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."

Comments

Not new..

[PopeAlien]

My camcorder is already disposable.

Its just really expensive to replace.

Re:Not new..

[DustMagnet]

I haven't had a digital camera die a natural death yet.

What's a natural death for a man-made artifact?

How to check this out

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Has the prior digicam hack...

[robslimo]

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.

Re:Has the prior digicam hack...

[morcheeba]

I've gotten feedback from a couple of photography teachers who use it for teaching kids. I have no idea how much this has impacted sales, but I've seen articles in popsci and pc world, so it has gotten out to the public. Next to teaching, my personal favorite use has been the guys who launched one in a balloon to 52,000 feet (previously mentioned on slashdot)

Whee!!

[Grendel Drago]

Yep, we're going to be seeing a whole lotta fresh amateur porn over at Livejournal from this. Man, I love PureDigital.

--grendel drago

20 minutes?!?

[The_Rippa]

That's enough space to capture the entire life-span of sexual escapades of most of the people posting to this thread.

Allready Hacked..

[luxis]

http://cexx.org/dakota/pv2.htm

Might... get one myself..

more info & the PV2 still camera with LCD

[morcheeba]

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.

The community working on hacking this new camcorder is located at:http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewforum.php ?f=13

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.

Re:Wait a second...

[YrWrstNtmr]

TFA is misleading. Not disposable, but instead reusable.

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?

Re:Wait a second...

[ReverendLoki]

I believe they mean it has a memory unit, capable of storing about 20 minutes of video, hardwired into the internal workings of the machine, not readily accessible from the exterior. This would be similar to other disposable still cameras, anyways. You can delete some video and re-shoot it, but can't hold more than 20 minutes at a time. In the lab, they have their own means of accessing the data, which they then burn to a DVD for you.

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...

Expensive

[stoolpigeon]

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.

Re:Now we will get "video" images from battlefield

[fiannaFailMan]

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.

Wasn't that sort of thing (soldiers with cameras and camera-phones) cracked down on after the Abu Gharib thing?

Just buy a camcorder

[DamienMcKenna]

You can get decent camcorders (Panasonic PV-53) off ebay for $100, why bother with this POS?

Re:Now we will get "video" images from battlefield

[JVert]

Soo... We trust them with guns but not cameras?

Re:Allready Hacked.. Wrong product

[sonik1]

This article refers to a disposable camcorder, not camera.

Why is this posted?

[Eunuch]

Nerds seek the singularity, and sex is a distraction. Your post is both unoriginal and irrelevant.

Re:Now we will get "video" images from battlefield

[StandardDeviant]

Which is more threatening to the powers that be?

Pen vs. Sword, Act III Scene 2...

Re:Battery Life?

[ReverendLoki]

Probably not easily accessible (at least no more accessible than the memory), but even if it's not accessible, it should surely be replaceable. I'm starting to think that, when these get hacked, I might have to pick one up.

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.

WOW!

[MightyMartian]

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.

Re:Memory erasing?

[juglugs]

Paris? Is that you?

Re:20 Minutes? Why bother?

[timeOday]

but with only 20 minutes of what is probably lo-res video, why would anyone bother?

shoot it up in a model rocket

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