For 7 years now (or close to it) I have been the extremely proud owner of Rotel audio equipment and I don’t think I could ever go to another brand. The solidity, quality of sound, relatively low price (around $2000 per unit – not bad in the audiophile market) and the fact that they hold their value well… makes these beauties worth every penny.

The Rotel that I currently use as my core entertainment unit is pretty old now so it doesn’t have the HMDI inputs and TrueHD decoding, however, it does a phenomenal job of DTS EX and Doly Digital 5.1. Simply put, I can’t recommend it enough and I have found it on ebay for as little as $600 USD including shipping (it is a beast at 20+lbs). Here it is in case any of you want to make a worthwhile upgrade to your home system:

Rotel RSX-1056

(you can click the rear shot for a larger view)

I used to have this receiver matched with a heart-wrenchingly beautiful set of  B&W 805 speakers (aka dream speakers – the same they use at the Abbey Road studio) which I sold a couple years back because I knew my new wife and I would have a little one running around soon. Here is a shot of them except mine were a beautiful chestnut color… I will revisit this page every once in a while to remember and dream so this is mostly for my own delight.

These 805′s produced sound that rendered many of the cds I had new again. Yes, I said new. Every song came alive with sounds that I had never heard before on the radio or on my older set of speakers. These speakers were an absolute pleasure to own – even if I was constantly a little paranoid about anything happening to them

Anyway, I mostly posted this for myself so that someday, worst comes to worst, I could look back at this fondly. I also figured it might give one or two people that last push to get a Rotel or a B&W speaker set.

As many who know me know, I have been slobbering over the idea of the Nikon D300 for a very long time; the incessant drool was quite comical – I am sure. Well, when I barely missed getting a used (meticulously cared for) D300 for just $750 I couldn’t stand the loss. It was then that my droolish desire became an obsession!!!

As a result, I used my considerable search skills to hunt and hunt and hunt for bargains while becoming intimately familiar with all of the upsides and downsides of the D300. Well, it didn’t take long before I realized that I could no longer get the D300 new and used versions were simply not a good enough bargain (which further increased my disappointment at my previous loss)… only the newer D300s.

It took some getting used to – that I would have to buy a product that was so new there were practically ZERO price drops anywhere (bare minimums in many cases). I even got close to buying the extremely nice D90… I just couldn’t get past the build quality and the other sweet differences that made the D300s a glory to behold (51 AF points, 7 frames/sec continuous shooting, magnesium-alloy body with “some” weather sealing, dual card slots…)

Anyway, I finally grew too restless and yesterday I came across a sweet deal for a newly opened Demo at Futureshop (I know, I know, I am not a huge fan either) which they were willing to give me for what amounted to $267 off MSRP (or in this case $100 off a matched sale price) and it has all of the warranties intact just as though it came out of the box. That was it… I let the whole idea settle over night and leapt for the deal today….which leads me to the specs for my new beauty, the D300s  :-D

• 13.1 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
• New 720p HD movie mode records video at 1280 x 720 (24 fps) for up to 5 minutes
• 3.0? LCD monitor (920,000 pixels)
• Dust reduction system
• 51 AF points with 3D tracking (faster and more accurate)
• IS0 200-3200 range (6400 expanded)
• 7 frames per second continuous shooting (buffer: 17 RAW, 44 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
• Same EN-EL3e battery as D300 (950 shots per charge )
• 72 thumbnail view in playback
• Supports all Nikkor F-Mount lenses
• Sturdy magnesium alloy body with some weather-sealing; shutter rated at 150,000 cycles
• Live view supported (now with dedicated button)
• Contrast and phase detection AF modes
• Face detection available
• Optical viewfinder has 100% coverage and magnification of 0.94X
• Full manual controls
• ISO range of 100 – 6400 (when fully expanded)
• Shutter speed range of 30 – 1/8000 sec (there’s a bulb mode too)
• RAW and TIFF formats supported
• Quiet Shutter Release feature reduces sound of mirror action
• User now has the ability to bracket for Active D-Lighting, which restores shadow and highlight detail
• Hot shoe and flash sync port plus the ability to control up to 2 sets of wireless flashes
• Stereo microphone input and HDMI port
• Dual memory card slots: CompactFlash and SD/SDHC, with backup and overflow features
• Optional battery grip gives you even greater battery life and faster continuous shooting (8 fps)

I suppose it is needless to say but I am a very very happy photographer… I feel renewed and look forward to getting out and shooting again like a man possessed. See you out there!

PS. thanks to www.d300s.com for the excellent photos and the specs. Great site!

I don’t know about you , but I hate having to deal with wired-only Internet at hotels and when the hotel is charging extra for a wireless connection (the Hyatt is a good example of this). Well, here is the coolest travel gadget I have in my arsenal that I just picked up  yesterday at Micro Center in Santa Clara – the TrendNet 300 Mbs Wireless N Travel Router.

My review of this product is simple… get it! It did the trick for me immediately upon plug-in and I can’t ask for much better than that. The advanced options are significant as well – this is a full featured mini router. Wicked!

Here is a YouTube intro video to give you a better idea of the TrendNet 300Mbs Wireless N Travel Router:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here are the specs for the TrendNet 300Mbs Wireless N Travel Router:

Product Specifications

Well I am sad to say that after 5 years my Panasonic dvd-recorder DRME30 (or something like that) choked and started to act funny. It would cost a bit to fix I expect, even though it ‘likely’ just needs a cleaning. Anyway, Sara and I replaced it with the DRMES15S from Futureshop for an amazing $149.99!! This is a seriously good deal since it does everything my last one did and a little more.

Now it was pretty blatant that it was not created quite as well as the DRME30 (it feels cheaper) but for the price I can’t expect much more; my DRME30 cost A LOT more 5 years ago (I will leave it at that).

Here is the advert:

I just bought this puppy and I am in love with it. I got it from FutureShop.ca and picked it up in store at the local outlet. For $149.99 this player is exceptional.

• 4gb (really 3.8 with main programs loaded)
• a user replaceable lithium ion battery (a huge advantage – most don’t have this)
• micro SD expansion slot for additional memory – WOW this is too cool and very rare
• video at 15fps (not bad actually) – videos longer than 10 min are broken into 10 min segments using the video converter.
• Windows Media Playlist support
• and much more

Highly recommended as a TOTAL STEAL!

Well I lucked out. I paid close attention to the landing page for the HC7 on the Canadian Sony site and was astonished to see that there were models available at select Canadian locations almost a month in advance of the official launch date. Honestly I think I was going nuts waiting for the camera to get released so I felt particularly well off when I caught this aberration. The next day I called the Sony Store in Victoria who earnestly stated the model would not be available for another month (Mar 20). Well they checked into it and were astonished to find the HC7 available at a few stores back East

I dropped my cash, the camera was overnighted and VOILA! I am now a proud owner of the HDR-HC7 – and probably one of the first owners in Canada

Normally I would not be too happy about being the first to purchase a new model of a product… especially one as techy as a High Definition Video camcorder. That said I had just spent literally 10+ hours over the past few weeks researching the best product for my needs and the HC7 appeared again and again as the best buy. Representing the first release from the second generation of consumer-level (read “somewhat affordable”) HD camcorders the HC7 really solved a crap load of issues from the HC3 and its competitor the Canon HV10. So what is it that caught my attention?

The HC7 offers the perfect combination of elements for a newbie like me who wants to have a great camcorder to grow with:

• 1080i – incredible resolution – I took a risk here and figured they would maintain this from the HC3.
• Lux rating of 2 or 4 (depending upon shutter speed): this equals fantastic flexibility for various lighting (!!!)
• Headphone input (!!!)
• Microphone input (!!!)
• HDMI out + MANY other outputs… it is insane how many were packed into this tiny device – I am in AWE
• Hot shoe
• Optical image stabilization: as far as I know this is the first consumer-level Sony HD camcorder ever to have optical stabilization (the previous were all software based)
• Optional manual focus (!!!)
• 10x Zoom
• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens: a fantastic lens according to what I have read
• Excellent ergonomics: Handycams definitely have the comfort level down pat – it fits like a glove
• 6.1 mega pixel still shots using Sony Memory Pro DUO memory cards (I HATE proprietary pushes like the Sony Memory Stick but ultimately the Sony was a clear leader)
• Nightshot (night vision)

There is much much more to this incredible device but I bore easily so… time to play! I am off to Vegas tomorrow morning for a few days and I have decided not to take this puppy with me… sad I know, but I don’t imagine it would be relaxing to walk around with my camcorder everywhere. Especially one this sexy