How to Share Video with others. Learn the various ways in which you can show your final video to people you know.
So you are finally happy with the way the final edited version of your video has turned out.
That is great!
You have successfully completed your own video. Now it is time to let others know about your directional skills!
You need to share your video in a format which can be easily accessed by friends, families and others.
Movies for Media & Portable Players
So what are the various means through which you can share videos?
DVDs, VCDs, Media Player, Portable payers and the Internet!
These are the medium used by viewers to watch and share video, and the list just keeps on increasing (although sharing on internet is the more popular option).
Let us look at some of the most common methods of watching and sharing videos.
I am sure you know about DVDs & VCDs, but what about the others?
A media player is a software program provided by default on windows and mac platforms. Quicktime is from Apple (works on both Mac as well as windows) and the one for windows is simply known as the Windows media player. Another medium to watch movies is portable players like iPods/iPhones.
Most of the video editing software programs have built-in features to let you convert video in a format which can be viewed on media players & portable players.
You Need to Export the Video First
Here’s how to Export Video in various formats, so that you could watch it on a DVD or so that you could upload it on the Internet.
Once you are happy editing your video, you may want to export your video to a format, so that it can be shared with others.
Most of the video editing or DVD authoring programs will give you various export options – for the web or in other formats. It is just a matter of choosing the correct options and exporting your video to the format you want.
Here is a short tutorial on how to convert video to different formats!
- Step1
Render and Save the video. Choose the File-Export Option. - Step2
In the export settings, you will see options to choose the quality of your exported video. - Step 3
Choose what is best for your video. For watching your video on DVDs, you need to select High Quality Export. Some software may let you choose the aspect ratio. Choose 16:9 for wide screen and 4:3 for standard video.For watching your video on Internet, make the appropriate selection. Options for MPEG-1, MPEG-4 and other web formats are usually provided. .It should produce a file which is almost half the size of the high quality setting.
- Step 4
Select a destination for the final export file and Export it. Watch it once finished. Video may take several minutes or hours to export depending on the file type selected, so be selected.Note: Please keep in mind to always keep the original video file in the highest quality format, irrespective of what format you export it to. In general, DV-AVI video files have the best video quality.
Once you are happy editing your video, you need to export it to a format that can be easily shared with others. Video editing or DVD authoring programs will provide you various export options for the web or for other formats. Choose what is good for your video!
Also Read: Video File Extensions, Formats, Compression Standards: Simplified Guide
Creating a DVD/VCD – Easy Steps to create a DVD
Most of the high end video editing software has the option of copying your video by burning it to a DVD or VCD. If your editing software does not have that feature, you will need a good VCD or DVD authoring package to burn DVDs & VCDs.
A DVD/VCD is specially encoded; hence you would need a DVD authoring package to create one. You cannot burn a video file directly on a CD, just like any other file, for viewing on television. The software will also let you add VCD menus and DVD chapters for easy navigation. If you are looking for an easy-to-use DVD authoring package, have a look at Roxio Easy Media Creator.
Here’s how to make A DVD, easy steps to create a professional or even a backup DVD.
Once you are happy with the editing of the video, you need to share it. One of the more options (still) is to write it to a DVD.
But before you can do that, there are a couple of steps that you need to do.
Add Markers
The first thing that you need to do is to add Markers (for each chapter) to your video on the editing timeline.
Rendering the Video
Next you Need to Render the Video. This is where the video is converted into a format which the DVD authoring program understands.
Though most DVD authoring programs accept a wide range of video formats, for best results it is recommended that you use the AVI video format.
AVI video files are uncompressed so they can be HUGE in size, and the rendering can take anywhere from half an hour to more than an hour, depending on the size of the video and also how fast your computer is.
It is best to take a break at that time, as trying to do anything else on the computer could put further strain on the computer resources and even hang the computer, which means you need to restart the computer to start working again.
So let the “rendering” of the video complete. Also, remember to retain the ‘project markers’ before you start the rendering step.
Finally, you’re ready to build the DVD. Learn how to create great looking DVD menus that will make your videos look truly professional.
I am sure you would already know about DVD menus! If you are watching your favorite movie on DVD, just click the menu button on your remote, you will get the menu screen. Even otherwise, you get the menu right at the beginning.
Why do you need Create DVD menus?
A DVD usually contains a lot of “Extras”, besides the movie.
You may have songs, special sequences, narratives by the cast on the making of the movie, and so on. Users can directly access these different features through menus.
Using DVD menus, you can jump to any particular scene you like, rather than having to go through them all in sequence.
Sample Professional-looking DVD menu
How to create DVD menus?
It is simple though, and you can easily create DVD menus for your videos using your DVD menu creator. Usually, your video editing software will have a feature that will allow you to add a DVD menu to your final video.
Most authoring programs also have features that’ll let you add all sort of flashy things to the DVD menu, such as add animation to the background and so on.
So go ahead and add them as per your requirement.
Usually, the following steps are more than enough for you to complete making the DVD.
- Select a background for the DVD menu (you can create one yourself or select one from the themes provided)
- Add some good music (you need to use royalty-free music)
- Add your video
- Create the Buttons
That’s all you need to create a DVD.
Also Read: How to Convert Video Tapes to DVDs
Lets take a closer look at these steps!
- Adding a DVD Menu
You just need to add the video file to the background, and the DVD menu creator will then create a menu for that particular video segment. The DVD menu creator treats each video segment as a separate ‘chapter’.Some programs have an automatic menu creation feature. It will check for pauses in your video and accordingly create chapters for the video segments. This way, you may end up with many menu items, something which is to be avoided.
So plan accordingly. Think about the highlights of your video, keep the chapters in a chronological order if you feel that is apt.
You can even add a Director’s Cut or the Making Of section to your video to make it more interesting.
Think how you are going to split your video, and assign chapters to important segments.
- Look of Your DVD Menu
This is something where you can play around to see how your final DVD menus would look. Use special texts, use special effects, add a layer of animation, or customize the look of your menu.Depending on what video editing program you have, you should probably be able to change and customize the look of your DVD menu.
Just play around and see what looks best for your DVD menus!
With the range of video related software available in the market today, it is easy to give a professional touch to your final video. For the same reason, even the viewers expectations from the final product have been raised, be it any kind of video.
The DVD menu creator that comes along with your video editing software will help you to give a professional touch to the menu creation aspect. You just need to play around and explore all of its capabilities, and soon you will be producing DVDs with great looking menus.
Buying a VCD DVD Authoring Software
It is easy to burn DVDs and VCDs nowadays, especially when you have tools like VCD and DVD authoring packages. They don’t cost much and if you intend to create VCDs and DVDs on a regular basis, and in multiple quantities, it makes sense to have a DVD authoring tool.
Some of the factors that you need to consider before buying a DVD / VCD authoring tool!
Should be Easy to Use
Packages like Ulead DVD MovieFactory are very popular because they are very easy to use. It has an excellent user interface making it easy to carry out the various activities. Others products are also not difficult to use once you get used to the software.
The ability to copy “Disk Image” is one of the most important feature of DVD / VCD authoring packages. This feature saves all your selections that you made to burn a DVD / VCD. So the next time you need to burn the same copy, just open that disk image file and select burn to DVD.
Free with Hardware
If you don’t already have a DVD writer, you may want to check if you are getting a free DVD authoring package along with the DVD writer. It will be a good money saver. Most of the DVD writers do come with the Ulead software, so check it out.
Built-in a Video Editing Software
If you intend to buy yourself a video editing software program, then be informed that most of the editing programs already have built-in VCD and DVD authoring features. You don’t have to purchase it separately.
Recommended Products
Here are some of the popular VCD and DVD authoring software packages that I recommend!
- Ulead DVD MovieFactory
- Nero 6 Ultra Edition
- Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD
If you do not already own a DVD or VCD authoring package, then check if you can get it free as part of some other hardware or software. You can save some money there. In general, if you only want to burn movies then go in for DVD MovieFactory. For more generic needs, that include burning music and other files as well on CDs, you may want to consider a product like Nero.
Sharing Your Video on The Internet
The internet is the place where people share their videos for others to view.
The challenge here is to make the video small in size, small enough to be easily downloadable. Most of the smaller videos (1-2 min duration) on the internet are around 3-5 MB in size.
On the net, size of the video is an important factor. Viewers do not mind watching a slightly lower quality video but if it is going to take ages to download, people will not watch it.
You can easily make these changes to the size and the resolution of the video using a good video editing software program.
Once your video files are ready, search on the internet for websites that will host your video files. Alternatively, you can setup your own web site to host your video files.
How to Add Video to your Website – 5 Steps to Follow
Here are the factors that you need to consider when uploading your video on the internet!
Adding / Uploading your video to a website is an effective as well as popular method of sharing your video to a huge audience.
Just log onto the internet and you will be amazed by the number of videos available on the net.
Though it is a great medium for videos, there are also certain limitations to it. So if you decide to add your video on web page, make sure you refer to the following suggestions.
- Quality & Size
Though quality of the video is important, you also need to keep an eye on the size of the video. The size is an important factor when you are adding video on a website.You don’t want the visitors to your site to wait for ages before the video is ready to be viewed. They are not going to wait for so long.
So don’t go for a full screen with the best resolution. Look for small, clear images that will still look good with compression.
- Editing Software
You will need an editing software program to be able to process the video that you intend to add on a webpage. You will need just basic skills so learning should not be an issue.The editing software will let you do all the changes that you wish to do with the video files. Add several clips, slice them, remove unwanted scenes, insert static images, use filters, add screen transitions, add a soundtrack, etc. Depending on the software you should be able to do much more.
- Audio Processing
If you intend to use your videos to sell a product, you may want to edit the sound of your video using an audio-editing software program.This will ensure that the sound quality stays top notch and it will add to the overall experience of the viewers.
- Compressing the Video
Once you are happy with your edited video file and with the sound quality, it is time to compress your video!This is the step before you add your final video on a website. Your editing software program should be able to provide this feature of compressing a video.
Here you make adjustments to balance the image and sound quality, along with some other parameters pertaining to quality and size.
- Uploading the Video
This is the final step and the easiest of all the steps – uploading your video on the web server.If you are adding videos to your own website, it may make sense to regularly keep a check on the available disk-space on the web server, as well as the traffic to your site.
More traffic would mean that you will need more bandwidth. For example, if your video size is 1 mb, you will need 100 visitors to exceed a 100 mb bandwidth limit.
Summary
This is the last step in your computer video production. Once you have shot & edited your video, it is time to store it in a medium which is easy to store, share and access. DVDs and VCDs are the most common methods to share video; almost everybody has a DVD player nowadays.
If you want your videos to reach more people and to distant locations, streaming them from the Internet is the way to go!
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