Aiptek intros sub-$300 "GO-HD" 720p camcorder
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 29th 2007 4:05PM
posted May 29th 2007 4:05PM
Aiptek's cameras may not always be known for their quality, but they do usually manage to at least keep things fairly inexpensive, a trait that continues with the company's new "GO-HD" camcorder. As you've no doubt surmised, the camera will let you capture HD video (720p, specifically), with the H.264 codec used to keep file sizes down. According to Aiptek, that should work out to about 4 hours of video on an 8GB SDHC card (not included). It'll also apparently let you take 5 megapixel still images, with a 3x optical zoom, and a 2.4-inch LCD at your disposal. Of course, those specs may not necessarily translate to the best of results, but if you want to try your luck, it looks like you can grab one now from your choice of retailers for $280.
I had a literally terrifying experience with Aiptek customer service.
I called up Aiptek to ask if it was possible to get my memory cards working. I have two 4GB SDHC PNY cards, which th ekid at target reccomended after loking at the back of the box.
I was told by aiptek tech support that PNY cards will not work in the A-HD camera.
When I mentioned that the box says it will take cards up to 32GB, and asked him if this was not false advertising. The representative became irate and started insulting me, using valgure language, and calling me a liar.
At this point I had enough of his abuse and yelled at him F.U!
What happened next is Truly Absurd and Outrageous!
The man behind the telephone at Aiptek told me he was going to send 5 guys to my house to assult me and my fammily!
THIS IS NO JOKE!
I called back and asked to talk to the manager, he admitted to knowing which employee had made the threats. but refused to fire him, or give me the mans name so I could file a police report.
Please, If you value your safety and sanity don't buy an aiptek!
look at that guy's hand!
Focus Stephen, FOCUS!
If its anything like other low end vidcams, you'll either have poo for low light recording, odd audio artifacts, crappy construction so it feels like it'll shatter when you pick it up let alone drop it, random formats of your SD cards, video glitches, or combinations thereof.
I'll wait till $3,000 vidcams drop to the $1,000 range and shrink to the size of the cam in the article. Till then, its still shots. Which really slows down my adult entertainment, I mean, flip books aren't all that popular on the net.
If they dropped the price to sub-$200, I'd buy it.
Greetings:
I've owned CMOS camcorders before, so we just have to wait and see how Aiptek's new HD camcorder will do.
I'm very happy this camera has an optical zoom feature and can accept Secure digital cards of 4gigs.
Regards Robert
The product description (on Amazon) says it can support 8 gigs.
As for the quality of the camera- my feeling is that this is certainly a "too good to be true" thing @ the moment.
Recording in widescreen but having a 4:3 LCD doesn't leave one with a really good feeling.
Finally, I agree w/ the "look @ that hand" comment. It looks *too* small.
Aiptek Sucks! I got one of their cameras for free with a Magazine subscription and it didnt last me a week
These guys should learn from apple and
GET A GOOD HAND MODEL!
I guess I'm the only one who finds HD ATV ready video for under $300 exciting.
ooohh a HD bootlegging machine for under $300
LMAO
Cheap! I'd love to see some sample video.
Will iMovie import it directly?
googled up some sample videos:
http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=570952&forum_id=92&jump_to=749915
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=569962&forum_id=92
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=844531
I have learned that on cheaper cameras the specs might be good but the poor lens quality detracts greatly from the overall package.
Evan Brom
www.realtyexecutives.com
I think part of the problem with that hand is the awful pose. By the angle of the arm, it's as if the person shooting the photo is also holding the subject camera too.
good god, did anyone look at the sample videos people have uploaded?
is that lens made out of jello or something, there is a continuous warpy/distortion thing going on. my eyes hurt....
how is the company name pronounced? ape tech? maybe the camera isnt small at all, just ape hands
Those videos are pretty impressive for a $300 video camera.
Wow? tough crowd!
Lets focus on what this thing has going for it.
1. Price, its $250 @ Costco AND it comes with a Home Theater Dock and Composite HD Cables
2. It records 720P in glorious H.264 instead of the virtually unuseable (not easily edited) AVCHD.
3. Do a search on the internet for the sample videos and reviews you will see, it works well in low light but it suffers from loud Zoom Motors and some autofocus slowness. It also not the greatest construction, but the sample video is very good.
Since I define value as price / features and usability, I think this one is a winner. I have a nice DSLR and the thought of carrying around another gear pack for my existing MiniDV Camcorder keeps me from filming when I should be. I think this will address that, as I can keep it in my pocket while I shoot with my Nikon, and I won't be upset if it gets lost or breaks cause its replaceable.
I have this camera and while the quality it somtetimes exibits strange "wavey" video distortion and honestly i'm not yet convinced to it.
I got it yesterday (ordered from costco.com). It's pretty good so far. The auto-white-balance is sometimes too slow (like when moving into a shadow), so I set it manually.
The included HD-component-video cable is a big plus. I got to see the result right away on my 32" LCD.
[sherlock] did you see the 'wavey' distortion when playing the recording using QuickTime on your computer? I did too, but upon playback through Aiptek HD720 to the LCD-TV, it shows none of those 'wavey' distortion.
I'm still using this unit. Some problems that I've encountered:
1. no sound recorded. Worst timing of all, it was during my son's school performance.
2. the date-time kept getting reset on battery-exchange.
We'll certainly be looking at it for review. However, the sound quality can be a deal breaker as well. Hopefully the GO-HD will perform there too.
-andrew @ videomaker
Here is a torrent I found online with 250MB of sample video
http://www.mininova.org/tor/739317
I have the aiptek HD-DV and have used it some. Its nice to have a small camera with 8 hrs of video. It works ok. I use a Mac and the only way to get the info into the computer is to use a card reader. The Flash Card Volume will not mount on the desktop when connected via the camera through a USB 2 port. The video is in quicktime H264 format. It takes a while to convert that to DV format for editing with Imovie or Final Cut Pro. The wide angle lens lowest setting does not appear to have a very wide field of view. At least compared to other 3x digital cameras.
The deal breaker though is the noise the camera makes in taking video. With low ambient sound it sounds like one is viewing a 16mm film on a projector. A constant clatter. I called technical support and they said that was due to the auto focus. I am going to try some audio filters to screen this noise out, but I'm very disappointed in that and do not recommend this camera
I HAVE SEVERAL AIPTEK CAMERAS AND THEY ARE OK IF USED FOR THE RIGHT PURPOSE. THE PHOTOS EVEN AT 5 MP ARE NOT MEANT TO BE BLOWN UP, AND THE FOCUS IS POOR IN ALL THE MODELS I OWN. I BASICALLY JUST KEEP ONE IN EACH VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT OR OTHER NEED FOR PHOTO DOCUMENTATION. I HAVE A SMALL JVC GZ MC200U WHICH TAKES NICE VIDEO AT 720P AND GOT IT AT CIRCUIT CITY AT CLOSEOUT FOR $200. WAY SUPERIOR TO AIPTEK. I JUST ORDERED A CANON XH A1 AND AM GETTING IT THIS WEEK. READ A LOT OF GREAT REVIEWS ABOUT IT, CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT OUT. MY ADVICE IS STAY AWAY FROM AIPTEK IF YOU EXPECT A QUALITY PICTURE, THEIR LENSES BASICALLY SUCK.
I HAVE A DV8800 AND A 3100. BOTH OF THESE CAMERAS GIVE FAIR RESULTS ONLY IN BRIGHT LIGHT AND THE VIDEO QUALITY EVEN IN THE 8800 AT 30FPS IS POOR. I USE THESE CAMERAS ONLY FOR USE IN THE CAR FOR EMERGENCIES. YOU CAN GET MUCH MORE FOR THE SAME MONEY IF YOU SHOP AROUND. I BOUGHT A JVC GZ MC200U WHICH ALSO RECORDS IN 720P AT CIRCUIT CITY FOR $200 ON CLOSE OUT. YESTERDAY I SAW A HYBRID CAMCORDER WITH 30 GB DRIVE FOR $250. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER AIPTEK. THEIR CONCEPT SOUNDS GOOD BUT THE USE THE SAME LOUSY LENSES IN ALL THEIR MODELS. THE FOCUS IS POOR AND RESOLUTION STINKS. NIGHT SHOT IS A TOTAL DISASTER. THE 5 MP PICTURE, INTERPOLATED TO 8 MP IS LOUSY. I JUST BOUGHT A CANON A 640 WHICH TAKES AWESOME PICTURES AND NICE VIDEO.
AIPTEK CAMERAS ARE NOT WORTH THE MONEY BECAUSE TODAY YOU CAN DO BETTER FOR THE SAME PRICE OR LESS.
I bought this camcorder in U.K. so naturally paid twice as much as someone in the U.S. which made me determined to get the best out of it.
My main problem was getting it transferred onto dvd and at long last have done it.
Initially Iused Canopus Pro-coder 2.0 and it was okay until it decided it didnt like some of the clips and threw up a QT error message. I then had to run the so called ones with error through main concept but Main Concept would not pick up the audio.
I had already installed QT alternative on my PC, but I hadnt realised I had QT Pro installed (via Canopus). I decided to delete the latter, and guess what, the .mov files are fine in MainConcept, audio as well, and also I can now use Tmpgenc Express 4.0 which does the same job with audio. The latter program says it cant import, but I ignore now and get the drop down menu for all files, and I have just finished encoding 40 clips as one.
The colour is extremely good quality as is the picture, but the only downside is the clicking at the end of each clip, and also the zoom is quite noticeable. So is best to try and capture as much as you can in one go and also not use the zoom if you want good quality sound and picture.