A-HD is your 720p HD camcorder, digital camera, and personal media player/recorder. The A-HD 720p captures true-to-life vibrant colors and astonishing high def images like you've never seen--right in the palm of your hand. The A-HD comprises 720P (1280 x 720 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio) at 30 frames per second (FPS) using advanced H.264 technology. The A-HD also functions as a 5 mega pixel digital camera with a CMOS sensor and your personal media player / recorder, allowing you to record from your TV/VCR/DVD player. Replaying your video and images is a snap as the A-HD offers virtually unlimited choices and compatibility. You can choose to view instantly by playing them back on the A-HDs 270-degree swivel-reversible 2.4-inch TFT color LCD display or connect the A-HD directly to your HDTV, HD monitor, standard TV, or PC. Once in a lifetime moments, family events, outings, or just goofing around can now be captured, replayed, and relived in a whole new way. Aiptek makes your life in HD, possible.
Aiptek A-HD 720P Highlights 1280 x 720 - 16:9 ratio at 30 FPS for recording movies The A-HD performs 720P high definition video quality to provide a whole new high quality DV experience. One-touch recording allows you to capture stunning HD (1280 x 720 - 16:9 aspect ratio) video clips at 30 frames per second with advanced H.264 technology.
Personal Media Player and Recorder Connect the camera to your TV/VCR/DVD player to record video clips, pictures, and audio recordings, and playback directly on the built-in 2.4-inch color LCD. Record video from DVD's, TV, VHS, or from any device that has RCA outputs for entertainment on the go.
Max. Resolution up to 8 Mega-Pixel Equipped with 5 mega pixel CMOS sensor, the still image resolution of the A-HD is enhanced to 8 mega pixels. Auto-focus helps you get the best pictures every time.
Digital Zoom 2x real time digital zoom allows you to zoom in/out while recording video.
Swivel-Reversible 2.4-inch TFT Color LCD Display Review and playback you HD video clips and hi-res pictures in real time. LCD swivels 270 degrees for unlimited video and photo taking.
Night Shot Enhance image quality while capturing photos in darker environments with your A-HD.
Recharge Battery via USB Conveniently charge your new A-HD via the USB cable when connected to your PC or use the AC Charger cable included. No need to remove battery from camera.
HDTV Component Output Connect your A-HD to your HDTV component input ports to display your high definition video clips and still pictures, sharing them with friends and family.
Removable Hard Disk and SD/MMC Card Reader The A-HD allows you to use up to 8GB of SD card storage to record longer video before having to upload to your PC.
For the price, it's a great deal. This camera is pretty much the cheapest HD video camera you can buy. Just bear in mind that it's nowhere near as feature rich or as well built as any Sanyo Xacti that costs $200 more. It's made almost entirely of paint coated plastic, although it should survive in your knapsack or purse if you're careful. It's not going to amaze you with a terrific zoom lens or the sharpest 720p HD video you've ever seen, but it's got some nice features. First, it uses the H.264 movie format that is compatible with the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPod 5G, and the 3G iPod Nano (just be sure to use the camera's web format to ensure you have no further conversion to do for those players - only Apple TV will play the DV1 files without conversion; also, iMovie HD will still need to convert the H.264 files to the iMovie HD format). Any Mac with OS X 10.3 or higher recognizes the camera as a USB device instantly. Second, it can record 480p or 720p input from an external device through it's video input mini-port*. It can upsample 480i content to 720p (although that won't improve the original quality of what you're taping), or you can record to DV1 (480p). It comes with two outputs: a regular AV in/out and an HD out (YPP). *The input recording is like DV-R, but without a timer or programming. For television or old VHS that you want on your computer, the quality is as good as most DV-R. What you need to know: The video is best in daylight and bright light, otherwise you'll see noise. It tends to overexpose whites, but there's a +/- exposure adjustment setting, and setting it to -1 permanently is a good idea. Othewise, it has okay contrast and saturation. The auto white balance is actually very good, too. But when you record in 720p, there's compression that can be noticeable on a good HD display. The compression is far less noticible in 480p and in CIF (web format), but there's less resolution. Also, the digital zoom creates jaggies from poor anti-aliasing, which are more evident in HD than in 480p. There's also no shake reduction, but there is a standard tripod mount. There is a "Night" setting that does indoors. low-light, but it increases the video noise considerably. The lens is soft, which is where you can tell you've only spent $1xx dollars, but that doesn't effect TV input, which is plenty sharp (so then you know it's a mediocre lens and not the CMOS chip). And, yes, there can be some "wave" distortion when you pan around too fast (it's not visible on the LCD screen, only on large televisions), because the refresh rates for the sensor are a little bit slow. Is the performance so bad it ruins the camera? No. It's about what you'd expect from a sub-$300 camera in 2007. Which is to say, better than a $200 camera 3 years ago. For me, the battery life of the Li-Ion battery has been about 60mins of video recording with the LCD on, and 75min-90mins of recording with the LCD off. The manual recommends you charge the camera's battery for about 4 to 8 hrs before its first use, which I did. You can get extra replacement batteries from Aiptek, but it's the same model as for a number of other cameras from Pentax and Fuji, so they only cost between $10 and $20. I like that it charges by USB, so that when it's not connected to the computer in drive mode it can charge. It also comes with a tiny AC to USB power adapter for travelling. It takes about 3hrs for a charge. The 4x zoom is digital, it works in both photo and video mode, and it's not going to let you either zoom in very far or zoom out very far. I'd say it's a 35mm to 60mm equivalent in 35mm camera focal range. The macro mode is only for 20"
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