From the category archives:

Camera, TV and Portable Video Reviews

Are Blu-ray Players and Blu-ray Movies Worth Buying?

A Blu-ray Disc (also known as BD or BluRay) is the same physical size and shape as a DVD but can store 5 to 10 times more information (25 to 50 GB data capacity) than a DVD which allows Blu-ray disks to store whole movies or several TV episodes in full 1080P high definition video, [...]

11 comments

Digital TV PVR Comparison: Beyonwiz vs Tivo Freeview vs Sony PlayTV for PS3

99% of people are not Geeks obsessed with technology. So they don’t know what a Digital TV PVR (personal video recorder) is and why it can revolutionise their TV watching experience. This article compares 3 kinds of Digital TV PVR’s for free to air TV: Beyonwiz (non Freeview) vs Tivo (Freeview) vs Sony PlayTV (PlayStation [...]

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Digital TV in Australia: Benefits, Channels, Freeview and Availability

GUEST ARTICLE: Many people are unaware of the visual and audio benefits Digital TV offers compared to analog TV, the extra digital only channels available like ABC2 and that analog TV will be slowly phased out in Australia by 2013. Digital TV has been available in Australia for many years, since January 2001 in major [...]

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How To Choose The Best Tripod For Your Digital Camera

This article aims to help you to chose the right kind of tripod for your digital camera but I’m going to start by saying tripods are useful only in some specific situations. Carrying a heavy tripod around all the time after buying it will only make you hate it. After a while you’ll end up [...]

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Canon EOS 500D SLR Digital Camera with 15-85mm USM EFS Lens (Review)

I’ve been testing a media loan Canon EOS 500D SLR Digital Camera using the new Canon 15-85mm USM EFS image stabilised Lens (24-136mm equivalent in 35mm format) for several weeks and have grown to like it a lot. Most amateur photographers upgrading from a compact camera would find this lightweight camera and lens combination covers [...]

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Sony PlayTV Integrated Digital TV and PS3 ABC iView Integration (Review)

EDITOR: I recently attended the press launch for Sony’s new Play Station 3 (PS3) PlayTV Digital TV accessory and ABC iView PS3 integration. The PlayTV looked worth reviewing but I haven’t used a PS3 myself so I arranged for Sony PR to send a loan unit to my friend and PS3 fan Tony for him [...]

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Kogan Region Free Blu-Ray Player BD 2.0 Full HD 1080P (Review)

I recently bought a Kogan Blu-Ray 2.0 Player and am really happy with it’s comprehensive features including: Region free Bluray & DVD playback, BD-Live, Full HD 1080P quality, DVD upscaling, USB media center playback of JPG photos and Videos (DIVX, MP4, AVI etc) as well as 7.1 channel sound (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD & [...]

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Samsung ST550 DUAL LCD digital camera (Review)

A few weeks ago I attended the launch for Samsung’s new ST550 compact digital camera. Despite it’s flaws this camera will be popular with 24 hour party people and teenagers who love to take dozens of self portraits of themselves and their friends. I applaud Samsung’s attempt to innovate by offering a Dual LCD to [...]

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Olympus PEN EP1 Micro 4/3rds Digital Camera (Review)

The Olympus Pen EP1 uses the new Micro 4/3rds camera standard designed by Olympus & Panasonic which aims to offer a physical camera size similar to a compact camera with better image quality and SLR-like versatility because it can use interchangeable lenses. When Olympus lent me their PEN EP1 digital camera for review my first [...]

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Canon SX20is 20x Ultrazoom Digital Camera (Review)

I’ve had the Canon PowerShot SX20IS 12mp Ultrazoom digital camera on media loan for almost 2 months and I hate to have to return it to them today because it tries very hard to be SLR-like for 1/2 the price and its the best bridge camera (chunky compact camera wannabe SLR) I’ve tested for a [...]

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Panasonic TZ7 Ultrazoom Compact Digital Camera for Travellers (Review)

I’ve been testing a media loan Panasonic TZ7 (25-300mm 12x ultrazoom) compact digital camera for the last 2 months. The TZ in TZ7 stands for “Travellers Zoom” because this camera is aimed directly at the huge market of travelers who want a relatively small easy to use camera for their holidays but don’t want to [...]

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Pocket Video Cameras: Kodak ZX1 vs Flip Mino HD (Review Comparison)

I recently went on a 1 week holiday to Charlotte Pass Ski Resort in Australia’s Snowy Mountains and took a media loan Kodak ZX1 HD pocket video camera with me. Soon afterwards I was lent it’s competitor, the Flip Mino HD to review so I have compared them. Although the unit has some shortcomings, Kodak’s [...]

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Kogan 32″ inch (81cm) 1080P Full HD LCD TV Inbuilt HD Tuner (1080P-32)

The Kogan 1080P-32 has the following inputs (2x HDMI, 1x D-sub (VGA), 2x Composite AV, 1x Component, 1x S-video, 1x Audio in, 1x Antenna in) and these Outputs (1x Optical Audio Out, 1x Headphone Jack, 1x Composite AV) The 2x HDMI inputs are enough for my Bluray player and separate HD Digital TV PVR to [...]

5 comments

Lexar and Sandisk SDHC Card Reader Speed Tests (Review)

Camera cards are continuing to grow in size at an astounding rate. Today I can buy a 16GB SDHC card for the same price that I bought my first ever 1GB SD card. I asked Sandisk & Lexar to send me fast SDHC camera card readers to see how much time they would take to [...]

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Joby Gorillapod SLR Flexible Tripod Review

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Joby “Gorillapod SLR” flexible tripod while on holidays in Australia’s Snowy Mountains and found it to be very useful and surprisingly popular with other people in my ski lodge who were fascinated by it’s ultra flexible bendy leg joints. Joby Gorillapod SLR specifications Intended for: Prosumer [...]

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