from:"David"

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 4:07 PM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

 Gena: You certainly do not want police officers interpreting their own
 understanding of the law.

 Which is precisely why I brought this to the groups' attention, considering
 our collective interest (video, often shot in public places). When folks are
 aware of their prevailing rights, there is no need for concern about how law
 enforcement interprets.

 After all, an informed populace thwart tyrants and scoundrels.

How did Bush Jr get away with everything then? :-

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Shooting In Public

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 4:05 PM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:
 David Jones: “Even if you know your rights, they can still take you for a
 ride on the legal merry-go-round. Those who have the power will always abuse
 it.”

 The former being true enough, only the repercussions for abuse of authority
 under color of law pursuant to U.S. federal code (and many state statutes)
 carry criminal sanctions AGAINST law enforcement who are later found guilty
 of abuse (negligent or willful). Remember the Los Angeles cops who beat
 Rodney King? THAT’S what they got nailed on, in part, law prohibiting abuse
 of authority under color of law.

 So while your contention is certainly possible in the context of power
 equating abuse, it is of little consequence upon Graber prevailing (as I
 believe he will. AND defense will likely cost him nothing, or very little,
 as the ACLU has taken on his defense). The more he suffers as a result of
 erroneous charges; the greater monetary damages recoverable later -- and
 when he is found innocent, a presumption of ABUSE by the police is somewhat
 automatic.

 What you’re suggesting is that a violation of one’s rights does not
 adversely affect all (who video blog),

I said or implied no such thing.

 and that we should collectively be
 good little chickens and take whatever is dished out because fighting is
 impractical. So sorry, truly I am, but you are in gross error.

I said or implied no such thing.

*DELETED*

I just wrote a little spiel, but seeing as this seems to be a real pet
hobby horse of yours I realised I probably shouldn't give you any more
ammunition, so I've deleted it.

 I suspect (speculative on my part) the ACLU will first file a motion to
 suppress evidence gathered through the Graber Search Warrant, for reasons
 already stated (see the Mapp cite in my prior post). If successful (and such
 has a high probability of being so) the wiretap case is moot, done, fineto,
 kaput, in the archives! And in the latter event, that nasty presumption
 thing (see above) kicks in against the cops.

 David Jones: “The cop(s) got pissed off so they pressed it, spun it a
 certain way to the judge for the warrant and found a (tenuous) technicality
 in the law.”

 There is no information to support the above, it is conjecture.

Of course!
What gave you any idea it would be anything but my own personal opinion?

Would still love to hear your story about how you make a living online!

Dave.




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Re: [videoblogging] Shooting In Public

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 5:08 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

*snipped*
I won't take the bait.

 David Jones: “Would still love to hear your story about how you make a
 living online!”

 I bet you would...

As would everyone else, I'm sure. I asked on behalf of the group, to
contribute to the group knowledge base. If I wanted a personal answer
I would have emailed you off-group.

 Actually though, Dave, I gather from a variety of prior comments from you;
 you’re more interested in validate your own misplaced notions of how
 marketing works, and perhaps aim to justify why it is your not doing better
 (financially) online.

Once again you have gathered the completely wrong opinion about me and
my posts, your ability to do this seems rather remarkable!
I am seriously interested in hearing about how you made your living
online, as are others on here I'm sure, that's why I asked. This group
is about sharing information about video blogging and the industry,
and if you have a great success story and some good ideas on marketing
to tell then we'd all be very appreciative if you would share it with
us, really.
Please?
I've told my story a few times for what it's worth, as I like to share
my experiences (good and bad) with others.

 Additionally I offered you an opportunity to learn
 more, but you flatly refused (on-list no less) citing more (frankly
 amateurish) false-notions about marketing experts. Soo, why would I want
 to contend your success?

You made seriously long and seemingly authoritative posts about the
subject, but when when asked to tell your story for the benefit other
others, or explain what you meant by certain things like the contact
list you ignored it.
Yes, you offered, and I accepted and asked questions, but you did not
respond. Presumably because you are under some false notion that I am
either playing you, and/or am so stubborn as not to learn from you.
I can assure you that neither is the case.
In any case, even if you deem me to be a waste of time sharing your
story with, why don't you just ignore me and share it with the group?

BTW, it's not just the marketing angle that would be interesting, but
your story of how you came about making a full-time living online
(presumably through video blogging et.al)

 ...You are evidently a superstar without my “story.”

No, I'm not, not even close. So much so that I'm on here telling my
story and trying to learn from others.
My enthusiastic approach sometimes gets people off side, it looks like
you are one of them, that's too bad, sorry about that.

 Thus in plain language presumably even a child can grasp, I leave you to
 your own devices regarding the marketing topic.

What a shame, we all might have been able to learn something from your story.

Once again, anyone else want to tell their story (good and bad,
mistakes learned etc) for the benefit of others?

Regards
Dave.




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[videoblogging] My Story

Ok, I'll lead by example as I normally do, here is my video blogging story:

Hi, I'm Dave Jones from Sydney Australia. I started a niche
electronics engineering video blog in April 2009.
http://www.eevblog.com
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

I wanted to differentiate myself from boring text blogs, and figured
it would be fun to have a regular video blog about electronics. As far
as I could tell no one else had ever attempted one, so I gave it a go
with a crusty old 320x240 webcam in my study. No script, no idea, no
name, I just did a talking head blog and reviewed a few products. I
knew the result was crap, but I posted it on my personal Youtube
channel and announced on an electronics Usenet group anyway figuring
you have to start somewhere.
I had some positive feedback and advice from the few dozen views I
got, like ditch the study and film it in my lab. I also asked for name
suggestions.

The 2nd one was in the lab and was greeted with more positive feedback.
I switched from the webcam to my old Canon MV700i PAL DV tape
camcorder with internal mic.

By the 3rd or 4th episode I had a basic Wordpress blog page with
embedded Youtube videos on my personal website. Still no script, no
idea, and no name. I could not come up with a better name, so it
remained the Electronics Engineering Video Blog, or EEVblog for short.
I would later figure out that name and branding can be quite important
to get right up front! I was kind of lucky in this respect, EEVblog
now works well for me as a brand.
I also switched to a dedicated Youtube channel.

It soon became clear that it was slowly gaining in popularity, and I
experimented with various audio and video settings.
I also realised that a lot of people were finding me via Youtube
searches, and it was important to have a dedicated topic for each
episode instead of the mixed bag of stuff I had in each blog. i.e.
people didn't want to sit through 5 minutes of other stuff to get to
the topic they found on the search. That was an important change I
thought.

I soon got complaints that I didn't have my own domain name, so I got
eevblog.com and moved the Wordpress account over. At this point I had
a name, a brand, a slogan (An off-the-cuff video blog about
electronics..), and a silly photo people recognising the blog by.

I came to realise how important sound was to a blog, so a I bought a
cheap $50 2nd hand DV tape camcorder which had an external mic input
and got a $30 shotgun mic. This got rid of the tape noise and improved
the blog a lot, made it much more watchable.
I was still shooting in 640x480 and experimenting with widescreen. I
was using VideoStudio X2 edit software and was limited to the 10minute
Youtube limit. Many of my blogs were in two parts because of this.
Lots of heavy editing required to fit inside 10 minutes sometimes!

I was not advertising the blog in any way but it seemed to just keep
growing with people finding me by Google or Youtube searches.

Somewhere along the line I added some Adsense text ads and they
started to work like they had on my other web sites at the time.

I also added a user BBS style forum and that has really taken off.
Almost 1200 members, over 7000 posts and 600 topics. The EEVblog has
really turned into a quite a decent user community.

By Blog #42 I switched to a Sanyo Xacti HD-1010 camcorder and started
to shoot in HD as Youtube now supported HD content.
This blog was a turning point because it went semi-viral with 40,000
hits in a day or two via Boing Boing, and then Youtube emailed me an
offer to become a Partner. That took a month or so, and then I had ads
on my Youtube videos, and no more 10 minute limitation.

Editing HD was much slower than SD, but I persisted (and discussed
this on this group) and it is now working pretty well, I edit directly
on the 1280x720 MP4 files from the Xacti camera. I have since switched
to VideoStudio X3 edit software and render in 1280x720 MPEG2 which I
then convert to 1280x720 MP4 with Handbrake which is uploaded to
Youtube. Somewhere along the line I got the PodPress plugin for
Wordpress and started producing at first a 320x240 podcast version but
then switched to a 480x272 16:9 widescreen version.
I came to realise how important it was to get listed in iTunes and
have a podcast version and an RSS feed (via Google Feedburner). About
a 1/3rd of my audience now watch via the podcast version. The rest of
my audience are split about 50/50 between Youtube subscribers and my
Wordpess blog.
I also do an MP3 version for my drive time blogs that many like to
listen to instead of watching the video.

I experimented with a live show and Ustream, and once I get over a few
technical hurdles, that might be a regular fixture too. I had at least
70 people tune in to my first live chat session, not sure how many
actually viewed and didn't participate.

I decided to keep my focus on Youtube and only host there so as not to
dilute my views and stats. And also I found the Youtube Adsense ads
were

Re: [videoblogging] Best way to share clips/footage

2010-06-08 Thread David King

You could create a public folder in something like dropbox or google  
docs...

David

On Jun 8, 2010, at 3:42 AM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv wrote:

 I want to share all the clips that I shot yesterday so that people can
 reuse them in whatever way they want.

 I'm interested to know what you would use to do this:  To organise
 them in a group in the cloud, and make them easily viewable and
 downloadable.

 As I mentioned in the iPhone post, I spent yesterday videoing scenes
 from The Wicker Man with a whole load of people, shot on my phone in a
 London park.

 My video's going to end up being very short.  I'll do a making of
 vlog post as well.  But as always, there are a lot of shots that won't
 get used.  Seems a shame to waste them if they can be recycled.  And
 obviously it'd be nice to see what other people could do with more
 time  talent.

 Rupert
 http://twittervlog.tv

 cc: Artists In The Cloud Google group





 

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Re: [videoblogging] Shooting In Public

2010-06-08 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 1:20 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

 All:
 Thought I might bring this up for discussion (the issue having recently made
 national news), as some may not be fully aware of their rights while
 shooting video in or on public lands and places. The ramifications of this
 story are chilling, but not insurmountable if one knows their rights.

Even if you know your rights, they can still take you for a ride on
the legal merry-go-round.
Those who have the power will always abuse it.

 On March 5th of this year Anthony Graber drove his motorcycle recklessly,
 until being pulled over by a Maryland State plainclothes policeman. Graber
 wore a GoPro HD helmet-cam, recording his antics prior and after the police
 stop. He was on a public highway, in clear daylight and the camcorder was in
 plain sight (GoPros are rather bulky and VERY obvious, if you've never seen
 one).

 After the incident Graber posted his vid on YouTube, including scenes of his
 stop by the policemen. This apparently rubbed law enforcement the wrong way,
 who on April 7th showed up at Graber's door with a search and arrest warrant
 for wiretapping under Maryland State law (resulting from Anthony's video
 post on YT). Maryland wiretap law mandates two-party consent for electronic
 recording. Police seized all Graber's computers, cameras and electronics as
 purportedly containing or constituting evidence.

 ...Problem is Graber broke no wiretap laws!

Apparently some judge judge didn't think the same way, but he may have
been duped.
I do believe that's called a technicality. The cop(s) got pissed off
so they pressed it, spun it a certain way to the judge for the warrant
and found a (tenuous) technicality in the law.

See the video here:
http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/photographer-charged-for-recording-traffic-stop

This article quote pretty much sums it up:
It seems certain that even if Mr. Graber is convicted he will win on
appeal and have the verdict thrown out because of the state’s
overbroad reading of the wiretapping statute.

The deterrent to recording police is still established. Mr. Graber
faces long hours and thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. Even if
he sues the police for violating his civil rights and wins monetary
damages, he has been put through the wringer enough to make citizens
pause before pushing the record button. In short, you may beat the
rap, but you won’t beat the ride — the ride to the station house and
into court.

 If you'd like to discuss WHY Graber broke no wiretap laws, post accordingly.
 Otherwise, lacking that interest, one gets what they get should the
 wrongfully cite of wiretapping ever come up, after shooting footage in
 public. ;)

If I was an American I'd be more concerned with those freedoms Bush
stole from you under the disguise of protecting you from terrorism,
that's a whopper...

BTW, Mark, you still haven't told us your story about how you make a
living online...

Dave.




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Re: [videoblogging] Shooting In Public

2010-06-08 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 11:03 AM, Richard Amirault ramira...@verizon.net wrote:

 I remember a case (which I could not find on-line just now) where a man
 recorded, with a visible audio cassette recorder, the police stopping him
 for something or other. As far as I remember he was later convicted of some
 sort of wiretap violation because he did not get the officers consent.
 This was in my state of Massachusetts.

Based on the endless episodes of world's wildest police chases we
are subjected to it appears that everything the cops do is recorded by
their own cameras. I wonder if they are breaking the law too?
If it's ok for them to film you, why isn't it ok for you to film them too?

Reminds me of the Border Security programs we have here in
Australia. They shoot these people in the customs area at the airports
and make everyone look like a criminal on national TV. But if you
shoot something (or even use your phone) in the customs area of the
airport you will be arrested and fined. Crazy.

 I don't necessarily agree with this law, but I would not have the funds to
 fight it should it be me who was accused.

Do you have the ability/right to defend yourself without a money sucking lawyer?

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: WebM Project

2010-06-07 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 5:31 PM, adammerc...@att.net adammerc...@att.net wrote:
 Lets face it, without Flash, there would be no web video as we know it today. 
 There would be no Vimeo, or Blip.

and no Youtube!
Only 2 billion or so videos served a day.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] files

2010-06-06 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 10:21 AM, Tom Dolan tomjdo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi,

 Can someone tell me the meaning of: Flattened movie or video file?
 I'm looking into different ways to compress for the web from iMovie
 and occasionally I see this term.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=flattened+video+file

Which links to stuff like this:
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/qa/qtmtb/qtmtb47.html

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] files

2010-06-06 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 2:44 PM, Tom Dolan tomjdo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Thanx for taking the time to explain that Adrian, I guess I'll select
 'quick start' when I convert. I use Quick Time Pro to convert from
 iMovie to a QT movie which I then upload to YouTube, blip and a few
 others. My files have been very large, even after following the advice
 of a very popular vid-blogger. I don't like the resolution that he
 apparently finds acceptable. But thru trial  error just the other
 day, I discovered a combo of selections that reduced my file size to
 about 1/3 size with ok acceptable rez.

Here are some Apple recommendations:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tutorials/h264.html

What settings do other people use for their final output?

For my talking head blog I generate 1280x720 MP4 at either 2000Kbps or
2500Kbps average sample rate using Handbrake, using 2 pass encoding if
I'm not in a hurry. Uploaded to Youtube.
Sometimes I'll use 3000Kbps or a bit higher for slightly higher
quality if I think my content deserves it or has more motion content
than normal.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] files

2010-06-06 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Joly MacFie j...@punkcast.com wrote:

 For YouTube I've been using 2 - 4mbps for ages, but recently I've
 upped myself to 10-20mpbs on short clips and it really does improve
 things.

 If one can afford the bandwidth there's no reason not to go even
 higher - there's a 20GB limit, right?

20GB for partners, 2GB for the plebs.
It also depends on your source material. My Sanyo Xacti shoots at
1280x720 6Mbps, so it's kinda pointless to render any higher than that
on my final output. Especially after there being slight loss due to
the rendering to MP2 and then converting back to the final MP4.

For short and/or important clips I'll ramp it up, but a 1 hour long
talking head blog episode gets the 2Mbps treatment :-

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Videoblogging - was Questions about setting up a WP video blog

2010-06-03 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 6:42 AM, Marguerita marguerita.mcma...@gmail.com wrote:



  But we are all here to share stories and advice, so come on everyone,
  tell us how you have succeeded (or not) at video blogging and what
  advice you can give.
 
  I hope this promotes a lot of discussion!
 
  Regards
  Dave.
 

 I have found that reading your correspondences has been enlightening. Each of 
 us measures our own success - but I, like you, am always willing to learn new 
 tricks to bring me closer to what I define success as - for myself and my 
 video efforts.

 I was dragged into making video by a pal that I trust. I was trying to use 
 any cheap/easy methods to promote my book. All advice I saw was make your 
 vids about something you are passionate about and I followed that, not 
 knowing where it would lead. At the time (18 months ago) I thought YouTube 
 was for skateboarding kids and garage bands.

 Well, I was wrong :)

 I can't say that I have had a goal other than just having fun, but lately 
 I've been invited to partner on 4 of my videos and, unbelievably (for me), I 
 really, really enjoy making the videos.

 At this late stage, I am now starting over in my thinking, and trying to plan 
 ahead instead of just having an aha moment and throwing a video up on 
 whatever subject just crossed my mind.

 I continue to learn more about technique, editing, scripting and tools and I 
 will continue to try an improve the quality of my videos, but I am very much 
 interested in learning more from others about how they are planning ahead for 
 whatever success they are seeking, by whatever definition they want to use.

 Thanks very much to everyone who contributes here,

 Marguerita
 Marguerita McManus
 Crazy Shortcut Quilts Book
 http://www.crazyshortcutquilts.com/margueritas-blog/
 My Quilting Videos - http://tinyurl.com/r6xxp4

Hi Marguerita
Your linked Youtube channel username does not work seem to work:
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyshortcutquilts/

Quilting seems to get a tons of hits on Youtube, so look like a nice
little niche market there!

Regards
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-06-02 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 12:26 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

 David Jones: Yes, Youtube seems to fit my niche market very well.

 Hi Dave:
 ...I wasn't aiming to convince you otherwise. If YT is working for you under
 the model you've described, particular to your market, then perhaps it is
 the best fit for the content you offer.

 David Jones: IMO Youtube is essential and not an option for any blogger
 starting out.

 Again, agreed. I do not espouse negating use of YouTube, only that its
 limitations with respect to (contact) list management are less desirable
 than other methods. For example; a YT subscriber base cannot be narrowly
 defined to suit a particular campaign, or generate more focused interest
 particular to a segment of users.

 David Jones: I, and I'm sure others be interested to hear exactly how

 you've made your living on the web for the last 9 years. I could eventually
 do the same thing I'm sure, even for my little niche market, all I need is
 10 times my current audience and I could probably consider doing it full
 time.

 Ok, but can your market sustain 10 times your current audience?

No real idea.
I didn't think I'd get 5 viewers let alone the 5000 or so I have now.
Is 50,000 regular viewers possible?
With some hindsight of how it's grown in the first year, and the
markets I'm tapping into, yes, I think that's possible.
It may not happen, or happen for a very long time, but it's not impossible.
I'm growing by around 10-15 viewers a day consistently on Youtube
alone. Not a lot perhaps, but that adds up to at least say 5000 new
viewers a year total at current rates.
My Youtube total views are around 3000 per day on average, and it all
seems to be somewhat self perpetuating growth. The more varied content
I put up the more people find me through searching, the bigger my
reputation grows etc etc.

I seem to appeal to the Hacker  Maker crowd as well as the
traditional electronics hobbyists and engineers I originally aimed it
at.
Looking at Make magazine on Youtube as an example
(http://www.youtube.com/user/makemagazine), they have almost 50
million views and around 140,000 subscribers.
They also produce similar (but lesser quality) content to mine
occasionally as part of their appeal to electronics people.
I recon I can appeal to a good chunk of that audience alone.

How many electronics engineers, hobbyists, and people who tinker with
electronics are there in the word? I have no idea, but it's got to be
in the 10's of millions. And I'm pretty much the only video show in
town :-

But really, it doesn't matter, because I do it for fun, not profit. If
it tuns into something I can do full time to pay the bills then that
would be fantastic, but I have no illusions that will actually happen.
I like to think I'm ultimately working toward it with everything I do
though.


 While marketing is an extremely broad subject, slightly outside the scope of
 this topic... In short; I've never chosen an area without knowing the
 demographics and market aspects/sentiments, like the back of my hand. I don't
 select a target market without knowing (absolutely) what the realistic
 potential market penetration is, irrespective competition.

Perhaps naively, I thought that most video bloggers blogged about
something that interests them and they are passionate about first, and
then perhaps thought about marketing later...?

 For TailTrex.tv as a CONDENSED example: there are 50 million U.S. dog owners
 (gross market); approximately 30 million (sub-market) of these engage
 outdoor activities with their dog(s), at least once per year; 17 million
 (narrow-market #1) engage outdoor activities with a dog(s), on multiple
 occasions per year; 9 million of these (narrow-market #2) utilize public
 lands (parks, recreation areas, forest lands, etc.) often; of the 9 million
 about 1.5 million routinely buy products and/or services to enhance outdoor
 activities with a dog(s); and, roughly 500,000 of the latter spend about
 $475 (or more) per year to facilitate their outdoor dog interests. (There
 are additional details, but hopefully you get the point.)

 So while it would seem our target market are the 9 million dog owners who
 use public lands, the reality is only a fraction of the 1.5 million are
 motivated enough (based on other criteria) to find what TailTrex.tv offers
 of CONSISTENT interest. So our sub-target market are roughly 350,000
 hard-core dog owners who rigidly fit our model. However, REALISTICALLY, the
 potential consistent market penetration is only about 200,000. Our TARGET
 MARKET is then about 750k motivated dog owners, in order to achieve the
 averaged 200k penetration goal.

 Of course I'm generalizing things a great deal, but my point is without
 knowing one's market extremely well products and services (and in the case
 of a vlog, CONTENT) cannot be crafted to suit that market for revenue
 generation.

Sure. But many times you simply can't know what people want until

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-06-02 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 4:45 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:
 Hey Dave:
 Foremost please know I'm not aiming to be adversarial when discussing this
 topic, just informative as I can through frankness. That said; your
 sentiment above is a common one and somewhat contradictory. No problem
 believing so, mind you, only don't be surprised when you never make a living
 online full time. I hope you do, but the reality is... Hope don't float.

I know, but considering that no plan, however well thought out and
backed with experience is guaranteed to work in a new venture much
more than one that's not, particularly when it comes to video blogging
I think. You are at the mercy of the viewers and what value they
perceive in your work and approach. So hope is pretty much all you've
got when you start out. You produce content and ultimately hope people
like it.

 You're fooling yourself by thinking; I'm ultimately working toward it.

No, I'm not. I can see the results of all my efforts daily, and I can
see it growing daily.

 That's not the way REAL, sustainable, money is made online or off.

Ok, so please tell us how. You still haven't told us how you actually
make a full time living online. I'm willing to bet it's not just video
blogging...
Please tell us your story...

 That's not naive; passion is essential to any undertaking. Just because one
 views their area of vlogging (or web) interest with profit motives in mind,
 does not make the endeavor less worthwhile -- only potentially more
 profitable.

I agree.
But you still haven't told us how having that controlled contact list
helps with making that elusive profit

 I absolutely LOVE what we've done with dogs; I unquestionably feel
 passionately about working them; talking about them, sharing my narrow area
 of canid expertise; and, would do it all for free if a Web Fairy paid the
 bills. Although until the latter flutters down from on-high and does its
 thing? I'm doin what works (more times than not) to generate MONEY,
 sustainable bucks, and I'll do it enthusiastically.

Am I reading into this correctly that you are already getting paid in
some way to produce and launch TailTrex? Or is it just something you
hope will make you money?
If it's something you are SURE will make you money based on past
experience, then, well, good luck with that!

 And I'd bet you're right! But if a coherent plan isn't engaged at some
 point, they simply aren't making diddly to the degree they could. Planning
 doesn't assure success, its no guarantee of anything, but it sure makes the
 ride a whole lot easier to deal with when bumps get in the way. And the
 bumps ALWAYS get in the way. Question is; does one go over or under them?

You just keep producing content...
There aren't too many bumps in video blogging, it's pretty much a one
way individual broadcast medium. So you just keep on video blogging,
listen to your audience, and keep giving them what they want. Maybe
try something new here and there and see how it goes.
A bit of planning does help in the initial concept and setup, channel
naming and branding etc though, as it can be harder to change when you
have an established audience.

 David Jones: ...I guess the differentiator is whether you go into it
 thinking like a business from day one, or you just get into it for fun...

 Hmm, yeah, well. Please point me to the Internets law that says thinking on
 business terms from Jump Street, cannot equate to fun. I've looked
 everywhere but just can't seem to find it. ;)

There isn't of course, if that's what floats your boat, go for it. I
just hope no one mortgages the house in anticipation of a venture
paying off because they read some gurus guide to web marketing!

 Seriously, Dave, take my word for it. I'm having an absolute blast
 developing TailTrex-TV, and win lose or draw; I'll continue on that hoot
 well after launch! I've not only met some great people (like this list for
 example), but have seen better sides of human nature in the process. So
 thinking on business terms needn't be dry and dull, less exciting or
 unfulfilling, but may actually ADD to the fun. It all depends on where one's
 head is at, perspective being key.

Sure, and good luck with the venture.
I'm starting to think about my blog seriously too. I've got a paid
commercial gig coming up in October in the US, I've got half a dozen
of the worlds major equipment manufacturers on board sending me stuff
and taking me seriously. I got a personal call from the CEO of a 5
billion dollar corporation. I've a got reasonably large growing
audience, and I'm going to Australia's top drama school to hopefully
learn some tricks and have some fun. All within the first year without
putting any thought into it or really taking it seriously!

I'm also starting a new video blog venture that I'm taking a bit more
seriously from day one given my new found experience with what's
possible. But it's still of course done for fun because I can't see
any

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-31 Thread David Jones

On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Robert Millis
mil...@hudsonstreetmedia.com wrote:

 More importantly, I should have reiterated what Steve pointed out: Blip 
 distributes to YouTube, so it can't hurt to use them, even if you don't put 
 their player on your home page. They will expose you to many other markets 
 that you might never reach otherwise, without giving up your Youtube 
 presence. And if nobody visits your homepage, then what's the harm of trying 
 their player there?

None, really.
I was in the same position quite some time back, it looked like Blip
was a free ticket, i.e. I could upload to Blip and have it upload to
Youtube for me. Listed in two places for the price of one. But
ultimately I found it a waste of time. My Blip videos were getting no
hits at all because:
1) No one really uses Blip to search for stuff
and 2) I can't say I've ever seen a Blip video show up in a Google
search, anywhere, ever. Are Blip channels even indexed?

Blip also didn't offer (at the time, it might have changed) direct
deposit of ad revenue into a bank account, let alone into a bank
account in Australia. Yet Adsense does, I get a fat deposit into my
account every month without lifting a finger.

And factor in what I said about diluting your views, it just didn't
make sense to use Blip at all. And it made total sense to just
consolidate and put efforts into Youtube.

Of of course if you aren't on Youtube, then you really aren't in the
game, so you really HAVE to be on Youtube. The only other choice is do
you also use something else at the same time.

As always, YMMV, that's just my story as a small time blogger starting
out. The same position the OP is in.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-31 Thread David Jones

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 4:56 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

 David Jones: Numbers are everything. About half of my audience find and

 watch me via Youtube, they don't care about my blog website at all!

 Hey Dave:
 Quite true, numbers are everything. Yet if those numbers depend on issues
 outside one's immediate and long-term control, they ultimately mean little!

 I don't quite understand what you are getting at here.
What's it got to do with Youtube?

 Respectfully; you're more than likely getting such new views from YT because
 you aren't PROMOTING your blog site effectively, in lieu possibly depending
 on YT -- maybe a little too much.

People find me on Youtube because that's were a massive number of
people search for things. Isn't Youtube now the 3rd most used search
engine or something like that?
And many watch me only on Youtube because that's what they like to do,
so that's the massive benefit of being on Youtube. The other half find
me through Google searches, word of mouth, or other forums and sites
where my stuff gets linked. Roughly 50/50 between Youtube and other
sources I'd say.

Am I promoting my Blog effectively?
I have no idea, but I have constant growth that has not stopped since
day one, and it only ever increases. So I guess I can't be doing too
much wrong. I've let it grow pretty much organically, simply letting
my content be searchable on Youtube and Google as best possible.
Short of taking out an ad in an electronics magazine, I think I'm
doing the best I can.

If you've got any other ideas on how to better market a niche
electronics engineering blog then I'm all ears.

 And if your awareness ratio is that high
 using YT (and I'm not suggesting they aren't), then you are missing out on a
 basic marketing tenant; building a list YOU control (which entails far more
 than a YouTube subscriber base). Still that isn't a bad thing, depending
 on one's target market (and YT may fit yours well enough; only you can
 determine that based on the aspects).

I try and draw Youtubers over to my blog website, but many just don't
care, they are happy to subscribe and watch on Youtube.
Unlike many Youtubers I have a very high return audience with my
subscribers. Most of my subscribers watch my blog regularly. Hard to
get exact numbers, but I believe its over 90%.
With Twitter, Youtube, BBS forum, and an RSS blog feed, I can reach
almost every one of my regular audience instantly.
I don't try and get them in one place on one list, I'm happy to let
them follow me however they like using their preferred tool.
Yes, Youtube seems to fit my niche market very well.

 Sure YouTube is the fat-cat, and everyone should seriously consider
 utilizing its potentials to some degree. But to depend almost entirely on YT
 for traffic and revenue generation is, in my view, a shot-in-the-foot
 waiting to happen. And the latter is why I concur with Rob's take; there are
 simply better options available, no matter what one's objectives are.

IMO Youtube is essential and not an option for any blogger starting
out. Unless maybe for some reason you have content that generally
wouldn't be searched for on Youtube/Google.

Please explain how say Blip or someone else would be better than
Youtube for my blog (www.eevblog.com), I'm all ears really.
What the advantage? more ad revenue? It certainly wouldn't be searchability.
From what I've heard most bloggers on Blip are getting very little in
terms of ad revenue.
BTW, I don't only rely on Youtube, I have Adsense text ads on my blog
site that makes just as much money as the Youtube channel ads.
And I also have direct paid advertising on my blog site
($300/month/ad). For that I'm getting a sign up rate of about 20% of
those who inquire about ads. So I'm not sure if I have price that
right, but at least it seems to be working.

I also have text ads on some of my others related web pages, with
Click Through Rates as high as 20%.

 ...Without a list one controls, they are disadvantaged.

I sense no disadvantage what so ever in my fragmented
Youtube/Blog/Podcast audience.
I reach out to them through video and blog messages, and it works almost 100%.

 A CONTROLLED (contact) list is life-blood for a vast majority of websites.
 Without such one is significantly hampered in generating greater awareness,
 return hits and consequent sustained revenue growth. So while YT may appear
 to be worthwhile for generating significant income, its list (subscriber)
 limitations do not make it an optimum choice for deep-TARGETED traffic --
 which translate into greater dollars acquired.

So how does Blip or others differ from Youtube in this respect?, I don't get it.
It's still just targeted advertising right?
Of course, the more niche your topic on Youtube, the better the target ads get.
How do very niche topics like mine go on the likes of Blip?

I know the game changes for really big sites, but for the average
blogger I can't see how Yotube can be beat.

 But then, my

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-31 Thread David Jones

On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 10:50 AM, David Jones david.jo...@altium.com wrote:
 Blip also didn't offer (at the time, it might have changed) direct
 deposit of ad revenue into a bank account, let alone into a bank
 account in Australia. Yet Adsense does, I get a fat deposit into my
 account every month without lifting a finger.

I just checked Blip again.
Under $600 per quarter gets paid into PayPal, and anything over gets
paid by cheque.
Based on my current Youtube/Adsense revenue I'd be well over the
limit, so an overseas cheque every quarter that takes a month to
process here in Australia and pay a $25 bank fee for the privilege
doesn't strike me as a good deal. I think Blip really need to think
about their payment period and system.
I'll take the Adsense monthly direct deposit any day.

But I find it interesting that Blip offer pre-roll ads, so presumably
you'd get paid for every view? If so how much roughly per view? if so
I could chalk up several thousand views per video straight away if I
embedded it in my site.
With Youtube/adsense I'm reliant upon an average number of ad clicks.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-30 Thread David Jones

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 4:25 PM, sdorfman.rm si...@yamlike.com wrote:

 What wordpress plugin(s) would you recommend to accomplish the
 following?:

 1. by default, show the youtube version of a video (i want the
 numbers boost to times viewed on youtube to help make the videos more
 popular)

You don't need any plug-in to accomplish this, simply post the
embedded HTML code for the Youtube clip in your blog post.
I don't use the Wordpress player, I just embed the Youtube HTML code.

 2. create an itunes-friendly rss feed so people can find and
 subscribe to the video podcast via itunes. (also, i plan to run the feed
 thru feedburner.)

I use Podpress Plugin and Google Feedburner.
That and Podcasting Plugin by TSG are the two most popular I believe.

 3. when an iphone or ipad or other device without flash views the
 site, show an html5 version of the H.264 video

No idea, sorry.
I've had no complaints from any of my viewers about this.
About 1/3rd of my audience watch via the podcast version, but no
complaints about not being to view the web site.

 Additional notes:

 * I would like to only encode the videos once to H.264 640x480 and
 upload them to both youtube  archive.org
 * archive.org will be the source for the video links from the podcast
 feed

640x480 is quite a big podcast size. I use 480x270 16:9 format for the
podcast version (encoded at either 200 or 250 kbps), and 1280x720 16:9
for the Youtube version.
I use Handbrake to convert the videos to suitable MP4, M4V format

My site is www.eevblog.com if you want to see how I do things.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-30 Thread David Jones

On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 6:53 PM, Joly MacFie j...@punkcast.com wrote:

 I agree with Dave below -and I think you have a choice to make

 1) incorporate html5 into your posts, with a simple fallback to
 YouTube - thereby losing some YT views
 2) just have a separate h264 download link under the YouTube - which
 will work fine for the iPad etc crew

Yes, Wordpress/Podpress automatically inserts a podcast download link
in your post.
See for an example:
http://www.eevblog.com/2010/05/29/eevblog-90-linear-and-ldo-regulators-and-switch-mode-power-supply-tutorial/
And it tells you and everyone how many times it's been downloaded.

 As far as podcast format goes qtpro's ipod export function defaults to
 1.5mpbs 640x480 or 640x360 depending on your aspect ratio.

I actually get complaints that my 480x272 250Kbps podcast files are
too large to download, so I can't image what 1.5Mbps would be like!
Granted, some of my blogs almost reach the 1 hour mark though.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Questions about setting up a new wordpress video blog

2010-05-30 Thread David Jones

On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 3:12 AM, Robert Millis
mil...@hudsonstreetmedia.com wrote:

 Steve is dead on with this, the only thing I would add is that the
 Blip player (and many others) may look better on your home page than a
 YouTube player, so consider which is more important -- your brand
 appearance or numbers seen by YouTube viewers.

Numbers are everything.
About half of my audience find and watch me via Youtube, they don't
care about my blog website at all!
And a big thing to consider also is how/if you are going to monetize
the blog and how your audience will find you.
Youtube/Adsense is the key here, and of course the more views you get
on Youtube to more popular your channel gets and the higher it gets
ranked and the earlier/easier you can become a partner. Not to mention
the Adsense venue actually works. So Youtube is kind of self
perpetuating in that respect, the more views, the more money and
success.
If you dilute your views by having a Blip.TV version on your site
because it looks better, then you could be doing yourself a real
disservice.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Blog Travel Time/Costs?

2010-05-27 Thread David Jones

Hi
I've got my first commercial blogging gig coming up in the future, and
it's overseas.
The crazy part is the travel time to fly there and back (from
Australia) is in the order of 30 hours, more like 40-50 hours if you
include packing and transfers. But the gig itself has turned out to be
not much more than half that travel time!

I'm charging my usual professional hourly rate for the gig itself, but
does anyone have any experience on what/how to charge for the travel
time in situations like that? If it was like a week long gig I may
have just written off the travel time, but in this case it seems like
a crazy situation.

Any insight appreciated.
Thanks.
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blog Travel Time/Costs?

2010-05-27 Thread David Jones

On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 5:11 AM, Roxanne Darling oke...@gmail.com wrote:
 Can you stay a little extra time there and book any other work or vacation?

That's the plan!
Flights from Australia are expensive, so I'll make the most of it with
an extended holiday. Doesn't cost them anything to book my flight two
weeks earlier ;-)

 That might influence things. I often try to get another client or two in
 situations like this, and spread the travel costs among them.

It certainly does. probably no chance of getting another paying client
while there, but I might be able to get some blogging opportunities in
at least.
If I had done this sort of thing a hundred times before and it was
real grind as a day-to-day job, there is no way I would travel 50
hours for 25 hours paid work, that would be crazy. But I know I'm
getting a) a free trip to the US that don't come that often, and b) an
awesome opportunity to further my blogging/industry profile.
And it's all fresh and exciting of course, so I'm doing the gig
whatever it takes.
It's no charity case though, they are getting my industry profile,
blog audience, and talent in exchange, so they need to pay for that of
course. And they want to discuss further ongoing blogging work too
that I can do from home.

 It is not unusual for people to charge a percentage of their normal day rate
 for long distance travel. So you could also ask for that directly. Yes you
 are not working directly for them but you are giving up other work time for
 them, them being the client.

Yes, that's the thing, I am giving up my full time work and other
private stuff to do this gig.
So I'll at least mention it to them that the travel time will be
almost double the actual work hours and try and work it out. It was
supposed to be a much longer gig, so they have changed the job
requirements somewhat.

 Can I assume you are getting all travel costs reimbursed as well?

Yes, airfare, plush accommodation, meals, and I'll ask for a car too.

 Then I consider the client - their size and budget, how much I want the job,
 how much will it help me and my portfolio, what can I get done on the plane,
 etc. It may be that you can book some storyboarding type time and actually
 do that on the plane to get compensated for your work and your time, without
 having to bill directly for travel time.

I think it's probably a bit rich that I book them for travel time
directly, so I might ask for some extra prep/editing/production time,
as that seems to be a bit tight in those 25hours they have suggested.

 Hope this helps - as you can see there are a lot of options therefore no
 wrong answers. Just do what will make you feel good about going and do a
 superb job for the client! It's in their best interest for you to be fresh,
 happy, and inspired.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.
I've gotten a few other responses from various people and it generally
seems that travel time is just part of doing business and usually
doesn't get charged for.

Regards
Dave.

[videoblogging] Veetle?

2010-05-19 Thread David Jones

I just read Cringely's latest post:
http://www.cringely.com/2010/05/tv-after-youtube/
and he raves about Veetle as being the future of Internet TV.
First time I've heard of it, and I can't check it out right now at
work as it's a blocked site.

But I thought I'd throw it out there:
Has anyone used it to broadcast their stuff?
How does it work from a broadcasters perspective?
Could I just upload my 100 or so blog episodes and have people watch it?
What's the revenue model for the broadcaster?

Thanks.
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Multiple YouTube channels under one Partner account?

2010-05-15 Thread David Jones

On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 3:16 AM, neophoto3000 cjburd...@sbcglobal.net wrote:

 Hey all,

 I currently have several YouTube shows crammed uncomfortably into one YouTube 
 channel. I'd like to give them each a little breathing room by separating 
 them into individual channels, but I want to continue running my Partner ads 
 on them.

 So the question is how exactly do I add new YouTube channels to my Partner 
 account? Can I create partnered channels right there in my account area or do 
 I create new channels under separate emails and then add them or what?

 Any advice would be terrifically appreciated...

 Chris

I have the same problem and would love to do the same thing. But from
everything I have read on the Youtube forums, it's just not possible.
You have to apply for a partner account for every channel you create.
The exception for me was when I joined the partner program it let me
add other channels a part of the application, but I don't know if that
still exists. Sadly that other channel is not the one I want to use
for my new blog, so I have to apply again for the new one. If you have
an existing account then there is no automatic way to add another
channel.

The Youtube system is pretty crazy, you can't have more than one
channel per log-in account, so I now find myself with 3 youtube
channels, and 3 separate log-ins from 3 separate email addresses!

You can however link multiple accounts to the one one Adsense account,
so at least your ad money is all consolidated into the one place.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Great Images On The Cheep [ONLY Slightly Off-Topic]

2010-05-10 Thread David Jones

On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 6:30 AM, Mark Villaseñor
videoblogyahoogr...@tailtrex.tv wrote:

 Hi Group:
 Thought I'd encourage those perhaps struggling with gear limitations, by
 providing an example of what can be done on the cheep. Of course having a
 degree of talent (as subjective as the word might be) doesn't hurt.

 A friend of mine, Mathew Brown from Seattle, crafts some of the most
 eloquent and masterful visual pieces I've seen (even though they are a tad
 too avant-garde for some tastes). And Matt does it all with less than a
 grand worth of gear (I'm admittedly a little envious about that too,
 considering how much I've spent on equipment); a naked Canon HV30/40 and
 Sony Vegas, is mostly what Matt uses (aside from stock clips and audio
 tracks).

 Matt doesn't Vlog although I'm certain if he did, the moving images he'd
 create would be of the same ultra high-quality. You can check out Matt's
 work at: http://www.youtube.com/user/meheh

 Do you know of others who do lots with a little?

 Mark Villaseñor,
 http://www.TailTrex.tv
 Canine Adventures For Charity - sm
 http://www.SOAR508.org

Yes, very impressive indeed. I'm sure there is a ton of editing work
involved in something like that!
Does go to show what can be done with a basic camera and gear.
Heck, I'm convinced it's possible to win the Cannes film festival with
500 bucks worth of gear and a crap load of talent and time.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Why Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the MPEG-LA

2010-05-04 Thread David Jones

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 8:57 PM, tom_a_sparks tom_a_spa...@yahoo.com.au wrote:

 http://www.osnews.com/story/23236/Why_Our_Civilization_s_Video_Art_and_Culture_is_Threatened_by_the_MPEG-LA

 it looking more and more like GIF/LZW/Unisys, but it called 
 Microsoft/apple/MPEG-LA/etc

My Sanyo Xacti HD-1010 has no such clause in the manual :-D

Reminds me of the 802.11 WiFi standard. Everyone started using it
willy-nilly and it became a massive industry standard without anyone
realising (or caring) that the Australian CSIRO group had a patent on
it. The result - the CSIRO eventually won last year and now every
company who sells a WiFi product now has to pay the CSIRO royalties.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Fwd: Online Video Monetization Summit, May 5th in NYC

2010-05-04 Thread David Jones

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 1:09 PM, daredolls dared...@gmail.com wrote:

 24 hours a minute. the current stats on youtube uploads.

 who besides me was surprised at the suggestion that the plethora of videos on 
 youtube was a clear and present danger to the porn guys that built the net .

 voyuers are what they are, no matter how they find what you have to offer.

As someone else said, what on earth are you going on about?

If someone is stealing your content then simply file a DMCA notice.

If you are banned from Youtube then it's probably because your
(risque?) content is too close to the bone for their Terms-of-Service
which generally precludes such things at their discretion. So try
another service provider or even get your own server.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Fwd: Online Video Monetization Summit, May 5th in NYC

2010-05-03 Thread David Jones

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 2:22 AM, daredolls dared...@gmail.com wrote:

 our work, like 50% or so of what is on youtube, does not pass the church lady 
 standard. all you have to do to get a competitor's product removed from 
 youtube is flag it as innappropriate. a pornographic producer took offense at 
 our million channel views in 4 months and started flagging us. has been 
 flagging us for 4 years. his pornography is still there, we could return the 
 favor and start a flagging war but we have not. that, by the way, was 
 youtube's suggestion as to how we handle this.

 we can't even protest use of our video by others because our company name is 
 banned from youtube and to file a copyright complaint it has to be in the 
 name of the rights holder.

I greatly doubt you can be stopped from filing a DMCA notice.

Also, if someone on Youtube is using your material then join under
another name and then provide proof of your rights to the work and
start flagging away. You don't have to have a channel in your company
name, you just need to prove ownership to the work.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Fwd: Online Video Monetization Summit, May 5th in NYC

2010-05-02 Thread David Jones

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 1:53 AM, daredolls dared...@gmail.com wrote:

 heck, i'd pay somebody to go for me, or, to be specific, i'd give a piece of 
 any action to one who helps arrange it.

 i would love to take the easy path, google adsense and youtube, but, as has 
 happened over and over in the history of the small screen, edgy material gets 
 pushed aside and has to find the new paths.

Can you please explain?
I get the impression you were somehow forced out of using Google
Adsense and Youtube?

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Fwd: Online Video Monetization Summit, May 5th in NYC

2010-05-01 Thread David Jones

On Sat, May 1, 2010 at 4:47 PM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv wrote:

 It's free?!
 If anybody here is going to this, would love to have a peek at their
 notes :)
 Rupert
 http://twittervlog.tv

It's a crock, they are just flogging their own stuff.
Notice no mention of the words Youtube or Adsense.
Making money from video blogs and other online content is easy, it's a
two step process:
1) Google Adsense ads
2) Youtube channel linked to Google Adsense.

Anything else is almost guaranteed to be a waste of time and effort.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Markvoort

2010-04-28 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 10:06 AM, taoofdavid65 taoofda...@gmail.com wrote:

 Apologies for my outburst.

You never a need to apologise for expressing your opinion!

 There just needs to be a limit though. I'm sure people care but there are 
 things that, at the risk of being exploited, should be left private.

Surely that's always the individuals call?
Some people impose limits upon themselves, others don't.

 Granted, this is coming from a reformed Social Media whore.

 Not everyone needs to know everything.

Not everyone needs to watch everything either.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Markvoort

2010-04-28 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Adrian Miles adrian.mi...@rmit.edu.au wrote:

 and there is something in the grace of a Bresson who recognised the most
 intensely personal (and religious) are beyond representation and should be
 presented as such. (This is a big debate in things like the holocaust where
 there is rich debate as to whether something of such a scale is devalued by
 being represented within a story, it is also a tradition in things like
 negative theology which work on the premise that the sacred is byeond
 representation because it is beyond any ordinary scale).

 sometimes less can be more.

People can theorize all they like.
Publish and be damned is often the easiest solution!

Dave.

[videoblogging] Live stream blog from an event

2010-04-23 Thread David Jones

Hi
I've been offered a gig to do a live streaming blog from an event for
3 days in the US, payed for by the (big) company running the event.
Never done anything like this before, I usually just run my talking
head YouTube blog from my lab at home. Never live streamed before, and
never had a paid video blogging gig like this before. They would even
widely market me leading up to the event as being there live blogging.

It would involve the usual stuff for a live event blog, walking around
booths, interviews with key people and random visitors, and a wrap-up
at the end of the day.

No idea of the full details yet, but I thought I'd ask any general
advice from those who have done full day/multiday live blogs.
I don't know as yet if I'd just be the on-screen talent or they would
expect me to do everything and provide all the gear and streaming
infrastructure etc, I'm assuming the former, and that I'd get plenty
of technical help. That wouldn't stop me bringing my own kit just in
case though.

What about stuff like recording live streams for edit/playback later?,
what type of gear is needed, typical streaming software etc.
How much actual live work would be typical for a full day event? etc
I'm assuming that live streams would go live of course, and
in-between they would show previously recorded  segments?

I've got plenty of ideas of course, but it would be good to hear from
anyone who's been there and done that.
So any and all tips appreciated.

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Hosting issue

2010-04-21 Thread David Jones

I moved about 3 domain names from an Australian host to a US host
(Hostmonster) quite a few years ago now and never lost a thing in
terms of Google ranking, and for some search terms I was ranked #1

So I agree, people do this all the time and never complain about
losing ranking that I have heard. So the IP address sounds most
likely. Best to ask the tech heads at the new host.

Dave.

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 4:16 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:



 This question is a little off-topic. Our neighbor rents a river cabin
 to weekenders. Most of her business has traditionally come through her
 website. Last month, we helped her move her website to a cheaper
 hosting solution. So she has the same website, just a different host.

 She says that no one is coming to her site now or booking. When she
 does Google searches, she doesnt even show up on the first three
 pages.

 Can switching hosts change your SEO status?

 Jay

 --
 http://ryanishungry.com
 http://twitter.com/jaydedman
 917 371 6790

[videoblogging] Corel Earth Day sale

2010-04-21 Thread David Jones

FYI
Corel have up to 40% off their products for Earth Day (that's today).
http://store1.corel.com/corel/
I just got VideoStudio Pro X3 for $59
No affiliation, just thought I'd share.

BTW, I've gone with VideoStudio Pro X3 now for my HD blog editing.
It's very fast on direct editing of my Xacti H.264 MP4 files. Much
better than the X2 version I was using. So those who still don't
believe you can direct edit HD H.264 files direct from the camera on
typical low end hardware, you should take another look at it.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Stock/Royalty-Free Music sources

2010-04-19 Thread David Jones

I didn't see anyone mention Incompetech:
http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
Kevin makes some great music.
Can be used by Youtube Partners, with credit.

I'm now using SmartSound which comes with VideoStudio X3. Very nice,
and generates some great music based on your desired track length:
http://www.smartsound.com/

Dave.

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 11:55 AM, Roxanne Darling oke...@gmail.com wrote:

 I have been reaching out to local Hawaii artists and meeting more who
 are not strapped into contracts with publishers. There is a big music
 conference here next month and one of my long term goals os to get a
 site where these folks can all list themselves. There is amazing
 diversity of talent here - beyond what you think of as the local
 genre. I will keep you posted.

 Meanwhile here are two for your list:
 http://www.iodapromonet.com

 http://arielpublicity.com/ - Ariel represents a wide variety of
 artists and is very happy to negotiate special use projects as well as
 there is plenty to grab and go for podcasters. (NYC-based)

 Thanks Rupert!

 Rox

 On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:26 AM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv wrote:
  Awesome - thanks Adam.  Checking them out now.
 
  David, that's just what I was talking about.  The Apple loops  tunes
  are great - just expanding my library :)
 
  Would still like to hear anyone else's suggestions.
 
  Rupert
  http://twittervlog.tv
 
  On 16 Apr 2010, at 16:05, Adam Quirk wrote:
 
  Sound Dogs isn't free, but it's cheap:
  http://www.sounddogs.com/catsearch.asp?Type=1
  http://www.sounddogs.com/catsearch.asp?Type=1
  http://www.sounddogs.com/catsearch.asp?Type=1FreeSound is great
  for sound
  design: http://www.freesound.org/
 
  http://www.freesound.org/ABFUKU is free 8bit music:
  http://www2c.biglobe.ne.jp/~abfuku/musori/muso_idx.html
 
  http://www2c.biglobe.ne.jp/~abfuku/musori/muso_idx.htmlKariokebar
  is free
  midi: http://www.kariokebar.com/MIDI/indexA.html
  http://www.kariokebar.com/MIDI/indexA.html
 
  On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:43 AM, David Lee King davidleek...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
   For me, the primary source is ... my Mac.
  
   I just use iMovie/garageband, and either use one of the royalty-
  free tunes,
   or create my own using loops.
  
   Not quite what you were talking about, but fits well, I think.
  
   David Lee King
   davidleeking.com - blog
   davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
   twitter | skype: davidleeking
  
  
   On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv
   wrote:
  
I'm trying to expand my list of stock/royalty-free music sources -
particularly websites. Which supply tracks that can be used for
commercial as well as non-commercial use?
Do you have your own favourites or lists? I'll compile  blog a
  full
list to share.
   
Rupert
http://twittervlog.tv

Re: [videoblogging] Stock/Royalty-Free Music sources

2010-04-16 Thread David Lee King

For me, the primary source is ... my Mac.

I just use iMovie/garageband, and either use one of the royalty-free tunes,
or create my own using loops.

Not quite what you were talking about, but fits well, I think.

David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv wrote:

 I'm trying to expand my list of stock/royalty-free music sources -
 particularly websites.  Which supply tracks that can be used for
 commercial as well as non-commercial use?
 Do you have your own favourites or lists?  I'll compile  blog a full
 list to share.

 Rupert
 http://twittervlog.tv



 

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[videoblogging] external hard drives for editing?

2010-04-16 Thread David Lee King

I'd  like to move to doing more editing of videos and music off of an
external hard drive... I've used LaCie drives for that before, and that
seemed to work ok. But wanted to find out you amazing video peeps suggest -
what would you buy/what do you use?

Thanks!


David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [videoblogging] spam

2010-04-16 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:54 PM, Robert Millis
mil...@hudsonstreetmedia.com wrote:

 It's probably worth confirming that this spam was the user's fault. Several 
 lists I'm on have been spammed in the last week in this same way. I've also 
 gotten similar link spam from very trusted sources, including friends, family 
 and couple of my attorneys, all in the past week. Something else is going on 
 here.

It's a virus (most likely on Outlook) that automatically emails
everyone (or groups of people) on your email list. Very common.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Pinnacle Studio HD

For those playing along at home...

Been using Ulead VideoStudio 12 for many years now, and the last few
months for the HD H.264 direct editing as you may know. I needed to
use Handbrake also for final output conversion.
So I decided to give the trial version of Pinnacle Studio HD 14 a go.

Just did a blog with it, and with no help or references had my latest
blog done very quickly and smoothly within an hour on my first try, I
really like it, quite intuitive.
H.264 1280x720 HD playback is instant, and editing is generally pretty
smooth, better than Ulead. Still a bit jerky on the clip trim bars,
but I often don't have to use them thanks to the audio waveform
display below the video, so I can see when I start speaking and move
the bar directly to it instead of start/spot listening I have to do
with Ulead.

It outputs just fine directly in 1280x768 30fps MPEG4 for Youtube. So
no more having the two step process of outputting in MEG2 and then
converting to MPEG4 with handbrake.
Final HD rendering seemed quite slow at 4Mpbs, and it wouldn't let me
do high bandwidth stuff in the background like play a youtube video
properly, but it's faster than the previous two step MPEG2-MP4
process.

But for some reason it's Best Quality direct upload Youtube setting
is only 640x360, so that feature is useless, so I'll juts output to
MP4 HD and upload to Youtube manually.
The iPod feature is useless too, it won't output in my desired
480x272, nor will it allow me to customise the video data rate. So
I'll still have to use Handbrake for this.
The MP3 audio output option is very nice, but it seems to have a bug
in that I select 64kbps and it always gives me 192kps.

So if you are looking to do direct H.264 MPEG4 video editing (like
directly from a Sanyo Xacti or similar) then I'd recommend you give
Pinnacle Studio 14 a try. Looks like I'll be buying this one and
making the switch.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Pinnacle Studio HD

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:06 AM, Rupert Howe rup...@twittervlog.tv wrote:
 Did you ever try the trial version of Vegas?  They say they can cut
 anything without conversion.  And their export options are pretty
 comprehensive, so should avoid you having to use Handbrake.
 I had the odd glitch trying to trim Xacti h.264 clips with it when I
 last used it a couple of years ago, but that was also a couple of
 versions ago, so it might be better at it now.

Yes, I tried it and couldn't make heads or tails of it, it just didn't
work the way I expected it to work, and it was jerky too.
Pinnacle Studio works just like Ulead VideoStudio I'm used to.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] 7D workflow for PC

As I've mentioned in another post, I'm trialing Pinnacle Studio HD 14
and it works pretty well with my 1280x720 HD H.264 clips direct from
my Sanyo Xacti, I don't convert first.

No idea about the 7D, but it might be worth a trial.

Dave.

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:11 AM, Adam Quirk qu...@wreckandsalvage.com wrote:



 I got a 7D at the beginning of the year and I'm still not comfortable with
 my workflow. Hoping someone here has some experience with it.

 1. Pull clips into my raw video folder using the EOS Utility that comes with
 the camera. This works well.

 2. Convert the 1080p h.264 clips to raw uncompressed AVIs with converter
 software (I use AVS). This is mainly because Premiere won't import them as
 is. Was hoping to find a preset online to download, but haven't seen one
 yet.

 3. Pull them down into the timeline and render the whole thing. If you don't
 do this, it's pretty much unusably jerky. Even after this, it's not always
 smooth. I have a powerful machine too. I find that if I disable the audio, I
 can scrub the footage pretty smoothly, but that just means I have to disable
 the video track when I want to cut to the audio. FML.

 4. Cut, render, compress.

 So this is a bitch and a half, and I have been reading up on other people's
 7D workflows around the web, but 90% of them are on Macs. Has anyone here
 been working with 7D footage on a PC?

 Thanks,
 Adam

Re: [videoblogging] Visiting Aussie with one day Video job in New York

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:26 PM, rambos_locker
rambos_loc...@people.net.au wrote:

 Hi Guys, i have a one day video shoot to do in NY City mostly shooting from a 
 boat on the Hudson River. As a visitor to US from Australia will i need to 
 have a permit to do this or even a special visa for the one days work?

Fellow aussie here.
Under the US tourist visa waiver program that most aussies travel
under you are not allowed to earn income whilst in the US, so it
depends upon who is paying you for the job. If it's a non-US business,
then I believe no problem, but if it's a US company then technically
you'd be breaking the law.
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

But really, for a days work, you'd be silly to tell them!

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Visiting Aussie with one day Video job in New York

Also:
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/TravelBulletins/United_States-New_Entry_Requirements


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:50 PM, David Jones david.jo...@altium.com wrote:
 On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:26 PM, rambos_locker
 rambos_loc...@people.net.au wrote:

 Hi Guys, i have a one day video shoot to do in NY City mostly shooting from 
 a boat on the Hudson River. As a visitor to US from Australia will i need to 
 have a permit to do this or even a special visa for the one days work?

 Fellow aussie here.
 Under the US tourist visa waiver program that most aussies travel
 under you are not allowed to earn income whilst in the US, so it
 depends upon who is paying you for the job. If it's a non-US business,
 then I believe no problem, but if it's a US company then technically
 you'd be breaking the law.
 http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

 But really, for a days work, you'd be silly to tell them!

 Dave.

[videoblogging] Youtube forum

2010-04-14 Thread David Jones

Does anyone know of any good YouTube User/Partner forums?
Given the millions of Youtube users I figured there would be no
shortage of forums, but my Google search mojo must be totally off
today because I can't find any.
And I heard on one video there is a forum for youtube partners only,
but I'm a partner and don't have a clue!
This one is obvious:
http://www.youtubepartnersforum.com/
But with 41 members and 97 posts in the last year it's hardly a standout.

Any clues?

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Youtube forum

2010-04-14 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 2:24 AM, daredolls dared...@gmail.com wrote:

 http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube/label?lid=4c9ae590b9d4fb92hl=en

 that's a link to the help forum, very active. according to a recent post 
 youtube is looking for music partners.

Yeah, I finally found that forum buried away in the Help menu.
A Google group - e...
I'm totally surprised there is no other popular BBS style forum around.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] question: live streaming from events

2010-04-13 Thread David King

I've been successfully livestreaming presentations at a conference  
this week using ustream - it has worked flawlessly.

David

On Apr 13, 2010, at 9:28 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:

 What service do you prefer to livestream from events?
 Ustream, CoverItLive, something else?
 Why do you prefer it?

 We've used Justin.tv for some events very successfully. For the tech
 geeks--They allow you to use Quicktime Broadcaster and hook into their
 servers which allows for better quality. They even will take off ads
 if you say you're from a non-profit. Ill be glad to share my contact's
 info.

 Eddie Codel now work at Ustream.tv as their Production Coordinator. As
 a long time videoblogger, I would trust his opinion on the state of
 their current service.

 Jay



 --
 http://ryanishungry.com
 http://twitter.com/jaydedman
 917 371 6790


 

 Yahoo! Groups Links

Re: [videoblogging] RE: Lighting

2010-04-12 Thread David Jones

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 2:13 AM, Cris Thomas thomas_c...@yahoo.com wrote:

 I struggled with lighting for a long time. Like you I had a poorly lit room 
 with an open window. and I had to break it down after each shoot.

 I tried a Workplace halogen from Home Depot but even when trying to diffuse 
 it I had waay to much light. Simple household incandescents never provided 
 enough light. I ended up buying to umbrella style light setups from eBay and 
 used an LED mounted on top of the camera like the one you linked to. I get 
 nice, even consistent lighting with every shot now.

 - C. Thomas

Thanks, that's just what I thought.
I've bought two of those LED video lights and will see how they go.
The reviews and test shots looked pretty good.
The main thing is that the LED lights have adjustable brightness from
zero to full, so it should be possible to get just the light required.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Lighting

2010-04-11 Thread David Jones

I'm starting a new blog idea and need some extra lighting.
Many segments will be based indoors in a poorly lit room, talking head
style against an open glass window with daylight outside and a
laminated poster stuck on the window behind them . The light from
outside is good, but of course the subject with their back to the open
window will be in shadow due to the poor room lighting.
So I need some spot lighting in order to light up the subject evenly.
I figure ever massive lighting behind the camera to light up the whole
room, or some smaller diffuse spots on either side of the subject up
close and just out of shot on two tripods (hopefully no reflections
form the laminated poster).
Anyone have any experience in this sort of situation?

Are these LED lights any good at 660lm?
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemitem=400090944295
I'm thinking maybe not, but if they are close enough and diffuse
enough they might be suitable.

This is not a permanent setup, needs to be setup and taken down for
each shoot, and I would prefer something small that I can reuse for my
current lab based blog. So the above LED video lights seems to fit
that bill.

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Lighting

2010-04-11 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:04 AM, daredolls dared...@gmail.com wrote:

 in what you wrote i read that you like the light as filtered by the laminated 
 poster but you want a key light for a little detail.

That's correct, I just want to light up the person speaking a little
more. I've tried all sorts of locations but ultimately liked this
window the best for various reasons. Even though I know it's a very
challenging setup, and the outside light makes it a real PITA.

 if i could i would loan you the rechargable flashlight that came with my 
 cordless drill. the charge lasts for hours, bright white light, bendable neck 
 and sits nicely on it's battery on any flat surface.

I'll probably rig up a couple of LED lamps to trial if it works or not
before I go out and buy something.

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Happy VideoBloggingWeek2010

2010-04-11 Thread David Lee King

Me too!
http://davidleeking.com/etc/2010/04/11/teaching-video-during-videoblogging-week-2010/-
Sorta funny. I'm actually teaching a basics of video class to
librarians
in this video with agood friend of mine ... at a library conference. So
posting a video snippet of teaching video during videoblogging week.
Wow!

David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 9:08 PM, ryanne hodson ryanne.hod...@gmail.comwrote:

 hey i made a video too!

 http://ryanedit.blogspot.com/2010/04/videoblogging-week-2010-sunday.html


 -ryanne

 --
 http://RyanIsHungry.com
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/ryanne
 AIM: VideoRodeo


 On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 6:41 PM, mgmoon mgm...@yahoo.com wrote:

 
 
  That's the whole idea. VBW challenges people to come up with a video per
  day in one week. It might not be pretty, but another snippet in time has
  been captured.
 
  I watched your video... and I thought it was wonderful.
  Thanks for sharing.
 
  Mike
  http://vlog.mikemoon.net
 
  --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com,
  compumavengal compumaven...@... wrote:
  
   I stumble in but I got one up. It ain't pretty but it is done.
  
 
 http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com/2010/04/videoblogging-day-1-2010-lemonade.html
  
   Gena
   http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com
  
   --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com
 ,
  mgmoon mgmoon@ wrote:
   
Well, it's Sunday.
It starts today... Videobloggingweek2010.
April 11-17
   
Grab your camcorders and shoot some video.
   
Mike
http://vlog.mikemoon.net
   
p.s. Here's Day 1's vlog:
http://mikemoon.net/vlog/2010/04/11/geo-fricken-caching/
   
  
 
 
 


 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



 

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Re: [videoblogging] Re: Check week at blip.tv

2010-04-10 Thread David Jones

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Adam Quirk qu...@wreckandsalvage.comwrote:



 I just noticed that almost 5 million people have watched the will it
 blend
 iPad edition.

 I don't know what to say about that. But it is an interesting fact.



I wish I had 1/10th of that number!

At say a low 0.1% CTR (Click Through Rate), and at say an average $0.50 per
click, that's at least $2500 for that one video. And that would be absolute
minimum I'd say, it's likely much much more.
Easily pays for the iPad destroyed!

Dave.


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Re: [videoblogging] Check week at blip.tv

2010-04-10 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 10:24 PM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:
 It's been good to hear your past experience. I believe blip focuses on
 ads INSIDE the video (either pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll)...not
 sure if Youtube does this.

Youtube puts two types of Ad's, a big graphic Adsense one on the right
side, and another horizontal transparent one overlayed on the video
that the user can turn off with a check box.

 Does Youtube or blip make you sign a exclusive contract with them...or
 can you put the same content in both places to collect two checks?
 Just wondering how all this plays out.

No such exclusive agreement with Youtube, you just agree not to post
anything against their guidelines.
I also tried Blip.tv for a few videos, but I didn't see the point. I
don't know anyway who actually browses or searches for stuff on
Blip.tv like they do on YouTube. Almost half of my audience subscribe
and watch directly via my youtube channel, they have no idea or simply
don't care that my blog site exists.
So to get any value from Blip.tv I'd have to embed the Blip video into
my actual blog site like I do with YouTube, but that would just dilute
stats and revenue which seems silly from my viewpoint.
And I'd be willing to bet ad revenue is greater on Youtube/Adsense
than Blip.tv, but I stand to be corrected. Adsense is biggest ad
network by orders of magnitude I'm sure.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Check week at blip.tv

2010-04-09 Thread David Lee King

Don't know about the partner thing, but I've been running my measly blip
account with ads, and have google's adsense and the Amazon affiliates thing
going on my blog.

It pays for my web hosting, and for buying pro accounts in all my various
social media endeavors - gotten checks from all three companies before
(amazon more consistently than the other two).

So it's worth it for me, anyway!

David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 7:24 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:

  I don't know about Blip, but as I've mentioned before, I'm a Youtube
 partner and I certainly make money from it, as I do from Google ads on my
 blog site.
  I'm not allowed to say how much, but it's not insignificant. Not
  enough to live off to be sure, but I've only got several thousand
  regular viewers.
  If you extrapolate, and my audience increased say 10 fold, I could
 probably do it full time and make a meager living.
  I know another video blogger who has roughly those audience figures, and
 he has mentioned that within the next year he might take it full-time if
 growth continues.
  I just hit my first anniversary video blogging too.

 It's been good to hear your past experience. I believe blip focuses on
 ads INSIDE the video (either pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll)...not
 sure if Youtube does this. Ive wondered if people are out off by ads
 in videos they watch. Text ads on the page seem easy enough to ignore.
 Is anyone here a blip partner?

 Does Youtube or blip make you sign a exclusive contract with them...or
 can you put the same content in both places to collect two checks?
 Just wondering how all this plays out.

 Dave, huge congrats on the first year anniversary.

 jay


 

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Re: [videoblogging] Check week at blip.tv

2010-04-08 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 11:09 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:

 This blog post says blip.tv sent a bunch of checks to show creators. I
 know some folks here are also Youtube partners. It would be really
 great if independent producers are really getting paid.
 http://theblog.blip.tv/post/505915181/this-week-is-check-week-at-blip-tv-were-sending

 I wonder if you can post shows on Youtube and blip...getting paid for
 both. Are they exclusive?
 I also cant believe that ads actually work.

 If anyone here has experience as partners on blip/youtube, love to
 hear more info.

I don't know about Blip, but as I've mentioned before, I'm a Youtube
partner and I certainly make money from it, as I do from Google ads on
my blog site.
I'm not allowed to say how much, but it's not insignificant. Not
enough to live off to be sure, but I've only got several thousand
regular viewers.
If you extrapolate, and my audience increased say 10 fold, I could
probably do it full time and make a meager living.
I know another video blogger who has roughly those audience figures,
and he has mentioned that within the next year he might take it
full-time if growth continues.

I just hit my first anniversary video blogging too.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] SDHC recording time

2010-04-06 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 5:34 AM, MyFirstMemoryDotOrg
myfirstmemory@gmail.com wrote:

 Hey folks,

 thinking about purchasing the Kodak Zi8 and get back on the vlogging horse. 
 It can apparently take a SDHC card of up to 32GB.

 My question is, how much recording time do I get out of that at:
 - 1080p, 30fps?
 - 720p, 60fps?
 - 720p, 30fps?
 - WVGA, 30fps?

 CNET says We calculated that when you record video at the highest level 
 (1080p), you eat up anywhere from around 110 to 150MB per minute, depending 
 upon video content, or about 14 to 18 minutes of video on a typical 2GB card. 
 (Kodak quotes 20 minutes per gigabyte, but that's for 720p.) Similar to most 
 competitors, videos are encoded as generally compatible QuickTime MPEG-4 MOV 
 files, using H.264 compression.

 However, my googling gave me wildly varying estimates. What gives?

That's because it's not the same for all devices. Some use variable
bit rate while others may use a constant bit rate. And if it's using
VBR, then the capacity depends upon the actual image you are shooting
(e.g. fast moving sports action would use a lot more than a talking
head vlog).

My Xacti HD1010 is speced to encode at:
9Mbps for 1280x720 30fps (4GB/hour)
12Mbps for 1280x720 60fps (5.4GB/hour)
12Mbps for 1920x1280 30fps (5.4GB/hour)
14Mbps for 1920x1280 60fps (6.3GB/hour)

That should give you a reasonable ballpark estimate for the Zi8.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Camcorder Advice Pls -

On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 10:15 AM, Richard Amirault ramira...@verizon.net wrote:

 - Original Message -
 From: Kevin Lim
 Hello Cheryl,
  I'm in the amateur category, so my budget has typically been below $400.
 I ended up with the Sanyo Xacti HD1010, which is the 2nd gen to HD1000, with
 the newest being HD2000. What's nice about this series is the MPEG4/H264
 video format which is native to the Mac as well as video sharing sites like
 Youtube and Vimeo. I also like the fact that for a camera under $400, it
 allows for audio line-in and interchangable lenses. This camera just made a
 lot of sense to me.

 I just did a quick check and I don't see that this has interchangable
 lenses .. nor does it sell under $400 .. at least normally.

Trivial to find it under $400. $320 in fact:
http://www.google.com/products?q=sanyo+hd1010aq=f
Specifically:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/569230-REG/Sanyo_VPC_HD1010BK_Xacti_VPC_HD1010_High_Definition.html

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Camcorder Advice Pls -

On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 6:03 AM, Cheryl Benson cheryl.ben...@gmail.com wrote:

thank you for your input:

1) I live in Canada

2) I have looked at the Sanyo grip prior, the hand grip feature is a huge
drawback for me. I searched only found 1 site that mentioned a remote
control, the other features are great, 2 hr recording, flash, lenses, etc, I
found 1 review saying it's not very good in low light which I need, and some
of the controls can be a hassle.

The remote control is always included as standard in the box. It works
well but does not let you switch to playback mode, although it does
let you review and delete the last clip you filmed if needed, that's
very handy for self filming. I use that feature multiple times every
shoot.

The comments about the controls being a hassle are mostly not
warranted IMO. Yes, some often used controls are spread across
different menus, but it's pretty trivial to find them. The joystick
control actually works quite well.

Holding positions, I am still trying to figure out if one is easier/less
painful for me over the other re the other camcorder style

Depends on what you are doing. I find the pistol grip to be very
comfortable for filming on the move, and the rec/stop and zoom control
can be thumb operated with the same hand.
Pistol grip is more comfortable on the wrist than camcorder style for
single hand long handheld shooting IMO.

If I can figure out a way the Sanyo handgrip can still be used for my needs
and very easily, I would get it, I am just not seeing it. It appears every
where to film in-house it has to be in the dock, to stand up, when not in my
hand. If I am wrong in this please correct me. :

It stands up just fine on it's own with screen folded in, I'll have to
double check tonight for the screen folded out, but I'm pretty sure it
can.
I always use a tripod.
It's best if you use a small tripod anyway, that gives you full gimbal
movement to frame the best shot. If you just stand it on a table or
whatever, you have little choice over how it frames something. That's
the same with any camera/camcorder.

- I need a camcorder that lays flat (stands by itself), so far I can't see
around this for the ones you have mentioned, all the same Sanyo grip
different models
- I will be using it to film myself first of all for a while, and hopefully a
few interviews
- has to have a remote
- the software for pc and mac was huge bonus
- the prior link Sanyo HD 1080 just went off sale, the battery life was only
70 minutes, I thought it was an Easter Monday, there will be more sales,
- they have another sanyo that records for 200 minutes for $300 , has
software for both pc and mac, earlier version, but the reviews are horrid for
quality

My HD1010 battery last for well over an hour of filming.
Note that it has shut itself off a couple of times when shooting for
extended periods in hot conditions (Sydney get hot in summer time). It
puts a little thermometer symbol on the screen to tell you it's
getting hot and will switch itself off soon.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/sanyo-sanyo-high-definition-sdhc-camcorder-vpc-zh1-vpczh1r/10124814.aspx?path=23c3abc4934a4eb7eb86edc457def5d0en02

- the filming outside, for lectures/speeches, hopefully some interviews, and
attaching to my power wheelchair is in the future, so looking ahead for
something that will serve both and last

It will. Although if you are filming on a moving wheelchair, optical
image stabalisation would be a must.
The HD1010 is pretty rugged, I've taken it through canyon trips and
it's been dropped multiple times without problem.

- after your suggestions, same camera different versions, I think I may stick
with the Sanyo , but keep my eyes open for more sales and regular camcorder
style and the software and one that will film for 2 hours. I have been told
privately I can change the battery with a pre-charged one in-between filming
for those that film around an hour, some have to be charged in the camera,
unless you can get external chargers as well, spec's often don't say this

Yes, you can just change the battery. But I have to take off my tripod
mount in order to slide open the battery door which is a bit annoying.
I charge mine in the camera, but if you are serious you'd look for an
external charger I guess.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: YouTube link to blog to be retired

On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 1:26 AM, neophoto3000 cjburd...@sbcglobal.net wrote:

  It always pays to add a link to your blog INSIDE the video itself.

 Forgive what I assume to be an idiotic question, but how exactly do you do 
 that?

You just add an overlay title using your video edit software. Most
people put it in the intro or ending credits etc.
If you want to do it the low-tech way, stick a sign in the background
when you shoot your video!

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Camcorder Advice Pls -

On Tue, Apr 6, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Kevin Lim brainop...@gmail.com wrote:

 Cheryl,
 Like David, I LOVE the pistol grip design. Sure, the Sanyo Xacti HD1000,
 HD1010, and HD2000 won't stand on their own, especially with an accessory
 lens attached due to weight, but for shooting stable shots, I use a tripod
 anyway. If you don't need a full tripod, just get a tabletop one.

 Also, I checked the official documentation and realized that the camera DOES
 come with a remote. I never used mine, and it's probably in the box.

Yes, you get:


* Software Pack

* Docking Station

* Dedicated A/V Interface Cable

* Dedicated Component Interface Cable

* Dedicated USB Cable

* Cable Adapter

* Lithium-Ion Battery Charger

* Lithium-Ion Battery

* AC Adapter  Power Cord

* Power Cord

* Lens Cap

* Neck Strap

* Remote Controller

* Quick Start Guide


The remote is essential for self filming.
It has full menu access so you can change settings etc without getting
out of your seat.
As i said the only thing it won't do is switch into a full playback mode.

 Finally, you can check out videos in the Sanyo Xacti HD Videos group on
 Vimeo... this particular video shows a heavily modified Xacti HD2000 for
 professional videography: http://vimeo.com/sanyohd#8054780

That's insane! (ok, I'm jealous)
Although the Sanyo does have an excellent large sensor and optics (esp
for the price), so I guess it's not unreasonable to go that far.

 I don't work for Sanyo, still hate how wonky the auto-balancing and focusing
 can get, but these are manageable through manual controls, so it's not a
 deal-breaker for me. Heavenly for it's relatively low-price.

Yes, the auto-focus system can get wonky sometimes, so I usually set
mine to manual focus at 1m for all my talking head videos (I wave my
hands around and point at the camera a lot, so that doesn't help the
auto-focus!). I'm still working on the best way to light balance for
filming in my lab, but as you say, for the price it's amazing.
The macro performance is pretty good too.

The other good thing is that the manual (and all other) settings stay
put when you switch it off. So if you shoot the same locations over
and over, you just optimise the manual settings once and then forget
about it.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Generate your own music

2010-03-02 Thread David Jones

I've been looking for some new intro music for my blog, and one of my
viewers pointed me to this site:
http://www.codeorgan.com/?url=www.eevblog.com/

It generates music based on the site contents, and it turns out my
site main page generates quite good music!

There is no info on usage of the music, so presumably it's free to use.
I thought others might be interested in playing with this neat tool!

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] seminar filming?

2010-02-23 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:36 AM, Loreta_Vaidas loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:

 Hello,

 have any of you filmed seminars and made webinars out of them? A client 
 approached me with this idea and asked if there's any way I could help him 
 out. I told him that I have only one camcorder and I assume for such filming 
 I would need at least two to get different angles. Is that true or would one 
 camcorder be enough? I would assume that there would have to be a lot of 
 requests to stop and change the angles during filming with just one. Plus to 
 get all the details,like hands, moods of the crowd, would be very difficult 
 as well.

 Any input on that? I know that there are videographers who specialize in 
 filming seminars and making webinars for corporate clients, but I don't know 
 the specifics of this type of job.

 Thanks.

 Loreta


I've never filmed one, but I've watched plenty.
And I have no problems what so ever watching a single angle one or
even two hour shot of the speaker if they are engaging enough.
I find that different camera angles don't add any value if the main
angle is a good one.
But I do know that professional filming of such things like to wank it
up with shots of the crowd nodding or whatever.

It's different if the seminar involves audience interaction though.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Youtube thumbnail frame

2010-02-21 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 4:14 AM, Loreta_Vaidas loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:

 Damien,

 Thanks for the info. I did experiment with frames but nothing worked.

 What do you all mean be a partner with Youtube? Is it being a Youtube 
 employee or a preferred videoposter? What is it? And how do you become one? 
 Just curious :)

http://www.youtube.com/partners
http://www.youtube.com/t/partnerships_faq

Quote:
To become a YouTube Partner, you must meet these minimum requirements:

* You create original videos suitable for online streaming.
* You own or have express permission to use and monetize all audio
and video content that you upload—no exceptions.
* You regularly upload videos that are viewed by thousands of
YouTube users, or you publish popular or commercially successful
videos in other ways (such as DVDs sold online).


I was invited to become a Youtube partner once my videos got popular
enough, so I guess they are monitoring how everyone's account performs
etc.

It used to be a very exclusive club, but now it's pretty to easy get,
everyone seems to be a partner these days!

Dave.




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Re: [videoblogging] Re: Youtube thumbnail frame

2010-02-21 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 11:07 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:
 And they are VERY strict with copyright. Tell them you make ALl your
 own media even the music. We mentioned we used CC-licensed music...and
 they sent us forms they wanted us to get signed by all parties and
 faxed to their office.


Yes, I had no end of trouble with CC licenses intro music. I even used
one from Incompetech that they recommend in their partner tutorial,
yet they still gave me the third degree and it took ages to sort out.
So I just dropped my into music.

And *every* time you upload a video you have to fill out a form saying
you own all rights etc. Not hard (unless you use someone else's
material), but annoying none the less.

Technically, if you have anyone else in your video then you have prove
you have a release from them. I concur they are VERY strict!

 We ended up not being Youtube Partners but seems they just want people
 who post regularly and are regularly popular. They sent us an invite
 after some of our videos started hitting 50k.

I got an invite after ones of my videos hit 40K, my regular ones
generally only get 2-3K within a few weeks.
But I post at least once a week.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Youtube videos going prematurely public

2010-02-21 Thread David Jones

There is an annoying youtube bug that's been bugging me for some time.
Every time I upload a new video I set and save the video properties to
private so no one can see the video until it's finished processing
which can take many hours. And until it's finished the video
processing, the video quality is terrible which is why I don't want
anyone to see it.

However, youtube keeps automatically switching the video to public
some time after the upload and before it's finished processing.
And of course as soon as it goes public I get hundreds of people
jumping in watching it within 10 or 20 minutes, and they see the crap
quality version (and I get complaints).

If I set my video to private I expect it to stay private!

Anyone else seen this and know why youtube does it?
Is it a bug or some sort of feature?
Any solution?

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Youtube thumbnail frame

2010-02-19 Thread David Jones

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 8:27 AM, Vaidotas loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:

 Thanks everyone for replying to my message. Yes, I figured there's no way to 
 get my own thumbnail frame besides the 3 offered by Youtube.

 Kevin, what do you mean by inserting the poster frame in the middle of a 
 timeline? You mean it's not hidden anyhow? I can't imagine putting a certain 
 frame in out of nowhere in the videos for clients. Unless it's really 
 suitable.


Correct, it's not hidden.


 I will try and register to other websites like vimeo and blip. I would like 
 for Youtube to be more flexible in letting choose a thumbnail frame.

How important is having a custom thumbnail? The benefits of having the
video posted on Youtube may outweigh the issue. Is your client aware
of the potential benefit in terms of audience exposure?
Most people will not care what the thumbnail is, so it's normally not
a big deal.
Is it so happens that all 3 frames chosen look terrible, then just add
a half second black fade at the start or something so that the
snapshot points are shifted to give you 3 different choices.
You could upload several videos with different video skews like this
and then pick the best one and delete the others.
Youtube are flexible, but only for Partners like myself.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Electronic Engineering Type Question for David Jones

2010-02-19 Thread David Jones

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 3:00 PM, compumavengal
compumaven...@earthlink.net wrote:

 I was looking at the specs for the Sony Bloggie MHS-CM5:

 http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551storeId=10151langId=-1productId=8198552921666073267#specifications

 I don't know how to convert a 3.6 volt into watts to find out how long the 
 battery will last. Under power consumption it states that 1.9W @ 720 30p 
 Recording.

 My experience tells me that the battery time is about 60 to 90 minutes in 
 recording before the battery conks out.

 Can you sling that number hash and tell me how long the battery can function 
 before heading south?

 Thanks,

 Gena
 http://createvideonotebook.blogspot.com/

You can't tell just from the voltage rating, you need to know the
watt-hour rating.
According to:
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dcc-batteries---chargers/np-bk1
the battery is rated at 3.4Wh, which means ideally it can deliver 3.4W
for 1 hour, or any ratio there-of.

So if the camera takes 1.9W that's a battery life of 1.8 hours
continuous recording (3.4Wh/1.9W).

There are other technical factors involved, but that's a fairly good
best case approximation.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Youtube thumbnail frame

2010-02-18 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 6:09 AM, Vaidotas loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:

 Hello,

 I just did a video for a client and this video will be embedded onto his 
 website from Youtube. However, I don't like the thumbnail frames that Youtube 
 chose. They are all with my clients face and either have his mouth half open 
 or eyes closed.
 Is there anyway that I can choose the thumbnail picture myself? I tried to 
 find how, but couldn't.
 Any ideas?

You need to be a Youtube Partner to get access to customisable (upload
your own) thumbnails.
Those without partner accounts sometimes embed frames in their video
at the key points YouTubes take the snapshots from, I forget the exact
figures but as usual Google knows:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=youtube+thumbnails

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] how many video accounts do you have

2010-02-15 Thread David Jones

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 2:54 AM, Chad Boeninger cfboenin...@gmail.com wrote:

 So perhaps a bizarre question. How many different video hosting accounts do
 you have, and how do you manage them?

 I have a couple of different accounts on Blip and Youtube and one on Vimeo,
 but mostly all of my videos, (video blogging, bike rides, business research
 tools, etc) go under two primary accounts. http://libraryvoice.blip.tv/ and
 http://www.youtube.com/user/cfboeninger . As you can see, my two accounts
 basically serve as a catch-all repository for all of my videos. I also have
 another Blip account that just hosts family videos. My videos are posted on
 3-4 different blogs.

 I have an idea for a new show format that I would like to do that would have
 a more consistent theme than my potpouri of current videos. Is is worth
 creating a new account for the show, or just upload the videos to my
 existing accounts and embed them on a destination blog page? I just wonder
 how many people stick to a show page on Blip or Youtube, or if they
 watch/subscribe to the shows on the destination website page/blog. Any
 thoughts on this?

I have roughly 40% of my audience watch and directly subscribe via my
YouTube channel.
These people either have no idea my blog site exists, or just couldn't
care less, because they like the Youtube channel subscription method.
The rest either watch the embedded YouTube clips directly on my
wordpress blog website (eevblog.com), or they subscribe to the podcast
via iTunes or some other RSS reader.

You should really have the stats available on this. I get my stats
from YouTube, Wordpress and Feedburner

 If you look at the help pages on Blip, what I have is
 currently not a show per se, but a hodge podge of videos. I'm not looking
 to quit my day job, but the idea of having an account tied to a specific
 show does sound appealing. However, managing multiple accounts does create
 some problems, as your content winds up being all over the place and hard to
 keep up with what's where. I suppose I could just use my existing accounts
 and point people to the destination website in the video description. Any
 advice from the pros?

I'd go with different channels, unless you've got a very low
percentage who watch via the Youtube channel.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Microphone options...a perennial question

2010-02-14 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 1:50 PM, ratbagradio ratbagra...@gmail.com wrote:

 I shoot with a Canon MD 120 mini-dv video camera which suits my needs 
 admirably.

 But I want to improve my audio input. In some instances I use a rig I've 
 developed from a Minidisc recorder and its own plug in power microphones(of 
 which I have several). I run the MD audio into the camera in real time. But 
 this rig can be cumbersome at close quarters when switching from on to off 
 mode as I have to monitor two devices -- camera and recorder.

 So I have two options I think but I'm not sure how they play out.

 1) Get some sort of small pre-amp so I can still use my plug in power mics.
 2) Get a new microphone with its own power and plug it into the Mic in jack.

 All I want is to improve my audio and my audio control so that my microphone 
 options are customizable. I don 't have a mic shoe but I'm willing to tape it 
 anywhere I want.

 So I wonder if anyone has had any experience of pre-amping mics for small 
 video operation? All I'm after is a unit that maybe houses one AA battery 
 with input and output feed -- a sort of bulge en route between the microphone 
 and the camera.

 I also live at the cheap end of the market -- my second Canon MD 120 camera 
 cost me no more than $AUSD15. So poverty is a deciding factor in my 
 purchasing power.

 dave riley.

I'd recommend you just go for a regular shotgun video mic that plugs
straight in. The Rode VideoMic is the best quality in the low cost end
of the spectrum, but a cheap $40 Jaycar shotgun mic works just as good
really.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AM4085
I wouldn't dick a round with preamps, it's just messier.

You can get dual tripod mount frames that would allow you to
effectively mount the mic onto the same frame as the camera.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

2010-02-14 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 12:41 PM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:
 So instead of relying on free commercial hosting sites, you'd have
 control. Not sure if many people want this control though. Youtube
 makes it so easy. Plus some people seem to actually be making money
 from Adsense through Youtube.

It's a full time living for quite a few people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html

I'm not quite there yet, but there's always hope!

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Microphone hiss, need advice...

2010-02-13 Thread David Lee King

What hiss? Not listening closely, but I have the macbookpro cranked, and I'm
not hearing hiss.

Or make sure you're not sitting close to a heater or a fan, or other just
... room stuff that's making noise, maybe?

Basically, I'm not convinced that your hiss problem is with the mic - I'm
thinking it's more environmental (or the volume of the mic wasn't up loud
enough to cover the hiss - but then again, I wasn't bothered by any
noticeable hiss).

Hope this helps!

David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 4:09 AM, pageflex2001 innom...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hello gang,

 I noticed a microphone hiss in the last video I made (
 http://bit.ly/dzPTGe ). If you listen closely wearing headphones while
 watching this video you will notice a hiss that is very annoying..

 The mike I used for this vid is Electrovoice 635A(B).

 I was wondering if anyone can recommend a hissless mike that is
 unidirectional (captures only the talker not the background) with XLR input.

 Any help is truly appreciated..

 Renat of Innomind.org



 

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [videoblogging] Microphone hiss, need advice...

2010-02-13 Thread David Jones

Same here. What hiss?
I hear almost anything at very high volume over the background music,
and I can't turn it up louder because the voices would deafen me!
If there is hiss there is a very well masked by the (a tad annoying to
my ear) background music.
Something must be wrong at your end, because that Youtube video is
almost as good as it gets.

Dave.

On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 1:50 AM, David Lee King davidleek...@gmail.com wrote:

 What hiss? Not listening closely, but I have the macbookpro cranked, and I'm
 not hearing hiss.

 Or make sure you're not sitting close to a heater or a fan, or other just
 ... room stuff that's making noise, maybe?

 Basically, I'm not convinced that your hiss problem is with the mic - I'm
 thinking it's more environmental (or the volume of the mic wasn't up loud
 enough to cover the hiss - but then again, I wasn't bothered by any
 noticeable hiss).

 Hope this helps!

 David Lee King
 davidleeking.com - blog
 davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
 twitter | skype: davidleeking

 On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 4:09 AM, pageflex2001 innom...@gmail.com wrote:

  Hello gang,
 
  I noticed a microphone hiss in the last video I made (
  http://bit.ly/dzPTGe ). If you listen closely wearing headphones while
  watching this video you will notice a hiss that is very annoying..
 
  The mike I used for this vid is Electrovoice 635A(B).
 
  I was wondering if anyone can recommend a hissless mike that is
  unidirectional (captures only the talker not the background) with XLR input.
 
  Any help is truly appreciated..
 
  Renat of Innomind.org

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

2010-02-11 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 8:13 PM, adammerc...@att.net
adammerc...@att.net wrote:

 Dave you seem to have a lot of respect in this group

I doubt it, I'm pretty much a newbie. I'm just loud and say what I
think, and well, some people don't like that. They don't like to hear
differing opinions to what they hold to be true.

so i'll refrain from ripping you a new one wink and just say this.

Go for your life, I can handle it, I stand by my comments.
Many people take what I say personally, or mistakenly think I'm
personally attacking them in some way, that's sad. My comments are
meant for general discussion and food for thought.

 If you bothered to read my original post before getting your pompous high and 
 might knickers in a twist you'd have noticed that I too share this marvelous 
 thing you call CHOICE.

I did read it and I knew that you chose to downscale to 640x480.
Nothing wrong with that, that's your choice, and I'd probably do the
same thing if I deemed the quality was not acceptable at 640x480. In
fact, from memory I think I did do that on my first blog with a web
cam.
Once again, I was speaking about low res in general, not about you or
your circumstances personally.

 I dont 'film' at 320x240. In fact i dont 'film' at all, and neither do you. 
 Get your technicalities right before you bandy silly ideas around. You shoot 
 video, so technically you record.

Perfectly common usage, you knew what I mean, and I'm sure everyone
else did too.
So what's your point?, that my comments somehow have less validity
because I chose to use the term film instead of shoot?
I'll call it what I want, thank you very much.

So my idea of advising people to at least film (sorry, shoot) and if
possible upload at the best quality they reasonably can do so users
have a choice is silly? YouTube recommend it too, so please do
explain how that's silly...

And as I've said I'm also an advocate of optimising your downloads for
certain needs like podcasting etc. I do it myself. But I don't *only*
upload at 320x240, because I know people like to view my blog in many
different ways, and my blog is mostly a talking head that can be
viewed adequately at 320x240. So I give them a choice and upload the
best material I have available.

 And I RECORD my video at 640x480. I CHOOSE to downscale to 320x240 because my 
 expert eye has determined that the image looks better that way. It benefits 
 from the reduced noise and softened image.

Sure, you'll get no argument from me.

 My full frame 480p image is captured on a $100 flip, whereas your image is 
 captured on a $400 HD cam. If i were shooting content that I thought worthy 
 of such a camera I would certainly invest in one. I own a professional miniDV 
 camera that captures quite a nice full frame image, but I dont quite fancy 
 lugging that around with me to the playground to shoot my son, which is what 
 the majority of my videoblogging contains.

Once again you'll get argument from me, my comments were more directed
in general at those who use cameras and system capable of higher res,
but chose to use to lower resolution for whatever reason.
Would you still downscale to 320x240 if your cam was capable of good
quality 640x480? I doubt it, I bet you'd be chuffed with your 640x480
image quality and want to show it to the world.

 Also there is the question of bandwidth and I've had this argument with 
 several people, and I'm often in the minority. But i believe my position so I 
 stand by it. Bandwidth is not free, contrary to popular opinion. Someone 
 somewhere is paying for it. We wil all pay for it if the ISPs want to 
 throttle their networks thanks to every tom dick and harry publishing HD 
 video of their son on a swing, thus choking up the networks with unnecessary 
 bits. your content may very well warrant the higher quality. Thats your 
 choice. Miine does not. Thats my choice.

Once again, systems like YouTube are capable of displaying and using
whatever bandwidth the user desires. So in these cases it's better to
upload in the best quality you can so the user can decide what they
want.
And that's not just my personal opinion, remember, YouTube recommend
and encourage everyone to upload their *best quality* source material,
(at least 640x480 recommended). They wouldn't do they if they didn't
have the storage and processing space to do it. And as I've said, they
offer the user a choice of download sizes and bandwidths, which
defaults to the smallest 320p, so you can't argue it's a download
bandwidth issue here.

 Its horses for courses mate.

Always.

 Post a link to your site. I'd like to see what you are publishing

It's not for a general audience, but here you go:
www.eevblog.com

Yours?

Regards
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

2010-02-11 Thread David Jones

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 4:36 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:
 That being said, David's work at http://www.eevblog.com/ is extremely
 appealing to a very specific group of people. Someone who likes to
 take apart electronics will wait to download the HD version if that's
 their only choice.

HD is not their only choice.
I use an embedded YouTube player which defaults to 360p, the user must
then manually chose 480p or 720p if they way higher res.
If they subscribe to my podcast with iTunes or whatever they get a
separate 480x272 version.
About half my audience subscribe and watch directly via my YouTube
channel, which again defaults to 360p.

So my available HD content uses no more bandwidth than anyone else's
blog or video, unless the user decides that's what they want.

Dave.

[videoblogging] Veoh is dead

2010-02-11 Thread David Lee King

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100211/veoh-finally-calls-it-quits-layoffs-yesterday-bankruptcy-filing-soon/-
I never really used them, but thought y'all would find this
interesting
nonetheless...

David Lee King
davidleeking.com - blog
davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
twitter | skype: davidleeking


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Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

2010-02-10 Thread David Jones

On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 4:23 AM, Tom Dolan tomjdo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Dave,

 What $400 cam did you buy? Curious that's all.

Sanyo Xacti HD1010
It's been discussed on here many times now.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

2010-02-10 Thread David Jones

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 8:16 PM, Adrian Miles adrian.mi...@rmit.edu.au wrote:
 if you follow that logic to its logical conclusion then why be online
 at all and instead be in a cinema, or project via some hi-rez system
 against a wall in an installation?

Because online is the distribution medium of choice and the only place
to find an audience!
But hey, because I film at 1280x720 I *could* do that if I wanted to,
because I'm smart enough to film my content at the best quality I'm
capable of. (Technically I can do 1920x1280, but I drew the line
smaller for practical and optical reasons).
I therefore have the option to project in a cinema as well as produce
a 160x120 ultra small podcast, or anything in between if I so chose.
I've got this amazing thing called choice!
It's a real shame those who film in 320x240 don't have the same choice...

 it is a wrong argument as it is like saying because I'm a painter and
 I can have a 4 metre square canvas anyone who chooses to paint
 miniatures, or even small canvases, isn't really doing painting. (Or
 if I write a novella instead of a novel I'm not really a writer, etc.)

I am NOT saying those who film and upload is 320x240 or smaller are
not videoblogging or not creating useful content.
They certainly are. I'm just saying that such a limited resolution is
really doing their efforts a disservice if creating higher resolution
content isn't much more difficult. And lets be honest, it's not.

 There are deliberate creative, aesthetic, technical, theoretical,
 practical reasons for choosing scale in these ways so that choosing to
 be small is recognised not as a default condition of all that the
 technology allows but a deliberate creative decision. Like choosing to
 write a haiku when I could also have written a short story. Or a novel.

 It also ignores the entire role of constraint to creative practice
 and art (there is no art without constraint, pixel dimensions does not
 have to be a constraint, but it does not follow from this that you
 must therefore only go for the highest current available pixel
 dimensions).

Sure, but that whole argument is such a big red herring and so
entirely beside the point it's not funny!

Almost every video blogger *wants* the best possibly quality video
they can get, they aren't keeping it small for some artistic reason.
They keep it small because they are (or think they are) constrained by
some technical limitation.
If you have the capability to do greater than 320x240 and you are
deliberately sticking to 320x240 for some reason then I stand by my
assertion that you are doing your efforts a big disservice.

Seriously 640x480 is so trivially easy on almost any bit of hardware,
it is no harder than 320x240. 320x240 is just not worth it unless you
are producing a specific podcast or similar where bandwidth is
critical. I produce a 480x272 podcast version of my show for just such
reasons, but I'm not silly enough to film at that resolution or only
make my product available only at that resolution.

 For example things like Daniel Liss' seven maps or Will Luers' 217
 Views of the Tokaido Line work because of constraint - of rules and
 of composition. Particularly with Will's project the scale is
 essential precisely because it is not big, it is about Japan, the
 small, the miniature, the everyday (think Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
 or of course what Will's work directly refers to). Finally in my own
 work I take a different view as I think of the computer and the
 network as the medium for the work, in which case it lives in a
 complex ecoystem and visual field with other windows, other
 applications, other attentions. So my video should not take over your
 screen in the same way that I despise any app on my computer that
 assumes it has the right to all of my screen, all of my attention,
 etc. I don't think of the computer and the network as just a clever
 delivery device to get my video onto other screens at full resolution
 but as something small that sits there in amongst your email, photos,
 and the 12 apps you're currently running and flipping between.

Once again, entirely beside the point. You can film and upload in any
resolution you want, the viewer is perfectly capable of displaying the
resultant image in any size and form they chose.
Deliberately limiting your source material because you have some
preconceived notion about how it should be viewed, is in my view a
silly thing to do. But hey, if you want to go all arty-farty and shoot
small, be my guest, just don't argue that's even close to what most
video bloggers want, you'd be way off the mark.

 All power to full screen video, but please don't make an argument that
 this is the only way to approach video online.

I'm not.
I'm simply saying that any videoblogger should be making use of the
best possible resolution they can easily do.

I'm not necessarily talking about HD here, as there is still has quite
a few technical issues for the average users as has been discussed on

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

He's back up with a StarWars blog this time:
http://www.warvideoblog.com/
Had a quick search but couldn't find what the original blog is, will try
again tomorrow.

Dave.


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Re: [videoblogging] Re: Non-XLR hand held Microphone

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 1:22 AM, Cris Thomas thomas_c...@yahoo.com wrote:
 As for the original question about hand held Mics I was in a hurry and didn't 
 have much budget so I opted for the Radio Shack $25 Mic with the build in 1/4 
 cable. I added an 1/8 adapter and plugged it into the camera. I covered the 
 mic with a $5 pop filter and did my interviews that way. All of them came out 
 great, even when I didn't have the mic very close to the interviewees mouth 
 the sound was still more than acceptable.  It only records in mono but I was 
 able to copy the left channel to the right side without to much trouble in 
 FCE.

You can fix that with a mono to stereo adapter:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102690
It just feeds the same mono signal into both stereo inputs, so no
post-processing required.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Non-XLR hand held Microphone

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 11:12 AM, Richard Amirault
ramira...@verizon.net wrote:

 - Original Message -
 From: David Jones

  You can fix that with a mono to stereo adapter:
  It just feeds the same mono signal into both stereo inputs, so no
  post-processing required.

 That should work ... BUT ... adding adaptors can lead to problems. The more
 adaptors you use the more places there are for something to go wrong.

It might be possible to get a direct 1/4 mono to 1/8 stereo adapter.
Or if it was me I'd just just off the 1/4 plug and solder on a new
1/8 stereo plug directly.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Re: Remember when it was all 320x240?

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 6:19 PM, adammerc...@att.net
adammerc...@att.net wrote:

 Call me old school, but I still publish my vlog in 320x240. For a couple of 
 reasons. My old Flip shoots at 640x480 and at the native size its pretty 
 crummy. Scaled to quarter screen it tightens up and cleans up the noise 
 considerably.

 Also theres nothing in my vlog that needs to be seen at HD resolution. Waste 
 of bandwidth.

If you follow that logic to its logical conclusion, then why have a
video blog at all?, why not just an audio podcast?
Or at least why not 160x120 for even more bandwidth saving and speed?

A video blog should be all about the video (ok audio is super
important too, but beside the point), the bigger and more glorious the
source material the better. Try watching 320x240 full screen...
I know people who watch my video blog like a TV show and put it on
full screen while having their breakfast etc.

The beauty of modern hosts like YouTube are that it offers whatever
resolution the user desires. Defaults to 360p to save bandwidth, but
offers selectable 480p, 720p, or higher for those who chose it.
I now always shoot and upload in 1280x720 because:
a) I have the camera that can do it
b) People have different needs (and bandwidth isn't an issue for
probably the majority of people these days)
c) And you never know what the future holds. I didn't want to look
back in a few years and wish I had shot those previous hundred
episodes in HD for whatever reason.

Any video blogger who is filming and/or uploading in 320x240 only is
doing their effort a real disservice I think.
My $400 HD cam was the best money I ever spent.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

2010-02-08 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Joly MacFie j...@punkcast.com wrote:

 Are you telling us that you contacted the old host and they stopped
 him, and now he's setting up at anew host?

Yes. As I mentioned in another post, I put in a DMCA takedown notice
with his host and the site was shut down within 10 minutes. I'll do
the same with this new host if it's my site he rips off again.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

2010-02-08 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 2:53 PM, Tom Dolan tomjdo...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi David,

 Is there any way to publicize this person, to out him, to report him
 to any sanctions organization? I guess I'm wondering if there is any
 way to control this kind of behavior.

Probably not.
By all accounts his name and address is fake.
I could try and find out his real name one way or another, but I just
couldn't be bothered at this stage.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] ok..more questions about sound

2010-02-07 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 9:39 AM, loretabirkus loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:

 Hi..I know..I was asking tons of questions about sound/hum noise, etc. At 
 least I figured out that it's not my camera that makes that hum/static noise, 
 and it all depends on the environment I'm filming.

 My questions would be:

 1. Besides recording 10-15 sec of the natural ambient sound and trying to 
 clean it during editing, is there any way to record it with minimum of it 
 during filming? Do you have any secrets? Do you prepare the room somehow so 
 that the voice could bounce back softly? None of my shot guns have been able 
 to perform to the highest noise elimination level.

 I try to place a mic as close to the speaker as possible (usually on a 
 separate tripod, don't have a boom pole yet) and adjust the volume level so 
 that it doesn't pass further than -6-8 db. But I still get that quiet natural 
 background noise.
 What do you do in this case? Do you just leave it or do you clean it?

 2. Which type of lavaliere mic would you recommend: wireless or cabled one? 
 What brand? Which ones are best in terms of noise cancellation? I'm kinda 
 glad I didn't buy anything, now that they're changing the rules for the 700 
 mHz frequency type mics.

 Thanks.

 Loreta

Loreta
You really have to post an example of this sound noise problem, that
is the only way people can provide informed comment.

AFAIK lapel mics to not have noise cancellation, they are just
electret mic inserts that rely on the signal to noise ratio afforded
by having the mic close to the noise source.

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

2010-02-07 Thread David Jones

 http://www.warvideoblog.com/

He's back with a new host (ixwebhosting.com), but no site uploaded yet.
Will be interesting to see if he copies me again, or some other video blog!

Dave.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [videoblogging] sound samples :)

2010-02-07 Thread David Jones

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 1:38 PM, loretabirkus loretabir...@yahoo.com wrote:



 Ok, I made three clips of different sounds that I tried and worked with.

 1. The first clip, to my opinion, was set to a normal sound. However, I had
 to clean that background noise. It was too loud, I think. The shotgun Azden
 mic was mounted onto my camera. The camera was about 2 meters away from the
 person.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=KI_gZd4wAIwsharing_token=BBiPa_6jlQVpK4CpszZNYw

 2. This clip of the same person. I set the mic (same one) volume very low,
 but when listening, I can tell that it's too low and when increasing the
 sound, I get, of course, the background noise again. This time, the mic was
 closer on a separate tripod. About a meter closer to the person.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=dKJMtZFx_hosharing_token=h8BHzM5lL-C5IedM7Ln3RA

 3. Third is the worst. After I figured out what contributed to the noise,
 I'm not so angry at my mic anymore. To give you some background: the room
 was empty, it's more like a conference room, with no windows, no curtains,
 just several pictures and mirrors on the walls. Behind the walls was a
 kitchen. The conf room is in the back of a small cafe. The mic was mounted
 on my camera (same mic). And the camera was about 1 1/2 meters away from the
 person.
 I didn't manage to clean the background noise so I just worked with EQ and
 it somewhat helped. I event suggested the person to refilm, but he didn't
 care about the sound too much as long as he could tell the difference that
 the background noise was reasonably lower.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=kRFEBnwIz9ssharing_token=qCiNoRTJ_iOogWHuCrwUig


Only had a quick listen with my crap headphones at work...
That last one sounds like typical office building background noise, i.e. not
electronics preamp noise, but environment noise.
Also, your gain is too high, his speech clearly gets clipped at the start.

A lapel mic will likely solve your problem, it is the best choice in still
interviews like this. Even a cheap $20 wired one is capable of producing
excellent results.

Dave.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

I just discovered my blog site has been completely copied!

My site:
http://www.eevblog.com

The copy:
http://www.warvideoblog.com/

Clearly an attempt to cash in on ad revenue with established content.
Anyone else experienced this?

Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Joly MacFie j...@punkcast.com wrote:

 Never seen anything quite like it. I suppose they could have crawled
 your site, but it kind of looks like they might have had ta mysql
 dump.

Yeah, I didn't even know it was possible to do such a thing.
They copied my BBS Forum and all the posts and everything!
I'm amazed actually.

 DMCA them!

How do I DMCA them?

I was going to complain to Godaddy to have them removed, but can't
even find a decent contact for doing that yet.

Thanks
Dave.

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll keep you all posted on what happens.

It looks like it's even worse than imagined. It's not just a copy but
the site is doing a live real-time mirror of my site and automatically
replacing all references to eevblog with war video blog, even in
the forum posts!:

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=195.msg1871#msg1871

Unbelievable!

BTW, I found out about by a clued up online advertiser who smelled a
rat. Apparently the guy tried to sign up the site with this online
advertising company, and it just didn't sound right when they
reviewed it before accepting his application. So they did a basic
search and saw it was a copy and contacted me to find out what was
happening.

Dave.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:

On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 7:47 PM, Chad Boeninger cfboenin...@gmail.com wrote:
I recently discovered that it's been happening to me as well. Take a look
at my post here
http://www.library.ohiou.edu/subjects/businessblog/2010/01/27/a-day-in-the-life-of-librarian/
and see the striking similarities here
http://www.dreambusinesscoach.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-librarian/
. Granted, the site does link back to the original post, but I still feel a
bit violated.

Dave's example is really extreme form of a splog. Its actually nicely
designed as well. Looks real and not just a scrape trying to pull
links.

When this group first started when online video was very new, there
were a lot of sites popping up scraping and aggregating video. Often
they'd just grab RSS feeds and suddenly have instant content.

We came up with a list of best practices that helped set the tone for
what was acceptable:
http://videoblogginggroup.pbworks.com/Best+Practices+for+Aggregation+Sites

Dave, keep us up to date with what happens. As others have suggested,
take a deep breath and take it step by step. If this guy gets some
formal letters from an attorney...you may be surprised how quickly it
goes away. Im surprised he has the domain in his own name.

Jay

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!

Well, it didn't take long:
This Account Has Been Suspended
10 minutes after me sending the DMCA takedown notice to the web host!

That fight was just too easy, no fun at all!

Dave.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 12:05 PM, David Jones david.jo...@altium.com wrote:
Thanks for the help everyone, I'll keep you all posted on what happens.

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=195.msg1871#msg1871

Unbelievable!

Dave.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Jay dedman jay.ded...@gmail.com wrote:

Dave's example is really extreme form of a splog. Its actually nicely
designed as well. Looks real and not just a scrape trying to pull
links.

When this group first started when online video was very new, there
were a lot of sites popping up scraping and aggregating video. Often
they'd just grab RSS feeds and suddenly have instant content.

We came up with a list of best practices that helped set the tone for
what was acceptable:
http://videoblogginggroup.pbworks.com/Best+Practices+for+Aggregation+Sites

Jay

Re: [videoblogging] Blatant copying of my Blog!