Flash Video Files (*.FLV)
It has been brought to my attention that not everyone is familiar with FLV as a video file type. I thought I would take the time to go through a few ideas and details on ways to get your video content prepared for annotations through VideoANT.
First, I should mention that the URL you paste in VideoANT requires the termination in ".flv". Since VideoANT is still in it's beta stages, we currently only support Flash Video files posted online. VideoANT does not provide hosting or upload capabilities. It is simply a tool that allows you to annotate a Flash Video you have posted on the server of your choice, or a video that someone has shared with you. In the future we will be adding an extensive list of features including support for youtube URL's, and a wider range of video file types, but for the first release we are limiting the types to only FLV.
There are a number of ways to create or acquire FLV's, and I will leave you to finding the solution that is right for you by searching google. Here at the University of Minnesota, we utilize a service through the College of Libereal Arts called Media Mill. It is an online repository developed and supported as a archival video derivation tool that allows for the uploading of original video of any type, and to then produce or convert that video to a video type of your choice. We have been using this system as a means of allowing our faculty and students the ability to host their video content, and transform it into an FLV with short keyframes making them ideal candidates for VideoANT.
There is also the ability to use sites suchas http://www.keepvid.com to download FLV's from sites like Youtube, and to then retitle the file and post it to a server of your choice. From there you are able to use the new URL to your file as a link to point your annotation project at.