Aiptek Action HD camcorder

dahur

I was wondering if anyone has tried out this new camcorder yet. The price ($199) for 1080i@ 30fps, or 720p@ 60 fps seems like a good bargain. Flash memory up to 32g. Some reviews I read had some issues with the recording in .mov format, then playing it, or converting it to another format. The video examples I've seen though, look quite good. For someone(like myself), that doesn't want to spend a lot of money, for a small HD camcorder, this looks like a good deal.

djames

yeah I was looking at this camcorder as well, for the price it sounds very good. I think I read it came with software as well.

Does anybody know if this thing can burn directly to a DVD disk and be played in the BD DVD players, or is there some long arduous challenge to puting these recordings to disk?

dahur

I ended up buying it last week. It was just what I was looking for: a economical, small, (I carry it in my pocket),HD camcorder, that takes a great picture. There is a good review here
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...66&forum_id=92

The software that comes with it, Arc Soft's "Total Media Extreme" can burn to Blu-Ray, DVD, and VCD.
The included "Digital Theater" is what I use to play back on my PC.
I had purchased a 4gb SDHC card to use with it. Unfortunately, I got the class 6 card. It would record okay, but I had a lot of problems getting the video to my PC. Aiptek site says that class 4 is as high as the camera is rated at handling. When I put my 2gb Sandisk in, I have no problems whatsoever. I have since ordered a 4gb class 2 card.
At 720p 60fps, you get about 43 minutes of recording on a 2gb card.

I think it's hard to beat for the price. $199 at Walmart online. (and some Walmarts)

djames

Wow thanks for the heads up with all the info on this thing. I'm surprised its not more popular. How does the HD picture quality look? Do you happen to know if the HD DVD players will play burned HD disks from this camera (thats what my parents have), if not I guess I'll have to buy a playstation or some other player for them sooner than later ?

Do you have any complaints with the camera? I noticed it doesn't have image stabilization, but for the price of the camera I'll just learn to hold it steady.

dahur

The Action HD is VERY popular. It was sold out at Walmart online, and their stores for the longest time. I can't say for sure, but I don't think it will play in HD DVD players. At least I never saw that option in their software. Just Blu-Ray, DVD, and VCD.

The video quality is what sells this camcorder. I think it's phenomenal, especially for a unit that's so cheap. Yes, it doesn't have image stabilization, so you have to think about that as you're taking the picture. It does come with a tri-pod too.
The battery (1000mah) that comes with it is supposed to give about 70 minutes. I got the 1800mah from Aiptek for about $30. It's slightly larger, so it comes with a cover to fit the camcorder. I don't really like that the cover is black, I think they could have supplied a silver one to match. But it's not a huge issue.

Once you see the picture you get from it, you'll see what a bargain this camcorder is.

djames

Thanks for your help Dahur, I went out and bought one of these cameras yesterday and was actually disappointed with it. I couldn't for the life of me keep the video from not looking shaky. Everytime I played something back it would get me sick.

The other issue is with the zoom, it picks up the motor sound on the mic and is very pronounced during playback. These issues I expected since it is a cheap camera, but I thought I could've dealed with them but I can't. The tripod is the only way I could keep the movie looking good, I guess I don't have a still hand.

The other major issue is with the picture quality, I went though that link you posted and went through the reviews and it seems everyone liked the PQ of the video, but myself and a few other people couldn't see any difference in PQ from the DVD to 1080p. We could tell the slightest difference with the lowest resolution I think 300 lines or so compared with the 1080p. Maybe my tv (Sony Bravia XBR) upscales all the videos really well, because there just wasn't any difference. I even looked for a sharpness setting but there wasn't one. We tryed several resolutions comparing the video outside and inside and none of us could tell which video was HD or not. I ended up speaking into the camcorder what the resolution was so we could figure which was which. Maybe the camera was messed up because I would expect to see a difference more than SD quality.

I think I'll try a more expensive camcorder to see if that makes a difference. Maybe my expectations were to high, I don't know.

dahur

I'm very sorry it didn't work out for you. I get a beautiful picture with mine, and am extremely satisfied with it.

I can hear the zoom on mine, but it's real low.

I know you tried it on your HDTV with the component cords, not the composite cords.
Try it on your computer monitor and see if it still looks ordinary. Maybe it was something with your TV.

djames

I'll have to try that and see because I should get an impressive picture afterall it is HD video at 60frames

dahur

Yes, and let me know. I have a front panel on my HDTV that takes "composite" cables. I first plugged in there, and got an average picture like you described.I haven't tried the component cables yet, but I expect the result to be different. However on my PC monitor, the HD is beautiful.

acgold7

Composite is SD only.

dahur

Yes, that's right. I'm surprised they even supply composite cables with an HD camcorder, but then I suppose not everyone has component inputs. I just tried mine because they were easy access, and I wanted to see if the camcorder's picture would get into my TV, with no problems, and it did.

dahur

By the way, I got my 4gb SDHC class 2 Sandisk in the mail today, and it works great. Beware class 6 SD cards don't work with this camcorder.

1 hr 23 minutes of HD recording on the 4gb card, 720p@60 fps.

zillaq

I have this camera. I bought it to use as a helmet cam. With the proper software (I have Ulead Studio 11+) you can edit and burn HD DVDs using clips from this camera. I convert the .mov clips to .mpg first.

I am quite pleased with the video quality. 720p 30 works best for me. The stills, on the other hand, are inferior to my Canon A630.

It is difficult to hold it still. I am working on a small DIY steady cam for it.

zillaq

I converted about 20 min. of video clips that I took with the Action HD at 720p 30 into mpeg I format. I created a HD DVD production in Ulead Studio 11 + and burned to a 4.7GB DVD.

There was a great deal of blocky compression artifacting. When viewed on my 42" LCD HDTV it didn't look nearly as good as it did on my computer monitor. I am guessing that the conversion from .MOV to .MPG was at fault. I am in the process of doing the production without conversion first. The video bitrate was set at 25000

The software that came with the camera includes a production tool that allows you to burn Blu-ray and DVD discs. I haven't tried this software yet.

jmichael

"Beware class 6 SD cards don't work with this camcorder."

I have an A-Data 8GB class 6 card that seems to work. In what way might it not work?