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what do I use to get my video tours online?

By Craig Bartels

Real Estate Agent with The Indy Realty Shop

November 11, 2006 02:34 PM

I have been asked this several times, how am doing this? It's actually fairly simple, but takes practice to knock these out quickly. I can get a full video with narrative done in less then 20 minutes including filming.

Software used: Microsoft Movie Maker(free on Windows XP installations)

Acoustica MP3 audio Mixer here:

http://www.acoustica.com/mp3-audio-mixer/

The above program allows me to mix the narrative I do in Movie Maker with an mp3 of a song I want played in the background. I then save the new mp3 file, drop this into my movie maker project, save project for broadband viewing, then upload to videos.google.com and also www.youtube.com

Video is the future for real estate,

A few examples of some of my video tours: They are by no means fancy, but get the job done. I would like to get a more expensive video camera with a wider angle lens, it will make it easier to shoot in these tighter quarters.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7861002672186802492&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5715108556409366165&hl=en

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Jacqulyn Richey

Prominent Realty Group - Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas Real Estate

With google buying YouTube, they now have over 80% of the market share for video search. You should upload to youtube as well. Charles

Nov 11, 2006 03:03 PM

Craig Bartels

The Indy Realty Shop - Indianapolis, IN

actually I use both. I seem to have more problems with youtubes video uploading interface, it's browser based(you can use a windows upload program for google videos). It seems to slow my pc down to a crawl when it's uploading via youtube. I hope google fixes this soon..

Nov 11, 2006 03:13 PM

also, for now, youtube only allows videos of up to 10 minutes in length and only 100 megs. I sometimes post videos of over 10 minutes in length. I am sure google is going to just merge them both together in the future, so I am sure all these quirks will be fixed then.

Nov 11, 2006 03:20 PM

Rob Wills

Gilpin Realty Inc. - Everett, WA

I guess I will have to learn how to do this. Now where is the darn instruction book?

Nov 11, 2006 03:31 PM

Brian Nelso

Thneed, LLC - Aliso Viejo, CA

Craig, well done with the videos. As an additional tool have you considered creating audio podcasts? We have set up a podcasting tool on 4MySales.com that is available to agents for that purpose.

Nov 11, 2006 06:17 PM

I just started playing with audio podcasts. I have a tool I use for this as well, called Sonic Memo Pro. It's available here:

http://sonicmemo.com/

I just started playing with it, and have two audios created, one is a test one is on one of my blogs: blog.ansonindiana.biz

The test one is at

http://zionsvillehomesonline.com/zionsvillehomesonline-mp3.htm

the picture is of my wife, and the voice is mine, so don't freak out:)

Nov 11, 2006 11:58 PM

S. Leanne Paynter ☼ Broward County, FL

United Realty Group, Inc. - Davie, FL

Davie, Plantation, Cooper City & Weston Specialist

Craig, thanks for the info and the links to your videos... it gave me a good idea of what I can expect to be able to do myself as this is something I'd like to learn and get started on. Can you clarify a couple of things...

Do you do the narrative while the video is being shot or afterwards? Where do you get the music from? Are there no copyrights on the music? In what price range can I expect to find a video camera with a wide angle lens? My Windows XP (1 yr. old) did not come with MS Movie Maker... since I'd have to buy software, is that the one you'd recommend or have you heard of another that is better (but easy to learn)? Ever done a community video tour?

Nov 12, 2006 01:52 AM

I do the narrative afterwards, while I am at home. Make sure you have a good USB microphone, the one I have cost about $125 bucks. It makes a huge difference.

The software is free!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

I do need to look at the copywright issues though..

I am not for sure of the cost of one with a wide angle lens, havn't yet researched it, but I am guessing it's at least 1k or so....

Nov 12, 2006 02:20 AM

I am thinking of doing a community video tour....do you have any examples of this online?

Nov 12, 2006 02:22 AM

I don't remember where I've come across a community video tour (though I've seen a few virtual ~ not video ~ ones), but I know I saw a couple of examples a month or two back. If I come across one, I'll include a link here. Thanks for the reply and I'm glad to know the software is free!

Nov 12, 2006 03:40 AM

Stefan Scholl

Buyer's Broker of Northern Michigan, LLC - Petoskey, MI

Northern Michigan Real Estate

Craig, thanks again for sharing. What do you use for your background music. Is royalty-free background music available? Or can it be licensed?

Nov 12, 2006 05:25 AM

royalty-free music is available, do a search for royal free mp3s in google

Nov 12, 2006 05:53 AM

Thanks for the tip, Craig. Is it hard to find good stuff?

Nov 12, 2006 07:05 AM

not really, there is a lot of free stuff out there..

Nov 12, 2006 08:38 AM

Anonymous

Jim

Try ShowYourPlace.com, designed specifically for real estate video hosting. Can be embedded on your web site or myspace. Even this page!

Feb 02, 2007 06:28 AM

#15

what do I use to get my video tours online?

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