The Pandigital Novel digital book reader is a 7 inch colour, wi-fi enabled, multimedia ereader. The unit sports a built-in 1 GB of memory, a USB 2.0 port, speaker and weighs around 1 kg (2.2 pounds). The Pandigital Novel also sports a price tag that is slightly under the Kindle’s and NOOK’s with Amazon selling the Novel ereader currently for $140. Reading around the net about the Novel, whilst the price tag is a hit with most, there are some comments about a slow performance from the unit. The Novel is integrated with the Barnes & Noble bookstore and is powered by Android. The unit measures 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches, and supports your favourite media formats, MP3, AAC, WAV, JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, MPEG4 along with eBook formats EPUB and PDF.

Pandigital Novel eReader Reviews

Reviewer	Rating	Pro	Cons
Amazon	3/5
CNET	2/5	E-book reader with color touch screen; built-in Wi-Fi; access to Barnes & Noble eBook store	Resistive touch-screen is problematic; extremely sluggish performance; interface could be more intuitive
PCWorld	2.5/5	Tied into Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore	Heavy to hold, Abysmal screen quality

Featured Tags eReader, pandigital


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Today we’re going to take a look a 7.1 channel home theatre system from Pioneer, the VSX-1020-K. According to Pioneer this little sucker will get you as close as possible to exactly what the artist created. A bold statement indeed, and whilst we’ve not heard the VSX-1020-K system in action the features and specs certainly add up to a top-notch home theatre experience. The unit sports six HDMI connections, all 3-D ready of course, “Works with iPhone” certification, network connectivity, on-screen GUI. Here’s a longer list of the features on the Pioneer VSX-1020-K

* Front USB connectivity provide iPod, touch, and iPhone users ultimate plug-and-play integration of their Apple products with their home theater
* Simple connectivity to high-performance HD video, HD audio, portable, internet, wireless, and analog components
* The latest version of HDMI inputs and outputs provide more HD connectivity options with “future-proof” 3-D capability
* 1080p video conversion and upscaling ensures the highest quality video from any source

Pioneer VSX-1020-K Technical Specifications

# Channels: 7.1 surround sound
# Power: 110×7 watts
# HDMI Specification: v. 1.4, 3D, Deep Color and X.V. Color
# HDMI Ports: 6 in (including 1 front in), 1 out
# Component Ports: 2 in, 1 out
# Audio Codecs Supported: DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Pro Logic IIz with pre-out
# Video Modes Supported: 1080p and below
# Audio Modes Supported: Multi-zone (7.1, 5.1 + 2)
# Digital Formats Supported: JPEG, MP3, WAV, WMA
# “Works with iPhone”-certified

Pioneer VSX-1020-K Receiver Reviews

Reviewer	Rating	Pro	Cons
Amazon	4/5	HDMI ports Analog video upscaling
CNet	4/5	7.1 channel AV receiver; excellent sound quality; six HDMI inputs; 3D compatible; graphical user interface	no audio return channel support; doesn’t support standby pass-through; no minijack input
Big Picture Big Sound	3.5/4	Six 3D-capable HDMI 1.4a inputs iControl AV iPhone app makes “remote” control easier Integrated internet radio is a nice touch	Limited Crossover Frequency options Remote’s buttons are too small, too many and Volume should be bigger

Featured Tags home-theatre-system, pioneer


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Onkyo keep churning out great Home Theatre receivers and the TX-NR708 is no exception. The sleek model sports internet radio, the ability to hook up legacy DVD players, seven HDMI 1.4a inputs, which of course makes the TX-NR708 3D ready. The full list of features on the Onkyo TX-NR708 is almost endless but we’ll try to give a brief list of what we think are the most important bells and whistles on the receiver

* 110 Watts per Channel at 8 ohms, 20 Hz?20 kHz, 0.08%, 2 Channels Driven, FTC
* HDMI (Version 1.4a to Support 3D and Audio Return Channel
* Network Capability for Streaming Audio Files
* 7 HDMI Inputs (1 Front/6 Rear) and 1 Output
* HDMI Video Upscaling to 1080p with Faroudja DCDi Cinema
* Windows® 7 Compatible PC Audio and Internet Radio
* Audyssey DSX™ and Dolby® Pro Logic® IIz Surround Sound
* THX® Select2 Plus™ Certified
* HDMI Video Upscaling to 1080p with Faroudja Dcdi Cinema™
* PLL (Phase Locked Loop) Jitter-Cleaning Circuit Technology
* Preprogrammed RI Remote with On-Screen Setup and Presets

Onkyo TX-NR708 Receiver Features

* THX® Select2 Plus™ certified
* HDMI® (Version 1.4a to support 3D and Audio Return channel) with Deep Color™, x.v.Color™, LipSync, Dolby® TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio™, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, multichannel PCM, and CEC
* 7 HDMI inputs (1 front/6 rear) and 1 output
* Audyssey DSX™ and Dolby® Pro Logic® IIz for new surround channels
* PLL Jitter-Cleaning circuit technology
* Audyssey MultEQ® for room acoustic correction
* Network capability for streaming audio files (MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, and LPCM)
* Internet radio connectivity (Pandora®, Rhapsody®, SIRIUS Internet Radio®, Napster, Mediafly™, Slacker, and vTuner)*
* Certified with Windows® 7 and DLNA version 1.5
* Firmware updates via Ethernet and USB
* Front-panel USB input for memory devices and iPhone®:/iPod® models (enables display of album artwork)

Onkyo TX-NR708 Receiver Reviews

Reviewer	Rating	Pro	Cons
Amazon	4/5	Internet radio RIHD	Compatibility issues with DirecTV 3d
TestFreaks	9.4/10	loaded with features, power output, accurate controls, energy efficient, remote control
NewEgg	4/5
About.com		Sound quality excellent Lots of HDMI inputs Good video upscaling	Remote difficult to use in darkened room No Built-in WiFi

Featured Tags home-theatre-receiver, onkyo


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It’s been a while since we’ve checked out an Ideapad from Lenovo, in fact the 3D Y560d was the last one back in July. Today we spotted the S10-3t Ideapad and thought we’d delve a bit deeper. This 10.1 inch netbook from Lenovo is a touch tablet with 180 degree screen rotation, fingertip touch screen technology and is only an inch thick. Great battery life and integrated connectivity features also are pluses.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t Netbook Features

* Touch tablet with 180 degree screen rotation
* Ultra-slim design - just over an inch thin, and only 2.76lbs
* Long battery life
* Integrated high-speed Wi-Fi
* Intel Atom N450 processor technology
* Genuine Windows 7 Starter
* 10.1 inch LED backlight display, 16:9 widescreen
* Lenovo NaturalTouch Panel - responsive fingertip touch screen technology
* Stereo speakers with Dolby Headphone surround sound
* More storage for multimedia files: 250GB HDD storage
* Integrated 1.3M web camera
* Integrated Card Reader & USB2.0 connectors for external media devices
* Active Protection System protects hard disk drive from shocks
* DirectShare - easily synchronize your files with another notebook without connecting to the internet
* Lenovo NaturalTouch - a range of touch-optimized multimedia applications
* Get online in seconds with Quick Start 2.0 ‘instant on’ function
* OneKey Rescue System for quick and easy data recovery with antivirus protection
* VeriFace facial recognition technology - a fun way to log in to your PC
* VeriTouch touch-based log in system

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t Netbook Reviews

Reviewer	Rating	Pro	Cons
Amazon	3.5/5	Flexibility Better than an IPad	Screen crack issue
CNET	3.5/5	Great design easy-to-rotate screen better-than-average Netbook specs	Poor battery life touch screen is laggy at times
LaptopMag	3/5
ComputerShopper	7.5	Attractive design easy-to-rotate screen robust specs for a netbook roomy keyboard	Short battery life tiny touch pad subpar speakers mediocre benchmark-test scores

So whilst the Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t has some great specs for a netbook, it appears to let down by battery life. It’s the usual story in the netbook world with the spec trade-off against battery life. The price tag is still pretty good though, marked at $500 from Amazon.

Featured Tags laptop, lenovo


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Today we’re taking a quick look at the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray player. The BDP-S570 not only offers 3D Blu-ray playback in 1080p but can wirelessly stream photos, music and video.

Sony BDP-S570 Features

* BRAVIA Internet Video: Access movies, music, videos & more
* Built-in Wi-Fi & Blu-ray 3D playback capability
* iPhone/iPod touch BD Remote
* Quick Start/Load to watch movies faster than ever
* DLNA wireless streaming of photos, videos and music

Sony BDP-S570 Specs

* Dimensions (Approx.): 430 x 46 x 206mm
* Weight (Approx.): 2.0kg
* Analog-to-Digital Converter: 192kHz/24bit
* Inputs and Outputs: Analog Audio Output(s) - 2 Channel: 1 (Rear); Coaxial Audio Digital Output(s) - 1 (Rear); Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr) Output(s) - 1 (Rear); Composite Video Output(s) - 1 (Rear); Ethernet Connection(s) - 1 (Rear); HDMI Connection Output(s) - 1 (Rear); Optical Audio Output(s) - 1 (Rear); USB Port(s) - 2 (1 Rear/ 1 Front)

Sony BDP-S570 Reviews

The unit gets some pretty strong reviews across the internet, here are a handful of those reviews

Reviewer	Rating	Pro	Cons
Amazon	4/5	Fast Load Easy Setup Great 1080p picture	Issues around network security
CNET	8/10	Very good image quality 3D Blu-ray compatible built-in Wi-Fi fast operational speed	Inconsistent streaming-video performance using Wi-Fi some very minor image quality nitpicks
TrustedReviews	8/10
HomeTheaterReview		3D-ready 1080p/24 playback Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding supports BD-Live Web content	lacks multichannel analog audio outputs

 
So there you have it, by all accounts a pretty good Blu-ray player with 3D capability, another winner from Sony.

Featured Tags blu_ray_player, Sony


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