Daytona Beach Real Estate Blog: REAL ESTATE VIDEOS vs VIRTUAL TOURS

Very interesting entry... I don't use virtual tours than pan because I've heard so many complaints about the quality and dizzying effect. But, traditional video might serve to alleviate both. Thank you for the new idea.

#1  You might want to start by checking out the Video Tour Group here on Active Rain - you will get many ideas there.

#2  YouTube is the worst in terms of quality.  If you want a place to host your videos where you can have your own channel, try WellcomeMat or Blip.TV  Both offer your own 'channel'.

a.  Blip offers great quality (assuming your original is of good quality to start with), and even playback in QuickTime, which is far superior to Flash or .wmv.  (example)

b.  WellcomeMat is a site like YouTube, but specifically for real estate.  It's flash based, but their quality is far superior to YouTube.  They also offer a bonus of being able to key in sections of your video where people can just click on "living room" and go right to that section of your video.  It's very cool.  Plus you can embed small widgets on your site or blog. (example 1, example 2).   They're always upgrading this site, and they seem to have a good handle on what it takes to make this all work....

In the next day or two, Inman News is doing an article (if you receive by email) on video tours for real estate which may give you additional options.  

Fred,Thanks! I will look into this. I'd love to use a real estate specific site instead of You Tube. I just didn't know where to find them.

I am going to try Freds suggestion too.... great question,  thanks.

Bob. I tried it. The wellcomemat site is awesome! I already signed up and today I found a new web site provider and host. I'll be fully transitioned, and up and running within the next couple of weeks.

Fred- I love the wellcomemat site! Thank you so much for this information!

Lisa,

Besides doing virtual tours and custom web sites I've recently added photo-video tours to Youtube. 
I hoping to switch to HD Video tours as the price for blue ray DVD and HD cameras come down in price.

http://www.137orchardpark.com Click on see it on YouTube

If anything my tour on youtube has impressed my clients. 

Photo-Video tours are much less expessive, you don't need a video camera and it is broadcast quality if you ever decided to air it on TV, or put it on DVD.

With a background in VideoProduction and the world pushing towards YouTube it was time to move into video ads.

-Adam
CENTURY 21 Mission-Bishop

Adam: I wouldn't bother with Blue Ray or HD DVDs yet...  there is still a format war and nobody has 'won' yet.  The discs are expensive, the players are expensive, and you've got a BETA/VHS thing going on.  LG just came out with a combo Blue Ray/HDVideo player, but I think it's considerably more than $1000.  Consumers arent' going to embrace this until pricing comes way down. Until then, it will be a very small niche market.

A high def camera is another thing if you're looking to do online video.  Although it's (obviously) not true hi def online, the quality is far superior.  You can pickup hi def camcorders now for about $1000, so prices are coming down.  I bought a Sony HC3 ($1500) about a year ago, and I've been pleased.  The quality of my real estate video tours is far superior than most out there and it's because it's in high definition.

However, you also need to understand that with HD footage, 1 minute of video is a little over 1GB. So, needless to say, you need to have a pretty hefty hard drive (I've filled up TWO terabyte drives in less than 6 months!) You also need to have some pretty heavy duty computing power to edit HD footage.  

But... if you've got it, the quality difference is pretty substantial. 

 

Fred, I opened my wellcomemat account and uploaded my welcome video. I don't have my listings videos posted yet. It  seems many people are missing my point, that I don't like virtual tours. Not just because of the usual room distortion, but because I want to show the actual layout of the house, by walking through it and video taping it. I'll post another blog with my wellcomemat link, once I get it filled in a bit more. Maybe that will help to explain what I want, a little bit better.

I think they are great if done correctly...

I am a little late to the party, so I apologize; but, if any of you need help further understanding WellcomeMat.com, please give a shout.

 

Christian Sterner

WellcomeMat.com

csterner@wellcomemat.com

cell 303.522.0130 

Christian- Well hello :)  I'm still trying to edit a video to upload. But the only reason it's not  finished is because I've spent too much time posting You Tube videos for play. I really should be working instead :P