YouToo Can
YouTube and Star
in Your Very Own
Tech Show
Ever completed a killer electronics project and wanted to
share your results with the world? We discussed text-oriented
blogging in the August ‘05 issue of Nuts & Volts, and audio
podcasting in the March ‘07 issue, but why not add moving
pictures into the mix, and launch your own video blog?
by Edward B. Driscoll, Jr.
While Adobe’s Premiere
Elements program lacks all
of the features of its big brother,
Adobe Professional, it’s
surprisingly powerful for a
program aimed towards
video beginners.
48
September 2008
It’s hard to beat the immediate, visceral impact of moving images, and 80
million or so people a month tune into You Tube ( www.youtube.com),
making it the equivalent of a hugely popular TV channel — with no painful
audition process in order to be on it. And once your video is on You Tube,
it’s a snap to embed it into an-otherwise text-based Weblog, including our own
Nuts & Volts blog at www.nutsvolts.com.
The Great Equalizer
For those who’ve never shot video before, the prospect of learning the
mechanics of online video can be an intimidating prospect. But fortunately,
You Tube is a great equalizer. Its tiny video screen, displaying videos with a
resolution of 320 by 240 pixels, looks dwarfed on the typical PC’s LCD monitor
screen. And already, its video quality has been superseded by the quality of
several other, sharper, newer video aggregation sites.
But as a result, You Tube is awfully forgiving, particularly as a training
ground. It’s free to use and has the potential to allow thousands — or even
more — to see your video.
On You Tube, it’s the concept that counts as much as the finished product.
Since the maximum length that You Tube normally allows is 10 minutes —
and most videos on the site are half that length or less — you can’t get too
self-indulgent and meandering (two sins that bedevil new videomakers both
young and old with visions of Spielberg and Lucas dancing in their heads).
Not surprisingly, a relatively up-to-date computer — ideally with aftermarket
video and sound cards — is necessary for video. And you’ll need an editing
program, of course, to assemble the myriad of shots that go into your video
