Purchasing videos from the FK Video Series

[RachelJ]

Hello all,

Just wanted to post a couple of things about purchasing, downloading, and playing the videos available through the Fundamental Keys Video Piano Lesson Series.

First of all, you need to know that when you purchase videos, you will be directed to PayPal to process your payment (using a PayPal account or any major credit card). After that, you will get an automatic email to the same email address you used in PayPal. That email will direct you to the download area where, using the password provided in the email, you will be able to download your videos.

To download a video from the secure download area, just click on its title, and then choose the option to save it (rather than opening it directly). Make sure to save it somewhere on computer where you can easily find it later. Once the file has completely downloaded, you own it and can watch it anytime, transfer it to your other computer or portable media device, etc.

The videos will play in Quicktime/iTunes on a Mac or PC. If you are on a PC without Quicktime, I recommend you download and use the free VLC Media Player. The files might play in Windows Media Player if you have the correct setup, but it is much easier to use VLC.

If you have any questions or issues, please post a new topic in the Support & Discussion area.

[Lefont]

Got both the intro and first lessons into iTunes and sync with my iPod. I thought it would be most convenient to watch at the piano with my iPod, however, the video jitters terribly in my iPod and both the intro and lesson eventually crashed the iPod quarter way through. I could watch it on my PC with no technical issues in the other room away from the piano using QuickTime though.

[RachelJ]

Hi there... To watch on the iPod, I highly recommend first converting the file to an iPod-friendly size using a free software called Handbrake. http://handbrake.fr/

I struggled with what size to offer the download at, and I chose a happy medium between file-size and quality. I think offering it at the size I did makes it pleasant to watch on a computer screen, and then for use on a portable device, since you own the file, you can feel free to shrink it using Handbrake.

Please let me know if you think I should post a tutorial on how to shrink the videos with Handbrake for iPod use.

[Lefont]

Thanks for pointing out HandBrake. I'll give it a try.

[RachelJ]

Hi Lefont,

Just curious, did you try Handbrake? Any success?

[Lefont]

I got the videos to run on my iPod!

I tried HandBrake, but it didn't run because it wanted me to install .NET Framework (yuk!) so I thought I'd try the non-GUI command line version, which I won't mind using, but it too requested .NET Framework. OK, but since the problem with the crashing is because the video is too large for the little iPod, I found AVC-Free video converter, another open source thing, and it runs fine without additional .NET requirements. I converted the videos using same frame size but less bit rate, and they now run fine on the iPod.

So the long and about answer is yes, you were right and point me to the right direction, and it worked though with AVC-Free not with Handbrake but basically the same solution.

[RachelJ]

Great! I will add this info to the original post.