Upon seeing this product on www.ebuyer.co.uk I was amazed by it's range of features and superb value for money. I had already been looking at mp3 players and digital camcorders but this all in one device seemed perfect to me.
I immediately ordered this along with a 512MB SD Card. Upon recieving the order I unpackaged everything and was initially pleased as the device was good looking and just as small as I expected. It came with a mini tripod and a protective glove.
The problems started when I put the batteries in and turned it on.
Video Camera: There are three quality settings.I started on the highest setting and recorded a 2 minute film. When playing the film back it was almost ubwatchable. It was certainly at under 10 frames per second, possibly even 5!. The camera did not focus properly and so the picture was blurred. At medium and low quality the frame rate did speed up but the picture wasn't worth watching. The cameras microphone also seened to picked up the loud clicking noise when you pressed the zoom keys. This was incredibly annoying.
Camera: In camera mode the product fairs better but again it suffers from a severe focusing problem and I have never seen so much red eye in a photograph. Even when using the included tripod the picture is out of focus so it is not to do with my trembling hands.
MP3 Player: Awful! I loaded 10 songs onto it and out of all 10 1 played properly. The others suffered from skipping and sometimes the whole camera would freeze which meant that you had to take the battery out and put it back in in order to restart the camera. The sound through the headphones was very faint, probably a quarter of what you would expect of a standalone MP3 player and the same applies with the loudspeaker function.
Voice recorder: Obviousely using the same software and hardware as the MP3 player because even when I shouted down the microphone only the faintest whisper could be heard during playback.
Connectivity. After installing the outdated and discontinued software that you get with the camera I connected the camera up to my computer and was pleased when I started downloading pictures and films from the camera. But then two minutes into the transfer the camera switched itself off and the transfer was lost. After trying several times the camera just kept on switching off. It didn't even leave me enough time to get a single video off of it. Only a couple of pictures. There is no mention of this issue on Mustek's website nor is there much information on anything else.
Fed up and annoyed I sent the camera back for a refund.
Conclusion: Things that look too good to be true normally are. Go with a more established expensive make such as sony or canon. and don't touch cheap mutifunction devices with a bargepole.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
v.helpful review, shame it didn't work properly.I've had a DV2000 for over a year now and it works great. Sounds like they "tried" some upgrades I want on mine, like zoom while filming and upgrade in film quality, but clearly it might not work right! Maybe you got a fault camera? Cheers!
MAFARRIMOND 14.09.2004 01:27
A great first review. Welcome to Ciao. Maureen
cbzcbz 13.09.2004 16:22
Welcome to Ciao :) I felt an 'E' rating was appropriate as I was going to buy one of these type of mini cams and this review was exceptionally helpful to me. Well done :)
Sep 13th, 2004
exceptional by (6%):
very helpful by (44%):
helpful by (50%):
