Sunday, August 27, 2006
Canon WP-DC300 Waterproof Case
For a while now, I have wanted some sort of camera or camera housing that I could use to shoot pictures in the rain and under the water. During my search, I ran across a few different ways to do accomplish this goal.
The first inclination was to buy a new point and shoot camera that was waterproof. While I do not do any diving, the Pentax water resistant camera only allow allows pictures to be taken at 5 feet or less. This was too stingy for my needs, so I looked around a bit more. The next option I found was a 7 MP camera from Olympus that is waterproof to depths of up to 10 feet. This camera seemed perfect because it was also very small. However, it currently costs over three hundred bucks and it just was not in my budget right now. I may get one in the future, but I have other things that I would rather spend my money on at this point.
This lead me to the option of buying a plastic housing to go around the Canon Powershot S45 that I already own. This was not a bad option because the Canon WP-DC300 Waterproof Case is waterproof to 100 feet!!! Unfortunately, this item was hard to find, and when I did find it, the price was near $200. However, after a few weeks of waiting, someone sold this item on eBay. It was less than $100, too. I jumped on it immediately!
I have had the Canon WP-DC300 Waterproof Case for a few weeks now and could not be happier. I have tested it in my pool at depths of 10 feet and there was not a drop of water in it. Below are some photos that I have taken so far and I will update this review as I get more pictures.
The shot below was taken in the pool on a rainy day:
Here is a shot of me under water:
The shots I have been able to take have been of very good quality when all things are considered.
Below are some shots of how the camera and the housing work together:
Yep! That is the infamous Darth Tater in the viewfinder.
As you can see from above, the LCD on the back is bright, but it is not possible to use the eyepiece to look through because it is partially blocked by the area around the lens.
Upsides:
Can shoot 100 feet underwater
Easy to use
Camera can be in or out of it in seconds
Price
Downsides:
Much bulkier than the Olympus waterproof camera
The first inclination was to buy a new point and shoot camera that was waterproof. While I do not do any diving, the Pentax water resistant camera only allow allows pictures to be taken at 5 feet or less. This was too stingy for my needs, so I looked around a bit more. The next option I found was a 7 MP camera from Olympus that is waterproof to depths of up to 10 feet. This camera seemed perfect because it was also very small. However, it currently costs over three hundred bucks and it just was not in my budget right now. I may get one in the future, but I have other things that I would rather spend my money on at this point.
This lead me to the option of buying a plastic housing to go around the Canon Powershot S45 that I already own. This was not a bad option because the Canon WP-DC300 Waterproof Case is waterproof to 100 feet!!! Unfortunately, this item was hard to find, and when I did find it, the price was near $200. However, after a few weeks of waiting, someone sold this item on eBay. It was less than $100, too. I jumped on it immediately!
I have had the Canon WP-DC300 Waterproof Case for a few weeks now and could not be happier. I have tested it in my pool at depths of 10 feet and there was not a drop of water in it. Below are some photos that I have taken so far and I will update this review as I get more pictures.
The shot below was taken in the pool on a rainy day:
Here is a shot of me under water:
The shots I have been able to take have been of very good quality when all things are considered.
Below are some shots of how the camera and the housing work together:
Yep! That is the infamous Darth Tater in the viewfinder.
As you can see from above, the LCD on the back is bright, but it is not possible to use the eyepiece to look through because it is partially blocked by the area around the lens.
Upsides:
Can shoot 100 feet underwater
Easy to use
Camera can be in or out of it in seconds
Price
Downsides:
Much bulkier than the Olympus waterproof camera
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Domke F-3X Camera Bag Review
Recently, I have been wanting to find the perfect "all-around" camera bag. The search lead me to many nice bags, including Crumpler and Lowepro. However, I wanted something that did not look like a purse or a camera bag. The Domke F-3X fit that description perfectly.
The Domke bag is made of "waterproof" canvas and does not contain very much padding. The canvas has a masculine look to it and the lack of padding makes it easier to carry around in the city.
Below, you can see the outside and the inside of the bag without any equipment. One of the great features is that the lack of padding and the flexible canvas material makes it appear smaller when it is not completely loaded up.
The following pics show you how much can fit into the bag. It is amazing that such a small bag can hold so many items.
HERE IT IS WITH JUST THE CAMERA AND ONE LENS:
COMPLETELY LOADED:
(Canon 20D, Canon 100mm lens (attached), Sigma 18-200mm lens in right inside pocket with filters on top of it, Quantaray 700-300mm with Tamron 1.4x teleconverter attached, Pod, water housing for my Canon s45 in left inside pocket, outside pockets contain phone, paperback book, batteries, lens cleaner material and spare CF cards.)
The side pocket can hold a phone and other accessories (notice that this flap is held down with Velcro:
Below are two shots of the front pocket with a paperback inside. The front flap is held down with Velcro and a metal strap hook:
The top flap also contains a storage area that opens and closes with a zipper:
I took a couple shots of me holding the bag with it fully loaded (keep in mind that I am 6'5). It is still very manageable with many of my lenses and accessories inside. I will most likely never use it with this much stuff inside, so it will be lighter and less bulky.
Finally, this may be the perfect bag for me. I am still considering the even smaller Domke F-5XB, but for now this one is what I wanted. The main downside is the lack of padding, but I would rather just add it as needed. I am planning on using bubble wrap to line the flooring and some loose pads from other bags to put between things. Domke actually makes full inserts, but that would probably be too bulky for my purposes.
Upside:
Masculine
Not too bulky
Carries more than you would expect
Downside:
Red Domke patch on side is too noticeable
Would like to see a few extra loose pads for putting around lenses
The Domke bag is made of "waterproof" canvas and does not contain very much padding. The canvas has a masculine look to it and the lack of padding makes it easier to carry around in the city.
Below, you can see the outside and the inside of the bag without any equipment. One of the great features is that the lack of padding and the flexible canvas material makes it appear smaller when it is not completely loaded up.
The following pics show you how much can fit into the bag. It is amazing that such a small bag can hold so many items.
HERE IT IS WITH JUST THE CAMERA AND ONE LENS:
COMPLETELY LOADED:
(Canon 20D, Canon 100mm lens (attached), Sigma 18-200mm lens in right inside pocket with filters on top of it, Quantaray 700-300mm with Tamron 1.4x teleconverter attached, Pod, water housing for my Canon s45 in left inside pocket, outside pockets contain phone, paperback book, batteries, lens cleaner material and spare CF cards.)
The side pocket can hold a phone and other accessories (notice that this flap is held down with Velcro:
Below are two shots of the front pocket with a paperback inside. The front flap is held down with Velcro and a metal strap hook:
The top flap also contains a storage area that opens and closes with a zipper:
I took a couple shots of me holding the bag with it fully loaded (keep in mind that I am 6'5). It is still very manageable with many of my lenses and accessories inside. I will most likely never use it with this much stuff inside, so it will be lighter and less bulky.
Finally, this may be the perfect bag for me. I am still considering the even smaller Domke F-5XB, but for now this one is what I wanted. The main downside is the lack of padding, but I would rather just add it as needed. I am planning on using bubble wrap to line the flooring and some loose pads from other bags to put between things. Domke actually makes full inserts, but that would probably be too bulky for my purposes.
Upside:
Masculine
Not too bulky
Carries more than you would expect
Downside:
Red Domke patch on side is too noticeable
Would like to see a few extra loose pads for putting around lenses
Leaving comments
I just learned how to turn on comments to my blog. I used to point people to my www.uofmtiger.com webpage which was too cumbersome and I had so much spam that most of the comments had to be deleted anyway.
I left my blogger comment sections open to anyone, but if I get lots of spam, I will have to turn on more security. Thanks again, Blogger!
I left my blogger comment sections open to anyone, but if I get lots of spam, I will have to turn on more security. Thanks again, Blogger!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Media Center PC Nirvana!!
As many of you know, I have been trying to integrate media files on my computer into my living room system for years now. My Linkplayer and UHDL reviews should give you an idea about how dedicated I have been to this project. In the past, I have not wanted a computer in the process because of the many anticipated downfalls that are too numerous to mention. Well, this was until I heard about the Sony VAIO VGX-XL1 Digital Living System.
One of the many reasons I never integrated my computer into my home theater was related to the loud fans on my Dell XPS Gen 2 computer. In an effort to leave the computer on all the time, I actually switched out the fan on my video card, but apparently it was not the only noisy fan in my PC. After a lot of research, I found out that nearly every fan had to be replaced. This was just too much work. I researched computers for a while because the Linkplayer even needs a PC running to live up to its potential, but nothing really caught my eye. That was until I read about the very quiet Sony VAIO. It has the looks that fit in perfectly with my living room system, but more importantly, it has a DVD changer that makes it more useful than any media PC that I have seen.
My Music
First, lets begin with a discussion of the DVD changer. This thing is just incredible. It will allow you to load up 200 CDs and then burn them onto your hard drive in a batch process. It does take a long time for the computer to look up the album information and then burn it to the hard drive, so you may want to get it started and check back in 12 hours or so. It works amazingly well and the only drawback is the occasional album missing individual song information. You can always update the missing information later using Windows Media Player (WMP – a program that can play on nearly any Windows computer) or Music Match Jukebox. Once everything is on your hard drive, you can go to the Windows Media Center (WMC – A type of operating system) and sort by numerous options (See Below):
Notice "Arista:15 Year" is missing a photo (thumb). This can be fixed by getting the "tag" information using a different program or by saving a photo of the album into a specified format in the album's folder.
The "94 of 1241" tells you where you are at in the album directory. These albums start with the 94th entry and there are 1241 albums to choose from.
The photo below shows the album information for "Abby Road" and shows the playback information in the bottom left corner. The user can add to the "Queue"/playlist while a song is playing. The "Visualize" selection works like a screensaver and gives you many different animated choices (an equalizer view is just one example) to view while the music is playing.
The photo below is just a larger view of the album cover and the playback information:
One thing to keep in mind is that the WMP and WMC use the same library. As a result, adding new music and the burning/ripping options need to be setup in WMP instead of WMC. My main goal was to burn my entire CD collection (over 1200 CDs) into a “lossless” format. “Lossless” means that it will sound every bit as good as the original CD, if not better. See here for more information on the benefits of listening to music on a computer versus playing it on a CD player.
After two weeks of filling up the changer and letting it run overnight, I had every CD I own in WMA Lossless format on my hard drive. This does take up an incredible amount of hard drive space and that is why a lot of people choose a lossy format like mp3 to save their files. In the past, I spent months burning my music to mp3 format, but this time around I wanted great sound quality for the living room and the 128kbps mp3s did not qualify. Converting WMA Lossless to mp3 or other formats can be done using many different programs. I will save that discussion for another day. If you are really curious, you can find a lot of information on the subject at http://www.hydrogenaudio.org.
One other thing I should mention is that the "My Music" directory will include Yahoo Music files if you are a subscriber. This is convenient because you can play anything from the Yahoo Subscription service that you have in your Yahoo "Library" using the "My Music" interface.
My DVDs:
Now that I have all my music at my fingertips, I wanted to load up my DVDs into my DVD changer. This was a fairly simple task. The changer makes loading and unloading about as easy as you could imagine. You can eject an individual disc via the WMC program or by using the eject button on the front of the changer. The changer also has a load button on the front. The cool part is that hitting the button twice will allow you to load the first disc and the changer will automatically rotate to the next slot so you can load the next disc, and so on. It works pretty much the same way for ejecting the disc. It will eject one disc if you hit the button once and rotate and auto eject the next disc (until it is empty) after you pull the current disc out of the slot.
I loaded up my DVDs using the auto-load feature until the unit was completely full. I then setup the WMC program to find all of the movie information automatically. This results in a photo thumbnail of each movie (occasionally, you will have a movie that is missing a thumbnail and I have not figured out how to add one at this point) . When you choose a movie from WMC, the next screen will usually give you more information about the movie, similar to the back of a DVD box. Once I found out I had over 200 DVDs, I decided to hold out the un-encrypted DVDs (I have some instructional DVDs that were made by independent companies) and burn them to my hard drive. When hitting “My DVDs” in WMC, it integrated the hard drive movies into the changer movies. You have to add a thumbnail photo yourself unless the program recognizes the name of a movie and pulls it over (which is unlikely for training video). Not a big deal, you just save whatever pic you want to use in the movie's folder as "folder.jpg". Re-sizing to 240x240 seemed to work for me.
Below is a screen capture of the movie directory. As you can see, I typed in "mag" to find "The Magnificent Seven [Special Edition]" DVD. This search capability makes it very easy to find a movie very quickly. You can also see that I am listening to "Abby Road" while searching for a movie by looking in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Below is an example of the descriptive information that is available on selected movies. As you can see, there are two pages of information on this particular title:
My Pictures
Another feature of the computer is the picture gallery. Since I love photography (as demonstrated on my Pbase site), I believe I will be using this section of the computer a lot. I do have a lot of organizing to do of my older pictures, but now I know I will have the ability to pull up any shot from my couch in very little time using the software. From what I understand, the program allows the user to start a song playing in the "My Music" section and then you can go to the "My Picture" area and start a slideshow. I am hoping to find a way to drop a mp3 or WMA lossless file in the folder and have it play automatically with the slideshow, but I have not had time to research this feature. In any case, the picture quality is outstanding on my 61 inch HDTV.
The shot below is from my mostly unorganized picture folders. It will allow the user to select any folder and start an automatic slideshow. It has several choices in the general setup menu for how to transition from one photo to the next.
Online Spotlight
There is also an area with several internet websites. I have not inspected all of them, but it appears that there are several sites with pre-recorded video to entertain you if you do not already have enough ideas with your movies and music available at the touch of a remote.
The one feature I do like was the way that XM radio is integrated into the system. Since I already have an account, I was able to type in my password and access all of my favorite channels in a matter of seconds. The sound quality is a little lacking and may be better via a program like Xamp Desktop. However, I have not had time to do a direct comparison. For noncritical listening, this setup is good enough.
Helpful Add-On Products:
A couple things are needed to get the most out of this computer. If you want Dolby Digital surround sound (DD5.1) or DTS, you have to buy an additional soundcard. I found this out by reading the always informative posts at AVSforum. As a result, I purchased a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Roadie . This inexpensive little (fits in the palm of my hand) USB add-on worked like a charm and made it possible to watch movies and television in the best possible format. It took a few minutes to get it to work properly, but once I got it up and running I was very pleased with the results. The unit also has other features for recording via optical input and listening to movies over a set of headphones, but I have not tested those features.
Another major oversight was the lack of an HDTV tuner as part of this package. When I consider that they charged $2000 for this computer a year ago, I cannot think of an excuse for missing such an important feature. A while ago, I found out about the Vbox Catseye USB HDTV Tuner . that will give the user the ability to integrate HDTV pulled in over the air via an antenna to be integrated into WMC. This was a very easy setup and took less than 5 minutes to install the software. I did have to reconfigure the “TV” setup in WMC to recognize the new digital tuner, but that was easy to do. The Vbox is not a perfect product or my WMC computer is not the best match for it. It usually works great, but watching a basketball game in HD is next to impossible because the tuner seems to have problems keeping a steady image. Other than that and other action packed programs, it usually does work well, but to get the best out of it, I had to run it through a powered USB hub. I have not tested the recording aspect of this process, so I will update this review later for that addition.
I also needed a HDMI switch , since my TV only has one HDMI input and I was using it for my cable box. This computer does not have a VGA output, so that could make it a “no-go” for those people that have a TV without a DVI or HDMI path. If you do have HDMI, you will be very impressed by the picture quality of this unit. It is fantastic! I programmed my Harmony remote to auto-select the correct input for each HDMI product (I have three) and it makes it all work without a hitch. On the subject of remotes, the computer comes with its own remote and a wireless keyboard. They work great, but the remote and keyboard are not backlit, so I programmed each button's behavior from the PC remote into my Harmony remote.
One of the downsides to this system is the fact that the DVD changer is HUGE and can be very loud. As a result, I put it in my guest room and ran a long firewire cable to it. I am not even sure where I would have put this behemoth if I did not have a closet in a spare bedroom behind my system.
My TV
The computer is already equipped with an analog tuner that will accept a coaxial cable directly from your cable TV company. However, I also added the Vbox that I described above. This gives me the option of watching a show live or recording a show and watching it later. It is fairly simple using the guide and it offers a lot of the same features as Tivo. One of my favorite features from Tivo is the 30 second skip button. This is probably the most used button on my Tivo remote because I can skip through commercials or huddles in football games with just a touch of a button. Luckily, the "My TV" interface has this skip feature along with fast forward and rewind.
Below is a shot of the guide. This shot shows some of the HDTV stations (1241 and higher) available via the Vbox and the analog channels that are picked up from my cable company.
Here is an example of the screen that comes up when you select an item from the guide. I like the way it gives the information related to the program, including the actors, whether it is in analog or HD, and a brief description of the movie.
The interface also allows the user to search for a title and find movies:
When you select "Movies", the program will find all movies that are currently available in your area. It will then match it with the DVD cover art and provide some information on the title:
If you select "Genre", you will then be able to view specific type of movies that are going to be on throughout the two week period that the guide covers:
Once you select a "Genre", you will see the movies that are going to be on that are in that genre of movies. I selected "Action and Adventure" and had the following programs to choose from (Note: In the bottom left corner, you can see the TV show (Seinfeld) that I am currently watching):
There are several other options in the "My TV" section, but the above photos show just how flexible and informative this software can be.
There is a program that is supposed to allow HDTV recordings from several digital cable boxes via firewire. I tested this feature and I was able to change channels and view programming available in HD via firewire, but when I started a recording it would make my computer crash. The reason I mention this feature, even though I was unable to get it to work, is because other more advanced users may not have my problems with trying to find the appropriate drivers and fixing those that are having the conflict. I just did not have the patience to figure it out, so your mileage may vary.
As you can tell, there are too many aspects of this computer to put into one review and there are still a lot of features that I have not even tested. I will edit, amend, or write a new review for each new feature that I test on this computer. It is an amazing product for $1,099.99 and even more amazing when you consider the fact that the changer sales for $799 on its own. I give this unit a high recommendation and I would recommend it to anyone with a similar setup. (see Oct 9th notes below - I would now give it a somewhat reserved recommendation depending on what you are using it for) You may want to act soon because Sony no longer has it listed on their site. It has been replaced by a $2699.99 model, which from what I can tell, is not much different from this model.
UPSIDE:
Batch CD burning makes a difficult task easy
DVD changer integration
Ultimate Media PC
Downside:
Have to add on HD tuner
Need to buy a soundcard to get DD5.1
Some incompatibility/bug issues have arisen since this review (see below)
As a side note, I wanted to commend Sony on their fantastic customer service. The second day I owned this unit, the DVD changer broke. As you can imagine, this scared me because I did not even know how or if they would fix it, since I got it at such a deep discount. Anyway, I called Sony and was immediately put through to an agent. I was only put on hold for about 10 seconds, which was impressive to say the least. They told me they would have a tech person come to my house and the person would call me back in three business days or less. Three days passed and I had to call Sony again! The agent was very apologetic and said the tech would definitely call me the next day. The next day came and I had a message waiting for me when I got to work. I called the guy back and he made an appointment to fix it that evening at 5:45 PM, so I did not even have to miss a minute of work! Sony had sent him every moving piece inside the changer, so he changed out everything. I have since copied 1230 CDs using the changer without one problem. Bravo Sony!
One of the many reasons I never integrated my computer into my home theater was related to the loud fans on my Dell XPS Gen 2 computer. In an effort to leave the computer on all the time, I actually switched out the fan on my video card, but apparently it was not the only noisy fan in my PC. After a lot of research, I found out that nearly every fan had to be replaced. This was just too much work. I researched computers for a while because the Linkplayer even needs a PC running to live up to its potential, but nothing really caught my eye. That was until I read about the very quiet Sony VAIO. It has the looks that fit in perfectly with my living room system, but more importantly, it has a DVD changer that makes it more useful than any media PC that I have seen.
My Music
First, lets begin with a discussion of the DVD changer. This thing is just incredible. It will allow you to load up 200 CDs and then burn them onto your hard drive in a batch process. It does take a long time for the computer to look up the album information and then burn it to the hard drive, so you may want to get it started and check back in 12 hours or so. It works amazingly well and the only drawback is the occasional album missing individual song information. You can always update the missing information later using Windows Media Player (WMP – a program that can play on nearly any Windows computer) or Music Match Jukebox. Once everything is on your hard drive, you can go to the Windows Media Center (WMC – A type of operating system) and sort by numerous options (See Below):
Notice "Arista:15 Year" is missing a photo (thumb). This can be fixed by getting the "tag" information using a different program or by saving a photo of the album into a specified format in the album's folder.
The "94 of 1241" tells you where you are at in the album directory. These albums start with the 94th entry and there are 1241 albums to choose from.
The photo below shows the album information for "Abby Road" and shows the playback information in the bottom left corner. The user can add to the "Queue"/playlist while a song is playing. The "Visualize" selection works like a screensaver and gives you many different animated choices (an equalizer view is just one example) to view while the music is playing.
The photo below is just a larger view of the album cover and the playback information:
One thing to keep in mind is that the WMP and WMC use the same library. As a result, adding new music and the burning/ripping options need to be setup in WMP instead of WMC. My main goal was to burn my entire CD collection (over 1200 CDs) into a “lossless” format. “Lossless” means that it will sound every bit as good as the original CD, if not better. See here for more information on the benefits of listening to music on a computer versus playing it on a CD player.
After two weeks of filling up the changer and letting it run overnight, I had every CD I own in WMA Lossless format on my hard drive. This does take up an incredible amount of hard drive space and that is why a lot of people choose a lossy format like mp3 to save their files. In the past, I spent months burning my music to mp3 format, but this time around I wanted great sound quality for the living room and the 128kbps mp3s did not qualify. Converting WMA Lossless to mp3 or other formats can be done using many different programs. I will save that discussion for another day. If you are really curious, you can find a lot of information on the subject at http://www.hydrogenaudio.org.
One other thing I should mention is that the "My Music" directory will include Yahoo Music files if you are a subscriber. This is convenient because you can play anything from the Yahoo Subscription service that you have in your Yahoo "Library" using the "My Music" interface.
My DVDs:
Now that I have all my music at my fingertips, I wanted to load up my DVDs into my DVD changer. This was a fairly simple task. The changer makes loading and unloading about as easy as you could imagine. You can eject an individual disc via the WMC program or by using the eject button on the front of the changer. The changer also has a load button on the front. The cool part is that hitting the button twice will allow you to load the first disc and the changer will automatically rotate to the next slot so you can load the next disc, and so on. It works pretty much the same way for ejecting the disc. It will eject one disc if you hit the button once and rotate and auto eject the next disc (until it is empty) after you pull the current disc out of the slot.
I loaded up my DVDs using the auto-load feature until the unit was completely full. I then setup the WMC program to find all of the movie information automatically. This results in a photo thumbnail of each movie (occasionally, you will have a movie that is missing a thumbnail and I have not figured out how to add one at this point) . When you choose a movie from WMC, the next screen will usually give you more information about the movie, similar to the back of a DVD box. Once I found out I had over 200 DVDs, I decided to hold out the un-encrypted DVDs (I have some instructional DVDs that were made by independent companies) and burn them to my hard drive. When hitting “My DVDs” in WMC, it integrated the hard drive movies into the changer movies. You have to add a thumbnail photo yourself unless the program recognizes the name of a movie and pulls it over (which is unlikely for training video). Not a big deal, you just save whatever pic you want to use in the movie's folder as "folder.jpg". Re-sizing to 240x240 seemed to work for me.
Below is a screen capture of the movie directory. As you can see, I typed in "mag" to find "The Magnificent Seven [Special Edition]" DVD. This search capability makes it very easy to find a movie very quickly. You can also see that I am listening to "Abby Road" while searching for a movie by looking in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Below is an example of the descriptive information that is available on selected movies. As you can see, there are two pages of information on this particular title:
My Pictures
Another feature of the computer is the picture gallery. Since I love photography (as demonstrated on my Pbase site), I believe I will be using this section of the computer a lot. I do have a lot of organizing to do of my older pictures, but now I know I will have the ability to pull up any shot from my couch in very little time using the software. From what I understand, the program allows the user to start a song playing in the "My Music" section and then you can go to the "My Picture" area and start a slideshow. I am hoping to find a way to drop a mp3 or WMA lossless file in the folder and have it play automatically with the slideshow, but I have not had time to research this feature. In any case, the picture quality is outstanding on my 61 inch HDTV.
The shot below is from my mostly unorganized picture folders. It will allow the user to select any folder and start an automatic slideshow. It has several choices in the general setup menu for how to transition from one photo to the next.
Online Spotlight
There is also an area with several internet websites. I have not inspected all of them, but it appears that there are several sites with pre-recorded video to entertain you if you do not already have enough ideas with your movies and music available at the touch of a remote.
The one feature I do like was the way that XM radio is integrated into the system. Since I already have an account, I was able to type in my password and access all of my favorite channels in a matter of seconds. The sound quality is a little lacking and may be better via a program like Xamp Desktop. However, I have not had time to do a direct comparison. For noncritical listening, this setup is good enough.
Helpful Add-On Products:
A couple things are needed to get the most out of this computer. If you want Dolby Digital surround sound (DD5.1) or DTS, you have to buy an additional soundcard. I found this out by reading the always informative posts at AVSforum. As a result, I purchased a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Roadie . This inexpensive little (fits in the palm of my hand) USB add-on worked like a charm and made it possible to watch movies and television in the best possible format. It took a few minutes to get it to work properly, but once I got it up and running I was very pleased with the results. The unit also has other features for recording via optical input and listening to movies over a set of headphones, but I have not tested those features.
Another major oversight was the lack of an HDTV tuner as part of this package. When I consider that they charged $2000 for this computer a year ago, I cannot think of an excuse for missing such an important feature. A while ago, I found out about the Vbox Catseye USB HDTV Tuner . that will give the user the ability to integrate HDTV pulled in over the air via an antenna to be integrated into WMC. This was a very easy setup and took less than 5 minutes to install the software. I did have to reconfigure the “TV” setup in WMC to recognize the new digital tuner, but that was easy to do. The Vbox is not a perfect product or my WMC computer is not the best match for it. It usually works great, but watching a basketball game in HD is next to impossible because the tuner seems to have problems keeping a steady image. Other than that and other action packed programs, it usually does work well, but to get the best out of it, I had to run it through a powered USB hub. I have not tested the recording aspect of this process, so I will update this review later for that addition.
I also needed a HDMI switch , since my TV only has one HDMI input and I was using it for my cable box. This computer does not have a VGA output, so that could make it a “no-go” for those people that have a TV without a DVI or HDMI path. If you do have HDMI, you will be very impressed by the picture quality of this unit. It is fantastic! I programmed my Harmony remote to auto-select the correct input for each HDMI product (I have three) and it makes it all work without a hitch. On the subject of remotes, the computer comes with its own remote and a wireless keyboard. They work great, but the remote and keyboard are not backlit, so I programmed each button's behavior from the PC remote into my Harmony remote.
One of the downsides to this system is the fact that the DVD changer is HUGE and can be very loud. As a result, I put it in my guest room and ran a long firewire cable to it. I am not even sure where I would have put this behemoth if I did not have a closet in a spare bedroom behind my system.
My TV
The computer is already equipped with an analog tuner that will accept a coaxial cable directly from your cable TV company. However, I also added the Vbox that I described above. This gives me the option of watching a show live or recording a show and watching it later. It is fairly simple using the guide and it offers a lot of the same features as Tivo. One of my favorite features from Tivo is the 30 second skip button. This is probably the most used button on my Tivo remote because I can skip through commercials or huddles in football games with just a touch of a button. Luckily, the "My TV" interface has this skip feature along with fast forward and rewind.
Below is a shot of the guide. This shot shows some of the HDTV stations (1241 and higher) available via the Vbox and the analog channels that are picked up from my cable company.
Here is an example of the screen that comes up when you select an item from the guide. I like the way it gives the information related to the program, including the actors, whether it is in analog or HD, and a brief description of the movie.
The interface also allows the user to search for a title and find movies:
When you select "Movies", the program will find all movies that are currently available in your area. It will then match it with the DVD cover art and provide some information on the title:
If you select "Genre", you will then be able to view specific type of movies that are going to be on throughout the two week period that the guide covers:
Once you select a "Genre", you will see the movies that are going to be on that are in that genre of movies. I selected "Action and Adventure" and had the following programs to choose from (Note: In the bottom left corner, you can see the TV show (Seinfeld) that I am currently watching):
There are several other options in the "My TV" section, but the above photos show just how flexible and informative this software can be.There is a program that is supposed to allow HDTV recordings from several digital cable boxes via firewire. I tested this feature and I was able to change channels and view programming available in HD via firewire, but when I started a recording it would make my computer crash. The reason I mention this feature, even though I was unable to get it to work, is because other more advanced users may not have my problems with trying to find the appropriate drivers and fixing those that are having the conflict. I just did not have the patience to figure it out, so your mileage may vary.
As you can tell, there are too many aspects of this computer to put into one review and there are still a lot of features that I have not even tested. I will edit, amend, or write a new review for each new feature that I test on this computer. It is an amazing product for $1,099.99 and even more amazing when you consider the fact that the changer sales for $799 on its own. I give this unit a high recommendation and I would recommend it to anyone with a similar setup. (see Oct 9th notes below - I would now give it a somewhat reserved recommendation depending on what you are using it for) You may want to act soon because Sony no longer has it listed on their site. It has been replaced by a $2699.99 model, which from what I can tell, is not much different from this model.
UPSIDE:
Batch CD burning makes a difficult task easy
DVD changer integration
Ultimate Media PC
Downside:
Have to add on HD tuner
Need to buy a soundcard to get DD5.1
Some incompatibility/bug issues have arisen since this review (see below)
As a side note, I wanted to commend Sony on their fantastic customer service. The second day I owned this unit, the DVD changer broke. As you can imagine, this scared me because I did not even know how or if they would fix it, since I got it at such a deep discount. Anyway, I called Sony and was immediately put through to an agent. I was only put on hold for about 10 seconds, which was impressive to say the least. They told me they would have a tech person come to my house and the person would call me back in three business days or less. Three days passed and I had to call Sony again! The agent was very apologetic and said the tech would definitely call me the next day. The next day came and I had a message waiting for me when I got to work. I called the guy back and he made an appointment to fix it that evening at 5:45 PM, so I did not even have to miss a minute of work! Sony had sent him every moving piece inside the changer, so he changed out everything. I have since copied 1230 CDs using the changer without one problem. Bravo Sony!
UPDATE: October 9, 2006
I still highly recommend the machine, but I have had issues with the DVD changer. In fact, it seems to disappear from view quite often. I am not sure if it is my Norton Anti-virus causing the problem, but I never had a problem with the changer until I updated Norton. Your results may vary, but if you want this computer for mainly DVDs, you may be disappointed if this is a Sony bug/problem.
Also, I have had problems with restarting the computer and "standby." It is probably a driver issue, but it is hard to troubleshoot computer issues on a 61 inch screen. I am having to re-power the computer several times to get a picture out on the HDMI after restart/standby.
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Audiophile Sound On A Budget
Over the past few years, I have been listening to my trusty little Tivoli Pal Radio in my sun room. The Tivoli Pal is very portable and is made of a weather resistant material that is perfect for a room that is exposed to the elements. The problem with the Tivoli Pal is the fact that it only has one speaker and does not have very much power. As a result, I wanted something a little louder, but did not want to spend a lot of money.
The Sonic T-amp is a Class T amplifier with a Tripath TA 2024 chipset. According to Sonic's website it is a "15 W /ch continuous average two - channel Class - T Digital Audio Power Amplifier IC using proprietary Digital Power Processing ™ technology." This does not mean a whole lot to a layman like myself, but the reviews that I have read made it sound very interesting. Since the Sonic T-amp is less than $30, I figured it was worth a shot.
When I received the box that contained the Sonic T-amp in the mail, I was surprised that the box was so light and small. I opened it up and this little plastic box was all that was in there. I was not overwhelmed by its appearance to say the least! It looked more like a toy than an amp that deserved accolades from the audiophile fringe. I still did not have any speakers specifically for it, but I did have some Logitech THX computer speakers that I could use to test it. When I hooked the speaker wire to the amp, I was not surprised that the clamps seemed very cheap. I do not think thick gauge wire would work very well, but I had a roll of cheap speaker wire in the garage and used it to hook up the speakers.
The next thing I noticed is that I needed some batteries or a 12v AC adaptor . I was able to dig up some batteries and I also found a 12v AC adaptor in a box of leftover gadget parts. The AC adaptor worked fine, but I left the batteries in it to give it some weight. I decided to hook up my iPod Shuffle to the T-amp's aux (mini cable) input. Right out of the box the music was fantastic. I decided to run the amp for several hours over the next few days to break it in. All I can say is that the sound was just awesome, but I knew I would need some speakers to team with it.
The T-amp is supposed to appreciate highly efficient speakers (sensitivity over 90dB is preferred). I went to some of my favorite forums to see if I could find out what others were teaming with the Sonic T-amp. I ran across a post where the member was using a set of Pinnacle PN-5+s and loved them with the amp. The thing that really caught my eye is that he said they were very inexpensive. I was looking at Klipsch outdoor speakers that were priced at over $200 and the Pinnacle speakers could be had for less than $100 according to the poster. Well, I did a search for the speakers on Ebay and found a starting bid of $29.95. Fortunately for me, I put a bid in for them and no one else made another offer. I was able to get them for less than $50 with shipping!!
The smallish bookshelf speakers arrived and I was really looking forward to hearing them. Stereo Review Magazine gave these speakers high marks when they were introduced back in the late 1980s. Despite that fact, I was not expecting much, but I was hoping the sound would be passable. To my surprise, these speakers sounded even better than my Logitech Z-680 THX speakers. I have to say the sound of the Shuffle, T-amp and Pinnacle combination was unbelievably impressive. The smooth, transparent sound has to be heard to be believed!
I moved the speakers and Sonic T-amp to my sun room and have really enjoyed the combination. I have decided to team them up with my second generation 20GB iPod instead of the Shuffle. The Shuffle has better sound quality, but I already had a remote control for the 20GB iPod and the small difference in sound quality is not that much of a sacrifice. It still sounds much better than I ever expected it to. I can now skip over songs and adjust the volume with the naviPod remote from across the room.
Lastly, this combination would be perfect for a bedroom, guest room, or sun room. For a large room, you may want a little more power. However, I plan on adding another Sonic T-amp to the kitchen in the near future. I will definitely team it up with smaller speakers than the Pinnacles, but I feel the kitchen is more of a compromised audio situation. Believe it or not, I may end up putting some small Bose speakers with it (don't shoot me ;-))! Anyway, for less than $100, I now have a great little system that sounds spectacular. Before buying a "all-in-one" boxed, overpriced, ipod speaker solution, I would highly recommend looking into this type of combination first. Your ears will thank you!
UP SIDE
Great Sound Quality
Low, low price
Portable
DOWN SIDE
Cheap plastic look (you could buy the new Super T-amp for $140 for a more expensive look)
Cheap connectors
No batteries or power-cord included
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
The Sonic T-amp is a Class T amplifier with a Tripath TA 2024 chipset. According to Sonic's website it is a "15 W /ch continuous average two - channel Class - T Digital Audio Power Amplifier IC using proprietary Digital Power Processing ™ technology." This does not mean a whole lot to a layman like myself, but the reviews that I have read made it sound very interesting. Since the Sonic T-amp is less than $30, I figured it was worth a shot.
When I received the box that contained the Sonic T-amp in the mail, I was surprised that the box was so light and small. I opened it up and this little plastic box was all that was in there. I was not overwhelmed by its appearance to say the least! It looked more like a toy than an amp that deserved accolades from the audiophile fringe. I still did not have any speakers specifically for it, but I did have some Logitech THX computer speakers that I could use to test it. When I hooked the speaker wire to the amp, I was not surprised that the clamps seemed very cheap. I do not think thick gauge wire would work very well, but I had a roll of cheap speaker wire in the garage and used it to hook up the speakers.
The next thing I noticed is that I needed some batteries or a 12v AC adaptor . I was able to dig up some batteries and I also found a 12v AC adaptor in a box of leftover gadget parts. The AC adaptor worked fine, but I left the batteries in it to give it some weight. I decided to hook up my iPod Shuffle to the T-amp's aux (mini cable) input. Right out of the box the music was fantastic. I decided to run the amp for several hours over the next few days to break it in. All I can say is that the sound was just awesome, but I knew I would need some speakers to team with it.
The T-amp is supposed to appreciate highly efficient speakers (sensitivity over 90dB is preferred). I went to some of my favorite forums to see if I could find out what others were teaming with the Sonic T-amp. I ran across a post where the member was using a set of Pinnacle PN-5+s and loved them with the amp. The thing that really caught my eye is that he said they were very inexpensive. I was looking at Klipsch outdoor speakers that were priced at over $200 and the Pinnacle speakers could be had for less than $100 according to the poster. Well, I did a search for the speakers on Ebay and found a starting bid of $29.95. Fortunately for me, I put a bid in for them and no one else made another offer. I was able to get them for less than $50 with shipping!!
The smallish bookshelf speakers arrived and I was really looking forward to hearing them. Stereo Review Magazine gave these speakers high marks when they were introduced back in the late 1980s. Despite that fact, I was not expecting much, but I was hoping the sound would be passable. To my surprise, these speakers sounded even better than my Logitech Z-680 THX speakers. I have to say the sound of the Shuffle, T-amp and Pinnacle combination was unbelievably impressive. The smooth, transparent sound has to be heard to be believed!
I moved the speakers and Sonic T-amp to my sun room and have really enjoyed the combination. I have decided to team them up with my second generation 20GB iPod instead of the Shuffle. The Shuffle has better sound quality, but I already had a remote control for the 20GB iPod and the small difference in sound quality is not that much of a sacrifice. It still sounds much better than I ever expected it to. I can now skip over songs and adjust the volume with the naviPod remote from across the room.
Lastly, this combination would be perfect for a bedroom, guest room, or sun room. For a large room, you may want a little more power. However, I plan on adding another Sonic T-amp to the kitchen in the near future. I will definitely team it up with smaller speakers than the Pinnacles, but I feel the kitchen is more of a compromised audio situation. Believe it or not, I may end up putting some small Bose speakers with it (don't shoot me ;-))! Anyway, for less than $100, I now have a great little system that sounds spectacular. Before buying a "all-in-one" boxed, overpriced, ipod speaker solution, I would highly recommend looking into this type of combination first. Your ears will thank you!
UP SIDE
Great Sound Quality
Low, low price
Portable
DOWN SIDE
Cheap plastic look (you could buy the new Super T-amp for $140 for a more expensive look)
Cheap connectors
No batteries or power-cord included
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
UHDL Update - Movie Server Nirvana?
In the past, I wrote a review of the I-O Data Linkplayer and the I-O Data UHDL (with built in Linkplayer firmware). If you are looking for basic information about the Linkplayer, you should refer to my previous article. The purpose of this review is to highlight the new update to the UHDL that I have been wishing for since I purchased the 300GB server several months ago. This will also give you an idea, if you already own the 300GB UHDL, of whether you should update to the new firmware.
The Spectacular:
I initially purchased the UHDL to play media over my network without computer intervention. The problem was that the Linkplayer could only see files under 2GB stored on the UHDL without running a program on my computer. This was a major problem because most of my movies are in high def and are over 2 GB. As a result, I had to split the files over 2GB into 1GB increments to see them on the Linkplayer. It would play them back in order, but this caused several breaks in the playback of movies and that was distracting. With the computer on, it was possible to join them together using a program called "WIZD". However, for my use, I wanted perfect movie playback even when my computer was off.
Recently, the good folks at I-O Data provided an update that replaced the old server software with a version of their "Advanced Linkserver". For movies, this update was a MAJOR revelation. The Linkplayer can now play huge files over the network (via the UHDL's Internal hard drive) without computer intervention. I have tested a 15GB high definition movie that I recorded using my ATI HDTV Wonder card. It played flawlessly. I was also able to fast forward, reverse, etc... without any problems.
The Bad:
There are some trade-offs for the new firmware. The loss of shuffle play on music is a big loss. They have also changed some of the menus, but for me this is not a big deal. The new interface just shows the folder names and file names and the files are sortable by title or date. At the top, there is a menu for "Video", "Photo" and "Music", but it is not necessary unless you have your many diferent types of media in one folder. The Linkplayer will still auto play all music in a folder and repeat play one file if desired.
Photos also lost a lot of functionality. I mentioned in my last UHDL article that I was wanting the ability to play music with a photo slideshow. Now it is impossible to even run an automatic slideshow. The user now has to hit the "next" button to proceed to the next photo. In most cases, a large file will take longer than a small file to transition. This is a major drawback, in my opinion. I also noticed that the UHDL does not support "progressive" photo files. I am not positive, but I think it did support the format in the past. The UHDL will still show files of at least 3504x2336 if they are not saved as progressive. If you have the old firmware running, you may want to test this feature. The other issue with photos is that you can no longer shuffle play a slideshow.
The way I have gotten around the inability to show slideshows with music is to use a program that will make a movie out of several photos with any music track or tracks I choose. I am now using Muvee autoProducer 3.0, which is a lot of fun, but if you want any number of "normal" transitions between slides, I have found that SmoothShow may be a better option.
The Ugly:
I now have the ability to store huge movies on my UHDL (this is good). This new feature is so important that I am willing to overlook all of the issues with music and photos. However, with large files, I will eventually run out of space on the UHDL's 300GB hard drive. Fortunately, or so it would seem, the UHDL has two USB ports on the back for adding external hard drives. Unfortunately, the Linkplayer cannot see the USB drives attached to the UHDL without sacrificing the ability to see the UHDL's built in drive (without a computer).
The UHDL's web setup interface, that requires computer intervention, is the only way to switch between the UHDL and either of its attached external drives (not both at the same time). It does not do a lot of good to have the extra add on space if it is not viewable on the Linkplayer. I can see the drive from my computer, but the point of having the UHDL (for me) is to avoid having to use a computer to access files. Also, keep in mind that the external hard drive, if you choose to attach it to the UHDL (despite the problem of seeing it from the Linkplayer), will NOT accept files that are larger than 4GB unless they are formatted with the UHDL. Therefore, make sure you format it before adding data.
As a result of the inability of the Linkplayer to see the USB ports, I moved all my music and photos to an external hard drive and I am now plugging the drive it into the front of the Linkplayer via its USB port. Keep in mind that the USB port on the Linkplayer accepts ONLY FAT16/32. This means that you cannot play files over 4GB. This is a FAT32 limitation and not a limitation of the Linkplayer. It is possible to format an external hard drive into NTSF mode and increase this limitation. However, Microsoft requires NTSF licensing and I-O Data has not been able to obtain the license just yet. The USB will autoplay photos, so I am getting more functionality for photos on the USB than I am on the UHDL. Also, I plan to move all of my movie files (mostly high def files in 1GB chunks) that are under 4GB to the USB to increase space on the UHDL.
Final Assessment:
As you can see from the above review, there are a lot of drawbacks to the new software. I have the feeling that these drawbacks will be more important to others than they are to me.
For my use, I would much prefer the ability to play huge movie files over the network without a problem. Actually, I would have bought the UHDL if that is all it did. It is fantastic to sit down on the couch and pull up any show I recorded with my computer with the touch of a remote. The user interface may not be beautiful, but it is functional if you have your folders and directories setup in a logical manner. I am hoping to see some of the drawbacks addressed, but for now I am very happy with the newest software!
Additional information (added later): The UHDL is great if you only have 280GB or less data you want to store. However, if you are looking for an expandable soultion, this is not it. The best storage option for the Linkplayer is probably the ReadyNAS600-LS (Keep in mind I have not tested it, so you will need to do your own research) or another type of RAID server.
Another option is that you could buy a quiet PC. A computer with USB2.0 or firewire can expand your storage options if you want to leave the computer on when you are accessing your data. This is the option I am going to use (in the near future) to get more memory and resolve some of my issues with the Linkplayer. Of course, I will also run a VGA cord (or DVI) and coax digital sound to my living room, so I can use the computer independently of the Linkplayer.
UPDATE 9/9/06 - I have added a Media Center Computer (see my review: here) to my setup and moved the Linkplayer to the bedroom. I run software for the Linkplayer on the WMC computer and now it can see the UHDL and any of the external hard drives at the same time. With Tversity software, I can now play back my WMA Lossless files on the Linkplayer, too.
UP SIDE
Play High Def movies over the network without computer
Play TV shows over the network without a computer
Picture quality is outstanding
DOWN SIDE
Graphic User Interface is rudimentary
Inability to see USB attached storage from Linkplayer (without computer)
No shuffle play of photos or music
Cannot play progressive photos
No longer has basic ability to automatically display next photo in a folder
To purchase or find out more about the Linkplayer or the UHDL, visit I-O Data's Website
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
The Spectacular:
I initially purchased the UHDL to play media over my network without computer intervention. The problem was that the Linkplayer could only see files under 2GB stored on the UHDL without running a program on my computer. This was a major problem because most of my movies are in high def and are over 2 GB. As a result, I had to split the files over 2GB into 1GB increments to see them on the Linkplayer. It would play them back in order, but this caused several breaks in the playback of movies and that was distracting. With the computer on, it was possible to join them together using a program called "WIZD". However, for my use, I wanted perfect movie playback even when my computer was off.
Recently, the good folks at I-O Data provided an update that replaced the old server software with a version of their "Advanced Linkserver". For movies, this update was a MAJOR revelation. The Linkplayer can now play huge files over the network (via the UHDL's Internal hard drive) without computer intervention. I have tested a 15GB high definition movie that I recorded using my ATI HDTV Wonder card. It played flawlessly. I was also able to fast forward, reverse, etc... without any problems.
The Bad:
There are some trade-offs for the new firmware. The loss of shuffle play on music is a big loss. They have also changed some of the menus, but for me this is not a big deal. The new interface just shows the folder names and file names and the files are sortable by title or date. At the top, there is a menu for "Video", "Photo" and "Music", but it is not necessary unless you have your many diferent types of media in one folder. The Linkplayer will still auto play all music in a folder and repeat play one file if desired.
Photos also lost a lot of functionality. I mentioned in my last UHDL article that I was wanting the ability to play music with a photo slideshow. Now it is impossible to even run an automatic slideshow. The user now has to hit the "next" button to proceed to the next photo. In most cases, a large file will take longer than a small file to transition. This is a major drawback, in my opinion. I also noticed that the UHDL does not support "progressive" photo files. I am not positive, but I think it did support the format in the past. The UHDL will still show files of at least 3504x2336 if they are not saved as progressive. If you have the old firmware running, you may want to test this feature. The other issue with photos is that you can no longer shuffle play a slideshow.
The way I have gotten around the inability to show slideshows with music is to use a program that will make a movie out of several photos with any music track or tracks I choose. I am now using Muvee autoProducer 3.0, which is a lot of fun, but if you want any number of "normal" transitions between slides, I have found that SmoothShow may be a better option.
The Ugly:
I now have the ability to store huge movies on my UHDL (this is good). This new feature is so important that I am willing to overlook all of the issues with music and photos. However, with large files, I will eventually run out of space on the UHDL's 300GB hard drive. Fortunately, or so it would seem, the UHDL has two USB ports on the back for adding external hard drives. Unfortunately, the Linkplayer cannot see the USB drives attached to the UHDL without sacrificing the ability to see the UHDL's built in drive (without a computer).
The UHDL's web setup interface, that requires computer intervention, is the only way to switch between the UHDL and either of its attached external drives (not both at the same time). It does not do a lot of good to have the extra add on space if it is not viewable on the Linkplayer. I can see the drive from my computer, but the point of having the UHDL (for me) is to avoid having to use a computer to access files. Also, keep in mind that the external hard drive, if you choose to attach it to the UHDL (despite the problem of seeing it from the Linkplayer), will NOT accept files that are larger than 4GB unless they are formatted with the UHDL. Therefore, make sure you format it before adding data.
As a result of the inability of the Linkplayer to see the USB ports, I moved all my music and photos to an external hard drive and I am now plugging the drive it into the front of the Linkplayer via its USB port. Keep in mind that the USB port on the Linkplayer accepts ONLY FAT16/32. This means that you cannot play files over 4GB. This is a FAT32 limitation and not a limitation of the Linkplayer. It is possible to format an external hard drive into NTSF mode and increase this limitation. However, Microsoft requires NTSF licensing and I-O Data has not been able to obtain the license just yet. The USB will autoplay photos, so I am getting more functionality for photos on the USB than I am on the UHDL. Also, I plan to move all of my movie files (mostly high def files in 1GB chunks) that are under 4GB to the USB to increase space on the UHDL.
Final Assessment:
As you can see from the above review, there are a lot of drawbacks to the new software. I have the feeling that these drawbacks will be more important to others than they are to me.
For my use, I would much prefer the ability to play huge movie files over the network without a problem. Actually, I would have bought the UHDL if that is all it did. It is fantastic to sit down on the couch and pull up any show I recorded with my computer with the touch of a remote. The user interface may not be beautiful, but it is functional if you have your folders and directories setup in a logical manner. I am hoping to see some of the drawbacks addressed, but for now I am very happy with the newest software!
Additional information (added later): The UHDL is great if you only have 280GB or less data you want to store. However, if you are looking for an expandable soultion, this is not it. The best storage option for the Linkplayer is probably the ReadyNAS600-LS (Keep in mind I have not tested it, so you will need to do your own research) or another type of RAID server.
Another option is that you could buy a quiet PC. A computer with USB2.0 or firewire can expand your storage options if you want to leave the computer on when you are accessing your data. This is the option I am going to use (in the near future) to get more memory and resolve some of my issues with the Linkplayer. Of course, I will also run a VGA cord (or DVI) and coax digital sound to my living room, so I can use the computer independently of the Linkplayer.
UPDATE 9/9/06 - I have added a Media Center Computer (see my review: here) to my setup and moved the Linkplayer to the bedroom. I run software for the Linkplayer on the WMC computer and now it can see the UHDL and any of the external hard drives at the same time. With Tversity software, I can now play back my WMA Lossless files on the Linkplayer, too.
UP SIDE
Play High Def movies over the network without computer
Play TV shows over the network without a computer
Picture quality is outstanding
DOWN SIDE
Graphic User Interface is rudimentary
Inability to see USB attached storage from Linkplayer (without computer)
No shuffle play of photos or music
Cannot play progressive photos
No longer has basic ability to automatically display next photo in a folder
To purchase or find out more about the Linkplayer or the UHDL, visit I-O Data's Website
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Linkplayer 300GB UHDL
The review below is related to the first firmware version of the UHDL. If you want to read about the firmware update, you need to read my other review.
One of my favorite gadgets is the IO Data Linkplayer. It is a networked DVD player that plays music, movies, and photos. It is a great product as you can tell by my initial review.
The UHDL is a network server that uses a previous version of the Linkplayer software to navigate through your files. The benefit of a network server is to have the ability to move all your media files to an accessible location without needing to have your computer on all the time.
When I received my UHDL sever, I was surprised by the small stature of the unit. Once I made sure they actually sent me the 300GB model, instead of the 160GB model, I was ready to set it up. This was a very simple process. The computer assigned it a drive and the unit allows access through a web based browser.
After I had access to the server from my computer, I decided to hook up an external hard drive to one the UHDL's USB ports. The setup was very easy and I was able to see all of the contents of the USB via my computer. Next, I went to the Linkplayer anxious to see the interface that was embedded into the UHDL software.
I turned on my Linkplayer and it immediately recognized the UHDL. I clicked the new icon and the interface was similar to the computer Linkserver software interface. Next, I decided to play my HD movie files. To my surprise, it could only see the files that were less the 2 GB! This was a huge disappointment! To play the HD movies that I recorde OTA, I had to create a shortcut on my computer to the file that was on the UHDL. For some reason, the Linkplayer can play back the file through a shortcut (on the computer) but not from the UHDL directly. This severely limits the usefulness of the UHDL. As a matter of fact, it makes it less valuable than an external hard drive that can be plugged directly into the front of the Linkplayer and play back files up to 4GB (which is still too small). It may be possible to split movies into several 1GB files, but the UHDL will pause between each file. If they could somehow make them play without a pause, I could live with the 1GB limitation.
Next, I tested the music feature of the UHDL. This is really where the product shines. I have over 70GB of music that I moved to the UHDL and it does a great job of playing them back on the Linkplayer. Additionally, the player scrolls the name of the song across the bottom of the screen while a built in screensaver of music related pictures produces a slideshow above the song title. This is a great feature to help avoid burn in. The player will also allow the user to play one song, a folder of songs in original order, or shuffle play the songs in the folder.
I decided to test the picture playing ability of the player next. I started a slideshow from a folder by pushing play. The player will then pop up a picture that says "My Photo Album". The Linkplayer will then automatically play the pictures in the current folder. The slideshow seems to have around 4 seconds to view the picture and then it fades out and into the next photo. It will also allow the user to pause and look at the picture longer if needed. The player also features shuffle play of the folder so you can watch the slideshow in random order. The thing that really surprised me was the ability to play back larger file sizes than the company's stated limit. The Linkplayer software on my computer will choke on files that are larger than 2048x1532. However, the UHDL software plays back file sizes up to 3504x2336. It may actually accept even larger sizes, but I did not have any on hand to test. Overall, I am very impressed with the ability to play photos on the TV. The pictures have unbelievable detail and the quality is worlds apart from my older Prismiq machine. The major downside to the photo capabilities is the lack of the ability to play back music at the same time. Hopefully, they can work that in at some point in the future.
My initial impressions of most of the UHDL's abilities are very positive. When the player has nothing to do (after a album is finished, slideshow is done, etc..) it will automatically start a built in screensaver. I wish my Tivo had that ability! The one major downside is the 2GB limit that I hope will be fixed soon.
UP SIDE
Built in screensaver
Ability to have access to your entire music library
Picture quality is outstanding
Easy setup
DOWN SIDE
2GB limit on file size
Inability to play music back during slideshow
Inability to shuffle play folders inside folders
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
One of my favorite gadgets is the IO Data Linkplayer. It is a networked DVD player that plays music, movies, and photos. It is a great product as you can tell by my initial review.
The UHDL is a network server that uses a previous version of the Linkplayer software to navigate through your files. The benefit of a network server is to have the ability to move all your media files to an accessible location without needing to have your computer on all the time.
When I received my UHDL sever, I was surprised by the small stature of the unit. Once I made sure they actually sent me the 300GB model, instead of the 160GB model, I was ready to set it up. This was a very simple process. The computer assigned it a drive and the unit allows access through a web based browser.
After I had access to the server from my computer, I decided to hook up an external hard drive to one the UHDL's USB ports. The setup was very easy and I was able to see all of the contents of the USB via my computer. Next, I went to the Linkplayer anxious to see the interface that was embedded into the UHDL software.
I turned on my Linkplayer and it immediately recognized the UHDL. I clicked the new icon and the interface was similar to the computer Linkserver software interface. Next, I decided to play my HD movie files. To my surprise, it could only see the files that were less the 2 GB! This was a huge disappointment! To play the HD movies that I recorde OTA, I had to create a shortcut on my computer to the file that was on the UHDL. For some reason, the Linkplayer can play back the file through a shortcut (on the computer) but not from the UHDL directly. This severely limits the usefulness of the UHDL. As a matter of fact, it makes it less valuable than an external hard drive that can be plugged directly into the front of the Linkplayer and play back files up to 4GB (which is still too small). It may be possible to split movies into several 1GB files, but the UHDL will pause between each file. If they could somehow make them play without a pause, I could live with the 1GB limitation.
Next, I tested the music feature of the UHDL. This is really where the product shines. I have over 70GB of music that I moved to the UHDL and it does a great job of playing them back on the Linkplayer. Additionally, the player scrolls the name of the song across the bottom of the screen while a built in screensaver of music related pictures produces a slideshow above the song title. This is a great feature to help avoid burn in. The player will also allow the user to play one song, a folder of songs in original order, or shuffle play the songs in the folder.
I decided to test the picture playing ability of the player next. I started a slideshow from a folder by pushing play. The player will then pop up a picture that says "My Photo Album". The Linkplayer will then automatically play the pictures in the current folder. The slideshow seems to have around 4 seconds to view the picture and then it fades out and into the next photo. It will also allow the user to pause and look at the picture longer if needed. The player also features shuffle play of the folder so you can watch the slideshow in random order. The thing that really surprised me was the ability to play back larger file sizes than the company's stated limit. The Linkplayer software on my computer will choke on files that are larger than 2048x1532. However, the UHDL software plays back file sizes up to 3504x2336. It may actually accept even larger sizes, but I did not have any on hand to test. Overall, I am very impressed with the ability to play photos on the TV. The pictures have unbelievable detail and the quality is worlds apart from my older Prismiq machine. The major downside to the photo capabilities is the lack of the ability to play back music at the same time. Hopefully, they can work that in at some point in the future.
My initial impressions of most of the UHDL's abilities are very positive. When the player has nothing to do (after a album is finished, slideshow is done, etc..) it will automatically start a built in screensaver. I wish my Tivo had that ability! The one major downside is the 2GB limit that I hope will be fixed soon.
UP SIDE
Built in screensaver
Ability to have access to your entire music library
Picture quality is outstanding
Easy setup
DOWN SIDE
2GB limit on file size
Inability to play music back during slideshow
Inability to shuffle play folders inside folders
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Pro-ject Debut III Turntable
As anyone that has visited my webpage can tell, I am a die-hard music fanatic. I have well over one thousand CDs and just about every device you can think of to play digital music. A while back, I was reading a post by my friend, Russell, and he was describing the warm, great sound of vinyl recordings. That post stuck with me for a long time. The vinyl I remembered sounded horrible playing on my 1970ish record/8 track/audio combo-player.
This year, I decided to spend more time relaxing and listening to music at home. It seemed like a great time for investing in a turntable for my home theater. I decided to look around and see if I could get a decent player for under $500. That is how I found the Pro-ject Debut III ($300). The Pro-ject seemed to be the perfect player for a novice looking for a plug and play turntable complete with cartridge.
After a lot of research and weighing the pros and cons, I decided to buy the Pro-ject from the NeedleDoctor. They have the turntables in a host of colors ranging from solid black to bright yellow. I decided to order the red turntable.
After a week or so, I received the player and it was packed so that is could not be damaged. One thing that had to be considered was that the turntable would have to be put on the top shelf of my equipment rack, so everything had to me moved. This was somewhat of a blessing because I had a chance to reorganize all of my components. After the re-stacking of all of my equipment, I placed the turntable on the top shelf and it took all of ten minutes to hook everything up. Considering the fact that I did not know what a cartridge was a few weeks ago, I would say that this unit made it as simplistic as possible for the beginner.
After getting everything hooked up, I decided to pull out a few albums that were left over from younger years. What I found is that I did not keep very good care of my LPs. The first one had so many scratches that it was unbearable to listen to for more than a few seconds. I decided to look through my collection and see if there were any LPs that were still in sleeves inside the cardboard cover. I found “Some Girls”, by the Rolling Stones. The sound was fantastic, but I was still not a complete convert. Therefore, I decided to buy a few new albums for more testing and to enjoy later.
The albums I chose were Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” (200 gram pressing), Dave Brubeck “Time Out” (180 gram), “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim” (180 gram), and Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon (180 gram). I bought all of them from Acoustic Sounds on the Internet.The experience was revelatory! The sound of the albums was like nothing I had ever heard from CDs. For fun, I set up a blind test for my girlfriend to judge. She has a good ear for music and also has very little understanding of how my system is set up. To conduct the test, I used a pair of Grado SR60 headphones and Kind of Blue (20 bit re-mastered CD) and the new vinyl copy of the album. She picked the vinyl copy after listening for a few minutes. I was not really surprised because the CD lifted a lot of surface noise off of the original tape. The vinyl version had no noticeable surface noise. I later decided to take a listen to “Time Out”. I cannot begin to describe how easily the vinyl version of this pressing blew away the CD. It was as good as anything I have heard on my system including DVD-Audio. After listening to all of my new LPs, I have to say that all of them are better than their CD counterparts. To be fair, I still love my CDs and I will not be investing in a huge vinyl collection. CDs have the benefit of easy conversion to digital formats and that is still very important to me.
Finally, the Pro-ject Debut has turned out to be a better product than I ever anticipated. The sound quality and easy setup make this a no-brainer for a novice looking to add vinyl to their home theater. If you are in the market for a reasonably priced turntable, look no further!
UP SIDE
Easy setup
Great sound
Excellent price
DOWN SIDE
Surface noise on old records
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
This year, I decided to spend more time relaxing and listening to music at home. It seemed like a great time for investing in a turntable for my home theater. I decided to look around and see if I could get a decent player for under $500. That is how I found the Pro-ject Debut III ($300). The Pro-ject seemed to be the perfect player for a novice looking for a plug and play turntable complete with cartridge.
After a lot of research and weighing the pros and cons, I decided to buy the Pro-ject from the NeedleDoctor. They have the turntables in a host of colors ranging from solid black to bright yellow. I decided to order the red turntable.
After a week or so, I received the player and it was packed so that is could not be damaged. One thing that had to be considered was that the turntable would have to be put on the top shelf of my equipment rack, so everything had to me moved. This was somewhat of a blessing because I had a chance to reorganize all of my components. After the re-stacking of all of my equipment, I placed the turntable on the top shelf and it took all of ten minutes to hook everything up. Considering the fact that I did not know what a cartridge was a few weeks ago, I would say that this unit made it as simplistic as possible for the beginner.
After getting everything hooked up, I decided to pull out a few albums that were left over from younger years. What I found is that I did not keep very good care of my LPs. The first one had so many scratches that it was unbearable to listen to for more than a few seconds. I decided to look through my collection and see if there were any LPs that were still in sleeves inside the cardboard cover. I found “Some Girls”, by the Rolling Stones. The sound was fantastic, but I was still not a complete convert. Therefore, I decided to buy a few new albums for more testing and to enjoy later.
The albums I chose were Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” (200 gram pressing), Dave Brubeck “Time Out” (180 gram), “Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim” (180 gram), and Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon (180 gram). I bought all of them from Acoustic Sounds on the Internet.The experience was revelatory! The sound of the albums was like nothing I had ever heard from CDs. For fun, I set up a blind test for my girlfriend to judge. She has a good ear for music and also has very little understanding of how my system is set up. To conduct the test, I used a pair of Grado SR60 headphones and Kind of Blue (20 bit re-mastered CD) and the new vinyl copy of the album. She picked the vinyl copy after listening for a few minutes. I was not really surprised because the CD lifted a lot of surface noise off of the original tape. The vinyl version had no noticeable surface noise. I later decided to take a listen to “Time Out”. I cannot begin to describe how easily the vinyl version of this pressing blew away the CD. It was as good as anything I have heard on my system including DVD-Audio. After listening to all of my new LPs, I have to say that all of them are better than their CD counterparts. To be fair, I still love my CDs and I will not be investing in a huge vinyl collection. CDs have the benefit of easy conversion to digital formats and that is still very important to me.
Finally, the Pro-ject Debut has turned out to be a better product than I ever anticipated. The sound quality and easy setup make this a no-brainer for a novice looking to add vinyl to their home theater. If you are in the market for a reasonably priced turntable, look no further!
UP SIDE
Easy setup
Great sound
Excellent price
DOWN SIDE
Surface noise on old records
Any questions can be left here in my guestbook.
