Video sharing solutions?

December 25, 2006 2:04 AM

I have a website with a small community of members. I'd like to let them upload and share videos with each other.

I took a look at ClipShare but it's too much of a Youtube clone. I don't mind going with it for the time being but I'd like to go with something original eventually. How much would a site like Vimeo or Dailymotion cost to set up?

Also, has anybody tried VideoEgg's Partner Program?

posted by mordecai to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Very easy, upload to YouTube, set as private, imbed in site.
posted by nintendo at 5:55 AM on December 25, 2006

You are obviously aware of the usual solutions to this (YouTube and friends) but don't explain why those don't meet your needs. This would be helpful to know...
posted by rjt at 5:58 AM on December 25, 2006

is it the licensing you want to control?
posted by eustatic at 9:26 AM on December 25, 2006

I know this isn't answering your question directly, but you may want to stongly consider a private YouTube or Yahoo Video group, if for no other reason than the bandwidth.

Be prepared for a TRUE exponential increase in your bandwidth usage, assuming you pay for the hosting.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:56 AM on December 25, 2006

Hi guys, thanks for your replies so far. Sorry I didn't make myself clear. You see, I'm looking to start a video-sharing site for indie filmmakers. I know about Liberated Films but this is for Singaporean filmmakers.

The industry here is rather small but there's no sense of community and we think that if we work with the film schools and indie filmmakers here and set up a site like Liberated Films, but exclusively for Singaporean filmmakers, we might be on to something. We'd like to be able to expand the site to include the rest of Asia in the near future as well.

So of course, we'd need channels, genres, an integrated video upload form, a 'featured film' section, a 'popular' section, the works. That's the primary reason why I'm not considering Youtube and Yahoo Video.

I also took a look at Ning Videos and its premium (paid) features but I'm not too sure if it's worth it.

Partnering with a company like Bitgravity would be great but I'm curious about cost and their pricing system. I got in touch with them via email but they haven't gotten back to me yet. What other companies like Bitgravity are there out there?

So that's the story, guys. Thanks again!
posted by mordecai at 10:57 AM on December 25, 2006

This sounds like a pretty serious endeavor. I'd recommend combining a nice bulletin board with YouTube uploads. Then, if you start having a huge response, you can move to setting up your own solution. Until then, a bulletin board system that allows embeds to youtube (or perhaps you could even set up a tag like [youtube IRP7yHMRJf4] that automatically gets replaced with an embed tag.

You want to take baby steps here. Unless you yourself have an extensive background in web development (and, specifically, in converting uploaded movie files to web-compatible sizes and formats) then you're either going to have to hire someone (which will cost a lot) or spend months developing a website before people can use it. From personal experience, I can tell you: It is much better to get something set up -- even if it's less than ideal -- and start using it now.

Even if the Singaporean indie film scene is large, it's still probably limited. You'll only need a dozen genres or so, which can correspond to discussion categories. Channels can be handled by just having users click on a user's handle to see all their posts, some of which can be marked with a movie icon to indicate which ones actually have embedded video.

Only once you have 40-50 indie filmmakers posting their films, and something on the order of 200-300 films, will it make sense to start thinking about a custom site. If you can get that kind of traffic, you should look into getting some kind of paid membership set up, which can cover the cost of a more serious solution. At that point, people will appreciate that they're getting something better. If you start out with something youtube-esque and can't cover the costs, your users are going to be less likely to fork over money for no tangible improvements in the site, just because you need money for the bandwidth.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:27 PM on December 25, 2006

@Deathalicious: A bulletin with Youtube uploads? You mean Youtube embeds, don't you? So a member of the bulletin board would have to have a Youtube account and have their films hosted there, and he'll start topics on the bulletin board with his embedded videos, right?

Well, it does sound interesting. Though I'm concerned about folks needing to have two accounts, one with the bulletin board and another with Youtube. Singaporeans are a finicky bunch so they might find it too much of a hassle and that might deter them from using the site in the first place.

The government here has grants for projects like these so we're looking to take advantage of that. It's also encouraging film production in Singapore and is looking to go global. NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts has even announced that it'll open its first-ever branch campus in Singapore. So the prospects are looking good.

I understand that going with a company like Bitgravity or Limelight Networks would be a more costly solution, but they seem more robust and expandable. Also if we do get the grant to start on this project, it seems like the only logical solution.

However, if we don't get the grant, then we'll definitely look into a more grungy approach. :)
posted by mordecai at 10:11 PM on December 25, 2006

Unless they're handing out grants willy-nilly my suggestion makes even more sense -- getting something off the ground to show the granters that your project is "real" will probably work even better. If you can demonstrate that there is real demand, then you can probably get that grant.

Keep in mind that with something like this the first 20-30 members will all be early adopters. Many of them will be very familiar with signing up with loads of online forums, and many of them may already have a YouTube account. So you can get a lively board going, show the grant-people that good content is already out there to be captured, and you'll get the grant.

If you consider that you could seriously have a functional website up in a matter of a week or two (assuming you use an out-of-the box open source bulletin board), this would be an excellent start towards a more mature solution in the long run.

Oh, and even if you do end up with a fancy shmancy YouTube-esque solution, I'd keep the forum. That's where the real magic will happen.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:30 AM on December 26, 2006