Episode/Content Thoughts

whiskeyjack

Senior Member
Hi Austin,
I have no complaints with the current content. I have enjoyed the vid's from the very first with Josh and Josh and the Wildcat. I am also a big fan of RC Powers. I think Chad mentioned at one point that there weren't many web based sites that did a good job at educating and he felt he could do a better job. He succeeded in that respect.
As much as I enjoyed the old format "What the heck are those guys up to now?" I realize the show has matured and so has the content. My advise would be to stick to your core values and produce quality videos even if it meant cutting back to one per week. ( I, like the others have a hard time understanding how the crew can keep up the pace you have set for yourselves)
What I would like to see more of; how to; product reviews and not just ARF's but any new product that might be of interest ; fun stuff, challenges and maybe a blooper vid. You know that footage no one has seen, Josh not getting his lines right or an experiment that went terribly wrong. Just a few thoughts. WJ.
 

AustinFurey

Moderator
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
Why did I need to create another login for the Ft Extras section? Shouldn't the login I use for the forum work?

Unfortunately not. It is an inconvenience we are well aware of, but there are three separate logins on our site vBulletin (forum), BigCommerce (store), and FliteTest.com (articles, FT Extra, commenting etc). A universal login is a goal for the future but it is unbelievably complicated to get a universal login to play nice across all those platforms.

The good news is, now you have a login to the main site which is required for commenting on videos etc.

-Austin
 

SlowPass

Member
I always like more Flitetest content. Another idea along the lines of 'premium content' is the Patreon model. Goals could be set for the creation of new content that would be free to everyone once funded. An example: Once Flitetest has 500 premium subscriber/patrons a beginner FPV video series is released. When the goal of 1000 subscribers is reached another video series is produced for say beginner multirotor etc..
 

AeroMaestro

Senior Member
Yup. I watched 'em all in one day. Now what?

(FYI, I like to watch YouTube on my TV through Roku. The paywall on Extra makes it a little wonky to get a video from my iphone onto the TV screen, since I can't just go to the FTExtra Youtube channel and watch everything. So to get everything in one playlist, I had to use Safari -- selecting each video one at a time and adding each to my Watch Later playlist which I could then cue up on the TV. I don't know why I'm telling this story...... but maybe somebody else out there wants to watch all the FTExtra content at once, on their TV, using Roku. Maybe)
 

AustinFurey

Moderator
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
Yup. I watched 'em all in one day. Now what?

(FYI, I like to watch YouTube on my TV through Roku. The paywall on Extra makes it a little wonky to get a video from my iphone onto the TV screen, since I can't just go to the FTExtra Youtube channel and watch everything. So to get everything in one playlist, I had to use Safari -- selecting each video one at a time and adding each to my Watch Later playlist which I could then cue up on the TV. I don't know why I'm telling this story...... but maybe somebody else out there wants to watch all the FTExtra content at once, on their TV, using Roku. Maybe)

I appreciate and affirm your story :D

In all seriousness, this is actually a complaint Bixler had when checking out FT Extra for the first time. It's a known issue (I love Chromecast and stream pretty much anything I watch to my TV either at home or work) but without an obvious fix.

My assumption is that once someone powers through all of the back logged content they will be basically watching 1-3 videos at a time and streaming will be less important. That being said, I will definitely add less complicated streaming to the development list.

Thanks!
-Austin
 

Ace2317

Senior Member
I second FunkeyMonk on being easier to stream. I want FT Extra in 50" HD glory! In all seriousness, though. It's really awesome. It makes it feel like more of a community for us guys who are a pretty long trek from Ohio.

The only other thing I noticed is what Earthsciteach mentioned. I was confused for a bit too on the option to opt out of paying. I saw the "free" slogan at the beginning, but I was confused when it took me straight to the pay window. I figured it out, but it might put some folks off.

All in all, totally worth it. It's made my lunch break much more entertaining. Keep it up!
 

AeroMaestro

Senior Member
That being said, I will definitely add less complicated streaming to the development list.

I do know from experience that YouTube will let you make and distribute a playlist of unlisted YouTube videos. I have a lot of unlisted videos of my own performances, and I share them with folks by just sending a link to the playlist. The playlist can remain unlisted too, so neither the playlist nor the videos show up in searches or just by going to the channel page.

Of course, that also means that somebody could share the entire collection to the unwashed (pronounced "non-paying") masses by just posting the link to that playlist.

My only bummer is that I can't subscribe to the FTExtra channel and have new content pop up in my feed alongside RotorDr1 and FliteTest and RCTestFlight and TeamBlackSheep and RCModelReviews and Tested and CGP Grey and Dborup and RCExplorer and and and..... I have to go back to the FTExtra webpage to see if anything new has been added. Oh! And Hey! I just did that and I see two new videos! Yay.

Also, I guess this means the FT Gremlin channel is now kaput. The video of Chad and David eating the WWII crackers is my favorite.
 
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airhawk

Crashing Ace
Austin since it looks like its going to go to premium could you make lengthy videos maybe 10 15 mins cause with episodes being only Mon and Wed i would like it to be a bit longer. also totally understandable with the premium decision but why do the people who donated still have to pay
 

Gideo

Junior Member
Farm Drones

I would really like to see how some of your RC planes or quadcopters could be used in farming.
 

earthsciteach

Moderator
Moderator
Welcome to the forum, Gideo!

I wish I could remember the organization off the top of my head, but there was a design challenge (for high school students) to develop an aerial platform that could detect the presence of a certain kind of corn pest. With the right knowledge and ability to apply technology, any pest could be detected by some unique environmental signature. This is the most, "out there" application I've seen so far. But, rc aircraft could be used in ranching to monitor herds, particularly in winter, to inspect fences over large areas, to monitor crop health, maybe even locate and scare off potential predators.

Are you are farmer? If so, how might this technology help you? Lord knows we need some positive press surrounding the hobby!
 

TheGreatMineMaster

Junior Member
W.A.A.

There is a school opening called wings aerospace academy in Denver, CO, it is a school oriented towards the dreams of flight and perusing those very dreams in a unconventional learning environment that is suited for many types of students. It is a 6th-8th grade school and intends to add additional grade every year till it is 6th-12th grade.Flite Test crew look into this please and maybe even a episode?

http://www.wingsaerospaceacademy.org/
 

tclemmo

Junior Member
Hi all, just my opinion on the FT Extra content:
I started my subscription last month, and I liked what I saw. There were definitely some really cool videos in there and I spent a good amount of time going through them!

However, since then, not one new video has been released. I can only watch episode 118 so many times!
While I'm not paying too much at all for the content, is it really worth it? I was expecting to see a lot more unedited, raw footage of all sorts of things around the shop and behind the scenes. There really isn't a whole lot of that good stuff I wanted. And seeing as FliteTest is a full-time job for some, I think there is a lot of potential for this sort of short, raw footage of the general happenings at the shop.

You've been doing a great job with using the Periscope app - but I think since you've started that, you've kind of forgotten about Extra. Why should I be paying for Extra when I can see more exciting things more often, for free? It's the kind of stuff you stream on Periscope that could easily be put onto Extra. Extra videos don't have to be high-quality - personally I think it's more about quantity. Some of the videos might not interest everyone, but the quantity makes up for that, with a wide range of videos released. Bloopers are cool, too.

I hope to see more FT Extra videos in the future!

Tyler
 
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