Eclipse T2810C Media Player Video Review

I do go on and on about buying cheap camcorders and recording devices. With a little time and research you can do better. This is my meager effort to take the hit for the team in order to reinforce a basic concept; research before you buy.

In today’s tale of woe, I want to talk about multifunctional devices. There are media players, smartphones and tablets. The promise is that the device can do a lot of tasks in a singular form factor.
Note I said, the promise. The reality is that it does one thing very well, two things acceptable and the rest is crap that you can live without.

I was in a brick and mortar establishment just walking around excluding things I don’t want to buy. I walk past the Eclipse T2810C. I tend to do that when electronics are encased in pink. I used to like pink as a child. I sometimes wear pink clothing as an adult.

I don’t want every item in my world to be pink. That is just me. I know some folks really do have a pink existence. More power to them.  I don’t want to walk around with a pink camcorder type device.

This is not a camcorder. This is an mp3 player with the ability to record video.

I thought about it; who is the target buyer for that device?  Girl people. Young girl people who might see the words camcorder and think that they are getting a deal. Or worse, their mothers, aunts and grandmothers who think this is a good gift for the girl child.

Bad thinking frugalistas, very bad.

Let’s Look at the Specs

• 1.3 Megapixel camera/camcorder
• 15 frames per second
• AVI video format
• Per the ad,  copy you can record 8 hours of video (the devil is in the details)
• 4GB on on-board storage with the ability to add a microSD card for additional storage.

This is what it looks like in reality:




Some like it small and if you do then 320x240 ought to be the ticket for you. Yes, that is how you get 8 hours of video on a 4GB internal storage card.

If you like jumpy, grainy standard definition video that is in the 4:3 aspect ratio then this is the device for you. And that chugging sound you hear is not my neighbors air condition unit.  That is the sound of the on-board mic picking up the sound of recording the video.

This is Not A Hate Piece

As a mp3 player for $20 it does the job, once you get past the resistive touch screen. There is an included pointer to help with that but even with the pointer it is a challenge. The sucker puts up an active resistance to function. And if you have medium to large fingers you will have issues.

They are three videos that are included with the device, a group of country western singers that are not bad or offensive. I’m not a fan of modern country music or what passes for it but this ain’t bad. Those video display just fine.

But that is not why we are here. I would say that this is more along the lines of a Helga type of recording experience. I think with its extreme limitations in mind you could craft something unique.
You’d have to work dang hard at it but it could be done.

For normal day to day recording, no.
For memory keeping, hell no.
For experimental art, creativity and stuff like that…maybe.

So if you are standing in Sears, Wal-Mart, K-Mart or some other store and you think this would be a good gift then think again and move on. For the record, it does not matter if it is pink, blue or black. It is what it is.

If you are a video creative who lusted over the PXL-2000 and want to relive past glory then this is about as close as you are gonna get. I think the PXL-2000 video quality (black, white and silver) may have a slide edge over the Eclipse.


Other Posts of Interest

• Before You Upload to A Web Service
• Quick Look at Video Toolbox Web App
• vReveal for Smartphone and Tablet Users