Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with videos

Best of the Web of Sound 09

Potomac Avenue — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:46:58 -0800

What are some amazing virally-disseminated music songs from the internet from 2009? Every year I put together a blog post of "the list of the best/weirdest/catchiest internet-disseminated and -popularized songs from this year. They don't necessarily have to have been recorded this year, nor do they have to have an amusing video or animation associated with them, though that certainly is a major bonus.

The more obscure and memey the better: I'm not looking for just the most popular, though I can guarantee Kutiman's Thru-U is probably #1.

Thanks in advancement!

Hard drive connection to my HDTV?

zardoz — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:30:32 -0800

In the market for an HDTV, but what should I know beforehand to ensure that I can connect it to a separate hard drive and watch videos already stored on the drive? I have quite a few videos backed up on my hard drive (Intel iMac), and I want to find out the most painless way to watch those videos on an HDTV. Most are standard quality, and a few are high-def videos I'd like to play at the native 720 or 1080 on the TV.

The TV and computer are in separate rooms, so my idea is to either use the external hard drive I have now (about 300 gig capacity), and unplug the thing, walk it over to the TV and connect it. Not very elegant, but I wouldn't be doing this much. Also, memory is getting cheaper and cheaper, so I'm fine with buying another separate hard drive for this; in fact, that's probably the best idea.

Past that, I don't know...anything. Are there multiple kinds of cables I could connect the hard drive to the TV? Is just a USB port an option? What kind of connection is necessary there? Is this what HDMI is for? Firewire?

And if/when I get the hard drive connected, what kind of interface would be available to "talk" to the TV? I'm guessing this depends on model and brand. It seems that lots of people use XBox 360s for this, or maybe Apple TV or an Apple Mini....would these be good purchases for this plan?

So what are the key things I need to know to get this to work?

Avoiding Youtube Parter program copyright headaches.

Nixie Pixel — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:05:16 -0800

How can I make sure that Youtube's copyright requirements are met in order to monetize videos via its Partner program? Hello, I was recently offered the opportunity to monetize one of my videos (and perhaps more in the future) on Youtube via their Partner programs. The video is mostly a review of the Xbox 360 version of Magic: The Gathering, and includes screen shots from the game, though there are some funny parts such as me dancing to music.

Link to video here.

I am also planning on making a video where I take a popular song with changed (game-related) lyrics, and have enlisted the help of a musician to make slight adjustments to the arrangement of the song, though basically it is still a cover.

My questions have to do with the fact that it is impossible to get in touch with someone from Youtube directly - what exactly do I have to do to meet their copyright requirements? Youtube's site is convoluted and at times gives differing answers on the subject. An excerpt may be found below:

Youtube Partner criteria.

So the questions are part legal, part Youtube specific.

Is taking a publically-provided screenshot of a game and using it in a video (showing it minimally) considered "fair use?"

Is using the melody of a popular song, but creating a new performance of it and new lyrics, considered "fair use?" That is, do I hold the copyright to this if create the derivative work?

Are song parodies considered "fair use?"

Finally, since Youtube checks this for all monetized videos, can anyone help me understand the specific requirements they have for what is and is not acceptable, especially with regards to using game screenshots (do I have to have taken them myself?) and musical parodies I create.

Thank you!

I'mANoob..Tube

Mael Oui — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:08:44 -0800

Technostupid question filter: How to make unwatchable YouTube files from the Temp Files folder watchable on my computer? I watch loads of stuff on YouTube daily. Sometimes I download videos directly using KeepVid, but usually I don't bother. It used to be that I could navigate to my Temporary Internet Files folder, and all the videos that I had watched would be there. They'd be listed as something like 'get_video,' and I would drag each to my desktop and add '.flv' to the end of their name to watch them. I never had a problem watching YouTube videos (with VLC) this way.

Now all videos show up as .flvs automatically but none of them play. For instance, I now have 'video[1].flv' to 'video[11].flv' in the folder. Clicking on the files opens VLC, but there's no video or sound. There's just a bar scrolling through the would-be duration of the video (the time does display on the bottom bar of the window). Are these .flv files useless? Are any of them watchable or can they be made to be watchable? Why is it that I could get the files to work on my computer before by manually adding '.flv' but now actual '.flvs' (from YouTube) won't play? Am I making any sense? Is there a free, safe program that will make these videos watchable? I guess I'd prefer a small file converter program than another video application. I don't think VLC's to blame..?

This is on a Win2k computer. I'm still using an old IE to access YT. And I'm on very slow dial-up. *gulp* I LOATHE asking tech questions.. be gentle!

BEST MUSIC VIDEOS EVARR

mjao — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:13:09 -0800

Music videos that make you go WOW? For any reason - total genius or cheap, cheesy glittery appeal. List me your faves! I just want things that are great to stare at.

How is it that people can post videos of illegal acts onto YouTube and they can't be found?

Sully — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:40:16 -0800

How is it that people can post videos of illegal acts onto YouTube and they can't be found? I remember watching a video where someone has a camera mounted on the front of their motorcycle and they thread through traffic at insane speeds. I always thought that there would be some electronic trail the cops could follow. A more recent example includes one where hunters shoot some ducks with callous regard in a pond, and another involves a man who let his 7-year old drive the car at 70 kilometers per hour. In both cases, the police are showing stills from the videos on the news in the hopes that someone can ID them. But can't they just trace it back electronically? I would have thought that the cops' ability to track down the posters would have been better than this.

Videos to inoculate against cringing

mpls2 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:36:36 -0800

Please suggest videos (or audio) to help inoculate me against cringing. I'm trying to greatly desensitize myself to the embarrassment of other people. As a reference point, I sometimes have trouble finishing the Miss Teen South Carolina video, though I have done it.

So, please suggest particularly cringe-inducing videos of people being embarrassed. The more hard-core the better.

Thanks !!!

Looking for a video series. Narrator was male with British accent. All illustrated. Each about 5 to 8 minutes long.

querty — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:22:56 -0800

Looking for a video series. Narrator was male with British accent. All illustrated. Each about 5 to 8 minutes long. I don't remember if I saw one of the videos on Youtube or Dailymotion, but the series of videos were about logic, reasoning, critical thinking, and one of the topics had bits regarding the modern yellow dessert banana introduced by grafting.

Philosophy videos?

pwally — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:27:46 -0800

Where are some excellent philosophy videos on the web? Lectures, interviews, documentaries... anything. A good example of what I'm looking for is this Derrida interview.

Playing iPod Videos an TV

gm2007 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:34:42 -0800

How do I play videos from my iPod Nano on my Phillips television? My Phillips is a flat screen and has a USB port on the side, which my iPod can dock to. When I connect them, the television even recognizes that an iPod is connected, but doesn't seem to know what to do with it. Any ideas?

I need more buttons to push, Frank

TheSecretDecoderRing — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:12:35 -0800

"Help me." As an avid fan of MST3K since the early days (Joel all the way), what other shows/shorts out there have a similarly unique blend of comedy, imagination, and fun? Basically, what kind of MST-like stuff is out there that would appeal to MSTies? I'm mostly thinking of small-time made-for-internet shows, although if there's anything from actual TV past or present, that'd work too. Self-links or MeFi Projects would be welcome also.

Anything involving quaint retro designs or source material, puppets, skits, good-natured ribbing, wacky inventions. Stuff that opens up a rainbow of enchantment and whimsy and wonder and wisdom.

It seems to me like early Nickelodeon/Disney Channel was full of kids shows that sort of fit this criteria, before it devolved into tween sitcom production lines.

I'm somewhat familiar with "The Radio Adventures of Dr Floyd," which some of the MST cast has participated in, but if anyone has any good starting points with that, that would be good.

I know of RiffTrax/Cinematic Titanic, but that's basically just the same snarky riffing sans host segments.

I'm not really looking for Avenue Q/Team America/Robot Chicken adults-only type humor. (And it sorta seems like that's all that puppetry is used for now, at least until the much ballyhooed-but-squeaky clean Kobe/LeBron ad campaign). And I'm not really fond of random pop culture referential humor in the Family Guy vein.

Whaddaya think, sirs?

Can't remember the name of this French-canadian children series

blithecatpie — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:12:25 -0800

Salut! I'm trying to figure out the name of an educational (and meant to be entertaining) French-Canadian children series that featured a clown (of some sort) in the title. I’m pretty sure it was made and produced in the 90s. I was enrolled in a french immersion program in Nova Scotia, Canada, in the 1990s and we would often watch this series of French-Canadian videos—they featured skits and maybe some songs, the actors were regular and one of the main characters was a Ronald McDonald-type clown character (who didn't speak). I've googled and googled, but nothing has come up.

Hope this rings some bells!

EYE OF THE TIGER

fire&wings — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:40:44 -0800

What are some of the most stirring and melodramatic sports compilation videos on Youtube? For example Rivaldo's hattrick against Valencia or Lance Armstrong climbing Luz Ardiden. Any sport. It can be one game, match, event, or an overview of an entire career. The more music from the score of Gladiator utilised, and the more emotional the commentary, the better.

Help us add music to our video show!

MeetCleaverTheatre — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:41:22 -0800

Where can we get our hands on some music videos for use in a non-profit college-style media show? Hi Gang, We've been knocking around the idea of creating free, online/closed-campus variety show and were wondering if anyone knew of any sources for music videos to use as fillers and for band promotion?
We have already put out feelers to the indie/no-label scene and asked for submissions, so we're wondering if there is some company or entity out there that can send us small bundles of signed bands and/or big label acts. Ephemera or interview footage of bands, celebrities and other things of interest to the college demographic is a plus.
Back in the halcyon days of DJ-ing, I remember the station getting boat loads of demos and tapes from a variety of sources.... is there a visual media source we should look into? Do we need to seek membership with one of the large music entities to legally acquire/promote these things (ASCAP, BMI etc.)?
This is still in the pre-pro phase, so we can ditch it if it turns out to be a huge hassle or if there may be legal repercussions.

Thanks for your advice and input!

Help iMovie import my files!

wsquared — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:35:48 -0800

iMovie help! I've converted a VHS tape to digital format using EyeTV Plus on my iMac. I've followed the steps to convert the file to iMovie using the EyeTV program. This creates a iMovie project file and 22 5-minute clips in a .dv format. Problems arise when I open iMovie to start editing. When I open the iMovie project file, it says "Found 11 stray files that don't belong in the Project folder. Okay to move them to trash?" I clicked on leave them where they are. And then it loads the other 11 files to iMovie. These are just the odd-numbered files for some reason.

So, in the Media folder I still have the 22 files. The odd-numbered clips have an iMovie icon and the even-numbered clips have a Quicktime icon. They are all still .dv files. I can view all of the files in Quicktime and put them all into iDVD, but I cannot load the even-numbered clips into iMovie (they are ghosted when I try to import files into iMovie).

Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to do something to the files to make them load in iMovie? Could it be a problem happening earlier in the encoding process? Is there another free or cheap movie editing program I can use? I just need to clip the some of the files, not really looking to add effects or transitions or anything, and burn to a DVD.

This is on a Mac 10.4 with iMovie 2.1.2.

mISO bored

Christ, what an asshole — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:10:45 -0800

ProcrastinationFilter: What are some good search terms to plug into Youtube's search engine for an ample stream of entertainment? Some good ones I've discovered: faceplant, heckler, crazy lady

What are the best programs that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa?

omaralarifi — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:59:44 -0800

What are the best programs (paid/shareware/freeware/open source) that can convert almost ALL kinds of video files and vice-versa? All sort of video files such as : MJPEG · Motion JPEG 2000 · MPEG-1 · MPEG-2 · MPEG-4 ASP · MPEG-4/AVC · H.120 · H.261 · H.262 · H.263 · H.264 · AMV · AVS · Bink · Dirac · Indeo · Pixlet · RealVideo · RTVideo · SheerVideo · Smacker · Snow · Theora · VC-1 · VP6 · VP7 · VP8 · WMV · 3GP · ASF · AVI · Bink · DMF · DPX · EVO · FLV · Matroska · MPEG-PS · MPEG-TS · MP4 · MXF · NUT · Ogg · Ogg Media · QuickTime · RealMedia · Smacker · RIFF · VOB · AIFF · AU · WAV · FLA · Flash · and others

Note: It does not concern me if it a paid software or free.

Also are there programs that can rip VCD, SVCD, so the I can burn the files into DVD?

Thanks

Promotion Videos

johnd101 — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:25:48 -0800

I'm looking for some video promotion examples that were done with a "Leave it to Beaver" set in the 50's, Black and white, homey feel to them. I'm looking for some video promotion example that were done with a "Leave it to Beaver" set in the 50's, B&W, homey feel to them. Some that I have seen were done as church promotions. I'm not necessarily looking for real commercials, but spoofs of these types of commercials from that era. I'm not sure what to search for when looking for these types of videos. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Best of the Web of Sound

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:32:27 -0800

What are some amazing virally-disseminated music songs from the internet from 2008? I'm putting together a list of the best/weirdest/catchiest internet-disseminated and -popularized songs from this year. They don't necessarily have to have been recorded this year (so Sonseed is definitely on the list), nor do they have to have an amusing video or animation associated with them, though that certainly is a major bonus. I'm JIMP in anticipation of your fantastic answers!

uploading videos to wordpress

dearleader — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:36:42 -0800

Wordpress filter: I was trying to upload a video for display on a wordpress blog directly from my hard driver (as opposed to via youtube). Doesn't seem to be working. Anyone know any tricks? And as it happens, I tried uploading the video to youtube, but got a more low-res version than I'd like — any tips there?

Baby Video Recommendations?

zarq — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:12:33 -0800

Can anyone recommend baby videos for nine-month olds (and up)? My two nine-month old twins (boy and a girl) watch approximately half an hour of television a day. I'd like to expand their viewing selection.

What worked for your kids? Were there videos they loved? Hated? That you loved... or made you want to toss the dvd player out the window? Would you recommend the Baby Einstein series or not, and why?

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We're based in the US, but I'm open to hearing about non-American productions. Videos that are specifically aimed at kids under a year old would be great, but I'm totally open to learning about videos for any age. After all, they're gonna grow up!

We have Bounce videos from PBS Sprout. (I find I'm singing that ^%$%! earworm of a "Hello Song" at all hours. I suppose that's normal. *sigh*) We also have HBO's Classical Baby series.

Obama inspiration video clips?

Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:37:36 -0800

I am looking for videos online showing people's reactions to Obama's victory last Tuesday, especially those showing people weeping from joy, inspiration, or generally being overwhelmed by emotion. I have found a few such videos already (e.g. Sherri Shepherd on The View), but I would ideally like to have a dozen or so of them. If you have a link (to Youtube, etc.), could you post it? Or, similarly, if you know of a way of searching for these that would be efficient, or a website that contains a bunch of them, please let me know.

Still photographs would also be helpful, but it's the videos I'm most in search of.

Suddenly I can't view any videos.

JimN2TAW — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:39:08 -0800

Suddenly I can't view any videos. I have a Dell Dimension 4100, running XP, with the latest IE. This includes YouTube and all other videos such as on MLB.com. This is new, since a few days ago. On YouTube I get the following error message: "Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player. "

On other sites I get no message, but nothing happens when I click on a video.

I've downloaded the latest Adobe Flash Player twice, and rebooted. As for JavaScript, I've gone into Security Settings in Internet Options and enabled "Scripting of Java Applets" and "Active Scripting."

So, any suggestions?

Give me my old Final Cut Express!

pzarquon — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:13:23 -0800

How do I get Final Cut Express to export straightforward 1280x720 HD videos from my Sanyo Xacti HD700... like it used to? I have a Sanyo Xacti HD700. It gives me 1280x720 MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 files, which my Mac just loves. I used to be able to quickly edit the clips together in Final Cut Express, export using complementary QuickTime settings (specifically, those recommended by Vimeo for HD playback), and get beautiful MP4 files, relatively quickly.

Then, one day, a friend needed me to edit a quick video using a DV camcorder. It was confusing as heck getting the footage into FCE, and not particularly elegant getting it out. But, the project was done overnight, I washed my hands of it, and wanted to get back to making beautiful MP4 files again, relatively quickly.

Except I can't! Now, for one, encoding takes hours. Hours! My source videos and export videos are very similar, yet I sit and watch as the estimate for completion actually goes up for an hour before slowly coming back down.

And frankly, that would be fine, except now my exported videos are the wrong size. They include letterboxes, and the video itself is squished, stretched. So I wait four times as long for a ghastly video. The best I could do is use the Quicktime export settings to "crop off" the letterboxing, but there's still some black bars and it's just not the same.

Here's how my videos used to look. Here's how an exported video looks now. What happened? Out of the box, everything worked perfectly. Now, tainted with actual tape, Final Cut Express seems like it's running my videos through six extra wringers and giving me clips worse than I'd get just cut-and-paste editing the Xacti files in QuickTime Pro!

I Googled my brains out, and all I've learned is, if I had Final Cut Pro, "Project Settings" would have all the switches I need. Well, I don't have FCP, just FCE.

Somewhere, something was set that I want to unset. Can anyone help? Do I have to delete every trace of FCE and just reinstall?

Are there any online music video channels?

signal — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:40:10 -0800

Are there any online music video channels? Sort of like (pre-reality/gameshow bullshit) MTV or CMT. Something with mostly videos with maybe some minor commentary / ads in between, that I could leave running on my second monitor without any need for interaction on my part. Maybe select a genre but that's it. Not looking for a list of videos that I can pick individually or by group, as that would run afoul of the 'no interaction' rule. This should basically by a music video TV channel I can watch on my laptop. Rock, pop, blues and country are all good. Extra points for roots- or bluegrassy- country.
Does said beast exist?