I find it almost impossible to learn from video tutorials. They are usually going either too fast or too slow. I can’t experiment while watching the tutorial as then I’d miss something. I can’t use them as a reference while experimenting because it’s too difficult to find the right part. I tend to lose focus if there’s too much in it I already know, making me miss any new things.
Because of this, it’s getting increasingly difficult to learn about new Blender features.
They are usually going either too fast or too slow. I can’t experiment while watching the tutorial as then I’d miss something.
With most video playback software they have buttons with two vertical lines and a triangle. These are for Pausing and Playing the video. Learn to use them.
My problem with videos is the sound, it usually sucks, making it difficult to understand what is being said. Some of us just prefer written tutorials.
We have a meter on our internet that monitors the download usage on our system. I usually prefer written ones to avoid tripping the limit on the meter (and thus slowing our internet to a crawl). But i also find the text one’s a bit convienient when going out where the’s no internet.
I also sorely miss written tutorials. Sometimes, I don’t want to spend 35 minutes watching. I want to see the key points, described. It is likely that there is a particular point within a process that I understand “mostly” that I want to zero-in on. Videos, being purely sequential in nature (and unfortunately, often very poorly done), don’t do that.
Quite simply put, an average video tutorial is easier to produce than an average written one. Start the screen-capture and voice recodring, demonstrate the feature, stop recording, and upload result. Other than pressing stop & start, written tutorials often require a variety of screen-grabs and text editing on top of going through the feature a couple of times to get the right key strokes, etc.
Given the tutorials are uploaded (in general) by folks doing it for free - the easier method is going to be the one most often used. I know it’s how I’d go cos I hate typing out documentation, but have no problems demonstrating what needs to happen.
My main reproach with written tutorials is that the “teacher” always skip steps that are obvious to him. So if you just did not learn blender the same way he did, you can get stuck for quite a while. On the other hand with a video, you witness everything. Then, making a good video is a matter of care and time, as BTolputt said.
Quite simply put, an average video tutorial is easier to produce than an average written one. Start the screen-capture and voice recodring, demonstrate the feature, stop recording, and upload result. Other than pressing stop & start, written tutorials often require a variety of screen-grabs and text editing on top of going through the feature a couple of times to get the right key strokes, etc.
Given the tutorials are uploaded (in general) by folks doing it for free - the easier method is going to be the one most often used.
This, and the potential to get paid for it. Lots of people make free tutorials (like myself), but there is at least a chance that in the future I will be slightly compensated by Youtube if I have a lot of views. There is nothing like that on the internet that besides blogging with ads on the side, and that takes a LOT more time to become “popular”.
There are quite a few Blender books.
I think videos tend to be more popular because you can see the technique. Written tutorials by their nature tend to lose that improvisational aspect. When all the nuance is gone, it often is more difficult to follow how the person is getting from point a to point b.
In general, the video is the best way to show a simple things in a detailed way (a 5 minut film to present a new feature). Written tutorials can deliver you additional abstract information, which is difficult to present in a film. Every of these forms in their larger versions require a good plan before starting, otherwise you will end with the boring hours of a film or a boring book.
P.S.
Personally I do not like videotutorials. They consume too much time. A great thing is always a written excerpt, which mentions the key points shown by the film in details. For example - such excerpts accompany the tutorials on blendercookie…
I work in a digital library and this is similar to problems going from print to online. You go from three dimensional to two dimensional. I think it slows you down sometimes
It’s almost impossible to give fast and only necessary info with written tutorial.
Most the times you need to over and over read sentence.
Video tutorial on the other hand gives you the fast picture of all the data and you can separate out new stuff to study.
I disagree with the last comment. Videos don’t have much information on why something is done, meaning they won’t give understanding on the performed operation.
Video and sound quality can also make a tutorial unusable, also a person’s voice can hinder understanding.
a video is a lot quicker to make as everyone knows lol but I have seen so many where its opps that didnt work!! errrr hang on back in a min and I h8 those
will admit making a pdf can be a pita! number of times I’ve made one and shot off an finished “model”(whatever) then realized I forgot half the screenshots doh
dont see why when someone has made the video they cant grab the “important” images and add a bit of text to explain pack it into a pdf and have it there for easy access, nothing can be worse then watching a 20 min vid 'cos you forgot one keystroke
ps I’d never do a video 'cos unless your from Yorkshire you will have trouble understanding me rofl
Speaking of video tutorials… 
Yes, this would be the best of both worlds. I have started saving my blend files with a time stamp in the title of where i was in the video. Its very disconcerting when the tutorial is rather ad hoc and while doing something they change their mind, back up, and don’t make it exactly clear what the change is. Usually, they are talking so fast that i can’t follow that part. Probably most people who watch tutorials are beginners or intermediates and need the most hand holding. That’s why I really like the Blender University tutorials for beginners. His are in segments where he demonstrates one thing and covers every step. I would love to see him make more in this style that are beginning to end, modeling to rendering tutorials. I probably own most of the Blender books by now and I don’t think I could learn any of this without the books and all of the tutorials. Still, when you get stuck, or you don’t know exactly where to start, it sure would be nice to have a personal tutor. The closest thing to that is these forums. Speaking of blend files, I sure with there was a way to see what they are without having to open them. Cleaning my garbage on my computer is a pain in the butt.