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Creative Vado HD
It fits in your pocket, it's discreet and doesn't need to be fed metal oxide covered polyester tapes. Could this be the ultimate pocket digital camcorder featuring 720p HD recording? The Creative Vado HD could very well be the next best thing for capturing, America's Funniest, most disatrous sports, or some other kind of extreme thing in HD.
Face, Rear, Sides and Bottom
I called this the face because it is the side facing the subject matter. It is bare with only the fixed lens and a small opening for the built-in microphone.
The display and control area is clean with only a four-way direction pad with a centre button, a play/pause button, a trash button and the usual small perforated holes for the built-in speaker. Oh almost forgot, there is the 2-inch LCD for playback and live view/recording.
The power on/off button is located on the side and you will notice the small metal loop towards the bottom (right hand side of picture). This is so you can attach your favourite doohickey/danglie or if you were like me the corporate straps that you usually wear to hold your company badge/pass. I slung and carried the Vado HD hanging from my neck. It made for quick and easy grab and record.
The opposite side has the AV out port and the HDMI port so you can view your footage in 720p HD glory.
The bottom edge has the tripod screw mount and the attached flexible USB connector. The latter is a nice inclusion but it does present some issues that I will note later in the review.
So, there you have it, a pretty simple and clean design and the specifications really trumps the original model.
| Original VADO | Latest VADO HD |
| 640 x 480 CMOS Sensor | 1280 x 720 CMOS Sensor |
| 2GB Storage | 8GB Storage |
| MPEG4 .AVI recordings | H.264 recordings |
| No HDMI output | HDMI Output |
Specifications
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Feature
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Description
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Weight:
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100 (with battery)
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Dimension (H x W x D):
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100mm x 55mm x 16mm
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Memory Size:
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8GB1
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Sensor:
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HD CMOS (1280 x 720)
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Video Quality (pixels):
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1280 x 720
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Low light performance:
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Extremely high Sensitivity at 3.3V/lux-sec
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LCD:
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50.8mm (2-inch)diagonal 16 mil colours
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| Screen resolution: | 640 x 240 pixels |
| Zoom: | 2x Digital Zoom |
| Recording Capacity: | Up-to 2hrs (HD+Quality), 4hrs (HD), 8hrs (VGA) |
| Digital Video Format: | h.264 AVI at 30 frames per second |
| Speaker and Microphone: | Built-in |
| Software: | Built-in |
| TV out: | RCA, HDMI (HDMI Cable included) |
| Tripod Mount: | Yes |
| Power Saver: | Yes |
| Delete All, Play All: | Yes |
| Set Date/Time: | Yes |
| Frequency: | Yes (50Hz or 60Hz) |
| PC Connection: | Built-in flex USB connector |
| Battery Life: | 2hrs2 |
| Sharing (Online): | YouTube, PhotoBucket, Box.net |
1 8GB memory includes built-in software
2 Actual battery life will vary with use. Battery has limited limited rechrage cycles and may eventually need to be replaced.
