If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

We have decided to unleash another one of three point lists and this time we focus our attention on GPS. Satellite navigation is embedded in our culture, like a necessary evil, and most users will be lost, without one. In this series we present you with three units, which are worthy of being taken into account when considering your next GPS purchase.

First, we look at the Garmin Nüvi 350. It was one of the most popular GPS units in the past year, and rightly so. The Garmin Nüvi 350 is intuitive to use and focuses on being a GPS, not a media player GPS, that many units try to be these days. Compact design combined with ease of use makes Garmin Nüvi 350 one of the best GPS units GadgetHeat has seen this year.

Second on the list is the CDT PMP GPS. This GPS comes packed with features, for as little as $100, and by anyone standards this is a bargain. CDT PMP can, during the satellite navigation also operates as a brilliant media player. The unit can play many kinds of files, and all these features are included in the price. This means that the CDT PMP GPS can become a recreational unit while you drive. Sweet.

Finally we come to the Knight Rider GPS. The name - Knight Rider - is not just a gimmick. This GPS device is voiced by actor Daniel Williams, the voice of KITT in the original series. Knight Rider GPS is made by MIO so don’t be worried if you were thinking that it was just a novelty gift knock-off. It even comes it with the flashing red lights found on the orginal KITT.

Best GPS Units

US $117.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:33:41 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $120.95 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $189.95 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:22:17 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $194.95 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $102.50 (7 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:40:30 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $40.08 (5 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:30:00 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $127.50 (14 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:40:11 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $5.98 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:40:22 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $155.00 (13 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:33:02 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $161.86 (12 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:32:49 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $260.00 (16 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:32:38 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

US $75.00 (17 Bids) End Date: Thursday Aug-21-2008 19:32:26 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list

Everybody likes a list so we at HDTV Reviews came up with one. A few years ago if I told you HDTV’s would be under £500 you would have laughed in my face and asked me what I was smoking (ahem) but these days you can get some pretty nifty deals without blowing a hole in your pocket. If you’re looking for a second television or a HDTV dedicated to your games console, spending more than £500 is a bit excessive unless you really have money to spare.

We’ve put together a list of the top 5 HDTV’s for around the £400 - £500 that are definitely worth checking out.

1. Sony KDL32S3000

No surprises as to our number 1 the Sony KDL32S3000. This is a decent sized 32 incher and the SONY quality runs through this like a river. You get 3 HDMI ports plus the Bravia engine technology, what more could you want?

2. Samsung LE32R87BD

This could have easily been a SONY dominated list but we couldn’t over look the Samsung LE32R87BD. The winning feature of this set is the ‘game mode’ which makes all us Ps3 and Xbox 360 addicts extremely grateful

3. Toshiba 32C3035

This was the amongst the first Toshiba we reviewed and so far it has proved to be the best. Easy setup straight out the box, great picture and it also has a slick design that makes it stand out from the normal HDTV crowd.

4. Sony KDL32D3000

This is the bigger brother of the S series. More ounce to the bounce but slightly more expensive. If you’re not happy with the S series for any reason (and you got to be one tough customer not to be) the Sony KDL32D3000 would be a step up in the right direction.

5. Philips 26PFL5522D

We haven’t yet reviewed a Phillips at HDTV Reviews but this is definitely on our list. At 26 inches it is smaller than the other televisions on this list but it’s great value for money and looks fantastic both picture wise and aesthetically. It could do with a few more settings and options in terms of getting the picture just right so it won’t be making it any further up this list.

You guys may recall a while back that I did a ‘How-to’ on getting DVD onto your iPhone (or iWhatever). Well I got a lot of hits on people wanting to get DVD onto their SONY NWZA818 or any other SONY A8* /A80x Walkman.

After some research I got the answer folks and it’s easier than you think. Just follow these steps for your SONY NWZA818 / A8* /A80x DVD viewing pleasure.

1. Download Handbrake from here and install on your machine (this is a windows guide by the way).
2. Download and install the K-lite codec pack from here and install the DivX codec from here.
3. Startup Handbrake. Choose the encode option “mpeg 4″.
4. Specifiy a maximum file of 500mb (can change this according to your preferenaces later but for now, just go with this).
5. Specify 25 frames per second.
6. Click start/ecode and away you go!

The SONY Image convertor may fail to recognise the output file produced but if you drag and drop from explorer into the videos folder of your SONY NWZA818 / A8* /A80x it will work fine.

Happy viewing and let me know if this guide was useful to you.

UPDATE - 21/12/2007 - I got a lot of hits from people wanting to get DVD’s onto their SONY NWZA818 or other A80x Walkman so I wrote a quick guide for you guys here - How to get DVD onto SONY NWZA818 / SONY A80* Walkman.

Ok so you got your fancy new iPod Touch, nano, iPhone or iWhatever and it looks great apart from one thing…how do you make and watch your own videos on the thing?? Fret no further as we guide you through this step by step and show you how to convert and encode your DVD’s, .mov, .wmv, mpegs, DivX and whatever else you may need to encode onto your iPod / iPhone.

Before we get started I know that most of you wil be wondering why not just use the facilities offered by iTunes? The menu image can be accessed by going to Advanced > Convert selection for iPod. The short answer is because it’s a bit average and, as we all know, average is the most offensive word in the English language. iTunes simply converts and encodes any video file you select into what it thinks is the most appropriate format but not neccessarily be the best format. For example, when converting mpegs with multiplexed audio files the end product will have no sound. The whole process of converting video files also takes rather longer using iTunes than if you used a third party sowftware application. You can also forget about encoding any videos you downloaded from the iTunes store due to DRM protection or any videos that iTunes already thinks is in the appropriate format but you may want to tweak and improve.

If you need to convert your DVD’s into an iPod ready format one of the best options is 1Click DVD to iPod Converter. This isn’t freeware and comes in at around $39 but as far as ease of use goes it’s on the the best.

Simply insert the DVD and click the start button. The software also automatically knows when you have a DVD with many episodes and converts them into seperate iPod video files. The default settings converts movies with optimal quality (max 20) and a relatively small size. Right clicking anywhere on the application will bring up more options such as resolution and video size but if you want something quick and easy for your DVD’s then this isn’t far off the mark. You can even remove the black bars from wide screen DVD’s by adjusting the zoom options (handy if you are converting to watch on an iPod nano or iPod Classic).

For converting mpegs, wmv’s and all other video media that you may download off the web there are several options, Roxio Crunch being amongst them. Crunch was originally a Mac application but has been ported over to windows. Its key feature is the ability to batch convert many files realtively quickly. Nice as that may sound it also costs $50 and when all is said and done, it is really just a subset of Roxio’s Popcorn application but streamlined to be more user friendly.

We don’t really want you to spend that money so we are going to focus on a freeware application and one of the best is HandBrake which is another orignal Mac application which thankfully has now got a Windows version.

Make sure you have the latest version of Apple Quicktime, download Handbrake for free from here and let’s begin.

When you install the program you may get a prompt telling you that you do not have the correct version of .Net framework installed, If so, just download and install from here. If you have Windows Vista on the machine you have installed HandBrake on then you should make sure that you run Handbrake as an administrator otherwise the DVD scanning process will NOT work. Simply go to the Program Files folder (usually on your C: drive) find the Handbrake exe (should be in the’Handbrake’ folder funnily enough) and right click the Handbrake.exe and click the option ‘Run as administrator’.

Once you have actually got it installed and start it up the Screen you will be presented with is as below (click to enlarge):

There are a lot of bells and whistles here for the more advanced user who wants his image and sound just so but if you’re a novice don’t worry about all the options as were going to go through the streamlined usage.

1. Go to the Source section at the top and select what kind of source you will be browsing to, ‘Folders’ (DVD’s) or ‘Files’ (ISO / TS / Mpeg etc). The default is DVD so you can leave it on the ‘Folder’ option. Either way after clicking the [Browse] button you will see a file open dialogue.

2. With the ‘Files’ option you just need to browse to where you have saved your image, mpeg or whatever and select it. Using the ‘Folders’ option you will see the typical folders selection window that you find in any application. You need to look for the name of your DVD with the drive letter above it. Click on the ‘+’ and the ‘VIDEO_TS’ folder will appear. Select this and press OK.

3. Click OK to the prompt that appears and you will see a DOS window pop up for about 20 seconds (could be quicker or longer depending on your PC and the DVD being scanned). This will dissapear after it’s done.

4. Go to the Title section on the Handbrake GUI and select the DVD title you want to encode (the one you want is usually the one with longest duration). Leave the DVD chapters on auto for now to encode everything. If you want to pick and choose which chapters to encode simply select the range from the Chapters section on the GUI.

5. Go to the Destination section and click [Browse] to choose the location of where you want th finished file saved to, type your file name and click ‘Save’.

6. On the right hand side of the Handbrake GUI there are the preset options. Choose the one you want, either iPod versions or iPhone in this case and click the [Encode Video] button at the bottom of the GUI.

That’s it! You’re done! Make sure you share this article with anyone who needs to know and if you have any feedback you can reach me at saif270@gadgetheat.com

You can also visit the Handbrake forums and read their own userguide here. If you have an iPod, iPhone or iWhatever you can also check out our sister site www.hdtvreviews.org.uk for HD TV Reviews

Ok, you may be set on getting a digital camera for yourself or someone you know but there are so many that it can be hard to pick the one that suites you. GadgetHeat has put together a simple guide to help you along and point you in the right direction for any digital camera initiates. Be sure to check out our digital camera size / dimensions article to find the details of the camera you are looking for.

There are also many good Digital Camera reviews on the web such as the ones below so you shouldn’t be stuck for choice….

Nikon Coolpix review

Compact Size:

When it comes to mobiles, no-one carries those bricks from the 80’s any more and the same applies to digital cameras. You want it to be as small and compact as possible so it can fit into a pocket or handbag without being obtrusive. The average dimensions of a modern digital camera is 3.5 x 2.20 x 10 (W x H x D) which is about the size of a really thick wallet. You should bear in mind, also like some mobiles, the smaller the model the more tricky it is to press all the buttons you need to operate the thing so if you’re built like Shrek you may want to consider getting something larger.

Screen Size (LCD):

Don’t got for anything below 2 inches and preferably at least minimum of 2.5 inches. If you’ve ever tried to take a picture on a digital camera with the sun shining brightly or in a dimly lit room you’ll know that it’s hard to make out everything you want to take a snap of. You really want as large and as good a resolution as you can get for the LCD as you will be using it more often than the viewfinder to determine exactly what it is you are taking a picture of.

Megapixels:

In general, the more magapixels the better but they are not the be-all and end-all of a digital camera. You should go for the highest megapixel camera you can afford within your pre-set budget. If you’re buying the camera for a fickle teenager there would be little point in spending £250 - £300 on a 10 mega-pixel camera when said teenager would just as well appreciate the pictures taken on their 2 megapixel camera phone.

Movies:

These days it’s more common to find digital cameras which are also able to record movies and video as well as take pictures. As cameras incorporate more and more features, camcorders are being left on the back burner (and so they should be on a night out or quick holiday getaway). When choosing a digital camera make sure it has the ability to record video as standard because if doesn’t you’re missing out on a great feature that adds extra functionality to your purchase.

Memory Capacity:

If you’re an rabid snapper of anything that moves you’re going to run the risk of filling up the camera memory pretty rapidly. Add to this any videos you make on the camera and you will have to start deleting old images and video to make way for new ones. Also, many digital camera’s do not come with a sizeable internal memory or even a memory card so you will have to purchase this separately. Make sure that whichever digital camera you go for has a memory card slot, is able to take ‘High - Density’ SD cards and better yet, comes with a memory card as part of the asking price.

That’s just a taster to get you started, check our digital camera size / dimensions article for more details. If you’re happy with these features on a model you have you’re eye on then you can get into the nitty gritty like megapixels (how detailed the shots will be), image stability (for when you get the shakes or are taking pictures in motion) and other extras that come with the camera.