Aiptek A-HD 720P 8MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder

13 comments

1. 

   Kylene on July 18, 2009 at 5:18 pm

   4.0 out of 5 stars
   Great for the price!
   This Camcorder is great for the price point. The Aiptek A-HD take very nice footage outdoors with lot of light and were the high definition is really noticeable and takes really…

2. 

   Zahur on July 18, 2009 at 5:45 pm

   For the price, it’s a great deal. This camera is pretty much the cheapest HD video camera you can buy. Just bear in mind that it’s nowhere near as feature rich or as well built as any Sanyo Xacti that costs $200 more. It’s made almost entirely of paint coated plastic, although it should survive in your knapsack or purse if you’re careful. It’s not going to amaze you with a terrific zoom lens or the sharpest 720p HD video you’ve ever seen, but it’s got some nice features. First, it uses the H. 264 movie format that is compatible with the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPod 5G, and the 3G iPod Nano (just be sure to use the camera’s web format to ensure you have no further conversion to do for those players – only Apple TV will play the DV1 files without conversion; also, iMovie HD will still need to convert the H. 264 files to the iMovie HD format). Any Mac with OS X 10. 3 or higher recognizes the camera as a USB device instantly. Second, it can record 480p or 720p input from an external device through it’s video input mini-port*. It can upsample 480i content to 720p (although that won’t improve the original quality of what you’re taping), or you can record to DV1 (480p). It comes with two outputs: a regular AV in/out and an HD out (YPP). *The input recording is like DV-R, but without a timer or programming. For television or old VHS that you want on your computer, the quality is as good as most DV-R. What you need to know: The video is best in daylight and bright light, otherwise you’ll see noise. It tends to overexpose whites, but there’s a +/- exposure adjustment setting, and setting it to -1 permanently is a good idea. Othewise, it has okay contrast and saturation. The auto white balance is actually very good, too. But when you record in 720p, there’s compression that can be noticeable on a good HD display. The compression is far less noticible in 480p and in CIF (web format), but there’s less resolution. Also, the digital zoom creates jaggies from poor anti-aliasing, which are more evident in HD than in 480p. There’s also no shake reduction, but there is a standard tripod mount. There is a “Night” setting that does indoors. low-light, but it increases the video noise considerably. The lens is soft, which is where you can tell you’ve only spent $1xx dollars, but that doesn’t effect TV input, which is plenty sharp (so then you know it’s a mediocre lens and not the CMOS chip). And, yes, there can be some “wave” distortion when you pan around too fast (it’s not visible on the LCD screen, only on large televisions), because the refresh rates for the sensor are a little bit slow. Is the performance so bad it ruins the camera? No. It’s about what you’d expect from a sub-$300 camera in 2007. Which is to say, better than a $200 camera 3 years ago. For me, the battery life of the Li-Ion battery has been about 60mins of video recording with the LCD on, and 75min-90mins of recording with the LCD off. The manual recommends you charge the camera’s battery for about 4 to 8 hrs before its first use, which I did. You can get extra replacement batteries from Aiptek, but it’s the same model as for a number of other cameras from Pentax and Fuji, so they only cost between $10 and $20. I like that it charges by USB, so that when it’s not connected to the computer in drive mode it can charge. It also comes with a tiny AC to USB power adapter for travelling. It takes about 3hrs for a charge. The 4x zoom is digital, it works in both photo and video mode, and it’s not going to let you either zoom in very far or zoom out very far. I’d say it’s a 35mm to 60mm equivalent in 35mm camera focal range. The macro mode is only for 20″>12″, which isn’t too close. The LCD display pivots out and can rotate around to the front of the camera. It’s 4:3 aspect ratio, but when you record in HD, the screen is letterboxed. You can also close the LCD and keep recording to save battery life. This is useful when you’re recording TV input. The inputs (USB and AV) are hidden by a pull-out rubber protective strip that deserves to be treated delicately. It’s attached to the camera, and rotates out of the way, but if you think you’ll be rough with it enough to snap it at its weakest spot, just pull it out permenantly. The camera operation is really easy. The menu layout is simple-minded and navigated with a 4 direction joystick. The graphics and icons are pleasing well designed. There’s a main menu for the 4 modes: Settings, Camera, My Works (your recordings), and Voice Recorder. Each mode activates that aspect of the camera, and then there’s a sub menu for that mode, too. In My Works, you select video shots, photos, or voice notes. The photo sub menu allows for even a photo slideshow. Everything can be operated with your thumb and index finger while holding the camera. The 5MP camera portion is a lot like a cellphone camera (the LED on the front of the unit is just for flash strobe with photos, not video), and although it can upsample to 8MP, it doesn’t improve the quality. For sharpness, its 3MP option is the sweet spot. I wouldn’t say this is the cameras strongest talent, but it beats any old MiniDV camera that included a 2MP “photo” option. There’s a top mounted microphone for recording sound, but there’s no microphone input if you want to do otherwise. The AV input doesn’t allow just audio input from an external microphone. If you want to record an audio overdub, you’ll have to do it on your computer. However, the “voice recording” mode for recording audio in WAV format works much like a digital tape recorder. And you can plug in headphones so that the internal speaker doesn’t emit your playback to those around you. It doesn’t come with an SD card (you get that seperately) but it does have enough RAM for a few photos and seconds of video. I’d guess about 32MB. It doesn’t make much sense to use this with an SD card of less than 2GB. It’s about 2GB per 1hr of HD recording. However, it accepts SDHC cards up to 32GB (I suppose they’ll be available in the future) and USB 2. 0 transfers from the camera to your computer are as fast as they should be. Overall, it was better than I expected for under $150. The camera is a bit fragile and it really deserves to have well-lit subjects, but it’s a good companion device for your daily go-bag or purse beause of its size. It would make a good gift for a tween.

3. 

   Anonymous on July 18, 2009 at 6:52 pm

   Bought one of these for my brother and his wife and after seeing how well it works I think I’ll get one for myself. Video plays without noticeable artifacts on a 42″ plasma and the images move smoothly. I was amazed to see such solid compression in only 2GB/hr. Uses standard Quicktime files! Hallelujah! Charges with USB and accepts SD memory up to 32GB. Indoor performance is nothing to shout about but certainly useable (no camera this size can really impress in low light). The sound is rather poor, as the other reviews suggest, but I can live with it. The build quality and control layout are not great but explain the low price. The moral of the story here is that you can bring it along most anywhere without a fuss. And when it comes to memorable moments, any shot is better than no shot, right?. I think I’ll keep one of these tucked away in a pocket from now on. A steal for this price.

4. 

   Gambhiri on July 18, 2009 at 7:00 pm

   5.0 out of 5 stars
   Amazing camera for the price!
   The camera is very easy to use and I was very impressed by the quality of the photos and videos from such an inexpensive camera.

5. 

   Damla on July 18, 2009 at 8:06 pm

   4.0 out of 5 stars
   Aiptek A-HD (Mod’ed)
   So I was looking for a cheap and small camcorder to record short films in HD, and possibly post on youtube.

6. 

   Edita on July 18, 2009 at 9:40 pm

   I own an expensive Sony HD camera that takes great video and decent sound. But I hardly ever used it. After taking trips to Hong Kong and Costa Rica wit the Sony, and coming back with almost no footage, because the camera was too bulky and expensive to want to carry around, I decided I needed to look into something better suited for my needs. The Aiptek is something I use all the time. I purchased this camera so I could take quick videos of my son, or anything else I wanted to post to YouTube or Vimeo. I did some research by going to Vimeo and searching for Aiptek A-HD. I found some great clips that showed me exactly what the camera can do in HD. The Good Picture quality is very good. It doesn’t beat my Sony, but it will beat just about any camera you could have purchased for under $2k 5 years ago. The camera couldn’t be much simpler. Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 60-Minutes (White) is obviously the easiest camera to use, but the Aiptek is not going to stump anyone. Fast upload. Unlike the long time my Sony took to bring video in from DV, the Aiptek is super fast at transferring those movies onto my machine. Good use of space. I have a 4 gig card in mine, and it looks like I can get a little over 2 hours at full 720. Cards are so cheap now that I think I should have just got an 8 gig that should cover 4 hours. Small and light. I take this camera everywhere. I hardly ever shot video with my Sony, but this thing I use all the time. All cables included. This was a nice surprise for such a cheap camera, especially in a time of 1 game controller in $400 game system. The box included USB to mini USB, power cord, and even cords to hook up to the TV for normal and HD TV. No HDMI. The Bad Sound quality. The microphone is not great, and it’s set to the rear. It feels like Aiptek set this up so that the person shooting the video could narrate the shot. But the lack of a external mic jack does limit the use of this camera. No optical zoom. The camera does have a 2X digital zoom, but that’s not ideal. The slightly more expensive Aiptek GO-HD High Definition 720p Camcorder with 3x Optical Zoom has 3X optical zoom if yo Construction. With a low price comes low quality material. When I got my camera in the box, the “camera” button had already fallen off. Not wanting to deal with returning the camera through Amazon, I just superglued the thing back on and it’s worked fine since. The camera feels sturdy enough when you hold it, but it does feel a little cheap in the buttons. No stabilization. Since this is a cheap camera it does not come with any built in stabilization, so your shots can come out a little shaky if you’re not steady handed. As a digital camera the Aiptek works about as well as most inexpensive point and shoot models. The pictures are acceptable, and the built in flash does a good job exposing details. Like most people will say, this is a great camera for the money. If you’re someone who wants to take serious videos and need things like stabilization and external mic jacks, this isn’t for you. But if you’re someone who would like a good camera to shoot everyday events so you can post them online or save them to disk, this is a camera you should be happy with for a couple of years. It does fit the need for travel as well. It’s small enough to throw in my cargo pant pocket, and cheap enough that if lost or damaged, it wouldn’t ruin my vacation. I do think it’s likely that I’ll outgrow this camera as I want to do more video. I’m waiting to see the Sony HDR-TG1 4MP High Definition Handycam Camcorder with 10x Optical Super Steady Shot Zoom (4GB Memory Stick Included), which is about 6 times the price, but looks to be amazing. Maybe a Christmas present for myself. This camera would also be great for teens to start shooting footage beyond their camera phones. I’ll likely just hand mine over to my son when I upgrade. When you transfer files to your computer they come in Quicktime, which works great for me since I’m on a Mac. This is perfect for iMovie.

7. 

   Cusick on July 18, 2009 at 10:55 pm

   4.0 out of 5 stars
   Aiptek A-HD 720 8MP High Def Camcorder
   The camera works great. The video quality is spectacular. My only issues are the 2x zoom limitation (which i knew that going in so I can’t complain) and the audio isn’t the…

8. 

   Kylie on July 19, 2009 at 1:46 am

   1.0 out of 5 stars
   terrible audio
   its a little awkward, but the video is alright, and if the audio weren’t so terrible, I’d keep on using it. It’s my kids play camera now, what a waste of money:)

9. 

   Paddington on July 19, 2009 at 1:50 am

   4.0 out of 5 stars
   Cheap & easy… could it get any better?
   Aiptek A-HD 720P 8MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder
   Aiptek A-HD 720P 8MP CMOS High Definition Camcorder
   This is the second model from this manufacture I have…

10. 

    Murray on July 19, 2009 at 4:16 am

    2.0 out of 5 stars
    Aiptek fun while it lasted
    Worked OK for a couple weeks. Got it back out a few months later and the battery was dead. Recharged it but it won’t turn on.

11. 

    Anonymous on July 19, 2009 at 5:53 am

    4.0 out of 5 stars
    Does what it says on the tin
    Does what it said it would do. A bit larger and heavier than I had envisaged. Battery life not too bad – but do get a spare – you almost certainly will need it.

12. 

    Irene on July 19, 2009 at 7:52 am

    1.0 out of 5 stars
    Worst HD Camera Ever!
    I have to say, this is one of the worse cameras I have ever used. The video quality is SO poor that it is unusable.

13. 

    Emiliano on July 19, 2009 at 10:12 am

    5.0 out of 5 stars
    beautiful camara
    This camara is easy to use, light, yet large enough to be comfotable in the most hands.
    The still picture resolution is actually 8Mp when you choose the option.