Deal Extreme SY182M & DV136ZB Ultra Budget Digital Camcorders [Naturally Sport No Frills, Notable Absence of Style & Confusing Specifications]

Those purveyors of all things cheap and cheerful (and overtly absolved of any sense of style) otherwise known as Deal Extreme have release two new budget priced digital camcorders for those on especially tight budgets in the form of the DV136ZB and SY182M, both of which offer flip out TFT screens and cases loaded with a host of stickers designed to remind you exactly what it is you’ve paid for (and, quite possibly, why).

SY182M DV136ZB

The SY182M offers a mere 2 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of capturing video at a decidedly poor 320 x 240 in AVI file format at between 10 and 20fps but can also capture stills at 1600 x 1024 (1.3MP effective) resolution with 2048 x 1536 (3.1MP effective) if you’re happy to resort to video interpolation. Other notable lowlights include a macro mode allowing you to capture images from a mere 20-30cm (Deal Extreme’s definition of macro is obviously decidedly different to our own), 4x digital zoom and USB1.1 connectivity (you surely didn’t expect USB2.0 did you?).

DV136ZB SY182M

Deal Extreme’s DV136ZB offers a rather lower spec in offering a 1.3 megapixel sensor, though, interestingly, whilst the SY182M with its 2MP sensor is detailed as offering video resolution of 320 x 240 at up to 20fps (no other video resolutions are specified at the time of writing) this 1.3MP camera is apparently capable of higher 640 x 480 resolution video capture at up to 30fps (and, no, it doesn’t make sense to us either, but then Deal Extreme can always be relied upon to present their budget priced products in an especially poor fashion – we consider it their one, and quite possibly only, redeeming feature).

Interested? No, neither are we, but based on the slim chance that perhaps someone is we can advise that the SY182M retails for just shy of $47 whilst the DV136ZB will set you back just under $48 which means that you get seemingly less quality video recording capabilities from a 2MP camcorder for around $1 more than a 1.3MP camcorder that offers better video resolution).

Confused? Welcome to the wonderful mixed up, crazy world of Deal Extreme.

(Okay, we have it sussed now, just by looking at the stickers on each of the camcorders – it appears that Dream Extreme have posted the specs incorrectly so you need to look at the specs listed for the SY182M to get the actual specs for the DV136ZB, and vice versa – we can all sleep easier now)

Deal Extreme