AW Video

Introducing AW Video! This powerful new feature found on the AWNews Cover streams AW-related videos. It is currently offered to all users, including anonymous visitors. Take a tour of a beautiful world or watch an informational video. We're working on gathering all types of video content, and you can help! Here's some information about this new feature and how you can create and submit your original work.

Have tips for others? We've enabled comments on this page. Register/log in to view and post comments.

Questions

What do I need to view video?

The only plug-in you should need to view our streaming video is Adobe Flash Player. The video will load and buffer on any connection, but for the most efficient viewing we recommend a broadband internet connection. Short videos are not very large in file size and therefore should not be very difficult to load.

Why didn't the video player appear when I loaded the page?

Some users have reported that the video player occassionally does not appear on page load. If this occurs, simply refresh the page until it loads properly.

When I click play, the video played is different from what is listed below the player.

If there is more than one video in the play list, a different video in the list may be shown when you push play. Click and drag the gray square on the right of the play list to scroll through videos, if the playlist is not expanded to show all. Click a title to choose that video.

How to Create AW Videos

A Vision

If you would like to create an AW video, the first thing you'll need is an idea of what you'd like to do. Are you going to film your world? In a town? Will you have a storyline or will it simply be for presentation?

Get an idea in mind or sketch it out on paper of what you'd like to include in your video and in each shot. Though you could "wing it," you'll probably end up with a better quality video if you plan out your desired end result.

Software

Most likely, you're going to have to download some special software to capture video and maybe some to edit or convert it. Many users have found Windows Movie Maker to be a simple solution to the editing portion of this requirement. However, if you want to use more advanced effects and techniques you might want to consider looking in to other video editing software.

Video software can range in price greatly. Some capturing software may cost as little as $20-$40. However, while video editing software can be free or cheap, professional solutions can also cost upwards of $500. Unless you have the cash to spare and a serious interest in video production, a cheap program will generally be acceptable for the purpose of AW.

Capturing

SnagIt: SnagIt has long been popular in the AW community, mostly for the use of AW television stations (screenshots). SnagIt is a product of TechSmith. SnagIt is also capable of video capture and has many features and settings.

Cost: $39.95 for current version Learn more about SnagIt: www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp

Fraps: This is a popular video capture program, and is said to work well by AW users. It can also take screenshots and benchmark your video performance. Fraps is simple to use and free to try. The free version places a watermark on your work and limits you to 30 seconds of recording time (this won't be acceptable for submission to AWNews). Your use is unlimited in the full version, and you get free upgrades.

Cost: $37 one time fee Learn more about Fraps: www.fraps.com

Others: Try searching Google or your favorite search engine for "video capture software"

Editing

Windows Movie Maker: WMM is shipped with the Windows operating system and is very accessible to a wide number of users. If you use Windows, chances are you have WMM and can use this to compile your AW videos.

Cost: $0 with Windows OS Learn more about Windows Movie Maker: www.microsoft.com

Video Edit Magic: A simple but powerful video editor, VEM contains 150 transition effects and many features. It allows for a greater number of output formats than WMM. You can use a trial version, and purchase a full edition.

Cost: $69.95 Learn more about Video Edit Magic: www.deskshare.com

Sony Media Editing: Sony offers a number of upper-level media editing software packages. Get professional grade video and audio editing software at reasonable prices.

Cost: $499.99 for video editing suite Learn more about Sony Media Editing Software: www.sonystyle.com

How to Submit your Work

Once you have a final product you can send it to AWNews to share with others! There are a few requirements for video submissions, however.

»We prefer that videos are in 320x240 resolution. If they are not, they will be converted to this when we ready them for broadcast and quality may be compromised.

»All videos should abide by Active Worlds content guidelines. We will not show videos containing inappropriate content or vulgar language. You may edit this type of content out, but we will not do so for you. AWNews reserves the right to reject any video content sent to us.

»Supported video formats:

We can accept major video formats such as .mpg, .avi, and .wmv. We prefer .mpg. We also accept .flv (Flash Video) if you are able to export or convert to this format. We will convert all videos used on AWNews to .flv.

AVI

Cinepak Codec by Radius, Cinepak by Supermac
Intel Indeo(R) Video R3.2
Microsoft Video 1
Microsoft RLE
XviD
DivX 3 Lower Motion, DivX 4, DivX 5
TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (TSCC)

MPEG

MPEG-1 (VCD)
MPEG-2 (SVCD.DVD)
MPEG-4 (XviD, MP4, 3GPP)

Quicktime

Sorenson Video 3 Pro with the audio codec MP3, IMA 4:1 (nicht QDesign Standard und Qualcomm PureVoice) or wihtout audio
Exported from Quicktime Pro
Not supported: Exported from Adobe Premiere
Not supported: QDM2 Audio Codec

Windows Media Video

WMV 7, WMV 8
MPEG-4 V3
ISO MPEG-4 V1
Not supported: WMV 9 (However, we should be able to convert WMV 9 to a suitable format if you are unable to)

Ready to submit? The easiest way to send your videos to us is by uploading them to your own web space, if you have some. Send us the link to your video file and we'll take it from there. We can also give you access to an FTP folder on awnews.org which you can upload video files to.

If neither of these work for you, we will discuss other options. Please contact us to submit your videos.

Seen on AWN

Talisan - "Serene": The first video shown on AWN was a video of Serene world created by Talisan.
Runtime: 3min27sec First run on AWN: January 28, 2007

Matt888 - "Welcome to AW": Matt888 created this video to promote the lively aspect of the AW community.
Runtime: 2min36sec First run on AWN: February 4, 2007

tunablues - "Off World: Pata": This video is one of many in the Off World series and showcases Off World's move to Pata world from AlphaWorld.
Runtime: ?min??sec First run on AWN: February, 2007

SW Chris - "SW City Revolution": SW Chris uses his professional video development skills to create this award-winning display of SW City's best features.
Runtime: 3min33sec First run on AWN: March 4, 2007

Disclaimer

Content featured on AWN is copyright to their owners respectively. Builds, other creations, and music used within videos shown on AWN is copyright to their creators respectively. No claims are made to the ownership of such property. AWNews is a not-for-profit, specific audience, community web site. Product names mentioned in this page are copyright/trademark to their owners respectively.

If you or something belonging to you is featured in a video on AWN and you'd rather it not be shown, please contact us with a detailed description of your concern.