All that Stickam video funness made me buy a new toy

[greggh]

I started to think that I would like a super simple and really small portable video camera that I could always keep in my pocket, so I just ordered this for $90.

http://www.amazon.com/RCA-EZ200-Camcord ... 360&sr=8-3



RCA just released this new version so I can't find a review, but it's supposed to be a little better than the older EZ201. I was thinking of getting the more popular Flip, but I really wanted the expandability of a MicroSD slot and the fold-out LCD.

[metrolinux]

We bought a new digital camcorder for Christmas. It would be awesome if everybody that listens to the show started creating content. Does YouTube have a tagging function like Flickr where we could toss stuff up there and everyone could do a tag search?

[greggh]

So my RCA Small Wonder EZ200 was delivered today. About 10 minutes before the bell rang I finally found a review of it just posted today on Gizmodo. The review compares it to 5 other similar pocket camcorders and it looks like I'm returning it without even opening it.

Check out this review and the test video clips they posted and tell me if the sound quality on the EZ210 isn't 10X better than any of the others including the popular Flip. The video quality was pretty damn good on the EZ210 too except for low light, which I thought was still passable.

http://gizmodo.com/5013420/the-ultimate ... battlemodo



So now I have an RCA EZ210 on the way and an EZ200 going back.

[snarkout]

I got my wife a flip for xmas, and it's good for what it is - it's great to capture videos of the kids and stuff like that. Think youtube, not Battleship Potemkin. I think expecting any of them to be more than cell phone camera quality video is going to lead to disappointment.

[greggh]

I got my wife a flip for xmas, and it's good for what it is - it's great to capture videos of the kids and stuff like that. Think youtube, not Battleship Potemkin. I think expecting any of them to be more than cell phone camera quality video is going to lead to disappointment.

I think all of them are better than cell phone quality video.

[snarkout]

Fine, appx that quality - I hope you have fun with yours. IMO, like I said, they are basically cameras designed to feed youtube.

[greggh]

Fine, appx that quality - I hope you have fun with yours. IMO, like I said, they are basically cameras designed to feed youtube.

I think you're missing the other big appeal of these. They're just so easy to have available to capture lots of events and get then archived on your computer super quick and easy, whether you are going to upload them to Youtube or not. It's a pain and time consuming to transfer and archive stuff to you PC from traditional tape camcorders. Plus, these are small enough to always have in your pocket. If cellphone video was as good, then these would be unnecessary. I expect that soon cellphone video will be good enough to use for this purpose. Even most digicams don't have video and sound quality as optimized in video mode as these pocket camcorders. But I'm sure that will also change soon. But until then I think this is the most handy thing for the job.

[greggh]

So I'm ending up keeping the first one I ordered, the RCA Small Wonder EZ200. I realized I probably wouldn't be able to get it back within the short 14 day window that Buy.com allows for returns. The video quality is pretty good, but there is this slightly annoying low crackling hissing on the audio.

The third party seller, PricePiggie, that I ordered the newer EZ210 through Amazon refunded my order, even though I didn't request a refund. The day after that positive Gizmodo review for the EZ210 came out they raised the price about $30. So did all the other sellers listed on Amazon. The day of and before the review they were all trying to get rid of them for around $90. As soon as they started getting lots of orders of course they did the sleazy thing and cancelled all the orders they got at the lower price and gave unrequested refunds so they can sell as much inventory as possible at the suddenly higher price. I complained to Amazon about this on the phone. Spoke to two reps and they both agreed that that's a sleazy thing to do,and they don't allow their sellers to behave this way, but all they can do is open an investigation on the seller. They'll notify me of the result and if they can get them to reinstate the order at the original price. I'm not holding my breath. Yeah, I know it's just another $30. But it's the principal of getting dicked around like that. Think twice about buying anything through Amazon third party vendors. They are sleazy and Amazon doesn't really care if you get screwed.

I should have just stuck with only buying from Buy.com and Newegg. At least they take Paypal. I hate buying from Amazon and anywhere else that doesn't take paypal.

[greggh]

Here's the first vid I made to test out the EZ200

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bBP-QYrwnO0

It looked substantially clearer before Youtube converted/compressed it. I think it's still pretty good for an $87 pocket camcorder.

[greggh]

I got to play roving reporter tonight with my new pocket camcorder. I stuck the thing in my pocket and headed out the door to see if I could test the outdoor night capability of it. By amazing coincidence there were fire trucks up and down the street with about 2 blocks of buildings without power and smoke rising from burnt wires and transformers under the street.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MkF6bj8PMkE

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UvQZWpVBNo0