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AEE Mini-DV MD80 miniature camcorder
Introduction:
The AEE Mini-DV MD80 is one of the smallest self contained camera/camcorder. The unit is just 2 inches tall, 3/4 inch wide and around 50 grams weight.
Features:
Overview:
The Mini-DV has two switches on the sides, one for turning on and off the sound activation and the second to turn on and off the power. The switches also control other modes such as when both switches are on and the Mini-DV is attached to a computer, the unit acts as a webcam. If only the power switch is on when connected to a computer, the unit acts as attached storage so you can copy video to the computer from the microSD card.
The top of the camera has the record on/off button and the multi-color activity LED.
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The unit comes with a mount with a clip mount and a stand-off mount that can be attached via velcro or screws to a helmet or etc. The package also includes a charger, USB cable, 2 GB microSD card, cleaning brush, webcam drivers and manual. A fairly complete package that lets you use it out of the box.
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The Mini-DV can be used while charging from an AC source using the provided AC adapter which is great if you need extra recording time. If you are away from a wall outlet, you can use an external USB battery pack like the Duracell Instant Power battery pack to 'top off' the battery between recordings. The MINI-DV unfortunately doesn't allow recoding while the battery pack is connected. Using an AC adapter converter to USB also doesn't allow recording since it must be the actual adapter with a mini plug. (update 09/12/2009)
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The MINI-DV status LED glows
Performance:
The Mini-DV has good color and low light recording ability. Rapid side to side movements give some strange wavy video affects. The size makes it great to clip onto a backpack or a mount on the car in order provide first person video. Below is an example video taken using the cam and the included 2 GB microSD. This card may be rated class 2 or 4. The max frame rate achieved was 19 FPS. Using an 8 GB Sandisk class 6 card achieved max 20 FPS.
Video transfer to the computer is fast and is optimal not having to remove the small fragile microSD card. The AVI file type is nice since it can be played back on most PC video players and also portable devices. The file size can be quite large since AVI is not as compressed at MPEG2 or etc. It is less lossy. The quality of the video is not very high so the less extra artifacts the better.
The following video was taken on the San Diego, CA NCTD Sprinter. The original footage was taken by clipping the camera to a backpack. The Sprinter travels between Oceanside and Escondido East-West corridor. The video was taken between College Blvd station and the San Marcos Station. Since the ride is ~1/2 hour with all the stops, the video would be quite boring to watch for that length of time. The 750 MB video (20 frames per second) was edited using Pinnacle Video Studio. The resulting video was encoded using AVI (uncompressed) at 60 FPS and video accelerated 2.5x. The resulting video file was 6 GB and then was re-encoded into MP4 for YouTube (60 FPS encoding) to get a 72 MB files size.
Conclusion:
The Mini DV is a nice little camera, but the video quality is somewhat sub-par. The manufacturer stated 25 FPS was not achievable using a Class 6 microSD card. For the price (as low at $58) it provides the ability to mount just about anywhere as a private camera. It would have been nice if it actually could record at 30 FPS or had 720x480 DPI video capability. Overall the external build quality is better than expected. It would be nice if the unit allowed recording when connected to a battery pack via a min-USB to std USB cable. If you are looking for a high quality video, you may look elsewhere, but for an extremely small device to record first person footage as a helmet cam, this is more than adequate.
For more videos taken with the MINI DV:
Lamborghini Experience 2009 - Track Day
Please e-mail info@terracode.com with any comments or questions.
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