[Recovered Thread: 97175]

[rgvcam]

I have been looking for a replacement for my much loved Aiptek IS-DV that I lost and was even looking at the Sanyo Xacti range. While they certainly seem to be the best of their type, I don't really feel the best part of $500 can be justified on one of these as I can get a good miniDV for that although the Xacti C40 @ $349 might still be a possibility. I used it to film video clips of my 10 month old son to send to relatives etc. It was especially useful at the beach since dropping a $100 device in that harsh environment isn't as big a loss as a $500 one! No I didn't lose my IS-DV on the beach but on the way home from work. The first time I have ever lost a device and it will forever remain a mystery as to how I managed it but I digress.

After reading these forums and doing some research, I noticed that Amazon.com seem to have the IS-DV2 for sale which @ $119 certainly has caught my attention especially as it now seems to have included 2 LED video lights similar to those you find on the compact miniDV camcorder. Even without those the price is cheaper than the old IS-DV in Target!

How come there is no mention of it on the USA site yet Amazon already has it ready to order? I can even place it in my cart, but I don't want to order it, if it's a preorder that's going to have an indefinate delivery date.

Also anyone care to enlighten me as to what the Sanyo Xacti C40 @ $349 would offer me that would make it worth nearly 3 times the price? I know it has a CCD and autofocus lens but I am not totally convinced that they are worth paying 3 times the price when my IS-DV did what I needed it for but then I am quite willing to be convinced LOL

[fishycomics]

Welcome to the site RGVCAM.

Sorry you misplaced your is-dv camcorder, before its a total loss sometimes falling between the seats. i wish that is true for my viewsonic palm pilot (lol) iknow i lossed it when I haad to check my tire during a ride andwhen I hopped back in later to find it mia.

IS-DV2, is not the the is-dv model it is more like the dv5100 ,4500 e5900 replacements.

the camera was on a not yet release since february, and finaly ashow soon to be released by june and 3 days before fathers day order andwe'll ship out free by fatherd day 2 day, andnext day delievery depending on your location.

Amazon is and are mentioned by the Stock exchange and to be a trusted stock. Ebay is tied in to amazon. Just my opinion .

Sanyo, sony. just a name tag. I think I'll buy some of the Aipteks and have 3 -6 models for the price of 1. Optical zoom on the sanyo/fisher exacti. sold thank you.

get yourself a casio exslim 850 , sd card 3x optical zoom real somall batt life will be the same on all

get yourself a canon,jvc dvc camcorder batt life up to 9 hours certain models get you 3-5 hours out of the box real time recording, and real time tape transfer.

amazon will get you the camera. as Aiptek does not show any life of USA release but england andtawain. ebay isshowing Ereo at 156.00 t obuy

good luck and hope t osee your new one

at 88 a new could have been Purchased

a dxg at circuit city 79.00 a new aipte at 70 can be had th 4500 or 5900 or was it Target.

[rgvcam]

fishycomics wrote:

Welcome to the site RGVCAM.

Thanks for the welcome! This is the first forum I have come across that takes these devices seriously. While the earlier devices were indeed little more than toys, I always felt that devices like the IS-DV and similar that could take 640x480/30fps are now quite usable and they are getting better all the time.

Sorry you misplaced your is-dv camcorder, before its a total loss sometimes falling between the seats. i wish that is true for my viewsonic palm pilot (lol) iknow i lossed it when I haad to check my tire during a ride andwhen I hopped back in later to find it mia.

I know what you mean, but after doing a search that would make customs proud, I am confident it's not there or anywhere else LOL After all this time, I have to accept that it's gone for good and that luckily there wasn't anything of importance recorded on it at the time. Time to move on I guess. While I practically never lose anything, there is of course, always a first time and I am too worried now about losing a small expensive device such as a Sanyo so the Aiptek is more attractive is this regard.

IS-DV2, is not the the is-dv model it is more like the dv5100 ,4500 e5900 replacements.

The IS-DV2 appears to be the PocketDV T100 on the taiwanese website. I was wondering what the difference betwwen the T100 and T300 was until I saw that the T300 can do 720x480/30fps as well. If only Amazon had that one as well :-)

the camera was on a not yet release since february, and finaly ashow soon to be released by june and 3 days before fathers day order andwe'll ship out free by fatherd day 2 day, andnext day delievery depending on your location.

Amazon is and are mentioned by the Stock exchange and to be a trusted stock. Ebay is tied in to amazon. Just my opinion .

Oh no I didn't mean can you trust Amazon.com themselves. I have purchased many a product from them and they are one of my favorite online stores. I was just asking if this product was in the 'too good to be true category' since it isn't an official US product.

Sanyo, sony. just a name tag. I think I'll buy some of the Aipteks and have 3 -6 models for the price of 1. Optical zoom on the sanyo/fisher exacti. sold thank you.

This was my thinking. By getting the Aiptek and saving that money I can then get a miniDV for regular filming as well. Usually you get what you pay for, but I have to admit I was really impressed by the cheap Aiptek.

get yourself a casio exslim 850 , sd card 3x optical zoom real somall batt life will be the same on all

get yourself a canon,jvc dvc camcorder batt life up to 9 hours certain models get you 3-5 hours out of the box real time recording, and real time tape transfer.

I had a JVC SVHS camcorder which was impressive until it suddenly failed with an E04 error (ie started chewing up tapes). As it's obsolete technology it's not worthe me spending the big bucks needed for repair, so I researched this problem and found that this is a common problem on JVC cameras which has me concerned about buying a new JVC product. To be fair it gave me 2-3 years of well used life, but as it was in excellent condition it should've lasted much longer than that, but oh well...

The canon cameras look good but I keep hearing complaints about tape mechanism noise. I have heard some samples of this and this is the fatal flaw for me. There are enough complaints to make me sure that this is not an isolated problem.

amazon will get you the camera. as Aiptek does not show any life of USA release but england andtawain. ebay isshowing Ereo at 156.00 t obuy

good luck and hope t osee your new one

If I do get one, I hope to post my impressions of it here

at 88 a new could have been Purchased

I haven't seen one for that low anywhere online. Maybe on ebay but I don't use Ebay.

a dxg at circuit city 79.00 a new aipte at 70 can be had th 4500 or 5900 or was it Target.

I tend to get the impression that the DXG switchs are not as well built as the Aipteks from a friend who has one.

Out of interest, what about the radioshack optimus Camcorders here:

http://www.radioshack.com/search/ind...us%20camcorder

They look suspiciously like Vivitar clones:

http://www.vivitar.com/vivitarwork/c...mp;parent_id=0

Are they any good? Having said that, I find Radioshack generally to be overpriced and as such I can't see them beating Aiptek for the money.

[fishycomics]

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"I own

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"aiptek 5300

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"aiptek MPVr

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"had the is-dv attarget 88.00 2 times. inner ring broke. and just returned the is-dv due to using its battery as a power source. while all use a usb as a power source.

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"mustek dv4500 (3) broken a lcd ,and now its running in perfect order and have a spare and a defect to use as anythingI like

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"musted dv3500 the lower end

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"mustek dv300 my orginal one

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"I preferre to say Mustek dv3500 or 4500 is the all time winner in my book

style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000"best battery life, vid pic etc, but less features as the newer ones now.

I now Own a Jvc gr-d395u

not a headache but awaiting a new lens cap cover (lol) works perfect.

what iwill get next is the Aiptek zoom dv-6 and if it is my last I am tempted for the Is-Dv2 but today that screen should swival.

2aa over Li-on I go with a 2aa any day but give up optical zoom hmmmmm..

[rgvcam]

I see what you mean about the screen on the IS-DV2 not swivelling. I never noticed that in my excitment. I do notice that its sister camera, the PocketDV T300, on the Taiwan website does have a swiveling LCD. There always seems to be a flaw in an otherwise tempting camera... Hmmm

They should've improved on the IS-DV design instead.

I wonder if you can buy the PocketDV T300 here in the USA. I haven't even seen it on ebay so I guess not.

[fishycomics]

an improvement yes and catered to the widescreen tvs that's all

[rgvcam]

So in your opinion, what do you consider the current cream of the crop among the cheap <$200 hybrid camcorders?

[fishycomics]

when I had Purchased istuck with HSN.com and gotten a Mustek.

Mustek 9300 aiptek mpvr andispan 920 were the talk of the town

mustek 9300 has have no complaints or a ton of members stating claim. as Our top member Olldhacer will tell you no complaints on his after he finall found a good model.

others love their Ispan 920's claim it is a better camera but is popping up with questions, this also holds true to the Aiptek MPVr which has the aud/vid synch at the top of the list , and being justified by the firmware correction

so makinga choice of which is preferred is an open topic and

I preferre to look into the newer one Aiptek zoom-dv6 within a few weeks time of its release

again I mentioned Mustek dv4500 and purchased 2 more . due to my situation.

never like to recommend but review , find and decide.

[shelded]

Purchased IS-DV2 @ TARGET for $119 because I needed something right now. Still in packaging but I thought I would let you know where to find it. Have read a review on Amazon re its quality, which seems a bit depressing but probably the best to expect for $120.

[rgvcam]

That review was posted by me. I didn't think it was depressing as I did say it had very good video and I gave it 4 stars :-)

As to video and stills quality you should've looked here as I posted links to a bunch of images and 2 test videos:
http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...62&forum_id=92

I don't think you will be dissapointed in the video quality. The still Images are decent although not great, which is expected in these devices, but then you have to remember the comparison is with current cheap digital cameras. It wasn't that long ago that the still image quality in these devices now would've blown away most cheap cameras in the past.

My main gripe was the LED video light. I will be interested in your feedback as to whether yours gives the same results. I wasn't expecting miracles but it should've worked at least a little better than it did to be useful at all.

If you ignore the video light and the low light capability which affects ALL of these type of camcorders then the device is actually not bad. I just think it could've been better, but then don't we all?

I am still looking for a camcorder myself. The problem I have is that I want a good quality device to record my son's parties etc. yet I know a miniDV won't get used much outside of these due to hassle of tapes where as I found I would tend to take my IS-DV with me everywhere. I may yet get the Sanyo but am waiting for the end of July to see if Aiptek release their autofocusing model which will be significantly cheaper than the Sanyo @ the $199 I have seen it listed for.