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Author Topic: is Picworkflow the new Isyndica  (Read 8132 times)

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« on: January 05, 2011, 07:35 »
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Has anybody tried Picworkflow Since Isyndica disappeared I have been trying to find something similar to upload Video to multiple Stock Sites  and just wondered if anybody has tried this http://www.picWorkflow.com/?by=356

« Last Edit: January 05, 2011, 07:43 by bestshotz »


tbmpvideo

« Reply #1 on: January 13, 2011, 22:02 »
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I indeed have tried picWorkflow, am currently using it,  and it does what it claims - which at the baseline allows you to upload and distribute to multiple agency sites. This does save me time and effort, especially as my connection is not super-fast and I would rather minimize my time dealing with files uploads. It is a worthy effort, and I support it!

You can read an interesting article I conducted with Bob Davies, the creator by following this link: http://www.stockvideoseller.com/public_html/interviews-2/bob-davies-picworkflow-and-.html

At the moment it has some minor drawbacks. Financial reporting is promised to appear at some point, which would be helpful. Social network promoting is also promised to become online at some point - and this too would be great. I was a active user of the iSyndica social network promotion tool, which let you upload to Facebook and Youtube. The iSyndica tool was seriously flawed, as it did not let you brand the clips with link back information. This meant all the clips of your which go viral (and several did) bring you little if any results sales-wise. 

The PicWorkflow process does not let you keep a filename you have given your files, but renames them to avoid confusion in the server. This creates some minor additional work as you need to identify and rename them at each of the targets they are distributed too - or a least figure out what they are again. Metadata, that is the description, keywords, are not transferred to the target sites yet - although they are saved along with the jpeg you need to create for your clip in the upload process and may allow this in the future (but most likely not to all the sites). Unlike iSyndica, the site does not archive your clips once they get the online, but rather uses a pays as you go system each time you perform an activity. Back when I was using iSyndica, I found the cost of storing and using the system to be around 7 - 10 US cents per clip. The cost seems significantly higher than iSyndica as you must purchase storage for any clips you want to remain online and also you pay by the size of the clip you are working with on picWorkflow.
I do find myself being more cautious in my use of the service, primarily on it's costs, but this may be due to my increasing knowledge about which sites are non-performers, and which sites will reject what.

« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2011, 06:34 »
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Thanks for the feedback Terry :)

I'm working hard to add the tools where you highlight things are missing, and a lot of it will be improved by the meta-tagger coming to the picNiche toolbar soon. My support for footage is pretty limited (especially as there are no universally supported metadata standards for video formats), but I also have a few ideas to improve it on the task-list.

I am releasing first a couple of services to generate some revenue so I can hopefully afford to pay someone to help me get everything else done faster (picWorkflow makes very little profit (about 2% to 5% so far) and backs up the reason iSyndica closed in the first place). Fortunately these are also services which will save photographers a lot of time and offer additional earning opportunities for those of us with time to spare. More on this in the coming days :)

« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2011, 07:05 »
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Thanks tbmpvideo

Great response .. and great interview on your site ...  you summed up everything perfectly, Ive been trying picWorkflow, for about a week now

agreed the Meta data not transferring over yet with the file yet .. is a bit of a pain especially as the file is renamed, so some sites that don't show a thumbnail preview when a file is uploaded can make it confusing and you have to download a metadate file to copy and paste over title, keywords etc (although this is being worked on as bobbigmac  has said)

and I can see it costing a little more than iSyndica as you say .. but the good thing at the moment is your not tied to a contract, especially as things are new and being sorted out (metadata, financial stats etc)

Understand that the storage and export of a for eg 450mb video file compared to a 5mb Photo file requires more work but I hope Video Footage isn't going to be treated secondary to work out whats needed to stills up-loaders as it will cost the footage up-loader more to store / export each file compared to the Stills up loader

I really hope this system lasts and improves as Isyndica was a huge time saver and I can see huge potential and need for it ...  I wish the best of luck bobbigmac and hope Picworkflow goes from strength to strength and all your hard work pays of
« Last Edit: January 14, 2011, 07:26 by bestshotz »

« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2011, 08:20 »
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Understand that the storage and export of a for eg 450mb video file compared to a 5mb Photo file requires more work but I hope Video Footage isn't going to be treated secondary to work out whats needed to stills up-loaders as it will cost the footage up-loader more to store / export each file compared to the Stills up loader

Footage is definitely something I want to handle really really well as I know how much of a nightmare it can be (I dabbled in some for my portfolio a while back), I watch all the forums for feedback and ideas and have already had a lot of requests and suggestions sent by videographers. If there's anything specific you want to see, please email me on [email protected] and I'll add to the list too :)

Thanks for the best wishes too :)

tbmpvideo

« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2011, 20:24 »
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Thanks for being so responsive Bob. I just want to stress what a worthy effort Bob is up too. His project, and his extensive thinking about the stock video business are something we as videographers can support (and profit by!) by signing up on PicWorkflow. I think as the service matures, and offers more information as sales stats, keywording and research tools, etc, we'll see a gradual increase in revenues and users. I'm sending as many folks your way as I can!

Go to: https://www.picworkflow.com/?by=183


 

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