ITauthor

This is a gotcha to watch out for if you post videos on a website.

The problem

I created a video in Camtasia and output it as a Flash file to put on a website. I chose FLV format in Camtasia, but the file that runs initially is a .swf file. This displays a little animation and shows the first frame with a big play button on top. It all worked fine locally on my PC but when I uploaded it to the website it just displayed as a black box with no initial animation. This suggested a problem with the .swf file and, sure enough, when I tried loading the .swf file directly in the browser all I got was a grey page (that's gray for anyone Googling for that spelling).

The debugging

The strange thing was that I'd previously added another video elsewhere on the site and it worked fine. It wasn't anything to do with the size of the .flv file because the working video had a larger .flv file, and anyway I was convinced the problem was the .swf file.

My immediate thought was that it was a permissions problem. So I blew the permissions wide open but it wasn't that. I then thought it could be a security issue but telling the browser to trust the website didn't help either.

I'd actually added this within the help authoring tool Madcap Flare, and this took me down all sorts of wrong paths. And, eventually, paths were the problem. I fell back to more Googling and eventually came across a Techsmith forum post by "Showland" that had the solution.

The solution

Showland's forum comment said:

Hi. I had this problem as well, where the compiled file would play locally but not over the Web. I discovered that it didn't like a super long path to the files. Once I stored them with a shorter path, the screencast played fine over the Web. Hope this helps!

Eureka!

The URL for my .swf file was something like this:

http://www.my.website.xyz/documentation/authoringDocs/videos/Flare-adding-glossary-popups-FLV/adding-glossary-popups_controller.swf

So I moved the file up the hierarchy and gave it a simple name:

http://www.my.website.xyz/documentation/authoringDocs/videos/test.swf

and, hey presto, it worked just fine.

I don't know what the character limit is, but it's worth bearing this in mind if you work with videos on websites.

In my last podcast I talked about a couple of unscripted screencasts I'd recorded for colleagues at work, to show them how to use some Flare extensions I'd created. My question in the podcast was: is something like this (knocked together very quickly) good enough to put in front of paying customers - or potential customers?

Without seeing/hearing the screencasts it's not easy to form an opinion, so I thought I'd let you have a look. Let me know what you think. Are you put off by the ums and ahs, and the little mistakes I correct as I go along, or does it lend authenticity to the demo? Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a demo like this as part of the user assistance for a product. I think the effects that Camtasia lets you add (zooming in and the rotating cube effect) lend a little polish to make up for the ad hoc presentation style. But it's probably not everybody's cup of tea. What do you think?
 

 
Please note:  When I recorded this it was purely meant for internal use within my company. However, I've had a look at it and I'm confident it doesn't give away any corporate IP. It does, however, reveal (if you look closely) that I had to Google to find a solution to a buzzing microphone shortly before starting the recording!  :-)

Alternative larger format video  (you'll need to wait a little while for it to download, but the picture quality is better).

My video camera records in 16:9, which has taken over from 4:3 as the standard aspect ratio. The trouble is, when I play those video in Windows Media Player, or try and edit them in something like Windows Movie Maker, they get displayed as 4:3. If I go and manually change the aspect ratio in the application, all that does is give me black bars right and left of the picture.

Searching for a solution, I found an explanation of what was happening, plus a very nice little free fixer tool here:

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7594_102-0.html?threadID=308647

All Panasonic,JVC and Canon mpeg2 camcorders that generate MOD files on either HDD or SD-card do not set the widescreen flag in the mpeg2 sequence headers in 16:9 mode. Instead they leave it as 4:3 and put the information, whether 16:9 or 4:3 was used, inside the corresponding MOI file.
        Unfortunately most video player or editing software do not evaluate the content of the MOI file and therefore the video remains in 4:3.
        I have written a small tool sdcopy that can automatically correct the 16:9 flag of multiple MOD files. In addition, it can automatically copy all found MOD files(of all subfolders) into a single target folder. Sdcopy does not modify or decrease the video quality, it just patches the headers.
        You can download sdcopy from here, its freeware:
        http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=280.0;id=218

 
I’ve used SDcopy and it did exactly what I wanted: produced videos that opened up in Media Player in 16:9 and, in the process, gave the files much more meaningful file names.

The marketing manager at my work got in touch today to ask about recording screencasts of product demos. After replying, I thought the information might be interesting to others. So here’s her email and my reply.

Note: I’ve changed the names.

From: Lesley …
Sent: 10 March 2009 15:00
To: 'Alistair Christie'
Subject: best tool for the job?

Alistair,

I have a requirement to capture a demo the solutions team has been working on – all screen activity and voiceover.  What I want to be able to do is give this to the sales team along with the kit so they can do the demos themselves.  I also want to take this file and have our designers create a flash movie for download from the web site.

I wanted to ask your advice on the best tool to use for this job?  I have looked at GoTo Meeting and Webex Meeting recorders as well as Camtasia.

My slight problem is that Mike is my voiceover person and Ben is my demo click through person – both based in different locations.  This is why I looked at webinar software for recording but it doesn’t look like its straightforward to record voice and clicks on screen in multi locations.

Any advice/hints or tips – I know you have carried out this kind of thing before.

Thanks,
Lesley

Lesley

Here's how I've done this before. You're probably not going to like this! But you asked.

I've never been able to do voice over + what's on screen in one go. One of them always goes wrong. So the system I settled on is as follows:

1) Write the script!

I've tried improvising but you end up with lots of editing to do, so it's quicker to spend the time up front writing a complete script (word for word, not notes).

2) Go through the demo speaking the script and recording what's on screen - but concentrate on getting the screen capture right. I usually don't even bother recording the voice at this stage. That way, if you make a slip with the voice you just stop clicking/moving the mouse until you're ready to pick up the script again, make a note of the time, then continue (i.e. just keep the screen capture rolling). That way you can go and edit out a bit from the screen capture.

3) When you've captured the screen stuff OK and you're happy with it, go into Camtasia and chop out the bits you noted down. When you do this you've got to go through that bit of the script so that you make sure you haven't cut too much out.

4) In Camtasia, generate a video (Flash or AVI or whatever - doesn't matter at this stage).

5) Using sound recording software (like Audacity, which if free), record yourself speaking through the script while watching the video. You generally have to do this a few times until you get the timing right.

6) Save the recording as a .wav or .mp3.

7) Back in Camtasia, import the sound recording and drag it onto the time line of the video.

8) Play through the whole thing and make sure the sound and video match up. Usually at this stage you need to do some fine tuning, but Camtasia allows you to pause or cut the video and/or pause or cut the sound recording, so it's pretty easy to get it all spot on

9) Output the final demo video.

Camtasia has a huge variety of output formats, resolutions, styles - including .wmv for showing in Windows Media Player, .m4v or .mov for iTunes, or a .swf (Flash) file nicely embedded in a Web page. If you want you can easily grab the Flash file from this page and stick it in another page (e.g. on the company Web site).

Technically there's nothing to it, but if you want to produce something half decent it will take lots of time and patience. The one I did for … last year took 3 full days to produce.

As for folks being in separate places, that shouldn't be difficult, Mike can be on the phone speaking the script, looking at what Ben's doing on screen (Acrobat ConnectNow is good for this - like WebEx but free), while Ben records what he's doing in Camtasia. Ben can then put together the video (without sound) and send this to Mike for him to record the voice over. When Mike's got this just right he can send the sound file back to Ben and Ben can finish it off.

Job's a good un!

Alistair