Q: How do I get the videos I've recorded onto my computer?

When you record a video it is placed as a timestamped Quicktime .mov file in /var/mobile/Media/Videos (a future version might integrate into DCIM).


To get to these files you should read Copying Files off of the Device.

Q: What determines what framerate I get? The range is rather wide: 6-15.

When the iPhone takes a video it is, in essence, taking pictures as fast as it can. When you take a picture you have to open the camera's "shutter" (the iPhone doesn't really have a shutter, but it is a good metaphor), let in the light that represents the picture, and then close it. If the environment you are taking a video of is darker you will have to open the shutter for longer to get enough light. The fastest the iPhone can move its shutter is 15fps and the slowest it is willing to go (before it just accepts a dark or even black exposure) is 6fps.

Q: Why do I get this weird side-to-side shearing effect on my videos?

The iPhone's camera mechanism takes a picture across the frame. This means that parts of the frame were recorded earlier than others. This means that if you are taking a picture of a moving object you will get these weird shearing artificts. Unfortunately, this is a fundamental property of the camera, one that can even be seen in still photographs.

Q: What causes the one second "finalizing" after recording videos?

That is a temporary strategy I am using to handle the way the iPhone is doing audio queuing in order to make certain all of the audio you thought you recorded actually ends up in the file. I am going to be fixing this in the next release (and already have a lot of what I need for that), but wanted to get audio in the hands of users faster (that this was needed was noticed at the last minute).

Q: Why do videos get corrupted audio when uploaded to YouTube?

YouTube seeems to incorrectly handle the audio codec Cycorder uses to encode its video files. If you re-code the video first on a desktop using any standard video manipulation tool you can upload the videos without issue. I am working on figuring out a fast and legal (remember that most audio compression algorithms require expensive licensing fees) format that is compatible with YouTube.