Making a Video Product

[anoopbalach]

Hi everyone,

I had a question: I am trying to make a product which will have 8-10 10-5min screencast videos. I want this to be sold on my website.

1. My question is do you use another host such as Amazon or just use my server as the host?
2. Which is better? Have them access it on a page or just have them download it and have it foreever. Which option is better? I feel the accessing it on a page will make it neccasary for me to have membership capabilities and make sure the site is running good all the time.

Thank you so much and this looks like an excellent forum!

[ralph.m]

Hi anoopbalach. Welcome to the forums.

My question is do you use another host such as Amazon or just use my server as the host?

You can do either. There are also sites specially designed for video hosting, but which also embed on your own site, like YouTube and Vimeo.

Which is better? Have them access it on a page or just have them download it and have it foreever.

Even if they watch it on a web page, they can still download it anyway as well. But if it's something you are selling, I'd just let them download it. As you say, it saves the hassle of membership and having the site up forever.

[anoopbalach]

Thanks Ralph.

I am selling it so I don't want to use youtube or vimeo. My question was if I do it on my server will it affect the bandwidth and such? I don't want to use Amazon or other paid hsting for 8-10 videos you know. But I am not sure if this is true.

Thanks again!

[ralph.m]

I am selling it so I don't want to use youtube or vimeo.

Yes, of course. I was forgetting that at first. Well, when I buy videos, I prefer to download them. I bought some last week, and it was just an annoyance to have to view them online, so I used a plugin to download them anyway.

My question was if I do it on my server will it affect the bandwidth and such? I don't want to use Amazon or other paid hsting for 8-10 videos you know.

It will cost you bandwidth every time someone views your video, so from that standpoint, it's not good for you. Hosting the videos on a content delivery network like Amazon will probably be cheaper for you, and the videos might load for the customer faster. But all the same, it will cost you either way (depending on your bandwidth limits and how much you pay for bandwidth). So I'd be going for the download option from that point of view as well. It's better for you and the customer, IMHO.

[anoopbalach]

That helps.

On the server I am using: Hostgator they say I have unlimited bandwidth and storage. Os it there a catch somewehere?

And I only expect maybe 10-20 people buying it every month. Will that need me to go via Amazon?

Sorry for all the questions bro

[ralph.m]

On the server I am using: Hostgator they say I have unlimited bandwidth and storage. Os it there a catch somewehere?

And I only expect maybe 10-20 people buying it every month. Will that need me to go via Amazon?

I'm not sure, really, so you'd need to double check with Hostgator. Most hosts set a limit, and you pay extra beyond that. All the same, I double you need extra hosting if there won't be too many viewings of your videos. I would still offer them for download, as then most users will only download them once. The only downside of users downloading them is that you have to make sure the video is in a format that will work on everyone's machines. For example, if it's in a .mov format, you'l have to ask users on older machines (e.g. Windows XP) to download iTunes, etc.

Sorry for all the questions bro

Don't worry. That's what forums are for.

[anoopbalach]

I'm not sure, really, so you'd need to double check with Hostgator. Most hosts set a limit, and you pay extra beyond that. All the same, I double you need extra hosting if there won't be too many viewings of your videos. I would still offer them for download, as then most users will only download them once. The only downside of users downloading them is that you have to make sure the video is in a format that will work on everyone's machines. For example, if it's in a .mov format, you'l have to ask users on older machines (e.g. Windows XP) to download iTunes, etc.



Don't worry. That's what forums are for.

Thanks!! What format do you think will be best? Or I just have to upload two different formats?

[ralph.m]

Thanks!! What format do you think will be best? Or I just have to upload two different formats?

Hm, good question. I'm on a Mac, and the easiest format to produce is .mov. It plays fine on Win7, but needs Quicktime in WinXP. I've tried converting to different formats for WinXP, but to date am not sure what's the best format to use, as I didn't have much luck. Not sure if this page helps or not:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245608

I'm still examining it.