Customer Reviews

Aiptek MPVR 8MP MPEG4 Digital Camcorder with 4x Digital Zoom

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

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.

This is a great buy. I was hopefull when I bought this, and I was not let down. In addition to the MPVR Aipteck camcorder, I also bought a 2GB memory card and the A/C adapter off of the Aiptek website. It takes great movies in the bright sunlight. It also does a good job of taking movies in lower light situations indoors. In addition, this camcorder takes high quality still pictures (which breaks the stereotype that multi-functional units short change you on one or the other features)and does a great job doing so. My test for the video quality was set on VGA quality, during the day. I played them back on a 55 inch TV and the picture was great, every bit as good if not better than a VHS tape. The manual is very detailed. It is necessary to follow the manual to the letter when installing the software. The software is fair, but I prefer to edit my pictures with Microsoft picture it. I can't say enough good things about this item. The price, options, and quality are unbeatable. When you want to transfer movies off of the camera onto your computer you have to switch the camera to disk mode, it is a easy process but not spelled out in the manual. Hooking the camcorder up to the TV is easy also, hook up the video and sound cable to the A/V in and the other side into the camcorder change the input setting on your TV and your in business. The only drawback is the digital zoom it has 4x zoom but I would never take it past 2x due to the drop in quality.

I purchased this a few months ago to suplement my photography bag. I already own a Nikon D70 DSLR, so I purchased the MPVR as a take-along digital cam for situations where I didn't want to lug around the D70, and also as a digital camcorder for quick videos.

Compared on any one feature, the MPVR falls short to any other dedicated device. But taken as a whole, and for the price, it's a useful gadget.

I have used over a dozen digital cameras and SLRs for over 15 years. The MPVR is impressive for the money. I paid about $130 for it, and I think it's worth that - but no more.

The digital camera is acceptable - good only under the best conditions - and that's about it. White balance and colors are pretty good, though the color range is somewhat muted - easily fixed with photo software. This is a fixed-focus camera, with two settings, Macro and Everything Else. With adequate lighting and if your subject is posed or otherwise unmoving, it does a pretty good job. Shutter lag is significant and there isn't any control of shutter speed/aperture anyway - so don't expect to use this in situations with fast-moving objects. You can manually control the white balance, it has some effects such as B&W or 'Sepia', and some photo frames that will really only be useful for children, but they are there. There are no true 'photographic' customizations to be made. Photos can suffer from some strange digital artifacts at 6MP, simply because of the software trying to simulate 6MP from a 3MP sensor.

The photo quality is better than anything you'll find on a cell-phone, but it just barely compares to low-end digital cameras. For comparison, photos are about on par with an old 1.3MP Olympus camera from 2001. If you're primary goal is photography, I'd suggest getting a lower-end digital camera from Canon, Nikon, HP, etc. You'll get a lot more photographic power for your money.

As a camcorder, the MPVR is much more impressive. It does a good job at capturing any sort of scene, provided the lighting is adequate. Again, no focus control nor true zoom (the digital zoom is nearly worthless) means that your options are somewhat limited - but it does a great job at capturing an everyday, well-lit scene. Audio quality is surprisingly good too. Direct playback using the supplied cables to a TV looks surprisingly good, and the videos are pretty decent even on a higher resolution PC monitor. But again, even the lowest-end dedicated camcorder will do a much better job at video than the MPVR.

It can also do line-in recordings, and it does a fine job. The quality is quite good and it's very easy to do. The included remote almost turns the MPVR into a digital VCR. Pretty cool. The files created, however, are massive and I've had some trouble converting them to other formats for use on my PC. 38 minutes of TV = 968MB of space, so the encoding is not very efficient.

I have not used the MP3 player, but it certainly has one.

The voice recorder works as a voice recorder - not much to say here.

I have very few complaints about the software, but one major one is that the MPVR does not tell you how many shots (or minutes of record time) are remaining given the SD card. Very annoying, as there's no way to really tell (other than guessing based on experience) how much space your photos & videos are taking up.

To summarize, the MPVR is a good product, you just have to keep its price/features in perspective. It's ok at pictures, good at video, and has a few other neat 'convergence' features thrown in the mix. As a quick-and-dirty camera/camcorder, it's fine. But it cannot compare with dedicated devices. On the other hand, you'd need to spend 4 or 5 times the cost of the MPVR to get a collection of other devices to do the same work (camera, camcorder, mp3 player, voice recorder, etc).

I got this camera because it was cheap, and all I needed it to do was record simple things better then
my Digital photo camera. Well.... The movies on my Photo camera are actually better.... so are the photos.

For mac, you need to also download a converter software to allow you to play the movies. The other
functions are just plug and play. (love Mac sometimes) The software is called Flip4Mac WMV Studio. $49
Makes it so all .asf files can be played on Quicktime, and can be imported into iMovie.

My 2001 Dimage-X Shoots video. At night, in my room with just the normal room light, I can see
everything, but it all has a yellow tint to it.

The Aiptek is almost totally black. It Does, however, have a night Shoot setting. This makes the
room clear, and in color, far better then the Dimage-X Photo camera. HOWEVER..... As soon as
something moves in the frame, it's all blurry. It looks like it's using a very long exposure, to get the
night effect. Still objects, and a still camera make things look nice and bright, but move a little
and it gets so blurry, you would swear you were filming ghosts.

There is a 5 second delay from turning the camera ON, to being able to take photos or film.

There is a 2 second delay when it tries to adjust for light conditions (going from sun to shade).

Video seems to be pretty good in my room, in the morning, with the sun shinny through the windows.

The controls are beautiful. Everything is super user friendly and intuitive. The Video button and
photo button are next to each other, and it's as simple as pressing one or the other for shots. No
fumbling through menus to switch over (my photo camera has this problem).

Mic is not very sensitive for the sounds that matter. There is a lot of hiss, and any camera noise
(like rattling or the strap blowing against it) will be over powering to the sound of what you are
trying to record. Actually... strike that.... the mic is garbage. I can walk up to the camera, and
say something in a normal tone of voice, and it sounds like I'm talking through a pillow, but
you will still hear hissss like you got the sensitivity up too high.

All in all, it's not bad for a kick-around camera, but I think that there are better still cameras that do video
for the same price (and are Mac Friendly).
Samsung Digimax i5 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom
$185.50 works with Power Mac G3
SD/MMC card slot (up to 1 GB guaranteed) better low light sensitivity then the Aiptek
MPEG-4 VGA 30 frames per second Movie Clip VGA: 640 x 480 pixels AVI (MPEG4) formats. Not
the ASF format in the Aiptek that has to be converted.
But, even with the i5, you need 2 FREE softwares. One: DivX. You can get this on the Quicktime webpage. Two: Xvid for Mac OSX. You get this at xvidmovies.com/mac/ This will allow you to play all the movies you record on this camera in Quicktime, and bring them into iMovie. They will still be AVIs with a Xvid Codac but you will be able to see them. You will have to Export them as Quicktime to give them to your friends. but it's FREE, not $40.

Updated 10/10/06:

I've been using my camera now for a couple weeks. It's still performing quite well. I only have a couple negatives:

It has locked up on me a couple times. I've found if you push the buttons rapidly, it has the tendancy to occasionally lock up. Since I've learned how it works, I haven't had any problems. Just work with one option at a time, and you'll be fine. If it does lock up and won't shut off with the on/off button, you'll have to remove the battery. Leave the battery out for a few seconds and then reinstall. It should come right back on.

Next, keep your video subject in close--zooming makes things grainy. I alluded to this in my other review. Speaking of grainy, the night vision works in low light, NOT no light. They weren't kidding when they said use a tripod for low light. If you move more than about an inch per second, you'll get streaky video.

Next, it does NOT come with an AC adapter. I wish it did. You can buy the adapter off the Aiptek website. Make sure to buy all the stuff you need in one order, because they'll ding you on the shipping.

Speaking of the Aiptek website, you should buy everything but the camera off of there. Just buy the camera off here. You can buy a refurbished camera with no warranty off their website for $170. It comes with an extra battery and a 2GB memory card, but I decided not to buy a refurbished model because it doesn't have the warranty. If you want a new camera from there with a warranty, now you are talking $200 (with the extra battery and memory card).

Be prepared to be abused, however, because Aiptek will get you for the shipping. I bought $25 worth of stuff, and they charged me $11 for shipping.

The camera case somebody said to buy was too small for my camera. I'm using it to hold my remote control and extra batteries. As for the remote control, it's a toss-up. I think I should have bought (2) spare batteries instead of (1) remote and (1) battery.

Make sure you get a 2GB memory card, the AC adapter, and at least (1) spare battery.

You will want to take your videos and record your videos on the higher quality setting. You can indeed get about (1) hour of recording per GB on the higher quality setting. You can get about (2) hours of recording per GB on the lower quality setting. I burned the lower quality setting to DVD, and the picture is too grainy, and sometimes it makes my cheap $35 DVD player skip trying to read it. The higher resolution is much better.

On the higher setting, you get better-than-VHS (I think they call it Super VHS) viewing. I highly recommend this. Your battery is only going to last between 1.5 to 2 hours on a full charge anyway, so I recommend recording about the length of your battery life as there is no counter or battery % remaining on the screen. If you run out of battery, the camera will just shut off, so plan ahead. It seems like it's been taking me about as long to charge the batteries up as it is to run them down. It's a pretty good rule of thumb, I think.

Make sure to charge your lithium battery all the way up, and then let it run all the way down. Just set your camera to "record" with a 2GB card in there. Set it to the low resolution setting to make sure you don't run out of memory before you run out of battery, and let it run all the way down. Then, charge your battery(s) all the way up again. That is what the manual says to do. It has never been a practice of mine to let lithium batteries go all the way down, but this is what the manual says to do. Travel at your own risk, I guess. It's a good thing they're only $20/each if I'm wrong.

Of course, if you're recording off of TV and you have the AC adapter, you can record as much as you like until you run out of memory.

The only thing I haven't done is to record in extremely cold weather. I assume it will be ok.

I probably won't do another review, as I've covered almost everything here. Good luck, and have fun with this camera. It's well worth the money.



Original Review:

Sometimes you don't always get what you pay for, but this time I think I did. It took a couple hours to charge up the lithium battery, and then I was on my way. Buying an extra memory card is an absolute must unless you only plan on taking a couple pictures. The internal memory will get you 1 to 2 minutes recording time depending on the setting. This camera will allow up to a 2GB card, and for $50, I highly recommend purchasing the 2GB card over the 1GB card for the extra $.

This camera does it all for about $140. Whoever said the picture was bad probably was shaking when they took the pictures. It takes very acceptable videos and still pictures for the money. I even hooked up my color security camera to it. It immediately began to display the video from the security camera when I plugged the included cable into the "AV In" port. If you're using a security camera that has audio, keep it back from the camera and turn the volume down, or you'll get some nasty feedback. The microphone picks up things pretty well.

Also, I had to use a couple of double-ended female RCA-type connectors to hook the cable ends together, as the ends on my security camera and the ends on the AV cable included with the camera are all male. You should be able to buy these at any WalMart or Radio Shack or similar store for a couple bucks a set.

Someone in another review commented on the lens having no cover--that is correct. Just for fun I took one of my red dot 1" scope covers and put it over the camera lens--it is a perfect fit! I bet there are other things on the market that would cover the lens as well. I recommend getting something made from soft rubber (like my red dot cover) if at all possible, but you could use something made from soft plastic if you are careful.

Somebody in another review I read claimed that you will get about 1 hour of video recording time per 1GB. I haven't determined that yet, but depending on the record setting, that sounds like it's accurate.

I took over 50 pictures and about 5 minutes of video plus messed with all the settings, and the battery indicator hasn't moved off of "FULL". I intend to use this camera this fall for deer hunting--up close, that is. The video does get grainy when you zoom way out. I bet if I keep it in my inside pocket of my jacket, the battery will last a long time. If I have to, I'll put a heat pack inside an old sock or something to keep the camera warmer in extremely cold weather. My experience has been that the lithium batteries hold up the best compared to all other battery types in cold weather, but they all get "zapped" when cold.

Speaking of cold, I've had problems in the past with tape camcorders getting condensation in them when moving from one temperature to another. Usually it's the worst when moving from a cold temperature to a warmer one--everything gets fogged up. I'm looking forward to using this camera because there are no moving parts or magnetic tapes.

The controls are easy to use if you have any experience at all with camcorders/digital cameras.

This is a basic, no-frills model which is exactly what I wanted. I was going to buy the Vupoint DV-DM1-VP camera, but it was about $30 more, and it only is memory upgradeable to 1GB instead of 2GB. I bought the camera, a 2GB memory card, an extra lithium battery, the remote control, and the weather-resistant carrying case.

Remember, this a $140 camera, not a $4000 professional video camera. However, I am a tightwad, and I don't believe in paying a lot of money for something just because of the name brand it carries, even tho a lot of name-brand, expensive cameras ARE excellent. This camera does an excellent job (in my opinion) for the money. If there are any additions or corrections that need to be made to this review, I will submit them later after I've used the camera more.

I was skeptical of an all-in-one camera at this price, but my purchase allayed all those concerns. As with most relatively low-priced things that claim to 'do it all' I expected a compromise among features and performance.... not so with this little gem.

The still picture quality is great (the only thing that I found to mess up stills is shaking while taking the pic). No, the video isn't like a high-end camcorder, but for the price the video is great, and doesn't seem sensitive to shaking. The flash performance with stills is impressive, taking good pics even in a pitch-black totally dark room.

It's as simple as dirt to use - after a few uses, you can put away the instructions for good.

Although software is provided, you don't need to install any programs - Just use Windows Explorer to transfer pics and movies to your pc just like moving files between folders.

There's nothing to switch when going from still to video mode.

The exposure can be adjusted for various lighting conditions, which I almost never need to do.

This is in addition to being an MP3 player, voice recorder, and micro-VCR to record directly from TV (haven't tried that yet).

Performance, simplicity, inexpensive, compact, and lightweight..... what else is there?

I wish I could score it a 4.5 - I can't give it a 5 because:
- No lens cap included (gasp!), and the lens is right out there so it's easy to smear.
- Zoomed images get fuzzy beyond 1.5 to 2X or so, but that's typical with digital zoom.
- Battery doesn't fit snugly in the charger, so it's easy to jar loose.

Getting my MPVR was a happy day - Im still smiling.
Im so glad I purchased this MPVR camera. I tell everyone I can about it. I love the fact that it can do so much with only one device. What a hassle to need to buy an MP3 player AND a camera AND a video recorder. It makes total sense to have them all in one unit... plus much more, as Im sure you've read. ______________________________________________________ I love to go to Costco, or Office Depot and compare my unit to anything they've got. It cant be beat, for even three times the price... ______________________________________________________ I use the video recorder to record movies or TV shows right off the set to watch while traveling, in the gym, or on a friend's TV set. I picked up 2 1 gb SD cards and have lots of room. Can't wait to get a 2 gb card when the price finally comes down. _________________________________________________________ MP3... Yes, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Ipod, but I use it to listen to music, podcasts, etc. You do have to manually put them on the camera, but thats ok. Some audio has to play only from the beginning. It doesn't let you fast forward MP3's. To save battery life, I turn off the screen when listening to audio. ______________________________________________________ Camera: Nice with swivel screen, lots of options, some a bit stupid (like two pictures in one, "frames" , old time color )but the pictures are clear and easy to take. It can even hook up directly to your hp "pictbridge compatible" printer to print direct from the camera. _________________________________________________________ Accessories: So many different accessories come with it or are available. Has a nice combo cable for both USB and AV input on one cable. A different cable is used for input. I got a stand for it and a battery charger and a set of headphones. I have not figured out if you can charge the battery from within the unit. The USB cable also doubles as a power supply, so you can power your camera from your laptop if your battery runs out. I just ordered the optional remote control. Sounds like a cool option. ___________________________________________________________ Camcorder: The main use of the camera is as a video recorder. I love to take it to seminars, meetings and trips. I usually use low quality mode QVGA to get a few hours of video on a 1 MB SD card, but it also has a higher VGA mode. For that I will need the 2 MB card, but the QVGA mode is just fine for me, even when played back on a tv. I guess I can try and use it like a spycam its so small. It can also be used like a tape recorder. __________________________________________________________ To get that much video, it compacts it into MPEG-4 format. It plays back smoothly in the unit, but not always on a PC, due to the MPEG4 decoding codec thingy.. In other words, to download a video file and play it back on your pc, you need a powerful computer processor. ______________________________________________________________ Extras: It's got a low light feature that is useful, and it is a nice size for your pocket. I don't like the design of the accessory plug ins, having to remove a small cover to access them. The software in the unit is ok when you get the feel for it, but it does unfortunately crash sometimes when moving between MP3s. Aiptek.com also includes a bunch of software on disk for the computer, or you can just use it like a big portable hard drive. _______________________________________________________________ Oh , I forgot to mention my favorite feature. The screen is large enough to watch a movie on it comfortably : Thats cool, a pocket movie player ! You can take any movie from your PC, or from the internet, convert it to mpeg4 with the included software, and download it on your camcorder to watch later. ___________________________________________________________ Truthfully, try to find ANY device out there that does what this MPVR does. I dare you!

A very compact, neat little swiss army knife of a camera.
Does good videos in day light.
Night shots either video or still shots - Not at all good.
When would I use it?
I would throw one in my (shirt) pocket, and shoot those shots when I didn't take my expensive rather cumbersome camcorder.

I like its audio, very nice LCD, and a well built body. Also, I like the simplicity of the camera ready to shoot as soon as you flip the screen.

It certainly has the WOW factor. I bought two of these as gifts.
I paid $150 plus taxes at Target.



This is most certainly a secondary on-the-go camcorder with still capability.

For serious shots, I would still use my Casio or Olympus Camedia digital cameras and a Canon Optura 600 or similar.

For the price, form, and function, this little camera does admirably.

Ok, let's clear up the issues up front on this little video camera. It's not a pro-quality camera/camcorder. But it's pretty good. I was cautious about buying this Aiptek at first because of some of the reviews that I had read and video reviews that I have watched. But I ordered it, and for what I want it for (mostly sending video and posting video online) it seems to be just the thing. Here's my opinion on this thing.

-Video quality (not bad for internet or typical viewing)
-Audio capture quality in video clips (again - pretty good)
-TV recording (Works ok - quality comparable to average cable broadcast in VGA mode)
-MP3 player (Good - but the included earbuds really REALLY have poor sound quality) You'll need to add your own earphones.
Photos (Pretty good) About average for 3.1 megapixels (not close to the advertised 6mp max resolution based on my first-hand side-by-side comparason with the Aiptek vs another name brand true 6mp camera.
Voice recorder (Haven't tried it) Really don't need this feature - but based on video audio recording quality, I'm sure it's reasonably good.

My final word on this thing - This thing is pretty cool, but don't compare it to a more expensive dedicated video camera.

Note - I gave it four stars because the quality is good, but not great. Also because they include rediculously cheap earbuds. But it's not bad at all for the price.

Also note - you will want a memory card for this one. The built in memory will only hold seconds of video. I purchased a 2 gig memory card which holds about 2 hours of video.

This is one of those toys that I didn't necessarily "need", but when I saw the features, the price, and the mostly positive reviews on Amazon and on other sites, I had to get it. This thing comes fully stocked. It comes with all the cables, software, and battery charger. It even comes with earbuds.

So far, most everything is great. The picture quality is comparable to the higher-end cameras from Kodak or Canon. It's also incredibly easy to use (you can perform every function with your thumb) the LCD display is crisp, the battery life is more than adequate,the menus are intuitive, it fits easily to most tri-pods, and functions seamlessly when attached to my laptop. You can record or film videos up to 88 minutes in length (on the standard setting and with a 1 gig memory card) in color, b&w, or sepia; plus it has night vision, motion stabilizer, and zoom functions. I haven't noticed any bugs with the software and the only thing I haven't tried to do yet is record a TV program or DVD.

The one thing I don't like about it, and it can be very frustrating, is a roughly one to two second delay time between snapping a still picture and the image capture. Once you press the shutter, the camera beeps and the image on the LCD freezes making you think you have the final image that's being captured. However, the actual photograph snaps a second later. It's not only your subjects that have to remain perfectly still, but you can't budge either. So, if you're trying to take still images of your kids or pets and they move; or you relax your arm during that delay...you're going to get a blurred action shot or something you hadn't intended. The good news is that you can learn to adjust for it, but it will take a bit of practice.

On the one hand, it's the perfect camera for the novice photographer or home video fanatic. Yet it packs enough advanced features found on more expensive cameras that it's an ideal all-in-one piece of hardware suitable for the YouTube crowd.