Digital Blue Lego Stop Animation Video Camera - Blockbuster New Releases Information

Durability: Fun: Educational: 

Save yourself a large headache and avoid this product. I only purchased this because I could not find any reviews – so here is mine:

I’ve never written an electronics review before now. That’s how disappointed I am. I purchased this video camera for my nine-year-old son. I spent the whole evening trying to get it to function with the software. (I have two fully updated XP machines, which exceed the minimum requirements.) Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed with the software, which is clunky and buggy. I cannot stress this enough. I cannot believe that anyone ever got this to work outside of their dev team. I tried to upload the images we took with the camera by itself, and though it imported them, I had to watch a spinning wheel when i tried to process them in any way. The program also locked up on me whenever I tried to import those same pictures from the hard drive (rather than the camera), saying the program encountered an unexpected error and had to close. I tried a stop-motion movie with the camera hooked in via the supplied USB cable, but when I hit the “make movie” button, i got more spinning wheel. I let it sit there for more than an hour, but it had effectively locked up so hard, that even an “end task” did not stop it. It is such a great feeling to lose every frame of animation in the process. (This machine was a Win XP, 2.66 with 1GB ram.)

I loaded the drivers when it prompted me, read all the instructions and on-line trouble shooting/warnings, etc., but still cannot make a single stop motion movie with it. I tried a few different methods, and even played with some of the filters and special effects, only to get the eventual, eternally spinning wheel. I tried it on two PC’s with similar effect.

I do like the look and feel of the hardware — cool factor is high. Though it is pretty low-tech for this day and age, it would have been sufficient for a child to begin with. I like the Lego “tripod” for use on a base plate, and the closeup lens is a good feature, but it does not perform well in even medium light. Even with all the cool Lego-ness to it, the total lack of functionality (for making a movie), and the fact that this time vampire sucked away a half day of my life, completely kills the deal.

I am going to try and return it to ToysRUs as soon as possible. It would be great if I could use it with my Mac (no software or drivers for Mac!), or with another program on the PC. But I found that my two-year old VX Lifecam and stop motion freeware are doing a great job until I can research a good alternative video camera. If they rewrite the software or write it for the mac, then maybe this will be a decent product. Maybe.

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Durability: Fun: Educational: 

My son took an animation class using a digital blue product. Unfortunately, the video cameras he used only worked on XP. When he saw the Lego Stop Animation camera he was very excited. The website stated it worked with Vista and Windows 7 so we ordered it. Once we installed the software my son tried it out. It didn’t work. It wouldn’t tether to the computer. The software didn’t recognize the camera. Then when we imported individual pictures and put them into an animation, the video played back upside down.

I sent an email to tech support and was told that the camera only worked with XP. When I looked on the website the min. system requirements had been changed to XP. Still the documentation that comes with the camera said Vista. The guides on the website say Vista as well.

I have asked for a full refund from Digital Blue but at this time they have not responded. I am very disappointed. It could have been a great product. The software looked fun to use but without the camera tethered to the computer it just wont work. My son will be getting the Flip Video Camera instead.

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Durability: Fun: Educational: 

My son got this as a gift on Christmas. He was very, very excited to get it. Unfornately, it was very short lived.

We have an XP computer, but couldn’t get the software to load for a long time. Then when we finally did half the features wouldn’t work.

The quality of the camera wasn’t was worth the $79.99 price either.

We have returned the camera.

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