YouTube Channels get a facelift
Posted Friday, December 2, 2011 at 6:10 pm by Jason Cartwright
Along with pretty much every other Google property, YouTube Channels also now have a new lick of pixels. YouTube Channels are the home for videos that you create. The new design brings consistency with the rest of the YouTube redesign that started rolling out earlier in the week.
Owners of channels can now set a featured video at the top of their channel, similar to the cover at the top of your Facebook timeline, it’s just this one is video. There’s now some interesting choices that channel owners have, including the option to set that featured video to autoplay. I’m begging you, please don’t do this and turn YouTube into the next MySpace.
The new design also features 3 tabs at the top of the page, Featured which is the default, Feed and Videos. The Videos tab provides a fantastic thumbnail view for visitors and subscribers to get a quick overview of all the videos you upload.
While the redesign of Google Reader was heavily criticised, I think the new UI for YouTube should be commended. Over the past few days I actually find myself engaging in new behaviour, visiting YouTube as a destination. Something that used to be reserved as a ‘sometimes activity’ to fill in time, YouTube videos are now presented in a way that allows users to catch up on what’s new.
In some ways YouTube now feels like it has the makings for a DVR replacement. After subscribing to your favourite content, it is now surfaced to the top making sure you never miss an episode.
Also don’t forget to subscribe to techAU on YouTube.
Make smooth sliding professional looking video with DP Slider
Posted Friday, July 15, 2011 at 7:11 pm by Jason Cartwright
DP Slider is a camera track system for DSLR and video cameras. You may have seen videos that move smoothly from top to bottom or side to side and wonder why your clumsy hands can’t achieve the same thing. The DP Slider can take your video from a shaky amateurish production to an impressive professional quality video.
Apparently word is out how awesome DP Slider is, with a 2 week waiting list before you can get one. There’s a variety of models, featuring different lengths and configurations. Prices start around US$299 right up to US$799 depending on your needs.
Check out the video to see the amazing results possible. Keep in mind, it does help to have a great camera and cool friends who own bars and pool tables. Moving the camera along the track is a manual process, while automated rigs are available, these are much more expensive.
This is why we need a FTTH NBN [Video]
Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 8:16 pm by Jason CartwrightThere has been a lot of debate around why we need a FTTH NBN in Australia. While some of us visionaries are able to imagine a future that requires insane bandwidth, others can not. Those people should be directed to the video below. Released by NBN Co, it demonstrates a world where every room in your house makes use of the NBN for the different needs of a family.
The video showcases some pretty nice displays, most of which are digitally created. This is an important point to consider, the future of high definition video is dependent on new types of displays being distributed all around the house. So while your house currently contains a HDTV and a computer monitor, display manufacturers will be selling households many, many displays.
The use cases demonstrated in NBN Co’s video include:
Office
This demonstration showcases Dave working from home, teleconferencing with 4 people on one monitor, while rotating a 3D house with Kinect-style hand gestures on the other.
Doctors Consultation
Stroke victim Anne talks to her doctor while he monitors her blood pressure and heart rate stats remotely.
Indonesian Classroom
Jack and 3 friends are learning Indonesian virtually as the local school doesn’t offer it.
Music Studio
Travis and other band members are in different parts of the country, but can have a jam session together live. This is already occurring now, but tracks have to be recorded and recompiled in post-production.
Virtual Change room
Suzie uses a wall-sized display to shop for a new dress, an live and interactive representation of how that outfit would look is shown off.
Grandparents join in dinner
The family sit down to a meal and while the grandparents can’t be there, they can participate and communicate through a large wall mounted video call.
Watch the video for yourself and leave a comment of what you think the possibilities of the NBN are. Get your thinking caps on, I know the super-intelligent readers of techAU can come up with some awesome suggestions.
Vidblaster 1.22 has lots of goodies
Posted Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 8:52 pm by Jason Cartwright
Vidblaster is the free software-based live video streaming solution created by Mike Versteeg in the Netherlands. The product continues to improve in every release and has done a great job at listening to the community. The latest update to Vidblaster is version 1.22 and comes with plenty of goodies..
* A new camera module called Camera (II) has been added (see Help for features and limitations)
* An advanced deinterlacer is now available through Camera (II)
* Smooth resampling is now available in Camera (II)
* Added video frame rate 29.97 to Camera (I) module
* Added Advanced Settings for Video Effect module’s chroma keyer (Pro+ editions only)
* Added cropping feature to Video Effect module’s PiP, Fixed Aspect Ratio
* Added setting of (different) video resolution to Camera (I) (Broadcast edition only)
* Added UTF-8 unicode support to TCP Server
* Added support for secure IP cameras to Camera (I)
* Improved Video Effect module’s PiP effects
* Improved Video Effect module’s PiP cropping
* Improved Video Switcher: only delete key on numeric keypad is intercepted
* Fixed bug in Monitor module: changing display resolution does not effect secondary monitor
* Fixed bug in Video Output module: source properly displayed at startup
* Fixed bug in Player module: video frame properly updated after changing aspect ratio
* Fixed bug in Video Effect module: mouse cursor only changes shape in PiP modes
* Fixed bugs in Camera (I) module (downgraded to earlier version)
* Fixed bug: saving profile to non-existing folder defaults properly
* Fixed bug in loading profiles from different nationality
* Fixed bug in Video Overlay module’s text positioning
* Fixed bug in Translator: closing window hides it properly
* Fixed bug in Recorder’s Save function
* Fixed bug in removal of active scoreboard
* Fixed bug in module count of modules remove warnings
* Fixed several other (small) bugs.
If you’ve never used Vidblaster before, its important to note that you’ll need a very fast machine, due to the fact its software-based, it hammers the CPU really hard. Those upcoming Intel Sandy bridge chips look very inviting indeed and would mean you could stream up to 1080p, assuming your internet speed is up to it. Good thing we have that NBN..
More @ Vidblaster
Sony introduce first consumer Video-SLR
Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 7:24 pm by Jason CartwrightIt’s not often we see brand new technology in the industry, especially in a category that’s existed for so long. Video cameras are nothing new, but a interchangeable lens system is just plain disruptive. Still cameras have offered the ability to switch out lenses for different situations for a long time, Sony’s EX-VG10 takes that same idea and introduces it to video cameras. This allows videographers to use the right for lens for the right situation, giving ultimate control.
The camera shoots in full 1920×1080 high definition video at up to 24Mbps, which will chew up your 32GB SDHC/SDXC in 4 hours flat. It seems like a waste, but if you want to snap some stills, you’ll get 14.2 megapixels to play with. There’s also an array of microphones, hopefully resulting in some usable audio, something often not common with consumer camcorders.
The Sony EX-VG10 goes on pre-sale in the US tomorrow for US$2000, which really puts it into the prosumer category.
More @ Engadget
