Until Audio Hijack Pro for Video, Videoblogging Won’t Take Off

Before I made my first videoblog, I assumed there were 2 challenges video-blogging had to overcome before it could be as be as hot as podcasting

1. File size for video are a magnitude larger than audio, so bandwidth is that much more precious. Without something like BitTorrent, each additional download is money out of the producer’s pocket.
2. Videoblogs aren’t portable. Unlike podcasts, I can’t catch up with my videoblogs while on the bike or in the car. For video, I’m tied to my laptop. Less fun for me.

Both of those are somewhat strawmen arguments, I was able to compress my 17 minute video down to something acceptable even by podcast standards. So the bandwidth is less of a concern. The second point will be mute as soon as more portable digital video players get on the market (any day now really…yes, really…holding breath).

The biggest challenge facing videoblogging is the production effort. In podcasting, if I don’t feel like doing any post-production, I have Audio Hijack Pro handle everything for me; recording, ID3 tags, mp3 conversion, and FTP uploading (via an Automator script).

When I’m done recording, the podcast is up.

Over on the video side it was 36 hours from when I shot the video to when I uploaded it. Much of that waiting for the laptop.

I’d love to see something like Audio Hijack Pro for video.