Archive for the ‘Online Video’ Category

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Sponsored Post: What does it take to setup a profitable online video store?

August 22nd, 2010

The first answer to the question in the title is of course: great content! Therefore, media companies that own premium content that they believe people will be willing to pay for, are looking for ways to monetize it online, and a paid video service is the most profitable alternative. Nevertheless, content owners used to hesitate before getting involved in the delivery of paid content online because offering secure and easy access to content for authenticated users on multiple devices is far more complex than the normal OVP service. Most media companies assume this requires over-sized initial investment, synchronization between several providers and very specific know-how, but is that really what effectively selling content online requires?

Following the success of Netflix, Hulu Plus (Hulu’s subscription based service) and others, an increasing number of media companies are interested in delivering paid video Over-the-Top (OTT). The summary below presents some of the key characteristics they should be looking at when choosing a video platform for this purpose. These guidelines reflect aggregated experience gathered in pioneering projects in the pay-OTT arena.

  • Deliver content to users where they are used to get it – on any device that may be. Users are willing to pay for an online service only if it brings them tangible added value. A true cross device experience, for example one in which users can search and book content on their iPhone in advance, start viewing it on their PC and finish on their TV, brings this type of added value (just ask Steve Jobs for iTunes’ revenues  before and after they introduced its multi-device service…). Even content owners interested in initially launching a service aimed only for PC users, must keep the option of long term expansion to additional devices available.
  • Offer a variety of subscriptions, pay-per-view packages, coupons and vouchers. It is still unclear which business models work best or what the prices different audiences are willing to pay for different types of content. Therefore, a successful video store should have the flexibility to test any type of business model and pricing structure over time. The ability to grant online vouchers and coupons helps in creating effective partnerships as they provide added value directly related to the corresponding partner or sponsor.
  • Support a variety of local payment methods – The offered payment methods highly affect a video store’s ability to reach one of its main goals: lowering the purchase barrier to a minimum. The popularity of online payment methods significantly varies from country to country, for example: while PayPal and credit cards are essentials in US and Europe, they are not as popular in South America, where any paid online service must support Merkado Libre. They are even more rarely used in Russia, where most online payments are performed through a pre-paid kiosk system.
  • Protect your content, on any device – In order to enable users to access premium content from multiple devices, a video store should be prepared to support multiple DRM mechanisms at once. For example, Widevine DRM is required for delivering content to some Connected TV brands, Marlin DRM is essential for delivering content to PlayStations, and Microsoft PlayReady is the only way to get to X-Box users.
  • Use automatic allocation of revenues to the various content providers – Video Stores normally gather their content from multiple providers. While ads based revenues are fairly easy to allocate (according to the number of views), the different subscription structures (as well as vouchers and coupons) in a video store require for a sophisticated financial reporting system.

Renting out videos across connected devices may be more profitable than serving ads based content, but it is indeed a more completed business.

To learn about how Tvinci makes it easy for you to deliver paid content OTT, click here for our free whitepaper offered by VidCompare.
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Online Video Hosting Platforms in Transition

August 11th, 2010

The first half of 2010 has proven a few of us wrong. There were predictions made at the end of last year that this would be the defining year for Online Video Platforms, that we’d see strong growth and maturity followed by a shakeout. Some of this has indeed happened, mind you, but not to the degree some of us thought. With over 80 OVPs tracked in the VidCompare database there has certainly been no shortage of growth in the space but the maturity has been a bit slower as has been the shakeout.

With regards to maturity in the space, there needs to be a better understanding of online business’ pain-points and attention to their use cases to show real maturity in my opinion. Some are starting to specialize by honing in on key aspects of their business in an attempt to not only address the needs of online enterprises but also to set themselves apart from the masses. Clearly Ooyala is playing the monetization and analytics card, Unicorn Media and Twistage focusing on  ”workflow” management, Wistia on internal training and behind the firewall solutions, Veeple on interactive video specifically for eLearning, and ProVDN on videographer tools.

And the shakeout has begun but certainly not to the extent as some of us previously thought it would. Kit Digital has been on a buying spree acquiring theFeedroom, and Multicast as well as a few other non-OVPs. SesameVault put themselves on eBay, Motionbox assets were acquired by Shutterfly, and most recently Delve was bought by LimeLight Networks. What’s disconcerting is the fact that this past quarter only one OVP received VC funding (Brightcove) and the acquisitions that have taken place have been at losses. Indeed, the second half of the year is perhaps living up to our 2010 predictions but I’d rather be wrong then to see companies earning less than what they’ve taken in investment. Delve sold for an undisclosed sum but sources close to the deal say it was worth $4 million (cash + stock) which is unfortunately far less than the $10 million invested in the company meaning very few people made any money from the deal.

In the two months since leaving Fliqz, Inc. I’ve had some very interesting conversations with OVP CEOs and upper management about the space and how they plan to weather the next few quarters. Some are looking for an exit of some kind, I know of at least 7 OVPs whom are actively looking for an acquirer. But the market for acquisitions is ugly at best and the CEOs I’ve spoken to on the other side of the coin are looking to pick up technology and/or customers for pennies on the dollar or just straight stock. Other OVPs are planning to place their bets tangentially (within video but not on the OVP itself) for the time being while things shakeout in the platform space stating that there was just too much early growth and investment leading to crowding and a lack of standardization causing confusion among users and lack of focus amongst providers.

There’s no doubt the VidCompare directory with thin over the next 3-4 quarters as the space better defines itself, standards come to fruition, lesser platforms get bought or go out of business, and diversification occurs. My guess is the 80 OVPs we’re tracking today will trim down to roughly 55 or so in the coming quarters. But for the time being it’s a bit of a frenzy as platform providers roll out new services left and right simply to say “we do this” and “we do that” just like the other guy. HTML5, mobile, geolocation, and iPad are all buzzwords that competing platforms make announcements about every other day. This focus on table stakes just isn’t proving to be a winning strategy and until we see more competitive advantages in the form of ground-breaking, niche solutions then last December’s predictions will certainly continue to play out.

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Lighting for Online Videos: Try not to burn down the house – Shooting Online Video Part 7

July 19th, 2010

There’s a reason that Sandra Bullock said she always befriends the lighting crew when she starts a movie in her Oscar acceptance speech and it’s because good lighting makes all the difference. Bad lighting can completely change the mood of the video you’re shooting. Lighting is really an art form. The good news is that if you have any kind of photography background lighting might come a bit easier to you. If not, you’re going to have to work at it.  Before you can become Sandra Bullock’s BFF on the set, there are a few essentials you need to know about lighting.

Lights can use a lot of power and depending on where you are shooting that can be a problem. When I first got into lighting I went to a video/photo store to get started. I found a sales assistant to help me and started asking questions.

“I’m shooting video and I need to get some lights. I’m not sure what kind.”

He asked, “Where are you shooting?”

My response, “In a house.”

He took me right by all the fancy lights you see on movie sets and straight to light bulbs in a box. I thought to myself, ‘this is soooo not going to work.’ He pulled a few lights (Westcott #0050 50 watt Daylight Balanced Fluorescent Lamps, and Eiko Photo Pro 30 Watt lamps) off the shelf for me and told me they should work fine.

Looking longingly at the fancy lights, I asked, “Really? Why not those lights over there. They seem better.”

His response, “Do you know anything about the wiring where you’re shooting?”

I shook my head ‘no.’ Come on’ I’m not an electrician.

He responded, “Those can fry your electrical system and burn down the house.”

That sounds bad. So I took the lights he recommended and asked about light stands.

He got me some stands and said something sort of surprising, “Next, you should go to Home Depot or a hardware store and get those silver clamp casings. It won’t cost a lot and it will work fine with these lights.”

I thought that sounds a little ghetto, but I was new to lighting and it was a minimal investment to get started. So, I took them, went to the hardware store got what he said, and started messing with the lights when I got home. Actually, turns out not so bad. Yet, still I wanted those crazy big lights. So I learned more and more about lights and now I know why the guy set me up with the ones I have.

First, those big fancy lights can get hot: I, mean, really hot. You should never touch them with your hands. You should use gloves when handling them. One reason is that they’re freaking hot. The next reason is that the oil from your fingers can actually ruin the bulbs. Second, the electricity in the house isn’t configured to support those huge lights and thus can overload a circuit. The other problem with the heat emitted is that the person those lights are focused on is going to start sweating – even start to think they’re getting a tan. I know, I’ve been under those lights a lot. They’re firecracker hot.

In short, most homes can support at least 15 amps. But you don’t see amps on light bulb boxes. Instead you see Watts and Volts. So to find out if you’re going to overload a circuit with your lights, try this equation: Amps = Watts/Volts. In my scenario I have a light that’s 50 Watts and 120 Volts. 50/120 = 0.41 – That’s well in the range of what a house will support. So circuits won’t blow, house won’t burn down. All is good in the world.

Before getting lights find out what your electrical system can support and then you’ll know what to buy. As for those tin covers, apparently they aren’t so ghetto after all. Just about every one I’ve met who does lighting has their own portable lighting kit and what do they have for the light bulb covers? Those tin covers. Why else are they so good to have? Well, they have clips on them so you can clip them to just about anything and you’ll be surprised how much this comes in handy.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 6 – Camera Settings

Part 5 – Backgrounds

Part 4 – Lighting And Content

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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More M&A in Online Video – Snapfish Acquires Motionbox

July 12th, 2010

Today Motionbox announced to their members that their online video sharing technology has been acquired by Snapfish, the video and image sharing product of parent HP. As you will read in the announcement below, free Motionbox users, some 2+ million of them, are invited to sign up for a Snapfish account for a free 30 day trial and are offered a free 8″ x 11″ photo book if they decide to stay on. Existing members have until August 10 to download their video assets from Motionbox after which they will no longer be available.

Back in November of 2009 Motionbox released a paid version of their service in response to high customer demand for enhanced services. They were successful in converting over 300 customers to the $25 a month package which included 25 G’s of streaming and storage. According to Motionbox they are currently looking for a new home for these paid clients and will support a migration process to ensure they are taken care of and are in good hands.

Dear Motionbox member,

Very important news about your Motionbox account! We are pleased to announce that Snapfish by HP has acquired Motionbox Inc.’s video technology platform.

The Motionbox.com service will continue to operate through August 10, 2010. Until then, you’ll be able to log in to your Motionbox account to download videos you wish to save back to your computer. After August 10, 2010, you will not be able to download your videos from Motionbox.

As an industry-leading name in digital photo and video storage and sharing, Snapfish is trusted and preferred by over 90 million members in 22 countries. And, with the technology muscle of parent company HP, Snapfish is your reliable new home to upload, save, and savor your most memorable video moments.

As a Motionbox member, you can now try the Snapfish Home Video service for 30 days – FREE! Here’s all you need to do:

1. Click here to go to Snapfish.
2. Create your Snapfish account, or sign in if you’re already a member.
3. Start enjoying your 30-day free trial today (upon your first video upload).


And, if you are new to Snapfish, we’re eager to introduce you to our additional products and services and offer you a FREE 8″ x 11″ Custom Cover Photo book (a $29.99 value) when you create your new account. Act fast, though – this welcome offer expires July 31, 2010.

We look forward to seeing you at Snapfish, your new home for all your memorable moments.

Cheers!
Snapfish by HP

Motionbox recently lost a very high profile customer, Shutterfly to a yet-to-be-announced competitor in the OVP space. Keep an eye out for that announcement in coming months.

UPDATE: The OVP now powering Shutterfly video is Sorenson Media.

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Panda Stream Putting Their Stamp on Online Video

July 8th, 2010

We recently had the opportunity to catch up with Panda Stream co-founder, Damien Tanner to learn more about their newly launched paid, cloud encoding solution and where they’re heading in the future. The new service, built on AWS, enters into an increasingly popular space with the likes of Encoding.com, Hey! Watch, mPoint, and others offering on-the-fly, simple encoding solutions in the could for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Panda launched an open source version of the service back in early 2008 (pandastream.org) helping people to easily add user video uploading and streaming into their applications. As they watched demand and the space grow they quickly realized that they needed to further develop their one-click solution into something that could meet large scale demand, hence the birth of Panda.

VidCompare: Tell us about the new Panda Stream service.

Damien: At its heart Panda Stream is a highly scalable cloud based video encoding service. Our technology started its life over two years ago as an open source offering which helped people get video encoding systems setup and running on Amazon’s EC2 infrastructure. As we developed the platform we realised that many people would benefit from a completely managed solution, which has brought us to where we are today.

VidCompare: Does the service focus primarily on encoding in the cloud or are you also offering other online video services?

Damien: Early on we made a decision to offer one thing, and do it well. We chose encoding as it’s such a fundamental part of the video ecosystem. Looking at what was already on offer, we felt that although many services provided simple solutions for video publishers, none fully addressed the need for a powerful, configurable encoding system which is cost effect for large volumes.

Although we’ve started by tackling the encoding side of things, this is only the start. Currently we are hard at work on several new features and additional products including a video manager and HTML5 video player.

VidCompare: What does the new service offer that is unique to other services today?

Damien: A big differentiator for us is the cost per video when dealing with a large volume of media. Instead of charging our customers per video, we offer plans which allow you to process an unlimited number of videos for a predictable monthly fee. This type of pricing is particularly well suited to social networks, creative agencies and anyone else who is processing a large number videos per month.

The platform is driven by our elegant REST API and offers a many encoding options. We can encode to and from a huge number of formats. But there are also are handy presets which allow you to add new output formats with only a few clicks. This means the platform is very easy to get started with, but as your requirements change you’ll find that the system is incredibly flexible and powerful.

A great example of this is the iPhone and iPad adaptive HTTP streaming presets we launched last week. With one click you can have all of your videos encoded to five different qualities and packaged to stream to Apple devices. If want to tweak something though, you can dive in and modify every single H.264 encoding parameter.

VidCompare: Panda appears to be a workflow management service allowing customers to utilize certain aspects of your services within their preexisting systems.

Damien: Correct, we started with the API, so the service is very well suited to integrating into existing web applications. Adding in the Panda video uploader plugin doesn’t take long. Once it’s in your users can upload video from within your web application, but the video uploads are in fact sent directly to Panda behind the scenes. This means you don’t have to worry about handling large file uploads. The API stays out of the way of your users, but lets you easily create a seamless video uploading and streaming experience for them.

VidCompare: What’s next for Panda?

Damien: We’re certainly keeping our finger on the pulse and always look for places to make improvements. For example when Google announced the new WebM format, we jumped into action and deployed support within a day!

There are a lot of exciting things in the pipeline. Right now we’re hard at work on a new video manager. We have a little something special up our sleeve for that. It’s going to cater for video publishers as well as people with a large number of assets to manage. Our aim is to help people and companies move their video data into the cloud and have it accessible in any format from anywhere.

We will also be doing more in the HTML5 video space with a player in the works to kick things off.

Finally, we’ve been working with the Ruby hosting platform Heroku (http://heroku.com/) to develop a Panda addon. It’s currently in private beta but will be available to everyone very soon!

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Money Still Pouring into Online Video

July 6th, 2010

I love when Will Richmond at VideoNuze does his quarterly Online Video investment roundups where he gives a brief synopsis of the state of OV investment for the quarter and lists out the companies and how much they raised. It’s fantastic to see the money continue to pour into our sector and encouraging to note that technology is at the forefront as it signifies that we’re still innovating and trying to make OV related products and services stronger.

What’s most interesting about this past quarter’s investments is how little was actually raised by Online Video Platforms. In fact only one, Brightcove, raised incremental funds recently to the tune of $12 million for what was thought to be for small acquisitions though we have not seen any roll-ups yet. But my guess is we will, soon. Kit Digital can’t be the only OVP out there with an acquisition strategy and we’re already seeing/hearing of OVPs whom are looking for further financing and struggling to find it.

Is the “traditional” OVP, offering only the big 5 (ingest, encode, store, manage, playback) going the way of The Feedroom? If they don’t specialize and address a real pain-point then my guess is yes, without a doubt, there will be more M&A in the near future (broken record). What are your thoughts; will we see more specialization in the space, a move towards a DIY workflow method a la Unicorn Media, Twistage, and EOS, or something else altogether?

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FACT, Crucial Video Camera Settings – Shooting Online Video Part 6

June 30th, 2010

Cameras come with pretty thick manuals and few people dare to read them, though they are often packed with great information. That said, there are a few features on your camera that you should get to know and get in the routine of checking before you start shooting. Just think of the word FACT.

F – Focus
A – Aperture
C – Color
T – Temperature

Focus is crucial or your video will come out blurry. If you’re camera has an auto focus feature, you might want to use that. However, it will probably take a minute for everything to come into focus so be patient. If you’re camera has zoom, you’ll need to make sure it’s not in zoom to accurately put something in focus. Once the subject is in focus, you can zoom in or out as much as you want. The focus will not be affected.

Aperture deals with the amount of light bouncing off a subject and the amount of light coming into the camera. Essentially, it’s how you make an image lighter or brighter. Though you can adjust for this in some editing programs, it’s always better to have the best quality video first instead of relying on fixing it later.  If you don’t know how to adjust this, read the manual. Using the automatic setting for this feature isn’t always the best idea since the camera may not be adjusting the brightness for the area you care about. This can also be referred to as IRIS or Exposure on your camera’s settings.

Color Temperature can be adjusted by setting the white balance. Color temperature is often skewed by surrounding light, so it’s important to set it once you’ve set up the lights. There are three light options: sunlight, which is cool; Tungsten light, which creates a warmer hue; and Fluorescent, which tends to be more green. You can often adjust these in the camera as well and you’ll want to pick the lights that correspond to the type of lights you’re using. These lighting terms will become more important as you pick the lights you’ll be using to shoot video. As noted, to adjust for Color Temperature you’ll need to set the white balance. Some cameras do a good job at this, but it’s perfectly easy to set yourself. You’ll need to check your camera’s manual to see how it works on your individual camera, but essentially all you need to do it is to select the setting, hold up a white piece of paper and let the camera do the rest.

Like I said, cameras have tons of features and the more you use your camera and read the manual the more you’ll be able to do with it, but in the meantime if you set you these features on your camera before shooting you’ll get pretty decent results. It’s a FACT.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 5 – Backgrounds

Part 4 – Lighting And Content

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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Brightcove and Long Tail Video get Pay Per View Micropayments via Invideous

June 9th, 2010

Online Video eCommerce is quickly ramping to become a very real and easy option for revenue generation in online video. London based Invideous, parent company Swiffen founded in 2008, recently closed a six-figure round of funding and is announcing an impressive customer list starting with Brightcove and Long Tail Video (Bits On The Run). The service offers publishers the option to charge per view for content via micropayments built directly into the video player which, according to Invideous, takes only 10 minutes to integrate. They offer subscription or pay per view via credit card or SMS with clear and easy to use menus (screen caps below). According to Jack Thorogood, co-founder and Commercial Director, larger publishers can co-brand within the video with a favicon, or logo. And they are also set to roll out two new customers at the end of the month, Kaltura and VMIX.



The Invideous service is very stratighforward which may encourage further adoption of the pay for play model but there have been others in the past that have tried with lackluster results including YouTube, and http://www.vidcompare.com/video-provider-detail.php?id=19although not entirely the same solutions. For example, YouTube tried a pay per download model charging a “personal license fee” and Ooyala’s offering is available in their Backlot allowing viewers to pay for a limited number of shows via an Ooyala branded PayPal account.

There are other interesting OV eComm solutions out there like SundaySky who offer eCommerce websites a service that will take images and product information and mash them into a product video that will dynamically update as the product does. So if specs on a particular camera change, so will the SundaySky video that is associated with it. Pretty slick.

As these services emerge making the monetization of online video easier we are still years out from a unified, standard, and widely accepted means by which to generate revenue from video. Until then, keep monetizing your highly valuable and already monetized web pages with video by syndicating your videos driving traffic back to your site,  increasing engagement, and extending reach.

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Lighting and Content – Shooting Online Video Part 4

May 27th, 2010

Now you have your camera. You’re going to need lights, backdrop and something to shoot. That sounds like a lot more to do, but the good news is that it doesn’t all have to be done in one day. Lighting, in fact, is a work in progress and believe me, you’ll make plenty of changes. There will be tons of posts coming up about lighting. Also, depending on what you plan on shooting for your online video can change lighting options. For example, did you know that there are lighting professionals that specialize in food and beyond that there are lighting professionals that specialize in shooting chocolate. By the way, you can’t shoot chocolate since the lights will melt the chocolate so you need a chocolate model. See what I mean about lighting?

Let’s start with the content of your online video. First, think about what you’re shooting. Is it a product/service? Is it a person giving a demo of a product/service? Is it a presentation? Is it an off-site shoot (meaning you’ll be going to another place to shoot video)? Will you generally always be shooting in the same area? These are all things to consider when deciding how and where to shoot a video.

Regardless of what you’re shooting or where you’re shooting, you’ll need a game plan and that usually comes in the form of an outline. Start by making a list of all the things you want to address in your online video and then prioritize them. You may not be able to get all the points you want to make in one video and that’s ok. That just means if those issues are important you can make another video. This will also help you better organize a video.

Once you know what you want to get across in the video, here’s a good rule of thumb for organizing it:

  1. Tell them what you’re going to be telling them
  2. Tell them
  3. Then tell them what you told them

Sounds redundant, right? It actually is a little, but by “telling them what you’re going to tell them” they know immediately if they want to watch the video. They’ll also appreciate the honesty upfront and are likely to come back to see other videos that do interest them. “Tell them” is really the meat of the story and what people want to see. Finally, “Tell them what you told them” is a quick wrap up and a great way to get any brand messaging across. Also, this is a good time to include any calls to action. Maybe visit a web site, make a call, or ask them to leave a comment if that feature is available on your site.

When you get your outline finished, it’s time to think about the best way to convey this information visually. Remember, people are watching a video online because they want to see something better or they don’t necessarily have the time to read about it. Take each of the points in your list and create an outline that includes the best way to demonstrate what you’re trying to get across. This will help you create a shot list and ultimately will help you when you’re editing the video.

I know, it’s a lot to take in, but a little organization and forethought can go a long way in saving time and money when shooting a video.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 3 – Picking A Camera

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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Picking a Camera: Shooting Online Video Part 3

May 19th, 2010

If you’re going to do online video, obviously you’re going to need a video camera. This doesn’t have to be a big expense, initially. Maybe you even already have access to a digital video camera or camcorder. You might even have a video camera at home that uses DV tapes; this will be just fine for shooting videos. Though you might want to stock up on some tapes. The more professional cameras that are often used on commercial shoots tend to use videotape for recording. However, don’t feel compelled to get an expensive camera.

When starting out a SD video camera will work just fine and it’s a great way to get the hang of shooting video. They also aren’t as expensive as a HD video camera. Remember, HD shows a lot of detail and that means it will show both good and bad things. There’s a reason when HD first arrived there were many lists circulating about actors and actresses who would have problem on HD because it would show too many personal flaws. You can always upgrade to a more expensive HD camera when your shooting skills improve.

If you’ll be purchasing a video camera, you’re going to want to read reviews. You can find some solid expert reviews at sites such as Digital Photo Mag, CNET, and PC Magazine. Those sites offer in-depth reviews and buyer’s guides including specs that are important to look for when shopping. You should also read user reviews and Amazon actually has a lot of good user reviews to peruse.

In my experience, I’ve used Canon camcorders that use SD storage media. I personally like using SD media for a few reasons. Here are my top 5:

1. It’s re-usable. SD is essentially erasable media, so I can use one SD card to shoot tons of video. Once I’ve uploaded the video files to my computer I can erase them from the card and start with a blank “tape” for the next videos I want to shoot. Eventually, you’ll need to replace the SD card with a new one, but you can use it a ton of times before you start to see any real wear and tear on a SD card’s memory.

2. It’s multifunctional. Many digital cameras use SD cards to store pictures shot with the camera. This means the SD card I have doesn’t necessarily have to be only for use with the camcorder. In a pinch, I can also use the same SD card in a digital camera and if the camera has a video recorder feature I can record videos on that SD card using my camera and edit them in my editing software later. Depending on my camera it might not be the same high quality as that offered on the camcorder, but you can make it work.

3. It’s affordable. The cost of storage has been dropping, so it’s not going to cost a lot to get a 4GB card (plenty for recording a few short videos on a SD camcorder) – you can get one for $10 to $20. Another plus is that they are easy to find. If you’re on the road and need extra media you can easily walk into a Walgreens or Rite Aid and pick up a SD card.

4. Easy uploads. My favorite feature about using SD cards is that I don’t need to attach the camcorder to my computer to upload video. I can use a SD card reader instead. Simply take the SD card out of the camera insert it into the reader and put the camcorder away. I’ve found that accidents can sometimes happen to the camcorder when it’s on a desk during upload. It can get knocked around and maybe fall on the floor causing damage. This is definitely not a good thing.

5. I can even use microSD cards. The great thing about microSD cards (these are the fingernail size media cards that can be added to cell phones for more storage) is they work just fine with SD card adapters and most microSD cards come with SD card adapters. Simply put the microSD card in the SD card reader (make sure the SD card reader isn’t locked – there will be a slide on the card that can be pushed into the lock or unlock position) and then put the SD card reader into the camcorder and start shooting.

Read all previous parts to this ongoing series, Shooting Online Video:

Part 2 – SD or HD

Part 1 – Just Do It!

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