Customer Reviews

Mustek DV4000 MPEG-4 7-in-1 Multifunctional Digital Camcorder w/1.5-inch LCD and 4x Digital Zoom

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

If you're looking for a "do it all" digital camera, and you're on a budget, this is outstanding. On the other hand, if you need, or demand superb quality prints this is not for you.
The package includes a still zoomable camera (up to 4 megapixel) Digital Camcorder, Voice recorder, and MP3 player, and is a nice, well made all round package. As others have said, it badly needs a flash system, to help with both the photo, and video functions, but otherwise, it's neat, and a great converation piece, Smaller than a packet of cigarettes, it's a good improvement on the 3000 model that preceded it for a couple of reasons, and worth the extra $40 or so.
It has a rechargable battery, mini tripod, 32MB SD card, carry case, USB lead, S3 lead and mains adapter. I purchased a 256MB SD card for around $50 which gives about an hour of video on highest resolution, and more than enough photo's, even at the highest 4meg setting. On the down side, YOU NEED MORE LIGHT. if you're taking video or photo's indoors, the ambient light makes the resolution suffer, especially on zoom, or even different macro settings. My handy tip on playback for the video is to set your computer media player to 640x480 max resolution, or you'll see a blocky pixel finish. The MP3 repro isn't bad, and probably comparable with cheaper players, but not wonderful, and the voice recorder is more of a toy than anything else. All that said, overall, I thought it was well worth the money, and have been very happy with it, for it's portability and multi functions. Considering that most digital video cameras will cost you at least 2.5 to 5 times as much, this isn't a bad investment. I am a little worried that the integral touch pad and on/off switch may not stand up to too much abuse, but otherwise I recommend this wholeheartedly. Just remember before you buy that there is a lot of truth in the saying "you get what you pay for" so it's good, but not great.

The first impressison was very favourable,- the camera was well packed and gave the impression and feel of good quality.

Having used this camera for appprox. 3 months I have had little occasion to use it for any other tasks than as a video camera.
I like to carry it with me at all times due to it's small size.
Overall, as an occasional user, I consider the Mustek DV4000 good value for money. Although some of the printed data may look very promising, please, do not expect the video resolution associated with some of the more expensive cameras. I found that the image quality does not just depend on the number of pixels, but on many other things (quality of the lens etc).

Posititive Qualities:
The Camera provides fairly good results on high resolution,- providing you are happy to put up with the high res. setting at 10fps as this tends to accelerates the speed of people walking or driving by.
The low light setting is helpful for indoor takes, even though the resolution is impaired.
The AEL Setting can be very userful for situations with exteme contrast, to select the area that should be correctly exposed.
The quality of the sound is remarkably true to reality.
I found the digital zoom to be very useful,- on the high res. setting,- however not beyond zoom ratio 1:2 (or there about)
The Sound Setting has shown itselve to be remarkable sensitive,-rather better than some of the analogue systems tried on other models.

Negative Qualities:
I did not consider the lower and medium resulution settings very useful,--the image quality was sadly lacking, (not what you might expect from a moder digital camera),- even though there may be benefits for imaging on computer screens. The 30fps for the low reolution settings are certainly a bonus when it comes to showing up movements.
When it comes to the performance of a still camera I am not convinced even though the results are acceptable;- my Olympus C300 Zoom gives better results.
The absence of optical zoom is a disadvantage,- a digital zoom can never make up fot this.

Recommendation: Select a flash card of adequate capacity, as the one supplies will not be adequate. Using a 128mb card, the high resolution video capacity of my camera provides approx 25 min.videotime.
For taking videos indoors during nightime, please ensure adequate lighting so that you don't have to go into to low light level mode.

So far I'm pleased with the purchase, and I plan to keep it for a while. Pros and cons listed below:

Pros:
-Low price. Its only around $150 while the other top brand will cost you more $$$.
-Small size. It fits in your palm and easily in any pocket
-Looks good. The appearance of this little unit looks high tech.
-Mp3 player is nice. While don't expect top quality speakers, the sound output from the external speaker is acceptable, and you can also use head phones. 512MB sd card can hold quite a few songs.
-Video quality is decent. With resolution of 352 x 288, it runs at 30 frames per second. This is the highest for the current tapeless camcorders around this price range today.
-Battery life is good. One charge seems to last a whole day.
-Easy to view. Simply plug into tv and you can watch your videos or pictures

Cons:
-Poor still shots. Under the camera mode, the still shots at 2 or 4 mega pixels are not very sharp. When comparing shots taken from my canon s300, there's huge difference.
-No flash and needs light. Video and pictures will need external light or else it'll be dark.
-Digital zoom is not very useful. Because every time I try to zzom, the picture quality seems to suffer.
-Video at 640x480 is not very good, because its only 10 frames per second. So it's better to stick with the lower resolution at 30 frames per second.

I haven't mess around with the software that it came with, but I can just plug it into the pc and it shows up as an external drive, so I can just drag and drop the files. I'm a fan of pocket size gadgets, and I plan to keep the DV 4000 for a few months until maybe the Samsung ITCAM7 with 1.5 GB HD comes out. The gap between camcorder and digital camera is narrowing, and it's just matter of time a true all-in-one unit will appear on the market.

The bottom line is if you need to get high quality pictures or videos, you probably will need to fork out a bit more money to get something else. But if you are like me, just want the convenience of carrying a light weight camcorder in your pocket, this unit will do the job.

I received this camera for Christmas and it's completely awesome. I'm just a teenager, but I think it really deserves 5 stars. First of all, I was surprised by the quality of the video. This is no mini-DV camera or anything, but it does have full-motion video, a great microphone, and decent picture quality. I bring it to school and film stuff blowing up in Chemistry class (hehehe!), use the MP3 player mode while mowing lawns, and I take photos of, well, anything. Even thought there's no flash, the lens is sensitive enough for most pictures. The lens is no 4.0 megapixels, though, and the quality only looks good at around 1024x768 resolution, which is not bad for a video cam.
I don't know what everyone is complaining about. If you want a real fancy, high quality camera then don't buy this. Period. But if you want one to take everywhere that it's not the end of the world if it breaks, then YES!! This is the camera for you. Just purchase a 128MB MMC or SD card and you'll be taking video for about 45 minutes before plugging into the computer.
I use this camera for making movies, too, using Apple's iMovie on my Macintosh iBook, but beware!! You're going to need something like EasyX Video Converter for 30$ to convert the ASF files to MPEG to use on ANY video editing tool. I found this out the hard way :( But 30$ isn't too hefty, considering the cam is only 170$ or so.

The bottom line: Want a Good Camera? Buy a 1,000$ one. Want one to take Everywhere, or for kids/teens that if it possibly breaks it's not 1,000 dollars down the drain then GET THIS!! (just remember: EasyX Video Converter for 30$, and I found converting to MPEG1 works best on iMovie/QuickTime)

I'll start off by saying I made one BIG MISTAKE before I purchased this device. I actually thought I could use it as a "primary" camcorder, but then a light bulb went on and I had to remind myself I only paid $160 for it...

This device is not for anyone who want's to record once in a lifetime activites (ie; weddings,vacations, other major events, etc.etc.etc.), but it has pretty good still image quality, it has "GREAT" digital recording capibilities and being able to play MP3's is another bonus...

So let's go through this again, for $160 bucks you get a digital camera B+, a video camera C+, an MP3 playerAA+, a digital audio recorderAA+, and a data storage deviceAA+...

This sound like a great device for someone on the go and to top it off you'll even be able to capture some "once in a liftime" (you know those spur of the moment things)...

This device is so small there is no reason not to have it with you at all times!!!

Folks, don't buy this device thinking you're getting over on the digital video camera world by only paying $160 bucks when we all know a good quality camera goes for $400 and up...

I leave off by sharing some of my video experiences...

1. If you use this inside, make sure you have plenty of light...

2. Try and use the tripod as often as possible, but for times when you can't, keep the camera as steady as possible and if you have to move it (if your not videoing a fixed area) go as slow as possible. This will prevent that "digital drag" that everyone is complaining about...

3. I actually shot some great footage outside in my backyard. I placed the camera on the tri-pod and ajusted it to focus on my entire area. It captured crystal clear video outside in normal daylight conditions...

4. Don't think your going to video any "action scenes" with this device as the video will be blurred and smudged...

5. I rate this a screaming buy for those who want a "multi function device" (actually use the other 4 functions) with the added ability to capture some "real time" video every now and then...

I just got this camera a few days ago, and i have been using it almost every second of those few days. I'm a 15 year old skateboarding metal head. And I use this camera to take videos of my friends and I skateboarding at our local spots, and to listen to my heavy metal at school. This camera is the one of the best choices I have made, ever. When I received the camera i was ecstatic about it. I charged it up, while i wated i did my math homework whitch i almost never do, it only took about and hour to fully charge up, then i went out and skated, and tested it out. I took three short clips of my friends, and then when home and figured out how to use the editing programs. In the near future I plan to use this camera to make a video of all my skateboarding friends and me and put it on a disk.

What I like about this camera:
Just about every thing...
The battery lasts me about 40 to 50 munites on a full charge...
The video is moderate, it's not the best (mainly because that's not what I paid for) and it's not the worst...
The MP3 is great, good for listening to during class(scince it's the end of the year on we done do anything in class anyway)
the voice recorder is good if what your recording is like 3 feet away...

The things I think they could add to it to make it better:
An adjustable velcro srap would make it a little easyer, and make me feel more secure when i am holding the miniscule camera....
I think they should raise the price and include a 256MB card instead of a 32MB, the 32MB gets 10 minutes on economic resolition and around 6 on normal and high, (I am yet to buy a 256MB card).

I havent taken any pictures with it thus far, but im willing to bet that it is similar to the video.

If your one of those AV freaks and your looking for a great performance from this...that's not what your going to get....it gets the job done nothing special, if you want a great camera go buy a $500 camera, if you just want something to mess around with...Here you go.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review...hope it was helpful to you....and mustek is probably thanking you fro considering buying it(more thankfull if you buy it )

Wow, some very negative reviews here. I took a chance anyway and have been quite pleased! For the price you are paying, it's amazing to have all these features. Still camera, digital camcorder, MP3 player, sound recorder, card reader...a very versatile item. At my band's practice recently I took some pics, recorded a few video clips, taped the sound from an informal jam session, and still had plenty of room on a 256meg SD card. (Also handy for transferring tracks and other data from our studio computer, in a pinch!)

It takes a while to recharge the battery when completely drained, especially the first time. At first I thought it was not going to work at all, as with one review here, but after a few hours on the charger it worked just fine again. Mustek sells replacement batteries, and it's a good idea to have more than one to rotate out, if you use the camera a lot.

If you're an A/V snob, then you will probably not be as happy with this thing as I am. But if you want something inexpensive and functional and insanely portable and convenient, this is a great little device. When using it in public, someone always comes up and asks about it! I'm very impressed with this little gadget.

i bought this camera a year ago, and it still amazes me. you can do movies (with a considerable resolution at 30 fps) take photos up to 4 mbpixels use it as an mp3 player or a sound recorder. cons: no flash and blurry pictures (makes the photo function nearly useless); making movies in low light places is almost impossible. For it's price, its a nice camera, but i'd wait until the DV-5000 comes out. it'll cost more but it corrects some of the problems of the 4000 model, such as the flash, ccd sensor instead of cmos (drastically improves the quality of the images, making it viable to take photos with the camera) and a nifty 2.5 inch movable lcd.

I purchased this camera so i could have something to record local bands playing, and just for generally messing around. I will admit, this camera is no XL1, but THAT IS NOT WHAT I PAID FOR, but it's good for filming things you want to watch later and laugh at. The digital stills are usable, and if you have photoshop, the quality really doesn't matter anyways. As a college student, I find that the voice recorder is great on days when you don't really feel like listening, and the mp3 player makes walking to class a little easier. The only real downside is that the audio quality when recording video is not that spectacular, a mic input would be the only thing I would add to this little wonder. This would make a great camera for kids who want to film themselves acting like fools.

Now I bought this camera for an extremely portable camera to take everywhere. So I could shoot every type of video thats cool. This cameras amazing in the fact that you can take it anywhere so you will never miss a great shot. Now on to video quality. It is not that bad. On a T.V. when shooting in medium quality it looks about as good as an old 8mm camera or a little worse than vhs. The frame rate is really high which is definitely a plus. It has a blue LED recording light instead of a red but no real light because it dosn't need one. The light capture device on this camera are amazing lo-light situations turn out perfect. The zoom is an amazing feature I don't really use it that much but it definitely helps. The still images are definitely not 4 megapixel. There about 2 to 3 megapixels but still impresive. I advise a monopod(one legged tripod) Which really helps the pictures from blurring. My friend has the panasonic e-wear and this kicks it to the curb. I highly advise getting this if you don't want to over invest in a more expensive camera and just want something to take anywhere. A great gift. I have a 256 mb sd card and it records about an hour and a half. p.s. this thinga a multigadget with everything(the mp3 player function rocks!) and for the price this thing is all that and a bag of chips. peace and love!