Making your computer play the Flip video files (Mac version)

Okay, here's how you make your computer able to play the video that comes off of the Flip cameras. I'll follow this up with a Windows tutorial in a little bit.

Part 1: Getting the Flip video files off of the camera and onto your computer

1. Connect a Flip camera to a USB port on your computer. The computer will recognize the camera just like it recognizes a device like a USB flash drive. An icon for the camera should appear on your desktop, like so.
   
2. Double-click on the FlipVideo icon to open the file. You'll be presented with a window that contains files like these:
     
3. We're interested in the "DCIM" folder. Inside that folder is another one called "100VIDEO." Open the 100VIDEO folder and -- if there are any videos stored on the camera -- you'll be presented with a list of videos like this. Each of the files with the ".avi" extensions is a video file.
4. Select the files you want to work with by either Command-clicking on them or by dragging a box around them. You can also select all of the videos by going to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and selecting the "Select All" option; or you can press Command-A to select all of the files.
5. Drag the files you want onto your computer's desktop or into a folder -- or wherever you want them. The computer will then copy the files from the camera to their destination folder. In my illustration image, I have created a folder called "flip videos" and am copying the files there.
     

Part 2: Making sure your computer can play the Flip video files

Now that you have the video files on your computer, we can go about getting your computer configured to play them. We need to do this step because the Flip camera records in a format that not all computers can read natively. They need help in the form of a piece of software called a codec.

Navigate to the folder on your computer where you stored the video files. Double-click on one to open it in a media player. If the file plays with sound and video, you're good to go. If not, follow the instructions below.

1. So this is what happens on my computer when I try to play the Flip files that I copied from the Flip camera. The computer attempts to use the program QuickTime to play the file, but when I pressed the "play" button, this error message appeared. Depending on your version of QuickTime (or some other media player) you may get a similar message:
   
2. Click on the "cancel" button. We're going to get the codec we need from a different source.
3. At this point, the Flip camera should still be connected to your computer. If it isn't, reconnect it. Go back to your desktop and find the icon for the Flip drive. Double-click on it as we did before and you'll find this screen again:
   
4. This time we're interested in the "Flip Video for Mac" file. Double-click on it to open the application. The Flip software will open. You may have to give the computer permission to open it or enter your computer password. Go ahead and do that whenever you have to.
5. Eventually, you'll get to a screen with a message like this on it. The Flip program needs a codec created by 3IVX. Luckily, the Flip camera has the files you need stored on its hard drive already. Go ahead and click on the "close" button.
   
6. Another screen should now open up on your computer. This window will allow you to install the 3IVX codec. Double-click on the little triangle-shaped icon in this window when it appears.
   
7. Follow all the on-screen instructions, OK-ing everything that needs OK-ing and entering your computer password where needed. You don't need to change of the settings or tweak any of the options during the install process. Just install everything to the default locations. Eventually, the installation will be complete.
   

Now that you have installed the 3IVX codec, you'll be able to play the video files from the Flip camera on your computer. You can go back to the directory where you stored the files, double-click on them, and your media player of choice should have no problem with them. If you do have problems, let me know, and I can come help you out.

Keep in mind, you're installing the stuff your computer needs to play the files only, not to edit them. Editing will require specialized software that will be available on the editing computer in Mark and Kelly's office later on.

Related posts:

1. Making your computer play the Flip video files (Windows version)
2. iMovie walkthrough, part 1
3. NEW ASSIGNMENT and how-to’s for getting your computer to work with the Flip cam
4. Details about the Flip Camera
5. iMovie walkthrough, part 3