The most recent articles from Computeract!ve

Review: Sony Cyber-shot T10 digital camera

Gavin Stoker — 2007-01-03T00:00:00.000Z

Gavin Stoker, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 3 January 2007 at 00:00:00

Stylish, credit card-sized 7.2 megapixel, 3x zoom snapshot

You would expect Sony to deliver the goods when it comes to stylish, well-crafted products, and the 7-megapixel Cyber-shot T10 digital compact is no exception.

It features a brushed steel casing and internally stacked 3x optical zoom lens with class-leading Carl Zeiss optics that at no point stands proud of its 21mm-slim body.

There’s also Super Steadyshot technology to avoid image blur when shooting in low light without flash – coupled with a high maximum light sensitivity setting of ISO1000. Close up macro snaps can also be taken 1cm away from your subject.

The lens is protected by a sliding metal faceplate that is easy to open accidentally – and so activate the camera – when sliding in or out of a pocket. Luckily, the camera powers down during periods of inactivity, prolonging the life of its rechargeable battery, good for up to 250 snaps.

As you’d expect from a lifestyle product, the Sony Cyber-shot T10 is very easy to use; slide open that faceplate, whereupon the 2.5in screen that dominates the camera back blinks into life, and point and shoot.

The shooting menu options, shown as a toolbar that runs along the bottom of the screen, are clear and self explanatory, while a press of the screen display button reveals a live histogram, a graph showing the areas of brightness across an image, so that perfectly exposed shots can be achieved.

There’s no optical viewfinder as an alternative means of framing images, just a slider switch above the screen for alternating between image playback or stills and video clip capture. Incidentally, Sony claims the T10 is the first of its compacts to feature a low light movie mode with a usable optical zoom.

Happily there’s no shutter delay to speak of when capturing the action, although the screen blanks out for just over a second while an image is being written to memory – either to its generous 56MB internal, or optional removable media in the shape of Sony’s Memory Stick Duo.

When it comes to image quality, there is some fringing visible between areas of high contrast, though it’s less noticeable than prior generations of Cyber-shots. Image noise also creeps in at ISO320 and above. Colours are more muted than we’ve been led to expect, though there is a ‘Vivid’ option in Program mode if, like us, you prefer greater saturation.

Other than that, pictures are reasonably sharp if there’s plenty of light available, though under direct sunlight there’s some loss of highlight detail (burnt out patches) and occasional lens flare.

While the T10 doesn’t feature anything we haven’t seen before, it looks good, is easy to operate, takes decent pictures and is reasonably swift at processing them. Those who merely want to point and shoot with the minimum of attendant fuss won’t be disappointed, though the flick-open faceplate is love it or hate it.

Also Consider

Casio Exilim Card EX-S770

Casio's desirably slim 7-megapixel compact camera boasting widescreen functionality

Canon Digital IXUS 65

A very stylish 6-megapixel snapshot camera with a large 3in screen and credit-card dimensions.

Nikon Coolpix L5

Sophisticated 7-megapixel snapshot camera with Vibration Reduction and Face Priority focusing

All digital camera reviews.

Review: Kworld DVD Maker USB2 video capture device

Jonathan Parkyn — 2006-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

Jonathan Parkyn, Computeract!ve, Friday 28 July 2006 at 00:00:00

Turn old videotapes into DVDs with this capture box

Looking like an oversized USB key with a bunch of cables dangling off it, Kworld’s DVD Maker USB2 is, in fact, an external video capture device.

On one end it has composite and S-video inputs, as well as a pair of stereo audio-in sockets. At the other end there’s a USB connection and an audio lead.

Plug the latter two into a computer and wire up a camcorder, VHS deck or PVR to the inputs and it will capture analogue video and – assuming you have a DVD burner on your PC – convert it to a shiny digital video disc.

An additional snapshot button on the unit itself is supposed to capture still images in compatible programs such as Paint Shop Pro, but this feature was unreliable and, we found, relatively pointless.

DVD Maker comes with two distinctly separate bits of software. Kworld’s own PVR-Plus application is quite confusing and more than a little irrelevant, since its main function is recording TV programmes, even though the DVD Maker doesn’t actually include a TV tuner.

More useful is the other program - Ulead’s DVD MovieFactory 4 SE. It’s easy to use and can help to cut out a lot of the fiddly bits of DVD creation.

On our first attempt we left everything on the automatic settings and used DVD MovieFactory’s Straight to Disc feature, which allows the user to set a time limit on the video capture and then – theoretically – walk away and let the program make the disc itself.

The results we got, however, were very poor, with blurred movement and other strange visual distortions. It was only when we investigated the advanced options menus and made a few tweaks that we managed to resolve these issues and eventually produce a good quality DVD.

Whether the initial problems were down to the device itself or the Ulead software, it’s difficult to say. That said, we were pretty pleased with the picture quality of the disc we eventually created.

Once we’d sorted everything out, it was clear that churning out further video-to-DVD conversions would be extremely straightforward.

Related reviews

Terratec Grabster AV400

Takes the fuss out of capturing analogue video but it's significantly dearer than Kworld's version

4/5

£99

Review: Terratec Grabster AV400 peripheral

Jonathan Parkyn — 2006-06-23T00:00:00.000Z

Jonathan Parkyn, Computeract!ve, Friday 23 June 2006 at 00:00:00

How does the idea of an easy-to-use video capture device grab you?

When you think how difficult it used to be to convert VHS and other analogue video tapes to DVD, products like Terratec’s Grabster AV400 seem like modern miracles in comparison.

In fact, the Grabster AV400 is a deceptively simple piece of kit.

Plug your analog source (VCR or camcorder) in one end and your computer (via USB) in the other. Then use the supplied software to perform the digital equivalent of holding down pause on one deck and pressing record on the other, just like the old days of tape-to-tape recording.

Once your video has transferred to the computer's hard disk in its entirety, you can either do a spot of home editing using Ulead VideoStudio 7 or burn it straight to disc using Ulead DVD MovieFactory 3.

Both programs are much older than the current shop-bought software versions, but do their respective jobs perfectly well and are easy to use.

The Grabster AV400 is a sleek little brushed aluminium box with composite video, S-video and analogue stereo (red and white) inputs.

Unlike the cheaper Grabster AV150, the AV400 comes with all the cables and Scart adapters. A printed quick start guide is also provided and we were able to set up the unit in a matter of seconds, which surprised even us.

The Grabster is USB powered, so it doesn’t need to be plugged into the mains. It also uses hardware to do all the video digitisation, which means you don’t need a terribly fast computer to capture at DVD quality.

We use the term ‘DVD quality’ advisedly, however.

The device can certainly capture at DVD resolution (720 x 576 pixels), but t he nature of VHS and analogue video in general is that picture and audio quality doesn’t always live up to the high standard of DVD.

It’s a shame Terratec didn’t take the opportunity to incorporate analogue audio and video outputs onto the same device, as it would be useful for some people if video conversion worked both ways.

As it stands, the Grabster AV400 is an extremely straightforward, if slightly expensive, analogue-to-digital video converter.

Related reviews

Terratec Grabster AV150 peripheral

Verdict: The AV400's younger sibling is cheap, cheerful and will capture video well but it isn't fully functional straight out of the box

Rating: 3/5

Price: £40

Review: StorVision MiniVCR SV-1000 peripheral

Jonathan Parkyn — 2006-05-25T00:00:00.000Z

Jonathan Parkyn, Computeract!ve, Thursday 25 May 2006 at 00:00:00

Finally - a simple way to get video onto any portable device

Video recorders come in all shapes and sizes these days, recording digitally to DVDs and hard disks where once they used clunky old VHS cassettes.

The Storvision MiniVCR SV-1000, however, is a new breed of video recorder altogether. This tiny little box actually records video straight to memory cards.

The SV-1000 is aimed mainly at users of portable media players who want to get their favourite programmes from TV onto devices such as enabled iPods or PlayStation Portable. It’ll even work with some mobile phones.

While it might sound very advanced, the SV-1000 is deceptively uncomplicated. It has slots on the front for CompactFlash cards, MicroDrive and Memory Stick Duo, but other types of memory card can be used with an optional adapter.

Set-up simply involves connecting the video inputs and outputs to your TV, VCR or Freeview/satellite box using the cables provided.

A simple (bordering on crude) interface allows you to change a few settings, such as resolution and quality, via a small remote control.

You can then either record directly from your intended source or set the SV-1000’s timer to start recording when a show begins. It records in the MPEG4 file format, so ensure your portable video player supports this.

Owners of Apple’s ubiquitous portable device will have to use a computer as an intermediary to transfer video from memory stick to the iPod’s hard disk, but PSP owners can just pop their memory stick straight in and watch.

Quality is actually pretty good, as long as you’re watching it on a small-screen device, such as a PSP or iPod, rather than a TV. Even at top settings it doesn’t compete with PSP shop-bought UMD (Universal Media Disc) movies, but sound and picture are very watchable nonetheless.

As a bonus, you can also use the MiniVCR to view photos and listen to music stored on memory cards through your TV and/or hi-fi.

Getting video content onto portable devices isn’t currently as straightforward as it should be, so the SV-1000 MiniVCR is a very welcome way of simplifying the process.

It’s a little pricey, but the extra features help make up for it. Just double-check that your portable player can playback MPEG4 format video before you commit.

Related reviews

Terratec Grabster AV150

Verdict: Cheap, cheerful and will capture video fairly easily

Rating: 3/5

Price: £40

Review: Terratec Grabster AV150 peripheral

Simon Williams — 2006-04-18T00:00:00.000Z

Simon Williams, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 18 April 2006 at 00:00:00

An inexpensive way to transfer old VHS tapes to DVD

Many of us still have a large collection of VHS videos, comprising old television favourites or home movies.

As VCRs fade into the ether, transferring video to DVD is becoming more important and the Terratec Grabster AV150 should provide a simple way to do it.

The Grabster AV150 hardware is a small, chocolate bar-sized device with a USB 2 socket at one end and video sockets (S-Video and Composite) along its side.

There’s also a second Composite video socket to enable video monitoring on a TV screen while working.

However, the AV150 is not particularly easy to set-up, partly because the only instructions are on the accompanying CD (there’s no printed quick-start card), but mainly because only half the leads you’ll need are supplied.

If your VCR only has Scart sockets, you’ll have to buy a Scart-to-S-Video/Composite video adapter. In any case, you'll need either an S-Video or Composite cable.

The only leads provided are a twin phono-to-mini jack audio lead and a USB 2 link. Although the missing cables are relatively cheap, it's a real inconvenience not having them in the box.

Terratec supplies full versions of Ulead’s DVD MovieFactory 3 and Video Studio 7 SE DVD, though both of these products are one or two versions off the current version.

Even so, they’re easy to use and can handle all that somebody starting to transfer video is likely to want. Video can be automatically split into chapters, transitions can be added between scenes and DVD menus can be created.

As a minimum requirement, we'd recommend using a computer with a 1.5GHz processor, 512Mb of memory and at least 5Gb of hard-disk space.

The Grabster won't capture sound through USB 2, so the audio output of the video source will need to be connected to the line input of the sound card, which isn't exactly practical.

The Grabster and the Ulead software can handle videos up to 720 x 576, at a frame rate of 25fps, which is adequate for TV quality transcription. The captured picture quality is good, though turning your tapes into ‘top-quality digital films’, as the blurb on the box claims, is stretching things a bit.

The final quality of the CD or DVD created is ultimately governed by the quality of the original VHS recording. So, if you've an old recording sitting on a poor-quality tape, any disc you create with the Grabster AV150 will reflect this.

Also consider

Plextor ConvertX PVR

4/5 – Much more versatile but at at a much higher price.

£152

Gigabyte Expand Box

Benjamin Styles — 2004-05-12T10:13:03.000Z

Benjamin Styles, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 12 May 2004 at 10:13:03

Need a socket at the front of your PC - try this gadget.

If your PC is void of front-mounted ports and sockets, the Expand Box might be for you. We say might, as for this device to work you'll also need a Gigabyte motherboard. Finding out if you've got one isn't that hard, just pop off the side of your PC case and look for a Gigabyte logo on the motherboard.

If you have, then just slot the Expand Box into a free 3.5in drive bay, plug in the colour-coded connectors and you'll be the proud owner of two FireWire ports (one mini, one standard), two USB 2 sockets and speaker and microphone ports. If you're not familiar with the innards of your PC, the picture-led instructions are quite handy and should have you finished in no time. There's a small chance you will need the latest driver updates from the Gigabyte website but this wasn't the case for our relatively new PC.

In all, it's a good price for a simple product but will be useful only to a small number of PC users.

Contact: Gigabyte 01908 362700

http://uk.giga-byte.com

Corega USB Stick-11

Julian Prokaza — 2003-10-06T11:08:57.000Z

Julian Prokaza, Computeract!ve, Monday 6 October 2003 at 11:08:57

A compact USB Wi-Fi adaptor.

The world of Wi-Fi is one that's still ruled by network nerds and getting a wireless network up and running can cause no end of headaches for home users.

Unfortunately the Corega USB Stick-11 doesn't really change the situation, but at least it looks a little different.

The USB Stick-11 looks like an elongated cigarette lighter but the pen-style cap at one end hides a USB plug.

Plug this into a free USB port, release the flip-up antennae at the other end and you have an instant, compact, Wi-Fi adaptor.

The Stick is designed to be carried around in a pocket from PC to PC but there's nothing to stop you leaving it in one place.

The only downside is configuring your network. Installing the drivers from the supplied CD-Rom to get the Stick working is easy.

Whether you use Corega's or Windows XP's own Wi-Fi utility however, getting your network devices actually talking to one another is a different matter.

This, however, is par for the course for Wi-Fi, and we did get there in the end.

Contact: Walford Electronics 0870 220 0700

www.savastore.com

Lindy USB AutoShare

David Ludlow — 2003-04-16T09:40:41.000Z

David Ludlow, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 16 April 2003 at 09:40:41

A handy device for sharing USB devices among computers.

Those of you with more than one computer know the problem well: you've only got one printer and one scanner, usually attached to the same PC. When you want to print from the other PC, it's a long and tiresome job to transfer the files.

Lindy has one possible answer with its USB AutoShare. The paperback book-sized unit allows up to four computers to share three USB devices. All that each PC needs is the driver for the box and the driver for each USB device.

It works on a first-come first-served basis, so the first PC to connect to, say, the printer, is the only PC that can use that device until it is finished.

Check the website for a full list of compatible printers before you buy. And be aware that, as USB cables can only be 5m long at maximum, the AutoShare does rely on you having all four PCs in the same room to work.

Contact: Lindy 01642 754000

www.lindy.co.uk

Swann DV Starter Kit

Cliff Joseph — 2003-04-08T11:46:48.000Z

Cliff Joseph, Computeract!ve, Tuesday 8 April 2003 at 11:46:48

A good starter package for beginners to video editing.

Video editing packages are 10-a-penny these days but Swann's new DV Starter kit is good value if you're just getting started with digital video.

The kit includes a FireWire card that allows you to connect a digital camcorder to a PC. The card has no less than three FireWire ports on it, which is useful as it allows you to connect additional FireWire devices such as a hard disk or MP3 player, in addition to your camcorder.

There's a good software bundle included too. Video editing features are provided by Ulead's VideoStudio and there's another program, called Maestro, that uses ready-made sound clips and loops to automatically generate soundtrack music for your movies.

That gives you all the hardware and software you need to get started with video editing for just under £60. As such, it is definitely a good starting point for digital camcorder owners.

Contact: Swann 020 8964 9111

www.swann.com

3Com Wireless Bluetooth USB Adapter

Scott Colvey — 2002-12-18T17:03:28.000Z

Scott Colvey, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 18 December 2002 at 17:03:28

A quick-to-attach device that adds Bluetooth technology to almost any PC.

Several years on from inception, Bluetooth technology remains talked about in terms of its potential rather than current uses.

But Bluetooth's capacity to allow users of computers to make cordless connections is no further away than the purchase of an appropriate device.

The latest offering from 3Com is one such product. The Wireless Bluetooth USB Adapter brings short-range wireless communications to any desktop or notebook PC.

Being a USB device, it would be fair to expect a quick, simple installation and set-up. Sadly, only half this expectation holds true.

Installation is effortless - just slot the marker pen-sized unit into a USB socket - though the resulting 4in protrusion might present a problem if your PC is housed flush against a wall.

However, the software set-up is like watching treacle flow: it crawls and crawls. It's not complicated, just long, especially for an uncomplicated device.

The unit repeatedly scans for nearby Bluetooth-equipped devices in the vicinity (in this instance, about 10m in any direction) and maintains a list of those detected.

This can be viewed by clicking an icon that floats in the Taskbar.

The supplied Connection Manager software provides the interface for conducting cordless communications at data-transfer speeds of up to 1Mbps.

Here is also the place to define 'bonds' between trusted devices, preventing unauthorised access from other any Bluetooth passers-by.

This is a reasonable device but unless you have a Bluetooth mobile phone or handheld computer, you'll have no use for it just yet.

DETAILS

Contact: 3Com 01442 438000

www.3com.co.uk

Trust 5 Port USB2 PC Upgrade Kit & Hub

Mel Gordon — 2002-12-05T11:04:56.000Z

Mel Gordon, Computeract!ve, Thursday 5 December 2002 at 11:04:56

All you ever wanted for the older PC.

These days, PC owners have come to expect USB ports on their PCs, as they are a quick and easy way to connect a peripheral.

However, if you have an older PC it's quite likely that you'll have to make do with slow serial and parallel ports. Today though, even USB is considered a bit slow. To counter this, USB 2 was developed.

Trust has just released its 5 Port USB 2 Upgrade Kit and Hub. This provides two ports at the rear of the PC and three on the front panel.

Fitting the kit involves opening your PC and fitting the PCI card, with its two rear ports. A cable is also provided that attaches to a connection on the card and is threaded through the body of the PC to a spare front drive bay.

A three-port unit is then fitted to the spare front bay and secured using the fixing screws provided. All that remains is to install the drivers and the upgrade is complete.

Trust recommends that any drivers that relate to any installed USB devices are first removed to avoid any potential conflict problems and reinstalled after installation. Full details are given in the excellent manual that comes with the kit.

If you haven't got any USB 2 devices yet, don't worry, as USB 2 ports accept the same plug as USB and will support any USB device.

Devices that are USB 2-ready are springing up all the time so that users can take advantage of the 40-times faster data transfer that they offer over standard USB.

This is a neat upgrade kit that adds the convenience of front- mounted USB ports to your PC.

If you have a spare PCI slot and a drive bay in your computer and you don't mind opening up your PC, this is a great upgrade.

DETAILS

Contact: Trust Products 0845 609 0036

www.trust.com

Adaptec Duo Connect

Julian Prokaza — 2002-04-24T10:14:07.000Z

Julian Prokaza, Computeract!ve, Wednesday 24 April 2002 at 10:14:07

Add USB 2 and FireWire in one upgrade.

It took a few years but USB is now firmly established as the simplest way to plug something into your PC. USB isn't that quick at squirting data back and forth though, so filling a multi-megabyte MP3 player or saving to an external hard disk can involve some serious thumb-twiddling.

Salvation should lie in USB 2, the successor to USB that's capable of transferring data at up to 480Mbits/s (40 times faster than standard USB). It uses the same physical socket, so is backwardly compatible, but the rub is that PCs don't have USB 2 as standard. That's where the Adaptec Duo Connect comes in.

The Duo Connect is a PCI expansion card that adds three USB 2 ports to your PC. The card also has a couple of FireWire ports included, so fit the Duo Connect and your PC will have ports aplenty to cope with anything you'll want to plug in for the foreseeable future.

Like any PCI card, fitting the Duo Connect involves opening your PC and popping it into a free PCI slot. The card also needs to be connected to the PC's power supply, since both USB 2 and FireWire ports are capable of powering external devices, and a single PCI slot can't provide enough juice for five ports running at once.

The card plugs into the same lead that powers the floppy drive but since many PCs only have one such plug and Adaptec doesn't supply a suitable cable splitter, you may need to visit your local PC components supplier to get the Duo Connect up and running.

Once it is running, the Duo Connect is faultless. Microsoft has just added USB 2 support to Windows XP and the CD-ROM comes with drivers for other Windows versions. There's also a handy utility that shows the status of any connected USB devices, plus some simple video-creation and DVD-creation software.

Contact

Adaptec: 01276 854500 www.adaptec-europe.com

Memorex CF Card Reader

James Royles — 2001-04-27T23:00:00.000Z

James Royles, Computeract!ve, Friday 27 April 2001 at 23:00:00

Transfer files from your PDA and MP3 player to your PC with this card reader.

Whether you are copying your holiday photos from a digital camera to your computer, downloading music files to and from an MP3 player or shuffling information between a PDA and the hard disk of your PC, this card reader from Memorex is designed to make your life a lot easier. While most PC-related gadgets come with a cable to connect to your PC, using a card reader can eliminate the hassle of plugging in and unplugging different devices.

Much like a mini disk drive, you simply plug the Memorex Reader into your PC's USB port, pop a memory card from your digital camera or PDA into the slot and off you go. SmartMedia memory card users beware, however - this reader is compatible only with CompactFlash cards, albeit in both Type I and Type II varieties. The USB connection is easy to set up and should make data transfers both convenient and fast.

You'll really notice the speed difference if your camera or MP3 player currently hooks up to your PC via a serial or parallel port. However, when we tested the Memorex Reader's data transfer rates, we didn't find it to be a great deal faster than a straight USB connection to a mobile appliance.

It isn't just speed that's important here, however, and convenience is the real issue with this product. Rather than going through all the hassle of getting your computer to recognise different mobile appliances, the Reader simply acts as if it were another drive.

As an added bonus for the gadget freak, it allows you to transfer large chunks of information from different CompactFlash peripherals without fiddling about physically connecting each one in turn. With the appropriate card in the Reader's slot you can drag and drop whatever it is you need from the reader to your hard disk.

The Memorex Reader is a very useful piece of kit for anyone with lots of different mobile devices and a growing collection of CompactFlash cards. Since the memory cards themselves cost a small fortune, however, it's hard to see a home user ever amassing enough of them for the Memorex Reader to be anything more than a mini-luxury.

Contact

Memorex 020 8990 6600, www.memorexlive.com Minimum requirements: Windows 98, USB port Features: - USB port connection lead - Up to 900Kbps data transfer rate - CompactFlash Card Type I & II slot - Software CD-ROM & user guide.