sending video via email

[loobydoo75]

Hi,
Im trying to send a video of my boy to his dad who works away and doesnt get to see him much.. i have a camcorder but thought id try the web cam on laptop as seems quicker way.. do these need converting to a different file type to send? i tried to email but jus seemed to take forever then came up with error.. the video was only 15 sec long so unsure as to what it can be and what i would need to do in order to send.. any help would be gratefully recieved ;0)

[Buenchico]

If you've created a video file which will play on your PC then it should play on the recipient's PC. That, of course, assumes that you're watching it with 'bog standard' software, such as Windows Media Player, and that the recipient has the same software on his PC.

So there's no definitee need to change the format of the video file. However, if you've made the recording using the AVI format, the file will be uncompressed and therefore very large. Many mail systems won't permit you to send attachments greater than a certain size, so that could be where your problem lies.

There are two possible solutions that come to mind

Firstly, you could leave the file in its existing format and use a free file transfer service, such as SendSpace:
http://www.sendspace.com/
(The file goes to the SendSpace server and you send a link to the file to the recipient, so that he can download it from there)

Alternatively, you could convert the file to a compressed format (such as MPEG), which you should be able to email conventionally. This might do the job:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/518513
but you should check that the quality of the converted file is acceptable before emailing it.

Chris

[fo3nix]

I'd personally use Flickr.

Flickr is a website for sharing photos. But it now offers the ability to share videos too.

It also gives you the ability to make the videos or photos private, and only let certain people see them. Probably what you want.

It's free to use (both you and your husband would have to sign up -- or use the same account and each know the password), and allows you to upload 90 second videos. (Doesn't seem like a lot, but should be enough... you can always use Windows Movie Maker to split a longer video up.)

http://flickr.com