Panasonic PT-AX200U 720p 3LCD Home Theater Projector Review

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(More customer reviews)Didn't think buying a projector would take as long as it did. I've been researching projectors off and on for the past 2 and a half years and have enjoyed the process of testing a virtually endless onslaught of manufacturers and different image quality. Finally decided on a Panasonic PT-AX200U due to a special running through HTmarket.com that had a mail in rebate for an additional 1 year warranty on the purchase of a Panasonic projector. I bought my projector for $1299 and have had about a month to play with the projector.
Initial highlights - good projector for the money if you have a good source (HD DVD/Blu Ray/upconverting DVD player). Very easy setup with image adjustments. I was up and running in 5 minutes.
Friends and family are stunned at the size of the screen images capable with this projector (I'm running a 110 inch screen). Clearly capable of more than that.
Good image for old format DVDs IF you have a DVD upconverter to 720p/1080i/1080p. I initially ran a couple of DVDs, the Incredibles, Lord of the Rings, the Matrix, Blade, into through my Denon DVD 2900 (originally a $1000 DVD player) and was somewhat disappointed by the pixelation and some noticeable Screen Door Effect (SDE).
My brother came over the following weekend with his Sony Playstation 3 and we ran one of his videogames through the HDMI cable into the projector to see if we could tell a difference - whoa, noticeable difference in image detail and elimination of the pixelation and SDE.
Went out to Best Buy the following weekend to buy a cheap RCA dvd up converter for $30 and now run all my DVDs through it.
Would recommend this projector if pairing to a high gain screen - the bulb brightness, while bright for stock, definitely requires a high gain (+1.3) screen to maximize some of the darker image films (Blade/Matrix/Lord of the Rings/Aliens).


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Panasonic Strada 7-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Review

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(More customer reviews)I got this Unit WAY before any of the previous review does, so I already know how this unit works inside out.
yes it has the problem that previous reviewers say but, should we even call those *problems* ? I mean, some of the things could be easily fixed with a simple firmware update. This is Panasonic's first attempt to enter the US's In dash Navigation market. They have great Units in Japan, but I guess Panasonic Japan does not share information with their USA side. So they have to create this from scratch.
Let me list what this unit can do/cant do.
-It can Play MP3 on CD-R/RW, but it cannot read MP3 on DVD+R/RW/-R/-RW.
-It seems that it does not like bad quality CD-R, my friend's cheap CD-R having mad issue with this unit. but mine plays just fine. Well, we should all get quality stuff isnt it ?
-It takes a lot longer, sometimes failed to read DVD-R/RW disc.
-It's DVD playback is Region locked to Region 1, but is not hard to overcome that problem (I think its illegal to say it here)
-Map is based on Navteq's 2005 data, yes you got that right, unit that's out in 2007 still using 2005's map data(maybe because its cheaper, who knows), because I ran into couple of roads that has been changed, one even changed from 2 way into 1 way, almost got me killed. So you better MAKE SURE that you're in the right side of the road.
-Remember to select your route preference before you start your guide. because by default, it does not allow Highway, does not allow tolls, does not allow anything. that means, all local if possible. That might be cool for some people, but I didnt know about it the first time I use it, because my other Unit has the Allow toll and Allow highway option enabled by default. So I ended up spending like 3 hours on something that I suppose to be there in 1 and 1/2 hour.
-The route guidance is kind of funny, sometimes the shortest route that it shows does NOT mean its really the shortest. So if you know that you're already going the shortest route, do NOT listen to the unit.
-It plays back MP3 fine, quality is ok.
-CD Play back is fine, plays original disc no problem, if you want to use a backup, you better make sure the cd-R quality is good.
-You CANNOT record your inserted CD into the HDD. I have no idea what Panasonic is thinking on this one, because as far as I know, the map data used about 10GB of space, that means, in the other words, about 20GB of disc space is there to collecting dust. Maybe a future update will resolve this. who knows.
-HDD unit runs really fast, it takes less than 1 second to get the route out, by default, it shows you 3 routes.
-This unit runs really hot, yes it has a fan behind but ... I would suggest you to turn the screen off if its not in use. it reduce the heat by maybe 30% (rough estimate)
-Screen is big enough, a bit bigger than Pioneer's 7" unit. and the screen is really clear, tried a lot of DVDs on it very good picture quality.
-Fast startup time, about 10 seconds or so.
-Oh yes, did I say the map is not very up to date? Maybe Panasoinc wants to get more money out from us. Anyway, the map data is FAR FROM complete. I cannot find some of the address at all, when I can just do a google search and it pops up right away.
-The way to enter address is kind of funky, you have to enter the way THEY want you to enter, for example, if you want to go 123 Avenue, there're couple of "possbilities", it could be 123th AVE, it could be 123 th AVENUE, 123th AVENUE, 123 AVE, or 123 AVENUE. Keep that in mind.
I still have more to say, but I'll leave those alone.
Is this a good unit ? I think so, if you're looking for fastest and cheapest price HDD unit that *works*, this is a unit for you. but you BETTER MAKE SURE, you try them out first at a store or something.
Im happy with this unit, hey I mean for couple hundred bucks, you get a HDD NAV with dvd playback ? My father's brand NEW CX-7 with all options loaded, all he got was a DVD navigation that cant even play DVD-videos!
Im also 100% sure that Panasonic will update this unit to bring more features out. So dont worry too much about it. Couple hundred bucks only, get it !

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Yamaha MCR-140WH Micro Component System (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)I originally chose this product for someone else, who tasked me to find a great bookcase stereo to give as a gift. I ordered it and received it within two days via Amazon Prime. I installed and tested it on Christmas Day. It truly exceeded my expectations in every way. Very attractive layout and veneer, intuitive controls, solid feel, great sound quality. I tested the radio first, then the CD player, then the iPod dock. In all three cases, the performance was very impressive for such a small system. I would compare this very favorably to the Bose system that gets so much advertising. I've listened to that system in several peoples' homes and although it's a good system, I feel the sound quality and appearance of this Yamaha system is superior.
I liked it so much that I immediately ordered a system for our home. I ordered the green color for my friend, but I went with red for our home. It's beautiful and looks very sharp. My wife and I both have iPhones, and we use this system to play our music libraries. It comes with a remote control, which is in itself a very nice little unit. Flawless performance and function. I really have nothing negative to say about this system. It is priced very fairly for its performance, build quality, and appearance. I see another reviewer commented that the speakers cannot be placed adjacent to the unit due to heat buildup. I don't get this at all. The unit never gets hot, and the speakers are placed exactly as shown in the product photographs, that is to say "attached" to the main unit. There are zero issues with heat. I love this little system and I'm sure anyone who takes the chance on one without physically seeing one in the store will be delighted. Anyone have any comments on their experiences or questions, feel free to leave a comment.

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Yamaha MCR-140WH Micro Component System In White

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Panasonic BB-HCM511A Network Camera with Two-Way Audio Review

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(More customer reviews)For a while the Panasonic BL-C111a and BL-C131a were my favorite of the Panasonic lineup for monitoring the pets and vacation house. Now I discovered the BB-HCM511A and this amazing little cam is THE BEST! It has a 1/4" CCD detector instead of a 1/6" CMOS in many of the other models. I can get a night time view of the ranch because the CMOS goes down to 0.2 lux instead of 3 lux. That's about the limit of human night vision, or a moonlit night. I couldn't do that before with the BL-C111a cam that this replaced. Also the CMOS sensor has much better dynamic range, which simply means more colors. So whereas with the BL-C111a the shades of green on the plants look flat, the BB-HCM5111a gives the scene much more definition with all different shades: slightly bluish green, slightly reddish green etc. and this has the visual effect as if it had greater resolution. I love the PoE feature because I can just run a network cable without running a separate power cable. To take advantage of this you need a cheap PoE injector or a fancier switch that supports PoE. I use the SMC GS8P-Smart switch for PoE, which is a newer model router with good reviews. I also use the CoconutView Vista sidebar gadget so I can always see all of my Panasonic cams on my desktop. To download this gadget go to the Microsoft Windows Live Gallery on the web and search for CoconutView or Panasonic. There's also an outdoor model, the BB-HCM531a but it's almost twice as expensive and from the installation manual it appears that the BB-HCM531a just has a cover on the back that you screw on and tape over the cables to protect the connectors from moisture. So I think this one is a better value for placing under eaves and protected outdoor sites, unless your plan to install it where it will be directly exposed to pouring rain. Ok just buy it, you will be happy with this cam.

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Network Camera with 2-Way Audio. Use of the built-in microphone and a separately purchased amp-equipped speaker enables two-way voice communication2 (transceiver system) between the network camera and a PC used to monitor the camera image. In addition to conventional monitoring of images and sound, voice messages can be transmitted from the PC to the network camera. Voice transmission and reception can be switched easily from the PC used to monitor the image.

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Panasonic SC-BT330 5.1 Channel Cinema Surround Home Entertainment System Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been in the market to get streaming content on my TV for a while now. I compared this unit against the LG-LHB535. The LG has some added features.
1. Built in Wifi
2. Streaming software... which means you can stream from your computer.
3. HDMI inputs.
Otherwise the Panasonic works awesome. It's fast and responsive, easy to setup, small and sleek, and it's cheaper than the comparable LG unit.
It includes the following features.
1. Amazon video rentals... Awesome.. However it's $3 for most regular rentals and then more for HD. I'm still a bigger fan of RedBox $1 for anything... Amazon I might be holding out on your steep prices.
2. Netflix the same as everything else... other than the interface is really simple and ugly like the PS3 interface. It's not as easy to navigate and search like the X Box 360 or on your computer.
3. Youtube which is cool.
4. Picas pictures which is neat but almost useless in some cases.
5. iPhone/iPod doc that allows audio and video playback. Very cool, it charges and doesn't display the "this accessory is not made to work with your device" message.
6. Blue ray, DVD, burned DVD's etc.
7. Two fiber optic inputs that allow you to plug in your infamous HD DVD player or some other audio sources. Would have liked to see HDMI here... LG has it.
8. Viera Link which is cool if you have a Panasonic TV like I do. It turns the stuff on off etc by communicating over the HDMI cable.
9. The sound is AMAZING for as cheap as this unit is. The speakers are crisp and clear. Very nice surround sound. I had a Sony STR-K750P, and this Panasonic system is way better.Overall the packaging was slick with everything well packaged for shipment. I couldn't find the electronic version of the manual online anywhere. The specs say it's wireless ready, which means it has a USB port on the back that you have to pay $100 to get the $5 Panasonic WIFI dongle. Total rip off. I just hard wired.
The menus are not quite as elegant as the Apple TV, it also has this hard switch thing.. Basically if you need to adjust any settings, it unloads the web content dashboard thing, then takes you back to the DVD menu. So there is a bit of a lag making adjustments. I don't understand why they just didn't layer the menus and then reload if your settings require it. It also has some sort of quick on feature. Basically if you start it up from scratch, AKA no power supplied, it takes about 30 seconds to boot.. So they added this quick boot thing which makes the unit run in some kind of a standby. It tells you it will consume slightly more power while in this mode. I did have a couple times where the web interface streaming thing had garbled text, I tried powering on off, but it doesn't fully reboot if you use the quick boot. In order to get it to fully reboot, you have to turn it off, then unplug the power and re-connect.
The manual isn't very descriptive and there is a lot of technical jargon as you wade deeper into the settings. Lots of color control, bit level, sound stuff, display stuff etc.
It does have the capability to adjust the surround and EQ levels while playing. It's not entirely intuitive, and the manual is wrong, but it works. When you use the buttons on the bottom of the remote to adjust the surround, it displays on little screen on the unit, the levels. In the manual it tells you to use up and down to adjust these. I must have wasted 20 minutes on this part before I tried left and right and then it worked. Looks like Panasonic needs an updated manual. The firmware on the unit is 1.0 which hopefully means there will be some software updates sooner than later. It would be nice to see layered settings menus, and they have some room on the dash board for new content.
The unit is so new that if you use a Logitec Harmony remote, it won't detect your unit yet. I had to use the older model Bt-300 or something to get my Logitec remote to work.
anyhow.. thats my review... Enjoy!

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Get your home theater going right out of the box with the Panasonic SC-BT330 home entertainment system, which includes a Blu-ray Disc player/amplifier plus a complete 5.1-channel surround sound speaker system. The Kelton subwoofer adds impact to your movies and music with dramatic deep bass, while the two tallboy front speakers add dramatic visual impact to your home theater.

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Desktop Port Replicator for CF-C1 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have 8 Toughbook C1's presently with about 20 more on the way.
It would be much much more difficult to work on these machines without this dock.
The description here is pretty much useless, so allow me to spell out the features:
Includes a DVD-RW drive
Gives you a bunch of I/O options on the back:
RJ-45 ethernet jack
eSATA port
4x USB ports
HDMI-out
VGA-out
I'll take some photos and add them to the product description.
This dock is a bit pricey, but it goes with a $2.5k laptop CF-C1,12.1INCH Wxga MULTI-TOUCH,250GB, so I guess it isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things.
Simply put: it just works. I never have had a problem docking or undocking (no lockups or blue screens, etc).
One last note: the dock does NOT include a power supply. You'll either have to use the one that came with your laptop or buy a new one.


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