Well it has come time to finally invest in a hard drive recorder or a combo HDD/DVD recorder. Our VCR has finally shat itself and we have no way of recording stuff from TV to watch later. I was originally going to just replace it, but why bother. I cant stand the quality of video now that I’ve had DVD for so long and I cant remember the last time I watched a video anyway. I dont want a standalone DVD recorder as I dont want 10,000 DVD’s that will never be watched again so I figure a HDD recorder is the way to go where you can delete stuff you dont want and burn off what you do.

My biggest problem is that I love my gadgets and I have been in a gadget black hole for some time now so I have got cravings for toys. The problem is that I have not been keeping up on my home entertainment technology like I used to so I dont know who or whats good anymore and thats where you guys come in. I need some help from people in the know or other people who like their home theatres as well.

What brands are currently the better ones, which major features are MUST HAVES in HDD recorders, which features really make life easy and which recorder is the easiest for my wife to use but has the flexibility for me to really get in amongst its nitty gritty’s?

Thats the start of it I guess so come on peoples let me know.

In the mean time for those of you in the same situation I have compiled a small list of starting resources for you:

• CNET – Seven tips on buying a DVD recorder
• Smarthouse – DVD recorder Buyers Guide
• The Age – Hard Drive Value – Good beginners guide to Hard Drive Recorders
• PC World – PVR and Hard Disk Video Recorder Buying Guide – A bit more in depth and a good read
• Choice – Test DVD/HDD Recorders – A free test for mid market hdd/dvd recorders

I am open to suggestions as well as sponsorship of products for testing and review.

Part 2: I finally decided on a Sony HDD recorder. You can read all about it in my post : Sony RDRHXD970 HDD/DVD Recorder Review

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You can find part 1 of this review in my Olympus 1030 SW review post.

I have now had a few weeks to play with the Olympus u 1030 SW point and shoot digital camera I recently bought. To sum it up in a few short words I would have to say easy to use, mostly sharp, clear and definitely bulletproof. I took the approach of just being a general user of the camera, I tried to put my SLR brain aside and look at this as any untrained general user of the camera would. Thats said I also tried to pick it apart as much as I could and throw some difficult shooting situations at it to really see what it can do.

Apart from getting my wife to take mountains of happy snaps all around home and out and about, my first big test of the camera was when I went to the Snow for the opening of the ski season. I had grand plans to take heaps of test pictures with it while in the snow, but I had too much fun partying and taking photos was the last thing on my mind. I did manage to get a few macro and super macro shots though. The first big test for it was when I accidentally left it in the car overnight. The temperature got down to -7°c and everything was covered in ice in the morning – including the camera. I wasnt too concerned as it was mainly on the LCD which was left screen up on the seat, so I fired it up and it turned straight on and started taking pictures so I was really impressed with that. My mates Nikon Coolpix didnt fair so good and had troubles turning on, so I couldn’t take a picture of the ice for you. After about an hour, the Nikon thawed out enough and was fine.

Overall the Olympus 1030 is a very capable camera. In full auto mode it looks after everything for you from flash to ISO and in most situations I couldnt find any major flaws. Mixed white balance scenes confuses the sensor a bit, but any camera will do that, and it chose the dominant white balance every time which you would expect it to do. If you need more manual white balance control it is available through the camera menu when in P mode as well as manual ISO control too. For the purposes of this review I mainly used the camera in auto or scene modes as that is what the majority of people will want to do.

Auto ISO can be a bit annoying as noise is a real problem when light levels start to drop. The ISO compensation introduces a nasty amount of noise and colour aberations at anything above 400, and is even worse if you have shadow adjust turned on. I don’t think this is something that really goes against that camera as noise is a problem for my Nikon D200 SLR at anything above 800, so comparitively for a much smaller sensor and lense of a much lesser quality it doesn’t do too bad. I haven’t come across a compact camera yet that manages noise well at elevated ISO’s.

I have noticed though that Jpeg compression may be a bit harsh in some conditions. I first noticed it in the images from the Hugh Jackman Wolverine photos I took. The day was overcast but very glary, but it was also a low contrast scene. I was using normal jpeg compression so why it made the image soft and washed out the detail so much I dont know. If I had have noticed it on the day I may have tried fine compression to see if that fixed it. I havent been able to recreate it since. In most situation the images are great, producing sharp images with accurate saturation. Indoors can be hit and miss in auto mode with funny White balance selections, but the majority of the time it is fine. I would expect that as well, especially in a house like ours where we have a mixture of light sources from tungstent to flourescent and any number of combinations of the two. Using the scene modes can improve the images quality dramatically and give you a little bit more control with out having to know what it is doing in the background.

With my big fingers I sometimes have troubles with the small buttons and dials on compact point and shoot cameras, I have had no dramas with the olympus 1030 sw. Buttons are laid out well and fairly logical to my thinking. It can take a little bit of time to find all the functions at first but once you know what does what in which mode everything is pretty well accessible at the touch of a button. The immediate access to macro and flash controls, either side of the OK button, is brilliant for my style of shooting. It gives fast control for modes that sometimes you need immediate and fast access to. I love that you dont have to ferret around in the menus looking for commonly used controls, as the menus in the Olympus can be confusing at times as they vary wildly between shooting modes and arent always that easy to understand.

Overall I think the Olympus 1030sw is a brilliant compact camera. It is easy to use, fast to learn and powerful enough for those who want a little extra control over their images. In auto mode I almost cant fault the cameras selections, but the minor things that bug me, like noise at high ISO, would not even be noticed by the majority of users. Although a little dearer than an equivalent model probably with better features, it is a tough and ideal choice for families with small children, divers or snorkellers, surfers, adventurers and tradespeople who need a camera that will take the abuse and not fail at a crucial moment. I highly recommend the Olympus 1030 SW as tough, almost bulletproof camera.

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Made it out shopping today and bought my self an Olympus u 1030 SW digital camera. Our old point and shoot happy snap camera finally died after mountains of abuse so I thought I had better upgrade. It was a tough decision but I decided on the Olympus because of its sheer toughness. No other camera could match its performance in such a diverse range of conditions. I have been missing a compact camera to take in my pocket as it can be a pain in the ass to carry my SLR’s with me every where, especially if all you want is a few happy snaps. Although it was a bit more expensive than cameras with with similar features, the waterproofing and drop resistance are worth the outlay if you have kids, work in wet or dusty environments, enjoy snorkeling or diving or even just go to the beach or pool on a regular occasion. I am pretty happy to know that if I abuse this little camera it will keep on working, and that just suits me fine.

The Olympus 1030 SW (SW is for shock and waterproof) is Drop resistant to 2 m, waterproof (not water resistant) to 10m, crushproof to 100kg and freezeproof to -10 degrees. To me that also sounds like its pretty kid proof too. I have a 2 yr old who is obsessed with any kind of gadget that has buttons, lights and makes noises, so once she finds out this takes pictures too those specs are gunna get a thorough testing. Built solidly, I think anything short of a nuclear bomb wont really worry this camera too much.

As a camera the 1030SW has some pretty impressive tech specs as well. It has a 10.1 megapixel CCD sensor, 2.7″ TFT ‘Hypercrystal II’ LCD display, 3.6x optical zoom, (5x digital zoom too but I wouldnt bother with it) 29 shooting modes, image stabilisation, face detection, shadow adjustment and a whole swag of other goodies. There is also a Manometer to tell you how high up or deep in the water you are,

When you open the box the first thing you notice is how solidy this camera is built. With the outer casing made of metal with full rubber seals around all the joins and everything screwed not glued together, it even feels tough. Button actions have a responsive feel and everything is easy to access, even with my big fingers.

I have only taken a few pictures so far, mainly of my feet and computer desk and walls and stuff around me so nothing worth posting yet. As I put it through its paces over the next week or so I will post some for you to see. The screen is crystal clear and appears reasonably accurate and optical zoom is good. There is a mountain of shooting modes including portrait, night time, inside, underwater, macro etc etc and I think I would actually use alot of them. When I am not using my SLR’s I like to be able to have some control over images I take, but I dont want to have to think about settings. The scene modes appear to cover this reasonably well.

Stay tuned as I will have more for you soon.

Part II – Olympus 1020 SW Review

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As a person always on the lookout for great little inventions that make life easier I have to say that the FOZI Tripod is one of the handiest I have come across in a long time. The convenience and functionality is brilliant and its Cheap! For something so simple and compact, it really has the potential to change peoples lives and make it so much easier. For those of you with point and shoot cameras it will really improve your photography as well by reducing dud photos due to camera shake.

For as gadget that is the size of a credit card, that you can carry in your wallet, I think that the small price you pay is a bargain for great photos. As well as that you no langer have to ask some stranger to take a photo for you. Sit your camera in the FOZI and set the timer.

For a complete review head over to my mates blog Mathewpacker.com and check it out in action. He has one in his hot little hands and just loves it as well. He proves its not just good for for cameras but also your iPod Touch and Playstation Portable. I’m sure heaps of people will come up with other great uses for it as well.

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