Hasta La Gadget!

Flip has announced two more low-cost, single-purpose camcorders. Both of these cameras are as simple as those which came before, although the Flip lineup itself is started to get crowded to the point of confusion.

First is the Flip UltraHD, previously seen turning up on a customer’s doorstep before being announced. The $200 UltraHD comes with a 2” LCD, the signature flip-out USB plug (which can be used to charge the double AA-sized battery-pack), 720p video and a real HDMI-out port. That battery pack can be removed and two regular AAs can be slid in there in case of emergencies. Finally, the memory has grown from 4GB to 8GB, enough for two full hours of shooting.

The new little brother is the Flip Ultra. This shares the big screen and the rechargeable/replaceable battery (you’ll need to spring for the actual battery though, as it’s not included). It has a smaller 4GB of memory and of course only runs SD video-out, but will still record two hours worth of footage at 640×480. The Ultra comes in at $150. It also comes in more colors: black, white, yellow and pink against boring black or white for the HD.

Available now.

Press release [Flip]

Product page [Flip]

The Flip UltraHD is the true sequel to the cheap, crappy-but-good enough camcorder that’s smuggled 13 percent of the market and was once our favorite cheap camcorder.

Short answer: Just like the Ultra, but um, HD. The Flip UltraHD is actually not the first HD Flip camcorder—the runt of the litter, the Mino went high def first, and we thought for a while the fattie Flip Ultra was going to rot and die.

But it hasn’t. It’s been reincarnated with HD—720P shot in H.264 at 30FPS. I mean that fairly literally—if you were to take an Ultra and an UltraHD side by side, the only giveaway besides the branding is the Mini HDMI port on the side of the UltraHD. It’s got the same 2X digital zoom, the same fat ass. It’s like the MinoHD’s guts and soul inside of the Ultra’s body. Which is actually what annoys me the most about it. Its bigger, brighter, better screen is the antidote to my biggest problem with the MinoHD, but it’s so goddamn thick you can’t comfortably shove it in your pocket like the Mino. Keep the the width and height, but it should be thinner, even considering the depth needed for the little zoom lens. This is also pretty much the last camera Pure Digital can make like this—it feels like they’ve exhausted everything this particular package of camera and features can do. Whatever comes next needs to be actually different.

These comparison videos were filmed holding the MinoHD and UltraHD side-by-side—outside in the afternoon, and then outside at night, with crappy lighting to test and compare how well they handle low-lighting. (Sorry, in GA, I had nothing more interesting to shoot than my dog.) To me, the footage virtually looks the same coming out both from a quality standpoint. Clear with good lighting, visible but noisy as balls in low-lighting. Though, the UltraHD’s zoom lens does give you appreciated flexibility. (Update: It’s just digital zoom, my bad.) Overall, compared to the rest of the cheap camcorder market, if you consider the UltraHD’s quality equivalent to the MinoHD’s it looks like it’s still about tops, though not the best.

Our model’s got 8GB of storage and promises 120 minute of video out of it. If you don’t use the HDMI cable to plug it into your TV, you interface with it the same as always, via the pop-out USB jack. It comes with a rechargeable pair of batteries, but you can pop in some standard AA if you want.

At $200 retail it’s not the cheapest cheapcam in the pack by any means—you can pick up the slightly older Kodak Zi6, another pocket HD camcorder that we like a bunch and shoots slightly cleaner video for $140 or its weatherproof cousin for $150, though you have to add in the cost of additional SDHC storage. That said, compared to the MinoHD, you get twice the recording capacity and bigger, brighter screen for about the same price, with the cost being the fatass. So it really depends what part of the triangle is most important to you: Size, storage and video quality. But you can’t go too wrong with the UltraHD. [Flip]

It’s been about a day after forever ago since we’ve seen a new camcorder from Genius, but if you’re scouting a low-end, low-cost option that’ll still capture clips at a halfway respectable resolution, you’re in luck. Similar to many of the DXG offerings, the G-Shot HD520 provides 720p footage for under $150, and it can also capture 11 megapixel still shots when things slow down a bit. The six-ounce device records in MPEG-4 / H.264 format and features a 2.5-inch LCD and room for up to 8GB of storage — you know, in case you fill up the 32MB that are included, which will probably never happen. It’s available now from a smorgasbord of legitimate online retailers. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Genius G-Shot HD520 camcorder does 720p for $149

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Genius G-Shot HD520 camcorder does 720p for $149 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks Best Buy, we owe you (another) one. Yet again, the big box retailer everyone loves to hate has provided the world with a glimpse of a heretofore unannounced product, and this one’s got our mouths all kinds of damp. Barely a month after Cisco picked up Pure Digital for a small fortune, the Flip Video Ultra HD — which seems to be the natural successor to the standard Ultra — has already begun to hit select store shelves in America. Notable niceties include an HDMI output, 120 minutes of record time (up from 60 minutes), a removable / rechargeable battery and support for AA cells in a pinch. We’re still waiting for the full rundown of specifications (and the price, too), but feel free to tap the read link for a stellar unboxing in the meanwhile.

Update: Looks like it’s going for $199.99. Thanks Matthies!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Flip Video Ultra HD makes its unofficial debut, gets unboxed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic’s latest camcorders have been well-liked by the masses, but haven’t quite had enough features to appease those consumers with higher expectations — or professionals on limited budgets. To captivate the eyes and ears of that prosumer market the company has announced the AG-HMC40, a 2.2 pound semi-pro cam that will do 1080i or 720p at 60 frames-per-second, but more important for many can manage a cinematic 1080p at 24 frames-per-second, all written to SDHC cards. With 10.6 megapixel stills and a 12x optical zoom on tap it sounds like a very well-rounded offering, and, while $3,195 may not fit into every budget, it should do well for modestly funded aspiring filmmakers when it ships in August — just in time for capturing some back-to-school teen angst drama.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic’s AG-HMC40 does 1080p24 on something of a budget originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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