Iomega 35045 ScreenPlay TV Link DX HD Media Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This seemed like more than the WD Live as it has a Browser, that was the reason for my ordering it, along with a cool, full keyboard remote.
Sadly the Browser is useless, slow and quirky and really serves little purpose. I was also hoping that one could assign a VPN to the box allowing access to streaming media from the UK. Which it doesn't.
It did pick up my network, but does not recognize a USB hub, so you are limited to what you can connect to the 3 USB ports.
My reasons for giving it 2 stars, rather than 1, are it actually comes with a wireless dongle along with an HDMI cable. Many other manufacturers do not include this.
It will not playback BluRay files, again a drawback. But others seemed to stream over my network without any hiccups.
There is so little information about this product, even on iomega's website, which is why I ordered it in the hope it would work with my set-up.
So in conclusion, it's basically the same as a WD Live, it has Netlfix, Pandora, Mediafly etc. So if that's what you want and it fit's your needs, then choose whichever is the cheapest !! But if you are buying it for the browser, better you opt for GoogleTV.

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The Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link DX HD Media Player will change how you experience digital entertainment in your home. Access millions of videos, movies, photos and music on the Internet and enjoy it all on your own large screen TV. With more media formats supported (including H.264, WMV, RMVB) and brilliant 1080p HD quality for a magnificent picture and superior sound, you'll enjoy your digital content even more! The ScreenPlay TV Link is DLNA certified for easy streaming to anywhere in your house and offers a convenient way to view your own digital content. Just connect the digital storage you already own (USB flash drives, external hard drive, camera, etc.) to your TV and enjoy!

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Acer B243HLbmdrz Black 24" 5ms Widescreen 1920x1080 LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/ Built-in Speakers Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this monitor based on nagappa's excellent review (Thanks again nagappa!). In short, that review was accurate and I vouch for everything Nagappa said. I would like to add a few things about this particular Acer monitor that make it perhaps the best computer monitor I have yet seen, better than the Apple Cinema Display IMHO. This is the 3rd display that I've purchased in the last month. I'm going to explain why this monitor is the best, by describing the flaws in the other 2 displays that the Acer overcomes.
The first was a Samsung from Costco model P2450, I got it on the cheap + rebate! But I got the shaft with Samsung. The monitor BUZZED when the brightness was below 99%. The buzzing was not loud, but still audible in a quiet room and incredibly distracting. It's an electrical buzzing noise that occurs from cheap power sources. There is a lot of talk on the internet about cheap power sources in otherwise beautiful displays. The Samsung display was beautiful (80,000:1 contrast!), but the buzzing. C'mon. Keeping brightness at a nonbuzzing 100%, I installed a free app for my mac called "ScreenShade" that allowed me to control the brightness using the keyboard, but it washes out the colors tremendously when you lower brightness. And in my line of work (web programming), I often had to use the color-picker to pick a pixel, and screenShade would interfere, meaning I would have to disable screenshade each time and blind myself at 100% Samsung brightness about every 15 minutes. I got tired of that real fast and have been tolerating it the last couple weeks while my Acer was being shipped. Also, the frame around the display was glossy-black, which you wouldn't think is a bad thing at first, until you realize that not only does it reflect glare as in my case from a window in the room, but the inner bevel of the frame reflects the screen. It's annoying, because it creates a mirrored effect of the display that distorts the edges of the screen. Really, c'mon. Form over function's taken way too far here. I will also mention that this display did not swivel at all, non-height-adjustable, no usb ports in the the back, and no speakers. Not that I was really looking for these extras. FYI, $246 total charge at Costco.
Second display was the Apple Cinema Display 24". Beautiful. Solid. As perfect a picture you could ask. Plus it had USB ports, camera and mic for iChat, and pretty darn good speakers. And most important, sports 1920 x 1200 resolution! (That's about an extra two inches of vertical screen real estate!, excelled for programmers such as myself). Problem? I set it all up, and in about 20 minutes I notice this "snap-crackle-pop" sound coming from the upper-back part of the display. I ask myself, is it just me or is this the first time I have ever heard this sound from any electronic device that was not about to catch fire. I took it right back to the Apple Store for immediate refund. I turned down their offer to replace the monitor on-spot for 3 reasons: 1) I read up on the internet after discovering the sound, and found that many people had reported the same, and in fact, have been reporting this issue since early 2009! Apple hasn't addressed it since?? I didn't want a replacement that would show this or any other defect outside of my return period. I would also like to add that when I went in to replace it, Apple employees thought I was on AppleCare and had owned the display for a while, and they were *very* inattentive telling me they were too busy to schedule me at the genius bar for assistance. When I mentioned that I had just bought the monitor and was well within the return-period, they jumped and got me right in. This spooked me a bit, knowing I would not be apple-cared for very well if a future issue sprung up. 2) The display is glossy. I know that you can close yourself off in a windowless room and the display be alright, but windowless rooms stifle my creativity. hah. And yes, the cinema display is WAAAAAY too glossy if you have a window behind you. It's unusable. I have a normal iMac (with glossy display) faced 90 degrees from the window, and it is tolerable. But maybe if it weren't for...3) The Apple Display is $1000! That's 4x as much as the Acer & Samsungs. For that money, I expected the best. But considering the Acer not necessarily being 'made for macs', it sure does offer the perfect display in what I was looking for. I should also add in retrospect that the Cinema Display only swivels up and down, not left-or-right, and is not height-adjustable. It also weighs a ton compared to Acer and Samsung. Also, it BUZZES when you turn the brightness above 20! Actually, it's more of a hum compared to a Buzz, but still. Apple, hire a six-sigma team to help you out with Cinema Display Manufacturing. This is not $1000 quality.
So I ended with this Acer Display B243HL, and I LOVE it. Make sure that model number is exactly the same, as there is a similar Acer model that is actually an older display, which has weaker speakers and is not LED backlit. This baby, the B243HL, IS LED backlit, and sports something like 8,000,000:1 contrast. Essentially meaning that blacks are very black, and not that shiny-grey-black you see on poor contrast monitors. The monitor stand swivels left-right 35 degrees each way, upward by 15 degrees-downward by 5 degrees. Height goes up and down about by about the length of your hand (my hand is about as long as an iPhone). I initially wasn't really looking for adjustability in height/swivel, but it makes a BIG difference having the monitor positioned just right. It has USB ports in the back which I connect my iPhone and Apple wired+numeric keyboard into. NOTE - the Acer's USB ports are actually powered by the laptop connected to it via a special USB cord connecting the two; so unplug the laptop, and the iPhone plugged into the display stops charging. This display is about an inch wider than the Samsung, yet sports the same 1920 x 1080 resolution. So I dunno. It definitely "seems" wider though the onscreen images don't appear stretched in any way. I would like to note that I followed nagappa's color calibration settings, and they didn't work for me. Probably because I am using a Macbook Pro with Anti-glare screen, believe it or not, the Acer's Plug-n-play color setting is actually incredibly close to the Macbook Pro's. So for me, it worked right out of the box. I have also adjusted brightness of the monitor down to 15%, AND am still using that ScreenShade app just to be able to control the brightness further from the keyboard. Guess what...NO BUZZING! I turned brightness all the way up, all the way down, it is quiet. NO BUZZING period. What a relief. It does make a very slight hum, I think it's coming from a fan perhaps? Could just be current, but I can't hear it in my quiet room unless I stick my head to the back of the monitor. It is maybe 5 times less loud than the buzzing of the other monitors. The blue led 'power-is-on' indicator on the front-frame of the display is pretty bright. I might cover it with some paper. Next, the display buttons are all square, and you can't really read which button does what as the 'text' over the buttons is black-on-black. Couple this with a menu system that was designed by VERY left-brained engineers. The menu-system for this monitor is atrocious, if you just want to adjust brightness up or down, you have to navigate through 4 menu levels, and 'click' through 7 TIMES just to enable to brightness controls, and all done using one of 6 non-distinguishable black buttons. It's laughably bad. Acer -- just copy someone else's menu and make this monitor 'usable'. My Gateway FlatPanel from 2001 has a better menu system than this 2009 monitor. Learn from others. IT's sad, because this otherwise superior monitor that could dominate the market is extremely user-unfriendly with those menu controls. Anyways, I suggest that ScreenShade app. Next, the black frame around the monitor is a matte texture, meaning it does not reflect either from the screen or the background. It's perfect. The speakers are 2.0 Watt, really not great at all. I am not picky when it comes to audio, but I will say that my Macbook Pro with Lid Closed produces more "pleasant" sound than this monitor does. I may still use the monitor speakers, just know that the quality just isn't there. A few more notes: The manual that comes with the display is atrocious. There is a PDF manual on the CD with a bit more info. In case anyone owning this monitor would like to know, there is a small latch with grooves on the back of the support-stand that appears to only be good for locking/unlocking the height-adjuster in it's lowest position only. I'm not entirely sure why you would want to lock the height only in the low position, but you will need to hold this latch 'open' in order to raise the display. Which leads me to the lastly big surprise....THIS MONITOR ROTATES 90 DEGREES CLOCKWISE!!!! As a programmer, I FULLY appreciate vertical screen real estate. 1200 vertical resolution for Cinema Display? Try 1920 vertical with this Acer!! Had I known beforehand about the screen rotation I would have purchased this monitor above the Apple and Samsung.I once had a ~23" rotating HP display at work, it was a beauty to program in Vertical mode. I'm excited and truly looking forward to using that rotation mode. How did I find out about the rotation? In the display preferences, there is a rotation setting that got me wondering. Of course, to rotate the display you first must raise it to full-height, and be careful when you slide the monitor up, I cut my knuckle on some very sharp plastic on the stand as I was sliding the monitor up. So be careful. Also, while I'm not terribly concerned about the build quality of the monitor (I haven't found any dead/locked pixels), I did...Read more›

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Acer Business B243HL Widescreen LCD Monitor ET.FB3LP.002 LCD Flat Panel Displays

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ASUS G53JW-A1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you are a gamer, or are looking for the performance of the highest End Laptops to date. You Found it.
PROS:
This machine is one smooth operator. It has a smoking CPU and GPU that are unbelievable. I just finished testing out the most recent releases (Black Ops, Civ 5, Metro 2033, etc....)
I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW THIS MACHINE EATS THESE UP. In comparison, My Desktop runs 2 GTX 480 SLI and this laptop is running right along with it. Amazing hardware configuration. The heat goes right out the back vents. It really is like a stealth fighter, lol. Lap and keyboard stay nice and cool. Very Quiet even at full throttle. I am in utter disbelief. I LOVE IT. Speakers are great. I m listening to music right now while I am writing this and it sounds GREAT. Keyboard is nice. ASUS solved the past issue with the G73 Keyboard. I use a Logitech Everywhere Mouse, but the touch pad is very nice and responsive as well. All the features you would expect from a high end laptop. The Screen is beautiful at 1900 x 1280. The G53JW-A1 Version I believe comes with an extra year warranty and of course another 250GB (750GB Total) hard Drive that is FAST and Quiet. An extra 90 bucks seemed worth it to me. (Opposed to the G53JW-XA1).
Machine can be OC'ed and you can add an additional HDD. Yes That's right. UNBELIEVABLE LAPTOP for under 1500.00.

Cons:
The machine came with a lot of bloat ware on it. But there is a not so painful solution. It also comes with a drivers disk. I solved the problem quickly through some simple pre-ordered research and just reformatted the Hard-drive into one Partition and reloaded windows and then reload the Drivers and skipped the bloatware. Easy solution! Thanks whomever that was blogging it; and now I have the nicest, Fastest Running laptop in my town. Funny dis-assembly make; sure you watch some online instruction about going in through the keyboard to get to the guts. It is slick once you know how though and you can change the colors up on the keyboard with colored film as well. Totally modifiable. So sweet. Oh wait this is the cons section sorry. It has a large power brick and the keyboard could be a little more solid but I am comparing that to the new HP ENVY keyboard which is the tightest keyboard on the market. The mouse pad left right buttons are too clicky but maybe they will loosen up over time. The I/O inputs, outputs could have been a little better placed but nothing that is too bad. (Power input on right side too far forward but I see why they had to do it that way, And the audio I am used to being on the left side of my laptops but that maybe just me?
Bottom Line:
This is the real deal as far as hardware and value. Design is great. Very few cons. Outrageous performance. ASUS lights up on the back of screen but overall look is not too outrageous. The Stealth look is more appealing once I got this on my coffee table than I had thought; and I love it. As far as this category of laptop this is the best value for the money. Good work ASUS. Stop it with your lame bloatware though please. Takes time to remove.

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They'll Never Know What Hit'em Every gamer knows that the latest games demands the best performance. But we don\'t believe in just meeting the minimum requirements, we believe in obliterating them. That\'s why we made sure that the Republic of Gamers (ROG) G53Jw-A1 is jam-packed with one-of-a-kind innovation that propel mobile gaming performance to unseen levels. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics engine that comes with a massive 1.5GB of GDDR5 VRAM, the ROG G53Jw-A1 leads in DirectX 11 gaming for advanced tessellation and faster graphics rendering. This gaming powerhouse, powered by the Intel Core i7-740QM quad-core processor, soars while performing several tasks simultaneously. And while others struggle to find the keys in dimly lit areas, the backlit gaming keyboard gives you the edge in the dark to put you ahead of the competition. The ROG G53Jw-A1 showcases a stealth fighter-inspired design with a unique thermal design that promotes airflow and keeps the hot air away from you. Plus, its 15.6-inch LED-backlit Full HD display lets you experience the latest in high-definition entertainment with brilliant 1080p playback. The ROG G53Jw-A1 breaks from the heard of traditional gaming notebooks with built-in overclocking feature through the ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid utility—instantly giving you extreme power and energy savings with a push of a button. The ROG G53Jw-A1 also boasts 750GB 7200RPM hard drive, 6GB DDR3 system memory, high-speed wireless N, Intel Turbo Boost technology, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connectivity, Bluetooth v2.1, HDMI connectivity, 2.0 megapixel camera, and high-quality stereo speakers with EAX Advanced HD 5.0 sound.

Key Features
15.6-inch LED-backlit Full HD display for immersive cinematic experience with resolution up to 1920 x 1080 (Learn more)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics with 1.5GB GDDR5 VRAM for unprecedented DirectX 11 gaming (Learn more)
Intel Core i7-740QM processor with Intel Turbo Boost technology to automatically boost speed to your task at hand (Learn more)
ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid that innovatively saves battery life and delivers extreme performance (Learn more)
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 for quicker device charging and up to 10x faster transfers than USB 2.01
750GB 7200RPM hard drive and 6GB of DDR3 system memory for smooth computing and ample storage for all your games and media files (Learn more)
Backlit gaming keyboard with ergonomic tilt-up design for comfortable control in any lighting environment (Learn more)
High-quality stereo speakers and EAX Advanced HD Audio for premium gaming sound (Learn more)

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Relax, ASUS Has You Covered Ranked as the #1 most reliable PC brand by 3 independent sources2, readers and editors alike choose ASUS as their trusted notebook and netbook. ASUS relentlessly strive to exceed expectations of quality to ensure you an unmatched peace of mind every time you start your PC. This notebook also comes with the industry's most comprehensive warranty.
2 Year ASUS 360 Global Warranty3 Offers a level of coverage that would add hundreds of dollars to the price of competing laptops:
2 year global warranty
30 day Flawless Display Guarantee
2-way free standard shipping
24/7 tech support

1 Year Accidental Damage Warranty (ADW)3 Whether your notebook is damaged by accidental spills, drops, electrical surges, or fire, ASUS will fix it or replace it for you during the first year after purchase.
Covers accidental drops, spills, power surges, and fire damage
Target 3 business day turnaround time for repair / replacement; not including receiving and shipping time
1-way shipping (from ASUS to the user) at no additional cost
24/7 toll-free phone support

What's in the Box
ROG G53Jw-A1
AC Adapter
8 cell Battery Pack
Warranty Information Card
ROG gaming backpack
Optical gaming mouse
Starcraft II trial card

Specifications
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Display: 15.6-inch LED-backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080)
Processor: Intel Core i7-740QM quad-core processor (1.73 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz)
Chipset: Intel HM55
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5 VRAM
WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n (@ 2.4GHz), Bluetooth v2.1
LAN: 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
Memory: 6GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM, 4 x SODIMM (expandable to 16GB)
Storage:750GB 7200RPM hard drive
Optical Drive: Super Multi DVD
Camera: 2.0 megapixel
Speakers: High-quality stereo speakers with EAX 5.0 sound
Microphone: Digital Array Microphone
Card Reader: 8-in-1 card reader (MMC/SD/Mini-SD/XD/Memory stick/MS Pro/MS-Duo/MS-Pro Duo)
Input / Output: 1 x Mic-in, 1 x Headphone-out, 1 x VGA port/Mini D-Sub 15-pin for external monitor, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port, 1 x Gigabit LAN, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Kensington Lock
Battery: 8 cell
Dimensions: 15.6 x 11.9 x 0.8 ~ 2.0 –inches
Weight: 7.9 lbs (with 8 cell battery)
Color:Black

© 2010 ASUS Computer International. All Rights Reserved. ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer. All specifications and terms are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers on selected models. Products may not be available in all markets. Product may not be exactly as shown in photos.

1All figures theoretical values compared to USB 2.0 benchmarks for reference purposes. Actual speed depends on device and system status. 2Rated number 1 Windows-based PC maker in PCMag.com's Service & Reliability Report 2010. Rated number 1 PC brand according to SquareTrade, the leading direct-to-consumer warranty company (for more information visit http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/ ). Rated number 1 reliable PC maker in Q2 2010's RESCUECOM report http://www.rescuecom.com/2010-2nd-Quarter-Computer-Reliability-Report.html 3ASUS reserves the right to exclude certain SKUs; check with your retailer to confirm coverage of specific models. Valid for notebooks purchased in the US and Canada only. Certain retailers do not participate in ADW coverage. For complete details, please visit: usa.asus.com/event/ASUS360 and adw.asus.com/.

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iHome MyLife Webcam (Black/Red) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This webcam is fine but the cord was not long enough to reach my usb hookup. The picture is fine and the sound is also O.K.

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The MyLife webcam allows you to easily share photos & videos or video conference with loved ones over the internet.The CrazyTalk Cam Suite includes creative and fun software including Avatar Live for online chatting with real-time lip synching effects, Magic Mirror that makes you look thinner, younger and funnier and Avatar Creator for creating your own animated talking characters with special effects. The included software also enhances the webcam's resolution allowing you to capture crystal clear photos at up to 1.3 megapixel resolution. Motion tracking technology and 4x digital zoom enables you to video chat freely. The webcam works great with Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Skype.

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Ideazon Merc Stealth Illuminated Gaming Keyboard Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I owned the older version of this key board for a couple years (it still works by the way I just like new keyboards every couple years). The main difference between this one and the old one, is that this one has lighted keys. I gotta say, I am really glad I upgraded to the lighted model. I write at night, and sometimes I just hate turning on the room lights. The lighted keys are especially useful for web browsing or some other mouse-heavy activity that requires you to re-orient yourself to type... typically my eyes are adjusted to the bright screen and I can't really see the key board at night. The illuminated keys allow me to re-orient to the keyboard with a glance.
The keyboard is solid, tight, and nice to write on. It is evenly lit and has that nice new keyboard sound. :)

Also, the keyboard has two USB ports, as well as microphone /headphone jacks. These are conveniently located on the back of the unit so the cables are easy to reach, but won't interfere with the operation of the keyboard. The USB ports work great. My headset uses the USB ports so I cannot address the utility of the mic/headphone jacks, but it should keep many people from stringing headset wires all over--especially if you do not have easily accessible jacks on your computer.
It is easy to switch key-illumination colors/intensity with a small button near the F1-F2 keys.
One reviewer mentioned that this keyboard's keys must be closer together than others because he found it awkward to type. I found that the width of the keyboard is (backspace to ~) is the same width as the one that originally came with my PC from Dell. However, I also noticed a slight awkwardness when I first started using this type of keyboard several years ago... I suspect it comes from positioning myself in the middle of the keyboard--which is not the middle of the typing keys. The functional gaming keys on the left side cause you to be a little off center from your usual typing orientation if you center the whole system to your body. You will get used to this over time, or you can take care to orient yourself to the typing keys. If you write much, you will find you naturally adapt to this keyboard rapidly.
There is one more thing: the keyboard is wider than a standard keyboard. This was necessary to add the functional keys on the left side while keeping everything else standard-sized. This could affect how you store your keyboard if you have a slide-out keyboard drawer on your desk. I have a standard-sized keyboard drawer and it works great for typing--the size is fine for supporting the over-sized keyboard and typing. But the keyboard is too wide to just slide into the desk. You will need to rotate the keyboard about 45 degrees to stow it in the desk's keyboard drawer. For many of us this is no big deal, but some people may want to know this ahead of time.
I am very please with this keyboard.

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MERC Stealth Gaming Keyboard

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iHome MyLife Notebook Webcam (Silver) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This product doesn't even come close to it's specs. Rated at 30 FPS at 640x480. Don't move if you sit in front of it. Poor quality slow FPS everthing blurry. Extremely disapointed with this unit. It was the size and price I wanted to pay. Guess what... it's going back. Will try something else.

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The MyLife notebook webcam allows you to easily share photos and videos with friends and family over the internet on the go. A built-in microphone adds crisp sounds to your movies and video chats.The included software enables the webcam's 3x digital zoom and motion tracking technology so you can video chat freely. ArcSoft MediaImpression software is a great tool to manage your media with a lot of fun and exciting ways to create and share projects featuring your photos, videos and music files. The webcam works great with Windows Live Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Skype.

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