If you one of my regular readers, you know that I love technology. Technology doesn’t always love me but either way, I’m a techhead…
When I was approached to take a look at a brand new, unreleased HD camera for taking extreme videos, I jumped at the opportunity.
I’m going to keep this brief because this is a pretty straightforward camera.
The Vivitar DVR 786HD is a HD camera in the spirit of the GoPro. It takes both HD video and photos.
I’ve been playing with this camera for about a week and I have to say that I’m impressed, especially considering that you get everything you see in the picture for $59.99.
Over the years I’ve become quite accustomed to smartphone photography bit this tiny little camera has really intrigued me..
One of the coolest things about this camera is the ability to film underwater
The camera includes a waterproof case for taking pictures or video underwater, which is so cool.
Of course, the boys and I had to test out the camera underwater, so we headed to the park and did just that. The included wireless remote allowed us to place the camera in the creek, step back and take underwater video.
See the below sample.. Please note this was taken in very poor lighting conditions.
https://youtu.be/rZjdgpXXtak
The camera is very simple to use and only has 5 buttons, a rest button and a microSD card slot for picture and video storage.
For testing purposes I used a Samsung 64GB class 10 card and I experienced no lag.
Video is very smooth and frankly pretty good, especially considering the price point. Is it on par with a GoPro? No, not really but I don’t think it’s meant to be.
Essentially, it’s a very affordable, extremely kids friendly HD camera for taking extreme videos.
This is something that the entire family can enjoy. The kids can take the camera in the pool and take HD video of what it looks like underwater.
The camera can be mounted to a helmet, bike handle bars or pretty much anything you can think of to get some really amazing footage.
Best of all, pretty much everything you need is included in the package.
If you know someone who’s interested in capturing film in more extreme circumstances, this is definitely something to look at because it does a great and the for the price, it can’t be beat.
On a more personal note, Elliott is absolutely in love with this camera. He’s been chomping at the bit for me to turn it over to him but I’ve made him wait until after I finished this brief review. He’s going to be one happy camper now that I can turn it over to him.
I’m excited because something like this can be what inspires people to discover the world of photography or cinematography. Elliott really enjoys filming things and taking pictures and the Vivitar DVR 786HD is the perfect device for him.. ☺
If you’re interested in getting your hands on one of these really cool little cameras, you can purchase these at Walmart, both in store and online. They are also available on Amazon. The camera retails for $59.99 and I’m telling you, for the price, it can’t be beat.
This thing breaks your video up into a bunch of little files 2 or 3 minutes long. Suggestions? Perhaps I should have it format my 32GB card? C’mon, my 13-year-old 640×480 cam does better than that, except that it’s battery is only good for a few seconds any more.
It went back to the store. The video was lousy. The Vivitar DVR757 I got for $30 makes nicer video, though at 720p. My video editor scales the 720p video to 1080p nicely.
If anyone is having issues with video/photos coming out too dark, you might need to open it up to adjust position of sensor. The sensor is supposed to be located directly behind the little circle on the front of the camera. However, it is just taped on to the battery pack with a small piece of tape. Mine was stuck on the bottom half of the battery instead of the top half, so it didn’t even line up with the IR filter. I re-positioned it and stuck it on with some hot glue. All is good now.
Be very careful if you decide to open it up, and make sure the battery is out of power first. This will void your warranty, and I am not responsible for any damage to camera, or personal injury to you or others as a result of your actions.
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
You just need to format the sd card. There is a option on camera menu to format card. This will delete everything on the card though, so save to computer first if you have other files on there.
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
My daughter just bought this camera with Christmas money given to her from grandparents. When taking videos longer than 10 seconds, the green “busy” light flashes and doesn’t seem to ever stop. We let it flash for over an hour two different times today before finally pushing the reset button. I’m wondering if it’s the micro SD card we have … we bought the card it requires on the package — a class 4 micro SD card. Do I just need a larger/faster card? Seems silly they would require that card, but you can’t take video longer than 5 seconds with it.
I would think a class 4 card would be the minimum. Recording 1080p requires bandwidth that isn’t available in lower class cards.
My thought would be that the card can’t keep up with the camera. That’s a guess but a good place to start. I’ve not had the problem but that does sound right. I will say that we used a class 10 card.
The only other thing I can think is maybe it’s defective and perhaps swapping it out would be of benefit.
I hope this helps. Please let me know what you figure out and feel free to let me know if I can do anything goes to help.
Hello. Do you know if i have to do any special thing in orden to make the remote control work…
Thank you