Today I am in the Charlotte region teaching video to the Tate Mastermind Group. I created this quick video to share with them how easy it is to make a video and share onto your own website.
My First Unboxing Video- iomega 2TB MiniMax External Hard Drive
Unboxing videos, do you find them interesting? Personally, I enjoy watching them sometimes before making an online purchase. Since I cannot always hold the actual item I’m buying in my hands ahead of time, this is a great way for me to learn quickly what is inside the package when it arrives. It also helps me to get the opinions of others out there and their thoughts on a specific item before I hit the purchase button.
However, on the other hand, there are some out there that find unboxing videos to be stupid. One of my good friends is one of these people. I sent him a link to the video below and his comment to me was, “That’s 5+ minutes I want back!” He finds no value in them and doesn’t really like them. Nevertheless, I just shot my first unboxing video of the iomega MiniMax 2TB External Hard Drive*. I purchased this external hard drive to be the storage device for all of my video & photos that I am shooting.
So, take a minute to watch the video & tell me what you think. Would like me to do more unboxing videos?
Lastly, the final reason I shot this video is because I wanted to get more practice in using my new Canon t3i DSLR Camera with 18MM-135MM*. I haven’t yet mastered using this device and figure the only way I am going to get better at shooting video with it is to continue to practice & try different settings. So, I hope you enjoyed the unboxing and found at least a little bit of value in it. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
*Links marked above are affiliate links with Amazon. I will receive a small sum of money on purchases made through these links.
Optimizing the Resolution on a Kodak Playtouch for Online Video
Over the past few months I have really tried to integrate more and more video into my online marketing plan. I wrote about my recent purchases of the Kodak Playtouch and all the accessories that I purchased to go along with it. However, once I pulled the camera out of the box and shot my first video, I must admit I wasn’t blown away by the resolution. I figured that if I wanted the absolute best quality video on YouTube that I needed to shoot it at 1080P which was one of the options available inside my camera.
To me, highest resolution meant best possible quality. Well, not exactly. So, I set off on testing all the different resolution options to find which was the best option. Below is a simple video I shot in my office. Each scene has all the exact same variables, the only thing different was that I changed the resolution setting inside the Kodak Playtouch.
To my surprise, what I found is that it appears that either setting the resolution to 720HD or 720HD @ 60 frames per second delivered a much higher quality video. So, if you have the Kodak Playtouch and are looking to get the best quality video to share on YouTube, you may want to play with your resolution settings.
How To Embed YouTube Videos in WordPress
I had a friend the other day who said it was hard to create a new page inside WordPress and then embed a YouTube video into it. Since I’ve been asked this question before, I figured it was time to do a quick tutorial. Watch the video below and it will walk you through both of these steps:
One thing to remember when doing this: Write all of your content before clicking over to the HTML tab to embed the code. If you switch back from the HTML to visual tab to add more content or edit the content, it strips out part of the coding making your video not load. The pasting of the embed should always be the last thing you do.
Hope this helps, and if you would like to see more tutorials like this, leave a comment below and I will make one in the near future!
HD Video Options- What’s the Best?
Over the past few weeks I have really been focusing on increasing my efforts in video and increasing my skills in making video. The other week I shared a post on what HD Video options were the best bang for the buck. One of the comments I received from more than one person was to do a demo of some of the different cameras mentioned.
Today I wanted to share I made of various HD video options that are out there that I currently own. Some of the devices I tested do not promote that they do HD, but I included them for comparison. In the video below you will see comparisons of the Kodak Playtouch, Panasonic Lumix TZ5, HTC MyTouch 4G for TMobile, an original FlipCam, and the InSight Webcam of my Macbook Pro. I shot all the video sitting at my desk in my office from as close to the same position as possible so there would not be any variables in light, audio, or surroundings.
Also, I did not make any edits to the actual videos themselves. They are in as raw a format as possible. Audio has also been left alone. I will note that I did use my Audio Technica ATR 3350 microphone with the Kodak Playtouch. I had recently purchased a mono to stereo adapter and wanted to see if it worked in splitting the audio from a single mono L to a left and right channel. It seemed to work pretty well.
Here’s the video showing the various results:
Granted, there are many other camera options out there, but these were the only ones available to me at this time. If anyone watching this video has an HD video camera they would like me to review, feel free to contact me I’d love testing out your products and sharing with my audience.
So which of the cameras shared in the video, which one seemed best to you and why? Also, you can see many of the products used in my Amazon Video Store.
Enhancing the Audio of Your Videos for Under $25 with the Audio Technica ATR 3350
As I shared the other week in a post on HD Video, I recently upgraded all of my gear as I hope during 2011 to be more involved with video. So far, I am still working on getting my video settings optimized, but I wanted to share a quick video test I just did regarding audio. Today is a pretty windy day here at the beach with over 25mph wind gusts. I thought this was a perfect time to take my new Audio Technica ATR3350 wired lavalier microphone (affiliate link) outside and see just what type of difference it would make on the audio quality.
I was totally amazed at the difference that this microphone made! As you will hear in the video below, the first half which was shot without a microphone attached I was literally screaming and could still barely be heard over the loud noises of the wind. Once I hooked up the microphone, the howl of the wind disappeared from the audio. This great microphone which you can purchase right now on sale at Amazon for under $20 is a great addition for anyone who may want to take their video production to the next level.
I can see plenty of uses for this microphone including when I am at noisy conferences trying to interview someone. This should reduce the background noise majorly and make it much easier to hear what they are saying. Also, I can see this coming in handy for outdoor videos. There are so many places I see this $20 investment being used.
Here’s the audio test video I just shot. Let me know if you already own the Audio Technica ATR 3350 what applications you are using your microphone for.
Order the Audio Technica ATR 3350 Wired Lavalier Microphone.