Eeviac

I'm on a really low budget.... but considering selling some things.... I'm thinking I might be able to get a web cam like the apple iSight and do some movies of myself playing..... I always make my bed so it won't be that bad!

Anyone with any experience with the iSight?

misty.sj

Not that one specifically, but you can get Webcams for super cheap. Look on Woot.com, they have daily specials, and quite often they feature Webcams.

Once you make your movie, there are several programs to get it into YouTube format. One that is free is called 'Any Video Converter.' Not sure if it works on the Mac (I assume you're on a Mac). The format for YouTube is 'flv.'

Eeviac

Turns out they don't make the iSight any more, but yeah, lots of web cams out there. I'll have to look around and see what a good model is.

I'd like to put a lot of crazy stuff on there, I guess no "investigative reporter on the street" stuff for now, but I could do some crazy stuff at home. Including ..... play my trumpet!

misty.sj

If you want to do non-computer recording just save up a little longer and get a camcorder that records to a SD or compact flash card. You can get a tripod for it and record yourself playing trumpet, or you can take it on the street with you. Again, Woot has them often. Check reviews somewhere like Amazon.com before you buy one, even on a discount.

Good luck!

Richard Oliver

I have a Mac. iSight works great. iMovie would work for Youtube I'm guessing.

Patric_Bernard

get a nice microphone.. or you'll end up jerry rigging some kind of high quality mic... With socks and shirts and stuffed inside a stuffed animal... like I did for awhile

GordonH

Please be careful if you use Vista.
I have just spend a day dealing with this.

My son has a vista PC and wanted a webcam. Knowing the compatibility problems we have had with hardware drivers on vista he went out and bought Microsoft's own webcam. It would not work with vista even though it said so on the box. I couldn't do anything to make it work.

I took it back to the shop and sent for a Logitech one which was cheaper and it worked first time. I am in the Uk and it cost me £10.50 which is about $22.

The logitech software allows you to select which audio source to use when recording video. However, I can't get any output from the external microphone plugged into the computer. I have tried two computers and two microphones so I am not sure whats going on. This is part of my investigations for this weekend.

I also use a logitech webcam but I have been using the onboard microphone which is not brilliant but it does work.
Sticking stuff on youtube is actually an easier process than recording MP3's and trying to embed them in web pages because youtube does all the embedding for you.

Eeviac

Nope I use a mac. Up until about 7 months ago, I was running a business and life's too short for the constant maintenance and repairs needed by a machine running Microsoft. The computer is a tool - I wanted to get work done not fix the computer all the time. So I've used macs for years.

I think if I can find an iSight somewhere cheap, that might work well. The other option is just to google around and see what the good web cam is, there's probably a lot of testing out there by one-handed typists lol.