The DigitalRV Blog

In the past two posts the basics have been covered on podcasts. You now should have an idea of what they are, and how to find podcasts that interest you. But there’s a whole other dimension to Podcasts. That dimension is where you create your own podcast to share with the world.

Why on earth would you want to create a podcast? Well, for many the answers are the same as why you’d create a blog. Sharing information with a larger audience. Here’s a few reasons to consider podcasting:

• Instead of e-mailing everyone you keep in touch with, a podcast is a simple way to get information to everybody with only 1 step for you. Put the podcast up.
• You’ve got an interest in a topic that you want to relay to others. There are tech podcasts, travel podcasts, etc., out there on the net. But are there tech / travel podcasts that talk about horses too (if that’s what interests you for example).
• Just trying it out to exercise your creative side. You can be really simple, or super fancy with a podcast.

For this installment, I’m going to cover Video Podcasting and use Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles (my other blog) as the example. In the next installment here, I’ll cover audio podcasts as well.

What will you need to create a video podcast? Well, here’s the short list:

1. Still or Video Camera. If you’re using a still camera, your video will be more of a slide show. For my podcast I use the Canon SD550. It shoots still, and small video clips as well.
2. A computer, Windows or Macintosh.
3. An internet connection to put your pocast on the net.
4. Software to help you get the podcast out there. I use Wordpress (the blogging program), and Podpress, a plugin to wordpress which properly formats the podcast.

Got everything you need? Ok then, we’ll go through a podcast setup from start to finish. The examples are made with a mac. If you’d like Windows examples as well, let me know and I’ll post one later.

Getting a Video Podcast Together - Steps

1. Go out and shoot some video, or take a ton of still photos. In order to have a video podcast, you’re going to need some visual material.
2. Return with video and photos in hand and off load them to your computer. In the case of Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles podcasts, my photos and video get off loaded to IPhoto. See the image below. It shows both photos and video in IPhoto.
3. Now that you have your material, you’ve got to work with it. Since I’m using a Mac, I get all my clips and photos together and work with them in IMovie. In IMovie you can assemble your video or photos, edit the video, and put titles and transitions in between clips or photos. You can also drop background music in if you like! Below you’ll see a screen shot of a project coming together in IMovie. I won’t get into the full IMovie usage details. If readers want more indepth coverage of use of any program listed in this example, leave me a comment and I’ll put together another post to cover your interests!
4. Once you’ve got your product together, you now need to save it out for use on the web. I will cover the export features in IMovie, as it’s important, and a pain to figure out. See, all the Mac products have defaults for exporting to the web, ITunes, your IPod, etc. However, after using their defaults I decided I didn’t like them. So instead I started using the “expert” settings, and I’ll show you what I’ve been doing for the settings. On the IMovie menu bar, there’s a category for “Share”. This is where you’ll export your movie. You can share to DVD’s, Web, E-mail, etc. The last option, Share is the one where you can select Expert settings. Look at the next image to see. While you can use the generic settings for IPod or the Web, the compression on both defaults is not at its best. Frankly, the files come out too big for web use, and the quality isn’t as great as it could be. Believe me, I’ve experimented tons with this one. So, what are the settings that have worked with Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles. Well, look at the next image….
5. With all the settings in place, you now sit back and wait for you export to complete.  Once completed, you’ve got to upload your new podcast to your web site.  That involves using an FTP Program (File Transfer Protocol).  Need me to get into FTP more?  Let me know.
6. Once the file has been uploaded to your server, you’re ready to list it for use.  I’m going to assume that you’re a Wordpress user, and that you’ve added Podpress to the Wordpress Install.  I’ve found these two programs together make for an easy way to get podcasts up on the web and running.
7. In wordpress, you act as if you’re creating a standard Post.  So, right at the dashboard when you enter, select “Write a post”.  Provided you’ve added Podpress to your Wordpress, you’ll find several new options in your post menu.  See the image below. 
8. The podpress interface is simple to use.  Select the file you’ve uploaded, give it a title, tell it what type of file it is, etc.  It will automatically get file size and duration.  Pretty slick.

That’s it.  Once you’ve gone through this, you have a podcast up on the web.

Now I’m betting I’ll get requests for specific information on using:

• Wordpress
• Podpress
• IMovie

If you’d like more on these, let me know, and I’ll add them.

For the next installment, I’ll work on putting together a sample for audio only podcasts.  Easy enough to do as well.  Oh, and want to see a final product video podcast?  I can help you out there too.  Check out this link to see one of the podcasts from Gadget’s Airstream Chronicles.