Flip cameras and MP4s

The new Flip Ultra camera (120 min. version), as well as the HD models, use an MP4 format. This doesn’t import directly into WIndows Movie Maker like the AVIs do, but the conversion process to WMV files is very easy using the built in Flip software.

To do this, you’ll first need to install the FlipShare software, which you can do directly from the camera. Then:

• Plug in your camera and run FlipShare.
• Select the videos you want to convert.
• Click Online under Share at the bottom of the screen.
• Select Other Web sites. Click Next.
• Click the radio button next to Other. Click Next.
• Click Go and wait until you get a message that the conversion is done. (There’s a status box in the lower left corner. Depending on the number of length of clips you’re converting, it can take a while.)
• The converted clips will be put in a folder on your desktop.

Other notes of interest….

– This process reduces the resolution of HD movies. Depending on your application, this may or may not be important.

– Make sure you do this BEFORE you take movies off your camera. Also, don’t rename the movies on your camera, or FlipShare won’t recognize them. (You can rename them after you do the conversion.)

– For Mac users, the MP4 files will import directly into iMovie.