Please help my Flip learn to count past five

July 19, 2008 5:48 PM

I record videos with my Flip video camera. I download the videos. The file names are VID00001.AVI, VID00002.AVI, etc. Next time I make a video on the Flip, it starts back again at VID00001.AVI. How do I get it to keep on counting up, so I don't end up with multiple files named VID0001.AVI on my computer?
posted by The corpse in the library to computers & internet (7 comments total)

The Flip site says that videos get downloaded to "My Flip Video Library" in "My Documents" on windows. They further say that you are not supposed to remove files from this folder ever. The only way to get a file out is to use the "Flip Video Library" application, or you run the risk of data loss. (By the way, IMO, this is unforgivably poor design.)

Are you dragging the files out of this directory with Windows Explorer? (Or the Mac file interface?) Maybe that is what is resetting the counting.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 6:24 PM on July 19, 2008

Oh, and link.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 6:24 PM on July 19, 2008

I've just been dragging the files out of the Flip folder and not using any Flip programs at all. I'll try using their application next time and see if that fixes it. Thanks, Maxwell_Smart.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:33 PM on July 19, 2008

Ahh. That's what you're doing. Another trick might be to see if the .avi files have any unique metadata inside of them (like an actually unique number, or a timestamp). There are programs that can batch-rename a bunch of files based on metadata.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 6:46 PM on July 19, 2008

I've had a Flip for years - ever since you had to hack the disposable cameras from the drug store (yep - that was them!) - and I've never used their application. The file is just an avi file and needs nothing else to play. It may mess up the naming conventions if you don't use their app - but that's all.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 8:37 PM on July 19, 2008

If the Flip doesn't store the video number in memory, but relies on looking at the existing files, you can just make those files empty i.e. zero bytes long. (I don't use Windows, but maybe some windows expert can chime in on an easy way to do this.) But once you have a hundred or so files, I think that will suck.

You could also try creating a file called: VID00100.AVI - Record a vid. Is the next one VID00101.AVI?
posted by kamelhoecker at 6:05 AM on July 20, 2008

once the file is on your computer, name it something meaningful.
posted by HuronBob at 6:10 AM on July 20, 2008