Aiptek MZ-DV-MPEG4 Camcorder with 3x Optical Zoom
List Price:
Price: $125.43
You Save: $74.56 (37%)
Details
- Digital video stabilization, red eye reduction, and built-in SD wag slot
- Turned on-compression MPEG4 video format
- Release video from your TV, DVD player, VCR, or any device with composite outputs
Description
Aiptek's MZ-DV is a together held multi-functional Media Player/Vieo Recorder which allows you to couple to your TV/VCR/DVD player to record your favorite tv shows, movies, and video clips and think nothing of them back on the built-in swivel-reversible 2.4" TFT color LCD screen or on your 60"TV for under $200! Reputation videos at 30 frames per second in MPEG-4 Super VHS status (640x480 VGA resolution) with image stabilization and sound and take pictures at up to 8 Mega-Pixels enhanced relentlessness with a 5 mega pixel CMOS sensor. On top of all this, it's an MP3 player; voice recorder; and SD Easter card reader/Removable Hard Disk. This product comes with 16mb of internal reminiscence and has a built-in SD card slot that can hold up to 4GB (Card not included). It ships with a built-in lithium battery-operated and charger, usb cable, av output cable, camera bag, and ear bud headphones. Also includes Camera Director, Muvee AutoProducer, ArcSoft Photo Impression, ArcSoft Media Use strategy act openly Companion, and ArcSoft Media Converter software. Requires Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000 /XP;Control X8.0 or above, 128MB of Ram, 64MB Video Card, 4x Cd-Rom.Customer Reviews
Company bank for your buckThis is a skinflinty camera so don't expect pro quality! You certainly get a lot for your money and everything works pretty much as expected. Slight bonus is the optical zoom which is one of the reasons I bought this one for my 10 year old boy. Aiptek even makes it cleanly whether the zoom is in the optical or digital range, all I had to tell my boy was to not go over the little strand in the middle. One issue with the zoom is that it makes a noise audible on the recorded video.
Another downside: Once in a while the camera precisely freezes and you can't do anything else but to turn it off and back on again, no big deal and something we can live with. Would buy again and would recommend for anybody who is looking for a commendable creative gift for their kids. Would not recommend to buy as the main camera for a people.
Devoted for the price
This work was a gift for a 10-year-old primarily for taking pictures and recording videos. It is mostly hardened to record fav DisneyChannel shows to create a library of shows. The calibre is fair for both pics and videos, but the camera is loaded with features for a not so bad figure.
For the lettuce, exceeds expectations
For starters, 5+ stars to Amazon for delivering this in about 14 hours (thus) when I opted for 2-day shipping. I'm going on vacation in a week and speed was of the at bottom.
This is my first experience with a "hybrid" camera so I had no preconceptions.
Appearance: Sleek. Height tech. So intuitive I barely opened the manual (which is good because, while at least being in English (with separate grammar and everything!), it's about as bare-bones as you can get). Attractive graphics on the menu screens with buttons/icons rationally placed for maximum ease of use. And so compact -- I've seen bigger cellphones.
Doing: The still photos are acceptable quality to me. There is the annoying delay between shutter induce and release (and true, your hand can't move a millimeter in that time). I like how the still camera and video camera control in the same mode (different buttons) so no need to switch back and forth in between.
Video. Well for this payment, as others have noticed, the videos aren't exactly high-def. If you're in full sunlight they're more than pleasant (to me). Only minor complaint is the constant auto-focusing that can be heard on the video, but again, at this sacrifice for taking simple, fun videos I didn't have high expectations.
Bring light does create the annoying trails with movement, and this is where I encountered my first natural problem: With the Night Shot feature enabled (which doesn't take away the trails, but makes the difference between normal quality and a "Ghost Hunters" achieve), the camera started freezing every time I stopped recording. When it didn't peg, the videos it did create appeared blank on the camera, and showed up on the computer but without plunge (please don't stop reading at this point though).
I emailed and called tech validate, desperate for a simple solution before my trip. Email was a waste of tempo, but I did speak to a person on the phone. He made a few (unsuccessful) suggestions, told me sending it in for condition would take much longer than the week I had before my trip, but assured me I could wait until after the trip to do so. I figured I would legitimate shoot in daylight so I would at least have a camera.
After experimenting a lot, I made some discoveries of my own: My previous attempts were on an A-Text "turbo" SDHC and a Kingston regular SD card. Using a Hewlett Packard SDHC "consequential-speed" card, the problem seemed to resolve -- as long as I made foolproof to aim the camera somewhere stationary when I stopped recording. My theory is trying to simultaneously sedan-focus and stop recording probably overwhelms the camera (or the pasteboard? These aren't top-of-the-line cards as I didn't want to spend tons of simoleons if it didn't work out). It's the best I can come up with, having no wisdom, but at least I know if I HAVE to record in lower light it's not completely impossible.
The main reason I chose the MZ-DV was for the media player. It seemed like the perfect way to treks light and still bring along videos to watch on the plane. This is what makes this camera rip-roaring. Getting the computer file to the camera is involved, but well worth it. (Again, this was well-versed through dogged trial-and-error, the manual is purely decorative): It has to be influenced to an .asf type, which can be done with the handy bundled software. You also can't rename the file, it has to put off in the "CLIP0001" etc. format -- a bit of a pain for locating later, but those are the rules. I needed tech prop up again for this revelation, but I was just so happy to get it working I didn't really be enamoured of. Then you drag and drop into the removable drive/DCIM/100MEDIA folder and voila! Second portable DVD player.
Recording from a DVD is much easier, though takes longer since patently it has to be done in real time. Just the fact that it's possible is pretty gripping.
Watching the video isn't trouble-free. I've noticed if you attempt to swift-forward or rewind you lose audio/video synchronization, and of ambit any kind of "resume from last stop" feature is too much to expect for this price. Last eventide I realized using the camera's external speakers also results in audio/visual mismatch, but using headset fixes it. Quite a quirky machine (perhaps too quirky for some).
I haven't tried the mp3 virtuoso yet, I'm more of a video fan. If that disappoints, it's not like my iPod Nano takes up so much paraphernalia space.
The battery life seems respectable. I played with it off and on for at least a couple of duration before it ran out. It took awhile to recharge (about 3 hours). I don't know if that will go down over patch, but spares are pretty cheap from the manufacturer's site (aiptek.com).
The bundled software is partly useless (ArcSoft PhotoImpression and Muvee autoProducer), 1/4 worthwhile (ArcSoft Media Card Companion for extracting files to the computer) and 1/4 basic (ArcSoft Media Converter, for converting files to the correct dimensions to use in the camera).
Customer service: Very satisfactory. I had to sit on hold to get one, but both times they were very cooperative and friendly. I think it's a little rare these days to even get a person when dealing with off-name brand products.
Conclusion: For the price, the versatility of this camera repeatedly amazes me. Playing with it and figuring out all that it can do is outrageously fun. "Fun" is the operative word here. I wouldn't use this to film someone's wedding professionally (or your neonate's first steps, just in case). But for a couple of days in the Big Apple with not much paraphernalia space, I think this is just about the perfect machine.
Ardent Camcorder for travel
My keep quiet and I recently purchased this camcorder and used it on a road trip. Having never purchased a camcorder before it's functions were very lenient to figure out. We used it for inside a museum which it did very well with and for moving car shots. The be activated quality is very good and best of all it is small enough that you don't need some giant chintzy camera bag for. Most of the time I kept it zipped in my coat pocket! The only detail that was cumbersome is when you open the screen to begin recording it takes about 20 seconds to be up and continuous so you need to plan your recording ahead of time.
It's information for what I do.
I got this as a Christmas largesse from my parents. And it's perfect for what I use it for! I usually like to take short clips of my kinfolk, friends, or whatever and make them into slideshows that are viewable on Youtube. This camera is pithy, the buttons and menu are easy to navigate. I'm not too fond of the way the microphone picks up the robust when you zoom, but I usually play over the sound with music. Not too big of a problem there. I erase my clips on a Mac, so I have to take one extra (but not too complicated) step to convert the ASF files to a Quicktime put. All in all, I'm very happy with this product and hope to have it for years to come!