Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 DVG 595V HD Camcorder February 22, 2010
William G. J. Aylward (Reston, VA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't understand the objections some make about this little wonder. First of all the complaint that the zoom is only 5X puzzles me. Mine is 20X. I found the picture quality to be very good, and like most small cameras you have to use a tripod if you are addicted to zooming. I bought two extra batteries through Amazon for less about $17 including postage. I now can shoot for a couple of hours or more (wedding video)
Put it this way. If you want to shoot a professional documentary, for a two or three thousand you can get an acceptable unit. If, like my family, you want an all around camera inexpensive camera with excellent pictures (including stills...it also has its own flash!) then this is the camera for you.
It has most of the features of the (far) more expensive cameras and even comes with its own case and cables for TV, VCR or computer. It also has a built in light for low level light conditions!
One other thing. Several people complained that the playback on the computer was erratic. That is the fault of the computer not the camera. The camera comes with four different levels of resolution all the way up to 1080p. 1080p takes a lot of memory and a fast CPU. For slower computers use the lower resolutions. Same applies to attachment to e-mail.
 Don't buy if you want HD November 20, 2009
Allen M. Schultheiss (Dayton, Ohio)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The camera isn't bad for a normal video device but it's not worth 2 cents for HD. The focus isn't the best and the camera doesn't handle low light well either. In HD mode, the video undulates and moves in all directions when viewing. It can make one seasick. I sent an email asking about this problem and have never received a response.
If you are looking for a normal video camera, it's not bad. The single shot isn't bad either if outdoors and have enough light.
The monitor screen is very difficult to see outdoors so you may wind up guessing at where to aim for the shot. I've lost a video sequence because I couldn't tell if the unit was recording because I couldn't see the details on the screen. I hit the record button but ....
 It's a great value! August 12, 2009
Robert F. Petrie (Clinton, NY)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
We bought this camcorder just before going on a "hiking vacation" in Southern Utah & the Grand Canyon North Rim. We hiked over 50 miles of the North Rim, Zion, Bryce & Red Canyon trails and returned home with over 24 GigaBytes of .MOV's & JPG's.
We had no idea as to what to expect, as to image quality on a 1080P Hi-Def TV, until after we returned home. Quite frankly, we didn't expect very much considering the very low price. We were amazed by the vivid, sharply detailed images that we saw displayed on our TV!
Some of the pluses:
It is very small & light weight and appears to be well-made.
It's very "user friendly" & the controls are all very conveniently located.
The battery is extremely small, so we bought a spare (for about $16) but we never had to use it, even on all-day hikes.
The SD-HC flash memory is very compact and inexpensive. Make sure that you buy Class 6 Hi-Speed! (the "Class" rating is located inside of the large "C" on the SD-HC label.) We bought (3) 8GB chips, (about $16 each) but never completely filled 1 chip during an entire day's hiking and off-loaded all of our files to our laptop each evening.
It appears that the "Zoom Noise Update" mentioned in C. Trent's revue has been incorporated in recent production units.
There are a few short-comings: (but what can you expect for $179?)
Only 5X optical zoom - not a problem when filming landscape scenes.
(Actually, we found that the detail was so sharp that we didn't need to zoom.)
It does have a rather small field - a wider angle lens might be needed for some uses.
No optical viewfinder - but many smaller camcorders omit this feature.
Image Stabilization isn't very effective in 1080P mode.
A few hints:
The best way to store and play Hi-Def movies from this (or any other)Hi-Def camcorder is to buy a "WD TV HD Media Player." (about $85 to $119) It connects to your Hi-Def TV with an HDMI cable and can connect to 1 or 2 USB hard drives, thumb drives or the Flash Memory chip from the camcorder (when installed in a USB adapter) and play Photos, AVI's, MOV's & many other formats. This is an awesome addition to any Hi-Def TV!
(Make sure that you update the WD TV firmware to the latest version to get rid of some of the glitches in the earlier versions and to make it compatible with additional media formats. A Western Digital support rep can help you do this.)
You can also connect the camcorder to your TV with component video cables for play-back.
High Def Camera February 28, 2009
D. Gingras
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The camera works great. We had a problem in that the camera came with the wrong battery charger and getting the correct one was a bit of a challenge and took several weeks, I am hoping that I don't need any more help from their "customer service" department.
It's good, but only if you know what to expect February 21, 2009
David C. Spooner (chicago, il)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am an Amateur visual effects artist and I work with a lot of different applications. One thing that is crucial to me is motion tracking. I've been using a 10 year old Sony Handycam for a long time to shoot test shots for special effects, and while it's been enough for doing the job, I really needed something higher quality.
The DXG 595v sounds really good on paper; 1080p, 5 megapixel shots, really cheap. But unfortunately, it's got a couple flaws that make it unusable for my needs. Video quality wasn't that important to me, after all I was using a 10 year old 480i optical camcorder.
#1 flaw was optical distortion. Since there is no motion compensation when shooting in 1080p, the slow sensor filmed distorted images that differ between each frame (short, stretched, skewed, etc). This made motion capture impossible. If you plan on using a tripod, then it might work fine, but that beats the purpose of motion tracking.
#2, the average bitrate at 1080p was about 1.7 MBps (MegaBytes), which is about 1/4 of the standard 1080p and 1/2 standard bitrate for 720p. Daylight shots are fine, but anything indoors will immediately be very grainy.
#3, the widest angle possible on this camcorder makes it very difficult to work in close quarters. Even in a 24x18 foot room, I had to squeeze against the wall in order to get full character shots. My handycam was 35mm wide angle, this is more close to 47mm.
For a lot of people this camera might work, I wasn't expecting much, but I was expecting something slightly more usable than my Handycam. Build quality was better than I expected, and the features were enough to hold my interest until I shot some video.
Be advised that this is a TOY. Not even close to amateur level, and no where near professional level. For that price I would look for a great digital camera that also did 720p, than a really cheap camcorder.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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