Posted by DVD Workshop on 08/29/06 09:21

Hi Pallas,

One of the easiest ways to protect the video clips you place on your
web site from being copied and displayed on other sites is to add a
video bug.

Most video on the web is either flash, windows media (wmv), or real
(rm) format.

And while there are steps you can take to make copying video in these
formats a little more difficult, most of the anti-copy methods are
easily defeated.

The reality is that any video or audio that can be viewed on the web,
can be copied from the web.

Yes, you can significantly reduce the opportunity for video to be
copied by placing it within a members only area. But still, that video
can be copied by your site members - if they know what they are doing.

So what is a video bug?

In the case of the TV networks, a video bug is the placement of their
logo on the screen throughout most broadcasts.

Regardless of where the video bug is placed on the video, it makes it
extremely easy to determine where the video originated. And while
anyone who makes a copy of the video can remove the video bug, it
leaves an obvious 'hole', thus making it readily apparent that the copy
is a copy.

This same strategy of adding a video bug to identify the source of a
video can work for you. If done correctly, the video bug can even drive
traffic to your web site - by those who might want to copy your videos
and place them on their own web sites.

By branding your web videos with your own video bug, you can reduce the
temptation for others to steal your videos, while at the same time
increasing the chance that video clips purloined from your site might
actually drive traffic to your site.

To do this, you would want to include a video bug in the form of a link
to your web site. The graphic should not be so obvious as to detract
from the video, but should be noticeable enough that the viewer clearly
knows where the video came from.

To get the best results when adding a video bug with a link to your web
site, you want the link text to be white, with a slight shadow (black
in color).

You want to set the opacity of the video bug quite low, to make it
almost transparent.

By taking just a minute to create the video bug, anyone who views the
video will clearly know where the video came from.

When creating video for the web, it is a good idea to include a video
bug with a text link to your web site. Doing this will discourage
others from copying your videos and placing them on their web sites
without your permission.

In the cases where the videos are copied (with or without your
permission), the video bug can drive traffic back to your web site.

Whether or not to include a video bug on DVDs is another matter. In
most cases, it may be a better strategy to selectively include video
bugs throughout the production (perhaps on end of chapter graphics
pages).

If you fail to include video bugs, it will become more and more
difficult to claim your rights to the videos you publish on the web -
especially as more and more sites add video libraries of clips found on
other sites.

Adding a video bug is easy - and something you should consider doing
with your web videos.

Hope that has been of some help to you,

Pete

http://www.trade-secrets.org/dvdworkshop
10 DVD Library Set revealing everything you need to know to create,
produce, shoot, edit, author, design and market you own DVDs. Presented
by Bill Myers.

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