Share wrbluepearl's profile
 
Facebook Twitter
 
 
wrbluepearl
 
 
 
wrbluepearl's stats
 
  • Review count
    3
  • Helpfulness votes
    30
  • First review
    November 21, 2014
  • Last review
    May 20, 2015
  • Featured reviews
    0
  • Average rating
    3.3
 
  • Review comment count
    2
  • Helpfulness votes
    0
  • First review comment
    May 13, 2015
  • Last review comment
    July 10, 2017
  • Featured review comments
    0
 
Questions
  • Question count
    0
  • Helpfulness votes
    0
  • First question
    None
  • Last question
    None
  • Featured questions
    0
 
  • Answer count
    3
  • Helpfulness votes
    3
  • First answer
    May 13, 2015
  • Last answer
    January 16, 2017
  • Featured answers
    0
  • Best answers
    0
 
 
wrbluepearl's Reviews
 
This Bose® CineMate® 15 home theater speaker system delivers full, impressive sound from your TV. You'll enjoy spacious, detailed home theater sound from the compact soundbar that fits easily in front of your TV, while the Acoustimass® module delivers deep bass that brings whatever you watch to life.
 
Customer Rating
3 out of 5
3
Small, well-made, expensive, meh sound quality
on May 20, 2015
Posted by: wrbluepearl
from Whitesboro, NY
The good: mid/high range speaker is very small and well-made, with a metal enclosure. RF remote control has excellent range. Inputs for optical digital, coaxial digital, and analog audio. Wired subwoofer connection with 10ft cord.
The bad: subwoofer is huge and plasticy. No inputs/passthru for HDMI signals if you care about that.
The ugly: sound quality is 'meh'. Absolutely NO soundstage. Turns itself off automatically, but doesn't turn itself back on automatically. No Bluetooth or AirPlay capability.
Only had this soundbar for a week, so consider this a preliminary review.
This is the second soundbar we've owned; this replaces a Boston Acoustics Tvee 30 that our cats knocked off the entertainment center one time too many. Years ago, I had a Dolby ProLogic setup with a Yamaha receiver and KEF speakers. That system sounded an order of magnitude better than any soundbar I've heard, but it had zero spousal acceptance factor.
My ancient television has only coaxial digital and analog (red/white) outputs; luckily, the Bose accepts either, in addition to optical digital input. Bose helpfully includes an optical cable and an RCA cable to connect to your existing TV or cable box. (They're not being *that* generous - these cables cost single-digit dollars.) The connection to the subwoofer is through a pair of bonded multi-conductor cables with DB-9(!) connectors. The amplifiers seem to all be in the subwoofer box; the heat sinks are visible if you look into the cooling grates on the sub enclosure. The digital/analog inputs all go to the back of the mid/high speaker.
The mid/high speaker has a pair of Bose's signature dinky 3" drivers in their "direct/reflecting" arrangement - think of a letter 'W'. The direct/reflecting concept - normally applied to their bookshelf speakers like the 301 - is that you bounce some sound off the wall to widen the soundstage...which sort of works in that situation, where the two speakers are separated by some distance. When the four drivers are mere millimeters apart, it doesn't really seem to help...this speaker has zero, zip, nada, no soundstage. It may as well be a mono center channel speaker. Bose claims that they are doing some kind of signal processing ("The four-element speaker array inside works with Bose TrueSpace® signal processing to spread sound well beyond the speaker itself.") but, well, it doesn't work. It just...doesn't. Worse, the sound that does come out of it is really rather flat, with dull highs. The only audio adjustment is a knob on the subwoofer to adjust bass levels, so forget tuning the sound to your room like you can with the Yamaha soundbars. Watching the Blu-Ray version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, voices were well-represented and clear, and the system was able to keep up with the dynamic range of the movie, but musical cues, sounded flat and uninspired.
Overall verdict - if size of the mid/high speaker is of paramount importance, then this may be the speaker for you...but it's expensive, and the sound is only so-so.
My Best Buy number: 2011053853
I would recommend this to a friend!
+3points
9of 15voted this as helpful.
 
Improve your laptop's connectivity with this j5create USB 3.0 adapter. The USB Type-A connector ensures compatibility with a wide range of devices, while the compact, lightweight profile fits into pockets or backpacks for increased portability. This j5create USB 3.0 adapter has VGA, Ethernet and USB ports for flexible connectivity with both analog and digital devices.
 
Customer Rating
3 out of 5
3
Mac User's Review
on April 15, 2015
Posted by: wrbluepearl
from Whitesboro, NY
Short version: this *does* fully work with MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) with annoying but not deal-breaking issues.
Long version: Bought this unit because it advertised MacOS X support, and it was available in my local Best Buy store. This unit has an internal USB 3.0 hub, which provides a USB 3.0 A port for connecting other USB 3 devices, a gigabit Ethernet port (using the ASIX AX88179 USB3 Ethernet controller), and a VGA port using the Magic Control Technology T5 USB video controller). Testing was performed with the most recent video drivers, available at j5create's website (http://www.j5create.com/support.html), and the most recent Ethernet drivers, available at ASIX's website (http://asix.com.tw/download.php?sub=driverdetail&PItemID=131). Test machine is a 2013 Haswell i7 MacBook Air, running MacOS X 10.10.2. Laptop was used in "clamshell" mode, with the internal display disabled.
The good:
Driver installation was straightforward, and the device worked on the first try out of the box. The VGA port worked with both test monitors - a 1920x1080 Dell monitor, and a 1280x1024 Hyundai monitor. USB passthrough port works 100%, supporting a 4-Port USB 3.0 dumb with keyboard mouse, scanner, and backup drive connected to it. Ethernet port works adequately; saw 60-80MB/s transfer rates during general-purpose file transfer testing (100MB/s is full gigabit Ethernet speed), which is about average for a USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter.
The bad:
When the laptop is put to sleep, the Ethernet port only works about 50% of the time when you wake it back up. Other USB devices do not appear to be affected - for example, the USB backup drive is still connected when the laptop wakes up. Disconnecting, then reconnecting, the adapter brings the Ethernet port back.
Strangely, the external monitor connected to this adapter shows up as being the Mac's own internal display (when you go to the Displays control panel), so while you can change the resolution, you cannot set rotation - meaning you can't use this adapter to drive an external monitor that's rotated to portrait mode, for example.
Mouse pointer movements feel delayed or 'laggy' when using this adapter, and there are some odd visual artifacts that appear when - for example - moving a window to the top of the screen.
The verdict:
This adapter gets a '3' from me. While it works, and seems to be reliable, the disconnecting Ethernet, lack of ability to "rotate" the connected monitor, and the odd visual artifacts cause me to knock off some points. It's likely that all of these can be remedied with a driver update; I will update this review if/when a new driver becomes available.
My Best Buy number: 2011053853
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
 
Capture stunning images of wide perspectives with this Canon 9522B002 EF-S wide-angle lens that features an aspheric lens element for high image quality from the center to the edges. The circular, 7-blade aperture delivers soft backgrounds.
 
  • My Best Buy® Elite Plus Member
  • Tech Insider Network
Customer Rating
4 out of 5
4
Almost makes the SL1 into a pocket camera
on November 21, 2014
Posted by: wrbluepearl
from Whitesboro, NY
BLUF: Light, compact, well-built and a solid optical performer.
The EF-S 24mm is the third STM prime in Canon's lineup (following the EF-M 22mm F2.0 and the EF 40mm F2.8), and shouldn't be the last. The compact pancake design makes for a great experience on smaller Canon bodies like the SL1 (100D). (I'd like to see folding optics like the Nikon D3300's kit lens too!) The barrel is plastic, but it's nicely textured and feels solid. The front optics look lost in a sea of plastic, but this was probably done to get a 52mm filter ring to match the 40mm STM lens, the 50mm F1.8, and other inexpensive Canon lenses. (The size of the EF mount also precludes making a lens with a diameter much smaller than this.)
It features solid optical performance, with no obvious flaws in color rendering, distortion sharpness.
Autofocus is not as quick as ring USM, but it's about as fast as the micromotor version you'd find on lenses like Canon's 28mm f1.8 USM. Manual focus is...odd - like there's a slight delay - due to the focus-by-wire system (this also plagues most micro 4/3 lenses). Autofocus continues to be accurate in relatively poor light.
For the money, this lens is very tough to beat! If you have a Canon crop body, this is a much better buy than the 50mm F1.8 lens for a number of reasons (smaller, better built, faster and more accurate autofocus).
My Best Buy number: 2011053853
I would recommend this to a friend!
+20points
21of 22voted this as helpful.
 
wrbluepearl's Review Comments
 
Improve your laptop's connectivity with this j5create USB 3.0 adapter. The USB Type-A connector ensures compatibility with a wide range of devices, while the compact, lightweight profile fits into pockets or backpacks for increased portability. This j5create USB 3.0 adapter has VGA, Ethernet and USB ports for flexible connectivity with both analog and digital devices.
 
Overall3 out of 53 out of 5
Mac User's Review
By wrbluepearl from Whitesboro, NY
Short version: this *does* fully work with MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) with annoying but not deal-breaking issues.
Long version: Bought this unit because it advertised MacOS X support, and it was available in my local Best Buy store. This unit has an internal USB 3.0 hub, which provides a USB 3.0 A port for connecting other USB 3 devices, a gigabit Ethernet port (using the ASIX AX88179 USB3 Ethernet controller), and a VGA port using the Magic Control Technology T5 USB video controller). Testing was performed with the most recent video drivers, available at j5create's website (http://www.j5create.com/support.html), and the most recent Ethernet drivers, available at ASIX's website (http://asix.com.tw/download.php?sub=driverdetail&PItemID=131). Test machine is a 2013 Haswell i7 MacBook Air, running MacOS X 10.10.2. Laptop was used in "clamshell" mode, with the internal display disabled.
The good:
Driver installation was straightforward, and the device worked on the first try out of the box. The VGA port worked with both test monitors - a 1920x1080 Dell monitor, and a 1280x1024 Hyundai monitor. USB passthrough port works 100%, supporting a 4-Port USB 3.0 dumb with keyboard mouse, scanner, and backup drive connected to it. Ethernet port works adequately; saw 60-80MB/s transfer rates during general-purpose file transfer testing (100MB/s is full gigabit Ethernet speed), which is about average for a USB 3.0 Ethernet adapter.
The bad:
When the laptop is put to sleep, the Ethernet port only works about 50% of the time when you wake it back up. Other USB devices do not appear to be affected - for example, the USB backup drive is still connected when the laptop wakes up. Disconnecting, then reconnecting, the adapter brings the Ethernet port back.
Strangely, the external monitor connected to this adapter shows up as being the Mac's own internal display (when you go to the Displays control panel), so while you can change the resolution, you cannot set rotation - meaning you can't use this adapter to drive an external monitor that's rotated to portrait mode, for example.
Mouse pointer movements feel delayed or 'laggy' when using this adapter, and there are some odd visual artifacts that appear when - for example - moving a window to the top of the screen.
The verdict:
This adapter gets a '3' from me. While it works, and seems to be reliable, the disconnecting Ethernet, lack of ability to "rotate" the connected monitor, and the odd visual artifacts cause me to knock off some points. It's likely that all of these can be remedied with a driver update; I will update this review if/when a new driver becomes available.
Customer Avatar
wrbluepearl
Whitesboro, NY
Update to review
May 13, 2015
I've done some additional research, and tried a USB adaptor based on the DisplayLink 3900 technology with the same computer/monitor. Turns out that the graphical artifacts are the result of an issue with MacOS X 10.10 (Yosemite), not the j5 create adaptor. As a result, while I'm going to leave the rating at 3 stars for other issues (like the inconsistent Ethernet behavior and the long delay when waking from sleep), I can say that not all of the issues I experienced with the device are its fault.
0points
0of 0voted this comment as helpful.
 
Make your home an internet haven with this versatile Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system. Three identical tri-band dual-stream AC2200 routers, each equipped with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, deliver lightning-fast internet. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.0/LE, this Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system is simple to set up and pairs easily with computers, tablets and smart devices.
 
Overall3 out of 53 out of 5
Not for me
By wrbluepearl
Summary:
This is probably the right system for someone, but it wasn't the right system for me. Disappointing routing performance, no apparent support for wired devices, and the security concerns related to forced use of the Linksys App and online service leave me unable to recommend it.
Intro:
I had high hopes for the Velop. I use a Linksys router on an everyday basis for my home network and it works really well - stable connection, excellent wireless performance, very good coverage for a single access point. Sadly, I found the Velop to be time-consuming to set up, with *lower* performance than my existing wireless access setup. I also have security and maintainability concerns about the forced use of Linksys' online service for router configuration.
Setup experience:
Unlike other mesh solutions I've used, the Velop does not have a "base station" and "extenders" - rather, it has what appear to be three identical white "pillars" that look like Bluetooth speakers. This was actually a little disorienting, because I spent some time trying to figure out which one was the "base station" when I first opened the box. The Velop does not have a web page that you connect to for configuration, rather, you download an app from the Google or Apple app Store (depending on your mobile phone platform) and configure with that. The Linksys app walks you through the steps for installing and configuring the three Velop units. (The Linksys app needs to have some usability testing done on it - on the iPad Mini I used for setup, the text for many of the prompts appeared to be tiny single-pixel wide grey letters on a dark blue background - EXTREMELY difficult to read, and unnecessary - for much of the installation process, this tiny text appeared on a nearly empty screen.) Aside from a curious requirement that I activate Bluetooth on the device I was using (do the Velop units have Bluetooth in them? If so, why? If not, why do I need to turn on the Bluetooth on my iPad to configure them?) the setup process was fairly straightforward.
Configuration experience:
Once the Velop stations are set up, you set an SSID, which is applied to all three stations on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. There are very few configuration options otherwise. All configuration must be done through the Linksys app. It appears that it is possible to connect the app directly to the Velop rather than going through the Linksys online service, but you *must* create a Linksys online account and use it for initial setup.
Performance:
Frankly, disappointing. I use a high-end Linksys WRT-series router for WiFi normally; the Velop provided no improvement in coverage in my house and resulted in a *degradation of performance*. Yes, you read that correctly. My WiFi throughput results were *lower* with the Velop than a single WiFi router. This does not mean the Velop is a failure necessarily, but it means that you need to have a fairly large area you're trying to cover to justify the purchase of the Velop over a high-end, well-placed single router. Worse, while my normal WRT-series router can handle *four* simultaneous Netflix streams, the Velop can't even keep *two* Netflix streams going smoothly.
Technical Analysis:
The Velop raises at great many questions. While using a wired backhaul is discussed in some of the reviews I've read, there are no instructions or indications in any of the documentation provided with the router that this can be done, or how to do it. There are no instructions or indications of how to integrate wired devices with the Velop's network - in my case, I have about a dozen wired devices (game consoles, desktop computers, etc.) that I had no way to connect. There's no indication of being able to switch the Velop into "access point" mode, where they integrate with an existing wired network; the Velop always seems to NAT and run its own DHCP server, etc. so any wireless devices will be on a different subnet from your wired network. (This may be part of the problem with performance, but there are almost no tweakable settings on the Velop to turn this off.) There's no way to deactivate the 2.4GHz network - my house is in a very congested area in 2.4GHz and I'd prefer not to use it at all; if it's available devices will occasionally "wander" onto 2.4GHz and then suffer atrocious performance.
Other concerns:
Finally, my biggest concern is with using the Linksys app + mandatory use of an online service for configuration. First of all, what happens when Linksys decides that it no longer "supports" the Velop - in two, three, five years? That's right, there will be no way to configure your fancy mesh network access points, because they've taken the online service down. (In fact, it's unclear whether the Velop will even *work* if the Linksys online service is unavailable.) What happens if Linksys gets hacked? Now someone will be able to download new firmware or settings to your Velop without your knowledge...firmware that could spy on you, or turn your Velop into a distributed denial-of-service device for criminals.
Customer Avatar
wrbluepearl
Whitesboro, NY
Velop Follow-up
July 10, 2017
So, I took the Velop back out of its box, curious to see if six more months in the oven have improved this product. I'm happy to say that the answer is *yes*. Linksys addressed many of the concerns that I and other reviewers raised with the difficulty in pairing units and configuring the system to work with existing networks. The Velop now supports "bridge" mode, so you can integrate it into your existing home network (if you're one of those people who uses pfsense, for example, this will matter to you). The wired backhaul mode definitely works, and lets you expand your network more widely in situations where the nodes can't "see" each other in 5GHz.
0points
0of 0voted this comment as helpful.
 
wrbluepearl's Questions
 
wrbluepearl has not submitted any questions.
 
wrbluepearl's Answers
 
Make your home an internet haven with this versatile Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system. Three identical tri-band dual-stream AC2200 routers, each equipped with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, deliver lightning-fast internet. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.0/LE, this Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system is simple to set up and pairs easily with computers, tablets and smart devices.
 

I don't have hard line will it work on 4 g signal

My guess is probably not - the Velop system does not have a USB port for connecting a 4G modem, so unless your modem has an Ethernet jack on it for connection sharing, the answer is no.
7 years, 3 months ago
by
wrbluepearl
 
Make your home an internet haven with this versatile Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system. Three identical tri-band dual-stream AC2200 routers, each equipped with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, deliver lightning-fast internet. Equipped with Bluetooth 4.0/LE, this Linksys Velop wireless Wi-Fi system is simple to set up and pairs easily with computers, tablets and smart devices.
 

Will this work with the SkyBell HD? The Skybell states that it must use the 2.4GHz band only. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/skybell-wi-fi-video-doorbell-bronze/5665606.p?skuId=5665606

This should support it - the Velop provides a 2.4GHz WiFi network (in fact, you can't turn the 2.4GHz off!)
7 years, 3 months ago
by
wrbluepearl
 
Easily connect a speaker to your computer with this AudioQuest USB cable that features silver conductors and solid core conductors for reducing signal distortion. The 16.4' length allows optimal placement.
 

Does any one check for prcing errors? A $1,500 16' USB cable? Lost Sales!!!!

A $1,500 16' USB A-to-USB B Cable !!! Black/Gray, Model: 65-091-27 , free shipping though. Someone is not checking their website for pricing errors. That means lots of lost sales !!!!
AudioQuest is an "audiophile" cable manufacturer, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that the price is correct. Sadly.
8 years, 11 months ago
by
wrbluepearl
   Whitesboro, NY