Audiovox DC400 Digital Media Recorder / Player with MP3 / MPEG4

Rating:
Summary: still thinking
Review: I purchased the Dc400 for $140 on JandR.com. I've had the camera for about 2 weeks and I must admit for the low price it offers much. The buttons and menu controls are extremely user friendly, I barely glanced at the manual. Digital stills are fine, decent quality what you would expect from any 2.0 digital camera. The videos are perfect for web quality especially in a small view, full screen was a little choppy. The 4x digital zoom(not opticle)is as good as any other camera I've seen,the zoom button is on a nifty spot right at the tip of your index finger. The rechargable battery seems to work for over an hour and charges pretty quickly too. It fits easily in jeans pocket. Now the bad news. It only comes with a 32mb SD card, you can purchase a Sandisk 512MB SD on clearance now for around $50. The video editing software it comes with crashes, it was completely useless to me. Stick with Microsoft Movie Maker 2 for this one or another video editor of your choice. The photo programs are cool including a 360 degree and ultra zoom functions. Remember as soon as you plug the DC400 into USB port you can easily download all pics and videos from unit it acts like a mass storage drive in explorer. The microphone is placed in a bad spot must be careful not to cover with finger. The LCD screen does not swivel up or down. This unit is good for movies on the go but if you need to record video from VHS or DVD take a look at the Panasonic D-snap series. The Dc400 has a night view function but you will need good light to get a shot, outside is perfect in daytime, a well lit room, a well lit street at night with lots of stores and lamppost, remember all SD video camera's have poor to moderate night filming. Another function I found very cool is that you can film video or stills in black and white. I have not used it as a MP3 Player yet but the head phones it came with are mono so I'm not expecting it to be loud or great.