MinoHD Review and the Riot Road Trip

Have you seen the videos from the Riot Road Trip yet? Our destination this time was Denny's Beer Barrel Pub. Fantastic food was had by all and the videos can be seen below. Those videos were shot with the magnificent, tiny MinoHD pocket camcorder. Here it is:


Here's the short form of the review. You can hear it in its entirety on the Riot Control podcast or in the archive of today's show here.

Liked

Size and portability- It's smaller than the standard def VADO that I have and I thought the VADO was tiny when I got it. It weighs 3.3oz which means that it doesn't feel like a brick in your pocket. It boots quickly which means the time from pocket to video is roughly 2 seconds. (Depending on how good you are at getting things out of your pocket!)

Video quality- It looks far better than I thought it would. It shoots in 720p and handles low lighting very well.

Records as mp4- This made plugging it into my PS3 a very easy way to see the video on my HDTV.

Overall vibe- The coolness factor is high. Sleek black exterior with backlit buttons insures that friends will be wondering what that is and where they can get one.

Disliked

Shakey cam- There is no image stabilization. Most pocket camcorders don't have this feature either but it is time for one to include it! With a resolution this high, operator movement becomes very apparent.

TV out- It has a TV out jack but will only display on a TV in standard definition. (Unless you can access the files directly via a PS3/Xbox 360/etc.)

Placement of zoom buttons. Zoom is an awesome feature but the video always got rougher when I used it because of the awkward placement of the buttons on the back.

OVERALL
This is a GREAT camera to carry in your pocket. Video isn't perfect but for the portability and price make it worth a look. (*NOTE*- On the show I mentioned that I had seen it running for around $129. I couldn't find that deal again this morning so it may have been a sale or a price mistake. I'm seeing them now running from $150-180.)

Here are the videos! I recommend following them back to YouTube and watching them in HD!