Tong Family

OK, for those of you still Zoom culture, I tidied up my Zoom stuff, and here are some notes:

1. On many updates, you will actually lose your background and it appears as if the video is broken. If it is black, then go to Settings > Video Backgrounds and click to download the Background effects, it looks like sometimes these get lost in an update.
2. Make sure your video files are in H.264 and in 1080p. I keep forgetting this, but the default output of most cameras is 4K and in HEIC format. So you need to use QuickTime Player to export it into the H.264 format (or Handbrake works too).
3. Image Stabilize your Videos with Action Mode. Even the nicest handheld shot doesn’t work well as the background keeps moving around. The tricks are to use the “Image Stabilization” mode if you have an iPhone 14 Pro or later.
4. Final Cut Pro Stabilization. If you have videos that are close but no cigar and then float then you can use digital stabilization. In Final Cut Pro, start a new Event, and then in the middle of the upper left buttons click on photos and then in type select “Video” on the right side of the next window. Now drag the videos from your Photos. And then in the upper right window, select the icon at the upper left and you should see a Stabilization checkbox. Click that and it will smooth all the clips. Then you can export each clip in turn and make sure that it is 1080p and in H.264 compression format. As an aside, I found that the selection, “Video” did not actually work. There is a strange bug where the clip you drag is not the clip you selected, but it works in All mode. And the stabilization in “Tripod Mode” will be rock steady. Note that if you have set it to generate Optimized Media all should be good, otherwise you need to click on the clip and scroll down to Available Media Representations and click Transcode Mdeia to get it. Then you can export.