Sharing video clips keeps getting easier

Attention grandparents and other far-flung family:

If you can’t get enough face time with those new and cute little relatives, I have two video-related product suggestions for parents that are so easy to use there is no chance of missing that first step.

Both are for simple video sharing and fit in your hand. The first, the Flip Video Ultra, is the third generation of a camcorder that already was a winner but keeps getting better.

The second, AT&T’s Video Share, is a videophone service from the company’s wireless arm that was introduced over the summer but overlooked.

In tests of both, smiles were seen about the country.

Flip Video Ultra

We’ll start with the Flip Video Ultra, formerly called the Pure Digital Point & Shoot Camcorder, which looks more like an iPod than a video camera.

Users navigate the device with a few buttons on the back, the most prominent one being red, for recording. A “play” button sits to the left of the red button, and you push that to watch the videos you have shot. To the right of the red button sits another button, this one featuring a trash-can icon, so if you shoot a video you don’t like, press to delete.

The buttons sit below a 1.5-inch video screen (measured diagonally) that doubles as a viewfinder and display.

Here’s how simple the Flip is: Turn it on, point it at your subject and hit the red button to record. To stop recording, hit the red button again. That’s it. To view the video, hit the “play” key. If you don’t like it, press delete. A navigation pad allows you to quickly select which previously shot videos to watch.

The Flip comes in two storage sizes, one holding 30 minutes of video for $149 and the other 60 minutes for $179. If there’s one drawback, it’s that the top model is priced $50 higher than last year’s version. Is it $50 better? No, but there are notable improvements in the software to make sharing video easier.

And that’s really the point. The device includes preinstalled software that loads when you plug it into a computer via a USB. The USB plug is built into the unit and flips down to insert into a computer’s USB port. It works on Macs and PCs.

Satisfied after test

I tested the Flip on a Hewlett-Packard laptop running Microsoft Vista and was very satisfied. It worked better than last year’s test, done on a Mac.

The software loaded within a few minutes and then loaded up the 20 or so short videos I made over the weekend. The process was complete in 10 minutes.

Then I selected video mixing and clicked on a number of similarly themed videos — my 3-year-old playing on inflatable slides at a local street festival — and stitched them together. A new option is to add music to a video mix, a nice feature if you shot videos in a noisy environment.

Then I took that 2-minute compilation and, using a provided e-mail tool, sent it to several relatives. I also used the Web upload tool and posted it to my profile page on a social networking site.

To some people, e-mailing a video or posting it online may sound like it is beyond their technical skill level. But the Flip software creates simple folders for these videos, one for e-mailing and one for uploading, to make finding the videos and sharing a breeze.

Keep in mind, though, that the quality of video is not as sharp as more feature-rich camcorders, but at one-third of the cost it is a fair trade-off.

AT&T’s Video Share

AT&T’s Video Share is another cool option.

But there’s one drawback: Both parties need an appropriate phone from the carrier — four models are offered, with more to come — in order for Video Share to work. Also, both parties must have access to AT&T’s 3G network.

Here’s how it works: You make a phone call, and when the other party answers, a prompt on the phone’s screen will ask if they want to make the call a “video share.” (This ensures there are no surprises at 6 a.m.) If the receiver says yes, video of the caller starts streaming through the phone.

Unfortunately, there is no two-way video sharing; only one feed goes through at a time. You don’t see the other caller, as you would if you were having a conversation over a computer and both parties had video cameras. If you want to see the other party, just end the video-share call and have the other party initiate the next call.

One frustration: The sender controls the video display. So if the sender has an unsteady hand or doesn’t center the subject well, the receiver can’t do anything about it, even though one instinctively tries.

The overall video quality is choppy but passable. It is akin to a television correspondent sending a story via video uplink from the remote mountains in Afghanistan: You’re glad to have the information even though the images are below average.

Good sound quality

There are nice touches here. For one, when a video call begins, the phone automatically switches to speaker mode, and the sound quality is good. And, if necessary, it’s fairly easy to walk the other party through the steps of establishing a video-share call since both parties see the same controls on the screen.

You may want to limit the number of video calls you make. It costs $5 a month for 25 minutes of video calling, or 35 cents a minute if you don’t buy a package.

All in all, despite some limitations, I quite liked this service. You can imagine this only getting better, and likely a little cheaper, as more phones offer the service and more customers start to use it.

Bottom line: It’s a simple technology that makes people happy.

The fact that it is not perfect just shows how demanding we’ve become with our gadgets.

XEric Benderoff writes about technology for the Chicago Tribune. Contact him at ebenderofftribune.com.

© 2007 Chicago Tribune