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General discussion

SVP Digital Camorders ???

Mar 13, 2005 3:42AM PST

I have read the post on SVP. I'm wondering if these are good cameras. I'm backpacking in Europe for 2 months and I want something that is not too expensive but stil has good quality. Nothing great, but around 35mm quality on the pictures and videos. If there are any other brands that anyone recommends for around $150 please help. This is the camera I'm looking at: is it worth it?

http://www.svp-tech.com/6688/dv6688.htm

Discussion is locked

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SVP DV6688
Mar 13, 2005 4:10AM PST

I personally would not buy from a company that deliberately uses misleading advertising.

That camera is not a 6.6 megapixel camera.
If you look at the specifications it says that it has an OmniVision 3610 1/2" CMOS (2048x1536) sensor.

That sensor is 3 megapixels.

They achieve 6.6 megapixels by interpolation.
You can do the same thing with software by taking a 2048x1536 digital photo and resizing it upward to 6.6 meg size. This will result in degrading the quality of the photo.

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fit my needs?
Mar 13, 2005 4:23AM PST

Thanks for the reply. I guess is it something that the pictures are going to be horrible to look at or will they good enough to show family and friends? I'm going with my boyfriend and he is going to get a good digital camera, I'm more interested in the camcorder part. Will it fit my needs, like if I record from atop the Eiffel Tower will the video quality be good enough to recognize what I'm taping? Will there at least be some detail or will it be very blurry? I dont want to go all out because I'm sure it wil get banged up in my backpack and I dont want it to be too much of a loss if something happens to it. I'm just wondering is it worth the $150 price tag?

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IMO, no. You can't get a good video camera for $150.
Mar 13, 2005 5:43AM PST

My cell phone has a camera built into it. Does it take good pictures? No.

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Digital Video
Mar 13, 2005 5:45AM PST

Just so you understand how much such a camera will end up costing you.

It is not a digital camcorder which uses a tape to record the images.

It records on its intermal memory which is only 16 megabytes. That means you can record (at best) about two minutes of video. Then if you want to keep that video, you will have to transfer it to a computer. Then you can take two more minutes of video, then save it to the computer; etc, etc.

However you can buy a SD (secure digital) memory card and then have more memory and more minutes of video before having to transfer it to a computer.

A 512 megabyte card will cost about $80

With that card inserted you can then record about
40 minutes of 640x480 at 30 fps (frames per second) video (the cameras best).
or
72 minutes of 640x480 at 15 fps (will be a bit jumpy when viewed.

So plan to take a computer with you on that trip, so that you can save your videos each time the camera memory if full.

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svp
Mar 24, 2005 12:32AM PST

I bought one of these cameras. You can do better with a $20.00 one at Walmart. The quality is poor. Menu is hard to use it eats batteries like crazy. You get maybe 20 seconds of movie. On the other hand, for about $50.00 more, buy a sony camcorder. The quality is awsome. It takes still photos, light weight. Great for the price.

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The same camera?
Jun 18, 2005 1:04AM PDT

Hi there I was wondering about purchasing the same camera... the dv-6688.

I want to know if you bought that exact model or just some other svp camera. They all come from different manufacturers, so one bad model does not mean all bad models. Also, its the only one with the ability to record at 30fps... so it might be better in all functions.

Please let me know.

Martin.