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disgo Video Plus review on The Lost Outpost by Andy Piper
A couple of weeks ago I saw a short news item on Tech Digest, which mentioned a new handheld USB camcorder called the disgo Video Plus (also mentioned on Shiny Shiny and Slashgear). Something similar has been available in the US since last year – the Pure Digital Flip Video – but that product is not available in the UK. The disgo camera has a flip-out screen which the Flip Video does not have, but in other respects they seem very similar.

I’ve been experimenting a little bit recently with video. This device seemed neat – it plugs in directly via USB and is aimed at YouTube-quality, quick video capture. The only thing I was concerned about was that according to the specifications, it didn’t support the Mac… unlike the Flip Video, which has full Mac and Windows support, the disgo product is only listed as compatible with Windows. I contacted disgo’s support team and had an excellent conversation via email where we established that it should just be a USB Mass Storage device, and I might have to do some fiddling to get the AVIs to play on the Mac, but I was willing to give that a try.

Impressions of the Video Plus itself
The camera is extremely neat. It takes 2 x AA batteries (a pair are supplied), comes with a soft carry case, and apart from that… it’s ready to go. The height is less than the size of my hand from the base of the palm to my fingertips, and it is about the same width as a classic iPod. It’s light, too.

There’s a 1.5 inch screen (which, incidentally, is really nice and clear) that flips out sideways to enable you to see yourself if the camera is pointing at you – it doesn’t rotate on the axis, though. On the back there are a few buttons: on/off; play/pause; delete (which enables individual clips to be deleted on the device itself); a four way next/zoom/volume button; and a big red button to start or stop a recording. And that’s about it – this is simple stuff.

On one side there is the battery compartment, an SD/MMC card slot which will take up to a 2Gb SD card, and a slider which when pressed causes the USB connector to slide out of the top of the camera to the right of the lens. On the other side there’s a switch to choose between high quality or long play recording, and an A/V connector for hooking up to a TV. There’s a tripod screw connector on the base, and a mystery port on the top with a rubber cover, that I’ve not identified just yet.

It was dead simple to get going – switch on, hit record, and start making video clips. The onboard memory will store 30 minutes of video at high quality, or 60 minutes at lower quality; beyond that, you can obviously add an SD card to expand the capacity.

Availability

The disgo Video Plus is available via Currys in the UK

More photos on Flickr

Video review also available.

Film-making in the palm of your hand
BILLED as “the world’s simplest video camcorder”, this lightweight-and yes, jaw-droppingly easy to use-device is an upgrade of the original Disgo Video , which launched last year.

About the size of the original iPod, the Video Plus runs on two AA batteries and comes with built in memory manager software, which means you don’t need to install or download anything before you start using it.

Just get it out of the box, switch it on, shoot your dips and use the built-in USB port to transfer them directly to your PC or Mac, where they’re automatically stored into a standard video format ready for emailing or uploading onto the web.

TEEN MARKET
It really is that simple. There are two quality settings high quality and long play-allowing 30 and 60 minutes of recording time respectively, with up to four hours recording time available with an external memory card.

As you can imagine, the quality isn’t quite up to Spielberg standards-in fact, even on the high quality setting it’s only a slight improvement on the kind of footage you get from a high mega-pixel digital camera or even camera phone.

But then, the Video Plus is really designed for use on the web.

Sites like YouTube and Facebook have practically invented the need for technology like this, and in this medium it performs just fine.

There’s even a handy 1.5-inch, flip out colour screen, which makes it perfect for filming yourself-so keeping your profile or blog up to date has never been easier.

Another downside is that it doesn’t look great. You’re not paying for Bang & Olufsen equipment, but the pearl white casing reeks of the teen market when this could be a very useful tool for web users across the age

Spectrum.

Disgo Ultra Affordable YouTube Camcorder Upgraded to Disgo Video Plus
Disgo’s cheap and cheerful camcorder which, alongside the likes of the Flip and Sony’s Net Sharing Cam, is aimed at those looking for a rudimentary point and shoot device – such as those looking to produce content for YouTube and bloggers looking to add a little video based content to their sites – has now been upgraded to become the Disgo Video Plus.

Agreed, the previous Disgo camcorder was never the most attractive or feature rich of devices and, in this respect, little has changed. But where Disgo’s take on highly affordable YouTube/Blogging camcorders had the edge over the likes of the aforementioned Flip and Sony’s Net Cam was in terms of its extremely low retail price – a mere £40.

The new, upgraded Disgo Video Plus is a little more expensive (retailing for around £70 / $137) but in light of the fact that this upgraded version comes with all the features of its forerunner as well as a new 1.5” flip out TFT screen (instead of the embedded affair in the previous model), a x2 digital zoom, and a built in speaker and microphone, its hardly priced at a premium.

Certainly if you’re looking to create home movie masterpieces then you’ll no doubt find the Disgo Video Plus’s rudimentary nature wholly restrictive but, for those looking for a cheap point and shoot device that facilitates the uploading of video content to sites such as YouTube, to your own sites or for attaching video clips to emails the Disgo’s ease of use, occasioned by its extreme simplicity, is undoubtedly a major selling point.