Vimeo Alternatives

Regardless of where you stand on the Vimeo decision to excise “gameplay videos” from their site, one thing’s for sure: it has made nearly everyone concerned take a moment to evaluate other options. Are there any other video sharing resources that compare favorably to Vimeo? Particularly in two key areas: allow posting of gameplay videos, and even more relevant, have options to host videos in high definition?

Russell Boyd just posted a tremendous write-up in the ZS Forum titled “What’s Best, Vimeo or Blip?” Russell applied good scientific method to the comparison, and his findings are very helpful. Check it out to get a good feel for Blip.tv, which has some other strengths he didn’t get into like multiple download versions for one film, your own “branding” for your show, automatic syndication to Twitter, MySpace, The Internet Archive, iTunes, and so on. Definitely worth a look, but check out what Russell discovered to see if it’s right for your needs.

At some point, I want to take Russell’s experiment idea and expand it to cover several key sites, I think the data from that would be a great resource for all of us. But for now, here’s what’s on my radar:

• Crackle - This Sony-owned video sharing site is organized into shows and channels, in a similar fashion to Blip but with a slightly more snazzy design. While I haven’t put this to the test, according to their terms they have NO file size limits on their uploads. Some of the shows on there seem to have very good video quality. They support HD (720p) resolution as an option, they have contests and a unique “points” system that allows users to “earn” a front page feature alongside their editors’ picks. The thing to keep in mind with Crackle is, very much like Vimeo, what they say they are about. Crackle’s stated purpose is to be a vehicle for connecting talent with professionals looking for talent. As such, I’m not sure it’s an appropriate venue for gameplay videos. Right now there’s no prohibition, but it seems to me that it’s *possible* that if they were overrun with them, they might make a decision similar to Vimeo’s. However, what they’re about DOES make it a very appealing syndication outlet for machinima creators… particularly if you’ve got a good quality series of some kind.
   
• Veoh - Director Lucinda McNary, a fixture over at the Moviestorm forum, has been stirring up interest in Veoh for quite some time as a machinima outlet. (She even started up a machinima group there whose membership has grown fairly quickly). Their quality does indeed look very good. I don’t yet know if they support HD or not, but they do have some fantastic cross-syndication options if you get their Pro account (which I believe is free). File size limits are pretty standard (a little better than YouTube). Personally, I’m a little standoffish with Veoh for a couple reasons: 1) I’m a little alarmed at how much of their frontpage content is not independent in nature, and 2) I had a bad experience with them about a year ago where they refused to host a film of mine but wouldn’t tell me why it was rejected nor would they give me a chance to clarify the copyright status of the work. That being said, Veoh is a big player now and has an overall very strong reputation and great sense of community. They are worth a closer look for both machinimators and gameplay video makers.
   
• WeGame - There is one site I know of who has made a point in the past week to openly welcome gameplay videos and machinima alike, and that is WeGame, the unashamed video sharing site devoted to video game content (our friend Brandon Dennis produces content for them, if you didn’t know). I know very little about their specs or offerings, but purely on the virtue of their savvy overture I’m recommending you give them a look… especially if gameplay vids are your thing. I don’t think you’ll find a safer host for that content, except maybe…
   
• Machinima.com - It would be irresponsible not to mention the site with machinima’s prized dot com spot. Their flash encoding, while not hi-res, is very good quality (much better than even YouTube’s “high quality” encoding), they have huge traffic and one of the most popular YouTube syndication channels on YouTube, they’ve been around longer than any of the above sites, and they are totally dedicated to machinima / game-oriented videos (moreso the latter than the former, if you ask me). The site still isn’t without flaws, but perhaps the biggest challenge with machinima.com is one akin to YouTube itself, and that is getting noticed among all the other content competing for that notice. However, like all the above sites, you can embed the videos from offsite; so if you’re using them as a video host and presenting the content in a forum or on your own blog / website, they make a very nice alternative to YouTube that just happens to have a firm leg in YouTube for their editors’ picks. And you definitely won’t be seeing any video game related bans there (knock on wood). [Note: they’ll brand your content with their own logo; might not be a big deal to you, but has caught enough people’s attention to be worth a mention.]
   
• MyToons - This is one worth mentioning solely for machinima creators (doesn’t seem like a good home for gameplay vids) if for no other reason than their recent transition to THE high definition animation video sharing site. The specs your source video has to be to get the HD label at their site are way above and beyond what is required at Vimeo; these guys are dead serious about having the best possible quality. This site will be a future syndication partner of Z-Studios, no doubt about it, though I won’t be uploading my “game-y” stuff there, just doesn’t seem like the appropriate audience for that.
   
• AniBOOM - Another site dedicated to animated films of all kinds, first hitting it big when they sponsored that Radiohead music video contest, AniBOOM is an up-and-comer that is also worth the attention of machinima creators. They have a very slick dashboard to manage your content, and from what I’ve observed there seems to be a general level of maturity and civility to the comments on the site that I’m sure you’ve noticed a lack of on YouTube. This, like MyToons, is a wonderful opportunity to throw your best work in front of a discerning and critical audience of animation in general and see how it holds up. Not a good home for gameplay vids.
   
• GameVideos.com - While I’m not aware of a direct overture to Vimeo refugees like WeGame, GameVideos.com has been around for quite some time and specifically looks for all manner of video game content. They don’t have a great reputation for quality, but there’s a very respectable amount of traffic flowing through there, so if nothing else it’s a nice more-focused alternative to YouTube for your game-y content. Prohibitions on walkthroughs and stunt videos aren’t in this site’s future, that’s for sure.
   

There are lots and lots of other options I’ve explored (Brightcove, Spike/iFilm, MetaCafe, DailyMotion, Revver) and even more that I haven’t yet (among them, Viddler, Jumpcut, Sevenload, etc.). Of those I looked at, none were particular standouts except perhaps Brightcove… but frankly, Veoh seems to have all the same features with better traffic and more community.

There are also a couple sites in extreme beta status that are worth keeping an eye on:

• setvid - I know next to nothing about this site, but they appear to be open to just about any kind of content
• VReel - This site is looking to become the successor to Stage6, focusing on DivX video’s exceptional quality. But it appears they’ve got a long way to go, it’s pretty buggy and slow right now. Worth watching.