Behind the Scenes of AnandTech's Server Tests [Video]
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 18, 2012 11:38 PM EST- Posted in
- Cloud Computing
- IT Computing
We've been quietly testing doing more video content on the site over the past year. I've done a few reviews over at our YouTube channel, and we also host all of our smartphone/tablet camera samples over there as well. Going into 2013 we'll be ramping up the amount of video content on the site to go along with Pipeline and the Podcast as some the new features we've introduced over the past couple of years. In doing so we're also going to be hosting videos locally.
When we were looking for the first content to trial our locally served video, I asked Johan de Gelas, the head of our IT/Enterprise testing at AnandTech if he could put something together. Johan came back with a behind the scenes look at the Sizing Servers Lab in Belgium, the back-end for all of our server reviews and testing.
Johan's video is embedded below and if this goes well he's promised to bring us a look at ARM based servers on video in the not too distant future.
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tspacie - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
The youtube channel is news to me too. The ORNL videos are interesting, if dry.jamyryals - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
The video worked great for me, and I've really enjoyed your previous videos and podcasts. A couple requests for you. Look at making your video delivery mobile friendly; easier said than done I know. Also for the audio portion, please normalize :) Keep up the good work guys.J_Tarasovic - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
I'll second mobile friendly. HTML5, please?Poopship - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
neatDerPuppy - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
I prefer text content to the audio/video content. easier to skim and it saves a lot of time. Catching up on podcasts took me a long time because I couldn't easily skip past sections without missing something else. It really pushes my attention span when the reviewer dictates the speed or naturally speaks as they think of things. Would rather get through the content quickly.MarcusMo - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
Why would you want to host your own video content? If you do however, I sincerely hope that you'll be supporting standard HTML 5 video on non flash devices. Maybe there's some information about this in the video, but I couldn't watch it for obvious reasons.eanazag - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
Yeah, I couldn't watch it on my iPhone.I have a preference to have text over video. I do watch the videos on occasion; like today. But generally do a lot of reading in between tasks at work.
I remember the video of the Acer Windows 8 tablet that was running an Intel Core i5 and that was a must see for the responsiveness of Windows 8.
Zink - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
It doesn't work for me on this iPad. Unless there is some copyright concern I don't see why you wouldn't put it on YouTube too. I think more video is great as long as there is a review to go back to for more detailed numbers and specs. I think Anand is very well spoken and does an amazing job of doing one long take and getting his thoughts across. If there was one area that could be improved in past videos from what I remember it is bringing more graphs, charts, and photos across from the text review into the video to make it more visual. There is also no harm in cutting a video into smaller sections, it is just amazing how Anand keeps his thoughts organized and does a video in one go.Impulses - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
Mine stopped loading after I tapped it by mistake (not realizing an ad had started) and then tapped back... I think not using YouTube might be more hassle than it's worth unless a big portion of your content is moving to video.I can understand other's concerns regarding the convenience of text vs video, but the AT videos are some of the few embedded review videos I ever watched and their podcast's the only one I've ever been able to sit thru. I think Anand does a great job of making either more compelling and info dense than most others of their kind.
Still, I agree video should remain complimentary to the main articles, and/or used for articles you wouldn't otherwise put up in text form (tho I imagine video requires far more prep and polish).
SodaAnt - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - link
PLEASE make them open in a pop up window, please. If I really want to click on an ad I shouldn't be forced to go back to the video then watch the ad again!