Saturday 21 November 2009

Caption World Website launched

The Caption World website was finally launched today 21st November at 18.15.
Still under construction it gives a more detailed account of Video film and photo editing with closed captions.

Get your business seen on Youtube with a Video Advert. we will put it on the Captionworld  Youtube Video Channel. and you can include your advert on your own website.

Don't forget. Closed Captions on Youtube can be viewed in many languages. So if you are marketing overseas this is the one for you.

Youtube announced 1 Billion video views per day last month.

If you have your own account with Youtube you can monitor your video's performance using the stats in your account. Or we can do it for you from our channel and email you the details in realtime.

Youtube this is the one to watch 

Saturday 24 October 2009

Closed Captions and SEO

Closed Captions will be. I am convinced the best Search Engine Optimization Tool ever.Plus


1. Perfect for the hard of hearing,
2. Can be viewed in so far 35 languages. How about attracting foreign Tourists and manufacturing companies.
3. Great for offices and anywhere that you cant have sound. Lots of people use the Internet at their
workplace etc.
4 . Another discovery I made was that mobile devices also showed up in the discovery list, only on the captioned ones.
5. Google will index the file.
6. Allows more and a huge variety of key words.
7. Greater expanse of search terms.
8. What has a spray booth got to do with a WW2 Airfield? Google seems to think it has everything to do with it.
9. Your video could almost turn up anywhere.
10  Photos and Video.Text description more interesting to the viewer.
 

There it is. I have a strong Gut feeling that as a Sales tool Closed Captions will be the next big thing in SEO.



Here is what I have found out for myself.
First using Subtitle workshop I captioned all the photos in "Tarrant Rushton Airfield photo show" Describing the contents of each photo, makes it more interesting for the viewers. I then printed the text file and monitored the discovery stats on my Youtube account.
WOW! Lo and behold words contained in the caption file appeared in the search terms in discovery. These words are not in the description tags or title of the video.
These are:
 
"Ford Capri" "1979" "test" " "crash" home made spray booth"


Sill not convinced. I backed up all the caption files onto DVD and deleted them from the computer so it couldn't cheat. Typed in "Home made spray booth" into Google and there it was in Google video at the the top of the list. This made Google my new best friend.
Even tried the same on a different computer with the same result.
Here comes the next big one. I captioned the audio on my "WW2 Aircraft wrecks Devon" It has gone almost overnight from 10 hits a week to 100 a day. And all over the world in countries that never showed up before Captioning. Same scenario search terms used in caption file. I put this down to the viewer being able to read in their chosen language
The reason I think speaks for itself.



Lets face it Video will be king on the first point of sale. People no longer like scrolling through loads of text on a website like a poster, the preference is text on a photo or video. I did read somewhere that Google may be dropping the Meta Keyword tag and scoring on content.

Video for advertising

Video for advertising.


These days with broadband now commonplace, most people prefer watching a Video about a subject in preference to a static website, like a glorified business card with text and the odd photo's.


Youtube the most watched video hosting site on the planet. Now opens up a whole new world for business advertising. Even better still Google owns Youtube. So this makes it an ideal catchment for promoting your business. Because Youtube will display your video along with other relevant videos on that subject. Search engines cannot index pictures and video, only text.
The great way to get around this with Youtube, you can fill in the title , description, and tags, include at least one primary key word in each section. With the tags box this contains all the words related to your video its important that you fill in as many search words as you can think of. And Google will index it.


The next big plus for Youtube you can incorporate Closed Captions into the video. This will describe what the viewer is seeing particularly if there is no commentary or its a photo slide show. Where is this place? The Photo. What is it? The CC feature is ideal for the benefit of people with hard of hearing. Offices where there are no speakers. Youtube also gives the multiple language conversion menu. Great if for instance you are a hotel owner or an international supplier. the possibilities are endless, and of coarse you can turn the Captions on or off. Finally using an annotation you can even make a link to another video. At the time of writing, unfortunately you cannot link to external websites, hopefully Youtube are working on that one. You could though caption your website address at the end of the video. Then the viewer could copy and paste into the address bar.


I found subtitle workshop for captioning a good programme, it generates a text file which you can save then upload to your Captions editor in Youtube.
There is a video tutorial on Youtube about captioning. It is said that Google will index the caption file, and gives an example of this using a caption phrase. I tried this and yes Google did find my video. Still not convinced I tried again this time on another computer. It did not show up. The reason it showed up on my computer was it grabbed the phrase from the text file on the hard drive.

Repair a VHS Video Cassette

If the cassette is damaged and you need to swap the tape over, or the tape has broken inside.


Here's how you can do it.


First make sure you have a clean and clear work surface.
The cassette is in two halves so if you have any labels on the back of the cassette cut this first with a sharp knife along the the join of the two halves to allow separation.


Place the cassette upside down on your work surface and remove the five cross head screws. If the screw has only three slots, it was more likely an ex rental tape, you may need to obtain the correct screwdriver as they are done up pretty tight.
With all screws removed we are ready to separate the two halves. using both hands hold both sides together and turn the cassette the right way up and place back down on the work surface Press in the tab to release the front tape cover flap at the same time keeping the base well on the work surface. juggling the two halves with your fingers carefully withdraw the top half very slowly until clear of the base. There are a number of springs and leavers inside so don't rush or these will fly everywhere. If this does happen and you have a spare cassette, dismantle it so you can were all parts go.


With the top half removed we can now see the tape spools, you can lift each spool out one at a time to retrieve the broken end. pull out until the damaged ends are exposed then carefully replace the spool into the cassette ensure the spool brake leaver locates into its slot.
With both tape ends well exposed on the work surface and both spools back in the cassette we can now rejoin the two half's. Using a very sharp knife or a razor blade cut the ends of the tape removing all off the damaged section as squarely as you can. If the tape has been creased at the top or the bottom over a long length and its a treasured family recording for instance, you need to keep as much footage as possible so make a clean cut closest to the break. There maybe a flicker at the top of your TV picture but, Hey! that's better than loosing it all. Using a piece of sellotape butt the two ends squarely together and stick to the back of the tape. NOT THE SHINNY SIDE (And do not overlap) Press the sellotape as hard as you can to make the join, then trim the sellotape off to the same width as the tape. Make sure the tape rides over the metal rollers at each end of the cassette case, then carefully wind the tape back into the cassette.
So far so good. We are now ready to replace the top cover, holding the front cover flap open carefully lower the top back in place until both are securely together with no gaps. Using two hands holding both halves of the cassette turn upside down and replace the screws, center one first. You should now be ready to play the tape. A thick white line will move up you TV screen as the join passes over the video heads and you may hear it sound like an electric razor. I do not recommend you continue using the tape as continued use could damage your video machine. Therefore it is highly recommended that you transfer your treasured film to DVD As soon as possible.
.

Repair a VHS Video Tape

First of all video tape does deteriorate not just the recording but the. Tape itself.


As I found out to my horror. Stored in a cool dry place you would think it would be safe. Not So. It was only the thought of putting this film footage on Youtube that the problem came to light.


Having purchased the gadget for converting the video information to store on my computers hard drive. I set about doing the transfer. After about half an hour into the video, the machine stopped, it was a four hour tape and full of RNXS footage. Well the RNXS is no longer, and the footage was heading for the same fate.On ejection of the tape, and pressing in the tab at the right hand side to release the front cover there appeared just a thin strand of tape. The machine had detected "no tape present" and immediately shut down If you find the machine shuts down during play mode. eject the tape, if it looks intact, try turning the cassette upside down then using a small screwdriver or a Biro pen insert this into the center hole towards the rear of the cassette case, its spring loaded so as to release the spool break. wind the tape on a bit with your finger, and try again, that's assuming of course that there is not a fault with the machine itself. If it does work it means the oxide coating is coming off and exposing clear tape. In this case the machine detects no tape present and shuts down.


If the tape has snapped or is badly creased in one place.


In my case about fifty feet of video tape just fell out like spaghetti. It is possible sometimes to repair it without taking the cassette to bits.


Here is how you can do it.


First of all make sure you have a good and very clean work surface. Insert a Biro into the hole to release the spool brake then you can pull out the tape until all the damaged section is revealed or just enough to work on. Using a very sharp knife or better still a razor blade. cut the damaged parts of the tape out leaving a straight cut at both ends of the tape, here is the tricky bit. Using a small piece of sellotape stick this to the back of one half of the tape. NOT THE SHINNY SIDE. You need to make sure both ends butt together and are not over lapped carefully bring the other half in, line it up then press the sellotape splice down hard as you can. Trim the over hanging bits off making the join the same width as the tape itself. You can then insert the Biro to release the spool brakes and wind the tape back into the cassette with your finger.
The tape will play back with a noisy line slowly moving up the picture and you may hear it as the join passes over the video heads. This is a good fix if you need to retrieve that one off footage. I recommend you transfer to DVD asap and do not use the tape in your machine after transfer. Once you have done the transfer you can easily edit out the bad parts in windows movie maker.