Monthly Archives: October 2012

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Using DropBox for video file uploads to Vimeo

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Vimeo’s video file up-loader is well known for being very slow. Tortuously slow.

Fortunately, Vimeo now supports importing video files from DropBox. Go to Dropbox.com and set up a free account. Then copy your video file to your local Dropbox and wait for it to synchronize to the Dropbox cloud. Once done, go over to Vimeo, choose Upload and select the Dropbox option. Vimeo reads the file over from Dropbox very quickly – this is so much easier than dealing with Vimeo’s uploader.

Continue reading Using DropBox for video file uploads to Vimeo →

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Why is Youtube so slow?

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why is youtube so slow in 2012? – Google Search.

Lots of people are asking this question but there does not seem to be a good answer. We have noticed that on our 12 Mbps connection play back stalls out all the time on HD (720p) videos now, making viewing unusable. Stalling even occurs on HQ (480p) at times. Does not matter what device we use to view – its the same everywhere. But we can play Vimeo or Netflix HD videos just fine.

One common culprit is thought to be the Adobe Flash Player, but that does not explain our Roku (with the secret Youtube channel that is no longer available). And the problem exists in different browsers on different computers. And lots of other people are experiencing similar problems, not just us. (See below – this has nothing to do with the Flash Player.)

Truthfully, Youtube is nearly unusable at this point.

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The problem occurs every evening from 6pm to midnight local time, for sure. In the early morning, Youtube works okay. This means that either Youtube itself has insufficient bandwidth or the local ISP (CenturyLink telephone company DSL) is doing something to limit access to Youtube. Again, Vimeo and Netflix work fine on HD videos – the problem is only with Youtube.

Cameras, Still photography, Technical

A Micro Four Thirds mount camera with CCD sensors

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Which means no jello in videos: No joke: SVS-Vistek makes a MFT mount camera with global shutter! | 43 Rumors.

As I understand them, CCDs read/write a frame at a time, unlike the line at a time used in lower powered CMOS sensors. Both can take great photos, but when it comes to video, CMOS results in the “jello effect” seen in handheld smart phone and even high end dSLR cameras using CMOS sensors. HOWEVER, I do not know from the story whether these sensors and cameras would be used for shooting video.

And you may be surprised at who designs and manufactures the image sensors.

Cameras, Editing, Lighting, Technical

Is a 10-bit video codec always way better than an 8-bit codec?

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It depends:

“As long as you have the right 8-bit, youre fine." DSLRs like the 5D Mark III have 14-bit sensors, but for video capture, they’re converted down to 8-bit. Its this 8-bit “secret sauce” that the experienced engineers are able to pull off.  “If the engineers are getting the right 8-bit in that final codec, its visibly lossless,”

via Misinformation: The Right 8 Bits | HDVideoPro.com.

It also depends on the lighting in the scene. If the scene has a high dynamic range, more bits are better. If the scene’s dynamic range is shallow, fewer bits are needed to capture the full range. And, like the above, it also depends on how the codec itself works to capture in 14-bits but mix down to 8-bits.