posted by Video
When incorporating video content on your webpage, you must consider that an increasing amount of customers will be viewing it on mobile devices and desktop computers. For the most part, these devices do not have plugin capabilities such as Flash to support video. Instead, they have built-in video playback capabilities that can play video without a plugin, but unfortunately, not all of them support the same format. As a result, businesses and content providers must offer their video in many formats to reach as many devices as possible.
Here is a quick list of solutions:
Large Scale—Use Content Delivery Network solution (CDN)
Usually a very turn-key solution, many CDN providers such as FreeCast and MediaBlog have tools for encoding and delivering videos to many platforms in an automated way. Some providers also use cloud computing, using multiple servers so the user streams video from a nearby server. This solution is appropriate for applications where a large number of videos are being delivered. It can, however, be pricey.
Medium Scale—Encode multiple formats
This is the do-it-yourself approach. If you have just a handful of videos and the willingness to encode many formats, this might appropriate. It requires knowing which devices support what formats, encoding those formats and setting up the proper code to detect and deliver the right format to the right platform. This can be a bit overwhelming if you aren't sure what you are doing or have a lot of videos. For example, every episode of Good Morning Marketers is encoded 14 times!
Small Scale—YouTube
YouTube automatically encodes all videos that are uploaded in multiple formats and delivers them to many devices – and it's free! If you don't mind the YouTube branding and your videos are less than 15 minutes, it's a great, easy way to reach desktops and mobile devices with one link. It can also be used as a fallback with other solutions. For example, the video on our mobile homepage is encoded for Apple devices while others get a link to YouTube. One downside is that on many mobile devices a YouTube embed or link will take the user away from your webpage. However, desktop computers and iPads can play video right in your webpage!
When choosing a solution, you should make sure the solution meets the following "best practices" for optimal user experience.
Incorporate automatic detection: Most users don't know if their device supports H.264, H.263 or webM—and they shouldn't have to. The solution you choose should automatically choose and deliver the proper format for their device.
Choose streaming video, when possible: Progressive download and streaming are the two basic ways to deliver video. With progressive download, the user's device simply downloads the file and starts playing it once enough is downloaded. If the user wants to skip ahead, they have to wait for the video to load to that point before it can play. Streaming video delivers the video in small pieces and loads as it is needed—so if the user skips ahead, it plays almost instantly.
Look for adaptive bitrate streaming: This means automatically delivering the highest-quality video a user's connection speed can handle and adjusting it automatically if conditions change while the video is playing back. As of today, this works on Apple devices running iOS 3+, Flash and Microsoft Smooth Streaming for Silverlight. We are using this solution for videos on our mobile homepage that’s suitable for both iPhones and iPod Touches.
From the end user's perspective, it should just work!
Delivering video to all these new devices, along with computers, can be overwhelming! Mobile devices and web technologies are changing rapidly so some of the suggestions above may differ by the time you are reading this. thunder::tech can recommend a solution for delivering one video or hundreds and help you get started!
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