Last week I ordered a High Definition Digital Camcorder. It’s the Aiptek AHD200 720p and it cost £109 from QVC UK. They also threw in a 2GB SD Card, but apart from that extra which was exclusive to the QVC deal it also comes with remote control and a case.
It arrived today so I’ve only had a brief time to play around with it but the thing I love about it is the simplicity - it’s very straightforward to use. I don’t need anything expensive or fancy with a ton of features, so this is perfect for my needs.
I’m ill with Tonsillitis and a horrible influenza type virus at the moment, so the chances of me getting out with the intention of shooting any decent footage over the coming days is slim, but hopefully I’ll be able to get something before the Easter Weekend is over and then I’ll give more of my review.
I did take a 10 second test video and uploaded it to YouTube before I realised how that site completely strips any quality. I was pointed in the direction of blip.tv by Graham so I opened an account there and will post any decent stuff there in future. Then I remembered I had an account at Vimeo and was very pleased to see that they now present HD Videos without ripping apart the quality. So, I uploaded my very quick test clip here. I think you can really see how vibrant the colours are on my screen.
So, initial thoughts on the Aiptek AHD 200 from a very quick play while being slightly unwell is very positive indeed. The RRP on this model is around £150 - I’m just glad I was watching QVC at the right moment to bag their special offer. I’ll write more about it when I’ve had a good opportunity to get out and about with it.
EDIT - Wednesday 19th March 2008
Some video shot today of the dog, by my other half. Feel free to add me as a contact on Vimeo 
18 Mar 08
10:17 pm
Wow, I’m envious. Looks nice and small and a nice kit. Shame that the price looks to be £20 more expensive now.
I’d consider it if I had the money, and hope to see you using it soon.
Oh, and nice office by the way. Loving the ipod and iMac posters on the background!
18 Mar 08
10:42 pm
Hey Sam,
I thought it might be this model! I am tempted (off to Amazon shortly)
Good to see the subscribe to comments plugin!
Hope you feel better soon.
J
18 Mar 08
11:09 pm
Get well soon, Sam!
19 Mar 08
2:14 am
Hi sam, hope u feel better soon! This looks like a great value purchase, HD suddenly got so cheap! It would be great if u had some place to put up a video from this cam in H.264 at a decent bit rate to see what it’s capable of. Looks like a great value buy though
19 Mar 08
9:13 am
Sounds like you may have a similar illness to us. It’s been 2 weeks and I’m still coughing but finally my head is a lot clearer.
Wrap up warm, drink plenty of fluids and catch up with daytime tv (or those DVD boxsets weighing down on your shelves!). Get well soon
19 Mar 08
3:41 pm
Get well soon, Sam!!
19 Mar 08
3:49 pm
Craig: It’s a lovely piece of kit for the price. I saw the demo on QVC and it took just a few seconds after that before I was ordering online. Never really been into regular camcorders before since the quality was never amazingly good - but HD is stunning.
Jon: Thanks a lot
Chris: Cheers buddy!
Ashley: Yeah, putting it online really doesn’t do it justice, sadly.
Sarah: Thanks! Yes, I think this is definitely the virus you had. I was in bed all day Sunday and half of Monday. Thought I felt a little better yesterday so got up and tried to do a few things but last night it totally floored me again. I’ve been feverish and coughing like mad. I can hardly speak and people who have known me all my life don’t recognise my voice on the phone - they said I sound like a heavy smoker!! I don’t have Tonsillitis anymore but my body is throwing plenty of other things at me to make up for it!
Andrew: Cheers!
19 Mar 08
6:29 pm
My other half took the dog for a walk today and got a little bit of footage while he was out.
http://www.vimeo.com/801673
I’ve uploaded it exactly as Vimeo suggests, but it’s nowhere near as clear and vibrant as it is straight off the camera and into iMovie, which is a real shame.
27 Mar 08
7:56 pm
I too purchased this camera from QVC for the same price but will be sending it back under there return policy because of the very poor sound. I was videoing our cat in the kitchen whilst the radio was on and the sound on playback was muffled and distorted.
After a quick google I found plenty of people having the same issue with the microphone and found that Aiptek had a firmware update to address this problem, my firmware is V1.600 (to check yours open the screen and press the top left button on the screen and the mode button at the same time) the new firmware is 2.002. Although Aiptek emailed me the files I have since found out that people who have loaded this 2.002 firmware have compained about clicking noises on playback plus the microphone sensitivity has been reduced too much and has trouble picking up distant sound and once the new firmware is loaded you are not able to roll back to the previous version.
Also the auto exposure has frozen on me a couple of times, whilst recording in a shaded area of the garden then panning to an area in sunshine the camera did not adjust so the sunny part of the garden was completly bleached out.
The best I have had out of the battery is 50 minutes recording in DVD quality nothing like the claimed 120 minutes.
Good luck with yours and perhaps the Aiptek ADH 300 with 60fps recording will have a better microphone.
27 Mar 08
8:11 pm
Hi Paul,
I haven’t done much recording with the camera where voices have been picked up, but one thing I have noticed is the audio being quite poor in that there’s a lot of hiss even when there is no background noise. That’s a little disappointing.
Admittedly, video I plan on taking will be edited and the sound will be taken out and replaced with music, so the audio problem probably won’t bother me too much. I wouldn’t pay large amounts of money for an HD camcorder as my needs are not great, so this one suited me perfectly as it was a low price with pretty good and clear video.
29 Mar 08
6:44 pm
This video clip was taken in the City of Durham last week by my other half - http://www.vimeo.com/837566
I still haven’t had the chance to get out and about with it due to lingering illness, but hopefully I’ll have some decent content soon.
21 Apr 08
4:11 pm
Hi Paul.
I tried emailing the US Aiptek site for the firmware update several times but to no avail.
Is there a European site that I’ve overlooked that will send me the firmware update via email?
Many Thanks.
Steve
22 Apr 08
11:18 pm
Is there any chance you can upload a short clip that’s right off the camera somewhere? (email me the link if you’re worried about your bandwidth going through the roof)
I’m thinking about getting a camera again, and whilst I’d love an HV20, I don’t think my bank manager will agree.
23 Apr 08
3:45 pm
I’ll see what I can do, Graham, and send you the link via e-mail.