Q; How do I send a
video through email?
There are four basic methods to send a video through email;
-
Send a video as an attached file.
-
Send a streaming video email
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Upload and send.
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Send a link to a 'hosted' video
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Can you earn money by sending videos?
The attachment
method sends the video as a file attached to a regular text email. It is
recommended only for very short videos, typically 2 or 3 megabytes or shorter.
The recipient will have to wait for the entire video to download before
attempting to watch it; this might require a wait of more than an hour.
The
streaming
video method of video email only sends a tiny bit of information to the recipient
which instructs their computer how to view the video email. Videos up to 6
hours long may be sent by this method. Although it appears that the video is in
the email, it is actually an automatic link. The recipient may begin
watching the video within seconds of clicking the link.
The upload
method is very similar to streaming. The upload method is best
for pre-recorded video, especially very large videos, up to 4,000 megabyte. As in
the streaming method, the recipient does not have to wait for the entire video
to download to begin watching it.
The link to a hosted video method is quite simple, though if you are
fairly new to computers it might take a little practice to get it right.
Overall it is a very reliable way to send a video and you do not have to
be concerned about filling up the recipients inbox. However if the site
that hosts the video has a lot of advertising it may take some patience to get
through to it.
1. Procedure to send a video email as an attachment:
The first step to send a video email as an attachment
is to start your video capture program and record videos with your webcam.
Then you save the file on your hard drive. Be sure to give it a meaningful
name and make note of where you saved the file in the next step. Next, start
your email program and create a new text message. Then click on the button
to "attach file", and when prompted, find the file you saved, click on it and follow
the instructions to attach the file. Then your ISP (internet service provider)
will send the email with the attachment to the addressee. Any decent quality
video of a minute will be approximately 6 million bytes. Unless the recipient
has that much empty space in his inbox, the video email will be rejected.
You will be notified that it was refused, and then you can try to send it again.
Once the addressee recieves your email, they will see that it has an
attachment. They can then click on the attachment and wait for it to download
to their hard drive. Now that they have received the entire file they can
view the video, using any popular viewing program, such as Windows Media Player.
After you hear back from your addressee that they have successfully seen
the video that you sent, you need to go back and delete this video file from your
hard disk. If you do not do this, you will soon find that your hard drive
is overfilled with old, out-of-date, un-needed video files. Be sure to remind
the addressee to periodically peruse their hard drive and erase all of the video
files that the do not wish to keep saving.
Often,
you can save a great deal of time and make your video much smaller. Many digital
photography cameras that also record video, record it in a format called "AVI".
AVI is a very simple way of recording video. It is high quality, it does
not require super-fast processors, but it does take up a lot of space.
When you save your video from your camera to your computer, look at the name of
the video; does it end with .AVI ? If so, then you can use Microsoft
MovieMaker(r) to make it smaller. Since the early days of Windows XP(r)
computers have been shipped with this program. It might not be 'on your
desktop', but it is probably already installed in your computer. Run
Moviemaker(r) and then use the 'import video' function to edit the movie you
shot with your camera. Then click 'save as', choose a new name, and choose
one of the formats suggested. For most video you want to email, try 256k
first and see how you like that format.
Learn
how to convert videos to other formats here at
converting videos.
Notes on sending video as an attachment:
- you must know what internet access speed the recipient has
- you must know the limit on the size of the recipient's mailbox
- you need to know whether the recipient prefers to use flash, quicktime or media
player
- you must regularly delete old email videos from your hard disk
- after sending, you must ask the recipient if they received your video
- if the video will be more than 40 seconds long, you must find a server to host your
video
- the recipient can copy and save your video and then send it on as if it was his
work
2.
Procedure to send a streaming video email:
To send a streaming video email is much quicker and simpler. Simply go
to your webpage, click on 'send new video message'. Record your
video, enter the name of the addressee and click send. Then the
servers store your video and send the text portion of your email to the recipient.
The text portion of your email is sent to your recipient, so there is no
possibility that the video will clog up his/her email inbox. When the addressee
opens your email he will see a graphic filmstrip. If they desire to watch
your video at this time, they click on the filmstrip and watch your video email.
Another magic thing happens at this time. The servers will determine
the connection speed of the internet connection that your addressee is using and
send the best video for that speed. The video is not loaded onto their hard
disk, so there is no need to keep deleting old video files.
Comparing attachments versus streaming video
4. Send a link to a 'hosted' video
A 'hosted' video is a video that already exists on a website. A very
common example is a video on Youtube(r). To send one of these videos, it
is easiest to simply send a link in an email.
During, or after, viewing the video, look for a button or link called "share" or
"link to this video" and click it. You will then see a string of text that
begins with http://www. Copy that
whole string of text and paste it into the email you are sending.
The procedure to "copy" and "paste" the link will vary a little bit by computer
and website, but here is the general procedure.
These instructions assume you are right-handed. Right click your
mouse over the text for the link; a small menu will appear. Now left click
on 'copy'. Now go to your email and left-click your mouse in the
text you are sending to place your cursor where you want the link. Then
'right-click' your mouse, select 'paste' and left-click paste. The
link will be inserted into your email.
copyright 2007, 2010
JTK Communications, Inc.
