Thomas: DXG was kind enough to send JAMM a couple of their ultra-portable HD camcorders free of charge for Doug and I to check out – so without further ado, let’s get to the review!

Doug: Thomas is such a poet, and he didn’t even know it.

What’s in the box: Before we get into the review let’s take a look in the box and see what you are going to get.  Obviously, you will find the cameras.  We can set those aside, as we will spend plenty of time with them in a few minutes.  In addition to the camera, each box contains everything you need to get started, including:

• small camera pouch
• ac charger
• wrist strap
• HDMI (DXG-581V only) and USB/AV cables
• Software CD
• manual

Doug : One noticeable omission here was the lack of a memory card.  Although there is a miniscule internal memory, you will pretty much need a memory card in order to record any videos.  With the price of memory plummeting every day, it would have added almost no cost to include a one GB memory card in the box.

The Hardware: Doug: We are going to split up here.  I’ll step aside and let Thomas walk you through his look at the DXG 581V.  When he is done, I’ll come back and take you through the DXG-580V.  Then, we’ll get back together and look at how these cameras fared.

DXG-581V (Thomas)

Like I said in the video, the thing that attracted me most to the 581v was the form factor. A vertical camcorder with a flip out screen – it’s like having a chance to play with a Nokia N93 (wow, that’s backwards, isn’t it?). The camera feels very light, but not too cheap in-hand. I’m especially impressed with the solid design of the hinge – after a month of opening and closing it, it’s still as good as day one.

The fold-out screen is decent for the size of the device and it tilts a good 180 degrees. Unfortunately, because the lens of the  camera is tilted upwards, you’ll be viewing the screen at an angle, so it’s impossible to keep yourself in the frame and see the screen clearly. I’m not sure why the lens was made this way, but the tilt is really what causes the problem. Even on tripods, you’re going to have to tilt the DXG forward a little bit to capture what’s directly in front of it.

As far as actual filming goes, almost all the controls are accessible with your thumb when you hold the device in your right hand. The only switch that’s out of range is the macro focus toggle, which is located on the right side. This switch could easily have been placed on the top of the camera for complete one-handed navigation of the device, but as it is your palm tends to cover the switch as you film, making it difficult to transition smoothly from a normal shot to a macro one. Otherwise you can easily pause, play, switch resolutions, and even fold the screen outwards with just your right hand (although I’d suggest you wear the wrist strap if you try that).

Right beneath the screen you’ll find the power switch and SD card door, and the opposite side houses the 1200mAh battery.

Finally, the front section of the camera features the lens, LED light, and micro-USB and HDMI ports (which are covered by a rubber door)One thing I could never find on the device was the microphone. I even looked in the manual, but there wasn’t any particular area that held it, so I’m not sure how to hold the camera without blocking out the sound (hence the muted sound in the intro vid).

DXG-580V (Doug)

The first thing I noticed about the DXG camera is how small this thing is.  Now, granted, I am comparing it to a seven year old camera, but nonetheless…tiny.  It will fit right in the palm of your hand, with that strap securing it snug and tightly on your hand.  Just open the hinge on the other side, and there is your viewscreen.

The main feature on the front of the camera is the lens.  We’ll talk about that a bit more later, but it is a pretty generic, standard lens,  Beneath that, there is a self-timer LED, microphone, and light.  In other words, pretty much everything you might expect to find on the front end of a camera.

There are a few controls on the top of the camera, which are fairly well placed for you to reach while holding the camera, for one handed control.  That large button you see is actually the zoom and volume lever.  This worked well enough, though I noticed in did make an audible clicking noise, which could clearly be heard on recorded video.  In front of that is the shutter control for pictures,.  Slightly more difficult to reach is the macro button, which is further toward the front and side (and cannot be seen in this picture).

Flip the camera over and you can see the tripod mount and battery compartment.  Nothing much to see here.  Though I will point out that the battery compartment is designed to allow you to hold a larger battery if you wish.

As I mentioned, there is a hinged door which opens to reveal a nice 3.0 inch TFT screen.  Once the screen is open, you can swivel it to any angle you wish.

On the inside panel are the display and menu buttons, giving you full control.  Additionally, you will find the power button here.  One thing I really liked was that the power button is covered by the closed screen when the camera is not in use.  That means it is nearly impossible to accidentally bump it and activate the camera unintentionally.

Finally, you will find the memory card slot.  The DXG camera records all of your valuable memories on an SD card ( not included), which you can insert directly into your computer for easy transfer of videos and photos.

Most of the important controls are located on the back of the camera.  Again, DXG has tried (with some success) to place these controls near your thumb for one handed filming.  The first thing you will find is the mode dial.  Just spin that dial to set the camera to video, still photos, or settings.  The red button in the middle of the dial is the record/stop button.  Next to that is the scroll wheel, which is used for an awful lot of things. when recording, you can use this scroll wheel to set your camera’s exposure and flash settings.  During playback, use the scroll wheel to scroll through stored images and videos.  Just press the scroll wheel to make a selection.

Above the scroll wheel is the most frustrating control on the camera, the playback button.  First, this button was too high to reach easily with my thumb,.  So, I generally had to reach over with my other hand.  Not a big deal, but something which could have been easily avoided.  The other thing was that this button is used to enter playback mode.  It is not used to begin or end video playback (pressing the scroll wheel will handle the begin and end playback functions).  I found this to be somewhat confusing, and found myself constantly pushing the wrong button for playback controls.

Finally, at the bottom, you will find the USB/AV as well as the HD connections.  One thing I found perplexing was why a door covered the USB/AV connection, but not the HD connection.  Nonetheless, the “door” is a piece of rubber, held together by two thin rubber straps.  In other words, am accident waiting to happen.  I wish these cameras would just forget about that door entirely.  OK, now that you are intimately familiar with the layout and controls of this camera, let’s get into what you really want.  How well does this camera handle video and photos.  Well, keep reading and hang on tight.

Usage and Filming:

Thomas: The 581v boots up and is good to go in  about four seconds flat, which is great for something you’ll want to keep handy in a jacket pocket or bag.

Doug: I noticed this speed as well.  You go from inactive to filming in mere seconds.  Really very well done.  And when taking pictures, there is almost no delay while the images save to the memory card.

Thomas: You can tell you’re filming via an on-screen indicator, as well as the LED near the d-pad (which blinks during recording). One nice touch is the memory meter along the right side of the screen, which tells you how much space you have left on your memory card (although for the longest time I thought it was the battery meter – oops).

Doug: You goof.  That is the battery meter on the other side of the screen.

Thomas: OK.  Let’s get down to filming.

Doug: I have to admit that I really enjoyed using this little camera  a lot more than I expected.  Unfortunately, like many of these cameras, it fell prey to the common trap of trading quality for convenience.

Thomas: One thing that also mystified me was the angle of coverage – it’s very small. At first I thought it was because I was comparing it to pictures and video on my Canon PowerShot SD1000, but even pictures on my iPhone seem to feature a larger view. Like all digital cameras, the 581v features digital zoom. But like all digital zooms, I stayed the heck away from it so that my videos weren’t made out of 10-foot pixels.

Doug: Uhm…yeah.  Digital zoom may be the most overrated feature to hit the world of digital cameras.  If you plan to shoot anything more than a few second of scenic backgrounds, then you know digital zoom simply cannot compare to to the true mechanical focus of an optical zoom lens.   The lack of any optical zoom was a real hinderence to these cameras, as we will see in a moment.

Thomas: Overall, it’s a very easy camera to film with. Just watch out not to block the mic – wherever it is.

Doug: I think it is a little easier to find on the front of the DXG-580V.

Unlike many video cameras, there are not a lot of other options or filming modes.  In addition to the resolution, you can adjust the white balance, effects (color, black and white, or sepia), and even activate night mode filming,   But that is really all you get.

One other thing to keep in mind is the file size.  A video recorded in QVGA will require significantly less space on your disc than one created in 1080p resolution.  Since this only records on removable memory cards, it is something of which you should be aware, in order to ensure that you do not run out of memory (which always happens at the most inopportune time.)

Thomas: If you don’t want to film video, the camera also features an 8 MP camera mode as well as a voice recorder. I stuck to video for the majority of my testing since the camera doesn’t have auto-focus, and it’s still a bit bulky to really be useful as a voice recorder.

Doug: Your pictures looked like they suffered from the same problems as mine (below).  I found a real lack of crispness on the photos I took with this camera.  When you look at them on the screen, they have a grainy appearance, not at all what you would expect from a high quality camera.   Despite being able to take photos in 3, 5, or 8 megapixels, the digital processor and lens are really weak spots in the photos.

Thomas: The LCD screen is bright and clear, and it’s actually a decent way to watch the videos and pictures you take. Sound is a different issue, though, and it can be really hard to hear the audio playback on-camera – it’s much better when you transfer the video to a PC or play it back on a TV with the included HDMI or composite cables.

Doug: In general, I found my photos and videos looked significantly better on the LCD screen than they did on my computer screen or even played back on an HDTV.

Quality

Thomas: Alright, so you’ve filmed the clips and it’s time to get down to viewing them on your PC or TV in high-def, right? Well, sort of. There are two major issues I have with this camera, both of which affect the experience. The first has to do with the lens: it just doesn’t cut it, even for a budget HD camera. The whole idea behind high definition is that you see colours and pictures more clearly, and if the lens isn’t good enough to capture a good picture, then the resulting video won’t be much better. Video that looks sharp on the 581v’s LCD screen looks a bit dulled when you play it back on the computer. This is also where the second problem comes up: tearing at 1080 resolution. After my first day or two with the camera, I decided I’d record exclusively in 720p, since 1080p looked shaky and appeared to tear when I played it back in QuickTime (and my desktop is no slouch!). Here’s a sample of the 1080 video:

And the same area and same conditions at 720p:

Doug: Unfortunately, I had the exact same experience with my DXG camera.  The colors look terrible.  Additionally, the videos always felt a bit out of sync during playback.  Like watching an old fashioned silent movie.  The action never felt like it was playing at the same speed it recorded.

Finally, the other downside of this lens relates to the digital zoom.   Since there is no optical zoom, you are limited by the digital parameters.  What this means is that you will have a much wider zoom variance in lower resolution filming.

Filming in 1080p results in a virtually undetectable level of zoom between widest and tightest images.

You can see the differencein the level of zoom between that video, and this one filmed in QVGA.  And special thanks to my lovely daughter, Sienna, for helping out and posing for this instructional video.

Thomas: DXG’s included Total Media Extreme video player was able to handle 1080 effortlessly, but I’d rather use a more common media player for my videos than load up a special one every time I want to watch one.

What doesn’t change – no matter which player you use – is the grainy and dull look of the video. The detail and contrast levels are reminiscent of videos from a mobile phone, which leads me to believe that the sensor on the camera is just too small or too cheap. It’s certainly HD resolution you’re getting from the camera, but not HD quality.

Doug: Very well put.  It is NOT HD quality.  I was extremely disappointed when I played back the videos.  The graininess, color saturation, contrast, and crispness were all terrible.  I have used old fashioned 35 mm movie cameras which offered better picture quality than this.

Battery Life

Thomas: I thought I had issues with the battery life until I realized that there was a sleep timer on the 581v, once I activated it and set it to turn off after a few minutes of idle time, I got a lot more filming time out of the device. I never filmed for that long, but I’d estimate you can probably get 2-3 hours of straight filming out of the camera. If you plan on filming intermittently and in shorter bursts, you’ll probably only have to worry about charging the camera every week or so.

Doug: I had no problems with the battery (though if you use the camera a lot you may want to look into upgrading to the larger battery option.)  The problem I had was with the charger, which really hit on one of my big pet peeves.  It is one thing to expect me to carry different cables to charge each of my devices (which I hate), but cameras tend to take this to a whole new level, requiring you to remove the battery from the camera, and plug it into an external charger.  I own four cameras, and every one of them use a different external charger.  Even the two Sony cameras are not compatible with one another, let alone the Canon and this DXG.  This is really just unacceptable.  It does not seem too much to ask that they find a way to all use a single universal charger, or at least let me charge the battery in the camera.

Conclusion

Thomas: As I stated in the intro video: it’s great to see an attractive, vertical sub-$200 camcorder with a flip-out screen. It’s a great form factor, but the design – especially the lens – need some work. It’s tough to film yourself at arm’s length or use with a tripod with the sensor tilted upwards, but it’s the picture quality that could really use a boost. At $170 the DXG-581v is an affordable video camera, but it’s really HD in name only, and I’d probably look elsewhere for a camera.

Doug: I agree completely.  Although this camera is advertised as a 1080p high definition video camera, with up to 8 megapixel photos…well, you be the judge.  Although the processor is technically able to handle these resolutions, the truth is that the inadequate lens and low quality components severely limited the capabilities of this camera.

While the size and portability were fantastic, I found the controls to be unintuitive and the video quality to be sub par.  If you are planning to do any filming heavier than snatching a quick shots of your friends on spring break; then I would not go anywhere near this camera.  Save your $150 for something more important…like beer and pizza money.

What I liked:

• flip-out screen handier for filming, doesn’t get blocked while you hold the device
• good one-handed operation
• SD card slot

What could use improvement:

• the lens angle (DXG-581V only)
• location of macro toggle (DXG-581V only)
• more obvious mic location so users know not to block it
• a more capable lens for low-light and HD
• better contrast
• better compatibility with QuickTime
• better digital processor
• overall, better video recording components

The DXG-580V and 581v are both available for purchase in the US from DXG’s website. Both cost $169.

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