Shooting with a Flip camcorder is easy. Watching your Flip footage on your HDTV is hard. So the Flip folks (now owned by Cisco) has created FlipShare TV, a three-piece media bridge to wirelessly transmit your footage from your PC or Mac to your HDTV - without a home network.

FlipShare TV jacks into your HDTV via HDMI (there's also composite video jacks to hook it up to an analog TV). You plug in the included USB key, which is pre-configured to wirelessly communicate via 802.11n with the base, into your Mac or PC, in essence creating a private Flip network. All the software and drivers are on the USB key and automatically launch and load when you jack it in. Once you've saved your Flip footage to your PC or Mac, you use the remote to access and watch it on your HDTV.

FlipShare TV ($150) is really designed to be sold in pairs. Using the FlipShare software, you can create subscription "channels" to allow other FlipShare TV owners (like your parents) to access and watch your footage on their HDTV as well, and vice versa. The software also includes a host of simple video editing and DVD burning functions.

I would have written a bit more of a hands-on description, but the USB key wouldn't connect to the base in the test unit I got. After some trouble-shooting, the Flip folks ascertained I had glitchy hardware and are sending me a new package. I'll update this product announcement in a day or so with a more in-depth review.