Digilife DDV-720, S670, Aiptek DV4500 / Review & Com

[swanster3104]

Hi sgspirit,

Thank you for such a detailed review on Digilife's DDV S670.

I have been interested in this camcorder for quite sometime now and have found a good deal on ebay. I am not knowledgable about digital photography as you are and all I want is good quality pictures and video clips. I know for sure that this product can not beat more expensive well-known brand ones in terms of picture quality and functions that come with but on a scale of 10, how many points would you give to this camcorder? Would you say this is more thana gaget?

It isalmost impossibleto find any information on this product and the company(Life Technologies) only seems to deal with emails with other companies which are interested in having partnership. I bought a small digital camcorder called Nisis Pocket DV H10 and although it's light weight and small, the video and picture qualities are both disappointing and I don't want to make same mistake.

Any comment or advice you can give me would be grately appreciated.

Thank you.

[sgspirit]

Welcome to the forum, swanster3104,

First, I don't think I'm much of an authority on digital cameras. Expert camera reviews still seem like Greek to me. I only know a few things about these hybrids because the real pros have pretty well ignored them.

How to rate any hybrids is an ongoing puzzle. Compared to prosumer dv cams, there's no question the hybrids, especially the cheaper ones, are toys. But, when I compare them to, say, a Super 8 movie camera from 30 years ago, the hybrids are small, cheap, durable, cheap to operate, record audio, color, plus a host of other things like no moving parts, mp3 players, remote controls, speakers, image stabililzation etc. Incredibly marvelous feats of engineering, really. And at the price!

The Digilife DDV-S670 is kind of unusual. There's nothing else quite like it. It takes acceptable to good video, depending on your demands. The sound recording and playback is very weak, so if that's important, choose something else. It has a quality feel far better than the other hybrids I've handled. Seems much more expensive than it is. The latest production models also have image stabilization.

I would say it's more than a gadget. How many points depends entirely on what I'm comparing it to. Certainly 10/10 for what it does compared to the cost.

According to the Hybrid List, the Nisis DV H10 is really a MobiDV H10. That's a pretty neat camera by itself. Its more apparent advantages over the S670 would be: light for videos, smaller, higher pixel count for stills. On the other hand the S670 has a higher frame rate for videos, larger screen and probably image stabilization. If you want a substantial step up over the Nisis, I'd get one of the more recent cameras, like the Aiptek MPVR or DV8800, Digilife M1, Creative 428, TLC DV0009. None of them is as sleek as the S670, though.

And sadly, the companies don't seem to want to hear from us unless it's our wallets talking.

[viaparlay]

I just bought the Aiptek MPVR and am thrilled. For the price, I woud say it's the best. I haven't tried out all the features, can't wait to take it to the football game, but even the look is up to date. I'm getting 2 more to give as gifts. It was just hard to find.

[swanster3104]

Hi sgspirit,

Thank you again for your reply and your opinion on this product.

I have now ordered one and it should arrive in the next couple of weeks. I really don't know what to expect but all I want to do is to take decent to good pictures and video clips for posting on the internet or sending them to friends and family by email so hopefully it will do the job.

I really appreciate the time you spent on this subject.

All the besst

[skyl1ne]

Does anyone know if the battery of Digilife DDV 7000 is charged via the USB connection?

Thank you...

[fishycomics]

at the moment all hybrids are charged only by a charging station, not a usb por yet. one day they will be, the reason why they do not charge by the port is that you are loading the cameras pix or vids and you are bypassing the battery and using the cameras alternaitive power . the reason is everytime you load up the pix with the battery not depleted you'll be charging a battery that may have been full and stopped if it was 3/4 full etc. the nah rating of an avr; batt is 1200 then 1200 charges would be reached quicker.

the Aiptek Is-Dv has a usb without power , so every time you plug in the port (usb) the camera has no bypass causing you to drain the battery even further, and thus losing or curruption. of files.

I would love to see it happen like the Mustek docking stations that is a charger built in etc. eitherway it is best to charge seperate for now.

[sgspirit]

skyl1ne wrote:

Does anyone know if the battery of Digilife DDV 7000 is charged via the USB connection?

Thank you...

So far as I know, the DDV-7000 is the same as the DDV-720, which I have. It is indeed charged via a connector from the usb jack to a power converter that plugs into the wall. The DDV-S670 I used to have also charged via the usb port. The Aiptek DV4500 I used to have, just used AA's, so this wasn't an issue.

You can't charge the DDV-V1, which is pretty much the same as the Aiptek MPVR, via its usb port. It's even a differnet usb jack from the 720's. The V1 came with a charging stand. Both cameras use the same NP-60 battery. So I can charge my batteries either in the stand, or in the 720. Which means I can charge two at once. Bonus!