VIDEO EMBEDDING TESTS - scaled to 640
embedding video tests, VIRB, Vimeo, Exposure Room, YouTube, Shooting People, BlipTV, DailyMotion, Metacafe,
SmugMug
Shooting People
Vimeo
Exposure Room
VIRB
BlipTV
Dailymotion
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Note: for better quality Click HQ
Photobucket
Yahoo! Video
Metacafe
Revver flash
OK so which is the best...?
Decide for yourself. Your needs will be different to mine (though I've listed them in my own order of preference) but here's some things to look out for:
- resolution (sharpness), pixilation, and other artefacts.
- frame rate (jerkiness)
- The sound quality and level. Some sites encode to a noticeably quieter level than others
- The design of the embed window. Some are much cleaner than others.
- Whether a user definable poster frame / thumbnail is available.
- Resizability - an important factor in designing a web page. Note: XR allows different upload sizes.
- What happens once the video has played out. Do you want links to other people's sites appearing?
- Adverts! Some hosts will foist an advert on you. But then, maybe you won't mind...
Notes
Quicktime 640x360 H264 keyframes=all bitdepth=max uploaded file size = 37MB
This is SD quality - or HQ in YouTube-land.
An HD companion site is being prepared.
To view the windows in their native sizes go here.
Most people don't yet have computers and connections capable of viewing seamless HD, so SD is still the best format available for streaming video to cash strapped independent filmakers, and will remain so for a while. However where it is possible to upload a HD video an SD one is usually also available.
All videos had the same thumbnail uploaded at the hosting site, if the option was available.
Most sites include this in the final embed, some do not. And some create their own thumbnails - YouTube offers a choice of 3 random ones.
I have added object width="640" height="400" tags on each video to attempt to resize them (the height includes the controller). Some video hosting sites allow this. Others clearly do not.
A notable exception is ExposureRoom which is locked to the size you upload it (up to 640) but looks excellent at whatever size you choose.
The embed code provided by some hosts needs a little tweaking. I've found that to work on the Virb page you are on here, adding the following before the embed tag does the trick:
(param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /) (param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /) (param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=XXXXXXX" /)
and then eclosing the result within object tags. Substitute angled brackets for the regular ones I've used here.
I have used only video hosting sites that offer video embedding of a quality which can be regarded as useful to filmakers. If anyone knows of any other hosting sites worth including here please mail me: karel 
kareltests .co .uk giving the url of a good example and I will include it.
HD
A sister site dealing with HD embedding is being prepared.
Note: not all these hosts allow the embedding of HD videos elsewhere.
For embedding from YouTube you may find this Embed Code generator useful.
About the video...
This is a teaser for a feature currently in development.
I have only been using After Effects seriously for a few months after doing an excellent course at 01zero-one (many thanks to Paul and Polly!) and this video gave me the opportunity to try out a few things. Many thanks too to Videocopilot for some excellent online tutorials, and also to the very helpful guys on the Adobe help forums.
I'm not 100% happy with what happens to the girl's face half way through (and some hosting sites turn it into a blur!) so I plan to redo it one day. For now I've other things to get on with.
Sound was edited using Protools 7.4 and Wavelab 6.
Video? What Video?
This page has a dozen videos from as many sources coded in a variety of ways, so it's hardly surprising that your browser may falter. Try reloading the page. Failing that, download the latest Flash player. If that doesn't fix it, please let me know.
Where to host your page?
You're visiting a VIRB page.
It's an excellent place to show off your work with plenty of
customisability. And it's free! Take a look how others have done it here, and register here.
Many people choose to stick with whoever is hosting their videos
- Vimeo and ExposureRoom are popular among video professionals and offer
excellent quality, but little in way of customizing your home page.
More customizable options include
SmugMug
(paying) and even Wordpress (free) for which you can buy numerous themes, such
as from RevolutionTwo.
But if you can do a bit of coding there's
plenty of other hosts to choose from. There's a list here and for UK users (since that's
where I am) here. I currently use 1&1. Yet more info here.
As for domain registration, In the UK I can't recommend UKReg more highly.
Happy coding!
Teenage Zombie Movie 1
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