Both sample videos below were recorded using 720 at 60 fps with the internal microphone.
Link to Information on Kodak Zi8
Note: The video you are watching was recorded in HD but wordpress.com does not support HD video so the file you are watching is of a reduced quality.
Figital Revolution 
Nice quality. Makes me want to try one, even though I’ve been highly resistant to playing with video cameras.
Dan.
Great demo on the image stabilization feature. Don’t know how it could have been done better. Makes me want to but one.
Hi buddy
thanks for the best review which i was looking for 😀
Nice review. Thanks. I have the Zi6, I’m not sure how the 720p 60 fps modes compare.
thanks for the demo as I plan on buying this camera
I bought this camera yesterday and the video is TERRIBLE!!! I tried it out in my home. I have basic lighting for the most part. However, some of the rooms in my home are very very well lit. No matter where I shot the video it was awful. I shot with the 1080p, 720p 60fps, and 720p settings. They progressively got worse! I do not know if my camera is defective or if I just expected better video. The video has a TON of noise and everything is somewhat blurry. There is no way in the world that I would EVER call this high definition. I bought the camera to replace a 5 year old Sony miniDV camcorder and I can tell you that the quality of the video with the Sony was waaaaayyyyy better than this supposedly 1080p camera! Given this review I have to assume that my camera is defective. BUt I am concerned that if I return it and get another one and the video is just as bad I am going to have to pay Best Buy’s restocking fee for a poor camera!
It has to be the one you have as the Zi8 is the best pocket recorder now on the market (IMHO)… take it back to Best Buy as I am sure they will help you out.
Is there any decent demo video of this camera available. That demo footage was not impressive.
I have a hard time believing it is better than the Sanyo VPC-FH1
I agree that the Sony is a fantastic camera but at $481 US Amazon price it is MUCH more expensive and larger than the Zi8… no one I know has said that the Zi8 is better than the Sony… they are different cameras for different applications.
Cheers-
Stephen
I just got the zi8 and i agree with Leo…wow was not impressed, tried 2 different SDHC cards and 1080p was not even watchable, video was freezing and jerky. I had firmware 1.3 on it and just upgraded to the current 1.6 and didnt in my opinion seem any different. I was so excited with all the good reviews…what the heck? The video has alot of vertical lines on it and I thought it was just the camera screen until I saw they were on the video recording also. Are people seeing bad ones of these? I was in the house with decent lighting and still seemed to have alot of noise…I really want to like this. I have a microsoft 720p lifecam and it looks so much better even for a web cam…I wanted something portable though. What to do?
Are you watching the video on the Zi8 or or a computer… I find that on mine the video quality and audio is MUCH better on my Mac, esp after processing in iMovie or some similar program as there is a lot of data there… just look at the file size. Once processed the video becomes much smaller and is easier to handle. I like the 1080 for slow moving objects but I find that I record almost always at 720 at 60FPS as that is the best for my online needs and family videos… I will contact Kodak to see if there is a know production issue… stay tuned.
Thanks a ton. I am moving to my pc so that not to take into consideration the transfer speed and memory card and some of the 720p @ 60fps seems to jump from spot to spit dropping frames. I have a 16gb class 6 transend sdhc. 1080p didn’t seem watchable at all. You seem to need a bunch of light for clarity which is fine considering. Almost seems for a little bit more money are there HD vid cams to compare? I will try on another pc today to see if it’s a quirk. Thanks for the help.
Mike
Another consideration on your computer is your video card… a fast one is necessary for large video files…. once you compress the movie in some video software I think you will find that it runs very nice on almost all systems… video is just a huge file.
Yeah my computer is not an issue but I was not aware there is playback software that is on the camera. I was aging through QuickTime not realizing there would be an issue. Hmm I plugged the camera in and it shows a CDROM but says it unreadable. Hmmm.
i have the zi8 its ok the first thing i noticed is you have to find the rite sd card that will record till you actually stop the video . i have a adata 16 gb and it stops on its own after just a few miniutes of video i put a 8 gb toshbia card in and it recorded till i stopped it. i have 2 adata 16 gb cards i tryed them both and neither one would record very long with out the camera just shutting down . the sound of course built in is mono . its not as easy recording with a viewer straight up and not angled like most . and the really big down for me is no remote i did buy a optional remote from kodak . and the video can only be played back 1 file at a time not one ater the other like most camcorders automaticaly . the quality is very good . i also have the aiptek 8 gb hd pen cam great as well but ony 720 at 30 frames and no remote with built in battery pack not removable like the kodak . its very annoying to me as long as hd video has been around for cameras you still cant save it in hd form and watch it back till they make a reasonable hd burner . you can still save the files on a dvd and when it ever comes avalible then it all has to be transferred to a blue ray not looking forward to that because i have many files waiting to be transferred to blueray .
i have never been able to upgrade the firmware for the zi8 i have the upgrade i have done like it says and nothing happens firmware never upgrades . any suggestions ? i have the 103 on the camera
so i’ve saved the videos i recorded using the zi8 on my computer and when i try to open the folder it takes at least 20 minutes for the files to show up. if i open the dcim folder the same thing happens. any idea whats goin on there?
This is a computer issue… how long is your video and how old is your computer… a long video can be quite large, esp 1080 video… I just save on my mac all video into iPhoto and then select them in iMovie from the library….
I love this little camera! The picture and sound quality are so far superior to my Flip camera it’s not even funny. Waaaaay better. Very quick and easy to use, bright colors, sharp images, good sound. I use this for my business in a variety of ways and it’s great.
I own one, bought it because it was the only 1920×1080 shooting camera for 180 bucks. I run a Macbook pro w/ dual 2.4Ghz processors. No skips playing in quicktime. Don’t care for the ‘digital’ zoom. But I have found that shooting under normal light in normal conditions has been exactly what I expected from this camera. I love it (180.00US). Being able to toggle a switch to shoot a 5mp image is nice. I carry this in my front pocket, shoot birds, daughters and make visual notes. I would have never bought a ‘kodak’ product, but I’m glad I did.
Wow Great blog , i am gonna visit back soon…