Aiptek's HDV21X brings 1080p HD video to the sub-$200 Wal-Mart market
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted June 11th 2008 11:23AM
posted June 11th 2008 11:23AM
posted June 11th 2008 11:23AM
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Congrats. I bet your parents are proud!
Anyway, has anyone here used Aiptek products? I'd be interested in using it for a cheap 1080p camcorder, but the unknown quality (and mov format) seems to deter me.
I was once like you...
Cornelius,
The quality is ok as long as the camera is kept very still, on a tripod. Start moving or panning and things fall apart. Plus, there is no stabilization. Still pics are terrible, about like an average to decent camera phone. There are samples on vimeo.com
爱普泰克 - 网易拍，哈哈哈哈～
for people can't read chinese you can ask people who speaks chinese "ai pu tai ke - wang yi pai", you will get the answer~
I wish I was you. Sadly, I've only had one first comment.
Anyone else interested in a Greasemonkey script that removes first posts with variations of the word "F1r$t"? Vote + or -
I actually saw a review on this. Supposedly the quality is OK. According to the review the quality of this camcorder is far better than that of a standard definition Aiptek camcorder, but not as great as a decent standard definition camcorder.
first at walmart
Last at life
emo much?
Now what we need is one designed for the dash of a car, so when the A-hole cuts in front of you and slams on the brakes, you can e-mail the video to the insurance company... IN HD BABY!
or use it to make amateur porn...
You do NOT want to see armature porn in HD!
I'd never heard it described that way. Shark faces. It's so not hot...
This is why I prefer homemade. No one makes those faces in real life.
Nice, now I can bootleg movies in HD at a great price.
"Aiptek: We bring crap to your junk drawer"
"HD AVD HD"?!?! What format is that exactly? Do you mean AVC HD?
These things seem to have pretty decent picture quality for the price, but they always fail miserably when it comes to sound quality. It is aweful on all of their other camera. I can't speak for this model since I haven't used it, but I won't touch one of these until they do something about the sound recording quality.
If anyone can post some resulting video, I'd be v. interested in seeing it. For 200$, if this can produce video without horrid grain then everyone who isn't flat-broke (thank you bank loan for making me start paying you back after 4 years of college even though I intend to go back for one more year to finish my masters) should get one.
I've got the 720p model.
Sample Video below.
http://homepage.mac.com/sandyg3/iMovieTheater40.html
@sandyg3 :even for a reduced quicktime, the quality looks pretty decent.
http://www.vimeo.com/1138347
As someone said before, you really need a tripod, but slow movements are ok. Outdoor is best and you really need to shoot in the 720P mode so you get 60FPS the 30 FPS of 1080P can get choppy on fast movement.
The video i posted is from 720P 60FPS mode
Thanks for the video Gabe. At the higher size you can start to see the flaws. I think I will stick with my Sony DVCAM for now and save that money for DIY projects.
a bad picture is still bad even if it is in high def, so for that price id probably avoid it, even the expensive sanyo and sony tgr's go a bit grainy in low light.
Except in this case it would be an HD bad picture! And that beats an SD bad picture, hands down!
Hasn't this been availible for a while?
Isn't the Aiptek A-HD+ a better deal at 140 at Best Buy?
I got the A-HD and an 8 gb SD card from Amazon for $150.00. For the price and what it is, the results are pretty amazing. Here are some sample video shots in 720p: http://www.vimeo.com/shieldss
If you are looking to make a movie, buy a RED camera. If you are looking to shoot some quick video that looks great, the Aiptek HD cameras are not a bad choice at all.
thanks bob that actually looks great, im thinking about getting it now.
also perkisabeast! go boston!
If the quality of this thing is even half decent then I'm sold.
Anyone want to explain how this is different than the current 1080P model they sell at Walmart?
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9208238
I've used a similar Aiptek and found the quality in decent light to be pretty good. Audio, however, was only available through the onboard mic, and was horrible. I wouldn't buy this unless it had an Audio input if you are concerned about audio quality.
Marshall
---------
The Real HT Info Podcast
im searching for reviews now.
tempting indeed!
why pay 600 or more for panasonic or sony when this thing can do the same for much less yknow...
Am I the only one to notice that 1440x1080 is not a 16:9 resolution? if it was 16:9 it would be 1920x1080. 1440x1080 is 4:3, so either the image is being stretched, or it is only a 4:3k image and not widescreen.
Either way it sounds pretty damn dodgy.
Must be getting reject 16:9 sensors and cutting off the dodgy bits.
I bought and returned it. The movement was very jerky at 1080p, 730p 60 fps and 720p 30 fps. It was smoother at the DVD quality. But the movement/jerkiness made viewing impossible. And forget moving it an Apple TV or Media Center Extender. Anything shot at 720p 30 fps or higher would not play at full speed, but stopped and held a still with the sound continuing. It played better on my Core 2, but as noted, looked terrible. The images themselves weren't too bad, but it's just not a usable motion picture camera.
I would also hate to imagine how poorly this would work in low light conditions, where it would be used most often. I have tried a few of these cheap camcorders in stores and the sensors are terrible in low light with lots of noise, and poor frame ratees to try and increase exposure.
Every sensor works well in bright conditions. This is where the more expensive camcorders shine like the sharp xacti.
Make sure it works well in low light or forget it.
Regarding 1440x1080, that's a pretty well-known standard for widescreen HD camcorder video. The pixel aspect ratio is altered to effect a widescreen resolution, sometimes called "anamorphic." It works very well while reducing the bitrate you would need for 1920x1080.
Regarding claims that the motion is jerky, first of all you need a fast computer, but more importantly you need to invoke H.264 hardware acceleration on a video card (pretty standard these days) using a player like PowerDVD that can call on the hardware acceleration. Or, as another option (especially if you plan to do any editing/manipulation), you can convert the H.264 video files into larger MPEG2 video files that your (aging) system can better handle.
So instead of making a real 1080p clip, it makes a stretched version?? So they dont need as powerful hardware to handle the high bitrate. Anyone who is recording in 1080p really should be more worried about quality rather than minimising thir bitrate.
Any decent quality 1080p camera will record at full 1920x1080 resolution. This anamorphic stretching sounds as useful as digital camera pixel interpolation to get a higher resolution image.
You get what you pay for.
I can assure you that the lenses are not even comparable from an Aiptek to a Sony.
Greetings:
The Aiptek Action HD is the Top HD Camcorder for under $300.00 category.
You can all get more information about Aiptek at the new Aiptek Facebook Group:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31995906816
Also any of you want to see excellent videos made with Aiptek Action HD
just visit the Vimeo Website and make a search for Aiptek Action HD.
The Link: http://www.vimeo.com/
Would anyone know why Aiptek is not sold in Canada? that is very sad
Regards Robert
I had an Aiptek camera.. no optical zoom, 640x480 video recording, cost about $200 a couple of years back..
1) Didn't record very well in low light (it sucked)
3) Very shakey video (was ok on a tripod)
4) Color's.. mushy?
5) Would just "stop" recording sometimes, and crash
6) On the menus, it did this "raised/lowered" thing for the current selection, and also and arrow. But they didn't match up, you had to follow the arrow and ignore the raised/lowered menu item.
So, it's ok the cheap side.. I see they have advanced it some. This one has autofocus and optical zoom, where mine didn't.
One other thing.. they used to inflate their camera MP specs.. so, my camera was 3MP but would say 6MP because they used software to go from 3MP to 6MP. You never want to do that.
So if this camera says 8MP, it probably has a 5MP CMOS sensor, the extra 4 is through software.
I let the kids record movies with it now.. the still picture's my old one took were not as good as the 2MP Sony cybershot that I had before.
I'd be interested in how the quality has improved since then.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0019BPTMI/interactiveda8747-20
at amazon for $180 with better description of it.
I have this camera, and for vacation, little league and just general messin' around, it is great! While it is not very stable without a tripod, I don't find the movement a problem for these types of video. I would not use it for anything more than fun uses, though.
I've used two Aipteks. Returned them both.
Yes they record in HD, but the compression quality is CRAP. Audio isn't great either and would benefit from a mic input. Yes, it films OK if you tripod it in good ambient light, but if you're on a skateboard filming your friends, it's junky.
If you want a small cammy that films compressed to hell HD and some stills in a flimsy cheap feeling case, then get it....
I ended up buying the Kodak EasyShare V1253 which films MUCH BETTER HD, has stabilization and takes great 12MP stills. I even filmed some extreme stuff with it: http://www.vimeo.com/998618
My review for this camcorder (a little shameless self-promotion):
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=589966&forum_id=92
In short, for how much this camera costs, it is a nice buy. It does not have the graininess or artifacting you see with other cameras in this price range. The Action HD (HDV21X / Z500) and A-HD+ have improved their compression over the previous models (GO-HD and A-HD respectively).
Also, do not use quicktime to view any samples. It will appear jerky (quicktime will not play the 60fps clips at full framerate and their decoding is off even with the 30fps clips). Use PowerDVD, WinDVD, or FFDSHOW / Haali media splitter instead.
I own the older Aiptek A-HD (max 720p 30 fps) as well as the Canon Powershot TX1. I've shot a lot videos for comparing those two cameras and put them on www.blip.tv
Check them out here:
http://ecow.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc
to say the audio on these is bad is a a major understatement I have the 720p version and the gain on the mic is set way way way to high so as to make the whole thing unusable if you want any audio I contated them about it and they said yes they new but wher not going to fix it so I flushed away $150
I bought the 720p version a few months ago and like others have said, the still photos are complete crap. Audio is horrible too. The video though, considering that the camera cost me only $125, ain't that bad. Videos below are full 720 but perhaps not the best to judge by since they are shot through a cheap wide angle lens that I glued onto the front (wouldn't do that with a 'nice' camera) and suctioned cupped to the top of a small, very vibration-y airplane ceiling (wouldn't do that either with a nice camera since it fell about every 10 minutes).
For a really cheap camera that shoots 720, or now 1080, and you can not have to worry about - not bad I say.
http://gallery.mac.com/don_rutledge#100280/Flying&bgcolor=black
http://gallery.mac.com/don_rutledge#100280&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=6
I got one of these cameras a few weeks back, and it's pretty awesome, and at the price point and size point, it's totally worth it. I work as a freelance cinematographer/ videographer, and compared to my Sony EX1, and other real 1080p cameras, it's nothing impressive, but for what it is, a cheap camera for home use/ recording on the fly, it's awesome. The servo zoom and autofocus are painfully slow, but it's superior to the fixed focus and digital zoom of the A-HD+.
We have been using this camera for a while to shoot live concert video. If you go to the site http://www.idobi.com/ you will see a video shot with this camera on the bottom left. Video quality is sufficient, but we must use an alternative audio source to record live music, otherwise the sound would be garbled. All in all, a good value for the money.
1440x1080 is not 16:9, it's 4:3.
1080p is actually 1920x1080.
Still seems like a pretty good deal though.