Name: Peter Mclennan
Location:
Date: 2009-11-03
Customer Rating: -
Summary: A Winner
Comment: I earned my living with 35mm motion picture cameras for 30 years and have owned several consumer camcorders.
The Creative Vado HD+ is an incredible bargain at the current price of $129.
Far and away the best attribute of this camcorder is the lens. It's wide. Really, really wide. This is extremely valuable for two reasons.
First, human beings see wide. That's why a wide angle lens is so valuable to photographers - this camera sees like you do. Your pictures look like the movies, even if the HD footage is a little contrasty.
Second, the camera is so small and light, hand-held images are gonna be shaky, no matter who's operating it. But, the wider the lens, the less a problem this is. Other cameras' lenses deliver a much smaller angle of view and a less natural and shakier picture. Kudos to Creative for giving this camera a truly wide angle lens. The only one that does.
All that said, an image stabilizing function would do wonders for this camera, even with such a wide view. Autofocus would be nice, too. The fixed-focus lens won't focus any closer than a foot or so. If you want to shoot bugs, this won't do.
Battery life is so-so. You can't fill an 8GB card (2 hours of HD+) on one charge.
This camera generates TONS of data. Be prepared to fill up your hard drive in no time. At top res, camera files occupy about one megabyte for every second the camera's recording.
Sound is also so-so. It's mono, not stereo. The mic does an adequate job of picking up sound, but is very susceptible to the slightest breath of wind.
All in all, a absolute winner. Convenient, easy to use, great pictures and very satisfying. The next generations of these cameras are going to be fantastic.
Name: G. Landry
Location: Louisiana
Date: 2009-03-25
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Read this IF Sony Vegas or another video editing program won't play the video
Comment: I bot a Vado three weeks ago and just love it. However, I was flustered for a while because my video editing program, Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 - Platinum Pro Pack, would play ONLY the audio track of a clip made by my Vado but not the video track (same thing happened when I instead used Windows Movie Maker to make a movie).
So I found a great website/message board, www.videohelp.com, and learned about something called "codec." I won't try to explain codecs here, you can learn a lot just by Googling the term. However, Sony Vegas will easily play your video tracks also if you go to this web site and download the codec the K-Lite Codec pack (latest version as of this writing is 4.7.3). It's a free download and only takes about two or three minutes. Here is the link to the K-Lite codec package: http://www.codecguide.com/
Alternatively, whenever you connect your Vado to your PC, the Vado software screen will open up on your computer. Yes, it is a simple program, but it's enough to get going. Once that program opens up, click on Copy from the menu bar of the program, and copy the clip to your PC. Then click on "Make a Movie," which converts the clip into a movie. Then, when you open up Sony Vegas, it CAN play that movie, which will have a "wmv" file extension. However, it's a lot easier to just download the K-Lite codecs to your computer. Oh, btw, if you prefer to use Windows Movie Maker to edit your clips, downloading the K-Lite codec package will also enable WMM to play back the video tracks.
As for the Vado HD, I think it is an awesome product. The videos are just stunning in quality, and the wide angle camera lens is an absolute must vs. the Flip, which does not have that.
Name: Justin Hardman
Location: Toledo, OH USA
Date: 2009-04-13
Customer Rating: -
Summary: A Great Mini HD Choice
Comment: As someone just getting into the YouTube craze I quickly got tired of recording videos on my mini DV tape camcorder. When I first looked around for mini HD camcorders three names always popped up, the Flip Mino, the Kodak Zi6 and Creative Vado HD. After much research I decided to go with the Creative Vado HD and I am glad I made this choice.
PROS:
Very easy to upload.
I have not used the actual program itself, as i tend to edit my videos in Sony Vegas but the interface of the Vado software seems very intuitive and easy to use.
Great controls.
Really simple, record, play, trash, and zooms easy to use and none of the buttons are easily accidentally pressed.
Great Picture.
The HD+ option looks amazing and is the only option I record in. For such a small camera the picture is amazing (except in low light).
CONS:
Bad low light.
In low light conditions this camera falls a little bit short. Night shots and poorly lit rooms may suffer from blotchy colors or little to no picture but outdoor and lit rooms look great.
Battery Life/Flash Memory.
I list this under cons because for the people that want to use the HD+ option all the time and use it frequently between charges may find this a problem. At most, with HD+ you will get 2 hrs worth of video and 2 hrs of battery. It does have a removable battery so you can carry more around with you but THERE IS NO EXPANDABLE MEMORY SLOT! The thing that really could have made this product would have been some sort of SD card slot for more video.
So in short, if you want a mini camcorder that shoots 720p HD and a wider angle lens then the Flip and Kodak then the Vado HD is for you. Its a great way to capture video whether its spur of the moment stuff or vacations.
Name: H. Kim
Location: New Haven, CT
Date: 2009-04-23
Customer Rating: -
Summary: decent little video camera for Mac users!
Comment: I got this two weeks ago, as a replacement for my previous camcorder (JVC GZ-MG20US). I was also considering Flip mino HD and Kodak Zi6, but I went for this one, for various reasons. The video quality is very satisfactory, but the sound quality is little doubtful (compared to my previous camcorder). As mentioned by others, the image stabilizing is not very good, but it's bearable. The lens has f number 2.3 (brightness; which actually matters when you shoot in indoor), which is pretty decent for this little device. And I got this [...] using a promo code. So, if somebody plans to buy this, try to look for a promotion code online.
pros:
-good video quality
-can buy additional battery and charger (from creative.com)
-files easy to handle (.avi)
-not too expensive (especially when you have promo code)
cons:
-poor sound quality??
-poor image stabilizing (which is bearable..)
notes:
-you might want to buy a pouch for this, or a little bag.
-(you might want to buy a little tripod, because this doesn't stand by itself)
-MAC USERS : you don't need any software, but make sure that you turn this device on before you connect to computer via USB. For some reason, mine freezes if I connect it to computer when it's turned off. To view the recorded HD quality files in MAC OS, you might need to install the free codex "perian"
Considering that I'm gonna be using this for about few years (it's not gonna be forever..), this is a pretty good choice for home use.
Name: Grow Books Inc.
Location: Hawaii
Date: 2009-04-26
Customer Rating: -
Summary: Comparison of Vado, Flip & Kodak's Zi6
Comment: I have purchased all three of these little high def camcorders. I started with the Flip Mino which had good picture quality, but ran into serious problems. I could not get any of the 3 units I purchased to charge through the USB port. Nor could I get any one of them to download the images. I spent a lot of time with their support only to find that none of their solutions worked. So I finally gave up and sent all three camcorders back.
The Kodak Zi6 Pocket camera is bigger and more "clunky" I didn't like the image quality at all. The camera cannot focus in very closely, so they provided a CU switch. But that allows you ONLY to shoot from about 2 inches away! Made it almost worthless. The memory in the camera is so small you have to buy a much larger card, which raises the price tag. At least you can take it out for downloading to your computer. Over all, I liked this camera the least.
I found out about the Vado last, and have once again purchased 3 units. This little baby is awesome. It almost looks like a cell phone, so you can take candid videos of people and they almost never suspect that you have a high def camcorder.
The image quality is excellent, and the angle it shoots is very wide (compared to the other two camcorders). But don't use the digital zoom; it only reduces the quality of the image. Instead, just get closer to your subject. The lighting is a challenge with this camera (like all 3 of these cameras) and you have to be careful not to shoot any subject that is heavily backlit. But you can shoot indoors at night with available room lights, and even under fairly dark conditions if you use your light creatively.
The Vado has replaceable batteries, which the Flip did not, so when the battery runs out, you can just pop another in and keep on shooting. Whereas with the Flip there was no way to continue (or to get out the footage) without a several hours plugged into your laptop.
I have shot several hours of video with the Vado in a wide variety of situations and my love for this baby continues to grow. I only wish that I had found it first and saved myself some hassles. But at least I know what the competition has to offer and so I know I'm not missing anything.
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