The Flip vs. RCA Small Wonder - Video creation on a budget

March 27, 2008

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Video creation is becoming more and more mainstream. Technology is becoming increasingly affordable and applications are becoming easier to use (potentially). The Flip came out with a ton of buzz around the product late last year. It’s the first device to push the envelope on ease of use, and market itself towards the less technological advanced user.

Jim Kukral is the one who turned me onto The Flip last year. He is a well known video blogger and hosts theDailyFlip, where he posts daily videos about all sorts of Internet marketing topics.

So here at Ignite Social Media, we decided to do a bit of a test. RCA has licensed the technology behind the Flip and have created their own version, The RCA Small Wonder. It costs 85.99 right now on Amazon and has several features that the Flip doesn’t have such as:

  • Media card slot
  • High quality/low quality switch
  • Flip out screen for recording yourself

While the Small Wonder can only record 30 minutes of footage at a time on high quality, the media card slot mentioned above is one way to add extra memory.

Below is the video we recorded with the Small Wonder. You will notice the difference in video quality and sound. Once the video was broken down to .wmv format and uploaded, it appears to actually be a little better than The Flip.

The Flip Ultra (the version we tested) on the other hand costs 144 dollars (Plus around 17$ S&H) on Amazon right now. It has fewer features than the the Small Wonder, but allows for 60 minutes of taping, which is a huge plus. The sound and picture quality seem to be a little different than the Small Wonder. The video when downloaded off of the player looks better and sounds less noisy, until you convert it over to a lighter format, and upload it to your favorite video hosting site. Decide for yourself by viewing the Flip video below:

Additionally, Lisa compared the packaging and “extras” that each comes with. The basic difference between the two (besides fancier packaging from the Flip) is that the Small Wonder actually comes with a small USB adapter, which is very handy addition considering plugging these devices directly into your computer can be a challenge.

Here are two screenshots of each piece of software that comes with the cameras. Both are very basic and do not allow for really any kind of editing or effects like you might find in your average video editing software.

The Flip Screenshot:

flip-software-ss.png

RCA Small Wonder Screenshot:

rca-small-wonder-software-ss.png

The videos come out as .avi format, and the Small Wonder doesn’t work with a Mac, keep in mind.

I am curious if others have found Video devices that are easy to use, and of good value like The Flip and Small Wonder?

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Posted by Brian Chappell | Filed Under Social Media News, Blog 

Comments

6 Responses to “The Flip vs. RCA Small Wonder - Video creation on a budget”

  1. Jim Kukral on March 27th, 2008 10:57 am

    Nice review. I’ve always wondered about that RCA cam. I don’t see much of a difference at all in quality. The Flip has a cooler name though eh? Marketing is everything… :)

  2. Nathania on March 27th, 2008 12:38 pm

    I got my son a Flip Video for his birthday yesterday. He loves it. He’s always bugging us to do vidcasts, and now he doesn’t need our help. He likes watching video reviews about Transformers and Bionicles on YouTube and he wants to be a creator of them as well. See his video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BWQ79S_RUPI

    BTW, we got the Flip Video at Walmart in store for $78 over the weekend. It’s only the 30 minute version, though.

    My Canon PowerShot A570 IS does videos as well as stills. You can see a video I did with it here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3FOQK72zAo8 and compare it to the fancy pants camera my husband owns here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ndybkLWlc

    I used Windows Movie Maker to edit it, but it does come with editing software.

  3. Jim Tobin on March 27th, 2008 12:42 pm

    Nathania, your PowerShot looks better than hubby’s fancy pants camera! He needs to adjust his white balance. Overexposed that poor cat… :-) ~Jim

  4. Kevitivity on April 2nd, 2008 1:21 am

    I really love the Flip (I have the original, not the Ultra). The fact that it supports Mac says a lot about Pure Digital - it’s a quality company.

  5. dookie brown on April 8th, 2008 7:22 pm

    I recently bought the RCA SmallWonder, and was impressed with it for about one day. Then I watched the video playback and realized how awful the video is in low-light settings. Really pretty much sucks, and the audio is worse. In daylight, not too bad but what they really need to create is a camera with similar design that has two things:

    1) great resolution with a decent digital zoom
    2) option for external mic because the on-board is lame

  6. MacLifer on May 13th, 2008 4:14 pm

    I’ve just ordered a Flip Ultra and it will arrive in another day. Amazon 2-day ship is only $11.95 or just get free shipping.

    I read a lot of reviews comparing the Flip Ultra and the RCA EZ201 (forgive me if i’m getting the model # wrong) and everyone agrees that in lower light situations that the Flip comes out better. That was a big selling point for me mainly because using it indoors could easily encounter low light situations, as well as using it outdoors in the forest and other places.

    I have no beef with the RCA unit (I like the idea of the flip (how ironic!) out LCD to do self-portraits, but to tell you the truth, I don’t want to take too many of those! Ha ha ha… I bought the $14.95 tripod for the Flip and that thing is amazing and works on any surface, regardless of how uneven it may be.

    Peace all.

    MacLifer

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