DXG Pro Gear DXG-A85V HD 1080p High-Definition Camcorder with 12x Optical Zoom 3.6 5 28 29
Best dollar spent Just got this a few days ago and haven't put it down yet. I was a little on the fence about this because of the price, but after talking it over with my wife I decided to go for it! I never thought that I could get a high quality video camera that works great for under $400 dollars. It's fun to use, takes great pictures too and you don't have to be a genius to understand the manual. My Wife and I love it! 05/11/2010
A Great Value I absolutely love this camera. I have had several video cameras and this is my favorite of them all. It is easy to use and takes the best video. The quality is excellent. I can't belive how good it is for such a low priced camera. The features you will find in this camera are unmatched for the price. 06/08/2010
Worth the Money For 1080P video, the DXG A85V records a high def MOV file. I am very pleased with the 1080p image quality of the videos. Not so with the still camera feature: You can tell the camera which image level to use for still photos. I tried setting it at 5MP and 10MP and I can't see any difference in quality. In fact, the still photo quality looks like it's about about 2MP in my experience - the images are OK but not real sharp. My 6-year old Kodak 4.5MP digital camera produces far superior jpgs at 4.5MP than this thing does at 5 or 10MP, but Video quality is GREAT - that's the main thing.The camera is super light. When you do deep zooms, hand shaking becomes an issue. I think I'll start carrying a little telescoping monopod if I'm planning any telephoto shots. The video images of telephoto shots, by the way, are quite sharp. Not so, again, with the still camera - gets a little hazy.Depth of field on the DXG in sunlight is pretty much infinite, however the display is 95% invisible in strong sunlight. I'm one of the few people who prefer thru the lens viewfinders rather than the LCD screens, but these little HD cameras don't have viewfinders.The software that comes with it is "Arcsoft Total Media HD Cam", a decidedly nominal package, which will display thumbnails of all the individual MOV files and JPG still photos that are on the camera when you connect the camera via the supplied USB cable.All you can do with this software, other than buttons for uploading your files to Youtube, etc, is merge the individual MOV files into one large MOV file, should you choose to do so. You can't edit or title or burn to a disc with this super lightweight program.It also has a button to "create AVCHD disk". This implies that you can "burn" the merged files onto a disc. But all it really allows you to do is to save your joined files onto your hard drive as a big high def MOV file: there is no actual disk burn option, so not only is it not an editor, it doesn't have a burn engine. So you have to have another program with which to edit and burn discs.The freeware program, IMGBURN, will take the MOV files and convert them into a high def M2TS image package which is similar to a blue ray disc, ie., it prepares all the necessary files and proceeds to actually burn them onto a DVD disc in high definition. I suppose it would also burn onto a blu ray recorder, but I don't have one, so it automatically opted for my DVD recorder.The DVD created by IMGBURN has excellent detail: looks like 1080P on my 65 inch Sharp Aquos. The colors are full and accurate.Since IMGBURN is only a DVD/bluray composer/burner, and not an editor, I also tried using the freeware AnySoft "Any Video Converter" to convert the MOV files to MPEG2 files, which are high def and editable on my Womble MPEG Editor, but you can detect that the converted files have some minor loss in details when compared to the image disc produced by IMGBURN, leaving me with the desire to find a bonafide direct AVCHD editor, so I can put in titles, transitions, etc and still the get the super sharp AVCHD/M2TS image that IMGBURN produced.I tried two of the shareware AVCHD editors on two different Intel 3.4GB processor machines, but they don't work well enough to use, probably hampered by my 1 GB of memory and 16 and 32 MB video cards. All the reviews indicated the Pinnacle 14 will handle AVCHD better than most of programs out there, so I may have to break down and buy an AVCHD editor. 08/14/2010
Great bang for the buck! At $200 I really didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised. This lightweight camcorder does very well, with bright, crisp video. Even in low light conditions outside it still produced clear, concise images. The still photo capability is a weak point. Don't try using it indoors without some fairly bright lighting. Produces grainy looking stills in moderate light, and is useless in late dusk/early evening use outdoors. My only other complaint is that when you press the record button there is some lag time before it starts recording, and the same when you press it again to stop recording.The audio is a little weak, and not real "full bodied" but crisp and intelligible.Can't comment on battery life yet, haven't recorded long enough to drain the battery. I bought a spare battery from DXG USA before the camera arrived so I can have a spare. It was pretty cheap too, at around $15.All in all I am pleased, the 12X manual zoom is fantastic, and coupled with the 10x electronic zoom, there is no way you can hold the thing steady enough it zooms so much! The touchscreen makes navigation through the menus a breeze. Added bonus are the included cables and case.A really good buy!!! 08/10/2010