Here is where I discuss all things technical about making videos on YouTube, website stuff, neat gadgets, etc. There are also forums on this site where others contribute as well. Click here for the forums, and below are all the technical articles I have written.
This post is taken from the forums, but I wanted to move it over to here and update it. Plus, I wrote it a few months back and never made it live for some reason.. so I updated it a little with new info and decided to make it live. FINALLY!
I wanted to show you how I make HD videos for YouTube and how you can cheat if you don’t have an HD camera.
First of all, I shoot with a Sony HVR-V1U which is an awesome camera. It’s a video camera that shoots in a form of compressed HD and can shoot in a format called 24p or 30p.. meaning that it can shoot video that looks like film. You can get it discounted at Amazon.
Be careful if you decide to buy this camera or another high-end video camera from retailers online. THERE IS A SCAM GOING ON.. and I write about it here.
Back to the camera. For HD, you can get by with any HD camera… I went with the more expensive camera, because it allows me to have a external microphone input so that I can be far from the camera, yet sound good. If the camera will be right in front of you, you can get by with a MUCH cheaper camera without an external mic input. Video camera manufacturers use the “extra mic input” as the deciding factor on how much they charge for the camera. External mic input = $1000-$2000 more in price!
If you can’t afford an HD camera, don’t worry, I’ll show you how to cheat, in a bit 
Now, I put the camera on a tripod, put the external mic in front of me, down low, so as not to be in the shot, turn the video screen around on the camera so that I can see it, then I record. You can see me in action recording here.
Once recorded, I bring the video footage into my Mac and edit in Final Cut Pro. You can edit in iMovie which is free on all Macs.. or use things like Sony Vegas on PCs.
Once edited, I then output the final product at 1280×720 size, h.264 video format at 3-4mbps and 128kbs aac audio.
The file sizes are large and take a while to compress.. but the results are well worth the wait.
Now.. I mentioned CHEATING! If you don’t have an HD camera, then go ahead and record with your regular DV camera, but put some black tape along the bottom 1/8th of the LCD screen and along the top 1/8th as a guide – as you are going to crop your video to make it look like it’s wide-screen.
When you have finished editing your video, then go ahead and compress it at the 1280×720 settings I have above, with the bottom 1/8th and top 1/8th of the screen cropped out prior to outputting it. It may be a little more than an 1/8th on each side. Just play around until you have something that looks right.
Then when you upload this 1280×720 video to YouTube, YouTube will think it’s an HD video and allow it to be played back in HD.
If you don’t like the final faux-HD look (it will not be as clear as real HD), then keep the crop and upload the video as 640×360 and you will get a nice looking widescreen video that will be a bit bigger than the 640×480 old-school format.
One final way to do faux HD is to do what iJustine did for a while before she got her HD camera. Shoot with a low res camera, no cropping, then put cute pics on the side to make the screen widescreen, then output the whole video, again, up-res’d to 1280×720 and voila, HD!
You can see her final result here. 
Oh.. by the way.. if you want to shoot HD REALLY cheaply, Philip DeFranco, or sxephil, uses the Canon SD780 IS camera that he tweeted about here.
He uses the Canon camera to shoot his personal Vlog on YouTube in HD. The camera can be had for around $200. It’s great in that it also takes amazing still pictures, so it’s a good all around camera. A lot of other YouTubers use the Flip Mino HD camera to shoot their HD recordings. No still pics with the Flip, but great for recording video. It comes in a lot of flavors.
Now remember, these cheap alternatives DO NOT have an external mic input, so the audio will not be as good as the MUCH more expensive cameras with mic inputs!
The hottest selling HD camcorder that I know of that has an external mic input is the Canon HV30. You used to be able to get it for about $700… but I’m looking on Amazon and it is no longer made and going for over $1000!!! If you guys know of some inexpensive HD camcorders with external mic inputs please let me know below in the comments.
If you have any additional questions about things you want me to cover, please ask in the comments below.
Next up.. I can talk about how I edit if you guys are interested.
Thanks!
- Marina
Since I get asked this question EVERY SINGLE DAY “How can your views be less than your ratings? Or comments?” Or, since I get accused of creating view-count-fraud, I thought it might be a good idea to tell you how the views are counted on YouTube and how the ratings and comments can get ahead of the views as well. I might actually make a video about this in the near future as the confusion seems to happen most on YouTube itself.
So, here goes.
When a video is uploaded to YouTube, the view counter is pretty much real-time. The ratings counter is also real-time as well as the comment counter. But then ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE when the views hit around 308 views!
At around 308 views, the VIEW COUNTER STOPS COUNTING while the Ratings and Comments counters continue to tabulate.
The views counter WILL NOT UPDATE FOR ANOTHER 4 to 6 hours, while the ratings and comments continue to increase in real-time.
At this point, take a look at the comments on any video experiencing this and you will see “VIEW COUNT FRAUD!!!” “RATINGS FRAUD!!!!” ”FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!!!”
Those comments will be followed by others explaining that the views don’t update in real-time.. but right below those comments will be another stream of “VIEW COUNT FRAUD” comments.
So, what is going on here?
Well, I think the view-counting delay is caused by YouTube analyzing views to see what views are real and what views are fake. The 308 view count number is a little higher than the 207 count number that the counter used to freeze at, but I think that YouTube actually starts analyzing views at 307 and they don’t publish an update until they have determined what views are legitimate and what views are fake. This prevents people from taking over the most viewed pages with fake views.
As an example of fake views in the past, there was a guy who created a gossip channel last year. He took his videos and embedded them 200 times on his MySpace page with autoplay on and then hit reload repeatedly. He managed to get to the most viewed page time and time again until YouTube shut him down for terms of use violations. This delay in counting views is a direct result of these kinds of abuses of the system.
So, that’s what’s going on with the view counts being less than the ratings and comment counts. Don’t freak out if your views freeze for even as long as a whole day! YouTube is not messing with you.. they are just analyzing your views before they publish an updated number.
If you have any additional questions about this or other things about YouTube, let me know in the comments below.
This is another lesson in my TECH category that I think might be helpful to some of you. As you all may or may not know, I use Tweetdeck for all my Twitter needs. There are very specific reasons why I use Tweetdeck and I will spell them out for you here:
I use Tweetdeck pretty close to how it comes out of the box except for two or three minor changes, which I list below:
Tweetdeck allows you to rearrange columns and add or kill them. I kill the second column, the @mentions column (click the x in the upper right of the column) and replace it with a Search “hotforwords” column (click the magnifying icon on the top row of buttons to create the search). I then move the search column to the second spot with the arrow at the bottom. I think doing this cuts down on your API calls which helps. Twitter limits the accessing of your Twitter account through another application to 150 reloads per hour. I *think* making the second column a search column eliminates API calls for that column.
Anyway, that’s how I use Tweetdeck. If you use Tweetdeck or any other app in a unique way, let me know in the comments blow.
If you want to give Tweetdeck a spin, click this image: 
Here is a little Twitter 101.. 5 rules to improve your Twitter experience. Oh.. and don’t forget to follow me and win that lunch!
Please rate and comment over at YouTube to help my video be seen. Thanks! Marina.
Did you know that the average postcard sent home contains only 150 characters?
In 1985 a researcher in Germany, Friedhelm Hillebrand, practiced typing out blurbs, or short questions and answers, on his typewriter and he was able to always get the point across in 160 characters or less. So he set out to make that the standard length for the text-messages that we all use today.
The technology at the time only allowed them to fit 128 characters in, but knowing what he knew, he did everything he could to
squeeze in an extra 32 characters, to bring it to the 160 characters that we are all familiar with today. Twitter, is limited to 140 characters, due to space being needed for the person’s username… and I think we all do a pretty good job of getting the point across in even that limited space!
Here is this article over at the Los Angeles Times.
Oh.. and can you figure out who wrote the postcard that I am using for an example?
I started to write this as a response to James in the comments section when it got really long and I felt that it could actually make for an interesting post where we can all respond.
James mentioned this video, which is very interesting.
I saw the video and I think it has some very valid points.. I even subscribed to their mailing list to see what else they have to say. But I don’t agree with all that they are saying and I explain why later in this post.
I’m not happy with the change to “popular” from “most viewed” at YouTube as I don’t feel that “popular” accurately reflects what people are watching on YouTube. It’s too heavily weighted in certain areas, such as, if a video has a large percentage of its views coming from a website outside of YouTube it will appear on the #1 “popular” page even with only 2,000 views. Plus, if a phrase is searched for, then those videos appear all over the “popular” as well.. that’s how we ended up with every single video yesterday being that singer from Britain’s Got Talent! That women is amazing, but I didn’t need to see her videos 40 times on YouTube!
So I think “popular” still does not do what it’s supposed to do, yet, and that’s why it keeps changing. YouTube wants to give lesser known creators of content more of a chance to be seen on YouTube and that’s why the change to “popular”.. but the algorithm is just not there yet.
I’m also not happy with the phasing out of ratings. One day ratings are there, the next day, they are not. Ratings are very useful as a way to quickly browse through videos to determine which videos to avoid. The problems with ratings is that not only are BAD videos rated low, but videos that are advertisements are ALWAYS rated low as well… and as a result, people are avoiding watching those videos. So YouTube removed ratings from the lists. I don’t think this change is good, and I think they will eventually bring them back.
So I agree with the video in those respects.
But, I don’t agree with this sentiment, and let me explain why.
The people who created YouTube are not stupid and neither are the people at Google. They know that YouTube is popular BECAUSE OF THE USER-GENERATED CONTENT!
But YouTube is not able to monetize the user-generated content like they NEED TO.
Advertisers, for the large part, are still afraid to advertise on user-generated content. YouTube is frustrated with that and they are having to adapt until advertisers wake up and realize that they CAN advertise on user-generated content. People will not hold an advertiser liable if its ad appears on a video that happens to be very controversial! I mean, seriously, when is the last time you got mad at a car company because its ad appeared next to a video that you didn’t like? If you’re like me, the answer is NEVER.
BUT ADVERTISERS ARE AFRAID OF THAT SITUATION! And that’s why YouTube is having to adapt to make advertisers comfortable with advertising on the website. How can they do that when advertisers are afraid of user-generated content? Borrow a page from Hulu! Provide professionally produced content that once appeared on Television that advertisers will be more than happy to advertise on!
As I stated in an earlier post, it’s estimated that YouTube costs about $2 million dollars a day to run, but they are only bringing in between $250k – 650k a day.. so they are losing $1.4 – 1.65 million dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY!
No company can exist forever losing that kind of money!
Hulu serves up 88 million video views a month and is poised to make $100 million this year. YouTube serves up 4.2 BILLION videos a month and is only poised to make $300-500 million this year. Hulu is making 1/3 of the money YouTube is making with 2% of the traffic!!!
So, yes.. YouTube looked at Hulu.com and decided to see if they could make some of that “Hulu” money.
How does Hulu make so much money? By regurgitation TV shows and putting them online. Advertisers pay BIG bucks to advertise on those shows and Hulu is very happy hauling the big bags of money to the bank each day.
Hulu is owned by NBC and Fox.. so other networks don’t necessarily want to put their shows on that website and put money in their competitors’ pockets. Why not put their shows on the most heavily trafficked video website on the planet, YouTube?
And that’s what’s happening here.
Or, at least, that is the plan.
YouTube is hoping that they can monetize the “safe” stuff, the TV shows, like what Hulu does.. and this money will pay for all the user-generated content that YouTube is not able to monetize.
Eventually, over time, the advertisers will hopefully get comfortable with some of the user-generated content and start advertising on that as well… and then, finally, advertisers will realize that users don’t attach advertisers to user-generated content and they will advertise on all the content.
So as far as I’m concerned, I want YouTube to stick around and if they need to bring in some TV shows to help fund the thing? That’s fine by me! I know that user-generated content is THE REASON why YouTube is successful, and the people at YouTube and Google know that as well.
It’s fun to be a conspiracy theorist at times.. and to think that all companies are bad and evil.. but that kind of thinking also stops you from pursuing your dreams. If the whole world is corrupt, then why bother, right?
I didn’t think that way two years ago when I set out to create my channel, and I don’t think that way today. I think these changes at YouTube are designed to help new channels be seen and to help YouTube pay the bills. YouTube is a company of people just like you and me. These people want to see the site succeed and they will fight hand over fist (I wonder where that expression came from?) to see that creators of content, like some of you and I, will be able to continue to do what we do, and get paid for it as well!
So, that’s my perception of the changes at YouTube. Some of the changes are still a work in progress, but overall, I think the changes are great! After reading my thoughts, what do you guys now think?
As I explained in my How to Make HD Videos Post, I shoot with a Sony HVR-V1U which is an awesome camera! But I’ve learned something while trying to buy this camera that I’d like to share with you.
This camera is a pretty expensive camera, it costs around $3000 at Amazon (which is discounted by about $1200.)
But if you Google the camera, you’ll see a bunch of retailers offering the camera for $1399! Google “HVR-V1U” to see for yourself.
THIS IS A SCAM and let me tell you why.
These retailers offer the Sony HVR-V1U for $1399 (yet the camera goes for $3000 at Amazon). AFTER you place your order with one of them, you are then asked which lens you want with the camera. (Mind you, the HVR-V1U DOES NOT have a removable lens!) I told the guy on the other and of the line that the lens is not removable, so send me the camera without the lens, and he ASSURED me, there would be no lens if I ordered the camera that way!
Well, the lens is another $1,000 but you also need batteries and a power cord, which cost another $800 and these are not factory batteries, they are a cheap knockoffs! Before you know it, you are over the Amazon price, but with a camera that has cheap knock-off parts and most likely DOES NOT HAVE a US warranty!
So buy your camera at a reputable dealer like Amazon, B&H Photo or 47th Street Photo. Name some more in the comments that you’ve had good experience with.
YouTube just added a really cool feature that I think many of you will find useful. That is the ability to link directly to a specific point within a video hosted on YouTube.
You do it by appending the following code at the end of the YouTube video URL: “#t=02m20s”
So, a url would look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZ5bYfErdk#t=02m20s to go to the spot at 2 minutes and 20 seconds in.
It’s important that you use two digit numbers, ie: 02 for 2, otherwise it will not work.
You guys and gals often link to YouTube videos in the comments section to make a point.. and this way you can be even more specific if there is a spot in the video that really makes your point
So, give it a try.. I’m curious to see what you come up with
This information is no longer relevant. YouTube has changed their functionality where Most Viewed is no longer the default video page. The new default video page is called Most Popular and nobody has quite figured out how it works.
I was responding to a question in the comments section by Fianchetto’s Ghost about statistics on my videos. He was wondering why HotForWords.com wasn’t showing up as a site linking to the current video on YouTube and if watching the video on this website contributed to the overall view count of the video at all or if he should go over to YouTube to watch the video to have his views count. I started to answer the question there, but realized that the answer was too long for a comment. So, here is a little lesson on how YouTube counts things and what they mean.
The Statistics Tab and View Count
When you look at one of my videos on YouTube, below the video you will see two tabs, one for Commentary and the other is called Statistics & Data as you can see in the image on the right. You can also see the total video views for the video.
When I first upload a video to YouTube, it takes a while for the statistics to show up.. but eventually they do. The view count first jumps to around 202 and then stops there for a while until it updates again a few hours later. This has something to do with the way YouTube’s servers serve up pages, and that’s how you can end up with 202 views yet have 500 comments, as the comments update in real-time, while view counts update every few hours or so.
Now, the Statistics & Data tab shows honors for the video (updated pretty close to real-time) and if you scroll down, “Sites linking to the video” shows websites that embed my video (like mine), and how many times someone clicks within that video and gets taken to YouTube. It only counts those clicks, but gives you a general idea of what sites are embedding a video. It only shows the top 5 I think, and it takes a little while to update as well.
Total Video Views
The views from embedded videos on websites (like mine) ALSO COUNT IN TOTAL VIDEO VIEWS on YouTube. So every time you watch my video on my website you are contributing to the total video view count for that video on YouTube, so don’t worry, your views are being counted whether you watch the video here or over at YouTube.
But, Honors Don’t Count
But, if you watch a video on my website, vs. watching it on YouTube, your views DO NOT count towards contributing to my honors. Honors are what help my videos get pushed to the most viewed pages.
Let me give you an example.
I just took a snapshot from the most viewed page on YouTube for today and you’ll notice the #1 video “Ghost House Underground” has 390,918 views yet the #4 video “John Cleese on Sarah Palin” has 424,269 views.
How can this be??
It’s because a large number of his views are coming from outside of YouTube. You can see that by clicking on the Statistics & Data tab that I mentioned and scrolling down to the bottom.
As you can see, a bunch of websites are embedding his video and he got a bunch of clicks from them. So about 200,000 views are coming from views outside of YouTube, which is contributing to his overall view count, but since those 200,000 views are coming from outside of YouTube, his video is only ranked #4 as they don’t contribute to his honor ranking for the day.
Why do they not count?
Views from outside of YouTube no longer contribute to the honors because people were abusing the system. People would embed their video 200 times on their MySpace page and then tell people to click on their page, thus generating 200 views per person clicking. That happened all the time, but I think what made YouTube change their policy was the Avril Lavigne incident.
Fans of Avril Lavigne set up a website that embedded her video and then told fans of hers to load this page and let it run all day (as it would automatically reload the video every minute or so)… as a result, her video ran to #1 with over 104 MILLION views.. thus displacing the #1 video of that guy dancing.. and people at YouTube got upset as this was obvious manipulation. Her video still ranks #1 as YouTube didn’t catch it in time (most viewed videos on YouTube can be found here), but the result is that views no longer count towards honors on YouTube if those views come from external websites.
So, due to abuse of the system, views from external websites no longer contribute to the honors of a video, but they still count towards the overall view count.
This went into effect a few months ago.
Should we then go to YouTube to watch your videos?
No… just keep doing what you are doing. My videos seem to do pretty well without you guys having to go to YouTube to watch the videos there. The numbers at YouTube are so staggering as it is, that my videos make it to the most viewed pages every time I upload one anyway. I would prefer to have you all just hang out here and have fun as you currently do.
So, Fianchetto’s Ghost, I hope I answered your question and for the rest of you, I hope you found it informative.
Marina
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