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A: Watching the Woodsmith Seminars on a dial-up connection is not recommended. Although technically you could download the seminar on dial-up, the Woodsmith Seminar files can exceed 100 Megabytes in size. Using a 56k modem, download times could exceed 4 hours. You will get the most from our videos by using a broadband (cable or DSL) connection.

Q: I’m on a broadband connection, but having trouble getting the seminar to start up. What am I doing wrong?

A: There are three ways to watch the video:

1) Click on the thumbnail (or “Play it Now”) and watch it on your browser as a streaming video.

2) Click on “Play in Popup.” A popup viewer will open and you can watch it there as a streaming video.

3) You can also download the video to your computer (to view later) by right-clicking on the “Download” link next to the option of your choice and clicking “Save As”. If you continue to have problems, you may want to contact your internet service provider.

Q: I don’t have the time to download the whole seminar. Can I watch it as a “streaming” video?

A: Yes. Steaming video simply means that you are watching video while it is being delivered. You can watch a “streaming” version of the seminar by clicking “click to play” on the video thumbnail. You can also click “Play in Popup” which will open a separate window. Both of these options will “stream” the video to your computer. Remember that if you stream the video, you will have to come back to www.WoodworkingOnline.com to view the video again. The “Download” option allows you to store the video on your computer and to watch it without connecting to the internet.

Q: Do I need any special software to watch the seminar as a streaming video? Where do I get that?

A: Chances are good that you already have the software required to watch a streaming video. The Woodworking Seminars are available in three formats, allowing you to watch the video in whatever format you prefer. Those formats are:

Adobe Flash (default view) – To view this video, you must have the Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer. The Flash Player is installed on the majority of home computers which makes it a good choice. To download the latest version of the Flash Player, please visit: Get Flash Player

Windows Media – All computers running the Windows operating system will have some version of Windows Media Player. You should have no problem viewing the WMV version of the video, but if you do, you can download the latest version of the Windows Media Player by visiting the Microsoft download website here: Get Windows Media Player

QuickTime – The MP4 version is compatible with all computers that run the QuickTime software. This includes the Apple Macintosh computing platform. This file is also compatible with the iPod family of media players. The only option available for this format is the “Download” option. This is because this is not a “progressive” video file. That means that you must download the entire file before viewing it — therefore, the “streaming” option will not work. To update or install QuickTime, you can visit: Get QuickTime.

Please note that the QuickTime format will provide you with the best video quality.

All of these players are compatible with most systems and can be downloaded for free.

Q: The video seems to start and stop. Am I doing something wrong?

A: No, not likely. The quality of your video depends on many things including the number of people trying to access the video at any one time. When you are streaming video (viewing video online) you are actually viewing a “progressive” video. This means that you can watch the video as it is downloading. The video will start by downloading a small “buffer” of video (usually around 20 seconds). After downloading the “buffer”, the video will start to play. Depending on the speed of your internet connection and the quality of the video, sometimes the video playback will be faster than the buffer download. In other words, your computer can’t download the video fast enough to allow playback. What happens in this case is that your video playback will stop to allow time for the computer to download another “buffer” and get ahead of the playback. If you have a slow connection, you may sometimes see the video start and stop. This is not a problem with the video, but is attributable to a slowdown in your internet connection. In some cases, the video quality will be so high that all normal internet connections will have trouble keeping up with the video. If this is a problem, consider upgrading to a faster internet connection.

Q: Is there any advantage or disadvantage in downloading the seminar instead of just watching it in “real time?”

A: The main advantage is convenience. Once a video file has completely downloaded onto your computer’s hard drive, you can watch it at any time without the delays or problems associated with streaming.

You can download our Seminars in one of three formats. After downloading, the videos can be put onto laptops or other portable media players (such as an iPod). By downloading the video, you can store it on your computer indefinitely. If you do not download the video, you will have to visit www.woodworkingonline.com to view a streaming version of the video. Both options work well. If you suffer a slow internet connection, you’d likely prefer to take the time to download the video to your computer so that you do not have problems viewing the online stream. A downloaded video is not subject to a slow internet connection.

Q: I have Windows Media Player on my computer? Can I use that to watch and/or download the video? How do I do that?

A: Yes, the seminars can be watched on Windows Media Player. We have made it easy for anyone to watch the seminar videos regardless of which video player you have on your computer or prefer to use. Windows Media Player is the default player on most new personal computers using Windows operating systems.

To watch the video on Windows Media player, simply click on the Video WMV icon (it will open in a popup window and should begin after a short delay).

Or Click on “Play it Now” (in blue letters on the same line as the Video WMV icon). The video will begin after a short delay in the browser window.

Another way to watch the video in a popup window is to click on “Play in Popup” (in blue letters on the same line as the Video WMV icon). The video will start after a short delay in a popup window.

Finally, you can click on Download (in blue letters on the same line as the Video WMV icon). A download popup box will open and ask you if you want to download the file to your computer’s hard drive. Click “Yes” if that is what you want to do.

Q: I have Quick Time on my computer. Can I use that to watch and/or download the video? How do I do that?

A: Yes, the seminars can be watched on a Quick Time Player. We have made it easy for anyone to watch the seminar videos regardless of which video player you have on your computer or prefer to use. Quick Time is the default player on most new Macs.

To watch the video on Quick Time player, simply click on the “Download” link next to the MP4 icon. You must download the video to your computer to watch the video. There is no “streaming” version available in the Quicktime format.

When you click on Download (in blue letters on the same line as the Video MP4 icon), a download popup box will open and ask you if you want to download the file to your computer’s hard drive. Click “Yes” if that is what you want to do.

Q: It looks like it’s going to take a long time to download this seminar. Can I do something else while I’m waiting?

A: Yes, depending on how you opened the video. By clicking the “Download” option next to your player of choice, you will be prompted to download the Seminar as if you were downloading any other type of file. You can save the Seminar to any directory on your computer. Please remember where you saved the file so that you know where to retrieve it when the download is done. While the video is downloading, you can continue to browse the internet or use your computer in other ways (such as email, etc).

Remember, if you’re watching the video while it is streaming, the video will stop when you close www.woodworkingonline.com (or log off the internet).

Q: The screen that the video is playing on is pretty small. I’d like to see the action a little better. Any way I can make it larger?

A: The videos are sized for the best quality when watched on the smaller screen. If you would like to expand the video screen, you will have to download the Seminar video to your computer using the “Download” option. After downloading the video, you will be playing it in your video player of choice (Windows Media, Flash or QuickTime). While viewing the downloaded video, you can increase or decrease the size of the video. Please remember that by enlarging the video, the video will appear to lose quality. We size the video so that it is easily downloaded via the internet. Doing so requires us to remove some of the video and audio quality so that the file size will be small in size. While you can make the video larger, you will see the best quality while viewing the native size.

Q: Can I get the video in iTunes? How do I do that?

A: You can use iTunes to subscribe to our vodcast. This means that when we release a new vodcast, iTunes will automatically download it for you. To subscribe to our Seminar video, you must first install iTunes (you can download iTunes for free here). Once iTunes is installed, click on the “Music Store” in the left hand pane. Once in the iTunes Music Store, you can click on the “Search” bar in the upper right hand corner. Type the search word “Woodsmith” in that search bar and you will find our podcast. Once you find it, simply click on “Subscribe” and the most recent seminar will be downloaded and all subsequent videos will be downloaded. You can also browse all of the podcasts (and vodcasts) by clicking on “Podcasts” in the left hand window pane. Please remember that iTunes must be running on your computer in order to download new episodes of the podcast automatically.

Q: Is there any advantage in using iTunes?

A: The main advantage is that you can make the most of your time by telling iTunes download manager what content you want to download, and in what order. By using iTunes, you have the ability to “subscribe” to the Seminar. This means that you will be notified (via iTunes) whenever we release a new Woodworking Seminar video.

Q: I like watching your video podcasts. I don’t use iTunes, but prefer a different application to download and view my podcasts. Could you provide me with the podcast feed URL so I can configure my software?

A: Our podcasts are served up as a function of the blogging software that we use on www.WoodworkingOnline.com. As a result, we actually have 2 options. I’ll outlined them below.

You could simply choose to subscribe to the RSS feed for the entire blog. This option would deliver all of the blog content which would include any new podcasts that are made available. The address for that feed is: http://www.woodworkingonline.com/feed

If you would simply like to subscribe to the podcast portion of the blog, you can do so at this address:
http://www.woodworkingonline.com/category/podcast/feed

Q: Can I actually attend a Woodsmith Seminar in person? How can I become a member of the “studio audience?”

A: The Woodworking Seminars are held at the Woodsmith Store in Des Moines, IA and are presented on Thursdays starting in late September and lasting through the end of May. They are open to the public for a small fee. For more details on how to attend the seminars and how to find the Woodsmith Store, visit our website at Woodsmith Store Specials.

Q: I’ve got some comments about the seminar. How can I get my voice heard by the actual people that produce these seminars?

A: There are two ways to contact us. The first is to simply click on the “Leave a Comment” (blue text) button at the end of each web log post. Or, you can click on the “Contact Us” link in the left margin of WoodworkingOnline.