Instructional videos on stuff like turning a flashlight into a laser earned Kip Kedersha $102,000 from Metacafe last year.

Mr. Kedersha's online library of 94 videos includes tips on how to chill a Coke in two minutes, simulate a gunshot wound and start up a PC quickly.

Many of the clips have been played hundreds of thousands of times, turning Mr. Kedersha into the top earner on Metacafe, a video-sharing Web site that pays the makers of popular videos. In little more than a year, the site has written him checks totaling $102,000.

That puts Mr. Kedersha, a 50-year-old video producer from St. Petersburg, Fla., near the front of the latest online stampede: the rush to capitalize on the popularity of how-to videos on the Web. Read more...

As a senior in high school (back in the day), I looked at brochures and booklets from a selection of colleges I wanted to apply to. Without being able to visit some of the schools I was interested in, all I had were some words and glossy pictures to tell me what the place was really like.

These days, high school seniors trying to decide where to spend the next four years have a lot more information at their fingertips. For students, online video is a perfect way to learn about a college and virtually experience various aspects of its programs, campus and student body. For colleges, online video is a perfect way to communicate with potential students and display what makes a school unique. For videographers, this is a another avenue for big profit- producing a video for your local college.

Any student or institution interested in online video needs to check out iTunes U. It's a special section of the iTunes store devoted to college videos. Schools from Abilene Christian University to Yale have videos and podcasts available through iTunes U.

Question: I've been Googling it for weeks and still can’t find a solution. It seems that Sony moved away from their standard LANC connection on this camera. So, there may not be a way to control iris/focus/zoom remotely. Any ideas?

Answer: VariZoom is announcing three new additions to its line of professional lens controls, the VZ-PRO-EX, VZ-PG-EX, and VZ-ROCK-EX, which are calibrated to provide remote zoom control for the Sony PMW-EX1 HDV professional video camera. All three models have a pressure-sensitive zoom rocker to provide precise control and are compatible with any tripod handle, jib, or support bar. The VZ-ROCK-EX, a mini series lens control, has a compact design with clamp and a low profile record/pause button. The VZ-PRO-EX, pro series lens control, has a rubber foam grip, heavy-duty aluminum housing and quick-release clamp, and a large safely located record/pause button. The VZ-PG-EX, pistol grip series lens control, a rubber foam grip with an ergonomic "pistol-grip" curve for added comfort, a heavy-duty, quick-release aluminum swivel clamp for angular handle adjustment, and a red record/pause button. Available now.

Today's inkjet disc printers can produce stunning, near photographic quality discs. However, they have a serious drawback. The ink smears if it gets wet.

Fortunately, there is a solution - WaterShield, one of the industry's first waterproof inkjet printable discs.

WaterShield, created by Taiyo Yuden, is a protective layer bonded to the disc during manufacturing making your discs waterproof, scratch-resistant, and non-smearable. And, WaterShield provides a white, glossy surface that greatly enhances the print quality of your discs.

While they are more expensive, the extra cost may be of little consequence when you consider the bad impression that a coffee-stained disc will make. With a WaterShield disc, you'll know that the beautiful disc you just printed will look just as beautiful when it reaches your customer.

As the broadcasting world moves away from tape-based acquisition and into the world of solid-state production on both flash-based and disk-based media, there is controversy over which is best suited for field production. With these stats who will you choose as a winner?

Alkatraz
Copy protection for CD and DVD based on a "watermark" system, implemented during the glass mastering process. More info

CD-Cops
CD-Cops is a envelope protection which is added to the CD's main executable. Can be applied to discs in-house at the time of mastering. More info

CDSHiELD
CDSHiELD protect your CD (before burning it)with putting volontary sectors-errors to prevent copying from third unauthorised persons. Low cost solution. More info

CrypKey
It prevents unauthorized use and duplication of your software in mere minutes, without having to write any code. Solutions for business of all sizes. More info

LaserLock
LaserLock uses a combination of encryption software and a unique laser marking a "physical signature" on the CD surface made during the special LaserLock glass mastering procedure, in order to make copying virtually impossible. More info

SafeDisc
Software publishers and developers need an effective and comprehensive anti-piracy solution to protect their intellectual property from copying, hacking and Internet distribution, while still ensuring a high quality experience for consumers. SafeDisc is the industry's most successful and widely used anti-piracy solution for CD and DVD-ROMs. More info

StarForce
Starforce Technologies is well known to the games and software world for its outstanding and hacker-proof copy protection systems for applications distributed on CD, DVD and CD-R. More info

Question: I was wondering when it will be possible to edit the AVCHD format in it's native format, instead of converting it to other codecs. Is the computer speed the problem

Answer: AVCHD is a very compact format because (among other things) it rarely saves an entire frame of video. One of the ways it achieves high quality and high compression is that it compresses video both in the space dimension (looking at each frame) and in the time dimension (looking at successive frames). In the best of all cases, a video with an unchanging background (like a studio shot) can compress very effectively.

But the downside of all this efficiency is that you can't directly edit an AVCHD video file. One of the reasons for that is that any minute change in any frame (such as a subtle color tweak or cutting a few frames out of the file) can cause a significant amount of re-encoding to take place.

So, in order to be able to actually edit AVCHD video on a frame-accurate basis, it has to be transcoded into a format that DOES store its frames separately. And on a Mac, that means ProRes or AIC, both of which cost you dearly in terms of space. 1GB of AVCHD video (just a minute or two) will cost you 10GB of hard disc space and a lot of CPU cycles to transcode it. And then you have to transcode it back to something like Quicktime H.264 or MPEG-2 so that you can actually distribute it.

More details on editing AVCHD can be found in our latest book: Making Sense of AVCHD, a 50+ page collection of every AVCHD related question submitted to The DV Show podcast. Answers are explained in layman's terms with full color photos and illustrations that finally make sense.

Question: Do I have to be concerned about using "Broadcast Safe Color" correction when doing a video for use as an MP4 that is for display on a computer screen? How about a closed circuit loop? If I'm only outputting to DVD? should the DVD be filtered for "broadcast safe"?

Answer: Broadcast safe means that all colors within the video fall within the legal gamut of NTSC transmission standards. In short, if it's not going to be aired or sent through cable/sat, then it doesn't really apply to your stuff.

Broadcast Safe is really just enforced by the FCC or the Federal Communications Commission. They put a regulation on how a video will look in order for it to be broadcast on television only.

The requirements for NTSC (which is used in North America and various other parts of the world) are as follows.

For over 20 years they've been helping videographers like you - from Beginners, to Professionals and everyone in between. They'll help you find the digital video editing and production system that best meets your needs and budget. Whether you're editing DV Firewire, HDV, or analog tapes and creating DVDs, High-Definition Blu-Ray discs or multimedia video they have the video editing hardware and software you need. And, Videoguys.com will stand behind every product you purchase with a 30-day money back guarantee , knowledgeable advice and FREE tech support, plus the best customer service in the industry.

They have a discount offer from NAB that lasts until 4/30/08: 5% off any purchase and free shipping. Enter the code NAB5OFF at checkout or call 800-3232-2325.

Finally, no more fines at the Video Store! My crappy DVD player doesn't rewind at all. These guys deserve the nobel prize!The DVD Rewinder is a great gift for the technical savvy, the couch potato, teens with too much time on their hands, and the gadget buff!

Rewind all types of disc media DVDs, CDs, and Console Games. But not just novelty, the DVD Rewinder has utility. It has a built in compartment that holds a disc cleaner. This compartment can be used to hold the cleaner, loose couch change, tooth picks, keys or other small items. A truly unique product with a truly unique design!