Audiovox DC400 Digital Media Recorder & Player with MP3 and MPEG4 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased the Dc400 for $140 on JandR.com.I've had the camera for about 2 weeks and I must admit for the low price it offers much.The buttons and menu controls are extremely user friendly, I barely glanced at the manual. Digital stills are fine, decent quality what you would expect from any 2.0 digital camera.The videos are perfect for web quality especially in a small view, full screen was a little choppy.The 4x digital zoom(not opticle)is as good as any other camera I've seen,the zoom button is on a nifty spot right at the tip of your index finger. The rechargable battery seems to work for over an hour and charges pretty quickly too. It fits easily in jeans pocket.Now the bad news. It only comes with a 32mb SD card, you can purchase a Sandisk 512MB SD on clearance now for around $50. The video editing software it comes with crashes, it was completely useless to me. Stick with Microsoft Movie Maker 2 for this one or another video editor of your choice. The photo programs are cool including a 360 degree and ultra zoom functions. Remember as soon as you plug the DC400 into USB port you can easily download all pics and videos from unit it acts like a mass storage drive in explorer. The microphone is placed in a bad spot must be careful not to cover with finger. The LCD screen does not swivel up or down. This unit is good for movies on the go but if you need to record video from VHS or DVD take a look at the Panasonic D-snap series.The Dc400 has a night view function but you will need good light to get a shot, outside is perfect in daytime, a well lit room, a well lit street at night with lots of stores and lamppost, remember all SD video camera's have poor to moderate night filming. Another function I found very cool is that you can film video or stills in black and white. I have not used it as a MP3 Player yet but the head phones it came with are mono so I'm not expecting it to be loud or great.

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Product Description:
Audiovox DC400 Digital Video Camcorder / Digital Camera - Includes 32MB MMC or SD Card, Software on CD. Li-Ion Rechargeable Battery, AC Adapter, USB Cable, A/V Cable, Camera Strap, Earphone, Mini Tripod, User Manual, Audiovox 1 Year parts; 90 day labor warranty. Envision a compact digital camcorder that used no tapes - much like a digital camera. Imagine a digital camera that captures still images at 2 Megapixel resolution (4 Megapixel enhanced) yet can also store video clips at 640x480 VGA resolution. Realize the Audiovox DC400.4x Digital Zoom Accepts SD or MMC external memory cards for audio and image storage 1.5 Swivel LCD color monitor Color and Sepia tone imaging Programmed autofocus and exposure Manual macro focus control Use camera to listen to MP3 music files recorded on SD memory cards 10-second self timer modeBuilt-in microphone and speaker (no provision for adding an external mic) No shoe for adding an automatic electronic-flash Weighs about 4 ounces without battery

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Aiptek DV4500 4MP MPEG4 Pocket Digital Camcorder Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I gave it 5 stars not because it's a great camera, but because it's great & handy for the price.

My new pocket Digital video camera (DVD quality) I just got for Father's day (a week early) I take everywhere. The camera has headphone jacks & a built in speaker. It doubles as an mp3 player & is a great little still camera too. It can also play the role as an external disk drive to hold or transfer any type of files.

The camera is about the size of a pack of U.S. cigarettes which easily fits in any pocket. It encodes video into MPEG4 compression format, the same format used in HDTV broadcasts. So with a 512MB card (not included) if I don't have any stills or music loaded in it, I get 90 minutes of DVD quality recording time on it. The catch is it's only 10fps at DVD resolution. But still looks very good. It has several lower resolutions too, including VHS resolution at 30fps for smoother motion. But at that resolution it still looks better than standard VHS tape. No tape noise, grain, jitter, saturation, sync or color dot problems. It has no moving parts except for the buttons & the swing out screen. Everything is recorded digitally onto a memory chip.

Of course most computers are much higher resolution than most TVs. So the slightest flaws or artifacts will be more noticable on the computer than on most TVs. Burn them onto VCD, SVCD, or DVD to play them on your TV. If your graphics card has s-video output or better, just plug that into your TV.

On the lowest video resolution, also 30fps, it looks like those small low bandwidth online streaming videos you can watch on the net, not good at all but usable. If you're planning on sending video on limited bandwidth or file sizes the lowest resolution will be handy.

On that low a setting it'll record for hours or until the batteries die, making it great as a hidden spycam or nanny cam. It also is a net cam too.

It takes only 2 AA batteries so you won't have to keep running to the charger with expensive short-lived battery packs. I'm using Sony 2600mha newer rechargables I already owned. They lasted till the memory was full with a readout of 80% of battery life still left. So I have no experience on how long ordinary cheap AA batteries would last. The specs say 60 minutes with ordinary AA alkalines. I threw in a pair of 2000mah rechargables I got cheap in a 20 pack from Amazon. It recorded 90 minutes of video with plenty of power left over. When plugged into the USB port, it'll use the USB power, not the batteries, averaging a current draw of about 300ma.

The included video editing software is better than software that I already had that cost almost as much as the camera... & it's easier to use. It will work for editing any video, not just the ones made by the camera.

The camera & software are specifically designed for XP. But because without the software, if you plug it into the USB port, any computer will recognize it as an external drive. You can tranfer your files off or onto the camera as easy as you can move files from 1 disk, folder, or drive to another. Doing it that way, without the included software you can watch or burn your videos & pix on any computer, even a mac or linux machine. I tried it, it does work. Your computer will need an MPEG4 player to play the video. It will list video as AVI files, but if you ever had MPEG4 files before, it usually lists them as AVIs.

If you have the memory card, the computer will recognize it as 2 drives, the card & the internal memory.

Oh, it also includes jacks to plug it in to your TV, VCR, external burner, or stereo, & play your images, movies, or music without a computer.

Digital cameras need a lot more light than their analog tape or film sisters... this one too. It has a flash for still pictures, which works well, but no built in light for video. For indoors video you'll need all your ordinary house lights turned on their highest setting, or be near a good window in the daytime. Outdoors, there was plenty of light even on the cloudiest days even after sunset at dusk. Shortly after that, there won't be enough light.

It also comes with a mini pocket tripod, cheap but useful.

I experimented by duct taping a fairly bright 7-LED flashlight to it to video in a dark nightclub. I still had to get within 3 feet of my subject to get a fairly lit image. In the future I may build an infrared LED illuminator for it & video in Black & white in the dark... yes it has a B&W setting.

No optical zoom, digital zoom only, so any more than a tad of digital zoom,
& your images will look like the lowest resolution settings.

Bottom line, this is not a great camera. It's a cheapie. But for ease, portablity, flexibility, you can't beat it for the price... very handy, you can take it anywhere, & I never leave home without it.

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Product Description:
The Pocket DV4500 is a multi-functional DV camera designed for capturing previous moments anytime, anywhere. It's equipped with a maximum resolution of 4 Mega-Pixels and a1.5" color LCD screen.Record video inMPEG-4 VHS quality with sound.On top of all this, it's a voice recorder,mp3 player, andweb cam. This product comes with 16mb of internal memory, and has a built-in SD card slot that can hold up to 512MB (Card not included). It ships with a tripod/stand, usb cable, av output cable, camera bag, and headset. Requires Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000 /XP;Direct X8.0 or above, 128MB of Ram, 64MB Video Card, 4x Cd-Rom.

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