Video Editing Software For Your Camcorder

Flip Included Software

Flip SlideHD and Flip UltraHD Provided Software

Since the core Flip demographic is looking for a seamless video experience from start to finish, Pure Digital has focused heavily on the built-in editing software. As with the previous generation Flip camcorders, the SlideHD comes with the software built right into the camcorder. Just plug the UltraHD into your PC or Mac via USB and the software will immediately launch.

The Flip will be detected and thumbnails of all your video clips will appear in the main interface. From here, you can watch your clips, copy files to your computer, share videos online, or do some simple editing. You can also capture still photos from your video or prepare a folder of clips to burn onto a DVD. There isn't a lot offered in terms of advanced editing, but what is offered is incredibly simple to use.

You can't make any image adjustments inside the FlipShare software, so you'll need to tweak contrast, add digital effects, and adjust colour in a more advanced software package. FlipShare does let you trim videos, so you can cut out the beginning or end of your video if you captured unnecessary footage. And since the Flip doesn't offer any still photo capabilities, the software lets you choose any single frame and save it as a still photo.

The trim feature is very straightforward.		Capturing a still photo from video is a snap.

If you want to splice together more than one clip and add some basic text to the front and back of your 'movie,' you can do that with the Create a Movie feature. There really aren't a lot of options here, but you can add a basic title screen, credits, and some music. Flip supplies you with some preloaded Flip Video music choices, or you can use an mp3 from your computer.

The movie creation process isn't very versatile, but it's accessible even to complete novices.		If you don't have your own mp3 to add to your movie, try 'Bouncin' Round.'

Finally, there's the most important feature in the software: the ability to share your videos electronically. There's an email option that will send an email to the designated recipient, which includes a link to your video, hosted on the Flip site. And there's the usual, unsurprising e-card option, which is as silly and generic as it sounds.

The email sharing feature is pretty vanilla.		The e cards are pretty cheesy.

The option that will get the most use is probably the YouTube upload feature, which provides you with just a couple of easy steps that will get your videos up on YouTube in no time. Not all options are visible (i.e. giving the video a description or keywords), but you can get the video up quickly and easily. If you want to make any edits to the way the video appears on the site, you'll have to log in to YouTube.

The upload process is simple.		Most users will post to YouTube.		But there aren't a lot of options.

The only new feature on the Flip SlideHD editing software that isn't found on the Flip UltraHD software is a setting called 'Space Saver.' This feature allows you to put videos back onto the Flip SlideHD from a computer in compressed format. Using Space Saver you can store up to 12 hours of video on the SlideHD—and you can use the camcorder to playback and view these videos in the Slide HD's special playback mode (with the LCD flipped out).

The Space Saver option allows you to store more footage on the SlideHD for playback.