[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JgcgBt534]
Via David Oster at the Official Google Mac Blog (“Vidnik” 8 May 2008):
“Vidnik is our newest application in the Google Mac playground. It’s a simple program for using the built-in camera on your Mac to create movies and upload them to YouTube.”
With Macs historically being the poorer cousin in development considerations for the web (with Linux even less considered), this news is welcome indeed.
Currently the program is an early Alpha (version 0.13) and is only available through the Google Code website. Nonetheless, installation is easy; just download the ZIP file and extract it to wherever you’d like to store the program. In keeping with the Mac convention I opted to include it in the Applications folder, but you could just as easily put it on your desktop or videos folder.
The interface is relatively simple, with the only functionality relating to recording, describing and uploading video clips.
As Oster continues:
“Vidnik works with the built-in video cameras on recent Macs, with Firewire video cameras, and with many USB video cameras.”
NB: The README file indicates: “This version works with OS X 10.4 and up.”
In my case I found my hardware was immediately detected and ready for use, which drastically reduced the set-up time and enabled me to immediately proceed to recording my first clip. The application’s minimalistic sensibilities keep Vidnik uncluttered and as such make the program very user-friendly.
Additionally, after a bit of investigation it becomes clear that there are more uses to Vidnik than recording talking-head pieces to camera.
As the the README file explains:
“You can drag movies created in other programs into the playlist pane of the Vidnik window, using Vidnik just as a bulk uploader.”
I’ve yet to test this, but theoretically the fact you’re not limited to natively recorded videos opens the door to uploading more polished video pieces that have been created in other programs such as iMovie or Final Cut Pro. And the ability to bulk upload means prolific video producers can save themselves a great deal of time.
Reports of Audio/Video Sync Issues
A “warning” note on Vidnik’s page at the Google Code site indicates:
“I’ve gotten early reports, for some people, that the movies Vidnik makes work fine on the Macintosh, but when encoded by YouTube, the sound is out of synchronization with the picture. I’m looking in to this, and will report back here when I know more.”
After a bit of investigation it appears that Vidnik works by creating a QuickTime movie, which is stored locally (in Movies/Vidnik) and then uploaded to YouTube. In light of my troubleshooting efforts late last week it’s conceivable that the issue lay with QuickTime rather than Vidnik, however this remains to be seen.
Initial Impressions
Vidnik makes recording and uploading videos to YouTube incredibly easy and was a joy to use. The audio/video syn issues do present a problem however, and therefore make the program an unlikely candidate for primary usage in the short run. Nonetheless I do recommend checking it out and taking it for a spin.
With Vidnik only at version 0.13 currently, I see a strong future for it that can only improve over time.
References:
- “Vidnik“, David Phillip Oster, Official Google Mac Blog, 8 May 2008
- “Vidnik“, Google Code, accessed 13 May 2008
- “ReadMe.txt”, Vidnik installation documentation
- “Vidnik Demonstration“, Mike Bogle, YouTube
Thanks for this.
Always happy to help
One thing I forgot to add. Vidnik has been released under an Apache License 2.0 and is therefore opensource.
The FAQ page of Vidnik’s Google Code site says as much:
Now if I could only code…
There’s also a Google Group devoted to the tool:
http://groups.google.com/group/vidnik
Currently there’s a whopping 4 members – including me – so if you’re interested in helping inform the direction of the project why not join and voice your suggestions?