Our support team took a look at our most frequently asked member questions. Based on that list, we put together our best, most classic episodes of Ask Eric to answer them! Check them out:
Episode 3: Connecting Your Camera to Your Computer
Episode 4: Free your Videos!
If you have tons of videos saved on your camera, but aren't sure how to get them onto your computer, this episode is for you. Eric reveals how to download those videos from your camera to your computer, and rather painlessly, too.
Episode 6: How do I Download my Videos?
Want to know the difference between uploading and downloading? Eric explains it all, and shows you how to upload as many videos as you like to Motionbox, and download the enhanced versions back to your own computer!
Episode 9: The Mixer
Ever wanted to combine a bunch of videos into one awesome movie? With the Motionbox Mixer, you can! It's pretty easy, too - but Eric helps you out with the details in this episode.
Episode 10: Top 5 Uploading Tips Revealed
Last but not least, in this epsiode, Eric walks you through 5 (okay, 6) ways to make uploading your videos a breeze. So if you're having trouble getting videos off your camera and onto Motionbox, if uploading is just taking way too long, this is the tutorial for you. It's definitely been one of our most popular episodes!
We hope you've enjoyed skimming through some of our most popular and helpful Ask Eric episodes on Motionbox. If you have any questions that you'd love to have Eric answer for you on video, let us know!
HD! High definition. We know it means at least that much. But what does that mean, for you? When you take a video in HD, how can you really tell the difference from a video recorded the "old fashioned way," in "standard definition?" Well, the difference really comes in size, which, in this new world of flat screen TVs and computer monitors, is really important.
An HD image is a minimum of 3 times larger than an image at standard resolution, and can be up to 6 times larger. When you watch normal TV on an HD monitor, it gets blown up to the size of the screen, so it can be hard to tell the difference if you're not searching to see the extra pores on the cheek of your favorite movie star. On a computer monitor though, the difference is a lot more important, because the image isn't being expanded at all.
There's tons of new HD cameras coming out this year, and most record to a card just like your digital camera has now. That means easy uploading at super high quality, so I went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to test out all the new HD cameras.
The cameras I looked at were:
Kodak Easyshare 1273
Panasonic HDC-H59
Canon HF-10
Sanyo Xacti HD-1000
Sony DCR-SR300
Feel free to click back through the video if you want to check out individual features on these new HD cameras. Also, keep in mind that this is a sneak preview - you won't be able to buy these until early summer.
Write in with any questions you have about this stuff, and if you do go to buy an HD camera, the most important thing is to remember what your priorities are: there's a lotta bells and whistles out there, and you wanna make sure you are getting the ones that are right for you.
Our hardworking support team gets lots of emails from members asking how to get videos up on Motionbox as easily as possible. We think our awesome uploader is one of the fastest and simplest tools on the web, but there are many factors that contribute to a happy upload experience.
In this episode of Ask Eric, we'll go over five ways to get your videos off your camera or hard drive and in front of friends and family without breaking a sweat or throwing your laptop out the window. Check it out:
Have a ton of footage you want to show off but don’t want to make your friends sit through the boring stuff? With our easy-to-use mixer, you can crop your videos, cut parts out, combine them, and more!
In this episode of Ask Eric, learn how to use the mixer to make the most out of your video memories. Check it out:
The Motionbox Mixer is our super easy way to take a bunch of videos and combine them into one awesome movie. The Mixer allows you to trim your videos (so you can get rid of the boring stuff) and link them together (so multiple videos become one). Here's a quick walkthrough of how this simple tool works:
Step 1: Add Videos to the Mixer
First, decide which videos you want to add to the mixer. Go to "My Videos" and when you find a video you like, check the box next to it. When you've selected all your videos in a folder, head up to the top and click "add to mixer," then select "add and go to mixer," which will take you there.
Step 2: Rearrange Your Videos
In the mixer, you'll notice a few things right away: we've got the videos we selected at the top, a preview window over on the left to watch what you’re working on, and in the center of the window is the thumbnail viewer, for fine-tuning your video clips.
You can add as many videos as you want to the mixer, and select the order they will play in. To change the order of the videos, just drag and drop them around, and the arrangement changes instantly.
Step 3: Preview Your New Arrangement
The preview window is the place to easily check how you're doing. Just position the cursor and click the play button. The video plays, jumping from clip to clip as it moves through the whole mix, allowing you to see how the videos look together, back to back.
Step 4: Trim a Video
So let's say you like most of a video, but at the end it gets boring -and you want to cut that part out. Easy as pie. Head down into the main window, the thumbnail viewer, and select the part you like by dragging across. As you drag, the selection becomes highlighted in orange. Let go of the mouse and a menu pops up: click "Trim to Selection." The part you don't want becomes grayed-out, but the handy orange handles remain, which I can drag to fine tune my selection if you didn't get it perfect on that first try.
You can do this for every video - just drag them down and select the portions I'd like to keep. Remember that you can always go back and change a selection, too.
Step 5: Making It Perfect
Sometimes you want to make a selection that's very precise - for this you can use the tool called the "Thumbnail Slider," found on the upper right of the thumbnail window. Drag to the right to zoom in, and the number of images increases, allowing you to hone in on a specific moment. A good way to do it is to make a general selection in a zoomed-out view, then zoom in to get it just right.
You may find that sometimes you want to cut out a specific section of a video in the middle, but keep the beginning and the end. This is pretty easy too. First, select the beginning portion of the whole clip - right up to the start of the part you want to remove, and click "Trim to Selection." Now go back up to the video list, hold down the Control key (or Apple key on a Mac), and drag the video clip down: it automatically duplicates! Now you can hop down in the thumbnail viewer and find that duplicate, and make a new selection to include the end of the video, i.e. the part you want to keep. When you preview, it plays from one video to the next, seamlessly cutting that boring bit out. Sweet!
Step 6: Finish Your Movie!
When you're finished, publish the Mix as a new video, and your old videos remain safely saved on Motionbox. Your new video is just like any other video on Motionbox - you can view it, share it, make a flipbook out of it - and for premium members, you can *download* your mix as a new single file.
So that's the mixer in a nutshell. It makes it real easy to combine all the videos from one event, so you quickly and easily have a great way to preserve your memories! If you have any comments or questions, please contact me at askeric@motionbox.com. And happy mixing!
Ever wanted to free your videos from the digital world and make them look great on paper? Now you can! Grab a 15-second clip from any of your Motionbox videos to create a Motionbook -- a new twist on the classic flipbook.
In this episode of Ask Eric, learn how to shoot or select a video that will make the best possible Motionbook. Check it out:
Ever wanted to carry your videos with you wherever you go? You can do it, and it's even pretty easy! Eric explains the ins and outs of getting your videos onto your iPod® - and how anyone can do it.
Eric explains how, as a Premium member, you can upload as many videos as you like to Motionbox, and download the enhanced versions back to your own computer!
This week Eric explains how to get your videos onto Motionbox. Uploading videos is fast and easy, but Eric explains it nice and slow. Watch this video to learn how to get your videos into the hearts of everyone you love.
Do you have tons of videos saved on your camera, but aren't sure how to get them onto your computer? It's actually pretty darn easy! This week Eric reveals how to download those videos from your camera to your computer, and rather painlessly, too.
This episode is for folks with Windows XP, but stay tuned for tutorials that cover Windows Vista and Apple computers.
And celebrate! Those videos will be trapped in your camera no longer!
...Got a question that's been bugging you? Now's the time to ask. Submit your question to askeric@motionbox.com.
Ok, so you shot your video on your new digital camera. What now? Get it off of there!
It gets pretty tiring to show your family tiny videos on tiny a screen - so let's examine the first step of getting a video off your camera and onto Motionbox. You'll learn what a USB cable is, how to use it, and with straightforward visual examples, it'll become clear how incredibly simple the whole process is. Take a look!
Got a question that's been bugging you? Now's the time to ask. Submit your question to askeric@motionbox.com.
This week there's a special contest - you could be entered to win a $300 Amazon.com gift certificate! All you have to do is record yourself asking your question. Check out Motionbox Promotions for more details.
This week, Eric puts his video expertise to good use by showing Sally how to improve the quality of her family videos. Want to make the most of your videos? Watch and learn!
Ask Eric is a regular feature in Motionbox In Focus. As our resident video guru, Eric’s mission is to help Motionbox members with all kinds of video-related questions. In this edition of Ask Eric, one member wants to know how she can tell if her digital camera will also take video. Eric, what do you have to say?
Who’s Eric?
Eric is more than just Motionbox’s in-house video guru; he’s an accomplished commercial producer, cinematographer, and video instructor. Put a camera in his hands and amazing things are bound to happen! He’s also blessed with the gift of making complicated video and film-making matters fun and easy to understand.
What do you want to Ask Eric? Send your video-related questions to askeric@motionbox.com.
This just in: Eric, our resident video guru here at Motionbox, has generously agreed to go on camera every couple of weeks to answer questions about video from Motionbox users. Eric is one of those rare people who has a wealth of technical knowledge and the ability to break things down and explain complicated processes without making you feel like a total idiot. It's a gift.
For the first installment in the Ask Eric series, our expert gets down to basics to help you figure out whether or not your trusty digital camera also shoot videos (hint: it probably does). Check it out!
Got a burning video-related question for Eric? Send it in! No question is too simple or too complex, and if you wish to remain anonymous, we won't mention your name on camera.
The best part? If your question is featured on an Ask Eric episode, we'll send you a fetching Motionbox T-shirt!
