Worlds Smallest High Resolution Mini Video Camcorder (DVR), Incl. 2gb Micro S...

Having bought another, more expensive version of this a while ago (and there are a few) I was impressed by the quality of these tiny cameras.
Being a keen biker I stick these things to the front and rear of the bike then make videos of road trips later and needing another I decided to go the cheaper route and see if I was wasting my money.

This 'Mini Video Camera' is very similar to the dearer models, the biggest difference being the body is plastic, NOT alloy as stated in the product description, inspite of this, the unit feels robust enough and the various clips, straps and brackets that come with it are good too.

In use this camera gives great results and the picture quality, considering the cost and size of it's lense is good enough to put together some half decent videos of your exploits from last Sunday afternoon.
Sound quailty is ok, though on the move wind noise is a problem but for ordinary conversation it's fine.
The sound activated mode is pretty useful too especially if you wanted to hide the camera on the bookshelf somewhere and find out what your cleaning lady gets up to!!

So to re-cap,
The camera is plastic, NOT alloy.
The unit gives great results in natural day light though works well under normal room lighting.
They are NOT waterproof, (even the £50 + models)
They are simple to use and a lot of fun.
Cheap enough to buy more than one.
Come with all leads and charger, easy to use with pc.
NO, I don't work for Benthams!!

I just want to add that on receiving my camera which arrived within 3 days there was no memory card in the box as advertised.
I called 'Benthams' and the lady on the phone was great, my memory card arrived next day 1st class post.
So well done to the seller, a great product for the price and good customer service.

Have you bought one of these Mini Digital Video Recording Cameras?
Are you having trouble getting it to work?
Read On :---

There are many of this type of Camera advertised on the internet for around the £20 mark, They seem to go under a variety of names, MD80, Mini DVR etc. Some come with a Micro SD card as part of the package, some you will need to purchase as an extra. The DVR will not work without one.

Apart from the more expensive devices, They all seem to suffer from the same problem. The Chinese/Engrish instructions are very misleading especially when they refer to Green and Yellow Lights as there are none. Substitue Red and Blue for the lights.

Once you do get them to work they are simple to use, functioning as a Webcam or Digital Video Recorder with or without VOX facility.

To Start :-

Before doing anything else, Insert the Micro SD card into the slot in the side of the unit and plug the USB lead into the computer and into the device to charge the internal battery.

Now, If you read the supplied insructions, this is where it starts to get confusing, ignore the supplied instructions and read on.

A Blue and a Red light will come on - The Blue light is steady, the Red light is Flashing. This shows the device is charging. When fully charged, the Red light stays on.

Once the device has charged, unplug it and install the software. Put the disc in the computer, but don't let it Autorun as most of the software is not needed.

What you will need is a file called SPCA1528. This is a file with the extension .rar which will need to be unzipped before it will install. You may use any unzip program, I use 7-ZIP, it's easy to use and it's free.

Extract the file and install it to a suitable directory on your hard drive.

Note! - This is the only file on the disc that you will definitely need. The other files are the Chinese English Manual and a Video Player program that I don't recommend if you already have Windows Media Player. I tried it and it made my computer 'hang'.

There is also a file called TAG.TXT, ignore that for now.

Once the device is charged and the software installed, it's time to play.

To Record :-

Please note - You can not record when the USB lead is plugged into the camera

Press the POWER button on the side of the device, the Blue light will come on and the Red light will flash momentarily. To start recording, press the GREY button on the top of the device. The Red light will flash while you are recording. To stop recording, press the GREY button again.

VOX operation :-

When in record mode, press the MODE button on the other side of the device, the camera now records when there is a sound of sufficient level.

To Playback :-

Plug the USB lead into the device and into the computer, wait a little while and the playback should start. If it doesn't, go to 'My Computer' and look for the device, it will show as an extra drive, double click and it will open, probably with a file name of SUNP0001 or something similar.

You will notice that the Date and Time stamps imprinted across the bottom of the recording are WRONG. There doesn't appear to be any way to get rid of the time stamp, but you can get it to display the correct Date and Time.

Date and Time Correction :-

With the device connected to the computer, open up 'NOTEPAD'

(All programs - Accessories - Notepad)

You may now open the file TAG.TXT on the disk and amend it, or make a new file. Personally I find it easier to make a new file :-

Type in as follows, noting the Brackets and separate line for each command,

[date]
2010/12/31
13:02:00

Use the current date and time and Name the file TAG

If you have used Notepad, it will add the .txt extension to the file as it is saved.

Now use 'Save As' to save it to the device drive letter as shown in 'My Computer'.

The next time you record anything, it will play back with the correct date and time that the recording was made.

To use as a Webcam :-

Plug the USB lead into the camera and computer, press the MODE button, it should now function as a webcam for whichever program you use.

__________________________________________________________________

Plug it in and charge it up for an hour or two.
Unplug it and check it turns off by keeping your finger on the Power button for 2 seconds then releasing.
If it doesn't power off ( The light should go out ) stick the end of a paper clip in the reset hole.
Stick a micro SD card in it. Gold contacts facing same way as the lens.

To record.
Press the power button and the blue light will come on, after a second the red light will come on then go off after another second or two. Now it is ready to record. You have to wait for the red light to turn off before starting recording.
Press the top button to record. Blue light will stay on, red light slowly flash. Press top button again to stop. If you leave it turned on and not recording for more than 40 seconds or so it will turn itself off.

Sound activated recording.
Press power button, wait a few seconds as above. Press Mode button, Blue light on, red light flashing rapidly. It's now in sound activated mode and will record when it hears noise above a certain level. If the noise stops, it will stop recording after a minute and revert to sound activated mode till the next noise. Red light flashing rapidly = Sound mode. Red light flashing slowly = recording.

Setting the date.
Create a text document on your PC named TAG with the following three lines. Change the date and time to suit but not the first line that says "[date]". You must include the square brackets around the "date" and each line must have a space at the end.

[date]
2011/04/19
15:39:00

Plug the DV into your computer and drop or paste this Text file onto the root directory of the DV. Root directory is not one of the folders, it shows up as a letter in the "My computer" part of your PC.
Unplug and turn on the DV and your videos should now be date stamped correctly.

Realistic Specs
Battery life of around 1.5 hours videoing. On noise activated standby mode, 3 or 4 hours.
About 30 mins video per 1Gb of card.
Charging time, a couple of hours max. Usually much quicker.
Don't imagine using it as a webcam unless you know enough about computers that you wouldn't be reading these instructions anyway. It can work as one but it's fiddly to set up if you don't know your way around a computer well.