Does anyone use Amazon S3 to host videos?

14 years ago

If somebody is determined to steal your videos there's not much you can do about it regardless of where they are hosted. They don't actually even have to download them to get a copy if they are streamed and if they have the right software/knowledge.

About the only thing you can do is to watermark your videos so at least you can provide some proof that they're your videos that someone has stolen or are selling them illegally. But even that has its limitations.

I used to worry about it, but now...not so much. Nothing I can do about it.

Gary

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tecHead

14 years ago

garovich is right; not much you can do to stop a knowledgeable & determined thief when it comes to multimedia. This is one of the reasons musicians have not embraced the whole online world so much for "selling" as opposed to just using it as exposure.

As long as you host your vids/music online, there will be a way for someone to steal them.

You're only alternative is to package your multimedia up into an .exe self contained projector that requires a license to access. That license would need to be attached to that user's machine so they can't redistribute the media to others without them acquiring a license, as well.

That is possible; yet, not what you're asking.

HTH
PLP,
tecHead

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by tecHead

You're only alternative is to package your multimedia up into an .exe self contained projector that requires a license to access. That license would need to be attached to that user's machine so they can't redistribute the media to others without them acquiring a license, as well.

The downside of that is reducing your prospect base by eliminating Mac and Linux users as potential customers.

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tecHead 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

The downside of that is reducing your prospect base by eliminating Mac and Linux users as potential customers.

Not if you use a wrapper app that can distribute end product on MAC architecture; like MDM Zinc.
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CDarklock 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

The downside of that is reducing your prospect base by eliminating Mac and Linux users as potential customers.

Yeah, I'm gonna miss those three people. :p
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- Marty S 14 years ago
  
  You can try and protect your video content all you want, but really there is no cure. Anyone can just run your video and screen capture their own copy of it.
  
  Buying any kind of software to prevent this will just add more frustration. The one mentioned above (Bill Myers) has a very rudimentary player with it too, which looks kind of 2005. If someone wants to copy video content from you, they will.
  
  As for water-marking - I used to do it, and it is the least you should do. I do find however, new video producers tend to make their watermarks too big, to the point of them looking unprofessional.
  
  On the other hand, small watermarks are easily blurred or cut-out by unscrupulous video thieves. I have even had some of my Youtube productions ripped by screen capture content thieves and then had the ripper's own logo (URL) over top of mine. Sadness.
  
  This is one of the reasons that I prefer to brand my videos now, rather than watermark. I find the look more professional as the logo and theme of your site becomes integral to the video - impossible to rip off as well.
  
  For instance the series I do for Paddy Power Poker is well branded and hence we are able to encourage embedding without concern for viewers being confused as to the source. > YouTube - How to play low pocket pairs against Tom Dwan
  
  Same for this video where I have switched to a standard (keynote) background so as to make all future videos for this site consistent, branded and recognizable > YouTube - Holdem Indicator adds HUD
  
  The idea is that branding will deter thieves because they cannot remove the source of the video without the video being deconstructed to make no sense at all, and therefore no value - even to a content thief. This is just as true for private member videos as it is for videos you put on Youtube.
  
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Kevin Riley

14 years ago

Originally Posted by troy23

I am trying to prevent video theft via some of the browser download plug ins available.

I wondered if using Amazon S3 would get around this problem.

Sure I could put them into a membership site, but I don't think it would prevent a member downloading and perhaps selling it on themselves.

I use Bill Myers' bandwidth protection script for video lessons. Works great. The code doesn't reveal the link to your Amazon video, so no one can download it. Also, you can set access to only from your domain.

Sorry. Don't have the URL on this machine. But a quick Google should find it.

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stask 14 years ago

Don't know if you already use Amazon s3, but an easy way to have a very good (easy to operate) front end to upload videos to s3, and simple ways to code video players, including the locking protection you are asking about, check out BITSONTHERUN Video transcoding, management and streaming - Bits on the Run

You can upload a video and it'll transcode in many different ways at once (your setup) and will automatically upload to your s3 account if you want. Even will allow their one line of code video player to play both flash and on iPads and iPods. Costs as little as $8 month. A really nice service.

I don't use the protection features, but I know they are there as others at "bits" have asked about them. There is a forum there if the settings aren't apparent.

Oh, another cool thing is that because you can have all those different transcode options, the bit rate can be automatically adjustable. Which means the flow of the video adjusts (while playing) for the best possible picture quality for a given internet connection moment to moment. It downgrades and upgrades the video flow as needed. Built in watermarking too if you want that.

Think there is a one month free trial. I don't think they have an affiliate program.

Good luck.
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Kevin Cotter

14 years ago

Check out this program.

Secure Amazon S3 Video Streaming for WordPress - S3FlowShield

Think it's just for WordPress but im not sure.

Kevin

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WillR 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Kevin Cotter

Check out this program.

Secure Amazon S3 Video Streaming for WordPress - S3FlowShield

Think it's just for WordPress but im not sure.

Kevin

I use a custom script that was created specifically for my membership site by the same guy who put together S3 flowshield, Wilson, and I have no hesitation in recommending him. His work is excellent and he knows the whole S3 thing inside and out - how to protect and encrypt and do a whole lot of other stuff you may want to do. I couldn't be running the complex membership site I am now with over 8GB worth of downloadable content without the help of Wilson and his specially designed scripts to help protect all my S3 content.

On the other hand, if someone is super keen about copying your video or mp3s they will just do a screencast or a recording of your video or audio and re-upload it - there is absolutely NOTHING you can do to prevent that from happening besides never posting your content online in the first place.

There is no one solution that will offer you 100% protection however you can put in place a lot of stuff that will deter 99% of the a-holes out there.
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troy23

14 years ago

Thanks for all the replies.....food for thought there.
Kevin - that looks like an interesting product...

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Amy Carczak

14 years ago

I had a friend tell me how "secure"
his encryption was ..."impossible to
crack he told me".

So I watched his video ...oops, silly
me, I had Camtasia going at the same
time ... so much for his super encryption.

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jim90677000

14 years ago

Totally agree with your worries...I have the same concerns, but sad to say, I yet to come out with a feasible solution till date.....

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