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MillimeterWeb Video Hosting
Apr 19, 2010 12:00 PM, By Franklin McMahon
Video hosting for creative producers.
YouTube's Screening Room.
Many of us use our own websites and domains to host our demo reels and videos, and there are distinct advantages to that. You have complete control over how it is deployed, you typically can track downloads using your own analytics, and you can update via FTP on the fly to change your clip. But there are some downsides as well. If your clip gets linked on a popular website, your downloads could soar—as could your bandwidth usage. Your video goes viral, but your web hosting company could sock you with a huge bill for going over your allotted bandwidth. Also, if you want to embed your clip on other websites, you often have to create the HTML yourself from scratch. Finally, your clip can be something of an island. Alone on your own server, it has less of a chance of people discovering it as they might if your clip was on, say, YouTube.
Having your video hosted elsewhere can be appealing. Automatic encoding, automatic embedding code, more discoverable, no bandwidth worries, and often a lot less hassle. We'll go over some of the things to look for when choosing a video-hosting solution and touch on some of the companies providing the service these days, focusing on the ones that are geared toward creative producers and directors.
HTML5, privacy, and mobile versions
Before we dive in, one of the potential game-changers in the past few months has been the first rumblings of a possible future migration of video sites away from Adobe Flash or Apple QuickTime and toward HTML5. Back in the day, web video started off as streaming. You may recall RealVideo, Windows Media, and even QuickTime streaming technologies. As long as you could get a hold of a fast connection, you could watch full-motion video in glorious 320x240 (or often less). As bandwidth and technologies advanced, so did streaming. But the fact remained that you still needed to download a browser player or plug-in to see these videos.
What if the leading plug-in format supported video? With Flash, Macromedia (later purchased by Adobe) finally did just that. For a while, it seemed like things were set. With Flash now handling video, the reliance on Real, Windows Media and QuickTime streaming took a dive; after all, everyone already had Flash installed. With QuickTime, Apple shifted its focus toward downloadable video and video that was playable in a browser with higher-resolution clips, but you still needed to add the QuickTime plug-in. Flash did a great job of scaling video resolution to match your bandwidth, but not everyone loved Flash. Some users found it less than reliable and said it could be problematic on slower, older systems. Plus, it works best when it's updated regularly, which many users neglect to do. Fast forward to the emerging mobile market, and the Apple iPhone, arguably one of the most important video platforms going today, does not support Flash at all.
HTML technology has been advancing, and the latest version, 5, can play videos within the browser, sidestepping the need for plug-ins. Long story short: Make sure your web host is planning to support HTML5. YouTube and Vimeo just rolled out support for the new browser-based playback, and no doubt others will follow. Flash is still the king, with its supreme flexibility and options, and it's likely not going anywhere any time soon, but other options are springing up.
Issues related to privacy and mobile video are worth noting. Privacy features are in place for most of the video-hosting websites, meaning you have control over who can and cannot see your video. You might want to make the video private to forward it to a client. You may want the video to be password-protected. Perhaps you want to prevent others from embedding your clip on other websites. Even if you don't need the privacy options now, keep checking to see if the site is planning to make them available in the future. (Some sites turn on privacy features when you subscribe to a "pro" account.)
As for mobile, these days it is crucial to use a video-hosting site that can viewed on a handheld unit or phone. Some video hosts offer a mobile version, so you can access the page from a mobile device and watch the video just fine. In the coming year, we can expect to see every major video site offering some sort of mobile version.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.