Kenwood Here2Anywhere Sirius Radio Review

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(More customer reviews)I received the Here2Anywhere as a Christmas gift, along with a car kit and home kit, and in just a few short days, I can report that I'm a diehard Sirius fan, as much for Sirius itself as this particular receiver.
First, the service. I'm sure some would disagree, but arguably, Sirius is the better choice among the two providers of satellite radio for the US. While XM has some commercial free music channels, ALL of Sirius' music streams are commercial free. That, coupled with excellent variety, well-programmed music, and the superior reception afforded Sirius' high-angle orbit satellites make it the logical choice. The $3 extra each month (vs. XM) is well worth it.
Next, this receiver. Fundamentally, a plug-and-play receiver like this is not going to suit everyone. It's far less "clean" for car use than an in-dash unit, so if you have a thing about cords hanging around, you should go in-dash. But if you carefully choose your location, and your car has the right space available, it can make for a very tolerable installation with the advantage of being able to take the receiver with you anywhere (when paired with the required, optional docking kits).
One thing I especially like about this unit is its largely "flat" design. Most plug and play units (for Sirius and XM) are vertically oriented and don't seem to fit as well in some locations.
Paired with a home kit, this receiver is almost ideal. It's very small and compact, so it'll fit about anywhere, with about any stereo set-up. It's simple to use, and has an IR remote, so even if you permanently set it next to your home gear, it'd be right at home. To my surprise, the unit works fine at home even with its small antenna sitting atop a row of cabinets in my basement office.
There are some shortcomings, however, most probably due to the small size of the unit. First, direct access to streams by number is possible only via the remote control; although once you set-up your presets (of which there are 24) you may not need direct access. Second, while it has a push-button "remember this song and artist" feature, you can't clear out your choices when you're done with them. Also, you can't control the backlight brightness at all. Just generally, it seems Kenwood kept this unit only to the fundamentals, and omitted a variety of refinements that the unit could have benefited from.
But perhaps the biggest shortcoming is that it provides only line level outputs, requiring a separate amp or receiver of some sort to hook it to (and then, only via one of the docks -- the unit does NOTHING on its own without a docking kit). The unit would be somewhat more useful to me if it could also be used as a portable, even if some sort of dock was required to do it... Hook-up an antenna and a set of headphones, and listen with no other pieces or parts. (Or, perhaps Kenwood could develop some sort of boombox style dock for this baby.)
But even with that, the ability to cart my Sirius from home to car to office to car to home again is great -- especially when you're as addicted to the service as I am -- and this unit does that quite nicely.

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Satellite radio listening just got more convenient and more affordable. Kenwood's portable KTC-H2A1 Here2Anywhere Sirius digital satellite radio tuner lets you enjoy Sirius's 100 different streams of music, sports, news, and entertainment programming almost anywhere: in the car, at home, at work, or even on a boat. Slide it out of your home system, into your pocket, and then into your car system, taking access to your favorite streams everywhere you go. Home and car docking kits--the Kenwood KPA-H2C and KPA-H2H, respectively--each include a slide-in mount for the tuner. The kits are sold separately and at least one kit and a subscription to Sirius radio are required for use of the KTC-H2A1.The KTC-H2A1 is loaded with features like multiple search and display modes, 24 stream (station) presets that make finding your favorite stream a snap, and a 4-line dot-matrix LCD that scrolls complete song title and artist information. It even has a stream lock that lets you skip channels you don't want to hear--or don't want your kids to hear.The display is designed to be clearly readable in both home and car, with a choice of normal or large-font characters. Search for music by category or channel type as well as by artist name or song title using the built-in guide.Incredible handy is the ability to save the title and artist of a currently playing song (up to 24 songs) for later recall, freeing you of the risks of trying to commit your favorites to memory or trying to write while you drive. Channel scan lets you check out what's currently playing on another channel while you're still listening to the current stream, and a full-function remote control is also included.Sirius broadcasts 60 streams of 100-percent commercial-free music, as well as an additional 40 streams for sports, news, and entertainment, all in clear, digital sound. There is no limit to the number of systems in which one tuner can be used.What's in the Box Radio receiver, remote control, remote battery, a user's manual, and warranty/registration information.Note: A subscription to Sirius satellite radio is required to activate the Kenwood Here2Anywhere portable tuner.

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SanDisk Sansa Fuze 4 GB Video MP3 Player (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)Our public library, has hundred's of audiobooks available for download and this little device makes it a real joy. This device remembers where you left off on each book you store on the device. The battery easily lasts the whole day and it's just the right size to fit in my front pocket making it very portable. I have it in one of those clear plastic protective cases and use it around my farm almost all the time. I did try watching a movie once but the screen is just too small. Same for pix.

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Listen, watch and play all day with up to 24 hours of juice*** and room for hundreds of pix and flix. Smaller than a credit card and as thin as a pencil, this clever little player can put up to 1,000 songs**, 6 two-hour movies***, or 2,000 photos* in your pocket. Plus, unlike other MP3 players, your Sansa Fuze player isn't done when your battery's done. Just re-charge it. And while you're at it, add another memory card whenever you like--and just keep growing your entertainment library.

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Griffin TCENTNOFI TuneCenter Home Media Center for iPod Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this simply as a means to have an easier means to connect my iPod to the stereo (easier than the mini-stereo jack). It does this, of course. As a bonus, it also has a perfectly serviceable remote. The remote is not a lot of use if you're scrolling through hundreds of artist or album names as it doesn't approach the speed of moving with the click-wheel but, the for on/off, pause/play, it is terrific. The capability to play video out to the TV or make menu selections via TV isn't really important to me but, I've played with them and they work fine.
Word of note: I had to do a little online research to discover a slight fault in the product. If you turn the volume down to far on the unit itself, you may experience signal distortion. If you keep the volume up on the TuneCenter, and use the volume on your amplifier, the sound is fine (though, I'm no audiophile).
Overall - price/features/function - bargain!

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The Griffin 9802-TCENTNOFI TuneCenter with Wi-Fi Home Media Center for iPod attaches to your television and stereo for viewing photos, watching video, and listening to your iPod music library or Internet radio. With the included 14-button remote, this unit turns your iPod into a complete home media center, requiring only that you dock your iPod in TuneCenter, and let the entertainment begin.
Griffin's TuneCenter features the ability to display iPod playlists and song information on your TV screen, taking music sharing to a whole new level by allowing the whole room to see at a glance the song title, artist, album and progress of the current song. TuneCenter's remote allows you to navigate through your iPod's entire library, as well as choose your preferences such as shuffle and repeat modes, and EQ. You can use the TuneCenter's remote to skip forward and backward, choose the next or previous song, browse playlists and more -- all without getting up off the couch -- which makes this the ultimate solution for taking full control of your iPod.
This Griffin home media center also expands your musical resources by providing access to Internet radio stations. By simply plugging the TuneCenter into your network you can choose from thousands of free channels, ranging from quiet atmospheres to things that don't seem to even qualify as music, all with slick, on-screen navigation. For added convenience, the 9802-TCENTNOFI is Wi-Fi capable, so you can hook it in with your network without the hassle of having to run cables, making it even more portable in case you want to take your media system to a friend's house for a party.
The Griffin TuneCenter, however, makes better use of your TV screen than just through the displaying of song lists. This unit also lets you display your iPod's photos on the large screen, as well as play movies from your iPod video on your home entertainment system. When it comes to movies and photos, bigger really is better, especially when you are talking about your own works of art. The TuneCenter lets you display slideshows of your latest vacation and special events, or provides you with the most compact business presentation system ever. Just choose a slideshow and a soundtrack to go with it and let fly, all while using the convenient remote control to skip forward and backward, or pause to emphasize a special point.
The Griffin 9802-TCENTNOFI is compatible with all dockable iPods, including: 4th-generation iPod and iPod photo, iPod mini, 1st and 2nd-generation iPod Nano, and 5th-generation iPod video models. This system includes an S-video and a composite video output for connecting to your TV, an RCA left and right audio output for connecting to your stereo or home entertainment center's speakers, an Ethernet RJ45 10-100base T connection and an internal 802.11b wireless card for hooking up to your network. The Griffin TuneCenter includes an NTSC/PAL video format switch, measures 3.9 x 4.5 x 3.7 inches (W x H x D), and it's backed by a manufacturer's limited 1-year warranty.

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Creative Zen Vision W 60 GB Widescreen Multimedia Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first thing you'll probably notice about this player is it's gorgeous widescreen. How big is it? Well, technically speaking it's 480 x 272 resolution, 4.3 inches wide diagionally, and capable of displaying about 262,000 colors(same as Zen M). For those of you who now own a Zen M, to illustrate how big the screen is on the Zen W: You can lay an entire Zen M on the Zen W, and the entire area of the Zen M is about the size of the screen of the Zen W. For you Psp owners out there, the Zen W screen is exactly the same resolution and size as the screen on the PSP. Although, the PSP screen is actually more advanced and can display over 16 million colors. Though both of these screens are much better than the screen on the video Ipods(which is only 320 x 240, and only display 65,000 colors). The screen on the Zen W does the job very well, and you can adjust the brightness levels. Even at %50 brightness, it's adequate. Though it outshines the Zen M in screen size, I noticed that it's not quite as sharp and the colors are not as vivid as on the Zen M. Also, I noticed that while playing Divx video, the Zen W doesn't play the video as smoothly as on a computer. The video frame-rate seems to look more jerky and less smooth. Although the pre-installed videos looked fine in Xvid, so this may only apply to Divx videos. Some other great features about the player are it's built in FM radio, voice recorder, custom sound equalizer, built in speaker, and Compact Flash slot. The built-in speaker can get surprisingly loud and is adequate for watching videos... But if you're an Audiophile, it's not good for listening to your music. It's sounds quite tinny and is only a single speaker. One huge improvement over the Zen M is that you no longer need to carry a stupid adapter to charge or upload songs or media. The mini-usb power, and A/V out ports are already built in to this player. Also the magnesium casing seems much sturdier than the Zen M's plastic casing... and probably not as prone to scratches. The thing looks and feels very solidly built. The interface is also simple and easy to figure out and very similar to the Zen M interface.
The only big difference is that the Zen W uses buttons instead of the touch thumb-pad on the Zen M. I think they should have tried to integrate the thumb-pad somehow because it worked so well on the Zen M. In this respect, the Zen W buttons seem like a step backward in progress. However, I do like the fact that they made all the buttons on the right side so you can effectively use the player with only your right hand. (sorry lefties).
The built in Compact Flash slot is also a very cool idea. You can backup your compact flash or microdrive photos onto the player with the slot. The only thing is that you can't use the compact flash as a secondary hard-drive... meaning you can't just slip a compact flash card with video on it and watch it straight from the card. You must import it onto the player first before you can play the media. You can't play mp3s or browse photos straight from the CF card either. All the files must be imported onto the hard-drive of the Zen W first. This seems pretty lame to me because you're not using the slot to it's full potiental. Hopefully there will be firmware upgrades that will let you do this in the future. Another thing about the player that needs to be improved is it's thickness. The second thing you'll notice (after the lovely huge screen) is how thick this thing is. I mean, it's barely pocketable. So it's not quite as portable as the Zen M. How think is it? Well, it's nearly an inche thick... a little less thick than a PSP. If they could cut the thickness in half, it would make this player much more portable.(not to mention sleek and sexy). Here's a quick run-down on Pros and Cons.
Pros:
-Gorgeous 4.3 inche (480x272 resolution) screen that displays up to 262,000 colors. Movies look so much better than on a 320x240 (Ipod)screen. And if you like to watch Anime, you'll have no more problems reading subtitles.
-Built in mini-usb port, power, and Audio/Video out port(for tv output).
-Sturdy magnesium casing and solid feel.
-Lots of extras like FM radio, organizer, calendar, voice recorder -Audio/Video cable included, plays Xvid and Divx files.
-Built in compact flash/microdrive slot for photo backup.
-Removable battery (yes, finally!)
-Optional wireless Remote control available (built in IR reciever)
-ZenCast organizer (allows you to download/organize Podcasts to Zen W)
Cons:
- Pretty thick at almost an inche thick. (barely pocketable)
- Divx playback (Frame-rate) a bit jerky. Screen not as sharp-looking and colors not as vibrant as Zen M. (I'm nit-picking, you may not even notice the difference...especially if you don't have a Zen M)
- No video line-in for video recording. It would be great if they had this built in and you could record from any video source... don't know why they don't.
- When viewing files on Compact Flash using CF slot, you must first import/upload files over to the Zen W drive first to view.
In conclusion, this player packs alot of punch for the money. And almost everything it does, it does very well. If you love movies and music like I do, you will definately enjoy this device. It's very impressive and looks and feels sturdy. The biggest flaw/turn-offs to me is it's thickness. A device made for portability should be ... well, more portable. In a world where other mp3 competitors are sizing down their players, creative seems to be sizing their's up. If they could somehow cut the thickness of this player to half while not sacrificing any of it's other features, it would be perfect. Still with it's minor imperfections, this player is still worth every penny and outshines it's competitors. If you value portability over video capability, I'd go for the Zen M. The Zen M still plays video... but on a smaller screen.(And it's cheaper too)
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The Creative Zen Vision W Multimedia Player lets you take all your movies, music and photos in a light, pocket-sized device that is loaded with 30 or 60 GB of memory. At this capacity you can carry tens of thousands of photos, 240 hours of movies (500 Kbps MPEG4-SP), or up to 30,000 songs (WMA encoded at 64 Kbps), all in the palm of your hand. You can also tune in the radio (32 station presets), record your favorite talk show, or make personal voice memos with the built-in microphone. And the big news about the Vision W is that it displays your media in a widescreen, 16:9 format.
Multimedia Powerhouse in Your Pocket Today's big screen blockbuster, yesterday's picnic home video, and even your favorite TV shows--they all now fit in your pocket and are ready to be shared. Zen Vision W supports many video formats, such as AVI, DivX 4 and 53, XviD4, MPEG-1, -2, -SP, WMV9, and Motion-JPEG, which simply means you have more choices and less restrictions. Instead of busting out your wallet to show snapshots of your kids, you can enlist the Zen Vision W to give viewers a glimpse of your precious memories--tens of thousands of them. Complete with a thumbnail gallery, the device makes it easy to scroll through your entire photo collection. Of course, music files are a big portion of anyone's digital canvas. Perfect for taking with you on the road or just around the house, this device makes all your music sound as good as the Zen Vision W looks. And with eight preset EQ settings and 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, you can fine-tune your listening experience for any musical genre.
Great Connectivity You can also connect the Zen Vision W to a projector or TV with the included AV cable, and put on a big show from this little device. Synchronize music files with photo or video montages for a taste of spectacular, personalized big screen magic. You can also transfer pictures from your camera to the Zen Vision W in no time flat. Simply slip in your camera's Compact Flash (CF) memory card, and let Zen Vision W do the rest. The optional CF card adaptor also lets you use other popular memory card formats, such as SD, MMC, Memory Stick and more.
Widescreen Machine Viewing images and video on this device is a pleasant experience. The SharpPix 4.3-inch, high-resolution LCD screen features a 480x271 resolution, and hundreds of thousands of colors. What all this means is you see crisp, clear detail in every movie and photo, even under bright light. Creative didn't scrimp on design, either. The Zen Vision W features a lightweight magnesium casing that is both elegant and protective, and it sports a simple, intuitive keypad that makes navigation a breeze. And you'll get loads more playback time with the included removable, and rechargeable, battery. Enjoy up to 13 hours of music or 4.5 hours of movies on a single charge.
Other features include a personal organizer that you sync with Microsoft Outlook, and an integrated voice recorder that can store hundreds of hours worth of recordings. The Zen Vision W Multimedia Player uses PlaysForSure technology. Look for the PlaysForSure logo if you're shopping for a portable music or video device and you want to make sure the digital music and video you purchase will play back on it every time. Match the PlaysForSure logo on a large selection of leading devices and online music stores. If you see the logo, you'll know your digital music will play for sure. Choose from a large number of digital music and video stores, including MTV's Urge, Rhapsody, Yahoo!, MSN Music, MusicMatch, MusicNow, Napster, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and many more.
What's in the Box Creative Zen Vision W, earphones, power adapter, USB cable, AV cable, pouch, installation CD, and quick start guide.

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Pirate Radio and Video: Experimental Transmitter Projects (Electronic Circuit Investigator Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Sorry, but if you want to broadcast for more than a few feet, this book is not for you. This book is a collection of low-powered simple circuits, backed with high-powered marketing. The back cover states, "Now that the FCC has changed the laws governing pirate radio and video stations...." While there is now a low-power FM service, for which a type-accepted transmitter and license are still required, there have been no "changes" governing pirate broadcasting. It's still illegal (and fun). And there is nothing in this book that is going to save you "thousands of dollars" over commercial equipment, while giving you the same power and performance. These statements are clearly misleading and get your hopes up (and your wallets out) for something this book is not. It's unfortunate that the author, who is probably capable of doing so, did not write a book to match the promised content.

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Now that the FCC has changed the laws governing pirate radio and video stations, more and more people across the country are starting broadcasts from their homes. Of course transmitting equipment is very expensive, but now you can build your own transmitters for a fraction of the cost of purchasing. By reading about and building the over thirty projects in Pirate Radio and Video, you can construct your own station with a minimum investment for maximum learning. With projects for UHF, VHF, AM and FM transmitters, this book covers the gamut of popular bands and outputs. Not only will you learn how to build your own transmitters, but also how to troubleshoot problems, test outcomes and even synthesize several types of equipment into a powerful and unique system.Written with the electronics hobbyist in mind, each project includes basic diagrams, complete instructions as well as advice on how to make each project work best for you. The list of projects includes over several different FM radio transmitters, AM radio transmitters, microwave transmitters, shortwave transmitters, UHF video transmitters, VHF video transmitters as well as nearly a dozen special projects for test equipment and system set-ups. If you are interested in setting up your own radio or television broadcasting system, you will need a copy of this book to do it! Learn how to build your own UHF, VHF, AM and FM transmitters, saving thousands of dollars over buying equipment at a specialty storeStart broadcasting your own video or radio signals from your self-built stationExperience the fun and learning that radio and video production and broadcasting gives the whole family

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