All the following have come WAY down in price over the last
year. Here’s a few of the best in each category.
6 mega-pixel cameras:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel (EOS 300D) A low price boosts this
camera’s appeal for amateur film-SLR photographers going
digital and high-end snapshooters who want to experiment more.
It’s tempting to think of Canon’s EOS Digital
Rebel (known outside the United States as the 300D) as a light
version of the EOS 10D. But luckily for consumers, the Rebel
is more of a middleweight champion, delivering slightly scaled-back
performance but similar high-quality, 6.3-megapixel images
and most of the 10D’s capabilities. And like its pricier
brother, the Rebel combines automatic functions—which
enable almost anyone to use it right out of the box—with
most of the shooting features serious amateurs want. But the
Rebel does it all at the lowest price we’ve yet seen
for an interchangeable-lens dSLR. Under US$900
3 mega-pixel cameras:
HP Photosmart 735 A solidly built point-and-shoot, this camera
is best for photographers who like pictures with a lot of
punch. Solid construction for the price; very easy to
use; aperture-priority mode; spot metering; sharp Pentax lens.
If you don’t mind overly vivid colors, HP’s Photosmart
735 is a solid value. It offers a 3-megapixel resolution,
a sharp Pentax 3X zoom lens, and a decent feature set that’ll
please anyone looking for a simple point-and-shoot. Under
US$180
Portable music players:
Rio Karma (20GB) It plays MP3s and all the usual formats of
music. Armed with 20GB of hard disk storage, this beautifully
designed portable music player rivals the Apple iPod in terms
of ergonomics and ease of use—but at a significantly
lower price. It boasts exotic functions not included in any
other player, as well as one of the longest battery lives
we’ve seen to date. Under US$280
Digital movie cameras
Canon ZR60 It has the same specs and functions as Canon’s
ZR65MC (its big brother), with only two exceptions. First,
the ZR60 sports an 18X zoom lens, compared with the ZR65MC’s
20X version. Though 20X is convenient, if you’re tight
on cash, accepting 18X is not much of a sacrifice. For a budget
camcorder’s zoom, 18X is still longer than average,
and you probably won’t miss that little extra 20X provides
under most shooting conditions. That said, the ZR60 does suffer
from the ZR65MC’s flaws. Topping the list for the home-movie
crowd is its mediocre low-light performance, and there’s
also a mechanical buzz that becomes noticeable during quiet
moments. But the ZR60 does offer the comfortable, easy-to-use
design found in the rest of the ZR line, and its relatively
large selection of controls and its in-camera effects represent
a nice feature set for the money. Plus, this model will still
provide the same overall good-quality video as its more expensive
siblings. Under US$325
DVD recorders
Pioneer DVR-A05 DVD-RW EIDE With a retail price of less than
US$200, the DVR-A05 is easily the fastest, cheapest way to
burn DVD movies. Superfast 4X DVD-R mastering; improved
2X DVD-RW and 16X/8X CD-R/RW performance; much cheaper than
last-generation drives. The Pioneer DVR-A05 writes DVD
media twice as fast as its DVR-A04 predecessor. In CNET Labs’
tests, it smokes all of its competitors when burning DVD movies,
including the Sony DRU-500A. It also ditches the albatross
of poor overall performance, which hurt its predecessors in
the battle against competing DVD+RW drives. The DVR-A05 retails
for less than US$200, so it’s the cheapest option for
converting your VHS collection and storing home movies. (The
cost is even more attractive when you consider the low price
of DVD-R media.) Under US$160!
17” flat-panel monitors:
Envision EN-7500 This monitor is so inexpensive, it’s
like getting a 17-inch LCD and a free color TV all in one.
TV addicts, don’t pass it up. Built-in television
tuner; Picture-in-Picture capability lets you watch TV while
you compute; superior pixel-response rate; great price.
Think of the Envision EN-7500 as a kind of Swiss-Army-knife
monitor; this 17-inch LCD contains a built-in TV tuner so
that you can use it as a TV screen. True, the EN-7500’s
Picture-in-Picture (PiP) feature, which lets you compute and
watch TV simultaneously, doesn’t allow you to alter
the size of the smaller TV window. But thanks to the EN-7500’s
recent $200 price cut, this two-in-one is among the least
expensive 17-inch LCDs/TVs we’ve reviewed at around
US$600, and it’s the perfect option for anyone who likes
to compute and watch TV at the same time.
Just came across a great internet site: http://www.meritline.com/
they carry every kind of media you could want and can’t
find here. MiniDV tape; data cartridges; DLT tapes;
DVD+RW; DVD-RW; flash cards; memory sticks; XD-Picture cards;
microdrives; ink and toner for every printer; CD/DVD labels;
batteries; plus hardware and electronics.
