Creative Vado HD camcorder reviewed

UK-based PocketLint has a new review of the Creative Vado HD camcorder, a competitor to the highly successful Flip and Webbie pocket-sized HD camcorders.

From the review:

The Vado HD follows the same design lines as the standard Vado that we looked at last year, but now looks slightly less plasticy and a little more meaty, with the gun metal grey body looking a little more serious than the lighter grey of the standard version. The lens now protrudes from the body, but apart from that that, is pretty much the same.

A welcome addition, however, is the mini HDMI connection on the side concealed under a rubber flap. Enclosed in the box you’ll find the cable so you can hook the Vado HD straight up to your HDTV or other HDMI equipped device. We like this move because in terms of practical usage you know you can just plug into your TV and get watching, taking advantage of the high-definition output.

The inclusion of the cable too is perhaps worth a mention, firstly because if you don’t already have a camcorder, you probably won’t have a mini HDMI cable, and secondly because many devices neglect to supply one. Strangely the standard AV cable is not supplied, although they are cheap and widely available, but if you’ve not yet joined the HD revolution, then you’ll need one to hook-up to your TV.

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The on-board software is simple to use giving you playback options and letting you do some basic editing after the installation of an additional plugin. You don't have to use the software, you can just open up the folder and extract the AVI files that you want for playback or editing in a separate package if you wish.

You also get options to upload directly into YouTube, Photobucket and Box.net from within the software. The YouTube option is likely to be the most popular here, and with YouTube HD picking up popularity, the Vado HD will put up your video for people to view in HD online.

Buy a Creative Labs Vado HD 720p Pocket Video Camcorder with 8 GB Video Storage and 2x Digital Zoom (Black)

Read the full review here.