Saturday, November 22, 2008
13:14 by FoxTwo
What that taught me was that I should never stick to just 1 site to host my videos. I had to slowly, and painfully, re-upload all my videos to a new site. Upload speed, as you know, is pathetic on Singapore's broadband plans. 256K, 512K, 1MB at best.
Anyway right now I have hosted my non-gameplay videos at Viddler. However, more importantly, I found a game-oriented site to host my gameplay videos - Wegame. My gaming videos can be seen here.
It's a new site, started only in 2007. The thing I like about it, is that the video quality rivals that of Vimeo, perhaps even better! The only drawback is that it doesn't have a High-Definition format. Also, encoding videos on wegame is really quick. My videos were all converted and ready almost as fast as I could upload them!
In fact I watched my own videos in amazement as I uploaded them - they looked almost as good as the original file I uploaded! Even on Vimeo, I could see some "degrading" when they convert my videos into FLV format for use on the web. However on Wegame, I almost couldn't tell the difference if I didn't have the original video with me. As an aside though, Viddler really sucks at converting my videos. They immediately become all chunky and blocky.
On Wegame, we can upload up to 1GB per file. That beats Vimeo's 500MB per week quota. The downside is, they also have a rule that the video shouldn't be more than 20 minutes long. I have no idea why though - if you encode a video file correctly, even 1 hour can be squeezed into about 400MB without much loss of quality.
The reason why I didn't upload non-gameplay videos there was because I didn't want to take the risk of running afoul of thier TOS. Now, the thing is, Vimeo also never had a rule against gameplay videos, but they changed the rules halfway through and never informed their userbase. I hope Wegame takes note of this and inform their userbase should their rules change mid-way.
Anyway guess I found a new home for hosting my gameplay videos!
13:14 by FoxTwo
A New Video Hosting Site - Wegame
What that taught me was that I should never stick to just 1 site to host my videos. I had to slowly, and painfully, re-upload all my videos to a new site. Upload speed, as you know, is pathetic on Singapore's broadband plans. 256K, 512K, 1MB at best.
Anyway right now I have hosted my non-gameplay videos at Viddler. However, more importantly, I found a game-oriented site to host my gameplay videos - Wegame. My gaming videos can be seen here.
It's a new site, started only in 2007. The thing I like about it, is that the video quality rivals that of Vimeo, perhaps even better! The only drawback is that it doesn't have a High-Definition format. Also, encoding videos on wegame is really quick. My videos were all converted and ready almost as fast as I could upload them!
In fact I watched my own videos in amazement as I uploaded them - they looked almost as good as the original file I uploaded! Even on Vimeo, I could see some "degrading" when they convert my videos into FLV format for use on the web. However on Wegame, I almost couldn't tell the difference if I didn't have the original video with me. As an aside though, Viddler really sucks at converting my videos. They immediately become all chunky and blocky.
On Wegame, we can upload up to 1GB per file. That beats Vimeo's 500MB per week quota. The downside is, they also have a rule that the video shouldn't be more than 20 minutes long. I have no idea why though - if you encode a video file correctly, even 1 hour can be squeezed into about 400MB without much loss of quality.
The reason why I didn't upload non-gameplay videos there was because I didn't want to take the risk of running afoul of thier TOS. Now, the thing is, Vimeo also never had a rule against gameplay videos, but they changed the rules halfway through and never informed their userbase. I hope Wegame takes note of this and inform their userbase should their rules change mid-way.
Anyway guess I found a new home for hosting my gameplay videos!
Monday, November 17, 2008
11:28 by FoxTwo Some months ago, I moved my videos from Youtube to Vimeo. At the time, Vimeo was an up-and-coming startup, and it offered some features which I liked. For example, no 10 minute limit, weekly 500MB uploads, and your videos can be in High Definition!
All these made me choose Vimeo over other sites like Viddler or metacafe or veoh.
However, just today, I got a short and terse email from Vimeo:
"Your account has been removed. Reason: Gameplay videos not allowed"
Um wha~~!? I've been uploading gameplay videos since Jan or Feb 2008 and nobody said anything about it. In fact I don't even remember reading anything about their usage policy saying that we can't upload videogame captures! Besides, I distinctly remember seeing other gameplay videos from other people on Vimeo too!
Now, if the rules changed mid-way, shouldn't a site like Vimeo send an email out to all members to tell them to click on ACCEPT on the new Terms Of Service? Well no such email came. No blinking "we updated our terms of service, please read" words appeared on my dashboard or whatever whenever I logged in to upload videos.
In other words, I didn't know.
Also, I don't only have gameplay videos on Vimeo. I have machinimas too (stated on their new terms of use as being allowed) as well as non-gameplay videos like videos of my friends in funny situations.
They removed my account without warning. NONE. Just a short, terse, "your account has been removed" email.
So how does a user take steps to remedy a situation before account removal happens? No chance to even delete/remove them on my own accord to keep my account.
So if you are looking for a video sharing site, do NOT use Vimeo! No, not even if your videos are non-gameplay videos. The way they do things is not .... reasonable.
I guess I'm switching AGAIN... maybe Veoh, maybe Dailymotion. Who knows?
11:28 by FoxTwo Some months ago, I moved my videos from Youtube to Vimeo. At the time, Vimeo was an up-and-coming startup, and it offered some features which I liked. For example, no 10 minute limit, weekly 500MB uploads, and your videos can be in High Definition!
All these made me choose Vimeo over other sites like Viddler or metacafe or veoh.
However, just today, I got a short and terse email from Vimeo:
"Your account has been removed. Reason: Gameplay videos not allowed"
Um wha~~!? I've been uploading gameplay videos since Jan or Feb 2008 and nobody said anything about it. In fact I don't even remember reading anything about their usage policy saying that we can't upload videogame captures! Besides, I distinctly remember seeing other gameplay videos from other people on Vimeo too!
Now, if the rules changed mid-way, shouldn't a site like Vimeo send an email out to all members to tell them to click on ACCEPT on the new Terms Of Service? Well no such email came. No blinking "we updated our terms of service, please read" words appeared on my dashboard or whatever whenever I logged in to upload videos.
In other words, I didn't know.
Also, I don't only have gameplay videos on Vimeo. I have machinimas too (stated on their new terms of use as being allowed) as well as non-gameplay videos like videos of my friends in funny situations.
They removed my account without warning. NONE. Just a short, terse, "your account has been removed" email.
So how does a user take steps to remedy a situation before account removal happens? No chance to even delete/remove them on my own accord to keep my account.
So if you are looking for a video sharing site, do NOT use Vimeo! No, not even if your videos are non-gameplay videos. The way they do things is not .... reasonable.
I guess I'm switching AGAIN... maybe Veoh, maybe Dailymotion. Who knows?
Labels: internet, Rant, self, video
Monday, May 12, 2008
21:55 by FoxTwo
21:55 by FoxTwo
Eat, Drink, And Have Wild Sex!
.. oh yeah and learn French too!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
10:02 by FoxTwo
Remember, back then, broadband speeds were just like about 512Kbps to 1Mps at most. DivX was released, and for the first time, videos can be compressed with it like songs can be compressed into MP3s. Finally, videos can be shared among friends because the files no longer need to be 500MBs or more. To give you an example - a raw capture video file of about 2 minutes might take up 2GBs of harddisk space. DivX can easily compress it down to about 20MBs without much loss of quality. In other words, the 20MB version will look very close to the original 2GB version.
That was indeed a breakthrough.
Video sharing sites started to sprout up. Youtube was among the first, and is now the most popular of all. However, to "stream" videos, the files needed to be even smaller (remember, broadband speeds were slow back then), so Youtube compressed it further, and resized it downwards. While videos might look blocky and blurry on Youtube, users are impressed because we can now watch live, streaming videos.
Stage6 was a brainchild of DivX actually. They wanted to prove a point back then - that it was possible to stream videos in high-quality, using their own DivX codec. Slowly but surely, it started to gain popularity, because yes, it was indeed possible to stream high-quality videos over the Internet.
The second thing that made it popular was that you can DOWNLOAD the videos off the site onto your harddisk, and play it back with your standard Windows Media Player if you choose to.
The third thing is, Stage6 is the place for me to go if I wanted to watch a TV series that isn't shown in Singapore - like Andromeda, Stargate Atlantis, Farscape etc (yes I know, it's all sci-fi series listed here). You can find contemporary shows there too like Lost, Prison Break, West Wing etc too.
All in "high-definition".
Before even "high-def" TVs were even heard of by most Singaporeans.
And, unlike Youtube (yes, don't be surprised. These shows are available via Youtube too), they aren't blocky, or pixellated, and NOT broken down into 10 minute parts (unlike Youtube's weird policy), ie, no need to watch "1 of 4" then search for the same episode part 2 of 4 etc to continue the show.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years to present day. This morning I just got an email from Stage6, where they announced they are going to shut down the service effective 28 Feb 2008 (yes you read it right, 28 Feb 2008, not 29 Feb). To me, it's an end of an era.
Here's an excerpt from the email:
Yes, Stage6 is free. It doesn't have advertising. It's only a matter of time before the service shuts down. I am only amazed it lasted this long without external sources of funding. In the meantime, I have been enjoying TV series like Lexx on Stage6 in "high-definition" in the past few years.
Thank you Stage6, for all the good times.
Now, I guess I have Vimeo, which can also stream in high-quality. It's not as popular as Youtube, but then again, this post isn't about Youtube or Vimeo.
10:02 by FoxTwo
Pioneer Video Sharing Site Stage6 To Shut Down
Remember, back then, broadband speeds were just like about 512Kbps to 1Mps at most. DivX was released, and for the first time, videos can be compressed with it like songs can be compressed into MP3s. Finally, videos can be shared among friends because the files no longer need to be 500MBs or more. To give you an example - a raw capture video file of about 2 minutes might take up 2GBs of harddisk space. DivX can easily compress it down to about 20MBs without much loss of quality. In other words, the 20MB version will look very close to the original 2GB version.
That was indeed a breakthrough.
Video sharing sites started to sprout up. Youtube was among the first, and is now the most popular of all. However, to "stream" videos, the files needed to be even smaller (remember, broadband speeds were slow back then), so Youtube compressed it further, and resized it downwards. While videos might look blocky and blurry on Youtube, users are impressed because we can now watch live, streaming videos.
Stage6 was a brainchild of DivX actually. They wanted to prove a point back then - that it was possible to stream videos in high-quality, using their own DivX codec. Slowly but surely, it started to gain popularity, because yes, it was indeed possible to stream high-quality videos over the Internet.
The second thing that made it popular was that you can DOWNLOAD the videos off the site onto your harddisk, and play it back with your standard Windows Media Player if you choose to.
The third thing is, Stage6 is the place for me to go if I wanted to watch a TV series that isn't shown in Singapore - like Andromeda, Stargate Atlantis, Farscape etc (yes I know, it's all sci-fi series listed here). You can find contemporary shows there too like Lost, Prison Break, West Wing etc too.
All in "high-definition".
Before even "high-def" TVs were even heard of by most Singaporeans.
And, unlike Youtube (yes, don't be surprised. These shows are available via Youtube too), they aren't blocky, or pixellated, and NOT broken down into 10 minute parts (unlike Youtube's weird policy), ie, no need to watch "1 of 4" then search for the same episode part 2 of 4 etc to continue the show.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years to present day. This morning I just got an email from Stage6, where they announced they are going to shut down the service effective 28 Feb 2008 (yes you read it right, 28 Feb 2008, not 29 Feb). To me, it's an end of an era.
Here's an excerpt from the email:
As Stage6 grew quickly and dramatically (accompanied by an explosion of other sites delivering high-quality video), it became clear that operating the service as a part of the larger DivX business no longer made sense. We couldn't continue to run Stage6 and focus on our broader strategy to make it possible for anyone to enjoy high-quality video on any device. So, in July of last year we announced that we were kicking off an effort to explore strategic alternatives for Stage6, which is a fancy way of saying we decided we would either have to sell it, spin it out into a private company or shut it down.
Yes, Stage6 is free. It doesn't have advertising. It's only a matter of time before the service shuts down. I am only amazed it lasted this long without external sources of funding. In the meantime, I have been enjoying TV series like Lexx on Stage6 in "high-definition" in the past few years.
Thank you Stage6, for all the good times.
Now, I guess I have Vimeo, which can also stream in high-quality. It's not as popular as Youtube, but then again, this post isn't about Youtube or Vimeo.
Monday, December 24, 2007
17:53 by FoxTwo Merry X'mas to everyone on Ping.sg!
Well I got nothing much to write about today, so here's a video that I made back in 2005 for your enjoyment. MissLoi was laughing so hard that I thought I might plug it a little here and hope it'll brighten your X'mas.
Eh yeah I really did make this video, I didn't kope this from anyone ok? :p
17:53 by FoxTwo Merry X'mas to everyone on Ping.sg!
Well I got nothing much to write about today, so here's a video that I made back in 2005 for your enjoyment. MissLoi was laughing so hard that I thought I might plug it a little here and hope it'll brighten your X'mas.
Eh yeah I really did make this video, I didn't kope this from anyone ok? :p
Thursday, November 29, 2007
13:27 by FoxTwo While stumbling across websites randomly today, I came across this article. In it, it describes how you can actually post the video you uploaded to your blog!
I am glad I found this. In my gaming blog I tend to post videos up, and I'd really hate to have to do all the embed codes manually. Normally it takes a good 20 mins or more to upload the video to Youtube. Then I have to wait for Youtube to "process" it. Only after it has done so, can I finally see the embed code I need to copy over to my blog.
Now, with this article, I can easily just wait for it to finish processing, click on SHARE, and select my blog. It's almost like blogging from Flickr or Picasa, although this time it's with videos and not just pictures.
Caveat - works only for Blogger.Com blogs, not Wordpress. Yeah, it'll work even if you're using your own domain, if you know how the Blogger platform works.
13:27 by FoxTwo While stumbling across websites randomly today, I came across this article. In it, it describes how you can actually post the video you uploaded to your blog!
I am glad I found this. In my gaming blog I tend to post videos up, and I'd really hate to have to do all the embed codes manually. Normally it takes a good 20 mins or more to upload the video to Youtube. Then I have to wait for Youtube to "process" it. Only after it has done so, can I finally see the embed code I need to copy over to my blog.
Now, with this article, I can easily just wait for it to finish processing, click on SHARE, and select my blog. It's almost like blogging from Flickr or Picasa, although this time it's with videos and not just pictures.
Caveat - works only for Blogger.Com blogs, not Wordpress. Yeah, it'll work even if you're using your own domain, if you know how the Blogger platform works.
Labels: internet, video, youtube
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
15:59 by FoxTwo Hah! Got your attention huh?
You know, I haven't really been looking at my site statistics until lately. Guess what I found?
15:59 by FoxTwo Hah! Got your attention huh?
You know, I haven't really been looking at my site statistics until lately. Guess what I found?
- Majority of my visitors are Singaporeans
- They come via Yahoo Search
- They are ALL looking for "Tammy" and "NYP video"
- The only reason why they even arrive here is because I wrote about it LAST YEAR!
- Sorry no links to the video here. I don't even have it, although I have seen it.
- Believe me, it's nothing special.
Come on guys... Tammy's last year's news. Why are you guys still hung up on that? Move along, nothing to see here....
Labels: NYP, Sex, Singapore, Singaporeans, Tammy, video
