Rating

The Creative Vado HD is hands-down the best option among the current breed of three pocket-sized 720p camcorders. Sony’s entry into the market segment will surely shake things up next month. Meanwhile, the Vado HD’s field of view (wide angle lens) reigns supreme and makes its competitors inferior despite their other advantages.

I’m an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer with a serious set of HD gear as my main equipment at home. I was looking for a back-up camera for use in cop ride-alongs and for home use to capture my toddler when my 3-chip Sony HDV camcorder was left behind because of size/weight/etc.

The Flip Mino HD started the whole craze and I can see its small size/price was attractive. After quite a bit of web research, including the brilliant side-by-side video comparison of the Flip Mino HD and Kdoak Zi6 on YouTube, I concluded the Zi6 was superior in picture quality and features for its price point ($150).

The Zi6 is awesome. The macro feature has a fixed focal length of 2″ and can take detailed close-up photos better than any camcorder of any price/size. The 60-frame mode also captures fantastic slo-mo shots at twice the frame rate of other camcorders.

But the Kodak designers clearly made a compromise on the lens. They chose since it has no optical zoom, they would “cheat” by keeping the field of view a small tighter (zoomed in) than one would expect. The result is disappointing during real-world shooting. In a car or at an intimate gathering when you’re just a couple feet from your subject, the Flip and the Zi6 can’t frame a head-and-shoulders shot. They get just the face with the subject’s hair and chin cut off by the frame. This simply isn’t practical for the vast majority of shooting situations I could envision at work and at play.

So I ordered the Vado HD from Amazon for comparison before taking the Zi6 back to the store for a refund.

The Creative Vado HD has a wide field of view with a comparable image quality found on the Zi6. The lens is superior, though the codec and compression seem just a bit lower quality than the Zi6. At low light, the Vado is darker but does not suffer from the slow-shutter-speed blur that the Zi6 imparts to achieve lower-light sensitivity. The picture is stunning for a camera this size and the HDMI output to TV is a huge plus.

The Vado HD is considerably smaller than the Zi6. It comes with the 8GB of storage already built in for two hours recording time at highest quality. The Zi6 requires the buy of additional SD or SDHC storage which is both an asset and a liability. The Vado can shoot for two hours and then you have to upload to a computer whereas the Zi6 can keep shooting until you run out of SD cards (reckon vacation).

I use a Mac and found the .avi files of the Vado HD just as simple to use as the .mov files of the Zi6 when editing in Final Cut Pro or viewing in Quicktime, so long as you download the free Perian plug-in. In both cases, rendering is required to import the video into a timeline.

The Vado HD can be recharged using the USB connection (lithium ion removable battery) while the Zi6 uses rechargeable AA batteries and an external charger. The largest advantage of the Zi6 is that you can use standard AA alkaline batteries in a pinch.

But let’s get back to why the Vado HD wins hands down: the wide angle lens. It not only captures MORE of the scene in a single frame, it is STEADIER. A fact of videography is that the more you’re zoomed-in, the more shake is amplified in the image. Conversely, the wider the shot, the less shake appears in the image. While neither camera has an image stabilizing system, the wide angle lens makes the Vado HD appear much smoother.

The microphone on the Zi6 does seems superior to the Vado. That and the 60 frame slo-mo mode, along with the macro feature, could be the difference depending on your chosen application. I’d really like to have both cameras in my tool kit if the budget allowed.

But the Vado HD is the clear winner for me. Add the $29.00 underwater housing excellent to 5m (16 feet), and you’ve got a fantastic system for shooting in the rain/pool/snorkeling/exterior car mounts, etc.

Oh, you’ll see a lot of reviews saying this camera is shaky — you’ve got to have a steady hand. It’s light and the viewfinder is “screen only,” meaning there’s no camcorder-style eyepiece viewfinder. In my experience shooting video in Iraq, relying on a screen on any camcorder can be deceiving. As your hand moves, the screen and the background make the shot look more stable than when you’re looking through a viewfinder. And that extra anchor point against an eyepiece makes the camera more solid. Finally, this is a VERY SMALL and VERY LIGHT camera. Practice shot composition and holding things steady (not walking for example, slower pans and tilts) and you’ll be very pleased. Add a Gorilla Pod for portable stability!

So instead of spending $150 on the Zi6 and $50 on SD cards, buy the Vado HD for the same $200 and get a better camcorder.

Rating

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2K9IEP7NCMQ6R The Vado HD is awesome. The lens is so wide and gives the right HD feel. The colors are incredible, but certainly best in natural lighting.

Rating

Received my Vado HD today and I was pleasantly surprised. When the original ship date went from Monday to Friday I got a small concerned, but apparently there was nothing to worry about. The Vado HD works fantastic. I opened the package and immediately connected it up to my laptop via the USB cable to charge. If you press the Play button, it will go into quick charge mode, which I did. I then went out to dinner and when I returned it was already fully charged and ready to go.

I took a couple of quick 2 minute videos of my son running around and playing and then hooked it back up to my laptop. The software to edit videos is located on the device, so you navigate to it through Windows Explorer and run the executable. The program loads up the videos you have on the device at which point you can watch them or run the stripped down Muvee software to add some music or effects to the video. All very simple and not too many things you can do, but it is quick and simple and can be done on anyone’s computer just by plugging up the device. Pretty slick. Or you can just browse to the folder where the videos are stored on the device and run them straight from there with your default viewer (they are saved in .avi format).

I then plugged up the HDMI into one of my free ports on my Panasonic 46 inch plasma and played the videos back through that. Very simple and since I can leave the HDMI cable tucked behind the tv, it makes playing video back for the family a very quick and painless thing to do. My son made me play his videos back quite a few times!!

The quality of the video is really better than I expected. I have never owned a pocket camcorder before, up to this point I have only used my Sony Handycam using digital 8MM. I was worried that I would not be pleased with the quality of the video indoors, but it was perfectly acceptable for what I plot on using it for, which is to record family events. There is no zooming to speak of, but for me that is a excellent thing. I am always attempting to zoom in and out when I video and the result usually causes people to get sick when they watch one of my recordings!

All in all, I am very pleased with the device. This being the first time owning one of these, I was shocked by the size and weight of this thing. I was expecting it to be small, but man, this thing is tiny and is light as a feather. Not crazy about the milky white cover that you comes with it, but it’s better than nothing I suppose. If it annoys me too much I can always take it back off.

Highly Recommended!

Rating

This camera is fun, simple to use, works with PC or Mac (surprisingly excellent on multiple Macs!…more about that in a minute), just like the other knowledgeable reviewers wrote, and best of all it makes an XLNT 720P HD image for viewing on 40″ and larger HDTV’s. There are caveats to using the Vado HD, but they are few, and just simple common sense would tell you these things if it weren’t for reviews and manufacturer advertising:

1) When shooting, you’ve GOT to hold your hand steady, and sure, or camera shake will ruin your HD movies and clips. You can use a tripod to minimize shake to the maximum amount, perhaps one of the “mini” tripods that you see here at Amazon.com. RE tripods, I found that even my Joby GorillaPod “SLR ZOOM” heavy-duty portable, flexible tripod fit the Vado HD easily, and contrary to other reviews, the USB port on the bottom did NOT get in the way of it one bit

2) This isn’t a substitute for a full-sized HD camera, like my Canon HG20 AVCHD camera, but it will suffice for casual, quick takes of virtually anything your creative mind will allow, and up to a 1 hour uninterrupted HD+ quality video in right 720P/1080i HD format, with huge depth of field, up to 2 x 1-hour videos of course, utilizing a full battery to the limit

3) You’ve got to watch out, and protect the lens, otherwise it gets to be full of dust and dirt easily, as there’s no lens cap with the camera–I carry my DSLR’s lens brush and air “poof” when using Vado HD which solves the problem…give the lens a quick brush off a couple times a day during shooting, just to be sure it’s clean, and it’s ready for action

4) Accessories are REALLY hard to get right now, but maybe that will change soon, as the camera’s popularity and rave success has the manufacturer/seller (Creative Labs) scrambling for inventory on the extra battery, charger, etc. In fact, I am on the “waiting email list” at Creative Labs right now because I want to get the external charger, and an extra battery, for those days when I’m using Vado HD for more than its 2-hour battery and filming “window” of opportunity-caveat on the battery, the normal Vado battery will NOT fit in the Vado HD and function!! If you want the extra battery, it’s got to be from Creative Labs at this time, and they have been out of stock for weeks now

Those things being written, the rest is just cake, candy, and ice cream-simple to write about, and describe. Here’s the positive things I’ve found about Vado HD so far, and I’ll come back and add more after I use it more…this list is compiled after just about 1 week’s use, and doesn’t represent even 25% of what I have in mind for using Vado HD:

1) It’s just like you imagined it would and should be, using the camera that is–it’s simple, fun, and with XLNT ergonomics for being so small, pretty much all-user-intuitive controls which I go into further on in the review

2) The camera makes incredible 720P/1080i HD movie/clip footage for viewing onscreen, immediately without editing, by using the supplied Mini-HDMI to HDMI Cable–it’s simple to use your HDTV as a viewer/editor vs. wasting all your time downloading the video to your PC or Mac, editing it, etc.

3) A steady hand/tripod yields an XLNT clip or video movie, up to 60 minutes long it turns out (Windows Stout File System limit of 4GB of data problem), so look out for that window once you get rolling and all will work out fantastic…of course you can make 2(two) 1-hour HD+ quality movies which equals the 2 hour “window” of Vado HD

4) To use on a Mac, as I have both PC and Mac here in my studio, it’s very simple-have QuickTime Pro (yup, you’ve gotta upgrade if you want full compatibility with cameras like this, and for other reasons too!) support the movie, use the Export Video command, and a huge array of possibilities is there for the taking–for converting the AVI formatted film from Vado HD into an M4V H.264 QuickTime Video for iPod, iPhone, or other media device from our friends at Apple. Or you can simply import into iMovie/iDVD if you want to go full-boat and edit your footage, add music, etc.

My favorite command is just “AppleTV” command, and in a few small minutes of conversion on an Intel Mac with a lot of C2Duo horsepower, or better yet a Quad single or double CPU in a Mac Pro…but hold onto your hats Mac Heads, I even had success using my “dated” Dual Core 2.3Ghz G5, albeit one with a ton of RAM (16GB), making hour-long AppleTV movies, no editing, no hassle, just straight into ATV format and BAM! It’s onscreen with fantastic clarity, depth of field, a right HD experience quickly via Vado HD

5) On the PC, or Virtual Machine in Parallels or VM Ware Fusion, XP Pro/Vista, whatever…I tried them all and they are equally simple. The video codec automagically imports and installs itself into your Windows Client, be it WMV, Windows Movie Maker, or the Vado HD Client itself, Vado Central Software (a bit limited of course in scope, ease of use, or mechanics…but it WILL work if necessary and you don’t have fancy video editing software on PC).

Now, to get specific about the controls and functions of the Vado HD, which is vital in any review of the camera, let’s dive right into it!

The USB 2.0 port, which is necessary to transfer video to your computer for whatever purpose you have in mind, is on the bottom of the camera, and there’s a pleasant “Click” that it makes when it’s open, or closed, so there’s no doubt about it being in either position. I LIKE the flexible port/device USB male plug, which extends out and away from the bottom of the camera an inch so. The design is well-thought out, I reckon, because there are times when you might need a flexible “cable-like” function, and this provides it. As I wrote above, this does NOT compromise the fitting of a tripod!

Vado HD will take 2 hours worth of HD+ 720P/1080i movies, the default setting of the camera by the way. Then there’s HD-quality, slightly less than HD+, but still excellent quality film, which equals 4 hours of action. Then there’s VGA mode, and in this mode (640×480 pixels) Vado HD will shoot up to 8 hours of movies, and that’s a LOT of capacity, where you’d need 4 batteries to fill up the camera! Wow! That’s an fascinating option when you simply want to film things that are not of fantastic import, and you have a lot of it to do, but you’d need that external charger (that I want to buy terribly and can’t right now!), and 3 extra batteries!

As to the controls for the camera, let me describe where everything is, and what it does…

The 1.5″ x 1″ LCD show, a mini-show that is amazingly sharp and well defined, has a “Ready” indicator in the top, left, to tell you the camera is set to shoot. When you are shooting video, there’s a RED DOT that replaces the “Ready” indicator. To shoot, just press the “logical controller” once, and to stop, press the control once again…dead straight simple!

At the right, top of the show is the digital Video Quality Show, which is by default set at HD+, and next to it is a Battery Indicator, which shows the state of relative charge of the battery.

In the middle, at the top of the show, is the Recording Time Left indicator, which is in hours, minutes, and seconds, so it’s very, very accurate as to what is left in Vado HD’s flash memory.

The left, bottom edge of the show has the time, and the right edge has the digital show for the date, all simple, but vital functions that you’ll use over and over again while filming. The show, “mini” though it is, is XLNT! It gives you all the information necessary about Vado HD without occluding the show at all, each one being small, digital numbers and letters.

The physical layout of the camera is also ergonomically right, with the lens at the top of the front of the case, up high next to the microphone port. The speaker (it has an external speaker which functions when viewing videos) is on the back in the lower right part of the case. To the left, in the middle of the case, is the “logical controller” as I call it, the master control for the camera. Right side, upper is the Off/On switch, which “clicks” into the case for Off or On. On the left side is the HDMI Mini-Port, and the Video-Out port…all really nicely done!

It’s very simple, really, to use and describe the rest of the controls also. There’s a 2.5mm button in the middle of the “logical controller”, and that’s the actuator for everything, the “Selector”. That is what you do everything with: film “On”, stop, select, and film “stop”…that does it ALL! At the edge of that button is a concave group of touch controls, up, down, left and right arrows, which take a honest press to actuate, just right really… not too heavy a hand to use these controls. Those control the selection process once into the menus, quick forward, or backward the video clips as you wish to view them, etc…These are LOGICAL controls, and they do exactly what you reckon they are supposed to do, nothing complex, or “foreign” to this setup.

On the right side are the two “Function” switches, two “clickable” switches, one which selects which video clip you’re about to view, the other is the TRASH button, so be careful with it when viewing videos…of course when you want to trash, or “EDIT” the video in question there’s a prompt onscreen which confirms your action, so you can’t be “burned” by mis-hitting that switch unless it’s deliberately done. Again, simple, simple controls that do what you reckon they are supposed to do.

You use those two “Function” buttons on the right in tandem also. Pressed together, at the same time yields the master menus onscreen, so you can select or change the Video Quality, Time & Date, Anti-Flicker Control (50 or 60Hz filming), Language Used, and the “Instant Record” feature, which I’ll clarify here and now: Instant Record sets the camera into this mode…any button will actuate an instant recording session, and the “logical controller” turns it off, with 1-minute for power-off and into standby mode. Very nice feature! Just the ticket for getting a quick shot off anytime, and easily turned back off by going into the setup menu by pressing those two “clickable” buttons together at the same time, and getting into the menus.

The Default Mode for Power is 1 minute into “Ready” mode, screen off, and 5 minutes screen off will yield a shut-down of Vado HD, with a pleasant small musical tone that goes off to tell that the camera has powered off.

Simple STUFF, and right-on! These are controls that anyone can get used to in a couple minutes of use…I’ve just described every single function of Vado HD, and I’ve done it in about 200 words or so..pretty Kuhl! So that’s how you control the action, initiate changes in the menus, everything except:

Play Back Video Clips, which is done by pressing the right side “clickable” switch once, and BAM! You’re in “Cue Videos” mode, and the 1st one onscreen is the one you just, or last filmed. Click the controller again to go the clips up, and back, and push down again to view! Simple!!

I like everything about Vado HD’s controls, it’s a lot to pack into such a small place, and Creative Labs designed the camera to be simple to use, and it is. And now to describe how you use the PC functions briefly:

With a PC an AVI clip is the native format, right? Make your movies any way, shape you want on the PC with Vado HD, and I’m not going to give a dissertation on that subject here, just suffice to say a quick CPU helps processing a ton, just like on a Mac…it IS video, not photography, and the footprint on the OS, and RAM is huge on PC as it is on the Mac OS, so the more firepower you’ve got in terms of RAM, and CPU power the better!

Quickly, I’ll sum up by giving Vado HD 5-stars across the board. The controls are Simple to master, no room for headway here, zoom works fine with a steady hand, it’s just plain simple Jane Simpleton to make fantastic movies, and clips on Vado HD. Like I wrote, be mindful of the caveats above, especially TIME in relation to your content as it will accumulate quickly and an hour will be up before you can admit, “I’m having a fantastic time doing this stuff!”

The LCD is clear, clean, and plenty large enough for viewing/movie making, not in direct sunlight of course, but plenty excellent indoors with light on the subject. Playing back clips, for viewing and editing in the camera (read “TRASH” the ones you don’t like), is simple also…just one click to view, navigate with the controller up and backward in your clips, and BAM! HD video is yours for the keeping!

Vado HD is certainly the Best Bang for the $$$ right now, I mean it’s so far ahead of the rest of them it hurts to try to describe all the reasons I bought this instead of anything else. You’ll find that 2 hours is plenty of time to do most projects, by the way, and if it’s longer, well, take your laptop with you, or netbook, you know? Download the videos into the laptop, erase the Vado HD with the Trash Icon clicker on the controls, and voila! Ready for more shooting!!

You would need an extra battery or two, and the external charger that I am dying to get my hands on and can’t buy yet, but that’s the state of affairs at this point. Creative Labs said on the telephone that the charger will be in stock next week, and so will be the extra batteries.

That’s about it for my “guide” and critique. You Mac folks know that the latest Perian is v1.1.3, right? It has all kinds of enhancements for Mac, so be sure and download the latest driver/plug-in for QuickTime (Pro preferred), and all will be well with Vado HD and your Mac. PC people, you don’t have a worry in the world as far as using Vado HD…piece of cake, and remember to not have too much fun!!

Wavey Davey/2-14-2009