Things to Consider when Looking for a Camcorder

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When considering a new camcorder, one of the first choices to make is the recording medium that you will use to record your movies. Selecting a recording media first will significantly reduce the number of camcorders you need to consider, so decisions made afterwards will be quite a bit easier. Let's review the types of storage media available as well the types of user/usage each media is best suited for.



== Tape Camcorders ==



Even though it's been around for a long time, tape provides the highest grade recordings for camcorders. When recording to tape, the image is subjected to the least amount of compression so your recordings maintain the best possible image quality. In addition to providing sharpest images, tape-based camcorders also tend to be cheaper than camcorders that make use of other storage media.



One downside to tape-based camcorders is that the tapes are limited as to how much can be recorded to between 60 - 90 minutes. But the recording tapes are fairly cheap to buy, so carrying backup tapes is usually not an issue. An additional issue with camcorders that record to tape is that to get your recordings onto a format you can send to Grandma (a DVD for example) requires that you download your movie to a computer first. The downloading transfer takes place in real time. So if you need to download a 90-minute recording to your computer, it will really take 90 minutes. With tape-based camcorders, you cannot perform any sort of editing (other than backing over the tape and recording over it again); all of the editing needs to take place on your computer.



Tape-based camcorders are ideal for two types of users: people who want high quality recordings, and people on a budget.



== Hard-Drive Camcorders ==



Hard-disk drive (HDD) camcorders tend to give the longest possible recording lengths. With typical amounts of compression, you can typically get as much as 10 hours of recording time on an HDD camcorder. With an HDD camcorder, you never need to buy additional tapes. Depending on the specific model, you can edit your recordings right on your camcorder. And when it is time to transfer your movies to your computer, the transfer rate is substantially higher than when transferring recordings from a tape-based camcorder.



The main downside with HDD camcorders is that the movies are most often very compressed and this can lead to poorer image quality. HDDs themselves are also comparatively power hungry and can be more easily ruined from environmental extremes or drops (as can your camcorder itself). But if you ruin your tape-based camcorder, while the camera may be dead, you still have the tape. In the case of an HDD-based camcorder, if it gets destroyed, you are unlikely to get your existing recordings off the camcorder.



HDD camcorders are extremely versatile and they are principally meant for the home user.



== DVD camcorders ==



Camcorders that store directly to a DVD as their recording medium are a good choice for folks who desire a recording format that is widely playable and for those without a computer. There's nothing simpler than recording a movie on your camcorder and putting the result right into the DVD player.



The primary negative for DVD camcorders is the length of recording and the image quality. The amount of recording time available will depend on the compression employed, but at the best recording quality settings, you can expect to get only get 20 - 30 minutes per DVD. If you reduce the quality of the compression you can get longer recording times, but then your recording quality is reduced.



DVD camcorders are an excellent pick for people without computers since there is no need to upload the video from of the camera; it comes off directly on the DVD. If you have a computer, and it's a model that you do not think is appropriate to the increased demands of video transfer and editing, a DVD camcorder may also be a good pick for you.



== Flash Camcorders ==



As advances continue to be made in the flash memory field, flash-based camcorders are becoming more prevalent. Solid-state flash takes up very little space and is relatively low-power, so camcorders with flash memory as a storage media tend to be lighter and smaller than other camcorder models. They also tend to be more rugged and are able to take more abuse such as drops. Like many other models, flash-based camcorders need to have their recordings transferred to a computer before the video can be put onto a DVD, but the transfer is typically very fast for most models.



As with other non-tape based camcorders, there may be issues around image quality and compression. Also, depending on the amount of the flash memory available, there may issues around the amount of the recording time available.



If you are searching for the lightest and smallest camcorder obtainable, a flash-based camcorder is probably your best bet.

The Wonderful World of the iPhone

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Once you've entered the iPhone universe, the chances are good that you'll never go back. When it comes to making calls, it's simply a matter of tapping a name or number - forget having to scroll down a tiny display.



But making calls is just the tip of the iceberg. The iPhone has SMS with a QWERTY keyboard, visual voicemail, a 2-megapixel camera that takes beautiful images, and a half million possible ringtones are all at your fingertips - literally. The iPhone gives you all of the features of an iPod, and then some. Its widescreen display lets you listen to audiobooks or watch videos, movies, and television shows. You have instant access to the Internet, email, maps, and a YouTube player that launches from the home screen. The iPhone maps feature ensures that you'll never get lost, and myriad widgets keep you endlessly delighted. But a list of features doesn't begin to express what's at the heart of the iPhone revolution. It's gorgeous, it's intuitive, it's sleek, and it's absolutely cool.



iPhone Portals



Best of all, when you buy an iPhone, what you pull out of the box is just the beginning. The possibilities are virtually limitless. That's why an increasing number of iPhone aficionados are turning to what are, in essence, iPhone portals - gateways to accessories, downloads, and information for this technological wonder.



The right iPhone site will unlock a world of resources for both new owners and old-timers. In the accessories department, you'll be able to find leather cases, gel skins, and even books to help you get the most out of your iPhone. You can also find tutorials and software for your device, as well as information about iPhone repair.



Download Services



But perhaps the most useful aspect of an iPhone gateway is that it presents a number of services to download music, music videos, movies, games, and much more. For example, you can find a service that, for a one-time fee, provides you with access to unlimited downloads. This circumvents the cumbersome pay-per-download fees of most sites.



When deciding which service to purchase, make sure that the service you choose has millions of files from which to choose, that it's free of spyware and pop-ups, and that it offers free online help and 24-hour tech support.



Media Transfers



Typically, when you sign up with a download service, you'll also receive easy-to-install software and tutorials on how to transfer media from a DVD or a PC to an iPhone. Look for software that supports multiple video formats, such as .avi, .mpg, .mov, .wmv, and .mp4. Similarly, the software should support a variety of types of images, such as .gif, .jpg, and .bmp.



The iPhone was undoubtedly the best invention of 2007. Now that the iPhone is available in 16GB and 32GB (as well as 8GB), it's easy to download movies, music, and videos to your heart's content. Finding the right iPhone portal will enable you to load up your iPhone and get out the door in no time at all.

The Technology Behind a Plasma TV Screen

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For many years, the technology that allowed you to sit in your home and watch audio and video was based on a tube technology. Very basically, light was shined into a tube which then projected the image onto the screen of your television set. The technology behind the plasma TV screen isn’t so very much different in some respects, but is very different in others.

First, keep in mind that plasma TV screens aren’t a new idea. Almost as long as people have had the power to watch television, there have been those with the idea for plasma television. It was during the 1960s that a college professor created the first plasma TV screen, though manufacturers weren’t anxious to pursue the technology until much more recently.

The technology is based on a series of very small lights. The lights are fluorescent and each pixel has three colors – red, green and blue. The lights are illuminated based on the code of the image being received so that the viewer sees a series of lights that form an image.

Plasma TVs have nothing to do with blood. In this case, plasma is a gas. The gas in its neutral state is stagnant. When electricity is introduced into the situation, these particles become active and light is released. The process is very fast, making it possible for pictures to be updated quickly so that you have the impression of a moving image when watching the television.

There are some other technologies that have been tried along the way. The liquid display screen works in a very similar manner and the result is a quality picture, though some argue that the plasma TV is the ultimate viewing experience.

One of the most beneficial points of the plasma TV is the fact that the layers needed to make this technology work are very thin, resulting in a television screen that is mere inches thick. Even for a very large screen, the thickness of the layers changes little, meaning the screens are easy to handle, mount and view.

There’s no doubt that technology will continue to develop as new people have better ideas for bringing audio and video into our homes. But when you see the crisp clear images of a plasma TV, it’s rather difficult to imagine how it could get any better than this.

The Strongest Test Of A Reliable Air Purifier - What is it?

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When it comes to selecting an air purifier for your home or office just what are the considerations that matters the most?

It is hard to believe that the air we breathe in daily, especially indoor air, is not fresh. In fact, the EPA has identified that indoor air is some 5 times more polluted than the air outside.

As much as the food we eat determines a lot of our health problems, the air we breathe also plays a dominant part in our health.

That is why we need an air purifier for our home or office.

When we select an air purifier, we need to look at dependable and reliable technology. We would like to have advanced technology that has been tested very stringently, not only in the laboratory but on actual conditions.

Now, what would be very stringent, in fact tough conditions that would really require the best quality air purifier? What is the strongest test of a reliable air purifier?

If you answered, " The Submarine", you would have gotten the correct answer.

The air within a submerged submarine needs to be purified, and the technoloqy used in the air purification system would need to be the best system, proven, tested and reliable. This is because that air within the submarine is the most critical part of the submarine system.

Imagine, technology has progressed till we can now have this same technology in our air purifier.

This alone makes the Oreck Professional Air Purifier stands out among the competition, because it protect the air you breathe with the technology used on U.S. Submarines.

The Oreck Professional Air Purifier quietly cleans by itself 24 hours a day, and captures airborne allergens, trapping particles as tiny as .01 microns (1/100 the width of a human hair.) This technology means it can capture and destroy bacteria, viruses and mold, and capture irritating cooking odors, harmful chemical fumes,unwanted pet odors, second-hand cigarette smoke and other indoor air pollutants such as dust and pollen. In short, it deep cleans very well the air you breathe in!

The technology is so dependable,the Oreck Professional air purifier has a filter that does not need replacing and is guaranteed for 12 years.

If you spend considerably long hours indoors or work from home or is a homeworker, then you should have an air purifier that meets all these requirements. That is why the Oreck Air Purifier is one of the best selling air purifiers in America today.

The Samsung 42 Plasma -- Samsung HP-P4271 42in HDTV Ready Plasma Television

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The new fourth-generation Samsung 42 plasma is out, offering state-of-the-art high performance high-definition display and resolution.

As opposed to the liquid crystal type display technology, plasmas create their stunningly life-like pictures through a complicated gas-based system. The plasma display idea has been around since 1964, but is only now coming into its own for practicality.

At a slim and trim 3.4 inches in depth, the flat-screened plasma takes up virtually no space in your room, making it the screen of choice for both home and office. This plasma's high-end display resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels gives a picture quality and depth of color that are outstanding.

The Samsung plasma television screen under discussion is 42 inches, measured diagonally. Plasmas range in sizes from 32" up to the gigantic 63" screen. A 42" plasma screen is best viewed from ten to fourteen feet away, and has a high-end 160 degree viewing angle that is completely uniform, due to its perfectly flat screen.

The "Virtual Surround" audio system for this Samsung plasma TV simulates multiple-channel surround sound using fewer speakers. It has SAP/MTS stereo which enables three-channel audio encoding, an audio leveler which evens out sudden volume changes such as commercials, and Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) which allows reception of more than one soundtrack simultaneously.

Samsung plasma televisions are built from scratch in the factory. The HP-P4271 has almost twice as many pixels as EDTV plasmas, resulting in a clearer, sharper image. A great investment in your home entertainment center.

The Rise Of The Apple iPod

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Tony Fadell, former employee of General Magic and Phillips, envisioned a brand new MP3 player. Unlike the flash memory-based MP3 players from existing companies, Fadell wanted to deliver a small hard drive-based player that was linked with a content delivery system where users could legally obtain and download music. The first company he pitched it to was RealNetworks (in 2000), who were already in control of a large content delivery system through Real's premium radio and television channels. Real could not rationalize going through the trouble of releasing an accessory to their already profitable system. Fadell then turned to Apple. The executives at Apple were very enthusiastic about implementing Fadell's plan at Apple - unbeknownst to Fadell, Apple had bought the rights to SoundJam MP months before. He was hired in early 2001 and was given a development team of around thirty people and a deadline of one year to release a successful product.



In early October, Apple began hyping the iPod's release (which was still a secret from the press after eight months of development). The hype culminated in an announcement that Apple would make a major announcement on October 23, 2001, and that it was "not Mac". The iPod was announced to the world from a rented auditorium near Apple's corporate campus in Cupertino. The audience - and the rest of the computer industry - was shocked by the product. No one grasped the importance of the device to Apple and the music industry in general until much later. Many reacted to the product with hostility, with criticisms that ranged from its $400 price to the scroll wheel and its lack of Windows compatibility.



The iPod's been around for a few years now but rather than being long in the tooth, it's been re-invented numerous times by Apple Inc. and is now a seriously impressive piece of kit. The recent advent of the iPod Touch has added to the line of existing models, rather than simply replacing existing technology. The result, is a lineup of different models, each bringing their own speciality to the table. From the ipod Nano, with solid state memory and minimal size to the iPod classic, with hard drive and excessively large storage capacity, the range of iPods available will suit everyone from Gym freaks to music fans.



So why is it so popular? Well, it's not so much the design any more, but the hype that surrounds the Apple iPod. You see, when originally released, the iPod was at the top of it's game, with the largest capacity, intuitive design and ergonomics built into the control buttons and software. We've moved on from that though. Every manufacturer out there has an Hard disk mp3 player in some major store. Apple however have moved the whole idea of the iPod, let alone it's range of computers, out of mainstream sales and into a Chique, hip and trendy twenty something got to have it style. Much like say- Greenwich was once a hip place to be seen in Manhattan. Apple have currently cornered the market- even created a brand new market all to themselves. Smacks of Sony and the Walkman all over again. At least Apple have the Mac to fall back on at the end of it all.

The Retail Joke is called New

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The Retail Joke is called New



You probably feel better purchasing new products at high prices. After all, the word "new" is so much more appealing. I am going to "recondition" your mind as a consumer, by educating you. I am going to show you why buying "reconditioned" or "recertified" is a winning decision all the way around. Get ready to be a "recertified" customer.



Products that are described as "New" are products that have never been used and still in their original factory packaging. These items come complete with manuals and original accessories.

You might not know this, but it's the customer that "inspects" new products. Retailers sale you new products and the manufacture makes a deal with the retailer to take back all customer returns. It is those returns that undergo detailed inspection at the action of the customer and or store returning it.



Perhaps you’ve seen the terms refurbished or factory-serviced. By law, product packaging must state if an item is factory-reconditioned. Retailers use different terminology, but it's all means recertified. Recertified means retested for optimum use. I am going to use the term recertified throughout this article, because I want you to think recertified; not reconditioned, not refurbished or any other terms. Life guards have to be recertified, doctors, paramedics. So what’s wrong with products being recertified?



Recertified items include the flowing:



1. Products that have never been used, the only difference between the "New" and "New Open Box" is that the outside factory seal has been broken, due to cancelled order or mishandling during transporting from warehouse to warehouse.



2 Unused items can be returned to original manufacturers for various reasons: use in field tests, use in sales displays, and cancellations.



3. Most major retail superstores offer at least a 30-day money back guarantee on their products and there are those consumers that just simply take advantage of that. These items are returned to the manufacturer, inspected and repackaged like new.



a. Items where the box was damaged in shipment which are returned to the manufacturer.



b. The item was returned to the manufacturer because of a slight defect. The defective part is replaced by the manufacturer, tested and then repackaged just like new.



c. The item was returned because of a minor cosmetic blemish on the casing that was corrected.



d. Demonstration units are also considered factory recertified. These units are inspected, tested and repackaged.



e. The box was simply opened. That’s it!



f. Brand new overstocked items are also labeled factory recertified.



Such items are no longer sold as "new", but can only be sold as "recertified".



4. Manufacturer's overstock, discontinued items, products with minor cosmetic blemishes, and store demo items.



5. Enclosed manuals may refer to accessories (camera cases, straps, for example.) that are not included with the recertified product. Be sure to read over the product information page for a list of included accessories.



6. Items where the box or casing was damaged in shipment which are returned to the manufacturer.



7. The item was returned to the manufacturer because of a slight defect.



8. The part that was defective was replaced by the manufacturer, tested and then repackaged just like new.



9. The item was returned because of a minor cosmetic blemish on the casing that was corrected.



10. Demonstration units are also considered factory Recertified. These units are inspected, tested and repackaged.



11. Customers return products for many reasons: a customer may change his or her mind, not like the product, or have difficulty operating it. Whether it is returned a month later or only the very next day, such an item must be identified as recertified or recertified to be resold. Manufacturers are extremely assured about their recertified products and offer the manufacturer warranties from 30 days to 2 years.



It is impossible to know the history of each item, but for whatever reason the unit gets labeled factory Recertified it is inspected & serviced by the manufacturer then tested and repackaged to meet original product specifications. All merchandise is warranted by the original manufacturer unless otherwise specified.



Most of the recertified appliances are much better than a lot of new appliances sold in our stores today. In this microwave, cost cutting age, most new models are not as durable as older models, so reconditioning an older model is almost always better than purchasing most new makes. Recertified products are often better than new, because they undergo more rigorous inspection and testing than new products. The defect rate of recertified items is far lower than that of items sold as new. Sometimes items sold as recertified are, in fact, "new" items that have simply been repackaged due to damage to the box or casing during shipping. The item may never have even made it to a store shelf!



Recertified is a term that is used loosely. People think it always means that the appliance has been dismantled and rebuilt using what ever parts they can find. This is not true. When this is the case, the parts are usually new or as good as new and are restored to the exact manufacturer specifications by the original manufacturer in a certified refurbishing center. In addition, these products typically come with the added advantage of a manufacturer warranty.



The statistics for returning a recertified item is much lower than the returns on new items.

Recertified goods have a very low (2-percent) cost of return. Recertified items have a much lower defect rate. Out of 10 units that come back for repair only 1 is usually a factory refurb, because Recertified units are tested before they are sold.



People buy cheap off brand items to save money instead of brand name recertified items. It’s not that brand name is built any better, but brand names have better support service and warrantees.

Buy name brand equipment at unbelievable savings without compromising on quality. Why buy "new" when you can get the same equipment which has been factory recertified for up to 70% savings without experiencing any difference? Statistics state that consumers who have already purchased a factory recertified item will never buy "new" again.



In summary, if all the benefits of buying a recertified product are the same as a new one even the warranty, the only "drawback" is that annoying little label on the outside of the box. Educated consumers buy Recertified!