When I take videos on my Droid 3 phone and put it vertical, it takes videos that it knows to flip when I play them, but they still display sideways in video players on PCs. Is there an app or something that will keep people’s heads on the top of the video, no matter how I turn the phone? Thanks.
I think I know how. I have an LG Optimus, but from what I’ve noticed, most android-powered phones are about the same. Here’s how it goes for me. Go to SETTINGS (the main settings page > from there you should be able to scroll through options, choose DISPLAY > then finally, uncheck the box that says “auto-rotate screen” - I believe auto-rotate is the default option. So uncheck that box and thats it. If its not exactly like that, it will be very similar, I know that much, so if you can’t find it exactly reply back with what you can find and we’ll go from there.
I have on my laptop a useful suite called Free Studio by DVDVideoSoft. Among the many useful apps it provides is a utility to flip and rotate video files.
PlanetCharlie, I tried that, but it turns out that things went sideways again.
j_sum1, that’s what I’ve been using, but it’s so much of a pain when you’ve shot 7 different happenings at a kid’s birthday party, and they all have to be flipped, renamed, and the original file deleted.
Is it that hard to remember to hold the camera horizontally when you take movies?
I can remember, clearly. I can remember how to type, log into this message board, and be sarcastic, so I think I can do that.
Some things lend themselves to a vertical shot better. So let me try to find out if there’s something that helps with that.
I don’t know why, but video in portrait orientation (vertical) annoys the crap out of me.
That said, I’m surprised that standard video players don’t read the metadata in the file that tells your phone the video was taken vertically. Most of the image editing programs do, so why wouldn’t it be an option on video playing programs? Interesting.
Hah! Looks like I’m not the only one. 
Uggh.
If you must know, I was recording kids hitting a pinata. It’s a vertical set of information.
Oh, I don’t doubt there are good compositional reasons for wanting to shoot video in a vertical orientation.
I use the app Rotate Lock to force certain apps to display in landscape mode that are native portrait mode. Have not tested it in video yet.