When create a post I can upload an image but not a video file to demonstrate a problem.
Is the only way to do this via youtube?
Any video sharing platform would work, from google drive to tiktok.
But probably people here feel more comfortable to open youtube videos.
Hi @gy5000. If the video is of something happening on your computer screen, and the length can be on the order of several seconds, one solution is to capture the screen recording as an animated GIF. You can then attach the GIF directly to your post.
I use this free open source application for that purpose:
but I'm sure there are other excellent alternative applications that could be used if you prefer.
Your code, a schematic, a detailed description of the problem and maybe some photos of your setup should be posted. Videos alone rarely help in diagnosing a problem.
I use my phone to take pictures and videos all the time to help me. I just thought it would be useful here too.
There are certain specific cases where a video is the most effective way to communicate. I generally find the case to be the behavior of an application or website UI in reaction to user activity.
Here is an example of the use of a simple, short animated GIF to demonstrate an incorrect behavior of the Arduino IDE UI:
https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide/issues/1387
it is sometimes possible to reach the interface, but not reliably:
This behavior would have been a bit difficult to describe using text or static screenshots, and the GIF communicated about it in a succinct manner.
However, videos are a very inefficient way to communicate much of the information that we share here on Arduino Forum, so you should only use one if you are certain that you could not effectively communicate that information using text, diagrams, or pictures.
If that works for you personally, that is fine. But here on the forum you must consider what is best for the other forum members. 99% of the time that will not be a video. Using a video when a different method of communication would have been more appropriate is likely to elicit a negative response from the forum community.
Although "TEXT is BEXT" when posting code and errors, I still find the "need" for moving pictures, so I screen-shot the screen-in-question a handful of times and use ezgif.com to make a moving .GIF where I can control frame duration.