Do you watch videos on FineWoodworking.com?
- Yes, I love them
- No, I can’t view them with my Internet connection
- No, I don’t enjoy watching videos online
- Other (please post your response)
You will not be able to change your vote.
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Replies
Ruth, I assume you mean DVDs an not (god forbid) tape.
It's the usual poor choices of catagories set up by marketing to fill in their boxes to support their plan?
a- I love videos. Like motherhood and apple pie, who dislikes a video on woodworking? Now did anyone ask about the quality of the presenter, the relevance and level of the topic, or perhaps the price?
b-This group reduces the market as their pc/connections don't support video,
c-don't like videos , a wasted question because what would you offer them ? Private teachers?
d- other, yes those that bristle after buying video that dosen't teach, just sells tools or a fine teacher with great content who forgot to leave his condesending European attitude and slang in his pocket while aping a "Professional" presentation. Oh, it would also have been better had he not spent the prior night in the pub with the yanks and not looked like train wreck on video. If the prices are dumb (over $15) then collective purchase and lend or copy groups become popular.
Pat.
EDIT-REPAIR
Ruth, sorry I focused on purchased videos.
Allan and others , thanks for the poke in the ribs.
ALL, concerning FWW videos I select OTHER as well. I do view the videos and they have left such a lasting impression that I can not recall one that I have seen(Wait a sec. I think saw one with saw horses to cut up sheet goods) . All kiding aside they are too short to cover most skills despite the good presenters and they should nevr showcase a specific tool over others in the same market. It is probably unlikely that we wil see long videos due to their serious cost in dollars and technical assets. Pat
Edited 2/6/2007 3:31 pm ET by PADDYDAHAT
Paddydahat,
I think they mean videos ON finewoodworking.com, not just videos.
Alan - planesaw
Ruth,
I would say Yes, but not Yes, I love them. The way you have your survey means you can take the results and say XX% of the people love your videos. You are putting words in our mouth.
I am not trying to be picky, but just give us a Yes or No to choose from. Then, if we say No, give us some options to pick from like you did.
Thanks,
Alan - planesaw
(delurking)
Sure, I watch some of the videos and for certain types of things they are great, eg for articles where someone is demonstrating a particular hand-tool technique or such like.
*BUT* I certainly wouldn't say I "love them". Indeed, for most other purposes I much prefer text and illustrations: such articles are much easier to print out and hustled down into the workshop to try things out. And as I learn to do I tend to add notes/comments/cautions etc to those printed notes (in a folder I keep down in the workshop).
I'm assuming this is a marketing survey - if not, please forgive the following rant.
I'm dismayed by the recent FWW emphasis on online content. I have subscribed to FWW for about 4 yrs now, and being completely self taught, it has been invaluable - I've learned a lot! I feel I have had less good stuff to absorb in the mag recently, however, and resent being asked to pay again for online content that seems to me to belong in the original medium.
Yes, yes I know - it's a new world and all that. But in my situation, I'm limited to dial up at a mere 24.6 K, with no relief in sight. The real irony is that I had DSL in the rustic cabin (rustic is being kind.....) I lived in between houses (just another divorce scenario) and now that I'm warm and comfy and have adequate shop space, I'm in the telecommunications dark ages!
Satellite is always possible, but the cost is hard to choke down, even after coughing up several nice tools worth of black boxes so as to be able to use the satellite. THEN, the providers insist on either bundling internet service with a bunch of garbage TV (I haven't had TV for 15 years now - don't miss it a bit!) or charging a premium for stand alone internet service!!!! I REFUSE TO BE HELD HOSTAGE TO TELEVISION!!!
Wireless? The good Luddite folks of my town have written into the town plan prohibitions on telecommunications towers on our hilltops - their "viewscapes"..... Can't hit a cell from my place either.....
So from this man's perspective, spend your time providing us with high quality print and photo articles, and the hell with the on line content.
Here's a"counter-rant."I'm one of those old curmudgeons who has been a subscriber from the beginning. So I have piles of the mags. And why, you might ask, would I pay up for the online service?I can vaguely remember some piece I read, lo those many years ago. But it takes me forever to page through all those old mags to find it (you can probably guess that I'm not as organized about library things as I should be).Now, I can just belly up to the keyboard, and after a few minutes of searching, there's the article in question -- along with everything else in the mag that's been written on the topic. Just today, in fact, I was thinking about the piece that Frank Klauz' kid wrote years ago about cutting coves (particularly elliptical shapes) on the table saw. Bing/Bang/Boom -- I found it, printed it, and was on my way back to the shop in about five minutes.As far as videos are concerned and their usefulness, I vote yes. In another search I was digging around for info on jigs for making mortises with a router. I found Jeff Miller's piece, and the accompanying video was vividly helpful in showing me just how he used the thing. If the purpose of this little survey is to guage just how worthwhile these short videos are to your readers, I would say very. We live in a visual world, and if you don't believe me, just go ask Mr. Pekovich <G>. ********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Ruth,
Moving pictures are useful for demonstrating that which cannot easily be described in words or even with a still picture.
However, I would prefer if the video was at lest 640 X 480 pixels and downloadable to my PC for viewing offline. I know you might be concerned about people copying and distributing this material but have you assessed the actual risk of that? I bet its very small.
Tiny videos that are only available via streaming have a low utility.
Lataxe
Ruth,
Yes, I like the videos offered on FWW's website, and I do watch and learn from them. However, I think they could be improved with not much effort or expense.
As a commercial photographer, I'd advise your videographer crew to purchase and use a tripod. Tripods aren't expensive, and using one would improve the production value immensely. The jumpy, unsteady video you're currently posting, while helpful at times, almost makes me seasick. I'm pretty much over the "Blair Witch Project" look, and think that others are as well. There are many good video tripods available for reasonable money, with heads that allows smooth swiveling and other movements.
Secondly, adding a bit of light to the scene would improve contrast and reduce digital noise. Even a single light, bounced off the ceiling, would help a lot - and, again, the cost isn't exorbitant.
Yes, it would take a bit of extra effort to haul, set up, and use both a tripod and a lighting source. And there would be a learning curve associated with using these implements. However, once the video person got more practice it would all go easier and faster. And there would be a marked improvement in the quality of the finished product. Like woodworkers, you have to invest in the tools and skills necessary to advance your craft...
Zolton
I have not been able to find how to get to a article yet. :-( I think this finewoodworking .com is great but I must need in this area. Thanks
Bogart, so see the videos and look up articles, you need to subscribe to FWW.com They've reduced the price quite a bit from the early days when it was first launched. Click on the blue Home button up in the left-hand corner, you should find a place to subscribe to the on-line stuff.
If you are an on-line subscriber and still can't find articles, maybe you're having trouble with the search function? No surprise there <grin>. Scroll down to the bottom of the home page, look around down there. Good luck!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thanks for the tip. I will try that out. :-) I finally signed up a few months ago. Bogart
Ruth,
I really enjoy the online videos! I'm fairly new to woodworking - so seeing it demonstrated is very helpful. However, I do agree with Lataxe that the screen is too small...needs to be at least 640 x 480 or some better resolution and downloading would be great because I can't pick up a wireless signal to my laptop out in the shop…only the home.
Bosh,
How far away is your shop from the wireless router? Another thought/question is can your wireless router be better positioned for reception in your shop?
Positioning has a lot to do with signal strength and what obsticals/materials are in between the router and the laptop.
Can you provide a few more details or perhaps you could email me so as not to distract from the intent of this thread.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 2/6/2007 8:55 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Bob,
I'm cheating just a bit here by picking up signals from other neighbors - unfortunately my garage shop still has low signal strength. Probably about time to install my own - of course I would secure my line! :)
Thanks for the offer!
One of the easiest ways to secure home based wireless networks is to disable DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol which most home based wireless networks default to. Your neighbors wireless is handing you an IP address thus letting you in...........................
In this mode, the router doesn't hand out IP addresses. You must then assign IP assdresses to each client accessing the network, not hard to do either.
Hint: It's in the TCP/IP Protocol in Network Connectionssection on XP via the Control Panel.
No IP no Talkie!
This is just a simple one security step of many, but is relatively simple to do. Many people leave their wireless networks set to the defaults, and that opens the door to anyone else with a wireless equipped to get into their networks, totally unbeknownst to them!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 2/7/2007 7:54 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Yes, I watch the videos. I like the content a lot. I get the most from the videos that show someone demonstrating how to do something. They are one of the reasons I pay to use this site.
I don't like the streaming, can't download part. They are frequently not convenient to watch in their current form.
--Whit
Ruth,
Could you put a tab on the menu bar just for the videos?
Greg
Greg, the video content is integrated with the rest of the content on FineWoodworking.com. If you want to see a list of all the videos, click on the "home" button above and then search all of FineWoodworking.com for "video".
Ruth, I'll send this to Matt also, since he's looking for feedback on search, but this is the major frustration with the FWW.com site, and the search function. There seems to be no way to get a focused search! Search for all videos and there are 280 results. Not organized in any way that's useful.
OK, so spotting one on plywood, I decided to test the system by searching video plywood to narrow the search down. This results in 873 hits!!!! Out of the first 25, there were only 3 videos! So, thinking I needed to go more Boolean, I re-did the search using video and plywood as a search string. The exact same results! 873.
I searched for shaker table the other day and got a huge number of hits (searching in the Projects and Design section), including stuff on router tables, jointer tables. Oh goodness.
Sorry, just frustrated.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
How about a FWW Video Podcast?
That way I can sit back and watch all of the videos without downloading each one ;)
ALL,
640 x 480 would certainly enhance the viewing experience, as long as you have a large pipe to receive it; i.e. DSL or faster. In other words, the bigger the picture/view, the more info. Dial up users would then suffer exhorbitantly (spell?) long aqmounts of time buffering.
Many sites offer two selections for viewing, one for dial up and one for DSL/Broadband.
Yes I know, dial up is going the way of the dinosaur, but unfortunately many areas of the world only offer it for Internet access. There's actually only one reason for this - QOS (Quality of Service); roughly translated equals poor telephone line quality.
Some would suggest that it's a marketing scheme, but if the phone companies would upgrade their lines we could all enjoy DSL. That translates into expense for the phone companies, not a marketing scheme.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks
Ruth,
I voted "other".
I've watched a few of them, mostly to get an idea of how they were produced. The ones I watched were well done, and informative, considering the short format.
Rob Millard
http://www.americanfederalperiod.com
No, because I don't pay for the subscription services.
Videos are helpful but would like to be able to "save target as"... to view later. Really I wonder if with the online Finewoodworking if I still need the printed media? Just a thought. Have been getting the magazine off and on for 6 plus years.
I do enjoy wood working videos but not in the PC.
First, because they almost always never work right. They take too long to download, always 'buffering'.
I am tired of everything going to the web. Indexes of magazined going on-line instead of sending out a written magazine with them.
I have better things to do then sit at a PC. EX: be in the shop.So I would rather see them in a DVD.
I used to watch them, but around the time of the big site changes the videos became unreliable. I reported the issue on two occasions, giving technical specifications for my computer, but there was no resolution.
I really do enjoy the short videos but would agree with many of the others that the video quality, both in terms of resolution and production quality needs to be improved. I have a 20" monitor set at 1680 x 1050. On my screen your videos are about the size of 2 postage stamps next to each other. I'm using a Mac so I can zoom to make the videos larger, but that causes the video to pixelate and just emphasizes its poor quality.
I have to concur with Lataxe about video image size being too small and with forestgirl about poor search function.
-Matthew
Ruth
I answered "Other" because the production quality of the things is low...so I buy the occasional DVD.
Have read all the other posts to date, so just one thing to add: more Gary Rogowski! He is a superb craftsman first, and not a bad jokester second. Feels like he is offering me sound advice, not talking down to me.
Thank you for asking.
Unless you are wanting to force written responses, omitting a ranking between "love them" and "no" will provide misleading results, I believe.
I trust that when analyzing your survey results, it is clear that there is a technological component affecting the customers' answers . . . and this has little bearing on FW's presentation evaluations. (Streaming video is a topic in itself.)
With respect, I suggest that, generally, survey results can be no better than the quality of the questions. Your requesting feedback is commendable. However making successful business decisions based on the results is a matter of luck, art, and science (in that order).
I encourage FW to use video presentations. Drawn to professionalism in presentation and content, I urge FW to steer away from anything that resembles a chat room between old fart woodworkers. There are plenty of those rooms. FW's continued success depends on a brand ethic demonstrated by the magazine.
Recently, there was a message raising sawmillcreek.org's message board above FW's. That is noteworthy. Sawmill sets a good example of friendly, professional information without cute bs among participants.
FW should be innovative, and that (by definition) leads to some failures. As soon as such an internet trial is found not to boost magazine style/brand quality, it should be dropped.
Hope there's some value in these thoughts. Thanks for the question. jc
I love the videos when the work. Most of the time they play the first 10 seconds then I get the streaming whirling wheel that goes on forever. I have no trouble streaming videos on u tube, or Netflix. But your videos are almost always buffering. Very annoying as I’ve given up watching them and they are the reason I paid for the full subscription
Yes, I love them...
Context - the Unlimited subscription fee is great value if you just take the digital library alone - when you add in the videos (which get better and better in both production values and detail / style) it’s A complete bargain AND I’m a UK subscriber so I don’t get a print copy included. Keep it going Fine woodworking.
33 year old woodworker.
P.s just need so sort out the god awful / non existent Taunton customer services and you have nailed it ;)
How did this thread get revived from 2007!? Things have changed a bit since then ........
I do now stream FWW videos, although only those with good production and presentation values. There are the other sort that get the off-switch reet quick, especially those ones of FWW staff having some sort of studio party where they try to say "clever" things. Gawd! :-)
My favourites are from competent woodworking fellows doing multi-part demos of how to do something - rather a lot of somethings in many cases. The Chris Gochnour series on the Enfield cupboard is particularly good. I learnt loadsa things.
As much as the often excellent demonstrations, I enjoy the non mass-media US accents. Chris Gochnour, Brian Boggs and Doug Stowe for example - they do the good demonstrations and explanations in accents and speaking styles I find (as a Blighter) fascinating and very pleasant to listen to. A bonus, those drawling tones!
On the other hand, someone needs to persuade certain fellows (and some fellowesses) to stop talking with that constant droning growl that adds lots of RRRRRRing to every word. How can one concentrate on the instruction with all that growling, eh, eh? Have they swallowed a demented dog or summick?
Lataxe
Arise, long dead thread, and live again.
Sorry I think the reincarnation of this thread is my fault. My excuse is that I’m new here and having unexplained difficulties watching the videos due to excessive buffering. It’s not my connection because I have no problems watching other streaming services. Not sure if it has anything to do with the fact I live in the mountains of France and those little video pixels have to apply for a visa before being allowed to travel. Maybe Brexit is to blame! 😜
It's not France that is the issue, but the mountains. Think about it -- streaming up a mountain? Streams flow down mountains, not up. You may need to move to the valley. Those guys get great reception.
Yes I watch the video workshop series and find them very helpful.
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