0 cable and the Sony Picture Package software but "clunky" is too kind.

Along with the camcorder, there are some necessary accessories. I looked for low-cost options on all of these and was pretty successful. I'll pass them on here for what they're worth.

DIGITAL TAPES: Sony makes many different types of tapes that are good for recording digital. The Sony Digital8 Camcorder Tapes (at first I thought these were the only ones that would work) costs $20 a pair at retail. There are many other 8mm tapes that are compatible for less than half this cost (check out Sony's website for compatibility).

MEMORY STICK: Again I went online to find a good price on a memory stick. But the stick I bought was not compatible with this camcorder (listing: SanDisk 256MB Memory Stick PRO Duo Sony 256 MB DSC-T1 +). The camcorder would only intermittently recognize the stick (mostly it wouldn't). Searches on the web showed that many people had this problem. The kind customer service dept at SanDisk agreed to check it out and said they would probably replace it. They did and the newer version of the same memorystick works fine. While I was waiting I bought a Sony 256MB memory stick at a retail store and, of course, it works fine. I got a memory card reader to plug into my USB port (listing: USB MS/MEMORY STICK CARD READER) so I could transfer movies to the PC without involving the camcorder.

ANALOG TAPE TO MEMBORY STICK TRANSFER: One cool thing I learned about the camera is you can copy scenes from an analog tape to the memory stick all from within the camcorder. With the touch screen monitor, it is very easy to do. This is great if you want to compile selected scenes (from the huge pile of old 8mm tapes) without sitting at the computer. I did a lot of this analog tape-to-memorystick xfer (using just the camera) while sitting around the fire with my family it made me a little more sociable with the family than if I were staring at the computer.

BATTERY: Another reviewer posted some tips on non-Sony batteries. I took an even cheaper approach that worked great. On line I bought a charger (listing: CHARGER for SONY NP-F550 NP-FM50 NP-QM71 QM91 BATTERY) for less than a fiver and a high capacity battery (listing: SONY NP-QM71 NP-FM70 DCR-TRV950 2800mAh BATTERY NEW) for less than fifteen bucks.

So that's it. I feel like the only splurge was on the tape editing software. I could have stayed with the free Sony Picture Package but the Adobe is so much easier and does tons more. If you amortize it over the hours you spend on editing, the $100 bucks or so is not that much.

My PC is a off-brand clone with a AMD Athlon 2800+ CPU running at 2.07 MHz, wtih 512MB ram, running XP Home Edition SP2 and a ATI AIW 8500DV videocard. I like this camcorder a lot!

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Referred to by some salesmen as a "dinosaur" this 1.5-pound marvel is a great beginner's camcorder with an easy to read and follow owner's manual. With the unit's "Easy" button, everything becomes automatic and the first movies are really great. The 2.5-inch LCD touch screen contains all the menus for setting up the camera, instead of numerous mechanical buttons. The camera has 4 methods of video transfer: An A/V cable that will plug directly in to a VCR or the front panel of your TV for viewing directly from the camera, "S" video transfer, USB and Firewire. I highly recommend using a firewire port as the preferred method of video transfer into your PC as the USB transfer has too many frame dropouts, resulting in jerky video. The still picture resolution is around 1 mega pixel (MP) and is stored on a memory stick, so if you currently use a digital still camera at 2 MP or above, you might be a bit disappointed. The viewfinder has it's own focus adjustment which is really good if you wear glasses. Some hints-Don't bother to purchase a separate battery charger if you purchase a spare battery, the camera does a fine job of charging the battery and the charge indicator light goes out after a full charge. A 64MB memory stick will store 980 pictures at standard resolution and 390 at fine resolution so resist the temptation to go with a more expensive 128 MB or larger stick. One last note, Windows XP along with Windows Movie Maker V2.0 (which is free from Microsoft) has the capability to capture and edit the video from this camera.

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I primarily bought this Sony because it is backwards compatable with HI8 tapes, plus has the functionality to upload digital 8 to my computer.

I previously had a Sony analog HI8 camera purchased new 4 yrs ago that had problems from the get go. It had several warranty related issues relating to sound. The most recent problem (on/off switch related) would cost me about $200 to fix. This camera has seen low usage and has not been abused.

Nevertheless, I decided to stick with Sony on my upgrade to the TRV460. I purchased the unit 3 weeks ago and haven't taken any video yet. However, I can tell you that uploading my HI8 tapes to my PC based computer couldn't be easier. You will have to purchase a firewire cable, which Sony should have included instead of the USB, because otherwise quality in transfer suffers. I did not opt to use the Sony software that came with the unit (didn't even bother loading on my computer). They might make good electronics, but I'll stick with another leader on the software.

I have sever old BetaMax tapes which I first transfered to the camcorder using the Sony supplied cables. Then I used the firewire cable with Microsoft Movie Maker 2 (which is free) to upload them to my PC. What a flawless operation. I have read of many people having problems with this step. Being able to accomplish this and get into video editing will greatly improve your videos. I may migrate to Pinnacle Studio for more video software options, but for now as a beginner I should be able to get myself started.

In summary, I expect Sony's video capture quality to be excellent (see other reviews since I haven't taken video yet). I am very pleased with the video transfer process, which was a big factor in my purchase. I only hope I won't have repair troubles with this camcorder.

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Here you have some options for the battery monopoly:

Power 2000 ACD701 1800mAh $34.99 Sony NP-FM50 $50.58

Power 2000 ACD702 3600mAh $59.99 Sony NP-QM71 2760mAh $69.94

Power 2000 ACD703 5400mAh $69.99 Sony NP-QM91 4140mAh $107.99

Power2000 Batteries have an awful white color but much cheaper.

The charger for these batteries is the POWER 2000 QP7400 AC / DC Turbo Charger for SONY Batteries for $29.99 comes with 100v-220V inputs and car adapter. The Sony equivalent is the Sony bctrm Compact Battery Charger for M for $46.95 without the 110v 220v input and car adapter.

I hope this will help to solve the battery problem. This will also work for TRV-328, 260, DVD101, 201 and PC-109, 330 among others.

Spectroniq DVD70X 7 Inch Portable DVD Player

• 7 Inch TFT 16:9 LCD Monitor/ Dolby Digital Decoding
• NTSC/PAL Compatible/ Play DVD/ CD/ CD-R/ JPEG
• Plays Audio CD/ CD-RW/ DVD-RW/ Positive RW/ DVD/ MP3/ VCD/ SVCD/ JPEG
• 2.5 Hour Rechargeable Li Ion Battery/ Auto Adapter for Car Entertainment
• 6.00 Lbs (WxLxH) 6.00" x 7.10" x 1.40"

I paid $99 through HSN. It came with battery, two sets of earplugs, an earphone splitter for two sets of ears, various cables, including a car adapter and AC/DC charger, remote and a free heavy-duty carrying case. I thought I was getting a great deal.

The picture is fantastic. Sharp and clear. The battery was sufficient for a two+ hour movie.

The sound, however, stinks. Even with the volume turned all the way up, the sound comes out as a whisper. The earplugs provided made the sound louder, but they are uncomfortable, button-type earplugs. I tried a set of over-the-ear plugs, but the sound didn't register as well. So, I bought a small set of Sony external speakers at WalMart for $9.99, figuring that would solve the volume problem, but they didn't help either. The sound barely registered through them, so I'll have to return those speakers to the store.

I connected the DVD to my computer speakers. The sound came out loud and clear, but it isn't practical to lug those big speakers around. I bought this DVD player because I wanted portability.

I am puzzled as to where to turn next. I don't care how great the picture is. If you have to strain to hear the movie what good is a clear picture?

I am more than a bit disappointed with this machine.

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Bought this player 2 years ago when it was called PROTRON.

Got it from Walgreens for $99. It came with a battery, remote control, 2 ear buds, the AC adapter, car adapter, A/V cable and carying case.

We got it for our 1 1/2 year old when we go on road trips and to watch on the deck outside.

It has been through hell over the last 2 years, used EVERY day and even dropped a few of times.

It is finally starting to show some signs of abuse, the display works intermitantly depending on the position its in, but it is still woking.

I have not had the audio problems that others have mentioned.

Glad we got it, would buy it again.

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I bought this player for $69 which includes a car case which straps on the back of a car seat, 2 earphones, earphone splitter, ac/dc power cords and several patch cords. While the picture is excellent the sound was so lousy that I almost returned it to hhgregg. Since I bought this unit to entertain kids on a road trip I decided to consider external speakers. My search took me to Walmart where I stumbled upon a $9.00 cassette which allows me to play the sound through my car cassette/cd stereo. I just watched "Jumanji" in my van and the sound was fantastic and almost as good as my 5.1 surround home system. If you want better sound in your home you can run the sound though your home stereo or buy some cheap powered external speakers that work with a Walkman or laptop. For $69 I couldn't be happier!

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Wonderful. Have already one for six years that gets lots of use by grandkids when they visit or travel with me had to get an additional one to meet the demand.

the product was exactly what was advertized. the shipping and receiving was literally a click away. amazon is very relianble and the product was in great condition and i was very please and will use amazon for future purchases.

Pyle-Home PTCDS3UIP Classical Trumpet Horn Turntable with AM/FM Radio CD/Cassette/USB & Direct to U

• Phono/Radio/CD player/Tape/USB record - Wireless Remote control for CD/USB - Metallic Trumpet Horn
• AM/FM Radio with stereo - CD/MP3/CD-R/CD-RW discs compatible - Audio output power: 2 speaker
• Play your favorite MP3 song from the USB - USB Record - 110 Volt AC Power
• Front loading single CD, drawer type - 3 speed turntable 33-1/3, 45, 78 RPM - Dimensions: 15.55'' x 11.81'' x 31.49''
• 45 rpm adaptor included - Ceramic Stereo Cartridge

I made this video so folks can see how to set this baby up. The horn is really quite cool looking. The flexibility to play different media formats is outstanding. You do need an aux cord to play an ipod but it can be easily done with a $5 radioshack purchase. The unit takes about 30 minutes to set up. The bits fit ok but you have to tighten things up carefully. Sound is in the decent to good range. I am happy with it for my living room which is all it really needs to do. It is wonderful to play all my lp-s again!

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I was debating for quite a while on whether to get this. There were so many others available at cheaper prices. I finally decided to go for it and am glad I did! The sound quality is great other than the cassettes, but they never sounded great anyway. I have tested all of the functions except for the USB port and recording, and everything works wonderfully. It is rather large and heavy, but it fits right into my Victorian decor dining room. So glad I went with this product, it exceeds my expectations!

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I've been looking for a unit like this for a while now, and this turned out to be a fantastic piece. However, the description of the product here on Amazon was very misleading. It claimed that there is a way to play music directly from an iPod or mp3 player from the device. This is false. There IS a USB port where you can play mp3 files that are on a USB drive, but there is no way to play music from the ipod. I have yet to try out the record part of the device. The CD player seems to work well, and the sound quality is very good. I was pleased that the horn itself acts as a speaker and is not purely decorative. The horn is also made of a lightweight metal which is nice because it gives it the expensive feel but makes the device not too heavy. As a whole, it is simply gorgeous and more than I expected in terms of appearance and quality (it's pretty big so make sure you have a space for it!). It will definitely get a lot of use!

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This is such a beautiful reproduction! The sound is amazing and it is easy to use. Putting it together was fairly simple, however the pieces did not all fit together %100 perfectly, but I did get it together, it just seems like the horn is a little wobbly in a few areas, but it is not a big deal at all and does not effect the sound or look of the phonograph...it is just a small detail that I noticed. Overall I think this is an excellent product and everyone should buy one!

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There are really only two replica gramophone players with CD capability available on the market right now, this and the Pyle PVNP4CD (with brass horn). I opted for this one and am happy I did.

This is basically a comparison between the two.

While the [brass] PVNP4CD allegedly has a real wood cabinetthis is MDF with veneer but you couldn't tell by seeing it in personthe biggest difference is this model has the front loading USB player which is just really cool.

Basically you can take any USB flash drive, copy MP3s or even books on tape on to the flash cartridge off your computer, plug it in to this and play them just like a CD. The forward and back buttons which work for the CD also work for the USB player, and it even comes with handy +10 and -10 track buttons. Pyle claims this only works up to 2GB flash size, but I've been using a 16GB flash and it works just fine.

The horn has a dull antique finish which I personally like better, it is metal (by contrast Pyle says the PVNP4CD is real brass and I believe is larger....the PVNP4CD cabinet also is bigger so it has more footprint overall).

The horn is solidly built and does not wobble, actually its just a beautiful piece. Note that this radio comes in two versionsone with 'Aux In' capability, and one with 'Aux Out'. I got the Aux In without even knowing, which means you can use the stereo plugs in the back to hook up an Ipod or somesuch and use the speakers. The Aux Out version has the exact same plugs, but the little black box on the back says "LINE OUT" in the adsthis lets you hook up external speakers instead for additional sound. I would rather have gotten the Aux Out version but too late now, not a big deal but check the pictures carefully to see which one you are buying.

As far as complaints, nothing major. The radio itself is rather lacking, mostly because the selection dial isn't belted (as in, knob turns faster than indicator moves like most analog radios). No idea why they designed it like that, but it makes getting some stations to come in clear almost an art. The phonograph works and sounds good, the arm itself is rather cool vintage looking but made of cheap plastic, would have been much better metal for sure. (PVN4CD has a modern but less showy arm which is easier to work with, if you plan to play alot of vinyl records, you probably better opt for that model). The front panel is plastic but looks very much like metal I can't see the difference. I swapped the rubber feet out with some carved wooden legs just on a whim to raise it up off the table, thought it was a big improvement.

All in all happy with purchase, the sound is surprisingly good and the radio even has a little sealed bass box inside which boosts the bass quality a bit. The horn also has its own speaker and really works. It is very showy and certainly multi-functional. Recommend!

** updateon reading the reviews for the PVNP4CD, I am hearing that despite their ad their other model also has a veneer covered MDF cabinet not solid wood. Not a big deal to me, most sound boxes are made from MDF and even chain store furniture, but there it is.

Sony DCRTRV103 Handycam Digital Camcorder

I have had this camera for about 3 months, and I am very satisfied with the quality of the camera itself (not surprising from Sony), and the quality of the results. Considering the resolution (500 lines, compared to 240~260 for VHS & 400 for S-VHS, both of which are analog), I don't really see any great advantage to going with DV technology, except that a full digital camera is a bit lighter and the fact that you can record up to 2 hours on a DV tape, compared to 1 hour on either 8mm or Hi8 tape. I use both tapes, by the way, and there is no readily noticeable difference in quality. As far as the weight, since I do a lot of handheld recording, I find that I like this one better because a lighter camera is more difficult to keep steady. The recording sound quality is very good also, as well as being able to record in darkness! The ONLY, and I mean ONLY thing about this camera that bothers me is the fact that more of the on-camera controls are not duplicated on the remote control, such as fades, backlight, etc. I do a lot of active videography, and even though I have a very steady hand, it's very hard not to jiggle the camera when trying to turn on a fade or the backlight or one of the picture processing modes. Other than that, I would highly recommend this camera to anyone.

Best CeeNee MiniPlus Full HD 1080p Karaoke/Network Media Player. (VOB,MOV,MKV,MPEG,AVI,XVID Video;W

• Supports VOB, MP3-XML, and MP3-CD+G Karaoke
• High Definition USB/Network Media Player
• Supports USB WiFi + 3G
• Play HD movies, music, photos, web browser, karaoke
• Karaoke: Queue songs, search, enable/disable vocal channel, custom playlists. create and print karaoke book

This is just too good product for karaoke.

Its small, decent, easy to carry and fun to have products. It is way better than other karaoke players in the market. Just loved my purchase!!!

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Since the CeeNee Inc's head quarter is very close to where I live, I bought the product directly from it. I still have to pay the same price as it is sold at Amazon. I have had it for couple months but I did not try all of its features yet. Here are what I found about the device:

In general it is pretty good. However, I did run into some difficulties that I believe they are defected in either hardware and/or software of the device:

I cannot change the zip code for the weather

I cannot keep wifi connected as default. Every time I power up, I have to connect to wifi again. I think if it is too much to keep user's preferences then the default should be "wifi enabled"

In karaoke mode (and probably in other modes as well) Fast forward and backward seems to work but I cannot resume play.

After getting into karaoke mode, the device brings up a form where I can enter a song name to search. However, there are two issues here. first, the search is very slow with the search form comparing to the search without the form. Second, the song names in the menu are displayed on top of the song index. While this does not hurt much but it degrades the image of the product as well as the company's reputation. Tip: after getting into karaoke mode, the first thing I do is push the menu button to remove the form.

Only youtube application works. The other applications do not work at all. If they do not work, why they are there. At the minimum, there should be a message saying that the app is underdevelopment so that people like me do not have to spend time try to figure out how to make it to work.

In youtube application, after playing a selection, the application continues to the next one at its own choice. I think it should stop and let the user to decide what would be the next one.

In Karaoke mode, the repeat function can only repeat one song, not a group of songs and there is no saved favorite songs or playlists that can survive power down.

We had bad time once, when a friend of mine accidentally disconnected the power cord to the device while it is playing in karaoke mode. After that, the device seemed to work normally but all songs with high index became invisible to CeeNee Plus. We tried to power off and restarted it several times but it did not help. Our karaoke party was scaled down because of that. The next day, I connected the hard disk to a computer and found that there were one folder and one file generated by CeeNee Plus. I deleted them and connected the hard disk to the device again and found that it was back to normal. Now it can see all songs in the hard disk. This recovery should be documented in the user manual. Or it is better to have the device knows automatically that the created files are damaged and they should be destroyed and regenerated automatically. I know many people who sing very often but their knowledge about computers is very limited and they cannot figure out how to recover from an accident like this.

I cannot figure out how to bring a song which is in line to be the next one to play. For example, if I have 4 songs pending, A, B, C and D in that order. Normally, song A will be played next. Can I boost C to the front and play it first without deleting A and B? I cannot find a way to do this.

Since the device is very small and light, the cables connected to it may not allow it to rest firmly on the surface. I wish there is a way to tie it up nicely to the hard drive.

If you use a video-audio cable (likes the one provided) to connect CeeNee Plus to your audio system (since you already get the video with HDMI cable), you will find out that the right channel is dead. After many hours suffering, we accidentally found that the color code is not correctly used on the cable. We have to use the yellow plug which is normally for video, for the right channel audio.

Levana ERA Elite 2.4" Digital Wireless Video Baby Monitor with Zoom and Video Recording - 31103

I got this product and an extra camera for our two children. The picture, sound and reception are great in the day and mostly at night. The night vision is very finicky in both cameras and there's no way to make it choose one or the other. It has flashed on and off at times, or won't change to night vision at all at times, usually fixed by turning the camera on and off (which is a pain without waking a sleeping child). The split screen doesn't let you choose how many cameras to see, it automatically chooses four, which makes the picture really small, but there is a rolling function that changes cameras every 10 seconds. Unfortunately this function causes the parent unit to cut in/out as it switches and would be very annoying if you were sleeping. There are a lot of functions we won't use like the video/picture capture and the 2 way radio but it was included so it's nice if you want those features. The night light we will use to look for lost soothers in the night. The temperature isn't too accurate but it gives you an estimate (our two cameras are only a room apart and they read 2 degrees celcius different.

Overall good product, hope it holds out longer than our previous monitor (3 years). I will be taking it back if the night vision keeps acting up though.

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Sony ICD-SX1000 Digital Voice Recorder

Okay, I'm a guy who records his entire life, so data rate is something really critical to me. Previous Sony voice recorders used a proprietary Sony compression method (in addition to the higher data rate methods) that allowed for a decent-quality stereo recording that consumed 1 Gigabyte every 86 hours. Well, at the LOWEST data rate with this recorder (a storage-hungry 128 Kbps mp3) it takes 16 Gigs to record about 10 days. That's INSANE!!

So, while I LOVE this device and all its amazing features, I definitely can't use it as my 24/7 recorder. I have to back all that stuff up to TWO hard drives! 16 Gigs every 10 days to two drives... sorry... that's excessive. Sure, storage is cheap these days, but that's a lot!

Aside from that major gripe, this device is amazing. 96/24 recording... I don't even do that on my high-end equipment! Sounds great. Has a memory stick slot that the previous devices had dropped for some reason (my last one was an SX750, which totally crapped after two years with its 2 GB internal memory being the only recording option). You can set the level on the device you plug into the mic input (mic/line) which is nice. It's not just considered a mic-only input as in earlier devices. Limiter AND low-cut filter. Nice.

One really cool feature is the transpose. You can go up or down in pitch without noticeable degradation maybe as much as a step, but a half step of transposition is virtually free of artifacts. This is great because I play the sitar and frequently tune to C#. It's very nice to be able to bump a recording up to D or down to C without really being able to hear any digital artifacts.

Cross-memory recording is cool. If you are using the built-in memory and it fills up, it will automatically continue onto an installed memory stick. Very convenient.

One thing they took away, though, is the ability to create a new file by pressing a button. You can place markers by pressing a button now, but if you want to start a new file you have to stop recording and start it again. That sort of bites, because when I review old recordings, the creation of a new file is how I used to indicate that something interesting was happening. This is yet another change after more than 12 years of using previous recorders (MX1, MX515, MX20, BM1, SX750). Not sure why they did that. As someone who records 24/7, I need an obvious way to delineate events, and starting a new file is the best way.

Calendar, sleep timer, alarm... interesting new features, but again, since I leave it running flat out, the calendar will only show a new date/time if I stop it and start it again. Otherwise, the beginning of the current file is the date/time for up to a few days of recording.

Don't get me wrong. This is an AWESOME device! I will take it with me whenever I have some stereo recording out in the field that I want to do. But I got it to replace my broken 24/7 recorder (the SX750) and sadly it can't replace that because of its huge data rate. So I'm back to using the MX20, which is getting a bit old now, but hey, it still works, rusty mic guards and all! :-)

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Ion TTUSB Turntable with USB Record

• USB 1.1 turntable that makes it a snap to convert vinyl collection to CD or MP3 formats
• Includes Audacity PC/Mac recording software and trial version of Bias Soundsoap 2
• Adjustable anti-skating control for increased stereo balancing
• Support for high-speed vinyl recording; works with both 33-1/3 and 45 rpm speeds
• Line-level outputs for easy stereo connection; 1/8-inch line-level input; weighs 7.7 pounds

This item is just too good to pass up. I have a couple hundred vinyl albums that I still listen to occassionally. I have made several disappointing attempts to transfer vinyls to CD in the past, but it always turned out to be too much work to get too poor of a transfer. I kept hoping to find a better way to preserve my collection, and this is it.

SETTING UP THE TURNTABLE: The turntable is so very simple to set up, and the weight and materials are so different from those high end turntables of years past, that you might think you just wasted your money... don't worry, the best is yet to come. It took me all of 15 minutes to set up the turntable and plug it into my computer. Due to a couple of reviews that I read I took 3 precautions while setting up the turntable: 1) I used some of the foam wrapping material from the box and wrapped the RCA plugs to eliminate any extraneous noise that might be introduced into the system, 2) I put small felt pads under the legs of the table that the turntable will sit on, and 3) I used a stylus pressure gauge to get exactly 4 grams of weight (with the plastic cover still on the stylus which should give me approx 3.75 4 grams with the plastic cover off).

SETTING UP THE USB PART: Again it is totally a no-brainer. Just follow the meager instructions that are included with the turntable they are spot-on. When I plugged in the USB cable (I set it up on 2 different machines, a Dell and a home-made running XP Home Edition and XP Professional respectively). On both machines Windows ran me through several set-up wizards that installed the following drivers (it's all automatic, just click when it tells you to): USB Compliant Device, USB Audio Device, USB Human Interface Device, and HID Compliant Device. That's it... maybe 5 minutes of watching the computer do it's part.

SETTING UP THE SOFTWARE: I was pretty sceptical from the reviews I had read. Again, follow the meager software instuctions again they are spot-on. It probably took all of 15 minutes to get everything done.

RECORDING A VINYL ALBUM: Expect to spend about an hour per album (most albums take about 40 minutes just to play through). The process is simple: 1) copy the album to your harddrive, 2) Normalize the file, 3) remove extraneous noise, 4) Split the file into seperate tracks, and 5) write the WAV files to a CD (I used Nero for that part).

FINAL TRANSFER COPY: You'll want to spend a little time learning to use the software (maybe an hour of two and you will have it all down pat). For my first album I used one that was far from pristine. I wanted to see what the software is capable of. I could not be more pleased with the result. Using the software I was able to remove most of the extraeous noise. There is still a VERY slight amount of noise that you would normally expect, even from the most pristine vinyl album, and I like it that way.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an amazing purchase for the price. Everything works, and works better than I ever expected. A dustcover would have been nice, but I'll just make one, no big deal. All of the albums that I have transered so far sound incredible, pretty close to pristine quality, and if you really listen you will know the music is from the original vinyls... what could be better.

EDIT: After transferring about 20 vinyl albums a quick update should be useful...

1) for removing clicks, pops, and static I have settled into this process after copying the album to the harddrive don't "Normalize", instead just "select -> all" from the edit menu; then select "click removal" from the effects menu and move the top slider to the left about 1/2 of it's default center setting then click "remove clicks"; now click "Noise Removal" from the effects menu, select an area between tracks to set the "Get Profile Noise"; then "select -> all" from the edit menu and bring the noise removal window back up; move the slider to the left (about 1/2 way from the default center setting) and click "Remove Noise"; then bring the noise removal window back up again and repeat the noise removal a second time but move the slider a couple of clicks further towards "Less" this time; now just manually remove any remaining noise or clicks (there will be very little left). Your files should now be just right and ready to seperate and copy to CD. Any other method I used seemed to remove too much from the file and resulted in a clean but VERY SLIGHTLY muffled sound (it could just be me though because we are talking about very small degrees of difference here).

2) On my Dell computer there seems to be some kind of conflict with the USB turntable (I don't have the problem with my home made machine). The problem happens when I turn the computer on with the turntable USB cable already plugged into the computer... the computer will hang up during it's initial booting (before it starts loading windows). The solution is pretty simple, just unplug the USB cable before booting the computer and plug it back in after the computer boots up fully, but it kind of bugs me.

EDIT #2: A couple of posts refer to a "Dreaded Silence" problem. After transferring about 50 albums I had it happen to me also. The problem is that the software (??? not certain) seems to be adjusting the computer's system volume to almost mute. Just go into "Control Panel" -> "Adjust speaker Volume" -> "Advanced" and move the "Wave" volume slider back up to a higher value. Hope that helps.

Buy Ion TTUSB Turntable with USB Record Now

Easy to set up. I'm a non-techno yutz, and this was simple for me to install and configure.

Easy to use. I was recording LPs to WAV files in the first hour. Within two hours, I was able to break a side up into individual tracks and cuts and save them separately.

Perfect Fidelity! The quality of the reproduction is fantastic! This is the greatest thing in the world! No need for pre-amp or amp, just LP to PC.

Noise? Yes, of course; this also converts your scratches and pops with digital exactness. But even so, you're well ahead of the game: at least this way you'll never have to worry about putting *new* scratches on your favorite music!

This is one of the best investments I have ever made; I'm overjoyed with this technology!

Read Best Reviews of Ion TTUSB Turntable with USB Record Here

Don't be scared off from this turntable by the reviews here that say it barely works with a Mac, because I got it to work with my Mac right out of the box. The thing to keep in mind is that people aren't really complaining about the turntable itself; they're complaining about the software included with it--which is actually shareware! Having read the complaints here, I decided just to use different software with it, and it works fine. You can use whatever Mac audio software to record that you prefer--I tried CD Spin Doctor, which comes with the famous Toast CD burning program, and Sound Studio, which is shareware you can find at any number of Mac shareware sites on the web (it actually came installed on my mac, so you may already have it). I preferred Sound Studio because CD Spin Doctor is a little buggy. Once you choose what software you want to use with the turntable, and you plug the USB wire into your Mac, simply go into your system preferences under the Apple logo menu, and choose the Sound preference; once you're in that, change Sound Input to the turntable and click "OK." You're ready to use the software--none of this Apple MIDI nonsense. It's really THAT Simple!

So how's the turntable for transferring vinyl to your computer? It's pretty good--it got much better sound than I got previously with an iMic adaptor hooked up to my home stereo. I will say, it's a little more treble-ly than I'd like, but it's very slight, and you likely can adjust your music file to have more bass in whatever software you use to record. Or, you can just pump up the bass in iTunes when you play it back. Either way, not that big a problem.

Drawbacks--it doesn't come with a dust cover. For shame. Also, no "78" mode; if you do choose to use the Audacity software that comes with it, that allows you to change the speed of a song to 78, so you'd record in 33 or 45, and then change the file after the fact to 78. Yikes, too much bother, but then again, when was the last time most of us played a 78 anyway? Finally, I wish there was some automation for dropping the tone arm down and picking it up at the end, but this isn't going to go into my home stereo set up anyway (although it could since it also has RCA wires as well as the USB). I'm just using it to transfer old b-sides and bands whose albums will never get rereleased, and in that regard, it's perfect for the job.

Want Ion TTUSB Turntable with USB Record Discount?

On the one hand, the Ion works quite well. It's easy to set up, produces surprisingly good quality sound, and turns the whole process of digitizing vinyl into a two-device, three step process... rather than the four device, multi-step process I'd been using.

On the other hand, the software included with the turntable is a bad joke, at least for Mac users. There's no installation software Ion includes the source code for Audacity and expects you to compile it yourself. (You'd be much better off downloading it compiled from Sourceforge.) There's a complex process involving Audio MIDI setup, including a workaround for a nasty bug regarding sound quality setup. Once you get it working, it's quite impressive, but it's very far from user friendly. Let's hope this gets better in future releases of the product, because the hardware is nicely designed and the results are quite impressive.

--------

Updated January 16, 2008.

Ion's software support for this product and Macintosh has gotten much, much better since I wrote this review, 18 months ago. The current software doesn't require any fiddling with the MIDI settings on Mac, as the turntable now mounts in your Sound control panel as an audio input. And they've done a nice job of filtering the audio that comes through this input so that you can get excellent results saving directly from Audacity, without equalizing or filtering, as was pretty much necessary in the original release. I would modify my three star rating to four stars the turntable still needs a speed control and a dust cover, but the software's much better.

I bought this for $139 (not including taxes or shipping) through Amazon and have been very happy with it. It was easy to set up, the directions were clearly written, and it does a good job of converting my old LPs to digital form, in my case, to MP3s.

The Audacity software is intuitive and easy to use, though you do have to go onto the Internet and download a particular file (a snap to do). On some albums, the MP3s created sound significantly better than the album itself -the static and pops are gone, for example. But on others, getting rid of all of the static results in a somewhat distorted digial version. It's kind of a balancing act and you have to make adjustments using the software (easy) to decide what the optimal level of noise removal is. But even with no noise removal, the skips are abbreviated, and I'd say that almost all of my MP3s (I've converted only about 12 albums so far) sound at least a little better than the LP.

This is a great product!

OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD, DVD-Audio, and VRS Technology

• Universal Blu-ray disc player providing playback for a myriad of video formats
• Supports Blu-ray, SACD, DVD-Audio, DVDs, and CDs
• Two USB ports allow for playback of media stored on a flash drive
• Uses award-winning video processing chip for a clear, true picture
• Device measures 17.0 x 3.0 x 13.25 inches (WxHxD)

This is my second high definition player. I bought a Samsung BD-UP5000 when they were first released since it played both HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Poor support, lack-luster performance and the end of HD DVDs left me wanting something "better". I found what I was looking for in the Oppo BDP-83.

Oppo is a customer-driven company and conducted an extended beta test to uncover bugs. The beta testers had to accept the state of the player before it could be released! I've emailed Oppo support a few times and they are prompt to respond with real answers not just an automated or canned response usually the same day. I can't say enough good things about the company.

The '83 is rock solid. It has not frozen or even hiccuped once. It plays all the discs I've put in. (The 5000 had trouble with some and often required the discs to be fingerprint free and occationally locked up requiring restart to even eject a disc.)

To me, one of the important features of a disc player is SD DVD upscaling. Standard definition can look pretty bad on a HDTV. Even the networks and cable channels often do a marginal job up-converting. My 5000 had a very good upconverter (Reon) but the '83 is better something you'd expect from a company that focused on SD DVD players long after the introduction of HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Sometimes I forget I'm watching SD material!

Most high def players are sluggish, acting more like underpowered computers than audio/video gear. Boot and disc load times often exceed 30 seconds. Not the '83 it's responds more like a DVD player than a computer. The tray opens in under 3 seconds from pressing the eject button (with power off) and playback begins in under 10 seconds (for SD DVD). For Blu-Ray, play start does depend on what enhancements the content provider loads before playback can begin (custom menus, etc.). (Remember Blu-Ray discs allow the content provider lots of control over the player and playback of the content.)

The '83 decodes all advanced audio formats: Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio, etc. So the lossless audio is available via 7.1 analog outs as well as PCM over HDMI. You don't need an A/V receiver that includes decoders for these formats the player does the work. Speaker management provided by the '83 makes the 7.1 analog outputs usable, but with some limitations: The bass management frequency is fixed at 80 Hz, and there are limitations to speaker distance delays.

The user manual explains things so that the user/installer can make important setup and usage decisions. For example, there is a section that explains the various output resolutions and which is best for various scenarios; and another that helps choose the correct "zoom" for various disc and TV aspect combinations.

So often, modern computer-based A/V gear is released without a complete set of features with the promise of adding them later. Again the '83 was released fully featured so there's little to wait for. But Oppo realizes there will be bugs to fix and new features to add as well as new disc behavior to support. They've provided THREE separate ways to upgrade firmware: via a network connection, via CD/DVD or USB memory.

I use a universal remote to control all my A/V gear and thanks to a document provided by Oppo, I was able to program my remote prior to receiving the unit. Most of the commands use the same data as their previous players so I was able to start with the configuration for an older mode. Oppo provided an Excel file with all the control codes in a format that can be imported into Universal Remote Control and Pronto remotes (maybe others). I've never seen this level of support from any other consumer electronics company and this material existed BEFORE product release. Where documentation was lacking, customer support provided the missing information.

There's been one (public beta) firmware update and a user manual update since the '83 was released at the beginning of June 2009. The firmware update was fast and painless (via USB memory).

My one compliant of the BDP-83 is it's power cord. It uses a 2-pin connector resembling an IEC connector found on many pro and prosumer equipment, however there is not sufficient holding tension and the cord has unplugged itself from the unit twice. I had to wrap the cord around one of the feet to prevent it from happening again.

Buy OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD, DVD-Audio, and VRS Technology Now

From the moment you unpack the Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-Ray player you realize that this is going to be a truly unique experience. Wrapped in a reusable carrying bag, shipped in a double-thick cardboard box, the fit and finish of the Oppo BDP-83 matches the quality of the packaging. And the good thing is that unlike many Blu-Ray players, the best-in-class experience continues from the time you power it on to daily use.

I was lucky enough to get in on the Oppo pre-order in late May, after reading the early reviews of beta units, and knowing the reputation of Oppo's upscaling DVD players. For me, the Oppo BDP-83 offered the promise of super-fast load times, outstanding video quality, and the ability to play high-resolution audio (my SACD library).

A bit of background I have a pretty high-end system configuration (Marantz SR-8002, KEF Reference speakers, Mitsubishi HDTV, Sony ES SACD player, Bang & Olfusen turntable). And I have pretty demanding standards especially for audio.

I waited to buy my first Blu-Ray Player (the very good Panasonic DMP-BD55K) until a standalone player offered quality and load times at least *close* to the PS3. And, although its load times and DVD playback are good, it still didn't quite meet my standards.

From the moment I connected the Oppo BDP-83 to my system, I was blown away by the experience. Extremely easy to setup (I literally unplugged my Panasonic and plugged in the BDP-83 using the same HDMI and component cables), very very easy on-screen instructions and setup. The remote is definitely much better than average with large backlit buttons of different sizes.

The speed of the Oppo BD-83 certainly grabs your attention:

BluRay load times are about 2x faster than the Panasonic BD55K it replaced

BluRay menu navigation, etc also very fast and responsive

SACD and DVD (Audio/Video) load times are nearly instantaneous

The SACD load performance really stunned me. My high-end Sony ES SACD player (remember, Sony co-developed the standard) can take 1-2 minutes to load a hybrid SACD. On the Oppo any SACD (stereo, hybrid multichannel, etc) loads in under 2 seconds.

But it is the video and audio quality of the Oppo BD-83 that truly sets it apart:

BluRay video performance is outstanding, but you come to expect that from the format. (I can't say I notice a difference here from my Panasonic which is also excellent.)

DVD video performance is stunning a noticeable upgrade in quality on your HD set. This is where you start to see the benefits of the embedded AnchorBay processor.

High resolution audio quality will blow your socks off.

I personally didn't notice a difference in high-res BluRay formats such as DTS-Master and DolbyTrue HD, but to be fair my Panasonic player is also excellent in this area.

For SACD, the improvement offered by the Oppo BDP-83 is simply stunning! My Marantz receiver can decode DSD over HDMI, and the audio quality is dramatically better than the analog 5.1 output from my high-end Sony ES SACD player. I didn't think the standard could be elevated, but was pleasantly surprised by this.

DVD-Audio performance is also outstanding. I never had a DVD-Audio player, so I've used this opportunity of having a truly "Universal Player" to stock up on high-resolution multi-channel titles that were never released on SACD (eg. Crowded House, Seal, Queen, Yes...)

There are other very nice touches:

BluRay Profile 2.0 with 1GB of onboard storage (my Panasonic made you buy an SD card for this)

two USB 2.0 ports (one front covered by a flat rubber port, another in the rear), neither port is recessed, so you can use standard USB memory sticks/adapters

analog 7.1 audio out

supports simultaneous HDMI and component video output (eg. you can send high-res audio over HDMI and video over component)

support for NTSC and PAL format DVDs, but they must be unlocked (this is a region-locked player, unfortunately)

IR in and IR out ports

optional RS-232C control port for professional installations

very heavy-duty removable power cord; even heavier gauge than the one Marantz shipped with my $2000 receiver!

nice onscreen menu system graphics and easy-to-use interface

What could be improved?

well, first of all, Profile 2 support is only through hard-wired ethernet (no WiFi)

speaking of Profile 2.0, the interactive services aren't particularly fast, but I have yet to find a BluRay title that actually has compelling Profile 2.0 content

no support for streaming services like Netflix, although there are rumors that the hardware *might* have the capability to support through a firmware update I wouldn't count on this though

the BluRay and DVD player are region locked unfortunately. (CD, SACD, and DVD-Audio discs are by definition region-free)

I personally couldn't be happier with the BDP-83. Certainly the best $500 I spent! It not only compares but blows away high-end players costing 4-6x greater.

Read Best Reviews of OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD, DVD-Audio, and VRS Technology Here

A year in the making, OPPO has finally released the BDP-83 Blu-Ray Player their first entry into the market. They have produced some of the finest upscaling standard DVD players, including the exceptional DV-983H. Thankfully, the BDP-83 uses the same Anchor Bay chip as the DV-983H, so your standard def DVDs will look as good as possible. On the Blu-Ray side of things, the audio and video quality are exceptional; on par with the best Blu-Ray players available. The BDP-83 also plays back DVD-Audio and SACD discs, making it a truly universal player. Anyone familiar with first-generation Blu-Ray players is all too familiar with their slow disc-loading times. Recent players have made great strides in this area, but the BDP-83's loading time is the fastest I have seen.

OPPO chose to forgo the trendy conveniences of YouTube, NetFlix, and Amazon Videos on Demand. I find these all to be quite convenient, but can't fault OPPO for sticking to their mission to create the best and most universal Blu-Ray player. Adding these features would have inevitably detracted from the performance of the machine.

OPPO has included all of the connections you may want. Along with the HDMI interface (which supports 1080p HD video output (with 24p), and TrueHD audio), the BDP-83 has 7.1 channel analog audio out, a dedicated stereo output, and both digital optical and coaxial outputs.

The BDP-83 also includes two USB ports (one in front, one on the back) to play back video and image files. It will even play PAL-formatted DVDs and convert them to NTSC on the fly. It also includes IR in and out ports to integrate into home theater control systems. Finally, the remote is a step up from previous OPPO models and easy to use with its back-lighting.

Bottom line: this is the best Blu-Ray player available. The image and sound quality is unparalled, the load times are fast, and it's ability to play any format of disc is a wonderful convenience. I can finally retire my dedicated SACD player!

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I have owned this player since March. I was 1 of the 1st 50 that was chosen as a part of Oppo's Early Adoption Program. I had the player for about a month and was ask to vote on whether or not to expand the Early Adoption Program. The vote required a 70% super majority, but received and overwhelming vote of 96% with 2 owners not voting. Because of this overwhelming vote the EAP was expanded to 300 additional people as opposed to 100 as Oppo had previously stated. The 350 EAP participants had to vote again after several weeks of use. The 2nd EAP vote yielded a 92.2% (only required 70%) acceptance with 69 participants not voting. This vote led to eventual release the player to the general public.

The Early Adoption Program allowed Oppo to flush out most of the bugs and compatibility issues due to the diverse setups of the early adopters. This was a highly visible and bold move by Oppo to expose their product to the general public prior to release. This program worked to perfection allowing Oppo to flush out most of the issues prior to public release. What other manufacturers would expose their product to this kind of scrutiny? NONE!!!!!

My basic premise for wanting this player is because of my previous association with Oppo DVD players (DV-980H, DV-981HD & DV-983H) and their outstanding customer service department which left an impression upon me. I know blu-ray playback for the most part is very similar, but DVD playback can be night and day from player to player and the Oppo has one of the best solutions in the VRS by Anchor Bay ABT-2010 under the hood. I own several SACDs and DVD-As; over 100 blu-ray discs and over 600 DVDs and I want the best (though subjective) 1 box solution that I can afford. I also own 2 Pioneer BDP-51FD and a JVC XV-BP1 blu-ray player all of which are fantastic players and serve different purposes throughout my house. I've also owned players from Samsung, Panasonic and Sony.

First Impressions (Impressive)

-Player protected by a black cloth bag (nice touch)

-Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Calibration Disc (video)

-AIX Records Audio Calibration Disc HD Music Sampler (Audio)

-Back lit remote (Alkaline batteries)

-HDMI Cable

-Composite cables

-Owners Manual (Best written manual that I've experience)

My Setup:

-Pioneer Elite PRO-950HD (sit 6' 8' from the screen)

-Denon AVR-3802

-Speakers: BIC Venturi DV62s (fronts) /DV62CLR-S (center) /DV52si (surround & surround backs)

-Velodyne Subwoofer

-Atlona HDMI 1.3b cables

-Analog cables from Monoprice

-Media Players: BDP-51FD, Oppo BDP-83, JVC XV-BP1

BLU-RAY PLAYBACK

I used the blu-ray discs the Dark Knight and Hellboy. The playback was excellent. The colors looked natural and the picture was not unusually sharp or overly vibrant. Some players at their default settings seem a little too sharp or bright in my viewing. Some may refer to this as the picture having more pop. The Oppo has the most neutral or natural picture of the players that I own in my opinion. Others have also expressed the neutrality of the Oppo. Blu-ray playback should be similar amongst most players for the most part. I would be skeptical of anyone seeing a night and day difference in blu-ray playback.

DVD PLAYBACK

For DVD playback I 1st used the disks from Star Trek The Next Generation Season 1. I chose this disc because I know is doesn't have the best rendering. I wanted to challenge the up-converting of the Oppo. The Oppo did a good job with this disc definitely improving the video. While it wasn't night and day there was definitely a visible improvement to my eyes. The picture was smoother with less noise. I also looked at other DVDs and the Oppo did a fantastic job with those also. The BDP-83 will squeeze the very last ounce of picture quality out of your DVD collection. I was initially going to replace some of my favorite DVDs with their blu-ray counterparts, but that number has dropped significantly with the addition of the Oppo.

AUDIO

I'm using the analog connections of the Oppo since my AVR is pre-HDMI. The playback of SACD and DVD-A is outstanding in my opinion. Also, multi-channel analog surround sounds very good decoded by the Oppo. I have not used the Oppo or any of my players for 2 channel audio since I have a dedicated CD transport that I am quite happy with. There are those who don't think very highly of the Oppo 2 channel audio or have another 2 channel analog solution, but the consensus seems to be that the Oppo 2 channel analog is very good. Also, listening to audio is too subjective given the various setups and room acoustics. Last, the Oppo uses the same DACs (Cirrus Logic CS4398) for their 2 channel audio that are found in the Marantz models SA8003 and SA-KI-PEARL SA-CD. Both are CD/SACD players. The DAC info is strictly for informational purposes only.

OTHER

The multiple zoom settings for both SD DVD and Blu-ray are fantastic. The "Full" zoom mode removes the black bars from the top and bottom of the video while maintaining the correct aspect ratio. You do lose a minimal amount of the picture, but not enough to be concerned about in my opinion. I know the video purist don't like this, but I do. Also, all the audio outputs are active all the time. This allows you to change the audio from your AVR or Pre/Pro without going into the setup menu. You can also make adjustments to the setup on the fly without stopping the player. There are a host of other features like being able to choose sub-titles or change the movie soundtrack on the fly. There is also a "Demo Mode" which splits the screen allowing you to make on-screen real time picture adjustments and see the results before accepting the adjustments. Last, there is the back lit remote which is laid out nicely and logical in my opinion. The player is very easy to setup right out of the box and you can have it up and running within 10 minutes if you are using an HDMI cable. For those looking to get everything out of the video you can tweak until your hearts content.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For those who have commented about whether or not this is truly a universal player; Oppo never marketed it as such. If you go to their website it clearly states that it is a "Blu-ray Disc Player W/SACD & DVD-Audio". I guess the inclusion of SACD & DVD-Audio led to it being called a universal player on the various forums.

When the term "Universal" was introduced several years ago it meant a 1 box solution that played all the different types of media discs (DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A). Now "Universal" loosely means BLU-RAY, DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A. For this player to be a "Universal" player in the true since of the word, then it would need to play HD-DVDs. There are other current and future releases by Denon (DVD-A1UDCI & DBP-4010UDCI) and Marantz (UD9004) that are being advertised as "Universal" players, but have this same shortcoming.

If you're just looking for a plain vanilla blu-ray player and If your only criteria is PQ for blu-ray and DVD, then there are several players from other manufacturers that will do a very good job with blu-ray and DVD playback. However, if you need the additional features and media support, faster load times, GREAT customer service, SACD and DVD-A support just to name a few; then the Oppo is a bargain at $499.00. The only other players with this feature set that I am aware of begin at $1,999.00.

I've occasionally read where some think the Oppo is "over-hyped" which is phrase I don't particularly care for. I would say that there is a lot of "enthusiasm" from the owners of this outstanding player. I also find that most of this "over-hyped" speak are from those who have never owned the player. We refer to these people on the various threads as "trolls". These are individuals who have comments that are mostly negative about equipment that they have no hands on experience with.

There have been over 20+ reviews of this player and the overwhelming consensus is that the player is worthy of all the "Hype" or "Enthusiasm" that has been bestowed upon it.

Do you think the Oppo would be receiving all these glowing reviews and comments by owners if they were not impressed or satisfied? Remember people are forking out $499.00 when there are capable players for basic blu-ray and DVD playback available for less than $100.00 on sale. If the masses were unhappy with this player, then we would all know about it; especially in this economy. (lol) I know of several people who have bought this player for strictly blu-ray and DVD playback, because the feature set outside of blu-ray and DVD playback is that good.

This player is not perfect, but it is the closet to perfection that I've had in my setup. If you're skeptical take it for a test drive. If you are not happy then the most you'll lose is $18.00 shipping (I live on the east coast) if purchased directly from Oppo.

Before I purchased this Blu-ray Player (the Oppo BDP-83) I owned a PS3. I also have several friends who own various Blu-ray Players including Samsung and Panasonic. Before I start the review let me say that all of these were connected to the TV with Monster HDMI 1000 cables into Sony XBR series televisions. I am writing this review mainly to assist those comparing current models primarily those who own or are thinking of buying a PS3.

First and foremost, now that I have been operating this Oppo player almost daily for the past 3 weeks I can make the following blanket statement: This Blu-Ray player does indeed live up to its promise in terms of visual quality; however, it also has more than enough small quirks to annoy those who were hesitant towards the $500 price tag. Is it better than the PS3? Visually Absolutely. Performance Hit or Miss. Here's where I will break this down into sections:

Visuals: When I first purchased this player I changed the settings for 1080p, 16 x 9 ratio and made sure the settings were accurate as I went through the included manual. Then I put in a standard definition dvd. And...I was initially disappointed. The upscaling on newer films and older films including Ghostbusters, Batman Begins, Mad Max, and Harry Potter Order of Phoenix looked exactly the same as my PS3. My tv visual settings were left on Vivid for both players. After my initial shock, I came to the conclusion that at least it wasn't any worse. Then I put on a few cartoons for my daughters including: the Ducktales series and Dumbo. The colors and contrast were ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL. The colors were much richer and vibrant than those that had been displayed through the PS3. The outlines on characters were much bolder and the quality of the original tape was so well represented that I could actually see tape defects on older cartoons from the transition to dvd. After much more comparison I have found that upconversion for most standard dvds is very similar to the PS3 although anything with bright visuals (most noticeably cartoons) stands out amazingly when placed side-by-side.

As for Blu-Ray playback I used Coraline, I am Legend and Band of Brothers. On all accounts the Oppo excelled, offering richer colors, greater depth and more accurate image representation. In some scenes, such as the lions in I Am Legend, the Oppo clearly showed a well defined computer generated animal whereas the PS3 was unable to generate the image to such a degree. The Panasonic and Samsung showed nowhere close to the same quality that this Oppo produces. Some images are so glass-like that it makes my tv look more fragile! Therefore, visually, if you want a stand-alone Blu-Ray player, go with the Oppo. However, if you will not be watching as many cartoons and still do not own a large Blu-Ray collection, the PS3 is not a bad choice.

Hardware: The Oppo does have a few glitches in this category I am sure they will eventually work out. The company seems to have incredible support and customer service as I will later talk about. Several times I have tried to turn the player back on and no image is sent through HDMI. It seems that if you stop playback at certain locations (menus within menus i.e. special features) or at certain parts of the credits before the dvd loops, the player is unable to read back the disc. This has happened three times within three weeks and I have had to eject the disc, turn off resume, and reload the disc. The signal was sent properly thereafter. In addition, the audio between some menus and general playback is occasionally at very different sound levels even with DRC on (Dynamic Range Compression). I have tried having it on and off to no avail. It seems that they are encoded differently I cannot figure it out. This is not a huge issue, but it is something that the PS3 did not do. The third point I would like to STRESS is that the "award winning upconversion technology" also pulls in a few extra frames from time to time in its upconversion process that leave one image stuck on the screen for a fraction of a second longer than other images in series. It looks like the dvd is sticking for a second and then resolves itself. I find this more often in cheaper produced dvds (never in blu-ray discs), but it is still something the PS3 did not do. At first I was annoyed, but then I realized that 1 small glitch in an opening title was still ok given the enhanced colors in the cartoons. It IS something you will notice from time to time on Standard dvds and almost always occurs during a transition from one shot to the next or a jump cut. Furthermore, as another reviewer stated, the fast-forward is somewhat slow on 1x, 2x and 3x. However, it goes to 5x, which seems to be about the same speed as a 2x or 3x on any other player. This is more than enough to fast forward within a scene because Blu-Ray has scene forward and back. Use the two in combination and you will not have any problem finding your location. In addition, keeping time on the outside of the unit makes things amazingly simpler. Load times are EXACTLY the same as PS3, almost always instantaneous although you will find a 5-10 sec load from time to time. This is MUCH better than the other aforementioned players. Despite these shortcomings, the picture quality is fantastic for a standalone player. If you wanted to play PS3 games, however, the only performance issue I had was an occasional game freeze (which never occurred on dvds).

Presentation: The Oppo REALLY shines in its presentation. The entire unit is made from an etched black metal and feels very sturdy. The Led light on the front for time display also has a dimmer that with High, Low and Off for your preference. The remote is backlit and has several great features including zoom processed by the player itself for tvs that do not have that feature (or to use in combination with the one your tv has to enlarge a picture without cutting as much off). The zoom levels and automatic 16x9 are fantastic and do AT LEAST as good of a job as the PS3, although I believe it is somewhat better. The only problem I have found with the remote is that the LARGE buttons on it are somewhat difficult to press and must be depressed in the center for the player to read them. Pressing a button off to the side will turn on the backlight, but will not register with the Oppo even when directly in front of the unit. The unit also comes in a double thick cardboard box built specifically for the Oppo. The manual looks like what you would expect from a VERY HIGH CLASS startup company and features thick glossed paper and very explicit well versed instructions. The package also includes all necessary cables, standard AV and HDMI (although I already had Monster) and a tv/ bluray calibration disc for home theaters. I spent 9 hrs going through all settings with this disc, however, only to find that the standard settings on my tv seemed better. However, I admit that if you have a "professional" do this for you, then it may work correctly. I didn't think that $300 for a professional was necessary after seeing the quality I already had.

All in all, from the time you get the Oppo in the mail until you view your first Blu-Ray you will be presently surprised. The system does have great visual, although a few minor problems keep it at a 4, in my opinion. More specifically, I would give this unit an 8.5/10. A very good choice now that I decided I would no longer be playing PS3 games, but not the "PLAYER TO RULE ALL PLAYERS" as some reviews have made this out to be. Please Note that through firmware upgrades, some problems may be remedied in the future. I have called customer service twice both times I went directly to a representative who spoke clear English, sounded very professional and knowledgeable, and helped me without question. Never put on hold and never transferred through an automated service. That in itself was enough to make me decide that this was the Player to keep.

Panasonic PVDV103 MiniDV Compact Camcorder with 2.5" LCD

I was looking for an inexpensive camcorder with high quality audio and video, digital download capabilities (i.e., miniDV), and good portability. I tried out numerous camcorders and read up on many more, and I eventually settled on the Panasonic PVDV103. The first distinguishing feature is that it's seriously SMALL -noticeably smaller than the comparable models from Canon and JVC. It fits really well in the palm of my average-sized hand, and most the controls then just fall naturally under the fingers. As a result, it's a pleasure to use even for extended hand-held filmimng sessions. The audio is very clean, unlike the Canon ZR-series, and the video has wonderful, natural colors. Downloading an image via Firewire is easy and trouble-free. I only have three minor quibbles with this camcorder: 1) it doesn't have the Sony-style night vision capabilities for filming in dim or dark situations; 2) its optical zoom is 10X, which is good but not superb; and 3) its image stabilization isn't quite as solid as Canon's or Sony's. All in all, for the price (and even for hundreds more), I don't think there is a better all-around camcorder.

Panasonic makes a great DV. I'm on my second one. The video quality is solid. The import to the PC works well. They have been reliable. Nice and light. Everything you'd want.

The only downside in my experience on my prior Panasonic was it broke after about a year of fairly frequent use. Their service policy is a flat $250 charge to fix it, regardless of the problem. That was about half the price of the unit new, which seems out of line.

Otherwise, if it doesn't break, great unit.

Buy Panasonic PVDV103 MiniDV Compact Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Now

When shopping for a camcorder the first thing to pick is format. I dismissed analog because of the lower resolution and poorer picture/sound quality. I considered miniDVD, but this is a relatively new format and is therefore significantly more expensive at the moment. I chose miniDV because it seems to be the most popular digital format right now. I also decided that I did not want to use the camcorder for taking still shots that are stored on removable memory. Even the very expensive models have low resolution that will yield poor pictures. My advice is to stick with a separate digital camera and save some money on the camcorder. I have had good luck with Panasonic tvs, dvd players, projectors, and cordless phones so I naturally considered them when shopping for a camcorder. Consumer Reports also rates Panasonic camcorders highly in terms of reliability and picture quality. I chose this particular model because it had all the features I needed, is very compact compared to other brands, and is reasonably priced. I think this model will please and adequately serve any home movie makers.

Read Best Reviews of Panasonic PVDV103 MiniDV Compact Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Here

Purchased this item two months ago. I used it four times and now it shows a "dew detected" warning. The camera then shutdown and no longer works. I did some research and found this is a common problem, not only with this model, but several other Panasonic products. The problem is due to a detective module that Panasonic uses and the only way to fix it is a repair bill of $150. I have tried several times to contact Panasonic, but have received no response. Until Panasonic upgrades their parts and customer service I would buy elsewhere.

Want Panasonic PVDV103 MiniDV Compact Camcorder with 2.5" LCD Discount?

the "dew detected" sign is another way of Panasonic saying that the camcorder needs "servicing" and that you will have to send it in to be fixed for a price of at least $80. There are TRILLIONS of forums on the lack of reliability of this camcorder.. so DON'T BUY IT.. or any other camcorder from Panasonic.. because they're just unreliable.