Articles about Video

GoPro started a trend when it launched the Hero4 line with 4K video recording. Today, it is pretty much impossible to find a new action camera that does not advertise this feature -- even when, in reality, most are not actually capable of it.

The Hawkeye Firefly 8S is different. It is the first action camera that I have tested that offers true 4K video recording. It is also among the most affordable options on the market, which, on paper, makes it great value for money. But how good is it in the real world? I've tested it to find out.

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Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and plenty of other social media platforms have all experienced a backlash from users at some point about how they handle autoplaying videos. Some users are not happy that videos play automatically because it eats into data, but the most vocal complaints come from those who hate videos that not only autoplay, but autoplay with sound.

Instagram is rolling out an update that acts as a brilliant compromise between silent autoplay and noisy autoplay. Simple yet clever, it's hard to imagine that the idea won’t be copied by all and sundry.

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Facebook has managed to effectively reduce page loading times for its users with the Instant Articles feature. Now the social network is looking to do something similar with video content.

The feature is called Instant Videos, and it works by automatically downloading videos when there is a Wi-Fi connection available so they can be watched later without having to use a data connection. Instant Videos is undergoing testing with a limited number of users at the moment ahead of a possible wider rollout.

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Facebook Watch may sound like it's going to be a cheap alternative to the Apple Watch, but it's really just Facebook's latest jump into video. Launched a month ago, Facebook Watch is now available to everyone in the US.

The initial launch was a limited one, and just last week the rollout expanded to a wider group of users. But now everyone in the US is able to see the Watch tab on desktop and mobile platforms, giving access to original video content.

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Making a streaming service available on as many platforms as possible is key to attracting more and more customers in the cord-cutting era, and, to that end, Sling TV is now opening its doors to Google Chrome users.

Sling TV says that its new player, which is available in beta at this stage, can be used by Chrome users on Windows devices and Macs and comes with support for both live and on-demand content.

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It is hard not to fall asleep watching promo videos for smartphones. That's why we rarely write about them. Today we make an exception for the new OnePlus 5 camera ad, which, depending on how you look at it, is either really stupid or brilliant -- but memorable nonetheless.

Called Lake Blood, it's the story of a chainsaw massacre. The promo features a teenage girl, a bloodied man and the chainsaw killer that's following him. It's not your typical combination of characters, is it?

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All of the messaging services worth their salt feature a live video option, and Instagram is no different. But the company is keen to get more people using it and is worried that going live alone is too intimidating for some people.

To overcome this problem, Instagram is testing a new split-screen option that gives users the chance to go live with a friend. While this is billed as a way to make live video more accessible, there's far greater potential for this form of shared live video than Instagram is currently hinting at.

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During its Q3 earnings report, Disney announced plans to launch its own streaming service in 2019. As part of this shift in business, the company will end its distribution agreement with Netflix.

The company also announced that it has agreed to acquire an additional 42 percent stake in BAMTech. The $1.58 billion makes Disney a majority stakeholder and will give it greater control over the ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service due to launch in early 2018.

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There are lots of affordable action cameras on the market, but not many of those deserve your attention. In their attempt to compete with upmarket products, vendors tend to focus more on specs rather than the user experience, delivering action cameras that look great on paper but do not work as well as you might expect in real life.

That was the case with WiMiUS' L1, which did not live up to my expectations despite having solid components. However, with the new L2, things should be different. The quality is said to be better than before, and the selection of accessories is much more interesting as well. So, I have put the WiMiUS L2 to the test to see just how good it really is.

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Google has been stirring things up a little recently, adding autoplaying videos to search results, and killing off Google Instant. The autoplaying videos are also something that Facebook has tinkered with recently, managing to irritate people in the process.

If you're searching Google on your phone, one of the last things you want is to have your battery draining unnecessarily because of videos playing automatically. Thankfully, you can disable this feature; here’s how.

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There are four key areas where digital businesses can make a significant profit, and Google's parent company Alphabet appears to be gaining in all four of them according to its latest earnings report.

In a recent call to reveal its results, Alphabet said revenue rose 21 percent to $26 billion, in the second quarter of 2017. Net income was $3.5 billion.

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When Twitter and Facebook introduced autoplaying videos, many users were annoyed by their intrusive nature. Subsequent tweaks and the introduction of autoplay settings calmed the mood a little, but now Google has decided to stir things up a bit.

Perform a Google search and you might well find that the results include an autoplaying video -- even for searches that would not necessarily mean you want to see a video. Given the reception autoplaying videos have received elsewhere, this is not likely to go down well with Google users.

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Any online platform must contend with the problem of piracy and intellectual property rights, and Facebook is no different. The social network gives content owners the opportunity to monetize their videos, but in order for this to work, owners' rights need to be protected; this is why Facebook introduced its Rights Manager tool a couple of years ago.

But it seems that Facebook's own weapons in the fight against piracy and content theft have not been as effective as the company -- and content owners -- would have hoped. As such Facebook is taking Source3 under its wing. The startup develops tools for tracking intellectual property to allow for the monitoring of unauthorized sharing.

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YouTube has quietly revealed that its Video Editor and Photo slideshows features will close down in just two months. It seems that not enough people are using the two tools to warrant keeping them alive, so they are being "retired".

Users are warned that while videos that have already been published will remain accessible, projects currently sitting in Video Editor must be completed by the shutdown date of September 20.

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Before unveiling its latest flagship, OnePlus announced that it had partnered with DxO to improve the camera performance of the OnePlus 5. That was interesting mainly for one reason: DxO, on top of making software that enhances photos, frequently puts popular smartphones to the test to assess their photo and video quality.

So, at some point, we would find just what sort of effect that partnership had on the OnePlus 5, using DxO's own metrics. As it turns out, the new flagship still has some way to go before it can challenge the elite.

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