Vivitar DVR 508HDDigital Video Recorder (Black)

On Christmas day 2011 I ordered the Vivitar DGTL Video Recorder DGTL Video Recorder with one of the Amazon Gift Cards I had just received. I wanted to photograph a video of the H.O. Gauge Train Layout I was building to show to some friends & relatives. It's small, easy to use, and the instructions were pretty clear & simple. I was using it a few minutes after unpacking it. It was worth much more than the $49.95 price I paid for it, but the quality was less than I had hoped for when photographing small objects close-up. It Is rated as "Hi-Def" but as with digital still cameras, the megapixels are not as important as the optics. A Hi-Def camera with lesser optics does not really produce a Hi-Def video. If you want an example of the quality, go to YouTube and search for Trains as of 12-29-2011.mp4 which was recorded with this recorder.

Wanting better detail and quality, I then ordered a Panasonic Video Recorder Panasonic HDC-TM90K 3D Compatible Camcorder with 16GB Internal Flash Memory (Black) which is a much more expensive recorder, but gives much better detail. Examples of the Panasonic recorder can be found by going to YouTube and searching for HO Train Layout.m2ts You can see other examples of the Panasonics work by going to YouTube and typing Paulietree1 in the search box at the top of the page.

As you might guess, the quality of a video recorder varies with the price. If you want really good, clear video you're going to have to spend a few hundred dollars. If the quality you saw in the first video I listed is acceptable, you cannot beat the Vivitar DGTL Video Recorder for the price.

this camera is a total rip-off, they say "you get what you pay for" well i guess that is true in the case of vivitars crappy camera. This thing is like the pinto/yugo of digital cameras. I for starters it took an hour to get the thing just to turn on (it takes 3AAA batteries---and uses power like a vegas casino sign, I got not even 1 min. of use before it shut off cuz of "bat. low" I switched out several differt batteries, some of them new, Yeah, for reals !!!) After that I had to deal w/ the fact that it only records under the the most optimal of lighting cond. so if your thinking about using this "peice" indoors at night, forget about it. I gave it one star in the reveiw, only cuz I can't give it just a half-star. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS "HUNK-OF-JUNK" IT'S A WASTE OF MONEY/ YOU WILL REGRET IT !

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If you keep the focus on nearly full-wide (which is really a 'normal' viewing aspect and is not Wide by any means, you get a decent picture. Once you try zooming-in, it gets all pixelated. (Must be a digital zoom...not an optical zoom). And' I'd suggest leaving the meter set to 'multi' as opposed to 'center' as it will react more accurately to changing light and half-light half-shadow areas. My guess however is that it isn't above the quality of a good cell phone video. But it looks nice with the flip out screen. (And it IS small). And it's nice to have Alkaline batteries as the power source instead of a built in rechargable. A quick change of batteries keeps you in business...and alkalines don't loose power sitting around for weeks in the unit like a rechargeable built-in would. The nicest part is the SD card (at extra cost) which you can quickly remove, stick it in your computer's ard slot, and have the computer's media player show the footage ASAP (besides seeing it on the built-in camera screen, of course). It comes with software for editing and sharing but I doubt I'll need it.

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Please don't buy this recorder unless it is intended for a 6 year old. Very poor quality video capability. I bought one and sent it right back.

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Ok, so it definitely isn't for someone that is wanting a high quality picture and probably wouldn't be any good for filming sporting events or plays, but for an 8-13 year old that is just starting to experiment with making their own videos, it's great. The price is low and that makes it easy to hand it over to those who aren't so easy on their things, and it's small, so it works great in smaller hands. We bought it as a birthday gift for our 10 year old, who just started to make his own videos and he loves it.