Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"We should start by explaining a little about what a buck under $200 gets you. The 2.1 system includes a ported, side-firing 6.5-inch subwoofer encased in an 11 pound box that measures 9.5- x 9.8- x 10.2-inches. Also within that is a 2.4GHz wireless receiver and amplification for all of the drivers involved: 50 watts for the subbie and 35 watts per satellite."

Sound generally is not at the top of your average computer user's list of deal breakers. Most desktop computers I see on sale generally get bundled with speakers that cost less than a coffee at Starbucks. Laptops, while improving, at still largely limited by physical dimensions to ever really sound that great. Those that know the difference usually open their wallet a little for a decent set of computer speakers. Klipsch, well known for good speaker sets has come up with a wireless version of their ProMedia 2.1 speakers. Engadget gives you the details on how these sound, and the price, at just shy of $200, is pretty reasonable, however, I really have to question the value of wireless computer speakers. Because the speakers still need to connect to each other, and wireless power is still years away, you still have a tangle of colourful cables. Going wireless only really saves you one cable. Sure, you can now put them anywhere you want, but I imagine most would just set it up at their desk, where it wouldn't matter, not down the hall in the baby room. Am I missing something here?

"At photovisi.com you first select one of the many collage templates, add your photos and then customize by dragging photos around. After the collage is finished, it's available for download."

Cameras are everywhere. Whether they are the ones that come built into phones, tiny ones that fit into your pocket, or large professional ones that need a bag to carry all the accessories. Companies are working hard and fast to provide various online ways to make use of your photos. A newcomer to this is Photovisi. Their service is to allow you to create a photo collage through a web interface, and then buy various products with that collage printed on them. Trying out their service, I found it really simple to use, but with some limitations. Read more...

Product Category: Wireless Headsets / Headphones

Manufacturer: Turtle Beach

Where to Buy: Amazon [Affiliate]

Price: $149 USD

System Requirements: Compatible with the Xbox 360 and home theater systems.

Specifications: 50mm diameter speakers, 270g, >20 hours battery life with 2 AAA batteries.

Pros:

• Very lightweight and comfortable for long periods of use;
• High build quality, good industrial design to match the Xbox 360;
• Microphone works seamlessly with the headphones;
• Excellent recreation of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.

Cons:

• Fairly expensive;
• Chat connector still wired to controller;
• Muddy bass during loud scenes with deep bass;
• Line of sight required for IR transmitter;
• No low battery indicator, microphone volume suffers with low battery before speaker sound loses definition.

Summary: The Turtle Beach Ear Force X4 Wireless Xbox 360 Gaming Headset is a well thought out product that caters to Xbox 360 gamers, while still allowing home theater enthusiasts an outlet to listen to music or movies wirelessly and without disturbing others in their homes. It provides excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and its integrated microphone and chat features allow for complete immersion during online chatting or competitive multiplayer games. While it could use some improvements, it remains a piece of hardware that I continue to enjoy using in my home theater. Read more...

"We tried to find something not to like about the Squeezebox Radio, but didn't have much success. We thought the bright screen would keep us awake at night, but it kindly turned itself off even as it kept the tunes pumping. We thought it'd forget to wake us up after we unplugged it and moved it to a new room, but sure enough our alarm settings were still there (5:44am, ouch), because they're stored online. About the only thing we can find as a serious fault is a 45 second start-up time, which is rather obnoxious if you just want to get some tunes rocking while you're chopping broccoli. The lack of a remote is a drag, too, as is having to pay extra for a battery pack. Oh, and it's impossible to keep clean. But, for a very fair $199 those seem like minor faults, all. We love this thing."

Looks like an ideal alarm clock/bedroom radio. It will stream most Internet radio standards or pull from your home network. Especially cool is that it will pull posts from your Facebook wall so you can see what fun your friends had while you were sleeping before even getting out of bed.

Product Category: Internet Radio (streaming audio)

Manufacturer: Myine

Where to Buy: Amazon.com [affiliate]

Price: $129.99 USD

System Requirements: WiFi connection to the Internet (either 802.11g or n); Stereo system or powered speakers with analog AUX input via RCA jacks or stereo 3.5mm jack.

Specifications: Main unit is 50.8mm (2in) x 152.4mm (6in) x 76.2mm (3in), 726g (1.6lb); Remote is approximately 85mm (3.4in) x 40mm (1.6in) x 2mm (0.08in); Screen is 67mm (2.6in)

Pros:

• Very simple to set up and use;
• Huge station list which is updated automatically, with up to 40 storable as favorites;
• Sound quality is very good.

Cons:

• Volume output is on the low side (depending upon station);
• Menus are difficult to read from "couch" distance :-);
• Can only access the menus using the remote.

Summary: Although diminutive in size, the Myine IRA (Internet Radio Adapter) packs a fully WiFi capable, Internet browser which can select and stream clean, stereo audio from a list of over 11,000 stations around the world. Whatever your music or information preference, you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own living room/den/entertainment room over your existing sound system. It literally sets up in seconds. Read more...

Product Category: Video Conversion Software

Manufacturer: AVS4YOU

Where to Buy: AVS4YOU.com

Price: $59 for Unlimited Access or $39 for 1 Year Access

System Requirements: Windows Vista, Windows XP, 512MB of RAM or higher (1GB of RAM for Vista), and 1.5GHz or higher CPU (3Ghz/1.8Ghz Dual Core for Vista)

Pros:

• Simple easy to use interface;
• Included profiles make it easy for people with limited video editing experience;
• Priced right.

Cons:

• Conversion times seemed a bit slow;
• Changing the priority for the conversion seemed to have little effect on the CPU usage or the overall conversion time for the PC I used while testing.

Summary: AVS4YOU is currently offering all of their software titles for one amazingly low price. Is the software worth it? To find out I take one of their flagship products for a spin. Read on to find out what I discovered.

Read more...

"It hasn't all been teddy bears and fluffy bunnies. HP's focus on simplifying the MediaSmart Server has left enthusiasts, like me and others who read in-depth reviews of Home Servers, wanting more power, flexibility, and control over features like the Video Converter and Media Collector... without resorting to registry edits and other complex hacks. Is it even possible to give power users the features they want without overwhelming the everyday user?"

It seems it was just the other day that I was talking about the release of the HP MediaSmart EX-485 and EX-487 servers and here HP has pulled a trick from the video card industry and announced the EX-490 and EX-495 less than a year after the release of their previous generation. Maybe sales are disappointing and they feel they have to "upgrade" things to get more attention. At least the upgrades seem substantial for the premium server. HP has changed up their hardware for the MediaSmart servers with every generation, and now they're creeping into dual-core territory. It would not surprise me if in a few months, they announce a quad-core server! Still, the focus of their upgrade, and rightfully so, is the software, which seems to be getting better with every iteration. It is almost enough to consider not doing home-brew. Still on the fence? Check out MediaSmartHome's review, which goes through a lot of detail of what a Windows Home Server can do!

Product Category: Earphones Manufacturer: Shure

Where to Buy: Amazon [Affiliate]

Price: $97.78

System Requirements: Any MP3 player with a 3.5mm headphone jack

Specifications: Headphones have a frequency range of 25Hz - 18.5kHz with a 26 ohm impedance. They come in black or white and have an 18 inch cable with a 36 inch extension. The headphones pack up easily in a small travel case and come with a deluxe fit kit of 7 different tips to easily fit almost any ear size.

Pros:

• Amazing sound, it blew me away;
• Lots of fit options, ensuring a comfortable, tight seal;
• High quality construction that should stand up to long term use.

Cons:

• Somewhat expensive;
• In-ear design takes getting used to.

Summary: No matter what you use as an MP3 player there is a universal law that applies to your device of choice. The included ear buds suck. Sure, there’s different levels of suck, but in the end they’re all pretty horrible. There was a brief period of time when the Zune came with the premium sound isolating earphones and those were certainly a step up from the usual throwaways you get. Still, to really appreciate your Zune or "other" MP3 player you only have two avenues to really get the most out of your music. Read more...

Product Category: Passive Bookshelf Speakers

Manufacturer: Audioengine

Where to Buy: Amazon.com [Affiliate]

Price: $249.00 (black or white), $325.00 USD (bamboo)

Type: 2-way passive, front ported speakers.

Specifications: See Audioengine's web site for full specifications.

Pros:

• Great sound from small desktop speakers;
• High quality construction;
• Threaded mounting inserts on the back and bottom for versatile mounting options.

Cons:

• Passive speakers - make sure you have an amplifier;
• Lack of front grill may not fit for all decors;

Summary: Audioengine brings its legendary active speaker sound to a less expensive passive speaker. The AP4's provide great sound for your existing stereo or home theater system. Read more...

"EVGA's Interview Dual Monitor System incorporates a pair of 17" widescreen LCDs with an innovative rotatable stand that allows the user to flip a panel over to share a desktop display with someone sitting across from them on the other side of the desk. These twin TFT displays support a native resolution of 1440X900 and rotate 180 degrees vertically and 90 degrees horizontally."

Watching the review provided by HotHardware, I have to agree with their conclusion that the EVGA Interview is targeted towards businesses and institutions. The Interview is designed to save space and time with its ability to switch from a dual monitor to a desktop sharing device and the premium it charges makes its value for a regular consumer questionable. Gamers tend to be very particular about their monitors with a focus on low latencies and a high screen resolution. Developers and others who deal with a lot of data also tend to favour higher resolution displays. Even accepting these limitations, the one thing I find lacking with the EVGA Interview is the ability to rotate the monitors. The twisting and turning seems useful, but I believe the ability to rotate one or both of the monitors into portrait mode much more valuable.

"Need more capacity? Want more hard drive performance? Knowing that hard drive prices are about to drop below $80 for a 1 TB drive, we decided to create the ultimate RAID array, one that should be able store all of your data for years to come while providing much faster performance than any individual drive could. Twelve Samsung 1 TB hard drives helped us to reach speed records and an impressive 10 TB net capacity."

Storage is cheap. 2TB hard drives have started becoming available while prices on smaller sized drives are dropping ever further. Tom's Hardware decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to see what one could do with a wad of cash and the dream of a massive storage array. I do worry about using a RAID 0 array that involves 12 drives and think that their exploration into a RAID 5 setup to be much more appropriate. Their comparison against SSDs also suggests that for performance, hard drives definitely have passed their prime. Hard drives are for economy and storage capacity now, that is clear. I've never reached 10TB myself, though I did once reach about 5TB of storage, spread across three computers, several years ago and it cost me a lot more than $1000. Anyone have bragging rights to the largest storage "facility" in their home?

"While the HX1 may not feature RAW file recording, there are many manual settings such as three noise reduction settings, many white balance settings, a full range of manual modes, and many others for the photographer who wants ultimate control. Does this combine to make a compelling package that should command your money?"

CMOS based cameras are becoming increasingly common but it seems as if the technical limitations that have kept them restricted to the more expensive cameras are still plaguing them. The Sony DSC-HX1 definitely has a lot going for it, and offers wonderful tweaks and controls for someone bitten by the bug. Still, I'm not wholly convinced that now is the right time to jump on the CMOS bandwagon. The quality of images, while greatly improved and mostly comparable when compared to their CCD based cousins doesn't justify the cost. Maybe another year will see CMOS cameras bloom in all their glory.

Product Category: Media Sharing Software

Manufacturer: Conceiva

Where to Buy: www.conceiva.com

Price: $69.95 USD

System Requirements: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Minimum of 512MB RAM, Minimum of 50MB free hard disk space, Minimum of 1024x768, 24 bit resolution display, CD/DVD writer (recommended), and Internet connection (recommended).

Pros:

• Easy to setup and get running;
• Supports a wide variety of popular devices;
• Clean, attractive interface.

Cons:

• Program still has some bugs that need to be worked out;
• Kind of expensive compared to alternatives.

Summary: Mezzmo claims to be the ultimate home entertainment software. It can organize your entire media collection, stream music and video anywhere in your house, rip and burn music CDs, and includes a free media player. With a list of features like that their claim might be right on the money, but as we all know, what looks good on paper doesn't necessarily deliver on what it promises. Fortunately I was able to get my hands on a copy and after putting the software through its paces, this is what I found:

Read more...

"In September of 2008 Canon announced dual successors to the S5 IS. The cheaper of the two models is the Powershot SX10 IS, which features a 10 MP CCD sensor behind a 20X image stabilized lens, with the more expensive camera - the SX1 IS - adding RAW mode, a CMOS sensor, faster continuous shooting speed, and HD 1080p video recording."

If you're looking to take a step above camera phones and point-and-click cameras, it is a good bet you have investigated larger, heftier cameras that won't fit in your pocket. Of course, these cameras don't just offer a larger body, but a wealth of additional features and controls both in hardware and software to let you take stunning pictures. The Canon SX1 IS is positioned to be one of these, especially with the use of a CMOS sensor, but DPReview remains unimpressed, actually favouring its cheaper sibling's results. I haven't taken the leap to a better class camera than what is on my phone, but when the time comes, I want it to provide a noticable difference. Looking at the test pictures taken with the camera it looks like I'd be passing by the SX1 IS.

"Slacker is an Internet streaming radio service (US only). User can access Slacker in a variety of ways, including browser based web streaming, via wi-fi on the Slacker Portable Radio Player, and via wi-fi over the Slacker application for iPhone/iPod Touch, the subject of this review."

I just finished a review of Slacker over at Apple Thoughts. Although the review is specific to the Slacker application for iPhone/iPod Touch, the service itself is cross-platform, so I thought a number of you here might also be interested.

"The Canon PowerShot SX200 IS ($349) is a compact ultra zoom camera with a 12X wide-angle zoom lens, image stabilization, full manual controls, HD video recording, and a 3-inch LCD display. That sounds an awful lot like Panasonic's ultra-popular Lumix DMC-TZ5 -- easily the best camera in this class in 2008 -- though that camera is soon to be replaced with the even more impressive DMC-ZS3 (also known as the TZ7). Regardless, the SX200 is a pretty nice step-up from the SX110 that came before it. Some other features of note include a "Smart Auto" (scene detection) mode, face and blink detection, automatic redeye removal, and an HDMI port. Is the PowerShot SX200 a good choice for a go-anywhere ultra zoom camera? Find out now in our review!"

Wow, I wasn't expecting a review of this camera quite so soon! Jeff Keller got his hands on this new point and shoot camera from Canon and puts it through its paces. Boasting 12x optical zoom, 12.1 megapixels, and 720p video recording using h.264. This a very thorough review and revealed a show-stopping weakness in this camera: the optical zoom doesn't work when you're shooting a video! I'm amazined that Canon couldn't make that work (or chose not to) because my Panasonic LUMIX can accomplish that. It's also a bit bizarre that the flash pops up when you turn on the camera, regardless of whether or not it needs to fire it, and won't go back down until you turn off the power. Still, it might be a good choice for some people - but be sure to consider the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS3 as an option.

This is a video review of two great accessories that I recommend every netbook owner get: a USB-powered DVD burner, and a shorter power cable. The DVD burner in question is a Samsung SE-S084B/RSBN External Slim USB DVD-Writer - it requires two USB ports to function, so as I explain in the video, you'll need a USB extension cable to reach two USB ports on most laptops. The power cable is a 1ft. Notebook / Laptop Power Cable C5 Cloverleaf Plug from Cyberguys - it's great for shaving off some bulk from your travel bag.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.

Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.

"Ever since the simultaneous announcement of the Nikon D1H and D1X back in 2001 Nikon's professional D 'single digit' series has been split into two - the X series designed for high resolution applications such as fashion or landscape photography and the H series for high speed sports type photography (lower resolution but faster continuous shooting). When the Nikon D3 was announced in August 2007 it did not carry an 'H' in its name but was clearly designed for speed. So the question wasn't if, but when, Nikon would launch a high-resolution counterpart. It arrived, after more than a year of eager anticipation, in the shape of the Nikon D3X in December 2008."

The review is in and the Nikon D3X is everything it was expected to be. Dpreview.com gives the camera its vaunted Highly Recommended tag. And, Luminous Landscape says "that by just about any measure (except price) this is the most outstanding 35mm format DSLR yet. Build quality, image quality - you name it." But the drawback is that it costs $8,000 USD. For that reason, I can only see a well-heeled professional studio photographer buying one. Most amateurs would be better served buying a Nikon D700 as it does low light better. But if you want the best, here it is. Click the read link for the full review.

"Adobe Photoshop is a given in any designer’s wish list, and it comes with a host of features that allow for excellent and professional photo editing. The biggest obstacle to any designer who wants Photoshop is the price, which can be prohibitive. Fortunately there are a number of open source (and completely free) programs out there that do much of what Photoshop can, and sometimes more."

So you're just getting your feet wet with tweaking photos and you're finding that the handy online photo editors aren't cutting it and you're not quite ready to invest in the more expensive programs. Fortunately, there are a a wide variety of free programs you can use, and SixRevisions has rounded up 10 editors that won't cost you a dime. While the list contains many worthy contenders you should consider, I would not of included Photoshop Express owing to its online nature. The wonderful Picasa is also notably absent. Still, it's a good list and I'd suggest you try at least two or three of these programs to find the one that fits you. It won't cost you anything, and like any collection of programs, each have their own benefits. Anyone use a free photo editor that isn't on the list?

"It has definitely been an interesting testing experience with the Mini 1000 MIE. The netbook, as you have probably read, runs a custom Ubuntu interface designed by HP. They call it the Mobile Internet Edition of the Mini 1000. I am anything but a Linux pro, so I approached this as a newcomer to Linux. Luckily, HP is marketing the Mini 1000 MIE to less experienced computer users and not Linux pros. I gave you my initial software impressions not too long ago, but I'm ready to give you some more detailed information."

I've been using the Mini Mi for a couple of weeks now, and I have mixed feelings about it, some of which are echoed in this article. It's definitely a slick interface, but underneath it's still Linux, which isn't the most usable operating system in the world. I'm continuing my tests, and will probably do a video review of what HP has done with the Mobile Internet Edition software. One of the issues I've seen, mentioned in this article, is performance. The "common wisdom" is that Windows is bloated and slow, while Linux is lean and fast. You'd never know that using the HP Mini Mi - there are screen redraw issues galore, and a general feeling of sluggish performance - and this is with 2 GB of RAM installed. Now it may be that the target market for the Mini Mi - general consumers who want an Internet-focused device - might not notice these issues, but I can't shake the feeling that the software wasn't designed for the hardware.