DV for Teachers » Borked

R.I.P Flip Video

Tim — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:41:43 +0000

Pocket-Lint.com reports: Cisco kills Flip Video – Pocket-lint.

“Stopping the business rather than selling it was the best course of action,” Cisco’s global head of public relations exclusively told Pocket-lint on Tuesday, in response to our query on why the sudden decision.

In the dramatic move, the company will cease all production of Flip Video products globally, but has said that it will support the company’s FlipShare service for existing customers, while it formulates a “transition plan.”

“We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support of our network-centric platform strategy,” said John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO. “As we move forward, our consumer efforts will focus on how we help our enterprise and service provider customers optimize and expand their offerings for consumers, and help ensure the network’s ability to deliver on those offerings.”

A shame. Flips are inexpensive and easy, so good for schools and teachers and kids and families and non-techies to make fun and useful video, and do it easily. Flip, we’ll miss you. Perhaps it wasn’t making enough money for Cisco; we don’t know, and the quote above, in its PR-rich gobbledygook, doesn’t enlighten. Cisco, please don’t be such a corporate beast.

An Interesting FCP Quick Tip

Tim — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:58:02 +0000

Thanks to Chris Meyer of Provideo Coalition for pointing to FCP Quick Tips – episode #183. You’ll learn a lot; but it’s not what it seems. Make sure to watch the whole thing.

Watch FCP Quick Tips – episode #183 on Vimeo.

“Backup the clips, not just the project file!”

Tim Merritt — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:04:20 +0000

I’ve been screwing up.

I’ve taught basic workshops on Windows Movie Maker for years now, usually early in the semester. When they work on their assigned projects weeks later, too many students don’t correctly back up their unfinished video projects. They think the Project.MSWMM file is all they need, and don’t back up the video clips that go with that project. So, when they try to finish on another machine, either at home or on another PC in the labs, they see the big red X’s instead of their video clips. Result? FAIL. Must figure out how to make this clearer, but for now, find the steps after the jump.

Before starting anything on your project, create a folder for all the video and the project.MSWMM file.
Start Movie Maker and save the project in your new folder.
When capturing video, save it into that same folder.
If you’re adding still images, audio, or narration, make sure it’s saved into that folder.
If you have to move your project to another computer, make sure everything in your project is in that folder.
If it’s all in there, then copy that folder to your backup media—CD, USB/flash memory stick, external hard drive, whatever.

To finish editing, copy that project folder to the new machine before you start. Please do not open the project from the CD or USB memory stick (although an external HD should work fine).