Jumbo Sunshade, Review - Flip Video MinoHD Digital Camcorder (widescreen, HD)

Jumbo Sunshade - Ezine

Review - Flip Video MinoHD Digital Camcorder

        
            Flip Video's MinoHD (high definition, wide screen) camcorder is being marketed to 
        people who shoot and upload videos to YouTube, MySpace, AOL Video, etc.  
        Their minimalist approach toward simplicity probably hits its mark with 
        the consumers they're targeting, but...You're stuck with low quality 
        audio; file sizes that take the maximum amount of time to upload to your 
        PC and/or website; and exactly zero I/O options during record & 
        playback.  All for around $200.
So why do i have this camcorder?  Well, my friendly neighborhood Novell representative (who shall remain 
        unnamed) gave it to me for a job i was

        working on.  When i took it 
        out of the box i actually smiled and we were like "wow, this thing is 
        cool"!  Kinda surprised at how small it was - 3.3 ounces.As it happened the MinoHD 
        worked for us, 
        which was nice - but the requirements for this job were also fairly 
        minimal: widescreen & high-def.  It wouldn't have hurt to have 
        higher quality audio, but for this online presentation we really didn't
        need it.

        Our only other real requirement was that the camera be mounted on a 
        tripod.  The MinoHD is tripod-mountable but i could've also done 
        that with tape no problem.

 

        
            Strictly speaking my Flip Video digital camcorder wasn't "free", but since there was no 
        out-of-pocket expense for me i'm not completely unhappy with it.  
        It'd be easy enough to sell on eBay if i really wanted to.  I have 
        to say though that if i'd paid for this thing i would've been returning 
        it as soon as i was done using it.  I've lent it to other people 
        but i've only used it once myself in months now, and i don't expect to 
        be using it again anytime soon (you never know though i guess).On the back of the camcorder below its 1.5" display is a big red 
        record button.  Video capture takes place on the built-in 4GB flash 
        memory.  You get about 48 minutes of video and then you have to 
        dump 'em to your computer to make room for more because the MinoHD 
        doesn't accept memory cards.  [Flip

Video claims 60 minutes of record time but in practice it doesn't 
        work out that way because of the pre-loaded software taking up space.]These are the specs and they are non-negotiable:

        * Resolution: 1280 x 720 @ 16:9 (widescreen)

        * Video compression: H.264

        * Audio compression: ACC

        * Bitrate (average/auto-adaptive): 9.0 Mbps

        * File format: MP4
The lens is fixed focus (1.5m to infinity).  The MinoHD has auto 
        white balance and exposure, plus low light detection.
FYI: The MinoHD uses a CMOS image sensor; not a CCD.  
        I'm told that CMOS has better power consumption and can be implemented 

        
            with fewer components for 
            a smaller footprint.  As to which type of image sensor is 
            "better"... my videographer friends tell me 
        that the jury is still out. 
Video quality on LCD playback was excellent, even if if that was 
        unnecessarily so for our needs.  And that was the big problem 
        for us, because the MinoHD shoots ONLY in super high res mode, which 
        made this whole job take WAY l o n g e r  than it needed to.
Our takes were about 5 minutes each, which resulted in MP4s of about 
        375MB in size.  Well that 4 GB internal flash filled up pretty 
        quick and file transfer

        was really slow for some reason, so we 
        did alot of waiting on that.The customer was editing on-site using freeware - it was kindof 
        ridiculous really, but funny too.  These 375MB files had to be 
         
        

        
            converted to .AVI before they could be edited into 1-minute scenes, 
        which were then converted into .FLV (and at a much lower res) for 
        publishing on the web.  The editing was fairly quick, but all that 
        file conversion was itself painfully slow.If the MinoHD allowed us to capture at lower resolutions AND to .AVI 
        instead of MP4... DAMN would things have gone quicker.
 
Audio quality is definitely lo-fi.  The MinoHD's built-in 
        microphone is your standard omni condenser which uses an integrated 
        leveler.  There is no gain adjustment so you'd have to keep this 
        thing away from high SPL.
And in case you were wondering - you can just leave

your super awesome-sounding wireless lav mic back at the studio, 
        because the MinoHD doesn't allow for an external source.
Fortunately for us (that day), podcast-quality audio was an 
        acceptable minimum.  And i think it's a safe bet that most of 

        
            whatever 
            people will do with this digi camcorder will probably end up coming 
            out of computer speakers anyway.[Update - audio]

            I tested using a dreadnought (guitar) aimed directly at the MinoHD 
            from about 4 feet.  Listening back on 8" studio monitors, the 
            results sucked.  The good thing was that there was no clipping 
            during heavy strumming.  The bad thing was that there was no low end and the mid range was hyped (probably not by
        design).

            I won't go as far as to say that i'll never use the MinoHD to 
            post performance clips on YouTube, but damn. 
[Update #2 - audio]

        Last month i used my Flip Video cam to record parts of an acoustic show 
        at a local

art gallery.  Tripod was setup about 30 feet from mains.  
        As usual, the video came out great and the audio came out horrible.