Frequently asked questions

Who is VideoStir?

VideoStir is a young, innovative & professional company. At VideoStir we aim to make it simple for you to use your videos creatively. Our vision is to make it easy for anyone with a camera to create a cool floating clip on top of ANY website. Learn more about our company in the about us page.

What is the VideoStir Engine?

The VideoStir Engine is an exclusive patent pending computer vision program that removes the background from any video, resulting in a clip that can "float" over other web-content. The VideoStir Engine's biggest advantage is that it works even if your video wasn’t shot against a green screen (Chroma key) or in professional studio. This makes it easy for you to film your own video (against any solid color wall). The engine employs dozens of sophisticated algorithms that analyze the video frame and automatically separate and remove the background from the foreground.

What is a floating clip?

A floating clip is a video clip with a transparent background. When played over a web page, the site content shows the through the transparent part of the clip (see-through effect). Floating video clips provides viewers with a much more personal and integrated experience than conventional square video players do.
VideoStir not only creates the floating clip, but also provides users with the means to project and view it over any website, even a public site, without having to make changes to the site. Easily add a video annotation to any existing site by way of the “floating clip link”.

What is a floating clip link?

A Floating clip link can be a link to any web site. When using the link it will display the original targeted website with your floating clip running on it, on a separate transparent layer.

Why do I need a floating clip?

Studies have shown time after time that video-content has a dramatic effect on customer acceptance and action.

How do you remove the video’s background without using a green screen?

Most existing editing programs use a simple method called the green or blue screen approach, to remove the background from a video. This method only works if the film was shot in a professional studio, employing a special chroma background. The editing program then identifies the specific green or blue colors in the video and marks them as background (assuming, of course, that there aren’t any blue or green colors on your face and clothes or on anything else in the foreground for that matter). The VideoStir solution on the other hand is much more sophisticated – the VideoStir software engine uses sophisticated algorithms to separate the background from the foreground of the video, which means you can easily shoot a video anywhere you chose... at home, work, school or even at the park!

Does the VideoStir technology only work when there is one person in the video?

No. You can film your entire family, your dog, cat and duck coming in and out of the frame, as long as their color is not identical to the background wall (watch out for that white duck though :) ). This is because the VideoStir software engine works by separating the background from anything in the foreground of the video (not only people), so anything in the frame other than the background will be considered a foreground image. How cool is that!

Can I use my smartphone camera to film my video?

Sure, any camera will work. However, if you want your floating clip to be of the highest quality possible, you should try to follow as many of our guidelines as possible. Naturally, if your original video recording suffers from low quality, poor lighting or sound, the floating clip will suffer from the same issues.

Can the clip run on all types of devices?

As the clip currently plays on a flash player all PCs should be able to run it (including Apple's Mac PC). The clip will work on most Android based smartphones but will not play on Apple's iPhone or IPad due to Apple's flash limitations. We've encountered production companies that claim they can get your clip to run on an iphone/ipad, when, in fact, they play an ordinary clip with a colored background once the user clicks play. We are working on a real solution that will get your clip to run as expected on an IPad - be sure to follow our progress.

What should I do if I am unsatisfied with my floating clip, despite following all your guidelines?

Check out our unhappy page and let us know what's wrong with your clip using our support page.