Great product - light, easy to use, gorgeous visual effects
351171
These are terrific poi!  I was used to using the hard plastic ones that kept hitting me in the head.  These are heavy enough to do spinning tricks yet light and soft enough to not hurt if they hit you!  The various color/flash settings produce very cool visual effects which you can use to your advantage while spinning.  My 23-yo daughter was extremely impressed (and jealous!) that her mom knew about such things (she was used to experiencing them at music festivals), let alone could spin them in serpentine form!  The price point is also terrific.  I highly recommend these for anyone who simply wants to have fun learning how to spin poi and wow their friends with a dramatic show!
1922061
Epson EX5210  MultiMedia Projector

It is probably overstating that I am in love but this is one sweet projector.  I pulled it out of the box, read the quick start guide and in a matter of minutes had my laptop screen up to big screen size!  Not only that but within that initial 15 minutes I had YouTube videos running on my wall, in a very well light (sunlight bright) room.  Within the first 30 minutes I was running Ice Age and feeling pretty darn chipper about the ease of use of this very portable projector.

I'm retired so I don't need this for business.  I will use it for presentations now and again but I am more excited about using it as a big screen TV on the occasional shore trip where there are just little tube type TVs.  I'm also looking forward to running an outside film fest for the grandkids on the side of the house.

The sound is adequate on the projector but you probably will want to put something beefier on the source to give you better sound.  The on screen menu and source selection was self evident and easy to use.  Focus and orientation were also a piece of cake.  Is it clear I really liked this little fellow?  Admittedly I haven't played with one lately but his puppy beats the bejabbers out of the ones I have used previously.  Clarity is amazing on a flat white wall, I have to assume a screen would be even better.

It comes with a nice padded case.  My only suggestion would be to have another pocket on the case for the cables.  It came with VGA and USB, I added to it an SVHS and component, with the power cable you have a bunch of wire, an extra pocket on the case would be handy.  If you are actually traveling with this, I'm sure you have a spare pocket on your laptop case for the projector cables.

To summarize, this was extremely easy to setup and get working in a astoundingly short time.  I am really going to enjoy using it.
2677086
It didn't take long for me to get going. The interface is pretty standard, and geared towards the novice. Nice big buttons to click on, and easy to get around. The special effects are pretty cool and I really had fun altering a number of my photos (buildings, flowers, people, etc.) with the various artistic settings. But its strength is always its weakness- it is somewhat limiting in scope in terms of adjustments but no biggie- it was designed for fun!

The only other point to make is the latest version Photoshop Elements also incorporates similar painting tools and it is probably a better deal just to go ahead to get PSE because you will also get a more robust suite of photo editing tools.
1692001
9/23/2017: Just bought our second frame for us.

The X15D product quality is everything I'd hoped for. Very easy to use and nice image quality. It has a thoughtful simple intuitive setup. I typically hate remotes, but this one is really simple, easy, small, and actually useful. I like that it allows to rotate and delete individual photos with remote--the ones you catch after its up and running. Image quality is good as advertised when compared with my laptop and other screens (the "D" stands for HD which I think is 1080). The image is pleasantly view-able from very wide angles. I notice a slight/subtle color change when viewing it from greater than 60 degrees from straight on,  which stays about the same out to 80 degrees from straight on viewing (viewed from the side). The screen surface appears to be a light matte finish nicely minimizing glare. The controls allow for all the normal screen color brightness, contrast, hue...adjustments etc but mine looked good in a room full of windows with the factory default settings, which were all centered: unlike some other products I've purchased that come with brightness at full to look normal, this screen has some reserve.

We bought this for my mom who is in her 80's who needs a no fuss bigger screen to see all the family photos, that will turn on and off a preset times as she lives in a one room apartment retirement community. But we liked this one so much we will be buying another of the same size.

A mistake I made was thinking this had an timer on / off function (turns out you can add it easily for free with firmware upgrade). I figured I'd call customer support anyway to see if a firmware update had addressed it and it had. Jeff in customer support walked me through the entire surprisingly easy process. Go to the Nixplay (your screen here x15D https://support.nixplay.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003131986) Firmware update and download your frames firmware to a USB. Turn off your screen with manual switch. Plug in the USB with new firmware. Turn screen on, option to update firmware shows up on screen, use remote to select update firmware. It took about 15 seconds to update the firmware. Then turn off screen and unplug device from wall (I had to unplug from wall to get new drivers to load). Replace firmware USB with your Photo USB, replug into wall and turn screen back on. Your done. It even saved all my clock settings...Then in setup go to the Sleep column. Note: Start time is for start of sleep. And End time is for end of sleeping. I did it backwards and it took me a while to figure out why it wasn't working.

You can find your needed firmware version in the frame Menu at bottom under "About". Note my screen was X15D-01 (you need to know if it is -01,-02, or -03 product), and my old firmware was version 1.18. The new firmware was version 1.39 from June or July of 2017. Also note the only way I could get the screen out of the "About" section was to manually turn the screen off and then on (a bug). Later learned that the return button on remote works back pushing the screen button does not. The new firmware with timer on/off functions also had a few other nice adds such as more choices on how long to show a photo or how long to sleep were added.

So Pleased, we are going to buy another second one for ourselves. The only remaining question is how long will it last, as there are not a bunch of reviews with dead photo frames I feel pretty good about that too.
2642853
After a few failed attempts with other video-editing packages, I was pleasantly surprised with VS8. All I was looking for was some easy-to-use, **stable** software to convert unwatchable raw home videos into something more palatable on DVD. For this, the most important tool is cutting out the unwanted video sections; VS8 is good at this task, allowing you to quickly pick and delete sections of the raw footage. VS8 also provides a decent package of effects, filters, audio, and overlay capability; IMO, this is sufficient to keep the amateur video buff happy for years to come. However, the implementation of it's features are a bit quirky; Ulead could improve by embracing standard Window's editing semantics. The quick run-down:

Pros:

- Stability!! This is by far the most important question when shopping for a video editor and, at least for me, VS8 is perfect.

- Pretty good tutorial included.

- Quick, easy editing of raw video.

- Lots of fun, easy-to-add effects.

- Easy to add video overlays, text, narration, and music.

- Greatly exceeds the needs of the home video artist.

- Intelligent DVD burner; after rendering for an hour, but targeting the wrong drive, it didn't start over when I changed to the correct drive.

Cons:

- Missing basic cut and paste capability for clips.

- Instead of using standard Windows look and feel, the program takes over the whole screen and implements functions in it's own quirky way.

Bottom line: the pros overwhelm the cons.
71382
I tried a few products before settling on this one, including the Microsoft Movie Maker, and Nero Vision Xtra.  Neither product would install properly on my system.  The free trail version of the Sony product installed cleanly.  I built a few sample movies and was sold.

This product is easy to use, so do not be put off by all the specifications and complexity.  You will be able to make a simple movie quickly with still images, video and music sound track.  Just drag and drop the JPEG files, AVI files, and MP3 files onto the timeline.  If you overlap the ends of the media, they will automatically mix into each other.

I recommend you download the free, two week version of this, and try to make a 1 or 2 minute movie.  I quickly became quite expert in it after that.

Let's talk about HIGH DEF.  This is a very important feature in my opinion.  I do not have a Blu-Ray burner yet.  But I still could make high def movies for uploading to youtube and for playing on my HDTV.  Just set the project properties to 1920x1080i-60 when you build the movie.

Second stage:  Render the movie.  Try the Render menu item (File, Render) and make a high def .WMV file.  You don't have to have a Blu-Ray burner - just play it back on your PC, with the video output going to your HDTV.  It looks stunning.

Burn to Disk - Sure, Grandma will still need a regular standard Def DVD.  You can build titles and Chapters with this amazing tool.  When you "Make Movie" and create the CD, set the MPG file settings to 1440x1080.  You will still get pretty good DVD Widescreen resolution.

Also, search YouTube for examples and help.  Have fun - this is the best Sony product I have ever owned.
4710244
Saw the Illooms LED balloons at a store and bought some to try. Once we saw how they looked, went back and bought about 60 (blue) for our recent Halloween party.

Great product! They made a very memorable effect for our party, and I am already thinking of new ways to use them.

Of the 60, had zero duds. A few of them didn't light up immediately upon removing the activation strip, but I found squeezing or tapping the light pack a few times did the trick.

And it is now 15 days after the party, and the LEDs are *still* glowing.

Here's some things to keep in mind when using this great product:

- They are not brilliant, that is, the light is not strong. It is a single LED (powered by two batteries, hence the long life) and easily overcome by indoor lighting. Outside at night they are wonderful, but inside with lighting they are just more balloons. Plan accordingly. You could however do a dramatic lighting effect with LED balloons in a lit room, then kill the lights and reveal their glow.

- The instructions are very clear about the correct inflation size, and the balloons even come with a "belly band" to give you the correct inflation diameter. I over-inflated one by about 30% and it popped, all the rest were fine.

- The battery/light pack is attached to the inside of the balloon at the end opposite from the mouth. Thus, inflated balloons want to orient with the mouth upward. (Note that all my experience is with air inflation, not helium.) And the light pack is just heavy enough to keep the balloons in place on the ground in a light to moderate breeze. I used them as path markers across the dark back yard, and the effect was marvelous, looking quite a bit like runway landing lights. I tried them on water, and the "ballast" of the light pack keeps them from skittering around too much. You could put some in a swimming pool to wonderful effect. And we had some hanging out in the shower stall for a while.

- Properly inflated, the balloons are pretty durable. I had them hanging by strings from trees, bundled in bunches like grapes, and resting upon the ground. Kids were kicking them and picking them up and carrying them around and bonking each other with them, and only a few burst and at that after more handling than most balloons would stand.

- I had a few (less than 5%) that exhibited some shrinkage during the night. Interestingly, these were all ones that were resting upon the ground. As they slowly lost air they resembled strange blue body organs, and people had a good time squeezing them and making them pulse. I experimented with untying and re-inflating some of these, and was able to do so. The balloons looked so wonderful I left them hanging after the party, and days later most of them were still inflated -- it was only after about a week of freezing nights that they started to shrivel.

- The little battery/light packs are themselves fun. On the nights after the party, I used some to stud a jack-o-lantern and it looks wonderful. Since they last a long time, plan ahead for other uses for the LED lights!

- As mentioned above it is now more than two weeks after the party and the LEDs are still glowing, not as brightly as the first night but very apparent.

Every single person who saw these was fascinated with them and at first thought that I had put glow sticks inside the balloons. I kept one of the (glowing) light packs in my pocket to show them the mechanism, and also demonstrated how the balloons were activated by simply pulling out the strip. (It is fun to cup the glowing balloon in your hands as you blow it up, then revealing it as it swells - I call it "the efflorescing of the spirit".) Blowing one up then releasing it to flobber around in the dark was always a hit. I sent kids home with balloons for nightlights.

All in all a wonderful product. I hung them singly and in clusters, sometimes draped with clear plastic, and they made an eerie and spooky effect that many people commented upon. I look forward to using them for many another party and theatrical production.
2035415
I had been looking at options for a lightbox to photograph items on my blog and found this lovely item and was impressed!  I had seen ways to make your own at home, but what I appreciate about Foldio is that it is portable.  If I want to blog or snap pics of items elsewhere, I have the option to fold this up and go!  Set up is fairly easy, watch the video a few times and you will be set.  The backdrops are solid as well, similar to foam sheets you see in craft stores and also fold up well within the Foldio without creasing.  The row of LED lights are bright and creates even lighting while photographing.  Be aware that the lights do reflect on shiny surfaces and you will get the dots on the item you are  photographing.  The price was worth paying to have the portability of this lightbox.
2423359
Power Director 11 is a a nice upgrade from Power Director 10. I had several crashes trying to use Power Director 10, but haven't experienced the same problem with Power Director 11. I did have one problem trying to load a long video where the software seemed to quit. I stopped the program, restarted and had no more problems.

The creative packs that come on Disc 2 are wonderful. The software decides how to segment your movie and add interesting animation and music. I was very impressed. Sometimes I like to make my own edits and add additional material, but the packs make it easy to make a professional looking video with much less work. They are particularly useful for holiday and special occasion videos like weddings.

I liked Power Director 10 for all the effects. Power Director 11 is even better. Some of the bugs have been removed and for me, the program worked beautifully. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a video editing program with lots of flexibility.
648291
I was hesitant to buy this product, having had a less-than-wonderful experience with an older but similar product a few years ago. However, after reading the massive review and technical support document posted by A. Koziol, I downloaded the drivers as he suggested, THEN bought this product.

Once current drivers were in place, installation was fairly easy. I only had to tweak one configuration item (changing video from PAL or whatever the default was to NTSC), adjust the line in volume, and I was good to go. Transferring from VHS using the onboard recording app was quick and easy, and the video transfer was as clean as the VHS image. The video format was easy to import to my usual video editing program (Magix Movie Edit Pro, which can be picky sometimes about video formats).

Good, relatively inexpensive hardware. I'll repeat the caveat in the review's title: Go read A. Koziol's review first, find out where the most current drivers are, and then you should be ready to install this capture cable. Here's the link to his review:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R13EG4HUZZRZBW/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B000O5RIWO&nodeID=172282&store=electronics
2616008
I'll admit I'm not an expert on projectors but I am an active user of an older one that is significantly out of date.  With that caveat I'll say I fell in love with this projector.

The signal was crisp and clear and worked even with lots of ambient light in the room.  No need to dim the lights for everyone to see what you are projecting.  The projector is relatively lightweight and the controls were straightforward and obvious.  In particular I liked the fact you didn't have to go through some song and dance to shut it down and not crack the lamp.  A simple off switch suffices.

The connectors on this device are amazing:  VGA, S-Video and RCA as well as HDMI.  Ironically no DVI direct support but converters are easy to come by.  What was really cool about this is support for a PC or a Mac to connect via a standard USB cable.  When you connect the projector via USB (cord is not included) the projector mounts as a flash drive and includes the software to present video and audio directly through that USB cable.  No need to carry a series of adapters with you!  I noticed a slight degradation in quality doing presentations this way  but that's probably due to the increased processing required to output via a USB cable.
Some other value added features are the ability to customize the splash screen/screen saver with a logo (great for business) as well as a USB port to hook up a flash drive to do a presentation without a computer which is awesome for not having to worry about bringing your laptop to a presentation or making sure it doesn't go to sleep, get an embarrassing email, etc.

The included bag is of no value.  It provides no protection and I'd be concerned it will rip over time--it's the same thickness and materials of a reusable grocery bag.  Not bad, but not something I'd trust to protect an expensive projector.
Bright, flexible and lightweight are the three key features of this handy projector and now my trusted friend at work.  Goodbye inFocus from the late 20th century!
1315862
I've been using Pinnacle for a couple years.  This software is outstanding.  Extremely powerful, yet reasonably intuitive to use.  After learning a few basics, you're off and running to create powerful effects -- from corporate videos to very cool home videos.

Good points:

- Imports video nicely from dv camera

- Breaks video up into scenes automatically for you

- Easy drag, drop, cut, etc. to get just what you want into the timeline

- Easy to modify the volume on the soundtrack and to add a music track and/or voiceover

- Very powerful transitions -- the cool things you insert between segments of the video to make people say "wow, cool, how'd you do that"... you just drop them between scenes in your timeline and it does the rest

- Preview without rendering time

- If you want to dig deeper, you can -- title tools, transition effects can be highly customized, panning photos, etc.

Drawbacks:

- It's not a super high end product at this price -- there's only a couple audio tracks for instance.

- I've had trouble with it on older hardware (more than a couple years).  When you have hardware conflicts, it is terrible.  It seems to randomly freeze and hang your machine, you lose your work, etc.  It's awful.  That probably accounts for most of the negative reviews.

However, if your hardware will run it you will love this and be a great video editor in no time.
1589327
Overall, this LG Cinema Screen is pretty fantastic. The TV has its shortcomings, but they are few and far between.

What I found that was most impressive was the unit's overall construction. First off, it looks beautiful and feels solidly built for such a thin unit (it measures about 1/2" thick at the top). The stand did feel a bit cheap and plastic-ky, for lack of a better term. Though, the stand itself gets brownie points because it look cool, not that looks are everything. I think its designers sacrificed functionality for aesthetics here. That said, it seems to hold structurally.

Performance is what really matters, and this unit delivers for the most part. The picture is bright with vivid colors, and comes within 1/2" of the bezel. In full 1080p, coupled with "TruMotion" 240Hz technology, the set delivers brilliantly, especially on sports broadcasts such as NASCAR and NBA action. Audio is crisp as well.

The unit comes with a 2D to 3D that renders regular broadcasts to 3D content. It's a nice feature, but I found myself not using it very often. Even with the feature off, there is a hint of 3D trying to come out of the 2D picture. A little eye-straining for the sensitive. You will get used to it, though. To fully enjoy 3D, you need a bonafide 3D broadcast or you'll be asking for more eye strain. Definitely not a deal-breaker.

Connect this guy to the internet (built-in WiFi, woo hoo!) and you have unlocked a whole new set of features. WiFi is very easy to set up (You need an existing WiFi network.) The app I find most-used is Netflix. There are other bells and whistles which I didn't find as useful, for which you may find hours of pleasure.

Now, the remote. At first glance, I thought the "magic remote" was pretty cool. It works almost like a mouse with only a few buttons, and is very intuitive. You won't need a Ph. D to figure out how to use it, except if you want to switch your picture from a 4:3 to 16:9. I'd like a single button on the remote for oft-used features instead of having to navigate with a wand. Blame me, I never got my invitiation to attend Hogwarts.

So more on the wand: When watching a streaming video, you'll have to point the arrow to the pause button on-screen to pause the video. It's annoying at first, but something that you'll just have to get used to. It doesn't seem as easy to control as, say, a Wiimote (with which I can Wingardium Leviosa with ease, btw). Finally, what happens when this remote gets lost? I am doubtful a universal remote would be able to offer the same features.

A quick note on the 3D glasses. Good choice here. No batteries, and they are very light and not as dorky looking as others on the market. They are lightweight and could be seen as a little flimsy, but not much different that something Disney would hand you at Captain E-O.

Overall, I give this TV 4 stars. It's beautiful to look at, but exterior aesthetics aren't everything. Picture quality is good. If you're a big sports fan, you'll love it. Set up is easy, and at 240Hz with a Dual Core and built-in WiFi, it's at the top of the heap. Just be wary of the "novelty" remote. Or see if Hermione can give you a few pointers.
2776782
These are superb and the results have been equally outstanding. I take quite a lot of close ups and use a series of Macro lenses and filters to capture minute detail of intricate jewelry. I adore the effects of reflective boards and have found out that like most any product, not all of them are created equal. The mirror finish and well saturated color of these reflective display boards are superb. The makes for excellent reflective effects without distortion - saving me time in Photoshop which is always appreciated. I came across these while looking around for a set of new ones. I spent a good deal of time comparing these types of boards and based on the glowing reviews of others and the very affordable cost purchased a set and am sure glad I did:

* Great Quality thick and even

* Double sided means one reflective side and one matte finish.

* Easy to transport they fit well into my larger camera bag

* Nice when used with a Light box or small tent set - up equally effective without.

* Easy clean with Micro-fiber (don't use spray cleaners!)

Having both the white and black and the option of reflective or matte makes this set, especially at such a great discount a superb deal. Free two day Prime shipping makes this buy just that much sweeter.

Highest Recommendation.
2255982
The Ohuhu Romantic Relax Ocean Wave LED Light Projector is very relaxing. I like it a lot; hubby thinks it's okay. There are several color choices: multicolor, a couple multicolor changing effects, solid blue, solid green, solid red, a flash effect, a fade effect (this one isn't real obvious). All of the lights project a continually moving, oceany, wave-like display on your ceiling.  I like to leave it on solid blue waves.  The wave effect also reminds me of an aurora.

The Ocean Wave projector has a built in mini-speaker. Use the included audio cable to play music  from your MP3 player,  tablet or PC, etc. The mini-speaker sounds surprisingly nice for the price point. It has a nice, clear sound.

This light would be great for baby's room. You can choose whichever lighting effect that will soothe your baby & play lullabies over the mini-speaker.  The light automatically shuts off after one hour. As far as I can tell, this feature can't be disabled.

The light can be powered using the included USB cable or the included AC adapter. It can also be powered by 4 AA batteries. Batteries are not included. I haven't installed any batteries, but at different times I  powered it with my laptop, with an external battery pack & I've also used the AC adapter. I like having all these choices!

There are 3 buttons on the front: volume up, volume down, & on/off.  The on/off button also controls the light modes. Just keep pressing it to choose the effect/color that you prefer.

As I mentioned earlier, the light automatically shuts off after one hour.

Includes:
Ocean Wave Projector
 1 x Audio Cable
 1 x USB AC Cable
 1 x AC Adapter

There were no instructions in the box.

review sample provided
444253
I have been using this for 3 years and made sound tracks with complicated audio effects that have been a delight to develop in this system, syncing to video. I have run into the occaisional shut downs but found a way past it and never lost anything. True, it seemed IK Media wouldn't work, but even without it, i have many resources available to use and am thankful there is a workable editor of this sophistication at under $400.
752471
This product was purchased for my daughter to use with both her laptop and her desk top.  Such a COOL product!  The eyes light up and dim just like Iron Man in the movies.  There is no delay in action while being used either. Its very responsive to the finest touch.  I hope they look into making more characters soon because I plan on getting the whole dang collection!  Great job on product development guys!