Forums / Feature Requests / Video Recording

It's true that this is convenient, but I think it leads to a lot of boring webcam videos. What are other people's opinions on this feature? In my mind, Vimeo is about doing more than just turning on your webcam.

I don't think it would necessarily decrease the amount of creative videos, but I think it would increase the amount of boring videos about nothing.

I understand that some people only use Vimeo for updates on what they're doing etc - in which case simple webcam videos are all they need - and that's fine, but Im pretty certain that all webcams come with simple capture software, so they can make their videos and upload them very easily. I personally prefer it if people put in even just a minute of editing (maybe just to cut the off and on of the camera). Like you showed in one of your videos [Dalas] a little editing can go a long way;
vimeo.com/clip:129095

I think that so far, Vimeo has been about encouraging (but not forcing) creativity in people, and I personally think that the direct capture to the site might do the opposite (encourage not being creative).

I'm not a big fan of webcam videos. I prefer the more artisitc and creative videos that make up a lot of the vimeo content.

I think the best use on this site for a webcam capture feature would be to allow video commenting, which could and should be fairly spontaneous. It would probably be a good idea to limit the comments to 20 seconds or so. But for actual "feature" videos, I agree with the skeptics.

Hm, now I have to find the thread where we discussed the pros and cons of video commenting ;) I'm also against that feature for the same reason.

Thread on video comments: vimeo.com/forums/topic:1175

I'm not sure that video comments would be any more or less boring than written comments. For that matter, I'm not even sure whether video commenting would get used much. But I do think that a time-limited video commenting feature would be somewhat different from what YouTube does. There, there is no limit, so the video comment can turn into a *sequel*, or a rant, etc. I'm thinking of something more limited, scaled down--maybe even a small window for the playing of video comments, separate from the main video window and not replacing it on the screen. The main thing I don't like about the YouTube system is that it *leads you away* from the main video itself. But if there were a way to add a little window, not much bigger than an avatar, where video comments would appear when clicked, then the focus would still be on the the video being commented on. Does any other site do anything like this?

That's actually an interesting idea. If video comments stayed specifically on the same page as the clip they're related to... but still, if it's only a comment what's the point in making it a video? I'd rather just read a couple of lines of text than download another video.

Using Youtube as an example, I've never seen a video comment that wasn't a waste of time to download and watch.

I'm more interested in seeing what you see than seeing what your webcam sees.

I agree with Jakob. But then there are times when you want to comment on a clip but you can't put into words and you need to just quickly show something. I did a quick video response to a clip a few minutes ago and at first I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could just hit "Video Response"? I remember seeing that on YouTube but never used it. But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought that Vimeo could be littered with Video Comments. Unless maybe it is tagged with "Video Comment" and maybe clip number? Then it acts like your homepage intro clip where it only shows on that particular page. A lot of steps but, I guess if you really need to give a video comment you are really gonna go through the trouble of making it. Making it too easy, makes it too easy to put up all kinds of shit.

vimeo would become a new home for video bloggers that usually dont have much to say. If people are to post something that they spent about 30 to 200 hours working on, they wont mind the converting and the uploading process that takes about 10minutes, dont you think ?

"I'm more interested in seeing what you see than seeing what your webcam sees." Kudo ! that s brilliant.

Again, I'd like to point out that the kind of video comment that I think would make sense here would be (a) limited in duration. It's a *comment*, not a blog; (b) small in size, like a footnote to the actual video; (c) on the same page as the clip that they're about, so they don't lead you away from it. This is not much like YouTube's setup.

Would some video comments be vapid? Of course, just as some written comments are vapid. But sometimes a facial expression, a gesture, an intonation can convey a lot.

As for seeing what one sees, rather than what one's webcam sees...well, our webcams see *us*, so video comments are just another way of seeing each other.

Personally I would hate video comments. If they were only a few seconds long, I would rather read a paragraph of text than see a few clips that say "Yeah, that was good". I think with text it's a lot easier to get conversations going because you don't have to download loads of little clips of two second comments. If the video responses were longer than a few seconds then I wouldn't really want to download extra videos on a page which are just going to be people waffling on about what they thought of the video. Like Pauk said; "Using Youtube as an example, I've never seen a video comment that wasn't a waste of time to download and watch."

I think video comments would be the death of the conversations we get with text only responses - which I think are one of the best aspects of Vimeo.

What it boils down to, is either download a few 2 second clips of video responses to see what people are saying - or have it ALL infront of you instantly in writing on the page.

well, in the worse case senario. I believe that a "link to video" response that lets you put a video thumbnail and link at the bottum of your awnser could be a way to explain something in images and make the videos go around.

Edit: I duno about you, but I m lstening music when I browse and I would want to stop each time to see what one has to say. Imagine this tread in conversation video only. Deadly for the site's bandwidth

After reconsidering and reading these comments, I think it's possible that we could integrated video comments at some point, but it would have to be special. Like maybe when you watch a video, your webcam automatically starts recording your reaction, and your contacts can then watch the video "with" you.

that's hot. my favorite thing is people's reactions. it's probably so annoying - i always show my friends videos, and then, while they watch the videos, i watch my friends. it's way more interesting to me.

but watch together is HOT. groupwatch. partywatch. basically, you press a button that simultaneously starts playing the video and starts recording you. it automatically stops recording you when the video ends, and posts your watch next to the video. hahahaha. hilarious the more i think about it. of course people would inevitably exaggerate or even fabricate their reactions, but there are a LOT of possibilities with this. studies have shown that people laugh more and enjoy themselves more in the presence of fellow audience members...how fun would it be to watch a video and laugh, cry, gasp and wince along with others!?!? haha

and hope people aren t doing dirty things while watching your video.

Yeah, I think Dalas expressed my opinion on this matter pretty well in his first reply. I'm always trying to watch out and make sure this place doesn't turn into YouBoob :). And, Jakob's idea of it bieng a "special" think seemed to make more sense.

i like group watch. but how to coordinate when everyone will watch a certain clip? or am i missing how it is suppose to work? I like the idea of instant record when you "first" view a clip. Having it as an option (meaning you'd have to enable it for each clip) that is in place when you view for and ONLY for the first time but then isn't an option if you were to view the same clip again. Unless maybe if you Deleted your already recorded Video Reaction.

So has this gone any further?

We've built proof of concepts but I honestly don't think we'll be implementing this. Other sites have implemented video comments and we think they detract from the conversation.

I'm not opposed to video comments and video capturing features but I personally wouldn't use them.

I wouldn't mind vidcoms being a feature as long as you have the option to turn it off. I wouldn't be interested in watching them so I wouldn't want people to be able to post them to my vids.

I think the video capturing could be great for people who need that function in order to post videos. I don't think it'd necessarily make for more boring or pointless vids. Boring and pointless can be shot with any camera lol But it would make for a lot of vids that have the same "look", which can make them feel repetitive in the longrun so I probably wouldn't watch them just for that reason alone.

So its a no go mission then? Even if there is an option to turn it on or something ?

I find any videos that are just people talking in front of their webcams extremely boring. Another thing is the majority of video responses on YouTube are posted as responses for the sole purpose of getting a link on the original video's page to get more traffic.

@Ted Avery
I understand where your coming from. And yes, it is a little boring. Most... of the time. Theres some out there, that i find interesting and it breaks my day up. I dont know about others.. But im still guessing this will be a no go mission ? :P

This site is great with all of the contributions from creative people showing videos/movies in whatever capacity after putting a little or a lot of effort into it. Let's not let it become a You Tube.

@Dan Huston
I understand.

Agreed. That is what makes vimeo different. Any Douche can click record on a webcam. Lets keep vimeo for people that make and watch well made good looking videos and films.

We are not going to add this feature.