So this was actually planned out from on the final week before christmas and this was one of those deald in lidl which actually this ends up more useful than it things, like originally being £19.99 and then the day after that Run to yelverton for a visit which end up alot more stress in 2022. But this seemsed like fate when a £5 overnight after the first night of looking on it (monday 21st). But eventually after the stresfull start to the new year, I used some of the time off from the Vaccination recovery to get that filmed (actually only the final sunday before working) this. Enjoy the video below:
The Packaging:
So this suits the bright aesthetic of the brand called Digipower, So this is a bright way of it and does not make it tricky to show what it goes to feature with the box and the contents. The advertising is very clear on it and it does have alot of text and images which for some can be overwhelming, but it does seem a false sense of fame by using this toolkit and that can be a bad thing for kids. But for those that fame it takes time and might never happen. This does not apply. The Scheme is green and white.
The Front of the box
The bottom of the box
One side of the box
The other side of the box
The back of the box was quite full of different languages and text so it can look generic on one of the ways. The filters and the tripod were in sight and shown.
The back of the box with the information
The top of the box
So then it leads to finally having a look inside, which has that plastic tray vibe with the parts laid out and makes it easier to see whats inside and the contents should be easy to spot for the most part. Like the mould is easy to show where each fits.
The mould and the items inside.
So this makes it clear of whats inside. Including:
1 x Tripod
1 x LED
1 x LED Screw mount
1 x Smartphone holder
3 x Plastic Filters/diffusers
1 x micro USB Cable
1 x multilingual manual
A Look at the parts:
Things do seem to easily to understand and how it fits together, since the tripod uses the standard mount cameras use, even the LED light uses it so it can be used on other things too. Plus the smartphone holder does have 2 mounting points to make it vertical or horizontal to make it easier for the vlogging in different aspects.
The Micro USB Cable
The LEDS
The LED Mounting hole
The side with the power button you have to hold to turn it on
So then it comes to the diffusers which have a nice way to show them, the colours are different from what normally the shades of light can look, but it does help with the colours. Red for warm, Blue for cool and White for normal.
The White Diffuser
The Red Diffuser
The Blue Diffuser
Then it has its way of being clipped on from the 2 at the bottom then the one at the top, and it does not feel lose when its clipped on so that is a good sign.
The Blue partly clipped on
The blue fully clipped on
The Red partially clipped on
The Red fully clipped on
The White partially clipped on
The White fully clipped on
So that then leads the design of the Smartphone Holder and this was a much better design than the HAMA retractable ones since the bolt just falls out even if superglue is attempted. So to see the way this was designed is actually really improved, with not 1 but 2 screwholes, one for vertical frames and one for the horizontal one. So that does give an advantage.
The Front of the phone holder
The bottom of the phone holder
The Back of the phone holder but can act as the bottom if using it vertically
This is the top of the phone holder
It even pushes up on the top to extend for bigger phones
Now one key point is that the holder can have the LED light slot into it, This is done using that small screw that is included, but since its a standard one, it can help with being easily replaced but that plate at the bottom of it might make it easier said than done.
A look at the screw from the side
From it upside down
When its slotted on at the top
anther view of that screw
Now we then come to the Tripod itself, so that is a nice small grip on it and it makes sense that it folds out. There is a button that you press for the screw to lift up and down as well. ITs a very light but thick plastic so it will not be that heavy for the most part either. But that does give a good sign of how sturdy it can be since its quite thick.
The top of the Gripped tripod
A left side view when upside down
The right side view when in the correct position
The button makes it flip to the other side
Stretching the legs out
How it looks upon the desk
When the holding part is flat with the tripod sorted
It lets you angle it anyway
The legs just peeking out
So with that mostly finished it was a peek at the manual which is pretty bulky but very much in all or most languages, so it does save some paper.
A look at the manaul
The front pages
the part of the english section
Now it was time to set it up.
The Setup.
So first we have to plug in the LED to charge it up, even though there might have been battery via holding the power button to turn it on instead of pressing it. But leaving it while rosie barked for an hour was a good idea.
The back of the LED with charging
So this then leads to getting the Phone fitted and it was pretty much easy to do, not too time-consuming like the screwing of the holder to the tripod mostly. But in the end it fitted the iPhone 5c easily.
The blank desk before fitting
The Phone on it
The Phone in the Stand and the LED as well
The Testing
But then it was time to fit the Redmi note 7, now i did have to take the case off due to the thicker finger grip but once that was off, it was on there firmly and was actually quite stable for vlogging, I mean I did shake it and it did not wobble. So this will be good for vlogging at more quiet events, since crowds could still knock it over, unless i change to a thinner case for the phone, which could be a case if i get some food grabtabs. So a selfie taken does look ok for the most part.
the selfie on the outside
Now the final part is to see how a normal digital camera fits and well tt does even if it looks smaller than it can handle, but it makes it a lot more strain on the arms to grip, but it works.
Using the DLSR camera on it
The Conclusion
So mostly its got some good features and little of the bad ones. some tricks to learn but nothing too complex. With the features of the Holder looking more compelling and better build as well as the standard fitting of the screws, it really does seems an ideal budget for the entry level filming.
omracer's Rating: 8/10
The Good Points:
The Value for money is good with the £5 discount
The tripod uses standard screws
Its not a bolt used for the Smartphone Hold
That LED is blinding bright
That LED can work separately
Fits most phones
The tripod acting as a grip is nice
The packaging is near
Can be angled on both horizontal and vertical
The Bad Points:
The Packaging does have plastic in it so not carbon friendly for those that care
It can seem cheap looking for the plastic tripod
Might be hard to get since no longer sold online or maybe clearance in lidl
But that's it for this review now, since it clearly shows what can be achieved and hopefully it can some more reviews to continue this year but it seems a fair bit away on that for the moment. But for now things I might have to close away from to see what happens and catch up with work as really both online and real life.
So, about 2 months ago, Google released a TV dongle called Chromecast. Now this was a device that would make it easier for people to share things online to a TV. Either a video on Youtube, a Film or TV show on Netflix or even just a website.
Now it was a nice and simple device for a simple price, $35. BUT AND THE MAJOR PROBLEM SO FAR, it hasn't released in the UK, which is a major shame. But after checking eBay, there were some UK importers who knew they could make a quick ££ from buying some from the us and bringing it over to here.
Now i found one for £60 (£55+£5 P&P) and i bought it on Friday, it arrived the next day after running home from work, as i usually do.
So here goes my review the video review is below:
The packaging.
Now the packaging is simply, easy to understand and very neatly packaged. It gives the look of a google product straight away, with the font and everything. Pics of each of the sides of the packaging is below:
The front of the box. With the dongle itself and a simple summary of what it does.
The rear of the box, the summary of what it can do and a picture of it. It also shows the services it supports. Google Chrome, Youtube, Netflix and Google Play. Also the small print mentions the OS'es that are supported
The side of the box, to show how simple the device is meant to be to get going and use. The watch icon is exactly the ont you need to look for when wanting to stream to the chromecast.
The front of the inside of the box, A very clear guide to get started. including the URL to go to
The rear of the dongle itself, this might be a bit blurry to see the text.
The top of the dongle and HDMI connector, also a indicator which lights up on the left of the dongle.
After taking the dongle cardboard piece out you have the following. A Micro USB cable a manual underneath, a HDMI extension cable, A US (Non CE Approved) USB Charger. Just a simple amount to see in the box.
As you saw, the packaging is nicely done, although i'm never a good cable tidier, it still fits nicely. Now after unboxing it, its a simple case to set it up as shown in the manual.
Using the Cast and Setting it up
Now the set-up is quite a simple process. Just plug the dongle into a hdmi port, plug a micro usb cable into the dongle and a standard usb 2 or 3 port, then switch the TV to use the HDMI input. Wait for it to boot and then go to the chromecast setup page or get the chromecast app. After installing it, the setup is simply check if the code shown matches, then name the dongle, set up the wifi and then its "ready to cast".
The "Ready to cast" screen which has a nice background every time, the time, the chromecast name as the Network Name. Simple but beautiful.
If you using chrome on OSX, Chrome OS or Windows, you will need the chrome extension, it will ask you to install it if you used the setup page. Otherwise your fully ready to go.
But if you do want to change some settings, the options you can choose from is below:
The Chromecast app on PC, it will list any chromecasts that are on the network
The Settings for Chromecast, Changing the timezone, the name and if you want to reset the dongle.
The Chromecast App, Exactly similar to the PC app, but suited to Android
The settings page on the Android app, this has a different option thats not listed on the PC app, but that can't be changed, since it is a US Play store App
Now if you want to cast, you can simply press the cast icon on the Youtube App on android, in Chrome or in the Youtube Player. Then wait 1 minute and its playing in 720p HD. Thats it. If you look at the triangle before you click the name of the dongle, you can decide whether you want just the web page or the entire Windows screen. So you can use this for Powerpoint presentations or make tutorials, but beware there is a slight delay, depending on the performance of your Wi-Fi router (N150, N300 or newer will handle it fine). An example of how it streams, using a instagram client is shown below. You can use 720p in a "high bitrate mode" but that is a risk you can take if needs be.
A basic concept of being able to show a webpage using chromecast. Ink361 in this case, the detail can be slightly off on bigger screens which can handle 1080p or higher, this is in standard 720p mode.
Conclusion
As you saw in the video review, the quality of the video is really as HD should be. Especially from the Beyond Two Souls Trailer or my recent upload of PAC-MAN CE DX+. I saw minimal quality issues. even on a broadband connection that is under 20mbps.
One downside of the Chromecast is the fact you are unable to stream Local media easily, for example you want to show a home video off to your family on Christmas thats on your PC or Tablet. Officially, for now you are unable to do so easily. You can copy the location of the video into chrome as a url and play it but that can be a bit dire for the simplest of users.
omracer's Rating: 8/10
The good points:
Simple to setup
Streams any page on chrome and also any PC screen
Very good quality for a small dongle
The weak points
Only available in the US in the official stance (Like i mention, check eBay)
Not as easy to stream local media
The SDK is still in a preview stage so there are not many apps that can handle true Chromecast support just yet
Now this will be a nice temporary bit of fun until PS Vita TV has arrived, i probably will sell this and order it from Japan. But for now, hope you enjoy and if you find a chance to get one of these, i would recommend it
