Flip MinoHD High-Definition Video Camera

I love Flip-style video cameras. These inexpensive, pocket-sized digital camcorders with built-in editing and uploading software and that trademark flip-out USB jack were pure genius, providing “just-high-enough” video quality, so perfect for sharing via the low-res, 3:4, YouTubey world.

But video sharing is quickly evolving. YouTube has gone 16:9 widescreen and is flirting with 1280 x 720 HD, while sites like Vimeo specialize in hosting HD. So the Flip MinoHD, a sleek, rechargeable 16:9, 720p HD video camera that holds about an hour of footage in its 4GB memory seems like the perfect tool.

A bit prone to camera-shake, the fixed-focus MinoHD recorded both audio and video very well and playback was fine. I was really digging the MinoHD, in fact, at least until I had to figure out how to screen and upload my pristine HD video, which, it turns out, is a bit of a bear to share. To screen your footage on your HDTV, for example, you can connect the MinoHD via the provided RCA cables, but since composite video connections don’t handle HD, you’ll get a widescreen picture and will have to imagine how good it would have looked in its original resolution. Likewise, if you use the camera’s built-in FlipShare software to upload to YouTube, you’ll notice how crummy the HD footage ends up looking and sounding after being squashed, worse even than standard definition video. I posted a sample, trimmed and uploaded through FlipShare, here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LexwcgT-QQ&fmt=22. Disappointed with that clip, I tried uploading the original Flip file manually, bypassing the FlipShare software and its harsh compression. The results were a bit better: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD7eWksykrY&feature=channel_page&fmt=22. But it wasn’t until posting the same sample to Vimeo.com that I really felt I could see the HD difference. http://www.vimeo.com/2485215.

While not what purists consider the gold standard of high def—1080p—the MinoHD records surprisingly good 780p video. In fact, it may deliver more quality than you need for simple Web-based sharing—quality that might be lost in translation anyway. Before choosing the Flip MinoHD—or any HD camera—ask yourself if you want to spend the extra money, deal with fatter files, and suffer the slower uploads that come with the territory. If you go with the MinoHD, consider customizing it with your school or library logo.