Pure Launches Flip Channels for Easier Video Sharing

Pure Digital (now part of Cisco) released an update to the FlipShare software found on Flip video cameras this evening that allows users to share videos online through Flip Channels.

Channels let you collect, post and share videos shot with your Flip camera. Using the FlipShare desktop app, users create a channel, add the email addresses of the people they want included and drag and drop the videos to be shared. The desktop software then automatically uploads the video to FlipShare.com. Once it’s fully uploaded, an alert is sent out to people you’ve designated with a link to watch the video on the PC, iPhone and eventually TVs.

According to Pure, an unlimited number of videos can be uploaded and HD videos will play back in HD comparable to other online offerings like HD on YouTube. UPDATE: The Pure rep amended their original statement on the amount of content that can be uploaded with the following:

“There is a total media limit of 1000 assets which includes both videos and snapshots. One user could have 1000 videos or 1000 snapshots or 500 videos and 500 snapshots or any combination of videos and snapshots that adds up to no more than 1000 total.

There is no limit on the size of the actual asset so one person might have 1000 videos that are 10 seconds each whereas another person might have 1000 videos that are 10 minutes each but both would be limited to 1000 total assets.”

NewTeeVee readers are probably asking — “Ummm, can’t you just create a personal video channel in YouTube or Vimeo and share that with friends?” Well, yes, you can, and FlipShare still allows you to upload to YouTube directly. But people outside the NewTeeVee belt could feel intimidated by YouTube and probably don’t know what the heck a Vimeo is (my family has asked me on at least three separate occasions where they can post videos online). Having the ability to create and share video channels directly from the video camera removes a step and makes the whole process easier, and being easy is what made the Flip such a success.

I heart my Flip video cameras and use them all the time — but I never use the FlipShare software. The addition of Flip Channels probably won’t change that, but with all the editing we do here, I’m probably more of a power user. I can definitely see my family using this as an easy way to share videos online.