The agony and ecstasy of online travel videos

videoAllow me to vent for a minute.

Online video may be the future of travel, but it is most certainly not the present.

I’ve just spent the weekend battling a Samsung video camera, Apple’s Final Cut Pro and YouTube, and I can say that with absolute certainty. Yes, video — specifically high-definition video — will revolutionize the way we travel. And soon.

But not just yet.

My problem involved a video camera that shot crisp, high-resolution images, but when imported into Final Cut, I experienced a playback problem that couldn’t be resolved through normal means. The image jumped around, sputtered and stopped with no warning. And when I tried to export the clip to YouTube, it compressed the image. The result was so embarrassingly bad that I can’t even show you the movie. I had to delete it.

I’m planning to spend the next few days figuring out where I took a wrong turn. But in the meantime, here are a few observations:

• HD video is terrific, but when the most popular online video site chokes on it (dropped frames, slow rendering speeds) then what’s the point? Hate to say it, but Apple was right when it limited its iPhone 3GS to standard-def. Why bother?

• Video editing programs should be able to run on today’s computers without slowing down or stuttering on the playback. If today’s hardware isn’t up to it, then the programs should come with warning labels. Or they shouldn’t be released at all.

• You shouldn’t need the patience of Job when rendering your clips for playback. Also, video sites like YouTube should accept more kinds of video formats and display them correctly.

There.

Having gotten that off my chest, let’s get the ecstasy part of this story.

I’ve been playing around with two video effects plug-in applications for Final Cut. CGM DVE Complete XXL offers some terrific video transitions that can make your travel videos look as if they were produced by a pro, including a cross dissolve, slide, cube spin, and dip to color dissolve. Whenever I’m discouraged with online video (which is often, these days) I add one of these wonderful video effects and pretend these problems are in my past.

I’ve also been tinkering with a program called CoreMelt Complete V2, a full suite of video effects that add a finishing touch to your videos that you have to see to believe. Check out the transitions in this video:

I took this at our Fourth of July parade in Geneva, Fla.

CoreMelt is so versatile and multi-functioned, I fear I’ve only scratched the surface of the application. I’ll be sharing more clips (and tips) from both of these interesting programs in future posts.

No one said this was going to be easy, but thanks to plug-ins like CoreMelt and CGM, it’s also fun.

  • http://thetravelauthority.blogspot.com/ Jan Ross

    You can also use Microsoft Moviemaker, which is a free program on all PC’s, to do most of the things those programs you have to pay for. And it’s extremely easy to use. I’m just getting into creating and using travel videos on our blog – you can see one at the bottom of this post: http://thetravelauthority.blogspot.com/2009/06/peace-and-tranquility-at-zoetry-paraiso.html
    I do think travel videos online are something we will see more of – it’s just great to be able to see the locations you want to visit in this way! And it’s fun for people to post where they have been for family and friends.

  • http://nodebtworldtravel.com brian from nodebtworldtravel.com

    Video of any kind is something you have to play with. Your system and software differs from the next person and you have to see what you can do and how to do it. But it is great to get video RIGHT and see motion, hear people talking, etc.

    If a picture is worth 1000 words, video is worth 1,000,000. I wish I did more of it on my round the world trip (RTW), but my laptop was woefully underpowered for it.

  • http://Travel-Writers-Exchange.com Travel-Writers-Exchange.com

    There’s a program called Need4 Software that will assist you with your video and audio. Audacity is great for audio (adding and recording podcasts or intros). Video and audio is something that you “tweak” over time. Once you do them enough, you’ll get better and receive the results you want.

    Travel videos will be uploaded more and more. It’s fast and easy (sometimes) and it’s a great way to keep family and friends updated as to where you are in the world!

  • http://www.city.vi Ankur

    I personally use the imovie on my mac which came preinstalled and trust me it works like a charm though i am not sure whether you are a mac user or planning to be. by the way I also want to share some info with you. Citymedia foundation(http://citymediafoundation.org) has launched http://www.city.vi , a network of 68,000 city specific video sites, where you can share videos about cities and regions across the world. like for Paris videos you can visit http://Paris.vi . You can also find out about other cities that you are interested . Hope to see you there