It was a long and grueling process, but I finally finished updating the entire video archive. Here are the improvements:
- Videos play on the web in Flash. From time to time I would get a note from someone either saying the had trouble watching the videos online or downright yelling at me for embedding video in Quicktime. I like Quicktime as with the way I shoot it easier to deal with, has smaller file sizes, and higher quality. Well, I think I found a good compromise. I now have the videos converted into Flash for watching on the web, but I’m still pushing the Quicktime .M4V format through the RSS feed (iTunes). I hope the Flash thing helps everyone who had trouble before. It also has the benefit of being a little snappier on the load and offers a full-screen view.
- Each video page has relevant links from the video. Kind of like “show notes” I guess. Any link I reference inside the video (except advertising) is shown right on that page for easy quick reference.
- Each video page offers a direct download. If you don’t want to subscribe to the screencast feed but don’t want to watch on the web either, each video page offers a direct download of the Quicktime version.
The Future
A lot of folks seem to like the screencasts so I definitely plan to keep doing them, so stay tuned for more!
I still don’t have a good solution for the folks who want to watch them on their iPod/iPhones. Sometime down the line I hope to address this and offer up an alternate feed and perhaps a download of past episodes in this format. For now, you’ll have to download the regular version and do your own conversion. You can actually do this right from within iTunes but right-clicking on the podcast and choosing “Convert for iPhone/iPod”
I’ve been watching your video’s in iTunes and have converted some of them to play on my iPhone for my long trips to work, and they have been coming out great. Thanks for the video’s, they offer some some great tips and tricks. I have learned a lot from just watching a few of your videos.
I would love to have a feed with iPod/iPhone ready episodes. Maybe an Automator action to do this?
I just wanted to say that it doesn’t matter which method you use – I have no trouble viewing them in both Quicktime and Flash.
I really like the direct download feature. I always had trouble playing the videos online, where the video would play, and then at certain parts it would just freeze, and then play again.
Great improvement.
Hey man, thanks for converting your screencasts to Flash! I understand you use an Apple to make the screencasts, and it’s probably a pain in the bum for you to convert them, but some people don’t particularly like installed Apple products on their PCs (for some reason, it adds a MobileMe icon in my Control Panel on Windows after installing QuickTime, which I HAVE to install as a bundle with iTunes… sigh). I appreciate it!
I love your Video Screencasts. They’re quite possibly the first thing I look for when I check my RSS feeds in the morning. I’ve recently used Wufoo at work for a webform and received good remarks, and I’m currently making a WordPress website on the side for fun, which I started by following along with your series. You’ve been a great resource as I work to expand my knowledge in web development, so keep up the good work!
Thanks for your videos, I’ll watch them in any type available
i’ll watch in any type too.. keep ’em comin! keep the direct download too :)
Wouldn’t it be nicer if screencast doesn’t automatically starts playing on page load, but waits me to prees the play button?
Great! Downloadable Screencasts are just what I was waiting for.
Could you update the post with details about the conversion?
I use iShowU to shoot my screencasts and I convert them to flash with ffmpeg (and flvtools) but the resolution is not at all as good. I can see that your flash videos are not at all bad compared to the quicktime versions, so I wonder how you achieved that result.
Thanks for the help (tools, resolution, settings… anything you’re willing to unveal :D )
Note: I’ve already seen another post about the initial resolution for the shooting but not the conversion details with flash, so point me somewhere if you already have it…
I also use IShowU to shoot. I shoot in 1024×768 with the Apple Animation setting at pretty low quality. Then I use Stomp to covert it to the AppleTV format as well as a version at 800×600. That 800×600 version is what I convert to Flash using the Adobe Flash CS3 Video Converter that came with CS3. I just pick the “medium” setting and don’t do anything special. I’m not enormously happy with the Flash version myself, but I guess it looks alright. I wish I could explain more, but I don’t know squat about video and I’m happy to have this workflow going.