I Review Electronics

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

Now that Sony has perfected the art of DVD camcorders, Sony is now entering the hard-drive camcorder market with its Sony DCR SR100 digital video camera, its very first try at HD camcorders. The DCR-SR100 is the first competitor to JVC’s Everio models, the unrivaled leader in HD digital video cameras.

Sony DCR SR100 Design

Width 3.2 in
Depth 5.9 in
Height 2.7 in
Weight 1.3 lbs

Sony DCR SR100 Features

Camcorder Sensor Resolution: 3.3 Mpix
Camcorder Effective Video Resolution: 2 Mpix
Camcorder Effective Still Resolution: 3.0 Mpix
Optical Sensor Type: Advanced HAD CCD
Optical Sensor Size: 1/3″
Shooting Programs: Spotlight, sunset & moon, landscape, portrait mode, beach & ski, super night mode, sports lesson
Special Effects: Sepia, Mosaic, Pastel, Monotone, Old Movie, Luminance Key
Digital Scene Transition: Wipe fader, overlap fader, white fader, black fader
Image Stabilizer: Electronic (Super Steady Shot)
Digital Storage Media: Hard disk drive - 30 GB
Lens Type: Zoom lens - 5.1 mm - 51 mm - f/1.8-2.9

Sony DCR SR100 Performance

The most notable feature of the SR100 is the 30GB hard drive of course. But this device also features a large (1/3 in.) image sensor, a 2.7″ LCD display (widescreen, touch-panel) and does come with a built-in flash/accessory shoe. Lets not forget that digital video cameras can take pictures too, and this DCRSR100 can snap 3 megapixel stills. The lens is a professional quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens. The audio is Dolby 5.1, which is the same as high-end DVD digital video cameras. 10x optical and 120x digital zoom.

Whats included in the package

Sony Handycam DCR-SR100
A/V cable
USB cable
Power adapter
1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery

Conclusion

Considering this camera sells for just over a thousand, the 10x optical is weak, other cameras in this price range have 12x optical zoom. A good feature is the SR100’s integrated data buffering and shock-absorption technology to prevent video loss if the camera gets jolted. The SR100 also makes editing video easy, not leaving you with cumbersome tapes or unchangeable discs as a final product. The hard drive can hold between 400 and 1200 minutes of video, depending on the quality so there’s no need to keep buying MiniDV tapes.

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

The PV-GS400 is a great camcorder which produces truly stunning video both in normal and low light. In addition to its excellent image, the PV-GS400 offers a great four-way hybrid ring for controlling focus, zoom, shutter and iris. When you throw in additional manual control, audio control, a great zoom controller and 4 Mega Pixel stills, the PV-GS400 offers better value than any other consumer camcorder on the market today.

Panasonic PV-GS400 Design

The Panasonic PV-GS400 has the classic Handycam-style layout and a high-quality metallic-silver finish. It measures 3 inches high, 3 inches wide, and 7 inches deep and weighs 1.5 pounds. The Panasonic PV-GS400 offers the usual assortment of ports: composite A/V and S-Video, USB, and FireWire. The external-mic jack is essential for recording high-quality audio, and it doubles as a jack for the included MagicWire wired remote, a clever handheld mic that includes buttons to stop and start recording and control the zoom. The A/V port also doubles as a headphone jack.

Panasonic PV-GS400 Features

12x optical zoom with optical stabalizer.
700x digital zoom
Allows manual controls over these features: Focus, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, mic sensitivity
Leica Dicomar lens
Tape Format: MiniDV
Still Photo Resolution: 2288 x 1728 pixels
LCD Features: The Panasonic PV-GS400 is equipped with a 3.5 inch LCD, larger than previous Panasonic GS models. The LCD screen can be rotated 180 degrees.
The GS-400’s viewfinder can also be extended and angled about 45 degrees. A dioptric adjustment slider is located on the underside of the viewfinder.

Panasonic PV-GS400 Performance

The heart of the Panasonic PV-GS400 is its three-chip imaging system. Each chip is 1/4.7 inch in size, relatively large for a consumer camera, and has a whopping megapixel of resolution, which accounts for the camera’s excellent wide-screen performance and decent still-picture capabilities.

What’s included in the package

* Panasonic PV-GS400 MiniDV camcorder
* CGA-DU14 li-ion battery
* AC Adapter / Battery charger
* Wired and wireless remote controls
* Lens cap w/retaining strap
* Shoulder strap
* A/V cable
* USB cable
* CD-ROMs with MotionDV Studio, SD Viewer, USB and Video Stream drivers, and ArcSoft PhotoSuite
* 101 page manual

Conclusion

This camera is great, the only negative feature found is it’s relatively short battery life. The small battery may only last about an hour of actual usage. The MSRP of this Panasonic PV GS400 is $1,499 however the street price is at about a thousand dollars at this moment.

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

The T-Mobile SDA makes it easy to stay connected and organized. Features a 1.3 megapixel camera with video capture, Bluetooth connectivity, plus EDGE, Wi-Fi, and the extra speed you need to take advantage of the T-Mobile Total Internet network.

T-Mobile SDA SmartPhone Design

Size: 4.53 x 1.82 x 0.69
Weight: 3.74 ounces

T-Mobile SDA SmartPhone Features

The three instant messaging programs: Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
1.3 Megapixel camera Video camera
Windows Media Player
Expandable mini SD memory slot
Bluetooth wireless technology
Speakerphone
E-Mail integration options
Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
T-Mobile Internet ready (GPRS & EDGE)
Wi-Fi (802.11b) ready
Organizer with PC synchronization

T-Mobile SDA SmartPhone Performance

Included battery: Li-Ion
Talk time: Up to 4.5 hours
Standby time: Up to 8 days
Band (frequency): 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz

Whats included in the package

* T-Mobile SDA Smart Phone
* AC Adaptor
* Stereo headphones
* USB Cable
* Carrying case

Conclusion

T-Mobile’s SDA Smart Phone is an excellent device for those who need a phone first and light PDA second. The SDA is very attractive, powerful and has an excellent display. It fits easily in your pocket, yet offers some of the same features as PDAs. It can sync to Outlook which means you won’t have to “T9″ your contacts list into the phone and will have your appointments and reminders with you on the go. Negative aspects of the phone are the buttons and keypad keys, they’re quite small and bundled too closely together. The joystick isn’t always easy to press straight down without moving sideways and thus changing your selection. With that said, the SDA SmartPhone is a good buy and could compete with the Blackberry.

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

A new product that’s hot in the market right now is Linksys’ wireless-g IP camera. With its’ compact design and sleek look it’s no surprise this $100 IP camera is gaining popularity. The Linksys wireless-g camera sends high-quality live video to your network wirelessly - viewable from Windows PCs anywhere in the world. The security mode can be enabled which will automatically send email alerts with video clips upon motion detection and supports up to four simultaneous remote users.

Linksys Compact Wireless G Internet Video Camera Details

Product Weight: 2.0 pounds
Item model number: WVC54GC

Linksys Compact Wireless G Internet Video Camera Features

The Linksys Compact Wireless-G Internet Video Camera sends live video through the Internet to a web browser anywhere in the world. This compact, self-contained unit lets you keep track of your home, your kids or your workplace. Unlike standard web cams that require an attached PC, this Linksys IP Internet Video Camera contains its own web server, so it can connect directly to a network, either over Wireless-G (802.11g) networking, or over 10/100 Ethernet cable. The SoloLink domain service (trial sign-up included) lets you access your camera using an easy-to-remember “name”, even if your home Internet connection uses a dynamic IP address. You can also turn on Security Mode, which tells the camera to send a message with a short video attached to up to three email addresses whenever it detects motion in its field of view. You can then log onto the live video stream if the situation warrants. The included Viewer & Recorder utility lets you record the audio/video stream to your local hard drive, “live” or on a pre-determined schedule.

Linksys Compact Wireless G Internet Video Camera Performance

The advanced MPEG-4 video compression produces a high-quality, high-frame rate, up to 320×240 video stream. The Compact Internet Video Camera’s unique form-factor and wireless connectivity allows you to mount it on a wall nearly anywhere, or slip it into its included stand for desktop use. Once it’s connected to your home network, you can “see what it sees” from any Windows-based PC in the house, while the video stream is secured from the outside world, hidden behind your Router. If you want the video to be visible from outside your home network, you can open an appropriate port on the Router, and then create password protected accounts to manage access to the camera, or leave it wide open for the world to see.

What’s included in the package

Compact Wireless-G Internet Video Camera
Camera Stand/Wall Mount
Power Adapter
Ethernet Network Cable
Setup CD-ROM with User Guide
User Guide on CD

Conclusion

Several users of this security camera have complained about the dark resolution in low-light conditions. Other complaints are that the product gets extremely hot - so hiding it in a box wouldn’t be a good idea. Finally, some buyers of this product could not connect it to their WEP-enabled wireless network. For these reasons, I Review Electronics cannot recommend this Linksys Wireless-G Internet Video Camera.

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

When you hear about an Alienware notebook you figure you’re dealing with a high-end gaming laptop that costs upward of $2,000+. But Alienware is trying to get a different segment of budget and mainstream notebook buyers now. The m5500i starts at $1,000 with a 15.4″ widescreen and Pentium M or Celeron M processor and an integrated Intel graphics solution. To get the price down to $999 you’ll have to be ordering a Celeron processor though.

Alienware Area51 M5500 Design

The dimension of this M5500 is sleek and thin and lightweight. Here’s the dimensions: 1.36″ x 14.25″ x 10.75″ The weight starts off at a light 6 lbs.

Alienware Area51 M5500 Features

15.4″ WUXGA LCD Display
Pentium M 760 2.0GHZ 2MB 533FSB processor
2GB DDR2 PC4200 SO-DIMM memory installed
100GB 7200RPM hard drive
256MB NVIDIA G0 6600 video card
8X DVD+/-RW Lite-On Optical Drive (Dual Layer DVD’s for
a maximum capacity of 8.28GB)
A/B/G wireless network card
Windows XP Professional

Alienware Area51 M5500 Extras

Alienautopsy: Automated technical support request system to send a signal to alienware if there is anything wrong with your system and an Alienware Respawn disc.

Alienware Area51 M5500 Conclusion

With a high level look at the Alienware Area-51 m5500, it is hard to not be pleased with its combination of portability and performance. On one hand, traveling with this notebook is nowhere near as effortless as carrying a 12″ ultra-portable. However, the Alienware system is still very portable, easy to manage on the run and brings with it a level of performance that is touch to match with a smaller system. On the other hand, the Area-51 m5500 is far from delivering the level of performance brought by the bulkier desktop replacement notebooks. Despite this fact, the system is certainly capable of handling any game at lower resolutions and can be a solid LAN platform thanks to its combination of size, weight, and performance.

Overall Rating
Design
Features
Performance

The HP Pavilion LC3700N LCD HDTV combines a delivery of high-definition LCD television with astounding audio. Its sleek and stylish design holds an LCD monitor that brings the finest details to life. With its astounding 4000:1 contrast ratio, 3D color enrichment and photorealistic sharpness give you the incredible detail and color that HP is known for. In addition to an NTSC TV tuner found on most TV sets, this model includes an ATSC tuner. ATSC permits reception of free-air HDTV widescreen broadcasts when used with an optional HDTV antenna. Up to 4000 - 1 dynamic contrast for provides a clear, progressively-scanned image with rich colors and deep black levels.

HP Pavilion LC3700N Design

Dimensions with speaker and stand (H x W x D) - 22.3 x 46.5 x 4.3 (56.7 x 118.1 x 10.9 cm) Weight - 48.5 lbs. (22 Kg)

HP Pavilion LC3700N Features

Supported EDTV and HDTV Resolutions: 480p, 720p, 1080i pixels. Extensive digital connectivity - DVi, HDMI, i.Link and CableCARD Ultra-wide 170 degree viewing angle with swivel stand means there’s no bad seat in the room Twin 10-watt detachable speakers Connections - HDMI, DVI, i.LINK, S-Video, AV input, antenna in, CableCARD, PC audio in, audio out, RS-232c.

HP Pavilion LC3700N Performance

Sometimes in low room light the auto-contrast feature darkens the picture too much. This corrects within a few minutes. May also be due to your eyes taking time to adjust to the darker image.

Conclusion

Excellent PQ & sound. Looks great. Sharp picture, excellent depth of color. Great auto contrast feature. Easy to switch between picture sizes. Dynamic contrast ratio of 4000:1 is excellent. Utilizing a Sharp LCD panel, the stylish HP Pavilion LC3700N shares the same image quirks we have encountered in other Sharp Aquos displays, but its consistent performance with a variety of analog and digital sources makes it a good choice for people looking for a fully loaded HDTV.