Digital Technology for Digital Living.
September 09, 2004
Vivitar DVR-390H
Vivitar are releasing their DVR390H onto the Australian market with the help of Ricoh, according to Smarthouse.
It features video and audio playback, a 3.6″ LCD display and 3.1 megapixel digital still/video camera attachment with a built in flash. It will also display your stored photos in a pseudo photo album, cycling through them to act as a (rather small) picture frame. All the data is stored on a 20 GB HDD and you can transfer stuff to and from your PC or Mac using USB (no word on 2.0 or 1.1, so expect the latter until we hear otherwise). The battery is expected to last around 4 hours solid of MPEG4 video, so you can watch a couple of movies, but try not to wander too far from power.
Here at Gadget Lounge we’ve got iPods, and can’t really see the point of converging so many devices into one (hefty) piece of kit. But, there’s bound to be some people that will find them useful, and having more choice on the market can’t be a bad thing, surely.
Be ready to hand over AUS$999 later this month if you want to be among the first on your block with one.
Ben | | PVR, Music, Portable, Video, Digital Camera
September 26th, 2004 at 12:54 am
This product now available in the UK at Auctionworld TV. Sky channel 651. I’ve just ordered mine for £255 + £8 p&p. COnsidering it is an mp3 player with 20gb capacity, 3.1 mp digital camera, mp4 camcorder seems decent price.
I’ll review it when it arrives
October 12th, 2004 at 7:09 am
Could have saved a bit - it’s on sale in Index @ £250. Looks very capable. But can it output to bigger video - eg TV? Can it’s mpegs play to a TV screen?
October 17th, 2004 at 7:54 pm
Cheers Ken, Looks to me like its £399 in Index, check out link. Not sure how the quality will output on large screen but will report back once I’ve tried. (assume it may pixelate somewhat but who knows!)
October 17th, 2004 at 7:55 pm
http://www.index.co.uk/rf/navigation/product.do?Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&OldN=4294954272&SNtt=vivitar%20dvr390h&Nao=12&Nu=this_product&SNtk=littlewoods_search&Np=1&SN=102%2085%204294954272&Ntt=224692460&D=224692460&Ntk=pca_id&Dx=mode+matchall&versionid=1084&thisprod=215820702&N=0&Nty=1&Mis_item_id=15&Mis_item_loc_id=1&product=215820702
October 18th, 2004 at 5:45 am
Yes - perhaps it was in a sale brochure in the store or - just as likely - I was dreaming. Anyway, you convinced me & I’ve ordered one - I thought too clever a combination of gizmos to leave on the shelf! + I thought I could DVDise all my old videotapes via this, to stop deterioration of Video tapes, especially old family ones. Must share experience of it.
October 20th, 2004 at 4:43 pm
This is getting down to the sub £200 mark on the UK Auction channels (nearly got one last night for £190). Anyone seen how good the MPEG4 playback to normal TV is ? I see the some specs talk about VGA at 640×480 but others list 320×240, which I think would be low for acceptable playback on a big TV.
October 21st, 2004 at 3:49 am
Just be aware!!! Since buying mine on Auction world TV it has still not arrived. They actually debited my card on the 26th September. Now 20th October and it is impossible to get through on the phones and e mails are not being answered. Check out blagger.com and you will see masses of people struggling. Just be careful before purchasing from this channel!!!!!!!!!!! Too late for me I’m afraid!
October 21st, 2004 at 7:24 pm
Hi
Thanks for the warning - does appear to be a problem. Looks like you should send lots of emails to one of the contacts . . . Perhaps a Thomson Lyra form Dixons is a better bet. Would still interested in any feedback anyone has on the Vivitar.
October 22nd, 2004 at 12:42 am
To be honest this looks better than the Thomson machine from Dixons. You can now by these on E bay from £295 so I still think its a better bet for the money! I have e mailed loads of people but they are just plain ignaorant as you get no response. I’ll wait the full 28 days then speak to a solicitor! If it ever does arrive I’ll review it on here.
October 25th, 2004 at 12:02 am
How many hours recording time do you get from this for recording from tv/dvd etc?
October 25th, 2004 at 12:08 am
Its 80 hours apparently
November 1st, 2004 at 10:37 pm
Don’t know what Auction Worls are playing at here - apart from one BIG scam. They took my money on 11th Oct, no sign of it yet. Despite their claims that they are improving their Customer Service, it’s complete rubbish - no response to emails, fax’s and forget trying to get through on the telephone. My advice - don’t go near them.
Dave - did you ever get yours?
November 4th, 2004 at 2:30 am
Sorry to read so many people have had -as I did- a bad series of experiences with Auction World TV. I was owed £1,434 for goods sent back to them and monies not refunded plus the Vivitar dvr 390H that didnt get delivered!!! Having spent over forty hours on the phone on hold to their customer services! I gave up and made the 200 mile trip to their offices. I walked away with a total refund in to my account plus the DVR 390H plus £30 for the cost of my phone bill. I can only suggest to others they do the same as I did if you can. try also to take a look at the television watchdog web site and see what they have to say about them!!!! You could also find qiute a lot of info on them if you do a web search on ‘ASTON GERARD’!!!! I hope I have at least helped one person. Take care and do a BIG SWERVE around anything to do with Auction World TV in MY OPINION THEY ARE MONEY GRABBING FIDDLERS WHO MUST BE SITTING ON A FORTUNE OF OTHER PEOPLES MONEY EARNING THEM GOOD INTEREST RATES!!!
PS…… Could someone please help me to figure out how to use this DVR390H I cant connect it to my pc or tv with any success. It maybe I was not given the right software with it. THANKS…. DARRIESMAIL@AOL.COM
November 4th, 2004 at 6:29 am
SAME PROBLEM AS DAVE AND MANY OTHERS.ORDERD MINE 6 WEEKS AGO FROM AUCTION WORLD.WITH ABOUT 4-5 HOURS ON HOLD ON THE TELEPHONE AT 3 SEPARATE TIMES BEING TOLD IT WOULD BE NEXT WEEK, BUT STILL WAITING.
November 4th, 2004 at 9:42 am
RE: DVR-390H/ AW.TV. AVOID. In basic terms, they auction intagables. Forget the banter of cutting out the middle men. They sell first and THEN find a source on many items. No source … no goods. I fell for it, but I also cured it with 15 seperate emails to AW.TV Department Heads and their legal department. (Forget Customer Support, they don’t have any didn’t even go there) Pre-warned C.C Company, told AW.TV of impending action. Refund order in place within 1H 45Mins of bulk email send. If not in back in my account by 8 November (as given in email response) C.C. Company take on the task, I still get refund. Once bitten twice shy (and going off reviews I have read I am not missing much either!!)
November 4th, 2004 at 9:48 am
Darrie? (just seen your post) Information for you. DVR-390H from AW.TV is on back-order. 10 - 15 working days I have that in email response from them (in real terms, three to four weeks sir) Of course that’s only if you take them at their word. (just thought I would tell you sir)
November 4th, 2004 at 9:50 am
yikesssssss. Last post was for TONY T. Sorry.
November 6th, 2004 at 2:07 am
Saw this on AW and so glad i didn’t buy one from them, they sound an awful company, good luck getting yours, adrian
November 15th, 2004 at 11:27 pm
I for one will be giving Auction World until this Friday to cough up the goods as they have promised or I will be demanding the return of my money - plus interest.
What they are doing is against the law. They are taking money from your credit card for goods they do not own at the time of transaction. This is effectively a fraudulent act against the credit card company. The credit card should not be charged until the retailer actually owns the goods he is transacting on. The problem is, credit card providors do not police the problem and withdraw credit card facilities, so companies like this get away with it.
November 20th, 2004 at 1:28 am
I actually received my VIVITAR DVR 390H from Auction World but only after tonnes of e mails and chasing.
On the whole I’m impressed with the machine and it does carry out all the tasks it sets out too.
There are some snags however as follows:-
The control Joystick and volume buttons sometimes stop working for no apparent reason. You have to press the button about 10 times to get a reaction.
The quality of the Digital camera pictures can be blurry even at the highest quality. The functions are limited.
When recording a DVD/TV pogramme onto the memory you can only record as one file. As such if you watch the first hour of a dvd and then switch your machine off, when you come back to it you have to fast forward all the way to where you left the film. Unfortunately the fast forward is only x2 speed. So to fast forward 1 hour actually takes a full 30 minutes. Pretty annoying.
Also the camcorder is no good when there is not a very good light source. If you are recording in doors then you need all the lights on. It is no good for taking to parties etc!!
Fianlly I have noticed some connectiity problems with my PC. I have transfered lots of MP3s onto it but on a couple of occasions the vivitar has stalled quite badly and actually shut itself down.
In summary it is a versatile machine and a reasonable amount of fun, but I would probably wait for the next one in the series before parting with any money. I would say it was worth my £250 but definately not from AwfulWorld TV!!!!!
November 20th, 2004 at 10:36 pm
NOVEMBER 20th 2004 2.36pm
I have just recieved the vivitar dvr 390h multimedia centre,and been looking forward to it for months,but could not find a store cheap enough.
My quick opinion,”dont buy”
1)the poorest volume control ever on vidoe recording
2)blue lines all the way across screen on playback on vidoe recording.
3)poor sound on playback of aux recording(t.v)
4)so far on 30 minutes playback from installed battery.
and this is only so far,i am sending back.
November 25th, 2004 at 8:29 pm
AUCTIONWORLD LIMITED (IN ADMINISTRATION) This page was last updated on 23/11/04
Brian Hamblin and Philip Long of PKF were appointed on 23 November 2004 as administrators to AuctionWorld Limited, a teleshopping channel available on satellite and cable.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO CREDITORS & EMPLOYEES
The administrators are currently looking into AuctionWorld’s records, and will post advice and information on this webpage as and when they have completed their investigations
In the meantime, here is some general information:
What is Administration?
Administration is a procedure under the Insolvency Act 1986, as amended by the Enterprise Act 2002. A company may enter administration if it is unable to pay its debts. An administrator (or joint administrators, as in this case) is appointed to manage the affairs, business and property of the company.
Purpose of Administration?
The administrators must perform their functions with the objective of:
rescuing the company as a going concern, or
achieving a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole than would be likely if the company were wound up (without first being put into administration), or
realising property in order to make a distribution to one or more secured or preferential creditors.
Who are the Administrators?
The Joint Administrators are Brian Hamblin and Philip Long of PKF, accountants and business advisors. Their address is PKF, Farringdon Place, 20 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3AP.
What is happening right now?
All trading activities were suspended by the company on Friday 19 November on advice of the company lawyers following the outcome of the Ofcom report which fined the company £450,000. The joint administrators are taking urgent steps to assess the financial position of the company and review its business operations including the position of the customers and outstanding orders.
In particular the joint administrators have decided to cease trading and are considering all available alternatives. At this stage it would be premature to provide any further information but you should continue to monitor this website for updates.
What is the effect of administration?
A statutory moratorium has come into affect in order to give breathing space for the company from its creditors and to prevent one creditor gaining an unfair advantage over another. The moratorium prevents creditors from taking action against the company and its assets.
While the mechanism is in place no legal process (including legal proceedings, execution, distress and diligence) may be instituted or continued against the company or the property of the company, except with the consent of the joint administrators or with the permission of the court.
Timing for proposals
As soon as reasonable practicable, but within 8 weeks of the start of the administration, the joint administrators will return a statement of their proposals for the company to all of the creditors and members of the company. A creditors’ meeting to consider the proposals may be held within 10 weeks.
Will I get my money back?
At this stage, it seems that the company has insufficient assets to pay the unsecured creditors but the administrators will need to ascertain what assets and liabilites the company has and, along with other information that they find out about the company, will use this as the basis for their proposals. The proposals will include what the administrators think the outcome for the unsecured creditors will be.
If you have paid by cheque for goods which have not been delivered then you will have a claim against the company and rank as an unsecured creditor.
You should send your details by email to Auctionworld@uk.pkf.com
What if I have paid by credit or debit card?
Please refer to your card issuer as different issuers have different rules.
Note for employees
Special arrangements exist for former employees of the company. All employees that appear on the company’s books will be contacted shortly in order to begin the process of recording and assisting with claims.
Contacts
The administrators can be contacted on Auctionworld@uk.pkf.com.
November 26th, 2004 at 9:56 pm
Preferring to talk about the technology rather than the company that sells it (allegedly) I purchased a DVR 390h from Microdirect and have a few comments:
The Pros:
Generally I am very pleased with the product. I think the quality of the image displayed on the screen is surprisingly impressive and I am yet to experience any serious artifact or interference problems.
Of course when the image is putput onto a larger screen (tv for example) there are obvious quality issues, but then when I purchased the machine it was for use on the train into work everyday and not as a replacement recording device.
MP3s work well and I have had no difficulty with it.
Direct recording has produced mixed results, however the successes have been very good indeed.
the lack of chapters is a little annoying as is the apparent lack of ability to rename video files - or even store them in some semblance of a file structure for better organisation. This maybe accomplished by connecting to a computer but I’ll come onto this later.
The Camera attachment works as well as expected and takes reasonable (though not spectacular) stills and passable video. It would not in my opinion replace a dedicated digital camera or cam-corder but as a flexible portagble multimedia device I find it more than adequate. It shouldd be noted that I purchased the unit primarily as a means of portable entertainment rather than a camera and the camera is therefore a bonus.
When I considered this device I was also considering a Thomson Lyra and Archos AV400. However the addition of the camera unit, and prince made me plump for this device instead. I was concerned because little or no real ‘review’ information is available on the web (I am not a reviewer so this can only be cosidered my personal thoughts) and felt that the purchase was a risk however owing to the bad reviews for the Thomson, and the price difference for the Archos it was a gamble I was willing to take, and thankfully has paid off.
Cons:
I have recorded directly onto the machine from external source with mixed results. 3 episodes out of 6 for Black books (from DVD+RW originally recorded off air) recorded fine, however the other 3 had perfect picture but very poor sound. As all recordings were made at the same time I cannot comprehend why this should be so, however I am at present attributing this problem to the supplied cable which does appear to be a little ‘twitchy’.
To go into further information on the cable problems, on occasion when the external source is connected I get distortion problems on the screen and have to wiggle the lead around until it settles. I think I need to get a replacement lead but know not where from - 3 rca into 1 2.5mm jack?
Also when recording direct from external AV source, why is the sound muted? Surely If you can monitor the image as it recoreds you should be able to monitor the sound also - this could perhaps make it easier for me to detect the aforementioned sound problems earlier saving time and effort.
Having connected the device to my laptop I am happy to report I had no difficulty transferring files, specifically MP3s. However unfortunately the majority of my music library is in WMAs and need converting to MP3 in order to be recognised by the device.
I used the supplied Inter video WinDVD creator software to convert the first episode of the 4400 into an ASF file (ended up being approx 1.2Gb) from another DVD+RW off air recording. this seemed to work perfectly, however after transferring the file successfully to the device - the device is unable to play the file merel;y displaying some kind of error icon as opposed to to the expected 1st frame thumbnail. Will try re-encoding the file tonight using Windows Media Encoder and will advise on results.
I also renamed the directly recorded files on the device within windows however this information is not apparently picked up by the device. This is not a problem with MP3s however, but once I have several video files on board it will start to get confusing if I cannot properly name them - hence the need for a decent file structure.
My last major gripe is the apparent inability to check the anmount of storage space left on the device via the device itself - lacking any kind of file manager utility seriously hinders the units performance in my opinion.
Anyway there you go, my first impressions (after 24 hours) you’d be forgiven for thinking I am not impressed with the device because I am - I just hope these teething problems can be resolved so that I can get the most out of it! I’d be interested to hear Dave’s views after having had the unit for a while and to see if the problems he has so far encountered persist…?
December 14th, 2004 at 3:48 am
After having this machine over a month I’m still getting my use out of it.
I would re-iterate everything mentioned by Vince and overall the comments are a pretty fair reflection of the machine.
The snags still hold in that I do occasionally have problems when transferring files between the vivitar and my PC. (Its definately not a PC issue as have several other gadgets that connect without problem).
The Digital camera results can be patchy, I have taken some pictures that have come out fantastic but others have been terrible ( It can actually hold 25000 so just take as many as you can and pick out the good ones).
Also the frustration of not being able to fast forward the ASF files faster is now a complete pain.
I would still say that its decent value for money but I’m sure over the next year better machines will come along so unless you are desperate to have the latest gadget then wait for something more polished!
Cheers
January 18th, 2005 at 2:07 am
I have just recieved my vivitar dvr-390h from idael world, Generaly happy with this item, just a few nigerly problem’s, when i play back on my tv the video image is black and white, not sure how to solve this problem so if anyone can help that would be great, no problems transferring mp3 with p.c can be a problem without having a computer as i have had to re-encode cd’s to play. recording from dvd to this item ive got two films with
good quality sound and picture but when i record other
dvd’s the sound quality is poor, overal fairly happy but not sure how long the battery last’s on a full charge, many thanks for any help to solve the problem that i have got with this unit.. Mike…
February 21st, 2005 at 11:46 pm
Recently I was bought a Vivitar DVR-390H as a present and as yet haven’t had much time to use it. Reading some of these comments it’s apparent we have some user experts out there. I was wondering whether someone could give me some advice on downloading material form my PC. I have a number of albums stored in my PC and wanted to know whether these can be downloaded into the DVR-390H and if so what the process is. Same thing applies to MP3’s.
Appreciate anyone’s help.
March 14th, 2005 at 3:15 am
In my experiance with mp3’s, albums have to be converted into mp3 format then drag n drop onto the vivitar.
March 30th, 2005 at 5:15 am
Am quite pleased with my DVR but am having the same problem mentioned above re. the sound recording from external source. Picture is reasonably good as long as the AV lead is pushed home firmly into the DVR but the sound is ‘choppy’ and I don’t seem to be able to cure the problem. Has anyone actually found the cause?
April 13th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
Just got a Vivitar DVR390H but having problems connecting to PC - USB continually not recognised. Anyone else have similar problems, or better yet, the solution?
May 6th, 2005 at 5:22 am
Hi, I purchased on of these from Ideal World was really looking forward to getting this, I tried the Camera, Video Camera & Mp3 player Fantastic quality best I seen so far was over the Moon with it BUT! here the Bug (so to speak) I went and connected it to me Free-view box recorded 5mins worth of TV on it and then changed the cambe round to play it back on me TV (why they not provide 2 cables is beyond me) anyway when I played the Captured TV back I LOST! all the bottom for about 4inches and 5inches of picture on the right side. So basically I got 1/4 of the screen captured :( was very VERY! upset at this, I tried swiveling with the cable did another capture from a DVD and still it was the same :(
So I would ask if anyone else had this? or is this common or did I get a faulty one ???
Otherwise the Unit is Good but I am sending it back as Ideal world offer 30day money back guarantee.
July 1st, 2005 at 6:03 pm
I purchased this model DVR390H and tested the following:-
Cradle - all inputs and outputs work fine.
DVR390 - all inputs and outputs work fine.SD card slot worked fine.
AV in - recorded some TV. Picture settled after moving the lead. Sound quality was fine. Sound quality on playback through computer not brilliant.
AV out - good. Playback quality was as good as the recorded quality.
At this stage I was doing a general system check.
So far, I am happy with it.
July 1st, 2005 at 6:20 pm
I have had my DVR-390h for a couple of weeks, having bought it from Ebay for £140 quid, and I’m very happy with it. I had a few problems at first but have found solutions to all of them, this might help you:
Problem 1: Choppy sound on TV/DVD recording
Solution: Set video record quality to 640, 1 star. Problem occurs due to recording codec on unit being swamped with data - reducing the video quality to 1 star sorts this out and i find it is much more acceptable than having poor sound - and even at 1 star it is still VCD quality.
Problem 2: Black bars at top and bottom of screen
Solution: Play with Zoom settings on dvd player, some Anamorphic/widescreen dvds will not work properly as the format simply cannot resolve the screen ratio.
Problem 3: Transferring MPEGs onto DVR-390H
Solution: Get a piece of third party software called Boilsoft ASF converter, you can convert fikles to and from the format DVR-390h uses, so you can make DVDs from your own asf files, and likewise you can convert any pc video files to a formate compatable with your DVR-390h
Problem 4: Playing files back on your TV
Solution: Personally didnt have any problems here, but I strongly advise getting an AV to Scart converter (less than a fiver from dixons/argos/ebay etc) so that you can use the scart socket on your tv/dvd/freeview box for input AND output.
July 1st, 2005 at 6:22 pm
I bought the DVR-390H and did the following checks:-
SD card slot ok
Cradle inputs and outputs OK
DVR-390H inputs and output OK.
Checked camera, camcorder, voice recording & MP3 - all functioning. AV recording - recorded some TV and at first, quality was not good then settled down to be good after moving the cable a bit.
AV out - good quality output of what was previously recorded.
So, far I am just doing general system checks and I am happy with the unit at this stage.
July 1st, 2005 at 6:28 pm
PS - if anyone is interested in extending the battery life of their DVR-390h may i recommend you purchase a device called a battery extender. This is a small black box that you put 4 AA (rechargeables if you want) batteries into and then turn it on and plug it into the DC in socket on the DVR-390h. you can get twice, sometimes three times the battery life that way…… You won’t find one specifically designed for the DVR-390h but they have an identcal power rating (current, voltage, polarity, freq) as the battery extenders being sold for the Toshiba E570 range of PDA units.
July 1st, 2005 at 9:57 pm
PPS - Those folks who have said about not being able to fast forward very fast through long films have not discovered the “play by selection” option….. which allows you to scan through the movie by seconds, minutes and hours, using a progress bar to select the point at which you want to play the movie. You can also put a bookmark in - great for resuming a movie from the exact point you left off.
July 12th, 2005 at 8:52 am
I purchased this module a couple of months back, and in the couple of months I’ve had it, I’ve been spending my time trying to get rid of it for something better. I was so intrigued by the descriptions of the product when I was searching for a multiple player device on-line and was very dissapointed when I finally got it. These are the main problems and why I suggest no-one should buy this device:
1: Terrible Userbility
If you want mp3 playability, this is not it. There is no stop, or next button and in order to play a following track, you have to completely stop and return to a previous menu. There are no usable controls for playing music except the pause button and it becomes such a hassle after a while.
2. Battery life
Battery last for about 2hrs on continuous play of music alone! If you’re playing a movie file, you’ll be lucky if it lasts an hour. Can’t even take it out to class or on a trip with me cause it’ll be dead in no time–not good for any portable uses.
3. Connectability
Freezes everytime I try to transfer movies or songs. I always have to restart my computer or shut everything off–very annoying to deal with. Will not even read wav. files. When playing music on the go, it will freeze and you have to remove the battery in order to restart
4. Size
Too bulky, definitely can’t fit in pocket, I had to purchase a camcorder bag to put it in. Scared to drop it, body feels like it would break on contact.
5. Volume
Can’t turn up volume enough to even listen to music. Volume stops, so if you have a song downloaded at lower levels you won’t be able to hear
6. Video/Camera Quality
Only takes good video in brightly lit areas. Even indoors on a sunny day outside turns out dark on the camera. There is no light as on a camcorder device. Can’t see images on screen when taking a picture in darker areas. The flash is bright however and will take a good picture, but you have to guess as to where your object is first and aim.
7. Microphone
No internal mic, whenever you record or do voice recordings you have to attach a long, bulky mic to the device to pick up sound, and even then it doesn’t pick it up well. Becomes very annoying and gets in the way and makes it more of a hassle to use.
All in all I was very dissapointed with the device. I really tried to manage for as long as I could to make everything work and accomodate for the lack of features, but can’t anymore. Functionality and userbility is terrible. Vivitar needs to remove this product from the market. Hopefully I’ll be able to sell it on e-bay and use the money for many other better players I’ve seen.
July 20th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
There’s not much hope for this website if they delete posts on here that try to help some of the moaners who have posted their problems. If you cant read the instruction manual then i suggest you don’t buy any electronic stuff in the future! Ignorant gits.
August 2nd, 2005 at 8:20 pm
When you buy a device you have to be honest about
your needs and how it fits in with that.
I bought this device primarily as a digital camera and camcorder for my vacations…everything else was extras. Also, imagined using this device for use when commuting. I believe it is designed for commuting sitdown entertainment. The carry-case apart from the wear it on your belt loops, shows premeditated design that the headphones cannot be inserted for on the move entertainment. Well, that is just the carry-case, it can be changed! By extending the battery time ones options are extended eg camping weekend. The extras such as the mic can be changed for better. There is 20 gig of memory to play with and that is impressive.
August 3rd, 2005 at 6:22 am
Tim, My eyes widened when I read about extending the battery life and I will look into this. I was more impressed about the searching videos by the hour etc and bookmarks. I have just tried everything and read the book back to front. I wonder if you have a later model which I know is out with built in mic etc. If not I admit to being defeted. I am generally pleased with it overall.
Cheers!
August 15th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Hey, i have just purchased this Vivitar. But when i download a Mpg movie and put it on it, it doesnt play the movie at full screen size.
Can anyone help????
Cheers!!!
August 17th, 2005 at 6:01 am
i brought a vivitar dvr 390h off ideal world shopping channel.i am quite pleased with it but am having a problem with the video playback.when i try to play a video clip it keeps coming up as if iv just turned it on again,than the blue led lights keeps flashing.if im right it should show all ur video clips when you clip video playback.am i doing something wrong.can any body help.
September 2nd, 2005 at 3:30 am
My experiences with my DVR 390H differs somewhat from those posted here; I have a BIG problem with the T / W function. Has anyone ever tried using this function? mine doesn’t seem to do anything different regardless of the position of the selector switch; images don’t get ‘pulled’ any closer regardless of the setting, or maybe I am missing something here! another thing I have a problem with, is the fact that the Unit freezes quite often and the ONLY way I have found to navigate back to the start-up menu, is to turn the unit off and back on again. TERRIBLE! secondly, it is not very portable as in not easy to hold & carry. Even carrying it in the carrting case causes the power button to become depressed and the Unit turns-on…I am suspecting that this could contrubute to the shortened battery operting life discussed here. It is also truly quite difficult to see what you are “snapping” if the lighting conditions are poor; you have no idea whether your subject is centered or off to the side…an inexpensive pointer feature would have helped immensely.
FINALLY, something good: in my opinion, the unit’s 20G HD is hard to beat, as units sporting this type of storage capacity DEFINITELY costs hundres more…so we have 2 thing gong for the Vivitar 390, large HD and great price; and still falling!
I am STILL hoping to be able to resolve these problems and keep mine but If I can’t, I’ll send it back to OVERSTOCK.com”, who has been VERY co-operative so far with my issues.
September 2nd, 2005 at 5:56 am
Hi julie. Its sounds like it is not working correctly. When you choose video playback you should get thumbnails of your video clips then if you choose one it should enlarge it to play. I have had a few problems with mine and found that i needed to format it which looses all stored files. It sounds to me like a problem i had on holiday and I ended up having to just take the same pictures and videos again except in wide angle as we had all put weight on. I hope you get it sorted.
September 4th, 2005 at 10:32 pm
Hi all
I just about to buy this device and I have found very useful the comments made here. May someone please report his experience with the camera?
Thanks in advance
Pablo
October 27th, 2005 at 12:23 am
i actually purchased mine from auction world and never recieved nor re credited..but enough of that …i finally got one,,,,,,
im quite a techy sort and im mildly impresssed,especially after reading so much bad on it…..
i do however have one immediate gripe……moving asf files to the dvr,,,,,,,,,really small ones resulted in a freeze up and lost all recordings from the vid.mp3.no probs .just vid…………
does anyone know of a decent support site for this item …ricoh,in aus ,dont seem to answer anything??and the uk vivitars phones not working……all the best……
ps if the camera wasnt zooming .i can get spare camera atahments/bases/pouches and some cables…..
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:30 pm
Although I have not made much use of the 390h, I am still happy to have it. Does any one know if it is possible to store WORD documents on it?
krishan
November 14th, 2005 at 7:19 pm
Hi
I am looking to buy one of these gadgets off e bay, but the one advertised has no instructions, anyone know of an internet link to download these?
Thanx
February 11th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Hey
i have had multiple problems with my Vivitar media player. Probably the most annoying is that i cant transfer any files onto it! My computer freezes and says that the operation could not be completed due the the ‘I/O’ or something. and even if i finally do get the videos on(usually after about 3 hours) they play in about a quarter the size of the screen. Any suggestions to how these problems could be fixed would be greatly appriciated! Thanks, G
February 14th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
I fully concure with post #36. Was impressed with the features at first especially the 20G for a good price and decided I’d give it a try. Very dissappointed. Lots of features, but each one of them is very basic. The overall feeling I get using it is cheesiness it everything it does. I encountered every single problem listed in post #36. The one that annoys me the most is that I can’t transfer a single video file, hangs my computer at 10%. And if I batch say 20-30 songs to transfer it hangs at the 4th or 5th. Thought I’d use it a lot as an mp3 player but I won’t. See #36. On a 1 to 10 scale, you can’t turn up volume more than 5 and 6. Oh well please refer to post #36 for my impressions, they are exactly the same. I’m awaiting an answer from Vivitar about the usb transfer problem. But anyway, I think I’ll try to get a refund from Overstock. Don’t buy this.
February 18th, 2006 at 1:37 am
I’ve never been able to get my 390H to recharge the battery whilst it’s in its docking cradle, although it does seem to receive power to enable watching videos etc. Any ideas why?
April 10th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I purchased a 390H from Ebay. So far I am very happy with it with one exception…it did not come with the battery and I can not find any information on which battery I need. If anyone has a battery number or model number that I can use to find one, it would be greatly appreciated.
December 28th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Hi
I got one of these bought for my birthday so far only thing is the battery life not very happy with but it does its job camera good video good.
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Mark Pearson - the DVR-390 will not charge when its switched on. Has anyone managed to convert files to asf and get them to play? I have tried the software suppied (Winvideo) it converts to asf but the 390 wont recognise it at all. Thanks Bill
February 24th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
not to bad i think i will wait for a better one to come along stick with made in japen items and all will be ok .regards
February 24th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
thats japan ,sorry john
March 7th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
battery number for this device is p/n: 02491-0019-00
its a lithium ion battery pack, 3.7v 1850mAh
Hope that is of some help.
Regarding the cry for instructions above, did you have any luck as I have a unit with no instructions and am having trouble working it all out!
Cheers
March 15th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Anyone using the 390H with a Mac? I only just got mine - attracted by the 20GB to store and show my photos/videos etc. but my Mac doesn’t recognise it. Works fine on Windows XP
September 25th, 2007 at 4:25 am
Hi, I purchased this unit (20 Gig vivitar dvr-390h) off the TradeMe site New Zealand. The unit was minus the camera module. Any suggestions on where I may be able to purchase one. Thanks
December 16th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Bought a Vivitar DVR-390H for my husband but can’t get it to charge. I even bought a new battery to try but the blue Led light does not stay on when I switch it off as it states on instuctions.
Can anyone help
January 21st, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Im having the same problem as Jackie, my Vivitar DVR-390 is a few years old so I’m thinking its the battery, but I according to Jackie that is not the case.
any ideas ??