Freecom MediaPlayer 450 well-performing media streamer with HDMI
We were pretty impressed by Freecom’s Mediaplayer 350 when it was released last year. It offered outstanding streaming performance and was easy to use, so we were keen to try out the new model, the MediaPlayer 450, to see what’s been improved.
At a glance there doesn’t appear to be much. It’s the same size and adopts the same design, though the casing now houses SATA hard drives instead of the previous IDE format. As before, you can choose to buy the product either drive-free or with a pre-installed hard drive at a range of capacities, though it appears to be a fair bit cheaper to buy and fit a drive yourself.
The most notable addition to the 450 is the presence of an HDMI port, which makes it far easier to view HD content on a modern TV, and is able to stream high definitions formats at up to 1080p resolutions.
As before, you have a choice of either wired or wireless connections, there’s a USB port to connect external storage for quick access and, of course, if you install a hard drive or opt for one of the pre-installed models you’ll have the benefit of storing all of your movies, music and photos on the device itself. (more…)
Tagged Under : Freecom, Freecom MediaPlayer, Freecom MediaPlayer 450, Media Players, MediaPlayer
NDrive G800 photo mapping satnav with full colour satellite views of the UK
When we heard that NDrive was releasing a satnav device with full colour photography instead of your typical drab coloured maps, we were itching to get our hands on one and take it for a spin.
The G800 is the more expensive of two new devices in the range that includes this feature, and it also sports a healthy collection of extras such as Bluetooth, an FM transmitter and media playback functionality for your music, video and photos.
There are other treats in store as well, such as the 8GB of internal storage provided by default and a handful of games to play. On paper the G800 looks pretty capable then, so we took it on the road to see how the photo mapping looks and how it fared on the whole.
The first thing we noticed is that the NDrive doesn’t use photo mapping by default: the device actually uses TeleAtlas‘ maps for general operation, with the photo views kicking in when you drive through an area that is supported. That’s the other issue: you won’t get photo maps for the entire UK here. There’s currently coverage for 29 cities and, although this number is set to increase, it’s disappointing that this headline feature isn’t a little more comprehensive. (more…)
Tagged Under : Bluetooth, FM transmitter, GPS, media playback, NDrive, NDrive G800, NDrive G800 GPS, NDrive GPS, TeleAtlas, TeleAtlas maps
Brennan JB7 store all your music in one place
Brennan’s innovative JB7 is a Digital Jukebox that’s a little different to the more traditional offerings you might have seen before. To begin, with the main control unit closely resembles the design of your typical car stereo. It’s around the same size and is finished in an attractive metallic blue effect. Along with this you’re supplied with two full-range speakers, designed to handle the 60W of power pumped out by the amp.
The JB7 includes an internal hard drive with a choice of capacities from 20 to 80GB, and with the help of the CD player and USB interface it’s designed to collate all of your music from external sources, such as CDs, MP3 players and other audio devices - or simply a USB stick full of tunes - onto the internal drive to build a complete collection.
Track and album information for any CDs you transfer is automatically retrieved from the pre-loaded FreeDB database, and you have the ability to rename specific tracks or groups of tracks yourself by manually entering the information using the supplied remote control.
Building a comprehensive library of music is pretty easy, then, and we were impressed by the usability of the interface, the information provided on-screen and the range of options you have available to customise music, such as adjusting the bit-rate and location. (more…)
Tagged Under : Brennan - JB7, Digital Jukebox, JB7
BenQ G2400W roomy 24-inch widescreen display
BenQ has proven itself to be pretty adept in the LCD monitor market in the past, having released a fair few capable models at the larger end of the scale. The G2400W is one such product, featuring a 24-inch widescreen display capable of resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 pixels.
It’s a particularly good looking screen, due largely to its extremely slim and light build and no-nonsense matt-black casing. You’ll find a tilt mode but no swivel, height adjustment nor ability to spin the screen to portrait mode.
In terms of connectivity it’s well featured, offering D-Sub (VGA), Digital and HDMI inputs, so will work with whatever connections you have on your graphics card. Using the HDMI input you can view high definition resolutions up to 1080p, making it ideal for use as a secondary television.
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Tagged Under : Benq, BenQ's Senseye, G2400W, LCD monitor
Canon HR10 camcorder Canon’s DVD-based HD camcorder
Choice, as every shopper recognizes, is both a godsend and a nightmare. It’s great to be able to compare lots of versions of the same basic product, but almost impossible to weigh up all the pros and cons accurately to make a swift decision to buy. This is particularly evident when buying a new digital camera, whether for moving or still pictures - especially as most digital cameras will perform both functions with varying degrees of success.
Canon’s HR10 camcorder is a case in point. Whereas its high definition predecessors recorded on hard drive (HG10) and MiniDV tape (HV20), the HR10 captures its images on 8cm DVDs and the quartet of formats will be complete shortly when the HF10 and HF100 are released with dual flash memory recording. So what are the advantages and negatives of the DVD version?
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