Aiptek MPVR Camcorder

Summary: This is a great camera/camcorder. The things i had trouble with it is that it didnt have a cap for the lens, so it was very easy to scrath. ...

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Summary: This is a great camera/camcorder. The things i had trouble with it is that it didnt have a cap for the lens, so it was very easy to scrath. The camera needs a better fash so that it can take better pictures in dark areas. This Aiptek model says it is a 6mp camera, to me it looks no more than a 3.2 mp. The voice and sound on the other hand is very good, and i liked how you could play music without the headphones using the built in speaker. The camcorder is ok. It is horrible in the dark, but works well in a well lit room and outdoors on a bright day. One other thing that is very disappointing is that it only takes Sd cards. With a 2GB sd card, that will set you back more than $50, you can only take about 96 minutes worth of recording. The computer programs that came with it is horrible. It tends to crash when installing, and i would advise everyone not to install it because it is a waste of time. If you have an Sd port on your computer, you could just use that insted of the Usb cable and all the crappy programs this camcorder came with. If you took a couple of pics using the built in memory, you could just use windows pictore and fax viewer to view the pictures and save it to your desktop.

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Summary: I bought the MPVR and was impressed. It felt like it would cost more than the $146 I paid. The other reviews are correct. It is a jack of all ...

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Summary: I bought the MPVR and was impressed. It felt like it would cost more than the $146 I paid. The other reviews are correct. It is a jack of all trades, master of none. Pictures in good light are pretty nice. You do have to be within 8 feet for the flash to produce a O.K. picture. Live video is really good for what it is. 30 fps makes a big difference. Recording a program right off the T.V. is a hoot! Others similar to this can't even do that. My issue with it is durability. I had the thing 4 days and the toggle button broke. It stopped springing up like it's supposed to. That made navigating thru the menus a pain because it would accidently select something before you get to what you are looking for. I returned it. I almost asked for a replacement but I found out they're coming out with a 3x optical zoom version. So I'll just wait for that one. This is still a good gadget. Just that damn button.

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Summary: I like the fact that you can wacth TV shows, music videos and so on. But I really don't think it's made to take pictures...the pictures always ...

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Summary: I like the fact that you can wacth TV shows, music videos and so on. But I really don't think it's made to take pictures...the pictures always blurr. The videos are pretty smooth though 30 fps (NOT BAD)

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Summary: Man, this thing is way more than a camera.

It does great with its 6 megapixels of still photo quality. What I like even better is the video recording. Of

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Summary: Man, this thing is way more than a camera.

It does great with its 6 megapixels of still photo quality. What I like even better is the video recording. Of course, you can record video anywhere, but what makes the MPVR shine is recording TV programs. I've recorded episodes of Naruto, South Park, The Simpsons, you name it, and it records and plays back beautifully.

Even better, all recorded video is automatically compressed into an mp4 encoded ASF file, giving you maximum space. I only have a 512 MB SD card, but I can record over 1 1/2 hours of stuff on it!!

Naturally, video can be played back on this thing, but its not just video that it records. Simply put, MY FAVORITE PART ABOUT THE MPVR IS USING IT AS A PVP! It even comes with a great Media converter so you can play pretty much anything on the MPVR as you take it wherever you go. Just download it from a PC onto the MPVR and you are good to go.

There are also a few other features. The MPVR also makes a Decent Mp3 player. It can only play mp3 or WAV, but that can be easily converted. It also has voice recording, which is good if you want to record speeches, lectures, etc. Another thing that I don't use so much is the AV output jack, but I mainly use AV in to record TV. Theres also a remote for it that you can buy, but I don't have it nor know how it works.

All of this is at a very compact size considering all of its functions. It's roughly 4" long, 2.5" wide, and 1.25" in depth.

The shocking part is that all of this is below $200! When buying electronics, I like to think of myself as "Mr. Krabs" from Songebob, I try to find the cheapest thing. If you are looking for a good buy and not willing to shell out $300 for an ipod video and $200 more for a video camera.

There are a few flaws, however. When playing back video files that you have uploaded from your computer, you can't fast forward very well. You are also unable to fast forward or rewind with mp3's or WAV files. The battery life isn't so good, but it will last awhile if you set the LCD screen to sleep, which is convenient if you are listening to Mp3's.

Trust me, this is one of the best things on the market in value. For all of these features, this is the cheapest you are going to get.

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Summary: This digital camera is great because: its a 6.0 MP camera and Camcorder, MP3 player, Voice Recorder, and has a lot of different abilities. I recomend this camera for ...

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Summary: This digital camera is great because: its a 6.0 MP camera and Camcorder, MP3 player, Voice Recorder, and has a lot of different abilities. I recomend this camera for people who want a descent camera, for not that much money. I have had this camera for about 1 year, and its fine. The quality and everything. Its also very easy to transfer pictures and videos onto your computer.

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Summary: I thought it was too good to be true, but luckily I was wrong. I bought the MPVR at Target for $128.77 (the lowest price I found). There were ...

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Summary: I thought it was too good to be true, but luckily I was wrong. I bought the MPVR at Target for $128.77 (the lowest price I found). There were only 2 left, so I took that as a good sign. After the initial charge, which took less than the four hours stated in the manual, I was ready to play. I took a few pictures inside my house in low-light conditions, both at 1 and 3 megapixel resolution. I also shot a short video just so I could test it. The following morning I shot another video outside (it was a beautiful day with plenty of sun), and I took pictures in all the available resolutions: VGA, 1, 3, and 6MP. Here's what I think:

For under $150 you get a digital still camera, digital camcorder, MP3 player, voice recorder, and TV-DVD recorder. It's an amazing deal.

-The camera:
While it does tout the camera as being able to take pictures at 6MP resolution, the actual sensor is for 3MP. I was a little thrown off by this, but if you research, you'll find that more megapixels doesn't necessarily mean better quality, and this little camera is a perfect example. The way it achieves the 6MP resolution is by taking them at 3MP and adding in the extra pixels by the use of an algorithm (similar to what happens when you enlarge a picture using any photo-editing software) before the JPEG encoding, so the results are good. The images are crisp and vibrant. The get a little fuzzy when you take them at full zoom (4x optical), but that's nothing a good tripod can't fix. I currently have the resolution set at VGA because it's the perfect size for email attachments.

-The camcorder:
The first video I shot was indoors, at night-time, without engaging the night mode, and in low light. The image was good but a little fuzzy. The one I shot outdoors was beautiful. The colors were brilliant, and there was very little noise. Also the microphone is really good, and you can adjust the volume settings. You can also zoom in and out while recording video. There are two settings for video: VGA, and the lower-quality less-space consuming QVGA. All video is encoded in MPEG4 so it easily plays on your computer.

-MP3 player:
When you connect the camera to your computer, you'll find an MP3 folder. Just drag and drop your songs there and you're set. The speaker on the camera is pretty good, but it distorts a little if you have it on too loud. The included ear-buds are pretty good, although I'm sure it would sound much better with high-end Bose. You can't fast-forward or rewind a song, but how often do you really do that?

-Voice recorder and TV-DVD recorder:
I haven't used either of these functions yet, but from the sound I heard in the videos, I can probably say the voice recorder is good too. For TV-DVD recording, the camera comes with AV cables so it's just a matter of connecting the camera and hitting record. A 2GB SD card will hold about 2 hours of video.

The MPVR is amazing. It blew me away. And the size is fantastic. It comes with a 2.4" swivel screen, slim rechargeable battery and charger, AV-out/USB combo cable, AV-in cable, and wrist strap. It comes with an internal 16MB flash memory, and a SD/MMC slot accepting cards of up to 2GB. The only draw back that I could find is that the lens is not covered and it does not include a cap. So just be careful not to scratch it. When I first bought the camera I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it, but now that I've fallen in love with it I bought a small compact camera case (BestBuy has good, cheap ones) and a 256MB Kingston SD card. At the manufacturer's website, www.aiptek.com, you'll find extra accessories such as an AC adapter for the camera, extra batteries, tripods, and a wireless remote.

This camera does seem too good to be true, but I can assure you, you won't be disappointed.

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Summary: It does much much more than a standard camera, and costs alot less. The pictures are excellent, The ability to record via video cables is great, and it has an ...

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Summary: It does much much more than a standard camera, and costs alot less. The pictures are excellent, The ability to record via video cables is great, and it has an MP3 player thrown in. Niteshot slows down the shutter alot, and creates much noise, but this is the same with all cameras.

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Summary: I purchased this camera for the 6 megapixel capability, but also for the acclaimed camcorder feature. I have been extraordinarily pleased with the photo and video quality.

However, I am

...

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Summary: I purchased this camera for the 6 megapixel capability, but also for the acclaimed camcorder feature. I have been extraordinarily pleased with the photo and video quality.

However, I am a hardcore Mac user and it is close to impossible to convert the native ASF video files to a format that will work with Mac. Once you download a couple codecs and convert your video two times, it will work but it bloats the file size and loses a little quality. THIS IS DEFINITELY A WINDOWS-ORIENTED DEVICE! Now, I just tend to view the videos on my PC, but I can convert them if I go to a lot of trouble.

Other than that, I love the thing and recommend it highly for the price. It is perfect for a traveler like me that cannot afford to lose a $1000 Canon Rebel, but still needs the quality.

The only other drawback is the menu system is overly-animated (making things somewhat slow) and the structure of settings, options, etc is very complicated.

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Summary: This is a nice idea and for the price the camera isn't bad. Don't expect it to do anything well. The digital camera has no optical zoom and ...

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Summary: This is a nice idea and for the price the camera isn't bad. Don't expect it to do anything well. The digital camera has no optical zoom and digtal zoom starts to get very blurry past 2X. Digital camera is very slow. I timed the camer from the time I pushed to button and it actually took a picture. About 2 seconds.

The other features are actually kind of near. I like playing back on the camera as a personal video player. I didn't listen to MP3.

Again, great idea, but performance was so low that I couldn't really use the movies or digital pics.

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Summary: You really do get what you pay for. I wasn't looking for anything great, just "something" I could quickly take a video with. I like that you can extend ...

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Summary: You really do get what you pay for. I wasn't looking for anything great, just "something" I could quickly take a video with. I like that you can extend the storage capacity to 2GB with an SD card, which will allow you to record on the highest quality for up to 1 and a half hours. You can load MP3's and WMA's on there and listen to them... on either the speaker or your head phones. It can take 6 mega pixel pictures which looks great also, but you have to have a steady hand, otherwise it's going yo be blury since the shutter is somewhat slow-- so dont buy this for the camera sake, but more for videos! You can recod your voice as well. It has a couple good features... like frames etc. The flash is very powerful by the way. If the room is completely dark, and you have flash turned on, it looks like it was daylight. Also, the video quality is great when your shooting outside in daylight, but if its inside and somewhat dark, it is too grainy I think-- but not completely horrible, but definitely could be better!

For ~$100 this is definitely a good camcorder!

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