Recently in Video Category

I periodically post poll questions to my Facebook Fan Page. While I'm certainly not unique in doing this, my reason for the questions might be. I'm hoping to glean some information about how readers use video in their daily lives so I can get a better understanding about how I should be tailoring the articles I write. For instance, I've written many articles about YouTube and creating DVDs, because historically those have been the two most popular ways people like you have shared video content. I'm trying to find out if I'm still covering the right information with regard to the way you share your videos, so if you could take a couple seconds and answer the survey, that would be great. If I missed an important option, be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

Here's a preview of the question:

How do you share your recorded videos?

• I don't (they stay on my PC or phone)
• I upload videos to YouTube
• I make DVDs for friends and family
• I email videos to friends and family
• I upload videos to Facebook
• I share them on sites not included on this list

Share your response

You can see how other people responded to the question as well, but hopefully that won't influence your own vote.

Andree writes, "How do I play ssa file extensions?"

SSA stands for SubStation Alpha, which is a subtitle file format commonly used in conjunction with online video downloads. As a standalone file, an SSA file isn't particularly useful, as it will merely play text subtitles associated with some other movie file. You really need the movie file and the SSA file to get the full experience. To playback an SSA file either by itself or combined with a video file, you need an application called VSFilter, which allows the SSA file to playback in virtually any Windows compatible media player. The easiest way to associate your SSA subtitle file with an actual video file is to play both of them back simultaneously in an application like VLC Player.

To use VLC Player with your SSA file:

First download VLC Player.

Open VLC Player and go to Settings > Preferences on the menu. Expand the Video section and click on Subtitle/OSD. In the right hand pane, click Browse next to the Use subtitle file box and locate your SSA file. Click Save and then either click play to see only the SSA file playback or open a video file and play it back.

Amit writes, "How do I convert Digital8 tapes to DVD?"

Digital8 is Sony's alternative to MiniDV and remains available only in limited camcorders in the Sony product line. Fortunately, the capture process is identical to what you'd expect from a MiniDV camcorder. You connect the Digital8 camcorder from the iLINK (aka FireWire or IEEE 1394) connection on the camcorder to the FireWire connection on your PC and import the contents of the tape. You can then edit the footage with your favorite video editor and author a DVD.

For a tutorial on capturing video from a Digital8 Camcorder follow the steps here:

Capturing video from a Sony Digital8 Video Camera

Once you capture the footage from the Digital8 camcorder, here's a number of tips for editing video:

Video Editing with Windows Movie Maker

For authoring DVDs, my favorite solution is Sonic MyDVD. You can walk through the process of making a DVD here:

DVD Authoring Step-by-step

"How can I save a still image from my video project in Windows Movie Maker?"

Windows Movie Maker provides a very simple solution for saving a frame of video as a still image. Keep in mind this still image will be saved at whatever the resolution of your video is, which is probably not high enough quality for printing. If the video you want to grab a still image from is on DVD, you'll need to use a slightly different method for saving still images from DVD.

To save a still image from a movie in Windows Movie Maker, first select the video clip you want to save an image from in the Collections pane. Move the playback slider in the video monitor to the point in the video where you want to save a still. Click the Take Picture button below the preview window.

When prompted, choose a name for your file and click the save button. You can also save still photos from video files on the Timeline.

Ashirwad writes, "I just bought a Canon S3 IS and am pretty much satisfied with it except for one big issue. Its AVI files eat up the memory too fast and I can get a max. of 4-5 minutes of video on my 512MB SD card. I heard that an MPEG format video could have saved me. Now, as I had taken this camera on a trial basis, I can always, within a few days, get it exchanged. Are there any suggestions about another camera with similar specs and prices but one which can record more at the same quality?"

While there are other Digital Cameras with similar feature sets to the Canon S3 IS, I wouldn't recommend switching cameras simply because you're running out of room for recording video. The S3 IS records AVI files with M-JPEG compression, which does offer a substantially smaller file size than many other compression options used in the AVI container, without sacrificing image quality. Getting a still camera that records in MPEG-4 may save you a little space, but it's quite possible your video will look worse as a result too. What you really need is higher capacity SD cards. A very quick search of memory prices turns up 2GB SD cards in the $20 price range and 4GB cards in the $40 price range (as of this writing).

Another thing to consider in your video recording process is where you will use the video once you're done with it. If you're putting your video on the Web at someplace like YouTube, you can reduce the required space by shooting 320x240 video, especially if what you are shooting will never appear anywhere other than online.

If what you really want is a video camera, that's another story. I'd suggest opting for something like a hard drive based JVC Everio line camera or the Panasonic PV-GS320 for both affordability and overall quality.

Peter writes, "I have captured some video and now I would like to play it backwards and insert it into a film to give the appearance of catching a knife when in fact I threw it. How can I do it? I have Videowave II and Pinnacle Studio, neither of which seem to be able to do this. Do I need extra software?"

To the best of my knowledge, even the newest version of Videowave still lacks support for playing film clips in reverse. The latest version of Pinnacle Studio does support playing video clips backward, although the way you get there is a not intuitive. I'll also show you another way to play your video backward using AVISynth and VirtualDubMod to make a reverse clip compatible with any video editor.

Playing a Clip Backward with Pinnacle Studio

With the clip you want to play backward on the timeline selected, open the Video Toolbox Effects lists by choosing Toolbox > Add Video Effects. (You can also do this by clicking the video camera icon above the timeline and then clicking the power plug icon, but the menu gets you there faster)

In the Standard RTFX category of Video Effects, choose Speed and click OK.

On the Speed effect configuration, check the box next to Reverse. You can speed up or slow down the reverse playback by changing the Speed percentage.

Your video should now play backward on the timeline.

Read how to play a video backwards using AVISynth and VirtualDubMod. (This method works for any video editor, including Windows Movie Maker and Roxio Easy Media Creator).

Shannon writes, "I don't have a video iPod, but I was wondering if there was some program or anything that would help me strip the audio off of a video from YouTube and convert it so it will play on my iPod."

Without knowing exactly which iPod you have, there are two possibilities. Many of the newer iPods with no video support will playback the audio portion of an MP4 file without playing the video portion. If your iPod will support MP4 playback, the easiest thing to do is use one of the software apps for converting YouTube videos for iPod playback. If MP4 playback is not an option, taking video from YouTube and converting it to an audio file is relatively easy. You download the video file and then use file conversion software to go from the FLV format used for video on YouTube to an MP3 file playable on an iPod, Zune or any other portable media player. This second option requires a two step process. First download the video and then convert the file.

Tom writes, "I really need some help with Windows Movie Maker. When I am making credits for the thing I've made, how do I get video to play alongside the credits. I have picked the option where you can have video rolling alongside but I don't know how please help!"

We've all seen credits rolling along next to the closing scenes of a television show or at the end of a movie. Windows Movie Maker supports this feature, but it gets applied in a counterintuitive way that makes you feel like you did something wrong. If you already created the credits you're almost there. I'll walk through the process of making credits that play over a video clip and how to get this feature to actually work when you select it.

With your movie on the video timeline, choose Tools > Titles and Credits from the menu. Choose the option to add credits at the end of the movie.

Enter all the details for your title in the available boxes. Click Change the title animation.

In the Credits section of title animations choose either Credits: Video Left or Credits: Video Top. Click Done.

At this point the credits you created will appear at the end of your movie in the Video section of the timeline.

Select the credits clip on the timeline and drag it to the Title Overlay section of the timeline below the Audio/Music section of the timeline. Overlap as much of your movie as you need to have video playing for the full duration of your credits.

If you play back the timeline you can see the credits overlaying the video in the preview window.

Anna writes, "My question is about Movie Maker - is there a control for the scrolling of the credits, i.e. to make them scroll more quickly?"

Windows Movie Maker includes an effect for speeding up video clips which works for both your movie clips and for the credits. The speed only offers one setting, which doubles the speed of the clip, making a 30 second clip playback in 15 seconds, for instance. With some creative stacking, you can use this effect up to 6 times to zip through your credits.

After creating credits for your movie, scroll to the section of the video Timeline where your credits are located.

From the Collections, choose Video Effects and locate the Speed Up, Double effect from the list of effects. Drag the effect onto your credits on the timeline.

After dragging the Speed Up, Double effect to the timeline, there should be a little blue star on your credits clip in the timeline and the length of the clip should be half the original length on the timeline.

Repeat these steps to add up to six Speed Up, Double effects to your credits as needed to adjust the speed. This same trick can be applied to any video clip to speed it up, with the caveat that a maximum of six total effects may be applied to any one video clip.

Keith writes, "How do I make DVD to play on my home DVD player?"

To make a DVD that plays on your home DVD player, you need DVD authoring software to convert the video to the file format for the DVD, as well as add menus and chapters (if you want those features). There are a number of DVD authoring software applications available. My personal favorite for making DVDs is Roxio MyDVD, which is available as both a standalone application as well as part of the Roxio Creator authoring suite. Here's how to make a DVD using Sonic MyDVD.