vimeo/youtube
February 21, 2012 1:34 PM   Subscribe

What makes someone use Vimeo instead of Youtube ?

I'm not quite clear on why some people would use Vimeo instead of Youtube - is it better quality hd ? or the ui is more intuitive ?
posted by sgt.serenity to Computers & Internet (38 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Vimeo allows nudity (to a degree)
posted by mkb at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2012


I used it recently to get around YT's time limit on videos.
posted by hermitosis at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Certainly the comments in the comment section seem better.
posted by cashman at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2012 [4 favorites]


Vimeo is a good place to show a work in progress on a private channel, without having to make it public, or worry about rights etc.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2012


Its look and feel is a little more sophisticated, so I've chosen it over YouTube to host product demos (to be embedded on a website, but also available via search.) The comparative lack of LOL U R GAY was also a plus from a business perspective.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 1:40 PM on February 21, 2012 [11 favorites]


I think the embedded videos look more elegant.
posted by Bengston at 1:40 PM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


The other day I heard someone suggest to someone else that they should be using Vimeo as it is "more professional." I immediately thought this was a stupid suggestion. But when I thought about it I did realize there is some connotations with YouTube being more for jokes and funny things.

So besides just technical reasons there might be some social/marketing reasons for it.
posted by Deflagro at 1:40 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Vimeo self-regulates content to be more strictly 'artsy'. So there's an elite aspect to it, and possibly a more specific target audience as well.
posted by MangyCarface at 1:44 PM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


A lot of schools block YouTube but not vimeo. So I know lots of teachers who use it.
posted by guster4lovers at 1:44 PM on February 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


So besides just technical reasons there might be some social/marketing reasons for it.

Yeah, I see Vimeo used for when a person really wants to showcase something without it getting a bunch of horrible comments, autolinked to questionable talking-head webcam videos posting as "RE: [your video name]," and, assuming it gets popular, jacked and re-posted ten times on ten different accounts.
posted by griphus at 1:44 PM on February 21, 2012


Also some people won't use Youtube because it is a Google property.
posted by Mitheral at 1:44 PM on February 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


I don't think corporate copyright holders go after videos on Vimeo like they do on YouTube.
posted by jayder at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2012


What makes someone use Vimeo instead of Youtube ?

It's not Google.
posted by mazola at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


I have friends in Europe who are sometimes unable to access videos on YouTube that are blocked (for copyright reasons, I assume) but can access the same videos on Vimeo.
posted by jeudi at 1:49 PM on February 21, 2012


This might be completely apocryphal, but I had the impression they don't compress videos as aggressively, so they look better.
posted by adamrice at 1:50 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


To me Vimeo's default player is nicer looking than YouTube's, and the overall look and feel is more put together and stylish.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:50 PM on February 21, 2012


It's a much better designed page with last in your face commercialism and 'community' features.
posted by empath at 1:51 PM on February 21, 2012


(last/less)
posted by empath at 1:51 PM on February 21, 2012


Vimeo is geared toward actual artists and filmmakers who post their own work, Youtube is a video file dump aimed at everyone.
posted by bradbane at 1:52 PM on February 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


Vimeo doesn't slap a million ads on your video.
posted by spilon at 1:56 PM on February 21, 2012 [12 favorites]


Less cluttered interface, longer time limits.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:02 PM on February 21, 2012


Someone asked me this question a few months ago, so I had the chance to think about it - Vimeo works more as a video hosting service - if you pay you can embed your videos anywhere (without branding of any kind), and control who gets to see them (which is useful if you want to show something to an individual but not the world). In addition, having uploaded the same file to Vimeo, YouTube and DailyMotion, I'd say that Vimeo encodings are higher quality, particularly at full-screen.

It's sort of like Flickr Pro for videos (despite the fact that you can put videos on Flickr Pro).

And, yes, no ads.

With Vimeo you're the customer; with YouTube or DailyMotion you're the product.

(And that's not meant to be a snark - the kind of service that Google in general offer in exchange for ads and general info is what many people need at the right price. The person who asked me went with YouTube, because it better fitted his needs.)
posted by Grangousier at 2:11 PM on February 21, 2012 [6 favorites]


YouTube is blocked by a lot of employmers but Vimeo seems to be allowed. A lot of manufacturers and newspapers are using it and I assume that's why?
posted by fshgrl at 2:19 PM on February 21, 2012


From Vimeo's about page:

"From the beginning, Vimeo was created by filmmakers and video creators who wanted to share their creative work"

Vimeo does not accept videos for commercial use. I've mainly seen it used to showcase reels or beauty shots, where aesthetics and framing are more valued than potential views. The sound and video quality are noticeably higher. The codecs they use are commonly used in digital filmmaking. People who care about the look of their finished product will put it on Vimeo. People who want the higher view counts will put it on Youtube.
posted by therewolf at 2:19 PM on February 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


I did a test a year ago when I got the new iPhone 4. Uploaded to YouTube via the built in app, via the desktop, and also to Flickr and Vimeo.

Vimeo had the best results, as far as video quality, by a noticeable margin. None were nearly as good as the video pulled directly from the phone, of course.

I can't tell you if any of the services have changed their encoding settings since.
posted by danny the boy at 2:36 PM on February 21, 2012


Also I use vimeo to embed videos onto my portfolio site, for all the reasons mentioned above. God almighty I would never use YouTube for that, even locked down with all the comments turned off.
posted by danny the boy at 2:38 PM on February 21, 2012


I have posted the exact same video to both Vimeo and YouTube, and the Vimeo version always looks better.
posted by shino-boy at 2:51 PM on February 21, 2012


When I was posting my animation projects online, YouTube dropped frames way more often than Vimeo, and it often had the sound and image slightly out of sync (which matters when you've painstakingly matched them up frame by frame!).
posted by ocherdraco at 3:10 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Those of you saying the video quality on Vimeo is higher--does that therefore mean that you could save your video in a lower quality format, upload it to Vimeo in a shorter amount of time, and end up with a product comparable to a video on YouTube that was uploaded in full quality and took fricking forever?
posted by HotToddy at 3:15 PM on February 21, 2012


Vimeo Pro also allows you to embed videos only on specific sites that you want. You specify the domains in your account. So, speaking as a person whose job involves pageviews, I use Vimeo on my site because I don't want Youtube/other sites to get those pageviews instead of me.
posted by Brittanie at 3:47 PM on February 21, 2012


Btw, the next version of OSX has a 'share to vimeo' option built into quicktime, but not 'share to youtube'
posted by empath at 3:49 PM on February 21, 2012


For what it's worth, I find vimeo works noticeably worse than youtube on my computer. I have a ~4 year old Macbook, using Safari, and my computer handles embedded youtube fine but chokes on vimeo- it always plays choppy and the audio messes up sometimes, and my computer labors to handle it. So, if you want to allow the most people on the most computers to watch your videos, youtube is better.
posted by MadamM at 4:19 PM on February 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


Vimeo is about the visual quality, Youtube is all about maximum exposure. Vimeo does indeed gak on older machines, which YT plays on just fine.

Use both of 'em - they're free.
posted by dbiedny at 4:29 PM on February 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


I have the same experience as MadamM. I'm on an older Mac ans I can't get Vimeo to play worth a damn. It buffers and buffers and buffers and freezes. I won't even bother trying to view anything on Vimeo any more. It's a shame because it does seem like a nicer site. No problems with YouTube.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:01 PM on February 21, 2012


Vimeo is to Youtube as Photobucket was to Flickr, circa 2005.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:17 AM on February 22, 2012


No wait, other way around. Vimeo is to Youtube as Flickr was to Photobucket. Essentially, one was a self-proclaimed image sharing and community site with a strong culture of interaction and focus on quality, while the other was somewhere to put your photos. It's similar with Vimeo.

Let's hope Yahoo doesn't buy them.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:38 AM on February 22, 2012 [2 favorites]


I find the vimeo user interface far worse than youtube. You can't even seek past the part that has buffered.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:08 AM on February 22, 2012


If stuttering video in Vimeo, you may wish to try their html 5 player.
posted by nicholai88 at 1:54 PM on February 22, 2012


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