videos on websites without using youtube

[Khaleela]

Hey Everyone,

I want to put high quality videos clips on my website without using youtube because the compression just kills the quality. I don't know much about this but I'm a quick learner if someone can just point me into the right direction.

Khaleela

[beafarhana]

You could add a link to the .mpg file, that anyone could then open with quicktime or windows media player (or save to their harddrive). I'm not sure about embedding the file, so they can watch it within your site. I'm sure there must be ways, but I haven't looked into it.

But those .mpg files are BIG and will eat up your bandwidth. If your hosting package limits your bandwidth usage, you would need to make sure you have upped your capacity, or you risk your site going down.

There's also the fact that once the .mpg file is available for download on your site, you will have no control over what people then do with it. At least on youtube, their software doesn't generally allow you to save the clip (though I'm aware that some people have found ways around this).

[HubicRuzz]

I think you can convert the video to a flv like youtube does, then find a free web player.

[Khaleela]

I've accepted the fact that anything placed on the internet will no longer be in my control.

I will look into your suggestion, Bea. I think the clip would look much better if I hosted it instead of uploading it somewhere else.

[Khaleela]

I think you can convert the video to a flv like youtube does, then find a free web player.

Does this format affect the video quality?

[laura 2]

You could add a link to the .mpg file, that anyone could then open with quicktime or windows media player (or save to their harddrive).

This is what I do on my site, and it works fine. But I also include a link to my YouTube vids because some people have technical problems downloading the files (missing codecs, ancient versions of Media Player, etc.)

[Khaleela]

Good point. I thought people updated media players regularly now though. I remember websites, way back in the day, that used to have the link to download the program or codec right next to the video. I don't see that anymore so I assumed that people were more tech saavy.

[HubicRuzz]

Does this format affect the video quality?

Not really. Depends on how much compression you place on it.

If all you are concerned about is video quality you can upload to

Vimeo, Video Sharing For You

[HubicRuzz]

This is a free web FLV player

Flowplayer - Flash Video Player for the Web

[david]

Khaleeda - whether you want or not, your clips are going to end up on youtube. If you dont put them there, someone else will. And, while we're at it, they will be available for download through torrent and other file sharing options too. God knows what alien planet downloads it on their mega satellite system 10.000 light years away and copy your style too, for that matter.

May I ask why you want such a high quality on your clips on your page? The clips are suppose to make people want to book you, not to see what they need on the web, dont you agree? It doesnt have much of a financial viability to spend lots of money on server space and bandwidth to have people watch you online INSTEAD of booking you for a gig because they've seen all they wanted to see online already.

Also, the bigger the file, the less likely that people will wait for it to load and then watch it.

Legally you are only allowed to show less than 1 minute of video to music if you're not going to pay for the music rights. It's considered "display of artistic ability", and the legal system says that 1 minute is more than enough for someone to form an opinion about the quality of your work......

youtube doesnt even allow non-lisenced music on their clips anymore - Im just waiting for them to zapp down on clips using ME too... then we'll have only ability and no sound displayed.

Just some thoughts for you to consider.

OOHH, and people DONT update...believe me. I still ask people "do you have access to the internet" when they call or I talk to them. And many times, I get a no....

DaVid

[zorba]

Hurray for you wanting a PROFESSIONAL website, and NOT hosting your videos on "that site" with the rest of the amateurs... Like one of my dance sisters says "You can see a video of a dog defecating on that site, why would I want my videos there?"

As others have pointed out, its simplicity in itself to just provide a link to the raw video file. Its also possible to embed a player window - Google is your friend...

[laura 2]

Good point. I thought people updated media players regularly now though. I remember websites, way back in the day, that used to have the link to download the program or codec right next to the video. I don't see that anymore so I assumed that people were more tech saavy.

My mom has not updated anything on her computer since the day she got it about 5 years ago. She can see my videos on YouTube but cannot view the clips directly from my website. I don't know why, and frankly, there's no reason for me to waste time trying to troubleshoot the problem when she can just go to YouTube and see them perfectly fine. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a a fair amount of potential clients out there just like her.

Also, I used to do tech support, and you would not believe how many people do not understand the concept of "right click and save as", no matter how many times you explain it to them.

I prefer to make it as easy as possible for potential clients to see my videos, and the fact is a great many people are comfortable and familiar with YouTube functionality. Heck, I'd put them up in Hell if I thought it might get me more gigs.

[Khaleela]

I think Zorba summed it up for me. I want a totally clean site that looks like I invested into it because that's the image I want to portray. I believe you get what you put into it.

[laura 2]

This is my video clips page. Video Clips

As you can see, the only mention of YouTube is at the very top, where it says "If you cannot download the clips from this page, they can be viewed on YouTube here" (the word "here" is a hyperlink to my YouTube account). I believe it allows me to have a clean and professional looking video page while providing an alternative for those who may have issues downloading the clips.

[Khaleela]

I like your setup. It's almost what I had in mind but it's nice and clean.

[*Shira*]

This page on my web site has a few video clips:

"There's a Place in France" - That "Snake Charmer" Song

Scroll down to the header "In the Strangest Places" and then go to the section under it called "In Cartoons". You'll see that for each cartoon I offer the clip in 3 different formats: "Windows Media" for people with Windows machines, "MPEG" which should be playable on just about every type of computer out there, and "Quick Time" which is particularly intended for people with Apple machines.

Both the QuickTime format and the Windows Media format are "streaming", which means that if the person plays them, the media player will download the first 10 seconds or so, and then start playing it while the rest downloads in the background. In comparison, MPEG is usually downloaded in full before it starts to play.

If you decide to use MPEG format, you'll first need to decide whether to use NTSC or PAL format. For purposes of video displayed on a web site, it doesn't really matter because computers can display both. The format question is relevant only when you're talking about VCR's, DVD players, and traditional television sets. I use NTSC simply because that's what I use for all my other video projects.

MPEG also gives you a choice of pixel size. If you were preparing video to be played on a television set using a DVD player, you'd want to choose 720x480 (for NTSC) because that gives you the highest image quality on a television set. However, for playback on a computer I use the smaller size of 352x240 pixels. It chews less bandwidth, downloads faster, and plays okay even on older computers that don't run as fast.

[pepiacebo]

You could use the free musician account on Download Music, Upload Music, Listen to Music Free | JukeBoxAlive.com which would allow you to upload videos and give you an embedded player for websites and a one-click player for emails.