Milennius Memmoir Full HD camcorder

The Millennius Memmoir is an ultra-budget high-definition camcorder that competes in the same space as Kogan’s . Like the Kogan, it records Full HD (1080p) video in the H.264 MOV format to SD/SDHC memory cards. However, the Millennius Memmoir comes with some extra tricks up its sleeve, including a generously sized 10-megapixel CMOS sensor (compared to 5 megapixels on the Kogan) and a 3in LCD touch screen. While its image quality is nothing to boast about, it remains more than adequate for the super-low asking price.

When we first pulled the Millennius Memmoir out of the box, we were pleasantly surprised by how attractive it looked. While it shares identical dimensions with the Kogan Full HD 1080p Video Camera (57x70x129mm), it benefits from a much sleeker finish. The black, glittery paintjob is reminiscent of the Canon Legria HF20 — a high-end camcorder that costs more than three times as much. Granted, certain concessions have been made to the build quality — including a cheap hand strap and flimsy battery door — but it still looks a lot better than any HD camcorder in its price range. It also comes with an HDMI output, meaning you can plug it straight into your HDTV without mucking about with docking stations or adaptors.

We were also fairly impressed with the LCD touch screen. We were worried this would be the Memmoir’s undoing, but it performed reasonably well for the asking price. While not quite so responsive as Sony’s handycam range, it still gets the job done with minimal hassle. Interestingly, Millennius has also thrown a direction stick onto the back of the device, essentially offering you the best of both worlds. You can consequently ignore the touch screen altogether if you’d prefer to keep the LCD free of fingerprints.

Unfortunately, while the touch screen is adequate, the actual menu is a bit of a mess. Millennius has opted for colourful icons over written text, but it’s not always obvious what each symbol means. For instance, the digital effect menu is represented by three coloured bars — despite the fact that both digital effects on offer (B&W and Sepia) contain no colours. That said, it’s unlikely many users will spend much time in the menu screen; this is a point-and-shoot model after all.

As you’d expect with a budget camcorder from a no-name vendor, the Millennius Memmoir fell down when it came to image quality. We tested the device under a variety of lighting conditions and played the footage back on an LG 50PS80ED plasma TV. While colours were reasonably accurate in our outdoor test shots, the picture became grainy when we ventured indoors (fortunately, it’s quite easy to adjust the manual exposure).

Millennius has included a Night Mode and inbuilt light to help out in dim situations, but unfortunately they don’t do a very good job. We were also unimpressed with the autofocus, which was far too sluggish to be reliable. That said, the Memoir is easily the Kogan Full HD 1080p Video Camera’s equal, and takes a pretty decent still image (up to 12-megapixels via interpolation) to boot. While it’s obviously not as accomplished as the Canon Legria HF20, we’d hesitate to say it was three times worse — in other words, you get more bang for your buck.

Like the Kogan Full HD 1080p Video Camera before it, the Millennius Memmoir comes with an 8GB SDHC card and a bonus carry case, thus bolstering its value even further. The Millennius Memmoir is only available to purchase from the Millennius Web site.

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