We’ve all been there. Rushing to that great video that was going to blow our minds with transformative power. We clicked on it and…crickets. Two minutes later we’re on to the next thing and lost the chance to have our mind blown.

Worse, of course, is when it happens to your video.

Want to fix that problem forever and still keep the quality as great as it can be?

Just watch!

    44 replies to "How to Make Your Videos Start Instantly"

    • Amelia

      Steven Washer, I always open your emails because you always deliver valuable and meaty information. Thanks

    • Margherita

      What a great video, and funny too! I had no idea how complicated video making is, but you make it seem so easy, Steve.. and now we go to QT swapping..

      • Steve

        Only if you need to, remember. Some editing programs are smarter than average ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Carol

      Great information,as usual, thanks – and just when I thought I figured this out all on my own! One question … are these solutions in place of the *autoplay* tag we can insert when embedding video?

      • Steve

        Not really. That’s a completely different matter. You can tell a video to autoplay, but if the browser doesn’t catch on, it will just continue to spin and spin and spin…

    • Sam Thatte

      Steven,
      This was very helpful. Thanks! I was just wondering yesterday why my videos were taking a long time to load. Timely!

      • Steve

        Hope this helps, Sam. Thanks for watching!

    • Tamara

      Thank you, affable, open, generous and really HELPFUL! I appreciate the non-spin, and the absence of the increasingly common “just listen to me for 40 mins and THEN I’ll give you what you came for” approach.
      Tamara

      • Steve

        Thanks, Tamara! It’s a little thing, but I like to think it makes a difference…

    • Rick

      Great info, as usual! 2 things: Is there a transcript or pdf of the key points at the end (including the websites) so I can download it? and also, I wasn’t able to click on the title on the monitor to view something (around 2:32–“Make your upload crystal clear”)–was I supposed to be able to?

      Thanks for your assistance.

    • Naomi

      Hmmm, maybe I am being a little dense; however, this is an AIR file. Itโ€™s not a program and it looks like it needs to be opened with a specific piece of Adobe software. What software opens this file? Great video if it would have actually shown how to download the file, what software to use to open the file and how to use. Iโ€™m a semi-geek in training, but not a full geek yet? Further instructions on how to save this file and open this QTIndexSwapper.air file would be appreciate.

    • Naomi

      Whoops, how rude, meant to say thank you for the information, and any further information would be appreciated. Always watch every one of your videos for great information.

      • Steve

        If you don’t have Adobe Air, you need to download and install that first. Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward and installs like any other program.

        • Naomi

          Okay, then it’s me on my end. I supposedly have Adobe Air on my system, even installed an update, but can’t find the actual program. The geek in me now has a task, find where the heck Adobe Air is residing on my hard drive, because it’s hiding for some reason. Thanks for your help Steve and all the great videos!

          • Steve

            You shouldn’t need to know where the Adobe Air program is. It works in the background and the only thing you need to work with is the swapper program. At least that’s how it works for most of us.

          • Naomi

            For those who were also having issues finding their Adobe Air installation on a Windows 7 64 bit system, it is located at:

            C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesAdobe AIRVersions1.0Resources

            So, download the QTIndexSwapper from http://renaun.com/blog/code/qtindexswapper/ and save to your hard drive in a location you can easily find (desktop is fine). After downloading, right click on the file and select Open With > Choose Default Program. Click on the Browse button and go to the above path. Double click on the Adobe Air Installer, which will put it in the โ€œOpen Withโ€ program window. Double click on Adobe Air Application Installer and follow the instructions.
            Hope this helps.

            • Steve

              I’m sure it does help a lot. Thanks so much, Naomi! I forget how hard a road Windows folks walk sometimes. It’s a great blessing to have “translators” standing by :))

    • Jeff

      You Rock. I use handbrake and have just begun using ev suite. I have noticed my videos play slower and have not been happy with ev suite but love the features
      Will the new add on correct this oh big head tech god?
      Thanks Steve as always great video

      • Steve

        The only problem with EV Suite is that the transcoding is happening in a black box. So if the videos aren’t playing right for you, open them up in QTindexSwapper and see at least if the problem isn’t with the metadata.

        • jeff Harrison

          Thank you Steve…thought about maybe first running them through handbrake and then uploading to evsuite?
          I am going to begin using the QTindexSwapper…what a neat piece of info UR King Steve!
          Thanks

          • Steve

            Running your videos through Handbrake prior to uploading to EVSuite would be a great idea.
            Thanks!

            • jeff Harrison

              Steve appears my best choice it to use handbrake and then upload to Easy VideoPlayer…
              after I used handbrake and then attempted to upload to EV Suite…the system would not open….
              still the videos play quick and easily…
              the following is a sample of a video we shot for the first tee of the coachella valley to help improve retention and interaction…fun stuff!
              http://jeff.evplayer.com/first-tee-courtesy/

            • Steve

              Nice video for the kids! You make a lot of videos, so you should be using EVS because of its awesome data management features.

              Just don’t try uploading from your desktop “application.” That’s where it’s getting hung up, I suspect. Instead, use the upload feature from the web application instead.

    • Kristin

      Thank you for easy to understand info that helps my marketing. I open your emails and listen to your videos whenever I can, unlike most others. Thanks!

      • Steve

        Thanks very much, Kristin. We’re like AVIS. We try harder ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Michael

      Many thanks Steve,

      Actually, on your videos once you moved from YouTube to Vimeo I’ve been having a different issue. It seems your default Vimeo HD videos like the one on your post here studder and temporary hang after playing the first 5-12 seconds (for about 10 seconds). I went to http://www.SpeedTest.net and noted my download speed is 35.3Mbps, although on this computer the CPU is only 2.4Ghz with 3GB of RAM. IMHO, this is fairly normal on slower PCs more than 2 years old. At any rate, since many of my clients have older PCs I like to regularly use this one “in the wild” to ensure rendered videos don’t experience these types of problems (testing encoded videos before submitting to target audience).

      At any rate, to date I’ve never had an end user bring up the issue you described (I encode using Adobe CS Encoder, Camtasia 8 or Sorenson Squeeze). I appreciate your “heads-up” and be on the lookout!

      Happy Trails, Michael

      • Steve

        The stuttering issue is most likely because I’ve been choosing the HD option as a default. Also, I’ve been taking Vimeos advice and digitizing the videos at a higher rate than I used to. both of these changes were probably not for the better.

        So thanks for the heads-up. For now, if you unclick the HD option on the control bar, I bet the stuttering will go away….

        • Michael Nistler

          Righto Steve – in fact, simply pressing the widget “pause” button for a few seconds usually takes care of the buffer/latency issue. BTW, I did note and appreciate the nice higher resolution video quality (I assume the bit of snow/noise visible in full screen is a function of your camera, ambient lighting, or re-encodes).
          Cheers, Michael

          • Steve

            Yes, mostly because I don’t produce these for output above 1280 x 720 for precisely the reason you brought up before. For many people, that’s just too high a resolution to see easily without stuttering. It is for me as well.

    • Peter Sandeen

      Hey Steve,

      I think I’m covered since I use Final Cut Pro X, right?

      As a note, the link to the other video doesn’t work. At least not on my computer.

      I found it, so no problem. But a question if you don’t mind: Even if I set the bit rate to 2500 (for a 720p video), the transitions from one slide to another are horrible. Any thoughts to what could be the problem? I’ve looked through every setting I could think of in Compressor… I know I’m just missing something. So…

      Oh, great big giant head guru in the sky, why is my video quality so poor? ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Cheers,
      Peter

      • Steve

        Peter, you MIGHT be covered in FCP. It all depends on which output module you choose. Some don’t even touch this file.

        So to your issue with transitions. This has to do with how videos are encoded in the first place. The MP4 codec is pretty robust, but it’s based on the amount of change in picture from frame to frame. The thing about transitions is that every single frame is different all the way through the frame, than every other frame. Consequently, you need an extraordinarily high bit rate to get them to render properly. Something on the order of 3500 kbps. If the video is long, this makes for a pretty big file, but as long as you get the start file in the right place, it should stil load and play progressively as though it’s being streamed.

        • Peter Sandeen

          Thanks for the clarification. That’s what I was afraid of. Just thought that since only a few lines of text change during the transition it wouldn’t require an insane bit rate.

          How can people post anything with moving image to YouTube? Panning, zooming, etc. make a much bigger difference on the screen, do they not?

          Curious, do you usually use the 1250 bit rate for your videos? Did you increase it for the videos with flying?

          • Steve

            Not sure where you got the 1250 spec. Did I talk about that somewhere else? Anyway, the bit rate is also dependent on the resolution. The flying video here http://www.audiencebuildersblueprint.com was always meant to be pretty small. I think it was 640 x 360. That doesn’t require a mondo bit rate. In fact, 1000 kbps would be high for that.

            The good thing about YouTube is that you can be a bit (not too much, mind you) careless about how you digitize your videos because they make 5 different versions of it based on how high a resolution they get from you.

            So if you’re going to publicly share a spiffy slide show, give it a really high bit rate and share it from YouTube.

            The alternative to YouTube for creating multiple versions of your video is now Easy Video Suite. This lets you be in more control of your content.

            • Peter Sandeen

              You used it in your example in the video about bloated videos ๐Ÿ˜‰

              So, rather a bit too big than too small. And I’m using Easy Video Suite now (thanks to your recommendation ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • Guy D.

      Steve:

      You are a master with your video presentations. I downloaded QT index swapper and it checked a recent video that I had no uploaded and my premier pro wife actually packed the suitcase right. Do you think it was a fluke or should I run every video through QT?

      Regards,
      Guy

      • Steve

        Guy, if you’re sure you have a system that now includes putting this little file in the right place, then you should be covered. It’s just that now you have a new diagnostic tool for when the process fails!

    • John Charbonneau

      Steve, great video!!! This was very valuable information for me. Rather unfortunate that people jumped on you thinking that you were making a blanket recommendation that all videos be set up to auto play. I knew what you were talking about, glad to find out you have thick skin and were very professional in your responses. Keep up the excellent work!!!!

    • Steve

      Thanks so much, John! That means a lot. Of course the mixup was understandable, especially because I did not take the time to separate the two concepts in my video. Live and learn ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Corina

      Hi Steve

      could you kindly let me know if I have this understanding correctly below re using QT index (maybe do a video some time on actually using this QT index as not clear on what you actually do.)

      For example say you have created a video and done some effects and transitions over in sony vegas/prem pro whatever. Your happy so now you render it to complete as an mp4 file ready for your website or youtube etc.

      ****Would you then open this complete mp4 file over in the u QTIndexSwapper 2 software and process it in that and THEN upload it to youtube or your website ?

      Have I got the process right?
      (And would you say Steve always really a god policy to now include and use this QT index software each time as part of creating your video files ready to use on your website ?
      Would handbrake also have to be used BEFORE using QT index?

      we just got easy video suite I presume we simply add the file created by QT index to EVS folder files ready to play?

      oh and always best I was told to use keywords etc in your mp4 file name, so my last question does the fact on using QTIndexSwapper 2 will it add anything to the file name and thus interfere with keywords you named the mp4 file?

      A number of questions I know! But I think it may also help others also get clear on the best use of the process

      many thanks
      Corina

      • Steven Washer

        I’ll try to be efficient in my answer.

        1. “and THEN upload it to youtube or your website ?” Yes.

        2. I would always use QTIndex Swapper with videos that come straight out of any editing program. You would not need to use it after compressing the video in Handbrake, as long as you tick the “web optimized” button.

        3. “…add the file created by QT index to EVS folder” Yes.

        4. Always put the keyword in your video file name. QTIS will not add any terms to the file name.

        Hope that helps!

    • Corina

      Thanks Steve for reply!

      Just to clarify:
      My understanding is So, I may not need to use QT index IF, Handbrake was CORRECTLY used/applied (quote ‘as long you tick the โ€œweb optimizedโ€ button’.) so instead handbrake then is also a solution is that what you mean?
      (I ask as have not YET used handbrake – only know about it):
      Not bothered which I use just want to get it right….
      let me know

      many thanks
      Corina

      • admin

        The answer is that it definitely might be, but as always, it depends on what editing program you output your videos with and how it’s feeling that day. I’ve had Handbrake videos fail, so it isn’t 100% foolproof. It’s just very good most of the time.

    • Arla

      appreciate your tips

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