Excellent for the price

Author's Rating:

Pros: Size, ease of use, price, "coolness" factor

Cons: None that I can find yet

The Bottom Line: 
Great product for anyone...beginner to expert.

Author's Review
I had asked for and received this for Xmas and am glad I asked for it! This DV is easy to use but still has quite a few options and settings for the "closet geek" to play around with. Video clips are very good and use the MPEG4 format, which saves alot of space and gives a much better quality than avi. It does require alot of light for indoor videos, but my "regular" digital camera does also so I didn't consider that a flaw.

The still pics are also very good. I've found the best quality pics come from the 2 lower settings (VGA & 2mp) since this cam actually has a 2mp CMOS sensor...the higher settings come from software interpolation. Without any zoom on, these higher settings are acceptable however. I wouldn't use the zoom past 2x since it blurs after that, and is especially noticable on the higher settings (3-4mp). It is also a digital zoom, not an optical, which is why I wouldn't use it past 2x.

The MP3 player also has a few settings to enhance the sound, which is also very good to begin with. It works great as a PC cam also, provided again that you have adequate lighting. The voice recorder is very clear and has great sound even through the built in speaker. I also like the ability to play back videos and pictures on the TV.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking for an entry-level digital video recorder or even to someone who already has one but would like an extra to keep on them at all times for when you don't have your "good" one with you. Great product!