Aiptek A-HD 720P 8MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder (Silver)
by Aiptek Inc.
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List Price: Our Price: $83.99 You Save: $116.00 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Aiptek A-HD 720P 8MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder (Silver)
Customer Review: Video, yes... Audio, no
Summary: 3 Stars
I like this camcorder. Great price, Great value, excellent video quality (when you are in decent lighting). But the audio is just no good. There is no external mic option. I have taken many videos with subjects speaking at normal volume literally 3 feet in front of the camera and the sound is muffled and needs to be turned way up to hear. But the person holding the camera, is heard very well. Its almost as if the mic is pointing in the wrong direction. (Well its pointing straight up, so it definitely is not in the right direction). I like this product conceptually, but being that it is useless for picking up audio ... I'm unsure of how useful it is as an 'everyday' camcorder.
And I'm really unhappy that the video format is .MOV - I'm very computer saavy and what others have said is right: there is NO software that edits MOV files on a PC. Just about all of them need to convert the file back up to to a AVI or a MPG (needless to say, that conversion is not simple or quick).
This is the note on the company's support FAQ: "Aiptek uses the newer H.264 high-end technology for its HD Camcorders and major software editing companies are working diligently to develop an overall compatibility solution to support this newer technology. We're currently working with a few software editing companies to help speed up the process." I've had the camera for 6 months .... I haven't seen the answer yet.
One great and unique feature on this camera is - A/V INput. Yes, it actually can record audio and video FROM an A/V source. So you can connect this to your TV, or VCR or DVD player and record the output onto your camera. Why would you want to? For one you can watch your recordings portably and use the device as a portable media player (is not made to play MP3's though - I dont know why not). But best yet, is that the quality it records at is DVD quality and you can take that file put it on your computer and burn yourself a DVD copy of whatever you'd like.
Customer Review: The Little Camera That Could
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this camera for about two years. I bought it to be a knockabout camera for daily snapshot use, and as such it's proven to be "The Little Camera That Could". I've taken thousands of pictures with it. I've dropped it, splashed it with salt water, left it recording for hours, used it as a video recorder using the output from a better camera, frozen it, fell on it, let my 10 year old and her friends play with it, strapped it to helmets, and subjected it to countless other abuses over the time that I've had it. The only time that it ever gave me a problem was when I completely submerged it in salt water. Aiptek replaced it for free, no questions asked. It's outlasted my Nikon Coolpix point and shoot camera that I got at almost the same time.
The video quality is good, but is a bit overcompressed. It looks great on a big screed Hi-Def television, but tends to look fuzzy on a computer monitor. I can edit the footage with no problem in iMovie, but it has to render in Final Cut Express before I can do anything with it.
The still photos look very good for snapshots, but don't use the camera for landscapes, the cheesy optics lose resolution (get fuzzy) with objects that are more than 100 feet away. There is also a slight yellow cast to the images, something that is easily fixed in iPhoto or other editing software.
There is a large element of "you get what you pay for" with this camera. It feels flimsy, The optics stink compared to a Sony or Canon. The audio is a little bit muddy, but only when you compare it to a better piece of equipment. The digital zoom is useless. Sometimes the rolling shutter effect, where the bottom of the picture lags behind the top, can be seen when following fast moving objects, although I've heard the same complaint about the $2,500 Canon 5D Mark II.
All that said, I love this little camera, and wouldn't hesitate to buy other Aiptek products based on the service this one's given me.
Customer Review: Decent, inexpensive, but will not work in cold / icy weather.
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this as an inexpensive and simple camcorder for the ski slopes. I felt nervous about using an expensive device. The following are my ramblings that I can think of real quick. If it worked in cold weather, I would have given it 3.5-4 stars because on how inexpensive it is.
The cold weather affects it, and would not power on for most of my efforts. I stuck it closer in one of the inner pockets of my ski jacket, but the best I ever got was a 10 second clip on sunny days.
I thought I had several 20 second clips, but it turned out that it locked up and never saved properly. What a disappointing day it was on the ski slopes.
I use it periodically during the summer without any major problems. It has locked up from time to time, but taking the battery out and restarting seems to work.
I hate the charger, though. I don't think it is a standard usb device. I tried repeatedly to recharge with my motorola usb charger that I use with my phone, and this device won't take the charge--although, it lights up appearing that it will / does.
I would have preferred something more direct to mpeg4 such that I can put it directly to DVD, hddvd, or blueray. However, I guess that is what software and a computer are good for.
This unit also does not have an optical zoom--however, for the cost, it is understandable. Aiptek appears to have a unit that costs a little more that has an optical zoom.
My suggestion is if you are going to a cold environment, avoid this. If you need something inexpensive, this is very impressive. However, understand that this may lock up from time to time, and you may miss some shots. So, definately it is not something that I would set it and forget it--rather, check up on it every 10 min to make sure it is running, and there is a stoping point, stop the recording, and start a new one such that you will know that you have captured that segment.
Customer Review: Video editing difficult on PC
Summary: 2 Stars
For the money, I give the hardware 5 stars. I recommend a tripod since cheap cameras don't do good with motion. Video is very nice, but the sound could be better. Because the manufacturer casually forgets to tell you that you won't be able to edit your videos on a PC, I give this camera 2 stars.
Video files are complex - you have the container (.mov, .avi, .wmv, .mpeg), you have the video encoding, and you have the audio encoding. This camera creates Apple Quicktime .mov files encoded with the latest video and audio codecs. My friend was able to play & edit the videos easily on his Mac. However, if you have a PC it's a different story. On a PC, the movies will play using Quicktime or using Windows Media Player if you install the codec on the supplied CD. Editing the movies is much more difficult on the PC. Windows Movie Maker won't even open a Quicktime .mov file. My Sony Vegas video editing software will load the video, but not the sound. After digging around the Aiptek web site, it appears that their more expensive camera comes with a video conversion program. I downloaded this $30 software. It was able to convert the .mov video to Windows .wmv format, but with significant loss in quality. Haven't had as much luck converting it to .avi or .mpeg (lots of different problems happened).
Anyway, I recommend this camera if you use a Mac or if you are o.k. leaving your videos as individual Quicktime .mov files. Too bad the camera doesn't create old-fashion DVD MPEG-2 files. Most manufacturers think their newfangled video decoder is better, but at the expense of being incompatible with most software. For the same money, you might try the Flip Video camera. It's not as high resolution, but at least you can pull the video clips into Windows Movie Maker, combine them, and burn to a DVD.
Customer Review: Great camera for on the go and home movies
Summary: 4 Stars
Aiptek A-HD 720P 5MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder
I love this camera. Does great home video recording.
Pros:
* Flash based (microsd card) video recording is fast, saves space (mini dv take us space - and it's still a tape, which can jam). It also speeds up transfer from camera to computer.
* USB charging. I can use a generic mini usb charger or my computer (with USB cable) to charge the camera.
* USB 2.0 transferring (see above)
* Light
* Easy access to MicroSD card.
* Can be placed on a tripod
* HD video capture. In DVD capture quality I can get up to 3.5 hours or more on a 2gb sd card.
Cons:
* Audio recording is okay. Built in microphone leaves much to be desired. It's okay for what you need but if you are in a noisy area or you need to focus your audio recording you may need to plug in a mic. But I wasn't too bothered with it because this isn't supposed to be a professional camera.
* (this one's not so bad) Recording button is in the front of the camera so you have to get used to the placement of the button.
* Still picture capture when on using the camcorder won't accept zoom. I haven't tried to use this in point and shoot mode which might accept the zoom. While recording from camcorder mode, and you push the still capture button it'll zoom out to regular and take the picture. Picture takes a full second or two to take in camcorder mode as well. Haven't tested it in point and shoot mode though.
Overall a great product.