The DV Show - Digital Video Podcast, Video Editing, Camcorder Reviews, Videography

Easy Ways to Watermark a Video

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:28:41 +0000

Q: We are looking for “open source” (or free!) software to place a watermark on video. Any ideas? Not sure why we are being asked to include a watermark to the videos in the first place. Viewers I speak with are annoyed.

A: Inconspicuously floating over the bottom-right corner of a video, a watermark logo (or “bug”) provides viewers with instant recognition of the program’s source, even as it builds further brand awareness.

It can also be used to protect yourself when sending work to a client that hasn’t been paid for. We will often put a watermark on the video to keep the client from making a copy, and then refusing payment.

Software you can use for the PC:

Any professional non linear editing software will do the trick such as Adobe Premiere, Avid, Sony Vegas or Movie Maker. (Click the links to learn more)

You can add the watermark as a simple composite if you bring it in from Photoshop with an alpha channel.

Standalone software:

ImageWaterMarker 1.1
Watermark Master enables adding watermark to a movie (to its every frame) or a graphics file.
Guide to Watermarking with Virtual Dub
VidLogo modifies video files and add logos and video watermarks. Use animated logo or AVI logo for videos like a TV sign in one of the corners of screen. VidLogo support AVI, BMP, JPEG graphic formats for logos. True Alpha in video is fuly supported!
Video Watermark Factory - a full-featured yet easy-to-use software that allows placing a digital watermark or logo or text over an existing video in the batch mode. Watermarks can be used for protection or adding comments to your movies. You may impose watermark on a whole video file or on a specified section of the movie. Brand Your Video With A Watermark!
Adding Image Watermarks in Flash Video Studio
Use Virtual Dub

Watermarking Video with the Mac

Adding a watermark to your video in DVD Studio Pro
Watermark video using Quicktime Pro
With MPEG StreamClip
Watermark your videos using Final Cut Pro video #1
Watermark your videos using Final Cut Pro video #2
If you happen to have Compressor, you can add the watermark at transcode time and save the rendering/duplication in your editor.

Premium Subscribers get immediate answers to video questions, access to the show archives of over 250 podcasts with show notes spanning over 3 years, dozens of videos and articles filled with tips and tricks to enhance any production, free books, software downloads plus more! find out the details here

Free Sermon Broadcasting

admin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:31:12 +0000

TruthCasting is an online sermon broadcasting service that specializes in automated delivery of sermon audio, video, and written resources to registered users. This is an easy and affordable way to augment and expand a church’s ministry. TruthCasting enables people to experience sermons and teachings from any church using an easy and creative interface, and at no cost to them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

TruthCasting’s free software solution for churches that already have a computer dedicated to video encoding and uploading.

Free hosting of your church’s teaching content
Unlimited storage of your video archive
Unlimited bandwidth
Free setup of your custom church channel
Automated encoding and uploading software downloaded to your existing computer
Free download!
Minimum system requirements for the TruthCasting Upload Software:
Mac OSX 10.5 - Intel or PPC
Windows XP/Vista - Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz or Athlon XP 2500+
512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
40 MB for Application and 6 GB for video transfer

How to: 3D Videography

admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:22:58 +0000

Q: A client wants us to shoot their video in 3D- actually they are asking us to duplicate the look of the old Viewmaster reels of the 50’s and 60’s for their commercial spot. Is this possible? I’m thinking this would be expensive and time consuming without the quality they expect.

A: Those 3D Viewmaster reels were very cool! They used a special camera that utilized a technique called stereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D (three-dimensional) imaging. The equipment was capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image. Here is the still camera that was used:

The camera was made in the 50’s, but you can still find them around and most of them still work

It uses normal 35mm slide film, but the images are small pairs. Since it uses the smaller images you can get 70 3D pictures from a 36 exposure roll. The film travels out of the can for the top roll up pictures, and then back in for the bottom.

The film can be developed at any decent photo lab, you just have to tell them to not cut and mount the film. What you get back is a long strip of developed film. You can then cut out the chips with the film cutter and insert them into blank reels.

So How Do I Create 3D Video today?

Option #1: Two Camera DIY Approach

Much like the Viewmaster camera, you can create the same effect using two video cameras the same distance apart as your eyes and simply start shooting video with both cameras at the same time. This simulates the way we actually see and therefore creates the 3D effect when viewed.

Getting Started:

Two Cameras (preferably the same model)
3D Glasses
A Video Editor
a lot of patience
simple video editing software.

Warnings

The slightest angle difference in the cameras will completely ruin the whole shot. Make sure the lenses are level with one another.

Steps

1. Get your two cameras, and make sure the lenses are 2-8 (three works best, but the greater the more 3D effect) inches apart. It helps to create a device that holds them both from the tripod screw spots on the bottom.

Here’s a great video on how to build a two cam mount:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Film whatever you want in 3D with both cameras.

3. Upload both videos into your video editor.

4. Make one of the videos (let’s say the left camera’s video) have a red overlay. Make the right camera’s video have a blue overlay. The result should be the same video, twice, in two colors, three inches apart.

5. Place both videos into your editor, on top of each other, so you can see them both at once. The result should be almost purple and you should have a somewhat “double-vision” look to it.

6. Export this video, and play it, while wearing those Red-Blue 3D glasses and it should work. If not, you should try experimenting with the settings.

7. If need be, switch the colors to darker or lighter shades. Maybe even try changing the distance of the lenses.

8. Make sure you can “Place both videos on top of each other” with whatever “simple” editing software you have

Video software you can use:

For the PC:

Stereoscopic Player is shareware, and the latest version is very robust! A freeware program that is quite good is Stereo Movie Maker . A more professional option from LIGHTSPEED is DepthHQ

For the Mac:

The Anaglyph Plugin for Final Cut Pro separates a clip into Red/Blue (Cyan) images for use with Red/Blue 3D glasses. It can be used with sterescopic camera clips, or with a user setable artificial separation.

This is a beta version of the software, currently available for free.

Additional Instructions on how to do it in FCP

Tips

You must make sure that your two videos are in exact sync with each other, otherwise you will get a poor result. Use a camera flash to sync videos.
When editing these videos together, it also sometimes helps to remove the audio from one of the videos.
While recording, the cameras must be perfectly aligned. Check if they are aligned with a level

Option #2: Use the NuView Camcorder Adapter

This is the easiest and cheapest device to capture 3D using any miniDV camcorder. (Not using progressive mode)

For less than $500 and the camcorder you probably already have, you can record and enjoy 3-D video. Now, with the Nu-View, you will discover how exciting video can be when it is stereoscopic; 3-D video is here and it is affordable. The Nu-View is’ constructed of a sturdy black plastic housing. The adapter attaches to the lens of your camcorder by sliding onto a bayonet ring that screws into the filter threads. Inside there is a front surface mirror, two liquid crystal shutter “light valves”, and a prismatic beam-splitter. The light valves open and close to allow recording of either the direct image or the mirror reflected image. The two images are recorded on alternate fields of the video frame. A cable from the video out connector on the camcorder provides the synchronization of the adapter light valves with the alternating fields of the camcorder. The adapter is powered by a single “AAA” battery that lasts for more than 50 hours of use. The unit weighs 11.5 ounces. Click here for more details.

Option #3: Use the new Panasonic 3D HD Video Camera

Forget about hand-building your own 3D production system by physically connecting multiple 2D production devices, Panasonic is now starting to work on developing a twin-lens, 3D camera system. Technologies and expertise obtained from their use in post-production has enabled Panasonic to further develop high-quality 3D viewing performance in its Plasma technologies. As a result of this process, Panasonic’s 3D Plasma display system will help 3D content producers to quickly and easily evaluate the image quality of 3D content.

Option #4: Purchase the TDVCam

The TDVCam is a true stereoscopic high definition tapeless digital video camera that records 3D video in MPEG4 format. The TDVCam is fully integrated to TDVision applications and the TDVisor. Now the user can record memorable occasions, events, and other real world content with High Definition and 3D realism, all in a small form factor device. More information can be found here.

Video SEO: The Secret Sauce

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:13:42 +0000

You’re searching Google and suddenly you see a thumbnail with a video attached to it in the results. How did this happen? How can I make my videos appear in a Google search?

Well, here is the secret sauce to make it happen:

You Got To Have Page Content

Like with general SEO best practices it is important to have relevant and keyword rich text surrounding the video content in order to build relevancy. The content should be descriptive of what the video contains, if it is a music video then obviously the content should contain keywords related to the music video. It is also important to understand when writing copy for Video SEO that the focus should be on writing for the the visitor, not for search engines.

Outside of pure text that describes what the page contains, a video page should also be a gateway to other pieces of relevant content within your website. Related photos, audio, news not only helps with your Video SEO efforts but gives a more compelling user experience that will impact all aspects of your sites traffic.

Linkage is Important

Inbound and internal linking are part of the core foundation of SEO and how Search Engines determine relevancy and rankings. However, the big question always becomes how do you build a “white hat” link building strategy? First and foremost, the best way to get good, relevant, links is to have good content. Having good content will jump-start a link building campaign because at the end of the day people will always want to share / post / link to content they find interesting. However, having good content is only one piece of a comprehensive Video SEO linking campaign - for the purpose of this article I am going to break Video SEO linking into 3 parts: inbound, internal and anchor text.

Inbound Linkage

There are plenty of ways to get inbound links when it comes to Video SEO, some (like Social Media) I cover later in this article and some I wont get into because I don’t want to make this Video SEO Guide 1,000 pages long. What I do want to focus on are the tactics that will give you the most immediate and beneficial impact. For Video SEO the best and most effective way for getting inbound links (outside of the content itself) is to allow visitors to embed your videos into their websites, blogs, profiles and social networks.

Giving the option to embed videos allows anyone to copy a few lines of code and easily paste it into a website so that it plays within their chosen environment. The real benefit of allowing embeds, beyond branding and click traffic, is that you can provide an HTML wrapper which enables you to utilize SEO optimized anchor text that links back to your website. This adds a great deal of SEO value to each video and can generate decent click traffic as well. Another great way to build quality links is to reach out to both internal and external relevant web properties. If you are in a big company you should implement a cross-brand linking strategy where relevant properties link together - this strategy is easier said than done but when done right can be extremely beneficial for all brands involved. In regards to external properties you should contact websites and blogs that are relevant to your topic and work on developing a linking partnership.

The same best practices used for inbound links should also be used for internal links

By internal links I mean the navigation within your website. Even though internal links are not as valuable when it comes to rankings, they still play two important roles -

1) they help determine relevancy and
2) they help search engine spiders crawl / find your content. Spiderable links like video play lists, related links and breadcrumbs not only help search engines build a good picture of your websites infrastructure but can aid your visitors with content discovery.

Add Some Anchor Text

Of course, when talking about linking for SEO you have to spend some time talking about Anchor Text. Quite simply anchor text is the clickable part of a link and search engines use this to help determine the relevancy of a website. Regardless of where your link resides, the anchor text helps search engines determine what that link contains (more relevancy). Ideally, any inbound link will have optimized anchor text related to the content on the page it is linking to. Take the HTML wrapper for the embeddable video player as an example, a great set of links would revolve around the top keywords being utilized on the page: for example: Music Videos and Britney Spears.

With linking it is also important to realize that it isn’t just about quantity, it is more about quality. Search engines, especially Google, value links from relevant websites more than just from a random website. Again, there are no shortages of ways for creating inbound links - a few more options are covered in the below “Social Media” for Video SEO section.

Don’t Forget Social Media Sites:

One piece of the promotion puzzle many websites overlook is the social media component. Allowing visitors to share, bookmark, rate and comment on your videos basically allows visitors to engage with your content on a whole new level and can have Video SEO benefits. Adding the sharing component is very easy, most social websites offer a button that can be added to your video page template. Let your visitors do the work for you and spread your content across websites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Facebook and MySpace.

You can also use a service like ShareThis that allows you to add one button that opens up links to all of the social media websites. Remember, it is not just about driving people to your website to consume content, you also want to create a good user-experience that will keep them coming back. Plus, social media lets your visitors become your very own viral marketing team that spreads the word about the great content on your website.

When it comes to social bookmarking websites keep in mind that some wont give you any link value from an SEO perspective (the dreaded nofollow), however they can be great at driving traffic - which is the end goal.What I deem to be the most important component of a Social Media Strategy as it relates to Video SEO, are blogs. Blogs, whether blogging or blog outreach, should play a huge part in any digital marketing strategy, especially when it comes to SEO.

Creating blogs revolving around a specific topic will not only generate additional traffic and brand awareness, but give a website more opportunities for cross-linking. Blog outreach can be just as valuable when done correctly because bloggers are always looking for good content. Whether giving a blog the inside scoop on the latest video, exclusive content or even a press release. Getting optimized links from a relevant and highly-visited blogs can help jump-start any Video SEO campaign. I could spend a whole day talking about the importance blogging has for websites and brands…however, that is a post for another day.

RSS Feeds

Ther are two types of feeds when talking about Video - RSS and mRSS. Both are similar and easy to create with the right tools. RSS feeds allow a visitor to subscribe to the content on your website and updates them whenever there is new content. RSS feeds do not directly impact Video SEO / search engines but should be used as part of an overall traffic building strategy. mRSS feeds directly impact video search engines by allowing a website to submit their video content directly to video search engines.

MRSS feed components contain standard RSS elements like meta data, URL to content and thumbnails, but the key differences are the important additional elements that can impact rankings. These elements, which include video ratings, play count and tags, should be included whenever possible. Each of the video search engines that accept mRSS feeds have different requirements when it comes to building a mRSS feed but the best example and standard comes from Yahoo: Yahoo mRSS specifications.

Create a Video Sitemap

The importance of sitemaps in regards to SEO can be debated, I tend to be on the side of they can only help so why not. However, when it comes to a video sitemap and Video SEO there are no doubts how important they are. Why? Google does not accept mRSS feeds, however they do accept Video Sitemaps through their webmaster interface. As with all types of search the 800lbs gorilla is the room is Google and you should do everything you can when it comes to indexing all types of content. When it comes to video traffic and Video SEO, to understand the importance all you have to do is look at Google Video and Universal results. Video sitemaps use the standard sitemap protocol but contain video specific tags.

Here are Google video sitemap FAQ’s and Guidelines.

Title and Meta Tags: As with general SEO best practices meta data should be used to its fullest extent. For video pages the focus should be on the video content. For example the Title should contain the name of the video and video specific keyword sets like “Britney Spears Messing Around Music Video” or “Music Video: Britney Spears Messing Around”. The meta description should be a brief summary of the video that lives on that page. Obviously it is important to keep the meta data as unique and descriptive as possible for each Video page.

Header Tags: Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc) should be used to call out the importance of page content. H1 should be used for the main topic of the page , H2 should support the H1 and so on and so on. For example the keyword set “Music Videos” would get a H1 and the name of the video would get an H2.

Navigation: A good website navigational structure is essential for success for two reasons. First, you want to make sure search engine spiders can easily crawl your website and discover all of your content. Secondly, you want to make it easy for users to navigate your website and find not only the content they wanted but help them discover new content. When it comes to videos, utilizing a simple playlist can accomplish both of these. I wont go into to much detail when it comes to playlists, but the key things to remember are you want them to be crawlable and relevant to the content on the page. A video page is also a great place to bring in all related content, including: articles, photos and audio. All of these help create relevancy as well as enhances the overall user experience.

Page URL: Another core SEO component is the utilization of a static, and therefore SEO friendly, URL. The URL for a video should have limited dynamic parameters, contain relevant keywords and have a succinct file structure. For example, an ideal Video SEO page URL would be example.com/music-videos/britney-spears/messing-around.html or example.com/music-videos/britney-spears-messing-around.html.

Video File Nomenclature: As with all elements of Rich Media, how you name your file can have a positive impact on your SEO efforts. Whenever possible you should name your video file in a keyword descriptive manner, for example use “britney-spears-messy.FLV” instead of a random database / CMS generated name. Video File Nomenclature is just another way to help search engines define your page relevance.

How does the new flash indexing impact Video SEO (vSEO)? It doesn’t. Search Engines will not be indexing flash movies: Google and Yahoo are improving the indexing of flash files,

As part of any Digital Guide and Best Practice document it is important to mention the roll that web analytics play. Measuring the success or failure of your digital efforts and the impact Video SEO has on your websites traffic is as important as anything else. Whether you use a top-tier web analytic provider like Omniture or a free service like Google Analytics having a solution to measure and guide your strategy is imperative.

However, when it comes to Video SEO, some of the metrics behind tracking your efforts are still being defined. Tracking rankings when it comes to the actual videos in a video search engine results page is an inexact science and will require getting your hands dirty. None the less it is still important to track how your videos are doing in order to make adjustments and implement further optimization.

Video SEO, like SEO, is not “set it and forget it” - SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous work. As I will say over and over, SEO is one piece of your digital strategy with the end goal of increasing site traffic.

New Media TV Studio Tour

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:16:25 +0000

Broadcast TV studios have slowly been upgraded to handle new additions like 16:9, overlapping projectors and animated LED lighting. In the good-old tradition of public service, everything installed has been proprietary and expensive equipment. This slow update-cycle means that older equipment is moved to shows deemed less important.

That’s why it’s so interesting to see a behind-the-scenes look at how Revision3 is building a studio using cheaper equipment, based on the production principles of today, rather than yesterday. So much has happened in post-production that seemed impossible just a few years ago, and it’s inspiring to not have to fight old broadcast engineers that want to spend great wads of cash on dinosaur stuff.

Revision3 is the leading television network for the internet generation. They create and produce all-original episodic community driven programs watched by a super-committed and passionate fan base.

The company was founded in 2005 by technology visionaries Kevin Rose, Jay Adelson, Dan Huard, Ron Gorodetzky, and David Prager, because they couldn’t find anything they wanted to watch on traditional television, and is now led by Internet TV pioneer Jim Louderback.

Here’s a behind the scenes tour of their studios

Click here to view the embedded video.

Software Based Video Switchers

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:48:42 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t pay thousands of dollars for a production switcher when it’s all going to go into your computer anyway. Sure, you could get one, Cut the show on the mixer and run it a digital converter and into the computer, but why? When you can do it for under $100 with video switching software. There are tons of them out there.

There are advanced live webcasting products available for your Mac or PC that enables you to stream multiple live video cameras, while dynamically mixing in other media (movies, images etc). Some even include features such as Chroma Key (blue/green screen) and built-in titles allowing you to create beautiful, professional webcasts.

Here are the ones we recommend:

Vidblaster (PC ONLY)

The easy to use video production tool to create anything from a simple holiday video to a live television broadcast. Easily create and record videos for sites like YouTube, or holiday videos for personal use, or create video podcasts and publish them with one click to any WordPress site or to Mevio. Use VidBlaster Pro to create television-like recordings using multiple cameras, or stream it live to the internet!

VidBlaster Studio gives you an entire control room, with multiple monitors and a professional video switcher.

Wirecast PC or MAC

Controlling your broadcast in real-time is easy. With Wirecast’s multiple layer support, it’s simple to place a background music track or a company logo over your webcast, while changing between the cameras you want your viewers to see.

CutFour

Easy to use live video mixing software to mix up to four DV camcorder inputs with digital firewire connection. Preview for all video input channels without external video monitors. Images and titles over video with alpha channel support. Professional digital DV video quality without analog video cables.

Live Channel Pro (Mac- defunct)

Live Channel Pro is a software-only solution designed to create a virtual live television studio on any Macintosh computer without any additional hardware, performing real-time video production and streaming in a single software application.

Procaster

Offers the simplest-to-use broadcast experience, with a “one-click, go-live” interface. In addition to high-quality video, producers are able to broadcast whatever is on their computer screens live, including presentations, images, and even video and graphics-intensive video games.

While other real-time streaming services are mostly bound by web browser limitations for encoding and streaming video, PROCASTER breaks those barriers with its proprietary, robust encoder and compositing engine, opening the door to untapped production value for the Mogulus community of creative professionals.

VH Multi Cam

A tool which allows to mix, synchronize, split and share any media or screen content. It allows to render unlimited video & image files and live video sources (including VHScrCap) at the same time, sync media streams with each other, control positions and z-order. Finally it allows to split video mixer result between several applications (using VHMultiCam video source), so it can replace tools which allow to split video devices to some applications. It is possible to create two and more VHMultiCam tool instances, but video source will connect only to selected as “default”.

Free and Cheap

Other software with multi-camera support

The Formula for Compelling Video

admin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:57:47 +0000

Subtitled: “What Media Pros Can Learn from Billy Mays.” We all know who he is- that loud and sometimes annoying guy who makes a fortune selling household maintenance items on tv. You know, Oxiclean, Hercules Hooks, Kaboom, Mighty Putty and Zorbeez just to name a few. A closer look at the formula used to create his videos reveals people are really buying the ad - not not the actual product for sale.

In our opinion, many of the products can be made at home with simple hardware or purchased for less than what Billy is selling them for. Take the Hercules Hook for example- just take a coat hanger, bend it and push it into your wall - all for $.50. Who wants to pay $19.95 for the cleverly shaped wire he’s pushing in the ads?

We’re not writing this article to bash Billy’s products, we simply want to make a point that his productions follow all the rules TO SELL those products. He has the formula down, merchandise out the door and money into his bank account- all with a simple video.

Watch the sample:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video follows 5 simple rules for keeping it interesting:

Rule #1 Keep it short.

Recent data reveals 2.5 minutes as the attention span for anyone who watches your videos online. Any content after that point, and viewers start dropping off. Many of Billy’s videos are under 2 minutes - perfect!

Rule #2 Grab attention within the first 15-30 seconds.

These first few seconds are crucial (we call this “the sting”). If you watch all of Billy’s commercials he really sells his product within the golden time frame- the first 15-30 seconds. That’s it. All the information he gives within the first few seconds is enough to sell the product.

Like the photo or creative title on the front page of a newspaper or magazine that catches your eye while you stand in line at the checkout counter, your video has to do the same.

Rule #3. Use compelling graphics, bright colors, various angles and audio to grab and keep attention.

Billy’s videos use bright images, bright scenes, clean faces, louder audio. Ever wonder why he wears a blue, purple or yellow shirt? and his beard is so neatly trimmed? There’s more to it than just looking honest.

Rule #4 Inform and demonstrate.

Who cares about a piece of wire holding up a heavy mirror in real life. A super liquid that removes stains - not interesting. These videos make mundane topics interesting to watch and BIlly’s enthusiastic personality makes it believable.

Rule #5 Include a call to action.

So why aren’t you getting sales or responses to your videos? Take a look at your call to action. With any advertising materials, it’s crucial that you get potential customers to act or respond. Now!

A timeline look at the formula:

If this video was 2 minutes and 30 seconds long, the formula would simply repeat all over again:

Sting
Inform
Sting again
Call to action.

The same message, different graphics, different wording, different demonstrations. If it was 4 minutes - much of the same.

If it’s to sell something, to tell a story, to inform or to entertain, all of our videos should follow the simple rules and stick to a formula such as this.

Um, thanks Billy Mays?

Catalog Mini DV Tape

admin — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:08:19 +0000

Q: I have over 150 mini DV tapes with a variety of footage on them. Each tape is labeled and organized as well as cataloged into a printed binder. I would like to copy this organization onto hard drives, pull up any part of the footage according to keywords and select clips from any digitized tape given whatever project I am working on. Any ideas when working with my Mac?

A: We all have them; a shoebox full of tapes…whether it be mini dv down to VHS tape we never had the solution for cataloging our footage in a way that would motivate us…until now:

There are a few products for the Mac that are the ideal cataloguing solution for all your video files. The solutions can catalog any video file that Quicktime can open. Keep track of your videos on CDs or DVDs, browse through videos, search for clips and more.

Here are the top four tools:

iDive for the Mac:

iDive talks natively to Final Cut Pro via the export of clip lists making it the ideal video logging companion. Make iDive your tape repository and export selected clips with all their annotations to FCP for recapture whenever you need them for a project.

Foot Track

iPhoto for your digital video. Catalog all your analog and digital video tapes, then easily find the clips you want. Capture and compress your footage to be able to permanently store lower resolution footage on your hard drive.

iVideo:

A movie organizer designed with both consumers and professionals in mind. Whether you have a few videos you’d like to share, or whether you have thousands of movies scattered across multiple hard drives and endless stacks of CDs, iVideo is up to the job. Every feature in iVideo helps you get the most of of your movies by following this design: organize your movies so you can find them easily, play them using the integrated movie player (or the player of your choice), then share your favorite movies with friends and family.

CatDV

The asset management tool at the heart of your workflow, managing all aspects of a complete production.

It is a logging tool, ingesting media from tape or disk, and enabling subclipping and tagging of the media to turn them into usable assets.

The DV Show Podcast for June 22, 2009

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:54:07 +0000

Running time: 34:26

Download MP3 file

Twitter, Facebook- both social media sites are getting a lot of attention these days, and as with any next big thing on the web, it’s good to study the trend closely and separate the reality from the hype to what is useful. So, how can your video business grow with these tools? Social Media Expert Ron Dawson joined us for a live recording of the DV Show Podcast to answer this question and more.

Topics and questions we discussed:

- How can Twitter and Facebook be used together in marketing?

- What’s the #1 mistake you think videographers make in business?

Show notes:

- Cinematic Studios
- Ron Dawson’s list of articles in EventDV magazine
- Ron Dawson on Facebook.
- Ron Dawson’s Twitter page.

The DV Show Podcast for June 15, 2009

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:03:57 +0000

Running time: 33:13

Download MP3 file

Need to sell your pictures, videos or other digital content online but not quite ready to open an online store or get a credit card merchant account? Then LicenseStream is for you! Finally you can concentrate on the creative while they manage content delivery and payment processing.

Pam Fischer, Community Agent/Strategic Relations Director from ImageSpan tells us more on this edition.

Show notes:

- LicenseStream.com
- Promo Code DVSH10 for a 10% discount on LicenseStream Pro
- Promo Code DVSH11 for a 10% discount on LicenseStream Standard

The DV Show Podcast for June 8, 2009

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:22:20 +0000

Running time: 30:11

Download MP3 file

Listener questions answered: A friend of mine wants to sell video downloads on his website. How can we make it happen? Is it possible to host my video from Youtube without their logo and popup ads? What is the best way to archive mini dv tapes? and Douglas Ireland from Vidbids.com joins us to talk about a service that helps videographers find businesses who need a video.

Show notes:

- Sell video downloads from your website
- Embed Youtube video without their logo or their pop-up ads
- Microsoft camcorder hotfix
- Ustream Studio Kit options
- Vidbids.com

Sell Video Downloads

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:15:13 +0000

Forget the fees involved with Payloadz, e-junkie or the rest, we have a free application for selling digital downloads (such as your videos) direct from your web site!

Click the image below to see a demo site:

Deliver your video files to customers instantly after payment.
Works by generating custom Paypal “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart” button code for your website.
Just copy and paste into your website and sit back while this free software fully automates all aspects of selling your digital product: from item purchase to immediate delivery of your digital product via secure download area.
Works with all types of digital products including software, music, eBooks, movies, manuals, forms, files, digital art and anything else that can be downloaded.
The customer does not have to have a PayPal account to purchase an item but can use any Credit Card supported by PayPal. PayPal then becomes just a payment gateway for the credit card.
The script hides your product download URLS from your customers to prevent link sharing and/or guessing and limits the number of times a customer can download that item.

Technical Brief

This is software for your website / web server.
Programming Language Used : PHP.
Database Type Used : MySQL.
Source Code : Open Source (Not encrypted).
Server OS Supported : All.
Additional Tools Used : HTML with moderate CSS.
Documentation Provided : Installation Guide.

Requirements

PHP 4.x+ installed on your server.
(1) MySQL database.
Paypal account.

Installation is free (upon request) for Premium Subscribers

See sample store here

This file download is reserved for Premium Members only. If you are a member, log in to download now . If you’re not a member, consider joining. Click here to sign up.

The DV Show Podcast for June 1, 2009

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:32:43 +0000

Running time: 34:05

Download MP3 file

So, you want to speed up your computer’s performance and prevent a disaster before your project takes a leap off of a tall cliff into the abyss? We discuss practical computing tips and tricks to keep your system up and running at full speed. We also get into preventing data loss, video dropouts and backing up projects- all to keep angry clients away.

Show notes:

- Download the PDF: Top 10 Best Practices For Computing

Hosting Youtube Videos without the Logo

admin — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:15:13 +0000

How can I embed a high quality Youtube video on my Wordpress blog without their logo plastered on every frame, annoying pop up ads and other user videos?

Yes, this is annoying and we all know what it looks like: horrible. Thankfully, without getting into the boring technical details behind Youtube’s video player, it is possible to separate all of the player’s coding to reveal only your video.

Somewhere on Youtube’s servers sits a master file of your video apart from the player- this video has its own URL that you can call up at any time. Whether it is an FLV or MP4 it sits there hidden, encoded behind the Youtube Player so know one can get to it.

There’s PHP scripts, customized code and specialized websites that make it easier to find that hidden URL for downloading the video direct to your desktop or embedding it on your own website but keep in mind embedding content (especially someone else’s) apart from the Youtube player is a violation of Youtube’s terms of service - embed with the risk of losing favor with Google and all the services they offer.

Let’s get started:

What you will need:

The remaining content in this post is reserved for Premium Members only. If you are a member, log in to view now . If you’re not a member, consider joining. Click here to sign up.

The DV Show Podcast for May 25, 2009

admin — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:00:14 +0000

Running time: 23:50

Download MP3 file

Questions from listeners include: fixing audio and video sync issues when burning to a DVD. 60i, 24P, 30P what does it all mean?. Subtitle software choices and a listener challenges Taiyo Yuden blank media discs as NOT being the best?

Show notes:

- Tips for shooting video for the web
- Media IDs for blank DVD Media
- Miyu subtitling software
- More subtitle software for the PC
- Multitrack video player instructions

Video hosting with Amazon S3

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:44:05 +0000

Amazon S3 has become the video file hosting of choice for many businesses and individuals and is currently the most popular solution for large bandwidth operations.

This webinar answers your questions on the fly and walks you through 7 easy steps on how to set up your own free account, configuring your account, and how to embed your very own customized video player with the highest quality.

Also learn about FREE specialized tools and additional resources to make your Amazon S3 experience enhanced and worry free.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dealing with Bad Client Types

admin — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:24:09 +0000

This article is reprinted with permission from Inside CRM.

Clients are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, your venture simply doesn’t exist. On the other hand, some clients are so bad that your business, not to mention your personal sanity, is better off without them. So what do you do when you have a client that pushes you to the brink? You fire them! Here’s how to give 10 of the worst offenders the pink slip without burning bridges.

1. The bargain shopper: As a general rule, the client who pays the least will expect the most. The words “I need this done cheap” should strike fear in your heart, not because of profit margins, but because this client will nickel-and-dime you within an inch of your life for extra work, support and other nuisances that were not in the original scope.

How to get out: This one’s simple: Raise your rates, if only for this particular client. The bargain shopper will move on to the next firm that offers a better price, as he’s concerned only with the bottom line, not the value of your work.

2. The client who can’t make deadlines: This client wants you to set his project at top priority because he’s on a tight schedule and needs to get something produced right away. You agree, assuming that you’ll have all of the information you need to get it done quickly. Unfortunately, your client drops off the face of the earth, ignoring your requests for approvals and other correspondence until your previously agreed upon due date comes around. At this point, you’re both blaming each other as the reason that the project’s not done, and it’s not pretty.

How to get out: Before this client makes you miss the deadlines of customers who can keep up with you, let him know that no, you can’t deliver on your deadlines when he misses his. Push back his deadline and stick to it. Instead of setting a concrete date, make it contingent upon receipt of information, such as a certain number days from the signed approval date. Don’t accept any future work from this client, as his habits are not likely to change. Instead, tell him that you’re experiencing a high volume of work and offer to refer him to another firm.

3. The client with a not-so-small project: You get a call out of the blue from a new customer who wants you to complete a small, simple project. He thinks it should be easy and uncomplicated, so he’s only willing to pay a small fee. You agree that this is fair, until you realize the client is going to make this small project a major pain with endless changes and additions that were not a part of the original budget.

How to get out: If you agreed to do a certain amount work for a particular price, deliver it and do a good job. But if this client pushes boundaries, clearly inform them that extra work will cost extra money. If they refuse to respect your rules, invoice them for any unpaid work and stop the project in its tracks. Give them what you’ve produced up to the point when you severed ties, but only if they’ve paid for it.

4. The one who’s never satisfied: Even if you come in under budget and overdeliver, this client just isn’t happy with your work. He may have something in his mind that he just can’t communicate to you, and when you don’t deliver this idea that lives in his head, he’s disappointed.

How to get out: Ask the client to clearly describe or sketch out what he’s looking for, or even send you an example. He may want a product that looks like his friend’s, but he’s afraid to say so. If you’re already done with the project and you’ve done a great job, don’t sweat it. Make it clear to the client, citing any agreements that you’ve made, that you conformed to the scope of the project and delivered exactly what he asked for. You don’t want to have him bad-mouth you or stiff you on an invoice, so consider offering to do additional work on this project if he can be more clear with his desires. If he hires you for more projects after this one, you may want to tell him that your business has gone in a different direction.

5. The client who wants you to be something you’re not: Some clients have a clear idea in their heads of what they’d like to see from your work. Often, this is good news, but if their specifics don’t line up with the way you like to operate, you may end up butting heads.

How to get out: To reason with this client, you can explain why you prefer to do things the way you do. After all, you’re the expert. If he simply doesn’t understand or refuses to accept your methods, it’s time to cut ties. Explain to him the problems that his requests create for you and let him down easy. If you can, refer him to a colleague or competitor that you know can deliver what he wants. A referral is key, because you don’t want him to be unsatisfied and claim that you can’t do your job.

6. The one who expects you to deliver more for the same price: This client just doesn’t understand the concept of an estimate. You’ve laid out what is to be done and agreed to a fair price, but at every step of the way, this client has “just one more little thing” to add that may seem like nothing to him but in reality takes a lot more time and effort than you originally agreed to.

How to get out: When faced with a client who nickel-and-dimes you with extra work, there’s only one way to fight back: Nickel-and-dime him with invoices. Of course, let him know it’s coming before you do it. Tell him that your two-hour support call today was free, but any ongoing extraneous work will be billed at your standard hourly rate. If he tries to send work to you in the future, tell him you’re too busy and refer him to a competitor that you feel like torturing.

7. The know-it-all: The know-it-all thinks he understands how to do your job because last weekend, his cousin showed him the basics of the computer program you use. Of course, he doesn’t realize that he needs your expert skills to use this tool to do the things he really wants to do. He’ll tell you exactly what to do and how to do it, turning you into a production house instead of letting you do what you do best.

How to get out: First of all, do your best to remove any references to your name or company on work you’ve done for this client. Why? Because he’ll probably try to tinker around on his own and completely mess up your work in the process. Then, stop the project, get caught up on invoices and give him whatever you’ve done so far. He’ll probably hand it off to his cousin to see if he can finish it.

8. The next-100-days client: This client doesn’t pay until he’s good and ready, or worse yet, until he’s been paid by his client. For anyone running a business, this is just not acceptable. You have bills to pay, too!

How to get out: If it’s worth your trouble, send this client to collections for any unpaid debts. That should send a pretty strong message. In any event, refuse to take on more projects until you’re caught up. Either set up a strict payment schedule in the future or inform this client that you’ve moved in a different direction.

9. The one who wants your home phone number: If your client calls you after hours or on weekends to relay ideas or just check in with you, you have a problem on your hands. This client does not respect boundaries and is likely to expect round-the-clock service, no matter how frivolous the request.

How to get out: Unless it’s a true emergency, don’t field calls from this client when you’re not available. If for some reason you end up in a conversation with him outside of your normal working hours, stop him firmly but politely before he can even start. Offer to pick up the call again on the next business day, then do it. This client really just wants to know that you’re there for him, so be there, but do it on your terms. If he continues to push his way into your personal time, let him know that you’re raising your rates, astronomically of course, to make up for the high cost of maintaining your relationship. The cost to continue working with you will prove to be too high, and he’ll bother someone else. Or, you’ll make loads of money.

10. The one with 100 lawyers: This client is always threatening to sue you for some reason or another. That time you made a typo, even though it was directly copied from the material he gave you? He’s going to sue you for that. You were two days late on your deadline because he dragged his feet getting you what you needed? He wants you to discount your invoice by 50 percent, or he’ll get a lawyer involved.

How to get out: This abusive client is bad news and a major pain. You don’t want to actually go to court with him, because even if you win, it looks bad to other clients who may find out, and he’ll definitely bad-mouth you to everyone he knows, win or lose. He’s almost certainly all talk, but it’s irresponsible to test him to find out if he can back it up. As much as it may drive you crazy to give in to his threats, do what he wants, within good reason of course, then slowly back away. Given that he’s argumentative, it’s probably not a good idea to let him know exactly why you’re breaking it off, so just tell him that you’re moving your operations to Yemen.

Camcorders at NAB 2009

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:39:18 +0000

Panasonic’s AG-HMC40 AVCCAM

Uses 3-CMOS sensors, 12x optical zoom and support for Edius and Final Cut Pro.

Click here to view the embedded video.

JVC GY-HM100

The JVC Pro HDGY-HM100U ProHD Camera is a revolutionary product combining all the aspects of major broadcast video cameras packaged into a lightweight, handheld camcorder. The modesty ends with its size however, as the capabilities far exceed models in its class. With an ability to shoot high definition footage up to 35 Mbps, the camera ushers in a new level of quality, eliminating many problems associated with other lower-bitrate methods.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sony HVR-Z5U

Sony was highlighting its full line of high-definition camcorders, including the XDCAM EX™ PMW-EX1 and PMW-EX3 camcorders, as well as the HVR-Z7U, HVR-S270U and other HDV™ camcorders.

Sony’s newest HDV camera – the HVR-Z5U – expands its industry leading line-up of high-definition video products designed to meet the needs of professional videographers.

The HVR-Z5U camcorder offers native 24P recording and other professional features—all for a suggested list price of less than $5,000—as well as tapeless recording capability through an optional CompactFlash™ adapter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sony HXR-MC1

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:37:21 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Sony HXR-MC1/ACC is an easy-to-use HD camera system and accessory kit, consisting of a small camera unit, a handheld controlling unit with LCD panel and recording function and a complete accessory kit including a rechargeable battery pack, AC adapter/charger, wide conversion lens, remote commander and case. This all-in-one tiny camera system needs no extra equipment, take it out and just start shooting! Also, the camera unit is splash-proof, allowing easy usage under tough conditions, such as outdoor shooting or water-side shooting. The range of HD shooting will expand using this one-and-only camera. Moreover, the unique style of the HXR-MC1/ACC enables shooting in extraordinary conditions and angles, such as shooting sports scenes from the user’s point of view and onboard shooting in motor sports.

The creative possibilities are limitless.

Biz Idea: Retirement Home Videos

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:56:28 +0000

Colleges have them, luxury hotels have them, resorts have them - a video to showcase the amenities and services they offer to potential clients. Do retirement homes have a video? Here are some ideas on creating a promotional video for this market.

What to include in a Retirement Home video:

The promotional video needs to be persuasive enough to convert a …

The remaining content in this post is reserved for Premium Members only and includes tips on getting started, a sample video, finding retirement homes in your area and important content to include in your video. If you are a member, log in to view now. If you’re not a member, consider joining.

How to Get Videos Featured on Youtube

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:54:53 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mocha for Final Cut Pro

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:54:14 +0000

mocha for Final Cut is a stand alone 2D tracking tool designed for the Final Cut community. It is packed with features that help editors and VFX artists tackle more complex jobs and enable them to finish projects within Final Cut.

Tracking

mocha for Final Cut generates solid 4-point tracks based on Imagineer’s unique Planar Tracking technology, giving position, scale, rotation, shear and perspective matched tracks and exports the data to Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express as XML files.

Check it out then download a trial or view this page for more details and tutorials

Click here to view the embedded video.

Embed Video in Web Page for iPhone

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:31:54 +0000

By Steven Gulie

The iPhone is a little different from a Mac or PC. It plays movies and sounds in full-screen mode, not in a browser plug-in, so a web page with an embedded movie has a dark grey rectangle with a play button on it where the movie should be. I’ll show you how to avoid that.

The iPhone plays audio and video; other media, such as sprites, Flash, VR, text, or QT effects, should not be used. You can export your movie as an MPEG4 file and be sure that it will play on the iPhone. (See Part One: Compressing Video for the iPhone)

Your web page can distinguish the iPhone from other browsers by looking at the navigator.userAgent property in JavaScript.

The best way to embed a movie for everyone, including iPhone users, is to do this:

1. Export an MPEG4 version of your movie. (In most cases, you should export two versions–one for a WiFi connection and one for the EDGE cellular data connection, then make a reference movie so the right one plays automatically. See Preparing Video for the iPhone)

2. Embed the best version of your movie in a web page, as usual. It’s okay if it uses media that the iPhone doesn’t support, or is too big for the iPhone screen.

3. Link to the page with the embedded movie using a JPEG or other image, taken from the movie. That way the link looks like your movie in all browsers, including the iPhone.

4. Use a line of JavaScript to check the navigator.userAgent for “iPhone” in the page that contains the embedded movie. If it’s an iPhone, replace the url of the page with the url of the MPEG4 version of the movie. (See the example below.)

By the way, you should embed your movie in the web page using the JavaScript file available from Apple: AC_QuickTime.js. You can download it from here. It’s free, it works great, and it makes your life easier.

Okay, the link to the embedded movie page looks like this: iPhone users Just click on the picture

It’s really pretty simple, but let’s review it:

Include AC_QuickTime.js from Apple to write the object and embed tags for you.

Read the navigator.userAgent into a string and look for “iPhone”.

If it’s an iPhone, replace the document’s URL with the URL of your MPEG4 movie at roughly 480 x 320.

Then embed the regular movie by calling QT_WriteOBJECT, passing the movie’s name, the width, the height (adding 16 for a controller), two single quotes with nothing between them (don’t ask), and any parameters you want to pass as name/value pairs, such as ‘autoplay’,'true’.

A Page with Movies for the iPhone

Here’s an example page that links to two full-screen (1280 x 720) movies with QuickTime blend effects for Macs and PCs, with 352 x 288 MPEG4 video versions for iPhones. Viewers don’t need to do anything special to choose which version they get, they just click a JPEG:

As you can see, the iPhone version of the movie is smaller, and lacks the blend effect, but it’s still quite nice.

A Page with a Multi-Datarate Reference Movie

Here’s a second page with an html slide show with blend effects and background music. The iPhone’s browser doesn’t play background music, so once again we redirect iPhones to an MPEG4 version of the slideshow. But in this case we use a reference movie that loads a higher resolution version of the MPEG4 if the iPhone has a WiFi connection and a lower bitrate veersion if the iPhone is on the slower EDGE network. Lake Merritt Sunrise

If you load the above page from a Mac or PC, you will see a full screen slide show with music. Load it from an iPhone with a WiFi connection, and you will see an MPEG4 movie. Turn off the WiFi connection and fall back to EDGE, and loading the link will show you a very small movie that can load and play quickly over EDGE.

Troubleshooting

If you tried following the instructions on this page, and they didn’t work, here are some things to check:

Did you replace MyMovie with the name of your movie and your MP4, in both places?
Did you replace Width and Height+16 with the actual width and height (plus 16) of your movie?
Did you download AC_QuickTime.js from the Apple website and put it in the folder with your HTML?

Master List of Final Cut Pro User Groups

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 16:59:44 +0000

US Groups:

International Groups:

One Edit, Multiple Translations

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:38:22 +0000

The purpose of these fast edits is to hide the mouth movements for different translation uses. It’s edited once for use with different languages.

Also notice:

Closeups are used only when the lips closely match the real words
The female singer hides her mouth with dancing arms
Lots of head movements to cover any chance the lips don’t match the words being said

Can you edit one video like this to match different translations of the song?

Watch how the video matches up regardless of the language being used. Advanced editing, pure genius!

Original English

Click here to view the embedded video.

Same video - Spanish Version

Click here to view the embedded video.

Same video -Icelandic Version

Click here to view the embedded video.

Same video -Norwegian Version

Click here to view the embedded video.

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