Reviewed by
sshive , Intermediate

Price Paid
$139.00 at www.aiptek.com

Summary
The Aiptek DV4500 is a sophisticated toy, most of whose many advanced functions are lost to its relatively poor (640 x 480 MP) picture output in stills and videoclips. The advertised 4 MP “interpolated” resolution is just so much hype. Regardless of settings (including focus), most pictures are fuzzy, even more so with digital zoom (which, of course, isn’t really a zoom at all). Under anything other than ideal lighting, the DV4500 simply cannot make pictures any better than low VGA quality. For acceptable stills with this unit, it is absolutely essential that the scene be FLOODED with light and that the camera be held ROCK STEADY. Aiptek included a tripod in the package for a good reason.

Using the input/output panel is awkward; the necessity of having to open the battery compartment to access the SD card was poorly designed. The lack of AC input, too, is a disadvantage; however, better batteries (e.g. nickel metal hydride rechargeables) result in the best performance. Also, it is much easier to use standard card readers to read from and write to the SD card than to set up the USB cable and work with the software supplied with the unit.

The DV4500’s sound recording and playback, however, are surprisingly good. Its voice recorder, video soundtrack, and MP3 player all work very well. It’s a snap to dump MP3 files to a SD card and play them immediately on the DV4500.

The bottom line is that the DV4500 is a lot of fun and quite a lot of value for the dollar. Also, the included editing software, tripod, headphones, and camera case are useful extras. It’s hard to beat for quick videoclips shared with others on the Web, and this is really what this little wonder was designed to do. It’s just not appropriate for most other video applications. And it never fails to gather crowds whenever it appears in public. It’s just a shame that its video output is so limited.

Strengths
Ease of use
Multi-functional
Size

Weaknesses
Picture quality
Awkward access to SD card