In this article we will look on Denon AVR-S500BT 5.2AV receiver. It is compatible with HDMI 2.0 standard and has 5 such inputs and 1 output. It can pass-through 4K video signal to other devices with 60 Hz frequency and in 4:4:4 Pure Color color format. Receiver can accept signals via wireless Bluetooth connection, USB port or different analogue connectors, that are placed on its front and back panels. It can output audio signal to 5 speakers and 2 subwoofers with 140 W max power. It supports decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD sound formats and precise setup of speakers position with use of microphone, which allows to place given speakers optimally in given room for best audio picture. Denon AVR-S500BT 5.2 maximally consumes 330 W of energy in working mode with ability to go into eco mode and 0.3 W in stand-by mode. There is ability to control receiver via remote control, front panel and smartphone ( with use of special application ); there is also FM/AM tuner built into receiver for radio signal pick up.
In this article we will review Yamaha RX-V577AV receiver. It is created for receiving audio, video and images signals from different sources and their conversion into analogue format with amplification or direct pass-through to other devices for processing. It can accept signals from HDMI, Wi-Fi, AirPlay ( for data receiving in digital format from iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac and PC devices ), HTC Connect and USB connections. Receiver can transmit audio signal to 7 speakers and 2 subwoofers and can pass-through 4K video signal. It supports YPAO function, which allows to precisely tune speakers position with microphone to obtain optimal sound quality. In stand by mode Yamaha RX-V577 consumes only 0.1 W of energy. For each audio channel it uses separate digital to analog converters ( DACs ), which work on 192 kHz frequency, with 24 bits precision. It has following sound processing effects and technologies : CINEMA DSP, 17 DSP programs, Virtual Presence Speaker, SILENT CINEMA, Virtual CINEMA FRONT, Extra Bass, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Pro Logic IIx. It has 115 W max power output; built in FM/AM tuner; and can be controlled via remote control or smartphone.
Sony released new professional camera Sony α7R II. It has built in CMOS back lit sensor with full-frame 35 mm size and 40.2 MP effective resolution; its image processor is BIONZ X; and interchangeable lens are attached to it via Sony E-mount. 5-axis image stabilization is performed by sensor shifting. Camera supports ISO 50 – 102400 sensitivity levels; and photos shooting in 7952 x 5304 pixels maximal resolution with saving in JPEG and RAW ( with 14 bits per channel of color depth; it is worth to note, that camera supports only lossy compression in RAW saving mode ) formats. It supports following videos recording modes : 4K 3840 x 2160 30p/25p/24p, Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/30p/25p/24p and HD 1280 x 720 120p/100p/30p/25p/24p, with saving in XAVC S, AVCHD format Ver. 2.0 compliant or MP4 with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding and Dolby Digital ( AC-3 ) 2ch, Dolby Digital Stereo Creator, MPEG-4 AAC-LC 2ch or LPCM 2ch sound formats. Camera supports manual setting of exposure and focus parameters, which allow to use it for astro photo. Its main TFT LCD display has 2.95-inch size and 1.2288M dots resolution; its XGA OLED viewfinder with 0.51-inch size has 2.359M dots resolution. Camera supports only one flash memory cards slot of following standards : Memory Stick, SD, SDHC ( UHS-I ), SDXC ( UHS-I ), micro SD, micro SDHC and micro SDXC; it can establish Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connections for photos and data transmitting and remote control of camera from smartphone; and has USB ( for data sending and battery recharging ), HDMI micro Type-D ( for pictures and videos viewing on screens of TV or monitor ), and two 3.5 mm mini-jack ( for external microphone and headphones ) connectors. Package contains : Sony α7R II camera itself without objective lens, Li-ion battery ( one charge of which is enough for making of 290 photos ), recharger, AC power cable and adapter, USB cable, strap on hand, user’s guide and different caps and coverings for camera. It is worth to note, that professional cameras of other manufacturers, for example, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and others, cost much less ( manufacturer suggested retail price at the beginning of Autumn of 2015 year for Sony α7R II is 3.2K USD ) and interchangeable lens of these manufacturers usually cost much less.
In this article we will review semi-professional external sound card ESI UGM96. It was released in 2008 year, but in this electronics segment devices become obsolete not so fast, as in other areas. It has 2 unbalanced stereo outputs and 2 unbalanced mono Hi-Z inputs. There is ability to switch one input into microphone input with preamp mode; and there is ability to switch one output into linear mode, so that signal is not processed by sound card’s amplifier. It supports playback modes up to 96 kHz and 24 bits and the same recording modes. There are drivers released for sound card for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP ( with ASIO support ) and Mac OS X 10.4 and newer ( with Core Audio support ) operating systems; support of these professional audio playback and recording interfaces allows to do this with very low latency, which is extremely important in professional work with audio. Sound card is fully powered by one USB port. Card has 2 stereo outputs, but does not work in 4 channel mode : both outputs transmit the same signal; it does not support hardware acceleration of 3D sound in games and virtual reality applications ( but software implementation of these functions works without problems with this sound card in all applications ). Sound card sizes are 7 x 8 cm. Based on my experience of work with ESI UGM96, I can say, that this is great sound card : quality of music and sounds in films and games is great; quality of audio recordings with good microphone is also great, and card is supported by all moderns DAWs : FL Studio, REAPER and other. Package contains : ESI UGM96 sound card itself, USB cable, CD-ROM disks with drivers and additional software and user’s guide. There is need to note, that this sound card has one of the lowest prices among external semi-professional sound cards.
3D Sound Labs anounced new headphones 3D Sound Labs One with 3D sound positioning. They have built in gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, which track head movement and allow to precisely determine head position. This data then sent to computer via Bluetooth connection, where special program processes it and changes sound so, that person have feeling, that he or she rotates head in respect to real sound source. This way there is realistic 3D sound picture is reproduced, which is most plausible for multichannel sound : movies, games and virtual reality applications. Headphones have built in Li-ion battery, which powers sensors and wireless transmitter. Headphones themselves are of monitor type, with isolation from surround sounds and neodymium magnets, which move membranes. All in all this is interesting novelty for mobile use, but taking into account their price ( 269 USD at the beginning of Autumn 2015 ), it is better to buy 5.1 or 7.1 speakers with subwoofer or by drivers and create speakers by yourself and receive sound with much better quality without dependence on some application. 3D Sound Labs One headphones will be available in stores from 15th September of this year.
RICOH released RICOH THETA S camera for 360 degrees photos and videos shooting. It has 2 objective lenses and 2 CMOS sensors with 1/2.3-inch size and 12 MP effective resolution, which allow to make real time panorama photos and videos. Camera can make photos with ISO 100 – 1600 sensitivity levels and save them in JPEG format; it records videos with the same ISO levels in Full HD 1920 x 1080 and HD 1280 x 720 modes and saves them in MP4 ( with MPEG-4 AVC or H.264 image encoding and AAC audio encoding ) format. It supports wireless connections for data transmitting and remote control of camera; has USB 2.0 ( for photos and videos transmitting and battery recharging ) and HDMI Micro Type-D ( for images viewing on screens of TV or monitor ) connectors; and saves data on built in flash memory with 8 GB size. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 260 photos. Camera sizes are : 44 x 130 x 22.9 mm ( width x height x depth ), and weight is : 125 g. Camera can work in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius temperatures range and at relative ait humidity levels below 90 %. Package contains : RICOH THETA S camera itself, recharger and user’s guide.
DxO announced new camera DxO ONE for IPhone and IPad with professional functions. It can be attached to Apple device and controlled from it or used as stand alone camera. Its CMOS-BSI sensor has 1-inch size ( usually only semi-professional cameras are equipped with such sensors ) and 20.2 MP of effective resolution. Camera can shoot photos with ISO 100 – 51200 sensitivity levels and save them in JPEG and RAW formats. It supports Full HD 1080p/30 and HD 720p/120 video recording modes. In stand alone mode camera saves photos and videos on flash memory cards of micro SD format. Its OLED display has touch functions and it is equipped with Li-ion battery. All in all this is a good camera for IPhone and IPad for persons, who want to make photos from these devices and replace standard camera with it. But there is need to note, that for the same money ( 599 USD at the beginning of Autumn of 2015 year ) there is ability to buy semi-professional camera and get much more opportunities and transmit photos and videos to mobile devices via Wi-Fi or wired connections. DxO ONE will be available in shops from 1st October of this year.
Sony released new compact camera Sony DSC-HX90V, its main features are : 30x optical zoom and electronic viewfinder. It is equipped with Exmor R CMOS sensor with 1/2.3-inch size and 18.2 MP effective resolution, ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* objective lens and BIONZ X image processor. Its image stabilization system is optical and it supports manual focus and exposure settings. Camera can shoot photos with 4896 × 3672 pixels maximal resolution with ISO 80 – 12800 sensitivity levels and can save them in JPEG format. It supports following video recording modes : Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/50p/30p and HD 1280 x 720 60p/50p/30p ( with ISO 80 – 3200 sensitivity levels ) with saving in AVC S, AVCHD format ver. 2.0 compatible or MP4 formats. Its main TFT LCD has 921.6K dots resolution and 2.95-inch size, its OLED viewfinder has 0.2-inch size. It supports following flash memory cards formats : Memory Stick, SD, SDHC, SDXC, micro SD, micro SDHC and micro SDXC. Camera supports Wi-Fi connections ( for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and remote control of camera from smartphone ) and GPS navigation for automatic determination of coordinates of place of shooting. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 for data transmitting and battery recharging and Micro HDMI for images viewing on screens of TV and monitor. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 390 photos. Package contains : Sony DSC-HX90V camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, USB cable, user’s guide and strap on hand.
Sony released new compact camera Sony DSCWX500 with 30x optical zoom. It is equipped with : ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* objective lens, Exmor R CMOS sensor with 1/2.3-inch size ( which is not very much for camera with such price ) and 18.2 MP effective resolution and BIONZ X image processor. It can shoot photos with 4896 × 3672 pixels maximal resolution and save them in JPEG format. Camera records videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60p/50p/28p and HD 60p/50p/28p modes and saves them in XAVC S, AVCHD format ver. 2.0 compatible and MP4 formats. Its TFT LCD display has 2.95-inch size and 921.6K dots resolution and can rotate under different angles. Camera does not support manual focus and exposure settings, which makes it unusable for astro photo. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 400 photos. Camera supports Wi-Fi connections for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and for remote control of camera from smartphone. It has following connectors : USB 2.0 for data transmitting and battery recharging and Micro HDMI for images viewing on screens of TV or monitor. Package contains : Sony DSCWX500 camera itself, Li-ion battery, recharger, USB cable, strap on hand and user’s guide. Overall : it is good fully automatic camera for persons, who does not like to go into details of professional photo, who need 30x optical zoom and tilting display; the other advantage : it is Sony. But it is worth to note, that there are much cheaper good automatic cameras and for such amount of money there is ability to buy semi-professional camera, which will give much more opportunities.
Nikon released new professional DSLR camera Nikon D810A for astro photo. Its CMOS sensor has 35.9 x 24 mm sizes and 36.3 MP effective resolution. Interchangeable lenses are attached to it via Nikon F mount; there is ability to shoot photos and videos by using camera instead of telescope eyepiece, or add Barlow lens to system ( which increases magnification ). It supports 100 – 51200 ISO levels and can make photos with 7360 x 4912 pixels maximal resolution, saving them in JPEG, NEF ( RAW; with 12 or 14 bits per channel color depth and lossless compression ) and TIFF formats. Nikon D810A supports manual focus and exposure settings, which are used in astro photo. And can record videos in Full HD 1920 x 1080 60/50/30/25/24 fps and HD 1280 x 720 60/50 fps modes, saving them in MOV format with H.264 or MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding image encoding and Linear PCM sound format. Camera records stereo sound with use of internal or external microphone. Its main TFT LCD display has 3.2-inch size and 1.229M dots resolution; its optical viewfinder is of Eye-level Pentaprism Single-Lens Reflex Viewfinder type. Camera saves photos and videos on CompactFlash ( CF, Type I, UDMA ), SD, SDHC and SDXC flash memory cards; and has following connectors : USB 3.0 ( for data transmitting and battery recharging ), mini HDMI Type C for viewing of images on screens of TV or monitor, audio-video output, headphones output and 3.5 mm mini-jack input for external microphone. It supports Wi-Fi connections for photos and videos transmitting to mobile devices and remote control of camera from smartphone; and GPS navigation for automatic determination of place of shooting coordinates. One charge of its Li-ion battery is enough for making of 1200 photos. Camera sizes are : 146 x 123 x 81.5 mm ( width x height x depth ); and weight is : 880 g ( without objective lens, memory card and battery ); it can work in 0 – 40 degrees on Celsius temperatures range. Package contains : Nikon D810A camera body ( without objective lens ), Li-ion battery, recharger, user’s guide and different caps and coverings for camera.
