How Do I Make A Video ?

Making and Optimizing Your Videos:
VisualTube is designed to make sharing your videos with friends and family as easy as possible. You probably have the tools to make a video already, even if you don't have a camcorder. Web cams, digital cameras, and even cell phones often have video recording features many digital cameras even have a simple switch to choose between stills and video, something like this:

So take a look at what you already have you may be surprised! Most of these devices record in either the .AVI or .MPG formats, both of which VisualTube supports, and the video shot with them can be uploaded directly from the device or after being copied to your computer.

Digital and Analog Camcorders:
If you already have a digital camcorder (one that captures in Digital8, MiniDV, HDV, or any of the DVD formats), then you're ready to start shooting your masterpiece. Your camcorder will need some kind of direct connection to your computer, either to the USB or FireWire ports or by inserting the DVD you've recorded. Once you've downloaded the video from the camera, you can upload it to VisualTube or bring it into an editing program to play with it some more.

If you have an analog camcorder (one that uses VHS, VHS-C, SVHS-C, 8mm, or Hi8 tape), you can still get your videos onto VisualTube. It will require an extra step and some additional equipment, though, since these camcorders are not usually equipped with computer connections. You will need to digitize the video with a converter box, which will convert the analog signal from the camcorder to a digital signal that the computer can understand. After the video has been digitized, you can manipulate it further or upload it.

Editing and Improving Your Videos:
If you want to be a bit more hands-on with your video, most new computers come with basic video-editing software installed (like Apple's iMovie or Windows MovieMaker). Once you have copied the video from your phone, camera, or camcorder to your computer, you can bring the video into these programs. Most allow you to not only edit the video, but add effects, titles, and music to make your video look and sound more interesting.

Uploading Your Videos to VisualTube:
Once you're happy with your final result, you'll need to save the video in a format that VisualTube can accept in order to upload. Unless you're a professional video producer, we recommend that you save your videos as either QuickTime .MOV, Windows .AVI, or .MPG files— these are the most common formats and they work well within our system. We specifically recommend the MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format at 320x240 resolution with MP3 audio. Resizing your video to these specifications before uploading will help your clips look better on VisualTube.

Featured Videos:

How do videos get featured ?
VisualTube's members rate videos they like, and we review highly-rated and recent videos for consideration in the "Featured Videos" section of the home page and the featured videos on the "Categories" page. In addition, VisualTube takes suggestions from members at admin@visualtube.com and scans the site for videos of interest.