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Disposable Camcorder
shamowfski writes "CVS Corp on Monday began selling a disposable digital camcorder. The $29.99 pocket-sized camcorder was developed by Pure Digital Technologies Inc., a San Francisco-based start-up company. The camcorder weighs under 5 ounces and holds 20 minutes of digital video and sound. It features a 1.4 inch color playback screen and an ability to delete video, and it saves video on a memory chip instead of tapes. Can't wait till they hack this one."
My camcorder is already disposable.
Its just really expensive to replace.
air and light and time and space
I'm trying to checkout the CVS camera, but no luck:
cvs co disposable_camera
cvs checkout: No CVSROOT specified! Please use the `-d' option
cvs [checkout aborted]: or set the CVSROOT environment variable.
Can anyone help me check out the camera?
With something so cheap and disposable, it is just a matter of time before these start to become part of the soldier's standard kit.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
been used much?
I mean, how many people actually did the hack and got a cheap, reusable digital camera out of the deal?
I'm betting it wasn't enough to have a large effect on sales.
Yep, we're going to be seeing a whole lotta fresh amateur porn over at Livejournal from this. Man, I love PureDigital.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I for one welcome our new Upskirt overlords
That's enough space to capture the entire life-span of sexual escapades of most of the people posting to this thread.
http://cexx.org/dakota/pv2.htm
Might... get one myself..
As pointed out yesterday on engadget, these cameras have been out a few months -- it's just that the press release came out recently. Yep, it's from the same company that made the hacked still camera.
p ?f=13
The community working on hacking this new camcorder is located at:http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewforum.ph
These cameras seem to have an external program memory, so it might not be too hard to hack. The forum above also has dissection pictures.
BTW, last summer PureDigital came out with a still camera called the PV2. Unlike the one that was previously mentioned on slashdot, this new one has an LCD post-view screen and it's based on a completely different chipset. It has also been hacked. I figured out the authentication mechanism on this and most of the communications. Others got the camera to work with standard drivers and are figuring out the proprietary raw format. I wrote a disassembler and have published commentary on the built-in firmware, but you'll need a camera & firmware file to make sense of it. The firmware is protected by a checksum, but that was easy to find and correct.
main pv2 forums
PV2 FAQ from the forum - a great starting place
my FAQ's
unofficial devkit for writing your own programs.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
Take your video, return the camera to CVS, and they burn it onto a DVD for you. Erase the card, and sell(rent) it to you (or someone else) again. Just like the 'one use' still cameras.
This WILL be hacked to allow home retrieval of the video. Wonder what the resolution is?
I can't help but think that, since I imagine they will re-use everything, including the memory unit, that people will find out not only how to get the data form the chip itself, but also will be able to read what was recorded on there by previous disposable camcorder owners. No chance of that going wrong at all...
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I think it's a great idea for motorcylists. I like to go crusing alot. I can give one of these to my biker babe sitting in the back so she can film the rest of the posse without worrying about losing an expensive camcorder.
So if you play by the rules - you spend 30 bucks to rent it, then another 13 to get the burned dvd. $43 for a 20 minute DVD. Seems a bit steep in my book.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Article's not too clear. My guess is that you can't get to the card directly, and they use some sort of super-secret connector to actually get the data from the camera to their computer at CVS, then they burn the video to a DVD for you.
It should be illegal to say that freedom of speech should be limited.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Remember the disposable cell phone?
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
This is not feasable. I'd pay $20 for a 1.4" color screen to play with on its own. There has to be a deposit to make sure they are recycled by the right people. So the $20 includes the ability to get the data back out? Pay $80, get $60 back when you turn the case in, that I can see happening.
Realisistically, how long before the average cell phone has basic video recording capabilities? Most phones now have still cameras, and the main limitation on video is just storage capacity. So, I should think that within 5 years, video cell phones will be standard and then this device is totally irrelevant.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
You can get decent camcorders (Panasonic PV-53) off ebay for $100, why bother with this POS?
Soo... We trust them with guns but not cameras?
Fuck that. I would never have any "special moments" recorded. Not now, not ever..with anything.
I don't like the idea of that shit comming back to haunt me on the internet. Because you know shit like that can and has happened before.
Life is not for the lazy.
This article refers to a disposable camcorder, not camera.
What else can I send over to the troops other than books and playing cards? I have a contact at work who arranges to have stuff shipped to Iraq on transports ferrying supplies.
I know that boredom killers are in high demand. I tried to get month-old magazines, but the local vendor said they get shipped back to the publisher for back issues. I've been looking for stuff that can be left behind and traded.
Any suggestions?
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Oh, really?
Did your recruiting officer tell you that?
Lucrative gig, soldiering, eh?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Nerds seek the singularity, and sex is a distraction. Your post is both unoriginal and irrelevant.
Transcend Humanity. Please.
Technically, the camera's batteries and its packaging are disposable, but everything else is recycled, so it's more a "recyclable" than a "disposable" unit.
Which is more threatening to the powers that be?
Pen vs. Sword, Act III Scene 2...
News for Geeks in Austin, TX
"A camcorder that records onto a digital card is disposable...how?"
Proprietary battery? One-way moulded case containing the media? Real crypto?
Those of us who remember Super-8 film, remember paying $6.00 (1978 dollars!) for the three minute and twenty second film cartridge, and another $8.00 to develop it.
>Who needs a camcorder like that?
I'm sure if it's sold in the right shops at the right places, tons of people will buy them. They will be sold to people before embarking on day cruises (even people with real cameras hate seawater spray. Would you take your Canon XL2 on a Zodiac?) They will be bought dozens at a time for wedding guests or corporate meetings. How do you suppose a waterproof version would do at a dive or surf shop?
People pay $12.00 for a 24-exposure C41 camera today, and another $10-12 to develop the film. Hell, *I* have even done this, and I have a very good digital SLR, a good digital point-and-shoot, and a respectable film SLR system. I've still found reasons to buy these things from time to time, sometimes for the waterproof Kodak, sometimes only to avoid standing out or being singled out, and occassionally because I enjoy working within the limitations of a given medium.
Nobody "needs" a camcorder like that. But they will be purchased, along with bugspray, sunblock, and a bag of cheetos. I'm sure I'll even try one.
One thing though, if it does turn out to be hackable, I assume I'll never see one. Just like I never saw an Iopener or a CueCat or a Nintendo glove or a Juicebox.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Hell, pick up several - I think this one could catch on more than the disposable digital stills. Attach one to your RC airplane and play CIA with it... even better if you can hook up a wireless feed! Or use a ziplock bag to make you're own underwater camera. I know there's a lot of things I would risk doing with this that I'd never use our expensive "real" camcorder for.
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First disposable condoms and coffee enemas, and now this! Truly we are at the dawn of a great age. What's next? Clean hookers? Quick somebody grab Dvorak! I need to know.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Paris? Is that you?
This sig is in Spanish when you're not looking....
This looks great (as someone else has linked to in this thread) for aerial photography, whether by kite or rocket -- the sort of thing that you don't want to risk an expensive camera with.
;)
What other things would you use this for? Underwater robots? Car-attached home-made action shots? Glued to back of pet turtle?
There have to be some cool applications for which a $30 video camera would be perfect
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
(Note: I have no financial or emotional connection with the company that makes the products mentioned below. I just want to point out that for a little more you can have to keep a far more flexible product.)
_ wide.JPG
h oop.asf (3.3 mb ASF video)
This week, Target is selling for $97 the non-disposable equivalent of this gimmick, the Aiptek "IS-DV."
The IS stands for "Image Stabilization."
It records to internal memory or a SD stick. A 256 mb stick holds about 60 minutes of MPEG4 video.
It is also a still camera (5 mp, but with a non-adjustable lens), voice recorder, and MP3 player. It comes with a tripod, A/V cable, headphones, and USB cable.
I've had an earlier version, the DV4500, for about six months. It's a great little toy. I bought it so I'd have a cheap camera I wouldn't be afraid to carry around everywhere. The image quality is pretty good:
http://home.comcast.net/~stefan_jones/valley_view
The video quality is "OK." Note that this film was done under less than optimal lighting conditions:
http://home.comcast.net/~stefan_jones/kira_jumps_
I bought a IS-DV so I can give the DV4500 to a relative.
Stefan
like wedding receptions, instead of disposable still cameras.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
Breakfree CLP. Wonderful gun cleaning/lubricant. AR15 rifles such as they're using over there jam all the time due to the high amounts of dust and the high precision of those specific rifles. They have to clean them constantly.
Breakfree CLP is a non-oily lubricant, so it won't inherrently collect dust while still lubricating and protecting, helping prevent various malfunctions.
Considering the time they spend cleaning their guns (I would hope quite a lot, so they continue to fire for them when needed - I know the Marines do), and how long it takes to properly break down an AR15 ("M4" in military parlance, I guess), it would be greatly appreciated, I'm sure.
You could try sending them stuff like Guns & Ammo - give the magazine a call, they might be able to give you a discount rate (or simply ship a couple extras for you to send over). They're good Americans, generally speaking.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Actually, what this company is suggesting is superior to recycling. The cameras themselves are reusable. So, rather than say melting the plastics and reforming them (which itself would be difficult if at all possible), the camera frame can be used verbatim without expending the large energy costs associated with recycling.
Give me reuse over recycling any day.
keep it in your glove box in case of who-knows-what (Rodney King II?)
take it mountain biking to get clips of your buddies
on vacation when you forget your real camcorder
as a kids' toy
set them out on the tables at a wedding party for the guests to film each other and leave you advice
Hey, c'mon, that's not fair.
Lexmark make exceedingly good doorstops!
Ohhhh.. you wanted to use it for printing?
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
It would be better called a "one time use" video camera: like the cameras, both film and digital of the same name.
I worked at a major camera-store chain (rhymes with 'zits') a while back, right when they first came out with one time use digital cameras. We were actively discouraged from calling them "disposable," because in reality they were anything but. In order for the company to make a profit, each one had to go out and back at least twice, I think. Probably that number went down as they made more of them, but at least at the beginning they were definitely being 'rented' out for below actual value / manufacturing cost. When they came back to the store, the photos got downloaded (through a proprietary port/interface) and then the camera body was sent back to be refurbished and repackaged.
I assume these video cameras are the same way. It's a natural extension of the technology. I just wonder what the video quality is like.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
That's $42.98 per use... $2.15 cents per minute... not including sales tax.
Though people talk about hacking it, the people who could hack it are not the target market for it, as they can figure out how to use their camcorders and DVD burners.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
A SureFire 6P. Add on 120 lumen bulb. The waterproof holder for a spare and six batteries. A tactical speed holster. Two boxes of twelve batteries. Shock proof bezel if weapon mounting is wanted.
http://www.surefire.com/
If you have the bux an aftermarket mount and squeeze switch for it so it can be put on an M16.
I need to find my supplier for this.
A good knife from http://www.sharppointythings.com/ the Battle Bitch is sweet but a simple Cold Steel smachet or tanto is nice. It's not an online store but an email will get a quote.
Any small card game, you'd be surprised how well Steve Jackson's games go over. They are small and portable and fun.
http://www.sjgames.com/
There is another site for really cheap cool card games but I've lost it.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty