Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Flip Video HD Pocket Recorder

This is topic Flip Video HD Pocket Recorder in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000758

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-17-2009, 07:05 PM:

Anyone ever try one of these? What did you think? Yea, Joe... I know its not 1980 X what ever and its MPEG!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-17-2009, 07:43 PM:

OK

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-18-2009, 12:25 AM:

Does the camera have a full sized HDMI output or one of those pain in the butt mini HDMI plugs?

I only ask that because I had to do a little bit of searching recently (while visiting friends in Edmond, OK) in order to find anything at the retail level that worked. Radio Shack had a mini HDMI to regular HDMI adapter for $8. I found that after visiting other stores nearby (Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Target, Best Buy and Ultimate Electronics). The first three stores had HDMI cables for somewhat reasonable prices, but only cables with full sized plugs.

Best Buy and Ultimate Electronics were infected with the Monster™ brand overpriced crap. The prices of any Monster-branded cables are always good for a laugh. And that's what I was doing as I browsed through the cables at Ultimate Electronics. I was literally laughing out loud. A salesman walked up, also smiling. I looked at him and said, "I guess there must be plenty of people stupid enough to buy this stuff in order for to stock this much of it! Geez!"

Anyway, HD camcorders and D-SLR cameras with HD video capability are becoming more popular and it seems many require the mini HDMI to full sized HDMI type of cable.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-18-2009, 01:19 AM:

My D-SLR has an HDMI connection. It is a mini one. I have never had any desire to hook it up to a TV. At most I would drop the video into Final Cut Pro and then burn an edited AVCHD DVD which would play on most Blu-Ray players.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-18-2009, 05:08 PM:

I believe it does have a swing out full size HDMI as it's meant to just plug into your laptop or front mounted HDMI desktop port. Just wondered if anyone here had tried one of them yet. Its tiny but still does 720P downside is no zoom at all except a simple digital X2 one. It does have extreme low light sensitivity which is one thing I'm after.

I rarely download photos fomr my cameras HDMI port. I use a card reader... much quicker then the camera is. My Dell laptop has a mini card reader built into it.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 08-18-2009, 05:13 PM:

Can't speak for the HD one, but for Flip in general...Wife #1 had an SD Flip. It had a flip-out USB port so you could transfer the files to your hard drive...or use the internal Flip software on the device. Worked either way. I don't believe you could just plug it into your TV and play the video.

It did 30fps only and wasn't exactly stellar quality video, but was perfectly decent for the price paid.

Very simple to use.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-19-2009, 06:31 PM:

I use the USB cable and camera software to download still photos from my D-SLR camera. I can also use the Compact Flash™ slots in my work computer and 80GB PS3 to view or move pictures off the disc.

The Mini-HDMI to full sized HDMI plug thing is mainly for watching HD video with the camera connected directly to a HDTV monitor. The camera's manual doesn't recommend connecting the camera and a computer via HDMI.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-20-2009, 03:20 PM:

Did some investigating and the Kodak Zi6 looks like a killer deal compared to the Flip. The Kodak is not only less expensive but it also offers more features than the Flip including a usable zoom and a macro feature. I got home last night and in the mail box was a 20% off shopping bag for Office Max. Went over there and they had the Kodak in stock... total cost was something like 123 after the discount. I went to Wal-Mart and got a killer deal on a 16GB SD card for 38 bucks. So I'm at a huge capacity for recording 60fps 720P format and I still spent about 20 bucks less for this than the Flip would have cost me. So far works pretty good... every bit as good as Joe's Pro rig works!! Oh and another good feature is that it doesn't require a special battery pack... just regular AAs or the pair of AA NIMHs and charger that come with it.

Mark