mart said:
Nice to see you back in operation. Looks good.
Thanks. Technically speaking I was never out of operation. My website was always open. But it took me a long time to put out a new release because I had some major troubles with my computer that prevented me from producing more videos. It was almost three months before I could work on something new. But things seem to be back to normal now, so I'll work hard to release videos more regularly, say once per month (hopefully).
TKLMAN said:
Cool .... I'm a fan of your vids , Francois ........ will the "ordering by credit card" function be fixed soon?
I'm afraid it's out of my hands. Until a few months ago I was selling through clips4sale, or more precisely videos4sale (since my videos are physical products, and not clips). At least for credit card orders. They're still working on their billing system. They should be done soon, but until then there's nothing I can do. Sorry.
SYELLA said:
I would love to order by credit card as well. Will you ever consider doing pay per view as a option?
You mean downloadable clips? It's not a matter of me wanting or not wanting to offer such clips. Rather, it's a matter of me not having the technical means to do it. I'd love to have my own store, but it's not really possible for me right now. For the moment, it's likely I'll deal through clips4sale. But they're not quite done with the changes to their billing system. I think it should be fully functional very soon, but I don't exactly when. When it's ready I may very well start offering clips.
I must admit, however, that I'm still hesitant about some aspects of clip creation. I can do it, no problem there, but I'm not sure what's the best file size/frame size/picture quality compromise. Some producers are offering 640x480 clips, which is great, but the file sizes and bit rates are pretty high. I did some tests myself, and I'm not happy with the level of quality I can get without using a ridiculously high bit rate. I'm worried some customers would have a really hard time downloading such big files, and some may have trouble getting the clips to play properly if the bit rate is too high. I'm simply not ready for 640x480 yet.
I'm considering 480x360, which I think is a pretty decent frame size. I could make such clips look quite nice at a reasonable file size. But while the clips look pretty neat, I do prefer them at a frame size of 400x300. If it were only up to me I'd go with that frame size, as I can make the clips look a tad better while making the files a bit smaller. The problem is that I don't know what are the expectations of the customers, what they prefer. Considering some people may be getting used to the larer 640x480 clips available now, is it best to go for really large frame sizes, even if it means having lesser quality or really huge files, or are people tolerant of smaller frame sizes, as long as the quality is better and the file sizes smaller? Does it even matter at all? Personally, I'd prefer the latter (smaller frame size, file size and bit rate, better picture quality), but I can't speak for the customers, and I don't know what they want.
Another issue is that since each monitor is different, with different brightness, contrast, gamma, etc. settings, a clip that looks fine on one monitor may look very dark on another one and pale and washed out on yet another. You don't have that problem with TV. I find it very challenging to adjust the looks of a clip so that it looks good on most monitors. I wouldn't want customers to be disappointed with the clips, even though they might look just fone on my own computer.
So as you can see, creating and selling downloadable clips isn't as easy at it may see. I'd like to offer them, but there's a few issues I have to figure out first. And unless I find another solution, I depend on clips4sale.
