Aiptek Zoom DV 8 MP Digital Camcorder and MP3 Player

Editorial Review
The new Aiptek Zoom DV 8-megapixel digital camera and camcorder is the first miniature DV with a 3x optical auto-focus zoom lens built in, making it great for both getting better close-ups and landscape video. This multi-function unit lets you record videos with image stabilization and sound, and take pictures at up to 8-megapixel resolutions, as well as being an MP3 Player, Web cam, and more.

The Aiptek Zoom DV has a handy 6-in-1 multi-function design that includes a digital still camera, digital camcorder, web camera, voice recorder, a removable hard disk and compact flash card reader, and an MP3 player all in one. This unit is equipped with a three Megapixel CMOS sensor, with still image resolution that is enhanced up to a maximum of eight megapixels to deliver high-quality still photographs. The Zoom DV utilizes high-compression MPEG-4 for recording movies, as the ideal way to store video clips in a highly compact format, so you can not only shoot more pictures, but you can easily share them over the Internet or by e-mail, or view them on a PC or television. And as an added features, this camera includes advanced Digital Video Stabilization that compensates for slight movements while recording video. This pocket digital camcorder features a swivel-reversible 2.4-inch TFT color LCD display with 270-degrees rotation that combines striking realism and an intuitive interface for the best image every time, so you can review and play back video clips and pictures in real time. The Zoom DV also features a stereo MP3 player that lets you easily upload your favorite MP3 files and playback the music directly from the built-in speakers, or via the headset. This unit also features a 3x optical and 8x real-time digital zoom getting amazingly close to your subjects, the ability to connect directly to your TV or VCR to play back video clips on the big screen, and a macro mode that lets you capture 2-inch close-up pictures or video clips. The Zoom DV lets you capture photos while recording video with picture-in-video, enhance image quality while capturing photos in darker environments with night shot, and use built-in LEDs for recording video in dark or low-light situations, as well as having a regular flash for pictures that includes anti red-eye technology.

The Aiptek Zoom DV's sensor has an effective resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels at the 3-megapixel level, with a max video resolution of 640 x 480 pixels VGA at up to 30 frames-per-second. This unit includes 32MB of internal flash memory, 16MB of which is available for storage, and allows you to store any type of data on the camera or external memory card and take it with you like a removable hard disk and compact flash reader. The Zoom DV supports the NTSCTV system, allows voice annotation using internal memory, and has a 10-second self timer function. This unit stores still images in the JPEG format for easy transfer, has an auto exposure and auto white balance, and can connect to PC via USB 2.0. The Zoom DV requires Microsoft Windows 2000 or higher, a P4 processor or better, Direct X 8.1 or above, at least 256MB of RAM, a video card with at least 32MB of RAM, a 4x speed CD-ROM drive, and an available USB port for use with a PC. Aiptek's pocket digital camcorder auto powers off at one, three, or five minutes if idle, and runs on a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that recharges via the included battery charger, or via the USB connection when plugged in to your PC. This unit measures 1.3 x 4.45 x 2.76 inches (W x H x D) and has a built-in card slot that allows a maximum of up to 2 GB of external memory via SD or MMC cards.

Customer Reviews

Worked pretty good

2008-07-21
It works pretty good. Sometimes the videos were a little blurry when we were recording our babies running around their play pen.

One nagging problem...

2007-01-22
I like this camera. The size is great, it's cool to carry around and has a wow factor. The screen is HUGE for a camera this size. I love it! Navigating the menus is graphically pleasing. Pics are ok, flash works decently.

I have one nagging problem: the video. (NOTE: I've only taken indoor video. Outdoor, daytime video may not be a problem.) If you get the right lighting and adjust the settings just right, you will get a good looking video for this type of camera. My problem is, it's rare to have everything so perfect. When you look around the room without the camera, you can see things normally. When you look at the same room with the same lighting through the camera, it's almost completely dark. You have to put the "low light" setting on all the time. The problem is that this setting is blurry, so you have to move the camera around very very slowly to not get a headache watching the video. (The manual suggests you only use this setting with a tri-pod. HA! This is the only way to see anything indoors!) The bottom line is: I have to constantly adjust settings on the camera before I take video in order to get decent viewable quality.

Exacerbating the problem is that the video lights are two LCD lights, and they are absolutely useless. They have a flashlight "pointing" effect rather than a flooding effect. So if you use it, the center of your view will be lit in a circle and fading to dark towards the edges of the screen. Even with such poor performance, the lights are still too bright for ppl to look at the camera while it's on.

Speaking of completely useless, don't even bother using the image stabilization. It makes the video EXTREMELY blurry... unusably blurry. They should rename the feature "Image Messer-upper".

Having said all that, I really do like this camera. I've focused on the video because it's probably the one thing that bothers me about this camera. Everything else is great. Even though I've harped on the video, it is possible to get decent quality video once you adjust the settings. It just nags me a bit that it's not easier. I shouldn't have to turn on the low light setting ALL the time, and that setting shouldn't make things so blurry.

Then again, I bought this camera for $200 on Aiptek's website and got $100 worth of accessories for free. So I try to remind myself that I DID buy a low-end pocket-sized camcorder. And that's probably the most important thing to remember. If you buy this multi-function camcorder for what it is, you get a great product. If you want a $1000 high-end camcorder the size of a small digital camera, you're not going to get it for $200.

UPDATE: (16 Mar 07) I finally got a chance to use this camera outside on a sunny day. The video was EXCELLENT! BEAUTIFUL! I am SO MUCH MORE pleased with this camera now that I know that, at least in normal daylight settings, I can get GREAT looking video. No "low light" setting necessary. No blurriness at all! I even played it back on my tv, and it still looks great!

Good quality and small enough to put in a pocket

2007-01-04
I bought this camcorder for my husband for Christmas. He wanted something to pop into his pocket for impromptu events. We have an old Panasonic VHS-C camcorder, but the battery never lasts more than 30 minutes and it is getting harder to find a VCR to play it on. We wanted something that would record directly to an SD memory card, and this is the only one we could find. However, so far, it has performed very well. The 3X optical zoom works good and the outdoor videos were perfect. In fact, my husband filmed my granddaughter jumping on the trampoline, and he was able to get a freeze frame of her in mid air. It was not blurry or anything. The indoor videos were not quite as good, but he hadn't figured out how to turn on the flash/LED light for low light situations yet. I figure with that turned on, the indoor videos will be very good. So far, we have been very pleased with this camcorder. We bought a 2GB SD card to go with it in order to have enough memory for what we want, and I also bought an extra battery. I would certainly buy it again.

Mac Users, Don't Heed the Uninformed

2006-12-11
The prior review decrying Aiptek/Macintosh incompatibility is flat wrong. MPlayer plays Aiptek's ASF (MPEG4) files perfectly. I suspect there are other programs that would do the job as well, but haven't researched it. MPlayer is free, and took me all of about 10 minutes to find and install. Download and be happy.

FWIW, today I bought the similar Aiptek PVR (no optical zoom, and half the price on sale at a major chain). I intend to use it skiing, where I don't want to risk a more expensive camcorder or deal with additional weight and bulk.

In purchasing the Aiptek, I was expecting very basic VCR quality, and that's what my camera delivers in a small and inexpensive package. Build quality seems entirely adequate for this class of product. The user interface is very easy to pick up. In my view, this is a useful and versatile device.

Especially when paired with a Mac. :o)

Mac Users Beware!

2006-12-03
I agree with other reviewers who say manage your expectations. You are getting what you pay for here. But, it's a fun little camera with some interesting features, and of course the price is right. I bought this camera with some hesitation after reading on the Aiptek site that the camera supported "File Upload Only" for Mac. So, I took a chance. The good part is that it seems to work pretty well with iphoto. The images import without much problem. The bad part is the MPEG 4 files will not work with Quicktime. I called the company and they advised me to buy an application called Flip4Mac. I paid $30 for the basic software. The bad news, it still doesn't work. I can now open the MPEG files in Quicktime, but it only plays audio with a white screen in the player window. Not exactly a solution. I read on the Flip4mac forum that others have had the same problem. They claim a fix is in the works. Long story short, if you're a mac user.. buy something else. This probably is not worth the annoyance.

set your expectations correctly

2006-11-26
The new Aiptek Zoom DV 8-megapixel digital camera and camcorder is the first miniature DV with a 3x optical auto-focus zoom lens built in, making it great for both getting better close-ups and landscape video. This multi-function unit lets you record videos with image stabilization and sound, and take pictures at up to 8-megapixel resolutions, as well as being an MP3 Player, Web cam, and more.

What's in the Box
The Zoom DV camera, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, AC charger cable, wrist strap, USB cable, AV input/output cable, headset (ear buds), user's guide, and includes the following software; Camera Manager, Muvee AutoProducer, ArcSoft Photo Impression, ArcSoft Media Card Companion, and ArcSoft MediaConverter.

Don't waste your time 2006-10-05
I returned this camera after trying very hard to like. Picture quality (movie or still) is totally unacceptable. I did not even get one good still picture. Forget about indoors video or still. The falsh and video light are useless. The overall quality of the camera is low.

cool gadget/ great present 2006-09-06
I used it for 5 days, not many complaints. Battery life is approximately 2hours of constant use (says the manual), but I was taking pictures all day (taking a picture than turning off) and it was still half charged by the end of the day.

Like:
Video qaulity is pretty good (don't expect great quality). It's a little better than VHS.

Native full and widescreen formats.

Charges through wall outlet or computer USB port (same cable for charging and for transferring).

Accepts up to 2gb media card ($40) and stores up to 6,000 photos or 2hours of video or 25 hours of music.

Includes pretty strong light for video (also the photo flash).

small in size (like a small photo camera)

Has good qaulity 3X optical zoom

very convinient rotating lcd display.

Don't like:
Michrophone is not high quality.

Cannot fastforward MP3 files (you can video).

Pictures look good but it is NOT 8-megapixels camera. It's not even 3megapixels. It is 1 megapixel. All other settings are simply digitally magnified. I took pictures in all 4 settings (1,3,5,8 mpxls), then magnified the 1 mpxl photo and it looked no different than any other photo with higher settings.

Sometimes it freezes in MP3 mode when you're trying to select next music file. You have to power it off and then on again.

Speaker sound isn't strong (it comes with headphones plug of course and also with a pair of headphones).

Battery lid comes off easily. I had to cover it with scotch tape. But you don't really need to take the battery out because it charges through the included cable.

Did not play some videos that I imported FROM computer.

Takes about 4 seconds to take a photo while holding the shutter button.

Can't custom-name your music or video files. It simply gives number to each file.

Can't change the order of MP3 files. They are stored in the order they were imported.

The darker it is outside the more firm you have to hold the device otherwise pictures are slightly blurred.
---------------------
Not great quality of each of the functions (not bad eaither) but having many functions in one very small device is very convinient. It can replace your old video camera too.

Has anyone actually purchased this camera? 2006-08-07
I'd love to read a review from anyone who has purchased this camera, the Aiptek Zoom DV-6 MP Image Stabilizing Camcorder w/3x Optical Zoom. I see the claim that it has 3x OPTICAL zoom and cannot help but question this because I am unable to find this product on aiptek-dot-com and this cam has supposedly been available since July 30th, 2006. Am wondering what gives with that?

Please someone, post a review of this model and hopefully, some picture results too. Let us know about this 3x optical zoom, please!

I had to pick a rating, so the four star rating was based on the MPVR version of this camera -- which I own and find to be a very decent gadget. Mine is over a year old and still going strong - no problems with that model. MP3's sound terrific. I convert movies for viewing on the camera while on the go and... "wow" for its quality. I have recorded sounds and more. Very decent! Just drag and drop my files from my PC to the SD card and I can switch out movies and MP3's. I am happy with that model, but it does not have any optical zoom - just digital. Still get pretty good pix tho, just use the various settings... My little homemade movies are good, very decent, but without additional lighting, indoor movies will be dark. This camera doesnt handle well in strong sun - I use an umbrella over my cam as I film. Big diff.

So, is this newer model really all that much better? Can't wait to know! 3x optical sounds good...