[Split] Video Section Discussion [Archive]

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Ben

08-12-2010, 06:48 PM

...but I am sure Ben or any of the others that help govern AAM wouldn't just shut down the site without telling us.
Right, and while not happening now, I'd rather hand the site off to someone else than shut it down. But I understand Lilly Town closing, I've been pretty busy with other things myself lately, and the lack of activity from Alizée really doesn't motivate. My idea now is to move AAm to a cheaper server and get rid of the video section, since the prevalence and quality of YouTube these days makes it kind of redundant. Thoughts?

User22

08-12-2010, 09:52 PM

wasabi622

08-12-2010, 09:58 PM

I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'd hate to see the video section go. It is, and always has been my fail safe source of subtitled videos and interviews. If it goes, I really wouldn't know where else to watch it from.

It's from those videos that I got insight on what Alizée was really like, beyond just the performances. It was there that I really started picking up on her little mannerisms. It was there that I pretty much learned most of my Alizée knowledge.

If it's about money, and it sounds like it is, though I can't help out this instant, I will be able to in due time. If this really does come to push and shove, please pm me first, so I can see what I can do.

Ben

08-12-2010, 10:23 PM

If it's about money, and it sounds like it is, though I can't help out this instant, I will be able to in due time. If this really does come to push and shove, please pm me first, so I can see what I can do.
Thanks for the offer, Wasabi! I haven't made any decisions yet, but if you or anyone else would rather donate time than money, another option is to migrate all the content of the video section over to an AAm YouTube channel. How do people feel about that?

wasabi622

08-12-2010, 10:25 PM

Thanks for the offer, Wasabi! I haven't made any decisions yet, but if you or anyone else would rather donate time than money, another option is to migrate all the content of the video section over to an AAm YouTube channel. How do people feel about that?

Sure thing man, this site is my online home. I'm on here more often then I am on facebook. :p

But uh.. we had a youtube channel? holy FRICK. I've been utterly oblivious..

User22

08-12-2010, 10:27 PM

Ben

08-12-2010, 10:27 PM

But uh.. we had a youtube channel? holy FRICK. I've been utterly oblivious..
No, not yet... but nothing stopping us from making one! :)

wasabi622

08-12-2010, 10:29 PM

I think someone suggested that months ago but for some reason it didn't get done. Youtube is free, Video Section is not. Youtube does HD & HQ, Video Section does too. AAm Youtube is the obvious choice:D

No, not yet... but nothing stopping us from making one! :)

Then what are we waiting for!! Let's do this!

I mean it's affordable, high quality is available, and it's practical. :)

User22

08-12-2010, 10:30 PM

No, not yet... but nothing stopping us from making one! :)

I nominate ScruffyDog777 to be the AAm Youtube Channel owner, since after all he knows everything about videos and youtube uploading and does it almost every week with these new alizee videos:D

All who agree say I!

Ben

08-12-2010, 10:39 PM

I nominate ScruffyDog777 to be the AAm Youtube Channel owner, since after all he knows everything about videos and youtube uploading and does it almost every week with these new alizee videos:D

All who agree say I!
I'll make a shared account everyone working on this project can use:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizeeAmericaVideos
(nothing there yet)

Anyone interested, contact me. I just want to make sure things are uploaded in a very organized way, with captions where available, and only using the highest quality files possible. I can mail out some stuff burned to disc (subtitle and video files) if it would help.

DrSmith

08-12-2010, 11:14 PM

There's one problem with putting everything on YouTube.

"MADEMOISELLE JULIETTE"
This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment. It is no longer available in your country.

Merci Alizée

08-13-2010, 12:47 AM

Right, and while not happening now, I'd rather hand the site off to someone else than shut it down. But I understand Lilly Town closing, I've been pretty busy with other things myself lately, and the lack of activity from Alizée really doesn't motivate. My idea now is to move AAm to a cheaper server and get rid of the video section, since the prevalence and quality of YouTube these days makes it kind of redundant. Thoughts?

Thoughts :

Split the thread into a new one where members can put ideas about this.

Purpose of AAm video section : To provide high quality video with English subtitles.

Why youtube was not used earlier?
This is because they didn't provide high quality videos and some other limitations.

Advantages of using youtube for the site now:
1. You can provide HD videos now.

2. It would be free. Replacement of video section would mean that cost will reduce significantly. If I'm not wrong, then video streaming contribute most to the server bills. AAm comes early in google search results for "Alizée" and description of site says "High quality videos.....". Many people are attracted to that and they like to view videos here. I'm talking about the guest users. This is much better than putting ads to the sites, which makes them look bad.

3. Wider reach. With AAm videos section, only those people can see the videos who somehow want to know about her and stumble upon this site. By using youtube more people can watch the video and they can know about Alizée and AAm. That would help the site. In that case more anonymous users can discover her and the site.

4. Youtube has decided to increase the video duration limit to 15 minutes. Earlier when youtube was started they had no limit. Later they realized that no limit results are leading to uploads of movies and TV shows which was giving legal problems to them, even more after Google took over youtube. Now they have "Content ID (http://www.youtube.com/t/contentid)" system, which can identify all the copyrighted material. So, now they have decided to increase the limit (http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/07/upload-limit-increases-to-15-minutes.html).

If you go to the video section of AAm, you would notice some videos which are long. Though some are longer than 15 minutes. Brad mentioned that he didn't want to split the video. http://alizeeamerica.com/play/?v=30

5. Videos would be playable on phones and other devices also. This is one limitation of AAm videos which can be overcome by using youtube. This once again leads to wider reach.

Limitations :

You can't all videos. Some videos will be blocked. Some will be available in selected countries.

What to do?

It's a good idea to reduce the site, but I would like to see the video section with the site.

Divide the video section in two parts. One AAm videos and other AAm youtube videos.

For AAm videos, prepare a list of must watch videos. One example of such a list : http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=158627&postcount=24 This list would contain those videos which will be must watch ones and suffer various limitations of the youtube.

At present there are 126 videos on AAm. The new list would have upto 20-25 videos which would still reduce the cost significantly. Also the new additions to this list won't be many.

AAm youtube channel : Add as many videos as possible to this channel.
There will be two ways to manage all videos.
1. Create a page for AAm youtube videos. Add the link just next to Twitter, facebook links at the top. In that page keep everything similar to the original video section of AAm. I mean the only difference would be that you would be watching embedded youtube videos just like you do in threads. Rest would be same on that page, small description, English lyrics, translation and link for discussing the video. This would certainly reduce effort for searching her all videos and finding more about them. This would certainly lead to better organization of contents and details on the forum. This is the part which will be managed mostly by Ben. If he thinks that it is time taking and he finds it difficult to take out time for this, then he can certainly ask some of members here who can help in designing such pages. He can either ask anyone to design all pages or he can design one page and ask someone to do similar pages for all videos.

2. Managing the youtube account. Ben has already mentioned that it would be a sharable one. My suggestion would be to give this account to a team of 2 people who will do all the thing. First part is growing this into a full fledged video channels. Someone who has good internet and time to upload all the videos can do this task. After that there comes the managing part which includes frequents edits and updates.
There would be different playlist on the channel which would helpful in categorizing the videos. Playlist could be similar to the ones which are in the video section like Music videos, interviews, etc.

Invite people to suggest more and contribute to this.

P.S.
I hardly use youtube for watching videos so I don't know much. I might have missed many things related to youtube, but I don't have any better ideas.

Ben

08-13-2010, 01:25 AM

Divide the video section in two parts. One AAm videos and other AAm youtube videos.

For AAm videos, prepare a list of must watch videos. One example of such a list : http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=158627&postcount=24 This list would contain those videos which will be must watch ones and suffer various limitations of the youtube.

At present there are 126 videos on AAm. The new list would have upto 20-25 videos which would still reduce the cost significantly. Also the new additions to this list won't be many.
Thanks for all the suggestions, though this one won't work. The server cost isn't due to the number of videos or overall traffic per month, it's the throughput needed to provide smooth streaming to multiple users at once at any given moment. Videos are a different beast from images and pages because once playing they can't be broken up, queued, and delivered as bandwidth becomes available. So we need to maintain a high output rate at all times. There could be one video on the site and the price would still be the same.

Merci Alizée

08-13-2010, 02:30 AM

Thanks for all the suggestions, though this one won't work. The server cost isn't due to the number of videos or overall traffic per month, it's the throughput needed to provide smooth streaming to multiple users at once at any given moment. Videos are a different beast from images and pages because once playing they can't be broken up, queued, and delivered as bandwidth becomes available. So we need to maintain a high output rate at all times. There could be one video on the site and the price would still be the same.

Yeah, then in that case hosting videos won't help much. My suggestion would be to consider what I said for the youtube channel of AAm

I gues you are not removing video section soon, so people can start working on the youtube channel from now. Don't add any new videos to the videos section. All the new video request can be added to youtube.

Also, lot more videos can be added, like many recent interviews and some other videos.

AAm youtube channel : Add as many videos as possible to this channel.
There will be two ways to manage all videos.
1. Create a page for AAm youtube videos. Add the link just next to Twitter, facebook links at the top. In that page keep everything similar to the original video section of AAm. I mean the only difference would be that you would be watching embedded youtube videos just like you do in threads. Rest would be same on that page, small description, English lyrics, translation and link for discussing the video. This would certainly reduce effort for searching her all videos and finding more about them. This would certainly lead to better organization of contents and details on the forum. This is the part which will be managed mostly by Ben. If he thinks that it is time taking and he finds it difficult to take out time for this, then he can certainly ask some of members here who can help in designing such pages. He can either ask anyone to design all pages or he can design one page and ask someone to do similar pages for all videos.

2. Managing the youtube account. Ben has already mentioned that it would be a sharable one. My suggestion would be to give this account to a team of 2 people who will do all the thing. First part is growing this into a full fledged video channels. Someone who has good internet and time to upload all the videos can do this task. After that there comes the managing part which includes frequents edits and updates.
There would be different playlist on the channel which would helpful in categorizing the videos. Playlist could be similar to the ones which are in the video section like Music videos, interviews, etc.

This is just an extension of Ben's idea quoted below.

I'll make a shared account everyone working on this project can use:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizeeAmericaVideos
(nothing there yet)

Anyone interested, contact me. I just want to make sure things are uploaded in a very organized way, with captions where available, and only using the highest quality files possible. I can mail out some stuff burned to disc (subtitle and video files) if it would help.

For all those people who want to work on this :

Maintaining the standard adopted by AAm is important : good quality videos with English subtitles.

Make a list of videos to be added to the youtube channel. Get the high quality videos for those. As Ben suggested that he can mail some discs. They can download those from the video database also.

Most of the videos are already available on the youtube, especially the older videos. So, I think the newer videos are good to start with.

Prepare a list of new videos that should be added. Get the subtitles and add those to videos.

If anyone wants to upload AAm videos, then they can directly upload the good qualities videos directly or they can download AAm videos from here : http://alizeeamerica.com/media/ and upload those.

Only thing that would need to resolved is the case of blocked videos. Try to find a way to add those also.

alizeefan

08-13-2010, 03:47 AM

As far as the blocked videos , i suggest creating a myspace fan page . Then not only do you most likely avoid youtubes stringent deleted video / sound policy as you can host videos there , as well gain a whole new audience of myspace users . Adding to that at least with myspace you can more customize the homepage and pretty it up with pics , vids , links etc etc .

Fall

08-13-2010, 03:55 AM

I can't donate much money or do it very often so I'm definitely up for donating time to help out. This site is very important for me and I'm sure it is also for many many others. I would love to help make it a better place for us all, and to make life easier for good ol' Ben :D

My internet is alright I guess, I can help upload the videos. I can download them too, though I'm not sure all the links on the database work. Because of this, I think it might be better if you sent the discs you mentioned, Ben, to cut the time it takes to download them so that way the uploader can get straight to it. For videos which can't be uploaded on youtube, I suggest that the videos tab here on AAm should be modified to include a screencap and short description of the video and a download link for those interested. You could also do this on the channel page of the youtube account.

Tomtentp

08-30-2010, 10:58 AM

Great idea, been waiting for this, always found the video section a bit excessive.

Sitting on a 100/10 mbit connection and would gladly help out. Just downed the video folder (Index/Media) and got most of the DC hub share on my HDDs.

Not sure which are the best qualities and full lengths etc, so someone need to help out organize things.

What do I know, maybe you guys have already started?
I'm available for duty nontheless.

Scruffydog777

08-30-2010, 12:01 PM

Merci Alizée

08-30-2010, 12:45 PM

I'm all in favor of the Youtube channel or what ever ideas that people here come up with to reduce the cost of running this forum. I'm sure Ben has been paying way more than his fair, for way too long. I think I can speak for most of us here in saying we enjoy the way he has run this forum and we don't want to see it become a burden to him.

This will certainly reduce the cost, but I see this as switching to something better.

I mentioned some of the advantages of using youtube videos here :

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=176316&postcount=12

Except for the videos which are blocked on youtube, it's best to use youtube only. All we have to do is to find a way for the blocked video.

<hr>
<hr>

What we should do now is that to start updating the youtube channel. I don't know whether anyone contacted Ben for this or not. If anyone is interested in uploading and maintaining the channel, they can ask Ben for this.

While the youtube is being updated, we should try to find a way for the blocked videos. Does anyone think that using a different hosting service could help. Only few videos would be blocked on yotuube. So, the new video section can have most of the videos from youtube and some from a different hosting service.

Scruffydog777

08-30-2010, 02:06 PM

Merci Alizée

08-30-2010, 02:24 PM

I don't know if metacafe might be a possibility. I joined it last week but had trouble uploading a video to it for some reason. I wonder if any one else here has used it. The good thing about it is you can upload a file up to 2 gb in size.

I'm not sure about the quality of the videos there. What about vimeo. Jess has posted many videos from Vimeo and those are in good quality also.

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=175679&postcount=331

See that.

Ben

08-30-2010, 04:10 PM

This will certainly reduce the cost, but I see this as switching to something better.

I mentioned some of the advantages of using youtube videos here :

http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=176316&postcount=12

Except for the videos which are blocked on youtube, it's best to use youtube only. All we have to do is to find a way for the blocked video.

<hr>
<hr>

What we should do now is that to start updating the youtube channel. I don't know whether anyone contacted Ben for this or not. If anyone is interested in uploading and maintaining the channel, they can ask Ben for this.

While the youtube is being updated, we should try to find a way for the blocked videos. Does anyone think that using a different hosting service could help. Only few videos would be blocked on yotuube. So, the new video section can have most of the videos from youtube and some from a different hosting service.
Merci, do you want to help with uploading too? I can send you and Tomtentp the info.

Ben

08-30-2010, 06:47 PM

Oh and erherm....Umm....On the AlizeeAmerica Facebook Page I am uploading all the En Concert performances with permission from Alex for the second time and seeing if they won't get taken down. Should we do the same for Youtube Ben?
No, we shouldn't upload the whole concert there or on Facebook. Maybe just a few songs.

Merci Alizée

08-30-2010, 10:43 PM

Merci, do you want to help with uploading too? I can send you and Tomtentp the info.

If I could do that, you won't have to ask anyone else. But uploading videos on youtube is not possible for me with my crappy internet. I can help in any other way except uploading or downloading part. If you think that I can do something else with it, then I would be glad to do that.

Rev

08-31-2010, 01:09 AM

Merci Alizée

08-31-2010, 08:51 AM

So all of SAD 2 would fit on it. :)

Not so when video length limit is only 8 minutes. Metacafe is good for videos of short duration.

I would still favor youtube and vimeo for the videos.

User22

08-31-2010, 10:03 AM

Not so when video length limit is only 8 minutes. Metacafe is good for videos of short duration.

I would still favor youtube and vimeo for the videos.

For some reason I really think we should lean towards vimeo for this one...

Just cause for some reason I can play Vimeo HQ videos on my netbook and they play great! But for some reason Youtube HQ/HD videos poop up my comp. Maybe I just need a new graphics card for my comp...

FanDeAliFee

08-31-2010, 11:26 AM

Thanks for the offer, Wasabi! I haven't made any decisions yet, but if you or anyone else would rather donate time than money, another option is to migrate all the content of the video section over to an AAm YouTube channel. How do people feel about that?

I think someone suggested that months ago but for some reason it didn't get done. Youtube is free, Video Section is not. Youtube does HD & HQ, Video Section does too. AAm Youtube is the obvious choice:D

About a third of a year ago, I did indeed raise the issue here (http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=164028&postcount=55) and offer a detailed rationale here (http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=164193&postcount=63). Note that since that time, the maximum length of single YouTube clips has been increased to fifteen minutes (And you can still catenate them via playlists). Google, the owner of YouTube, has also since then announced the embrace of a royalty-free video codec, which they call WebM. It has Ogg heritage and "All videos uploaded to YouTube with 720p resolution or better will be encoded with WebM."

For many details about WebM from CNet, see:
WebM and Google's Web-video plan (FAQ) (http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20005466-264.html)

Tomtentp

09-01-2010, 12:40 PM

About a third of a year ago, I did indeed raise the issue here (http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=164028&postcount=55) and offer a detailed rationale here (http://alizeeamerica.com/forums/showpost.php?p=164193&postcount=63). Note that since that time, the maximum length of single YouTube clips has been increased to fifteen minutes (And you can still catenate them via playlists). Google, the owner of YouTube, has also since then announced the embrace of a royalty-free video codec, which they call WebM. It has Ogg heritage and "All videos uploaded to YouTube with 720p resolution or better will be encoded with WebM."

For many details about WebM from CNet, see:
WebM and Google's Web-video plan (FAQ) (http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20005466-264.html)

Which adds one more point to the youtube score.
Lacking Flash, the iPhone can only handle webbased video playback through Apps and the YouTube App is already integrated by default.

I don't know about other smartphones in detail but I am pretty sure they all come with YouTube support, being the main video site out there. This conversion would actually widen the accessability due to the ever growing smart phone industry.

+1 YouTube!

User22

09-04-2010, 10:26 AM

Which adds one more point to the youtube score.
Lacking Flash, the iPhone can only handle webbased video playback through Apps and the YouTube App is already integrated by default.

I don't know about other smartphones in detail but I am pretty sure they all come with YouTube support, being the main video site out there. This conversion would actually widen the accessability due to the ever growing smart phone industry.

Yah cause Apple hasn't teamed up with Adobe to get Flash Player on iPhones and iTouchs. So sadly I can't watch videos from the AAm video section on my iTouch:(

FanDeAliFee

09-15-2010, 02:28 PM

If I could do that, you won't have to ask anyone else. But uploading videos on youtube is not possible for me with my crappy internet. I can help in any other way except uploading or downloading part. If you think that I can do something else with it, then I would be glad to do that.

Merci Alizée, if Ben gave you access to a PC, you could use his Internet connection to do the uploads. It does not take much of an Internet connection to support a remote desktop client (some FREE), as discussed and compared here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software

Merci Alizée

09-15-2010, 02:35 PM

Merci Alizée, if Ben gave you access to a PC, you could use his Internet connection to do the uploads. It does not take much of an Internet connection to support a remote desktop client (some FREE), as discussed and compared here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software

Definitely. I use Teamviewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/download/) for this. It is free as long as you use it for non-commercial purpose. It supports features like Remote support, VPN, file transfer etc. Best thing is that you don't have to do much to connect. Application generates an ID and password, give that to the person who will access your system and you are on.

It has proved very useful to me.

(at least there is one person who understands that I'm more comfortable with font size bigger than the normal one used on the forum. :p)

Tomtentp

09-15-2010, 03:16 PM

Definitely. This is not new to me. I use Teamviewer (http://www.teamviewer.com/download/) for this. It is free as long as you use it for non-commercial purpose. It supports features like Remote support, VPN, file transfer etc. Best thing is that you don't have to do much to connect. Application generates an ID and password, give that to the person who will access your system and you are on.

It has proved very useful to me.

(at least there is one person who understands that I'm more comfortable with font size bigger than the normal one used on the forum. :p)

Wow that seems to be very popular, never heard of it before:blink:

I actually use UltraVNC when I get tierd of sitting by my gamer rig, just connect with my laptop and lay my lyzy self down in the confy bed 2 feet away :p

Got most of my video library sorted out and is currently uploading the best quality videos I can find. I've fixed a few videos considering aspect ratio, sound quality and other glitches. There are many subtitles laying around in various languages but not all are suitable for the file I choose, so in some cases I have to fix subtitles aswell -.-

So... Sorry if things are taking a long time but I want things to be top notch ;)

Give me some feedback on the layout plix plox!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizeeAmericaVideos

Merci Alizée

09-15-2010, 04:02 PM

Got most of my video library sorted out and is currently uploading the best quality videos I can find. I've fixed a few videos considering aspect ratio, sound quality and other glitches. There are many subtitles laying around in various languages but not all are suitable for the file I choose, so in some cases I have to fix subtitles as well -.-

So... Sorry if things are taking a long time but I want things to be top notch ;)

Give me some feedback on the layout plix plox!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlizeeAmericaVideos

Good work Tomtenp.

Just one small thing. You can choose to syndicate the videos, so that it can be viewed on mobile phones and other devices. :)

Tomtentp

09-15-2010, 04:18 PM

Good work Tomtenp.

Just one small thing. You can choose to syndicate the videos, so that it can be viewed on mobile phones and other devices. :)

Right!
That stupid setting, why wouldn't you want that lol...
Haven't flipped through all the account menues yet. I'm sure there are plenty of more stupid settings to fix :p

Ben

09-15-2010, 08:44 PM

Looking great so far Tomtentp, big big thanks! Just let us know if it gets to be too much for you. We could set up that Teamviewer or something with Merci.

User22

09-15-2010, 11:22 PM

Ok all I see in the AlizeeAmericaVideos channel is VERY EARLY Gourmandises stuff....and there are already 6 videos....I feel that we are going to have a lot of videos on there:D AlizeeAmericaVideos will definitely get a lot of views:D Nice work guys!!!

This will definitely help put us on the map:D

User22

10-28-2010, 07:59 PM

Does anyone know when the video uploads will resume? I know it takess quite a bit of work...but I am hungry for some new videos to be uploaded to the account:D

User22

05-19-2011, 10:12 AM

I don't know if metacafe might be a possibility. I joined it last week but had trouble uploading a video to it for some reason. I wonder if any one else here has used it. The good thing about it is you can upload a file up to 2 gb in size.

Have you/we tried Vimeo yet? They might allow some of them.

And I've been meaning to ask, but who has been heading up this project? Because I REALLY want to help with this project and have probably just as many videos as most of you older members do in the best quality possible. So I was wondering who I should contact to ask if I can help upload, cause uploading to the channel ceased a long time ago and I really want to help the channel flourish so we can get this thing completed :D

Thanks!

Scruffydog777

05-28-2011, 04:23 AM

User22

05-28-2011, 06:01 PM

My desktop has been down for a while. I'm not sure when I'll have it up and running again. I believe I already gave Aaron my password for the new account I created on Youtube for this purpose. He can upload videos to this account if he so desires.

:blink: Nah sorry I didn't. If you could forward me it again I would be glad to start uploading from where AlizeeAmericaVideos left off :)

mal

06-15-2011, 10:50 PM

Ok Sooooo my TWO cents. Video section is gone. Leave 'video' tab up with link to the AA youtube site with all her videos. So easily found and/or 'Video' tab with " A " link to each video which has dissapered from the site.

ie A'lize would have a link to youtube video A'lize

JPVA would have a link to youtube video xyz

Interview XYZ would have a link to XYZ etc.

Or a link to a single account with all the videos.