Ciao have got the best price for this neat little device spot on. I ordered mine from Directfrom.com for £86.88 on 28/11/04 as a Christmas present for my 13 year old daughter.
The order was confirmed by email immediately with a 1 – 3 day delivery time. You do need to be aware, however, that Directfrom send via Amtrak so if you’re not at home to sign for the package then you have to go to the nearest Amtrak depot to pick it up!
The box is about 6 x 4.5 x 3.5 inches which worried me as I was expecting a small, hand held device, but, never fear – you will not believe how small the camera is when you open the box!!!
AND it is an MP3 player with small inbuilt external speaker or headphones (supplied)
Blimey! What a lot for your dosh.
The box contains:
instructions, which are relatively easy to follow
a small soft material draw string carrying bag
a tripod for use with the timer
headphones (1 metre cable)
Audiovisual cable for direct connection to TV
USB cable for direct connection to PC
A rather strange transparent glittery plastic hand strap
Two software CDs (Installation and Ulead VideoStudio6 software)
Two AA batteries
Blimey! What a lot for your dosh.
To ensure that my daughter could point and shoot I unpacked the camera (crikey, it really is tiny!) and installed the batteries.
I also installed a 512 Mb MMC for extra memory which I bought at the same time from DirectFrom for £30.14.
Both batteries and memory card were a doddle to insert.
Pull back the sprung switch on the top of the camera and the LCD screen springs to life – brilliant!
What about quality?
The body of the camera is rather more plasticky and fragile in appearance than the metallic images on the internet and on the box. So I wouldn’t want to drop it!
I have down loaded still photos, video and voice recordings onto my PC and Windows XP recognises the device (two new drives will appear in your “My Computer” window because XP views the 32Mb internal memory and the 512Mb card as separate drives).
I did not need to use the CDs to install the camera or view the images/video/voice recordings as clever old XP and Windows Media Player handled all that.
The still images are quite good, but with practice, should be better. I have not printed any yet, however some reviews of the camera at DirectFrom.com refer to the still images as being at best 2.1 Mega Pixel quality.
The video facility really is fun, but again a word of warning – images can become blurred if the camera is moved during recording. It will be a matter of getting used to the camera and ensuring that it is held still to get the best movies out of it.
The sound quality is reasonable if slightly tinny, but it is a very small device – what do you expect for this price??
The beauty of the camera is that you can shoot spontaneous video, replay it immediately (with sound) on the reasonable quality LCD screen, then keep it on memory to load onto to your PC, watch it on your TV or delete it immediately.
Blimey! What a lot for your dosh.
I also spent some time loading MP3 music tracks onto the Mustek DV5000 from my PC (this is just a matter of opening the relevant windows and dragging and dropping).
They play via the external speaker (which isn’t very loud) or the headphones (supplied) which is fine.
We will continue to play with this amazing little device for some time yet and I will add any new thoughts to this review as and when they occur.
Oh and incidently, you know all this fuss about Pendrives, Jumpdrives etc? Well you can drag and drop any files onto the memory in the Mustek DV5000 and then load them onto any other PC via USB.
Ex-Pro ultra fast 1 hour travel charger including 3 popular adapters, UK, Euro&USA/Canada ... more
- made specifically for Digital Camera's and any other equipment using AA or AAA Ni-Mh rechargable batteries. LED Indications with automatic current selection for batteries, can also charge 2 x AAA batteries (Not included). Automatic Cut off when charged.
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days......
Ex-Pro ultra fast 1 hour travel charger including 3 popular adapters, UK, Euro&USA/Canada ... more
- made specifically for Digital Camera's and any other equipment using AA or AAA Ni-Mh rechargable batteries. LED Indications with automatic current selection for batteries, can also charge 2 x AAA batteries (Not included). Automatic Cut off when charged.
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days......
Dec 30th, 2004
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
