Camcorder Sale, Reviews: Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 30-Minutes (White)
Sale: $90.00 (60%)
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By d.drueck hammer - The ease of use of this camera is excellent. The quality of the video is approximately equivalent to VHS, and the low light recording and sound are excellent. There is no image stabilization, so zooming/panning should be kept to a minimum for best results. The camera also only has a Digital zoom. I do like the fact that this Camera uses AA batteries so it won't be a paper weight in a couple of years like the Sony NSC-GC1 when its built in battery dies. I wish this camera supported external SD cards like its competitors but unfortunately it doesn't.
One problem I found when operating the camera, was when connected directly to a TV I don't think there is a way to rewind clips. When I held the back/forward buttons on the camera the camera just went to the next clip.
I found the .avi files to be inefficient, as one 30-minute clip I shot was 800Mb in size but once re-encoded to MPEG4 H.264 it was much smaller. Also, for some reason the when I tried to play my clip using my free VLC player Version 0.8.6c the there was no sound. I was able to play the clips fine in Quicktime though...
The software included in the flash memory of the camera seems a bit slow but works for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, for those who want to edit their video, the included editing tools are only good for resizing or merging clips.
I own a Core 2 Duo iMac and wanted to edit my footage using iMovie '08 unfortunately, the current version of the software doesn't support importing .avi files. I searched for a solution and found that the footage can be re-encoded to MPEG4 or changed to a .mov Quicktime wrapper and it will import fine into the new iMovie. What a pain though! Some softwares that are useful for Mac to help re-encode the video are: iSquint (free), Visual Hub (more advanced pay version of iSquint), and Quicktime Pro.
Once I had my footage imported into my computer, I uploaded a few of them into Youtube to share our Christmas with some of our extended family. Unfortunately, I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the footage in Youtube. I tried to research how to encode the footage with different formats/bitrates for maximum quality in Youtube but unfortunately, no matter what I tried (MPEG4 H.264, .flv, etc) the quality was the same. Apparently, Youtube resizes/re-encodes the footage no matter what format it is in so I think the only way to get better quality on Youtube would be to start out with better quality clips.
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I would be interested in hearing others that have tried the rca model, and the aiptek a-hd model, so we all can get user experiences comparing all 3 video camera's. RCA is 99dollars, aiptek hd is 119 dollars on sale.
At first, I thought something was wrong in uploading clips to computer (converting files to email format) because it stayed at 99 percent done for 8 minutes. And I unplugged camera and got message that is was still in computer mode. If I just upload to computer without converting to email or utube it goes a lot faster because no conversion of formats.
Second time, I opened the folder on computer that file was downloading to, and when software hit 99 percent done , I saw that the program was still completing the download because file sizes were getting bigger, and it finally finished. I write this because others may think the computer is hanging but it isn't, it sometimes takes alot of time to convert regular avi format to wma format for uploading to email. So your camera is not broken, you may have slow computer or BIG file to convert.
As others say zoom is not that good, but for quick shots and face shots it can't be beat, because I have camcorders but never used them because I had to make sure the special battery was charged, and it was a lot bigger, and I couldn't put in pocket, and I had to have special tapes, and special software, and it was a pain to take spur of moment shots.
This camera takes 2 AA batteries that last over an hour, and you have 1 hour record time on camera. My style is take 15 second clips, or 30 second clips of stuff, and then mix them together. TV shows switch camera's every few seconds so it keeps peoples attention, and I try to do the same! So 60 minutes for me gives me 120 (30 second clips) or 240 (15 second clips)! And I'm always around a laptop or computer to upload everything I just shot. :)
p.s. I went to park today and made a 2min film using only ultra flip and software on the ultra flip.
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By Lisa M. Hendey (Fresno, CA United States) - I was fortunate enough to receive a complimentary Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder for review from Amazon, who offered the product to frequent reviewers to promote their new Video Review feature. Since receiving the Flip Video a week ago, our family has had a blast playing with this diminutive little camera. Like most other families, we own a regular sized video camera that gets pulled out for the occasional school play, Christmas, or major trip. So I wasn't convinced that we would actually use the Flip Video very much.Wrong! Since owning the camera, we've shot over thirty video clips in a variety of lighting and sound situations. The biggest fans of the camera, of course, are my teenage sons who are a part of the You Tube generation. They love the immediate gratification of being able to shoot a video, flip the USB arm from the side of the camera, plug it into the computer, and use the camera's on board software to upload directly to You Tube in one step.
Here's the blueprint for the Flip Video: the dimensions are 1.2 x 2.2 x 4.2 inches and the camera weighs 7.2 ounces, less than my cell phone. I have a small camera bag, and this little guy fits neatly into it with my still camera, making it easy and accessible - which means that you will actually carry it along on outings. It would easily fit into a pocket. The camera comes with a hand strap and small drawstring bag (not too useful). With 2 GB of memory, the camera can hold up to sixty minutes of footage. All the software you need is loaded onto the camera, which enables you to do some minor editing, file organization, upload clips to the web, or email, and string clips together to make a longer movie. The Flip Video also comes with a cord to connect to the television and watch videos there, but we have not as yet tested that feature.
On the down side, the Flip Video is not the perfect camera for taking far away videos, since it only has a 2x zoom level. I found that it is great for shooting at close range, but when I tried to shoot video from a great distance (as you might do at a school play or sporting event), the results were not great.
I'm looking forward to using the Flip Video to capture those "spur of the moment" situations with my kids that seem to come up in day to day life. Since the camera is so small and light, it easily fits into my small purse and is ready at a moment's notice. We've had a great time playing with the Flip Video and would highly recommend it for families on the go like ours, looking to capture memories without a lot of hassle. Have fun!
