Buzvia Blog

I went from knowing very little about social video sites at the beginning of the year to using quite a few of them to test the waters. During this test, I uploaded 51 3D animation files whose total size was 500 MB for a sister site I run, WoodMarvels.com. On the busies day, I probably burned through 3GB of “upload” bandwidth within a few hours so I am expecting an e-mail from my ISP asking what the heck I am doing any minute now Anyways, here are the results!

Viddler

• incredibly fast upload (I got consistent 112kb/s) , took less then an hour to upload everything
• has a multi-video upload system that is by far the best, it leaves youtubes version in the dust and you don’t need to download software to enable it!
• encoding takes a few minutes and is live immediately
• has shared revenue model with a good looking blond explaining the entire process
• has amazon.com affiliate program built it!
• min 50$ before you receive paypal $$$
• video upload system is a breeze, only title, tags and description required
• has a great blog
• their encoding queue could use a lot of help, I have no clue if things are being converted or where rejected
• first 18 videos where encoded almost right away, the remainder uploaded but disappeared, requiring another re-upload of the missing “already uploaded” files!

http://www.viddler.com/explore/i3ds1/videos/

Photobucket

• uploads is super-fast, by far the most impressive I have seen so far!
• there is no multi-video uploading system if you are using firefox but if you use EI, there is a “drag-drop” interface for uploading video which saves a lot of time
• encoding happens real-time and the video is available immediately
• no revenue sharing
• it’s obvious that “video” has been simply “snapped on” to the existing picture-only interface… options are limited, you can’t even describe the video nor give it tags unless you have photos!

http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj235/i3ds/

blip.tv

• uploading is so-so at 40-70kb/s
• has a multi-video uplaod system which requires you to download a program
• encoding takes a few minutes and is live immediately
• has a revenue sharing model (50/50)
• video submittion system could be streamlined but overall, pretty well layed out
• has a pro-version in which you pay 8$/month for improved service but no annual discount (???), their free system is already fantastic, I see no reason to upgrade to Pro

http://i3ds.blip.tv/

Metacafe

• uploading videos is a real pain in the ass, it’s quick but uses a 3 step submission process for EACH VIDEO and their “upload from another site” that allows automatic transfer of videos already uploaded from sites such as YouTube and Google Video doesn’t work
• encoding takes a few minutes but no multi-video upload system
• videos aren’t live on the site until they are reviewed by a review committee
• has a shared revenue model but I am still confused as to what the heck it is, you also need to “apply” each video to be included… it isn’t very straight forward like Revver or Viddler
• is the best, so far, for bringing traffic to my site

http://www.metacafe.com/channels/i3ds/

Google Video

• uploading is decent but isn’t shown when uploading files
• has a multi-video upload system which requires you to download a program that is oddly archaic compared to the others out there, including YouTubes!
• encoding seems to be real-time, once I added in additional video info, the videos where live immediately
• has no revenue sharing model
• archaic upload but not even one error, archaic video description system but again, not one error… they stick to the basics

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=woodmarvels&sitesearch=

Yahoo video

• uploading speed is unknown and archaic… it doesn’t even show you how the upload is progressing!
• there is no multi-video upload system!
• no uploading errors at all
• no shared revenue model
• encoding takes a few hours before uploaded video comes live

http://video.yahoo.com/video/profile?sid=3353626

Dailymotion

• upload speed about 70-110kb/s
• there is no multi-upload system
• no uploading error
• no shared revenue model
• encoding is real-time but you can’t choose the thumbnail to be shown
• video quality is decent and flow-through is very logical, just upload then after that is done, enter some info in and you are done!

http://www.dailymotion.com/i3DS

MSN “Soapbox” Video

• upload speed is incredibly inconsistent, sometimes it’s lighting speed, other times, I swear grass grows faster
• there is no multi-video upload system but they do allow queued uploads while others are processing which does save time
• lots of uploading failures… to the point where their entire system is borderline unworkable… by far the worst uploading experience and user interface ever! The fact that they have a “retry” on failed uploads means that this is a problem they are well aware of.
• no shared revenue model
• why is it that a company with the resources of Microsoft developed such an absolutely user-unfriendly social video site? I don’t get it… by far the worst of the bunch!

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&user=6571486095414755694

AOL Video

• very fast uploading, powered by Video Egg (requires download to work)
• has no multi-video upload system
• I like how it shows progress of upload using actual thumbnails of the video being uploaded but I hate having to do things in two stages (they do have option to do it in one shot though but it’s buggy as hell)
• encoding is real-time
• has no revenue sharing model
• once you get the hang of it, thanks to fast uploads, it actually is a pretty good system, just wish they had ONE page to upload using Video Egg instead of a two step process

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/search/relevant?value=woodmarvels

Rivver

• decent upload
• no multi-video upload system, took a few hours to upload everything
• encoding and seeing it live (after approval) takes about 4-8 hours
• had only one consistent failure to encode on a file, after an update at their end, it worked again, 50+: 1-
• has shared revenue model but not google ads appearing around your video (from what I can tell) nor any good looking blond explaining the entire process
• video upload system is a breeze, only title, tags and description required

http://revver.com/u/i3ds/

Vimeo

• incredibly slow upload, averaged about 25-35kb/s), when you got 500mb of files to upload… one at a time… this becomes a very long day indeed!
• seems to upload files to amazon AWS services based on uploading url (ei: are using cloud computing)
• no multi-video upload system, took a day to upload everything and although this feature has been requested up to 10 months ago in their forums, they still have not moved on it’s implementation (????). I figured out a way around this, simply opening multiple windows pointing to their upload page, so I was able to get this over quicker.
• encoding is usually done within a few minutes and live immediately
• no shared revenue model
• video upload system is a breeze, only title, tags and description required
• has a great blog, help section is second to none with great forum to boot!
• has a cool “converting video stats” countdown, I find the entire site from upload to viewing to be very interactive and user friendly

http://www.vimeo.com/user364281

Youtube

• uploads are about same speed as Rivver
• has muti-upload system but requires you to download software, took about an hour to upload everything
• encoding takes a few minutes and is live immediately
• shared revenue model requires use of their player, I can’t be bothered
• video upload system is a breeze, only title, tags and description required

http://www.youtube.com/user/i3ds

Video Quality

Video quality across the board goes from fantastic to horrible depending on the provider you choose, I have included links to each of my profile pages so you can see for yourself. By far, DailyMotion.com has the best looking and user friendly profile page.

WTF? What is my video doing on your site?

Well, after doing a search for woodmarvels.com after uploading a crap load of videos all over the place, I begin seeing them on totally unrelated sites which to me, is great, as it’s free advertising (my domain is prominent on every frame of the animations for this very purpose), so far I have found others profiting from my work without my permission

http://www.zango.com/results.aspx?page=3&sort=0&ct=0&search=woodworking

http://tw.truveo.com/Build-your-own-wooden-Whale-humpback/id/1509804186

http://www.mefeedia.com/tags/woodworking/?page=1

http://upvideo.userportale.de/video-dAU8avb0HCo-Build_your_own_wooden_Step_Stool!.html

http://woodworkingworld.magnify.net/item/T3FGPTQ0C6DR3LBB

http://www.yourhotsearch.com/german.php?u=/internet.html (info translated to german!)

http://www.sabermas.net/Tutoriales-Flash/video/GABEj-Rnty4

http://www.browsewebsites.co.uk/video/7/t-free%20woodworking%20plans

http://www.araizle.com/woodmarvels.html

Traffic boost!

After uploading all these videos, I managed to double the traffic on WoodMarvels.com, how long this holds out is anybodies guess… but it was an interesting (exhausting) evaluation.

The Bottom Line

There is no lack of competition in the expensive social video marketplace.