Mustek DV5500 MPEG-4 7-in-1 Multifunctional Digital Camcorder w/2.5-inch LCD and 4x Digital Zoom

Design
The chassis of the DV 5500 takes design queues from some of the ultra-compact MiniDV camcorders now on the market. The unit easily fits into one hand, and controls are designed for use by the thumb and forefinger. Switching between modes is easy using a small thumbwheel while menu navigation is performed via a multi-directional button placed just below the thumbwheel. Our only gripe here was that the select button at the center of the multi-directional button was difficult to press; it's a bit too easy to make unintended selections with this button. Otherwise, the DV 5500 has a smart, user-friendly button layout.

The build quality of the DV 5500 is good and the plastic case feels sturdy in the hand. Both the battery and the memory card are housed in the bottom-rear portion of the unit. It's delightful that Mustek chose to include a good lithium-ion rechargeable battery as cameras like this are notorious for sucking batteries dry quickly, leaving the owner to schlep around a pile of alkalines. Not so with the good rechargeable in this unit, and although battery life only ran about an hour, it was great knowing we could simply recharge and start shooting again.

While most MiniDV-format cameras include an internal viewfinder in addition to an external LCD, the DV 5500 relies solely on an external display. Thanks to its relatively bright and clear 2.5" LCD, you probably won't find yourself missing an internal viewfinder, but because external LCDs drink a lot of juice an internal one would have been a nice option when power savings is a priority.

Using the LCD, you can navigate through the DV 5500's menu system, which is fairly intuitive, if not a bit rough around the edges. Some menu graphics and text are difficult to read, and you'll need to consult the manual to decipher them.

Features
At the heart of the DV 5500 is a microprocessor designed to encode video into a format known as MPEG-4. This compression scheme makes it possible to fit a respectable amount of video on the included 32 MB memory card. We were able to squeeze in six minutes at the highest resolution and quality settings, but this can be easily doubled when shooting at the lower resolution settings. Purchasing an optional memory card with a larger capacity is the ticket to even longer run times.

Still images can be captured onto the memory card, as well. At the highest resolution (2048 x 1536), expect to only hold a few images. Again, a memory card upgrade is required to get more out of the DV 5500's photo features.

Although the DV 5500 ships with a number of software utilities for photo and video organization and editing, we were using a Macintosh computer. Fortunately, our computer's USB port recognized the DV 5500 and we were able to drag and drop video and image files onto the Mac's hard drive. It was also easy to drag a few MP3 tracks to the DV 5500's memory card and listen to them via the unit's MP3 player interface. Similar capabilities are possible on a Windows-based computer with a USB port.

Image Quality
In good lighting situations the DV 5500 produced respectable stills with good color accuracy and sharp textures. Video results were good, but not as good as the quality you'll find with the tape-based MiniDV format. The tradeoffs in sharpness, light response and color accuracy are certainly due to the MPEG-4 compression the DV 5500 uses. However, if you can live with lower quality in the video department, you'll appreciate the ease of use, flexibility and convenience the DV 5500's tapeless format offers. --Joshua Gunn

Pros

• Great "Swiss army knife" media device
• Decent build quality
• Good still image quality
• Rechargeable battery

Cons

• MPEG-4 video quality could be better
• Short battery life
• Awkward selection controls