The CVS disposable video camera isn’t out in all areas but there are some folks who have started to take it apart, document it and more. It looks like it’s using a Samsung 256mb flash chip, there’s a bit about the connectors, so it’s really just a matter of weeks now until you can pick one of these up, build a cable then have a really cheap digital video camera. Here’s a forum with a lot of information starting to get posted up (and we’ll have it here too as this progresses). Link.
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These are not available in my area yet but I’ve been following the discussions closely.
Another place to keep up on the latest camcorder hack attempts is at: http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=f11819031cbaab5a87b8dd58b71c0c78
Recent posts are the output of a bunch of USB sniffing and hack attempts. There are pictures of the camcorder disassembled and closeups of the chips inside on both sites.
Already it seems there are two different models, one with a Fujitsu CPU chip and one with a Zoran CPU chip. It will be interesting to see if that continues or if one or the other was an early attempt/prototype that didn’t get anywhere.
All accounts so far is that the picture quality is very good, with better than expected performance in low light conditions. The image sensor is smaller than in the one time digital cameras, but seems to be doing well. No sample videos have been uploaded yet, but that’s probably because even in the areas where the cameras are available, many of the CVS locations don’t have the processing equipment to make the DVDs.
– Ray