Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You get what you are paying for and then some, November 27, 2008
The whole concept of PICO projectors is very new. I did a bit of research before deciding to buy a PICO projector and the following conclusions made me ultimately purchase this product:
-I'm an early adopter
-I'm tech savy
-I'm mobile
-I love gadgets
-I like to be the first to try something out
There are many applications for this product, but before I go into my uses and thoughts I should point out that this device does take a certain knowledge concepts like JPEG, MPEG, MP3 and file conversion. You don't have to be a tech genius to work this device at all, but it helps to have a basic understanding.
Overall, this product delivers on the concept of having a reliable, portable, multi-format projector in an extremely compact size. It's about the size of your average digital camera or a little bigger than an Ipod but for what it is capable of, I find it to be extremely small. You can truly fit the device in your pocket.
It uses multiple methods of attaining images to project. You can use an SD card (which I found easiest) or you can load files onto the device. You can also use AV cables with the included adapter. Some AV devices do have a direct connection cable that would work but I'm not sure what the size or standard for that would be. For example. I was able to connect my Wii directly to the device with the AV cables and Video and sound were both functioning.
Depending on how close you are to the projection destination (I use a white wall) your image can actually be quite bright. Is it the crispest image ever? No . But it is pretty remarkable for the size. Color saturation is also decent. I didn't notice any lag when playing video files on the device.
Battery life was pretty good, I get about an hour depending on what I am doing but you can also keep the device plugged in.
I was able to do a complete power point presentation with the device by converting the files to JPEG (right in PPT). My audience was very impressed that I had the whole presentation, including projection in my pocket.
I was able to project the image from the device all the way across my room. Im complete darkness it worked fine but you may want to be closer to your receiving source (e.g. the wall) if you aren't able to have complete darkness.
Overall, if you are looking for a cool gadget that does what it says, then I would recommend this product. Keep in mind that this is a balance between projection, price and portability. If you find yourself matching one of my criteria then you will certainly enjoy this product.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Aiptek V-10 Pocket Cinema - Be the life of the party! Impress your friends!, December 4, 2008
I have owned this thing for about 2 weeks, and I have had a chance to put it through it's paces. Here are my findings:
Don't buy it for the built-in player. It leaves a lot to be desired. It only supports 3 codec/bitrates: MP4 @ 512kb / 24fps with PCM (!) audio,(at either 640x480, or 320x240) or the even more grim motion jpg, which is so inefficient I wont even spec it here. Even worse - there is NO FAST FORWARD OR BACK through the files. This bites, because if you are wanting to watch anything feature-length, and the battery goes dead, you can't pop in another battery and FF to where you left off. While the prorietary encodes at 640x480 are watchable, it's not by much. I'd give an encode from a reasonable quality source a 4 or 5 out of 10. I never bothered trying 320x240, knowing it would be too poor. Bottom line: plan on using an external video source.
You could get away with a few 10 minute cartoons in a pinch, though!
That said, this is where it shines: Plug it into a video capable ipod, and prepare to have your socks blown clean off! When the brilliant little 640x480 display is not busy rendering blocky artifacts with the internal player, and shown a proper clean video signal, the performance is stellar! I have not tried a DVD player, but I expect it would look great, too. While not true HD by any stretch, It is certainly on par with a Standard Def TV, and it's the size of a remote control for crying out loud!! Note: many "video capable" media players output only 320x240. You will get much better resluts from one that outputs 640x480, like an ipod.
Next thing: How to get longer run time. The unit includes a USB power adaptor that pumps out 5v at 2a (!) That is how much juice it takes to run the unit while plugged in to AC power. Yes, it will charge (slowly) from most any common USB port, it will not fire up and run without 2000mh behind it. It detects low powered USB connections, and goes into 'flash disk / slow charge mode', thinking it's hooked up to a computer for loading stuff to it's internal memory. So - what to do? I have tried to find a USB Car adaptor that can handle output at 2 amps, but after buying one so-called high-powered usb adaptor here on Amazon, I had no success. I have another one on order, so I'll post how that one goes. I gave it 4 stars because of the poor battery life (about 50 minutes) I would give 5 stars if it had a 2500 - 3800 mah battery (are you listening, Aiptek?)
I then removed the battery, which is an NP-120, 3.7v 1700 mah. A little Google-fu taught me that the batteries are the same as Fuji digital cameras, and are a dime a dozen! WOO HOO! so I bought 3 extra batteries here on amazon, as well as an AC & 12v rapid-charger. Now I have over 4 hours of run time, and still very little to carry!
(search amazon for 'Fuji NP-120 Battery')
So - now when we are out backpacking or camping, and it gets dark early and we are not tired, instead of squinting at my teeny ipod screen, we can sit back and enjoy a BIG screen. I have also used it with rear projection screen fabric, and it is simply magic ! Just cut a nice piece about 32" x 24" and viola!
The last thing I have yet to try is connecting to my laptop. Mine does not have a composite tv out, so I will need to buy an adaptor. There are nice-looking units that will convert a VGA signal to composite tv out that is powered by a USB port (google SW-4262) I will pick one up as soon as I have the extra cash and try it, too.
Final word: The little thing has only 10 lumens. Be reasonable in your expectations when there is alot of ambient light. The darker, the better.
If you are anything of a lifehacker / geeko like me, how can you say no to something so cool?
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Left in the dark -- below low expectations, January 2, 2009
Sure, I am a gadget fiend and snapped this up, thinking it would be great to watch a movie or two during long winter nights. Well, I did get to watch a little bit but here are the issues:
1. Dark output. As other users have pointed out, this baby need big time darkness. Turn off all the lights, blow out the candles and don't think about taking out that shiny ipod/laptop screen. Even with all that, the video is dark.
2. Weak battery. Like not enough to watch a 1-1/2 hour movie. So if you want to check out anythign longer than an hour episode of Dexer, foh-ghet-it. And, as far as I could see, you can't run this while connecting to a power outlet.
3. Run the movies off your ipod or a laptop (which must have an s-video or perhaps composite outlets). The projector, as others have already mentioned, is way finicky about its video files. And the converter that comes with it creates these multi giga monstrosities that you'll need huge memory cards for.
4. Runs Bahama hot. Don't touch.
On the positive end, this is fun to play around with, but not worth anywhere near this price tag...
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