Yes, there are many sites out there offering videos, but finding a video that 
simply explains how to do something can sometimes be a hard task when you're 
surrounded by heaps of TV show clips, dudes lip-syncing to pop ballads and 
exploding Mentos videos. 5min is a site entirely dedicated to short instructional
videos. You can easily find what you're looking for by browsing the different
categories or using the search bar. Better yet, you can watch whichever videos
you're after with our nifty Smart Player!

Because we're serious about helping you learn new things, we designed a player
that is tailor-made for viewing instructional videos. The Smart Player allows you 
to watch a video in slow motion, to zoom in or out and even provides the creators 
an option to build a detailed storyboard – or Scenes - to enhance their tutorial. 

But that’s not all – for the first time ever, you can access video, text, images and 
links, all in one place! With the Smart Player, you can go beyond video and enjoy
a complete video learning experience. 

The Smart Player enables you to enhance your video with Add-Ons – text guides,
images and external links meant to enrich your videos. This is the ideal place for 
step-by-step guides, ingredients listings, tabs, lyrics, sheet music, recipes…you
name it! 

Do you have a blog or website of your own? Place a link to your site in your 5min
videos, and help other people discover what you’ve got to show.

Sorry, nope. We're sure your kids are terrific, but unless they can teach everyone
else how to walk in five minutes or less, you should upload their videos to other
sites.

If your video explains how to do something in 5 minutes or less, it's a 5min video.
Whether it's how to break into a safe or how to end world hunger, if you can
teach it, upload it! 

As a policy, we don't filter by the quality of the explanation or the filming – it's up
to our community to decide if your video is worth watching. However, to state the
obvious: videos which are better filmed and better explained tend to score more
views and reach more people.

There's no need for that! Feel free to keep your videos on another site, but go
ahead and upload them to 5min as well. That way, your videos get maximum
exposure and reach people who are interested specifically in your skills!

Sure, we encourage you to spread the notion of knowledge! You can easily embed
your or any other 5min video in your blog or website. You'll also be happy to
know that 5min embedded videos come with all the awesome features of our
Smart Player, so your readers can fully enjoy your videos and benefit from a
complete knowledge experience. To see how you can embed 5min videos just
about anywhere, go here.

Registering to 5min is a simple 2-step process – we've made it as easy as
possible! 
1. Simply click on Join Now at the top of the 5min homepage and fill out our
easy, breezy sign-up form.
 
2. A validation email will be sent to the email address you provided, so be sure
to enter a valid and correct email address. If you don't receive a validation email
within 10 minutes, remember to check your junk mail folders, since it might be
there. This would also be a good time to add 5min.com to your list of trusted
senders, so that you don't miss out on any important updates.
 
Once you've received the validation email, click on the link inside it and you're
good to go!

Aside from being able to upload your videos and spread your skills around the
globe, signing up to 5min has many advantages. As a registered user, you can 
create your own studio, take part in the 5min community, create your very own 
favorites list, subscribe to studios you like and interact with other members. This 
also gives us a chance to get to know you, and be able to better cater to your 
needs.

The studio is your personal space to manage your own videos, as well as other 
videos and studios you like. It's also the ideal place to tell the 5min community a 
little bit about yourself and promote your skills and expertise. In fact, your studio 
is like an online business card to the world, where everyone can get an idea of 
what you do and how well you do it.

When you link to a video on 5min, a visitor to your site or blog will see a simple, 
clickable text link. By clicking on this text, the visitor is taken directly to that 
video on 5min.com. 

When you embed a video, however, a visitor to your site or blog will see the 
actual video displayed in a player box, and they can view it without having to 
leave your site. Embedding a video has many benefits, but the biggest ones are 
that they make it look like the content is intrinsic to your site, and it keeps 
visitors on your page rather than forcing them to leave in order to check out 
5min. Embedding is completely free,  and offers your site’s visitors a way to enjoy 
our awesome Smart Player without leaving your page!

To embed any 5min video into your blog, website or any other web page, just 
copy the "Embed" code from the video info beside the video player , below the 
player, and paste the embed code into your blog or website.
Also if you are watching the video through the Smart Player full screen, at the 
end you can click the Embed icon, and paste the embed code to your desired
space.
That's all there is to it - now everyone else can watch your video and witness 
your impressive skills!

In order to watch videos on our site, make sure you have access to the following 
system requirements: 

	1. Macromedia Flash Player 9.0 r28 plug in
	2. OS: 
	   1. Windows XP or higher with latest updates installed 
	   2. Mac OS X 10.3 or higher 
	3. Browsers:
	   1. Firefox 1.1+
	   2. Internet Explorer 5.0+
	4. Broadband connection with 500+ Kbps

We are doing our best to expand our support to more browsers and operating
systems – should you encounter any problems or have any questions regarding a 
browser or OS not mentioned above, do not hesitate to contact us!

5min.com plays items in Flash format and requires that you have Flash Player 9.0 
r28 or higher installed on your computer.

If you do not have a Flash Player, you can download Adobe Flash Player by 
clicking here.

In case you do have a Flash Player installed, and are unable to view videos, this 
problem is most likely caused by an incompatibility of the Flash Player’s registry.

To resolve this problem:

	•  Uninstall your Flash Player using Adobe’s Flash Player uninstaller, available 
	   by clicking here.
	•  Install the newest version of Flash Player. You can download Adobe Flash 
	   Player by clicking here.

If this problem persists, this could be due to certain system configurations on 
your computer. To rule this option out, you should first verify the following:
	
	1. Make sure that your browser is defined to enable Java scripts and cookies.
	2. Scan your computer for viruses, adware, malware, spyware and other 
	   harmful programs that might be corrupting your computer.
	3. Verify you are not using a proxy server - If you are not sure,click here.  
	4. Verify that your security programs are not blocking 5min.com - Access your 
	   Firewalls, Anti-viruses and other security programs and verify that 5min is 
                on the list of “secure” programs.
	5. If you are working via an office network and trying to view videos, it’d be 
	   wise to verify with your system administrator that your office network is 
	   not blocking 5min.
	6. Lastly – you can contact us at support@5min.com at any time!

In order to make sure you are able to hear the sound accompanying most videos 
on 5min, please verify the following:
	
	•  Your volume bar on the 5min page is set to maximum.
	•  The mute button on the 5min page is set to off.
	•  Your speakers are turned on and connected properly.
	•  You can hear sound from your computer when using any other program – 
           for example, the sound alerts from an instant messaging program or your 
           current MP3 playlist.

Certain computers will not display video unless they are in 24- or 32-bit color 
mode. If you are using Windows, right-click on your desktop and select 
'Properties'. Then click the 'Settings' tab. A section near the lower-right corner is 
labeled 'Color Quality'. Select either 24-bit (high color) or 32-bit (true color) from 
the drop down menu. If you are using another operating system, please refer to 
the user help manual or online support.

Just as with any other video, there are several ways to get the job done:

	1.  First, you have to shoot the video using a video recorder. Most digital 
	    cameras include video capabilities as well, and so do some mobile phones.  
	    Whatever tools you have at your disposal, shooting your video is a piece 
	    of cake, and usually quite fun! Make sure to use a setting with proper 
	    lighting around you so we can all see your expertise in action!
	2.  After recording your video, you will need to transfer it to your computer 
	    using the appropriate camera cable and software if needed. Another 
	    option is to record the video directly onto your computer, by recording 
            your computer screen to a video file using software like "CamStudio" or a 
	    similar program. Once the video is in your computer, make sure it's less 
	    than 5 minutes long and weighs no more than 110 Mb. 
	3.  If you've exceeded the time or size requirements, you can simply edit 
	    your video using an editor such as MovieMaker, Vegas or Premier. After 
	    editing your video, you can upload it to 5min and let the fun begin.

Hoping to get some serious attention on 5min? Make sure your video is truly a 
"How To", meaning it explains how to do something, and doesn't just show you 
doing it.  Don't just tell us – teach us!

In order to upload your video to 5min you will first need to sign up. 
After you've joined, log in and click on the "Upload" tab at the top of the page. On 
our friendly Smart Upload page, browse your computer in order to choose the 
video file which you wish to upload, and begin to share your videos. 

We've even decided to save you time! While your video is uploading, you can 
move on to the next step – adding details to your video. Here you can enter all 
the relevant info for your creation - a title, a description, and tags, as well as 
choose the appropriate category for your video. 

While your video is uploading, you can proceed to add and create your Smarts, 
which are additional materials you can use to accompany your video. Confused? 
Find out more about adding Smarts to your videos or see the video explanation 
on How to upload the smart way in 5min studio.

5min accepts AVI, MOV, WMV, FLV and MPG files, which our system converts to 
accommodate Flash format. You are welcome to upload your videos in any of 
these formats.

You can  edit your video details by clicking on Edit Studio link, located in the top 
right-hand corner of the screen. Next, click on the Manage Videos link, through 
which you can edit the details of any video you have uploaded to 5min. If you 
encounter any problems when trying to edit your videos, you can email 
support@5min.com and we'll make any changes you require.

Search tags are keywords associated with your item that do not necessarily 
appear in your video’s title or description.

When submitting a video presenting a delicious recipe, for example, and the word 
“delicious” doesn’t appear in its title or description, you can add the word 
“delicious” as a search tag to ensure it will appear when users search for 
something yummy. 

You can add tags to your videos by entering several tags simultaneously and 
separating them with commas, or enter your tags one at a time. To delete a tag 
you’ve entered, simply click on the tag and it will be removed.

Scenes, or storyboards, divide the video into steps and gives you the opportunity 
to add helpful information to your tutorial. 
Creating Scenes is easy – simply enter the time you wish to set as the beginning 
of your Scene, enter a title and description, and click on Add Scene.
Make sure to fill in a concise and relevant title and description for each Scene - 
each Scene will display an image which is a snapshot taken at the next round 10 
second mark. So if you mark a Scene as starting at second 35, it will display the 
image of second 40 in your video.

Please allow up to a couple of hours for your video to appear on the website. 
Once your video has been added to the site you will receive an email notification. 
If your video is rejected by our team because the material is not suitable in any 
way, or there are problems with the video file, you will receive an email informing 
you of this.

You can choose to represent yourself on the site with the help of other means, 
like the hip avatar provided by 5min, an image of your choice uploaded from your 
computer or selecting a preview picture from one of your videos. You can use the 
thumbnail preview image of any of your videos as your avatar!

If you opt to upload an image of your own (a personal image is recommended), 
please make sure it is in a JPEG, GIF or PNG format, and up to 1MB in size.

Why settle for ordinary videos when you can make your videos super-Smart? 
With every addition you make to your video, it becomes a Smarter solution for 
your audience. Remember, your video is only as Smart as what you add to it!

Wanna know how Smart your video is? By going to your Manage Videos page, 
you can see all the videos in your 5min studio, with a little lightbulb next to each 
one, indicating just how Smart it is. After uploading a new video and entering all 
the relevant details, your video will display as Clever, with 10% Smarts.
Don’t worry – you can still help your video reach its full potential! 

Adding Scenes to your video will bump its IQ up to an additional 30%. Not 
enough for you, Smarty-pants? Entering Add-Ons will help your video soar to 
further realms of Smart, up to an additional 40%. Including Links in your video 
will give you a Smart boost of up to 20%. So what are you waiting for? Turn your 
video into  the genius it was meant to be!

When you are viewing a video, simply choose your preferred rating by clicking on 
the stars below the video player. The more stars you select, the higher the rating. 
We display the average ratings so that you can single out the best videos on 
5min, and so others can benefit from your opinions.

A video on 5min can belong to any one of several topic areas, called categories. 
Through the different categories and sub-categories, you can search for the 
videos you’re looking for with greater ease and in an organized manner.

From the watch page displaying any video on 5min, you can add that video to 
your list of favorites by clicking on the Favorite icon (marked with a blue heart). 
Other users can browse your favorites via your studio page.