JVC HR-S7600U S-VHS (Super VHS) VCR

I got this VCR for a steal of a price from a flea market vendor. Although it had no remote, but being JVC brand, I figured I could find one easily on the web which I did. I had been looking for a higher grade of VCR for dubbing family VHS tapes to DVDs for friends and family. I had priced out the high definition (HD) versions and found them to be a bit out of my price range at the moment. But when I saw this S-VHS model for a great price, I jumped on it. I'm sure glad I did!

This VCR makes all of my tapes look better...from my home made music video party tapes that were recorded on a cheap old HQ machine in the late 80s and early 90s to store bought music video and concert VHS tapes. The audio is excellent and the automatic tracking works very good.

I have been dubbing from this to my Samsung DVD recorder (which I will be posting a review for shortly) and the recordings look great too. My family and friends are super happy to see their cherished videos once again!

If you're comparing different models, I can tell you that I had the S3600U model for a short while (also a deal I couldn't pass up, but I sold it) and compared that and this one side by side. This model is much more sturdy and well-built and seems like it will last much longer than the 3600. I believe this is because the 3600 is a more entry level model in S-VHS.

If you see one of these 7600 models around for a good price, go for it! And if there's no remote, don't worry about it, they can be had for under $10 online.

Memorex MMP8568-ACM (1 GB) MP3 Player

It's a reasonable little player, although I don't think I would have been happy paying the full $70 price. At the sale price I paid of $35 I can't complain too much.

Let's start with the positives...

-Nice size and super lightweight

-Hold button so you can pop it into your pocket or purse and not accidentally hit buttons

-Decent enough memory with 1gb

-Shuffle play mode so it plays all of my music in random order

-Easy to load music on and off of...you can use Windows Media Player to sync music

-Battery lasts a pretty long time...sometimes I play it at work all day and it goes for almost 8 hours

-It's preloaded with lots of music...I plugged it in in the car when I bought it and it was cool to hear it right away...definitely good for someone who doesn't want to mess around with it too much right away (such as non-technical people or kids)

-Nice durable burgundy and black rubber design


Okay and now the down and dirty details (negatives)...

-Have to hit buttons sometimes three times before getting a response...I think this is due to the fact that the screen goes off while it's playing...kindof a sleep mode, which does save on battery though

-Can only charge via USB...although you can get those USB plugs now for the car and home

-Preloaded music cannot be removed

-No accessories specifically designed for it, but you can find cases and other items that are made for Nano players and other similarly sized models

Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner

In the market for a scanner? This was one that caught my eye recently and fulfilled my need of scanning medium format negatives.


Reasons I chose this model

• Trusted Epson brand name
• Ability to scan medium format negatives
• 6400 x 9600 dpi resolution
• High speed usb 2.0

The good:

I have used this scanner thus far to scan a multitude of 120 (medium format) film negatives and positives. It has a black plastic tray to hold the film. I used that several times, but it covered the top and bottom of the film with the edges of the holder (it has a fold down top and scans two square 6x6 images at a time or one 6x12)). I would rather show these edges in my scans, so I figured out a way to use a piece of matboard (readily available to me since I'm a picture framer ;-) with a hole cut large enough for the film edges to show and a notch at the end where the scanner "registers" just before scanning the film. It has worked perfectly since then, showing the edges of the film as I had intended. I have been scanning two images at a time and they process at 1200 dpi in about 1 1/2 minutes...the speed of light compared to my last Epson 2400 scanner!

I have seen others refer to other software they prefer to run these scanners, but I find the Epson software fairly intuitive. I use the included software set to the "Professional" mode and deselect the "thumbnail" preview.

I will post regarding scanning of 35mm negatives and regular photographs in the near future...I'm very involved with the 120 film at the moment, so I haven't gotten to anything else as of yet. Check back soon for more information!

The bad:

Thumbnail preview doesn't recognize many images, so I just turn this option off. Simply use the marquee selection tool provided in the software to select one or more images to scan.

The ugly:

I've only had the scanner about a week and a half, so haven't found any real issues as of yet that I can't find a workaround for. I will post anything in the future if it arises.