Production quality of videos is low

Community Playground General Discussions
1

The quality of the help videos is pretty low. While I’m by no means an expert, it seems overall that the lighting, framing and delivery of the content is less than professional.

Since it seems that the intent of the videos is to ease the setup and make the device more personal (and give the device a personality), having the first impression of the “personality” (not a reference to the person in the video) of Vera be of the highest quality would be paramount. It is clear that the lines are being read somewhere from the side of the camera, which in turn forces the reader to look to the side and not at “person she is talking to”. In a face-to-face conversation this would easily be construed as rude.

Disclaimer: Making observations to help improve the product.
MOFFTI (My opinion, feel free to ignore)

2

Oh, you are just being nitpicky… :slight_smile:

Speaking of the video - I liked the Demo Video from the main page! The girl is very photogenic… :slight_smile:

3
The quality of the help videos is pretty low.

Agreed. The reason is that during the beta period we make tweak the UI, therefore needing to change the video. So we didn’t have it professionally done. When we know the UI is finalized we’ll have Jennifer do it professionally.

4

[quote=“denix, post:2, topic:164005”]Oh, you are just being nitpicky… :slight_smile:

Speaking of the video - I liked the Demo Video from the main page! The girl is very photogenic… :)[/quote]

Yes, the demo video was much better. But I’d go through that as well and clean up some of the scene cuts, they were off in a few places.

Picky? Yes, but it’s the little things that give the first impression to consumers.

//TB

5

I would agree with most of this topic. Video is a little low budget, but, as micasaverde stated, once they have a more final UI, then definately spend the time and money to make it look good.

6

When the videos are re-done, please try to make sure the correct aspect ratio is preserved. Today, they’re stretched out of shape. I’m sure Jennifer would appreciate it, too. :slight_smile:

7

I know the subject of “poor quality” in the Help/Intro videos has been beaten to death, but as a former videographer I just feel compelled to pile on:

I give them all about a 3 out of 10 stars. Everything from lighting, sound, delivery to pacing is just … wrong. :slight_smile:

What I especially hope will happen one day – and I believe will be key to Vera’s overall success – is for MCV to hire a serious marketing firm to create campaigns (including re-done videos) which will entice prospective Vera owners.

I don’t want other companies to sneak up on (or surpass) MCV just because they had slick ads or more nimble marketing skills! With the success of MCV’s various come-ons for “Enthusiasts”, plug-in authors and beta testers, perhaps it makes sense to offer free/discounted merchandise to webmasters and others who are in a position to place highly visible advertisements on MCV’s behalf?!

By this time next year, I hope everyone has heard about Vera and Z-Wave!!

8

Okay, this is meant as humor:

I want MCV to produce a video showing Jennifer having to deal with a malfunctioning Vera. “All I have to do is go to the wiki page, find the download URL, click on Advanced, Downloads and paste it there…”

Or a dongle that’s giving her trouble: “Wow, the blue light came on and stayed on. That’s weird. Guess it’s time to mail this puppy in!” ha ha

Or an ex stops by and lets himself in: “Oh, hey John. I guess I forgot to delete your User Code from my Schlage lock. Silly me. Watch as I delete John’s code from Vera…”

And so on. :slight_smile:

9

LS, so funny you posted this, the other day I almost put together a quick YouTube video mimicking the MCV video, but with everything going wrong that has happened to me.

On subject of videos in Vera, I have posted this before, but after possibly the first pass, who in the world wants videos in the basic interface? On the support site, great, in the software? No way. They are nothing more than an annoyance to the user after possibly watching them once. Get them out of the interface MCV, and spend the money on something more useful.