Tag: bits on the run

Encoding WebM Videos

by Jeroen Wijering on March 06, 2012

WebM is coming up on its second anniversary. Released by Google as a royalty-free alternative to MP4, the video format has slowly gained traction on the web. MP4 still rules by a wide margin, but WebM has dethroned Ogg as the other leading format for HTML5 video.

This post describes two tools for encoding WebM videos: a desktop client and a cloud service. Both are free, easy to set-up and painless to understand. Which one you choose depends upon your personal preference - or the restrictions your company's IT department imposes.

Desktop Encoding

For desktop encoding, Firefogg is the best option. It is not a standalone tool, but an addon for the Firefox web browser. If you have Firefox installed, go to Tools » Addons to search for and install Firefogg. If you don't have Firefox, get it here.

With Firefogg installed, go to Tools » Make Web Video to start an encode. Now select your original video, select your output preset (360p is a good one) and click encode. Firefogg starts crunching and minutes later your WebM video will be done.

Select Advanced Options in step 2 to customize the video Size and the audio/video Quality. The sweet spot for video quality seems to be 7 (smallest file without artifacts). The sweet spot for audio is 3 (112 kbps). Be sure not to change any of the other options, unless you know what you're doing!

That is it on the desktop side - short and simple. Firefogg may not have the best looks, but it gets the job done. If you're looking for something more professional, check out Sorenson Squeeze. It has many more options, but is also not free.

Now let's go online. Our very own online video platform, Bits on the Run, is easy, free and capable of WebM encoding. Sign up for a Free Account and log-in to the dashboard. Go to Account » Settings » Templates and click Add new Template to create an encoding template. Set the format to WebM Video.

On the next page, set the Target width to 480 pixels and the audio/video quality to the good tradeoff option. This gets you the same results as the Firefogg settings above. Next, set the Automate option to Automatically apply, so your WebM video are automatically built every time you upload a new original. Save the template.

Now go to the Videos section to upload an original video. When the upload is complete, go to the Transcodes tab to see the encoding progress. Your WebM template is listed here. When the WebM transcode is done processing, you can click its yellow Publish icon to copy/paste its URL, or to download it to your computer.

Like Firefogg, Bits on the Run provides a basic encoding interface with only the essential controls. A dedicated transcoding service like Zencoder.com offers many more options, but is also much harder to use.

The End Result

If you're reading this post in Chrome, Firefox or Opera, the resulting WebM video can be seen below. It is embedded using this JW Player setup. The unavoidable MP4 version is encoded separately, so Internet Explorer and Safari users are not left out:

Download the WebM video here

That is all for now! Much more info can be found on the WebM project site. In particular, this page has a wealth of information about encoding parameters. Visit their blog for news on hardware, software and ecosystem support.

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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.

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Building a Video Sitemap

by Remco van Bree on January 25, 2011

Is your goal to increase the total number of video views on your site? Are you having trouble ranking high within search engine results? This blog post will present some basic guidelines for achieving this goal — and building a robust Video Sitemap for your site.

One of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your videos, and site in general, is through the use of a sitemap, or in this case, a video sitemap. A sitemap provides search engines with information about your site, and a video sitemap provides information on your videos. In essence, it makes it easier for search engines (i.e. Google) to understand the content of your site, and assign the appropriate rankings.

Let's Start at the Beginning:

What are video sitemaps and why do you want them?

A video sitemap is an XML file that tells search engines where videos can be found on a website. It helps search engines understand that it is indeed a video file, what the video content is, and what the technical specifications of the specific video are.

Google recommends that you use video sitemaps for several reasons. First, you can explicitly tell Google which content you wish to be indexed, giving you more control than with an organic search algorithm. Second, and more importantly, video sitemaps allow you to choose how your videos are listed, and define what metadata is most relevant to your video, optimizing search results.

How do you host and submit a video sitemap?

Google only accepts video sitemaps that are hosted on the same sub-domain as the rest of your website. So, if your website is www.yourwebsite.com, you need to host your sitemap on the same domain; for example, www.yourwebsite.com/videositemap.xml.

The easiest way to tell search engines where to find your video sitemap is to add the location of your video sitemap to the robots.txt file in the root of your webserver. An example video sitemap would look like this:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /admin
Sitemap: http://www.yourwebsite.com/videositemap.xml

Alternatively, you can use Google Webmaster Tools to submit your video sitemap directly to Google (Google Webmaster Tools will also validate your video sitemap). Note that you first need to register your site with Google Webmaster Tools. After doing so, within the “site details” you will find a link to "Submit a Sitemap". We recommend that you do both; other search engines (i.e. Bing) can also find an index using robots.txt, thus by submitting your sitemap you will ensure that your sitemap is valid and will be indexed.

Sitemap Structure and Semantics

Let's take look at an example sitemap that we have used, in the past, for our own website

<urlset xmlns='http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9' xmlns:video='http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1'> 
  <url> 
    <loc>http://www.bitsontherun.com/tutorials/managing-multiple-accounts/</loc> 
    <video:video> 
      <video:thumbnail_loc>http://content.bitsontherun.com/thumbs/yDtLAunz-480.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc> 
      <video:title>Reseller overview</video:title> 
      <video:description><![CDATA[Learn about the features of our dedicated reseller accounts.]]></video:description> 
      <video:content_loc>http://content.bitsontherun.com/videos/yDtLAunz.mp4</video:content_loc> 
      <video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="autostart=true">http://content.bitsontherun.com/players/yDtLAunz-ALJ3XQCI.swf</video:player_loc> 
      <video:duration>100.80</video:duration> 
      <video:view_count>99</video:view_count> 
      <video:publication_date>2010-11-12T14:41:00+00:00</video:publication_date> 
      <video:tag>dashboard</video:tag> 
      <video:tag>screencast</video:tag> 
      <video:family_friendly>yes</video:family_friendly> 
    </video:video> 
  </url> 
</urlset>

Some things worth noting:

• You need to include a direct link to the video file. Google will download a part of the file and check some video metadata to verify that the content is indeed a valid video.
• The ![CDATA[ clause in the description ensures that certain characters within the description (i.e. $ and !) won't break the sitemap XML. You can choose to leave this out, but take extra precaution with what characters you use in your description.
• You should make use of optional tags. For example, <video:expiration_date>, which tells Google when a video will go offline, and should be unlisted from the search index. Read more here.

Sitemap Best Practices

As you work to get your content indexed in Google, keep these points in mind:

• Make sure each video has its own page. Google likes this. Even if you embed multiple video players on other pages, or use playlists throughout your website, make sure that you have a specific page for each video and link to those pages in your video sitemaps.
• Make sure that the title, description and tags in the headers of the page correspond with the title, description and tags of the video.
• When you make a video unavailable, be sure that the video page listed in the sitemap returns a file not found status (HTTP 404). This tells a search engine that the video should be dropped from the index.
• Google isn't always very good at reading complex JavaScript like the JW Player 5.4 JavaScript, which offers unified playback in both HTML5 and Flash. The best way to work around this is to include a very basic embed tag inside a noscript element that can be read by search engine crawlers. An example code would look like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
    jwplayer("container").setup({
        flashplayer: "/jwplayer/player.swf",
        file: "/uploads/video.mp4",
        height: 270,
        width: 480
    });
</script>

<noscript>
<embed
  flashvars="file=/uploads/video.mp4&autostart=true"
  allowfullscreen="true"
  allowscripaccess="always"
  id="player1"
  name="player1"
  src="/jwplayer/player.swf"
  width="480"
  height="270"
/>
</noscript>

Recommened Resources

• Google Webmaster has a ton of information on how to create video sitemaps. They are, after all, the masters who defined the video sitemap.
• ReelSEO is a great website that is focused on Video SEO. It contains a wealth of information about video search engine optimization and a lot of practical guides.

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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

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.

• Product Information

For detailed product documentation, please visit the main product site. Here you will find information about Features and important Product Tech Specs.

• Pricing Information

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.

• Resellers

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.

• Developers

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.

• Bits on the Run Dashboard

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.

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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.

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