Comparison of Streaming Video Services
Posted by David Wiltshire on December, 22nd 2007Recently, a client asked Rolled to recommend some video streaming service after Brightcove closed its doors to public uploads. I, Mike Robinson, stepped up to the challenge and immediately began watching videos of people singing, doing magic tricks and animals in funny outfits. Hey, we all have to take a bullet for the team sometime, right? Read on for my findings on alternative video streaming services!
I have reviewed four services, and drawn up tables comparing their supported formats and features. Each was to at least have good video quality and be Adobe Flash based, ruling out Google’s YouTube and DivX offering Stage6, respectively. Use the table of contents below to quickly jump to each section.
- Vimeo
- Revver
- Viddler
- Veoh
- Comparing The Services
- Conclusion – Which is the best?
Vimeo
Vimeo comes from folks at Connected Ventures and is known as “Flickr for video”. Vimeo is simple and appealing, offering good quality videos, a 500MB weekly upload limit and even HD content. As long as it fits within your weekly limit, you can upload videos of any length, and even upload them via e-mail!
Once you start uploading, you can change the settings for your video without disrupting the upload. Assign it to an album or channel, give it a title and description, change the privacy settings and more. Once your video is live people can download a copy of your video, if you allow them.
Overall, Vimeo is an excellent service with great quality.
Supported Formats: asf, asx, avi, divx, dv, dvx, m4v, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg, qt, wmv, 3g2, 3gp, 3ivx and 3vx
Revver
Revver offers a good quality service, with a simple and sleek flash player. There is a minimum duration limit of 4 seconds, 100MB file size limit but no maximum duration limit, you have very decent restrictions on your video sizes.
Revver also supports uploaders with money from ad revenue. Users can select to have pre-roll and inline or ending ads, which will pop-up a small section at the bottom of the screen containing a related advertisement. The ad revenue is split between the creator and Revver, giving users a chance to make a bit of spare cash.
If you’re a video content creator, Revver is the one for you. A good quality, ad-supported, streaming service with little to no fuss.
Supported Formats: mov, mpeg, mpg, mp4, wmv, asf, avi
Viddler
Viddler is an interesting service that, like Revver, offers creators a share of ad profits. While the interface is clean and the video quality is good, Viddler’s frame specific comment feature can clutter up the timeline. Ads and comments are marked on the timeline to be displayed as that frame is played.
Uploaded videos can be up to 500MB in size, the largest of the services reviewed, with no duration limit.
If the timeline clutter from markers doesn’t bother you, then Viddler provides good quality video with the opportunity to earn money from your content.
Supported Formats: avi, dv, mov, qt, mpg, mpg2, mpeg2, mpeg4, mp4, 3gp, 3g2, asf, wmv, flv
Veoh
Veoh is a good quality service that can extend beyond the web. While Veoh’s web videos are restricted to a 100MB file size or 20min duration, VeohTV takes those videos to the desktop and allows increased file sizes and durations. The VeohTV software also provides uploading tools which can pause and resume uploads, should you find yourself on a slow or dodgy connection.
The web player has a clean interface, and the good quality plus desktop viewing options can take your videos further.
Supported Formats: mpeg, mov, mp4, avi, wmv
Comparing The Services
So, how do they compare to each other? Below are two tables for formats and features, giving a quick overview of everything above for quick reference.
Supported Formats
| AVI | MPEG | MOV | MP4 | WMV | M4V | FLV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vimeo | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Revver | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Viddler | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Veoh | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
Standard Features
| Quality | File Size Limit | Duration Limit | Profile Branding | Ad Supported | Revenue Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vimeo | Great (HD) | 500MB (per week) | None | No | No | No |
| Revver | Great | 100MB (per video) | Min. 4 secs | No | Yes | Yes |
| Viddler | Good | 500MB (per video) | None | No | Yes | Yes |
| Veoh | Good | 100MB (per video, for web) | 20mins (for web) | No | No | No |
Conclusion – Which is the best?
From my research into these services, I draw the conclusion that Vimeo offers the best quality and cleanest interface. While Revver’s and Viddler’s ad-sharing options are appealing to individual content creators, businesses may find that they wish to have full control over ads supporting their embedded videos. Veoh’s desktop services are great for long/large videos such as an online TV series.
If those features meet your requirements then by all means, go for Revver, Viddler or Veoh, but if you just need high-quality video streaming then Vimeo gets Rolled’s seal of approval.
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[...] on Sausage Roll I have posted an article: Comparison of Streaming Video Services. Not your standard offerings however, I have looked into four services that have better quality [...]
Posted by Elsewhere: Comparison of Streaming Video Services | akamike on 22 Dec 2007Great article, Mike!
Posted by David Myers on 22 Dec 2007Good article, would have been cool if you mentioned some other features of the services (Like the premium content on Veoh for actual viewers) but I guess that wasn’t the focus of this article
Posted by Bart on 22 Dec 2007‘Tis mighty gladdening to learn that Vimeo gets your seal approval, since I am using it on a new project of mine and would be a little pissed off to learn that it’s rubbish.
Posted by Josh(ua/y) on 22 Dec 2007For education, I really like viddler’s tag/comment feature. Recording a long lecture? Add markers so students can jump right to the desired topic.
Posted by todd on 22 Dec 2007@ToddYeah, the markers are so handy for jumping from section to section. It makes it ideal for vlogging.
Posted by David Myers on 22 Dec 2007What’s up with Blip.tv?Greetings
Posted by Patrick on 22 Dec 2007Hi Patrick, while blip.tv was not included in this post that does not imply there is anything wrong with it. We have plans to post a follow up to this with another selection of good quality video sites, should we receive more suggestions :)Thank you for your comments everyone!
Posted by Mike Robinson on 22 Dec 2007It would be nice if you could review Blip.tv and Sevenload.comGreetings
Posted by Patrick on 23 Dec 2007Great article-right to the point with all the required questions answered! Along these lines, I have been talking to Narrowstep about employing their services-Would you have any other companies to suggest to receive some competitive offerings? Thanks in advance for your time and consideration. JB
Posted by Jim B. on 24 Dec 2007Mike-can’t get a reply to you or e-mail you directly-please e-mail me let me know how to get in touch-jb
Posted by Jim B. on 24 Dec 2007