DSE 3 #1 January 4, 2010 Curious about who is delivering at all to the web. I'm not asking about the "occasional" favor a photographer might offer to a special student, but rather whether the tandem or AFF video offerings include a stated web delivery option or benefit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #2 January 4, 2010 We used Xtreme for a while for our tandemvids, had it printed on our tandem dvd inlays and everything, but we had a lot of problems with their software not working on Vista (no idea if they fixed that or not, and now it'd need to work on Win7, and with flash card cameras too) and Xtreme was down a lot of the time, so right now we're not doing anything like that anymore. With the tape cameras of the time, it just took us too long and was too much trouble: all the camera flyers were supposed to upload all the vids of the day in the evenening (except for the few who could do it on their own computer/laptop in between if they could find the time) but they weren't always complying - it took too long,the flyer didn't get any extra pay for the trouble, Xtreme had a lot of problems, the hangar closed before we were done, etc etc. All in all, a lot of workflow issues, technical issues, and not enough incentive, so it was not a big success. Now this was all a while ago, and I'd like to try again, providing the technical stuff is worked out so I'm not always the one having to fix everything But a dedicated someone to do the uploads, or some extra pay, might be needed to get it started again... ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
howardwhite 5 #3 January 4, 2010 We're thinking about it. Meanwhile (as I've suggested to you before) we're considering offering "web-ready" (whatever that may be) videos on some physical medium, maybe a thumb drive. HW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #4 January 4, 2010 We do it as part of the workflow. We actually have a program that we take and run it against the generated MPEG/vob file and it reencodes it and e-mails it to the jumper. Its easy to share out the 7-10 meg file once you get it in your email. I forget the output size but its its only like 320*480 so it works for You-tube uploads but its not nice enough for Vimeo or the like.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freefalljason 0 #5 January 5, 2010 We tried it for a while with realxstream but, as someone else said, it didn't work well and we quit using it. So now we offer nothing. Are you considering producing some software that would make this a quick and painless process? Blue Skies, Jason Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 3 #6 January 5, 2010 Jason, we already do, but that's not the point of this poll. There isn't a day goes by that I don't talk to some DZ, glider port, paraglide company, etc about how they're creating, editing, and delivering media, and web delivery comes up a lot. Moreso with the gliders and other "thrill ride" businesses than in skydiving, so I'm really curious about the actual offerings and the "whys" if it's not being offered. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #7 January 5, 2010 The moment you have a digital file, the entire process could be scripted to happen fairly painlessly in the background and that would include compressing and emailing or uploading to YouTube. I'd think it would be a snap to set up for anyone working with tapeless cameras, a couple of Macs and a decent internet connection. Not that I'm into that or "school" workflows at this point in my life, but it certainly seems doable.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Icon134 0 #8 January 5, 2010 QuoteWe do it as part of the workflow. We actually have a program that we take and run it against the generated MPEG/vob file and it reencodes it and e-mails it to the jumper. Its easy to share out the 7-10 meg file once you get it in your email. I forget the output size but its its only like 320*480 so it works for You-tube uploads but its not nice enough for Vimeo or the like.FWIW the system in place at our DZ doesn't take much time at all... and whoever edits the video is responsible for encoding the video and preparing it to be uploaded. editing is seperated (and paid seperately, 5.00/edit) from the shooting of the video and often on a busy weekend we'll have a dedicated editor that we can drop video/still memory off with and proceed to start working with the next student, pack, etc... it's actually really nice...Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freefalljason 0 #9 January 5, 2010 Quote Jason, we already do, Wow, I guess I am out of the loop more than I thought. The main reason that we don't offer web delivery is that all of our vidiots (including me) are still using tape based cams and editing linier . I am sure that we will be moving to HD, memory card based cams and NL editing in the very near future. We will probably reconsider web delivery then. But for now, none of us are really set-up for it. I think everyone would agree that web delivery is a great marketing tool. Seems like I saw someone quote some results that they have seen from it but I can't remember who it was. Blue Skies, Jason Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fast 0 #10 January 5, 2010 We are doing it at our dz. I found a couple of free utilities for making it easy to convert the video to a web acceptable format. Our output files are around 35mb for a tandem video. All of our editors use NL editing and output a file from that software to use to burn to a dvd. At the end of an editing session for however many videos they have they batch it through one of the utilities then they just upload it to a web application that i created and assign it to a student. From there the rest of the process of getting the content to a flash/h.264 media hosting company, ensuring that the content is ready and available for the customer to view on our website and emailing the customer is totally automated. We don't charge customers for this, it's an added benefit of choosing our dropzone and buying a video. Our typical workflow has a DVD in the mail arriving at the customer in about a week. In many cases though, the online video is up right away. After they watch it online the buttons are there to email it to anyone they want or share it on facebook, or basically anywhere. Lets all their friends see what a good time they had. So their friends click the link to watch the video and... there they are on our website able to book a jump, buy a certificate or just get more information about us and skydiving. It's really cool.~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freefalljason 0 #11 January 5, 2010 Wow, that sounds really cool. How long have you been doing this? Do you know (roughly)how much additional revenue has been generated by this service? Are you using royalty free music to avoid copyright issues? Thanks and Blue Skies, Jason Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 3 #12 January 5, 2010 It's actually very easy. The only hoop/hassle is the YouTube/Google/Vimeo api and auto-uploads so that the script comes back to your website to use the embed code, but if you're hosting your own...it's rididulously easy. Jason, our Ultimate S and Production Assistant software packages have offered this for about four years now. But, it's Vegas specific. The editing process can't be automated in any application but Vegas (at this point in time) which is one reason so many DZ's are using it. Auto ingest, edit, output, and an additional menu option will render out any variety of webvids. Ours go at 640 x 360 for iPod compatibility, but we'll soon be moving to a standard of 1280 x 720. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freefalljason 0 #13 January 5, 2010 Thanks for the info Spot. Do you know (roughly) how much additional revenue web delivery has generated for your DZ? I ask in order to have some figures to go to my DZO's with to try and get them to spend the money for the hard/software. I think they would be open to the idea considering they used realxstream for a little while. So, if I had an easy/effective/reasonably priced solution, I beleive they would go for it. Thanks again and Blue Skies, Jason Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AHoyThere 0 #14 January 5, 2010 We're a small dz and there are three of us that do most of the video here. Each tandem video gets uploaded to YouTube. Each vidiot has their own YouTube channel. Each tandem passenger gets an email with a link to their video that they can then forward to who ever they want or link into their Facebook account if they want to. http://www.youtube.com/user/AHoyPhoto Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Laszloimage 0 #15 January 6, 2010 At Z-hills we used to do the "realxtrem" up-load. It was a pain in a butt. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
