Uploading videos...

[The_Forastero]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I've been reading VH for a while. This is truly the temple of video. Even the guys at afterdawn, cdfreaks, etc. know that.

Look, I'm not the kind of person who likes to ask questions. I usually do my homework "Google is my best friend." However, this time I've stumbled into something I just cannot find a solution for. I'm making a small site to upload some of my home videos so that my mother in law can see them (she lives faaar away). After searching and researching, I've come across some youtube-like scripts, the problems is that that kind of script requires a special hosting (with pre-installed appz like ffmpeg, etc.), and as you can imagine it's more expensive.

I've found another script that would seem to be perfect (coolvideoz.com), but it just doesn't work well. Sometimes the screen goes black and shows loading but there is no audio/video. I already tried to contact for support, but probably because it's a freeware it's hard to get help. This is the kind of tool I'm looking for.

Please would anybody shed some light? I'll be infinitely grateful.


Forastero

[Baldrick]

Why not use youtube and just include the video on your homepage? Or do you want better quality or longer video clips than 10 minutes?

[The_Forastero]

Exactly, that's what I want: quality, file size. See? I already have a domain and hosting, why not use it. It'd be a waste. Thank you for replying.


The_Forastero

[Baldrick]

Convert to flash on your computer and then upload it to your site together with a flash player. See https://www.videohelp.com/guides/how-to-convert-to-flash-flv-video-and-add-it-on-your-h...page-id951#951

[The_Forastero]

Does that mean the quality would be preserved? If so, that's perfect! I've got a digital and a mini DVD camera so that the quality would be good, so it wouldn't make sense to end up with youtube-like quality. I'm reading and trying that guide today. Thank you very much, I think your suggestion is the perfect solution. Thank you again.


The_Forastero

[Baldrick]

The quality depends on what converter and settings you use. Higher video bitrate = bigger file size usually means higher video quality.

You could also convert to wmv using Windows Movie Maker or Windows Media Encoder and put on your site. Or convert to quicktime mov using Mpeg Streamclip.

[The_Forastero]

WMV? Really? I couldn't find wmv in the list of formats that JW FLV media player can play. If it can, it'd be awesome to stream wmv. WMV looks better than flv in the tests I've been doing.

Thank you,
The_Forastero

[mats.hogberg]

There's Microsoft Expression Encoder too. Basically it encodes to wmv, but you have the option to output it together with a SilverLight player that MS can host for you, and you can embed on your web site/page.
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/streaming.aspx

Here's a sample I've made: http://tinyurl.com/2nk3eb
If you view the source, you'll see it's really simple, and you don't even have to create it yourself. Everything between the body tags is cut & paste.

/Mats

[thecoalman]

You don't need streaming server or really anything for that matter. You could just upload the file and send her a link, direct her to right click and select "save target as..". She can download and open the file to view later. If she clicks the link directly it will open Windows Media Player and begin to buffer, assuming her connection is fast enough for the bitrate involved it will begin streaming fairly quickly. This is all done client side by the player.

The big difference between a streaming server and standrd server is you can fast forward to middle or end of clip... really thats about it.

If you want to embed in page try this code:

  <object id="MediaPlayer" classid="clsid:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95" codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=6,4,7,1112" type="application/x-mplayer2" width="XXX" height="xxx"><param name="autostart" value="true" /><param name="src" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/path/toyourfile.wmv" />.  <param name="showstatusBar" value="true"><embed width="XXX" height="XXX" showstatusbar="true" src="http://www.yourdomain.com/path/toyourfile.wmv" autostart="true" type="application/x-mplayer2" ></embed></object>

Just replace the XXX's with the height and width and replace http://www.yourdomain.com/path/toyourfile.wmv with the path to your file. Note the XXX's appear 4 times and the path appears twice.

If you wanted to use a gallery type option check out coppermine http://coppermine-gallery.net/

Again will work on any standard server, only need php and Mysql support which is standard on any linux plan. If it isn't get new host.

As far as format use WMV, nice compression and no hassle assuming she has windows machine.

[The_Forastero]

Thank you guys for all your advices; I'm taking time to see all the options. There is only one thing puzzling me now. I'm not an expert on video whatsoever. Using the encoder On2 is when I realized how little I know. I got confused with all the options: MX, FLV, SFW, etc. I just want to have a good quality video, like the one Baldrick uploaded in his tut topic315188, Meet the Fockers. I think it's pretty good. Thank you for all your help guys.


The_Forastero