I have been a long time user of the Flip Video, starting with the Flip Ultra then moving into the Flip Mino. When I heard that they had come out with the Flip Mino HD, it immediately went onto my list of items I wanted to review here on PCMech. Pure Digital was nice enough to, yet again, provide PCMech with a review unit [thanks to them].

So, we’re talking small. And we’re talking about high-definition video. But, how’s it compare with the Flip Mino?

Let’s Talk Specs

So, here are the relevant specs on the Flip Mino HD:

• 4 GB of on-board memory so you can record up to an hour of HD video
• Same exact size as the original Flip Mino
• Records 720P resolution, 1280×720 video, 16×9 aspect ratio
• 1.5” no-glare LCD display on the back
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery sealed inside the unit, just like the original Flip Mino
• Comes with FlipShare, the new version of the Flip software for working with videos taken with your Flip.

The camera looks almost identical to the Flip Mino.

There is a small different in decorative trim on the camera. The lens looks a little different, too. When using the camera, you can very clearly see that the Mino HD is filming in widescreen format.

Video Tests

As stated above, the Flip Mino HD clearly records much bigger videos than the Flip Mino – 1280×720 versus 640×480. Also, when you use the Flipshare software to get the videos off the camera, the Flip HD gives you MP4 encoded files whereas the original Flip Mino gives you AVI files.

Here is a compilation video of some test shots taken with both the Flip Mino and Flip Mino HD. Note that this is edited in widescreen, so even the video from the Flip Mino has been cropped to appear in widescreen.

[flv:http://pcmech.s3.amazonaws.com/FlipReview.flv 640 360]

Coming from the Internet, it may be hard to fully judge the quality differences of the raw video footage, so here are some links to download the raw footage: (right-click, choose Save Link As, and view to your own computer)

Flip Video: Panning
Flip Video: David Audio
Flip Video HD: Panning
Flip Video HD: Closeup
Flip Video HD: David Audio

On my test shots, the Flip Mino HD seems to have better lens quality as well as better zoom. Both cameras offer only 2X digital zoom (not much for a video camera), but the original Mino has a blurry look to it when you use the zoom whereas the Mino HD has much less visible blur when you use the zoom. Also, getting up close to an object produces a less blurry image with the Mino HD than with the original Mino. Neither camera excels at close-ups, however the high-def camera does outperform the other.

I am also using the Mino HD to film daily “flip tip” videos for bloggers and internet entrepreneurs over on David risley dot com, so you can check out videos there. Just keep in mind that when the videos are compressed for online use, the quality does diminish.

FlipShare Software

FlipShare is the updated software for the Flip video cameras and it is indeed much better and easier to use than the older software.

The software, like the prior version, could be used to email videos, create greeting cards, create a DVD, upload to Youtube, etc. Primarily, though, I use the software simply to get videos off the camera. I noticed that every video also saves an accompanying still shot photo from the video (from the first frame) to the hard drive. It is likely used to display thumbnails in the Flipshare software itself, however it could be used for your own purposes as well. From there, I will import into iMovie to do any editing I may want. If on Windows, just use Windows Movie Maker.

Mac users, especially, will appreciate how Flipshare works with OS X much nicer than the prior software.

Dave’s Take?

There are some noticeable quality differences in favor of the Flip Mino HD over the original Flip Mino, especially when it comes to zooming and closeups. In standard footage, the quality difference between the two cameras may be hard to notice. What is VERY noticeable, however, is the 16×9 aspect ratio and the true 720P high-def resolution.

Is the Flip Mini HD going to replace a standard camcorder? No. It doesn’t zoom very much, there is no image stabilization, and it lacks a lot of other features that the big camcorders have. However, where the Flip series excels is when it comes to online video. This is why the Flip is so popular among bloggers and Youtube’ers. It is also very handy for being able to take videos anytime, anywhere, with a camera you can literally stick in your pocket.

The trend in online video has been toward widescreen. In fact, the elephant in the room (Youtube) just recently converted to widescreen video on their site. So, the Flip Mino HD is timely.

The Flip Mino HD is the smallest high-definition video camera I’ve ever seen and it brings true convenience to the fray of doing truly high-def, widescreen videos. It retails for $229.99 (as of this review) and I do recommend it.

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