What's the best video system to use for LONG videos?

[Ashley Ann]

I need a video system to upload a seminar for my members site. There is a total of 15-30 hours of video.

What is the best and cheapest way to do this?

Thanks!

[Jim Phillips]

Hi Ashley,

Are you talking a free or paid membership site?

I would recommend looking at Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)

I'd go with a free membership site as a teaser with some of your highlight video's using youtube or your web host.

Then upsell your high quality video seminar training series as a DVD package using Kunaki -- CD/DVD manufacturing and publishing service.

Not sure if that helped to answer your question. If not please explain further.

Best Regards,

Jim

[Ashley Ann]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the info. How many GB is typically 1 hour of video?

Also, I'm a bit confused. This may sound silly, but I'm not very technical...

Does Amazon S3 Just host the videos?

what I mean is with youtube and viddler, I upload the video then just insert the code on my website and the video box is already there, does it work the same with S3 or do I need something else to actually have the video software/box/frame, whatever you call it, there?

Thanks

[Jim Phillips]

Hi Ashley,

"Thanks for the info. How many GB is typically 1 hour of video?"

The answer depends on the format of your video. The higher the quality of the video the larger the streaming (download) size of the video.

"Does Amazon S3 Just host the videos?"

They store them and you can also deliver them just like a hosting account.

Here are some video's to understand want I am talking about when I speak amazon s3, cloud and buckets.

Amazon S3 service can be used to host your media files so that you can run videos on your site without compromising on the speed or quality.

YouTube - Amazon S3 Service - Getting Started

YouTube - Amazon S3

"what I mean is with youtube and viddler, I upload the video then just insert the code on my website and the video box is already there, does it work the same with S3 or do I need something else to actually have the video software/box/frame, whatever you call it, there?"

This will help you understand how to add coding to your website so you can stream flv video from amazon s3:

How to stream FLV video from Amazon S3

There is a learning curve to use amazon s3 but it is easy to learn.

Hope this has answered your questions.

Best Regards,

Jim

PS. The youtube video's above should be easy to follow along and give you a basic understanding of amazon s3, cloud and buckets.

[Loren Woirhaye]

I wouldn't use S3 if you are concerned about keeping your
costs down. It's pretty expensive compared to hosting
on an economy host.

S3 is used in launches because it is reliable for situations
where you get huge surges in traffic and bandwidth requirements
are going crazy. If you don't expect exploding traffic you
don't need S3. If your bandwidth requirements are expected
to grow predictably you can save a lot of money by just
planning your use and buying perhaps 50% more than
you need to cover any overages.

S3 is good at what it does... but chances are you could host
your instructional videos for 1/10th the cost and have complete
customer satisfaction. I know it's hard to believe, but hosting
your own video is neither costly nor troublesome when you
know how. When I learned how to do this I was amazed at how
cheap it was and furthermore I deliver a better-quality user
experience for people on wireless connections than YouTube
or other similar sites which are basically optimized for plugged-in
broadband connections and deliver a sucky video experience
to wireless users.

You can look me up if you want some coaching in this area
or help setting it up.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

I wouldn't use S3 if you are concerned about keeping your
costs down. It's pretty expensive compared to hosting
on an economy host.

S3 is used in launches because it is reliable for situations
where you get huge surges in traffic and bandwidth requirements
are going crazy. If you don't expect exploding traffic you
don't need S3. If your bandwidth requirements are expected
to grow predictably you can save a lot of money by just
planning your use and buying perhaps 50% more than
you need to cover any overages.

S3 is good at what it does... but chances are you could host
your instructional videos for 1/10th the cost and have complete
customer satisfaction. I know it's hard to believe, but hosting
your own video is neither costly nor troublesome when you
know how. When I learned how to do this I was amazed at how
cheap it was and furthermore I deliver a better-quality user
experience for people on wireless connections than YouTube
or other similar sites which are basically optimized for plugged-in
broadband connections and deliver a sucky video experience
to wireless users.

You can look me up if you want some coaching in this area
or help setting it up.

I concur that S3 is great for a launch, less costly to host them after that on your own site.

[jukeboxhero]

I've been using motionbox . com paid service it's $29 bucks a year, I can keep my videos private to just my viewers, load as many as I want, and it's seems to be great quality....

I use it some of the members only areas that i have.

You can see an example of it on my blog at www.TheMillionairesBlog.com, it's the first posting.

I've been really happy with them

jbh

[Ashley Ann]

well I'm a still a bit confused. Is Amazon S3 the way to go or not? This is for a private members site streaming video in 1 hour segments, there won't be a TON of traffic, a few thousand members. All I want is a system and player to do this and embed in my site so it's easy, fast, cost efficient.!

[SuperAffiliate]

If you are giving good quality information with no blatant advertising - then try blip.tv (beta) - it's my new secret weapon!

Great Post - Without paying for the Amazonaws, I'm looking for the same service that accepts advertising!

Thanks!
Kit

[Loren Woirhaye]

Originally Posted by Ashley Ann

well I'm a still a bit confused. Is Amazon S3 the way to go or not? This is for a private members site streaming video in 1 hour segments, there won't be a TON of traffic, a few thousand members. All I want is a system and player to do this and embed in my site so it's easy, fast, cost efficient.!

No. It's not if cost efficient is your criteria. It's 10-20 times more
costly than self-hosting.

[Jim Phillips]

Hi Ashley,

As in every business if you ask for advice you must weigh the answers you are given. Does it fit your business needs.


Hypothetically:

1.) You are opening a membership site that will serve a couple thousand members.

2.) Your main focus is delivering hours of instructional video.



Questions to answer:

1.) Is your video going to be High Quality?

2.) Will your membership be streaming your video content alone? Or will they be given a link to also download video to their computer?

3.) What is your projected opening membership?

4.) What is your start up capital?



A business plan will help you to ask questions and then generate solutions.

A hosting plan may be alright to use if you plan on having a small opening (read your TOS and watch the costs of added bandwidth).

Then as you grow go to a dedicated server or two or three (remembering your support costs if you are non-tech). Again prepare for this in your business plan.

Amazon S3 works great for certain business plans. You will have to do some figuring on how much bandwidth on average each member will use monthly. Then increase that by at least 20% just incase.

Are you adding more hours of new video's each month? Will your membership watch your archived streaming videos more than once each month?

I'm not trying to confuse you more with all these questions. That is why a good solid business plan is so valuable. It will help you to know what you need and then you will understand more clearly your solutions when you see them.

A business plan can take as little as a couple of hours to prepare.

Set your goals. Next your plan. Then do it.

Have a great weekend.

Best Regards,

Jim

[babushka99]

Ashley,

What you would require is storage (to place your videos) and bandwidth for streaming video. I suggest you look at SimpleCDN (3 cents per GB transferred, storage is very cheap too), StreamGuys (they are the guys who Stream TED I believe), BitGravity (amazing streaming service) and tons more.

You're essentially looking for a storage and streaming service. Amazon by any virtue is not cheap and also is technical, anyone who says otherwise for a non-techy is not telling the truth.

BitGravity et. al. all specialize in this vertical.