[Included] Video embedding

[MilesDB]

I am requesting 2 video embed BB codes:

1. [tube][/tube]
for YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, Dailymotion, Google, Metacafe, RuTube

2. [video][/video]
for any size .flv video from any site with a direct URL like www.yoursite.com/cartoons/tom_and_jerry.flv

The second BBcode would allow us to play our own videos without necessity of uploading to third-party sites.

 

[Erik]

they also use a heavily modified version of mencoder, mplayer ffmpeg and all that other fun stuff.

Exactly. If this feature were to work successfully, it would need to be able to support almost all of the common video containers and codecs, similar to how you can upload JPG's, PNG's, GIF's, etc. Unfortunately from a technical perspective this is waaaaaaaaaay more complicated than dealing with images. You need to have the proper codecs installed on the system and the right processing tools (way beyond the capability of XenForo to install or setup for you). Not to mention the fact that it requires a dedicated-server level of processing power just to process the videos (ignoring the fact that the server also needs to serve web requests at the same time).

Basically, it's out of reach for almost everyone but those running on a top-end dedicated server, and they're probably serious enough that they could spin their own solution and integrate it into XenForo easily.

 

[Forsaken]

Exactly. If this feature were to work successfully, it would need to be able to support almost all of the common video containers and codecs, similar to how you can upload JPG's, PNG's, GIF's, etc. Unfortunately from a technical perspective this is waaaaaaaaaay more complicated than dealing with images. You need to have the proper codecs installed on the system and the right processing tools (way beyond the capability of XenForo to install or setup for you). Not to mention the fact that it requires a dedicated-server level of processing power just to process the videos (ignoring the fact that the server also needs to serve web requests at the same time).

Basically, it's out of reach for almost everyone but those running on a top-end dedicated server, and they're probably serious enough that they could spin their own solution and integrate it into XenForo easily.

People will still argue it should be in the core .

 

[Paul B]

People will still argue it should be in the core .

But with a checkbox in the ACP to turn it off

 

[Forsaken]

But with a checkbox in the ACP to turn it off

Don't make me hunt you down ;(.

 

[Paul B]

 

[MilesDB]

Exactly. If this feature were to work successfully, it would need to be able to support almost all of the common video containers and codecs, similar to how you can upload JPG's, PNG's, GIF's, etc. Unfortunately from a technical perspective this is waaaaaaaaaay more complicated than dealing with images. You need to have the proper codecs installed on the system and the right processing tools (way beyond the capability of XenForo to install or setup for you). Not to mention the fact that it requires a dedicated-server level of processing power just to process the videos (ignoring the fact that the server also needs to serve web requests at the same time).

Basically, it's out of reach for almost everyone but those running on a top-end dedicated server, and they're probably serious enough that they could spin their own solution and integrate it into XenForo easily.

Well, if vBTube can do it, why can't crème de la crème of board software do it? By the way, most of admins do not intend to be competitors to YouTube or Vimeo; and for those with a video-upload prone userbase there are media hosting providers that are quite affordable.

 

[MilesDB]

People will still argue it should be in the core .

4G world needs tools that can deliver and do not dwell on the glorious past.

 

[EQnoble]

OK... compromise. (I can't spin my own solution that's why I'm posting in this thread.)
-A XF gallery that allows uploading of properly keyframed mp4's and flv video and moves them to said gallery page with a little bit of info that the user types in upon uploading. -No encoding

We can work on the upload convert script later, but video integration has to for some degree be integrated into this software and thinking anyone who wants it can do it is kind of crazy to assume. By this logic I would have also coded my own forum solution after the whole vB fiasco, but I am here, can't write the script and trust me when I say the level of server I pay for doesn't make me any less serious or any more capable of coding.
Now going to work on a mock-up of my new idea and I will update here.

 

[Erik]

Well, if vBTube can do it, why can't crème de la crème of board software do it? By the way, most of admins do not intend to be competitors to YouTube or Vimeo; and for those with a video-upload prone userbase there are media hosting providers that are quite affordable.

Based on what I've quickly gathered from reading the site (I'm not familiar with that product), vBTube is just a user interface for browsing, searching, commenting on, and rating videos, as well as a PHP interface to FFMPEG or mEncoder. The point being that you still need FFMPEG or mEncoder installed and properly configured, along with any codecs you want to support. (Many codecs are commercial in some way, shape, or form and need to be licensed. This is often a major pain with Linux-based servers because of Linux's open-source nature). And you still need the processing power to support it. That product won't be supported on any reasonable shared host, and it will still likely bring a small-medium sized VPS to it's knees pretty quickly.

 

[Erik]

OK... compromise. (I can't spin my own solution that's why I'm posting in this thread.)
-A XF gallery that allows uploading of properly keyframed mp4's and flv video and moves them to said gallery page with a little bit of info that the user types in upon uploading. -No encoding

What users are going to take the time to properly convert their video to your strict specifications? How many users even have the tools or know-how to do so? Users will just try to upload their video straight off of their camera/cellphone/etc, get frustrated when the video is rejected (or worse, accepted and then it doesn't function), and come to the conclusion that your site or the forum software is broken.

I say the level of server I pay for doesn't make me any less serious or any more capable of coding.
Now going to work on a mock-up of my new idea and I will update here.

If you're paying monthly for a server that could support a system like this, surely you could spare a bit of extra cash and hire someone to do it for you?

The bottom line is this isn't worth building into the core product because it can't and won't be used by 99% of forum owners.

 

[EQnoble]

What users are going to take the time to properly convert their video to your strict specifications? How many users even have the tools or know-how to do so? Users will just try to upload their video straight off of their camera/cellphone/etc, get frustrated when the video is rejected (or worse, accepted and then it doesn't function), and come to the conclusion that your site or the forum software is broken.

its not my specs.. mp4 vids need proper keyframing....but thats HD video now...flv's would work fine for most and are low profile and ANYONE can recode an flv if they can't they have no business uploading a video
to not have video because a phone user can't upload it directly from their phone is not a good argument either as a purist would say then put down your phone and pick up your mouse...also if you can record a video on your phone you can probably put it on your computer ..and jussayin...

http://www.google.com/search?q=keyf...5&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=c6affe93747c32d0
now they have the tools.

If you're paying monthly for a server that could support a system like this, surely you could spare a bit of extra cash and hire someone to do it for you?

Ohh see I have the money to pay for it.....I don't however know someone trustworthy enough that knows the XF api well enough to integrate anything worth me putting the john hancock on the check. And besides that there is a limited amount of skilled php coders out there and as far as I have been finding none are interested in contract work.

The bottom line is this isn't worth building into the core product because it can't and won't be used by 99% of forum owners.

where are we getting this #? you yourself stated that people uploading videos from phones is going to be a problem so you are in fact stating that video is so integrated into our lives already it has made it into a mentionable sized group of phone users.

please before you say this shouldn't be done anymore allow me to post a mockup so you can get an idea of what I'm saying

update: working on mockup now but it's taking some time. Don't hold me to it but 2 hours at least is what I need to patch all these images together

Update taking a break from computer for a hot-sec , this is what I've done tinkering around for now. I'll bump when I continue.

latest:

 

[Kim]

I know a large and very active community who would switch platforms for this.... they are about to use a costly third party software solution for this, they want to host their members videos themselves.

For a certain sort of site it would be great.

Although I am not sure it would be a desired base inclusion for every site necessarily, I for example couldn't afford the hosting to do so.. but plenty of sites would really like this, to have the control over videos ... and to offer themselves as actual media sites to save their members going elsewhere.

The sites I am talking about would most likely be paid subscription sites I guess.

If not an Official Add on Modification, this would be a great Large paid for Mod by a clever coder.

 

[EQnoble]

Although I am not sure it would be a desired base inclusion for every site necessarily, I for example couldn't afford the hosting to do so.. but plenty of sites would really like this, to have the control over videos ... and to offer themselves as actual media sites to save their members going elsewhere.

Well this also would involve indexing videos hosted else where to with a relevant set of information per video or audio to be called into the player that is on the forum site (in my case I would call all the media into flowplayer which is fully skin-able) and say you wanted you could just shut the option for users to upload video so only index a media file would show and be available...

What I was intending with "index" a file would be to post the url or actual media location of the file (say youtube) and let a user write there own description for the forum users to read and watch embedded, the link by clicking the title on hover over the video container would link you back in this case to youtube where the video is being hosted, all that is necessary for the player to have is the hosts splash logo and/or logo floating over the video and you have the content rights covered. Now you have a nice index of user posted videos that have relevant data attached to them that can be called from a DB in many ways and still have the actual video streams hosted on the video hosts provider easing your bandwidth consumption and disk space.

 

[EQnoble]

still working on what I picture in my head , have two other examples to show... not done yet ..
this is just an update

 

[EQnoble]

Just another update getting closer to what I was thinking on the landing area for the media gallery

 

[EQnoble]

yet another update...

 

[Blandt]

Any thoughts over Microsoft's Silverlight ?

Also is there any free encoder for windows ? so the encoding will be done on the client side ?

 

[EQnoble]

Any thoughts over Microsoft's Silverlight ?

Also is there any free encoder for windows ? so the encoding will be done on the client side ?

A search at google says yes you must look for one that converts video to .flv or .mp4-h.264

Don't know much about using silverlight other than netflix uses it for instant viewing and I haven't had one issue with it.
also you need to use a custom open source implementation of silverlight if your running a linux server, Mac and Windows servers will run fine apparently

another update to my vision...

 

[Blandt]

Microsoft are dishing out licenses for free

I'm going the Microsoft route... free streaming with IIS, I tried a medium Vbulletin site... I must say Wincache is just fantastic , and stable ....
(I got few problems with xcache few months ago ... it just jerks the whole vbulletin user updates ... then shuts nginx down. I turned it off not stable enough)

 

[EQnoble]

Microsoft are dishing out licenses for free

I'm going the Microsoft route... free streaming with IIS, I tried a medium Vbulletin site... I must say Wincache is just fantastic , and stable ....
(I got few problems with xcache few months ago ... it just jerks the whole vbulletin user updates ... then shuts nginx down. I turned it off not stable enough)

Using IIS wouldn't be a solution for everyone though as most people run linux based servers to my knowledge.
Though I'm sure your suggestion would work great, I can't do anything with it as the servers I run video from are all ~nix.