Rating

I bought the A-HD+1080p camcorder at Best Buy when I was passing through Lincoln, Nebraska about a week ago for $169 dollars plus tax. To be honest, I bought it with relatively low expectations. I already have a Sony HC3 HDV camcorder I’ve had for about a year that produces brilliant video so I figured there was no way this Aiptek product could even come close.

To my surprise the video quality is really quite incredible. It’s possible to get fantastic video out of this unit, provided you know the device’s main limitation, i.e. the fixed-focus plastic lens. Cell phone cameras can have multiple megapixels but the optics are nearly always limited to a cheesy plastic lens, yet if you know the device’s limitations it’s possible to take excellent and sometimes even fantastic pictures with them.

To get fantastic video out of the Aiptek, follow a few rules. (1) NEVER use the digital zoom function — always keep it zoomed out. Go closer to your subject if you want it to fill more of the frame. (2) Remember to use the manual focus switch — macro for around 20 inch away close-ups, the medium postion for a bit farther away, and the full infinity position for anything more than about 6 to 8 feet or so away from the lens. (3) Hold the camera as steady as possible if it’s a hand-held shot, and if possible use a tripod. (4) Use the white balance feature as necessary depending on your light source. (5) Pay attention to the basic prinicples of excellent photography, i.e. the “rule of thirds” — if you don’t know what that means, look it up on Wikipedia.

I’ve posted a video I place together entirely with the Aiptek from Riverside Park in West Fork, Arkansas. The HD 720p Apple TV format file is located at http://m.podshow.com/media/131/episodes/116107/truckertom-116107-06-19-2008.mp4.

Rating

I bought this not expecting much and not having seen any reviews on the Web or in print. The product is a couple of months ancient to market. There’s some misinformation floating around out there — here are a few clarifications and highlights of the product from my week’s worth of testing. First, it does indeed shoot at a 16:9 aspect ratio even as the video resolution is 1440x1080p — you just need to be sure and apply an “anamorphic” pixel ratio (i.e., not square/1:1). Also, it is a fixed focus camera: The benefit is that there’s no noisy/slow auto-focusing mechanism, but the con (as with all fixed focus camcorders) is that low light performance suffers somewhat, while close-in subjects go out of focus (though there is a manual macro switch on this product). Huge pluses include the fact that it’s charged via a super-standard mini-USB connector, and accepts up to a 32gb SDHC card. There is a tripod mounting hole but no electronic or mechanical image stabilization, no optical zoom, and no external microphone/audio in port.

In small, this makes for a fantastic “second-unit” camcorder in cases where you don’t want to rough around with your primary HD camcorder, or where you want to strap this onto a skateboard and the like without worrying about lost investment. It’s wise to take the native H.264 files that are wrapped in .mov format and convert them to .avi or MPEG-2 .mpg files for further processing/editing/burning, as most systems will stutter trying to decode the native video files at 1080p/30 fps on-the-glide (i.e., even high-end video cards do not necessarily include hardware acceleration for files in this specific format). Although users appear to be especially enamored of the product’s 1440x720p/60 fps non-interlaced mode, I’m not convinced that their bias is based on the benefit of double the frames-per-second, instead of the mere shortcomings of their system’s hardware playback at 1080p/30 fps.

UPDATE: The following wide-angle lens attachment works perfectly with this camcorder, and I’m tempted to use it full-time as it not only widens your field of view, but in the process mildly reduces the inherent shake of your footage by “pulling back” a small farther.

Sunpak CAM-2110 MagMount 0.5x Wide-Angle Conversion Lens (Large)

Rating

I bought this Camera in July last year , not expecting a lot from it, just to shoot small Videos an some Point an Shoot Pictures.

was Incorrect , it is a super Camera , on both Video an Pictures alike !

I have a Sony Hi 8 Camcorder that hasent been out off its case since I got the APITEK!

It,s super simple to use , records to a SD Card , which can be easily transferred to the PC , to edit etc .

For “Normal” Family use , I could not be More pleased with it ,

In small Fantastic Camera , Fantastic Price , No Brainer , Just get one

Rating

For the price, this small camcorder/camera does everything I need

from it.

Takes fantastic videos and still photos.

But, I place in a new 4-gig SD flash memory card and it would not

accept it. The problem was, there is something inside the camcorder

that flips the switch on the left side of the memory card to “protect”, so it cannot write on it.

I took a small piece of transparent tape, and by applying it from the backside of the memory card (to prevent covering up the gold connectors) and wrapped it around. It works perfectly now.

Also, another review said it did not come with a battery charger. Well, it does not. The battery charger is internal. It does come with and AC adapter that kicks in the battery charger.

You should read all of the instructions when you get it and leave it plugged in to charge for 3-4 hours before using it like the manual suggests.

Rating

This camera has fantastic image quality, and was a fantastic buy. But one thing that frustrated me (before buying) was that I couldn’t find much info about the more advanced specs.

But luckily, I have done the homework for you

Here are some things you might want to know:

-The CMOS is 5MP native (resolution: 2592 x 1944)

don’t bother with the 8MP it just ‘blows up’ the image (interpolation)

-The lens, even though the image quality is brilliant, is the weak point of this camera. Its a fixed focus without any optical zoom. Theres only digital zoom which decreases the quality the farther its zoomed in, but not too terribly.

The 2 focus modes,

Normal: From 30cm to infinity. Best for general purpose video recording. Nothing is really out of focus unless its too close to the camera. Though the image can be slow to clarify on certain patterns such as grass.

Macro: For close-ups. Objects/people look alot clearer/better when focused on than with the normal focus mode, and everything in the background is blurred. But you have to be sure the camera is the perfect distance away from the object so that its in focus.

On the camera, the top setting with the mountain/stick figure is normal focus mode and the lower setting with the flower shape is macro. There are also wide angle lenses available that fit this camera.

-The battery

Battery life for me is very excellent, but depends on your recording mode, screen brightness etc. Charge to 100% before turning it on (should take atleast 2-3 hours). Also sometimes the light seems to change randomly to show that its charged when its still charging. Theres a defect where the battery is loose inside and rattles around/loses contact with the terminals that make it turn off. Just improvise and place a piece of paper/cardboard below the battery to keep it from being loose.

-The screen is excellent quality, hard to see in bright daylight. No dead pixels. Camera turns on when you fold out the screen. There are controls on the side for video playback but I haven’t had to use any besides ‘power’.

-The mic is okay for me, but it tends to record the person behind the camera rather than whats in front.

-Records from AV-IN at 720 x 480 NTSC 29.97FPS

the quality is decent when I record from a satellite receiver (take advantage of this with pay-per-view). When played back on SDTV it looks nearly exactly as the original broadcast besides for some obvious static at the very top of the screen. Format: H264 @ 2.12mbits/sec Audio: AAC stereo 48.000khz BTW you can’t do composite-in.

-has TV-OUT with AV-out and Composite-out

You can do everything with TV-out activated that you can do normally, record vids/take pics/change settings. Video and picture quality is terrific, and they load instantly. If you lose 1 of the AV cables, they’re the same except for the colors.

-works with my sandisk 4gb Ultra II SDHC memory card

make sure your memory card is ‘high speed’ or else it probably can’t write data quick enough to keep up with the higher quality recording modes. I believe the memory limit is 32gb.

-recording modes:

1080p: 29.97FPS Data rate: 7.58mbits/sec at 1920×1080

720p 60f: 59.94FPS Data rate: 6.04mbits/sec at 1280×720

720p 30f: 29.97FPS Data rate: 4.10mbits/sec at 1280×720

‘DVD quality’: 59.94FPS Data rate: 3.57mbits/sec at 854×480

‘CIF’: 29.97FPS Data rate: 750.86kbits/sec at 320×240

All except ‘CIF’ are 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen)

Image quality is a bit grainy if the room is dark, though you can adjust white balance/exposure settings to fix this. I would say the best overall setting is 720p 60FPS. Theres no stabilization but its really stupid to complain that the footage is ‘shaky’ when all you have to do is hold your arm more steady/hold it with 2 hands. After all the camera captures exactly what it sees and its lightweight. Theres a tripod mount too.

-tips for playback

The version of quicktime included on the CD is an ancient version that plays choppy on even the fastest computer. The best way to play back your vids in my opinion is to first:

1. Rename the file from .MOV to .HDMOV

2. Play the file with Windows Media Player

doing it this way uses the graphics card (GPU) to help play the video, instead of just the CPU. 60fps is more intensive than 1080p at 30fps. If you get an error about codecs, look up on google ‘k-lite codec pack’.

Now the largest problem everyone has is that the format of the videos (.MOV) is incompatible/doesn’t work right with alot of editing software. Most people convert the video to another format which decreases the quality and takes forever. Are you ready for a simple solution that will prevent you hours of frustration?

The actual video captured is encoded to H.264 codec with AAC audio, the .MOV is just a container file. AVI, MP4, MKV and lots of others can hold H.264 video. So all you have to do is…

Rename FILE.MOV to FILE.MP4

simple as that…now the file should work in sony vegas and any other editing software that supports H264, and also play back fine with supporting media players. To rename on a PC: Tools->Folder Options->View->Hide extensions for known file types (uncheck the box)

(when importing to vegas 8.0 you have to keep trying to drag the file over the window until an outline appears or it will crash, only release the mouse if an outline appears. Keep trying with new codecs if it crashes/won’t work, its glitchy)

Rating

I bought this video camera for my boyfriend once his daughter started walking. He doesn’t know anything about computers or electronics and he can use this camera with no problem. it easily hooks up to our HD TV and with the SD chip it’s simple to place the videos and pictures right on the computer and burn them right on to a disc!

Rating

Just got this camera today and after charging the battery, I have been in the back yard taking HD movies! I can tell you that this camera is better than my Hitachi DVD camcorder that cost me $475 dollars a few years ago. The Aiptek video quality is brilliant. I can’t believe this sells for $150. I hook the camera to my Windows XP computer using the included USB cable and drag the files to my desk top and place them in a program called ConvertXtoDVD. Convert X takes the .mov files from my computer and converts them to .vob files and automatically burns them to DVD! I like the 720@60 frames per second setting on the Aiptek A-HD+ Camcorder. The picture on my pioneer plasma is the best I have had to date in home movies, really 16:9 wide screen and fills the screen. Still much experiementing with this camera. I did much research before I bought, Amazon feedback is always a fantastic way to research and the $130 dollar model (HD-720) has audio problems. I have detected no audio problems with this model. I’m selling my hitachi DVD camcorder on Ebay! Burning the movie files to DVD is a snap using ConvertX to DVD. I just have to find a program that will cleaning play the files on my computer. The Nero 7 I am using to play the movies on my computer is a bit shakey. NO problem, I’m sure since they are recorded as .mov files, Quicktime player should work fine. I will also experiement with VLC player. By the way, Aiptek recommends a Pentium 4 to work the movie files. I’m using a 1.5mhz laptop and burning them to DVD with no problems, I also can convert them to .VOB files and edit them with all sorts of programs. I’m using a 1 GB SD card , which fits neatly in the camera handle and I’m getting 22 minutes of video at 720/60fps. So I will upgrade to a 2gb and nearly get a hour of video, which is plenty for me. Another thought, the battery is slightly loose in the handle, not serious, but I read on youtube that you should place a thin piece of velcro or tape at the bottom of the battery to push it closer to the battery contacts. Speaking of youtube, I would suggest you go there and search the Aiptek A-HD+ to see all the fantastic videos this fantastic camera can take. Since the camera doesn’t have video stablization and its so light, you must take caution to hold it steady. No huge deal for me.. And one last comment, the pictures that this camcorder takes are not terrible! I’m stil testing but compared to my ancient Hitachi DVD camcorder the still pics are much better. You have a selection of a 3meg, 5meg or 8meg still picture. Still experimenting and loving it. I will add more on this review as I learn more tricks…sorry to ramble on…like this camcorder!

UPDATE: 8-29-2009

Still using this camcorder. I updated the SD card to a 8gb card, which the camera says will give 4.5hrs of video at 720p and 2.5hrs at 1080P. I doubt the battery would last that long! I also found that I can take 1080p HD videos, they play fantastic on the latest windows 7 operating system on my laptop using the windows media player!! Before this I had to use a program M player and that would only play the 720p files.

UPDATE: 5-27-2010

Still using this camcorder. Its so simple to operate, very light, I just slip it in my pocket and go. I’ve never run out of battery. I simply charge it before each use. I bring it to all our family outings. I am using a program called “ultra video joiner” to join all the camera’s .MOV movie files to one large file and instead of burning them to a DVD. I am keeping them in a hard drive and play them on the WD Live HD player. Very Cool. I do not use this camcorder for picture taking. I must of dropped it several times with out a problem. Recently, my wife and I watched our granddaughter for a week. I took videos of her each day, without charging the battery and it lasted all week. Very pleased with this product.

Rating

I did a lot of research for an inexpensive HD camera. There are a ton of blogs and information out there for the AHD and AHD+. I have been very impressed. Like most others the sound is ok…but where it sets itself is the picture and price. I recently shot my son’s bday (all indoors) and compared it with a Mini DV camera I shot last year at the same place. Picture is better with the AHD+ and get this…it took all but 2 mins to go about 30 mins to my PC…guess how long it takes to go a mini DV to a PC – 30 mins. I bought a 16GB card for it as 720/60fps eats memory…about 1GB per 15 min of footage. Sweet spot seems to be 720/60fps vs the other settings.