Flip UltraHD Camcorder 120 Minutes White
The Flip UltraHD Camcorder combines Flip Videos signature shoot-and-share simplicity with the power of vivid, vibrant HD video. Power on and press record to start capturing incredible HD video in seconds. When its time to share your video, use the flip-out USB arm to connect to any PC or Mac and launch built-in FlipShare editing and video-sharing software. Built-in FlipShare software lets you easily email videos, edit individual clips, make custom movies, capture still photos from video, and even upload video to sharing sites likeYouTube and MySpace
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars use a fan whilst charging to stop it getting hot…
Have had the flip ultra HD for a couple of weeks now. Really love how easy it is to use and i am pretty sure my old panasonic mini DV camcorder is now going to be collecting dust in the corner. Although the quality on the panasonic is far superior, it was just too much hassle to download the videos and to edit and convert them into a smaller file on the pc, which meant i rarely shared my videos of the kids with anyone.
I have read other reviewer’s comments about issues whilst charging, but i decided to go ahead with the purchase anyway since i also have rechargeable AA batteries that i can use. i thought i’d add my experiences so far. I have had issues with the unit giving an error message that it is getting too hot whilst charging, and so i now take off the battery cover and have a fan blowing on the device whilst it is charging, which keeps it cool. not the most elegant solution, but it works!
It seems to take a couple of hours to recharge fully.
4 Stars I like it BUT Image stabilaztion is pretty bad without tripod!
I purchased this for my wife to take on a trip to India and a skiing trip I will take in January. The packaging was great and over-all it is a quality product. For the small purchase price it delivers your moneys worth but everyone needs to understand its limitations. If you can use the camcorder on a stationary table or tripod it will work perfectly. If you take videos on the go in your hand you will NOT be happy with the results. It does not have image stabilization so it is VERY jerky and a chore to watch. If you move the camera quickly you will also get jerky video like it doesn’t have enough frames per second. Keep in mind this is a very small package and can only do so much. I found the audio to be more than acceptable and the video is excellent when placed in a stationary position. If you can live with this restriction I say go for it. Before I purchased this particular recorder I viewed some videos off the web where comparisons were made between several different camcorders and this problem is normal for all small flash memory camcorders. The Vado was the closest top rated camcorder and it has the same problem. This camera does seem to record in lower light areas better than I expected. It isn’t great and it is a little grainy but to me it was acceptable. You have to buy a wall charger seperately if you want to charge it without a USB port. One other improvement I would recommend in future Flips is external memory card slots. It will hold 2 hours but it is strictly internal memory so if you use it up on a long vacation you have to take your laptop and download the videos off the camera to shoot some more. If it had external memory slots you could just slip in another card. 2 hours is a lot of video so for me I believe it will be fine. I love the fact that is powers on in a matter of 1 second and is ready to record right then. No waiting just point and go. I also like the fact you can use regular AA batteries if you can’t wait to recharge the main battery pack. This can really save the day if you forgot to do a recharge and the baby is putting on a production or that tornado is in sight. The flipshare software is very easy to use and if you upload to myspace,youtube or facebook it can’t be any easier than this. For the money and on the go tripod recording I say buy one and enjoy!
2 Stars No. Please don’t buy.
I’m sorry to write a negative review. Here are my beefs:
1. The battery dies after 1 hour of use. However, this makes no sense as the drive holds two hours of video.
2. The images are very jittery due to a lack of image stabilization.
Those are my two main beefs and the reason why I think this is a bad choice for a portable video camera.
Is addition, the only way to charge the batteries is by hooking it up to your computer (which is why it’s so strange that the camera holds two hours of video. It seems to me that the battery life should be comparable to the amount of video one can shoot.)
As well, the Flip software is not great. I’ve had other cameras and software that is much more user friendly. The software is clunky and cumbersome.
Also, I’ve shot videos in a well-lit kitchen only to see that the faces of the people in my video were dark and hard to see until I moved the camera right up into their face. This was during the day with the lights on as well.
For $200 or so, I think there may be better options out there. If you can find this camera used or refurbished for a much lower price, then I’d go for it. But even then, you have to be able to live with the limitations. My iPhone takes better video!
4 Stars Good for day-to-day, wouldn’t use for long-term “memories”
We received the UltraHD today (12-9-2009) – shipping was incredibly FAST.
Out of the box the battery had a full charge and I was recording in seconds (not minutes, seconds); the usability is great, the interface is easy, and the software is actually quite good.
The biggest pro: speed. After hitting the power then record buttons, you can literally be recording in 2-3 seconds. This is perfect when trying to capture those special moments (like our 9-month old son throwing his Cheerios all over the place).
The biggest con: pixelation. In low-to-medium light the quality is quite poor (even in a brightly lit kitchen). If it had a bigger/better sensor, I could easily use this to record long-term “memories” of my son growing up. But I’d hate to look back 2-3 years from now and find myself saying “I wish it wasn’t so pixelated” or “We missed X detail because of the sensor”. For comparison, my HTC Droid Eris (a Verizon Android phone) takes comparable videos, although the quality is lower and there is an audio-to-video delay (but no pixelation, especially when recording “blacks” and other dark colors). The HTC Passion is coming out in Q1 2010 with 720p capabilities and I might just return the UltraHD (and my Eris) and use the Passion, depending on cost and image quality.
Regarding the software: you can manually transfer the files in XP, but the software does a great job at grabbing the files from the device, storing them, and allowing you to burn them to a DVD – nice. The configuration options could use some improvement (naming of files and folders, i.e. yyyy-mm-dd-0001.mp4), but overall a very usable piece of software. I tried watching the files using GOMPlayer and/or Quicktime, but my computer wasn’t speedy enough to render the video in sync with the audio. The FlipShare software (for whatever reason) renders everything quite nicely, so don’t freak out about jitter and such.
We plan on using it for a few days, and after such time I will post a follow-up report.
4 Stars Battery will not charge
I purchased this just before Thanksgiving. I could not get the supplied re-charge battery to charge. So I used AA batteries that I had. It worked fine for the holiday. Then I contacted customer support, to let them know about the error message I receive when I try and charge the supplied battery. After numerous suggestions from customer support, nothing worked. So they have sent me a RMA # to send the camera back and have them try and diagnose the problem. This would take 6-8 weeks according to them. I want to use this camera for the Christmas Holiday, which was the whole reason for the purchase. So I have not sent it back, and will continue to use AA batteries. Using the AA batteries, the camera works fine. I have no other complaints about it. It would be nice to just plug in and recharge, but not worth the hassle of the return. Maybe after the holidays, I will send back…..
