 Manufacturer : Creative Model : 51MF8090AA001 ASIN : B003N9SR00 Price : 79.99$ Last Price : 53.99$(Discount 32.504063007876% See Special Offers   Product DescriptionCreative Labs D100 2.0 Speaker System - Black 51MF8090AA001 Computer Speakers  133 of 134 people found the following review helpful: Love this Speaker This review is from: Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black) (Personal Computers) Given this is the first review, I will be thorough. I've owned the Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker for two months (paid $78.47). I'm very pleased. The sound quality is excellent for this type of speaker. The volume is loud enough to completely fill a room or a small outdoor area (e.g., patio). I've enjoyed it on the beach and found quality does not suffer much at high volumes. Like with any small speaker, if you crank it to max volume, there is some distortion on bass-heavy songs. But the distortion is slight, and the bass sounds great if you have the volume appropriately set for the type of audio you are streaming. On that note, there is no remote. The only way to control the volume is the `volume up' and `volume down' buttons on the front of the speaker or directly from streaming device ONLY IF it allows it. That is, my iPhone (3G - iOS 3.1.3) CANNOT change the speaker's volume while streaming, but my laptop can. In my use, I have not needed a remote. Usually I directly set the speaker's volume for the environment (e.g., bathroom, patio) and forget it. No remote also means you must control the streaming media from your device. There are no media control buttons on the speaker. There is an auxiliary input on the back of the speaker, if you want to hook up a non-bluetooth device, or maybe just to save battery by not using Bluetooth. Pairing with Bluetooth-capable devices (in my case, iPhone 3G and HP laptop) is simple and quick. Battery life (four AA) is excellent. It is so long I cannot even put an estimate in terms of hours. It also came with an AC adapter, but I have never used it. The battery compartment is underneath the speaker. The speaker is fairly small and very light. I actually carry it from room-to-room to enjoy while I am doing chores. My only concern with the speaker is the build quality. The plastic casing is sturdy, but the front face of the speaker (surrounding the name plate and volume controls) is made of cloth. The cloth is spongy, but I am worried that it will inevitably tear with my heavy use of the speaker. There is no travel case included with the speaker. Looking for a portable Bluetooth wireless speaker, I also considered the Logitech Z515 ($90, smaller and cloth-free). I've never used that Logitech speaker, but I ultimately chose the Creative D100 based on superior reviews for sound quality and bass quality. Look into both. There are good reviews for them and a comparison on CNET, if you want more information. On the front of the speaker: Volume up button Volume down button Bluetooth connect button On the back of the speaker: Power (on/off) switch Aux input 5V AC adapter input Underneath the speaker: Battery compartment (four AA) This review is from: Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black) (Personal Computers) I was looking for speakers that provided acceptable music reproduction, that were portable and easy to use, and could connect via wireless Bluetooth to a mobile phone (Motorola Droid) and iPad. I was also looking for something I could give as a gift to someone who would appreciate the same features but who does not have as much patience as I do for making these things work. The Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker is perfect for our needs. As one reviewer mentioned, the Creative D100 is light-weight and simple to unplug and move from room to room. It has a battery option too, but I haven't used it with batteries yet. The one-time Bluetooth pairing setup is simple. All you need to know before you begin is how to instruct your music device (phone, computer, iPad, etc.) to scan for and 'pair' with other Bluetooth devices. The rest is covered in the Creative D100 instructions. Power up the Creative D100 (turn on the power switch on the back side), make the D100 'discoverable' (press and hold the Bluetooth 'pairing' button on the front side), turn on the Bluetooth feature on your music device and begin scanning for other Bluetooth devices, and presto, it will pair and connect to the Creative D100. For those who would be using the music player on their phone and are concerned about taking calls while listening to music, I discovered that when using my Motorola Droid (Android OS v2.2), the music will connect via 'media audio' to the Creative D100 while 'phone audio' maps separately to my Plantronics Voyager Pro headset. Cool :) Don't expect this speaker system to make the walls, roof, and windows shake, although at 3/4 volume the sound fills my 20' x 20' living room area very nicely with Christmas jazz at a pleasant, undistorted level. It's perfect in the master bedroom and in my home office too. But if you're looking for bass that you can feel in your gut, that's not what the Creative D100 is built to do. You may want to experiment with speaker placement as I did. I found that the music was enhanced by moving the speaker from an open space on a table to a shelf in an entertainment center where it was partially enclosed. I'm not a sound engineer, but my guess is that the shelf placement that sort of surrounds the unit assists the functionality of the rear speaker port on the Creative D100, helping to capture and direct the sound towards the listener. I also tested the Bluetooth range by placing the speaker in the living room and moving my phone (and iPad) to a bedroom down the hall, probably 25-30 feet away from the speaker. I was impressed that there was absolutely no device-to-speaker signal loss all evening regardless of which music device was connected. I'm very pleased. I got a black one for myself, and a pink one to give as a Christmas gift. 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful: Best portable Speaker/ Boombox that I have had regardless of the price! This review is from: Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black) (Personal Computers) I ride boats, hop from island to island. I have been using portable speakers for 10 yrs now. I have come across a lot of them. With all the technology now, I never knew that the bluetooth connection would be so convenient and seamless, most especially for the D100. It's light, a bit bulky than the others, but packed with power. Before this, I bought the Logitech S715i because I got it for almost half the price, it had good highs and mids but pretty mediocre lows. The internal rechargeable battery was mediocre as well. You would think, it would be so useful since it's easier to charge, but no. When you finally ran out, you don't want to wait and find a wall outlet to charge, you just want to get new batteries and stick it in and continue playing portable music. You can use rechargeable AA's as well. It also did not have a bluetooth connection. This made me consider to try the Creative D100, and with maybe more than 15 portable speakers I've tried from different brands over the years, this is one of the best that I have used for its form and function. I am an audiophile as well, and you cannot compare this to any system you might have of course, but for what it does, it has a pretty good combination of highs and lows. As a whole it sounds good. Try to adjust the EQ on your iPhone, laptop, or any other device according to your preference for better sound. Very portable, started using it around the house with batteries, from the bedroom, to the office, to the bathroom. It's still running, 3 days in, with about 6-8 hrs/day, mid to high volume. I so loved it, I gave my Logitech away as a gift to my brother. Then bought another D100 for my sister. Easily fits a small shoe bag. No remotes needed if your connected via BT. Line out for other MP3's as well. I guess the design which is like a small box, gives off better sound resonance as compared to newer slim designs. This does not sound tinny at all! Try it out. And its inexpensive! I love it. Hope you will too. Will surely be with me on my next trip! Never wrote a single review in Amazon, what does that tell you?  So So A buyer has few choices where the Bluetooth speaker is concerned. This one was on " Today's Deals" and less than 50 bucks. More and I would have sent it back. by kishfish Bluetooth portable speaker Very very happy with this speaker. Did alot of research and the speaker is 100x's better than I expected. Worked right away when I bluetooth it to my phone's music player. by Gadget Girl Cool speaker I use this speaker in my loving room and I love it. The box says it comes in different colors. Mine is grayish black and it fits well withthe rest fo the apartment surroundings... by Reader Nice portable speaker! This is a small and very light speaker but the sound quality is excellent and the volume is loud enough to completely fill a room or a small outdoor area. by t.g. randini So convenient! I can't believe how great this speaker is. I didn't know that speakers like this existed until I read about them in an article by David Pogue in the New York Times. by Beth Thompson Creative d100, best for the price I purchased the d100 for using in a busy warehouse. i keep the speaker on a forklift at work and this speaker has survived through a year of 10 hours a day constant abuse. by josht81 The sound is much better than expected... Bought this Bluetooth Speaker when it was offered by Amazon in a Daily Deal... and very glad I did. I had been looking at smaller units, but couldn't imagine getting acceptable... by Don Wow! This speaker was an incredibly pleasant surprise. It has big sound, is super easy to use and impresses the heck out of me. by J. Michael Hitt Creative D100 Speaker - WONDERFUL I now have 2 Creative D100 speakers. After the first one, I decided to buy another as a gift. It works great, has great sound, can use battery power for hours or you can plug it... by Kyle The Search Is Over! I was looking for a sub $100 bluetooth speaker system for the kitchen. I bought the Monster Clarity HD based on the stellar reviews and small footprint. by S. Smith |
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker (Black)
Olympus VN-8100PC Digital Voice Recorder with Olympus Case
Manufacturer : Olympus Model : VN-8100PC ASIN : B0057J5C34 Price : 108.99$ Last Price : 44.5$(Discount 59.1705661069823% See Special Offers  Product DescriptionWith 2GB internal memory and a great new, intuitive design you'll be able to easily capture all the audio you want. And with built-in USB connectivity, MP3&WMA recording, the new Scene Select Function and the large LCD with font size setting it's easy to record and store high-quality audio with ease. 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful: User friendly This review is from: Olympus VN-8100PC Digital Voice Recorder with Olympus Case (Electronics) This is my first digital recorder. The instructions could have been a little more detailed, but I figured them out with little problem. I felt it was user friendly and have already downloaded to my computer, easy and simple. The only thing that I was a little dissappointed about was the playback volume. I looked to see if I could adjust the record volume but didn't see that option. This review is from: Olympus VN-8100PC Digital Voice Recorder with Olympus Case (Electronics) I have been using this recorder for several weeks. I purchased the microphone that allows you to record calls on a cell phone (or any phone). I find it very easy to use. The controls are easy to understand. The sound quality is very good. The USB cord makes it very easy to transfer files onto my PC. I like the easy procedure for transferring files from my PC to the Recorder. I enjoy listening to music and audio books. I have transferred several mp3 files, and listened to it as if it were an mp3 player. A much easier, user friendly, mp3 player. I have owned several voice recorders. The others were manufactured by others. I have always been disappointed. But this one does everything I need it to do. I am disabled. Due to a medical condition, I have very little feeling in my finger tips. This Olympus Digital Voice Recorder allows me to record in situations that preclude me from writing notes. I can barely use a pen. But I have no problems with the buttons and switches on the Olympus. It has a large capacity, and the batteries are holding up very well. |
Friday, February 10, 2012
TP-Link TL-WR541G 54 Mbps Extended Range Wireless Router with 1x 3dBi Antenna
Manufacturer : TP-LINK Model : TL-WR541G ASIN : B0014JIKH6 Price : 27.37$ Last Price : 22.99$(Discount 16.0029229082938% See Special Offers  Product DescriptionTP-LINK Technologies TL-WR541G Wireless Router - 54 Mbps TL-WR541G Routers & Gateways - Wireless 35 of 35 people found the following review helpful: Great Router.....Great Price ! This review is from: TP-Link TL-WR541G 54 Mbps Extended Range Wireless Router with 1x 3dBi Antenna (Personal Computers) I've had this router for about a month. It was easy to set up and its range is outstanding. I set it up at one end of the house and it works perfectly throughout my home as well outdoors (in my yard). The reason I purchased this product over some other better known brands was because it had such great reviews (on other web sights)...and that it is the most sold router in China. At this point there are no negitives to this product. Also price was a major factor in my decision. I would encourage anyone looking for an excellent router at a great price...to consider the TL-Link WR541G Wireless Router. You won't be sorry. 23 of 23 people found the following review helpful: Unbeatable for the price This review is from: TP-Link TL-WR541G 54 Mbps Extended Range Wireless Router with 1x 3dBi Antenna (Personal Computers) After owning this little jewel for over one year I can honestly say this is the best wireless router I've ever owned. Setup is fast and easy including the security. Having owned other routers before I was halfway familiar with setup procedures so I skipped the disk and just fired it up and followed the prompts. Within ten minutes it was up and running and not once in the past year have I ever needed to reset it or do anything other than move it around a little to get the best signal coverage in my home. The only downside I can find is that tech support is in China. One time I thought the router was causing a slow connection and I attempted to resolve the problem with tech support and the language barrier became a problem. As it turned out, the slowdown was caused by my ISP which initially refused to admit they had a fiber optic line cut a couple of hundred miles away. The router was not to blame. For the price you simply can't beat this unit, it has provided the most bang for the buck of any router I've owned. It runs cool and the coverage area is as good or better than on Linksys and D-link routers I've used in the past. At times with guests in my home there have been as many as 5 computers and 4 cell phones logged in at one time with no problem. I also have one computer connected directly to the router via cable and it streaks along flawlessly. Even if you are a first time wireless router user you shouldn't have any serious problems setting this one up. It recovers quickly from power outages and can essentially be ignored after the initial set up. I can't vouch for other TP-Link routers but if they are anything like this one they will be worth getting when the time comes for an upgrade. I am extremely impressed with this product and have intentionally waited over a year before publishing a review. 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful: Perfect For Home Wireless Internet This review is from: TP-Link TL-WR541G 54 Mbps Extended Range Wireless Router with 1x 3dBi Antenna (Personal Computers) I needed a router to extend internet service to 4 pcs in different rooms: a legacy Dell, a new quadcore AMD 64 bit Vista based unit, a Lenova laptop with Windows XP Professional OS, and a plain vanilla Emachine. I had planned to pickup a Netgear 3700 N modum in order to have the benefit of a usb port that I would use for a shared mass storage device. Since it was not yet available, I purchased the TP-Link from Amazon for $29.00 until the more expensive unit became available. I have only low intermediate technical knowledge, but the set up was simple and the accompanying CD quickly guided me through the process of establishing security. ALL four machines receive a very strong signal and the laptop can receive an acceptable signal 200 feet + outside. The router is working so well that I may abandon the more expensive brand name router and keep using the well made and nice looking TP-Link unit. Bridge function is not good I purchased this item to connect my preexisting WiFi AP to extend wifi spot, but this bridge function requires to register this AP's MAC address to remote AP also. by kimitake Great Purchase I could not download any apps from my Driod 3 without a router. I reviewed and check prices. And purchase this one. It was easy to assemble and it works great. by Beason Best little router ever After installing and using many of the name-branded routers, this little TP-Link 54Mbps unit is by far my favorite. by Daniel R. Cocozza Amazing Router for an amazing price I was slightly skeptical because of the low price, but decided based upon the reviews and promise of extended range that I would try the TP-Link. by Joel Balin Best Router I am a college student and i needed to have wireless internet available at my ome appartment. So i went online looking for a cheep router. by shk854 Didn't work for me Setup went fine. Worked right away, But then after a day or so I noticed low signal strength and irratic behaviour. by daytrader0341 Had trouble setting up / Range decent but unimpressive I purchased this router so that I could stream music to my mobile phone while in the yard. My old router, a Linksys wireless B router didn't cut it. by Brian A router for the electronically challenged!!!! The review is coming to you, courtesy of this product. It was very easy to set up and from the time it came out of the box to when it was up and going was just a few... by T. Young Perfect for our small apartment The range for this router is quite amazing. I never have low signal in any part of our apartment, and it does a great job of staying connected online. by starsniper I LOVE IT This router is wonderful. It gives me WAY better range than any linksys I have ever owned!I have 4 computers, 1 printer and 3 game systems that it supports...it is fantastic! by Joanna Danek |
Pioneer CD-IU50V USB Interface Cable for iPod/iPhone
Manufacturer : Pioneer Mobile Model : CD-IU50V ASIN : B001TINUF4 Price : 60$ See Special Offers  Product DescriptionPioneer Video Cable CD-IU50V USB CablesAmazon.com Product DescriptionUse the CD-IU50 audio interface cable to connect an iPod or iPhone directly into your compatible Pioneer head unit. Gain full, direct, adapter-free control of your iPod/iPhone via the head unit interface. The cable is two meters in length. What's in the Box 56 of 58 people found the following review helpful: You don't *need* it, but you are going to *want* it This review is from: Pioneer CD-IU50V USB Interface Cable for iPod/iPhone (Electronics) I'm posting this after reading the reviews here and then experiencing first hand the difference on my own x920bt between this and a "regular" iPod cable used with the stock Pioneer USB cable. Technically, the bad reviews here are correct: You don't actually need this cable to use your iPod/iPhone with your Pioneer HU. If you were sitting on the fence like I was about buying it though, read on: I do agree with the one star reviews that the cable is too short for what it costs. It is possible to extend it with both a regular USB extension cable and a mini-jack cable extender, but of course you have to buy those. So I knocked off a couple stars for that because this thing should be longer for what you pay. However, there are 3 things you need to know about using the USB cable that comes with your HU over this one with an iPod/iPhone: 1) Without this cable, you have to plug two cables in to your iPod/iPhone - the dock connector, and a standard mini-audio cable. With this cable you only need to plug in the dock connector. Minor detail but if it's something you are going to use every time you get in the car you'll find one connection better than two over time, I assure you. 2) You need this cable to get video from your iPod/iPhone. If you care about video at all, then this is your only choice. One review mentions the video quality is so-so but I did not find that to be the case - as with all videos on iPods/iPhones the source is everything and good quality videos looked perfectly fine to me; I'll agree that the Pioneer HU doesn't go a great job with marginal sources compared to other displays but that isn't the fault of the cable. 3) And most importantly - as G. Ledesma points out in his review - with this cable, you get line-level audio out, where with the USB cable/mini-jack you get audio that's amplified once already by the iPod/iPhone itself. Don't brush this detail off! Having listened to both, same music, same player, I can tell you that you don't need to be an audiophile with the ears of a teenager to hear the difference. It is pretty significant, especially with music that's already lower-quality (like tracks purchased from iTunes prior to 2009). For this reason alone I found the cable to be a necessary purchase. In short, while yes it is pricey, and you can control and listen to your music without it, you are going to want it anyway. I mean, not to defend Pioneer, but it is kind of a niche item they don't mass-produce, and frankly if you own an iPod/iPhone you already paid a premium for a product, so what's another few bucks for a cable? If it were longer I'd give it 5 stars, but that's it's only real fault. This review is from: Pioneer CD-IU50V USB Interface Cable for iPod/iPhone (Electronics) Okay, so for anyone who is trying to figure out if they need this cable or not. You will need it if you are trying to get video from your ipod on your AVH-P3100DVD receiver. If you only want audio, your standard ipod cable will work. I tested with ipod touch 2g, both cables allow control from the receiver or ipod. It's lame (hence 1 star) because it's too short and this is a ridiculous price to pay for a cable. Once the cable is plugged in, you will need to change the AUX1 input to ipod. This can be found in the "Initial Menu" that is only accessible after turning the receiver off. Which I couldn't figure out at first and after a lengthy e-mail thread with Pioneer (who could not help) I found by accident. This review is from: Pioneer CD-IU50V USB Interface Cable for iPod/iPhone (Electronics) I bought this cord when I bought my Pioneer AVH P3100 headunit. Amazon and Pioneer make it seem like you NEED to have this cord in order to work an iPod with your headunit-- FALSE! You can simply use the white Apple cord that came with your iPod, or go to Radio Shack and buy a cord for $3 that does the same exact thing! Besides, the cord works absolutely fine for my iPod Nano, but when I plug in my girlfriend's iPhone, it takes a while for it to recognize it, then while playing, it often skips the songs, and chunks of the song go silent. It's like it's always fill-in-the-blank to the song when the iPhone is connected! Anyways, don't make the same mistake I made by buying this for $50 when you can get another cord with the same function for so much cheaper.. okay, not great works fine, displays info on p3300bt for ipod and some radio (non-hd) stations, but the design is pretty poor. by river313 Convenient Product and FAST Shipping I agree with most of the reviews on this product: 1. It's not a "necessary accessory", however, it is more convenient than having two additional cords. by AmazingAmazon! First rate I received my cable and it works just like it is suppose to. No problems what so ever. Thank you for shippping it as soon as possible. Great product and built to last a long time. by D. Tomczak Works like it should Got this for my pioneer x920bt. Doesn't work well with an iPhone 4 and apple bumper case but works with a few other cases I have by Josh works perfectly Great product. Genuine Pioneer Product. I am using it on my Pioneer AVH - P2300 to play music and it works perfectly. I've bene using it for about 1.5 months with no issues. by miltogk Works but overpriced This cable is a necessary add on for my pioneer head unit. I still don't understand why it is not included. It works as expected but even at amazon it is overpriced. by Theodore Midthun iPod Interface Cable The cable is very good quality and works well. I only have two small gripes, neither of which deal with quality. by Brandon CD-IU50V This product is necessary if you want to play videos on your Pioneer radio. It works great on my original IPhone. Cord needs to be longer, but other than that it's great! by Steer Ipod Interface This works great with my Pioneer unit. I can get the best quality sound and it is cheaper than an Apple Ipod Cable. by Mike great buy works the way its suppose to .with my pioneer dvd/cd /ipod.so very nice to have .just wish they could make it longer so i could have put ipod in the glovebox.out of view. by tucker59 |
Monday, February 6, 2012
NETGEAR XAVB5001 Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit
Manufacturer : Netgear Model : XAVB5001-100NAS ASIN : B004DVEW8I Price : 138.65$ See Special Offers  Product DescriptionNetgear XAVB5001 Powerline Network Adapter XAVB5001-100NAS Powerline Network Adapters 60 of 64 people found the following review helpful: Not as fast as advertised, but very good This review is from: NETGEAR XAVB5001 Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (Personal Computers) Testing was performed in a ~3-year old house and the 2 adapters were several rooms apart from one another on the same floor. With these adapters, performance can typically vary significantly based on wiring within the house, so YMMV. As a preview of the results, while they didn't achieve anywhere near the advertised 250 mbps (~31 MB/s) in each direction, they did perform much better than older generation powerline adapters I've used. When I plugged in the adapters, the Netgear software reported that I was getting ~220 Mbps in each direction, which was encouraging, but ultimately not even close to accurate. In addition to testing the adapters, I also wanted to test the efficiencies of different network protocols to see what would work best for streaming HD content to my XBMC / MythTV box. Below are the results. Testing was done using commands like the following on a Ubuntu Linux machine that tests reads and write speeds to network-mounted disk. Write: time dd if = /dev/zero of = /mnt/storagesmb/testfilesmb1 bs=16k count=16384 Read: time dd if = /mnt/storagesmb/testfilesmb1 of= /dev /null bs=16k (some extra spaces were added in the above lines to prevent Amazon's URL filtering from editing those lines out) Since the focus of my testing was primarily to verify read speeds from a media frontend to a backend storage server, I did not do significant write testing. Disk Read/Write Test Results: Protocol Test Type File Size Rsize (nfs) Throughput SMB Write 256MB na 03.8 MB/s SMB Read 256MB na 03.9 MB/s NFS v3 Write 256MB na 05.4 MB/s NFS v3 Read 256MB 16,384 09.3 MB/s NFS v3 Read 256MB 32,768 10.8 MB/s *** Amazon mangles any sort of tabular data when included in a review, so if you prefer to see the review in its original format, it is also available on my blog: [...] (Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't allow URLs in reviews, so copy/paste that into your browser and remove the spaces in the URL to find it) Next, a separate set of tests was done using iperf between two Ubuntu Linux machines. The server resides on a large RAID array capable of reads and writes upwards of 500 MB/s, so disk speeds were not a limitation in this testing. In theory, the iperf test should remove most inefficiencies related to network protocol and show raw throughput. As it turns out, the results are very similar to the NFS testing above, which speaks well of the NFS protocol. iperf results: ***ONE DIRECTIONAL TEST ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to 192.168.1.111, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 16.0 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 3] local 192.168.1.182 port 42245 connected with 192.168.1.111 port 5001 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 90.8 MBytes 75.9 Mbits/sec (9.49 MB/s) ***BIDIRECTIONAL (SIMULTAENOUS) TEST ------------------------------------------------------------ Client connecting to 192.168.1.111, TCP port 5001 TCP window size: 55.0 KByte (default) ------------------------------------------------------------ [ 5] local 192.168.1.182 port 60753 connected with 192.168.1.111 port 5001 [ 4] local 192.168.1.182 port 5001 connected with 192.168.1.111 port 59780 [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 5] 0.0-10.0 sec 57.4 MBytes 48.0 Mbits/sec (6.00 MB/s) [ 4] 0.0-10.1 sec 43.0 MBytes 35.7 Mbits/sec (4.46 MB/s) Combined => ~83.7 Mbits/sec (10.46 MB/s) SMB vs. NFS Conclusion: While this is probably no surprise to many, NFS is vastly more efficient. Using the same commands and testing read speeds with a 32k rsize, nfs outperforms smb by ~280%. The difference was noticeable on XBMC performance as well. When my network shares were mounted using SMB, I was unable to smoothly stream high bitrate uncompressed 1080p bluray rips (i.e. Avatar). However, when using NFS, it played absolutely everything I could throw at it. Netgear XAVB5001 Conclusion: Bottom line, if your wiring is fairly modern and free of interference, while these adapters fall far short of their advertised 500 Mbps speeds, they should be more than capable of streaming your uncompressed HD content if you can serve your files via NFS. Even if you are stuck using SMB (Windows network file sharing), most of your content will work without issue, but high bitrate uncompressed bluray will likely not play 100% smoothly. 29 of 31 people found the following review helpful: The non uber tech review for those who have used PLAs before This review is from: NETGEAR XAVB5001 Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (Personal Computers) I approach this review in the hopes of helping fellow home techies who were looking for a quick run down and potential benefit over older Powerline Adapter kits/units. Some good reviews in here detail the outputs of the units here in super fine detail. I'm sure many will find that helpful. I myself was looking for quick info on whether the AV500's were better than AV200's in general, or at least, better than my Netgear XAV2001 kit (AV200 "rated"). Most people know that the supposed throughput of a powerline adapter is pretty much BS. Saying one of these is "Gigabit" is pretty misleading. Mind you this really isn't a complaint. This feeds into the "more must be better" mentality in the tech industry. If you haven't figured out that this isn't always true, then let this product type be a key example. BUT...for me the question always has boiled down, for these types of products, is it in fact fast? Fast for what? Faster than the previous line? (I'm a habitual upgrader and am willing to pay to play if in fact the product offers a substantial benefit over my current gear.) So as I said I own the Netgear AV200/"200 Mbit" kit (XAV2001 I believe). I have previously used Linksys 85Mbit adapters to effect, and we have wireless in the house, but the AV200's were good performers and worth the ~$100 I spent on them, and adequately replaced wireless where I had some serious dead spots in my house. I dropped into Staples last night and lo and behold, they had the Netgear AV500 kit in their pretty red box for $139. I decided to give it a go, figuring if my network performance was significantly better, I'd keep them. If not, I'd return them, having kept the packaging perfect, and ensuring Staples would take them back if Netgear had BS'd the numbers. My overall setup is rather nightmarish to describle so I'll detail just the following: 1.) The AV500's went exactly in the place of the two AV200's. They are on separate ends of the house laterally , source on main floor, destination on second floor 2.) Same exact Cat 5 and Cat 6 cables in the same exact place 3.) While I seriously doubt this had any impact, I substituted an 8 port Cisco 10/100 switch for an 8 port Netgear ProSage Gigabit switch. (In theory I'm not touching the upper end capability of the Cisco switch so that's why I say it should not make a difference, but I point it out to not mislead.) 4.) Use: The AV500s link an AV Closet in a "black hole" of my house (the master bedroom) to a DLINK dual band Gigabit N-Router. The overall feed is, from Source to Destination, [FiOS Modem > NetGear 24 port Gigabit Switch > DLINK Gigabit Router > Netgear AV500 Unit 1 (Source) > Netgear AV500 Unit 2 (AV Closet) > Netgear ProSafe Gigabit Switch > Components). 5.) Components a.) Windows 7 PC / media server with 4 TB of stored lossless music and MKV/MP4 videos b.) Tivo Series 3 (x2) c.) Xbox 360 d.) BR Player e.) DLink Boxee (love this, 5 stars) 6.) AV200 vs AV500 - the beef Prior to installing the AV200's 9 months ago, my network performance in the destination area of the house was dismal. Averaging a series of speedtest.net runs where the only thing in the "component" list above that was using the network was the PC, I was getting avg 400Kbit/sec on a system that had previosuly scored 40Mbit Down 35Mbit Up in "wireless hot spots". The ~40Mb down speed was proven on several Speedtest.net runs and I'd proven it out when I downloaded a 1.7 GB file in under 7 minutes via a swarm, over wireless (in a much better location in the house). Download rates sustained for minutes at a time touched 4.3MegaByte per second. I was thrilled. Needless to say, when I saw the 90% drop in wireless performance in a critical area of the house, I knew I needed something better. I had built an AV closet in a bad spot of the house (well, bad for network, else great for my purposes). Installing the original Netgear AV200's, I saw speeds come back up to 2.2MegaByte per second. Speedtest.net showed similar Mb numbers (16-20MBit Down, 10-13MBit Up.) AV200's would have been ok but I was running into several problems. Beyond the closet, there are Tivos downstairs which require that the Powerline adapters be the medium between my PC/Server upstairs. PyTivo being the encoder, I saw a significant difference between "local" xfers in the bedroom, and xfers from upstairs to the downstairs area. Generally PyTivo could playback in realtime (initiate xfer, no wait, watch) on movies upto 720p. 1080 MKV containers took a little bit to get running, but overall, not bad. 1080 files xferred downstairs were a joke. I had to initiate the xter WELL in advance of watching it. SO...what do the AV500's do? Get this. Last night, first test - shut down all components except the PC. Begin download of a very popular show which should present the full challenge to the AV500's. Sustained speed download? 5.2MegaByte a second. I was very surprised. I would have kept these units if they'd come within 80% of my original wireless 4.2-4.4MB/sec. But to exceed their performance, simply floored me. I had pretty modest expectations that AV500s would defeat the AV200s. I was wrong. And I do love when I'm wrong and it benefits me. My 0.02 are that if my review hits on your , and you simply want to know if in the same exact setting these AV500's will improve your AV85/AV100/AV200 Netgear pair (or trio...), go for it. If you change nothing else, I am pretty confident you'll see quite a nice bump in performance. 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful: Works but your milage may vary. This review is from: NETGEAR XAVB5001 Powerline AV 500 Adapter Kit (Personal Computers) Put these in my home which was built in 1979. One on the first floor and one on the second floor. I believe the adapters are on different circuits. When I installed them out of the box the adapter software was reporting 90 megabit one way and 70 megabit the other way. At night when more electronics and lights are running the throughput would sometimes drop drastically. At one point I was only getting 60 megabit one way and 25 megabit the other way. Latency times were also ridiculously bad. A ping to my router was showing 15-30MS which is insane for a device that is in the other room. Because I'm an avid gamer this was completely ruining gaming and players reported to see me "warping" in quake. I then flashed the newest firmware on the adapters and saw a substantial improvement. Now the adapters show 110 x 100 megabit during the day and at night it drops to maybe 100 x 90 megabit. Your millage will vary because it seems various appliances or perhaps even the noise from the grid at night is going to affect your throughput in different ways throughout the day. The latency problem also seems much better as I now average 2-3MS pings to my router. Not sure why I can't get <1 MS pings but perhaps it's the nature of the beast. Convenient, but not blazing fast The Netgear Powerline Adapters seemed like the perfect solution for hooking up an internet-capable Blu-Ray player with no wireless card. by skrishna Perfect for Apartments I bought this set for my apartment because the wireless wouldn't cover the entire thing, and I didn't want to run a network cable the entire length of my apartment. by JS Outperforms wireless connections This is a great product when your wireless network won't reach all areas of your home. In my case I could not get a good wireless internet connection at the opposite end of my... by Jay Paul McDonald happy customer! This does exactly what it says. We now have internet on third floor without needing wifi or rewiring our house. by Kirsten Lechner Excellent product, works as advertised... Be wary of distances though... As I said, this product works exactly as advertised. I am very pleased with the performance. Even though the unit indicates I have a poor quality connection (red status light,... by Eric C. Thinking of running Cat 5 through your House?, STOP On the main floor of my home in the office sits my netgear wndr 3700, if you go out the door down the stairs you enter where my Xbox sits and I play it, the wifi was vary spotty,... by StylezNMA Truly Plug & Play Not much to say other than it fully served my needs. Open the box, plug them in, and off you go. Period. Perfect. by RedBarron1 Worst Product Netgear powerlink AV500 is the worst product networks have had the opportunity to use and I'm a network engineer with 25 years of experience, and decide to use this product in my... by Jose Netgear xav5001 powerline av 500 super item easy set up , no muss no fuss plug it in and go, how simple is that and it gets the job done by robeas Great for net connection points, wifi Wifi broadcasting around the house, even with repeaters, was slow, so I thought I'd give this a shot. Installation was simple. by Peter N. Deweese |
Accell UltraAV B101B-003B Display Port with VGA Active Adapter
Manufacturer : Accell Corporation Model : B101B-003B ASIN : B003HC85D2 Price : 24.99$ See Special Offers  Product DescriptionAccell Corp UltraAV B101B-003B Video Cable Adapter B101B-003B Cable Adapters 21 of 21 people found the following review helpful: Good Product This review is from: Accell UltraAV B101B-003B Display Port with VGA Active Adapter (Personal Computers) I purchased this for a 3 monitor setup using an ATI Radeon 5770. I have 2 monitors hooked to each DVI port (there's 2 on a 5770) and 1 to a display port via this adapter. The monitors I am using are 3 ACER X233H's running at their native res of 1920 by 1080. Works fine. Can't tell which monitor is hooked up to the DVI and which is using the display port. Good product. Works as advertised. 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful: ATI Eyefinity This review is from: Accell UltraAV B101B-003B Display Port with VGA Active Adapter (Personal Computers) I bought this to be able to hook up my third 24 in monitor with Eyefinity (RAdeon HD 5850) and it worked. I didnt have to buy the "active" display port from Dell (100$). Very happy 23 of 28 people found the following review helpful: This is the ticket for Eyefinity This review is from: Accell UltraAV B101B-003B Display Port with VGA Active Adapter (Personal Computers) If you're looking for something to work with eyefinity but are confused by the massive amounts of completely WRONG information out there, buy this item and stop worrying about it, then tell your friends. Here's a quote from me discussing this displayport adapter on overclock dot net. Will I be able to tell the difference between this VGA adapter and a DVI one? No. Speaking from experience, because I own one. I also can easily spot the difference between native dvi and native VGA, but displayport to VGA is absolutely indecipherable from DVI in my experience. edit: Also, if you are using an adapter to allow a 3rd monitor to be connected, $30 DP > DVI connectors aren't going to cut it. It HAS to be an active adapter and as i'm sure you know those run for about $100. VGA adapters also have to be active but there are differences: Converting from DP to Analog (VGA) is much easier to process than DP to any other digital interface, such as DVI or HDMI. This means that DP to VGA adapters can be self powered, and very cheap. Mine is this one and it works flawlessly. If there was any way that I could prove my position on image quality I would love to, but it has to be perceived. All I can say is rest assured I am completely anal about pixels bleeding due to low signal quality, etc. and after running a VGA connected LCD for years I am very familiar with the exact symptoms that are factored in to what is considered a "low quality" VGA connection. I'm not sure what kind of magic DP conjures up, but the difference between my VGA connection and the identical screen right next to it using dvi is completely indistinguishable. Not what I was looking for Not the product I was looking for so I cant review it properly. Had to go back and look for a substitute product. by IT Dept Good product, works great, but annoyed that I had to get it. I too have the ATI EyeFinity in my graphics card, and I am annoyed that I had to buy a $30 cable just to go triple monitors. by DarthCaniac Works as advertised I have an HP6450b running windows 7 that I wanted to dual screen when hooked to the docking station. It has a DVI, VGA and DisplayPort out on the back. by P. KNUTH vga port problem workaround My VGA port stopped working, and fixing it was too big an issue on a company-provided laptop. This worked perfectly as a workaround so that I can continue to use my auxillary... by PMH Works for me!! I wanted this for my Dell studio 1440 which does not have the typical port to connect to a video projector. by Tanuja H Peiris Works as expected! I bought this product to use with an HP Docking station. The Docking Station has a DVI-D output, but the monitors I have don't have a DVI in. by Larry Ayonn It's an Active adapter, great picture, amazing value compared to other adapters This adapter worked immediately and seems to provide a great picture (as someone else in the comments suggested it would). by Joel R. Simpson crap does not work on any resolution past 1280x1024 when using one screen. when in eyefinity mode it wont work past 800x600 so i can only get 2400x600 eyefinity. by scotty This displayport is what you are looking for, for a 3 monitor Eyefinity Setup If you are trying to set up 3 monitors attached to one computer this is what you are looking for. You do not need to buy $100 adapter. by Kaan Gr8 product Anyone requiring to run the ATI Eyefinity, this works. Inspite of all the misinformation on the net about the same, this product worked gr8. by Amber |
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Belkin N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router (Latest Generation)
Manufacturer : Belkin Components Model : F9K1102 ASIN : B004N625AA Price : 69.99$ Last Price : 58.21$(Discount 16.8309758536934% See Special Offers  Product DescriptionThe Belkin F9K1102 N600 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router delivers advanced performance for video streaming and online gaming. The Belkin F9K1102 N600 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router's exclusive MultiBeam antenna technology gives you maximum throughput while minimizing dead spots for optimized video streaming from multiple devices, virtually anywhere in your home. Get the fastest dual-band speeds for video streaming and online gaming—up to 300Mbps (2.4GHz) + 300Mbps (5GHz). Connect an external hard drive for easy sharing of photos and files, or connect a printer for wireless printing from any computer in your home. WPS/WPA2 encryption standards and preset security settings get you up and running safely. One-touch Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) securely connects multiple computers and devices with the push of a button. Get your secure wireless network up and running in minutes. Just three easy steps, and you're you out of the box and onto the Web. 122 of 129 people found the following review helpful: A lot of router for the price but with a caveat This review is from: Belkin N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router (Latest Generation) (Personal Computers) This is definitely a lot of router for the price. Its feature list reads like a dream: # Dual band networks (2.4GHz and 5GHz)? Check! # Guest network for visiting friends? Check! # Support for standard features like port forwarding, MAC-based security, MAC address cloning, wireless security, etc.? Check! # Support for advanced features such as Dynamic DNS services (dyndns.org), or Quality of Service (QoS) manipulation? Check! # Ability to exercise parental control by tailoring access schedules and allowed URLs, giving me super-Dad powers? Check! # Support an external USB drive? Check! Serve as an DLNA-compliant server? Double check! # Ability to turn off all its router functionality and function as a barebones Wireless Access Point? Check! # Unique aesthetics with lots of power saving options? Check! (unless you prefer your router lit up like a Christmas tree). # A generous 2-year warranty? Check! So what bothered me? ############### [1] The implementation of administrator security seems a bit flawed. The router authenticates a user based on the IP address of the computer you are using to log in, and the admin password you configure. Unfortunately, at various times in the past 8 weeks, admin authentication has failed to kick in. This allows any computer that had ever been authenticated to this router, to access the admin screens (and view any wireless passwords in clear text) without prompting for the admin password. Even the default 10 minute inactivity timeout for admin authentication is ignored when this happens. The only "fix" is to reboot the router. After the third such occurrence, I returned the router to Belkin for investigation. See my uploaded screenshot for details (a link is in the Comments below). Notice that admin info is being displayed even though I did not provide an admin password. Also note that the header says "Login" (it should say "Logout" when you are authenticated). I suspect that the "self healing" option (defaults to ON) masks this problem for most users by periodically rebooting the router. [2] Unlike my Netgear WNDR3700, this Belkin N600 did not support DHCP Address Reservation. This is a feature that lets you reserve a given IP address for a particular device (such as a wireless printer or security camera) on your network. Without it, a router reboot could assign a different IP address to your device, requiring you to adjust its properties to get it back online. Some devices can be configured to request a particular IP address, but address reservation is a lot simpler. [3] On the admin console, the SSID and password are on two separate pages, and each change needs to be committed before making the next. A commit requires a reboot of the router, which kicks you off the wireless network! [4] Any change to the router settings takes 40 seconds to apply. This is perilously close to Windows reboot times! [5] The router setup software did not work well on one of my computers. See the "additional notes" section below for an easier way to setup this router. Conclusion ########### If you have setup a router before, the standard router setup procedure is far easier to follow: 1. Power down your cable modem, router, and computer 2. Connect an Ethernet cable between the WAN port of the router and the cable modem 3. Connect an Ethernet cable between a LAN port of the router and your computer. 4. Power on the cable modem and wait for the lights to settle. 5. Power on the router and wait for the power light to steady. 6. Power on the computer, and navigate to the router (for the Belkin N600: 192.168.2.1) 7. Set up an administration password, and inactivity timeout 8. Set up the wireless SSID and security. 9. On the computer, establish a connection to your SSID, providing the appropriate passphrase. 10. Your computer is now connected on both your wired and wireless networks. Logout of the router's admin console. Else the dreaded "Duplicate Administrator" error is likely to raise its ugly head. That's it! Happy Networking! ~Damodar This review is from: Belkin N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router (Latest Generation) (Personal Computers) Given that background, I wasn't expecting much from this N600 DB - but I have been seriously impressed. Before the N600 DB, my house was setup with two D-Link access points (a DAP-1522 and a DIR-655). Both are setup with identical settings (other than the channel) so I can roam around the house and get good coverage pretty much anywhere. When I opened up the N600 DB, I immediately changed the settings to be identical to my D-Link access points. Then I disabled the D-Links and roamed around the house using a wireless signal meter. The first time around, I actually thought I had forgotten to disable one of the D-Links because the coverage was so good - but I did confirm that this Belkin N600 DB provides better coverage than both of my D-Link devices combined (I also tested them individually and got the same result). Aside from the great coverage, here are some features that I like about the Belkin N600 DB: 1) It has a setting to enable a guest wireless account. This is a nice feature if you want guests to be able to access the Internet without having access to your home network. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me since I'm using the Belkin as an access point instead of a router. 2) It is dual-band capable. 3) It can be set to 'access point' mode, which disables the firewall and other filtering features. This works great for me since I have another router anyway. 4) If you use WPS, you'll be happy to see that this router has a convenient WPS button right on the front instead of having it either hidden on the back or in the firmware configuration. 5) It includes a USB port that can be used to share a network printer. My printers are already on the network, but the built-in print server is a great option if you are still sharing your printer from a PC. Although I've been impressed by the Belkin N600 DB, there are a couple of problems I've run into: 1) The biggest issue for me is that this router can't be mounted to the wall. I like to keep stuff mounted and out of the way - but that's not an option with the N600. 2) When saving configuration changes, the N600 takes a long time to reboot - about 45 seconds. This reminds me of routers I used several years ago; but seems like a long time for modern devices. 3) Although the configuration pages weren't overly dificult to navigate, I do prefer the D-Link setup. To be fair, that may just be an issue of familiarity. Overall, I highly recommend the Belking N600 DB. The wireless coverage is nothing short of amazing - so I'm able to say goodbye to having multiple wireless access points in the house just to get coverage everywhere. This review is from: Belkin N600 Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router (Latest Generation) (Personal Computers) Just bought this and it seems great so far. Easy to set up, runs cooler then some other routers. The manual doesn't seem to have much advance info. Too bad none of my wireless adapters support the 5 Ghz band the dual band adapters seem to be common with laptops though. Update: I went out and bought a pci dual band wireless adapter (Linksys WMP600N) with 2 external antennas My computer is less then 30 feet away in another room from the router and I only get 1 bar in the 5Ghz band Searched online and it seems that 5Ghz cannot pass through walls or other obstructions as well as the 2.4Ghz band Secure for default setting This router has excellent security setting, include on its default. Very easy setup, even for the beginner. by n4ng Did I just get a lemon or what? Received Belkin N600 from Amazon on Tuesday. It looked pretty, installation was easy, got it going in about 15 minutes. by Thinker Great Product I gave this a 5 star because there was not I higher rating! Very easy to set-up, range is great, security is easy, easy how to documientation. by 2bad4u Excellent router - easy to set up, perfect for people who are good with computer and for those who aren't. I consider my computer skills to be pretty good. I am not an "expert" by any means, but can certainly manage enough. by Amy W Cant get any better I am a college student in a dorm with patchy internet. I got this router and haven't had a problem with anything! Set-up was easy and the product is reliable by CTay REPLACEMENT Just going to ship my router n600 soon. Since it broke down, it going to belkin's company for repair and see how it work. by Vista Belkin Disaster Router Purchased this router N600NB recently. Nothing but problems setting up the router and with tech. assistance. CD-rom refused to work or play in my computer to begin with. by Roy L. Manns Good condition I bought it 3 weeks ago, it works well so far. good range. easy to setup. We are four guys who used download a lot, such as BT, EMULE and others. by try Great Upgrade to a 5-yo Linksys! I am confused by all the reviews that say theirs didn't setup or work out of the box, based solely on the ease of setting up mine. by John Dash I ordered and got within four days and everything was easy install and configure. Excellent strength, frequency and speed. Even I can surf faster from my iPhone. by Dipesh Parekh |
USB 2.0 to IEEE 1394 Firewire 4 Pin 4 feet Extension Cable for Digital Camer or camcorder
Manufacturer : Generic Model : ASIN : B002WPUC5Y Price : 14.99$ Last Price : 0.76$(Discount 94.9299533022015% See Special Offers  Product DescriptionHigh quality (non-OEM) USB to Firewire IEEE1394 4 pin. Data Transfer Speeds: 100/200/480 Mbps Fully Firewire and i.LINK compatible. Length: 4 feet Compatible with model : PC, Mac, Sun computers 20 of 20 people found the following review helpful: Buyer Beware This review is from: USB 2.0 to IEEE 1394 Firewire 4 Pin 4 feet Extension Cable for Digital Camer or camcorder Item took a a long time to get to me & I had to email for shipping information. After all that the connection doesn't work. Good thing it didn't cost too much. Total waste! This review is from: USB 2.0 to IEEE 1394 Firewire 4 Pin 4 feet Extension Cable for Digital Camer or camcorder Unfortunately this cable did not work for me. I should have listened to the things that I read online and should have known that you cannot make a Firewire 1394 to USB connection. They are just not made to connect with each other. Oh well, lesson learned. At least I did receive the product, unlike the guy above! 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful: Never Received Bad Supplier This review is from: USB 2.0 to IEEE 1394 Firewire 4 Pin 4 feet Extension Cable for Digital Camer or camcorder Never received my order so hard to review. Contacted this seller and still no product. Other customers who have purchased this product say it is awful, so I would stay 100 feet away from it. Why? This cable does absolutely nothing. Why does such a thing even exist? There is no way that data designed to go through firewire could possibly be forced through USB. by SamRF didn't work the cable didn't work with Windows 7. My PC gave me a message that it was an unsupported device. Luckily I didn't pay much. by Killer Angel This cable will never work for anyone! I bought this cable cause it was cheap and I had to give it a try. I got it and surprise it would not work with any of my cameras or on any computers I tried it with. by Carly $$$$$$$$$ cable hi excuse my english im from puerto rico i have a very strong bussiness whit unick king never seen promocion if amazon want me to give promocion here in puerto rico contact 787... by underground inc. Satisfied Arrived well packaged and on time. Turns out that Windows 7 requires other software in order to download video from my Canon Digicam. by Richard Wilson Item did not work To keep this simple, the wire did not work!It is the first time I have bought something on Amazon that did not work. by Rios It Doesn't Work I bought this cable to connect my new laptop with my Sony camcorder. Sadly, the computer never recognized that the camcorder was turned on. by Steven L Pearson didn't even show up on computer when plugged in. Used on several PC's and one serious expensive and new Mac and this cable that I plugged in to transfer Data wouldn't even be read by the computer. by J Didn't work I got two by mistake and neither one worked. I could not transfer my HD 8 film to my computer with this cable! by L. A. S. Tripp Firewire doesn't convert to USB Having just acquired a new desktop computer that didn't come with a Firewire connector, I thought I'd try this cable out so I could connect my Sony camcorder (with Firewire) to... by Mark Mathias |
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