Review: PureDigital Flip Video Camera
Review: PureDigital Flip Video Camera, Camcorder Uses Flash Memory
September 2007 By Eric BassThe Flip stores one hour of video on a gigabyte of memory. Resolution is 640 x 480 at 30fps, which technically is the same as standard NTSC video or standard definition television. You can’t change the quality settings to get more video on the camera, nor is there an option for adding a flash card, but an hour seems sufficient for this camera.
Shooting is essentially a one-button affair. There’s a small LCD screen on the back and a big red button for recording. You also get a zoom control, but it’s not an actual optical zoom, so I recommend you avoid using it. There’s no picture menu for controlling things like gain or exposure and no focus control. It’s a fixed focus, like what you get on a disposable film camera.
Video saves in MPEG4 as an AVI file which is easily compatible with most video editing software, but the really cool thing about the Flip is that video editing and sharing software is included on the camera. The Flip has a built-in flip-out USB jack for connecting it to a computer. Once plugged in, the imbedded software automatically launches and stays on the camera—you don’t have to save an application on your PC, so you can use it anywhere, on any PC.
The software is really the key to this product. It’s dirt simple. Video editing doesn’t involve story line or time line modes or any complicated instructions. View, save, share––that’s about it. You can trim individual clips, combine clips into larger movies and save them to your hard drive. There’s a simple application for e-mailing videos as well. If you’re a Youtube or Grouper user then this cam is perfect for you. The software will automatically launch either one of those video sharing Web sites and prepare your clips for upload. This process is very easy. I put several videos online within five minutes of shooting them.
