Has anyone used the Flip video camera? What are your impressions of it? Can you import the video into iMovie? What are pro's and con's? I've talked to people who use it and they are enthusiastic. thanks, Rick

My family has 5 of them. One mine, one each daughter, one each sister. They are very easy to slip in your purse or trousers. The videos are really nice shown on the TV with the supplied cables. You can post them on YouTube I think. they run on regular batteries--no charger to lose. You don't want to capture the next great epic with one, but for ordinary use, the video is fine--much better than my digital camera. If you have kids or grandkids and want to be able to capture the moment, this is the one to have. I do not have the ultra small one they just came out with. I have the previous hi-end one. I actually keep this one in my purse. It records avi, so if you can take that file type directly into iMovie your question is answered.

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It records avi, so if you can take that file type directly into iMovie your question is answered.

Can anyone comment on Donna's point of avi? Will a Mac read an avi file and can iMovie import it, or is some sort of conversion necessary first?

AVI doesn't tell us much. There are probably a half-dozen or more codecs that can be in an "AVI" file,.

iMovie is generally only happy with QuickTime (although again, there can be a dozen different formats contained in a QuickTime file) and H.264. You might check the Flip site to see if they have anything to say about using with a Mac.

I just moved a whole bunch of those videos to my computer, drag and drop. They open up in QuickTime and play. There is also an app that comes with the Flip for viewing them, saving them and moving them to YouTube or somewhere up in the cloud where they can be shared with others. My sister uses that. she was afraid to move them straight off the Flip into her computer. I cannot drag and drop one of the Flip avi files onto the icon of iMovie to open it. I have iMovie 6.

Here's an answer from Flip video on the use of their cameras and iMovie08.

If you have a Flip Video Classic/Ultra/Mino and wish to use iMovie '08, you will need to update to iMovie '08 version 7.1.2 or later and update QuickTime to version 7.5 or later. Please also ensure that you have the latest version of the Flip Video program (currently 3.7) installed on your camcorder.

To use iMovie '08 with your Flip Video, simply connect your camcorder to your computer and open the Flip Video program from your desktop. Run the program and allow the 3ivx codec to install.

To import the videos into iMovie '08:

1. Open iMovie
2. Choose Import Movies from the File menu
3. Select the Flip Video camcorder in the import window > select the DCIM folder > select the 100VIDEO folder > select the .AVI files corresponding to the clips you wish to import > select a destination, event name, and video size setting
4. Click on Import

You should now be able to view your Flip videos in iMovie '08.

You may also wish to reference http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1989 and www.theflip.com/support for further information.

I can't run anything higher than iMovie HD 6.0.3 on my G4. But I just read that those avi files, since they can be played by QuickTime, can be exported by QuickTime as MPEG4 files, which my version of iMovie can read. I have QuickTime Pro so I should be able to do this.

Installing the 3ivx codec is the key that allows QuickTime to play these I'm sure.