Customize Your iPhone Video Recording Quality With MultiCorder
MultiCorder : Multioption Video Recorder for iPhone 4, 3GS, iTouch 4G ($2.99) by Mirage Labs is an app that allows you to fine tune your recording experience on your iPhone with plenty of features that you won't find in the default Camera app.
When we record video on your iPhones, we usually don't think about how much space our videos will take. Especially with the iPhone 4, where the videos are HD 720p by default. If you're running low on space on your iPhone, those HD videos can be taking up unnecessary space on your device's space, when some videos don't necessarily need to be in HD, right? Some moments we just need to capture on film and it should be enough, HD is not always needed. This is why an app like Multicorder exists.
Multicorder has a pretty simple to understand interface. For the most part, it's self-explanatory if you've ever used the default Camera for recording. There are some additional features at the top though, including a battery status indicator and a countdown timer, which you can adjust from 5, 10, 15, and 30 seconds, which will indicate the app to start recording after the timer is up. You can also switch between the front and back cameras of the iPhone 4. The app works with both portrait and landscape modes, though it seems you need to have rotation lock off to go into landscape.
The bottom bar has the recording button, as well as all the settings that you can adjust to make your recording experience better. All the settings to tweak your video into something that takes less space on your device are found here too. Multicorder allows you to add useful things like Zoom and Guide on the screen, and other things like Aspect Ratio, Disk Usage, Frame Rate, Audio Channels, Audio Frequency, Record Duration, and some others.
All of those settings allows full customization of how your video will turn out, as well as control of how much space you'll be saving. There is also an additional Spy Mode that you can enable. This mode places a wallpaper image on your screen while you are able to record video. A swipe up or down on the screen will end the recording and bring you back to the main interface.
Once you record a video (from regular or Spy mode), the recording will go into the Videos screen, accessible from the bottom left. This screen will show you a thumbnail of the videos you've recorded in the app, along with information like length, date and time, and the most important: how big the file is. Selecting a video will give you options to save to the Camera Roll or Delete the video, as well as sharing options to YouTube, Facebook, or email.
One of the gripes I have though is that I need to constantly be closing the option menu to access the main list of options again. There isn't a "back" button of sorts to go back if you decide you don't want to adjust a setting. You also can't seem to turn off the countdown timer if you change your mind. I hope the developer addresses these little issues in the future.
Also, according to user reviews, there seem to be some issues using the app on an iPod Touch 4th generation, so it would be best to wait for this problem to be fixed before purchasing. Other users have reported framerate issues, which could be fixed with a reboot of the device. Another thing mentioned is that the app may skip a bit with the audio when you switch cameras during a recording, so be wary of that. 3GS users may also want to be wary of the app.
However, when Multicorder works, it's a pleasant experience. It is great to have the flexibility to control how your recording turns out, because let's face it - some moments don't need to be in high definition quality.
Worth the $3, though users with any problem affected devices may want to hold off until there are updates to fix the problems.
