Who Is TechisodeTV: Interview with Techisode TV

    Hello, this is TheTechBoy with a special interview. I interviewed Tech YouTuber Techisode. He is a fantastic Christian YouTuber who makes in-depth content primarily about Samsung. He is a fan of Bixby just like me, and he installed Microsoft Edge on a Samsung phone he reviewed. This shows you will get some very interesting content on his channel. He is a fantastic person, and you should subscribe (with notifications on) to his channel. Below is the interview. (Lightly edited for clarity)  

TechisodeTV logo Source: Fair Use

1. I recently found your channel and I subscribed. Why should people subscribe to your channel and become regular visitors?

• Thanks so much for subscribing! My channel focuses on getting the most out of the latest tech products by introducing my viewers to lesser-known, powerful features in an engaging, fast-paced way. So if anyone wants to maximize the usefulness of their tech products, my channel is a great place to learn how to do that.

2. You have a fairly large channel. I notice that in the first 6hrs of a video you will respond to comments. How did you come up with that system? 

• I want my viewers to have a sense of community on my channel so it's important for me to engage with them in the comments section for at least the first few days, and even beyond, as time permits.

3. What is your method of filming and editing?  

• I start by writing out a bunch of video ideas for a product in OneNote. I then choose which ideas I want to focus on and create individual notes for those videos where I'll outline what I want to cover in that video. From there, I'll start to write a rough script to make sure I don't miss any important details when I start filming. Once that's done, I film everything based on my notes, import the videos into Premiere Pro, and start the editing process.

• To speed up editing, I use a three-pass method. The first pass of editing is just to get rid of all the mistakes in the filming process. The second pass is to pull the clips into each other and get rid of any long pauses between clips. I'll also add any relevant effects on this pass. The third pass is color correcting and adding chapter markers so my viewers can skip around my videos more easily. After that, I watch the video one more time to see if I missed any edits, then start the export and upload process. While the video is exporting/uploading, I start working on my thumbnail which usually consists of top-down shots of a product in my hands and some bold text highlighting a specific feature or the general video content. After that, I write the video description, tags, etc., and schedule the upload to go live in the late morning, when most of my viewers will be online.

4. Some of your most viewed videos are some of your older videos.

• There are a few reasons for that. The first is that I try to create evergreen content. This means creating videos that are still relevant for years to come. Because of that, my oldest videos will always be my most viewed videos. The second reason is that, when I made some of those older videos, there were only a few other channels making videos like that. So if someone searched for that type of information, it would be easy for them to land on my channel. 

• Today, there are many hundreds of new content creators making similar content which reduces the possible reach of a single video. This challenges me to be more creative with how I film and edit my videos to be even more engaging with my viewers. This ends up being quite a blessing because it's helping me to develop new skills that I may not have otherwise tried to learn.

5. How did you get into technology and why did you decide to make videos?  

• I've loved technology since I was a child and I've always loved teaching people about things that I'm passionate about. My product reviewing actually started with paintball-related things in written reviews nearly two decades ago. 

• What got me into making tech videos, specifically, was the fact that I personally had so many unanswered questions about the latest tech products that no one was answering at the time. So when the Note 4 came out, I decided to test some things that I was curious about and make a video about it. It turned out that hundreds of thousands of other people were also interested in the same thing. Once I saw that level of impact with a single video, I knew there was an audience for the types of things I wanted to cover. That’s when I started TechisodeTV.

6. How did you decide on the name TechisodeTV?

• This was a name that my wife and I came up with after brainstorming for a while. At that time, I was also big into special effects videos and had considered making cinematic-style tech reviews so I wanted something that made sense for both tech and special effects type episodes. In the end, we landed on Techisode TV as a combination of "Technology" and "Episode".

7. How did you become a Samsung expert?

• That one is actually pretty simple. I love Samsung devices and have been using them for years. It also helps that I'm the type of person to literally go through every setting on a device to see what it's capable of.

8. What personal devices do you use?

• Generally speaking, the Fold series of devices is my daily driver, except for when I want to get the best pictures. In that case, I usually switch over to the latest S-Ultra series phone. The Fold 4 made some nice improvements to the camera so we'll see if that stays in my pocket even when I want great pictures.

9. How do you manage sponsors and conflicts of interest?  

• It's honestly pretty simple. I just don't accept sponsorships for brands/products that I don't genuinely love. This significantly reduces the number of sponsors I have on the channel, but I want my viewers to know that I won't promote products just to make some extra cash. I also make it abundantly clear when there is a sponsor in a video.

10. I like how you include the Bible app and other Christian Songs in your videos. Why did you decide to do that?   

• Jesus is a fundamental part of my life and I feel that it's important for me not to remove my Bible widget or hide my Bible app just because some people may be offended. Not only did Jesus save me, but he also changed my life. I would be remiss not to share that with others. That's why you'll also see a Bible verse in the description of every one of my videos. Unfortunately, many people have been hurt by people from the church. This puts a very sour taste in their mouth for anything related to Jesus. I want those people to understand that just because someone goes to church, doesn't mean that everything that person does is a reflection of who Jesus is. When they asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was in Matthew 22:35, Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” If all Christians followed these two commandments, there wouldn't be nearly as many offended and hurt people in the world.

11. Advice to people to want to get into the tech review sector. 

• Find a niche that you're passionate about and get hyper-focused on that. Don't try to cover every aspect of every product. Then keep uploading and try to just get 1 or 2% better with every upload. Most importantly, study the analytics data that YouTube gives you. This will help you figure out what's working and what isn't.

12. Has anyone recognized you before, and have you ever attended any tech events?

• Ha, nope, never been recognized before outside of old high school friends messaging me saying, "I was searching for a tech review on this product and I found your video! I had no idea you made tech videos!"

• As far as tech events, I used to go to the Samsung launch events before Covid hit. Since then, all of Samsung’s events have been virtual. Hopefully, they’ll go back to live events soon so I can start going again.

13. Do you remember when and how your channel got big?

• Well, big is relative. I personally don't feel like I have a "big" channel. Especially when I look out and see channels like MKBHD, Mr. Mobile, etc. But my channel growth has been slow and steady for nearly 8 years now. That said, I also don't produce nearly as many videos as other tech channels. Up until recently, I was working full-time as a senior hardware engineer. I haven't announced it on the channel yet, but I recently hung up my engineering hat and am now focusing full-time on growing this channel. So, hopefully, this coming year will be the year where I see big growth :)

14. Favorite test device?

• The Fold 2 was a very exciting device as it was the first folding phone I had a chance to experience. Samsung also did a great job on the packaging for that device to make it feel even more premium. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it. Samsung's Gear VR, the original one, blew my mind. It was the first time I had ever tried a virtual reality headset. I remember trying it on for the first time, sitting at the kitchen table, and looking around at everything. I just kept saying things like, "this is unbelievable!"