sorry in advance for the n00b question here and [words]:

I work very part time for a very small company looking to have videos online for others to view. Currently they have their website hosted through Yahoo and a good deal of space for uploading said videos (10GB+). The current method is to post a link to said video on the website. Mostly they use .wmv for their videos.

What they are looking for is something like YouTube where it is easy to follow their videos. They are long (~28 min each), in 4:3 format. Currently at 640x480 they are ~80-100mb each as an .wmv. Some people have difficulty viewing the videos with just a .wmv link or with a player embedded. Would it make more sense to convert the files to .mpeg or .mov or something similar and just embed the directly on the site? Or, YouTube is an option but limits content to 10min. Other sites such as Vimeo do not allow for commercial content, and some require $100+/month which is more than they are looking to pay. ANY help is appreciated.

Cliff notes summary:
Want to:
upload 30 min videos for ease of viewers, cheaply

current problem:
some people cannot view current .wmv links/embed


Thanks!

10/8/2009 3:29:11 PM

You can sign up on youtube for a director's account, it removes the time and size limits.

Pretty sure it's still free too. There might be a marginal charge for commercial use like your company, but I can't imagine it costing hardly anything at all.

There are also a number of video hosting (commercial) alternatives, but they are probably going to be way more costly than you want to pay. And if having the videos public isn't an issue, youtube really is the way to go.

10/8/2009 3:33:53 PM

Create your own website and hire a developer that can create a streaming video app. There, now you can have unlimited length videos and are limited only by the cost of your own bandwidth.

10/8/2009 3:38:31 PM

http://www.pornhost.com

10/8/2009 4:04:03 PM

Quote :

"Create your own website and hire a developer that can create a streaming video appuse silverlight and IIS streaming services. There, now you can have unlimited length videos and are limited only by the cost of your own bandwidth."

10/8/2009 4:04:57 PM

Quote :

"Create your own website and hire a developer that can create a streaming video app use silverlight and IIS streaming services. There, now you can have unlimited length videos and are limited only by the cost of your own bandwidth."

but seriously, do what noen said. if it's not part of your business expertise, pay somebody else to do it

[Edited on October 8, 2009 at 4:09 PM. Reason : .]

10/8/2009 4:07:19 PM

^ and ^^ and ^^^^, my assumption was that is above his price range. That's gonna run a couple hundred bucks a month.

But it is brutally simple to publish content once you have the site setup. Expression encoder for the win.

10/8/2009 4:10:29 PM

you can download a free flash player thats very simple to implement into a page.

10/8/2009 4:15:22 PM

I guess it was a pretty gross assumption that if they're hosting their website on Yahoo's servers they don't have someone capable of setting up IIS and a Silverlight, flash, or whatever streaming video technology they prefer website.

Or maybe I was setting them up for a pitch to quote a brand shiny new content distribution application.

10/8/2009 4:30:06 PM