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Filed under: *VIDEO* •compression •Distribution •Mobile Devices •Web Video •

Vimeo finally goes mobile + adds 1080p and HTML5 (ßeta)

Vimeo, a leading video hosting/gallery site offering both paid and free models, has finally added mobile capability for its paying clients. This capability finally allows Vimeo Plus members to make their videos compatible with mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, Palm Pre, and Google/Android devices like the Nexus One. Vimeo Plus members can also now have the option to have web-based 1080p videos (although the wisdom of that today is debatable). Finally, all videos on Vimeo —whether from Plus members or standard members— will now have the option to be viewed either with the new HTML5 (ßeta) player (browser dependent), or the pre-existing Flash player (device dependent). This article will cover these three new features in more detail, and discuss their ramifications, both for content creators and content viewers.

In this article

• Vimeo’s new support for mobile devices
• Privacy and Embedding settings
• Embedding details and current workaround for mobile auto-detection when embedding
• HTML5
• Is 1080p web video a wise choice?
• Vimeo’s advantages over your own server
• Vimeo’s few remaining Achilles’ heels, compared with your own server

Vimeo’s new support for mobile devices

The fact that Vimeo now supports mobile devices for its paying clients, like the iPhone, iPod Touch, Palm Pre, and Google/Android devices like the Nexus One, eliminates one of the service’s few previous Achilles’ heels. The mobile support is not automatic. If desired, Vimeo Plus Members must enter in their control panel in the settings of any previously uploaded video, select the mobile option, and save. After doing that, all other videos belonging to that user at Vimeo will be re-encoded for mobile device viewing, as well as all subsequent videos uploaded by that user.

Privacy and Embedding settings

Vimeo offers Plus members a very complex set of privacy and embedding settings. I’ll cover privacy first, since it can indirectly affect embedding settings. Here are the privacy settings, which can be different for every video:

Who can see this video? (Select one from the list.)

• Anyone
• Nobody else
• My contacts
• People you choose
• Password protected
• Hide this video from Vimeo.com (but potentially embed outside of Vimeo.com, as you will see ahead)

Where can this video appear?  (Select one from the list.)

• Anywhere
• Nowhere (only appears on Vimeo.com)
• Only on approved sites

If you select the last one, you get the opportunity to enter in URLs. You can indicate whether the permission is global for a particular domain, particular for a subdomain(s), or only specific page(s) on that domain.

Then, the control panel offers the following options, which are related to behavior on Vimeo.com (assuming it’s enabled above):

What can people do with this video? (Add a checkmark before each one you want to activate.)

• Allow other people to download the source video.
• Allow other people to add this video to groups, channels and albums.

Who can post comments on this video? (Select one from the list.)

• Anybody
• Only my contacts

Now come the embedding options, which are all adjustable for each video separately. Vimeo allows Plus members to determine whether other people can embed the video in HD or not. If you enable embedding in HD, then you get the option to restrict HD embedding to one or more particular domains. Then you can indicate whether the HD embedding permission is global for a particular domain, a particular subdomain(s), or only specific page(s) on that domain. Vimeo then offers Plus members detailed options regarding a particular video’s Intro, Outro, and Everything else. For the Intro, you’re allowed to:

• Include your portrait in the upper corner, not include it, or give that option to your viewer to decide.
• Include your the video’s title, not include it, or give that option to your viewers to decide.
• Include your video’s byline, not include it, or give that option to your viewers to decide.

For the outro, you’re allowed to (pick one of these):

• Show videos from your own videos.
• Show videos that you like from Vimeo.
• Show three particular videos that you pick.
• Show text written by you, including HTML if you’d like. Yes, the HTML can include references to graphics.

For “Everything else”, you are allowed to add a checkmark to activate (or not put a checkmark to deactivate) any of the following:

• Use a particular color. (Choose from six colors on the list, or enter an HTML color code, or use a color picker.)
• Show the Like button.
• Show the Share button.
• Show the Embed button.
• Show the HD button.
• Show the playbar.
• Show the volume control.
• Show the fullscreen button.
• Show the scaling button.
• Show the Vimeo logo.

My goodness! There are so many options, that Vimeo even allows you to save presets with your desired names, to facilitate using the same custom settings with other videos.

Click here for page 2 of this article to see

• Embedding details and current workaround for mobile auto-detection when embedding
• HTML5
• Is 1080p web video a wise choice?
• Vimeo’s advantages over your own server
• Vimeo’s few remaining Achilles’ heels, compared with your own server

Click here for page 2 of this article.

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