Debra and I are excited to be participating in the Verizon Wireless Savvy Gourmet program and over the summer, we’ve been able to “test-drive” the Motorola™ XYBOARD 10.1 tablet. From email, web browsing and social media to a slew of other apps from the Google Play Store, this tablet has something for just about everyone. But today, let’s talk video!
As a guy who likes to shoot and edit video, I thought it would be interesting to try and create a video completely with the XYBOARD. The 5 Megapixel camera and 1080p video capture seemed impressive enough and had been great for quick Instagram and Facebook posts.
Shooting with the XYBOARD was very easy. By using the default camera and switching to video mode, operation was a simple “press record and go” operation. Auto exposure and white balance features really made this an easy point-and-shoot camera. However, if you want to tweak the exposure or color, you can. In camera mode, focusing is accomplished by simply tapping the area you want in-focus. In video mode, it seems that the camera stays only in auto-focus mode. I did notice the camera adjusting its focus while shooting, which you may notice in the video at the end of this post.
Holding the 10.1 inch widescreen tablet was surprisingly easy, but there is still some unavoidable camera shake. You could prop the tablet on a stand or table as a make-shift tripod, but simply holding it seemed to work fine for this video.
So, once we had our separate clips recorded, I used an App from the Google Play Store called ‘VidTrim Pro‘. The program was very easy to use, and I was able to trim the clips down to just the video I wanted. I found that if I trimmed each clip to 5-10 seconds, the video pacing seemed to be about right.
Now I just needed to combine my clips together to make a movie – and here’s where I hit a few snags. I tried several Apps, such as ‘Magisto’, ‘Movie Editor’, ‘AndroMedia’ and ‘Clesh’ with varying results. Because I’m coming from the world of video editing workhorses such as ‘Final Cut Pro’ and ‘Adobe Premiere Pro’, I quickly became frustrated with the limitations and gave up and used Final Cut on my iMac. I’m going to do a bit more research and try again on a future post. “Clesh“ is cloud-based and looks to have the most potential, but also has a steeper learning curve.
So, here is the surprisingly easy Homemade Ricotta Cheese we made from scratch, entirely shot and partially edited using the Motorola™ XYBOARD 10.1 tablet.
Enjoy!
Full Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Midwest Savvy Gourmets program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.
You guys are amazing. Absolutely amazing! I need lessons.