Flip MinoHD

Handling

Our first impressions were excellent: before we even got our hands on it, we were very impressed by the well-designed packaging that could easily hold some flashy jewellery rather than a pocket camcorder.  And it really isn't that far off: the version we tested came in a sleek black case every bit as shiny as Darth Vador's helmet.  Even the silver lanyard contributes to the quality feel, and for less than £200, the Flip really doesn't skimp on its design, especially given that it's as small and light as a mobile phone.  The same case is also available in white and chrome.

The MinoHD's other main strength is that it's extremely easy to use.  The whole point of a pocket camcorder is that it's relatively simple, of course but all the MinoHD has is a power switch, a record button and three buttons to control playback of your videos.  And although it might look like it uses a touchscreen, the buttons are real enough, but only require a very gentle tap.

Unlike some its competitors in the same price bracket, the MinoHD doesn't have a menu to adjust the settings.  It only records at 1280 x 720 pixels in MPEG-4, so you don't even after to wonder 'which bitrate shall I use?' or 'is 1080p really worth it?': here, you're filming in 720p at 30 fps with a bitrate of 9 Mbps, whether you like it or not.


You can see what you're recording on a tiny 1.5'' screen with a resolution of just 528 x 132 pixels, which is the MinoHD's real weakness: it isn't always very easy to see what you're filming.  Unlike other pocket camcorders we've seen, it doesn't use a memory card, but instead includes 4 GB of flash memory, giving you enough room for 60 minutes of recording time.  A lithium-ion battery can keep it going for two hours, and you can recharge it using the USB cable built into the case; using a power outlet a full recharge takes two hours, on a computer, you'll need three.  The cable itself pops straight out of the case.  The whole system has been designed so you can start shooting as soon as you get it out of the box.

Video quality

As its names suggests, the MinoHD films in HD.  But you only get 'reduced' high definition of 1280 pixels over 720 lines with a progressive scan.  We only say 'reduced' because absolutely every other pocket camcorder uses 1080 lines.  When Cisco were asked about this, the manufacturer responded that 720 lines were plenty for uploading a video to YouTube.  And that's the point: the MinoHD's target audience is video bloggers who share their life with the world online and on video.  For them, 720p really is enough: because the biggest video sharing sites are American, it's natural that they use the US HDTV standard.

But is the video actually any good?  Well yes … but it still can't rival a AVCHD camcorder.  You'll get the breast results outside, because indoors the results are very badly affected by noise.  You can watch your video either on a computer or on a TV using the Composite video cable that's included.  The focal length isn't even given, but from what we can see, it's probably 42 mm as as 24 x 35 mm equivalent because the field is very narrow.  There's no optical zoom, and you do without the 2x digital zoom.  There isn't any image stabilisation either, but as we said: the MinoHD does the bare minimum.

Editing and sharing

The FlipShare software is included on the MinoHD's internal memory, and is as easy to use as the camcorder itself, installing automatically the first time you plug it into your computer.  Once you launch the program, you can see a preview of all the clips on the MinoHD, and you can then choose what to do: send them by e-mail, publish them online on YouTube or MySpace or burn them to a DVD (as data).  If you e-mail your video, it won't leave as attachment from your own account, but is instead uploaded to Cisco's servers and your correspondents will receive an e-mail inviting them to take a look.
The number of editing options available is once again rather minimalist, but still very well laid out.  You can join several videos together, add some titles at the start and end, include some music and the Flip Video jingle, if you like, and then export the whole lot.  FlipShare renders the film on your computer and then puts it online as 720p video.  It's so easy anybody could do it.  Here's a video that we filmed on the MinoHD and then edited with FlipShare to give you an idea of the final results, but you'll find thousands more if you look around YouTube.