Pure Digital Point - Shoot Video Camcorder

By Terry Sullivan
As everybody knows that minimalism has applied to the camcorder design, not only just in size but almost in every way. the designers of the Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video camcorder scaled down and reworked the elements that go into a camcorder. They borrowed some of what went into the CVS One-Time Use Video Camcorder, but added a few key features. It is hard to rave about a camcorder that has no optical zoom, but as it sells for less than $130, it is hard to criticize the Point & Shoot.

Powered by two double-A batteries, this white and silver camcorder holds up to 30 minutes of 30-frames-per-second, VGA-quality video in its 512MB of built-in flash memory. It uses MPEG-4 encoding to ensure small file sizes. Removable flash media has been very successful with digital cameras, where it's been the mainstay for a decade. There have also been some camcorders that store video on SD cards, such as the Panasonic SDR-S100 SD Camcorder, although their quality was limited until quite recently, because the cards have been so small. Whether built-in flash memory will become more popular is anyone's guess, but it does help keep prices down.
By Terry Sullivan

It seems that minimalism has come to the world of camcorder design. And I don't mean just in size. In almost every way, the designers of the Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video camcorder scaled down and reworked the elements that go into a camcorder. They borrowed some of what went into the CVS One-Time Use Video Camcorder, but added a few key features. It is hard to rave about a camcorder that has no optical zoom, but as it sells for less than $130, it is hard to criticize the Point & Shoot.

Powered by two double-A batteries, this white and silver camcorder holds up to 30 minutes of 30-frames-per-second, VGA-quality video in its 512MB of built-in flash memory. It uses MPEG-4 encoding to ensure small file sizes. Removable flash media has been very successful with digital cameras, where it's been the mainstay for a decade. There have also been some camcorders that store video on SD cards, such as the Panasonic SDR-S100 SD Camcorder, although their quality was limited until quite recently, because the cards have been so small. Whether built-in flash memory will become more popular is anyone's guess, but it does help keep prices down.

* Digital Camcorders Guide
* CVS One-Time-Use Video Camcorder
* Panasonic SDR-S100 SD Camcorder

The camcorder measures approximately 2.3 by 4 by 1 inches and is very light. On the front you'll see only the lens and the onboard microphone. On the back there's a tiny 1.5-inch LCD, a white on/off button, a play button, and a delete button. Centered under the LCD screen is a red record button, surrounded by a four-way controller. On one side, you'll find a TV-out port and a USB connector, which pops out when you push down a sliding button just under the place where the connector is housed.

And that's it. All for $129.99 list.

What I like most about the Point & Shoot Digital is that it is easy to use. Just press the red button to start and stop recording. Delete what you don't want. Play back what you want to review. What could be simpler? It would have helped to get some more functionality on the camcorder—a pause button, perhaps, or a fast-forward or rewind. But the company's emphasis on simplicity and sparseness is admirable. Although I'd have appreciated more technical specifications while writing this review, I like that the manual is very basic.

One caveat: I suggest you stay away from using the 2X digital zoom. That just degrades the quality of the video, and you're not starting with outstanding footage quality to begin with. The company has tried to make it easy for you to play your videos on either a computer or TV. On a computer, connect the camcorder via USB and click on the file called View your videos.exe. This runs a program that lets you watch, delete, or e-mail your videos. To play video on your TV, simply connect the included A/V cable from the camcorder to your TV's or VCR's A/V terminals. Then press Play to view it.

In my real-world testing, I filmed a still life near a window with bright light and deep shadows. As I suspected, I found the camera couldn't film both the still life and the detailed objects outside. The dynamic range isn't wide enough to capture both the details outside in the sunlight and the objects in shadows. But overall, I was impressed by the color saturation, most of the midrange details, and the lack of distortion in the scene.

In my lab tests, the "Talking Head" clip revealed good, strong exposure. There were some noticeable aberrations. For instance, the PC Magazine logo had a moiré pattern in my video. The camcorder also had difficulties in low light and couldn't accurately capture details in the shadowed areas. The audio was somewhat muffled.

I was happy with the autofocus. Colors, however, are a bit too vibrant and saturated. And the EIA Resolution Chart revealed an average of 325 lines of resolution, well below that of other camcorders I've tested. The boot-up time for this little camcorder is pretty slow, at 6 seconds.

The Point & Shoot Digital stored the video clips as AVI files—and they opened up easily in Windows Media Player 9.0. The clips were also easy to import into Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0.

As a portable camcorder, the Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video camcorder does a great job of providing you with decent video clips with serviceable audio, all at a very cheap price. We'll have to stay tuned to see if any of the big camcorder companies try to produce a Point & Shoot of their own.
The camcorder measures approximately 2.3 by 4 by 1 inches and is very light. On the front you'll see only the lens and the onboard microphone. On the back there's a tiny 1.5-inch LCD, a white on/off button, a play button, and a delete button. Centered under the LCD screen is a red record button, surrounded by a four-way controller. On one side, you'll find a TV-out port and a USB connector, which pops out when you push down a sliding button just under the place where the connector is housed.

And that's it. All for $129.99 list.

What I like most about the Point & Shoot Digital is that it is easy to use. Just press the red button to start and stop recording. Delete what you don't want. Play back what you want to review. What could be simpler? It would have helped to get some more functionality on the camcorder—a pause button, perhaps, or a fast-forward or rewind. But the company's emphasis on simplicity and sparseness is admirable. Although I'd have appreciated more technical specifications while writing this review, I like that the manual is very basic.

One caveat: I suggest you stay away from using the 2X digital zoom. That just degrades the quality of the video, and you're not starting with outstanding footage quality to begin with. The company has tried to make it easy for you to play your videos on either a computer or TV. On a computer, connect the camcorder via USB and click on the file called View your videos.exe. This runs a program that lets you watch, delete, or e-mail your videos. To play video on your TV, simply connect the included A/V cable from the camcorder to your TV's or VCR's A/V terminals. Then press Play to view it.

In my real-world testing, I filmed a still life near a window with bright light and deep shadows. As I suspected, I found the camera couldn't film both the still life and the detailed objects outside. The dynamic range isn't wide enough to capture both the details outside in the sunlight and the objects in shadows. But overall, I was impressed by the color saturation, most of the midrange details, and the lack of distortion in the scene.

In my lab tests, the "Talking Head" clip revealed good, strong exposure. There were some noticeable aberrations. For instance, the PC Magazine logo had a moiré pattern in my video. The camcorder also had difficulties in low light and couldn't accurately capture details in the shadowed areas. The audio was somewhat muffled.

I was happy with the autofocus. Colors, however, are a bit too vibrant and saturated. And the EIA Resolution Chart revealed an average of 325 lines of resolution, well below that of other camcorders I've tested. The boot-up time for this little camcorder is pretty slow, at 6 seconds.

The Point & Shoot Digital stored the video clips as AVI files—and they opened up easily in Windows Media Player 9.0. The clips were also easy to import into Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0.

As a portable camcorder, the Pure Digital Point & Shoot Video camcorder does a great job of providing you with decent video clips with serviceable audio, all at a very cheap price. We'll have to stay tuned to see if any of the big camcorder companies try to produce a Point & Shoot of their own.
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