The Flip Video Mino was a smaller version of the

Flip Video The Flip Video cameras were an American series of tapeless camcorders for digital video created by Pure Digital Technologies, a company bought by Cisco Systems in March 2009; variants included the UltraHD, the MinoHD, and the SlideHD. Flip Video ...

camcorder. The original Mino captured

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

in 640x480 resolution at 30

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

with later models featuring HD recording. The Mino had many features that the Flip Video did not have, including an internal rechargeable battery (instead of 2

AA batteries AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * '' America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * D ...

) and touch-sensitive pause, fast forward, and rewind buttons. The Mino was almost 2 ounces lighter than the Flip and the arm with the

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

plug changed positions.

History

The Flip Video Mino was released on June 4, 2008 by

Pure Digital Pure International Ltd. is a British consumer electronics company, based in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, founded in 2002. They are best known for designing and manufacturing digital audio broadcasting (DAB) and DAB+ radios. The imprint on ...

. On November 12, 2008, the Flip MinoHD was released. It had the same dimensions as the regular Mino, but with HD, 30 frames per second recording capabilities. Its internal storage was upgraded to 4 GB while maintaining about one hour of recording time due to the increased optical resolution. The battery life gave about 2 hours of recording time when fully charged. The original 4 GB MinoHD only had a 3.5mm

headphone jack A phone connector, also known as phone jack, audio jack, headphone jack or jack plug, is a family of electrical connectors typically used for analog audio signals. A plug, the male connector, is inserted into the jack, the female connect ...

(4-way TRRS : Tip-Ring-Ring-Sleeve or A/V : audio-video) to composite (RCA) output for connecting to a television or input into other media viewing monitors. This was a major drawback to quick viewing of videos on a high definition television, considering that the output video was captured in 720p high definition and composite cables are unable to transmit HD resolution to HD capable televisions. This flaw was corrected in the later released 8 GB version that utilized a mini HDMI output port, which gave the option for Mini HDMI to composite (RCA) or component cables, as well as Mini HDMI to HDMI. This allowed videos to be viewed in full HD on an HD capable television. In moving to a higher HD resolution, the Flip MinoHD changed from the

MPEG-4 Part 2 MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Visual (formally ISO/ IEC 14496-2) is a video compression format developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It belongs to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standards. It uses block-wise motion compensation and a discrete cosine ...

(.avi) file format to the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Part 10 (.mp4) format.

Reception

The Flip Mino received great praise from the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

and

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

. The Wall Street Journal concluded that: "If you're in the market for a simple camcorder that records high-quality video, the Flip MinoHD is definitely worth $50 more than the regular Flip Mino. But don't say I didn't warn you so when you're bummed out by the screen's still-small size and its inability to share true HD footage via the FlipShare software." IT Reviews commented that the MinoHD was a "healthy evolution of a popular product, but like its predecessors it can suffer from being a bit too simplistic and omitting some key features that may still be helpful for beginners." The review concluded: "As pocket camcorders go though, it's an impressive device." The Flip Video MinoHD was the number one in "best budget camcorder" in Cnet's Editors' top camcorder choices. CamcorderInfo.com listed the Flip Mino as its "Best Budget Camcorder" and "Most Innovative Camcorder" in 2008.

References

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External links

Flip Video Official Site
This link now leads to a "Flip end of life" page.
Specifications of all Flip cameras
This link now leads to a "Flip end of life" page. Camcorders

History

Reception

See also

References

External links