Flip UltraHD Video Camera - Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (2nd Generation) OLD MODEL
by Flip Video
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Flip UltraHD Video Camera - Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (2nd Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 120 Minutes (Black) by Flip Video
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all things to forget to pack for vacation. I can't believe I forgot to pack a camera! WOW!!!
So, I took a quick trip to the electronics section of a local store and without checking reviews, I purchased a Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera. The camera looked nice and it was made by Sony. It had to be good, right? Just so you know, I usually spend up to a week online, reviewing and researching items before I find the right one. I don't know about you, but I know that for every item that I purchase, there is one that was made just for me.
Back to the storyline. I took the Sony home and I used it that day and into the evening. When I downloaded the footage, the daytime video was great, but I was not happy with the video taken in the low light of the living room and outside. The video was dark and the camcorder had a hard time focusing on the subjects. I checked online and found the Flip UltraHD Camcorder, 8 GB/120 Minutes of HD footage (Black). I made some phone calls and found a store that had one Flip UltraHD in stock! So, I returned the Sony and purchased the Flip UltraHD Camcorder. I used it that day and that night, just like I did with the Sony. Later, I downloaded the footage to my computer and it looked great, even in the low light of the living room and outside! Granted, this was not designed to take the place of a DSLR, but it can be used to capture some special moments that will outlive the camcorder!
I made a little movie of my father and myself playing horseshoes. I linked all the clips together, picked a sound track from the selections provided in the menu and played it on my parents new 40" HD LCD television. My parents and I laughed as we watched the mini movie. We all commented on the clarity that the HD recording brought out and all were impressed with the UltraHD performance. I also went to the snapshot menu and selected a few frames from the movie footage that I could print as still pictures, just as if taken with my other camera I had left at home.
The thing that really sold me on the Flip UltraHD is the ability to use AA batteries instead of the internal rechargeable battery! That is why this unit is bigger than the rest of the current mini camcorders. For me, there is nothing worse than sitting around a picnic table or campfire with a camcorder in your pocket that has a dead battery and no way to charge it using it's USB connection. Not worries with the UltraHD. Just pop out the rechargeable battery and pop in 2 AA batteries! Depending on the AA batteries, they can be good for a 30 minute video clip. Not bad at all!!
If there were two(2) things I would like to come with the camcorder, it would be a 8" mini HDMI cable and a 3" LCD screen. I can guess the 120 minutes of HD video would drop to 100 minutes, due to the larger screen.
One weekend with the Flip UltraHD camcorder is all it took to convince me that this is one great little movie camera/still camera. I love it. I look forward to the next generation camcorders. Now, when my wife finds out I bought this, she use it and I know that she will love it. Then, I will have to ask her if I can use "her camcorder"! LOL!!!
~M
Customer Review: The Flip camcorder just got better.
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
IN THE BOX:
· Flip Ultra HD camcorder
o (note that the HDMI cable to connect this to a HDTV set is NOT included)
· Rechargeable battery pack
· Wrist strap
· A pouch to keep and carry the camcorder
· Quick start guide and warranty information
Prior to ordering this new camcorder I had am original Flip mino (the 60 minutes model), some differences I noticed when I opened the new Ultra HD are the following:
1. Rechargeable battery can now be removed, in case you run out of battery or you forgot to recharge it, you can use two AA batteries.
2. The control buttons that were sensitive to touch (that were so annoying sometimes) are gone. They have been replaced by regular buttons which is great.
3. Camera is bulkier than the Flip Mino, which makes sense as this new model records 2 hours in HD quality.
4. No need for a USB cable, there is a latch you slide on the left side and the USB connection pops up
I am quite happy I decided to replace my old Mino, functionality and advantages are mostly the same, the camcorder is compact and convenient to take everywhere (including concerts where cameras are not allowed) but the HD quality takes the product to a whole new level.
Picture quality is simply stunning when recording in exteriors, the colors are vibrant and the level of detail is quite impressive (considering I watched them on a 50" HDTV set) One thing I noted though is that lighting is very important when recording, I have made a several videos in interiors (without natural sun light, at home for example) and picture quality seems to suffer, it does not look bad, but it doesn't look as good as videos recorded on exteriors (with natural sun light for instance) I have uploaded a couple snapshots so you can see how the picture looks, note the vibrant colors I talked about. I made these snapshots with the included software, 'Flipshare', very quick to install and easy to use, the software allows you to edit videos, share, extract, create video postcards, create DVDs, get snapshots from a selected video among other nice features. Battery life is quite good too, I have recorded the complete 2 hours and battery will be left for you to re-watch the videos.
Video quality is 1280x720 (16:9) and the videos are recorded in .mp4 format, which for me is better than the .avi from prior models. As I mentioned earlier, the HDMI cable is not included but what I did is that I connected the camcorder directly into my PS3 (connected to my HDTV set via HDMI cable) and that did the trick. Since the file format is .mp4 the PS3 had no issues recognizing the videos.
A great camera that I would definitely recommend over the prior models, the price difference is well worth it after you watch what the Ultra HD can do. The Flip camcorder just got better.
Customer Review: Great little HD camcorder that goes everywhere with you
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The Flip UltraHD camcorder is the epitome of easy-to-use, convenient HD camcorder that doesn't pack a lot of bells and whistles, but does a very good job of taking HD video (1280x720 @ 30fps). Everything about the UltraHD camcorder screams convenience and portability: The built-in standard USB connector for downloading videos that doubles as a battery charger; included rechargeable batteries while maintaining full compatibility with regular alkaline AA and NiHM AA batteries; the FlipShare software that is installed from the camcorder; simple and easy-to-use control layout.
When you power on the UltraHD, a splash screen appears for about a second and then the live view on the screen is ready for shooting. Pressing the red record button as soon as the power's on will cut short the splash screen (if you hold the red button down, it'll take you to the setup screen). There are two buttons--playback, delete--and one four-way controller with the record button in the middle. The up and down controller takes care of digital zooming in and out during recording, and volume up and down during playback. The buttons and controls are responsive and you can optionally turn off the confirmation beeps (and the red recording light).
The video quality is pretty darned good, certainly much better than what I've gotten from my digital camera that can also shoot HD at the same resolution and framerate. You can record up to two hours of HD video on the included 8GB memory; there's no option to add extra memory, or replace the 8GB internal memory with larger capacity card. The included rechargeable battery at full charge easily lasts past two hours' of recording time.
The included Flipshare program lets you view, make movies from, capture screenshots, and trim video clips. One very handy feature I appreciate is the e-mail sharing. You bring up that component of the app, select the video, and specify the recipients. The application uploads it to the Flip server, processes it, and sends an e-mail link to the recipients when the video is ready. For a 30-second HD video clip, the FlipShare program takes approx. 1.5 min to send it. A short while later (the delay depends on the size of the video; for the 30-second video (approx. 35MB), it took 2 minutes), the recipient(s) receives an e-mail with the link. The fullscreen quality of video shared this way is very good.
All in all, I am very pleased with the Flip UltraHD camcorder. It doesn't try to do too much, but what it does, it does very well. Highly recommended for those who just want to shoot HD videos without dealing with a multitude of options available to other, bigger camcorders.
Customer Review: HD video as simple as it should be
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my 5th flip video camera. I bought two for myself and two for my kids, not I had to have the new HD version.
What makes the flip so successful and so much fun is the simple and easy use, it's small size and of course the built in USB connector.
Let's be honest, we don't want to shoot a Hollywood movie, we want a simple way to capture precious or funny moments without having to figure out a fully featured camera and we want decent quality. That's exactly what the flip does best. It's so small and compact that I keep it with me almost anywhere. It starts up instantly, it records instantly and 2 hours of recording time is more than enough. The quality is decent in low light and really good in any normal daylight. For such a small device the sound quality is surprisingly good. Sound issues is what most cheap/digital video cameras struggle with. At the end of the day I plug it in my PC and copy the movies over. It really couldn't be simpler. Once plugged in the battery recharges automatically.
Although the resolution is not full HD but only 1280 x 720, the quality you got from such a little device and such a low price is really really good. I have a much more expensive HD camera that hardly delivers a better quality.
I have been working for several TV stations and have used all sorts of professional cameras and to a degree still do. I know very well that there a many better cameras out there, but for the flip the 'less is better' concept is really true. Even my 6 and 7 year old kids figured out how to use them in no time. For me it's the simplicity and to know I will get a good video out of it without having to think much.
A few things about this model:
it comes with a rechargeable battery that recharges through a USB connection. This is very handy because you never have to open the cover and replace batteries. Charging takes a while though. But you can always use normal AA batteries.
Sometimes when the camera gets warm it refused to charge saying it's too hot. Letting the batteries cool down is a good idea (prolongs their life). Don't leave it plugged in, because it will never resume charging. You have to unplug it and cool it down, then start over.
This model has a neat feature to save battery life. Should you forget to stop recording and put the camera in the bag, it will recognize that there is "nothing to see" and turn itself off! Very cool! Downside is you can't use this camera to shoot a long static scene.
Overall battery life is about 2 hours which matches the storage capacity.
Overall this camera is more responsive and quicker than the previous models. I like it a lot.
Really you can't go wrong with this camera if you are looking for something simple to use and still want decent quality videos.
Customer Review: Convenient, Excellent Quality
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm real happy with the Flip UltraHD. My first had a dead pixel which appeared on all videos. Amazon promptly replaced it. Both units exhibit the overheating issue after charging for a long time. This big flaw can be worked around by either letting it cool down for a while before continuing to charge or by simply forgoing the Flip battery back and using your own rechargeable batteries.
The FlipShare software is basically useless. I selected "Make a DVD" and it basically had me copy the files I needed to work with and then said, "ok you'll need to either use your software now or pay (I think it was $20) for a Premium Flip DVD. Ha. As for editing, you seem to only be able to trim the start or end of videos so its very limited.
I've already plugged TMPGEnc Xpress in the forums here as an excellent editor and an encoder which works great with these files. You need to encode to mpeg-2 DVD compliant (720x480p) if you want to make standard DVDs. TMPGEnc DVD Author did a great job on authoring some DVDs. I think the software is now called TMPGEnc DVD Authoring Works which is inclusive of the other mentioned apps. I got A/V synch errors using the free DVD Flick. Here's another great (and free) tool: MP4CAM2AVI- This tool can quickly join your .mp4 files with no quality loss to .avi format.
I ordered the Gorillapod Tripod which I'm sure can have great applications but of course as a standard tripod it is very short. I got another 53 inch tripod and the Flip UltraHD easily mounts to it.
It's just amazing considering the price of this unit what it can do (2 hours of 720p HD) compared to the $599 Sony MiniDV Camcorder I bought 5 years ago. (60 minute tapes at HQ)
I have uploaded about 9 HD videos to youtube so far and it's incredible. Remember if you use Flipshare to upload it won't be HD. You won't even the see the HD icons on your videos as an option. It's strange but you have to manually browse to your files from youtube and upload them. You won't have any transcoding or at least any noticeable quality loss this way.
Of course I wish that you could swap out memory cards but so far the 2 hours has been sufficient.
I also which that I could rename the videos which the Flip names as VID00001, etc. If anything, Flipshare can be a good catalog tool but while you can title your videos in the program, it's more of a 'tag' and the file name can never change. (if you want to maintain this catalog). So you're left VID00001-VID0078. I hope you have clear thumbnails so you can identify the videos if you browse to them in Windows Explorer.
Edit to add: I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) without the issues described in the review below mine.
In summary, I'm very much enjoying the camcorder.