$199 10x otical zoom 720P video Cam Traveler HD 10x from Aldi groceries

dadob

This video/still camera blows me away!!! It does everything I've ever wanted a video camera to do and most what I want a still camera to do. Traveler HD 10x video camera from Aldi Groceries they have a web site. I'm not allowed to post the link but the camera is on the first page.

720 p h.264 compression, component output, great menu quick turn on user friendly and a whopping 10 friggin' x optical lens. All for 199 buckuroos!!!!!

It has digital zoom too but who needs it.

The only things it doesn't have that I might care about is a flash and only goes to 400 iso.

I was thinking of buying a flip type camera or aitpek with no digital zoom and cheap construction. I couldn't find an affordable hd camera with any optical zoom. I woulda' been happy with 3x.

I was shopping at Aldi's 'cause they had a good price on Pistachio Nuts, I generally don't like their groceries but the pistachio's, they're good. I suddenly see this display of electronics items. An over priced no name gps and then my jaw drops this cute little video cam with sdhc 4g memory an a 10x optical zoom It took me about 2 minutes to decide. I asked the manager if it was returnable if I wasn't happy. Affirmative.

while I am running it home to play with it I'm thinking all sorts of negative--- of all the possible disappointments and how it's too good to be true. But, it's all true I absolutely love it. It seems well engineered, I mean it's junk but it's great junk. Sometime you get what you pay for and sometimes you get less than pay for. This is the find of the decade for me. I have always been disappointed with video cams and digital cams especially when viewed on my 65" mitz. Not this; the first films I took of my back yard looked broadcast quality and the stills did too. Praise God for his blessings.

This is how easy it is. You turn it on it's so fast that the splash screen can't be seen. It blips out of sight in a microsecond and within 2 seconds you are ready to shoot. You push one button for video and another button for snaps. There are tons of menu options which are easy to navigate. It has a real joy stick selector not the cheap rocker switches, a motorized zoom -- a little fast but it works.

This camera seems so well designed and thought out I expect to find more cool things. If this camera last a couple years I will have more than gotten my moneys worth. Except now I'm gonna have to pay to go back to Hawaii and redo the lousy pictures my vhs-c took. I can handle it.

Aldi's manager said he'd give me 90 days to get a refund if I didn't like it. I already like it. Check it out make sure they will cover returns and see if I am not right.

One tip. I Couldn't get component output to work. I tried pushing the plug in the camera and thought it was in but after a while I looked closer and it had another 1/8 inch to go in so I had to push it real hard, that did it 7 beautiful 20p ahhh!

(it comes with all the cables you need, a remote and a extra battery adapter for the charger). The battery (li-on) looks like a standard cell phone battery, you should be able to pick extra's up on ebay cheap.

that's all for now dadob

joesdad

Hey thanks for posting this i have been looking into getting a cam corder but wasnt sure which way to. whether i should get one with an internal hard drive, dvd burner or 1 that uses the sim cards. since money is tight i was looking at this and you made my decision for me awesome thanks.

brant

two users w/ one post each; yep, i'm sold!

DublinGothic

Hi ,
Well that Traveler HighDef. camcorder is still for sale in Aldi,Dublin Ireland.
At 180Euros.
So,I bought one yesterday,Dec/9.
Anyway:
Feels a bit like a toy.Simple design.
It records directly to the SD card as an mp4 file.
Here's my first clip of a scruffy carpet.Notice it's focusing problems.
youtube from DublinGothic,title "pictoo16.mp4"
Download to Youtube was straight from the card and took a couple of minutes.
Compare to my MOV clips from a E240 panasonic sdr-s7.

Aldi have a great returns policy,and the staff where very helpful.
Full cash refund within thirty days.
keep the little sales receipt.
Bye.

DublinGothic

Hi again,
I have uploaded several clips of HiDef taken with the Aldi camcorder.
It's in youtube under DublinGothic and is the street footage from Summerhill ,Dublin.
Cheap price for a HiDef camera,even if focus is dodgy as one clip shows.
And it's build could be stronger.Will it keep working beyond the refund limit?
Can't wait to see Aldi's full HiDef model doing 1080p (Not for sale yet...).
Bet they make one next year!
Praktica sell a similar sub-200euro HiDef camcorder here in Dublin.
I doubt Canon is concerned.
Bye,

BrianO

What is this? Tag-team ?

dadob

This camera is limited to 8gb sdhc card. It also plays mp3's. Stills captured from video are very nice and print worthy, so I don't shoot stills much. Extra lion batteries are inexpensive but be warned there are two batteries sold with the same model number, go figure, only one of them fits so look at the photos of the batteries carefully.

I've had this camera since early december and am still ecstatic about it. I haven't seen this good a deal yet. There are some 5x optical cameras for about the same price. I agree the focus can be dodgy but you can learn to finesse it my won't focus at 10x too well so I back it out to about 9x. Does a good job at macro. Went to the grand canyon and las vegas and captured some great and gorgeous memories compared to the vhs-c dissapointment of my Hawaii vids. It look lots better than high 8. It looks like 1080 to me even tho it's 720. I figure 250 bucks is worth it (the price is up) until 1080 p comes along at the same price with the same power of zoom or better. I don't like the idea of lugging 500 bucks of camera around, I'd probably loose it. This camera seems so well designed even tho it's lite it has held up. I'd like to know what company produced this and check out their other products. I had cheap video cams before and was disappointed but this one is is tops for me. Do a search Traveler camcorder Aldi to find it on the web. It's not in their weekly adds on their web site. My store didn't have them anymore. They had them for christmas only.

I also notice that when you use the pause record feature it makes files with the same number except one digit changes incrementally. When the camera plays them back they are amazingly knit together seemlessly. But if you download them to your computer or another player you have to play each pause segement separately using an h264 player. That's not good so I found a free editor and knit them together myself. It wasn't too hard but you need a fast dual cpu computer or it takes for ever. If delete scenes it takes a bunch longer. I've hear sony has an editor for about 89 bucks that is very fast anyone know about it?

dadob

AngelaReuss

I've had the camera a little over a month and really enjoyed playing with it until one day, all of the sudden, it stopped recording. It plays back video but it doesn't record anymore.

morten beta

I am trying to find out which codec this little camera is using... One post says h.264 and one says mp4 (mpeg-4), now there is a severe difference between these two codecs. Does it allow both, or just one and in the last case which one?

Thanks

Taipan9177

Hi,
You seem to like this video camera and I wondered if you can help me.
I have taken video's and stills on this camera. I have downloaded my stills into my "My Pictures" folder but I cannot get my video's to download via the USB cable. Is there a way to download my video's or is the only way to play them through my TV onto my DVD Hard Drive and then put them onto a DVD.
I have studied my manual and it does not state anything about this. It doesn't really tell you how to transfer pictures from Video to PC. I have loaded the only Disc that came with the camera, the Decoder and the Arcsoft totalmedia Extreme.

I hope you can help me.

Many Thanks

Taipna9177

claypigeon101

hey there, can't you simply just drag and drop from camera or card to computer?

USB the camera in, or put the SD card in a card reader, and drag and drop the videos onto your computer.

thats all i did when i had the camera; bought one from a midlands UK store and took it back due to dissatisfaction. just thought it wasnt justifiable to pay £130 for it when it struggles indoors, and also takes choppy frames occasionally. maybe it was just a lemon model, am buying the mini flip HD camera from aldi tomorrow morning for £35! ($60) unbelievable

anyway hope this helps and dont mean to insult your intelligence but have just stated basic procedure

Benj

hoosier_indy

This camera is small and light enough to carry most anywhere. The video quality is clear except in low light so its mostly for outdoors. I especially like the remote for taking group shots or self movies. I even used it on the canoe and on safari. The storage space its good at 4 GB. Would like a full HD picture vs 780 lines.

Its too bad some creep stole this from us at Disney World off the tram at Universal Studios this September. It had all our memories in it.