Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Aiptek A-HD+ samples

Several days ago I got myself the successor to the Aiptek A-HD that I brought to the Azores this past January and my first reactions toward the A-HD+ were negative because the lowlight capabilities is not only worse than I expected but you can see that the original A-HD is better. At first I thought I had a faulty unit which prevented me from doing this samples review earlier thinking that it wouldn’t be fair but I found out that other users are having the same problem. It can probably be solved with a future firmware update.

The A-HD+ costs $170 and BestBuy has a special for $150 for the week. The version that has auto focusing and a 3X zoom, the Aiptek Action HD costs $200 at WalMart. Just like the originals, there isn’t a stabilizer and the clips are recorded in the .mov format.

As far as playback capabilities, you should try playing the clips first without downloading the software that came with the camcorder. The computer I’m using has only 512MB of Ram and a 128MB video card so I had no choice but to use the software especially for the 1080 30p and 720 60p clips. It has no problems at all playing back 720 30p clips.

A good percentage of YouTube users shoot their videos using either a cell phone or a digital still camera and most of them produce terrible looking images. They should be getting something like this instead and since it has a 720 30p mode, its also perfect for sites like Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc. Obviously if you have the money, you should get the more expensive HD camcorders such as the soon to be released Sony TG1 which can also fit in your pocket easily although there is no 720p mode. There are other HD camcorders that are in Aiptek’s price range but they only shoot up to 720 30p.

These were shot in automatic mode and I'm showing both good and bad looking shots on purpose.

Set 1
Here is a couple of HD examples shot on different HD settings.

1440X1080 30p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/R3JXTADFFX/FILE0002.MOV.zip.html
1280X720 60p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/JWJMTRVQPL/FILE0003.MOV.zip.html

The imager of the A-HD+ is 5MP but there is also an 8MP photo mode so here is a couple of photo sizes to let you see for yourself if you think it's marketing or not.

5MP
http://www.bigupload.com/files/3G4XLYGVDU/FILE0004.JPG.zip.html
8MP
http://www.bigupload.com/files/NLMTAKTSM9/FILE0005.JPG.zip.html


Set 2
Same scenario as the above samples

1280X720 60p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/M8W61OLH2K/FILE0015.MOV.zip.html
1440X1080 30p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/PQ46LABOFE/FILE0016.MOV.zip.html

5MP
http://www.bigupload.com/files/V1OJ459E2O/FILE0017.JPG.zip.html
8MP
http://www.bigupload.com/files/VNEJBJZLCJ/FILE0018.JPG.zip.html


Set 3

Handheld pans

1440X1080 30p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/FL2TK5YIS1/FILE0021.MOV.zip.html
1280X720 60p
http://www.bigupload.com/files/H97LR9O93E/FILE0022.MOV.zip.html


Set 4

720 60p clips and 5MP photos.

http://www.bigupload.com/files/BFRPKE7ZWO/FILE0023.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/VASHHHW99A/FILE0024.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/D9DYUDZT3F/FILE0025.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/89QA5H9WC3/FILE0026.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/P57UIDJJC8/FILE0027.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/QGDQ4HEHFK/FILE0028.JPG.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/Q0790L8FJ8/FILE0029.JPG.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/2PQSN9QI03/FILE0030.MOV.zip.html


Set 5

The next day.

The handheld shots are in 1280X720 60p and the tripod shots are in 1440X1080. The shakes on the tripod shots were because of the wind.

http://www.bigupload.com/files/S07DZESGAN/FILE0036.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/B1U9JIVM24/FILE0037.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/A0OWXAPUZJ/FILE0038.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/XLQPKEDLF1/FILE0039.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/65RHMUPZE8/FILE0040.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/QZQNINK6PJ/FILE0041.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/C039QLK85X/FILE0042.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/5JUBVKAFPT/FILE0043.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/LEK6CI1527/FILE0044.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/XAJT1GTT20/FILE0045.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/G28X6GA3XW/FILE0046.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/J958UFN6WM/FILE0047.MOV.zip.html



Update 1

Here is a lowlight test that I shot with the A-HD on one hand and the A-HD+ on the other hand.

A-HD
http://www.bigupload.com/files/Y7XN7EKK7X/A-HD.rar.html
A-HD+
http://www.bigupload.com/files/34R7N0OQY0/A-HD+.rar.html

Clips A1, A2 and A3 are set to auto white balance.
Clips T1, T2 and T3 are set to Tungston lighting.

The cameras exposure options are -2, -1, 0, +1 +2
Clips A1 and T1 are set to level 0
Clips A2 and T2 are set to level 2
Clips A3 and T3 are set to level 2 and Night Shot activated.


Is there anybody who tried both an A-HD and an A-HD+ not noticing a difference in the lowlight capabilities?


Update 2
Edited April 25 and 26

Handheld 1440X1080 30p shots

http://www.bigupload.com/files/LE7TPZWGS5/FILE0055.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/575E9M4ET5/FILE0056.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/1BSY0FOOFB/FILE0057.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/QXSDCYTOVO/FILE0058.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/QEWQ71K0WA/FILE0059.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/POH81P1ID9/FILE0060.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/CX8E3P7N4P/FILE0061.MOV.zip.html

http://www.bigupload.com/files/B8PSUPG5M0/FILE0062.MOV.zip.html



This was shot at the Boston Common on the day that I posted my first set of clips. It’s not the first time I ended up videotaping an event without knowing it was going to be there.


band from Paulo Teixeira on Vimeo.



band from Paulo Teixeira on Vimeo.


They were shot using the camcorder's 1280X720 60p mode


Update 3
Edited April 28

I will post at least 1 or 2 more band videos within the next few to several days.


Update 4
Edited May 4


Band from Paulo Teixeira on Vimeo.


Update 5
Edited May 5

I finally got to upload something to You Tube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jM4Wp9j0K10

Update 6
Edited May 19

I’ve included outdoor comparison shots with the A-HD on one hand and the A-HD+ on the other hand.

A-HD+
http://www.bigupload.com/files/DYI89WHWZ3/A-HD+.rar.html
A-HD
http://www.bigupload.com/files/SQLBCX78JT/A-HD.rar.html










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5 comments:

Jon said...

Thanks for providing these samples. The A-HD+ looks like a good camera for the money.

NEED HELP? said...

Hey dude. What software do you use to edit your videos?

Paulo Teixeira said...

Jon,
For $170, the Aiptek A-HD+ is a steal but I think it’s better to pay the extra $30 for the Action HD to get the optical zoom and auto focusing.

Harmes,
I used Nero but only for that You Tube clip that I recently posted. I didn’t do any editing for the rest of my clips.

Jeff Rutland said...

Hey man,

Great demos. You know, in lowlight situations it looked like the A-HD did a better job, to me anyway. You seemed to mention that in the beginning of your review as well, that the A-HD+ didn't do as good of a job as the original, but this could be updated with firmware.

Do you still feel that way about the camera? Has there been a firmware update? I'm looking at getting one of these to record my band in a live club setting - it will be relatively dark, but stage lighting will be plenty bright... should I not be concerned about it?

Paulo Teixeira said...

I’ve done a little bit more testing including one inside my bedroom with the outdoor light coming through the window and I’ve noticed that although the A-HD had a brighter image when on the same setting, the A-HD+ showed more detail in shiny objects. At least in the bright side, when you set the exposure of the A-HD+ to +1, the lowlight quality is very similar to the A-HD when set to 0.

My advice is to somehow bring a TV with you and see how the picture looks like on it and if it looks to dark, increase the exposure. It’s hard to tell how good the quality looks like on the LCD screen.

Anyway, I think with the exposure up, you’ll be fine but if you can somehow come up with the extra cash, you’ll be better off with the Sanyo HD1000 or you should probably wait because I have a feeling they will be coming out with a successor soon.