Aiptek's HDV21X brings 1080p HD video to the sub-$200 Wal-Mart market

Aiptek is making a habit of bringing portable HD recording to some seriously affordable levels. The HDV21X Action HD 1080p High Definition Camcorder w/ Optical Zoom (known as the AHD Z500 Plus in Europe) records H.264 HD video (1,440 x 1080, 16 x 9) on a 5 megapixel sensor at 30 frames per second and 720P at 60 frames all for a paltry $199.99 at your local Wal-Mart. Expect to get up to 8 hours of 1080p video on a 32GB SDHC card. As for still images, the Z500 shoots at 8 megapixels and even sports a macro mode for both video and still. Also on board is a 3x optical zoom, CIF mode for easy YouTube uploads, a 2.4-inch swivel-mount TFT LCD, and component outputs for all the HD goodness. To top it all of, its diminutive size is worth mentioning: 4.4 x 2.75 x 1.3-inches.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 11th 2008 3:57PM]

Aiptek videos are a pain to edit. Here is one I created featuring Otto the Comic.

http://www.vimeo.com/895087

[gaberm1972 Posted Jun 11th 2008 4:37PM]

Not if you use a mac. Just import into imovie and edit away.

[DBG Posted Jun 11th 2008 4:54PM]

Hmm, most applications I've used in video editing actually favour mov, with raw avi being the most accepted (but requires insane space). Are you using any Adobe applications? Even in Windows their suite of applications have great Quicktime support.

[RobMtl007 Posted Jun 11th 2008 5:05PM]

Well it seems that for a camcorder brand that many seem to be knock it down.

This Aiptek articule has produced over 50 comments.

Do we see the same thing for other camcorder brand names, no we don't.

That's my 2 cents.

But I still wish that Aiptek will begin selling Canada, now that would be awesome.

Regards Robert

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 12th 2008 4:50PM]

I have the A-HD+ and it works pretty well. The camera really sucks if there isn't enough light, but when there is, it does fine. It obviously doesn't compare to a really high end camera, but it's nice for random stuff and short clips on the fly. I'm not disappointed with it for paying only $130.

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 11th 2008 9:34PM]

I'd look at the Canon TX1 - very good 720p 30 fps widescreen, 10X optical zoom, 7 megapixel, image stabilization, flash (weak), small, well under $400

video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzg9ePgdM8A

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 2nd 2008 7:20PM]

well it seems like almost a month since the last comment but want to ask something.

Is the audio and video better than an original flip video camcorder (I would hope so!)? I was considering this apitek as a possible upgrade.