I really do love motionbox.com. A little while ago I bought an AVCHD camcorder (a Canon HF10 to be precise). While I’ve been very happy with the camera itself, I unknowingly stepped into brave new world of dealing with AVCHD (mts) files; a world that is definitely in its infancy, to say the least.
I’m a big fan of archiving original video content (and photos, using Flickr) despite what you might edit the video into. You never know when you’re going to want that original source file. However, dealing with the huge mts files, having enough room to store them and back them up, well it’s nothing short of a pain in the arse.
I also need to share them, with limited fuss (if possible), via the web. I have family interstate and like to keep them in the loop.
After much searching (thanks for all your help Gav) and trials of a few different video sharing sites, I’ve finally settled on motionbox.com. I even paid premium memberships with another well-known video sharing site, only to be disappointed (primarily with the video quality).
Motionbox can natively handle AVCHD (mts) files. No transcoding and exporting prior to uploading, just upload your mts files and motionbox takes care of the rest. Perfect for archiving your original camcorder files.
Its easy to manage permissions, share videos and importantly, the quality of the final video that appears on motionbox is awesome. Apparently they use higher bit rates to encode your videos (in H264) than other sites, and I really did notice a massive difference in quality. And their price is unbeatable at $US30 per year for unlimited hosting.
Despite their under-whelming features page, you should really chec out motionbox if you’re looking for a fantastic online video, sharing site.
Filed under: general
I agree! Really love the options and possibilities that Motionbox offers. I wrote a post about it at: http://brindefalk.org/2009/01/07/motionbox-a-neat-way-to-publish-videos/
Regards
Thomas
I just procured a Premium membership after trying the other sites and I’m definitely sold on the Motionbox concept. Native MTS is sweet: plug in the card, hit upload, then come back later and it’s a done deal! Motionbox told me more editing features in the mixer are forthcoming. Although I love Final Cut Pro, with AVCHD I have to babysit the process: upload, transcode, edit, render, post, etc., and I’ll still go that route for serious, more creative edits. But for quick out-of-the-camera shoots, I save a lot of time with Motionbox and the resulting videos are awesome: clear, clean and proper ratio. Mbox is good for travel, too, with unlimited storage. All this for $30 a year. Huh? Get outta here!
MotionBox is pretty nice, but they DO still need to work on their interface a bit. The organizational tools are a bit lacking (rearranging videos etc) and all around the UI feels ‘rough’. The ability to handle M2TS files is great, but I look forward to a refreshed user interface.
Motinbox.com is just what I needed because I Video auto racing and they run longer then the 10 min. limit. I also used Smugmug to upload a 9 min. and it took at least 7 Hours! I don’t have to change the video just click up load and it gets posted on my Site. Now I will learn to edit and put my clips togather.
Thanks Motionbox