Tag Archives: Video Camera

Skype now does video calls on the iPhone !!!

Posted on December 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Skype 3.0 has now been released for the iPhone and it now supports video! Of course it supports the front and rear cameras on the iPhone 4! And it does the calls over 3G too! And it’s free. What are you waiting for? Go get Skype with video right now…

What’s New in Version 3.0
Improvements:

  • Make Skype to Skype video calls on WiFi and 3G*
  • Call Skype desktop users (Mac OS X or Windows) and other iPhone users.
  • Two-way video calls supported on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen.
  • Receive only video supported on iPad and iPod touch 3rd gen, with no camera.
  • Make video calls in portrait and landscape.
  • kype video calling requires iOS 4.0 or above.
    *Additional Data charges may apply

What more can I say other than go try it out?

Actually, I could say “Where was this for the last 10 days when I was in Costa Rica?!?“.

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Unboxing a refurbished Canon Vixia HF20

Posted on December 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

I just got a “new” Canon Video Camera, a refurbished Canon Vixia HF20, I was really eyeing this camera last year. Someone had it way on sale, I ordered it and they never shipped (and didn’t charge me either). And it’s just had everything I liked: good reviews, option for an external microphone, seems to be compatible with iMovie, relatively easy to use and refurbished meant it had a good price (plus, I had a coupon code).

I’ve purchased refurbished equipment before and it’s always worked out for me. As I started opening the box I liked the way they had it all together in some pretty generic packaging, so I closed it and started filming (yes, it’s as boring as it sounds).

And you can play it in HD too!

As I said, the camera itself isn’t so much the story, since the camera has been out for a while, it’s all about the generic packaging (boring). FYI, I shot this with my iPhone camera, hopefully I’ll be posting more videos with my new camera soon…

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Craziness at the Return Counter

Posted on June 28, 2008 | 1 comment

So the other day I purchased this Aiptek HD 720p Video Camera, I liked it but I saw it was on sale at this week so I went in to get the $30 price difference. Well, I couldn’t find the receipt so I went in to make sure it was the same camera first. It was not the same camera, it was the new better model, the Aiptek HD 1080p Video Camera, for $30 less. From the way it was on the rack I am pretty sure the old one was also on sale (i.e. clearance) since they didn’t have them any more and this one seemed to be replacing that one at the same price point.

As I walked up to the counter I decided I didn’t want to bother to return the old one and buy the new one since the differences were minimal and there was a 15% restocking fee. I just wanted them to credit me the $30 for the old one. They couldn’t print me a new receipt, nor could they credit me the $30 without the receipt, but they would refund my money and they weren’t going to nick me the $30 if I purchased a new one, so I went back, got the better camera (which was even better than I thought) and got my $30 back too. From the receipt, it looks like they have the same SKU, so now I’m sure both were $30 cheaper.

Sadly it was a waste of materials and money (they’ll send it back to the manufacturer) since they didn’t have a mechanism in place to credit me back the difference. But at least I made out on this one: better camera, $30 and a new receipt.

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Aiptek HD 720p Video Camera – Review

Posted on June 21, 2008 | 3 comments

So I’ve seen these Aiptek HD 720p Video Cameras around and they’ve had it at my local Target for $149 (it’s only $135 at Amazon), I figured if it was awful I could return it for their 15% restocking fee. Actually, I’m now thinking it’s my new camera to keep in my bag at all times.

It’s a

  • 720p HD video camera (which records to an SD chip) which is 1280×720.
  • 5 MP still camera.
  • Audio recorder.
  • and also records from a video source (haven’t tried this yet, but have read it looks great).

Quality is great but if you move the camera too quick it could compress a little better. But for the price it’s awesome and it’s better than I would have expected.

It’s got a record button on the front (where your trigger finger goes) and a record button on the LCD screen. On the back is a button for taking a snapshot at any time (other than when actually recording).

Other features: It’s got a standard tripod mount and comes with a charger (but also charges off the included USB cable), lens cap, carry strap, standard video cables and component cables. It’s smart enough when you flip the LCD screen to flip the video image for self recording.

Complaints: it sure could use image stabilization and audio-in for a microphone would be nice but I wouldn’t expect anything like that in a lower end product like this.

Other things: I’ve only played with it a little bit but the imaging looks a little better when moving the camera quickly in the lower quality modes (720×480 and 352×240). It looks like it has an IR receiver in the front (where your hand would be) but I don’t know if that’s what it is.

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