After successfully updating Silverlight 5 package I paid £9.99 to watch ...]]> I tried to watch the Premier League Derby match between Manchester United and Manchester City on my PC (Software 10.8.3)

After successfully updating Silverlight 5 package I paid £9.99 to watch the game. I watched the 60 minute build up to the match with no problems at all. The match kicked off at 20:00 and at 20:15 the signal turned itself off – I had not used my PC during that time.

I tried restarting the computer, changing Silverlight setting, using different browsers (Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox) but could get no picture back all evening while the demand for the stream was extremely high (please see my error messages below)

It’s now the morning after the night before and guess what? I can watch all the Sky Sport Channels with no problem at all.

Don’t bother getting it. £10 is a lot of money for nothing.

ERROR GETTING VIDEO INFORMATION

EXCEEDED NUMBER OF SIMULTANEOUS STREAMS

ERROR DELIVERING THE LICENSE

SERVICE UNAVAILABLE

COULD NOT LOAD YOUR DETAILS

1.  Introduction

One of the major factors in producing a stunning real estate video tour is to make sure everything is in perfectly sharp focus.  This might seem an obvious thing ...]]>

1.  Introduction

One of the major factors in producing a stunning real estate video tour is to make sure everything is in perfectly sharp focus.  This might seem an obvious thing to mention, but capturing the details across the full depth of the room can really bring alive the space in a home.  This is called a deep depth of field (DOF) and is a common challenge for landscape photographers who want both the foreground and background in focus. Using these techniques in real estate videos produces an almost 3D type effect.

2.  In-Camera Settings (Canon 7D)

2a  Shutter Speed

The important element here is the 180 degree shutter rule, that means In essence, the importance of finding a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate you’re shooting at.  So, if you’re shooting at 25fps your shutter speed should be set to 50, or set it to 60 if you’re shooting at 60fps.

2b  ISO Settings

You’ve probably seen an ISO or ASA number associated with a roll of film. This tells you how sensitive the film is to light, a higher number indicating more sensitivity to light. In digital photography ISO indicates how sensitive the image sensor is to light.

The higher the ISO number = the higher the sensitivity to light

Moving from one ISO to the next value changes the exposure by half or double.

The ability to shoot in low light has a trade-off in the form of grain or noise. In digital cameras it’s not the grain of the film that becomes visible at higher sensitivities, but digital noise – the visual equivalent to the hiss you hear when you turn a hi-fi amp up to full volume when nothing is playing.

100 ISO will give you sharp images while 3200 will show quite a lot of noise.

The higher the ISO number = the more noise/grain

The rule of thumb is to select the lowest ISO you can get away with that will allow you to take a picture at a fast enough shutter speed and/or larger aperture.

In movie mode, the easiest way to change the ISO is by firstly pressing the ISO button on the mini LCD display and then it can be changed by rotating the large thumbwheel at the back of the camera (see Image x) or by the small viewfinder at the top of the camera.

2c  ISO sweet spots

This is very interesting. Here is a a video demonstration that shows the noise characteristics of video shot by the Canon EOS 7D digital SLR. It shows that video can be quite noisy unless the camera is set an ISO that is a multiple of 160 (what many have said is the “native” ISO of Canon CMOS sensors).

2d  Aperture (F/stop)

The size of the aperture determines how much of the shot is in focus.  The iris of the camera works similar to the human eye – when there is a lot of bright light our pupils contract but they get wider when we are in a darkened room.  On the camera we can adjust the iris to be wide-open (low F-stop) or more closed down (high F-stop) – this is called stopping down.

If we open the iris wide open, the focal plane (how much of the image is in focus) is very narrow and we get a shallow depth of field where one part of the mage is razor sharp and the rest of the image is blurred.  This is useful when you want to highlight an important feature in a building i.e dado rail profile, fireplace engraving, designer handles, taps,etc.

While closing down the iris, widens the focal plane and brings more of the room into focus/sharpness – the style we are generally looking for

2e  Hyperfocal distance

This is a complicated and specialised area of film-making that has been used on Hollywood sets for over 70 years.  This is a lay-man’s guide to using this technique to get more of your shots in razor sharp focus.

The focal distance is the distance between the camera and what you focus on. This distance can be altered by changing the focus ring on the lens. For example the Tokina 11-16 lens can be rotated between 0.7m to infinity.

One would imagine by changing the focal distance to infinity when shooting an interior room would produce a deep depth of field with everything in focus but that is not necessarily the case.

As a rule of thumb, when you focus on a subject, the focal plane extends to 2/3 beyond the focal point and only 1/3 before it.  So if we focus on infinity at the corner of the room, 2/3 of the focal plane is being wasted beyond that while only a 1/3 is in focus of the room.

The first thing we need to do is to measure the distance to the subject, in this case from the camera lens to the corner of a living room.  A quick way to do this is to use an electronic distance meter (a lot easier than using a tape measure!) They come as either Ultra sound (cheaper but less accurate) or Laser (more expensive but more accurate) – Here is the one I use – Bosch PLR 25 Digital Laser Range Finder

We take the measurement and divide it by 3 to give us the hyperfocal distance (HFD).  We now set the camera’s focal length not to infinity but to the HFD. By doing this, both the first 1/3 before the focal point and the 2/3 beyond it will all be in focus – i.e the whole room.

The size of the aperture (f/stop) also comes into play here, but for the sake of simplicity of this article the 1/3 rule works well. If you want to be more precise and incorporate the f/stop reading then you need to refer to a hyperfocal charts, which works out your HFD based on your focal distance and f-stop – there’s also a great free iPhone App that works the sums out for you.

Summary

After first reading this explanation it may seem a daunting task to achieve perfect focus on your DSLR for real estate, but this is the science behind the creativity and with a little practice changing the settings will become natural and intuitive and your videos will have a Hollywood look to them.

Over one in five searches on Rightmove were performed on mobile devices on Sunday 26th June 2011.

It was, if you remember, a particularly hot day, suggesting that the nation’s property-voyeurs ...]]>

Over one in five searches on Rightmove were performed on mobile devices on Sunday 26th June 2011.

It was, if you remember, a particularly hot day, suggesting that the nation’s property-voyeurs tore themselves away from their desktops to continue their favourite hobby outside in the heatwave.

Of course, it’s a bit horrifying why people can no longer switch off.

Whatever happened to a bit of shut-eye in the sun? Playing with the kids? Walking the dog?

And how annoying would it be to have that man at the barbecue constantly flicking on properties instead of concentrating on the kebabs?

However, there is no denying that the figures are impressive.

In total, 20.86% of searches for property were performed on Rightmove’s mobile devices which include the company’s iPhone app, iPad and Mobile website.

The figure was the highest Rightmove has ever recorded and only the second time the 20% mark has been broken, the previous occasion being on Easter Sunday this year, which was another scorching day across the UK.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “The weather and property are two classic British obsessions, but luckily the two didn’t get in the way of one another during Sunday’s heatwave as home hunters reached for their mobiles and tablets and took their property search outdoors.

“It’s a trend we’re seeing more and more of: the hotter the weather, the higher our proportion of traffic on mobile devices tends to be.”

Rightmove was the first UK property portal to launch an iPhone app in 2009 which has had over one million downloads, and has since been joined by Rightmove’s iPad app and Mobile website.

Over 7% of property searches on Rightmove were performed on these mobile devices in 2010 and the figure is rising as ownership of the devices increases.

Shipside added: “Mobile will play a key role in Rightmove’s development over the next few years and the trends shown in Sunday’s traffic figures give an indication of why this is such a key area for us.”

Original Article appeared on estate agency today on Wed 29th June 2011.

Introduction

The main objective is to get people to watch  property video and pass it on to friends and family. A bland ‘pan around the room’ video tour is ...]]>

Introduction

The main objective is to get people to watch  property video and pass it on to friends and family. A bland ‘pan around the room’ video tour is not going to get people interested enough to either watch it or recommend it others. If the video has the wow/engaging factor it immediately generates a buzz of excitement that can help it become social content worth posting about.

High Quality

The first step is to make sure the video tour is produced to the highest quality possible with sharp images and colours.  We are not marketing a tin of beans but a product that is worth thousands of pounds/dollars.  A shaky looking video is not going to reflect well on a property.  An example of our filming process can be followed here:

From here, the film is encoded into a format that:

1. keeps the quality
2. reduces the file to a size that can be streamed smoothly from different users computers
3. is compatible with a range of devices from laptop to mobile phones to iPads.

The optimum settings are: Mp4 format (h264 codec), Data Rate 2500 kbits/sec, Image Size 1280 x 720 HD

This file is then uploaded to the Amazon Cloudfront server and hosted on our video streaming server using the JW video player skin. The color of the skins can be branded to reflect a companies corporate identity.

The video and the player can now be distributed to a number of sites via our embed code. There are 3 types of embed code, depending on the usage:

• Javascript embed: Supports multiple devices with (HTML5) fallback (recomended)
• iFrame embed: For use in social networking (or other places without Javascript)
• Embed/SWF tag: Last resort. No HTML5 and javascript support

Acquiring new listings

One of the most challenging aspects in the current market for estate agents is convincing sellers that they are the right agency to market their property.  Competition is fierce and sellers are looking for low fees and added value.  High quality video tours

Estate agent Portals

Javascript and iFrame embed codes are the most flexible and compatible codes to use but are rarely accepted by property portals and estate agents search software.

The solution for estate agents is to pass over a simple SWF link of the video – one line of code that agents can input into their software as a ‘virtual tour’ while they are uploading photographs and completing the particulars of a house they are marketing.

The SWF inputted into the software automatically gets transferred to nearly all of the major property portals – Find-a-Property, Prime Location, Right Move, Globtrix, etc.

Google Search Engines

Every video we produce is listed on ShowmyHome.tv with it’s own landing page, HD video and link to the agents web-site.

Google is always on the search for new and fresh content and video is top of the pile when Google’s Robots are looking for something exciting. But these robots need to know where these videos are, and what is contained in them.

To signpost the videos we need to submit a video sitemap to Google Webmaster to help them find our content. A video sitemap is an XML file that is a coded document that details a videos description, content, location, keywords and thumbnail. Within one day of submitting the sitemap file Google will start to display the videos on its results search page.

Facebook

There are 3 ways to get people to see your videos on Facebook. You can either

1. upload the actual video file and let Facebook compress and host or
2. you can add an embed code to your post box.
3. you can add a link to a video

Options (1) and (2) are preferable as the video will be displayed ‘inplay’ i.e within the Facebook browser, as opposed to the user been directed to a new window, which research has shown is not a good idea.

The thing to remember is that there is two places you can submit- (1) your own page feed or (2) post the video on someone else’s wall (as long as they are either a friend or someone you ‘like’)

Twitter

Twitter does not give you the opportunity to upload an actual file as you can only tweet a direct link to a video landing page. The only exception to that is if you submit a YouTube link and the viewer is using ‘tweetdeck’ then the video will in-play.

The success of the video is down to how the video is tweeted within the 140 characters. It’s needs to be interesting, appealing and clear what it is i.e a common practice is to signpost the the tweet immediately with “VIDEO:…”

Sharing

All of the above are good practices when distributing video to the 3 major sites on the web, but it’s also essential that you make it easy for the viewer to pass the video onto their friends & family. An embed button, a ‘like’ button and a ‘tweet’ button should always be surrounding the video to give it every chance of being distributed and spread across the social network.

Nestling in the idyllic Northumbrian countryside, yet only seven miles from Corbridge and eight miles from Ponteland, is the charming hamlet of Hawkwell, near Stamfordham, sometimes ...]]>

Hawkwell Beck, Well House

Nestling in the idyllic Northumbrian countryside, yet only seven miles from Corbridge and eight miles from Ponteland, is the charming hamlet of Hawkwell, near Stamfordham, sometimes known as “The gateway to the Tyne Valleys”

Hawkwell Farm, near Stamfordham is not your ordinary exclusive luxury housing scheme. U1 Well House is the first residence to be completed, providing 4300sq/ft of living space over five bedrooms.

Developers Stone Homes have been building in the North East for 11 years, but these are not just homes, these are homes with a genuine wow factor. The company has taken luxury living to new heights and each development brings something new and inspirational.

More Information: http://www.stonehomes.co.uk/locations/hawkwell-farm-stamfordham/more-about-hawkwell-farm-stamfordham