

Show HN: Just launched our side project Precorder, new way to record iPhone vids - kamens

@jasonrr and I just launched a side project we've been working on over weekends for the past couple months: http://airshipsoftware.com/precorder .<p>Precorder is a video recording app that constantly saves the past few seconds before you ever hit the record button, so you can wait until something interesting happens to start recording without worrying about missing a precious moment or winding up w/ hours of boring footage. The website explains more w/ pictures of dolphins and stuff.<p>This is an experiment of ours in many ways. All advice welcome.
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sorbus
Huh. I remember hearing about a camera which did this at one point (it was a
setting, I recall), so there's certainly some market for this as a feature.
Not sure if it coincides with iPhones (I would find it awkward to hold one up
and point it at stuff continuously), but it might.

Your website looks great, I think. You might want to move the "on sale"
sticker in front of the iTunes link, though - it just looks a bit odd as it
is. Replacing "Never edit your videos again" with "Never miss a scene again"
or "Never miss a moment again" (a slight rephrasing of the heading for how it
works) could also work better, as well as making it more obvious what the app
does on first glance.

I'm sure that others will have more and better advice, though.

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rsobers
I agree with replacing "Never edit your videos again" with "Never miss a
moment again."

On first glance, I understood the purpose of the app. But when I read "Never
edit your videos again" I started to question my understanding. Made me think
I missed something.

Nice job, guys!

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kamens
We eventually settled on "Never edit your videos again" but maybe we should
switch it back.

We were closer to "Never miss a moment," but the bottom line is that you can
already never miss a moment by recording the entire 2 hours of footage.

...but then you have two hours of boring footage in need of editing.

That's probably more thought than we should ask of quick readers though. We'll
consider switching.

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SHOwnsYou
I think you're definitely over-thinking this.

The average user doesn't record all the time so they _would_ be missing all
kinds of great video opportunities.

With your software, they're still not recording all the time but now they
don't miss any great video opportunities.

Great page by the way. To the point and great design.

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kamens
Thanks for the input, all. We're changing it.

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pkamb
I'd say "Precorder turns you into a better videographer." could use some work
as well.

1st: "Never miss a moment." 2nd: Tell the user how/why they'll never miss a
moment by using your app.

Something like "Save the 10 seconds of video before you press the button" or
whatever. Get a little technical.

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pkamb
Your thumbnails of the dolphin are a cool idea... but could be done a bit
better I think!

1st frame: Boring, waiting for something to happen. 2nd frame: Cool thing, but
not the best part! You missed it! 3rd frame: The best part. Thanks to
precorder you caught it on film.

I think that's what you're trying to do, but the second and third frames are
currently the same picture. Make the second frame the tail going into the
water (you missed it), the and the third the dolphin's head.

Or, a kid at a little league game: 1st: Waiting to swing 2nd: Running to 1st
base 3rd: Beautiful shot of him hitting the ball.

Etc.

~~~
kamens
This is a cool idea. Thank you!

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kamens
Clickable: <http://www.airshipsoftware.com/precorder>

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mcotton
This is a cool idea. This is a very common feature in security camera DVRs and
people love the idea once they understand it. Good job.

