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CNET editors' rating:
4.0
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 8 reviews
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Product summary
The
good: Solid 720p video, particularly for a camcorder this size; ultraslim yet functional design; easy to use; one-touch video uploading to YouTube, AOL, and MySpace; integrated lithium ion rechargeable battery; FlipShare software is compatible with both Macs and Windows machines.
The
bad: Somewhat pricey; no SD/MMC card expansion slot; rechargeable battery isn't removable or replaceable; can't output HD to HDTVs.
The
bottom
line: While it has its flaws and is a bit expensive, the ultrasimple Flip Video MinoHD produces impressive video for a camcorder of its size.
Specifications: Video input type: Camcorder ; Media type: Flash card See full specs
Price range: $206.99 - $234.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 11/14/2008
Earlier this year, Kodak released the Zi6, a mini camcorder supplying HD resolution. The whole HD spin upped the ante for Flip Video, the current market leader in the straight-to-Web mini camcorder category. While we like the Zi6, it has some small drawbacks that make it hard to fully endorse over the smaller Mino and less expensive Ultra. Still, there's been some pressure for Flip Video to put out an HD model. And now it has: the MinoHD.
The MinoHD looks identical to that of its standard-def sibling, the Mino, and we similarly appreciate it mostly for its pocket-friendly design. (For a comparison of the various models, the company provides a comparison chart.) Both models are supercompact and weigh 3.3 ounces. Unless you buy directly from the company, the HD version is only available in black; if you order it via Flip's Web site, though, you can get snazzier custom versions at no extra cost. The USB connector flips straight up, rather than to the side, for a smaller footprint that should fit better in a crowded USB environment. It has a smallish 1.46-inch transflective LCD display that enables you to still see what's on the screen even in bright daylight. The back navigation controls have responsive touch-sensitive buttons embedded into a shiny, flush surface; we like them, but on occasion you'll accidentally touch a button you wished you hadn't.
A tripod mount sits on the center of the bottom of the camera. The port for the AV output features the Mino's same lilliputian jack--it's smaller than the standard 2.5mm jack--and while Flip includes a cable for connecting to a TV, the AV jack outputs only standard-definition video. By comparison, the Zi6's output supports HD and it ships with a cable that allows you to connect to the component-video jacks on your TV. That said, the video you get out of the MiniHD's composite connection looks sharper than that of the standard-def Mino and Ultra. Along with the cable you get a chamois-style carrying pouch that doubles as a cloth to wipe down your MinoHD.
Like its siblings, the MinoHD is designed to be exceedingly simple to use, and it is. Unlike some of its competitors, it provides virtually no settings to fiddle with apart from setting the date and time. You shoot in one resolution and that's it. There's no choice to drop to a lower video resolution to store more video, but why would you want to? Really, the MinoHD is all about pushing the red button to start and stop recording and hit the playback button to see what you recorded. That's pretty much it.
The same nonremovable rechargeable lithium ion battery as the Mino's powers the MinoHD. However, it only shoots up to 2 hours, compared with the standard Mino's 4 hours or so of juice. That's obviously a big difference. In addition, to accommodate the bigger high-resolution video files, the MinoHD comes equipped with double the memory: 4GB, capable of storing 60 minutes of 1,280x720 resolution (720p) video. The MinoHD has been upgraded to Flip Video's Pure Digital Video engine 3.0 processor from Version 2.5 and incorporates a slightly bigger 1/4.5-inch HD CMOS sensor. Additionally, it's rated for improved low-light sensitivity and uses a 9Mbps encoding rate (vs. 4Mbps for the Mino). And finally, the MinoHD uses the H.264 video compression scheme instead of Advanced Profile MPEG-4 AVI.
What does that all add up to? Well, in our review of the standard-def Mino, we concluded that the video was pretty sharp with fairly accurate, vibrant colors. But it didn't scale well; to keep it sharp you had to watch the video in a small box on your computer screen (the Mino's video looks OK on your TV via the video outputs, but it's still low-resolution video). With the MinoHD, you can play a clip full screen with no significant degradation. Again, you won't confuse the video for what you'd get from a real high-definition camcorder, but the video quality is pretty impressive for a camcorder this tiny.
Video shot in both bright and low light looked pretty good. We took some footage at an event inside the American Museum of Natural History (of Night at the Museum fame), and the camcorder was able to capture video in a very dimly lit room. It didn't look great, but the video wasn't nearly as noisy in low light as we seen from other camcorders of this ilk. The sound was also decent and improved over the Mino's, though we felt the mic could use a little more gain up.
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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 8 reviews
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Where to buy
Flip Video MinoHD (black):
$206.99 - $234.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$229.99 | Preorder |
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$209.00 | See Site |
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$209.99 | Yes |
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$206.99 | Yes |
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$234.00 | Yes |
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