Video Help Needed

[comptech520]

Hello,

I am going to be hosting a couple of videos on my site for people to view, whats the best way / method to display them?

I don't know too much about video.

[Eye for Video]

The cheap and easy way to do this is to create your video and then upload it to YouTube. Their display then will also include code for embedding their Flash player in your HTML page. The problem is, IMHO, that this method looks cheap and easy, like you couldn’t afford or didn’t know how to embed your own player.
As far as video file format goes, using Flash .flv will be the easiest for your end viewers to use, since over 95% of browsers already have the Flash pluggin.
If you decide not to go the YouTube route, you’ll need to acquire a Flash player…download a freebee or better yet, create your own custom player. You'll use html code to place the player on the Web page. Lots of example have been posted in this Forum. Since you said you “have a couple videos”, then your player should come with a playlist, rather than embedding a separate player for each video you want to display.
The Flash player will come in the form of a .swf file, and should use an external playlist…like an .xml document to hold the list of videos.
Creating your own custom player (or having someone do it for you) gives you the option to create something unique to your site. For example, here is a Flash video player designed for a farming related Web site:
http://www.lynnjohnson.citradingcards.com/pcc/pcc_video_player.html
Here is a more modern look, again with a playlist to allow the end user to choose the video they would like:
http://www.cidigitalmedia.com/video.html
I’d just like to encourage creativity in the player and how it will look on the final Web page. A Flash video player can be in any shape or configuration you can imagine.
Once you’ve decided on the file format, you’ll need to set the physical dimensions of the video and also it’s bitrate, basically….how much the video will be compressed. Typical video size is currently 320 X 240 pixels, with variations for wide screen or the desire for a larger video display. Bitrates over 500kbps can become problematic for viewers with connection speeds of 1.5Mb or less.
Best of luck to you,
Eye for Video
www.cidigitalmedia.com

[comptech520]

Thanks for the reply!

What are some good Flash Video Players that you would recommend that I could host on my site?

[Eye for Video]

Since I do custom creations, I'm not really up on what may be out as free downloads. Perhaps Google "Flash Video Players" or other Forum members will pitch in with their suggestions. Look at the specs of each to determine if you can change the skins, easily add more video, etc.
But if you're talking a custom designed player........ wellllll... not that's a different story!
EfV

[ant1xxx]

Hello, I've got a question about video players.

What is the best way to embed a video from another site (say YouTube or CNN Video) to your own flash video player.

For example, on the link below, most of the videos are obviously originally from YouTube or some other site.

http://perezhilton.com/tv/

I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks, Anthony

[Stephane]

Thanks for the reply!

What are some good Flash Video Players that you would recommend that I could host on my site?

Do you have Moyea Web Player Lite? It is an excellent flash video players, it can easily add advertisements into flash videos to create flash video player for website and supports playlists (XML), I use it on my own website.

[stephenz]

If you want to host videos yourself, you need to rent a host server that supports streaming, and make a video player for your website. All these will not cost much.
You can also upload them to Youtube and embed it to your website, use Youtube's bandwidth and will not cost you 1 dolllar.