Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Video Camcorder 2nd Generation (Black Gloss)

by Creative Labs

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.6 x 3.2 x 5.8 inches ; 14.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002S53CK0
• Item model number: VF0584 BK-GL
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,175 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 27, 2009

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

See it, shoot it, and share it--all in high definition. With the Creative Labs Vado HD 4 GB Pocket Video Cam Second Generation, you can capture life's amazing moments in 720p high-definition quality, all with a touch of a button. The Vado HD has a stylish glossy white design and features 4 GB of memory to store your videos. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the Vado is the first pocket video camcorder that you can directly connect to an HDTV to share your videos instantly. And with its built-in USB connectivity, you can just as easily upload your videos to popular Web sites such as YouTube, or you can directly upload them to your computer for storage and editing.

Vado HD Pocket Video Cam Second Generation Accessorize your Vado HD: Vado HD Rechargeable Battery Add up to 2 hours of recording and playback time. Vado HD Battery Charger Keep batteries fresh so you never miss a great shot! Vado HD Waterproof Pouch (Blue) Take great shots while underwater! Vado HD Mesh Pouch (Silver) Carry and protect your Vado with style.

Take high-definition video anywhere with just a push of a button.(White version shown.) View larger.

A built-in USB cable makes it easy to upload movies onto your computer.  View larger.

Precision-Engineered Lens for Superb Clarity
A PC Magazine Editors' Choice recipient, the Creative Labs Vado features a precision-engineered glass lens for sharp, clear, professional-looking videos. With this wide-angle lens, you can capture wider scenes and record more action, and with the Vado's 2x digital zoom, you can get up close with your shots, even in dim environments.

Easy, One-Touch Recording
Recording high-definition video with the Vado is as simple as touching a button. Press it to start recording and press it to stop. It doesn't get any easier than that.

The Vado features 4 GB of internal memory and four recording modes, giving you the freedom to choose the video quality that's best for you. You can record up to one hours of stunning HD-quality video, or up to two hours of video at VGA resolution.

Edit Movies and Snap Photos
With integrated Vado Central software, the VadoPocket Video Cam makes it easy to quickly shoot and edit your own short movies and capture snapshots in still and burst modes. For Mac users, the new Vado Central™ for OS X lets you transfer and import your videos direct into iMovie.

Easy HDTV Playback or Web Upload
The Vado features high-quality HDMI connectivity (HDMI cable not included), which allows you to connect your camcorder into your HDTV and immediately enjoy your videos and pictures in full 720p HD quality. You don't need any special software or downloads--just plug it in and play.

And for videos you want to upload to YouTube or other popular Web sites, the Vado makes it as simple as can be. Just plug the camcorder's integrated USB tab into your computer and post your files. Vado will take care of everything, so you can concentrate on your videos and not worry about the details.

Easy to View Screen
The Vado features a large, two-inch antiglare screen, so you can review your clips or show them off to friends without a computer or HDTV. For further convenience, it runs off an included rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Fully charged, the battery offers up to two hours of recording and playback time. Recharge the battery via the USB connector, or if you're in a hurry, simply take it out and replace with a fresh battery.

The Creative Labs Pocket Video Camcorder is backed by a one-year limited warranty.

What's in the Box

• Vado HD Pocket Video Cam
• USB extension cable
• Silicon skin
• Rechargeable battery.

The Vado HD's compact size lets you easily take it with you everywhere.

Product Description

Catch the perfect snowboarding stunt, your baby's first steps or your kid's graduation, share it online and save it for a lifetime with Creative's Vado HD Pocket Video Cam. The thin, lightweight Vado HD is small enough to fit easily in a pocket, purse or the palm of your hand, and it captures video in 720P high-definition quality with just the touch of a button. Sharing videos online is simple with built-in software that helps you post videos to YouTube, Photobucket or Box.net. The Vado HD is the only pocket video cam to feature true HDMI connectivity for a superior viewing experience on an HDTV. Take the Vado HD Pocket Video Cam with you everywhere you go and never miss a moment. Product specs include 720p high-definition video, wide-angle glass lens, 2x digital zoom, 4GB of video storage capacity, up to one hours of recording and playback per charge, up to four hours of recording time at 640x480 at 30 frames per second, HDMI and RCA connections for TV, HDMI and A/V cables sold separately, removable and rechargeable lithium battery, Vado Central software for simple video editing and sharing. System requirements include Windows Xp Service Pack 2 or Vista, Intel Pentium III or higher, 512MB of memory, USB port, 500MB free hard disk space, and 16MB of Video Memory or above. Product ships with silicon skin, and USB cable.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for its price but note video sync issues with lower-spec computers, December 4, 2009

By 

LivinginAmerika - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Video Camcorder 2nd Generation (Black Gloss) (Electronics)

Selected the Vado over other pocket video camcorders (specifically the Flip Ultra Camcorder 2nd Generation, 120 Minutes) because for almost the same price(~$90) it provides up to HD 720p resolution (instead of VGA only) and has a wide-angle lens.

Received the Vado yesterday evening and charged it overnight using standard charging speed. Took it for a quick test run this morning filming three small clips (17 to 30 seconds duration) using the HD+, HD, and VGA settings. The Vado performed as expected based on the hundreds of reviews I had read and I won't rehash the specifics here.

I did encounter the same issues with out-of-sync audio/video that a number of other reviewers have noted when playing both HD+ and HD videos directly from the Vado on my laptop (VGA had no issues). To test this more fully I recorded an eight minute HD+ video, saved it to the laptop hard drive, and played it back on both Windows Media Player and WMP Classic. Both programs lost sync rather quickly.

I then recorded a five minute HD video, saved it, and played it back on the same programs. This time both WMP and Classic remained in sync. Note that, just like the shorter video, playing this HD video directly from the Vado caused the video to go out-of-sync. So for myself the best way to view videos using my laptop is to record in HD, copy them onto my hard drive, and use WMP/Classic.

Here are the various specs so potential purchasers can compare what I'm using to their computers to hopefully get an idea of expected performance:

Windows Media Player 11 Ver. 11.0.5721.5268
Windows Media Player Classic (unicode build) Ver. 6.4.9.1
1.73 GHz Intel Pentium M
MS Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3
1 GB RAM

*****6 Dec 09*****
Uploaded a 40 sec HD+ video review to Amazon as a test (it's for Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, 40-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4) if you want to take a look). This worked fine.

I then tried the proprietary Vado Central software to create some clips from three ~30 second videos shot at VGA, HD, and HD+. Editing worked fine with the VGA clip. The laptop's video lag with HD+ and HD videos made editing such clips a bit of a chore, although it could be done using audio cues or noting the time points at which you'd like to start and stop from playback on the Vado itself.

Note that Vado Central saves edited videos to the laptop by default. I saved an edited video to the Vado directly in the same directory as the original, but both Vado Central and the Vado itself refused to recognize it. This means that if you want to use clips to make movies in Vado Central you'll be working from the hard drive. It also means you can't upload videos to the Vado to watch.

Next I tested the Vado Central movie making function. It works as advertised, subject to the lag issues noted previously. Interestingly, while videos and clips are saved as .avi, movies are saved as .wmv. In addition, at least on my laptop, adding a style to a movie was a very slow process, as was saving the actual movies. To give an example, just saving a movie made from a 30 second VGA video with sepia style took about six minutes and the final .wmv file was only 4.4 MB in size.

None of this changes my five star rating for the Vado. At the price point it is still the best value for me for the reasons originally stated.

*****7 Dec 09*****
Today I encountered my first real disappointment when I worked with the Create Movie portion of Vado Central. Specifically, I tried to combine seven clips into a movie when a pop-up screen informed me this action was not possible. Apparently, Vado Central uses a program called muvee Basic (not mentioned in the product description) which, among other limitations, limits you to importing no more than three videos/clips to make a movie. Try any more and a handy pop-up suggests an upgrade to muvee Premium which would allow, among other things, unlimited videos/clips to be combined. And all for the low, low price of $19.99.

This experience enters one of those gray areas for me as the product description says nothing about making movies or muvee Basic, simply stating "With integrated Vado Central software, the VadoPocket Video Cam makes it easy to quickly shoot and edit your own short movies and capture snapshots in still and burst modes.", which it certainly does. So, on the one hand, the inclusion of muvee Basic can be considered a bonus. On the other hand, it's obviously a play to get you to spend an additional $20.

Personally, I managed to work around this restriction by combining the seven clips into three smaller movies and combining those into the final larger movie. Whether this method would also circumvent the restriction placed on music I have not tested. For my planned uses, it is really a non-issue. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bargain for basic video if you don't want to use your still image camera, December 6, 2009

By 

moose_of_many_waters (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Video Camcorder 2nd Generation (Black Gloss) (Electronics)

At the time I bought this (Christmas season 2009), the Vado was the least expensive option for 720p video pocket-sized recorders. It's very handy to carry around and the little included silicon case is useful and well designed. The camera is fairly intuitive to use for shooting videos. I'd recommend a tripod for long interviews with seated subjects. To download the images to a Mac, you need to download software from the Creative site. Once you do that, you can either bring the videos into the Mac via: 1) the Vado software for quick editing or file conversion; 2) directly to iPhoto for quick storage and playing/editing on Apple Quicktime or iMovie.

If you already have a decent quality compact point and shoot camera with a video option, the Vado probably is superfluous (and its competitors are as well). The lens is cheap and under low light the images are grainy with little color rainbow patches. Under good lighting, image quality is fine, but it won't wow you. The audio quality is passable, but hissy and doesn't give much beyond the human voice in terms of frequency range. It should be noted that the to-be-released "3rd generation" model will allow for an external mic.

If you don't have a good quality compact still camera with video, this item can be a lot of fun. The images aren't fantastic, but for Youtube they are more than decent enough. Be sure to find a way to have decent lighting before you shoot because otherwise you might end up disappointed by the degraded image. At the price I bought this thing, I consider it to be a bargain.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Low price, but performance to match, October 25, 2010

By 

A Gamer at Heart (Agoura Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Video Camcorder 2nd Generation (Black Gloss) (Electronics)

I have found the video quality of this camcorder to be consistent with its price, which in the end isn't too shocking. What surprised me is that the video quality, even on the highest HD quality setting, is still far below the HD quality of my Kodak camera which is not even a dedicated video camera like the Creative. My Kodak camera is a digital still camera which also records in 720P. The indoor video quality of the Creative is very soft, lacking the clear, sharp imagery one would expect from 720P.

The Creative is very use to use, and it is basically idiot proof. One button to turn it on, one to record, and two very limited zoom and zoom-out buttons.

Whether the ease of use outweighs your need for higher quality will of course depend on your needs. If you are shooting any footage that will have sentimental value to you, like family, children, etc, I would recommend spending more money on a higher quality camera. If you are shooting buddies at parties, or goofing off to post videos on You Tube, the ease of use of this camera is worth the lower quality, assuming such footage isn't something you value as much as your baby's first steps.

The attractive pricing of this camcorder clearly places it in the low-end of expected performance. As long you are picking the right camera for your intended use, and this fits into that objective, you will probably like this camera, despite its lower quality.