Opinions on Vimeo?

[plnelson]

What do people think of Vimeo as a streaming site for longer, HD videos where playback quality (not market reach) is the main priority? Assume I'm using Plus or Pro.

I was told they're considered the "quality" leader but I'm having some doubts.

1. I tried to join a few days ago and when I log on it says it sent a confirmation email to my email address, which it displays. But I never got one, even checking my spam filter. I know they have my right address because if I copy-and-paste the address they show in my profile to the "To:" fields of my gmail account it arrives fine. So I went to their Help forum and they have huge, long threads of other people with the same complaint dating back years with promises from Vimeo saying they're aware of the problem and looking into it.

2. I can't fast-forward Vimeo videos in Firefox, but I can in IE. Since Vimeo is a major site for longer HD videos the ability to fast-forward may be important to some viewers. On their Help forums Vimeo has preen promising a fix for this any day now since 2009! The other major video sharing sites don't have this problem on FF. It's no good saying to not use FF because we have no control over what our viewers are using to watch our videos.

Both of these things suggest that Vimeo is being run like somebody's hobby instead of a serious company. I hope I'm wrong about this impression because I'd love an alternative to YouTube, but how else can I explain it?

Thanks in advance for your opinions or experiences.

[_Al_]

I can fast forward with latest Firefox even to not downloaded parts yet. Using Win7.

[plnelson]

I can fast forward with latest Firefox even to not downloaded parts yet. Using Win7.

I am using Win 7.

But I don't think you're getting the point: What you and I, the creators of our videos use, is irrelevant. If I want people to be able to see my videos on Vimeo then changing my browser or OS isn't going to help.

It's up to Vimeo to make sure their player works on a broad range of common platforms, not expect the user to upgrade to adapt to Vimeo's special requirements. Firefox is the second most common desktop browser on the web. I'm using a version of Firefox 18 that was released in February of this year (2013) and Vimeo has acknowledged this problem as far back as 2009. Other streaming services don't have this problem.

[smrpix]

Works like a charm here, plays on any device (which is the main reason I use it.) Never had a client complain about not being able to view or download their videos. Security and embedding have worked flawlessly so far. Very occasionally there is a slow start to play, but honestly I couldn't be more pleased. Currently a plus member.

[_Al_]

I DO remember some times ago I could not fast forward into not downloaded part yet. So there might be lots of complaints on web, actually for whatever reason, but I'd focus only on recent complaints (if there are), what works right now, not 2009 or so. Yes it works on mobile devices also.

Streaming compatibility with all devices is a peculiar problem. You have no idea how difficult it is to design a player for a web just a year back that supports all PC's, Mac's , mobile devices, different OS versions and different version of browsers, imagine that there is user not having Flash installed and using older browser with some weak HTML5 implementations or not at all. Right now it is already starting making some sense but just year or two ago the was not even player that could do that, meaning player for consumers not just some commercial custom product (and even that I am not sure). So with these things one must update browsers so they can give a better performance. They have much more robust HTML5 performance etc. Fast forwarding not working in some older version I'd consider a minor problem.

[TreeTops]

Right on _Al_...As a webmaster I can say you are spot on.

[plnelson]

Works like a charm here, plays on any device (which is the main reason I use it.) Never had a client complain about not being able to view or download their videos. Security and embedding have worked flawlessly so far. Very occasionally there is a slow start to play, but honestly I couldn't be more pleased. Currently a plus member.

There are plenty of complaints about fast-forwarding in Vimeo's own help forums. It would never occur to that if I had a problem fast-forwarding that I should contact the person who uploaded the video. I would assume the problem was with Vimeo. Thus, the fact that you're not hearing any complaints doesn't mean people aren't having problems.

[smrpix]

It would never occur to that if I had a problem fast-forwarding that I should contact the person who uploaded the video. I would assume the problem was with Vimeo.

Then clearly you're not dealing with clients.