Video Reviews

This VCR will not record in HiFi sound or play back tapes recorded in HiFi. Only HiFi VCRs have that capability. This VCR only has linear capability. This VCR will only play and record in monaural sound. The linear track on this unit has no stereo capability. If you are going to be recording in the SP mode and playback the sound just through your TV that is not a big factor. You will not notice the difference of the signal-to-noise ratio between HiFi and linear sound that much. HiFi sound has an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and has a greater dynamic range than linear sound. If you do a lot of recording in the SLP mode the linear signal-to-noise ratio is terrible. You are going to hear a lot of tape hiss. If you play linear sound in the EP mode back through a system you are going to hear increased noise over the recorded sound. On a HiFi VCR the signal-to-noise ratio between LP and SLP speeds in negligible and hardly noticeable to the ear. On all HiFi VCRs the sound is excellent in any speed. That's the bottom line. This unit has four video heads so you will get excellent results in the pause, still and frame advance features. I am not sure if the recording heads are 19 micron on this unit. 19 micron recording heads give you a better picture in the SLP mode. You should check that out for yourself. If sound is not a big factor for you, this is a good unit.

I've always been a bit of a nerd when it comes to battery chargers. And while this charger doesn't monitor the temperature of the battery as it charges, it certainly manages a good job nonetheless.

Recently I noticed dwindling capacity from the battery in my 2001 Audi S4 Avant ... go figure, it's been cold out in Michigan lately and this is the stock battery that has suffered several complete discharges on accident. Being a non deap-cycle design, letting it sit dead for 24 hours or more at a time is murder on it's lifespan. Its capacity was down to about 25% measured with a state of the art battery tester.

I had the choice of either purchasing a new battery- ~$90 my cost, or buying this charger for $50 at a local Wal-Mart. Not having a good multi-stage charger presently (My prized yuasa charger died a year ago)- I inspected this one carefully. It's "reconditioning" feature drew my curiosity.. and knowing I could return it if it didn't work, I figured what the heck.

My old battery now is up to 80% capacity after 48 hours of reconditioning. It does take a while, each cycle takes 24 hours beyond a normal charge. But, I'm impressed. This isn't some lame surface charge or slow trickle charge, it actually desulfated some of the plates on my battery.

Pros- small, lightweight, heavy gauge clamps and wires. Internal variable speed cooling fan and switching power supply exhibit proper battery charger construction.

Cons- too light. The wires weigh more than it does almost, so it's very easy to 'pull' the charger off of whatever you set it on, possibly making it fall to the ground and damaging it.

Summary: The packaging has a hailstorm of technical information that most buyers aren't going to read, including screenshots from a Fluke scopemeter showing waveform generation comparisons. I think most Wal-Mart buyers are going to look at the $50 pricetag and buy the el-cheapo $19.99 5/50A analog charger and move on, making this excellent product eventually dissapear due to lackluster sales. If you want a good charger, buy this one while it's available. It won't be around forever..

This is a top notch, heavy duty tripod for video needs, NOT photographic. If you own a camera such as D1, F5, D30, etc this tripod will overwhelm you and add serious bulk. For cameras, checkout the Velbon SX-681K (...).

But for video needs, this adds the extra support you need - especially for larger video cameras. Load capacity is 30 lbs., and max height is 70". Biggest complaint is LACK of pan head: there is none, so you'd have to buy it on your own.

I have used this product in about 10 presentations since I bought it. I couldn't be more satisfied.

The major difference between this remote and (most) others is that this is NOT a mouse, it is a keyboard emulation. The advantage is that you can actually go back (reverse your presentation), which is something that is very cumbersome with a mouse (right-click, then choose Previous menu option).

The most used buttons are obviously forward and reverse, but I certainly do appreciate the "Hide slide" button. The hide slide effectively blanks out the screen, which is good if you want your audience not to see your slide when they walk in the room, or for an intermission, or when you draw something on a board, etc. Unfortunately, I have experienced some minor problems with the Hide slide button in PowerPoint 2003. No problems in earlier versions.

The only downside I have experienced is some interference from computer speakers. If your computer speakers are positioned between the remote and your receiver in the USB port, you may have to click twice to actually get the signal through. (NOTE: no, this is not infrared and doesn't require line-of-sight; it is RF).

No infrared pointer on this model, but Interlink has another model that does have a pointer.

Overall, this is probably one of the most useful peripherals I have ever bought!

I'm going to start by setting the record straight on GeForce 4 MX cards. First off, they are BETTER than GeForce 2's. I have read reviews that say they aren't, but based on technical specifications and information found on Mad Onion, any GF4 MX card will outperform a GF2. But what about GeForce 3 and Geforce 4 Ti? Well, the GF4 MX is based on the NV17 core. GF3 is based on NV20, and so is more powerful (GF4 is based on NV25). GF4 MX cards also do not support DirectX 8 features (Pixel and Vertex Shader), though they are fully compatible with DX8 games. The GF4 MX 420 is about [X] cheaper than a GeForce 3, so it is probably easier to afford for most people. But how about performance? While frame rates can be beaten by a GeForce 3 or 4 Ti, I have still experienced good performance on my machine. My computer is quite powerful (it's an Athlon XP 1800+ w/ 512MB of RAM), but there is one game that can bring any computer to its knees if it's not totally dialed. And this game is: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Don't be fooled by its minimum reqs (PIII 500 w/128 MB RAM and 32MB video card), it requires a LOT of horsepower to run. In fact, PC Gamer recommended an Athlon XP 1800+ w/ 256 MB RAM and a 64 MB GeForce 3 to run it smoothly at higher resolutions. ANd my computer with its GeForce 4 MX 420 got smooth frame rates at even the highest supported resolution: 1024x768. If it can run this game smoothly, then it can run pretty any game smoothly... well, except for Unreal Tournament 2003 in higher resolutions, which requires a nonexistent P4 3.60 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and (also nonexistent) a GeForce 5 overclocked so high that it's packed in its own mini-igloo, in addition to being cooled by liquid nitrogen!!! So, in summary, this IS a good card for gaming (plus, it has an S-Video Output, so you can watch yourself play games on your TV). If you have an extra [X] or [X], though, go for the GeForce 4 Ti 4200. You'll be happy you did.

I bought this TV to put in my kitchen while cooking, etc. but it was not what it thought I was getting.

This "TV" does not have a built-in TV tuner which of course is not mentioned in the product description. It does come with a small external tuner w/ remote. Of course by the time you get it all hooked up looks like the back of your computer - a mass of wires albeit a small one. However, the picture quality is great, sound quality is okey and the fact that it comes with a remote is a bonus. It even has a freeze frame button on the remote.

The downside of this system is you have to turn both the monitor and the tuner on to get it to work. A real design flaw! But you can avoid this by spending another $70-$100 and you do not even get a remote! If Viewsonic integrated the power controls, this could be a sweet little package.

The bottom line is I put in my bedroom and trashed my 19" CRT TV. Because the picture quality is so good I can lie in bed and watch it from 10-12 feet and not lose any detail.

This is not what I consider a "high" end TV but either is the price! In addition, it is a Viewsonic and I have used their computer monitors for years both CRTs and LCDs and they build a high quality bulletproof product. My next "big" TV will probably be a Viewsonic. Forget Sony. This product just needs a little help on the integration side.

it gives good picture. i wouldn't know much about the sound since i use the thing on a mono tv. i can say more when i get a home theater system. anyway, it's a good dvd player at a good price. it reads every disc i've put in there (dvd, cd, cd-r, cd-rw, mp3, wma, vcd, svcd) and it even reads more from what i've heard. the only problem is the audio and video are a little unsynchronized. it isn't very noticeable like when people are talking or driving cars, but it can be sort of annoying when there are sudden sounds like gunshots and clicks. it would've gotten a five from me, but the a/v 'outta synch' stopped it.

I bought the quickcam pro 4000 so I could set up a web page camera that would upload hi-res 1 megapixel stills to my web server. Upon installation of the software I discovered that the only way to use this camera for web video and still publishing is to sign up for a service called spotlife even though early versions of logitech software had automatic ftp upload capabilities.

The spotlife service makes you fill out a bunch of personal information and agree to share that information with logitech's "partners." The service only allows you to record low-res stills and video instead of the higher resolutions that the camera is perfectly capable of shooting. Its plainly obvious that instead of providing software to benefit the user, logitech has decided to force the user to use it's service.

Although the software is pretty "mickey mouse" for a "PRO product," shooting video and stills to your hard drive works well, but most people buy these cameras for use as webcams. If you need a webcam, do not buy this product!

Well after contemplating for a while on which web cam to buy I ended up buying the Logitech Pro 4000. Main reason I brought this camera was because of the features that it has and the fact that it has a CCD lens over the standard CMOS lens that other webcams use. Prior to purchasing this cam I was using a Creative Webcam 3 which I guess did the job for most of the time. But it was always a problem under low lighting and also suffered from very grainy images or videos. However none of these problems occur with the Logitech Pro 4000 even under very low lighting! I am completly happy with this webcam and I have to say that it is one of the best things I have ever brought for my computer. I highly recommend this webcam to anyone who is contemplating on which cam to buy. It was so easy to setup right out of the box! The zoom, pan and tilt functions of the camera is such a nice bonus as well. But what made it best of the best in my book was its ability to out perform my Webcam 3 and no doubt others under very low lighting. In fact even under the very lowest of lighting conditions the Logitech Pro 4000 still out performed my Webcam 3 under the best lighting conditions possible in my computer room. This camera is worth every penny and I cannot say enough good things about it. So as I said before if you want the best webcam on the market in my opinion look no further than the Logitech Pro 4000 and I wish to say a Big Thank You to Logitech for creating such a fantastic webcam!

The Logitech 4000 is a great value and is very easy to hookup and use.The picture was very good when I contected a friend in the midwest (Ohio).She said that it was much better then other wedcams that she has used.

I remember as soon as I laid eyes on this seemingly magnificant player, I wanted it so bad, I got a part time job and I saved up about 4 weeks worth of pay to get this. The moment I had enough money I went to my local CompUSA to get it, and drove back home. As soon as I franticly tore it out of the package, I did everything the instructions told me to, hook up AC adapter and plug it in the wall, and plug the USB in excetra excetra. Well, the installation took me a few tries because my MP3 player kept shutting down on me, I finally managed to get it to work, I put a few of my CD's I had on it and it worked great... for about a month. Coincidence that Creative's MP3 player would start to f*uck up after it's warranty? I think not. After about of months worth of frustration with the player freezing up, shutting down, and then the USB not even working at all, I decided to send it to their customer service only to find that it was all a gimmik. I sent in the player so they can fix whatever problems it was having, only to have it returned with the EXACT SAME PROBLEMS. Lets face it, Creative is a company of a Creative scheme, not MP3 players, if you want to get a good MP3 player, I would try GoPo RipDrive, this is a great player that won't f*uck up after it's warranty.

After looking at every portable jukebox as well as home audio servers, I found that Creative Nomad 3 is the best product today.

I initiallly ordered one player. Then I went back and ordered 4 more. Two of them will be used as audio servers in 2 different rooms of my house - other 2 as gifts.

-- Setting it up
I downloaded and upgraded to the latest firmware release v1.20.06. To do that I had to first upgrade to the 2 previous releases.

I found the software that comes with this player, Creative Playcenter to be useless for ripping and organizing music. I downloaded Media Jukebox 8.0 based on on-line reviews. Music Jukebox is a promising music manager program - although I haven't found one that I really like so far. I ripped all my CDs at 192Kbps - about 15GB worth so far. I then diligently got the Genre, Artist, Album and Track information right - a lot of it initially filled in from the on-line CDDB database. What I found that even though this organization is becoming the standard in the industry, it is a lot of hard work to get it right, and doesn't reconcile with my usage. I then resorted to a straightforward playlist organization.

For uploading to Nomad Jukebox, I used the Firewire connection - USB 1.1 is simply too slow. I had to go and buy a Firewire card for my PC - about $50. Then I found that the upload plug-in that comes with Music Jukebox doesn't upload Playlists, only tracks. What a bummer!!! I then bought Notmad software ($20) - and it does upload Playlists. As a side note, Notmad's license enforcement mechanism is bizzare and cumbersome.

-- Using It
After all this hard work, the payback was huge. The sound from this device is excellent. EAX capabilities are great - try them all out. The user interface is easy, the button layout is intuitive. The features are plentiful, yet not in the way. I do think they should increase the size of the LCD display.

I use it as a portable player. It is a little bulky, but with the buttons locked (get the latest firmware), I can shove it in my jacket or jeans pockets. I use the headphones that come with it, and they are pretty good.

I use it as a car player, although the only way to hook it up to my expensive car stereo is through an audio tape - with great loss of sound quality. What a bummer. So I sometimes used headphones in the car. Luckily I am about to buy a new car - and its car stereo system must have front audio input.

Mostly, I use it as a player at home. I have speakers set up in 4 different rooms and I just take it with me and hook it up to the speakers. I have used it in 2 and 4 speaker settings. I use a wire to hook it up my home stereo. Now I have ordered 2 more so that I don't have to lug it around.

It has transformed my music experience. I've become an avid listener. It has expanded my range of music. I'm now looking to buy a lot more CDs to fill gaps in my collection and to experiment new types of music.

Positives:
- Great sound
- Great feature set
- Great transfer speed - using Firewire
- Good user interface
- Good music organization - I primarily use Playlists.
- Ability to drive 2 or 4 speakers.
- Decent headphones
- Remote control with the optional home kit
- Long battery life - with the optional battery
- Voice recording capability - with the optional accessory. I haven't tried it yet
- You can use it as hard drive storage
- Excellent value compared to iPod

Negatives
- Size is a little bulky
- Creative Playcenter software that comes with it is useless - but you dont need it - download something else
- LCD display is too small

I highly recommend it. As a portable, I would also consider Creative Nomad Zen.

Well, back in the day, I used to own the original Nomad. Granted the battery life was horrid, but the thing had more than decent sound. I had that for about a year and half (no lie) but I finally filled it up and had to upgrade. Two days ago, after drooling over it for an eternity, I got my Nomad Jukebox 3. Lets start with sound quality. This thing's headphone amp is the most powerful I've ever heard. It can drive any pair of headphones to ear shattering levels, and I listen to a lot of hardcore metal (among other things). The sound quality itself is phenomenal. There's no distortion at high volume, and that's a huge plus for me. Of course, by the unwritten law of bundled headphones, the ones that come with this MP3 player [are not good]. I bought new ones the next day. Now, the software. The bundled software was what I was used to using for the first Nomad. The software isn't buggy for me, even though my computer is ancient. To tell you the truth, I love Creative Playcenter. It's very easy to use and it's organized. Windows Media Player will work too, but I don't like it, its fast but you cant organize anything with it. I have to use USB 1.1 because my OS (Windows 98) is too old to use FireWire. The CD encoding goes slow too, but I have a slow computer. I installed all the software on my Grandmas computer as well (who has Windows XP). I experienced no problems with Windows XP, and the CD encoding went insanely fast. The transfer was still slow because she doesnt have FireWire, but other than that it's very nice. Basically it all depends on your style whether or not you want to use the bundled software. Back to the player itself. It's very easy to use. It's icon diven and the menu is set up nicely, but one word of advice. DOWNLOAD FIRMWARE AHEAD OF TIME. I didnt even bother trying to use it until my firmware was up to date. If you scan throught the rest of these reviews you will see why. The blue backlight is pretty, and you can change it to green too! The display size is nice, it works for me at least. The EAX is nice too, but mainly for the EQ. The OS boots up quite fast, especially compared to the first Nomad. Granted I dont have all my CD's on there yet, but there is a more than noticable difference. The thing also loads songs really fast, and there is almost no noticable gap when the songs switch. The scroller thing was something I was a little worried about, I thought it would be excruciatingly annoying to use. Supprisingly, it's not. As long as you aren't trying to browse through a playlist of 5000 songs, the thing works great. Again, download firmware first. For accesories, I bought the extra battery and leather case (also ahead of time) and I strongly recommend both. Also, if your computer can support it (which it probably can), get a FireWire adapter, it will make it so much better. Now I know that some people's NJB3's apparently died on them after a month or so, but I think if you take care of it, it will last you forever like my orginal Nomad did (which people also claimed to die after a month). I say if you have the money, BUY THIS! It really is great. I love it so much; I consider it my child. "You need look no further", this is the god of MP3 players. Remeber though, buy headphones, the extra battery, and the case; and get the firmware ahead of time. If you are thinking of the iPod, it's way too over-rated. The five GB iPod is the same price as the NJB3, and it has a quarter of the space. The Archos isn't any better, infact, its worse. The sound [is not good] on the Archos. The iPod has sound ALMOST as good as the NJB3, but not quite as good. So...buy the Nomad Jukebox 3!

I've been thinking about getting a Tivo or ReplayTV for about a year and finally got a ReplayTV 5040. Here's my opinion:

Price: With two $50 mail-in rebates my final cost was $199. This is a lot of technology for $199!

Quality: The box is well built and solid. There's a big fan to keep it cool. The choices of inputs and outputs is complete. You can fit this device into any home threater system any way you want. I have a 36" HDTV and have this connected using S-video. I tried composite video and it was slightly worse. I didn't try the component video outputs.

Setup: Setup was easy but did take a while over a cable modem connection. During the setup it seemed to update the operating system which took about 25 minutes. Total setup was about 40 minutes. I don't know how long it would take over the built-in modem.

Recording: The programming guide is easy to use and setting things to record is straight forward. I only record at high quality so I only get about 10 hours of recording time.

Picture Quality: The picture is acceptable but not as good as the direct feed to the TV. When you watch a show throught the ReplayTV you are ALWAYS watching the recorded version. There is about a 1 second delay between the "live" picture throught the ReplayTV and the "live" feed from the cable company. This is what allows you to pause and rewind a live TV show. Because you're watching a recorded version of the show and the recording is digitized and compressed the picture quality is slightly worse than the original. I find the colors to be a little washed out.

Customer Support: EXCELLENT! I was worried about calling tech support when the IR Blaster couldn't change the single digit channels on my cable box but was pleasantly surprised when my hold time was less than 2 minutes both times I had to call. The fix was simple but undocumented in the manual or on their web site. To get to the advanced settings for the IR Blaster you have to press the "Zones" button when the list of codes for your cable box appears on the screen. This lets you set certain properties of the IR Blaster like the minimum number of digits to send to the cable box. It was sending a "2" for channel 2 and I needed it to send an "02". Bumping the minimum digits to 2 fixed the problem. I also got a tip from their tech to put all zeros in the delay boxes to speed up channel changing which is fairly slow. Changing the delays to "0000" helps slightly.

I like this better than Tivo. This thing is light years ahead of an old VCR!

Wow! I'm most impressed with DTR technology in general. I avoided the Tivo since I didn't have a phone line in the family room. But add a broadband connection (which I did wireless using a Linksys WET11 802.11b Wireless Ethernet Workgroup Bridge), web-based program selection, digital photo viewer, and automatic commercial skip and you've got the BEST DTR available!

I was able to get the Replay 5040 up in minutes. It started by downloading a fresh set of application software. The photo viewer supports drag and drop of your favorite digital images from your PC to Replay's HD (1 Gig for photos is PLENTY). I was surprised how good they looked on a big (32") TV.

The MyReplayTV website is easy to use (though you have to wait until the nightly "synch" for selections to be downloaded - unless you use the hidden hack of pressing 243 they the Replay Zone button - you'll find all kinds of power user features).

How fun to have your favorite shows available when YOU want them, without commercial interuption!

I've been using ReplayTV units since their beginning, and I can truly say that they have totally changed how I watch TV. It's rare that I watch live TV anymore, since I can watch the same shows in less time without the commercials. Having the Commercial Advance feature really makes this unit far superior than the Tivos.

The customer service people are superb, both via e-mail and live. I think the previous reviewer was way off-base with his bashing. What other company has personnel on an internet forum taking suggestions, giving solutions to concerns, and just listening.

The units have been very reliable, and every few months you get surprised by software enhancements that make it better yet. Again, what consumer device do you buy that is routinely upgraded for free with new, improved software?

The photo album screen saver always stops people in their tracks when they come over the house. And there is nothing like forgetting to record a show and being able to log onto the internet at work or on vacation and arrange for it's recording.

The audio and video quality are great -- I watch everything through them these days. And the first time I forgot to record the season finale of one of my favorite shows, and was able to log onto Planet Replay and found someone who sent it to me, the unit paid for itself.

I have friends using the unit with VGA outputs to their computer screens to get progressive output, and I modulate mine throughout the house so I can watch it anywhere in the house. With the network capabilities built into the unit, all this and more is possible.

Basically, I'm thrilled with both the ReplayTV unit, and SonicBlue's dedication to listening to their customers needs.

Two huge thumbs up for ReplayTV.