Who Wants To Be A Web Video Superstar?

By VideoPro | Published: April 21, 2008

TechCrunch has posted a short (but sweet) primer on the tools you need to get started in the online video world including recording, streaming and distribution advice. They review several live streaming options and cover some of the technical aspects of online distribution. Online media expert Chris Pirillo shares some pro tips as well.

If you are looking to start a career as a video blogger or just looking learn more about live streaming services and web video distribution be sure to check it out.

Tools For Your Video Career via TechCrunch

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Free Magazine Subscriptions for Video & Internet Professionals

By VideoPro | Published: April 8, 2008

Here at Web Video Techniques, we enjoy free stuff. Here are some great industry magazines that you can subscribe to for free as long as you are a internet or video professional with a U.S. mailing address.

Website Magazine Cover

Website Magazine
Until now, there has not been a magazine that caters exclusively to the business of running a website. Website Magazine has tapped premier talent in the Internet industry for our content and each and every issue will contain practical advice and insights for website owners. Subscribe Now!


Streaming Media Magazine

Streaming Media Magazine
Each issue of Streaming Media Magazine will focus on a special theme, but every issue offers must-read features, commentary, and reviews for readers in all markets. Written and edited by industry practitioners, experienced users, and streaming business experts Streaming Media Magazine is the trusted resource for organizations investing in enterprise, news/entertainment, and education applications for streaming and other digital media. Subscribe Now!


Videography Magazine

Videography
Videography’s objective is to offer its readers—film, video and audio professionals in the production and post-production communities—a current, relevant resource for business and technology information. The magazine’s readers depend on its combination of news, reviews, interviews and tutorials to keep them informed and connected to their industry. Subscribe Now!


Streaming Media Magazine

DV Magazine
Since 1993, DV (Digital Video) Magazine has served the information needs of professionals involved in the production, postproduction, and delivery of digital video. Written and produced by experts in the field, DV (Digital Video) provides objective, hard-hitting, and in-depth product information. Subscribe Now!

Keep in mind that these are top quality leading publications available at no cost! Make sure to subscribe while the offer is still available.

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SUPER Open Source Video Encoder & Player

By VideoPro | Published: April 4, 2008

The Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer (SUPER) is the Swiss Army knife of video transcoders. It can encode and decode virtually any media file and offers a plethora of options for encoding web videos. Although similar to MPEG Streamclip, SUPER seems to be more stable, advanced, and user friendly and does not rely on the QuickTime player for codec support.

Features

  • Encode to/from FLV, H.264, MP4, MP2, WMV, AVI, MOV, DIVX, XVID, MP3, OGG and many more
  • Advanced encoding settings and advanced H.264 options
  • Integrated player and stream downloader
  • Batch encoding
  • Media file analyzer - View all codec and meta data for any audio or video file

Here is a screenshot (click for larger image):

Read More »

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Download Free Stock Footage at stockfootageforfree.com

By VideoPro | Published: April 3, 2008

With over 100 clips spanning 10 categories and growing, StockFootageForFree.com is a great source for free broadcast quality stock video clips. All you have to do is fill out a simple form and you can download free fullsize SD clips (NTSC 720×480 29.97fps DV AVI) for use in your productions. Currently offering useful categories like Nature, Sports, Transportation, Cities/Locations and more, your sure to find something and the price can’t be beat.

Learn more at http://www.stockfootageforfree.com

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Flowplayer: Open Source Flash Video Player For Your Website

By VideoPro | Published: April 1, 2008

Flowplayer Free Flash Video Player

Adding Flash Video to a website without using a service like Vimeo or YouTube can be challenging if you are not a Flash Action Script expert. Maybe you have a intranet or paid content site and you need to host the video files on your own server and want to display the files in a custom player that matches the look of your site.

Enter the Flowplayer, a free (GPL License) highly customizable Flash Video player jam packed with all the features you might need for you progressive or streaming video website.

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OpenFootage.net - Free Open Source Full HD Timelapse & High Resolution Textures

By VideoPro | Published: March 22, 2008

openfootagenet_logo.jpg

Don’t have a camera that can shoot HD? Need HD stock footage for compression testing or maybe a few high resolution textures for your next project? Look no further than OpenFootage.net. Offering up gorgeous timelapse shots at 1080p, 720p, PAL, and NTSC, all of their content is available for free under a Creative Commons license. Not content only offering free HD stock footage, they also have super high-res panorama photos and sweet textures. You won’t find 10,000 files spanning 100 categories, but what they have so far is top-notch and hopefully the collection will continue to grow.

If you like what you see and use it in a project, make sure to donate a few dollars via the Paypal link on their site so that they are able to keep this great resource available.

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Vimeo Rocks! 500MB per week of FREE HD Video uploads…

By VideoPro | Published: March 17, 2008

Vimeo is not the newest kid on the block offering free video sharing, but that doesn’t stop them from having some of the coolest features in the neighborhood. I can sum it all up in two letters “HD”, and I mean for real — 1280×720p high-quality Flash Video. Not too many other sites can top that. Even YouTube’s new high(er)-quality videos don’t even come close to what Vimeo is offering. Plus, add a clean website, cool embeddable player, great community and developer API and you have a recipe for web video nirvana. Currently, Vimeo is offering users up to 500mb upload per week with the only requirements that you upload original works that are not a commercial, infomercial, or other ad and are not adult oriented. They accept HD or SD aspect ratios in the following formats: asf, asx, avi, divx, dv, dvx, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, qt, wmv, 3g2, 3gp, 3ivx and 3vx. They are able acheive such great results by using the On2 VP6 codec which is the current leader in FLV encoding due to the quality vs filesize and widespread Flash player support. Newer versions of Flash also support H.264 MP4 encoding which is even better than the On2 VP6 codec, but at this time it is not widely supported and is license restricted for commercial use.

New to video encoding? They also have comprehensive tutorials on how to acheive great results.

Sign up for a free account today and be sure to post your experience and video links in the comments.

http://www.vimeo.com

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10 Expert Tips for Encoding Web Video

By VideoPro | Published: March 17, 2008

Keep these tips handy for the next time you encode video.

  1. Deinterlace your source video
  2. Choose a frame size where the width and height are evenly divisible by 16
  3. Maintain the aspect ratio of your source video
  4. Crop any empty space (like letter boxing) and crop/scale to remove edge jaggies around your video
  5. Select bitrates that are appropriate for your target audience
  6. Export your source video from your editing software at the highest quality possible prior to encoding
  7. If your encoding tool offers 2-pass encoding, use it!
  8. Use VBR (Variable Bit Rate) for Progressive Download and CBR (Constant Bit Rate) for RTSP Delivery
  9. The square pixel equivalent to 720×480 is 640×480, HD 1920×1080 is already in square pixels
  10. Export a short segment of your source video and do multiple test encodes to save time until you find the perfect settings
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Calculating Bitrates For Web Video

By VideoPro | Published: February 24, 2008

To accompany his latest book on Flash Video, Robert Reinhardt has developed a awesome bitrate calcuator you can use to figure out target bitrates for your web video.

http://www.flashsupport.com/books/fvst/files/tools/flv_bitrate.html

Also, if you haven’t read his latest book, be sure to check it out. 5 Stars at Amazon! Here is a brief description:

From pre-production to post, author Rob Reinhardt shares the techniques that make Adobe Flash a powerful tool for sharing video over the Web. With sections on capturing and encoding video, creating and using cue points, working with transparency, and deploying and delivering optimal quality, he covers the information that users need to get started, and then goes in-depth to bring his readers to expert status quickly.

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MPEG Streamclip v1.1 - Free H.264 Encoding Software for Windows & Mac

By VideoPro | Published: February 5, 2008

Squared 5 has released one of the few free solutions for encoding H.264 QuickTime MOV files that includes a graphical user interface. Since it uses the QuickTime 7 Player’s rendering engine, you must have the free player installed. A side benefit to this is that it will allow you export to the same codecs as the $30 QuickTime Pro, as well as AVI, DV and MPEG4.

With MPEG Streamclip you get what you pay for… The interface leaves much to be desired and a degree in video engineering is required to navigate the advanced output options presented.
If you are on a really tight budget and don’t mind learning some new tricks, MPEG Streamclip will work in a pinch for transcoding to and from a variety of formats.

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