Although its hard for people who use Web video on a daily basis to believe, there are many Internet users who are completely in the dark about the power of Internet video and how to utilise it.

Learning The Ropes

While sites such as YouTube continue to grab viewers attention, the revolution that is Web video is still at quite an early stage and many Web users are still learning the ropes.

We’ve reviewed quite a few books intended to give a grounding for those people looking to move in to the world of Web video, and now we have a review of a DVD intended to do exactly the same thing.

From Books To DVD

In the same way that the How To Do Everything With Online Video and Mastering Internet Video: A Guide to Streaming and On-Demand Video books tried to give an entry-level view of Web video, so does this DVD.

The Easy Guide To Web Video DVD offers a step-by-step guide to capturing, preparing, uploading, and sharing video on the Internet. And being a DVD means it has an added advantage in offering visual guides to the processes involved.

This DVD, directed by Bill Myers, offers advice on everything you’ll need to know to get started with Web video. And it’s all presented in simple steps with clear instructions.

Huge Range Of Topics

The range of topics covered on this 68 minute DVD include:-

• Why you’ll want to have video on the web.
• How having video on the web can increase sales on your website.
• How to quickly have your own video channel for free.
• How to almost instantly create web video from photographs.
• How to capture video from your camcorder to your computer.
• How to prepare your video for the web.
• How to add graphics to your videos – and why you’ll want to.
• How to add background music to your videos.
• How to render video to get the best quality on the web.
• How to upload videos to YouTube, Google Video, and MetaCafe.
• How to get paid for the videos you upload to the web.
• How to share your videos with others.
• How to convert your videos into flash.

Conclusions

This DVD caters for anyone new to the world of Web video, and so people with existing knowledge need not buy it.

For everyone else, it’s a must see if you want to become part of the video revolution currently shaping the Internet.

[Buy the 'Easy Guide To Web Video DVD' On Amazon]

Whether you’re an amateur hobbyist, work for a company who want an online video presence, or are a software developer, a thorough understanding of the issues involved can make a hell of a difference to your life.

Mastering Internet Video

Which is where a best-selling book on Amazon entitled Mastering Internet Video: A Guide to Streaming and On-Demand Video, comes in to play. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and provides readers with a basic guide to the intricacies involved in Internet video.

The book takes you through the processes required to get video on to the Web. Starting with preparing and capturing, through to editing and compressing, and finally to uploading and delivering your content on to the Web.

Clear and Concise Advice

Every issue involved in the process is spelt out in a clear and concise manner, with the author, Damien Stolarz, offering both conceptual and practical information for people on every level of experience.

The key issues of compression, formats, standards, servers, software, hardware, networking, multi-casting, digital rights management, and video editing are all covered in a coherent manner, with easy to understand language being used at every turn.

A Range Of Topics

There are also step-by-step solutions for each of today’s most common Internet video usage scenarios, and the range of topics covered in depth in this 504 page book include:

• Comprehensive conceptual coverage of capturing, preparing, and deploying video on the Internet
• A practical guide to video compression—including expert help with performance and quality tradeoffs
• Objective information for evaluating streaming servers, software, and hardware—including solutions from Microsoft, Real, Apple, Macromedia, and others
• How networks and the Internet handle video data—including the challenges of real-time data delivery

If you are looking for an easy way to get to grips with the terminology and technology involved in Internet video, this book, which currently retails for just $31.49, is a great introduction to the business.

[Buy 'Mastering Internet Video' On Amazon]

Luckily there are resources designed to help you get you started on the road to producing high-quality videos to share on sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion and Metacafe.

One of these resources is a book titled How To Do Everything With Online Video, part of the How To Do Everything series of books which take you through the process from beginning to end and give you a nice overview of the skills and equipment needed.

The Ultimate Guide To Online Video

The book is billed as “the ultimate guide to planning, creating, editing, and sharing video content online” and the range of topics covered include shooting and editing videos, preparing clips for posting, and how to share projects through websites, blogs, and podcasts.

The book was written by Andrew Shalat, a writer, author and consultant on many tech subjects. The book has 12 chapters, and 270 pages full of fact-filled advice for both PC and Mac owners.

Nicely Laid Out

If you buy the book, you can expect to read hands-on tutorials, covering much of the best video editing software, as well as an overview of camera techniques, story-telling concepts, and advice on lighting and sound.

The chapters are nicely laid-out and easy to read. The text is purely black and white, and there are a woefully small number of screenshots, but despite that, the guidelines are very easy to follow, even for beginners.

Whether you are just starting out in the world of Web video, or have dabbled but need to know how to optimize you video output, then this book could prove to be an invaluable purchase.

[Buy How To Do Everything With Online Video On Amazon]

Thankfully, there are a number of resources available for anyone keen to learn the basics about IPTV, and the how, where and when of IP Television.

There is Web TV Wire of course, which thankfully you are reading now, but we simply cannot offer the type of crash course some people may need to get in to the business of IPTV.

There are, however, books on the subject which cover exactly that, providing readers with a good basic knowledge base to work with, and start increasing how much they know about IP Television.

IPTV Crash Course

One such book is IPTV Crash Course, which as you can probably tell by the name, tries to give you a broad understanding of many aspects involved in IPTV, without blinding you with the science behind the technology.

The book is a practical resource, which tries to offer straightforward explanations about the basic fundamentals involved in digital television, as well as some more detailed and in-depth coverage of the hardware and software involved.

Discussion Points

Some of the elements discussed in IPTV Crash Course include system architecture, home networking, copy protection and digital rights management.

While squarely aimed at beginners, who may just be dipping their toes in to the concept of IPTV, people who may already have a firm grasp of the concept will still find something of interest, and that they didn’t previously know.

Well Organised Overview

It provides a slew of knowledge raising content written in a clear and uncomplicated way. Everything is organised to allow easy access to the topics of interest, with chapters well thought out.

The price of the book is also very good considering how much of a resource this could prove to anyone looking to start, or increase their knowledge base about IPTV, and the technologies involved therein.

[Get the IPTV Crash Course Book on Amazon]