EEVblog #595 - World's Shittiest Camcorder: Teardown

[EEVblog]

Teardown Tuesday
What's inside the world shittiest camcorder that costs a whopping $7.50 on Amazon?
The Global New Beginnings DV-136ZB 1.5" 3.1 MP Digital Video Camera
Mailbag:

[Aeon]

Hi Dave,

sorry you had to do that teardown.

One quick thing: the link on the eevblog-homepage to this Forum-Thread is not working korrektly (there is a http:/ at the end of the link)

I allways enjoy your Teardowns. Looking forward to your next Video. Keep up your good work

[nowlan]

Got to say I dont understand the hate displayed for this camera.
The word you missed was value for money or not.

Perfect for a child to play with. I would never use it, but my mother has one like this, and was very smug to have bought one. Mind you I dont think she ever used it. Stupid people demographic,  get what you pay for.

Aside from that, I was interested to see what was inside the camera, so thanks for the video. I doubt the $7.50 is rrp. I suspect my mom paid more like 10x that.

[krivx]

I agree, this was a nice opportunity to see how a camera can be implemented as cheap as possible. Some of the cheap stuff on dealextreme or ebay can be worth getting just to pull apart. Sometimes you can even get a fun dev platform https://marcansoft.com/blog/2009/06/sunplus-spmp305x-media-player-hacking/ (not my article)

[zapta]

Only $80 on Amazon for  Prime members, and free shipping!

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Beginnings-DV-136ZB-Digital-Camera/dp/B002DUPTHY/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=ACUDU597YD3OX

;-)

[krivx]

Only $80 on Amazon for  Prime members, and free shipping!

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Beginnings-DV-136ZB-Digital-Camera/dp/B002DUPTHY/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=ACUDU597YD3OX

;-)

Only occasionally... http://camelcamelcamel.com/Global-Beginnings-DV-136ZB-Digital-Camera/product/B002DUPTHY

[hamster_nz]

Looks like you got at least $8 of fun out of that camera!

[EEVblog]

Got to say I dont understand the hate displayed for this camera.
The word you missed was value for money or not.

I never said it wasn't value for any particular purpose. The fact that it's shit quality remains a fact regardless of that.
Of course, you expect shit quality for the price, that was always a given.

[BravoV]

Got to say I dont understand the hate displayed for this camera.
The word you missed was value for money or not.

I never said it wasn't value for any particular purpose. The fact that it's shit quality remains a fact regardless of that.
Of course, you expect shit quality for the price, that was always a given.

As an EE and professional in the electronics field, in order to manage, design + manufacture this, do you think any "average" EEs or professionals capable of deliver this value out of this price "easily" ? 

Or you just need any crappy & shitty EEs to do that ?

[Mike Warren]

Or you just need any crappy & shitty EEs to do that ?

Not necessarily crappy & shitty, just low paid. And really, it looked well designed for the price.

[NiHaoMike]

The video quality seems to be comparable to the old analog consumer camcorders. I think the main target market is R/C hobbyists. No big deal if you lose or break the camera.

BTW, 10 years ago, CVS sold a camcorder of comparable video quality but fewer features for $30. No SD card slot, USB only with a nonstandard cable, not even a macro mode. And yet it was once pretty popular in the hacking community.
http://www.digitalfluff.net/CVS/

[99tito99]

Oh Dave, you have set a terrible precedent.  Now anyone (including, me maybe) that sends in a steaming pile of dog shit is going to expect a 24:08 video teardown.  Oh the humanity!

[EEVblog]

As an EE and professional in the electronics field, in order to manage, design + manufacture this, do you think any "average" EEs or professionals capable of deliver this value out of this price "easily" ? 
Or you just need any crappy & shitty EEs to do that ?

The value gained is in the purchasing and assembly chain, not the design chain.

[EEVblog]

I think the main target market is R/C hobbyists.

Can't be, it has a screen and hand held form factor. The consumer market for a cheap camcorder is orders of magnitude bigger than the RC market.

[zapta]

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

+1.

Plenty of arrogance in this video.  Thumbs down.

[rr100]

Screwdriver more expensive than the camera, that was golden :-)

That being said I can't imagine how anybody would make a profit by selling this with 7.xx retail, seems pretty packed (even if the quality is shit).

On the other hand I can't imagine how they make a profit on all those chargers and other things for 1$ shipped from ebay (and that 1$ or so includes the ebay and paypal fees).

[BravoV]

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

+1.

Plenty of arrogance in this video.  Thumbs down.

To be honest, its like watching The O'Reilly Factor version of Electronic Engineering tv show.

Really, just don't understand the hate as I'm not in Electronic Engineering field, but don't you guys at the same field at least show some respect and courtesy among the peers ? or the competition is so fierce that its like dog eats dog business out there ? 

I mean criticizing the work result is fine, but showing the excessive hate and feeling disgusted is way too much imo.

[han]

I don't understand the excessive hate to cheap stuff
Why everybody love expensive stuff and hate cheap one (despite for quality)
that is superiority problem (i'm so rich, this stuff is insult me for being so cheap)

i'm live in country that produce branded fashion stuff for very cheap (~$1) and export it to Nike, Adidas, Polo, ... they sell it for fortune..

[digital]

Not one of your better video's to me a camcorder under ten dollars for a child's present is good.I think you must have been acting on the video for effect.

[thomastheo]

Come on guys, he actually says it's decent value for the money, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a heap of shit. Would you honestly use this thing for anything?

[G7PSK]

There are cheaper one's yet out there, I saw one recently that was being given away free if you just placed an order with a mail order company any order with no minimum value either, the camcorder did not have a screen there was just a hole when you flipped up the view finder to look through. I was not tempted as I know what the quality of all the other crap from that company is which I shall not  name but most people in the UK will know if I just say they are from Harrington dock in Liverpool.

[Christe4nM]

Despite the "hate" he couldn't hide being impressed by the actual effort made by the electronics engineers...

[TriodeTiger]

Yikes, yeah, the hate seemed to disconnect me from the video a little. Imagine if you're shit-poor and want to record something, it is almost exactly like a reusable disposable camera you can get at some drug stores for a few dollars but does video instead. I mean it is not marketted as HD, and camcorders aren't the most stunning in the first place until lately but they are quite pricey, so why bash it? It's just a little slow on the times, better than some stuff back then surely, but I'd argue it'd just add plastic to the landfill being disposable.

Imagine guy spends $7, records war crimes happening in his country. Things being done to forests. A father showing something interesting to his son about where he works. Who knows. Maybe not a device for "our" countries.

Alexander.

[han]

Yes, the quality is poor.  But i'm sure even with $7000 in hand only few people can make at the same complexity/build quality.


The problem with Consumer stuff is people is see the price first.(i say Pride first).
I have friend say the same like Dave, he say "I don't use cheap stuff, it's make me feel itchy"
i find my friend is dumb, i buy the same thing ("t-shirt") direct from factory that make it (export leftovers) for 1/50 of the price...

so 1/50 for the factory and all those cheap labor and 49/50 for greedy CEO
http://www.ehow.com/info_8641461_average-salary-ceo-fashion-company.html

[jerryuk]

Very unfair teardown/review Dave
The video quality may be crap compared to your professional video camera but for 7 dollars what do you expect.
It is not reasonable to compare it with cameras costing over a hundred times as much.
I have seen far worse build quality on much higher cost products.
While I would not buy one of these I am sure that this may be a good product for parents wanting to buy their kids a camcorder to play with but cannot afford much. Also the kids probably would not care about the video quality.
The build quality was way better than it needed to be for a product in the market it is aimed at, surely that is the point of a teardown.
Jerry