Veho Kuzo VCC002HD review and video test: Cheap camera for needed people

[diodox]

Hi, I bought a Veho Kuzo some weeks ago so please, let me tell you about my experience.

Pro: The most comfortable camera I've ever used, I doesn't weight anything, easy to carry everywhere.
Cons: This makes very difficult to shot with it, you tend to move more than with bigger cameras.

Pro: Real 1080p video, good 60 fps video mode, relative good macro mode.
Cons:Saturated colors, mostly red channel.

Pro: Stabilization!!!
Cons: Just available in 720p, and you have to remember activating it every time camera is turned on. It is not great, just helps a little.

Pro: Great at day light!
Cons: Poor, very poor, grainy at low light. The built-in light is not very useful.

Pro: The battery life is great and batteries are small and cheeeap!!!!
Cons: No cons here.

Pro: Good Compression, files small = a lot of recording hours.
Cons: Poorly selected format and probably codec also, AVI is not very indicated for HD. I haven't found the way of merging files with reencoding and not all the encoders can manage them (Super and Mediacoder fail or produce audio sync problems). (I'll tell you more after).

Pro: The price is incredible!!! I bought from Amazon.uk but I found it also at Best Buy USA from other maker for just 80$ (yes, 80 american dollars).
Cons: If you dream with something better for this price... keep dreaming.

My experience with the camera has been great (I've made a long travel and shooted a lot of hours) but when I arrived home I realised about its negative aspects.

I was sure before buying that it would have low light problems, because you need a big sensor to capture low light scenes, but those are expensive and aren't fittable in a small camera. No surprises.

But what I didnt expected was the codecs problems. It is true that I don't own a good computer, but I was used to edit DV and with this format I've found a lot of problems.

This is what mediainfo says about one 720p file:

Video
ID : 0
Formato : AVC
Formato/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Formato del perfil : Main@L4.0
Ajustes del formato, CABAC : Si
Ajustes del formato, RefFrames : 4marcos
Format_Settings_GOP : M=3, N=15
ID Códec : H264
Duración : 8min.
Tipo de tasa de bits : Variable
Tasa de bits : 4 000Kbps
Tasa de bits máxima : 4 001Kbps
Ancho : 1 280pixeles
Alto : 720pixeles
Relación de aspecto : 16:9
Velocidad de cuadro : 29,970fps
ColorSpace : YUV
ChromaSubsampling : 4:2:0
BitDepth/String : 8bits
Tipo de exploración : Progresivo
Bits/(Pixel*cuadro) : 0.145
Tamaño de pista : 230MB (91%)

Audio
ID : 1
Formato : ADPCM
ID Códec : 11
ID Códec/Pista : Intel
Duración : 7min.
Tipo de tasa de bits : Constante
Tasa de bits : 384Kbps
Canal(es) : 2canales
Velocidad de muestreo : 48,0KHz
BitDepth/String : 4bits
Tamaño de pista : 22,2MB (9%)
Entrelazado, duración : 43 ms (1,27fotograma de video)

I've made several re-encoding test with Super and Mediacoder and produced a lot of empty files and out of sync files.

I've tried to merge files without reencoding (with software like Boilsoft Video Joiner that I've used with other formats and also produce out of sync files. This software probably doesn't understand audio timing with these codecs.

I've tried to repackage the AVI files into MP4 (best for HD) without re-encoding and obtained Out of Sync files with Super and empty files with Mediacoder.

I've tried the same with MKV and failed.

The only conversor that gave me good results is PRVsoft Video Encoder, link here.
But it doesn't offer many options: the video losses quality, specially if 1080p source, you can't use more than 4000 in any codec, no PAL resolution available and the MPEG2 container is VOB.

I've converted all to MP4 and I'm trying to join (without re-encoding) them with YAMB. Hope it works.

ANY HELP OR RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT THOSE ISSUES IS WELCOMED.

The first days I made some video tests, with all the recording modes and estabilization on and off and posted into youtube:

The playlist is available here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1713A74426D9A577

That's all, excuses for my english (10 years without almost using it) and if someone needs something related to my info... just say it below.

[redwudz]

Your English is fine. Never hurts to throw in a photo: