Features

• Enjoy music, photos and videos with easy to use buttons & screens
• Control your digital entertainment in the palm of your hand with a simple, intuitive remote.
• Built-in Wi-Fi connects seamlessly to your existing wireless home network, so you can access content on your home PCs and through the Internet.
• 2GB (1.5GB usable) internal memory, Memory card support

Like any self-respecting digital photo frame the DreamScreen is able to display photos, and play music. However, the DreamScreen goes one step further and also add video playback and many other capabilities to the mix.

The DreamScreen 100 includes a small remote that can be helpful for navigating the many apps and options. However, if you can’t find the remote or it is not in a convenient location then you can always use the touch navigation buttons.

With built-in wired and wireless network connectivity it is possible to access Internet content and stream/transfer content from a networked computer to the DreamScreen. You can even pull down Internet radio and Facebook streams.

The built-in 2GB (1.5GB usable) of memory is a good amount to start with, but it will quickly fill up, especially if you save video. When this happens you will have to make use of memory cards for expanded storage. Luckily, the DreamScreen supports 8 different formats, including: Compact Flash I/II + Micro Drive + Secure Digital/Secure Digital High Capacity + Memory Stick & Memory Stick Pro + xD Picture Card.

Design

The DreamScreen 100 has a minimalist design with a slick black finish. This design helps to keep the device very clean looking and makes it so it can fit with just about any decor.

The front of the DreamScreen 100 is dominated by the 10.2″ (15:9 aspect ratio, 800 x 480 pixels) screen. However, hidden in the bottom right corner are 8 touch button.  The reason I say hidden is because they cannot be seen unless you touch the area, which activates them. This is a nice way to keep the buttons from distracting from the overall aesthetic feel of the DreamScreen, but it does cause some problems with usability which I will talk about later.

Contents

Buttons hidden

Buttons shown

If you tip the DreamScreen down and view it from the top you will see one single feature that should be pointed out, the Remote control holder. This is a really important feature because it not only keeps the remote safe from getting lost (as long as you remember to put it back), but it also keeps the remote out of the hands of curious little ones (kids) that may otherwise do bad things to it.

Top

The left side of the DreamScreen 100 is where you will find two memory card slots. As I mentioned above, the two slots support 8 different formats, including: Compact Flash I/II + Micro Drive + Secure Digital/Secure Digital High Capacity + Memory Stick & Memory Stick Pro + xD Picture Card. Finally there is a speaker for playing the various types of audio that are supported.

Left

The right side has a power button, headphone jack, 2 USB ports (mini, and regular), an Ethernet plug, and a second speaker at the bottom (like the one on the left side). I found the inclusion of the headphone jack to be interesting. Unless you have some wireless headphones, I think this is probably a fairly useless feature. First because the DreamScreen is too big to be used as a personal media player, and second because if this were hanging on a wall, it would be nearly impossible to get something plugged in without taking it down.

Right

The bottom is simple enough because it only has the DC power plug.

Bottom

The remote that comes with the DreamScreen 100 is meant to be the primary interface and navigation. There are buttons on the remote for some of the most used functions, like volume (up, down, and mute), navigation (up, down, left, and right), display on and off, back, and option.

Remote

Remote Screen

The DreamScreen also includes a disk with some software on it. This software is used to for transferring media onto the DreamScreen directly from a PC. When the disk is first inserted a menu screen appears which gives has many options. The top option is the one we are interested in. Once clicked, the software checks to see if there are any updates. In my case an update was found, but when I tried to download it I got an error and the install failed. So the next time I chose not to check for updates, but the install would not continue. So I was forced to go to HP’s website and download the latest software.

Installer Main

Installer Update

Update Error

Once the software is installed there are a couple options, with the main option being the transfer of media. The other option, which will save you some time, is typing your username and password for Facebook, Pandora, and Snapfish. This means you don’t have to use the onscreen keyboard, which is a big pain.

Drag and Drop Media

Account Management

Performance and Usability

The DreamScreen has so many options to try out that it is going to be difficult to cover everything, so if I miss something that you are interested in I apologize in advance.

When the DreamScreen 100 is first turned on it displays some info screens and asks for your timezone. After that it displays the main menu screen. On the main menu screen there are 11 area that you can go to (10 apps, and 1 setup area). These 11 areas are Photos, Videos, Music, HP Smart Radio, Weather, Clock, Calendar, Pandora, Snapfish, Facebook, and a Setup screen.

The first thing I did was go directly to the setup screen and connect to my wireless network. The setup was straightforward and easy, except when I had to enter my wireless password. I like long passwords for better security and the DreamScreen does not have any easy way to enter them. When prompted for text entry the DreamScreen displays an onscreen keyboard, unfortunately since the screen is not touch-sensitive the keys must be pressed using the navigation buttons on the remote or the buttons under the screen. So after pressing left, right, up, down, and enter about 20 times I finally finished. Unfortunately for me, I had mistyped (the password is shown in plain text so I should have noticed) and when I went back the password area was empty. It would have been nice if the old password had remained so I could just correct the error and move on. Once the password was entered correctly wireless started up without any other problems.

Network Type

Wireless Networks

Keyboard

After getting the wireless setup (and the trouble with typing the password) I thought that it sure would be nice if the DreamScreen had a touchscreen. This single capability would solve so many other limitations that we will talk about further on.

Once the wireless was fully connected the DreamScreen detected that there was an update to the software. I gave it permission to download and install it. I like to do this so I don’t find glitches that are fixed in updates.

Update

Downloading Update

Updating Software

After all that, I finally started trying out the different apps. The first app is Photos. The main screen for photos shows a thumbnail list of all the photos that are in memory. Across the top are different options for seeing the photos, they include: Dates, Folders, All Photos, PC. If you happen to have a memory card plugged in then it will also show up in this same list. The pictures when they are viewed full screen look great and they can be viewed individually or in a slideshow. The photo formats that the frame supports are JPEG, PNG, and BMP. It would be nice to see a few more formats supported like TIFF and GIF.

Photo tumbnails

Photo

Photo options

Because the DreamScreen has the ability to view photos that are stored on a computer I really wanted to try out that feature. In order to do this the computer must be running Windows Media Player 11 or later and have media sharing/streaming turned on. Setting this up is not difficult.  On the DreamScreen, under photo options, you will see a list of all the computers that are setup correctly. Simply select the one that you want to use and click ok. Once that is done the PC tab will be enabled and when selected will display all the photos on the PC, if you have a large number of photos it may take a while to display. After they are loaded, you have all the same options as local photos. I didn’t have any trouble setting this up or playing photos from my computer.

Photo Options

Streamed Folders

Streamed Photos

Next I tried out videos. The screen is laid out exactly like the photos and has the same options, except it is missing the PC option. This is because streaming Video from the PC is not supported. Instead you must store the video in the internal memory, a memory card, or a USB stick before it can be played. Just like pictures the video looks really good and he sound is loud and clear. There are no multimedia controls for controlling the video, like rewind, pause, and fast-forward, so this is not meant for long movies. In fact, anything over 5 minutes is probably too long. The supported video formats include MPEG 1, 2, 4, H.264.

Video thumbnails

Video

Now we move on to music playing. The first screen under music shows all the music that is in memory sorted by name, artist, and album. Across the top are options to show the music by Albums, Artists, Genres, Songs, and also to show music from a PC. While playing a song the frame can also display a slideshow. This is nice if you want a little music to go with your photos. The music sounded great and could get fairly loud if it needed to. Like photos, music can also be played directly from a PC, but once again a PC must be setup to share. I did have problems with streaming music from my PC. For whatever reason when I clicked the PC tab the software would lock up. I never got to see the list of music from my PC. I tried this several times and it was always the same. The music formats that are supported are MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV.

HP Smart Radio is the next app that I tried out. Since this is Internet radio, an Internet connection must exist before the radio will work. The second step is finding radio stations, and there are thousands to chose from. The built-in search can find stations by location, or by genre. No matter which search I tried there were hundreds of results and no easy way to know which were the best. One feature that would have been nice is some kind of preview of each station as it is highlighted in the search results. Like music the sound was great for such a small device.

HP SmartRadio

HP SmartRadio Search

HP SmartRadio Search Results

Next I tried out the Weather feature. If you don’t have access to a window then this can be a very useful feature. However, I have windows both at home and work, so looking at the weather on the DreamScreen is not very useful for me.

Weather startup

Weather

I tried out the Clock next. It is probably the feature I used the most because it works great as an alarm clock. The clock can be run by its self, in dual clock mode (with two different timezones), with the calendar, or with a slideshow of photos. There are also 3 different alarms that can be setup and they can be set to run once, every day, every weekday, or every weekend day. My only complaint is that it is too bright at night, and if dimmed, then it is too dim during the day. However, as I will talk about below, the brightness feature is a bit flawed. It would be nice if there was an auto dim feature that could be set by the time of day. I did notice that the clock numbers changed from red to blue during the day. If it would dim and brighten at the same time this would really be great.

Clock

Clock Options

Dual Clock

The Calendar is next. While having a calendar is nice, without the ability to enter appointments and special events, the calendar is fairly useless (unless you have short term memory loss and you cannot remember what day it is).

Calendar

Pandora is an online radio service and it requires an online account. I didn’t feel like setting up an account so I didn’t test this feature.

Snapfish, like Pandora, is an online service which requires an account. Once again I am lazy and didn’t want to setup an account for a service that I will probably never use (except for this review), so I didn’t.

The last feature I tried is the Facebook app. Setup is easy (I already have an account), but once again it requires that you enter a username and password and typing on the keyboard is a horrible experience. With the Facebook app you are able to view status updates, and photos. However, all this is read only, you cannot update your own status, upload pictures, or anything else.

I saved the setup screen for last because it really isn’t an app, and changes made here affect all the other apps. I am not going to cover everything because much of it is self explanatory. One option I want to talk about is brightness. I ended up using the brightness features quite a bit because I had to turn it down every night, and turn it up every morning. However, I noticed that when I turned the brightness all the way down at night, the backlight is still bright and the display looked washed out. I can only think that the backlight is not dimming with the screen. This is something that really needs to be fixed because it makes the screen look horrible.

Setup

The screen saver is another setting to take a look at. It can be set as a slide show, clock, screen off, demo video, or disabled. I like to keep it as clock so that at night it does not switch away to something else and if I wake up  in the middle of the night I can see the time.

Another complaint I have is with the touch buttons. I was forced to use the touch buttons because the remote didn’t have a battery, and I didn’t have any available (it takes the big flat watch battery). Having to use the touch buttons helped me see all the quirks. The fact that they are touch buttons, means that they don’t provide any feedback to indicate that they were pressed. In addition, every time an app is started the buttons turn themselves off. This means they need to be turned back on before they can be used. The buttons also turn themselves off after a few seconds of inactivity. Turning off after inactivity is much nicer than turning off when an app is started.

The power usage for the DreamScreen is really low. During all the tests it stayed right around 11 watts. For all that the DreamScreen does this is really good.

Power Usage

So after all my testing here is what I think HP can do to make this an amazing product (and this all has to be done without raising the cost, much).

1. First and foremost is to add touch capabilities to the screen and get rid of the navigation buttons. That has to be my biggest complaint and it continues to bug me every time I use it.
2. Second change the main screen from a scrolling list to a series of modules that will show real-time information. This would be much like the main screen of the HP Touchsmart computer. I could have photos in one module, the weather in another, and Facebook in yet another. Then with a quick glance I could seen everything and I could touch/click one of them to expand it to full screen to see more details.
   
   

   TouchSmart Menu

3. Allow the DreamScreen to navigate network shared folders. All my images and music are stored on a Windows Home Server so being able to scan a network folder would be a better option than setting up media sharing.
4. More control over the backlight.
5. Keep the navigation buttons active when loading an app.
6. Add an Internet browser.

I realize that HP can not add touch capabilities with a software update, but it could be added to their next hardware version. Everything else could be done with a software update, and I think it would make the DreamScreen 100 a much more user friendly device.

Support and Warranty

The warranty that comes with the DreamScreen 100 is a 1 year Hardware and 90 days of software support. With practically no moving parts, this should have a minimum of a 5 year warranty against defects.

Support comes through the usual methods, web, phone, and email.

Conclusion

So overall the DreamScreen is a step in the right direction. The feature set is good, but not quite good enough for the rather high retail price of $249. If you look around it is possible to find the DreamScreen 100 for slightly less. In fact, I found it at Amazon for only $179. While this is not a huge discount it does help take the sting out of the retail price.

If HP wants to make this product much better then implementing my suggestions will go a long way to keeping this product relevant for a long time.

Weighing under 6-ozs and priced under $150, the Genius G-Shot HD520 offers 11-megapixel stills and HD video with H.264 compression format for exceptional quality output to today’s high-resolution flat panel TVs

MIAMI (April 27, 2009) – Genius (www.geniusnetusa.com), a brand division of KYE Systems Corp., has announced a new compact, pocket-size high-definition digital video camera that excels at capturing both high-resolution stills (at 11-megapixels) and high-definition video (at 5-megapixel in MPEG-4/H.264 format) and is light enough (under 6-ozs) and portable enough to allow users to capture activities anytime, anywhere. This easy-to-use camcorder is ideal for Summer time outings, dads-n-grads, moms on-the-go or anyone looking to capture life’s moments in brilliant color and detail. Launched today, the G-Shot HD520 is both Windows (Vista/XP/2000) and Mac (OS10 or higher) compatible and designed with a ultra-bright 2.5” LTPS LCD screen that can rotate up to 270-degrees to allow users to shoot videos from any angle or position.

The G-Shot HD520 comes equipped with Face Detection to track and detect faces accurately as well as Electronic Image Stabilizers (EIS) to detect and correct hand-shaking when shooting photos. The handheld camcorder has a built-in memory of 32MB and supports additional HCSD memory up to 8GB. The G-Shot easily outputs to today’s high-resolution flat-panel televisions using the included HDMI cable for theatre-like viewing or video and photos can be easily uploaded to a computer for digital editing, archiving or sharing with friends. Additionally the Z-Lighting technology enhances brightness in low-light environments, perfect for everything from Mother’s Day gatherings in dimly-lit restaurants to Summer sunsets on the beach. The G-Shot HD520 is also capable of shooting still photos (up to 11 megapixels), listening to music, reading e-books, playing voice recordings, and it can also be used as a portable media player..

Priced at $149, the G-Shot HD520 weighs under 6-ozs and comes complete with a 7.1 mm lens, a 5X digital zoom, and a Li-ion rechargeable battery. Interested shoppers can go to New Egg.com, Amazon.com, Tiger Direct, Buy.com or other retailers and distributors listed at http://www.geniusnetusa.com/buy.php. More information on all of Genius’ headphones and products at www.geniusnetusa.com.

G Shot HD520 Camcorder_Front View (by Genius).JPG

G Shot HD520 Camcorder_Full product w box (by Genius).JPG

G Shot HD520 Camcorder_with Viewer Swivel (by Genius).JPG

ABOUT KYE SYSTEMS CORP.

Genius was established in 1985. Genius product portfolio includes computer mice, keyboards, web and security cameras, speakers, gaming peripherals, remote controls, headphones, digital cameras, digital camcorders and digital photo frames. It also holds the U.S. patent for mouse scroll-wheel technology. In 2007 Genius announced a newly invented optical touch-controlled scroll-wheel for fast browsing of web pages and documents in eight directions. Genius expanded from computer peripherals into consumer electronic products that include mobile phone accessories, Bluetooth headsets, digital cameras, digital photo frames, iPod speakers and MP4 players.

San Francisco — Macworld — January 6, 2009 — Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is demonstrating a version of SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone being developed for the iTunes store at this year’s Macworld. Sling Media will deliver a version of SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone to Apple for certification in Q1.

Sling Media is also unveiling a prototype of the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD which allows Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream HD content to their Mac desktop or laptop computer. The new SlingPlayer for Mac HD is a web-based version of the SlingPlayer software that will be accessible from Sling.com, Sling Media’s recently launched video entertainment web site. Sling Media can be found in two locations at this year’s Macworld: The Mac Developer Pavilion- South Hall, #1438 (next to Apple) and the Digital Media and Multimedia Pavilion: North Hall #3526-Q.

“SlingPlayer Mobile is ideally suited for the iPhone’s large touch screen display and I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application’s availability,” said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. “Add to that HD streaming support for Slingbox PRO-HD customers and live TV support on our video entertainment site, Sling.com, and you can see Sling Media is committed to delivering great solutions for Mac users.”

SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand, pay per view, etc. Any program that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can now watch via your iPhone using a standard network connection. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while away from home.

Pricing and Availability

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will be submitted to Apple for testing and approval in Q1. The price has not been determined at this time. SlingPlayer for Mac HD will be available for free via the web-based SlingPlayer within Sling.com later in Q1. Mac customers will be able to use either Safari or Firefox web browsers to get both HD streaming and Live TV within Sling.com.

About Sling Media

Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is a leading digital lifestyle company offering consumer services and products that are a natural extension of today’s digital way of life. Sling Media’s product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones and the revolutionary new SlingCatcher™, a universal media player that seamlessly delivers broadcast TV, Internet video and personal content to the TV. Sling Media is also the company behind the video entertainment web site, Sling.com, offering consumers a wide variety of popular TV shows, movies and other entertainment free for viewing online or on the TV using SlingCatcher. For more information on Sling Media, the Slingbox or the SlingCatcher, visit www.slingmedia.com. To watch your favorite TV shows and movies, check out www.sling.com.

SlingPlayer iPhone

Patented “PPC Locking HDMI Cable” Holds 3X Stronger for Non-Interference HDTV –

Just Plug-In, No Adapter Needed

January 5, 2009, East Syracuse, NY – PPC, the proven leader in the design and manufacture of connectors for the telecommunications, satellite and wireless industries with the most patents in connector technology worldwide, announced today that it will be debuting the first HDMI locking cable available on the market, the “PPC Locking HDMI Cable,” at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held this week in Las Vegas.

PPC Patented Technology for Pure HDTV

The PPC Locking HDMI Cable is an industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface, providing a connection between any audio/video source (set-top box, DVD player, A/V receiver, DTV, etc.) over a single cable. The PPC Locking HDMI Cable features exclusive patented technology to hold it onto a port with a strength that is three times greater than found in conventional connectors. The PPC cable minimizes loosening and fall-out, thereby providing the most reliable, highest quality, pure HDTV video resolution and digital audio quality that customers expect.

No Adapter Needed – Easy to Install

With Category 2 cable status, PPC’s Locking HDMI Cable delivers 1080p – the best HDTV experience with no adapter or additional hardware needed. Its professional grade status ensures customers are getting the highest picture quality available. Easy to install, The PPC HDMI Locking Cable’s Perfect Flex ™ jacket and flexible cable provide push button operation and easy installation, with no tools required to install.

Priced starting at $48.99, the PPC HDMI Locking Cable features:

* Patented locking device reduces fallout, providing a more reliable signal.
* Push-button operation – easy-to-use release tab prevents port damage.
* Perfect Flex jacket and flexible cable – no tools required to install, engage or release for easy installation.
* 100 percent foil coverage and braided shielding to eliminate interference.
* Requires no adapter, no additional hardware, no adhesives or modifications.
* Elegant & intuitive design.
* HDMI compliant – backwards compatible with all HDMI spec ports.

“For 65 years, PPC has built its reputation on finding innovative solutions and providing real value to our customers,” said Andy White, Vice President, Retail and Satellite, PPC. “With our exclusive HDMI Locking Cable, the first available on the market, we’ve come up with a product HDTV customers have been waiting for.”

The PPC HDMI Locking Cable is available immediately online at the companies website, priced at

$48.99 for the 3 foot cable, $59.99 for the 6 foot cable, and $72.99 for the 12 foot cable. For more information, see the PPC site or phone: 315-431-7200 800-800-6652.

About PPC

With more patents in connector technology than any other company worldwide, PPC has pioneered many of the advancements available in the industry today and is a proven leader in the design and manufacture of connector technology for the telecommunications, satellite and wireless industries around the globe. PPC’s innovations include the Universal Compression Connector, widely used by all major cable TV and satellite companies; the wireless compression connector for the wireless industry, and the only locking HDMI connector. Headquartered in E. Syracuse, NY, PPC also has locations in Denmark, St. Kitts, and China. For more information, visit www.ppc-online.com.

PPC Locking HDMI Cable

PPC Locking HDMI Cable

Features

• Supports AMD Phenom/ Athlon series processors
• Dual Channel DDR2 1066
• Integrated 128MB DDR3 1066/ 1333(OC)MHz SidePort Memory
• Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics (DirectX10)
• PCI-E 2.0 x16 interface with ATI Hybrid CrossFireX support
• Gigabit Ethernet and IEEE1394
• High quality 106dB SNR ALC889A HD audio
• Dolby Home Theater audio
• Integrated HDMI/ DVI interface with HDCP

The main reason I chose this motherboard is because I can reuse the CPU, memory, and hard drive that I salvaged from my old MSI Media Live case.

The next reason I picked this motherboard is because it uses the AM2+ chipset which means I can use my old AM2 CPU, but I will be able to upgrade the CPU later if I need to, like when Windows 7 comes out.

Next, this motherboard has a built-in ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics chip and has 128MB of DDR3 SidePort memory built-in and dedicated to the GPU. With these, my new HTPC should be able to handle Vista, which was a problem for the MSI Media Live. Also, the motherboard has an HDMI plug which supports HDCP. This means if I ever want to I can upgrade to a Blu-ray player and get high definition output.

Design

The motherboard design is nothing extraordinary. However, while putting it together I found a problem. What I found is that if you want to install a full size PCI card you cannot use the bottom two PCI slots because the card would cover up the internal USB ports, this leaves only one PCI slot left. So I when I installed my old TV tuner card I had to put it in the top slot. If you have a smaller card then you should not encounter this problem.

Motherboard

USB connectors

The motherboard is filled with all sorts of connectors, both internal and external. The internal connectors consist of:

1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
2. 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
3. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
4. 1 x IDE connector
5. 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
6. 1 x CPU fan header
7. 1 x system fan header
8. 1 x front panel header
9. 1 x North Bridge fan header
10. 1 x front panel audio header
11. 1 x CD In connector
12. 1 x S/PDIF In/Out header
13. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
14. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
15. 1 x parallel port header
16. 1 x serial port header
17. 1 x chassis intrusion header
18. 1 x power LED header

The external connectors consist of:

1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
3. 1 x D-Sub port
4. 1 x DVI-D port (Note 4)
5. 1 x HDMI port
6. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
7. 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port
8. 1 x IEEE 1394a port
9. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
10. 1 x RJ-45 port
11. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

Performance

The motherboard performs really well, as I said before I got this motherboard specifically for the built-in graphics chip and memory. As you can see from this image the Vista score is really good and when I played video, especially HD video, it was very smooth and I did not encounter any problems like I did with the MSI Media Live. I am not going to play any games on this machine so I don’t really care if it scores well in that area. Areo is also not a concern for me because this machine spends all its time in Windows Media Center.

Performance

Warranty

I could not find much warranty information on the GigaByte website, but after considerable digging I found that this motherboard comes with a 2 year parts and 3 year labor warranty. I would like to see this much higher considering it does not have any moving parts.

Conclusion

This motherboard exceeded all my expectations. I was able to accomplish all my goals without the need of overclocking or an expensive graphics card. This motherboard is perfect for a HTPC like what I am using it for. If you are in the market for a motherboard for a HTPC or even a low end gaming machine, then I think you will be very happy with this one. As always compare prices before purchasing.

Features

• 1.8″ Anti-Scratch True Color Screen displays over 65,000 colors
• Supports MP3/MP4/WMA/WAV/AMV(video)
• USB Flash Drive
• Up to 8 Hours Playback Time with Built-in Rechargeable Battery
• Store and view music, movies, photo, and text files
• FM Radio and voice recording capabilities

The V-Bop is perfect for someone who doesn’t need a lot of storage space for their media, but wants a little bit more than just a music player. The media player is available in sizes of 1 to 8GB of Flash Memory. However, what the player lacks in available memory it surpasses in quality and versatility.

The video and picture display allows for crisp clarity and depth that fits in the palm of your hand. The software included with the player allows for easy conversion of video files to AMV format, which are then capable of being played on the video player.

Movie Main

Full view

The music player itself has better than average sound quality with a built-in equalizer for customizing the way the music should sound including choices between natural, rock, pop, classical, jazz, soft and DBB(Dynamic bass boost). Amazingly, the player also allows you to change the tempo of the songs. With the replay function one can specify how long of a gap is heard between songs, whether one or all songs are repeated in the specified folder, and the number of repetitions for each song or folder.

Music Equalizer

When you don’t want to play videos or listen to the music you’ve downloaded then there is an FM radio in Normal and Japan Band available for updates on news, sports, weather, and local radio stations. Also, for the student or professional there is a voice recorder for recording lectures and meetings.

FM Radio Menu

FM Radio

Voice Folder #2

The e-book reader is capable of viewing txt formatted files. The reader has the option of using either manual or auto play. Under the auto-play function, a reader can select a speed of 1 to 10 for the rate the page is flipped.

E-book Main

E-book Text

Design

The V-Bop comes packaged in a durable clear plastic box with a display cradle on top which is great for storing the player safely. Also, multiple sets of headphones with various sized interchangeable ear pieces, a protective box for the headphones, USB charger for the computer, a wall charger, and a protective skin are included.

Player and Headphones

Full contents

The player itself fits nicely in the palm of your hand with its slim design. The front is made of a durable plastic, and the back is stainless steel. Videos, music and text files are seen through the screen. The detachable USB port ensures that the player itself would still be usable if the USB plug were to break, unlike many players where it is built into the device itself.

Fits in hand

The front menu is simple for ease of use, and allows for menus to be viewed in 17 different languages.

Welcome

Language setup

The headphones has superior surround bass sound and include three different sizes of cushions for custom fit. They also come in a special protective case.

Performance

The main thing I wanted out of a media player was durability. I have had several others, one of which was destroyed when the USB port broke while plugged into a laptop computer. The other one was made of a cheap plastic that was easily dented or scratched. I immediately was impressed with the high quality of the materials used to make the V-Bop.

Since I mainly was going to use my media player for short walks and workouts at the gym the storage capabilities weren’t as important to me. However, I was quickly attracted to the added capabilities of using my media player to view videos, ebooks, and record lectures.

Once plugged into the computer, transferring files to the player is as easy as dragging and dropping them into the menu. Video is a little more complicated in that video files need to be converted into AMV format to be played. However, the player includes the necessary software for the conversion, and the companies website and text file included with the software gives all the instructions necessary.

When I bought the player it did take me a few hours to figure out how the menus worked. The instructions included with the player are very brief. However, more instructions are available at the companies website. Overall, given the quality of the diverse functions available with the player it was easy for me to look overlook this one inconvenience.

I learned very quickly that it’s not a good idea to experiment too much with the language options in the setup, unless you are familiar with those languages. It took me a good twenty minutes of trial and error with various languages to get it back to English so I could tell what I was doing.

The 8 hours of playing time available on the charged battery was handy when I needed entertainment on a long car trip.

Warranty and Support

The V-Bop includes a 1 year warranty if the player becomes defective because of improper workmanship or material during the warranty period. The warranty doesn’t extend to accessories, batteries, and to parts wearing out due to normal wear and tear. Support is available on the company’s website at http://www.visual-land.com/.

Conclusion

The V-Bop player is a fantastic product that blows away many of its competitors on the market right now and can do much, much more than the same priced ones. It’s extremely durable and functions are fairly easy to figure out. The V-Bop does what most media players cannot. The price is the one thing that should not be overlooked in that the V-Bop is around the same price or slightly cheaper than its competitors that play only music.

Features

• 10x Optical Zoom
• 700x Digital Zoom
• 3.1 Megapixel Still Picture Recording
• 2.7″ Wide LCD
• PictBridge Compatible

The Panasonic PV-GS300 is one of Panasonic’s midrange camcorders. It costs less than last years PV-GS250 and it has some new features that the PV-GS250 didn’t have. In addition to the new features they also removed a few that were found on the PV-GS250.

The primary reason that most people will buy this camcorder is the 3CCD chips and its low price. In addition to the 3CCDs you get a lot more. Panasonic added a wide-screen, 2.7-inch LCD. While this LCD is really nice to look at for taking pictures and movies it is not very good for manual focus. It just does not provide the detail that you need to get a good focus.

This camcorder also has optical image stabilization. Optical image stabilization is much better than the alternative, digital image stabilization. Optical image stabilization is suppose to cut out some of the shakes, but as we will see later even it does not cut out all the shakes.

The 3.1 MegaPixel camera that is built in does a decent job of taking pictures. It is a bit awkward to hold, and a lot heavier than a digital camera. If your sole purpose is to take still pictures than you will want to look at regular digital cameras.

Another notable feature is the Wind noise reduction function. This reduces the wind noise that the microphone picks up. On a windy day this is suppose to really improve the sound on your video.

The PV-GS300 comes with several pieces of software that are helpful with capturing and editing video. MotionDV Studio 5.6LE permits capture and editing of DV. MotionDV studio can capture video over DV (FireWire/i.Link) or USB 2.0 high speed and edit it in either normal or widescreen aspect ratios. Another application, intended for beginners, called Quick Movie Magic makes it easy to edit using on-screen guidance. The software is compatible with Windows XP SP2.

Although the camera seems to come with a lot of features, it is also missing a lot of things that a professional would miss. Some of the things that this camera does not have are: a Manual Focus Ring, Microphone Sensitivity level, headphone jack, A/V-in, analog-to-digital pass through, and Pro-Cinema Functions.

Design

In addition to all the new features in the Panasonic PV-GS300. The design has also been given a minor makeover. The most notable change is a smaller body.

The front of the PV-GS300 is dominated by the 10x Leica Dicomar lens with 37mm filter threads. Like last year’s GS150, the lens has an integrated lens cap. There is a microphone below the lens. This is a zoom microphone, this means that as you zoom with the lens the microphone will also zoom in. This means you will not get a lot of other noises when you are zoomed in. To the left of the lens is the flash. The flash is only used with taking still pictures. It would be nice if you could use the light for low light video. Instead of an actual light, the camera has a feature called MagicPix. With this turned on the screen will display white, and if you turn it around it will act as a light. According to the user manual, the light reaches about 3.9 feet or less. This would not be good for outdoor shots unless you are really close to the subject.

IMG_0741.JPG

The top of the PV-GS300 is very similar to the PV-GS180. The right side of the top is dominated by the tape loading area. At the front of the right side is the switch that opens the tape area. When you move the switch forward the opening process begins. First the tape door pops open to the right. Then the tape holder moves upwards and also opens to the right. All of this is automatic after you press the switch. To close the tape area you need to press the tape back into the holder. It will then lower back down. After it is all the way down you can push the tape door closed. On the left side and toward the back of the top you will find an accessory shoe. This is used for things like an extra microphone. A little further back is the electronic viewfinder (EVF) eyepiece. The eyepiece can be pulled out so that the battery does not get in the way. Unfortunately the eyepiece does not come out very far, so if you have a big face you may have a hard time using the eye piece. To the right of the accessory shoe is the zoom slider / volume control. In back of the zoom slider is the photoshot push button. Beyond that is the rear of the camera.

IMG_0747.JPG

IMG_0746.JPG

IMG_0745.JPG

On the back, starting where we left off with the top of the camera, you will find the Power switch followed by the menu button. The menu button is used to activate the menus, and then you use the joystick to navigate the menus. Below the menu button is the mode dial button with a joystick in the middle. The mode dial button selects between video record, video playback, still record, still playback and PC mode. The PC mode can be used to transfer stills from the SD card to a computer over USB. To the left of the dial is the record/pause button for recording video. The back also has a speaker; this is so you can listen to the playback of your videos. The battery is to the left of the video recording button and below the eyepiece.

IMG_0738.JPG

IMG_0736.JPG

The Right Side is really bare except for a small rubber cover which is close to the front. Under this cover is the A/V multi-jack and the wired remote/microphone jack. The A/V multi-jack uses a special connector to combine the left and right audio, composite video, and S-Video inputs and outputs.

IMG_0742.JPG

IMG_0743.JPG

The left side on the other hand is not bare. Panasonic has provided the PV-GS300 with a new 2.7-inch, widescreen LCD. The LCD takes up most of the left side of this compact camcorder. When opened the LCD can be rotated around, which allows subjects to watch themselves on the LCD screen, this is especially nice for keeping small children interested and facing forward. When opened the LCD reveals several buttons and plugs. In the space you’ll find the auto/manual focus switch, the reset button, the power LCD button, and ports for USB 2.0 high speed and DV (FireWire, i.Link, or IEEE1394, by other names).

IMG_0740.JPG

IMG_0739.JPG

The bottom of the camera only has a couple of items. These are the SD card slot and the tripod mount. The SD card slot is for when you want to take still pictures. Without an SD card you will not be able to take still pictures. The PV-GS300 can take SD cards as large as 2GB. Unfortunately, the placement of the SD card slot is such that you cannot access it if you have the camera on a tripod.

Performance

Most people will gauge performance solely on the picture and sound. However, performance also has a lot to do with how quickly the camera responds to commands and how easy it is to use the different features.

Since is it probably the most important, let’s start with picture quality. There are lots of different situations where you will want to use your video camera, outdoors, indoors, and when it is dark. I took some video in all three of these situations to see just how well the camera performs. The main advantages of three-CCD camcorders are richer color and better low-light performance, and the three 800,000-pixel CCDs in the PV-GS300 do a great job. As you can see the bright outdoors shots are vibrant and beautiful. Even the indoor shots are very nice, and you can clearly see great detail. On the other hand when it gets dark you are only able to pick out the biggest objects and not any detail. This is not very surprising. Our own eyes have a hard time picking out a lot of detail in the dark.

There are other features that are also in the PV-GS300 that are intended to help improve the quality of your video. OIS (optical image stabilization) being one of the most notable is something you normally find on high end cameras. This feature will reduce the number of shakes that you see in the video. Shakes can be caused by a number of things: walking, riding in a car, or even being bumped by someone. To test this feature I walked a short distance with O.I.S on and then the same distance with it off. As you can see from the video it did not reduce the shakes as much as I would have liked. Some of the smaller shakes were removed, but you can clearly see the camera move every time I take a step.

Another feature that is intended to help improve the quality of your video is MagicPix. This feature seemed a bit odd to me and because of its lack of usability, it seems like an after-thought that someone at Panasonic threw in at the last minute. This feature illuminates the LCD with a white picture. When you turn the LCD so it faces forward, it is supposed to light up what you are pointing at. Since the light is a soft light, it dissipates quickly. That means you need to be really close to the subject, and if you are outside then it is almost useless. I hope in the next version they include an actual spot light.

Another feature that you don’t think about, but can really help you is Auto Ground-Directional Standby (AGS). This function prevents unnecessary recording when you forget to pause recording and walk with the Camcorder tilted upside down. While on the previously mentioned vacation I accidentally left the camera on and put the camera to my side. Unfortunately, it did not turn off on its own, so when I went to capture the next shot I actually put the camera on pause instead of record and I missed the shot. So in that situation this feature did not work well for me. I suspect that I was moving so the camera could not tell that I was not recording.

Audio is another big issue with video cameras. Fortunately the PV-GS300 has some nice features that help improve the audio. The zoom microphone is very nice because, with any camera, as you get far away from something you lose the ability to hear it. The zoom mic will focus in on a subject as you zoom the lens, and it really helps pick up the volume. This camera also has a wind noise reduction feature. When you think about it, how many times have you not been able to hear a person talk because the wind was so strong? This would be great if it really worked. Like I did when I tested the O.I.S, I recorded a bit of wind with the wind cut on and off. To my disappointment even with the wind cut on you can still clearly hear the wind. It seems like the only thing this feature did was remove higher ranges of sound. While this did not remove much of the wind noise, it did help take the edge off the sound of the wind. To improve the audio even more you can use the built-in microphone jack. This way the subject can have a microphone and you never have to worry about how far away they are; within range of the microphone, or even if you are not looking at them, you can still hear them.

Battery life is good; I was able to record for at least an hour with each complete charge. I don’t turn the camera on and off a lot, then the battery lasts much longer. This is probably because it uses a lot of power when starting up and shutting down. If I was not going to use the camera for a couple minutes I would turn it off because the wasted energy of keeping it on was more than the energy required to turn it off and on. The camera also has an auto off feature that turns the camera off when not in use. When Power Save mode is off, the camera will go into standby after 5 minutes. When Power Save is on then the camera will actually turn off after 5 minutes.

Warranty and Support

The warranty on this camera is a bit complicated. The Camera overall has a one year warranty, except for the CCDs which are only covered for six months. There is also only 90 days of labor included with this plan. Which means if you need service you may get the parts covered, but you are going to have to pay for labor. I am really disappointed with companies that have such lame warranties. Things like CCDs which are non-moving parts should be covered by a lifetime warranty. The company should also be providing more than 90 days of labor. If their product goes bad, even three years after purchase, then they should cover everything, including shipping. Anyways be aware of what you are not getting from Panasonic as far as a warranty is concerned.

Conclusion

This is a really good camera for people that want to just point and shoot. If you don’t want to mess around with lots of features and options then you will be happy. In general this camera really takes great pictures without a lot of fuss. I am highly disappointed with the lack of a real light for the camera, the poor performance of the wind elimination and optical image stabilization, and the really bad warranty. Again, if you are just getting a camera that has great video quality then this will be just fine. Keep in mind that you are not paying thousands of dollars for a professional camera.