How To Stream Amazon S3 Video On Your Website

Posted by James in Affiliate, Blog, How To, Resource, Tool, Traffic, Video, Web 2.0

EZS3video

I needed a replacement Video provider

Since Google Video stopped allowing uploads I needed to find a better way to get externally hosted videos onto my site.



Many people use Amazon S3

Amazon S3 is a natural choice because it is super robust and very cheap. The only downside is that it is not very easy to make players. Storage and strength is the main benefit.

I did some research

I decided to research my options and thought it was worth sharing my results. Here is a summary of what I was trying to achieve.

Google Video was great because it quite good quality and it did NOT display advertising. The other benefit was the externally hosted bandwidth was free.



What I needed

I wanted low cost, high quality, ad free and easy to use.

I contacted Brightcove. They are expensive and unpopular according to the blog comments. One day they pulled free content from users and the entry point is $2000. You cannot use it as a storage place because you can upload but not download. I did not like the vibe from them.

My own server?

I use my own spare dedicated server for streaming but when I do that I need to install both the javascript and a local file to call the external server. This was a little complicated. It does not offer the benefit of cloud serving either.

StreamCast

This service did not seem as flexible as Amazon S3. S3 can be used to store backups of files as well as just video media. I wanted more than just video hosting.

Veeple

This looks similar to EZS3 but has the option of clickable links. It will cost a little more if you get a lot of views. I liked the look if this one but I did not need clickable links.

Mozzo

This is another cloud CDN. Content distribution network. It seems similar to S3. No easy player option that I could find. You can play the media directly on the URL however sometimes it is easier to hide that URL using an add-on player.

Fliqz

You need to spend a little more per month to get the unbranded player and these guys say they are a direct competitor to brightcove. I found the homepage a little confusing. It is a little over the the top for direct sales promos rather than explaining what the service is. I never got past that.

Youtube

No good. They have poor quailty video streaming and they play ads unless you modify the player. I wanted something far more controlled and plain. I use Youtube for offsite videos but not onsite. I would use Vimeo before Youtube if I wanted a free solution.

The solution I chose

The end solution has a number of benefits. It is EzS3video. It works like an ftp combined with a player creation tool. You can control access for sepcific URL’s only and make players that will allow full screen mode.

How it works



You load your files up via the interface directly to the Amazon S3 account (YOUR account) and you then make the player.

The player is one javascript snippet you place on your page. You can make players in any size and with different skins. The javacsript helps obscure the URL of the resource file.

You pay a flat $20 monthly fee for the service and then you pay Amazon S3 for the use of the server bandwidth.

Downside?

The downside is if EZS3 go out of business you will lose your players. The protection is that your files are all still on the Amazon S3 site and you can make a new player later. You always retain your source files.

The other benefits

You can use this service for FLV, MPEG4, MOV, SWF, JPG, GIF, Camtasia Codec, WMV, AVI, PDF, MP3 and it has other widgets as well.

The service also supports cloudfront.net streaming (cloud serving) so that you get fast streaming in your local area. You select this option at Amazon and then tick the box in EZS3.

Other features of the player are controls for autoplay or not. Center or left / right align and the use of watermarks.

You can also see the view rates for your video by graph. This is handy if you want to see how popular your videos are or use it for split testing.

Summary

For secure, fast, high quality brandable videos that are easy to load and stream use Amazon S3 combined with EZS3 video and you have a great low cost robust solution.

Start a $1 Trial of EZSvideo

Tags: amazon s3, amazons3.com, aws, best streaming video service, dedicated server, ezs3, how to make a player for s3, how to put video on my website, make amazon s3 player, mosso, s3 streaming video, stream video, streaming video, veeple, video for websites

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