Archive for the tag 'video'

Play YouTube Videos at School

February 26th, 2007

From time-to-time I find videos online that are perfect for the classroom. At school we can look for online videos via Google Video.

Now that Google purchased YouTube, you can find YouTube videos in Google’s search results. YouTube is another online video website that is becoming more and more mainstream. For example, some of the 2008 presidential hopefuls are using YouTube for major announcements.

Unfortunately, our school district blocks access to YouTube. Perhaps this is the right decision for our students but I have ranted in the past that it is wrong to block teacher access.

So, if you find a YouTube video that you’d like to use in class, here’s a work-around:

  1. Copy the URL displayed in the search results of Google video

    Figure 1

  2. Visit Vixy.net and paste in the YouTube URL

    3. Figure 2

  3. Choose “MOV for Mac” in the drop down (this is the video format that will work at school)
  4. Click Start and Vixy will convert the video for free
  5. When the video is converted, you’ll be prompted to download it

Disclaimer: YouTube has had its share of problems with copyrighted material. Please consider copyright and fair use when using Vixy.

My Video Podcast Trek

January 29th, 2007

I’ve been tinkering with video podcasts the past few weeks. My goal is to use the podcast so students can review:

  • notes from the past week
  • the practice problems at their own pace
  • demonstrations and lab activities performed in class

I started off by writing out my notes with GE’s Imagination Cubed and then did a screen capture with Windows Media Encoder. It works but the video of the Imagination Cubed came out choppy and the Windows Media Encoder does not give you many options when outputting the video.I really wanted the video to be available as a Flash video– similar to what YouTube does. The best video converter I found for this job was the free version of Riva FLV Encoder. It was easy to use, provided many options and converted the files quickly. If you have several videos to convert, you make want to download the trial of Riva Producer. It does batch converting and allows you to edit your videos in a timeline.

To play the videos, I chose the Flash Video Player. This free player is easy to configure if you read the directions. I had one snag with the slider but I solved this by using the proper metatags in my flv files. To fix the metatags I used FLV MetaData Injector. Again, this was explained in the installation directions. To host Flash video at your site, you’ll also need to update your webserver’s MIME types to include the flv extension.

The best piece of software I encountered on this trek was Camtasia. It is not a free program but they do offer a fully functional trial version for 30 days. Camtasia is primarily a screen capture program (used to produce screencasts) but I found it does so much more.

Here are just a few highlights:

  • edit and trim your video
  • add zooms, pans and transitions
  • add a second audio track
  • insert captions and overlays
  • export to a wide variety of formats

Camtasia was easy to use and provided timeline style editing. After I finished editing the video, I was able to produce a Flash version and an iPod friendly version in just one step.

There is something weird about seeing your lesson on an iPod. What’s even weirder is seeing students use it!

The last step to any podcasting adventure is the most crucial—create the rss feed. Your media can not be called a podcast without it. The rss feed is a text file that contains specific information about your show and describes each episode. You update the feed each time you create a new episode. I used several templates as an example to make my feed. (examples: 1, 2, 3) If you want to be iTunes friendly, you’ll need to follow some of their special formatting rules. You’ll also want submit your feed to Apple so users can search for your podcast right inside iTunes.

Here is my final product. I welcome feedback, questions and comments.

VLC Plays it All

January 8th, 2007

vlc Sometimes I get video or sound clips that won’t play in Windows Media Player. To get around this, I use the VLC media player. The VLC media player “…is a free media player that supports a large number of multimedia formats…” without any special updates or other huddles.

You can download (not at my school) the player for just about any operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, BeOS…); they even have a portable version of the player that can be downloaded and installed onto a removable USB flash drive.

Mix your video with the community

July 6th, 2006

eyespotIn a hurry to edit your video clips? Try EyeSpot. Similar to the online video sharing services that I reviewed a few weeks back, EyeSpot has the following unique features:

  • editing— trim and mix clips; add titles, transitions and effects
  • use other people’s clips in your video
  • download your final video

The service was a little slow. It took a while to upload files and trim clips. However, the ability to use other people’s clips is really neat. For example, I don’t have any clips of an explosion but the EyeSpot community had several.

EyeSpot is a fun tool and worth a look.

Which video service is best for you?

May 21st, 2006

Flash based video has been popping up everywhere in the past few months. With popular sites like YouTube and Google Video giving this format lots of exposure, I’ve decide to do a mini roundup of what is out there.

First things first—what is it? Flash based video uses Macromedia Flash to play video clips. Several websites have created services that allow you to upload, view, and share your clips. None of these sites will display great video quality but because of the Flash format, your videos can be easily embedded in blogs and other websites.

I’ve uploaded the same clip to each of the following websites:

Take a look at the results.

Google Video: Despite Google’s new web-based uploader, the process was slower than I expected. Also, there is something just ugly about the whole Google Video experience. However, Google’s popularity may give your video clip more exposure.

VideoEgg: You’ll need to download and install the VideoEgg Publisher before you use VideoEgg. Once installed, uploading the video was a fast process. The publisher does give you a few extra features. You can trim your video’s start and end times. VideoEgg will also capture video directly from a camcorder, webcam or mobile device. These are nice features but anyone who is serious about video is going to have their own tools to do this and much more.
YouTube: Again another popular site— perhaps too popular. Uploading video to YouTube took the longest. Like Google, YouTube will give your clip more opportunities for exposure. However, YouTube has had a history of hosting copywrited material. Others claim that YouTube it running out of money due to huge bandwidth bills. I question how long YouTube will be able to stay in business.
Vimeo: This is my top pick. Vimeo was the easiest experience of them all. The upload time with Vimeo went quickly and the whole process was a snap. I also think Vimeo displays their clips the best.

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