Entries By longtail video
Introducing: Bits on the Run Free
by LongTail Video on July 20, 2011
We're excited today to announce the introduction of Bits on the Run Free, a new type of Bits on the Run account which provides a zero cost way for publishers to get started with video. Instead of our previous 30-day Trial Membership, customers can now sign up for Bits on the Run and keep a Free Account... forever.
Bits on the Run Free
Our new Bits on the Run Free Account is recommended for bloggers, individuals and sites just getting started with video. Bits on the Run Free allows users to store and stream their videos at no cost, with full access to the Bits on the Run dashboard - including its player customization options, transcoding system, JW Player plugin support, API and rich video analytics.
What's in a Free Account?
- 1 GB of Platform Usage - allowing users to manage a roughly 1 hour video library free of charge.
- 5 GB of Video Delivery Per Month - which supports about 20 hours of video streaming per month.
Interested? Give it a try! Sign up for Bits on the Run Free.
Bits on the Run Pro
If you're looking for more than what Bits on the Run Free offers, we recommend you upgrade to Bits on the Run Pro. A Pro Account removes monthly limits and follows our unique Pay-As-You-Go Pricing, meaning you only pay for what you use. Included in a Pro Account is premium support, priority transcoding, an extensive reseller program and more!
We generally recommend a Bits on the Run Pro Account for medium to large sites with an online video presence. Read more about the new Bits on the Run pricing plans, and decide which account is best for you. If you're unsure of what account best suits your needs, contact us more information.
Ready to Get Started?
Sign-up for your Free or Pro Account today, upload and publish video to your site with ease and get your video workflow rolling! To learn more about Bits on the Run Free, read the official press release here.
A Word about YouTube Support in the JW Player
by LongTail Video on January 31, 2011
As you may know, the JW Player has long included support for playing YouTube videos. We did this by integrating YouTube’s ActionScript 2 chromeless player as a JW Player Media Provider, and it has worked well for a number of years. You can see an example of it below. Recently, YouTube made a change to their AS2 chromeless player that affects our ability to support all YouTube videos. This change was announced last October and just went into effect. In short, if you embed a video that YouTube and/or their partners consider monetizable, then the video won’t play and your users will see an error (see the example below).
Non-monetized video
Monetized video
In order to support YouTube’s monetizable videos through the JW Player, YouTube would like us to upgrade to their AS3 chromeless player. This upgrade would mean that you, as the end publisher, could continue to play the videos on your site and YouTube would now run ads within them. You would not receive any of the ad revenue generated.
We are working with YouTube to figure out the right way to move forward for us, our users, and YouTube. When we have a plan in place, we will update you with a timetable for the upgrade. If you have comments or questions, please let us know.
Update - Feb 4, 2011 @ 2:09pm
We hopefully have a temporary fix in place. We have created a one-off build of JW Player 5.4 with YouTube AS3 chromeless player support. Please download the attached zip, unzip it, rename the swf to player.swf and replace your existing JW5 player.swf file with it. If you are still using JW4, then you may need to update your embed code as well since you will be upgrading to JW5.
Note: This is not an official release. If you have specific technical issues or feedback, please let us know about them on this forum thread. We will try to incorporate your feedback into a future official release.
Download the JW Player 5.4 w/ YouTube AS3 Support (unofficial)
Licensees, please contact us with your license number for a custom build.
Thanks to Mustafa Dindar for contributing some early code to this.
Update - Feb 7, 2011 @ 3:22pm
This has been updated to fix issues with stretching and the stop button. Latest version is here:
Download the JW Player 5.4 w/ YouTube AS3 Support v2(unofficial)
Again, if you have any issues or feedback, please let us know about them on this forum thread.
BitsontheRun.com Makes the Move to LongTailVideo.com
by LongTail Video on December 21, 2010
In early 2010, we officially merged with our longtime partner, Bits on the Run. Bits on the Run has gradually moved its content over to longtailvideo.com, assuming a larger presence on our site. We are pleased to announce that Bits on the Run has officially migrated the remaining bitsontherun.com content to longtailvideo.com. Bits Users will notice that they are redirected to LongTail Video's website automatically. All information previously accessed on www.bitsontherun.com is now available on www.longtailvideo.com.
To help ease this transition, below lists where you will find the various Bits on the Run content:
- Support
- Product Information
- Pricing Information
- Resellers
- Developers
- Bits on the Run Dashboard
Bits on the Run's user support has moved to our Community Site. This includes support tutorials and support forums. For those users looking for the Bits on the Run Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), you will find them here.
For detailed product documentation, please visit the main product site. Here you will find information about Features and important Product Tech Specs.
All of the Bits on the Run pricing information for the Pay-As-You-Go pricing model is available on our main site, along with the cost estimation calculator, and rate card. Purchase more video delivery and platform usage here.
Bits on the Run reseller's program is recommended for Web Design, Video Production and Ad Network companies in need of a simple and easy way to offer customers a full service video management platform. If you're interested, contact us and select Bits on the Run Reseller from the drop down menu. We'll be sure to contact you shortly after.
The Bits on the Run System API is recommended for developers interested in building custom applications to video-enable a site or application. Note that the Bits on the Run developer documentation will remain on bitsontherun.com until a separate developer site is constructed. However, various developer tutorials can be found here on the Community Site.
Please note that the Bits on the Run Dashboard will remain at dashboard.bitsontherun.com.
Thank you for your patience during this transition. We are excited to officially merge our content and look forward to further integrating our products. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
JW Player JavaScript API Webinar
by LongTail Video on November 22, 2010
The JW Player Team is excited to present their first webinar on the JW Player JavaScript API introduced in the 5.3 Release. Real examples and tips on how to take advantage of the scripting capabilities in the new API are presented in the recorded session below.
Topics discussed in the webinar include:
- A Brief Overview of the JW Player, and the Major Changes introduced in JW Player 5.3, including HTML5 support
- The New JW Embedder and Embedding Examples
- The New JavaScript API and its Capabilities
- Actions
- Events
- Getters
- Live Scripting Examples
- Recorded Q&A session
Webinar slides are also available as a PDF at this link. Please feel free to request future webinar topics as a comment to this blog. Enjoy!
Joomlarulez: Integrate the JW Player with Your Joomla CMS
by LongTail Video on November 15, 2010
Joomlarulez has developed unique ways to integrate the JW Player for Flash into your Joomla CMS. Joomlarulez, a team based in France, develops specific extensions of the Joomla Platform to enhance user experience. We partner with Joomlarulez to host three options for JW Player integration into your Joomla Platform:
The JW Player Module (for Joomla) - which allows you to load the JW FLV Media Player on any specified post or page, and show audio/video playlists. In addition, it is ideal for someone who wants to share videos on their site, in a static location. You can choose the module position within the Joomla Template and designate where the JW FLV Media Player will sit. You can also create posts/pages within your site that publish the player as a stand-alone.
The CB Player Advanced Module (for Joomla) - which allows you to integrate the JW Player into your community site. It requires the Joomla Community Builder within your Joomla CMS, and permits your users to upload and embed videos within the community site. For example, with this module you can grant community site users the permission to create and display their own audio and video playlists within the site.
JW Player Plugin Advanced (for Joomla) - is our third and newest option. It is a JW Player integration method for Joomla 1.5 Native. It is used to display specific audio and video playlists within a article, and works directly with Joomla's Article Management System. For example, this plugin enables the ability to insert a the JW FLV Media Player into a blog post or article.
All of the Joomlarulez products support existing JW Player plugins (and associated flashvars). All flashvars/parameters are set by using the backend settings, activated by a simple radio button within your account settings. The Joomlarulez products integrate easily with various video Ad plugins such as Adtonomy Text & Video, LongTail's AdSolution, and Open Video Ads. Other popular plugin integrations include Viral, Sharing, The Grid, and Google Analytics Pro. Along with the easy plugin integration, when using the Joomlarulez modules to integrate the JW Player into your Joomla CMS, 95 skin options are provided for optimal player customization.
Other Key Features Include:
- Support for the JW Player 5.3 for Flash and HTML5.
- Video Ad serving, including IAB VAST-compliant Ads.
- Playlist support using the following: dynamic playlists editor, dynamic auto-generate playlists editor, multiple playlist selector.
- Support for pop-ups using the JWBox or Highslide is built-in to the platform.
- Player customization options using JW Player skins and plugins.
As an official reseller of Bits On The Run, Joomlarulez provides its users with all the features of our online video streaming and management platform. Try out one of our recommended Joomlarulez products today! Find all of the available options discussed above, in our AddOns Library.
Free Webinar: Introduction to the JW Player JavaScript API
by LongTail Video on November 11, 2010
The JW Player Team is hosting a Free Webinar on the new JavaScript API introduced in the JW Player 5.3 release. Live examples and tips on how to best utilize the scripting capabilities of the new API will be discussed. Note that due to overwhelming response, we are hosting two webinar sessions to accommodate everyone. The same topics will be covered on both days. Although registration is full for our November 18th session, spots are still open for the session on Friday, November 19th @ 2:00 PM ET, so please register today!
The Webinar will cover the following:
- A Brief Overview of the JW Player, and the Major Changes introduced in JW Player 5.3
- The New JW Embedder and Embedding Examples
- The New JavaScript API and its Capabilities
- Live Scripting Examples
- Bringing it All Together
- Questions & Answers
You can pre-register for the webinar by clicking here.
Webinar Slides Available as a PDF here.
We hope you enjoy the event!
The LongTail Team
JW Player a Winner in the 2010 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards
by LongTail Video on November 09, 2010
We are honored to accept the award for Best Streaming Innovation in the 2010 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards. LongTail Video's JW Player won the award, with overwhelming support from our community. We'd like to extend a warm thank-you to everyone that has helped us get to this point. Without your feedback and support, our products would not be where they are today!
The 2010 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards experienced an outstanding voter turnout casting nearly 58,000 votes! We like to think this type of participation represents the growing interest in online video, and are incredibly excited to be a part of the movement.
Thanks again for your support, and to those that voted!
Sharing Plugin Now Supports Skinning and Playlists!
by LongTail Video on August 30, 2010
We've released Version 2 of our Sharing Plugin, compatible with the JW Player for Flash v5 API. Sharing is most often used in viral sharing of a video. The plugin can display a screen to share an embed code of the video, similar to YouTube or Vimeo, or share a share link of the video, e.g. the URL of the page where the video is.
Version 2 of our Sharing Plugin now supports the following features:
Skinning
As mentioned above, Version 2 of the Sharing Plugin supports PNG skinning - the buttons and the screens can now be skinned. We currently have 4 compatible skins, in our library , that will work with Sharing v2: Glow , Modieus, Bekle, and Stijl. Below is a screenshot of what the Sharing Plugin looks like, when used with PNG Skin, Modieus. Check our our live example here.
Playlists
Now, in addition to setting the sharing option in the embed code, two sharing options can also be set per playlist entry. Watch this example of the Sharing Plugin working with Playlists:
The JW5 API
Version 2 of the Sharing Plugin is compatible with JW Player for Flash v5 only. We switched from the 4.x to the 5.x plugin API. As of now, this version of the plugin cannot be loaded in the JW Player for Flash v4. To ensure ease-of-use, we've created new user documentation to support the Sharing Plugin. Check it the new Sharing v2 User Documentation on our Support Site. Here, we dig deeper into how you can use Sharing to embed directly into popular social media, such as Facebook.
If this is your first time learning about Sharing, visit our AddOns Library to learn how to use the Sharing Plugin with your JW Player.
Introducing the Open Video Ads Project
by LongTail Video on August 24, 2010
We are proud to present our latest product in video ad serving, Open Video Ads. Open Video Ads (OVA) is the world’s first open source initiative to implement the IAB VAST 1.0 / 2.0 standard for video ad delivery. With it, publishers can deliver any video ad from a VAST-compliant ad server into any video player. View the official press release here.
Today, OVA has been verified on a range of ad servers including OpenX, ADTECH, 24/7 Real Media, DoubleClick, ScanScout, Microsoft and more. And in addition to the core framework, OVA offers out-of-the-box support for the JW Player and Flowplayer.
About Open Video Ads
Open Video Ads is an open source initiative dedicated to the development and distribution of Flash (AS3) and HTML5 technology, that enables the implementation of IAB VAST and VPAID compliant Video Players.
Check out this live example of OVA in Action:
A
companion ad
will appear
here
Some of what we think are the most attractive features of OVA are its:
- VAST-compliant ad server communication
- VAST-compliant tracking of video ad performance
- Support for a wide array of ad units
- Flexible configuration & scheduling options
- Overlay advertising using Images, Flash, Text or HTML
- Playback using HTTP and RTMP protocols
The OVA plugin works with the JW Player for Flash v5, JW Player for Flash v4, and Flowplayer. If you have a custom video player use the OVA for AS3 VAST framework to turn your own video player into a IAB compliant, "advertising enabled" player. For developers, looking for the product roadmap, or more technical help, please visit the OVA Developer Site.
Take a look for yourself, and browse the comprehensive documentation, or support community forums on Open Video Ads.
Bits on the Run Releases a New Dashboard
by LongTail Video on July 22, 2010
Last week, Bits on the Run, our online video platform for streaming, hosting and transcoding, released a new and improved Dashboard. This release contains several significant improvements to both speed and ease-of-use, and completes Phase I of our dashboard upgrade. Phase II will be focused on improving reseller functionality,. Read on for more information...
New Dashboard Improvements
Here are a few of the enhancements our new Dashboard offers you :
- Video filtering by tag, allowing for easy management of a large library.
- Easy player duplication by a single click on the overview page.
- Uploads managed by JavaScript (instead of Flash), to work across various devices.
- Video and playlist preview/publish options now in the overview pages.
- Video statistics can now be exported to CSV files (Excel) for in-depth analysis.
- Manual playlists have the ability to show one video multiple times, e.g. for placing a short promo between videos.
As of today, you can log in to the new Dashboard at dashboard.bitsontherun.com. The old Dashboard will remain available at manage.bitsontherun.com until our reselling functionalities are transferred to the new Dashboard.
If you have not yet signed up for Bits on the Run, try it out for free here.
Note to Resellers: The new Dashboard currently doesn't support resellers (and associated sub-accounts). Attempts to log in to the new Dashboard will be redirected to the old Dashboard. The next phase of our upgrade includes improved reseller functionality, at which point all resellers will have access to the new Dashboard. Coming soon....
HTML5 Webinar: Jeroen Wijering & Philip Jagenstedt
by LongTail Video on July 14, 2010
We are pleased to announce that Jeroen Wijering, the creator of the JW Player, will be participating in a HTML5 Video Webinar with Philip Jagenstedt, a core developer from Opera, and Mark Robertson, founder of ReelSEO, next Wednesday, July 21st, at 2pm ET.
The webinar will cover a broad range of topics surrounding HTML5 Video: Why is HTML5 video relevant? Will HTML5 video eventually replace Flash? What should we expect from HTML5 Video in the future? In addition, the webinar will provide a series of tips and best practices to developers and designers using HTML5 video.
You can pre-register for the webinar by clicking here. We hope you enjoy the event!.
Update: Webinar live
Since the webinar was a great success and the number of attendants was actually maxed out, here's a replay of the entire session for those who missed it:
Again, thanks for joining, and we'll see you at our next webinar.
New Analytics Plugin: TubeMogul InPlay
by LongTail Video on July 14, 2010
We are happy to announce the new analytics plugin that our partner, TubeMogul, has built for the JW Player for Flash v5. Today, TubeMogul InPlay was officially added to our AddOns Library. With the TubeMogul Inplay Analytics Plugin, you can track detailed real-time viewership and engagement analytics on your videos.
The team at TubeMogul empasizes that TubeMogul InPlay is relied on daily by thousands of top video sites, media companies and advertisers, from Discovery Channel to Sony Music. Now, TubeMogul is proud to offer InPlay for free to users of LongTail Video's latest video player.
InPlay's self-serve suite seamlessly integrates within minutes. Real-time metrics tracked include streams, uniques, time-watched, city-level audience geography, video player embeds, what sites and search terms are referring viewers, completion rates and much more. Performance metrics include bandwidth delivered (and wasted), rebuffer rates by geography and more.
Note that metrics are easly accessed through a flexible user-interface, complete with options to share with others, export to Excel, data feeds and APIs. TubeMogul InPlay's metrics can also be set up to compare any custom dimension, creating endless possibilities to increase publishers' bottom lines. Read TubeMogul's how-to guide and get started with the plugin.
To access TubeMogul InPlay, visit our AddOns Library. Enjoy!
Podcast on HTML5: LongTail’s Jeroen Wijering Live
by LongTail Video on July 14, 2010
For those of you interested in learning more about HTML5 video and where it’s going, Jeroen Wijering, the creator of the JW Player, is speaking today on Dan Benjamin’s podcast, The Conversation, Wednesday, July 14th at 1:00 PM ET.
We expect a fantastic and informative discussion with leading experts on HTML5 video – its advantages, its drawbacks and its future.
You can listen to the podcast, LIVE, here.
For those of you that missed the live podcast, check-out the recorded version here.
Enjoy!
The LongTail Team
Add Comments to Your Video with Awoga!
by LongTail Video on July 08, 2010
We recently added a new third-party plugin to our AddOns library that we think is pretty cool: Awoga!. The Awoga! plugin allows you to add comments to your video using the JW Player for Flash.
Awoga! is a Video Commenting Plugin that enables video publishers to easily add time based hyperlinked comments to video sessions. Anyone who watches the video sees the comment(s) once the video reaches the specified time location. See the following screenshots for visual dipictions of Awoga! in action.
awoga! Comments editor
Awoga! in action
The Awoga! Plugin is designed and created by Awoga! Social Everywhere, a social platform that helps websites establish and embed social services across multiple clients. Awoga! is a platform with many more capabilities, and the team welcomes any ideas/requests for future development.
Visit our AddOns Library for set-up instructions and details on how to get the Awoga! Plugin for your Player.
Upgrading our Skins Library
by LongTail Video on June 25, 2010
You may have noticed that we recently enhanced our skins library by adding a handful of new v5 skins for the JW Player for Flash.
The first batch consisted of 22 JW Player for Flash v5 January 2010 Skin Contest submissions. While we had previously announced just the winners, we received a number of impressive and creative submissions, and wanted to make them all available on the site. You can now find them in our AddOns Library. From Selena (the cheese skin) to Trekkie, they're all there now. Check out the rest of the contest skins here!
Next came the introduction of our second Skin-License Bundle, All Skins by FlashSkins. Created by the design shop FlashSkins for the JW Player v5, these are clear, neutral style skins that work well across all websites. The 12 skins are currently available in our AddOns Library, and you can grab a commercial license from our order page.
One of our recently released and newly featured skins is Glow - a JW Player 5.2 specific skin created by Jeroen Wijering. It is a simple but slick B&W skin resembling the Quicktime X interface. Glow shows off the new features of the 5.2 player skinning model (custom controlbar layout, detailed font control and buffer icon rotation). For those of you who missed it, read more about the new JW Player 5.2 features here.
Stayed tuned for another new all-skins bundle, and a few extra third party skin submissions that we'll be releasing soon. If you are interested in creating and submitting your own skin to our AddOns Library, we encourage you to do so here! For help with building your own skin for the JW Player v5, visit our detailed v5 Skinning Support Guide.
Have fun customizing your player!
Promoting Your Products with Video
by LongTail Video on May 24, 2010
Many of our customers use video as a means of showcasing their products. Whether a website’s purpose is to sell t-shirts or network routers, video creates an interactive and engaging experience for users to learn about the benefits of the product. Combine video with the reach of the world wide web, and you have an effective viral marketing campaign. But beyond describing the virtues of what you’re selling, you’ll actually want to sell it.
That’s where Adtonomy Text can be of assistance. Designed to run overlay text ads during video playback, Adtonomy Text is ideally suited to display a call-to-action while a user is engaged in learning about your product. Here is an example using a video that promotes our Bits on the Run product and text overlay ads encouraging the user to sign-up.
While video allows for audio and visual demonstration of products and services - overlay text ads act as a parallel promotional tactic that provide quick, easy links to a product page.
Configure the Adtonomy Text Plugin
Adtonomy is a commercial plugin, so you’ll need to purchase a license and configure your player to use it. Part of the configuration process is to create an XML file with the ads you intend to serve.
Start by determining which product video you want to promote. Once selected, prepare the following: a thumbnail image and the titles & descriptions for your promotional links. Be selective with your titles and descriptions – descriptions should be concise and action-oriented with phrases like “Buy Now”, or “Receive 50% off Today”. For best results, we recommended linking your Adtonomy Text Ads directly to an order form, or the product's promotional page.
You can create an XML file as shown below.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ad-program>
<ads>
<ad id="ad1">
<text_ad title="Sign up for a Free Trial Today!"
description="Try out Bits on the Run with a free, 30 day trial." length="0:08" link="http://www.longtailvideo.com/bits-on-the-run/sign-up"
image_url="adimage1.gif"/>
<trackers>
<tracker type="impression" url="mytrackerurl1"/>
<tracker type="clicktrack" url="mytrackerurl2"/>
</trackers>
</ad>
<ad id="ad2">
<text_ad title="Premium-Quality Video for Just a Few Dollars a Month" description="Our pay-as-you-go pricing makes us the most affordable video platform." length="0:10"
link="http://www.longtailvideo.com/bits-on-the-run/sign-up"/>
<trackers>
<tracker type="impression" url="mytrackerurl3"/>
<tracker type="clicktrack" url="mytrackerurl4"/>
</trackers>
</ad>
</ads>
<controls
overlay_reopen_color= "0x333333"
overlay_background_color= "0x333333"
overlay_title_color= "0x669900"
overlay_description_color= "0xffffff"
overlay_link_color= "0x669900"
overlay_linkover_color= "0x99CC66"
overlay_mouseover_color= "0x99CC66"
/>
<spots>
<spot id="overlay1" timing="0:03" items="ALL">
<allow ad_ids="ad1"/>
</spot>
<spot id="overlay2" timing="0:20" items="ALL">
<allow ad_ids="ad2"/>
</spot>
</spots>
</ad-program>
Customize the Experience…
You can customize your text overlay ads by changing some of the the following features: ad position, ad color (background, title, description, etc.), and ad dimensions. You also choose how many ads to display throughout the video, and where they should appear. See in the example above where we've timed one ad to appear 3 seconds into the video and display for 8 seconds, then the second ad appears at 20 seconds and displays for 10 seconds.
You might also notice the impression and clicktrack tags in the XML, those allow you to report back to your own server when an ad is displayed to or clicked by the user. It is important to leverage analytics as best you can to measure the effectiveness of your promotional campaign. You should consider A/B testing different variations of your ads to determine which one resonates most effectively with your user base.
We hope you find this a helpful tip when using video to promote your products. If you need assistance with Adtonomy, please visit our Adtonomy Video and Text Forums or contact support.
LongTail Video Merges with Bits on the Run
by LongTail Video on April 26, 2010
We are very pleased to announce that LongTail Video has merged with our long-time partner, Bits on the Run! View the official press release here.
Since our founding, LongTail Video has focused on providing simple, easy-to-use solutions for publishers seeking to publish and monetize their video online. With the help and support of our community, our products - which include the JW Player, the AdSolution, and AddOns - have gained tremendous traction in the market and are actively used on over a million web sites.
We believe our merger with Bits on the Run represents a unique opportunity to further build on our original product focus. For those of you who do not already know, Bits on the Run is a self-serve online video platform that allows web publishers to transcode, manage and stream their online video to any platform, including mobile and set-top box devices. With Bits, we can offer the millions of web sites currently using our products with an end-to-end video solution at incredibly low prices. It is truly a perfect complement to our existing business.
As part of the merger, the entire Bits on the Run team, led by Jeroen “JW” Wijering, will join the LongTail team and continue their fantastic work on Bits on the Run. We are obviously very pleased to add such a talented and dedicated group of developers to the LongTail family.
Moving forward, nothing will change for LongTail and Bits on the Run users in the short-term. Our products will continue to be available at both the LongTail (www.longtailvideo.com) and Bits on the Run (www.bitsontherun.com) websites. Over time, Bits on the Run will gradually become a greater presence on LongTail Video, where the two platforms will eventually be integrated.
We will be making more announcements about the merger in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with any questions.
Thank you for your continued support and allowing us to share this news with you – we hope this excites you as much as it does us!
Best Regards,
The LongTail Video Team