RSSPart 3 of 4 easy steps to getting your videos online
December 2, 2006 · Written by Joel
In my previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, I’ve looked at YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, Soapbox, Revver, Blip, Brightcove (partial), MyHeavy and Vimeo.
In this part I will take a look at 8 more sites:
I have updated the comparison page of all video sharing sites tested that now compares 16 different video sharing sites.
It’s important to note that although I may mention comparisons with other services I’m testing in this part, the scores reflect my personal opinion on the site itself compared to all sites I’ve tested.
Step 1: Find your video
For ease of comparison, as always I chose the short (13 seconds, 3.5MB) video of the Amalfi Coast, between Positano and Amalfi.
Step 2: Create an account
AOL UnCut is still in beta format. I received an email from the guy who manages UnCut before I conducted the test, who informed me that:
..our approach to encoding is unique. We use client side encoding via a browser plug in. This allows us to accept video from the desktop, camcorders, webcam, files, etc.
There is no limit on the file size that you drag and drop on our uploader. (There is a duration limit - 7 minutes)…We have no file size limit.
I already have an AOL screen name, but as usual it’s easy to sign in if you don’t. Address details are required which not all sites ask for.
A short registration form with possibly the longest CAPTCHA image (prevents automated registrations) I’ve ever seen. Still not exactly difficult.
Stage6 in currently in Alpha form. I also received an email from DivX asking us to test their player.
Stage6 is…different in that it allows you to watch the video in your living room with a DivX Certified DVD player. One caveat, the site is still in heavy development, and we are working on our embedding feature. For the time being we have a clunky workaround.
Nice and simple, name, email, DOB, password and a security question. There was no need to confirm the email address either.
Kewego claims to be “the first TRULY GLOBAL online video platform” as it’s available in 7 languages and has 10 country sites, and is another site that asked me to review their video sharing offer. Pretty simple as always to sign up, yet had to activate the account via a confirmation email.
Simple as you would expect, nothing to report.
Signing up was as easy as always, even if it is getting a little repetitive by now…. Next in a very similar vein to MySpace I had the option to upload a photo and invite other people to join me.
Username, password and email is all that is required to join Dailymotion. Whilst I like to give terms and conditions the once over, never before have I seen the following phrase:
…. subject to the application of the principles of a posteriori moderation….
Sounds painful. I then had to verify via email.
Ning allows you to upload a photo at the point of registration, but it’s not compulsary. Very easy indeed. Then once again we get the opportunity to invite friends, else get on with uploading a video.
Step 3: Upload the video
Selecting the Upload Video button takes you to Step 1 of 2. Only the title is optional, but you can add a description and tags as on all sites. Once you’ve agreed to the terms & conditions you’re taken to step 2 that requires you to install an add-on from AOL/VideoEgg (when using Internet Explorer at least - all tests where done on IE as this is the most popular browser). Personally I found this a less than easy process with numerous pop-ups, it returned me to step 1 twice (but thankfully remembered my information) and then installed and updated the plugin. Admittedly you only have to do this once but it was slightly annoying. However it was a nice interface, allowing you to upload from a file, camcorder, webcam or mobile and showing you the video as it progressed through the upload. It uploaded quickly and was instantly available to view.
After skipping uploading my picture, then skipping inviting my friends I finally had the option to add a video. Step 1 - enter the usual title, description, category and tags, with the option for it to be public or private. Step 2 - browse and upload. A progress bar appeared and that was that. The video took a little while to process, and then I was a little unsure how to get the embed code. I ended up selecting the blog this link to blog on MySpace and copying the code here.
Like AOL, using IE I had to install a plugin, in this case the DivX Content Uploader. A 2.5MB download seemed a little unneccesary and several t&c screens and installation confirmations it was finally installed. However it didn’t believe it was installed and I had to restart my browser.
The description box allowed emails and formatting which was a change, whilst you could also rate the clip with regards to viewer discretion. However I couldn’t upload the video as it had to be already in DivX format. Eh? Isn’t that part of the point of uploading a video, so they convert it for you? Usually this would be far too much hassle but for the test I downloaded (5.3MB) the suggested Dr.DivX to convert into the correct format. I then had to download the DivX codec in a 15Mb package that contained some of the software I had already downloaded. Finally I had to reboot. Bad with a capital F. Once uploaded there is a 30 minute wait for your video to be available online.
Once I had activated my account there was a shortcut to add video. You need to select whether it is on your computer, the internet or on your mobile. After the descriptive options you had the choice to select what language the video was in and the location where it was filmed. Then simply browse (max file size is 150MB) and select the file. The progress bar also gives an estimated time remaining, however you couldn’t click away from the page. Then it was matter of waiting for the video to be processed. The video appeared fine, but I couldn’t find a link to embed the video on my site.
After clicking to submit a video, I had to add more details about myself, my website URL and agree to the terms. After this uploading was a one step process. A message appeared about the upload but I couldn’t navigate anywhere or see how far along the process it was. After uploading I was taken to a page, strangely about uploading, rather than my video. Took me a while to figure out where my video was - doesn’t anyone do any usability testing any more?!
Clicking on My Videos and then Create Album allowed me to add a new album. Once this was done I could add a video to it with the usual description, tags and categories. Waiting for what happens next turned out to be a bit of a mystery, the browser progress bar was the only indication anything was happening. As with most other sites, I then had to wait for encoding to take place. Pretty basic and not especially user friendly.
Once the account was confirmed, I simply needed to browse for the video and press upload. A file and time progress bar informed me of when the video would be ready. Once uploaded the details need to be added, with the title automatically taken from the file name of the video (not always particularly useful), but this was easily changed. You then get enormous options to either share (with friends), blog or add to a group. Dailymotion usings several blogging APIs so I could provide the details of my blog and it will insert the video for me. I’m not comfortable entering my blog user name and password on a site I don’t know, so have just used the standard html code.
Firstly I had to create my own video site, with a unique url. I then had quite a nice wizard that allowed me to define the layout and colours of my page. Despite this being several extra steps I actually thought it was a nice touch and useful. Once your page is setup, selecting upload video (you’d have never guessed) takes you to a simple one step page. Uploading the video requires the window to remain unchanged, but it does give you a link to open a page in another window to browse. A simple touch other sites forget, yet there was no progress bar or indication of when the video would be ready. Video processing took a very long time. Also, like Kewego, I couldn’t find how to embed the video on my own website.
Step 4: View the video
Overall
Pros: Nice interface, potentially large community.
Cons: Plugin required, video quality not the greatest.
Pros: Simple sign up and set up. Good-ish video quality.
Cons: No simple link to the embed code.
Pros: Should be very good quality if from a quality source (unlike the test file here).
Cons: Perhaps I’m being harsh but I had to install 3 pieces of software and as still in Alpha embedding a video is tricky (sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t). 30 min wait for video to be available. If I wasn’t doing this test I wouldn’t have bothered. One to revisit in the future though.
Pros: Simple and straightforward. Available in many languages.
Cons: No ability to embed on other sites (should be available in 2 weeks). Update: This feature has now been added.
Pros: Simple setup.
Cons: The longest embed code on earth. When you can find it.
Pros: Simple sign up.
Cons: Basic interface, no idea if/when video was uploading. Lots of adverts.
Pros: Pretty easy, nice site in general.
Cons: Embed through an iframe rather than as an object. Not a problem really.
Pros: Nice interface and page setup.
Cons: Some encoding issues that have since been fixed meant that this took a long time to convert video.
Final thoughts
The video quality was pretty much the same here, virtually all of the above YouTube quality. There seems to be a slight increase in requiring additional software and plugins that, in my opinion, defeats the object for the casual consumer. I nearly re-reviewed Brightcove that looks excellent but currently requires a separate software install. As discussed with them we’ll wait until their browser-based uploading and server-based transcoding application is available. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with 16 different video sharing sites on test it is difficult to pick out the best quality. For sheer ease of use YouTube is always going to be a winner, but with sites like Soapbox and Revver having better quality, and Metacafe with their Producer Rewards programme, the market is going to get thinned out more and more.
If you have anymore suggestions, please let us know. I already realise I’ve forgotten Eyespot…. Don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2, and also see all 16 video sharing sites on one page.
Update: Part 4 is currently underway covering Eyespot, YouAreTV and any others you suggest.
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