Home > Consumer Reviews > Aiptek MPVR 6MP MPEG4 Digital Camcorder with 4x Digital Zoom

The most important thing to remember about digital cameras and camcorders is that what fits the needs of some people may not fit the needs of other people. Before buying this item, I read through all of the reviews on Amazon. I noticed many people giving this camera very bad ratings, and that is probably simply because they were expecting something that this camera doesn't have.

First, here's a basic run down of how the camera's features work, which can be found in tons of other Amazon reviews:

CAMERA: Works great. Just what you would expect from any other camera with the same resolution. However, I read one review that said this camera was just as good as the "high end models" from Canon or Olympus. This is simply not true. It is not a "high end model" and should not be regarded as such.

CAMCORDER: This function works, but not as good as a device dedicated to this task alone would. The microphone picks up better and sounds better than I expected, but when the source of the sound is too far away the quality does decrease. When viewed on the camera's own screen, the video looks great. However, when viewed on a TV through the included A/V cable, or on a computer, the video is not exactly the best quality. Also, I found I had to turn the volume of my TV all the way up to hear the sound. However, that could be just my TV as it is getting pretty old. In addition, if you want to take any length of video longer than a minute or so, you will need to expand the memory by buying an SD card.

MP3 PLAYER: All I can say about this function is that it works. It does play MP3s, however it doesn't have added features that dedicated devices may have. For example, you can't sort your MP3s out using directories. You have to have them all in the same folder or the camera won't recognize them. On a side note: the camera's speaker works suprisingly well.

VOICE RECORDER: Again, this feature works. That's about all I can say.

RECORDING FROM TV OR DVD USING A/V CABLE: This feature does work, and fairly well. Like the camcorder feature, the video looks fairly good on the unit's own screen but decreases in quality when viewed on a computer or TV. Again, you will need to buy an SD card if you want to record for extended periods of time. And I wouldn't recommend buying this item to replace your DVR (or your VCR, for that matter) because it simply is not meant to do that.

Now, who needs this product?
If you are looking for a high end camera, a high quality digital camcorder, an MP3 player to replace your iPod, or a DVR replacement DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT. This item doesn't offer any of those things. However, if you are looking for a small, affordable camera to replace your outdated film camera, with the added feature of recording video and playing MP3s, this could be the camera for you.

While this camera may not be right for some people, it is perfect for me and I love it.

This is a great little pocketable camera. I love it. To get the most out of it, it is important to experiment with the various settings. Some tips:

- For outdoors, set the exposure to the middle setting, the white balance to sunny (or to prevailing weather, auto works well too.), I turn off image stabilization because it causes a weird distortion warping-like effect especially if you move, and make sure night shot is off. I also use the VGA setting for 640x480 tv resolution. With these settings, my videos look great even on my 42 inch plasma tv. But don't expect high-end results, but very good results, better than I expected for the price and size. By the way, the digital zoom is only ok up to about 1.5, after which it gets much too blurry. Also, make sure to set the lens focus to either long shot or close up, it makes a big difference in sharpness. You can switch it even while shooting.

- For indoors, you can use nightshot to help in a somewhat dark room, but make sure to take the exposure down to at least one notch to the left of the middle setting. Night shot helps with making the picture lighter, but it also causes a lot of blurring when things move. Lowering the exposure helps to compensate and lessen the blurring. I found that the middle exposure setting causes too much blurring and is unacceptable. Just turn it down a notch of two from the middle, and you'll get acceptable to good results. Of course adding more light in the room helps. And don't use image stabilization, it distorts the image too much.

- For photos, use the same settings and you'll get good results. Some of the photos I took outside on a beautiful day came out stunning, and look fantastic on the plasma tv.

Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with it. I also got a 2gb sd card and an extra battery, which I recommend. It's the perfect size and weight to just keep in your pocket to catch those spur of the moment shots, and for the price it can't be beat!

I've had the camera for almost two years,,its a good camera,,works well with pc,, I read reviews about it not working with the computer,,works well with mine and I even downloaded the software on my buddies system and it works.

The picture quaility is great,,printed pics on regular paper and it looks better than photo paper., Pics can become shaky if you move a bit

As far getting to customer service through Aiptek,,There always availible when I call them,,very eager to answer all questions about the camera or you pc,for the price ,,,just get the damn camera

I originally got this camera for the video since I already have an expensive digital camera. My former camera also shot video at 320x240 while this one shot at 640x480 at 30 frames per second so the quality was a little better but still not that great.

I tried to take pictures with this and they were very out of focus even with the stabilization on, the correct focus set and on all the highest settings. The zoom is all digital so it just magnifies the image rather than the camera actually zooming in like in an optical zoom. That means an already low quality image goes to crap in any zoom over 1x.

Overall, I probably wouldn't recomend the camera unless you just use it for video (haven't tried the MP3 or tv recording yet)or if you can't afford a $300 digital camcorder.

I mainly bought this for my hobby of flying radio controlled slope sailplanes. I cut a hole the size of the MPVR's body into a very large flying wing & simply slid the MPVR into it, facing forward.

The video is surprisingly good, and with a 2 gigabyte SD card I can record for about an hour and a half, with sound. Even when the glider turns quickly, the video stays smooth & focused. It was also very inexpensive, so I could take a chance on it without worrying that I'd sunk hundreds of dollars into a turkey. Just be sure to use high quality and moderately high speed SD cards (I use a Sandisk II, 2Gig.) Battery life is good too, about an hour using their tiny battery pack (two are provided.)

The one problem I've had with it is that it will not output video to a TV using the supplied cord - it simply goes blank. This means I have to download the video to a computer & make a DVD if I want to view it in any other way than on my TV or its built-in screen. It's not the fault of the cord, either, as I've tried known good ones. This likely isn't a widespread problem, since I haven't seen it mentioned in other reviews.

For the money, I'd say this is the best tapeless camcorder around. You'll have to spend three times as much for a JVC version, and even more for a Sony. If you want zoom, however, try one of the other Aiptek models.