Single-use digital video cams now available in CVS

Pure Digital, the company behind the low-end single-use digicams available in drug stores around the country, is at it again, this time with digital video cameras, available in the CVS chain for $29.95 — plus $12.95 for burning the video to DVD. The cameras (which were first announced last summer) capture 20 minutes of what we assume is MPEG-4 video. In an era when even many of the freebie phones bundled with cell plans can do low-end movies, and VGA-quality video has become a standard feature on point-and-shoot digicams, we're not sure whether there's a real market for single-use digital video cameras, but we're about to find out (we'll also find out how long it takes for some determined hacker to open and reverse-engineer this).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in]

[lupinstel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Consumer Reports just did a review of the one time use digital cameras, and their conclusion is that you would have to be an idiot to use one. The cost per picture is about 3 times that of a regular digital picture ($1 for one time use, $.30 for regular digital). I don't see this idea lasting long.

[jcharney @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

That's way too expensive for a one use thing. I bet the quality is absolute crap as well.

[Jesse Andrews @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Those will be fun to hack...

[yuppicide @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Only reason I'd buy one is for the hackability. Maybe somehow the way it records can be increased.. such as something like a HuffyYUV lossless codec.

[karmaghost @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Beyond stupid.

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

A lot of people are quick to dismiss this as utter crap which, frankly, it is. However, at the right price point with proper marketing this will make a lot of money.

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

A lot of people are quick to dismiss this as utter crap which, frankly, it is. However, at the right price point with proper marketing this will make a lot of money.

[TZK @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

The ones I saw were sort of a pistol grip type and looked a bit more Star Trek.

Regardless, they are useless really, unless, someone does hack it. Which shouldnt take long.

[anythingbutipod @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Ritz had a disposable digital that was hacked back in Nov '03. Slashdot Post: http://slashdot.org/articles/03/11/12/2354206.shtml?tid=152&tid=185&tid=188

[Soud @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

I work at a CVS that was a test site for the Digital Video camera. We barely sold 1 or 2 of these per week and the store was one of the busiest in the city. The computer we use to burn to DVD was very buggy and crashed a lot. They had to replace the dvd burner twice. The company itself (Pure Digital) is very hard to even get in touch with. Whenever the computer crashed, they would just tell us to restart(which didn't fix anything at all). We would have to call like 4-5 times before they would come and fix it. Its a horrible, horrible idea by a horrible, horrible company. I dont see them lasting much longer.

[toupsz @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

This article seems a little late...I saw these in the store down the street about two months ago... :)
-Zach

[Celebrity Poker @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

It would be cool to have these on all the tables at my upcoming wedding. Or is there a better alternative?

[CR Hamilton @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Yes, the better alternative would be to not get married. :') Just kidding. (sorta)

[Paul Allen @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

A disposable, single use video cam?

FFS.

[eye @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

"This article seems a little late...I saw these in the store down the street about two months ago... :)
-Zach"

Engadget gets its stories from press releases by PR companies. You think they've got teams of reporters hunting down 'news'? This is a PR site for PR releases. Interesting techie stories, but sadly I read the same stories in my commuter freebie newspaper.

Here's how it works...
http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

[tata @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Yea! nice idea - everybody know that ecology sucks!

Ehm... but they forgot to put a small coil powered mini powerplant unit in it, i hope that at least a case will be radioactive.

IN YOUR FACE CAPTAIN PLANET!

[morcheeba @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

The community working on hacking this is located at:
http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=13

These cameras seem to have an external program memory, so it might not be too hard to hack.

BTW, the second camera PD came out with (with an LCD post-view screen) has also been hacked -- I figured out the authentication mechanism and most of the communications, others got the camera to work with standard drivers and are figuring out the proprietary raw format. I've got a disassembler and commented code, but you'll need a camera & firmware file to make sense of it. http://www.maushammer.com/systems/dakotadigital/lcd.html

[RG @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

On the one hand, it seems a tad ridiculous. Why pay $30+ to record 30 minutes (or however long/short you can record)? But on the other, maybe they're marketing the product to those who don't have a lot of disposable income and therefore can't afford to buy $300+ digital camcorders, esp. when they may only use it a couple of times. Plus, IF it saves you the trouble of making your own DVDs, maybe it's not such a bad deal for the target audience.

[AH @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

It is always amazing how the United States is so far ahead in some areas and so far behind in others. They've had disposable digitals for YEARS in Spain (www.foticos.es). Unlike in the US, they also appear to be successful there.

[Ed @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

MPEG-4 sounds better than the Australian made version.
http://www.abc.net.au/newinventors/txt/s1215059.htm