Electronics Gadget Reviews

Sony HT IS100 BRAVIA Theater Micro System Set of Six Black

HT-IS100 is the perfect surround-sound add-on system to existing Blu-ray Disc or DVD players.For those consumers who already have a Blu-ray Disc player or a DVD player/recorder, the perfect upgrade solution is the HT-IS100, combining all the surround processing and amplification into a single hideaway subwoofer unit.Within the subwoofer is powerful s-master digital amplification and sophisticated surround-sound processing, able to handle all the surround-sound formats on DVD and also accept high-definition audio from Blu-ray Disc for an even more thrilling home cinema experience.The system can also accept video signals from all your existing sources, either via HDMI connections or component and composite video sockets, and then will up convert for a single HDMI cable connection to your BRAVIA TV.It has the same digital cinema auto calibration as the other ‘IS family’ systems, and also features the digital media port for fast and easy hook-up of portable devices. If you’re looking for a simple, great-sounding system to take you from just watching TV to truly experiencing it, look no further.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars I’m not picky but…..
PROS:

Audio: I’m not picky, so in terms of the audio, it’s fine to be. I just wanted an upgrade from the tv speakers. This is loud enough!

Looks: I also didn’t want huge speakers. These tiny speakers are cool and unobtrusive. You find plenty of universal stands for the speakers.

CON:

Notice my con is not plural. I’m just going to summarize. I own a Samsung LN52A850. You might want to consider what brand tv you have before buying this. There is no on-screen menu for me. Nobody else has mentioned this in their review. Because if someone has a Bravia and the HT-IS100 and still don’t have on-screen menu, I would imagine that someone would have mention this “con” by now. So I’m assuming that those with Bravia TVs do have on-screen menu. Or, maybe people just don’t mind not having an on-screen menu. Why am I making such a big deal about this? Because the LCD display on the sub woofer faces the ceiling. Then engineers who made this should realize that if you make the display face the ceiling, then you better provide an on-screen menu. So I’m surprise I’m the first person to complain about this. Like I said, I have a Samsung, those with a Bravia may have onscreen menu. I don’t know, I can’t confirm that. I hope the next reviewer will confirm this. So for me, it sucks that I got to walk to my sub woofer every time to look at the display when I want to play around with the functions. Another con is that the accessories to make the rear speakers wireless is expensive, hard to find and quite frankly, confusing. You need to buy a transmitter, and you also have to buy a subunit. That’s right, it’s not totally wireless. You need to buy another subunit to place in the back of your room and the wires of the rear speakers will go into this subunit. Tricky marketing!!

Man, writing this review has made me more angry and determined to return this.

4 Stars Great for a Small Room/Apt/Studio
I live in a 1bd Apartment and my living room is fairly large (for an apt) The sound that this System produces is truly beautiful. I have my HD Digital Box, PS3, Xbox and Wii hooked up and they all sound great. I had a Pioneer Elite VSX-01TXH (paired with POLK speakers) and although that receiver is far superior in features and sound effects (as well as total watts) This little system worked out better for me because it’s far more simple and practical (and won’t get me kicked out of my building. For those looking for a good Surround System that won’t take a lot of space, Offers simple menus and won’t cost too much $$$$, this is it!

1 Star HT-IS100 micro system
Can only give one star right now because the systems center speaker and remote did not work. Called Sony and they had me send the center speaker and remote to Texas for repair. After a week they sent back still not repaired. Call Sony and they said to send the complete system back for repair. Looks like I will receive tomorrow (3/4/09). I have been waiting over a month now to hear this system. I will review later if it works this time. One thing I can say is the ease of setup, and no wires from front to back for the speakers using the SA1. Also, purchased two stands for the back speakers. They look great and enable you ease of hiding wires to each of the back speakers under the carpet.

It is now 3/7, received system back from Sony repaired and ready to go.

However, they forgot to enclose the remote, so I am waiting another 4 days for the most important part. I can say now that this system sounds great, of course mine is not tuned because of no remote. But, it really makes a difference in watching blue rays. It puts you right in the movie, what a great sound from such small speakers. I now rate this a 4 star system

3 Stars It would be a great system if wireless accessories could be bought…
Its a great system from looks and sound wise and I first purchased it without the wireless accessories to see if I need them. After a short time I decided to opt for the wireless amplifier for [...]. When it arrived in the mail I was first excited but then quickly realized that additionally an EZW T100 is neede for[...]. First of all I find this to expensive to have to add 200 dollars to a 700 dollar system to make it wireless, if 400 dollar systems are available that already have that function included. But the real dissapointment was that the EZW T100 is sold out for 2 months and I have invested 850 bucks in a system that is still wired and the required accessories are not available. That is not acceptable.

5 Stars HT-IS100
I’ve been back and forth about home theater systems for the last month or so and I finally came across this bad boy at frys for 549 promo sale and got it after hearing it at best buy and all I can say is WOW if your considering this system dont be afraid to pull the trigger on it. The system feels my room full of sound just like the movies. I’m glad I did a little research and went for this with all the connectivity it offers you cant go wrong. Amazing hooked up to my kdl52-wl140 is not enough for this system.

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Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus Digital Analog TV Receiver and Video Converter

EyeTV 250 Plus is a hybrid TV Tuner for the Mac with a powerful hardware encoder for higher quality recordings and smaller sized video files. EyeTV 250 Plus receives both free over-the-air HDTV as well as analog TV, and offers a complete solution for moving your video collection from VHS tape to DVD-Video.
EyeTV 250 Plus is future-proof for the upcoming digital TV switch-over in 2009, and is ideal for those who want the flexibility of a digital and analog TV tuner together with a hardware encoder in one device. EyeTV 250 Plus delivers free over-the-air digital TV to your Mac in stunning 720p or 1080i HDTV (MPEG-2) and other digital television standards, as well as conventional analog TV via standard cable or antenna. EyeTV 250 Plus also comes with a break-out cable for composite video and S-Video, enabling you to connect a set-top box directly to your Mac. EyeTV 250 Plus’ powerful hardware encoder also records high quality video from analog sources, compressing audio and video signals to small size MPEG-2 files and freeing up your processor for other activities. MPEG-2 is a premium-quality video compression standard which is the basis for DVD and digital television. Use EyeTV 250 Plus to capture video and convert VHS tapes into high-quality digital files. EyeTV 250 Plus’ easy-to-use VHS Assistant will walk you through each step, from connecting your VCR or camcorder right through to burning a DVD or sending the recording to iTunes. Export clips and entire episodes to your video-capable iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone Store your collection on an external drive, or burn it to disc using Roxio Toast 8 Basic (included) Convert old videotapes to digital files using the VHS Assistant

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Works flawlessly
I bought this item mainly for transferring old video tapes to digital format & have not been disappointed. I was impressed by the additional ability to watch TV through the device. I hooked this device up to a several-years old Powerbook & still enjoy VERY smooth recording & playback.

5 Stars Elgato EyeTV
I did my research and read the reviews and was somewhat concerned if this would work or not but I have to say it works great! It was very easy to setup and I am able to watch over 100 channels, including at least fifty in High Def. I tested the recording function today and it works good as well. Very easy to use and I am very happy I bought this.

4 Stars Plays TV on your Mac
Bought this to play TV on my iMac and to transfer old videos to my computer. Works well as a TV tuner. The DVR software is pretty good too. Not as easy to use as Tivo, but it still works. Haven’t tried the video transfer yet. Buy the less expensive Elgato tuners if all you want is TV w/o the DVR and video transfer features.

5 Stars Easy to use and works like a charm.
My sole purpose in ordering this was the hopes of (easily) transferring all my VHS and 8mm home movies to the computer for editing. I had tried with a Pinnacle device and my Windows machine but had nothing but headaches. Unfortunately, the product arrived at my door in a pre-opened state – from the looks of it, someone somewhere along the line just HAD to use the remote and batteries in the package. Not knowing the specifics, I returned it and ordered another one. My return was easy and quick, my bank account properly credited, and the second unit arrived a couple days later, unopened. I plugged the thing into my mini, hooked a VHS player up and voila! Up pops a window and there, on my computer screen, the 20 year old video of my (then) newborn daughter, which later easily imported into Final Cut Express for editing. So unlike my earlier attempts with Pinnacle and XP!

Though I haven’t tried the HD TV reception/recording, for what I bought it for I am quite pleased and recommend it to other Mac users in search of such services.

5 Stars Works Well With Comcast Cable
If you own a Macintosh computer, don’t bother using your DVD recorder any longer. The Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus is a more elegant solution. Its QAM tuner picks up over 100 digital TV stations that are available unencrypted or “in the clear” from Comcast “limited basic” cable that costs $18.95 per month. Included in these 100 stations are 8 HDTV stations. For those without a cable subscription, the ATSC tuner will pick up unencrypted TV stations over the air. An NTSC tuner is included as well, despite the fact that it will be desirable or useful much longer.

An on-line TV guide that is available free from TitanTV makes setting up recording simple. And you can download free “ETV Commskip” software from Google that automatically marks commercials and skips over them.

If you own an Intel Mac, you can record in HDTV format which requires 6 to 7 gigabytes per hour of recording but which creates Blue Ray quality recordings. If you own an older, PowerPC Mac, you might be limited to recording in SDTV (standard definition) format which requires only 1.4 gigabytes per hour of recording.

If you don’t own a Macintosh computer, your next best option is the Toshiba DR560 DVD recorder Toshiba DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built-in Tuner. However, with this or any other DVD recorder that is currently available, you will be limited to recording in SDTV format.

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2 Meter HDMI M M Cable

Transfer Digital Audio & Video signals at warp speed of 5 Gigabytes per second! A superb cable with excellent audiovisual transfer properties that deliver signal without compromising purity and balance. Color: Black Cable Length: 2 meters

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Works as advertised.
I was sceptical for the price.

It works with my HDMI 1.3 output in wide color mode.

Zero problems. Cable has a thick jacket.

One of the best bargin out there.

5 Stars Great
Was bought as a back up haven’t used it yet

Good Price Good quality

5 Stars Cheap and fully functional!
I use this cable with an hdmi auto switch to connect an xbox 360 and a PC to my HDTV.

The cable works as expected, no problems at all. I don’t have any hdmi 1.3b device… so I don’t know if this cheap cable meets all the specs, but I am very happy with it.

5 Stars Great cable great price
My wife bought me a 6′ cable at Staples for $50. I took it back. That’s price gouging to the extreme.

HDMI isn’t like analog. You either have a connection or you don’t. You don’t see a difference in a Monster cable versus a standard cable. It doesn’t work the same way.

Cable works great and is MUCH cheaper.

5 Stars Simply Amazing
This has been a joy to use. A couple months before I bought a monster cable for over $100!!!! But when I saw this cable here for under a dollar and $3 for shipping, I was a little uncertain if it would be good, but I ordered it and I realized from the second I used it that its quality is just as good as the Monster cable.

Amazing product I will buy from Efrocity again.

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50 FT GOLD PREMIUM HDMI 1 3 TO CABLE FOR HDTV DVD PS3

A premium quality HDMI-HDMI cable suitable for use in HDTV, Home Theater, and business class projector based applications. Features gold-plated connectors, molded strain-relief, and mylar-foil shielding. Cable constructed using the high quality material for best contact connection between HDMI equipments. Fully HDCP compliant to provide highest level of signal quality. Compatible with: multiple audio formats from stereo to multi-channel sound. Transfer Digital Audio and Video signals at warp speed of 5 Gigabits per second approximately!A superb cable with excellent audio-visual transfer properties that deliver signal without compromising purity and balance. Digital video doesn’t get any better than this! Features: Gold-plated connectors for highest signal transfer rate and resistance in corrosion. Large gauge PVC jacket provides maximum shielding against wear and tear and extreme temperatures Reinforced quad-layer braided shielding and Mylar-foil shielding provides utmost protection against RF and EM interference Molded strain-relief design lessens plug/socket pressure Designed to meet all HDMI standards Supports 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p resolution Color: Black Cable Length: 1.5 ft / 0.45 M

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Amazing!!!
My wife went to Best Buy to buy this cable for $261.00 with taxes. My heart almost exploded. I did not believe she did it. However, it was a surprise. I told her “darling I saw I cable for about 39 dollars with shipping in Amazon.com. So I decided to try it. The cable does not have any name or manufactured of it. However, it does the job great. Believe me, I am very picky about having good quality products. Nevertheless, these cable earn all my respect.

Price cheap and affordable

Length long enough

It works Greaaaatt Yeahhh!!!!!

Projection Optoma

Screen 156″ Diagonal

Image looks great

1 Star SIgnal Loss/Worthless
This cable has significant signal loss and you’ll need a repeater/amp to use it. Of course this isn’t stated on Amazons page but it is directly at Eforcity’s web page. Get something different, at least 24 AWG with a built in repeater for anything over fifteen feet. No markings on the cable to indicate CL rating or gauge either.

5 Stars Very satisfied
For such a low price I had some doubts about this cable. This cable is being used to connect my pc which has a blu-ray drive to a hdtv through a no name hdmi switch. The cable is thick and seems like good quality. I cannot see any degradation in the picture quality at 1080 which was my concern for such a long and inexpensive hdmi cable. I would recommend this to anyone who needs such a long connection.

5 Stars long enough
Used this cable to wire my livingroom from my LCD on the wall through the walls and ceiling to my Entertainment center on the other side. Quality is great, cost even better. Was almost the same cost as the local stores 6′ one.

5 Stars exactly what i’m looking for… HDMI cable for cheap
Nice price point for this HDMI cable. Got the HDMI cable and hooked it up to my DVD upconverting player without any issues… And it works. Can’t ask for anything more

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