[Jason Dunn]

About two months ago, I purchased a Canon HF100 high-definition video camera to replace my ageing but still totally sweet Canon GL2 (that thing has such great optics!). It took me a while to re-create my template in 16:9 format, but I did and published my first two HD videos to YouTube...and I was quite disappointed with the results. YouTube only offers a 4:3 aspect ratio player, so 16:9 videos look pretty tiny with those big black bars on the top and bottom. I set out to find a better solution for embedding videos on Thoughts Media sites, and I think I've found one: MotionBox.

I say "I think" because while the video quality is utterly fantastic, and for $20 per year they offer a lot of value, I've been seeing some problematic playback issues today - sometimes the video will start right away, other times it will take 30+ seconds before it starts, and sometimes it won't start at all, instead showing a black box. And sometimes it will just "break" and stop playing. These are obviously serious problems, but I don't know if MotionBox is just having a bad day, or if my bandwidth Kung-fu is weak today. So check out the video below and report back what you find - does it play back OK? Any problems or glitches?

[Jason Dunn]

About two months ago, I purchased a Canon HF100 high-definition video camera to replace my ageing but still totally sweet Canon GL2 (that thing has such great optics!). It took me a while to re-create my template in 16:9 format, but I did and published my first two HD videos to YouTube...and I was quite disappointed with the results. YouTube only offers a 4:3 aspect ratio player, so 16:9 videos look pretty tiny with those big black bars on the top and bottom. I set out to find a better solution for embedding videos on Thoughts Media sites, and I think I've found one: MotionBox.

I say "I think" because while the video quality is utterly fantastic, and for $20 per year they offer a lot of value, I've been seeing some problematic playback issues today - sometimes the video will start right away, other times it will take 30+ seconds before it starts, and sometimes it won't start at all, instead showing a black box. And sometimes it will just "break" and stop playing. These are obviously serious problems, but I don't know if MotionBox is just having a bad day, or if my bandwidth Kung-fu is weak today. So check out the video below and report back what you find - does it play back OK? Any problems or glitches?

[gibson042]

It fails for me. I click play and get only the black box.

[gjohnson]

Played fine for me.

[marjon]

Worked fine for me.
Started almost instantly and did not skip or stop during playback.

[gdoerr56]

Worked perfectly. Started without delay, seeking worked great and didn't see any dropped frames or stutters.

[sparkyewu]

Was fine for me as well, but I have the latest flash. I know for their HD versions (Not sure what you settled on for format) the later versions of flash work much better. The SD version ( still widescreen) plays for me pretty much every time.

[peterawest]

Worked great for me. Started within one or two seconds. Nice.

Update: I tried it three more times, and each time it failed, even after opening a new window with PPCThoughts.

[blazingwolf]

No issue with the video for me.

[Stinger]

Works for me. Started instantly and the full video took around 3 1/2 minutes to download.

[jaxim]

works well for me. I tried it a few times too. I'm connected through my cable modem.

I also got a HF100 video camera a few months ago. The site I found to upload my videos is Vimeo. If MotionBox doesn't work for you, check out Vimeo to see if that works for you.