Disgo Video Review - Low-end Video Camcoder for "High-end" Youtube Videos

About disgo

There have been quiet a few articles about the Disgo Video Camcoder. Most of them simply retell the product's page on mydisgo.com . In order to write something decent, you probably need to have some experience with the item, but that's just my two cents. My point is - If you like a full review, keep reading! ;)

"disgo Video" is the actual name of the product. It is the brainchild of Clever-Stuff, the people behind the Disgo brand. The company was established back in 2001, in Ireland. Their initial products were USB flash memory and later on they moved to advanced products such as "disgo Video" and "disgo Video Plus" ("disgo Video" on steroids).

Specifications

Without prejudice I'm ready to buy products, which don't have the logo of a famous brand on top of them. Remember the quote from Armageddon?

"American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!"

"disgo Video" is one of the products that simply remind you of this. It is a product with one single purpose - to shoot 320x240 videos, suitable for Youtube and other video sharing sites.

Display - The 2.0 inch TFT (same size as 3rd generation Ipod Nano) provides good size, image quality and framerate.

Memory - It supports up to 2GB SD/MMC memory card.Enough to take 60 minutes of video, before you need download everything to your computer.

Dimensions - It is 106mm long, 62mm width and x 33mm high. It actually fits in your pocket, but you will be better of with a hand strap.

Weight -72 grams without batteries. It goes over 200 grams with two rechargeable AA batteries (Uniross 2300mAh).

File Formats - The video is Motion JPEG AVI. Simply enough for it's purpose. The audio is recorded in single channel (mono), 49kbs, 12,000 Hz ADPCM audio file. You can check the image below, in order to see details about the file formats.

Image Sensor - VGA 640x480 (300k pixels). It provides very good quality input for the 2.0 inch TFT display. This only means that the CMOS sensor is capable of providing this resolutions. disgo Video does not record 640x480 videos. The main benefit from the sensor remains the good quality displayed on the small TFT screen.

Video Resolution & Framerate - The videos are recorded in QVGA

320x240 with an average 30 frames per second. Actually, "disgo Video" uses lower resolution with the main goal of achieving a decent framerate. In my opinion this is a good move, as 320x240 is completely enough for video sharing sites.

Connectivity - It supports USB 1.1 only and downloading 2GB of data with an average speed of 1.5 Mbits per second (~180 kilobytes per second) can prove quite annoying in the 21st century. A good workaround is to download the videos directly from the card by using a SD/MMC card reader. A good thing is that the camera will be operational even without batteries, once it is connected to the USB cable. You can not use it for a web cam.

Battery Life - I'm currently using 2 Uniross AA batteries, each 2300 mAh. They do the trick for about 40 minutes tops. I have used mine for a few weeks, so you might get better results using new ones. My overall impression is that it consumes a lot of batteries power. The one and single downside of the display is that consumes a lot of power.

Exposure, Balance and Lens -The exposure and balance are automatic. There is some delay, but not more than other camera.The lens is fixed, so you realize that you might not take sharp videos all the time. The one thing you can't see is that you can adjust the lens, but in order to do so, you have to open the casing.

disgo Video - "Tough design for urban life"

If you go to disgo's site, you will notice that they have jey features about this product. One of them is "Tough design for urban life". My father dropped it from less than half a meter (40cm) and the image all of a sudden got blurry. There is a two years warranty, however I was almost sure what happened with mine. I got it open and I found the lens detached from the sensor. I got my glue gun and glued it back in 5 minutes.

What I like about it

It takes good quality video, perfect for youtube.com, vimeo.com, dailymotion.com, metacafe.com, etc. It is easy to carry around. The microphone is sensitive and records audio well enough. The design is good and when I point it at people they think that I will take a photo of them and they always stand still, while I take a video of them. Most of the time they make silly faces ;)! I like the big red record button. It is kind of idiot proof camera. I also like the price 30GBP, with 2GB SD card included (at least what I got for my money).

What I don't like

There is no auto focus. It wouldn't have been much work to add one. Also when you take videos in dark environment they sometimes get too dark. Usually you will see them darker on the display, as they actually are. I got a few deleted, before I found this out.

Should you buy this camera?

If you like to start your own video blog or simply post silly videos on youtube.com, for your friends to laugh at, this is the perfect camera for you. I also use mine to make reviews of cars, in order to provide more information to potential buyers.

You should have in mind that this is a low-end camera, designed only to record video for fun. in my opinion you can't go wrong for 30GBP.

In case this information was not enough for you, please download the official manual.