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Veho Muvi Micro DV Camcorder
Digital Cameras/Camcorders |
First Looks Tue 26 Jan 2010
Spy Tech for the Everyday Man
By Alvin Soon
The Veho Muvi Micro DV camcorder is a diminutive camcorder. It's only around the size of a large Bluetooth headset, yet it records 640 x 480 resolution videos at the maximum of 30 minutes per clip until your microSD card runs out of space. The very idea that something so small can record video is like something out of a spy movie and of course, we just had to give it a try.
Design
The Muvi has no screen of any kind, and relies on an indicator light and its three colors to tell you what's going on; blue indicates that the device is turned on, green is for recording and red means the battery is running low. The power switch is on camera right, a voice recording switch and microSD slot go on camera left, and a tiny Record button sits right on top. The standard package comes with a clip-on accessory, while an optional extreme sports pack includes a headband strap, arm band strap and a universal mounting strap.
Performance
If the Muvi's small size is spy-worthy, consider the video spy-cam worthy as well. The rolling shutter effect is in abundance in the videos we took, but really, for a sensor this small in a body that's constantly being bounced around, it's to be expected.
If you're not familiar with it, the rolling shutter effect is when you see subjects in a video slanting or wobbling as the camera's being moved around. It happens because a CMOS sensor exposes different portions of the frame at different points in time, going from top to bottom. If the camera moves faster than the sensor can keep up then the image skews and looks wobbly.
Sound capture is muted at best; don't expect to catch anything distinct beyond the person wearing the Muvi. Overall, we weren't too surprised at our results, though we did start from relatively low expectations.
Conclusion
The Muvi strikes us as a niche camcorder that could be useful in some cases. The relatively affordable price tag helps too. It's not going to give you picture perfect quality that's good enough to show off, but it's able to go places and shoot things an ordinary camcorder can't. Be sure to use its power only for good now, people.
