EEVblog #595 - World's Shittiest Camcorder: Teardown

[hikariuk]

Got to say I dont understand the hate displayed for this camera.

+1.
Plenty of arrogance in this video.  Thumbs down.

Perhaps you missed the parts where I actually praised it a few times?
Got to say I don't quite understand why so many people don't get what this video was about it

I mostly interpret any of the apparent hate to the Aussie tendency to call a spade a spade.  Or at least my perceived tendency for Aussies to call a spade a spade

[Agent24]

That is a cheap camera with a low quality sensor but it is not shit. not by a long, long shot.... the one Dave got WORKS. It's cheap and the video is poor, but it WORKS. And the video while poor quality is usable.


I have one here (given to me free) that is TRULY shit. TRULY. Going by overall design it looks like the predecessor to the one in Dave's video: A "Digigr8" (Groan) DV182 that can only record in 320x240 to an SD card.

But that's just the problem, IT DOESN'T. It 'records' in Christ-knows-what to something that isn't a FAT filesystem of any known format and while you can play the video (only one) back on the device, inserting the SD card into the computer only gives you the biggest headache.

Windows can't read the card, Linux can't, the camera's own software can't. I had to use a file recovery tool to rebuild the totally f**ked up FAT filesystem and retrieve the video, which was AWFUL.

Check for yourself how shit it is: http://www.amazon.com/Digigr8-DV182-3-1MP-Digital-Camcorder/product-reviews/B000YMRDXQ

This is a shit camera. Makes Dave's one look like a High-end Sony. Seriously.

If you ever get a chance to buy a DV182 camera... Don't.
If you do buy it, kill yourself.

[Chipguy]

What's the deal ?

Dave threw a shitty toy camcorder into the bin and on the way he made a teardown video and gave his opinion.
How can people hate somebody for that?

[rsjsouza]

The link to the forum from the video page is broken. It has an extra http:// at the end:

(copied from the page)
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-595-world%27s-shittiest-camcorder-teardown/http://

[IanJ]

Throughout Dave's video I am thinking to myself........go on Dave, throw it in the bin at the end........and whadaya know, he does!

Made my day.

Ian.

[ivan747]

My general attitude towards this is: I don't entirely agree with the opinion you gave about the product or its value, but that is perfectly fine Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And still, you took the time to tear it don against your will basically, so that's a thankyou form me

[jucole]

Obviously the target customers are people in countries with very low wages, and if you think of it like that the camera is really cool!!!    If anything this has to be one the best low cost camera's on the market!  it even had those little crappy marketing feature stickers on it and a decent instruction manual too;  so throwing it in the bin was so un-cool! ;-)

[EEVblog]

My general attitude towards this is: I don't entirely agree with the opinion you gave about the product or its value

I gave no opinion of it's value!

[zimzom]

Obviously the target customers are people in countries with very low wages, and if you think of it like that the camera is really cool!!!   

That was my initial thought, but then I looked around and everyone here has phones with video camera functions, or at least one person in the house. And this is where the average wage is $4 a day...

I am failing to see where this product would have a real use as a practical device, in developing markets people already have this functionality in there phones. Example the cheapest - shit phone you can buy here new is p499, that's $12 and it has a video function.

I get the feeling the intended use case for this is "guy makes an impulse buy, it then sits in its box until its thrown in the bin." I guess its better than getting socks for Christmas. I figure the anger is at the bean counters that justified this as a legit project to design - not the skill of the engineer who made it work despite having very little to work with. It makes you wonder what these guys could do if they actually had a budget and the R&D....

I liked the video - you are never going to please everyone especially as audience numbers and demographics increase/widen. Important thing was it generated so much interest bad or good. So I would say it was a great success.
 

[digital]

Let's move on I am really looking forward to the new Agilent oscilloscope teardown.

[Joule Thief]

Agreed. The parsing of observation and explanation is getting very thin. 

[riconette]

loved the teardown. especially the tension between goosebumps because of the shitty product and the actual astonishing (for the price) internal build quality/quantity.
oh and i love dave getting the creeps…

i've looked up german amazon for such cheapy/crappy "camcorders", but the lowest price here is at 30EUR… i guess thats because we are all rich here.

[Galenbo]

I liked the video. The object, the comments and the way of speaking.

Instead of the previously stated "arrogance", I expierienced an kind of "outrage", that only can be observed on people that dedicate their life on perfectionalising designs, doing constant efforts to deliver nice products to customers, try to find better and smarter solutions.

Don't look at this video if you're completely on the consumer-side. The contrast to your only source of info: the publicity on packages and folders, is too huge.

[brabus]

Sorry, I know my opinion can be against many others, but I try to ask for your comprehension.

Plainly, I cannot find this product justifiable in any way.
I do not understand this specific concept: "Man, in some developing countries this can be an interesting product, for people that can only afford a 7.50$ videocamera".
Sorry guys, but if I was living in those countries, and 7.50$ was "money", I think the least of my worries would be to actually buy a camcorder.

I see it in this way: this product is intended to be sold to people who can afford to waste some money on a cheap, useless toy, which will become nothing more than hazardous waste in a matter of days.
I would not even define it as "cheap camcorder", but "confused attempt to place a product" instead. A true son of consumerism.

Just to be clear, I am not the kind of person that buys the latest iPhone and buys expensive clothes; I always try to find the best value for money, and keep on repairing stuff until I can.
But I truly believe there is a ground level to respect, below which lays the sheer definition of CRAP.
If I was 12, and wished for a "poor man's GoPro", I would save my coins for a little while and search for something cheap as well (come on, if you can save 7.50$, you can wait a little bit more, and save at least 50~60$), but at least worth the money.
My example? I personally bought a used Canon HG10 Full HD camcorder, with all the accessories, for 85$. For 50$ (but even 30$) you can find a lot of nice used stuff, in very good condition!

To turn on the good side, I admit that the engineering effort in producing something so incredibly cheap is noticeable. I would not be able to reach that level of optimization, that's for sure!

[ Internet rage coming in 3...2...1... ]

[Galenbo]

I do not understand this specific concept: "Man, in some developing countries this can be an interesting product, for people that can only afford a 7.50$ videocamera".
Sorry guys, but if I was living in those countries, and 7.50$ was "money", I think the least of my worries would be to actually buy a camcorder.

+1 Of course.

What kind of pol-co does come up with such strange developing countries thinkings + they certainly don't live there.
7.5 dollar is the price for 1 week of internet access.

[BravoV]

Ok, I'm a convert now  , any chance we can get a new smiley (this -> ) for the forum please ?

Definitely a good one for expressing at shitty stuff when posting in forum.

I guess we should call it "Dave's fingers". 

[komet]

I maintain that this is an excellent product for the poorest in society to be able to document police brutality, corruption and so on without breaking the bank.

The world is a better place thanks to the availability of this camera.

[free_electron]

the worlds shittiest camcorder was long won by this :



The PXL-2000 : black-and-white camcorder using an audio cassette to record video.

[riconette]

I maintain that this is an excellent product for the poorest in society to be able to document police brutality, corruption and so on without breaking the bank.

i second that point of view. the cam is definitely not a "stat-of-the-art" performer, but for documenting aforementioned stuff… yes.
plus it doesnt hurt if it gets stolen by the police.

[zapta]

Maybe we need to have a "world's shittyest camcorder" competition. People could post videos of their entries, with teardowns. I would suggest sending them to Dave but I don't think he would appreciate a flood of crap camcorders

That's an interesting idea. Have a periodic the 'Crappiest X' or 'Wednesday Fail' videos but the criteria need to be fair, not just low price. Things that do not do what they are supposed to do, miserable reliability, hazard to the users, clearly bad design decisions, snake oil, etc.  I would start with those snake oil manual vacuum pump pick and place thingies ;-)

[firewalker]

the worlds shittiest camcorder was long won by this :



The PXL-2000 : black-and-white camcorder using an audio cassette to record video.

4k resolution?

Alexander.

[Rigby]

I maintain that this is an excellent product for the poorest in society to be able to document police brutality, corruption and so on without breaking the bank.

The world is a better place thanks to the availability of this camera.

the entire "world shittiest camera" thing is sarcasm.  a video of humorous intent.

[Agent24]

the worlds shittiest camcorder was long won by this : The PXL-2000 : black-and-white camcorder using an audio cassette to record video.

Oh yeah, the video quality is bad... BUT... you can actually get video from it. Try doing that on a DV182!

You ever heard of a computer game called "Big Rigs"?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rigs:_Over_the_Road_Racing

The DV182 is like the Big Rigs equivalent of a Camcorder.

[iva]

I don't mind the language but the ratio of "shit words" to "why this specific part is shitty" was very low.
If the intention was to be funnier than usual it really wasn't anything special, your normal videos are already funny, Dave.

In any case, poor camera, the internal design didn't look half bad and for that price is a winner, I wish there was something like that on the market when we were doing crazy things on motorbikes with my friends some 20 years back

And did anybody notice the user interface on the display? Pretty responsive.
Again, for that price I wasn't expecting it.

[Alexei.Polkhanov]

To turn on the good side, I admit that the engineering effort in producing something so incredibly cheap is noticeable. I would not be able to reach that level of optimization, that's for sure!

I bet you can find schematics of entire camera in some kind of Application Guide for that ASIC - SPCA1528A. I often find that things usually are more benign and boring in reality when you look closer.