Video Hosting Services question

[asterroc]

Google Video is going to cease hosting new videos, so I need a new service to compress and host videos for my classes. Unfortunately Wikipedia's comparison charts of video services doesn't list all the things I want to know about. Here's what I'm looking for; 1-5 are required characteristics, "preferred" are additional characteristics I really want, and "optional" are bonuses.

1. Unlimited file size (or at least 500MB), unlimited time (or at least 90 min)


2. Cross-platform compatible


3. No additional software required for viewing (things like Java, Flash are ok since most computers have them already)


4. Compresses videos as well as sharing them, so they're faster for students to download on slow internet connections


5. No bandwidth cap, or 1.5GB/week / 8GB/month minimum.


6. No account required for viewing (preferred)


7. I can choose not to display my name/account with videos I post (so I can use the same account for personal use) (preferred)


8. I can choose to not allow students to find other videos that I posted (ditto the purpose) (preferred)


9. I can choose to unlist videos I post, so no one but my students with a direct link are likely to find them (for intellectual property reasons) (preferred)


10. Download of video available (preferred)


11. Organization of videos into "folders" so I can post a link to the folder and the student can access all videos for that class in one place, and not the videos for other classes (optional)


12. Tool to upload multiple videos simultaneously (optional)


13. Upload tool allows me to resume paused or interrupted uploads (optional)

Anything else I should be looking for? Who do you like that has these? Google Video had 1-9. YouTube already fails at #1. I started looking at Vimeo and RapidShare, but don't know much about them. Edit: RapidShare seems a bit sketchy, Vimeo has weekly bandwidth limits below what I need.

Comments

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Rapidshare and the like are sketchy and try to force users to subscribe to "premium" service.

Concerning #2 and #3, are you looking to be able to play them IN a browser, like youtube or vimeo, or is it okay for students to simply DOWNLOAD a .avi/.mpg video and play it?

Can your school provide webspace for you?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Can your school provide webspace for you?

I have been hosting 30MB-300MB files on the campus servers. However some students use dial-up and old computers and need smaller files (3MB-30MB). I do not have any software that can do a good job of compressing the file to a smaller size while retaining resonable resolution. The main purpose of such service is for compression of the file.

Concerning #2 and #3, are you looking to be able to play them IN a browser, like youtube or vimeo, or is it okay for students to simply DOWNLOAD a .avi/.mpg video and play it?

I don't much care, so long as the file is compressed for faster download, and yet retains enough resolution to read bullets in a PowerPoint slide. (I just uploaded a file to Vimeo and it's got stunning resolution as compared to that of Google Video, but the bandwidth limit is not useful.)

Got any ideas?

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Are you converting these PPTs into videos? You could provide them as PDFs instead. Or are these videos created by other people? In any case, making a video of slides is a tremendous waste of filesize. :/

I always thought their main points were the hosting, not the compression. I believe youtube offers a premium service that doesn't have video-length limits.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

In any case, making a video of slides is a tremendous waste of filesize. :/

Not if I'm recording a voiceover it's not. I'm teaching an online class, and rather than forcing students to read pages and pages of notes, I'm recording video lectures akin to what they would receive in a traditional on-ground course.

Here's an example of what I'm doing. It's called "screencasting" and is used to record lectures for students, or to give tutorials on how to use different types of software.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Oh, I thought you were putting slideshows online as supplementary material for a live class. I'm sorry for my mistake.

I don't have a good solution then :( As an alternative idea though, what about mp3s of your voiceover a student could play as e peruses a pdf of the slideshow? Idk how distracting "look at slide 28" would be. I'm just not an audio learner at all :/

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I am also putting videos of tablet-based lectures online (edit) as supplementary material for on-ground classes, where I draw diagrams and solve physics formulae in real-time. Those are even less amenable to alternate solutions.

I don't want to have to say "look at slide #28" b/c I want to be able to demonstrate with the cursor what they're looking for on the slide. I don't think I'd do well with trying to remember "advance to the next slide now" anyway. I do post the powerpoint files also.

Most students at CCs seem to be more auditory learners than visual. Engaging the two together makes sure I reach as wide an audience as possible.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't think my alternate idea was very good, but I just wanted to throw it out there in case it was potentially usable :(

[weirdlilfaechld.livejournal.com]

Know any biology professors that do the same wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing for the ride-impaired students taking their courses online?

Sorry, I'm not helpful. Just wired and being a goof. If you end up needing something to hold you in between my server is up and running and I just renewed by Adobe Collection license so I could compress and host them for you for a short period of time, as long as you don't mind them sharing space with my web programming homework, cockatiel website in beta, and instructional desert tortoise videos.

vnc2swf

[idolstar.livejournal.com]

One suggestion I have is to use vnc2swf to record your screencast directly into flash and then you can merge in an audio track. It makes fairly small files for smaller files and streams fairly well.

[idolstar.livejournal.com]

forgot the link: http://www.unixuser.org/~euske/vnc2swf/