The Internet has changed the way content is delivered on the web. Streaming video is featured all over the web thanks to high speed internet service providers and the advent of video support for Adobe’s Flash Player. There are several services available for uploading and share video files as streaming Flash videos.
However, the popularity of video sharing services has also created competition between all of the services. The most popular among users of high speed Internet are YouTube, Vimeo and Oculu, though users of these sites have noticed that each respective service have their positive and negative aspects.
(Photos Courtesy of Flickr Users: mauritsonline and webtreats)
For example, YouTube has the benefit of being one of the first streaming video services to hit the Internet. Because it was the first, it has become well-known among avid Internet video watchers. Because of the large user community on YouTube, a video upload is more likely to find its audience. YouTube features high definition capabilities, with an unlimited amount of uploads that are up to 1 gigabyte in size for free users.
However, YouTube has faced criticism based on the fact that the service has become flooded with videos and is becoming harder to attract an audience. Video quality is sometimes full of compression artifacts that make the video hard to watch. Also, a YouTube watermark is displayed in the bottom right corner of videos, similar to station identifiers seen on TV. Videos are limited to 10 minutes in length, though long-time users will be allowed to upload 15 minute long videos.
These criticisms are why Vimeo has become a leading competitor to YouTube. Vimeo’s streaming video quality is much higher in quality than YouTube, especially for high definition content. It also lacks the intrusive video player that YouTube forces upon their users and does not have a watermark placed on any videos. It has become increasingly popular with independent filmmakers, as it delivers a much higher quality channel for their work.
Vimeo does have some restrictions that make it hard to compete with YouTube. For example, free users on Vimeo are limited 500mb of uploads per week and only 1 HD upload during that time. To get an unlimited amount of uploads, you will have to upgrade, which costs $59.95 a year. The community on Vimeo is much smaller and it is harder to get as many hits as you might if the same video was uploaded on YouTube. Also, Vimeo has a policy against uploading any kind of promotional video clips, such as commercials.
The frustration caused by the war between YouTube and Vimeo is why Oculu was created. This service offers much more than video hosting and bandwidth for high speed Internet users. In fact, it is geared more toward professional users, especially those who want the high quality of Vimeo, but cannot share their company’s promotional videos. There are absolutely no restrictions to what videos you can upload, though Oculu does have a policy against pornography (which is shared by Vimeo and YouTube).
Other great features of Oculu that are not present on Vimeo and YouTube include multiple play options, advertising free hosting, human customer support, search engine optimization and detailed video statistics. You can even customize the video player to match your website when it is embedded to your website.
Unfortunately, Oculu is a service that you must pay for, unlike YouTube and Vimeo’s offering of basic free accounts. But if you need the best quality video uploading for high speed Internet users, Oculu is much better than those services. However, it’s up to you to decide which one is most suitable to your needs.
This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert where you can find internet service providers in your area and compare prices on different deals for your wireless internet necessities.
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