Product Description

Measuring only 3.3" x 2.7" x 1.7" the new Pocket DV3100 captures your life's moments in the palm of your hand. Featuring a 4-in-1 design, the DV3100 functions as a Digital Video Recorder, Digital Voice Recorder, a High Resolution 3.1 mega-pixel Digital Camera, or even hook it to your PC to be used as a webcam! It offers a 1.5" Color TFT LCD Display, and if the 32 MB of built in memory isn't enough, you can add up to a 512 MB CF card. Upload images and video to your PC via the USB cable. You can even playback video on your TV or VCR.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45652 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Aiptek
• Model: PocketDV3100
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.00" h x 6.00" w x 8.00" l, 1.00 pounds
• Display size: 1.5

Features

• Digital 2x zoom
• 4-in-1 multi function design
• 1.5" TFT Color LCD Display
• Playback photos and video on TV / VCR
• Expandable Media- supports up to 512 MB Compact Flash card.

From the Manufacturer
Measuring only 3.3" x 2.7" x 1.7" the new Pocket DV3100 captures your life's moments in the palm of your hand. Featuring a 4 in 1 design, the DV3100 functions as a Digital Video Recorder, Digital Voice Recorder, a High Resolution 3.1 mega-pixel Digital Camera, or even hook it to your PC to be used as a webcam! It offers a 1.5" Color TFT LCD Display, and if the 16 MB of built in memory isn't enough, you can add up to a 512 MB CF card. Upload images and video to your PC via the USB cable. You can even playback video on your TV or VCR.

Digital Camcorder
Record simultaneous digital video /audio to capture wonderful moments. Simply press the video button and your DV3100 will immediately capture motion and sound on the scene. Record home projects, direct your own movies, and capture special moments! Friendly software guides you step by step to edit your video file and create your very own movies.

Voice Annotation
Voice annotation function makes your DV3100 ideal for important interviews, narrations, and a great way to record your own voice for home CD albums. It expands the recording time up to 30 minutes, which gives you a broader room for creativity.

Web Cam
Plug it into your USB port and it's your video conferencing camera! Use video e-mail software to send personal e-mail to your family, friends and clients. Capture still images with your camera and achieve a wide range of dazzling special effects with easy-to-use photo retouching tools. Use video-conferencing software such as NetMeeting to "see" your family and friends on the internet.

Customer Reviews

Not good enough, but....
I order this camera based on its features, some reviews and doing some research on the net. After a week of exploring its capabilities i found out that its 4 in 1 features are in med level in terms of quality and here it is:

1. as a Digital video(camcorder) - support only up to 10fps as a result the video is not smooth and zoom features are not available.
2. as a Digital camera - 2MP ok, the pictures are fine as long as you pay attention on the lens when taking pictures. no flash, no optical zoom only 2X digital zoom.
3. as a Voice recorder - its a fix sampling rate i don't know what it is. the quality of sound recording is low but you can save more space.
4. as a Web camera - capable only up 20 fps, just good enough for me.

Bonus features: as a removable drive, nice 1.5" LCD display, small in size, can be preview on TV, 2 AA batteries, plus its accesories and software package.

TAKE NOTE: use this camera only during the day or where there is sufficient light coz it has a very poor results in low light condition.

Anyway, who can expect professional results on a less than $150 camera? It's still recommended for enthusiast who's fun of capturing moments. Don't forget to include at least 256MB CF card.

Good Bang for the Buck
I'm a sucker for cost-effective gadgets, and by those standards, this nifty little 4-in-1 camera is up there with the best of them. First and foremost, you get a 3.1 megapixel digital still camera for a third of the cost of most other products in that category. If it stopped right there, this would still be an amazing deal. However, you also get a palm-sized digital video camera, a digital voice recorder, a USB webcam, and a removable USB storage device. All for $$$ . Now that's a deal I just couldn't pass up.

However, approach this product with eyes wide open, and don't expect it to be the greatest performer in each of its distinct capabilities. For example, as a digital still camera it isn't very tolerant of low light situations. Adequately-lit photos come out fine, but indoor lighting or overcast outdoor shots tend to produce muddy, red-tinged tones. A built-in flash would have overcome this problem, but alas, there is none. So take your shots in well-lit areas and situations, and you'll be fine. Also, the fact that its native image format is lossy JPEG rather than a lossless format such as TIFF is of concern, but probably only to gearheads like me. Most casual digital auteurs won't really care. You can shoot and store roughly 60 digital photos at full quality (2048x1536, Fine Quality) on a 64Mb CompactFlash card (not included, purchased separately. On-board storage is 16Mb.)

Next, as a digital video camera: don't expect it to fulfill all of your home movie needs. At 10 frames-per-second and 320x240 video resolution, it's hardly broadcast quality. However, I find this limited quality just right for shooting, editing, and posting quickie, low-bandwidth web movies. The camera saves movies natively in .AVI format, so usually no conversion or extra steps are required to get your movies out of camera and on the web. As a Mac user, I prefer QuickTime to .AVI, but I found that conversion to .MOV format was quick and easy. You can shoot about 20 minutes of compressed video on a 64Mb CompactFlash card (not included, purchased separately -- internal storage is 16Mb only). The length of your videos is limited only by your available storage space and supply of batteries.

As a digital voice recorder, it features no Cue or Review buttons, so going back and forth over the day's notes can be a pain. The workaround is to keep your notes short; the camera creates a new audio file for each new note you record.

As a webcam, it works quite as most low-end USB webcams do. No real complaints in that department.

The 1.5-inch LCD screen does its job well enough. The fact that it's present at all in a product this low-end is a pleasant surprise. However, it does drain the two AA batteries rather quickly. You can sidestep this issue by using rechargeables, as I do.

PROS: Small, light, handy, packs an amazing amount of features and value for an unbelievably low price.

CONS: Picture quality suffers in low-light situations, no flash, digital video is web-quality only, digital voice recorder has no Cue/Review buttons.

BOTTOM LINE: This nifty litttle gadget is a jack-of-all-digital trades, but master of none. However, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- having one device that does all these things makes it a great little toy for the big boys in your family. It won't replace your main digital still camera or digital camcorder, but it makes a great backup unit to either, in situations that don't warrant lugging around the first team. Buy it -- you know you want it.

Great Gadget
I am completely satisfied with the purchase of this camera. The videos may not be top notch, but I've had a great time capturing spontaneous moments with the camera handy in my purse. The quality of the stills really surprised me though, in natural light, the images came out crisp and clear. The only fault I would find with this camera is the lack of flash, which could have been very useful in the low light situations. Therefore, I advise to those that are interested in this camera to just wait another month or so for the pocket DV4, which is already out in Europe. It is Aiptek's new camera in the pocket DV line and IT HAS A FLASH! (they finally took their customer's advice, or complaints rather).... I hope this has been helpful!

P.S.: If you're interested in learning more about the new aiptek camera or seeing some sample pics and videos for this one go to fireboxdotcom, it's a really helpful site