Tech How To | At Home with Tech

September 27, 2020

How to Transform your Nixplay Digital Photo Frame into a Video Screen

If you’d like to generate a more action-filled window into your past, here’s the trick to get your Nixplay digital photo frame to play video files.

If you own a digital photo frame, I now is an especially important time to feed it with all of your great photos that can remind of you of your normal life.

You can also take it one step further and feed your frame with videos. That will create a motion-filled window into your past to look through. And that can go a long way to help you stay tethered to some sense of normal.

Nixplay’s iPhone App is the Video Path to your Frame
As you may recall, my family and I have enjoyed our Nixplay digital photo frames for the past few years. Recently, I’ve been trying to take advantage of the video playback capabilities of my newer Nixplay Smart Photo 10.1 Black” frame.

But, that experience has quickly reminded me that it takes more than a click to load video content onto a Nixplay photo frame.

If you’re also looking to put video clips onto your Nixplay frame, the only way to do it is via your iPhone. The trick is using the Nixplay iPhone app. Here’s how…

Move your Videos to the Nixplay Ecosystem
If your video was not shot on your iPhone, you must first transfer your video to, and save it, on your iPhone. I do that using Apple’s native Photos app:

Create a shared Photos album on your Mac that your iPhone can also access.
Drop the video file in the shared Photos album on your Mac.
Next, find the shared video file on your iPhone.
Save the video file.
Assign it to a ‘Nixplay Videos’ folder in the Photos app to use for the following steps.

The App will Do the Rest
Next, go to the Nixplay app on your iPhone. That’s where the real action happens:

From the Nixplay app’s home screen, click on the ‘plus’ icon on the bottom.
(The Nixplay app then accesses your Apple Photos albums to choose from.)
Search for your new ‘Nixplay Videos’ album under ‘Collections.’
Open the album and select the video file(s) you want to upload to your Nixplay account.
(You can only transfer ten at a time.)
Select the specific Nixplay playlist you want to move the video files into.
Tap ‘Send.’

These ten steps aren’t exactly an efficient process, but it does work. If your video is already natively on your iPhone, it’s a lot easier. Clearly, the Nixplay designers envisioned this video upload process as a shoot-and-immediately-transfer-over-via-app experience. As you move further away from that, the complexity grows exponentially.

Fifteen Seconds is All You Get
By the way, your videos can’t be more than fifteen-seconds long, unless you upgrade to the $49.99/year Nixplay Plus plan. Among other benefits, this ‘Plus’ plan allows you to upload videos that are up to one minute in length.

If you’re using the basic plan and choose a video to upload that’s longer than fifteen seconds, the app will automatically trim it for you and keep the first fifteen seconds.
(The app also gives you the option to trim out more if you’d like.)

If you do want to upgrade to get the flexibility of displaying one-minute video files, Nixplay will give you 50 GB of storage vs. the 10 GB of the standard plan. (You’re going to need it!)

Background Imagery Works Best
You can actually show a lot in fifteen seconds. I believe the experience you should try to create is a video tapestry of moving images that you can enjoy from any point in the playlist.

Your viewer shouldn’t feel forced to consume longer ‘clips’ with a clear beginning and end. Otherwise, you’re effectively trying to turn your digital photo frame into a TV. That shouldn’t be the user experience with a digital photo frame. A television dominates the environment. A photo frame sits in the background.

And even though a newer Nixplay frame can play video files with audio, it still can’t get you deep into a video immersion with a one-minute cap.

So you should think about the kinds of videos that will work best with these limitations. For me, I’ve been focusing on displaying my recent outdoor timelapse videos I’ve been shooting with my DJI Osmo Pocket camera.

They’re ten-seconds each. Short. Snackable. Yum.

Video Treats from your Photo Frame
I’m quite satisfied with these reminders of normality via these short video moments.

Thank you, Nixplay.

September 20, 2020

Why More Beach Time Helps Me Stay Centered

If you live near the beach, I recommend visiting it more often. Not so much for the sun or swimming, but to simply soak up the larger space. Here’s why…

It’s been six months already. Can you believe it? It feels like forever. And yet, these months are just a blip in a much larger timeline. That’s been easy to forget when my world has largely been compressed into the safe but limited square footage of our home.

When I do get out, I’ve found it helps to remind myself to look about… really look around. That has recentered my perspective and helps me feel more comfortable enduring this marathon COVID-19 experience.

The Value of Beach Time during COVID-19
My family and I have intentionally spent more time at our local beach over these past months. Beyond the expected and soothing qualities of that primal environment, the beach is a clear reminder that much of the world carries on as it has for countless millennia.

Warm or cold. Rain or shine, it’s helpful to be in that space (and of course, while practicing social distancing).

That sense of a larger continuity may not provide complete consolation, but it’s a good reminder that we’re all players in a much longer game.

At the beach… you can feel the greater normal. And that helps me stay centered.

This group of visual moments is a reminder that even though many pieces of our day-to-day lives have evaporated, other basics are still firmly in place.

Slow and steady.

Feeling the Rush
In so many ways, we’re all rushing.

Eager to read more news of a vaccine
Hoping to get back to normal soon
Wanting to reduce all of the stress

Rushing to find a way back.

But of course, we can’t go back. Not really. Too much has already changed.

So, it’s actually all about finding a way forward… to something somewhat different and perhaps better.

That’s all we’ve got. And you can’t rush it.

Set your Pace
We’ll get there. But it’s like a marathon. You’ve got to pace yourself.

And spending a little more time at the beach regardless of the season and perhaps taking a few photos and timelapse videos are good ways to help stay balanced throughout all the disruption.

It’s worked for me, and I highly recommend it.

September 13, 2020

How to Turn your Zoom Recording into a TV Talk Show

If you’re looking to improve the look of your recorded Zooms, you don’t have to invest in expensive equipment or hunt down mothballed gear. Here are a few simple ways to simulate the structure of professional television production.

Recording a Zoom conversation is easy. It’s a one-click process. But if you’re looking to create a more controlled visual product that follows the traditional structure of a professional video interview or TV talk show, you’ll need to put on your MacGyver hat and use the Zoom interface a little differently.

It’s all about finding the best way to control which webcam feed is being recorded at any given moment.

Active Speaker View Mode is Faster than Pinning Each Shot
I originally thought it would be better to manually choose shots by ‘pinning’ the appropriate video frame, instead of letting Zoom’s default Active Speaker View follow the voices.

I was wrong.

Frequently pinning different shots ends up being a clunky process that’s slow and can also generate unexplained two-frame video glitches in the recording.

Instead, allowing Active Speaker View to automatically switch back and forth between your shots is faster and yields better results. (another example of the superiority of software over humans)

Use Gallery View as your Wide Shot
Then, all that’s manually left to do is occasionally click back and forth from Active Speaker View to Gallery View to show all of the video frames at once. That simulates what viewers are used to seeing in the wide shot of a TV talk show.

Just be sure to activate ‘Hide Self View’ if you’re not a part of the conversation and simply acting as a behind-the scenes director. You’ll find this option to make your image disappear in the drop-down menu after hovering over your own video box. Then click on the three-little-periods icon in the upper right corner.

Keep it Simple
No, Zoom isn’t really designed to give you the same technical control when recording a multicamera conversation as a traditional video switcher in a TV control room.

And no, you can’t record the individual shots separately to edit together later.

That said, if you simply let Zoom automatically follow the conversation and then occasionally sprinkle in the Gallery View, you’ll get a remarkably decent result.

And that’s all from the comfort of your home, and free for anyone to do.

Don’t worry about the video thumbnails you’ll see on the top of your screen during Active Speaker View. They aren’t recorded. Neither are the names on the bottom of the video frames.

Imperfect but Good Enough
Of course, the overall visual result pales in comparison to shooting a multicamera interview in a professional TV studio, mostly due to the limited quality of webcams, imperfect lighting conditions and cluttered home backgrounds.

But today and for the foreseeable future, webcam video is our new normal. Most everyone has embraced it during this COVID reality show we’ve all been cast in. Of course, I crave the beautiful imagery that professional cinema cameras can generate. We’ll get back to that… one day.

For now, if you want to record a webcam conversation that follows the structure of a studio-based TV talk show, Zoom will easily do that using limited assistance from the human brain and a few important clicks.

It works.

And it’s just another example of why Zoom became a household name overnight.

Category: Tech How To

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