Any fan of my blog knows I am fan of video! As we move closer toward our final media project, I find myself searching for the perfect online video hosting service. Now we all know nothing is PERFECT, so let me rephrase that statement:
I am searching for an online video hosting service that is PERFECT for ME!
Since I started the EMDT program, I've been exposed to YouTube in heavy doses, with an occasional mention of Blip.tv. But lately I've been hearing a lot about a service called Vimeo.
Although the details of my media project are still being ironed out in my head, I KNOW it will include a video component. As such, I want to make an informed decision on which web-based video hosting service will have the honor of displaying my masterpiece. Hence this post...
The web is about working smarter, not harder. So when I wanted a side-by-side comparison of YouTube, Blip.tv and Vimeo, I didn't have to look any farther than Google search results. I figured if I wanted such information, then surely I couldn't be alone. Lucky for me PC World did all the heavy lifting.
PC World's Comparison of Blip.tv, YouTube and Vimeo
But instead of letting PC World do all my talking for me, I wanted to add my two cents about what I believe the PROS and CONS are for each service. To illustrate the difference between the quality and rendering of each service, I posted and embedded the same video to all 3 sites for apples vs. apples comparison.
First up, YouTube:
YouTube seems to be the service o'choice for the EMDT Course Directors, but this student is NOT a believer. YouTube is a well-known catch-all. The site is arguably the most popular video hosting service, but is it the best? I get the feeling that the quality of the content on YouTube's site suffers since it's everyone's go-to service. True, YouTube is easy to use and offers a lot of cool features, but the quality of the video isn't ALL THAT. For a while I thought YouTube was the only option... Until Dr. Deason introduced me to Blip.tv.
After just a few turns on the dance floor, I fell in love with Blip.tv. My only concern is that the site is geared towards creative content/shows and not the uploading of casual videos of family and friends. I think of Blip.tv as "videos with a purpose." I felt a twinge of guilt posting my latest "7th Inning Stretch" video of me goofing off during the Ray's game this weekend. Although the purpose of that video was an experiment with mobile video posting... I felt like I was not using the site as it was intended. So even though the quality of the videos rocked and the player was super-sleek, I felt limited in the kinds of things I "should" upload. Another drawback was the lack of privacy settings.
Vimeo was the great unknown. I came across this service when visiting one of my friend's blogs. The user interface is simple and so easy to upload videos to. The show players are even customizable. What I really like is Vimeo's community of creative contributors. The site is very strict about only uploading original content. Another plus is that you have a number of privacy settings.
The long and the short of it: Blip appears to be the most professional service, while Vimeo offers a nice combination of professional and personal features. So for my media project, I'll be sticking with Blip.tv. But for all those CUTE videos I took of my niece this weekend... Vimeo!
Sources:
PC World. (2007). Tested: The 10 best places to share video online. Retrieved online July 13, 2009, http://www.pcworld.com/article/136021/tested_the_10_best_places_to_share_video_online.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a41:g2:r17:c0.053510:b20963587:z0
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What a great post! You've included a multitude of topics within your blog seamlessly- technical information, accessibility discussion and we've been able to interact with each example so we can actually come up with our own conclusions as well. I can't wait to go back and explore Blip.tv a little closer. Thanks Emily Wray!
ReplyDeleteExcellent round up of features. The YouTube choice for me has nothing to do with quality as much as familiarity and likelihood that someone looking for videos on a given subject are going to find it there (read: better exposure). You might notice that my choice for my class videos that I produce is Viddler because at the time when I started posting videos Viddler offered much better quality and a timeline based commenting system. Since then YouTube has improved it's quality, but I still use Viddler because I can post videos that are longer than 10-minutes on the service.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to note with blip.tv is that they are set up to host videos meant to be used in podcasts, making it easier for someone to take a video uploaded to blip.tv and generate an RSS feed and then do the magic to get the podcast listed in iTunes. Videos uploaded to YouTube have to be hosted somewhere else to work with podcasting RSS feeds.