Sending short videos to friends.

[Mark Wynn]

I frequently need to send short videos to friends. Sometimes I upload to YouTube and this works OK. Sometimes I just make a DVD and post it. I have tried e-mailing videos but the results were appalling. Are there other ways of sending videos to friends. Generally the max time is 10 minutes or far less.

[poisondeathray]

One option is to use free hosting sites (for download, not streaming)

e.g. mediafire.com , megaupload.com , sendspace.com

If it is too big , you can archive it or cut it into pieces using winrar, 7-zip etc... so the recipient can re-assemble once they download

[Mark Wynn]

Thanks for the quick reply & suggestions. I looked at them and may I ask 'What are the advantages over using YouTube or Vimeo or similar please?' Mark

[poisondeathray]

Disadvantages: not streaming. (you download and then play it with your own software media player instead of playing in a window)


Advantages: not streaming.

You are not limited by youtube/vimeo. They re-encode the video and limit the bitrate = bad quality. If you do it yourself, you have no limits in terms of quality , filesize, dimensions etc...

Plays back smoother locally with media players than though flash interface used by vimeo/youtube etc.... You can't play back high bitrate, high quality (I mean very HQ, not the 2Mb/s crap) with youtube though flash.

[Mark Wynn]

Thanks again for your advice. To a certain extent some of what you say is on the verge of my technical knowledge (as well as being 75 years old!)

I understand this: Disadvantages: not streaming. (you download and then play it with your own software media player instead of playing in a window)
And this: Advantages: not streaming. You are not limited by youtube/vimeo. They re-encode the video and limit the bitrate = bad quality. If you do it yourself, you have no limits in terms of quality , filesize, dimensions etc...

Not quite so sure about this: Plays back smoother locally with media players than though flash interface used by vimeo/youtube etc.... You can't play back high bitrate, high quality (I mean very HQ, not the 2Mb/s crap) with youtube though flash.

My latest uploaded to YouTube have been in HD and I have been quite pleased with the results. However the subject matter is more importand than the quality of the viewed result. It’s kind of you to offer advice and hope you wont mind me asking you to explain futher the clip in red above.

Clearly I must find out how my friend(s) log in to view my videos as I don't want the world and his wife viewing as the subject matter is frequently magical tricks. Thanks again. Mark

[Alex_ander]

Some email domains allow for big-size attachments. E.g. at my location yandex.ru provides up to 5GB.
Alternatively mediafire is rather fast and allows for 2GB per session queue in 100MB parts.

[filmboss80]

If someone tried to overwhelm my e-mail account with a large, multi-megabyte video file, they'd be mortal enemies thereafter. It is always best to just upload to one of the sites you mentioned and just e-mail the link to access it. Also, social sites like Facebook are handy ways to get friends to see your videos.

[poisondeathray]

@mark wynn - what I mean is playing 1080p 20Mb/s high quality content is not feasible through youtube and similar. Flash causes playback overhead (i.e. it's not possible right now with the current flash implementation), and bandwith is a limitation as well both up and down. If you are happy with the "quality" of youtube then that's all that matters

@filmboss what is your e-mail address pam