Flip Video in Schools

 
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For the past year we have been interested in the flip video, This Video from David Pogue illustrates it pretty well.

Now finally we have been able to get our hands on some in New Zealand from edsoft. At less than $300 dollars the Flip finally brings the possibilities of video to the average teacher. No more waiting for it to download to the harddrive, fiddling around renaming MOD files to mpg. You simply plug it in and the software is on the flip. The software then allows you to make simple movies for web distribution from a number of templates. The result looks great and as one teacher said “It takes six minutes to make something look good and post it”. Now we can argue that they could do this before but in reality until it is made this easy it is really not an option for most teachers given time constraints on a class period.

So do you rush out and get a flip? The video is good and low light performance is excellent. It is idiot proof in its usage but I do feel it is a time limited device, fairly soon our cellphones (N95‘s already do) will have this sort of video quality and you will not have to carry around another device. So for now in a classroom or for that matter around the home these are fantastic.

I am looking at the Aiptek which kmart are importing at $199 at the moment and will post if I get my hands on one of these.

In the hours since writing this I have found yet another reason the Flip is so good. I went to get my $2000 camera out to get some footage of my daughter and again the battery was flat. With the Flip using two AA batteries this is never a problem as I can always cannibalise the TV remote. 

As another point the Flip should be a required purchase for all school english and drama departments, or for that matter anyone who has to shoot video for moderation. It turns this chore into a breeze, forget clumsy dvd/hdd/mini dv cameras get yourself a Flip (it even has a tripod mount).