This was my first attempt at video. I took the shots on a still camera at 70mph and edited it last night at midnight - the first time I ever attempted such a thing. It is low resolution, so set your player to play it on a smaller screen for clarity (Windows: right click while in Media Player and select "video size" then "100%". Mac Guys - you're on your own!) Thanks to my good friend Quicksilver for hosting this for me!

http://austinmini.ositech.net/Files/RicksMovie.WMV

 

Hey good work Rick! Looks like a fun day you had! I hope you weren't shooting video while driving at 70mph!! That's not something I'd recommend at all! Get a VacuCam and a video camcorder and be safe out there!

 

Yes, I shot it on my Fuji S5000 while driving over the Vincent Thomas Bridge! I need to get a VacuCam and camcorder as soon as I get some extra cash. I am such a newbe, though, I have no idea what to buy and how to work it! I am also looking for an inexpensive video hosting service that will host without knowing ANY HTML and allow easy linking. This video was hosted by a friend of mine but he shrunk it down to save bandwidth. It also diminished the quality significantly.

 

Actually, I've got the latest version of Windows Media Player for Mac OS X... and your video plays fine. Resizing was no problem either, just click and drag on the video player window. No need for any "right-click" nonsense.

Optimizing video of playback does take a bit of experimentation. Keep in mind many people have a high bandwidth connection nowadays, so you might not need to compress it quite so severely in future. Depends on who your audience is and what bandwidth you want to really support (hi-band VS dial-up users, for example).

Who did the soundtrack song? - - m

 

I don't know ANYTHING about hosting the video - my friend did it for me and shrunk it down to conserve bandwidth. A full screen is crystal clear the way I shot it but the hosted version is much lower quality.

The music was by a punk band from the late 70s called "The X-Ray Spex." Since we were such a specticle going over the Vincent Thomas Bridge, I thought the lyrics of the song were perfect:
"I am a poser and I don't care - I like making people stare!"

 

Hey Rick,

Fortunately hosting video isn't difficult these days. Once you get it into a web viewable format (i.e. bandwidth friendly video format for most people), you just put that file on a web page and hand out the link.

No HTML knowledge necessary.

Now getting it into a web viewable format CAN be tricky if you don't know what you are doing. Basically you can save the file as a Quicktime for Apple users or Windows Media for PC users. Those are the 2 primary formats to be concerned with today.

As was posted, Mac users with the latest players can view Windows Media files, but that still doesn't mean all Mac users can.

 

Rick,

Like Richard said. It is not that hard. You can even have the video play in the browser window. The html for it is very simple. I actually had it set up on my web site this weekend. Took no more than 10 minutes. Had to take it down due to bandwidth concerns regarding streaming. PM me if you want some info.

 

To add to Jerry's post,

If you aren't sure what he means by bandwidth try this math:

You got a 10MB Video
In a 1 hour period, 100 people watch it. That's 10x100 downloads or 1000 MB, i.e. 1GB files downloaded (bandwidth) in 1 hour.

When you choose a web host, they will allocate a certain amount of bandwidth per month. My hosts allow around 30GB monthly transfers. If I exceed it, I have to pay $$$$.

 

Another scenario:

I am hosting from home. No limit on monthly transfers. But I am limited to 512k upstream. Same situation. 100 users trying to get a 10 Mb file will bring my system down to its knees almost instantly.

 

Good point. I used to do that as well. At my work we have business DSL with a static IP so I run all our non bandwidth intensive stuff there-primarily SMTP, and product info stuff.

My home used to have a relatively static cable connection but over time it became more dynamic. I know there are tools you an use to host a site on a dynamic IP, but it just became a hassle. Paying a web service $45/year for gobs and gobs of bandwidth and their tech support is a lot more fun to me! Lack of storage at that price is the worst part about it.

Richard

 

Great video Rick and love the music.