For so many years now, I have been using good old MINI-DV tapes in a camcorder to capture holidays, events and random happenings. Although the quality was always excellent, the import process drives me insane. Whatever you record, you have to wait for the tape to play it all back in real-time before you can get down to actual editing and publication. For the last couple of years however, slowly High Definition (HD) camcorders have been appearing with internal hard drives and flash memory cards. For holidays I wanted something a little more portable, light-weight and as most of us are watching the pennies carefully this year… cheap!
After much research and price comparisons, I finally came across the DXG DVH-596. This 1080p compatible HD camcorder at just £149.99 from Maplins seems far too good to be true, yet somehow even at this price point offers stunning value for money. OK this isn’t a tour-de-force of HD technology, it doesn’t have a super dooper long zoom, focusing is slow, a little colour saturation, slightly weird wobble when panning and I am sure if you paid hundreds more you could trounce this small device into a pulp, however we are talking about £150 here. Using SDHC memory cards up to 8GB (unofficially it is reported on forums as 16GB and even 32GB with caution), 1080p recording at 30fps and 720p at 60fps (frames per second), stereo microphone the video results are stunning. Also has a 5MP camera facility, but really you are best sticking to video only.
As I am sure you can see for yourself, the results are impressive and happily I didn’t need to break the bank to do it either.
So am I happy with this HD camcorder? Of course I am!
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I am also very pleased (at the price). I’m using 8Gb cards but find the NP-120 battery life a bit limiting (have just ordered 3 more for £20). Does anyone make a mains power unit (DC coupler ?)to replace the NP-120 ? – the camera seems to work fine with the battery compartment flap open. Pity windows moviemaker doesn’t rcognise the MOV file format, so am using Pinnacle.
Hi there, I have one of these and the focusing has become terribly unreliable to say the least, some days its ok, but have had to delete plenty of footage once I’ve seen it played back on the PC when home..
Does anyone know how to calibrate the focusing on this unit ? Does seem to hate ‘infinity’. Is there a webssite to go to ? Maplins is useless.
Also, when set to 1080p the image gets cropped – what ?! Switching back to 720p and the angle of view becomes much wider. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just mine one ?!
Thanks in advance.
Marcus
Focusing is an issue with this camcorder. It does take time to focus on the object and as far as I am aware, there is no manual facility for this. I haven’t noticed any issues with 1080p and cropping, the only difference is the frame rate is 30fps instead of the 720p 60fps. Remember, when taking a photo it will use the whole screen on the LCD, however video WILL crop the video so it records in widescreen. The lowest video resolution will also use the full LCD screen as it is not widescreen.
Hope this helps.
Should i buy one or should i spend a little more and get something else ?
Only you can make that decision really.
This HD camcorder for me provides a good purchase until I can afford something with all the bells and whistles. Although this is a very good HD camcorder, it is on reflection with the price paid and will obviously not compete with higher end models, but then you can easily pay hundreds more to get the better features/quality!
Have a look at your budget, judge whether you need a HD camcorder right now and look at it at that angle.
This is a wonderful inexpensive camera.
I dont seem to be able to load it into Pinnacle 11 has anyone got any ideas?
I found having DivX installed (preferred) or Quicktime helps most video editors.
What type of SDHC card should I buy? The Type 6 cards seem to give the fastest speed but are very expensive compared to type 2 or 4.
Thanks Neilm:-?
I believe mine are type two and work fine at 720p and 1080i on this HD camcorder.
how far zoomed in are you in theese videos??
Nearly full from what I can remember.
oh ok, so this we explain the image it shaky, as im guessing this is handheld? :)
Yes indeed :)
Although there is a very slow focus on this camcorder to take note of!