Archos 5

Shortcomings limit media player's true potential



THE NEW ARCHOS 5 is the most stylish of the company's media devices. It looks great, comes loaded with features, and performs well. But several flaws hold it back from being the outstanding player it could be.

The device is controlled mainly via its touch screen, a fantastic 4.8-inch, 800x480 display that's bright and clear. The Archos 5 can play back photos, video, music, and PDF files, and it can surf the Web via its Opera browser. It also supports Flash 9, widgets, and an e-mail application. When it comes to media playback, the Archos 5 supports a variety of file formats in addition to often-used ones like MP3 and WMV, and with its built-in Wi-Fi connection, the Archos 5 can stream music and video from Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) servers on your network, as well as music from Internet radio stations.

Both the screen and body design, however, are prone to fingerprints, and unfortunately, the Archos 5 features an entirely new proprietary connector—if you're upgrading from an older Archos player, your accessories will be rendered useless. Be prepared to shell out more money if you want to take advantage of new add-ons. Also, despite the player's many great features, we were disappointed that we couldn't charge it using a standard USB cable. If you are on the go and forget your proprietary cable at home, you're out of luck.


We realize that the Archos 5 needs special connectors for its hardware add-ons, but a standard mini-USB port for charging and PC- and Mac-compatible data transfer would help a lot. —Rich Grech

Computer Shopper March 2009

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NEC NP61

Full-auto projector takes sweat out of presentations



DON'T WANT TO FUSS setting up a presentation projector? NEC's fully automatic NP61 is for you. Just plug it in, connect a laptop, and it's ready to go. No fiddling with input buttons, focus controls, keystone correction—nothing.

At $1,299, the compact NP61 isn't cheap, but it's appropriately priced for a 3.5-pound portable model with a native XGA (1,024x768) resolution. An instant-off feature lets you turn it off and pack it up immediately without a lamp-cooling period. Should you need to make an adjustment, its controls are on the top of the unit.

NEC claims the NP61 can be placed as close as 4.8 feet from a wall or as far as 44 feet away to produce an image of 33 inches to 300 inches (diagonal). Its Digital Light Processing (DLP) engine is rated at 3,000 lumens with a contrast ratio of 1,600-to-1.

That's bright enough to use even in a well-lit room. In our tests, we placed the NP61 112 inches from the screen to create an 80-inch image. Image quality was excellent. In a medium-lit room, the image was very bright.



Photo and video images were a touch darker than they appeared on our laptop screen, but they still looked impressive. Our only real disappointment is that the monaural speaker delivered, at best, low volume. Also, the constant whir of the projector's fan is noticeable, and it may even grow annoying to the person adjacent to it. Setting the projector to economy mode drops the noise level to about 5dB while delivering an image that's still plenty bright. —Jamie Bsales

Computer Shopper March 2009

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Eurocom L390TP Uno

All-in-one has limited abilities, but needs little space, electricity



EUROCOM'S L390TP UNO is an all-in-one PC that spurns TV capabilities in favor of simple PC functionality. (A tuner is an option in other configurations; none was included in our $1,750 test model.)

The system's distinguishing feature is its 19-inch touch screen, but the screen's shortcomings make the Uno seem more like a tablet PC with desktop pretensions. For instance, you can use a finger to navigate the screen, but you'll find the system better suited to tried-and-true pointing devices.

Since the panel has no digitizer, you'll need practice to master the precise movements necessary. Plus, it takes quite a bit of force to activate buttons (and patience to cope with a jittery mouse cursor).

At 12.Sx18x2.7 inches (HWD), however, the Uno could be a space-saving option for those living in cramped quarters. It's also wall-mountable. Lightweight (20 pounds) and convenient to carry, it's easily transportable between rooms. Eurocom also touts the compact system as extremely energy-efficient and claims it pulls a maximum of just 70 watts of power.

The nun-of-the-mill components include a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, a DVD±RW drive, and an integrated Webcam; the OS is the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Business.



You do get lots of connectivity options: a multiformat card reader, an ExpressCard slot, USB, four-pin FireWire, HDMI, external SATA, and more. But the Uno's performance is mostly unexceptional, lagging behind HP's TouchSmart line of PCs, which feature a more exciting and useful implementation of touch technology. If space and power usage are concerns, the Uno might be sensible; just don't expect it to be a powerful, well-rounded problem solver. —M.M

Computer Shopper March 2009

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Sony VAIO VGC-RT150Y

Outstanding performance, exorbitant price



MOST OF THE TV-FOCUSED all-in-ones we've seen so far have been more about potential than performance. All have offered basic Media Center functionality, and some have aimed slightly higher, but to accomplish any serious tasks, you've generally had to look elsewhere. Sony is trying to capture the enthusiast sector of the all-in-one market with its very appealing, high-end VAIO VGC-RT150Y, which has many of the benefits of other do-it-all systems at a price we can charitably describe as prohibitive.

First, the good news. The VGC RT150Y, which is equally well-designed inside and out, seems poised to fit into any user's lifestyle or décor. The 17.3x26.1x9.3-inch (11WD) unit is solid black and has sharp-angled corners, the embodiment of I-mean-business elegance. The only colors come from the white Sony logo—which glows when the PC is turned on—and the screen itself, an attractive, glossy 25.5-inch expanse.

You can place the system on either the desk, using the included stand, or on the wall with the help of the included VESA mounting bracket. The components, too, are unusually serious for an all-in-one: a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 processor, 8GB of DDR2 RAM, two 500GB hard drives in a RAID Level 0 configuration, a Blu-ray burner and DVD±RW combo drive, and 512MB of Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics. The system was designed with video editing in mind, so its components are not exactly surprising—nor are the media features that complete the package. Of course, there's a dual-band (ATSC/NTSC) TV tuner for capturing video.

The OS is the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate, providing backup features beyond those included in Home Premium. You get four separate card readers for importing content: ExpressCard, CompactFlash, Memory Stick Pro, and SD, all aligned on the display's left edge. Other connectivity options are just as plentiful: four-pin FireWire, USB, external SATA, headphone, microphone, and audio-input jacks, also on the left side; two more USB ports on keys (which double as touch volume controls), and OK button let you interact with the display's settings as if it were a full- fledged TV.

A toggle switch near the bottom of the screen lets you switch off the built-in 802.11a/b/g/n Wi Fi, and a button below lets you connect to the wireless mouse and keyboard. Sony takes things still further with software, offering not just the expected (trial versions of Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Works, and Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007) and its own proprietary media software (for burning discs, creating movies, and streaming music and other media), but also full versions of Adobe's major consumer editing apps, Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements.

These packages give you a lot more functionality than just about any free software we've seen and are exactly what someone serious about using the VGC-RT150Y would need. Running them shouldn't be a problem: While the Sony displayed very good image quality while watching high-definition Blu-ray movies, it also placed consistently near the top in our all-in one and media-PC rankings.

Usually, only better-equipped—and pricier—PCs can turn in results as good as the VGC-RT150Y's 11,164 in the 64-bit version of Cinebench 10, 3 minutes and 58 seconds with Windows Media Encoder, the right side; and an A/V input, S-Video, infrared transmitter out, optical out, Ethernet, two more USB ports, HDMI out, and HDMI in.

The system allows for easy control over all its functions, most of which you can manage from the right edge of the display. At the top is a power button, and immediately below it is a button that will turn off just the display, leaving the PC on. Below that are the optical drive and then the HDMI-select button, for choosing to accept input from the HDMI port instead of from the PC. The display menu, arrow all on the rear of the unit.



3 minutes in our Mines conversion test, and 5,242 in Futuremark PCMark Vantage. This system excels within its class. Still, the $3,999 price is excessive even by all-in-one standards and not quite in line with what the system delivers. (HP's TouchSmart IQ816, by way of comparison, has the same-size screen and a Blu-ray reader—and costs $2,099.) Unless you desperately need or want the Sony brand, you're better off buying an even more powerful desktop and connecting it to an HD-ready monitor of this size or larger—you'll spend less money, even counting the Adobe software, a Blu-ray burner, and more. We love the VGC-RT150Y's power and extensibility, but we can't blindly recommend it unless you have money to burn. —Matthew Murray

Computer Shopper March 2009

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Canon PowerShot SX10 IS

Excellent single-lens solution for photo enthutiast

THE CANON POWERSHOT



SX10 IS ultrazoom digital camera offers an impressive 20x optical zoom lens. This 10-megapixel model's focal length of 28mm to 560mm resembles that of a digital single-lens-reflex (dSLR) camera and gives one-lens convenience for everything from group shots to wildlife photography.

The SX10 IS resembles a small SLR, with a large grip on the right holding four AA batteries. The 2.S-inch LCD may seem small compared with the 3-inch screens on some competing cameras, but it can swing out and swivel to shoot from unusual angles.

Overall, still-image quality is excellent. Details are very sharp, and colors are accurate without being overly vibrant. Noise levels are very low, yet little detail is lost to in-camera sharpening at higher ISO settings. The camera's optical image stabilization remained effective even at the farthest reaches of the zoom range.

We did notice some chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in areas of high contrast, but this was mostly evident when we zoomed in on deep or heavily cropped images. Also, we found that skies and other bright image elements were sometimes blown out in our shots. One other nit: The SX10 IS captures 10-megapixel, 3,648x2,736-pixel images in JPEG format only; there's no RAW support.

As for speed, the camera takes 1.6 seconds to start up. Shutter lag was well under a tenth of a second in our tests. The camera shoots 1.4 images per second in continuous-shooting mode; normal shot-to-shot delay is about 1.8 seconds. The SX10 IS will also shoot VGA-resolution video at 30 frames per second.



There's a dedicated Record button for video, and the resulting Quick-Time-format movies look good, though we noted an audible clicking sound in the video if we changed the zoom level while filming. The VGA-quality video isn't as impressive, however, as video from comparable cameras that shoot HD footage, including the similar Canon SX1 IS, which hasn't yet been released to the North American market. (One other interesting video feature: You can shoot full-resolution stills while recording video, though the image will black out for a second while the photo is captured.)
Overall, the SX10 IS is a marked improvement over earlier cameras in Canon's ultra-zoom line, offering a very flexible zoom range and shooting options, plus overall good image quality.—Denny Atkin

Computer Shopper March 2009

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SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-T77

Sony's Sexy Cyber-Shot




In simple terms, the DSC-T77 is a beauty. Its compact design, metallic features, and touch screen make it feel like a luxury item. Aside from color fringing in the corners of images, most users will find this camera's shots dazzling.

The DSC-T77's 3-inch LCD touch screen is very responsive, and the uses interface is more intuitive than those of competing touchscreen models, such as the Nikon Coolpix S60 and the Kodak EasyShare v1073. But as with any camera that employs a touch screen, battery life suffers.

The T77 has a very slim build, measuring just 2.4 by 3.8 by 1.3 inches (1-1WD), but feels rock solid. The lens has a focal range of 6.18mm to 24.7mm, with corresponding maximum f-stops of f/3.1 and f/5.9, and a 4X optical zoom. Sony has jam-packed this shooter with features, including face and smile detection, an assortment of in-camera editing options, and fun effects like soft focus, fish-eye lens, radial blur, and retro.

TheT77 is also a reasonably quick camera, with good boot and recycle times (and little shutter lag). Sony's touch-screen interface works well, displaying a lot of information without overcrowding. Sony also includes physical buttons for the most commonly used operations: on/off, shutter release, playback/ shoot, and zoom in/out. As with most point-and- shooters, you'll find distortion at both ends of the lens, but no more than is tolerable. In the wide-angle position, barrel distortion is evident.



At the full telephoto position, there's a bit of pincushion distortion. Video shot with the177 looked and sounded good, but I wish it could record widest Teen SD video. Also, battery life was much shorter than expected.

Overall, the 177 offers good speed, solid imagery, and exciting in-camera editing tools. Just don't forget to bring along an extra battery.-PJ Jacobowitz

PC Magazine February 2009

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MITSUBISHI XD500U-ST

Big Pictures for Small Rooms



Mitsubishi calls the XD500U-ST an ultra-short-throw projector. I'd call it a short-throw projector instead, but the truth is there's no hard-and-fast definition for either term. Whatever you call it, it's a more than reasonable choice for anyone who needs an XGA (1,024-by-768) projector that can project a fairly large image in a tight space.

This projector displayed our 2-meter-wide (98-inch diagonal) test image from just 4 feet 6 inches away. That's a lot closer than the 9 to 13 feet that most projectors need, but it's still more than the 15 inches needed by our current Editors' Choice in this category, the Hitachi CP-A100.

Yet one clear advantage the XD500U-ST has over the Hitachi unit is portability. At 4.0 by 13.1 by 9.8 inches (I1WD) and 7.3 pounds, you might not want to lug it with you on regular basis, but it's small and light enough to bring along at least occasionally. There are also plenty of connection options, including two VGA, one pass-through VGA, S-Video, composite video, RCA phone, USI3, and a stereo mini jack.



On my tests, setup was easy, with the projector automatically syncing perfectly with the incoming signal. And you can unplug the projector and pack it up as soon as you power off, a nice feature. Although the menus and controls are somewhat obscure and the image quality suffers from a few (relatively minor) shortcomings, this is a more than reasonable choice for those who need a projector for cramped spaces.—M. David Stone

PC Magazine February 2009

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