I’ve reported here earlier about an easy way to convert Flip camera movies to WMV files so that you can import them into Windows Movie Maker.

Imagine my surprise last week when several folks in a workshop I was facilitating agreed to a Flip upgrade, only to find that after the upgrade to Flipshare v5, converting to WMV no longer worked.

While I am still waiting for an answer about whether this is a “feature” or a “bug,”* I did find a way to un-upgrade and return the conversion functionality. Here it is:

(I suggest you back up any video files on the camera before proceeding.)

Connect to your computer and open the Flip icon. Delete all files except for the DCIM folder.

Empty your recycle bin.

Disconnect the camcorder.

A. Uninstall FlipShare
1. Go to Control Panel>Programs and Features and remove Flip Share.

B. Reinstall FlipShare 4.5
1. Reboot your computer
2. Ensure that your camcorder is not connected to the computer
3. Click on this link and follow the on-screen instructions: http://download.theflip.com/update.theflip.com/app/fvsw/451/update/Setup_FlipShare.exe
4. Reboot again and launch FlipShare

(And obviously, if you want to keep this functionality, say no to future Flip upgrades.)

* Note to anyone from Cisco who might be reading this, eliminating this functionality would be tragic to many who use Windows Movie Maker as an editing platform. Using third-party conversion tools for this (as your tech support responses suggest) is not an option to many. Please bring back the conversion utility!

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.

Pure Digital Technologies just announced a new video camera, the Mino HD. The resolution is 1280 x 720, and the price is just $229.

Based on the performance of the other Flip cameras, this one should be great. (I’m making my holiday gift list.:)

By the way, I’m facilitating the workshop “Become a Mini-Movie Producer ** CAMERA INCLUDED” (which includes the Flip Ultra) at NCETC in Greensboro, NC on Dec. 1 and at NCCE in Portland, OR on Feb. 17 and 18. I’d love to see you at either of these conferences or at your school or district.

The price on the Kindle has just dropped to $359. I continue to love this device. Getting the New York Times whenever and wherever I want it is such a luxury. And the wireless has worked everywhere I’ve tried it, including rather remote areas of several states. I also like being able to email various types of docs to my Kindle to read when I have time.

Also, the Flip camera folks have a new model out the Mino. It is quite a bit smaller than the Ultra.

Creative has come out with their own pocket video camera, the Vado, which looks a lot like the popular Flip. I’m so happy with my Flip that I can’t imagine switching, though the Vado is a bit cheaper.

We’ve gotten a few questions for people who have the Flip video camera (which we love!) but have had problems getting the codec to make the video run properly on the desktop. To get this, connect the camera to your desktop and run the Flip video program that is on the camera once, which will load the load 3ivx codec that you need.

Also, if you have the new Flip Ultra, we highly recommend installing the firmware upgrade if you haven’t already.