3M Mobile Projector MP410

Everyone I show this to seems very impressed by how small the projector is yet how bright and clear the picture displays. For my tests, I tried a USB thumb drive, a laptop (using the VGA-to-Universal cable that is included), and a Blu-Ray player via HDMI. I fired up Planet Earth on the Blu-Ray, and it looked wonderful. Next, I ran a video game from a laptop for about an hour, and the projector did get hot but not hot enough to hurt to the touch. I also launched some videos, JPGs, and MP3s from my USB drive. The picture is gorgeous and video plays very smooth and fast. The menu system is somewhat intuitive for those familiar with modern electronics although there are some advanced features worth reading about in the manual. There are a lot of options available in the menu that one comes to expect from a modern projector including mirror imaging and image flipping to project in all sorts of environments.

PROS

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+ Clear, bright picture that updates fast

+ Small size (doesn't fit IN your hand but does fit ON your hand)

+ Doesn't get too hot

+ Somewhat easy to navigate menus and buttons

+ Lots of input port types

+ Simple carrying case

+ Feature rich in both projector features and multi-media features

CONS

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+ Remote not included (hard to understand this decision) -can order separately

+ No convenient way to elevate projector; uses awkward elevation screw on bottom

+ Can't remove elevation screw (which makes it hard to project level in some cases)

+ No lens cover

+ Lens scratches easy (no instructions on how to clean lens in manual, btw)

+ Horrible speaker (most smart phones sound better than this)

+ JPG slide show mode won't let you launch an entire folder

You have to pick a file in the folder to start slideshow, but the slideshow won't include any sub-folders.

Overall, this little guy is an excellent portable projector. The complaints I have are relatively minor and can often won't be a concern for someone using this with a laptop (for example, one could use the laptop speakers instead). The device is pricey but compared to the competition plus the convenience and features of this device, I think the price seems reasonable.

This is amazing for the size. You read 4 x 4 x 1.5 in size, but it's still shocking when you open it up and pull it out. I've got power bricks bigger than this thing.

First thing I noticed immediately as others have pointed out no lens cover. Seems a glaring lack for something that's designed to be taken places and used on the road at various locations.

Second thing I noticed was power cables the box it all ships in includes two other power cables for people outside the US. Not just adapters for an existing cable, but entire cables for specific plug types, so they're solid and sturdy and *not* the kind that slide off to change. That was a very nice inclusion on 3M's part, real cables, not just adapters.

The case they give with it is alright but I'm not a fan of the "handle" which kind of gets in the way of opening it fully, since the handle is stitched, just a small strip of material, that goes right over the opening. You can move it back when you open the cover but there is no slack, so I immediately think "first point of failure" for the stitching.

Inside, it's got a "suspended" pouch that the projector goes into (I've uploaded some pics of it), and on the left and right are spaces for the brick on one side and the cord on the other. Beneath the projector is the space for the included VGA to proprietary plug cable that is used to plug into the projector. The cable has it's own plug type, so if you want other cables you'll have to purchase them. Shouldn't be much of an issue generally since VGA is so common, and if you're going to do something else, the HDMI port is built into the projector, no adapter cable needed. Same with the USB port.

I fired it up, plugged it into my 15" current model Macbook Pro, and for some reason it just would not display anything. Now I've got another projector I use regularly here at the office, as well as my 24" monitor I extend to, so my computer uses extended screens all the time. Plugging this in, setting source to VGA (even setting to auto) and it would NOT output anything despite all the settings being right. The display properties on my MBP even showed the control panel for it as it should for a secondary monitor device, but nothing seemed to matter, nothing went out. After unplugging and replugging my display port adapter several times, it finally kicked in, but it was about 10 or 12 minutes after first plugging it in and trying to get it to display something.

Once it was on, and I focused it, I was pretty impressed with the clarity of the text on the wall I was projecting to. This is a conference room we use every other week for our technical meetings, so I'm very conscious of what we're used to seeing, and with the current "normal" sized projector the text never gets very clear, especially when I'm doing remote sessions to other servers and the software I use for that (Cord) scales down the 1920x1080 desktops to fit in the smaller resolution display. So habitually we just don't try to actually READ things on the remote desktops, I'm just showing the techs where things will be for whatever I'm trying to show them. This actually displayed things so they were legible and pretty clear considering the source. And for the normal things that weren't being scaled, like apps and photos and such, it displayed very well.

Of course, that's where I noticed the first downside of it darker desktops with white text on the icons don't display very well along the edges especially, regardless of how far away or how close I am to the wall and how well it's focused. It's as if there's a problem with all the dark background and the light colored text. Black text on white shows up better in that same area. So depending on your subject material, some text may display better than others depending on the colors and backgrounds.

Unit isn't too loud, a little quieter than the full sized one I've been using, but it does put out about the same amount of heat. Cooling down after you're done (hitting the power button twice to turn off the lamp) goes quicker though, even after having it up and projecting for 45 minutes or so, the fan only ran for like 90 seconds or so before it shut itself off, evidently satisfied with the temperature the LED's dropped to in that time. Unit was still very warm to the touch afterwards though, when I was carrying it back to my office. Not enough to burn, but definitely still hot on the outside.

It's still a shock to see it sitting on the table, just because I'm used to the full sized ones. Granted, with the cables and such the bag is still too bulky to just toss in my laptop case to take with me, but at least it's small enough that, as an additional case to carry somewhere, it's negligible.

The sound, as others have mentioned, isn't very good. Depending on the environment and ambient noise, you may still want to use some better external speakers. I've never been one to use a projector as a sound source anyway, so I didn't see this as worth taking away a star or anything.

Adjustement keystone is easy to adjust, but actual physical height is annoying. Most projectors have a quick adjust foot in front to elevate and adjust the angle, this has a small set screw type foot. So you have to turn and turn until you get where you want to be, no easy "lift the font and push the button till the foot hits the table" type of adjustment. And there's no side to side either to compensate for the surface. being uneven or anything. You pretty much are limited to pivoting it left or right and tilting the front up a bit.

The documentation is only on disc, which is a disappointment considering there's a large manual in there that's a hundred and some pages long, with only 10 pages per country about the warranty and safety information. I would've rather they included a printed manual in whatever language of the country it was purchased in, and throw all this useless information on the CD instead... But at least the manual is in PDF format so you can print out the file for your language easily enough, or just copy it to your computer's desktop or something convenient.

I only had one stick to try with photos, and as someone else mentioned, it won't parse folders and gather everything on the stick to play. This may be good for some people (i.e. you may have multiple folders with information specific to one thing that you'd like to display without having it play stuff from other folders) or a hinderance to others (like me, who organize photos by folders for year, month, and date).

If it were a normal sized projector, I'd give it a 3 since there's nothing THAT outstanding on it (remote has to be purchased separately, etc). It performs the functions as well as others out there. But since this thing is insanely portable and easy to take with you, that certainly rates another star because that's what sets it apart from the others I've used in the past. The size is simply mind boggling.

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I'll admit, I got this particular projector with the hopes of using it as an outdoor projector. In that sense, I've been fairly disappointed in it. It isn't that the projector isn't bright and powerful, it is that the speaker is completely dreadful. Worse yet is that there is no way to plug speakers into the unit to get a better and louder sound. This makes using it for entertainment or video presentations nearly useless. That is unfortunate because otherwise it is a great machine.

It is as small as you can imagine and easy to use. The picture is bright and crisp, essentially looking like a giant HDTV. Unfortunately without a better audio options I can't give it more than three stars. But depending on what you want it for, it may be a 5 star item for you.

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The MP410 is excellent for video and stills. My experience is limited to input from micro SD only, have not gotten the USB or internal memory to work. However, I have run a few .mp4 videos and a number of high res. stills. The cool side is that the HDMI input is very smooth from my iPhone 4S....making this little jewel very useful. With the HDMI setup, I am able to skim off the audio with a HDMI2HDMI + Audio [also from Amazon]. With this, I send the audio to the Pit Bull portable audio. The end result is just short of unbelievable.

The onboard speaker in the MP410 is very tinny and seems to be only mono (?). Anyway this feature drags down my rating seriously. And this is tragic since 3M [actually, the outsourced engineers who did the real work] could EASILY have added a 3.5 mm audio out jack which could patch into a credible system. Sorry 3M, one more case where your focus group was not awake....or, perhaps you needed it to get to market early.

Bottom line, this is a great and fun little gadget, just right for group presentations. Very portable, quality video. And, PS: the remote control is very nice.

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I wondered how will this little projector would do as far as brightness, clarity, and color brilliance.

It doesn't disappoint. Remember though, it is a small little projector. It's not one of the behemoths, so it doesn't hold up to the big players, but for what it is, it's pretty amazing.

-Size --

A big, big plus is the size. In it's case (which is another plus), it measures 9.5" x 7" x 2.5". That's small enough to put in a laptop bag with your laptop.

-Colors --

Colors are a bit saturated, but that can be adjusted in the menus. It also has different modes: Presentation mode, Bright Mode, Movie Mode, PC Mode. Each mode is different, when selecting, you have to press the okay button to see the change. The presentation mode really makes white a lot brighter, probably for slideshows with white backgrounds. It also seems to tone down the saturation.

Movie mode seems to be a good all around mode, but it's a matter of preference. Play around with what suits you the best.

-Adjustments and Setup --

Has a foot for adjusting. But you can also angle the edges of the projection to get a square projection on the wall. Those are adjusted by the Up/down buttons or V. Keystone. It's great that those options are easy to get through and you don't have to go through the menu to find them.

The left button by itself lets you select the source.

So you don't have to first use the menu button to get to the menu items that the direction buttons let you get to.

-Sound ---

If you're on a Mac and plug in through HDMI and want to use the speakers on the projector. Connect to the projector. Then go to Settings > Sound > Output and select 3M MP410

That being said, the speakers on the projector are not good at all. The sound is distorted when coming from the speakers.

You can adjust the sound from the menus on the projector, but for the quality of the sound, you'd be better off hooking up some speakers to your laptop.

-Heat --

The projector gets really hot. Just FYI. The fan will run almost the whole time. You'll want a good surface that the projector can sit on so that it can vent well.

-Projection Size --

Here's where the projector is amazing.

At 5 feet away from the screen/wall, the projection is 3.5 feet and the details, color, brightness, are fantastic.

At 9.5 feet away, it's a 6 foot projection.

At 12.5 feet away, the projection is 8.5 feet. That's huge, when you look at it. It takes up a whole wall that we tested it on.

Even at this distance, focus is still sharp enough to view 12 point font (12 point on the computer screen). It's not as bright, but it's still very good especially for a projector of this size.

-Brilliance --

The projector is bright and brilliant.

-A few Misc Notes --

Fan turns on right from the start. Gives off a bit of noise.

Use the menu to select the input if using an HDMI connection for the first time.

Wish it had a cap for the lens to prevent scratches.

It would also be nice if it came with an HDMI cable. It doesn't, but it's got an HDMI port and that's what I used to connect my Mac with the projector. If you're having trouble with the colors or brilliance, get an HDMI cable and use that.

Overall, great projector.

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Kanex iAdapt HDMI

I bought this to hook up my Macbook Pro to a 46" LCD TV we purchased. I read the reviews and figured I would give it a try. When it arrived, I hooked it up straight to my Mac, and got only a blue screen. I tinkered around for a while and got frustrated. I watched a couple you tube videos, and followed the steps...but no dice. I ended up switching my hdmi cable, and noticed that it was a cable issue, not the adapter. I had tried using an really old hdmi cable that came with my Direct TV box that I never used. Apparently it is not capable of the signal type being sent, and instead just showed a blue screen. With the new cable the picture is perfect, and it is an extremely inexpensive way to hook your Mac up to a TV for web browsing or a slide show. I would have bought a while ago if I would have known!

Do the job, works fine, great picture and video exporting to my Sanyo projector. Crisp accurate colors, fast video, all that I expected for my 17 inch Macbookpro.

Don't lock like original apple accessory pure white, but it run very well and with fantastic quality results, clear, vibrant images with out compromise. No degradation, no loss quality and performance. This is the perfect accessory. I love it and buy APG again and again...

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I love sharing pictures/videos with my family, so it is nice when I go home to my parents house to be able to put up the screen on their flat panel TV so I can share pictures, video, watch netflix, or youtube random stuff during parties. I also have an hdmi cable in my room that goes is wired around the room to the side of my bed so i can connect my tv to my flat panel on the wall and use it for netfli x and such. All that being said, this adapter works perfectly for all of that....for about 5 months. I'm on my 2nd of these very same adapters and all of them have lasted me from 4months-11months, but they all start getting the same problem: begin getting touchy with the connection, if you bump it the audio will drop out, or it will just stop recognizing your tv altogether. This would be an amazing product at a great price but since I am in a situation where I am thinking about buying my 3rd adapter in 2 years I may have to reconsider my choice.

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I had little green pixels/static all over the place when I was going in 1080p from my 13" MacBook Pro. Got a new adapter that also does audio and was smaller, and that fixed the issue. Would never, ever, ever buy again.

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This is the third adapter like this that we've tried. We got the previous two from a different company, and both went bad within a couple weeks. So far, this one seems to be holding up great. Only time will tell I suppose! :-)

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GE 45233 Wireless Camera with Night Vision

I purchased this unit to add to the wireless camera system that I had bought locally. This is the secondary camera for the Wireless Color Camera with Receiver 45234 (). First of all, the price was the lowest that I had found. Shipping was FAST. Unit came well packed and in perfect condition. Easy to hook up. Just mount it in your desired location, plug it in, and set the viedo input selector on the receiver. Mine is connected to a tv and vcr player/recorder. Camera image is identical to the original one in the wireless camera system. If you plan to use this unit at night, do not mount it in a window, as the night vision lights will only reflect back into the camera. Therefore, either use it for interior purposes, or mount it in a sheltered location outside. Mine is mounted over the entry door on a covered porch, so there's no weather exposure issues. If you need an extension for the 8' power cord, the distributor () can sell you a 15' extension cable for the camera. You might need the product number to research this: Wireless Color Camera 45233. They also carry a battery pack that they say lasts up to 5 hrs. I'm very happy with my purchase.

This product should have stated it is an ADD-ON Camera, DOES NOT have a receiver...

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i purchased this camera along with the camera and wireless reciever base set from walmart, the picture quality is quite nice and the night vision is great, i really like the wide viewing angle, i use one camera as a nanny cam in my sons bedroom, and it works great for the times when he starts crying in the middle of the night and i want to see whats wrong without actually going into the bedroom, i use the second camera outside mounted under my porch viewing my entire yard and alot of the street in front of my house, outside view is a little washed out looking but quite detailed, a neighbors car was broken into and the camera caught the whole thing and was clear enough to make a positive description on the person, it was about 8pm so it was just getting dark outside. Overall i say for the price and quality you cant beat it, the range varies depending on your walls and electronics in your home, the only electronic that messes with it is my old cordless phone, my new cordless phones dont mess with it at all, i also have wireless internet in my house and that doesnt affect anything either.

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this camera is great for close range coverage. but do not have 2 of them too close together. there is interference.

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This does exactly what it says it does. We have two because the viewer can show two different cameras. One is stationary mounted and the other we can put where we need it to watch our daughter. The camera I have no issues with and does in fact work in what I would call zero light conditions. So they have been great and we haven't had any problems at all. The viewer part that goes with this and the whole system together has it's limitations but that's just because of the nature of the product. I don't think I'd use this as a home security system type item if I were seriously concerned about monitoring something. It's just too "iffy" with transmission due to walls and other items using the frequencies for serious stuff. However, if what you want is something that would be satisfied by a baby monitor type level of function, then this will not disappoint you.

The night vision part of this camera is surprisingly good for the weight of the product. Were the "transmission" issues not there, this would be amazing. But those issues are things in our home and the limits of the transmission and not product defects. I'm not disappointed with this thing and I would buy it again without hesitation.

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Intova IC14 Sports Digital Camera with 180' Waterproof Housing (Black) with 16GB SD Card + (2) Case

This camera produced sharp pictures and is very easy to use. We used in under water and above water on our recent trip to Fiji. Check out this You Tube Video of our tiger shark dive!

Great camera!!! I have not used it under water yet but it took great photos on the last Harley ride.

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This is a great product considering the price. I also found Intova support from hawaii to be very responsive and helpful.

Great deal !!

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i really love this camera! i havent had the chance to take it with me on a dive...yet. my friend and i played around with it a little bit yesterday...i am VERY pleased with the results!

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Kodak Easyshare V530 5 MP Digital Camera with 3xOptical Zoom (Pink)

I've had about seven digital cameras now, and this one is my favorite of the bunch.

Pros:

Excellent picture quality. In my opinion, Kodaks take the best digital pictures of all point and shoot cameras. Colors are bold and bright, and daytime pictures don't get washed out.

Very compact size. Sexy and stylish. Fits easily into your jeans pocket.

Many picture-taking modes for daytime, nighttime, moving objects, close-ups, portraits, etc.

If you use a desktop computer, the dock comes in handy and provides a convenient place to store the camera and charge it.

Video quality is superb. By far, the best I've seen on a point-and-shoot camera.

Cons:

The zoom buttons on the back of the camera, combined with the camera's small size, make it impossible to zoom and take a picture with one hand. I miss the zoom dial on the front, operated with the index finger rather than the thumb, on my older, bulkier Kodak. With this camera, if you zoom, you have to use two hands.

You have to use the dock, and have it plugged into a wall outlet, to transfer pictures to your computer. I think this is pretty silly. No way to just connect the camera itself to your computer, or to transfer pictures without a wall outlet nearby. This also makes it impossible to charge your camera by plugging it into your computer with the USB cord.

Speaking of the dock, it's pretty cumbersome if you use a laptop (i.e., if you don't use your computer in the same place all the time).

Camera can easily get lost because it's so small. I can't find mine right now. I suspect it's in a pocket somewhere.

No viewfinder. You have to aim your shots using the screen on the back.

Small buttons on back make for somewhat clumsy navigation.

Overall, I'm happy with this camera. It's a hundred dollars cheaper than the V550, and the only feature difference I can discern is the smaller screen in the back. It takes good pictures. I can't comment on the Kodak software because I use Picasa, which you can download for free and is far superior to anything else on the market. Hope this is helpful; happy shopping!

This camera is just amazing. Im a very stingy buyer. I want what Im looking for and I look for the best value on top. The Kodak V530 is probably the best camera for its price I have ever had my hands on. Its LCD screen is large and very high quality. The images and movies play back on a very high resoultion screen with a high frames per second speed time.

The camera picture quality is very sharp and natural. I took home the Canon 5megapixel equivalent for comparison. although that camera was fast and very solid, the pictures were sharp but the images comparably to what you see naturally looked somewhat artificially enhanced. The built in lcd screen was choppy, grainy and not comparable to the kodak.

Movie mode is beyond nice on the Kodak V530. A 1gb SD card makes nearly 30 min of 640x480 movie at 30fps. Its tv quality and its a great thing to use on day trips where you do not want to bring a camcorder entirely.

The dock can play the videos/pictures straight to TV and connects to a computer through a USB 2.0 port. Very nice.

I have never seen a digital camera with movie quality this good. Period. The aforementioed Canon had a good movie mode too, but its compression was horrendous. You could only make 1/3 the length for the same amount of memory.

Buy this Kodak, you will not regret it.

5 stars ++++

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Appearance: I bought the silver color. It is small and sexy. It definately has a wow factor. The base looks futuristic, yet the round shape is useful for turning it around. The screen is a good size.

Usability: This camera is very easy to use. Within five minutes, I was able to figure out 80% of the features. I was a little confused with playing videos on the tv, but within a minute I got it to work.

Picture Quality: My pictures look great, even on 1.8MP. There are plenty of different settings for taking pictures.

After I ordered this camera, I wondered if I should have bought the v550 instead. But after I received it, I felt good about my purchase. The two cameras are pretty much the same except for the bigger LCD, more memory and a viewfinder. A bigger LCD just wastes more battery, and 2" is more than adequate. Built-in memory doesn't matter because everybody buys their own anyway. And using a viewfinder just takes the fun out of taking digital pics. Viewfinders are not too accurate anyway. Oh, and the v530 is SMALLER than the v550. I think I'll keep my camera.

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Please don't purchase a separate power charger for this camera. Its a) not avaialable, b) not necessary. Many users below are finding out that the available separate charger packs are not compatible with this camera. I talked with Kodak, they say a separate charger is not necessary. Just unplug the power cord from the dock and take it with you on the road. The cord will plug into the camera directly. Theres no need to bring the dock station while on a trip, etc. Separate power supplies are avaiable, but its not called a travel charger. Kodak actually did it right and made it easy to take this camera on long trips away from home....nothing extra to buy.

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I was torn between giving this a four star rating and a five. The camera itself is amazing, like something from the future. Add a 1 GB memory chip and you have a capable camcorder that slips into your pocket. The picture quality is fantastic. It earns five stars.

Nevertheless, this is a digital camera, and I can't give it five stars because the software that comes with it is buggy. The very first movie I took is lost forever because the software kept crashing partway through the transfer on my PC. When I tried installing it on my Mac, the installer crashed, although it installed anyway and I'm able to use it there.

Hopefully these problems will be fixed soon. I don't think they should dissuade anyone from purchasing this camera it's just phenomenal.

Tripp Lite B125-150 HDMI over Cat5 / Cat6 Extender HDMI/HDCP

Never got this to work and I spent a lot of time with Tripp-Lite technical support. The first box always had an error light and after performing a bunch of tests for them, it was determined to be defective so they replaced it with another set. The next box did not have an error but would not pass a signal. I tried 3 Sources (Directv HD DVR, Sony 1080P unconverting DVD, Toshiba 1080P upconverting DVD) and 3 different destinations. Nothing worked. Support was really nice, but they kept harping on refresh rates (MHZ) and suggested trying a computer where refresh could be selected. This makes me believe the product is designed for computers and not consumer electronics equipment. In consumer electronics the HDMI refresh is dictated by the resolution.

I bought a RockSoul HDMI extender which works perfectly. No power needed at 75 feet (kept the Tripp lite Cat6 cables that I had bought which I am sure helps). Great picture and perfect sound.

Returned the Tripp-lite extender to Amazon.

the buyer needs to understand that you have to run TWO CAT 5 or 6 cables for this product to work right.

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They work but sometimes the timing gets off and causes flickering display images... Power cycle will generally fix this otherwise reduce the refresh rate of the display.

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I purchased 2 of these extenders to connect 2 Sony HDTVs in our home to the HDMI and DisplayPort output of our desktop computer in our office. The computer has a Sapphire HD6770 Flex video card. The 2 extender runs both use unshielded 24 AWG solid wire Cat5e cable. One run is 50 feet, the other is 100 feet and the desired resolution is 720P.

The TV at 50 feet works perfect but the TV at 100 feet would drop frames and the picture would jerk once in a while showing full screen video. The audio was perfect with both TVs. I returned the Tripp Lite extender that I was using at 100 feet and replaced it with a Cable Matters HDBaseT extender (ASIN: B005H4Y6TA) which works perfect.

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We are running 1080p direct from a very inexpensive Blue Ray player to a very inexpensive projector 93 ft over unshielded, good quality dual CAT6 and we didn't even need the power supply that came with this setup. Who knows how far this setup will run WITH the power supply? It is really amazing. It is instant-success, no setup, no tweaking. Just plug and play. An engineer from one of our local TV stations borrowed it and ordered 30 of them. One thing to remember is that Tripp Lite is a quality name. They have been around the electronics business for decades and they put their name on a number of excellent lines now. We buy their surge suppressors and UPS's because they are simple, basic functions that just work at a great price.

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Metz MZ 52822D 28 CS-2 Digital Flash

I have a Canon EOS 1DMarkII with a 580EX flash that only comes out with me for serious shooting trips and assignments. Most of the time I just carry around my Canon SD 800IS camera. What limits most point and shoots is the lack of a proper flash. Forgot that crap in the manual about built-in flash good for 12ft, yeah right, who measured that?

The Metz flash is about the same size as my SD800 or slightly thicker than a pack of playing cards (easy to carry around). It's a lot of plastic, but then again my 1DMarkII and 580EX is a back breaker to carry around. The Metz flash is probably no more susceptible to damage from drops as any digital camera. It works beautifully on auto mode, most point and shoot digital cameras can be trained to work with it, on my Canon SD800 this means firing off a test shot with the Metz in learning mode. There are numerous advanced functions that the Canon external flash for point and shoots don't have, this is why I chose Metz. To be quite honest, when I'm using a point and shoot, I want everything to just work on auto and this is where the Metz excels. If you've never heard of Metz, just speak to pro wedding photographers, this company knows how to make flashes and has been doing it for years.

If the photo is too dark or bright after the flash fired, just press the + or key to immediately adjust and reshoot. It's that simple! The flash head is probably at least 5x larger than the flash on my SD800IS so it does reach beyond 12ft. It comes with wide-angle and telephoto reflectors that are compact and easy to clip on. Flash is rated to 100 shots on 2 fresh batteries; so far I've taken 50 shots and no problems. Easy enough to carry around extra batteries if required.

So you're asking yourself why you don't just dial the ISO to 400 or 800? Almost all point and shoots have crappy grainy images at high ISO and my Canon SD800 is no exception. With the Metz flash I can leave my camera set to ISO 100 all the time and get the sharpest highest resolution photos that my camera can output! Worried about whether you'll actually carry it around? I use 2 $10 neoprene fitted cases I found on eBay to store both my camera and flash and it's hardly noticeable in my jacket pocket. This is a great product that every point and shoot camera owner should have!

****** Jan 2008 Update ******

After 1yr of use I still love this little flash. I see that Canon has made their own small point and shoot flash. The advantage of this Metz flash is that it is not limited to use with any one brand. It syncs with Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc so if you ever change brands you don't have to buy another small flash again.

This little flash is a great slave flash it uses your camera's flash as a trigger (I set my camera's flash to 1/128th power, so its doesn't light the subject, but still triggers the Metz flash). I like that you can set this little flash to the side of a subject for nice modeling light and you can place your camera way away (I've tried 60feet or so), use a long lens and still get great exposures. I bought a second one the two Metz C28's work together beautifully and there is nothing to set up they just work : ).

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This flash was purchased for my Canon Powershot A590 IS. After considering the Canon equivalent of this flash, I purchased the Metz and am very happy with it. The fold-up camera stand stays with the flash, so there is no fear of losing it. The stand length and screw location are adjustable for just about any type of compact camera.

What really sold me on this model was the ability to adapt this flash to a variety of cameras. Although it cost a little more, I like that flexibility.

After a few test shots I was very impressed with the output. I turned off the lights in a small room and used only the camera and Metz flash, with the Metz off to the side and bounced off the ceiling. The room was completely filled with light but there were no harsh shadows. For this flash newbie that is a huge improvement!

The "Easy" mode really is easy. Hit "plus" for more light or "minus" for less, and adjust after reviewing the picture on your camera. One thing that is a little confusing at first: the camera will remember your last setting and make it the new "0." If your last setting was at the highest output, it will appear that only "minus" settings are available for the next picture.

At first the "manual" and "auto" modes did not seem to work. I re-read the manual and finally adjusted the time that the flash measures between pre-flash and flash. This worked, although I am not sure why, since these modes still worked after adjusting back to the original setting.

"Manual" mode allows for adjustments based on desired power output (full power down to 1/16th power); "auto" mode allows for exposure compensation to be set in 1/3 stops, to plus or minus three stops. Camera settings are input in these modes also. (A fourth mode only works with a special master flash.)

One final note: the manual states that the flash must be turned on for 10 minutes once every three months.

Although it took a few tries to get everything working correctly, I am very happy with this flash. A lot of control will be there when I need it. Am looking forward to being able to use flash rather than avoid it.

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I highly recommend the Metz 28CS-2 flash. I now have two of them in addition to my Canon 580 EX Speedlite.

The Metz is a slave flash with no master required. This is not really an oxymoron but This flash is triggered by any on-camera flash, even a flash on a point-and-shoot camera. I use this flash off-camera with both my Canon S90 and my Canon 550D.

Having a slave flash that can be triggered by any on-camera flash is a rare luxury as you usually have to purchase a master flash to trigger an off-camera slave flash and may also have to plug a slave mechanism into a slave flash to use it off-camera.

One caveat is that the accompanying user manual for this flash is nearly impossible to comprehend and may have been written by someone from another planet. Just joking. But do not fear. I try to keep it simple. Here are two ways I have discovered to use this flash.

1. I would suggest using this flash in Manual mode combined with "Preflash suppression" mode with am on-camera flash triggering it. If you do this, be sure to first disable the AF Assist Beam on your DSLR or your point-and-shoot camera.

2. Since I cannot disble the AF Assist Beam on my S90, I use a different mode for this camera. If you cannot disable the AF Assist Beam, you can use it in Manual mode combined with "No preflash suppression" mode with a point-and shoot camera or a DSLR Mounted speedlite. It triggers prematurely with the on-camera flash on my DSLR in this mode when the AF Assist Beam is enabled.

I think one of the two above combinations will work for most cameras.

For either of the methods I just described, I set the exposure manually using the "P1" function. It has an exposure range from 1/1 to 1/16.

This flash is so simple to use and does not require buying into any complicated/expensive flash system to use. I hope Metz does not discontinue this flash although I do see dwindling supplies and think it may be on its way out.

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I received the shipment of the flash unit in short order. I have used the 28 CS-2 about four times. It really makes a difference in my photos. I use it with a small point and shoot Fuji F20 camera which takes real good pictures in low light. The CS-2 flash makes all the difference though as fill flash or as a flash from a different angle it removes alot of shaddow. It also throws light far beyond the limits of the built in flash, of the F20, which is by comparison quite weak. I was in the habit of just turning off the built in flash and forcing the camera to select a slow shutter speed and lower f-stop. It is easy to set up and the learning function is super. The unit is great because it gives you alot of control over the flash. There is a function to control the level of light output and manual settings are provided. It is compact and the bracket, which is collapsable, screws into the tripod mount and is adjustable for length.

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D-Link DCS-900 10/100TX Home Security Internet Camera

I bought this camera as a means to check my house while I am gone on vacation. I never heard of internet cameras before until recently while looking at PC catalogs. I ended up buying the DCS-900 because of the price and the good reviews I read here in Amazon.com. Let me tell what my experience has been so far.

Getting the camera setup on your local LAN is fairly straightforward. As long as you know the IP address of your router and how to do simple network configuration for the camera, you should be up and running in 10 minutes.

On the otherhand, configuring the camera for access from the web took me 2 days of searching for info on the Internet, emails to D-Link technical support, firmware upgrade for my router and constant rereading of the manuals and the D-Link Knowledge Base. Listen carefully because here's what they don't tell you about the product beforehand if you want access your camera from the web.

1) Camera's default port is 80. If you have Cable or DSL broadband, most ISPs do not allow access to port 80 to discourage their customers from setting up webservers on their network. You have to set the camera to some other port like 800 or so.

2) You must be comfortable with setting up your router and understand how port forwarding and virtual server table works. If you have a firewall, then you must make more configuration changes. Make sure you access to your broadband router and you feel comfortable making these changes. D-Link documentation only reference their own routers as examples.

3) If your broadband connection has Dynamic IP addressing which most cable and DSL subscribers do, you have to set up a Dynamic DNS account with services like DynDNS.org or TZO.com. There, you create a DNS address (i.e. ) that will map to the dynamic address of your broadband connection. The software on camera will perform updates to the Dynamic DNS for you if your IP address changes.

4) You will also need a static web service account for the ActiveX Xplug Control software to be located when accessing the camera. Essentially this is a place where you can host webpages onto for access from the Internet. My geocities.com account prevents me from uploading the xplug.ocx file onto the server w/o an upgrade to a premium account at this time.

5) Make sure your router has the latest firmware to support virtual servers. This was the last step that prevented me from making the camera visible on the net.

Soooo....after all these steps, I was very successful in getting my camera up and running just the way I want it. I think this is a great product and I highly recommend it. You do have to have a little bit of network experience to comfortably configure everything.

I can not give it the full five stars because I think the documentation was fairly lacking when it comes to describing what you need to do to set the camera up for Internet access. As a matter of fact, even the description for the camera setup itself was somewhat vague and very terse. However, once you get pass all that, I am happy to say that it all works well!!

Pros

Built in webserver

Reliable

Good Value

Good quality in good lighting

Cons

Hard to configure for novice users (was easy for me)

Heavy on system resources when recording video to hard drive

Picture quality is every grainy in low light

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first off, when I received the unit I thought it was rather big compared to the images on the websites. I wanted to share this advice for those people that does not know how to get this thing started. The original ip address of the unit is 192.168.0.20, which means if you have a home network set at 192.168.1.xxx or 192.168.2.xxx, etc. It will not be able to recognize the camera because it is in a different subnet. So you will have to set your laptop/desktop's ip address to that range between 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.254 except 192.168.0.20 (since that belongs to the dcs-900). once you launch the crappy wizard software it will recognize the camera's ip address so you can configure it to your home network address.

I hope this helped a lot of you. :) It only took me 2 minutes to configure this thing.

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I wanted to monitor a construction project in my apartment courtyard, but could not take time off from work. I decided to hook up a Internet camera to my cable modem so I could watch the progress from my desk. After some research I wound up buying the D-Link DCS-900. It was by far the least expensive camera, but it suited my purpose.

I set it up in a window overlooking the project and I was able to watch the workers rebuild the flagstone courtyard. On several occasions, I saw mistakes and was able to call the contractor on his cell phone. I know the project would not have turned out as well as it did if I didn't have this camera.

As others have pointed out, the photo quality is grainy and it will only work in well-lit areas, but if you don't want to empty your wallet, this is a great camera for the price.

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I have three D-Link cameras two DCS-900W and one DCS-950. All three required firmware updates, all three came with obsolete viewing software, two have had to go back for repairs (one 900W and one 950) --and they're giving me problems again. Unfortunately, they're 200 miles from here, and I can't easily get to them, so reliability is an issue with me.

Then there's the documentation issue. There's no hint of the fact that the latest version of their multi-view software (which lets you look at up to four cameras at the same time) doesn't work with anything under Windows XP, or that the only browser that works with the 950 is Internet Explorer. Local setup on a network is fairly easy, but going through a firewall creates problems, the least of which is that it is difficult to test from inside the network. The documentation mentions three ports that need changing, but doesn't explain much about what they do (and the 950 has a fourth port that the documentation doesn't even mention).

The DCS-900 descriptions mention motion sensing, but they don't tell you that this function has to be implemented remotely that is, the camera is set up to stream continuous video to a remote computer, and it is the computer that then monitors for motion and records it when detected.

As to video quality the 950 is fairly decent, but the 900 is much worse. The 950 has a mike for audio, and it works fairly well from inside the firewall, but I still haven't figured out how to access it from outside. And the FAQ on DLink's web site contradicts their manual.

I like the fact that D-Link supplies a program to view multiple cameras at the same time, but not all D-Link cameras work with the same program version, so you can't mix other models or brands. (The D-Link web site has a later version that supports both the 900 and 950 models, but this one has some installation problems and run-time errors.)

My overall impression D-Link rushed this out the door and it shows.