Video

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If you buy only one new tech gadget this year, you really should look at getting a Flip Video camera. This thing is literally plug-and-play. It doesn’t matter if you have a PC or a Mac. If you have a USB port, you can use this camcorder. Simply point the camera at what you want to video, push the button, and voila! It records. It truly is that simple.

The one that I bought holds about 60 minutes’ worth of video. I actually bought two of these, one for me and one for my Dad. I wanted to see if it really is as simple to use as it claims to be. Within ten minutes, my Dad had opened it, set it up and recorded his first video. That just goes to prove the ease of use for this little device. Just shoot, plug it in, and share your work.

Even for a Techie, this is a great little device. The upload to YouTube feature is very simple, but the audio compression is not great, in my opinion. Keep in mind, when you plug in the camera, the computer will recognize it as a USB device. You can simply browse on your system to find the device, and locate your video files. You don’t have to use the software that comes with it, nor upload directly to YouTube. You can take your .avi files and do what it is you need to do with them.

This little camcorder definitely gets the job done. The price is unbeatable for what you’re getting. There simply isn’t a comparable device on the market right now, when you consider price, ease-of-use, and quality.

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Jaap Stronks from The Netherlands has quite an interesting mashup, but one with a purpose: Twitter and live video!

Just wanted to share that I’ve been experimenting with live webvideo myself; I was particularly interested in integrating relevant Twitter messages realtime in a live video, something you may be interested in. At the Next Web Conference in Amsterdam, I produced an interview with Robert Scoble, which I broadcasted in Ustream with added backchannel tweets as a video overlay. If you’re interested in the result, you can watch it here (I simultaneously recorded it with Quicktime), although the web page is in Dutch, the video is of course English:

www.jaapstronks.nl/archief/twittercasting-met-robert-scoble/

If you’re interested in the method I used: I use Adium with the Twitter IM function (with a separate account with no friends, only tracking a certain hash code) and a message layout with big white letters and a black screen, plus Camtwist with a desktop video source (custom area) with a chroma key on black, so that only the letters remain visible. I should add a black semi-opaque rectangle to make the letters more easily readible, that’s for next time.

This was just a first video after a couple of tests, I’m thinking of producing a regular live show, perhaps interviewing people using video conference calling services. I just wanted to share this with you because I thought you might find it interesting. I’m now going to dive into your blog and see what things and ideas you’ve come up with.

I keep telling everybody that the WHOLE point of doing LIVE video is that you can interact with your audience - and vice versa.

James wonders why there’s such a fuss over digital video formats:

I had been watching you on Ustream since last summer. I was browsing around Youtube and Ustream looking at the videos you made over the past few weeks. After watching your video titled: Digital Camcorder Incompatibilities Insanity, it leaves me with some questions.

In your video, you said camcorder manufactures make there cameras to work on certain formats that may be incompatible with video editing software such as Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere and force you to use whatever software that shipped with the camera. Now I would understand what you said and possibly agree with you when you are talking about digital point and shoot cameras that has video recording capabilities where there is many of them and record in many different formats, but where I don’t understand is camcorders.

Is there not already a general format for a digital video recording in camcorders? Isn’t the standard camcorder format MiniDV recording at AVI-DV? As far as I know, AVI-DV works with all the major video editing software out there. In fact, based on my knowledge it’s the best raw video format to work with.

Now I know MiniDV is standard definition and camcorder manufactures are trying to move consumers into using high def camcorders using miniDV tapes or hard drives. I am not quite sure on this area because I am not in the market for an HD camera as of yet. But based what I know, they record on Mpeg 2 or Mpeg 4 and those formats are terrible to edit.

So what is your say on this? Is AVI-DV the standard camcorder format for standard definition cameras or if not, what would it be? Also, If there is no true standard for HD format recording good for editing and used for rendering, which format would be good as a standard why?

Thank you for taking the time to read my email though I understand you have many to read. I look forward to your response and having a better understanding on what you where trying to say in that video.

Let me put it to you this way: I purchased a digital camcorder that records in AVC-HD, and I’ve yet to be able to use that format because the software (on either Windows or OS X) has yet to become reliable enough. People, inevitably, will want to change one format to another - so I’d rather deal with a more accepted format, and if I know I’m going to compress down to MP4 anyway…

I just record as MPEG-2 if I can - if I even use the digital camcorder at in the first place. Generally, I rely on my digital camera’s video recording feature (good enough for most Web videos these days).

I hate messing with video codecs - I just wanna record or watch video, that’s all.

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We all have tons of photos, whether they’re digital or print. What are you going to do with them all? You could throw them into some kind of video, but many of them are hard to use. All you want to do is create a “photo show”, right?

When one of our chat moderators four_ones sent me a link to this new site called Animoto, I had to check it out. You upload your photos, pick a song… and it creates the mashup for you. You can choose which photos you want. You can highlight certain photos over others.

Animoto Productions is a bunch of Techies and film/tv producers who decided to lock themselves in a room together and nerd out.

Their first release is Animoto, a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced on a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.

The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film.

If you choose a free account, you can create 30 second videos. With a paid account, you get much more. Even better… you can click a button and upload your videos directly to your YouTube account! Take a look at the two quick videos I made, just playing around. It’s so easy… and fun! What a great way to capture those moments.

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I heard about this the other day, but I’m glad that Michael found the time to write up the ‘how to’ for it. He goes the handle ‘RottNKorpse’ in the chat room.

Don’t you just hate how low the quality of the videos are on YouTube? I certainly do, but thankfully there is a way to get around the default quality and watch videos in a much higher quality. However, there are catches to this… like everything really. :|

First, I am going to explain how to do this and then I will explain the flaws/catches to it. You start off with a basic YouTube URL, then you add the High Quality code at the end of it: &fmt=18. An example might look like:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcpK5mdTIE8&fmt=18

As you can see, you will get a much higher quality video through the wonders of YouTube.

So far, I have only found 2 flaws / limitations, but the most important limitation is this will NOT work on videos that are encoded from .FLV files before they are uploaded to YouTube. The other flaw is that on some occasions the audio and video will desync when using this feature. It doesn’t happen very often but it does happen.

If you’re logged in to YouTube anyway, just head over to your Account settings page. Near the bottom, you’ll find a “Video Quality” option. Click that link and you’ll land on a page where you can choose to always see the higher quality videos. Obviously, this requires you to login to YouTube, so if you don’t want to do that, just stick with one of the methods above.

Here’s a wake-up call: the only video site on the ‘Net is YouTube - period, end of story. It’s the only video site my mom knows about, and there are more of her than there are of us (at least, those of us who love trying new things - early adopters are a rare breed). There’s a reason I’ve made such a tremendous push with my YouTube efforts, and they’ve all paid off.

If you’re not uploading videos to YouTube yet, there’s no time like the present to start - because it’s more hands-on than it’s ever been. I’d like to throw a request out there to any WordPress and Drupal Developers: I want a way for my viewers and subscribers to be able to leave a video comment here in my blog and have it pushed to their YouTube account in relation to the video that I happen to embed in this post.

I’m not saying that other video sites are dead, but… jeez, I’ve been publishing to as many as possible, and only YouTube can deliver the community, the audience, the growth, etc. Everything else pales by comparison, and I think today’s announcement should make you seriously reconsider the way you produce video podcasts. The next announcement I forsee would be enabling a podcast subscription in iTunes through a button on YouTube (it’s theoretically possible to do).

If you don’t know what YouTube is, you’re in the minority.

Oh, I know - you’re going to argue that Video Site X has better quality - but it’s not just about quality, folks. You are also probably someone who assumes that “everybody” knows what site you should upload your photos to:

If you *DO* know what Flickr is, you’re also in the minority.

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One of our community members by the name of James sent a very well thought out email to me the other day. He has a rant about the proprietary software that must be used by each different camcorder manufacturer. He has some excellent points that I wanted to expand on.

Hello Chris. I must rant about something for a few moments.

I am extremely annoyed with the fact that corporations like Sony, Canon, and JVC (amongst others) feel the need to restrict users to a certain video editing application by utilizing a proprietary format. What is the point of forcing us to use a certain video editing software over another? Why make users go through the process of rendering out a video to another format only to edit it in yet another video editing package? Does anyone really benefit from this?

If I want to use Sony Vegas — then let me do that! If I want to use Adobe Premiere, then I should have a right to do that as well.This goes for all other video editing software. It is common sense. It does the consumers no good in my opinion, and it has been a problem that I have seen discussed in forums for years. Why do these companies fail to take notice of this?

Do you believe it is possible in the future to have access to a video format that will allow all amatuer and professional videographers alike to edit with any software of their choosing?

I just became an Uncle recently, and I’m really excited about it. I asked my brother if they’re taking videos constantly of Xander, and he said no… just pictures. I was like “WHAT? Why not video?!?!” He replied that it’s just really difficult to manage their camcorder, etc. That’s very telling, right there.

Most digital cameras today have the ability to take movies. It may not be “amazing” quality, but I find that it’s good enough for my needs. Most cams record in an .AVI or .MP4 format. The first universal audio format was .MP3. No matter how hard other developers try to introduce new formats to compete… MP3 will still be there. Anyone can play them, and use that format. The same holds true for video recorders. In my opinion, if a video recorder doesn’t support .MP4, it’s not worth buying.

I agree with James. This proprietary stuff needs to go. We need to be able to just use the hardware and software of our choosing, and be able to do the same thing. Why do companies do this? They want to lock you into their brand or products. History has shown us that this will fortunately not be the “norm” for long. Consumers demand that products be consumer-friendly.

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Okay I was only kidding when I said Foobie Jesus and Charlie the Unicorn justify the existence of YouTube, but Foobie Jesus is still one of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a long time. I haven’t been able to find a WWFJD (What Would Foobie Jesus Do) t-shirt yet, but I’m looking. The Iko Did It store doesn’t appear to have it in stock anymore. Anybody know where I can get one?

P.S. A friend of mine pointed out that WWFJD could also stand for What Would Expletive Jesus Do! If I’m able to find this t-shirt, I probably won’t wear it in the bible belt! ;-)

Okay this is for those few people that haven’t heard of Charlie the Unicorn. There must be at least a couple of people left that haven’t seen the video, although probably not anyone under the age of 30! I’ve watched this video dozens of time and it has never failed to make me laugh. The other day I decided to search for some other videos by Jason Steele (the man behind the unicorn) and came across his site: FilmCow.com. I didn’t find anything as great as Charlie on the site (Spatula Madness has potential), but he does have a link to another video by Katharine Leis: Foobie Jesus, which is fricking inspired. These two videos alone justify the existence of YouTube! ;-)

Now excuse me while I go buy some Charlie the Unicorn merchandise from the FilmCow CafePress Shop. Shuuuuunnnnnn the Non-Believers! Shuuuuunnnnnn!

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BrandonN is one of the regular visitors to the chat room at live.pirillo.com. He sent me his top five tips for having a successful live video stream. Thanks, Brandon… I’ll keep these in mind.

I’ve seen good and bad streams. Many times people like to just buy a web camera and think it’s great even though they spent 20$ on it! Even sometimes the Microphone is cheap.

• Tip #1 - Make sure when you buy a web camera make sure you see that it does 30FPS (They all should by now). The logitech quickcam 9000 is a great camera. Yes it does cost a bit but the quality is great. If you own the latest gen of the iMac or Mac Books it may already have a web camera! They are great to use for streaming on the go and just in your home.
• Tip #2 - Put a decent length between you and your camera! Putting it right up in your face isn’t good. It’s called Cam Whoring and it gets boring when you can’t see anything but your face. If anything try to use the entire cable to show your entire desk and if you can’t buy a extender, may seem a waste of money for the extra extender cable but it’s all worth it in the end.
• Tip #3 - The site you use to stream! There is of course Ustream, StickAM, Justin.Tv and other small ones. Ustream is great for 24/7 streams as they have great servers to handle the load and they pump out great quality. StickAM is mostly for group chats. Yes people do stream 24/7 but the quality on StickAM lacks a bit. Justin.Tv has a wide community and is fully based off it. It produces great quality like Ustream.
• Tip #4 - Talk to your users! When someone is watching you they expect for you to talk back. If you ignore them you get them bored and they leave. You don’t need to talk them while your on but answering questions from them or just a plain chat can boost your viewer count when it comes to people recommending.
• Tip #5 - Good internet, If you have anything under a good broadband/cable connection forget it. Streaming live does take up bandwidth. Chris streams 24/7 and it sucks so much bandwidth he needed a second internet connection just for the stream!

~ BrandonN in your chat

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Before you buy anything, online or offline, I hope you’re doing your research on products and services. Peer reviews are (in many ways) more important than “awards” given by traditional media outlets (which I can pretty much guarantee are bought and paid for). This knowledge gathering process is especially important during the holiday shopping season.

I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of time to read what people think about things. How about watching a few very short videos, instead? It’s time for some short attention span theatre…

My review of the Zune:

My review of Halo 3:

My review of the new Sony PSP:

My review of a 30-inch LCD monitor:

My review of the iPhone:

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ShinyWhiteBox is one of our sponsors. I want to highlight one of their newest products in this video. It’s their new Video “editing” program called Stomp. To actually call it an editor would be incorrect. It’s just so much more than that. It has tons of effects, tools, tweaks and very very VERY cool things you can do to your videos.

Stomp takes in big videos and spits out small ones, and does it so easily, even Grandma can do it. A helpful list of included presets for popular devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Video, Apple TV and YouTube) make converting videos a snap. Creating presets is as simple as 1 – 2 – 3 and you can save them into preset folder for managing multiple presets. It also has a dead-easy cropping feature. Drag a box around your video and Stomp crops the movie. That’s it, no more searching for parameters or pixel width. You can also scale videos with a single click. Manipulating your videos has never been this easy.

There are a ton of cool effects you can add to your videos. Here are just a few of them:

• Linear gradient
• Sharpen with a sliding scale
• Exposure higher or lower
• Color changers and color effects
• Distortion levels
• Geometry to change the scale and prospective
• Blending

Those are nowhere near the only effects thata you can apply to videos. But… you get the picture. This program is just unparalleled. If you want to “slice, splice and dice” videos, this isn’t the tool for you. For that, you’ll need an actual video editing program. However, if you want to crop your video, make some changes to how it looks, and compress it for uploading… then this is what you need. And at just under $30.00, it’s a steal.

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It hasn’t even been a year since we first started streaming live, and we’ve already produced over 700 short-form videos - most of ‘em posted to our YouTube channel (but available just about anywhere and everywhere).

We’ve covered just about every area of technology for the casual consumer, but I’m sure there are plenty more of your tech questions to answer. We will certainly continue to create a “show” for the Internet, but I think I’m officially ready to hire a couple of my regular co-stars.

Doesn’t matter what I do; Wicket and Pixie always steal the show. I think this is the “Cute Overload” factor at play. So, expect to see more of them every day - hopefully, with some kind of offbeat tech angle to keep them firmly rooted in geekery.

The secret to a successful Internet video venture is… dogs:

Yes, I get it - this video is a parody.

I think Tuesday Night Tech has been trying to get my attention, and they’ve succeeded. Seems that their sense of humor is right up my alley, whether they’ve been slagging on me or not. I’ve had virtually no time to digest my podcast subscriptions, let alone listen / watch new ones.

I’ve been looking into FeedDemon alternatives for OS X - and I’m not finding many of ‘em. Tried Google Reader and it totally choked on me (sorry, Scoble). Vienna looks promising. Trying a new newsreader is like trying on a new pair of pants.

Hey, at least I don’t go around wearing NES consoles on my head:

This one’s gonna get snapped up quickly, I’m sure (and hopefully by someone who can further develop a frontend for such an addictive experience). Someone sent me a link to Blabberize a few hours ago. Within minutes, I was fiddling around with a few images that were getting tossed about in our live broadcast.

Trust me. This site is going to be very popular. Very soon.

Be forewarned, a few of my first blabbers fully illustrate my wacky (edgy, risque) sense of humor - so if you’re offended easily, please don’t hit the pink Play buttons. You might also want to turn down your sound as there’s no volume control on the player, and the only way to get audio to pick up is by bringing the mic up to a higher level.

This first one is definitely family friendly:

This next one is a bit… off-color:

The Darth Vader one was just for fun, and the Lolcatz was thrown in for good viral measure.