Help me get into videoblogging.
July 10, 2006 8:01 AM Subscribe
How do I get into video blogging?
So I've had this idea tinkering around in my head for putting up a video blog for some events here at my College, the thing is, I'm not sure of the best way to approach the situation. I'd like to have the videos in flash video format (please no YouTube or Google Video, we can host our own) and have RSS support.
So, in short, here's basically what I'm asking:
1) What's the best way to vlog with Wordpress?
2) What's the best/cheapest way to create Flash video files and play them on a website?
3) Are there any big resources out there for Vloggers?
So I've had this idea tinkering around in my head for putting up a video blog for some events here at my College, the thing is, I'm not sure of the best way to approach the situation. I'd like to have the videos in flash video format (please no YouTube or Google Video, we can host our own) and have RSS support.
So, in short, here's basically what I'm asking:
1) What's the best way to vlog with Wordpress?
2) What's the best/cheapest way to create Flash video files and play them on a website?
3) Are there any big resources out there for Vloggers?
What *is* this fascintation with FLV format?
Is it just that it's (currently; don't expect it to last) harder to rip out?
As someone with a MythTV box, who would *prefer* to watch lots of things people FLV at full screen with mplayer (which currently doesn't know how to play FLV files, so far as I can determine), it's kinda annoying.
posted by baylink at 9:18 AM on July 10, 2006
Is it just that it's (currently; don't expect it to last) harder to rip out?
As someone with a MythTV box, who would *prefer* to watch lots of things people FLV at full screen with mplayer (which currently doesn't know how to play FLV files, so far as I can determine), it's kinda annoying.
posted by baylink at 9:18 AM on July 10, 2006
Response by poster: I think flash video is so popular because flash is so widespread. Flash seems to be the smoothest alternative for most.
Personally, I always prefer quicktime but flash is apparently the way to go, It may be because of compression ratios? I'm no where near an expert and my claims here are just a hair away from utter uneducated BS. So don't take my word for it.
posted by CXImran at 9:47 AM on July 10, 2006
Personally, I always prefer quicktime but flash is apparently the way to go, It may be because of compression ratios? I'm no where near an expert and my claims here are just a hair away from utter uneducated BS. So don't take my word for it.
posted by CXImran at 9:47 AM on July 10, 2006
As a consumer, I can't complain about flash. It ain't mpg, QT or divx (all of which I'd prefer), but it's a heckuva lot better than WMV, especially when you're a Mac user.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 10:11 AM on July 10, 2006
posted by spaceman_spiff at 10:11 AM on July 10, 2006
One great thing about current flash players is that they blend into the scenery very well. The controls are pretty well-done (click the image to start playing, but it doesn't start on page load), the videos are about the width of a typical blog content column, and you can stick it anywhere in a webpage. And, more to the point, it's great to have a free video hosting provider as long as your content isn't offensive or copyright-protected (by someone other than yourself).
I dunno about you Mac/Linux people, but until YouTube came around, I found that, under WinXP, most embedded video objects in blogs and websites were abhorrent. WMP is hardly ideal but is still the best default. QT is sometimes done right (embedded like YouTube) or very wrong (link to a .mov file, which plays in its own blank page). Don't get me started on RealPlayer. RealNetworks has a lot of people under the impression that you need to buy a $10,000 video server just to link .rm files in a webpage, and they seem to have no motivation to dispel the confusion...
posted by brianvan at 10:19 AM on July 10, 2006
I dunno about you Mac/Linux people, but until YouTube came around, I found that, under WinXP, most embedded video objects in blogs and websites were abhorrent. WMP is hardly ideal but is still the best default. QT is sometimes done right (embedded like YouTube) or very wrong (link to a .mov file, which plays in its own blank page). Don't get me started on RealPlayer. RealNetworks has a lot of people under the impression that you need to buy a $10,000 video server just to link .rm files in a webpage, and they seem to have no motivation to dispel the confusion...
posted by brianvan at 10:19 AM on July 10, 2006
brianvan: as a Mac guy with lots of Linux and Windows experience, I'd just like to point out that QT and mpg *can* be done right, whereas no amount of tweaking will ever make WMP or real[buffering ...]player do anything other than suck. It's not how they open that bothers me, although an embedded video is nice; it's that they skip, jerk, and buffer under anything but absolutely ideal conditions.
And WMP is unuseable for embedded video on a Mac ... damn you, Daily Show!
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:16 AM on July 10, 2006
And WMP is unuseable for embedded video on a Mac ... damn you, Daily Show!
posted by spaceman_spiff at 11:16 AM on July 10, 2006
What *is* this fascintation with FLV format?
Because almost everyone can play it (when in an SWF player, of course) on almost any platform with almost any browser?
People will bitch if you use QuickTime or WMP and MPEG just isn't good enough.
posted by wackybrit at 11:18 AM on July 10, 2006
Because almost everyone can play it (when in an SWF player, of course) on almost any platform with almost any browser?
People will bitch if you use QuickTime or WMP and MPEG just isn't good enough.
posted by wackybrit at 11:18 AM on July 10, 2006
This is the only source necessary ;-) (from French Maid TV
posted by KimG at 2:10 PM on July 10, 2006
posted by KimG at 2:10 PM on July 10, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
In regards to handling the flash stuff, I advise getting a blip.tv account and using that to handle all that stuff. It'll do all the flash conversion for you, host your files and they don't steal your copyright or anything. Also, they keep the original mpeg4 files online too for higher quality viewing if you so choose. Any more questions feel free to contact me at my e-mail (in my profile).
posted by SteveFlamingo at 9:03 AM on July 10, 2006