Customers Reviews
2009-11-12
Bad low light performance and codec support
Not too impressed with the camera performance. The low light or indoor performance is terrible! Even for the money you pay. With out night shot enable the picture is completely black. When night shot is enable the picture recorded is very grainy! Save your money and upgrade to a better camera like Sanyo hd2000! It is 3 times the money but better than throwing a camera away!
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2009-11-11
Aiptek hd gvs
Good camera for the money. Had it for a few months now without problems. You do need a very good computer to do any meaningful editing in HD though - at least core2 quad processor.
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2009-11-06
Worst Piece of Junk I've Ever Seen!
For starters, let me clarify something before I proceed. I've been using camcorders from the days of 8mm until now and I can say I am more than an average user that has little or no technical knowledge of the product. Before I purchased this camcorder, I read so many reviews (both from experts and previous owners) about this camcorder and overall it was all mixed. What sold me on this camcorder was the external microphone jack feature on it and I must admit that it came in handy cause the audio was really crappy (more on that as you read on).
The tests I ran on this camcorder on all the available modes (720p @ 30fps, 720p @ 60fps, and 1080p @ 30fps) all made little or no difference in low-light situation except outdoors. Outdoor, the video quality was acceptable but still I was disappointed because the outdoor video quality of the SVP T400 (test video here: [...]) was a lot better than this P.O.J (piece of junk). Recording in 1080p mode outdoors produced a little artifacts during playback and the video quality was still not as sharp as I thought it would be.
I also noticed a loud hissing noise coming from the camera as well as the PC during playback. At first I thought maybe it was because the volume level on the camcorder was on high from the factory but turning down the volume level made no difference because you can still hear the loud noise during playback. Not sure if a firmware update could have fixed that but when I went to the Aiptek's site, I couldn't for the life of me find any firmware relating to this product. If anyone was able to find it, please let me know; though I resolved the issue by attaching an external mic to the camcorder.
In low-light settings, this camcorder produced the worst videos I've ever seen. Even my Panasonic Lumix FZ-28 still camera outperformed this P.O.J. hands down! I tried every single scene mode on the camcorder to compensate for the low-lighting but all to no avail. The videos were so grainy that you'll think there was no light in the room at all. I understand camcorders don't fare well under low-light conditions but this P.O.J. was nothing to write home about. The only thing good about this P.O.J. is its portability, other than that, it's pretty much useless. To the people that got a good result from this camcorder under low-lighting without using an external light, I would like to know how you did it because as at this moment, I've put this P.O.J. up for sale.
I wasn't expecting the quality of a Canon Vixia HF100 or Other HD camcorder in that range but at least a descent HD quality would have been nice. Even the Canon FS200 that's a standard definition camera beat this P.O.J hands down in the same low-lighting condition I shot the video test. Never will I go near anything that starts with Aiptek! Peace!
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2009-11-03
Difficult to use device
I did not enjoy using this HD camcorder because of the frequent, and unwarranted, low battery warnings. Also you are forced to use the ArcSoft Media Impression software to download the media files from the camcorder to a computer, instead of simply dragging and dropping the files where you wish.
My biggest complaint was that after filming nearly 90 minutes of a live performance the device turned off due to low battery power. But when I went to retrieve the video I had captured, to my dismay no media files of any kind were found on the expansion SD card.
I will avoid this manufacturer's products from now and will seek more well known name in HD camcorders for future use.
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2009-10-27
Just the facts...
This is not a bad camera for the price. It does not work very well in 1080 mode, lots of compression on anything moving, or panning shots, and no stabilization. However, if you run it in 720 60fps mode it looks great. And the image stab only works in the 720/60 mode and the WVGA mode. Battery life is about 60-70 minutes, buy a spare when you order, I got some cheapos on here for about $5 that work ok. Also note that the battery recharges in the camera, there is no supplied external charger, and recharge time is about 3 hours. On the upside, you can recharge it on the USB cable or some USB style adaptor. Buy a high speed SD card as well, class 6. I got a 16GB class 6 card on here for $30. 16GB will give you 4.5 hours at 720/60fps. The still frame camera on this thing is OK for the "opps, I forgot my real camera" moments, but the quality is less than the $50 Fuji I have, passable but not good. Low light response is poor all around, this camera likes light. Anything weaker than a very bright room will not look good. Outside during the day, in or out of shade, that's where it works best. For indoors or studio type shots you really need to pump up the lumens to get good quality, or it will get noisy.
The lens is tight, great for longer shots, but you will find that if you shoot indoors at events you will need to get way back, it's def not wide angle. The 5x optical is very good, and the digital zoom is remarkable in my opinion. I hardly ever use DZ, but this thing can resolve much better than you would expect even at max DZ (if you can hold it still!) The controls are a bit awkward, but you get used to them. I recommend a little tabletop tripod or a "gun" style grip to mount it on so you can use both hands to hold it, it makes a world of difference in the smoothness of the shots and one hand can work the controls while the other steadies the shot.
***Most important: go to [...] and update the firmware! High pitched whine in audio and a few other problems are fixed...read the FAQ first. And the 16gb card I used works fine for the update, contrary to the website FAQ.
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