Flip video review - 63 minutes max on Ultra HD and Mino


Flip video camera, Ultra HD or Mino, records 63 minutes maximum


You're like me. You bought one of these things, and thought it could record up to 120 minutes because it says it can, but it doesn't tell you that it doesn't do up to 120 minutes in a row. Scumbags.

You probably tried to record something important like,

  • a wedding
  • child's rehearsal
  • sporting event

and found out later that the Flip missed a major chunk of it. The same thing happened to me while I was doing a specific presentation in front of 100 people.

It can't do more than 63 minutes, and I've tested it on a Flip Video Ultra HD, and on a Flip Mino HD, both multiple times. I've wasted a lot of hours on this, thinking I was doing something wrong. It looks like

Here's my opinion:

  • they didn't tell you the whole truth
    • it does up to 120 minutes, but not in a row
  • it stops around the time that the file gets to 4.2 Gb in size
    • this happens to be about 2 to the 32nd power
    • it also happens to be the max file size of the Microsoft FAT file system, and maybe some other file systems
  • more importantly, they knew that this was a problem, and its happening to thousands of people that get these cameras, but everyone thinks they did something wrong
    • by the time you figure out what went wrong, its too late to return it
  • Flip video, and CIsco, who owns them, are weasels

If you have the same problem, please email me and let me know at pat@patrickomalley.com

 

 

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