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Flip Video Camcorder

Might not be right for the Mac.

I agree, it might not be right for the Mac....but rumors have it that the next gen product will add the MPEG4 format. We'll have to wait and see. I never trust these first gen products....too many bugs. It IS a real cool camera...
As to the picture quality, that where I'll have to dissagree with DH. I'm a film guy....a DP....so I work with all types of professional cameras....and I have to say that the picture quality is much better (than "slightly better") video quality than traditional cell phone video. I've seen it and it's quite impressive. Now compare that to my iPhone video and it stands up to THAT quality. But that's a whole different camera. If you have to have Mac compatibility, I wouldn't buy the Flip....althogh it's so tempting....unless you want to work out the format bugs. Be patient....like all other products, the next Flip will be much better....then you bite.
 
I don't have a flip, but I got an RCA small wonder recently and it's nice for FB or YouTube video or just something small to kick around and have on hand if you need to record something. No frills or anything-doesn't compare to an actual sd camcorder, but so portable.
 
Flip phone

I got one for my wife. I had to use my Dad's XP PC to get a firmware update so it works on my iBook (G4-OS X 10.4.11). It works just fine with my computer. The quality is indeed much better than a cell phone by the way. Its about as good as my 3.5 yr old DV recorder. This is nice for our family as it is quick to pull out and shoot vs. find the recorder, which always seems to be having a dead battery or no tape or too slow, missing the moment. Two kids under three basically need to have it out and push the button.

Anyway it works fine for us, hope that helps.
 
I haven't seen footage from the Flip but I doubt that it is better than this footage I shot with the Aiptek A-HD that I purchased at Circuit City for $129.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/403788/

The Aiptek is 720p HD and shoots H.264 .MOV files. Just drag and drop them to your Mac for iMovie '08. Works great.

Indoor shooting in normal household lighting (low light) is probably on par with a 3-5 year old low end MiniDV cam. Outdoors the quality is great.

After rebate I'll have this thing for $99.
 
I have a Flip

My folks got it for me for Christmas. And I have a Mac as my primary computer. What the hell should I do now?:confused: That is to say, what should I do about the fact that it shuts off every time I try to do anything other than view my videos?
 
flip video ultra doesn't appear on desktop

I have a new, as of Christmas, Flip Video Ultra. I have previously been able to mount it, via USB, on the desktop of my also new iMac (system 10.4.11). I am no longer able to get to show up on the desktop, although the system profile shows it to be present on the high-speed USB bus. Is there anything I can do? I have a lot of video that I am unable to off load from the camera.
 
imovie is a problem for flip video

I just "upgraded" to the "new" macbook after my powerbook G4 from '03 died. I had a flip video camera and was happily making movies that easily dropped into the old imovie clip viewer. I found the movie quality more than adequate and much much better than any cell phone and a grade above for youtube. Unfortunately the new imovie does not recognize the flip video quicktime clips or the camera even when it's plugged in. This left me using the software on the camera which is unbearably inferior even for an amateur like myself. I wish Mac would make it's imovie user friendly again. it's just terrible when improvements make things worse. Imovie 08 kind of sucks.
 
Use MPEG Streamclip to convert your files to a format IMO8 recognizes and then import into IM08.

I like using "other formats" then "Quicktime Movie" because it's responsive in IM08 and doesn't use as much space as DV.

Antoher choice is using AIC which edits perhaps a tad better, but uses alot of disk space.
 
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How to replace Movie Mixer with iMovie

Hi,

I bought a Flip last week and I'm generally really pleased with it. I've written up my thoughts here:

http://jaybyjayfresh.com/2008/09/22/a-weekend-with-a-flip/

Annoyingly, Movie Mixer isn't included in the Mac software - this is a way I found to use iMovie to make a film and then get it back into Flip Video for Mac so you can use the simple (and effective) exporting options (grabbed from the blog post above):

1) Save the video files from Flip to the computer - they’ll be saved as AVI’s
2) Create a new iMovie project, add your clips and make your movie
3) When it comes to exporting the finished video, export as a Quicktime File and choose the 3ivx codec (this is installed the first time you run “Flip Video for Mac”), 30 frames per second and 640×480 resolution - other settings seem fine on their defaults
4) After iMovie has finished exporting, plug in the Flip and look in its “DCIM” folder for the existing videos, which will be called something like “VID0000x.AVI”; rename your movie so it is the next in sequence and copy it across to the Flip
5) Now, when you open up “Flip Video for Mac”, your movie will be treated just like any other on the Flip

Hope that helps,


J.
 
Convert flipcam footage to DV?

ercw said:
In order to watch your footage with the flip cam in Quicktime, you have to downoad The Xvid component
http://n.ethz.ch/student/naegelic/download/
and place it inside the Quitime folder.
If you wantto edit it in FC, you'll have to convert it to DV.

Example of footage on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz6zfQfPqzY
Click to expand...


Does anybody recommend any free/cheap easy ways to convert flipcam footage to DV? The images don't even show up in iMovie (I believe the flipcam I used recorded in .avi format). Does Final Cut Pro alter .avi formats?
 
I have a Flip Ultra HD and I've had no problem editing the vids in iMovie '09 and FCE4. A previous poster says they are .AVI but mine are .MP4's. Does it change formats based on OS? I can't imagine it would...but perhaps the Flipshare application does. However, I have imported vids directly from the cam.
 
I'm considering buying a Flip Ultra or UltraHD, and I have a few questions:
- How close can you get without the video getting blurry?
- Can you record while it is plugged in?
- Can you use it as a web cam (for video chat, etc.)?

Thanks.
 
Flip Camera Mino HD

Nothing but trouble. Two external hard drives have been corrupted. Tech support was blasè. Not much help. The software worked fine for a few videos, but eventually there was a miscommunication between the flip camera and the external hard drive and poof!! precious videos were gone. The tech support folks could not acknowledge anything but wonder.
 
Flip mino HD

I just got a Flip and its outstanding, easy to use, works great with Imove 9
or just use the Flip software thats load on the Flip. It picks up sounds good also. For the price you can't go wrong. I paid $144.00 for mine. For something so small its big on quality.:)
 
I bought a Flip MinoHD last week and I am positively surprised. Footage looks outstanding, especially with the "wide angle lens hack" (do a Youtube search).

Many pro film makers use that camcorder for b-roll footage (e.g., mounting the tiny camera to the bumper of cars to shoot some street scenes).

Its like a little stealth and "throw-away" camcorder for serious footage that could not be obtained otherwise.
 
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