You need two files to use ClipNotes, a video file and an XML file. You get these ready on a desktop or laptop computer, and then copy them onto your iPad using iTunes.
The video file needs to be in a format that your iPad or iPhone can play. We have done fine with m4v, mp4, and mov files, using H.264. We recommend HandBrake as the software to use if you are converting video files from other formats. We've also used mov files directly from several video cameras and have found these to work fine. ClipNotes will resize your video to fit the movie window at the top of your screen, but will maintain whatever the screen ratio is of your video.
You need to copy your video file into ClipNotes using iTunes. You can not access files stored in your regular video library. Again, your video needs to be placed in ClipNotes.
ClipNotes supports AirPlay, so especially with an iPhone, you might consider displaying your video on a larger screen.
The XML file is the main thing you have to prepare, but hopefully you will not find that process difficult . You can do this by first determining starting and stopping times of each clip within the video which you wish to show, and then writing the description that will display when the clip shows. The purpose of the caption is to give you a line on the scrolling list to easily identify your clips. You can leave the caption field blank, in which case ClipNotes will use your description to be your caption as well (or as much of it as will fit), Since descriptions are generally longer than captions, it's a good idea to have short captions as well to appear on your list. (See the sample files included with ClipNotes to get a sense of how you might do this.)
Here would be a short sample for discussion's sake of a two-clip XML file.
<Clips>
<Clip>
<Start>4:16</Start>
<End>4:27</End>
<Description>This is a really cool example. I like it a lot.</Description>
<Caption>My first example - a good one</Caption>
</Clip>
<Clip>
<Start>2:05</Start>
<End>2:4 9</End>
<Description>That's Uncle Bob standing behind the dolphin.</Description>
<Caption>A big moment in our vacation</Caption>
</Clip>
</Clips>
Start and End times are listed as minutes:seconds. If your video is over an hour, you can also list hours or continue to use minutes, either 1:12:15 or 72:15 are fine. If you prefer, you can have a single number which is seconds, so you can put 9:15 or 555. (555 is the number of total seconds in 9 minutes and 15 seconds.)
XML files can be edited in an text editor, so you might use Notepad or Notepad++ for this. There are also specialised programs for editing XML files,but your don't really need one. The Internet is full of information about XML and there are many books on the subject, but the format is pretty straightforward and a text editor works perfectly fine.
You can open your own video and xml files by using the "Change Film" and "Change Notes" buttons at the top of the screen. After you press it, you then need to go to the ClipNotes folder on your device, where the files you have copied will be available. When you make your selections, they will be saved automatically in "Settings", so the next time you use ClipNotes your choices will be ready.
On the next page we have both the sample file which comes with ClipNotes and also a blank template for five examples, which can obviously be extended by copying and pasting.