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NEWS: Vimeo vs YouTube - which is the better video service?

Dan Sung — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:58:02 +0000

Where to get the best quality footage and the right kind of vids you're after

It's all too easy to go to YouTube as a knee jerk reaction whenever you want to find a video on the internet. In fact, the term has passed into common parlance to refer to any user-generated internet film footage much the same as Google has come to refer to search. But if you take the time to have a look around, you'll notice some perfectly good video services in their own right, such as the very popular Vimeo. Some of them, in fact may even be better. So, how does our alternative example compare with the big kid in the playground??

Ownership

Like all good internet phenomena both Vimeo and Youtube were started by some budding entrepreneurs but have both since been bought up by corporate giants. However Google chooses to present its offices and ethos, its power and influence are second to none online making the company officially The Man as far as the world wide web goes. So, as a user and contributor to YouTube you are supporting the big G machine and all it stands for whether you like it or not. As it happens, it may not stand for anything that bad at all but it's worth bearing in mind.

Comparatively speaking, Vimeo is the little guy, but not by much. Owners IAC have over 50 consumer brands including notably Bloglines, Ask, CollegeHumour and Urbanspoon. You're certainly not saving the manatees by choosing Vimeo over YouTube but it might be a factor for the more corporate conscious.

Content Allowed

Vimeo will not host any commercial videos, gaming videos, pornography or anything else not created by users. YouTube is a little more stringent in its demands, if perhaps only subtly. Google's requirements are the uploads should not be defamatory, contain pornography, copyright violations and material that might encourage criminal behaviour. Much of this, of course, is very reasonable and very necessary given the size of the audience. However, as a smaller player, Vimeo does not have to include such overt holds on subjects with such grey areas like whether a video may or may not spark illegal activities. There have also been issues with other subjects including religion and incidents like the Hillsborough football disaster. Vimeo may well have problems in the same areas but there's no particular hard and fast rules on the matter.

Both sites will delete certain videos they deem unacceptable. YouTube relies on its community to flag videos in breach of the terms rather than vetting each on individually. The system works well but it does mean there's more of a chance of catching something inappropriate before its taken down. Whether you view that as an advantage or disadvantage is up to you.

Copyright issues

Being more much more in the spotlight, YouTube has famously had many more issues with copyright than any other video service. Both Viacom and, more recently, PRS in the UK have sought damages and pulled their content from the pages. Doubtless Vimeo would face the same problems but its smaller size means that these larger companies aren't bothering to look for their material there with quite the same fervor. Consequently, you're more likely to Premier League football, Saturday Night Live sketches, music videos or whatever else you might be looking for without finding that the content has disappeared.

The other issues over copyright to note is that YouTube ?gave over IP addresses and the details of millions of its users to Viacom in the landmark court case. Doubtless the same precedent would apply to such an injunction against Vimeo but with less legal action likely, there's less of a chance of having your data involuntarily shared with a third party.

Library

On the other hand of course, Vimeo's catalogue represents a drop in the ocean compared to the force of nature that is YouTube. YouTube has 20 hours of footage uploaded every single minute. That's nearly 2 million minutes of new video each 24 hours. Vimeo's 13,000 daily uploads is impressive especially given that 10% of those are in HD but it's just a different league. If you want to find a clip or you just want choice, YouTube is the place to be.

Video Quality

Vimeo's greatest boast is that it hosts the highest quality user video on the internet. While the site was quick to adopt 720p HD, YouTube has done the same as of this year. What's more, sometimes a lower quality is preferable. YouTube differentiates with both YouTube Mobile and YouTube TV which are optimised depending on where it is you're looking at the films. That's a handy data saver that Vimeo doesn't offer.

Where Vimeo still can shout though is in terms of video bit rate. The service offers up to 5,000 kbits whereas YouTube delivers around 2,000. Naturally, you're not always going to get that magic 5,000 with Vimeo but the footage does look noticeably smoother. That said, YouTube offers better audio bit rates with anywhere up to 256kbps but you'll only get up 128 with Vimeo although it is at least in stereo.

Uploading

Both services can cope with just about any video file you care to throw at them but they have different rules as to the quantities of data that you're allowed to add. YouTube has set a maximum length of 10 minutes to any one video unless you happen to have a partner account. No file can be larger than 2GB in size either. With Vimeo there is no maximum length of footage but the maximum file size is only half the size at 1GB and with a basic account you're only actually allowed to upload 500MB per week which might not get you that far.

The limit on Vimeo never used to exist until Plus accounts were introduced which offer multiple channels per user, no advertising, priority encoding and 2-pass re-enocding which gives better quality results. So, to some degree, the original users' accounts were downgraded with the introduction which did not go down to well, leaving one wondering whether it's something Vimeo might be happy to do again.

Promotion/Humiliation

With well over 1 billion views each day, YouTube is a far more powerful promotional tool than Vimeo will ever be. If you're big on YouTube, you're famous whether you like it or not. For filmmakers, photographers, musicians and creatives in all sorts of fields, YouTube can be and has been a platform where people have hit the big time. It's still very possible on other services but it's a simpe case of numbers. If you want your work to be seen by as many people as possible, then YouTube is the way to go.

Community

YouTube is for the masses while Vimeo has an air of refinement about it. As a result, there's not only a better quality of video content but also a more friendly comments stream to say the very least. If you want some fair appreciation of your creation, then upload to Vimeo. YouTube is strictly for the thick-skinned.

Downloadable

One very nice touch with Vimeo is that you can download just about all of the videos. So, long as you're a signed up member you can get the footage as the original file that it was uploaded as to keep and enjoy at your leisure. Although there are plug-ins and add-ons and ways that you can do this on YouTube, it's far more convoluted and often doesn't reap particularly good results.

Support

At CES at the beginning of the year, just about every TV manufacturer released a range of internet connected, widget-based products for the living room. Almost all of them had a YouTube widget. Nobody, was that fussed about a small service like Vimeo. Things will change as time goes on but, just as with the iPhone in the mobile phone field, other companies look to support the big player and it's YouTube that we'll find easiest to access wherever we happen to be.

Purpose

With the recent deal to bring ad supported film and TV content onto YouTube, it might not be a case of which of the two services is better than the other but more a case of which is appropriate for your needs at that moment. The commercial route takes Google's video service more towards the likes of Hulu and iPlayer with a shift of focus away from its user generated roots that Vimeo still holds on to. It just depends what you feel like watching. So long as it all stays free, then everybody's happy.?

NEWS: Living launches "Liv" online TV channel

Amy-Mae Elliott — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:15:16 +0000

Offering low-end style, celebs and showbiz programming

Living has launched "Liv", the UK's first online TV channel, offering "style and celebrity" programming.

Live from 2 November, the IPTV channel can be viewed at www.livingtv.co.uk as well as through its own YouTube channel and can be downloaded via a "state of the art Facebook application to enhance viewers' interactive experiences".

"Highlights" of forthcoming shows include "Celebs off Duty", comprising of showbiz news from one of the "world's leading paparazzi agencies" and Amy Winehouse's Dad Mitch interviewing celebs in his taxi.

There's also "Dress Famous Liv Famous", a makeover series hosted by a former Britain's Next Top Model contestant.

Tags: Home Cinema Living Liv IPTV Online Virgin Media Facebook

Living launches "Liv" online TV channel originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:15:16 +0000

NEWS: England match saw half a milion online viewers

Amy-Mae Elliott — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:20:58 +0100

Britain's biggest ever pay-to-view online sports broadcast

Close to half a million football fans watched the England vs Ukraine World Cup qualifier on Saturday, making the game Britain's biggest internet pay-to-view sports broadcast to date.
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There were no technical issues, say the companies behind the broadcast, while a post-match survey revealed that 87% felt the picture quality was good enough with 89% saying they would purchase another live sports event online.
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As far as the Odeon cinemas across the country that also screened the game via satellite go, "many" were completely sold out.

"This pioneering broadcast has been a great success. Not only have we delivered Britain's largest ever live pay-to-view internet sports audience, but commercially the venture has proved itself as a viable model for future games", Philipp Grothe, CEO of Kentaro said.

"Technology has ignited a revolution in people's viewing habits and there is a new sports broadcast platform developing on the broadband enabled internet".

Tags: Software Online Kentaro Perform Football IPTV Sports Fitness

England match saw half a milion online viewers originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:20:58 +0100

NEWS: How to watch football on the Internet

Dan Sung — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:32:43 +0100

And connect it to your TV too

So Setanta went bust, no one else has picked up Ukraine vs England and you're wondering whether a) you want to watch the football on the Internet and b) exactly how you're going to do it. Fear not. You'll be just fine. Here's the Pocket-lint guide of how to watch football on the Internet.

Step 1: Your broadband connection

It doesn't take a crazy fast connection to be able to watch the footy. Kentaro will be streaming the game live from 4.45pm on Saturday and you can watch it in much the same way that you watch YouTube or BBC iPlayer. The whole game isn't downloaded to your computer or stored on your system, so you don't have to worry about how much space you have. All you need to do is check that you have a download speed of at least 0.5 Mbps, which just about everyone will have. You can check your broadband speed for piece of mind.

You should also be aware that the entire game will probably count for something like 3 or 4GB of data downloads, so do bear in mind how much your broadband contract allows you each month. Most companies will just warn you about your usage if you go over your quota as a one off without charging you any extra, but it's worth taking a look at your agreement all the same. If you decide that this is something you're going to want to do on a fairly regular basis, then it might be worth stepping up to a deal with larger allowance and even faster speeds. Take a look at our top broadband packages.

Step 2: Your geographic location

What country are you in? If the answer is either Albania, Cyprus, Croatia, Israel, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, the Balkans, Turkey, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Thailand or South Africa then you're not going to be able to use Saturday's Kentaro or Orange service. Quite a large part of the world when you look it at. There's bound to be a "less official" way to view the proceedings online and if you can find a reliable site then this all still applies.

Step 3: Sign up now!!!!

The price of the game has been getting more and more expensive as the days go by. Today is your last chance to grab it at ?9.99 before the full whack of ?11.99 kicks in. You'll need to pay through PayPal but that won't necessarily mean signing up for a PayPal account and you can use the system to make the transaction with your normal credit or debit card. If you've still got an issue with that part of things then you can contact Kentaro direct.

During the sign up process, you can test that the video service works for you with their trial video trailer before you need to pay. Choose the high quality option (800 kbps) for the best viewing and if that works skip to Step 6. If it's jumpy and cuts out then try the lower quality (450 kbps). If that's ok, skip to Step 5, if not go to Step 4.

Step 4: Troubleshooting

Ok, so you've either got nothing coming up at all or it's just sticking and buffering all over the place. If not a sausage, then a) make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed - Adobe Flash Player version 10. It might even be worth uninstalling it and re-installing it again if you do already have it. And, b) make sure you have both pop-ups and java script enabled. Go to the Options and Tools section of your browser to find the right boxes to check. If you're still getting nothing, then try either a different browser or give Kentaro a call who might be able to talk you through it.

If you're getting a picture but it's awful, then it's most likely an issue of bandwidth. Either you have a terrible connection or someone around is sucking up all the Internet. Try to minimise the amount of internet use in your house. Close all other tabs and browsers and applications like Skype or Spotify or anything that's on in the background. Make sure other people in your house aren't playing online games and try to keep people off webcams and the telephone too.

One issue that could be beyond your control is if everyone in your area happens to using the same ISP as you and you're all trying to watch the service at the same time. This could very well become a problem for people even if the initial test works fine. There's not really anything you can do if that's the case except to try to disconnect and re-connect again but if that doesn't work, skip to Step 7.

Step 5: The low quality option

Not as bad as it sounds. You've not got the greatest view of the game but it works fine in a relatively small window on your computer. You might be able to squeeze three of you round it plus some beers but that's really as good as it's going to get. If you suddenly experience any issues during the broadcast then go to Step 4, otherwise enjoy the game and let's hope England makes it worth your while. END.

Step 6: Watch on the big screen

Lucky you. Plenty of bandwidth and a good service, so you might want to think about connecting your computer to your TV or even a projector if you happen to have one. Check your computer and check the back of your TV. If both have HDMI ports, then your luck's in again. All you need is an HDMI cable which you can buy at any electrical shop, plug it in and select the right input on your TV. You might also need to activate the right mode on your computer, usually located on the F8 key.

If you don't have HDMI at both ends, then your next best bet is VGA. You'll certainly need a VGA or mini VGA connection at your computer and either a VGA on your TV or even a SCART socket will do. If you're good to go then either grab yourself a VGA cable or a VGA to SCART which is slightly harder to find but not impossible. Select the right input on your TV and use the F8 function as above and you should have a picture. What you won't have is any sound. So, the easiest thing to do next is either turn the sound up on your computer or better would be to plug in a pair of speakers to it or connect it up to your stereo via audio cables. If to your stereo, you will probably need a 3.5mm audio cable from you computer that splits into two for your music machine but you might well find that one faff too far.

The final option and possibly the most expensive is to buy a media streamer which will probably cost somewhere between ?100-?200. Good ones include the SlingCatcher or solutions from Linksys and Netgear. These plug into your set and connect to your Wi-Fi network so you can stream the video direct from you computer without the need for cables. If you happen to own a PS3 or an XBox 360 Elite, then you're already in luck because they will work as media streamers too.

If you suddenly experience any issues during the broadcast then go to Step 4, otherwise enjoy the game and let's hope England makes it worth your while. END.

Step 7: The last resort

If all else fails then either go round to a mate's who's had more success or you can always go to any one of many cinemas which are also showing the game. There's also the good old radio too.

NEWS: Orange to offer England Ukraine match

Amy-Mae Elliott — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:53:04 +0100

Same price at official online broadcast

Orange has announced it is to offer live coverage of the England versus Ukraine World Cup qualifier on Saturday, via the official Kentaro online broadcast.

We're not entirely sure why you'd want to go down the Orange route, rather than go direct, it's the same price, so brand loyalty to your operator maybe?

Signing up now to view the online-only match will see the event charged at ?4.99, Thursday and Friday sign-ups will be charged ?9.99 and those that leave it to Saturday will see a fee of ?11.99.

As well as via Orange, Football fans can sign up over at the official site to see the match with live coverage due to start at 4.45pm on 10 October.

Tags: Sports Fitness Orange Football Online IPTV Home Cinema Phones

Orange to offer England Ukraine match originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:53:04 +0100

NEWS: Ukraine World Cup qualifier only available live online

Amy-Mae Elliott — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:20:36 +0100

England match to cost up to ?12 to watch

Those who want to watch England's World Cup qualifier will have to dish out up to ?12 - and sit in front of a PC or Mac to do so.

The Ukraine match is to be shown exclusively live online at www.ukrainevengland.com with payment via PayPal. Pricing is said to be ?4.99 if paid before Wednesday, rising to ?11.99 on Saturday.

The reason for the online-only option is that the Ukrainian Football Federation sold the rights to the match to Setanta, which has since gone bust.

Seeing as no other broadcaster has opted to buy the rights, it will be digital sport specialist Perform and Kentaro bringing the match to England fans via the Internet.

Peter Silverstone, managing director of Kentaro, told BBC Sport: "You will watch as you would any other streaming on the internet, like YouTube or the BBC iPlayer - there will be a pop-up player that will show the match in a very good quality stream".

How good this actually turns out to be is yet to be seen - the companies say they will stop at 1 million subscribers as the "safe number to stop at to ensure the optimal broadcast".

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