Wee Video!

Doc uses Flip Video to document bad hospital eats

2008-05-23T19:10:00Z

Vancouver Sun: MD exposes hospitals’ deep-fried diets.

In choppy videos and text posted this week on his popular blog, Weighty Matters, obesity expert Yoni Freedhoff began his culinary espionage at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus.

Neither did well.

NYT: Convenience not quality pumped the Flip

2008-05-23T19:08:00Z

New York Times: Flipped out.

“It was not a quality play,” concedes Simon Fleming-Wood, the vice president of marketing for Pure Digital Technologies, which makes the Flip. “It was a convenience play.” Convenience, of course, can be one of the most awesome forces in American culture. And Pure Digital, previously a nonentity in the camcorder market, has sold about one million Flips in the past year.

Slimmer Flip coming next month

2008-05-21T00:27:00Z

CNET’s Crave reports that a new, slimmer Flip called the Mino is coming June 4, with a recommended retail price of $180. No word on features or other specs. Stay tuned!

Also, it appears someone is squatting on the domain flipmino.com.

“It does just enough to get the job done”

2008-05-14T21:56:00Z

Uber-geek and gadget freak (and we mean those, naturally, in the best possible way) Chris Pirillo talks about the Flip Video. Among the things he likes is that he can give it to his dad and “it just works”.

Creative Vado introduced

2008-05-13T22:22:00Z

As expected, Creative Labs introduced the Vado Pocket Video Cam VF0570 today. A Flip-like form factor, it comes in silver or metallic pink casings, with a two hour capacity, 2” non-glare screen, and internal battery that’s rechargeable via the built-in USB connection, and with internal software that promises one-button uploading to YouTube and Photobucket. The Vado retails for $99 and is available today. (Amazon: Vado Pocket Video Cam (Silver) and Vado Pocket Video Cam (Pink).)

While the system requirements list a minimum Mac system of 10.4.11 or later, they also confusingly state that “The Vado™ software is not compatible with Mac OS X.”, with a note that Vado videos can be viewed in QuickTime player with the free Xvid codec plugin.

Flip clone coming from Creative?

2008-05-06T00:19:00Z

Gizmodo reports that electronics maker Creative Labs may be introducing a Flip Video-like camera called the Vado.

Flip for mom!

2008-04-28T18:27:00Z

The delightful shopping blog Mighty Goods recommends a Flip Video Ultra as part of its gift guide for Mother’s Day. We agree! The simple interface and easy offloading of videos to a laptop or desktop computer, combined with easy video-out to show off on a television make this wee cam perfect for mom. (They’d be especially good for new moms, who have enough to juggle with babes in arms. One-button capture is ideal for catching those precious moments.)

Flip Video maker sued over codec

2008-04-16T17:40:00Z

A company called Advanced Video Technologies has filed suit against Pure Digital Inc., makers of the popular Flip Video camcorder, alleging patent infringement. According to Reuters:

The suit alleges that AVT holds the patent to the “Full Duplex Single Chip Video Codec,” or software that allows the Flip Video cameras to compress video files into a far smaller form while keeping the images looking sharp. It is the essence of the camera, which has captured 13 percent of the camcorder market, according to a New York Times report.

Pure Digital claims the suit is without merit.

Flickr adds video

2008-04-09T12:54:00Z

Flickr, the popular photo sharing service, has just added video sharing to its offerings. Short videos, up to 90 seconds and 150 megabytes, may be uploaded, shared and commented upon alongside users’ photos. The brief time limit sets the service apart from other video sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, but Flickr clearly intends the service to be used for sharing short, slice-of-life videos they describe as “long photos”, rather than slickly-edited masterpieces.

Here’s one of the first examples I spied, shot with a Flip Video and edited in iMovie, by Scott Beale from Laughing Squid:

Vivitar has a line of palm cams

2008-03-28T17:34:00Z

I used to have a Vivitar pocket film camera, the sort that used 126 color film you had to advance by hand. Antique, right? I hadn’t really thought much about the company until today when I discovered they make a line of small, inexpensive video cameras, including the Flip-like DVR560g (pictured). All shoot at 640x480 and most include additional features such as MP3 playing and still camera capabilities in resolutions ranging from 5 to 7 megapixels, and all in the sub-$200 price range.

Anyone used one of these? Impressions?

Flip grabs 13 percent of camcorder market

2008-03-20T19:24:00Z

New York Times technology columnist David Pogue has a great introduction to the Flip Video today, including news that the tiny cam has snared an impressive chunk of the consumer camcorder market in its short life:

...in the year since its invention, it has taken 13 percent of the camcorder market, according to its maker, Pure Digital. The latest model, called the Flip Ultra, had its debut six months ago with slightly improved video quality, greater capacity, a tripod mount and better looks (available in white, black, orange, pink and green). It’s been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com since the day of its debut.

Pogue also demonstrates the Flip’s advantages over traditional camcorders in this amusing video.

The palm-cam vs. the pro-cam

2008-02-22T20:32:00Z

This is a pretty cool demonstration of the power personal video cameras such as the Flip Video put in the palm of your hand. Videographer and instructor Kirk Mastin shot the same video using a $3,200 Canon XH-A1 and a $150 Flip Video, then posted the resulting videos.

While you might not want to create your next Hollywood blockbuster feature using just a Flip, you’ll probably be surprised at the outcome of Kirk’s experiment. He was.

Yesterday I set out to film the exact same mini-film using a Canon XH-A1 and a Flip Video camera. I actually taped the Flip Video to the side of the Canon XH A1 to ensure that each shot was exactly the same.

Both sets of identical footage were editied exactly the same way: down to the frame! I wanted no bias in this test.

Both cameras were set to auto everything (Flip Video is always this way) and only minimal color correction was applied in Final Cut Pro to make them both roughly the same tone. I even cropped out about 30% of the Flip Video footage to make it have a 16:9 aspect ratio like the Canon XH A1.

16 hours later I have answered in part my eternal equipment question.

I have to say my results surprised even me.

My first Flip video: What, where or who…?

2008-01-02T20:10:00Z

Dang, that’s easy! Here’s the first video I shot with my new Flip Video Ultra, recorded at a marvelous New Year’s Eve party hosted by my friends Chris and Chris and edited in iMovie.

I’m really impressed with this little camera. The quality of the video is great, it dealt with the shifting light conditions pretty well, and considering I’d had a few glasses of wine during the shooting of the video, it’s remarkably stable. Getting the video on to my Mac and into iMovie was a snap; altogether, it probably took me 45 minutes to assemble and edit this piece.

I’ve Flipped

2007-12-27T06:42:00Z

I just bought myself a late Christmas gift, a tiny Flip Video camera. I actually got the “Ultra” model; it’s about the size of a pack of cigarettes, shoots 640x480 video and holds up to an hour of video on its internal 2 gigabyte memory. It also has a USB connector that flips (hence the name?) up on the side like a switchblade to make connection to a desktop or laptop computer simple. I can’t wait to play with it!