Flip Video
Encyclopedia
Tapeless Camcorder
A tapeless camcorder is a camcorder that does not use video tape for the digital recording of video productions as 20th century ones did. Tapeless camcorders record video as digital computer files onto random access data storage devices such as optical discs, hard disk drives and solid-state flash...
for digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
created by Pure Digital Technologies, a company bought by Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
in March 2009. The Flip Video range was retired in April 2011 because despite spending $590 million to acquire parent company Pure Digital in 2009, Cisco felt it could not rationalize running a hard goods business with its core businesses of services and software. However Cisco did receive patents and other intellectual property from the acquisition which some in the company feel may prove valuable to their video transmission businesses in the future. The Flip also faced some competition from camera phone
Camera phone
A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture still photographs . Since early in the 21st century the majority of mobile phones in use are camera phones....
s. Currently made and sold variants include the UltraHD, the MinoHD, and formerly the SlideHD until it sold out.
Features
All Flip camcorders digitally recordDigital recording
In digital recording, digital audio and digital video is directly recorded to a storage device as a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure for audio and chroma and luminance values for video through time, thus making an abstract template for the original sound or...
at High-definition video
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
1280 x 720 resolution using H.264 video compression, Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
(AAC) audio compression
Audio compression
Audio compression may refer to:*Audio compression , a type of lossy compression in which the amount of data in a recorded waveform is reduced for transmission with some loss of quality, used in CD and MP3 encoding, Internet radio, and the like...
and the MP4 file format as of September 20, 2010. The MinoHD and SlideHD models have an internal Lithium-Ion Rechargeable Battery included, and with the UltraHD 1 hr., a battery pack (the camera is capable of using 2 AA batteries), or with the 2 hr. UltraHD, a lithium ion battery (can use 3 AAA batteries). All models lack a memory card extension slot but the UltraHD 2 hr. has a storage solution via FlipPort, and all models can be connected to a computer with a pop-out USB connector, without the need for a cable. It is simple to use, providing automatic gain, digital zoom
Digital zoom
Digital zoom is a method of decreasing the apparent angle of view of a digital photographic or video image. Digital zoom is accomplished by cropping an image down to a centered area with the same aspect ratio as the original, and usually also interpolating the result back up to the pixel...
, monaural
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
sound, and a very simple clip-navigation interface with a D-pad
D-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...
and two control buttons. The Flip UltraHD comes in 4GB (1 hour) and 8GB (2 hour) models for $149.99 and $199.99 respectively. The Flip UltraHD 1 hour is available in multiple colors of white, blue, pink, and also a custom design (for instance, you could make a green picture). The 2 hr. UltraHD can be bought in black, white, or a custom design. The UltraHD 1 hr. does not have Image Stabilization, whereas the 2 hr. UltraHD does. The UltraHD 2 hr. has a new feature called FlipPort. With FlipPort, you can plug in external accessories.
All Flip cameras include the required video player and 3ivx
3ivx
3ivx is a video codec suite, created by 3ivx Technologies, based in Sydney, Australia, that allows the creation of MPEG-4 compliant data streams. It has been designed around a need for decreased processing power for use mainly in embedded systems. First versions were published in 2001...
codec software in the camera itself rather than providing an external CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
installer. FlipShare can be installed once it is connected. For all models as of September 20, 2010, a HDMI
HDMI
HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...
cable can be bought from their store for watching the HD videos on HDTV screens.
As of September 20, 2010, all Flip Video models can be customized. (This means users send them a picture which they "paint" on the front side of the camera.) Accessories for the Flip Video camera include an underwater case, a tripod
Tripod
A tripod is a portable three-legged frame, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The word comes from the Greek tripous, meaning "three feet". A tripod provides stability against downward forces, horizontal forces and moments about the...
, a bicycle helmet
Bicycle helmet
A bicycle helmet is a helmet intended to be worn while riding a bicycle. They are designed to attenuate impacts to the skull of a cyclist in falls while minimizing side effects such as interference with peripheral vision...
attachment, and a wool case (Mino camcorders) or soft pouch (Flip UltraHD), a rechargeable battery replacement for the UltraHD (1 hr. AA rechargeable, 2 hr. AAA rechargeable lithium ion) and also an extension cable to connect the camera in hard to reach places which comes in different colors.
Flip Video's accompanying software is called FlipShare. After the release of version 5.6, FlipShare no longer includes a function to convert video to WMV format. While this has been acknowledged by Cisco as a defect, a fix has yet to be announced. Furthermore, there is no way to revert to a previous version once the new software is installed.
History
The first version was originally released as the "Pure Digital Point & Shoot" video camcorder on May 1, 2006 as a reusable follow-on to the popular CVS One-Time-Use Camcorder, a Pure Digital product sold through CVS/pharmacy stores that was designed for direct conversion to DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
media. This was in turn a line extension of previous digital disposable camera
Disposable camera
The disposable or single-use camera is a simple box camera sold with a roll of film installed, meant to be used once. Most use fixed-focus lenses. Some are equipped with an integrated flash unit, and there are even waterproof versions for underwater photography...
products (sold initially through Ritz Camera and associated brands under the Dakota Digital name). The camcorder was then renamed as the Flip Video a year later. On September 12, 2007, the Flip Ultra was released. The Flip Ultra has been the best-selling camcorder on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
since the day of its debut, capturing about 13% of the camcorder market. Flip products received an unusually large advertising campaign, including product placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
, celebrity endorsements, and sponsoring of events such as concert tours during their introduction. From 2009, and through the Cisco takeover, the Flip range was sold in Europe by Widget UK
Widget UK
Widget UK is a consumer electronics distribution, based in Stevenage, England.Originally a distributor for UK handheld computer manufacturer Psion, it became an early distributor for GPS manufacturer TomTom...
Mino
A smaller version of the Flip, the Flip Video Mino, was released on June 4, 2008. The Mino captures videoVideo
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
in 640x480 resolution at 30 frames per second. On launch it retailed for about $180 in the US (for 2 GB flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
for about 60 minutes of video).
The Flip MinoHD 3rd generation was released on September 20, 2010. It features HD recording capabilities in the same dimensions as the 2nd generation MinoHD, but not the same as the original (1st gen) MinoHD. The only major change in the MinoHD 3rd gen is Image Stabilization. Also released on September 20, 2010 is a 4 GB 1 hour MinoHD. It is the same as the 3rd gen MinoHD, except it records 1 hour. Both 2010 MinoHD cameras have Image Stabilization. The 1 hour retails for $179 MSRP and the 2 hr. retails for $229 MSRP.
A free Mino was made available to all audience members at YouTube Live
YouTube Live
YouTube Live was a 2008 event streamed live on the Internet from San Francisco and Tokyo. It was hosted by a variety of YouTube celebrities, including The Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am, Tom Dickson of Will It Blend, Michael Buckley, The Happy Tree Friends, Fred, Smosh, Esmée Denters and singer...
due to Flip Video's sponsorship of the event. A station was even set up so people could upload the videos to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
FlipShare TV
The makers of the Flip Video family of camcorders have launched a "new innovation" in home video sharing with the introduction of the FlipShare TV. With built-in wireless capability, Flipshare TV allows the user to connect the TV base to their TV, plug in the USB transmitter key to their computer and view their Flipshare library.Acquisition and Shutdown by Cisco
It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Cisco SystemsCisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
had acquired Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of Flip Video for $590 million USD in stock. The acquisition was completed on May 21, 2009.
On April 12, 2011, Cisco announced that it "will exit aspects of its consumer business" which includes shutting down the Flip.