Showing posts with label usb voice recorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usb voice recorder. Show all posts

Friday, November 21, 2014

Dane Elec 128 MB Secure Digital Card

Dane Elec 128 MB Secure Digital CardHow many pictures will it store? It is the most commonly asked question from digital camera enthusiast but usually the question that is the most difficult to get a straight answer about. Well, considering I worked in the memory industry for over 7 years I can help clarify this perplexing question and do so unbiased as I have since changed industries.

The DANE-ELEC DASD0128R 128MB SD Card, like most 128MB cards, will store on average 142 pictures when used with a 2 megapixel camera, 106 images when used with a 3 megapixel camera, 64 pictures when used with a 4 megapixel camera, 51 images when used with a 5 megapixel camera, and 40 pictures when used with a 6 megapixel camera. These numbers are based off the assumption that you are going to shoot your images at the highest quality JPEG setting available for the camera and understand that they are estimates and may be off by as much as 10 percent due to numerous factors including the complexity of the scene being shot and the compression algorithm used by your specific camera.

I truly hope this review was helpful to you in determining whether this card is the right capacity for your specific needs.

It is an excelent card. Fast to write and read. But after 15 months, the memory broke. But was a good deal.

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This is an excellent sd card. It has fast and reliable. Made in Japan.

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Saturday, October 25, 2014

SainSpeed 4-LED Car Dash DVR With Night Vision, 2.5" TFT LCD Screen Display, Microphone Inside

SainSpeed 4-LED Car Dash DVR With Night Vision, 2.5' TFT LCD Screen Display, Microphone InsideI have been though about six DVR and this one seem to be the best out of all the other ones for the price. I have not used the night

vision yet but day time is nice and clear but sometimes the screen get a little dark if the DVR screen it is not turned right.After loading it on my PC, the picture, well it's okay. For the price how much can you get.

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Friday, October 10, 2014

ION IT28 Quick Play Flash Conversion Turntable with USB Flash Drive

ION IT28 Quick Play Flash Conversion Turntable with USB Flash Drive
  • Convert LPs to. WAV without the need of a computer
  • Headphone output for quick, noise-free listening during transfers
  • Plays and converts 33 1/3, 45 and 78 RPM records
  • EZ Converter software guides through transfer steps
  • Plays and records. WAV files to a USB flash drive

The Ion IT28 Quick Play Flash turntable is all Ion claims ... small, good looking, efficient, and 3 speeds (33, 45, 78 rpm). It works flawlessly. I have 7 portfolios filled with 78 rpm records that I have wanted to convert to digital format and this Ion does it. Simply insert the attached USB flash stick into the USB port, place your record on the turntable and start converting. Afterwards, the flash stick can then be inserted into your Mac or PC computer and the converted digital file copied. This is the most straight-forward method of transferring music. You may also use the included software by directly connecting the Ion to your computer.

The Ion connects to any receiver (even one without a turntable input) by connecting to a simple RCA input jack. Since many newer surround sound system receivers no longer include a turntable input, this is a great way to listen to your old records. The ion comes w/ the USB flash stick, all cables and software for both Macs and Windows and an included needle cartridge for both 78s and 45s & 33s. Replacements are available and very inexpensive.

The terrible audio quality of 78s of course transfers to the digital format, but w/ 3rd party audio software, the music can easily be filtered and the offending scratches and hisses minimized. I cannot say enough about the Ion. They have created a simple and direct approach to a very old problem ... getting those old analog records into our new digital lives.

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This Ion works as designed and performs quite well. Can't beat it for the price. I've digitized numerous albums with no major problems. No skipping what so ever on lps over 40 years old. Obviously, records that are badly damaged won't play any better on this unit than they would on any record player. My only problem with the unit is the software that you need to download. Don't use the cd which comes with the unit; it is already an older version. Still, the up to date software sometimes starts a new track when in fact the song isn't complete yet. The instructions do make a note about this issue however. On lps that this does occur, you can make new tracks manually when you set up to record a new record. Overall, I'm very happy with it. I don't mind having to listen to some of my music twice when the software acts up because their all good. That's why I bought the lps way back then in the first place. If I want to assure that I won't need to play the music twice, I just use the manual mode and start the new tracks that way. No issues. I haven't connected the Ion to my sound system however I'd bet it would work great. My main reason for getting it was to convert lps to digital then burn the songs to cds so I can listen to them anywhere.

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I got the Ion usb flash turntable about a week ago and have had absolutely no problem with it. I plugged it in, put on a record, plugged in the flash drive and some headphones and started converting my albums immediately. I didn't want to install Itunes or the other software that came with it on my computer so it took me a few minutes to figure out a work around. It turned out to be pretty simple. I just plugged the flash drive into my computer, brought up the files on it, renamed them so I knew what to look for on the other side and then copied them to my music library. Once they were in there I right clicked on each track and found the album info, which most of the time also brought up the artwork. Somebody else complained that their unit skipped while playing. I have had no problem with this and I've played some pretty beat up old discs. It has skipped no more than what every other record player I've ever had would have done. Sure, this isn't as heavy or as well made as my old record players, but the sound quality has been about the same. I don't really intend to add it to my stereo for constant use, but I think it would hold up pretty well. I'm interested in only converting my old LP's and for that the flash drive aspect of it has been great. I don't have to hook it up to my computer to get my music there and that has been a real plus for me. In fact, that was the deciding factor in buying this unit. For 60 bucks you can't go wrong.

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This turntable looks cool and is very small. That is the good. The bad is very bad. It sounds terrible! The cartridge is ceramic so don't expect accurate sound. The worst part is that it does not even run at the correct speed or at least mine did not. All 3 speeds were significantly faster than they should have. Very disappointed on ION for this one.

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I bought this because I have read the product details that it can convert our LP into wav files.

But the reality is that, it converts directly to mp3. Aside from that, it converts the small file which is 128 kbit, which is not a good quality of sound.

I don't know who wrote the details, they should change that.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Bluecherry BC-H16480A-16 port video, 16 port audio H.264 / PCIe hardware compression capture card

Bluecherry BC-H16480A-16 port video, 16 port audio H.264 / PCIe hardware compression capture cardIf your purpose in buying this card is to use it with Zoneminder, move on. Buy another card instead. I've had good success with the PV-149 and with the PV-183. This card does not work well with Zoneminder...it takes an awful lot of effort to get it working and when you do, according to others in the forum, the results are worse than the older PV cards (despite the h.264 encoding.) The card comes with no documentation, despite what it says above. The package contained the card, two 16-port cables (one for video and one for audio,) a 2-pin reset watchdog connector, and a sticker (presumably for your computer to display that you have bluecherry in your computer.) No documentation was found online for the card, and I pretty much set it up by looking at the supplied picture from the vendor and plug-and-pray.

I have not gotten this card working in Zoneminder on Mint Linux (despite the solo driver loading fine and the device appearing in lspci and in /dev/videoX.) I keep getting input/output errors when trying to access the card through Zoneminder, though it does work directly through ffmpeg and the camera software installed on Mint. Some of the folks on the forum got this card to work with ffmpeg, but they say it works worse than the older cards (slow and a lot of artifacts.) The documentation on the Zoneminder HCL, doesn't include any of the steps necessary to get the hardware running and it is purely by brute force that anyone has been able to get anything working. The link in the HCL goes nowhere.

*edit*: removed some of the misinformation from the original review, Bluecherry didn't submit the HCL entry. I did get it working, but was having the same problems that everyone else was having with artifacts.) Switched back to the PV-149 and 183 for now.

I also bought the Bluecherry DVR software and it's the best product on the market. You have to do a little work to assemble a linux server, and in my case I needed a 2U rackmount. For my installation I required a PCIe L bracket, and some extra mounting hardware. The features and accessibility of your video data is unmatched in any other DVR camera server.

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Friday, September 19, 2014

Archos Helmet Camcorder (500876)

Archos Helmet CamcorderTHE GOOD...

The camera does what it says. It will change your Archos X04 into a camcorder. You won't need to buy a hard drive camcorder.

It's easy to hook up and comes with the portable DVR adapter. As an added bonus, the portable DVR plus Archos' proprietary A/V cable (they design the wiring so that it only matches their products)will eliminate the need to buy the larger DVR station. You can use this to record TV too. However, this cable is NOT included, but for $20, it's still cheaper than the full sized DVR.

If you have the Archos DC plug, it will charge the Archos faster than USB.

The camera does a good job as it autofocuses (quickly, I might add) and adjusts for white balance and lighting conditions (also quickly). While it's claim of filming in next to no light is exaggerated (I was in a dark room and it only produced snowy patterns over a dark screen), it will film better than some cameras that demand bright light. It will compensate in a poorly lit room.

Playback on standard def TV looks good (well... that is the resolution it is actually designed for).

THE BAD...

Some will complain about the resolution. It is certainly not high def (and was not intended to be). The video does not look it's best on the Archos screen itself (or computer screens), but looks good on standard def TV through the A/V output(that is the resolution it was designed for). A critique could be that if the Archos can produce great video on its screen, why produce a camera that produces video not up to the same standard... Who knows? Cost? Size? I wonder if they will come out with a high def version...

It doesn't provide the A/V cables or the DC plug (which the portable DVR can use). They must be purchased separately.

You can't tell how much time/space you have left on the disk so that you can stop recording before the disk is full.

The color of filmed objects is not always faithfully reproduced. (I recorded a red book which looked pink on the Archos screen).

The so called "wired remote" is not very intuitive.

There are some software quirks that shut of the screen, freeze up the Archos, etc. if you press a button not supported during a recording session. You have to reset the player.

No zoom functions or other dedicated cam corder features (though it doesn't claim to have them).

The listed features talk about a codec available and slow motion capture... I still don't know how to access these features.

THE UGLY...

The carry pouch is an ugly bag with a string. I had read that the Archos player itself used to ship with that dreaded soft pouch (which offered it no protection). I guess that since they designed a hard side case for the player, it appears that they are using the surplus soft pouches for this peripheral.

The helmet strap, while functional (and included as part of the package) is pretty ugly. I guess it will look better on an actual helmet (it is a helmet cam after all, but who the heck wears a helmet that often).

CONCLUSION...

It's pretty cool and does what it is supposed to do. I doubt I'll use it during my action/adventures because, I fugure, that the Archos will probably break (the Archos site shows it being used during base jumping... can it withstand that?). I like it and recommend it.

I got the Archos 404 with the helmet camera. The 404 is a nice unit. All metal with easy to use buttons and menus and a very nice large screen. As a media player this is one of the best out there and awesome for the money. The helmet camera was small and the headband comfortable. I shook the 404 and even tapped it on a table to try and get it to skip. It did not. Taking a few videos around my house resulted in decent video. But when I took it outside the shortcomings became apparent. In bright sunlight colors while moving were surrounded by rainbows. The compression also made it impossible to make out much detail. It basically looks like a uTube video. But after fiddling with the settings I decided to take it out on the trails with my mountain bike. The 404 fit very nicely in my pack and I never even noticed it. After fiddling with the camera I managed to get it to tuck it beneath the edge my helmet. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep my sunglasses or edge of my helmet out of the frame. The head band also doesn't have an angle adjustment and as a result I feel like it was a little low. I also didn't like how the recording light on the inline remote didn't stay on. It would only flash when you turned it on. In bright sunlight it was difficult to see if it flashed or not. And taking the 404 out of my pack to see if it was recording defeated the purpose of the remote. The video quality was a little better on the shady trails but still unacceptable. And the audio wasn't synced with the video (about two seconds off). I had such high hopes for this set up. It seemed perfect for mountain biking. Simple, compact, inexpensive, and easy to use. Especially since the video I've recorded with my tiny Canon SD400 still camera comes out very good (its difficult to ride when holding the camera with one hand though). I returned the 404 for a full refund. I was going to keep it but I already have a 40gb Creative player and the Archos didn't shut off and resume with my car.

Bottom line. This camera is not worth $20.

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First off I will give a slight proviso on the five star review. When I bought this I didn't expect HD quality video or even as good as a standard mini cam, therefore the video quality is above my personal expectations. So, it does what it says on the tin it's a helmet cam which gives much better quality video results than all of the other "action" type devices that are within reach of mortal mans' pockets. The actual standard of build is bloody excellent with a high quality feel to the alloy camera housing. The helmet/head strap works very well with loads of adjustment and really securely holds the camera. It works amazingly well in low light and it seems to cope well with reasonably fast movement. Now it is fair to say that you live and die with the Archos multimedia player which is not going to take much punishment before it's busted. Fortunately the camera cord is long enough to be able to stow the Archos player somewhere safe. I used mine on a motorbike I taped the camera to the body and stashed the Archos recorder under the seat out of the way. Worked fine. There is a start and stop on the camera cable and a mike as well. Operation seems to be okay although I'm never quite sure I've got it set up right each time which ends up with me having lots of video of itself whilst I check it's working. It will certainly video for over an hour on a full charge so you tend to get bored before it runs out. One small irritation is that there is a bug in the system. If you shut down the camera function, leave it connected and then restart the Archos the battery appears dead and it shuts down. I've always had to unplug the camera before starting up to avoid this error which even happens on a fully charged unit. If it does show up then you have to turn off the Archos and unplug the camera before restarting. It all goes back to normal then.

Read Best Reviews of Archos Helmet Camcorder (500876) Here

I think that Archos is so on target with this product. My only wish is for a little bit more distance for the camera as a 30 ft. range for detail is quite limiting.

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Excellent equipment ,very durable camera,I use it as a SUV CAM and BODY CAM in very harsh conditions ,brilliant picture quailty very robust .

Monday, September 15, 2014

JVC HR-XVC33U Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo , Silver

JVC HR-XVC33U Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo , Silver
  • Space-saving DVD/VCR combo player with MP3, WMA, and JPEG CD support and hi-fi VHS sound
  • Progressive-scan video output renders seamless, flicker-free images on high-definition and HD-ready TVs
  • Quasi S-VHS playback allows viewing of S-VHS tapes (in standard VHS resolution)
  • Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround outputs for immersive surround sound (when used with compatible receiver and speakers)
  • Multi-brand, full-function remote control operates the combo player and most televisions

The JVC HR-XVC33U is amazing! I've played several DVDs, store-bought videos, audio CDs, and a CD-R that contained audio and JPEGs. Everything played beautifully. At first I had some problems playing DVDs but after cleaning the DVDs it worked fine (whew!). After reading about so many lemons out there involving combo DVD/VCRs, I consider myself lucky! [knock on wood]

Some other nice features are DVD Zoom (very cool!), diff. FFWD/RWD speeds, bookmarking, index skipping, front A/V inputs, excellent remote that controls TV/VCR/DVD, and VCR timer recording (up to 1 month).

I did some serious research and price comparisons on several combo DVD/VCR players before deciding on the JVC HR-XVC33U. In the end I picked the JVC model because it seemed to be plagued by *less* problems than the other models, had a huge feature set, and was cheap compared to other models in its class.

The Sony SLV-D300P has almost identical features plus Flash Rewind and looks nicer but costs about $25 more. The Sony SLV-D500P has identical features and VCR+ and an illuminated remote but costs about $35 more. Other competitors in its class were: Toshiba SD-V391 (different model had very low rating on Consumer Reports bad sign), Panasonic PV-D4743K/S (can't record DVDs, about $10 more than JVC, but plays DVD Audio which is rare), and Samsung DVD-V3650 (the consistently bad ratings on every Samsung model told me to run away fast).

One thing you need to be careful of is that combo DVD/VCRs sometimes skimp on features you would expect in a standalone DVD or VCR player such as VCR+, front A/V inputs, VCR timer recording, and DVR-to-VCR recording. Also, I suspect that the many reviewers who reported DVD playback problems (I'm talking about for ALL combo DVD/VCR players not just JVC) didn't try cleaning the DVD first.

I would definitely recommend getting the JVC!!

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I bought this unit from Circuit City about 5 months ago. The first one I took home had a problem with DVDs skipping until the display read "no disk" I tried every DVD I had, even new ones. I took it back and CC seemed sceptical, but grudgenly replaced it. The second unit played DVDs fine, but sometimes the remote would switch to VCR and sometimes it wouldn't. It always plays the DVD in the unit when you turn it on, and if there is no DVD in it, it says "no disk" and sticks there until you turn it off and back on, with a disk. You cannot get it to go to VCR so you can tune the TV with the unit, and it makes using the remote more difficult. It is impossible to get it to play a tape now. I don't know what the warranty is, but I really do not want to screw with CC again. I am kicking this unit to the curb and going to look at what Sony has to offer tomorrow. JVC, do better.

Read Best Reviews of JVC HR-XVC33U Progressive-Scan DVD/VCR Combo , Silver Here

I haven't yet had a problem with the DVD player on this unit. The VCR seems to work OK too, and I figured out how to program timer recording easily. A cool feature is that it reads your tape and tells you how much time you have left on it to record when you aren't sure if you have room for a program. The only real drawback I had was the hookup instructions. They were needlessly complicated and could have been written a lot simpler than they were. Once I figured out what I needed to do, hookup was a breeze. But the reading the directions made it harder, not easier.

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I have owned this unit for about 15 months now. I bought it as a bedroom unit. I wanted a good DVD player and a VHS to transfer TiVo content onto tape. I was especially interested in getting a high-quality DVD as I have a high-end Panasonic 20" LCD TV in the bedroom. I am very happy with the picture quality of the DVD player to say the least. I watch 4-5 movies per week due to a large DVD collection and NetFlix. In fact, I do the majority of my DVD viewing in the bedroon, not my main LR HT setup. I watched "The Incredibles" on this player a few nights ago and it looked stunning. I appreciate the front AV connections to connect my TiVO to the unit to transfer recordings onto tape. I have had no mechanical problems with this player in all the time I've owned it. The remote is good, there is a good setup\adjustment menu. It gives me everything I want and I get it for a very inexpensive price!

-Mike

I have owned this unit for over 4 years now and I can say that it has not failed me yet. In fact I am buying another one for my Girlfriend to replace her Sanyo Combo unit. It has great features and wonderful video and audio quality. I highly recommend this unit.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Toshiba Excite AT305T64 10.1-Inch 64 GB Tablet Computer - Wi-Fi - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.20 GHz

Toshiba Excite AT305T64 10.1-Inch 64 GB Tablet Computer - Wi-Fi - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.20 GHzI've been wanting to get a tablet since last year and have been holding out since they announced ICS and Quad-Core processors. I was going to get the Prime for christmas, but it was unavailable, so I decided to wait and see what came out in the spring. I've stayed away from the Prime due to the higher price and GPS issues, so it came down to 3 tablets while making my decision (Transformer Pad, Acer Iconia a510 and the Toshiba Excite 10). All 3 tablets are very similar and met my criteria for a tablet (ICS, Tegra 3, 1280x800 display, HDMI-out, etc.). I had originally ordered the Iconia a510, but it was back-ordered. Then I saw the Excite was available and in stock early on Amazon last week, so I cancelled my order for the Acer and immediately orderd the Toshiba. What ultimately sold me on the Toshiba model was the Gorilla Glass, the Stock ICS experience and the Full SD card slot. My wife takes a lot of pictures and will love being able to just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the tablet.

I received the device yesterday and it is very fast and slim. I used it for a good 3 hours straight last night with music playing in the background and experienced no lag at all and still had 70% battery remaining after the 3 hours. The Excite 10 is very well built and feels sturdy in the hands. Not too heavy, but just enough that it doesn't feel like you are going to break it. The WiFi signal was very strong and didn't have any issues there. The speakers sound pretty good considering how small they are. The setup took no time at all and with the Google Restore function, I had all of my phone apps (about 100) on my tablet within 20 minutes.

So far I haven't come up with too many Cons for this device. If I had to list some they would be the following:

1. There is a good amount of pre-installed junk on the device. Not that big of a deal since apps can be disabled in ICS.

2. The Charger is proprietary. It would be nice to charge over microUSB, but with the size of tablet batteries, it would take forever to fully charge, so it is understandable why it doesn't.

Overall, I am very pleased with this product and would recommend it.

UPDATE 5/11/12:

1. I wanted to point out that I ran AnTuTu Benchmarking tool and it listed the Excite 10 as a 1.3 GHZ Tegra 3 processor and got a better average score than every other device listed.

2. Some of the pre-installed junk can be uninstalled, but some can only be disabled.

3. I was able to plug the charger into my Laptop and Car USB ports and it was able to charge. It was charging slower than the wall plug, but a nice feature if the battery is running low.

Let me start off by saying that I have tried many, many different tablets. So far, this one is definitely my favourite. Let me break it down here:

1. SPEED: 9/10

I've ran a few benchmarks on it and so far, only the acer a510 has got higher. Still slightly faster than the TF series from Asus (TF101, TF201, TF300) and definitely faster than the first generation tablets (Samsung Galaxy, Toshiba Thrive, Acer a series, BB Playbook). Haven't run into any problems with speed so far.

2. BATTERY LIFE: 9/10

Again, the Acer a510 tablet is the only one I have run into with a longer battery life. The Asus Prime comes close, but not quite there (I would recommend an app called JuiceDefender, which will greatly help your battery life).

3 SCREEN QUALITY: 10/10

One of the best. Most tablets that are android based and 10.1 inch screens have1280*800 resolutions, however the brightness and clarity is fantastic. A little warmer than the Prime or Galaxy tabs (works great for HD TV or movies)

4. COMFORTABLITY: 7/10

An often overlooked attribute is how comfortable the tablet is to hold. This tablet is one of the thinnest, lightest on the market right now, so it is understandably a little odd to hold in landscape, nut trust me, its not nearly as uncomfortable as the Prime or Iconia a200. Once again, the only other tablet that is more comfy to hold is the.

Acer a510.

5. BUILD QUALITY: 10/10

AMAZING! Honestly, the best all around built tablet I have ever experienced hands down. Gorilla Glass, aluminum build, solid.

6. OPERATING SYSTEM: 9/10

Stock ICS is nice to have, and Toshiba throws in some very cool features with its organization. The only reason it loses a point is for the stock programs that can't be taken off. However this will not slow down anything on the tablet.

7: WHY NOT THE ICONIA?

With all the comparisons to the Aer 510, why not it for the same price? Well, I've owned both, and this one is better in almost all regards. I have not run into a bug or hiccup yet. Quite a bit smoother experience of a tablet.

OVERALL SCORE: 54/60

Actually, this is the best score I have given a tablet. Nothing is perfect, but this is quite high up there. Thanks for the time,

Nate.

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So far I've owned the ASUS Transformer Prime (TF201), Acer Iconia Tab A510, and now the Toshiba AT305. The TF201 had build quality and wireless/GPS issues and the A510 had a "grid effect" to the LCD and some bad heat issues (106+ degrees). And now the AT305, which has light bleed issues. The sad part is that despite this annoying "issue," it's still the best Tegra 3 tablet out there.

As with the Acer and Asus, I've already gone through two AT305's just to make sure these issues were consistent. But let's go into a bit more of a detailed review first on the AT305 that I've been using for a few days now.

DESIGN:

Out of the box, initial impressions are very good. The tablet has a great solid feel to it, it's comfortable to hold, thin, and yes, even light weight. The back has a hard, smooth, plastic feel to it although I hear its aluminum. If so, it probably has some type of coating on it. Basically, it's one nice looking tablet.

I won't go into details regarding where everything is or what feature it has, as you can easily see this from the pictures. Although the one item I must point out is the SD Card Slot, which is on the right side. There is a blank filler card that must be removed when you want to use your own SD card. While the addition of a full-size SD slot is very welcome, there is nothing to cover the slot once your card is in there.

So your hand will frequently rub against the sharp inside edges of the plastic casing. I'm normally not a big fan of plastic covers, but in this instance, it would have been very nice to have. If you're planning on getting a case, this won't likely be an issue.

WIRELESS:

I've tested both wireless and GPS extensively and found them to both perform very well. I'm able to maintain a solid WiFi connection even at the furthest reaches of my Access Point. And GPS can actually pick up a few satellite in-doors, which is always impressive. Outside I can get accuracy down to less than 18ft, within 1-2 minutes. This of course was verified with the GPS Test application.

PERFORMANCE:

Overall the device is very snappy and I haven't had any issues that I didn't run into with the other Tegra3 devices on Android 4.0.3. There are still a few occasional bugs or glitches with ICS, which I hope they'll resolve soon. Otherwise, nothing specific to the AT305.

Antutu scored a 10,313 and Quadrant is right at 4,000. I've seen slightly higher Antutu scores on the A510, which was closer to 11k. Although as I recall, this is the highest Quadrant score I've seen to date. Keeping in mind that both devices I had scored nearly identical. And in either case, the scores are subjective and personally don't put a whole lot of faith in them.

Until they have some new benchmarks that really take advange of the quad core CPU and Tegra3, they're just something to give you interesting numbers to look at. :) Real world tests are where it's at. Speaking of which, playing Tegra 3 games is smooth and they all run expectedly nice. Surfing the web, running apps, and other such tasks are all as expected. Quite good.

After watching movies and playing games, I got temps as high as 93 degrees on the back, right side. This was determined by my infrared thermometer. It's not as cool as the 85 degree TF201 but also nowhere near the 106+ degree A510. So I consider that to be on the warm side, but not uncomfortably so. I think the material on the back Toshiba uses helps to dissipate the heat so it doesn't "feel" hot or uncomfortable.

While surfing or running normal apps, the temps were staying in the 80's where it should be.

DISPLAY:

Starting positive here, the LCD does look very nice. In fact, of the TF201 and A510, it's the nicest I've seen. Even though it's not IPS (it's TFT as I recall), it looks great. The images are very crisp, colors are vibrant, and it has surprisingly good contrast ratio. The best part is that they've found a very nice color temperature balance.

While the A510 was very cool and the TF201 was on the warm side, I found the AT305 to quite neutral. This makes it very pleasing to use whether you are reading, surfing, playing games, or watching a movie.

But of course we can't ignore the negative part of this. There is light bleed, and it just makes me very sad. You won't notice this on any normal colorful image. But if you're watching a movie or looking at a picture that has a black background at the edges, you'll see a very uneven amount of light emitting from the sides. And the more you turn up the brightness, the worse it is.

In fact, just powering on the tablet, you'll see this on the Toshiba logo as it has a black background. It was exactly the same with both AT305's I got. And it's not something I ever experienced with any other tablet I've owned or used. Normally, this is considered a defect and swapping it out would resolve the issue. But based on my experience and countless other reviews/posts on-line, this is quite common with the AT305.

Whether you call it a defect, poor build quality, or a cheap display, it's not desirable.

BATTERY:

Just in general, when you make something smaller, you tend to make some sacrifices. In this case, it was the battery life. To test it out, I started with a fully charged battery. Then basically used it non-stop until I got down to 20% remaining, at which point we were right at 6 hours of usage. This isn't very good. Although keeping mind this is "heavy" usage. I was downloading a bunch of apps, playing games, watching movies, and even ran a benchmark or two during that time.

So I'd say heavy usage, you're looking at 7+ hours. Personally I don't like allowing the battery get much lower than 20%, so that's normally about the time I'm looking for a power cord. And yes, the power adapter is straight out of the 90's. There's no reason it needs to be that big; but it is, and I got over it.

For me, with "normal usage," I'm easily lasting the entire day on a single charge. This is mostly because I don't use it non-stop and spend most of the time checking e-mail or surfing the web. And overall, it's a fair compromise for its light weight and thinness.

SPEAKERS:

As with the A510, the AT305 has down-firing speakers at the bottom, and there are in fact two of them (unlike the TF201). They are backed by Toshiba and SRS enhancements, which are definitely needed. If these sound enhancements are turned off, the sound is horrible. But with them on, the speakers actually sound pretty descent.

I do suggest turning on the "boost" function if it's not loud enough. Surprisingly even with that turned on and volume maxed out, there is no distortion. The A510's speakers still sound noticeably better as there is most detail and they have a fuller sound. The TF305 has a tendency to sound a bit muffled at times, depending on how you're holding it.

I still wish they'd put them forward facing. Otherwise, I find them perfectly acceptable and wouldn't mind watching a few shows or demoing the device to friends.

So let's wrap this one up.

Pros:

+ Looks very nice

+ Light weight and thin

+ Tegra 3 Performance

+ Full-size SD Card Slot

+ USB functionality

+ Descent stereo speakers

+ Gorilla Glass

Cons:

LCD Light Bleed

Only "OK" battery life

No SD Card Slot Cover (when in use)

Considering specs (16GB model), could be a bit cheaper

CONCLUSION:

So how bad is the light bleed? It's annoying enough that this is getting returned. I've been in the IT field for nearly 2 decades and have repaired so many computers and electronics (including many LCD's), I wouldn't even want to guess as to how many. In other words, I know a defect when I see one. :) However, my lovely wife did play with this for a while and she did "volunteer" to take it off my hands even after showing her the light bleed. It didn't bother her one bit, which I'm sure will be the case for many other folks out there.

So my search for a solid Android tablet continues. On the plus side, I think we're getting closer! Just give me all of the good features from Asus, Acer, and Toshiba, and we'll have one killer tablet on our hands. Come on folks, it can't be that hard to spend $400-$500 on a tablet without making compromises.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Excite AT305T64 10.1-Inch 64 GB Tablet Computer - Wi-Fi - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.20 GHz Here

I received this tablet (the 32GB version) on Tuesday and after a couple days to get used to it here's what I found;

Overall I really like the tablet. It's fast, very fast, very thin & light, runs most apps without any issues (some apps won't work with it but this is only because the developers haven't put it on the list of compatible devices. i.e. Lets Golf 3 won't run on it, I'm sure it will be updated to work though. This tablet definitely has enough power to run it). There's no way I've found to root it yet though. I'll keep it as I'm sure someone will come up with a way sooner than later.

Some other reviewers have said the sound is too low. This is fixable by going into the audio enhancement settings and click on SRS sound boost. With this on the volume is just fine. The stereo separation is very good too (two speakers located on the bottom side of the device)

This tablet has a pretty big proprietary connector on the supplied USB cable. It should last a while, it better be tough for the size of it. This brings up an interesting point. When you plug in the tablet with this cable to your computer, nothing happens other than it will charge the tablet. On all of our computers (5 of them) windows wouldn't recognize the tablet was attached. When you plug in the tablet with a micro USB cable the computer will recognize it. It's a bummer they use a huge connector on a cable that only charges the tablet and then only at 5v. Takes a long time to charge. On the upside you can use external battery pack chargers (you can get 10000+mAh batteries for around $60 on Amazon that will provide a lot of spare power.

Toshiba tech support from my limited experience with them is awful. I called about transferring files via the supplied cable and they were no help.

I also had an issue using the USB host functionality trying to use an external hard drive and found via their tech support it will only support drives formatted to exFAT, FAT or FAT32. DOES NOT support drives formatted to NTFS. This is very odd... I had to back up a 750GB Oyen Digital hard drive, reformat it and then transfer the files (mostly movies and TV shows) back to it. Took forever. Now that the drive is formatted to exFAT it works perfectly. Just plug it in using a micro USB host cable (purchased separately) and viola, it shows up on the file explorer (both the stock file explorer and ES file explorer).

PROS:

* It's very light and thin

* It's super-fast. I scored a little over 10300 on AnTuTu benchmark, and this is with the tablet loaded up with apps (my xoom would only do 6700 or so). Once I can root it and overclock it a bit I'm sure it'll be one of the fastest tablets around.

* Full sized SD card support. I'm using a 64GB card and it works great. I'm sure it'll handle a 128GB card. If I spring for one I'll update this review if it doesn't.

* Some of the bloatware is un-installable (the demo app, games etc.). You don't need to unable them, but that is an option if you want to keep them on the device.

* Screen image is sharp (although there is a fair amount of light bleed see the cons)

* Gorilla Glass

* Handles 1080p video well, although the native video players doesn't handle many video formats. Use "MX Player", free on the market and will play anything.

* Screen is very responsive. Almost too responsive, when you go to touch an icon if your finger is moving at all left or right it will start to scroll the page and you'll need to touch the icon again to open the app.

* Very good wifi and GPS reception.

* Stock browser works great. Haven't had a force close yet (this would happen all the time on my Xoom, even after I upgraded it to ICS).

* USB host functionality is great (many devices need to be rooted to get this to work).

* Charging off of a standard USB port is nice, but it takes a long time to fully charge.

* Battery life is pretty good. I've been getting around 8 hours of actual use (mix of streaming vids, checking email, etc).

* Boot time is fast. I clocked 55 seconds from off to the lock screen showing up and then another 10-15 seconds for widgets to load.

CONS:

* Lots of light bleed. Not very noticeable if you're watching something with a lot of light but during dark scenes it's a little annoying.

* Proprietary charging cable that only seems to charge the tablet.

* Charging takes a looong time

* No way to root yet. After some digging around it looks like it might be awhile before a rooting method is released... This is a real bummer.

* Can only handle FAT formats if you use an external hard drive.

* Some apps aren't compatible with it, yet.

* You have to click the notification area a few times sometimes to get it to open up.

That's about it. Overall I really like this tablet and can't wait for a rooting method to be released. If I notice anything else that needs to be addressed I'll update this review. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll help if I can!

Want Toshiba Excite AT305T64 10.1-Inch 64 GB Tablet Computer - Wi-Fi - NVIDIA Tegra 3 1.20 GHz Discount?

Update to this review 06/04/12:

I have had one of those 180 moments where I leaned to the A510, but now prefer the T305 (I have both at the moment):

1. The right side heat of the A510 is getting annoying. Even viewing PDF files results in very warm to hot on the right side. The Excite barely gets warm even when playing 3D games.

2. The USB location on the A510 makes having the nice feature not practical. Having it on the bottom is pure stupid and flipping the tablet upside down still makes using it awkward.

3. After having the 305 a few days I really ntocie the vertical lcd array lines on the A510. The Excite does not have these.

4. Touch response is better on the Excite

5. Having a 128GB sd card formatted to exFAT works well and better than expected.

I am returning the A510 and will keep the Excite. Very ironic.

End

I appreciate the Asus 300 and Prime are also good tablets, but the 300's build is flimsy and needs a special cable for data transfer. The Prime has weak wifi due to the panel design, so IMO it is a current match between the Excite 10 and the Acer A510 (I am putting the Excite first, since this IS the product page for it):

Build = Excite. I thought the A510 was built well, but the Excite is a work of art and design and has Gorilla glass.

Comfort to hold = Tie. The Acer feels better to hold and grip, but the Excite is lighter and does not get hot on the right like the A510 can.

Performance/Speed = Excite, but barely. Benchmarks are a tad higher and seems to have a little better response.

Display = A510 (but subjective). The contrast is better and no light bleed around the edges that the Excite has. Some may prefer the slightly warmer color though. Still, both are 1280X800 and neither in the same league the iPad 3, but no others are.

Sound = A510. Fuller sound and better stereo effect, plus output to TV sounds better for surround sound. Both tablets have sound features that need activation for better sound.

File system = A510. My 1TB NTSF drive works great and can play 1080p MKV movies from it. The catch is can not charge at same time, so good the battery is so huge. I also had a Toshiba Thrive before and like the Excite, third party apps did not work well with files. Comic apps would not delete files either, so had to use the stock file manager. A510 works with everything thrown at it, but constrained to the file manager on the Excite.

Ports = Tie. Excite has full SD slot (nice), but the special connector is needed for charging. No special connector needed for the A510, so easier to find other charging options IF you forget or lose the charger. You are SOL if you misplace the Excite charger connector.

Battery life = A510. No contest here. About three hours longer with similar medium and heavy use (Web browsing, stream Netflix, Amazon on demand, local video, gaming and comic reading).

Though both are nice tablets, I give the win to the A510 due to better battery life and file management. That said, the Excite is a nice tablet.

Added: I wish Toshiba (and other OEMs) used the file system same drivers as Acer. Mobiletech review mentions this too, so not just me going crazy.

Added 2: Both have real good wifi and another plus for the A510 is 16gb more internal storage for the same price as the Excite.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Exclusive Hello Kitty KT2028A Stereo CD Boombox with Cassette Player/Recorder and AM/FM Radio By SP

Exclusive Hello Kitty KT2028A Stereo CD Boombox with Cassette Player/Recorder and AM/FM Radio By SPECTRANotice how I said WE like this! This is my daughter's radio but I think I use it just as much as she does if not more!

WHY SHE LIKES IT

She likes it because she can play CDs and have dance parties with her friends. It's also very easy for her to operate. She does not read yet but given it's simple design it's easy for her to figure it out. There are only two knobs on the radio so if this one doesn't control the volume that means the other one does.

WHY I LIKE IT

I listen to radio stations that are hard to access on digital radios. I guess they don't have a strong signal. This has a manual tuning dial so I can move it a smidgen to the left or right to get less static and more station. It also has a tape deck! When was the last time you saw any new radios with a tape deck! In fact it was one of the reasons I went with this model. Why you may wondering. My daughter is a performer and I thought this was a great way for her to record her voice without much assistance. Sometimes she likes to practice her performance before she let's me hear/see it.

OVERALL

This is a great product! We had this boombox for 6 months and it's still working just fine. Not to big, great volume, and easy to use!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Element Electronics Digital/Video Player 2GB

Element Electronics Digital/Video Player 2GB
  • LCD Display with 7 Backlight Options
  • FM Radio Included
  • Voice Recorder Included
  • Supports MP3, WMA, WMV and WAV formats
  • Built-In Speaker

After reading mixed reviews on this item, I had to post what a great deal it is. Excellent video and sound quality (with better headphones, comes with cheapies). The controls are very touch sensitive and work quite well actually. Navigating through the menus is also pretty simple after using a few times. All the features this player has for about $20 bucks, super deal.

Buy Element Electronics Digital/Video Player 2GB Now

I had to play with this for a few hours in order to figure out how it works. the directions that comes with it are no help at all.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Livestream Broadcaster

Livestream BroadcasterI've had it for about five months now. In that time Livestream has significantly upgraded the firmware and the entire service. It's a mature and reliable product.

Read all the information here and on Livestream's site. It does have some limitations but they're reasonable and easy to deal with.

I also built a PC for thousands of dollars to do everything I need on Livestream. It has much greater capability but it doesn't fit in my pocket, run for hours on batteries of fit the accessory shoe on my camera.

If you can live within its limited capabilities (and it's pretty capable) you'll be pleasantly surprised.

So far I have done 3 events and this box is just one amazing piece of equipment, must have gadget for a wedding videographer.

Works great with my Sony VG30 camcorder and Nikon D600 DSLR.

I love the fact that I can create event on fly without a PC using the LiveStream Android App on my phone.. video quality is excellent and you have a choice of upto 5 different video broadcast quality.

Setup was a breeze ... 3 steps and thats all there is to it, stores WiFi network to connect easily. You may want to invest in atleast 6 AA Eneloop rechargeable batteries.

I cannot find a flaw in this device to give anything less than 5 stars, works exactly what I had imagined and then some. Magnetic tabs to hold battery panel is a prime example that goes on to show that LiveStream design engineers were thinking ahead of curve.

Compact, lightweight, well lit display, excellent product overall made me login here and say few good words about this product.

Buy Livestream Broadcaster Now

*** Update 3/25/13 ***

I still like the Broadcaster, however, when I used it with high quality Lithium Pro batteries the unit failed, I think it overheated. I've done several tests and a couple of events, one for almost 1.5 hours with inexpensive batteries without any heat issues. When I used the lithium batteries for a wedding after about 20 minutes the unit would not stay connected to my Verizon MiFi device. The signal strength indicator said I had a good signal (it was only a foot away) but the text on the screen said it could not find an Internet connection. So in the middle of the wedding I changed back to the standard batteries and the unit came back up and streamed for another 30 minutes without any problem. The only time I've had this problem is when I've used the lithium batteries. When I pulled the lithium batteries out of the Broadcaster they were very hot to the touch. So I'm staying away from Lithium batteries, I think I can get about 2 hours out of standard batteries which is should be find for broadcasting weddings. Here is a link to a wedding that I did using the "High" quality but not "HD" setting:

Original Review

I purchased this to stream weddings and special events. I've used it a couple time to get comfortable with it before my first live wedding. During my testing I've learned a lot about the unit.

No matter what I've not been able to stream HD over a wireless network. Even when using SpeedTest.net to measure my upload speed at double what should be needed HD simply isn't reliable.

High quality is supposed to be almost as good a picture as HD and I can stream this quality over wireless and Verizon MiFi

When using the wireless with my Verizon MiFi, if I pass between the encoder and the MiFi hotspot I lose some of the bandwidth and I get a bandwidth warning. So, I keep clear line of sight between the encoder and the MiFi hotspot.

When I mounted the encoder on a bracket on my videocamera next to my Sennheiser ENG receiver I sometimes get interference from the encoder. When I move the encoder more than 6 inches from the receiver the static goes away.

The encoder is slow to start up and can take up to a few minutes to find my Verizon MiFi and connect to Livestream. Once you have selected the correct event the streaming starts quickly.

I have not had any problems with the encoder remembering WiFi settings. I have one setting in the encoder and it works every time. However I have to make sure my MiFi is up and running before turning on the Broadcaster of it won't find the network.

Battery life is not as good as expected. When I use standard AA batteries I get about 90 minutes of broadcast time. Since I'm planning on doing weddings this is plenty of time for me. I've not tested a higher quality set of batteries yet, I'll see at my wedding this weekend.

Over all I like the Broadcaster and Livestream. Connecting to my event page and starting the streaming is easy to do. I may try to edit this post after my wedding and get comments from my clients.

Read Best Reviews of Livestream Broadcaster Here

This thing really does what it claims to do. It's easy to set up and offers a bevy of onboard options. Would have given it 5-stars if it was rechargeable. But that's nitpicking. It's pretty sweetespecially for the

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Sunday, July 6, 2014

RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 Player with Flipout USB and Display

RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 Player with Flipout USB and Display
  • Small and efficient thumbdrive-style design keeps it simple
  • Flip-out USB connection means file transfer is a snap and you never "lose the cap"
  • 4GB memory - 1200 songs
  • Digital volume control and track navigation make sure nothing gets between you and your music
  • Includes earbud headphones

First off, if you are looking for a good MP3 player for under $100, look no further, this is about the best you will find.

Reasons to buy this MP3 player:

#1: It runs on a AAA battery as other less intelligent reviewers have explained. This is awesome if you're on a hike across Europe and have no means of charging your battery in a computer, socket, or whatever. And many AAA/AA battery rechargers will work with portable solar panels, score.

#2: It's light, compact, and will easily withstand 3 years of service so long as you don't throw it at a wall or step on it (I've owned the previous model as well).

#3: YOU DON'T NEED ITUNES, or the software it comes with, thank the heavens. I hate iTunes and originally bought the previous version of this MP3 player for the plain and simple fact that you can drag and drop music into it without needing to install the software. You will get a prompt to install software when you plug it in but it's optional.

#4: It does play audiobooks (another reviewer seems to think it doesn't), however the audibooks have to be in a standard audiobook format, they cannot be in a large (and likely pirated) WMA or MP3.

Reasons not to buy this MP3 player:

#1: It doesn't have an FM Radio like it's older counterpart (RCA TH1702 2GB thumbdrive style MP3 player)

#2: It is very small and should be kept away from babies, toddlers, and animals as some parts are removable.

#3: It is not a status symbol, no one is going to be a impressed, except for you and your wallet knowing you've saved a lot of cash and made a responsible purchase on something that works great for $25.

Buy RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 Player with Flipout USB and Display Now

I bought this yesterday(July 2 2011) and spent about an hour today messing with it before I decided to do things my way. at first glance it looks great,

usb built in flip out which means no cables.

comes with standard earbuds.

4gb capacity(3.7 if you look closer)

comes with software.

first major problem is the software. Requires your player to be connected(not through a hub but directly to the computer so that the software can detect it) as you install the software(located inside the player itself). This fraustrated me as I didn't figure this out for a good 20mins(I use all my usb ports and have 2 hubs). Creating playlists was crap. It wouldn't load a set of files with track numbers in the right order(no option to even sort by track numbers. Sending it to the player itself took forever, after reading so much about taking advantage of usb2.0 on the box/install notes this was disappointing. This may be because it was creating the playlist at the same time as sorting each mp3 into an artist folder and an album folder and more config files

I decided to treat the player like a shuffle. drop my mp3s into the music folder, set the playmode to shufflerepeatall and thats that. this is great because transfering straight to the drive was faster than the software. I don't even have to deal with multiple folders, its just a music folder with all the mp3s in it. With 4gbs to work with i could probably fit 1200 songs, i use 128kb joint stereo mp3 saves me on space keeps great quality.

I'm no audiophile so all I can say was the headphones work fine so far I keep the volumn at 15(out of 31) and I hear my songs just fine.(normalizing the tracks helps with this.

The interface is a simple, play/pause button are also the power on/off. mode button switches between repeatone,repeatall,shufflerepeatall, just shuffle, or just normal play. volumn and skip controls are near each other, its easy to feel which button to press but having big fingers I sometimes hit the wrong one heh. there's a lock button near the headphone jack so you don't accidentally hit any of the other buttons. Trying to skip to a certain playlist was horrible(manual says it skips artists then skips playlists. I had to skip dozens of artists before it hit the playlist: completely bad.) Like I said earlier i just treated it like a shuffle and did away with playlists, its too much hassle.

The USB flip out is great as holding onto extra lines is inconvenient. you can jump on any computer and just add songs to your player on the fly, really great if you're not at home and your friend has a song you've been wanting.

the only thing i'd have wanted was an armband accessory of somekind but that may add more to the price.

Overall its a good backup 4GB mp3 player for the 20-30usd you may drop for it. It uses a AAA battery that they claim lasts 30hours. I plan on testing this to see. I'll update on wear and tear as well as the battery status at various volumn settings.

Read Best Reviews of RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 Player with Flipout USB and Display Here

I should have done a little more research on this before I paid $36 (after sales tax). Unfortunately for me, I was excited about the following features:

1. The ability to play both MP3 and WMA files: My 1100 album collection is mixed between the two formats.

2. The cordless aspect: Just plug it into an open USB port and get going

3. Built-in software: Use with any of the 3 computers I use on a daily basis

4. The size of the unit: I've been carrying a portable CD player with MP3 readability for a year and it's heavy and cumbersome. I do a lot of carrying at work so I'm constantly changing tracks/ folders everytime I bend over.

What I hate about this player is:

1. I love music as albums, not as a random collection of songs. This player works more like a shuffler. When I have 1000 songs on a player, I don't want to skip 500 times to get to one song.

2. Skipping between playlists is cumbersome. Most of the time, I would end up just going to the next track.

3. Transferring files from PC to player takes forever. I attampted to put about 80 albums (in MP3 format at 192kbps) on this player and it took well over an hour. This is in spite of the fact that I'm using a computer that is 3 months old. I tried three different options to see if I could find a better way to do this. The enclosed RCA software was by far the most tedious and least user-friendly. Windows Media was a little better but still slow. Finally, I used Windows Explorer and did drive-to-drive copying which was the best of all bad options. Still, despite my ordered arrangement of albums, the songs played out of order (and I made sure I didn't have "Random Play" or "Shuffle Play" on).

Let me put it this way: You will like this player if:

1. You have time to kill getting music on it

2. If you don't care about the order that your songs play in

3. If you want a cheap way to have portable music

That being said, my sister enjoys having this brand of player which makes sense because up until very recently, she was using an early 90s Sony Walkman cassette player as her main source of music. This is great for someone like that. However, if you like a having an anal-retentive amount of control over how your music is catalogued, played and presented, you are requested to keep looking.

Want RCA TH1814 4 GB MP3 Player with Flipout USB and Display Discount?

The Mp3 player is conveniently sized and easy to slide into a pocket. It runs on an AAA battery, meaning it doesn't have to be charged, you just have to have some AAAs. This combined with the USB flip-out plug for transporting mp3s means the RCA TH1814 is completely cordless, not counting the headphones of course. Ah, yes, the headphones. As with any cheap mp3 player, the in-ear headphones that come with it are kind of crappy, but they're not complete garbage.

I have some issues with the software, though. The LCD display is 6 characters long, and the text on it (Title, Author, Album) is always moving. When the screen reaches the last letter of the chain, it waits for a few seconds, then moves on to the next info piece. However for some reason the program skips the first letter way faster, and If you're listening to Adele or Jawnae or Ke$ha, the name flashes for 1/8 of a second, then goes the album, and if the album is "21" by Adele or anything else less than 6 letters, the album flashes by too and then the player takes 11 seconds to display the song. Also, there is no menu, so you can only skip forward and backward through songs, which SUX.

Then again, what can you expect from a player this cheap? Its not perfect, but for this price it's great.

P.S. All the sampler music seems to be either instrumental or in Spanish. Is the factory in Puerto Rico or something? I don't get it.

P.S.S. The EasyRip software isn't great, I just manually drag the files onto the drive.

Save 22% Off

Love it Love it!!! stores up to 1200! Songs! very Compact and Light has a wonderful feel and fits perfectly in your Pocket its absolutely Wonderful for Jogging Long Car Rides or any occasion to fuel a wide variety of your Favorite Tunes! i Really Love the easy Flip out USB Connection all you have to do is simply Plug The Device into your Laptop or Computer and easily download all your favorite Music in a Flash! you can also Rip your Audio CD,s into the player another Awesome Feature is it has a brilliant Screen that labels Artists and Media as well as stop and Pause button and wonderful Volume Controls and more Buy this wonderful MP3 Player! that's compact light and has an amazing Battery Life! Loaded with Fabulous features to meet your Musical Needs this RCA Device is truly Satisfying in every way I Highly Recommend this to any Music Lover!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

DVB-S Satellite TV Tuner Card - DigiStar

DVB-S Satellite TV Tuner Card - DigiStarnot too thrilled w/this --they don't tell you that you cant use your motor drive and this card at the same time until after ya buy it and even then that info is hard to retrieve --put up another (stationary) dish for it or don't buy this guy if you have a motor drive dish ....

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Alarm Clock Security Hidden DVR video CCTV Camera Motion Detector mini covert DV Camcorder + webcam

Alarm Clock Security Hidden DVR video CCTV Camera Motion Detector mini covert DV Camcorder + webcam recording Clock + LCD RemoteI ordered this because I wanted to catch my roommate stealing money from my room. Within 24 hours of it being delivered, I caught her!

The video quality seems to be pretty good. I'd probably compare it to a decent laptop webcam. After searching through the options on Amazon, I found this gem. Many other models of alarm clock camera seem to have smaller batteries and a smaller Micro SDHC card capability. While recording, it breaks up the files into 20 minute increments ... which is nice. You'll need a decent sized SDHC card for extended use of continuous recording. The first video shot was about 57 minutes long and took up a little under 2GB, so my 16GB SDHC lasts about 8 hours in continuous record mode. Supposedly, the battery lasts 12 hours in continuous record mode w/ a full charge. For $30 w/ shipping, I'm happy with my purchase. Now that I don't have a problem with a thieving roommate, I have a decent travel clock!

Cons:

*Needs to be charged via USB cable. No battery compartment and no dedicated power cord. Must flip open 'secret compartment' to access USB port for charging. So it's not really 'hidden camera' material while it's charging and the TF card slot and ON/OFF button is exposed.

*Motion detect mode is one of the reasons I bought the camera. But when you set it to motion detect, the blue LED blinks like crazy when it detects movement and goes back to a solid blue LED light when no motion is detected. NOT a good feature for a 'hidden camera'

*Instructions were a lot better than expected, but I still can't figure out how to mute it. For some reason, it shouts out the time on the hour, every hour.

*DO NOT loose the remote. Without the remote, you have no access to the camera controls. I wish there were mirrored controls in the hidden compartment. So it would be possible to control the camera's 'secret features' without the remote.

Tried to use this when I went out of town to see whether my bedroom was being occupied or tampered with. I wish it had a power cord because the changing light in the room burned up the entire time allowed in one day. I do like that it is totally undescript and doesn't draw attention to itself. I just need something better because I did have a boobie trap set off so I know someone was in my space. I did not catch a picture of them because the battery was dead or the time had run out for a recording.

Buy Alarm Clock Security Hidden DVR video CCTV Camera Motion Detector mini covert DV Camcorder + webcam Now

Great price. Works pretty well, actually a little better than expected. Limited range on the camera direction. Affordable and helped me get the answer I was looking for.

Read Best Reviews of Alarm Clock Security Hidden DVR video CCTV Camera Motion Detector mini covert DV Camcorder + webcam Here

Piece of crap! When inserting the mini SD card, would not lock in place. Also, when the battery went dead, I plugged in to charge into the computer, would not charge, even though I left plugged in for hours!

Want Alarm Clock Security Hidden DVR video CCTV Camera Motion Detector mini covert DV Camcorder + webcam Discount?

Alarm clock is working, but the security video part is not working, it is a waste of money, do not buy it.

Save 76% Off

Saturday, May 10, 2014

eMedia Guitar Master

eMedia Guitar Master
  • Everything you need to learn to play rock guitar at your own pace
  • Over 100 audio- and video-enhanced lessons and gear tips
  • Includes songs and artists featured in Guitar Hero and Rock Band
  • Helpful built-in tools like Digital Metronome, Chord Dictionary & Digital Recorder
  • Exclusive Animated Fretboard shows you exactly where to put your fingers on the neck

Bought this for my daughter who has been playing for about a year now. Most of the first lessons were below her skill level. She was pretty excited to have the animated fretboard to help her learn songs like "Lake of Fire" and AC DC songs. When we got the program and she got to those songs she was disappointed because it only teaches one or two bars of the songs not the whole song. There are only a couple songs they teach all of and they weren't songs she wanted to learn.

so Pros

animated fretboard is an awsome way to learn

chord dictionary is a great tool

Metronome is helpful

the digital recorder will help you hear your progress

Cons

it teaches only a few bars of each song

most of the lessons are very basic

the vocals on the disk are really bad

Overall it is worth the money to learn some of the styles but would be better if they could teach whole songs. I don't think anyone likes to be able to only play 2 bars of a song.

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I think it is great for someone just learning and never touch a guitar before . I have played before and it had been a while so I was looking for something more of a review and to bring myself back up to speed since it has been a while since I had played guitar. I'm always in front of the computer so I figured this would be perfect to do on the computer. I am learning some things from the cd and it has help motivate me to play again and i have been picking up my guitar doing so more often. and the tips given on this cd has also help alot with setting up the sound I'm looking for.as of now I have not finished it yet but I would say yes it is worth the money . but I would also say if you are a pretty good guitar player already well then this isn't for you. Chances are you already know most if not all of what is on this cd . but if you are just starting out or just want to get motivated to play again and need to get back to the basics this may work for you and some of the tips on this cd will be of great help to you too.

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vonn music is the best music company to deal with and great customer service.They are the greatest.They answered all my questions,and were very nice to deal with.

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Easy to use, very informative and convenient. This software provides easy to follow steps for a beginner to learn the basics of guitar playing and makes learning fun.

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This is a great easy way to learn the guitar. I'm more into rock music so this software is appropriate since it focuses on that style.

Digital Voice Recorder - USB Dictaphone

Digital Voice Recorder - USB DictaphoneThis voice recorder starts recording several seconds after you flip the switch, but you never know when it has started. I think it averages about 15 seconds (that's a long time). Then when you turn it off, it somehow deletes the last 15 seconds or so that you should have recorded. This makes it a flash drive only to me, and an expensive one for the amount of memory. Sound quality is horrible anyway.

useless, I haven't been able to record anything... I've turned it on for more than 3 minutes but nothing happens.

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Got this product in plenty of time for Christmas for my Dad, who's elderly and he has become forgetful. I thought this would come in handy for things he wants to remember.

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Very good recorder, but you should know how to use because it's very sensible. I recommend to put it into a pocket to filter the extreme frequencies.

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Complete waste of money. It only records! You cant replay it unless you download it to your computer. I wanted something small that I could record things like pick up milk at the store,etc. and then be able to play it back on the recorder. This does not help me AT ALL. Very disappointed!!

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Friday, April 25, 2014

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

PTC 6 ft High Speed HDMI 1.3 Category 2 Certified Cable w/Ferrite Cores - Supports PS3, Xbox, Blu-Ray, HD-DVR, HD-DVD, all HDTV resolutions - 1080p and beyondI bought three of these HDMI cables for the price of one in the store. I have been using them for a month now and there are no problems whatsoever. The seller sent them out the very next day.

Purchased this PTC cable simultaneously with a BlueRigger High Speed HDMI cable to connect my MacBook Pro (2011) to a new TV. Both are cheap (~$4 for this one; $6 for Blue Rigger). The PTC cable shows noise/static every 2-3 seconds while the Blue Rigger works perfectly with exactly the same equipment. Not sure if just a defective individual cable (quality control not adequate) or whether it's not really "Category 2". Either way, it's going back and the extra couple of bucks for the still cheap BlueRigger HDMI cable seem well worth it.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014

CIB R401W500G8795 4CH Security Surveillance DVR 600TVL 4 CCD Bullet Cameras K...

CIB R401W500G8795 4CH Security Surveillance DVR 600TVL 4 CCD Bullet Cameras K...I opted for a 600TVL camera system because my current system had a lower resolution. When I got the cameras, they were definitely clearer than my other cameras. However, the manual that comes with the cameras says they are 540TVL. This is still higher than my current cameras. I have found conflicting information about the resolution of these cameras when searching google with the model #. However, the picture is good from them & I am happy.

The system came with everything needed to hook this up out of the box. The 65ft cables, power adapters, software CD, mouse, remote control, window security decals & even screws to mount the cameras. The only thing you need is a TV with RCA Video inputs or a computer monitor to view the video.

As far as the cameras, the infrared goes far & is impressive. My application is about 30-35 ft & it lights up this distance with no problem. The cameras glow a faint red when it is dark, but this is happens with every night camera in this price range. Daytime viewing is nice & the colors are pretty accurate. When it automatically switches to night vision, the picture is black & white, but still crisp. They are also very responsive when switching from day to night vision. The shield around it can be removed if you like & the cameras are about the size of a can of coke, they are metal & feel very solid. The mounts for the cameras are a little flimsy, but they work fine. I was also happy to see the mount can be mounted on top or bottom of the camera. Not bad cameras in my opinion.

The linux based DVR is awesome. It is silent & is very small, about the size of my cable converter. I am not a security pro or installer, but as a computer technician I have come across many CCTV DVR's. This DVR had features I never though to look for & was a snap to set up. For example, when set to motion detection you choose which areas of the screen/camera view are motion activated by selecting square blocks. There are about 50 blocks per camera screen you can select for motion monitoring. However dust or other small things would set off the motion detection. Then I found a feature that lets you specify how many blocks must be occupied for the motion to be recorded. I selected 3, so anything that sets off the motion detection has to be bigger than about a square foot. That way I don't have video of a bird flying by or dust in the air. I never thought of this while buying it. Anther neat feature is that you can select which cameras record when motion is detected on one of them. You can record the one camera that detected motion, or all of them, another feature I never thought of.

The DVR can be accessed by any browser, unlike my old system which required IE 6. There is a password option, so you cannot mess with the settings without a pin code, locally or through the browser. You can even set a user and an admin who each have different levels of access (View only or Administer). The DVR has an alarm that you can disable or leave enabled that will beep for events you select, like Full hard drive, disconnected camera, motion detected etc.. Another great feature is that it can upload/backup video to a thumb drive or to a remote server using FTP. It will even send you alerts via email. I did not try the phone viewing though so I cannot comment on that.

The DVR display is very nice, showing you what is going on, whether it is recording etc. It supports PTZ cameras & also has a setting to overwrite old video as the drive fills. You can specify how long to keep videos too. For example you can specify to keep videos for XX days before auto overwriting. The display shows you how many hours recording you have left also. You can choose scheduled, manual or motion recording, per camera.

My only gripe about the DVR is playback. Instead of a list of video to select, you see it in a timeline & have to select the time. It works fine, it's just different than my last system & I need to get used to it. Otherwise the interface is easy & friendly. Not an overcomplicated mess like my last system.

I would reccomend this system to anyone looking for a decent system for their home or business.

This system is truly a system that only requires the addition of some type of monitor to be immediately useful. This can be a television or a PC monitor. There is a VGA connection for the monitor and RCA for TV. The best quality is naturally from the VGA to a PC monitor. The colors in daylight are natural and can be adjusted for hue and saturation, contrast and brightness. Night vision is of course black and white when the infrared LEDs are active. Bright flashes or reflection back into the camera view will shut off the IR and colors will display during that period. If there is bright enough light detected by the camera from external lights at night, the IR will stay off. This system comes with 4 bullet cameras and there is the capability to expand with a PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) camera and an alarm input. There is a desire by most people to have a single power supply for the cameras which now comes with the system. It is a single transformer supply with an adapter that will connect all four cameras. This power supply is connected at the DVR end of the system. There is no need for power at the place where the cameras are mounted. Power is supplied to the cameras alongside the same cable as the video connection. There is a separate power supply for the DVR. There are 4 inputs for microphones (that I have yet to upgrade to) and one audio output. Microphones do not come with the system.

Clarity of detail at a distance may leave a bit to be desired. Things start to get a little fuzzy at about 30 feet from the camera. Not something I would complain about for the price I paid for this system. There is a "zoom" function that may or may not be helpful depending on what you are viewing. This merely magnifies a part of the viewing area. It is not an actual zoom like you would get from a PTZ camera.

This system has a good live real-time response to activity in the camera view. There seems to be no lag in response time when viewing the direct live feed to a monitor. There is a built-in capability to view live feed from networked PC's and on mobile devices. There may be somewhat of a challenge in this as it is advertised to be able to access the live view from any internet enabled PC or mobile device simply through a browser. I have yet to find the proper avenue to obtain this from any PC outside my home network. I have only had this up and running for about 2 weeks and not had a lot of time to research the issue. At this point, I have been recording constantly at the highest setting for the frame rate (120fps) for about 2 weeks and have used less than half of the available disk space. I expect approximately 1 month of video before the overwrite function starts. Disk space conservation can be achieved with lower frame rate settings but I elected to have higher quality video in the recordings. One thing to note is that the recorded video quality is slightly less than the live view.

The remote that came with the system appeared to be of generally good quality but it was semi-responsive an finicky as to the position it was pointing. I tried changing to new batteries but got no better response from the remote. This may just be where I have the DVR unit set up and I changed over to mouse control (a small mouse comes with the system). One thing that bothered me about the mouse was that I had a wire hanging across my workspace since I have the DVR on an upper shelf of my computer desk. I remedied that issue with a wireless mouse and it works wonderfully. I can now operate the system from across the room if desired just as I could with the remote.

The view from the cameras show a wide area due to a slight fish-eye lens effect. This is something to be aware of if the need arises to give specifics to law enforcement about any sizes, distances or dimensions. It's just a different view to get used to. This fish-eye effect is not exaggerated as if you were looking through a bubble though.Lines are not straight and sizing may be off slightly. Mounting and positioning for view are manageable but slightly tedious. There are 3 points of adjustment, 2 of which are done with an included allen wrench and the other with pliers on a lock ring at the base. The product picture for the mounts does not match the type of mounts that came with my cameras so there may be different mounting devices attached at the company's discretion.

One of the most time consuming parts was to set up the motion detection. It has many useful functions with area blocking, size, length of time in view and overall sensitivity. I had to set each of my cameras to different levels according to what the camera had in view. This is affected by the contrast (adjustable) and any reflection of light back into the camera from nearby walls and the like. You may have it set so that bugs or raindrops won't set it off but then a spider crawls onto the lens and it will go off due to the apparent size and reflectivity. It is not a perfect system but in general it works. You will see a lot of dust particles floating in the air on camera that you normally would not notice.

So far, people that have seen how my system operates and the view it produces are at the least intrigued at what they see and did not know it could be so affordable. I will still need to see the longevity factor play out but it appears to be a system that will last a good while. If you have the desire or need for an affordable quality camera system, this is the one to get. If you have never had a security camera system before, you will find yourself almost constantly watching the screen for any activity, at least for a while. Go ahead and do it.

2/9/12 Update:

This system is still working great after 5 months. Spiders definitely love the heat from the IR LED's so cleaning cobwebs away from the camera view is an occasional task through the nice weather seasons (about every 3-4 days). The sun shields work pretty well on the cameras but you will get a glare or brightness intensity issue if pointed in the general direction of the sun. The only complaint so far is the DVR timestamp function. It loses about 2-3 minutes a week so the internal clock is somehow not calibrated properly in my unit (not enough of an issue for me to return it since I am more interested in the images than the time). The time difference can be calculated to find out when an incident occurred on camera. Overall, I am still happy with the system and it has made my life a little easier in certain ways since it is quicker and easier to investigate outside noises at a glance.

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This system was so easy to set up, It took longer to run the 925 feet of cable. That's right one camera was 645 feet away and it came in crystal clear the second camera was 150 feet and the other two were 65 feet each away,I installed the system at my business.

I called customer service because I tried to run the system over Wifi instead of using a phone line to the router so I could see the view the cameras from my home,

Rachele was so polite and explained how the units communicate with each other.

I would recommend this system and company to anyone thinking about installing a

surveillance system.

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I have been looking online to replace the surveillance system we have in our business. I am so happy that

I came across with this product. The camera is so clear. You can view it remotely from your computer or iphone.

It is so easy to set up with the help and patience of RACHELLE. She's always there to assist and answer all my queries.

Their customer service is outstanding.

I highly recommend this product. It really works. BUY it and you won't regret it!

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I compared cameras and shopped around found out from a youtube video the difference between less than 450 TVL and 600 TVL. Looked pretty significant so I chose the more expensive cameras. I usually don't write reviews because I have 3 kids and not a lot of time. I also do not have time to try and work out problems with shoddy tech support. This is where the seller stands out. I'm not bad at figuring this stuff out so tried myself for about 3 days to no avail and finally decided to call their tech support. They did a great job helping me troubleshoot my issue, were very courteous and knowledgeable. The product works as advertised also.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Complete High End 8 Channel Real Time (1TB HD) HDMI FULL D1 DVR Security Camera CCTV Surveillance S

Complete High End 8 Channel Real Time HDMI FULL D1 DVR Security Camera CCTV Surveillance System Package w/ Pack of 1/3' Sony Exview HAD CCD II with Effio-E DSP Devices, 700TVL, 2.8~12mm Varifocal Lens, 72pcs IR LED, 164 feet IR Distance Outdoor CameraGW Security Inc resolved all issues with my system .Defective camera will be replaced. Credit was issued . This company is very quick to take care of any problems . Will purchase more equipment from this seller .Have recommended this seller to my neighbors. Night vision is better than expected. PS live in a high crime area and needed this high end system as a deterrent.

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