Polycrystalline copper oxide thin films are prepared at a reaction temperature above 280 degrees C by an atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition method. The source materials were copper dipivaloylmethanate and oxygen. It has been shown from the experiment that two kinds of films, i.e., Cu2O and CuO are grown by controlling oxygen partial pressure. A series of characterizations on the film quality by scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer has been made, and the performance of solar thermal conversion are also identified on the produced films. Results show that the well-crystallized CuO him has lower infrared transmittances due to the scatterings of light through the optically anisotropic monoclinic structure.