Adding unlimited streaming video to your site with Google Video
A client gave me a 15 minute movie that they wanted uploaded to their site. The problem with such a long video is that it needs to be streamed, or else the user has to wait until a good portion is downloaded before they can view it. But adding streaming Flash video demands some Flash programming skills and the Flash software, from what I understand.
I decided to try to use one of the free online video sites. First I tried YouTube. The movie was rejected because of its length. Photobucket was even more restrictive in its size limitations. Then I did a search for “unlimited video hosting,” or something like that, and Google Video came up.
Google Video allows you to host videos with unlimited size and length! I don’t know why more people don’t use Google Video. Not only that, the embeddable player is prettier and less gaudy than the YouTube player, in my opinion.
The only limitation with Google Video is that you can’t upload Flash videos. But that’s not a major problem since you can easily convert Flash to Windows Media files with one of the free file conversion services like Zamzar.
I guess people like YouTube for its social aspect and community. But if you need to make a longer movie easily accessible, I highly recommend that you try Google Video!
Category: Tips
Thanks for the tip. I run into that problem about a year ago with one of my clients; we ended up cutting the video into 4 parts. I then wrote a script for the player to start the next part of the video at the end of the previous part. Google Video is now stored in my brain as a solution for large videos, specially with videos being the “it” right now. Thanks again.