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Aiptek A-HD+ 1080P High Definition Camcorder (Silver)
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List Price: $179.99
Our Price: $149.59
Your Save: $ 30.40 ( 17% )
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Manufacturer: Aiptek, Inc.
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Batteries Included: 1
Binding: Electronics
Brand: Aiptek
Color: Silver
Display Size: 2.4
EAN: 0653886020732
Feature: Captures video at up to HD 1080P; records directly from TV, DVD player or VCR
Label: Aiptek, Inc.
Manufacturer: Aiptek, Inc.
Model: A-HD+
Optical Zoom: 4
Publisher: Aiptek, Inc.
Studio: Aiptek, Inc.
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Features
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Captures video at up to HD 1080P; records directly from TV, DVD player or VCR
Accepts up to 32 GB SDHC memory cards for extended recording
2.4-inch color LCD screen with 270-degree swiveling ability
Backed by one-year warranty
Compact high-definition camcorder with 128MB built-in memory
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun but flawed
Comment: This is a great camera for small sunny moments. I took it on my honeymoon and was impressed with it's image quality and ability to quickly grab moments as they happened. It is super small and the absolute best deal for high def video.
However this camera does not focus well and is in desperate need of image stabilization. Shaky cam is no longer cool and it is disappointing when otherwise great moments captured on film are so out of focus they are hard to watch.
The battery issue (that it giggles and shakes)others have described with this camera does not seem to be present any longer and the battery life itself is excellent.
Overall this is an OK and affordable first step into HD video recording. That being said I can't wait until I break it so I can buy a really good (much better/more expensive) HD camera.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great features for price
Comment: This is a cheesey plastic trinket-like getup, but works pretty well. Amazing to get such a simple yet capable package at this price. My 8-year-old nephew picked the thing up and just started making movies and using most of the features in minutes, without any hand holding. There are only a few buttons, all of which are intuitive. This thing is idiot-proof. No user guide necessary. Open the dsiplay and it's on, close it and it's off. Press the red front button to start and again to stop. That's almost all you need. Plugging into your TV is also trivial. The built-in screen is beautifully clear with nice resolution, and identical to what you see when you view it via TV. Another cool feature is being able to swivel the screen all the way around upside-down to face you and it inverts itself to stay right-side up.
On the down side...
The mic is under-powered. It's also facing the shooter instead of the subjects! I had to keep telling kids to talk as loud as they can, whereas my voice (as cameraman) was overpowering. No provision for add-on mic. This is probably a showstopper.
The on-board speaker is useless for device playback. You need the TV to really hear what's been recorded.
You need a lot of light to get good focus/visibility (but playback in HD is beautiful if done right).
Ubuntu linux (Hardy as of this writing) is not able to detect the device when plugged in via USB. This isn't too bad since a cardreader should be able to read the card, but the extra step to pop out the card is a bit of an inconvenience.
The camera is off balance with the screen arm out. That means you can't just set it down without a tripod. Not too bad if you just set it next to and lean on a vertical object to keep it from falling over.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Expected disappointment - but was very impressed...how is this so cheap?
Comment: This camera has great image quality, and was a great buy. But one thing that frustrated me (before buying) was that I couldn't find much info about the more advanced specs.
But luckily, I have done the homework for you ;)
Here are some things you might want to know:
-The CMOS is 5MP native (resolution: 2592 x 1944)
don't bother with the 8MP it just 'blows up' the image (interpolation)
-The lens, even though the image quality is excellent, is the weak point of this camera. Its a fixed focus without any optical zoom. Theres only digital zoom which decreases the quality the farther its zoomed in, but not too badly.
The 2 focus modes,
Normal: Autofocuses from 30cm to infinity. Best for general purpose video recording. Nothing is really out of focus unless its too close to the camera. Though it can be slow at times.
Macro: For close-ups. Objects/people look alot clearer/better when focused on than with the normal focus mode, and everything in the background is blurred. But theres no focusing with this setting so you have to be sure the camera is the perfect distance away from the object so that its in focus.
On the camera, the top setting with the mountain/stick figure is normal focus mode and the lower setting with the flower shape is macro. There are also wide angle lenses available that fit this camera.
-The battery
Battery life for me is very good, but depends on your recording mode, screen brightness etc. Make sure to charge it for awhile when you first get it. Also sometimes the light seems to change randomly to show that its charged when its still charging. Theres a defect where the battery is loose inside and rattles around/loses contact with the terminals that make it turn off. Just improvise and put a piece of paper/cardboard below the battery to keep it from being loose.
-The screen is good quality, a little hard to see in bright daylight. No dead pixels.
-The mic is okay for me, but it tends to record the person behind the camera rather than whats in front.
-Records from AV-IN at 720 x 480 NTSC 29.97FPS
the quality is decent when I record from a satellite receiver [I always record pay-per-view ;)]. When played back on SDTV it looks nearly exactly as the original broadcast besides for some static at the very top of the screen. Audio quality is 5/5 with no hissing. Format: H264 @ 2.12mbits/sec Audio: AAC stereo 48.000khz BTW you can't do composite-in.
-has TV-OUT with AV-out and Composite-out
You can do everything with TV-out activated that you can do normally, even record vids/take pics/change settings. Video and picture quality is terrific, and they load instantly too. You can also zoom in pan around on photos, and of course fast forward/rewind/pause with videos. You can also zoom in on a paused video.
-works with my sandisk 4gb Ultra II SDHC memory card
make sure your memory card is 'high speed' or else it probably can't write data fast enough to keep up with the higher quality recording modes. I believe the memory limit is 32gb.
-recording modes:
1080p: 29.97FPS Data rate: 7.58mbits/sec at 1920x1080
720p 60f: 59.94FPS Data rate: 6.04mbits/sec at 1280x720
720p 30f: 29.97FPS Data rate: 4.10mbits/sec at 1280x720
'DVD quality': 59.94FPS Data rate: 3.57mbits/sec at 854x480
'CIF': 29.97FPS Data rate: 750.86kbits/sec at 320x240
All except 'CIF' are 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen)
Image quality is a bit grainy if the room is dark, though you can adjust white balance/exposure settings to fix this. I would say the best overall setting is 720p 60FPS. Theres no stabilization but its really stupid to complain that the footage is 'shaky' when all you have to do is hold your arm more steady/hold it with 2 hands. After all the camera captures exactly what it sees. You can also use a tripod.
-tips for playback
The version of quicktime included on the CD is an old version that plays choppy on even the fastest computer. The best way to play back your vids in my opinion is to first:
1. Rename the file from .MOV to .HDMOV
2. Play the file with Windows Media Player
doing it this way uses the graphics card (GPU) to help play the video, instead of just the CPU which isn't very good at it. Doing it this way with my E2140 core2duo and 256mb graphics card, a 1080p video used just around 40-55% CPU. If you get an error about codecs, look up on google 'k-lite codec pack'.
Now the biggest problem everyone has is that the format of the videos (.MOV) is incompatible/doesn't work right with alot of editing software. Most people convert the video to another format which decreases the quality and takes forever. Are you ready for a simple solution that will prevent you hours of frustration?
The actual video captured is encoded to H.264 codec with AAC audio, the .MOV is just a container file. AVI, MP4, MKV and lots of others can hold H.264 video. So all you have to do is...
Rename FILE.MOV to FILE.MP4
easy as that...now the file should work in sony vegas and any other editing software that supports H264, and also play back fine with supporting media players.
Customer Rating:
Summary: good, not great - poor audio
Comment: This is a good, portable and lightweight camera, but audio issues keep it from being 5 stars.
Video is good and on par for a $150 camera. The high-def modes look good, but beware of shaking and image stabilazation. It has no image stabilazation built in, do use a tripod (it's got a standard tripod mount on the bottom) where possible to get the best shots.
Low light images could be better. It works best outside or in well lit rooms.
Audio is poor. Anything more than two feet away and it barely picks it up.
I always carry it around to shoot videos for YouTube, I'm glad I purchased it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: cant be beat for the price
Comment: Bought this camera for something small to take on vacation. Does a great job. The .MOV files it creates are awkward on my PC as I have to convert them to .mpg's before using my edit software but it's really quite painless. It has 5 video resolutions. CIF is a 30 frame low resolution
that is good for anything you might want to put on youtube. D1 is what I use most. It's a DVD quality resolution that has a real nice picture but isn't real "Jerky" like the 3 HD resolutions. D1 .mov can also be converted to mpg's with free software like Prisim. The HD modes have an amazing picture but I can't hold the camera still enough to get a steady shot. You really really really need a tri-pod if you want to make the most of the HD modes. I'm not even kidding. In full hd you would have to have the steadiness of a neuro surgeon to get a steady shot, it's super
sensitive to vibration. having said all that, it will fit in my shirt pocket and takes great video. The battery looks like a cell phone battery and seems to last a long time. You have to be careful with the focous adjustment that you flip for close up shots. If it's flipped,
you won't know it by looking at the display and will end up with blurrrry
video when you get it on your PC. We have 20 minutes of unwatchable blury video from a pontoon boat trip. Can't beat it for the price.
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