Thinking about video hosting: manton.org

@manton.org Do videos crosspost to social?

@manton Do videos crosspost to social?

@manton I think that is a really fair model. I have often wondered what video might look like here. I know that the fediverse has PeerTube, perhaps a good start would be some sort of embedding short code where a PT video could be easily posted on a micro blog?

@j4ck.xyz For posts with video, we just include a link back to the blog post. It would be great to sort out actually copying the video where possible.

For posts with video, we just include a link back to the blog post. It would be great to sort out actually copying the video where possible.

@drose Good idea, we could do that.

@manton.org Ahh fair enough! Even that’s good, I was just worried it’d only post the text or something that makes it lose context, thanks!

@manton Ahh fair enough! Even that’s good, I was just worried it’d only post the text or something that makes it lose context, thanks!

@manton Sounds like a good way to improve clarity about how video features work. One minute videos are also a good way to test the overall quality & functionality (before optionally buying larger tier for more capacity).

For people who might want even longer videos than 20 minutes, they could split videos to multiple parts (so that limit likely won’t become an issue as soon).

@manton I think any worry or risk of changing an existing tier out from under anyone is greatly outweighed by having a much clearer definition of what it is and what it can do. People like to complain about everything. Don’t let that hold you back from making improvements!

@drose Cool, we could maybe hook into YouTube for that, although I decided long ago that we will not support live streaming on Micro.blog. There are potential problems with live video that would be too much for us to handle.

@cheesemaker Agreed. Also, there’s just not much video right now on Micro.blog, probably because it’s so confusing!

@drose You could do that now with a /live/ page on your site and put the Twitch or YouTube live embed code there? Or maybe I’m misunderstanding what you meant.

@manton I’d suggest bumping to 90s since the original YouTube Shorts were 90s. But definitely having a cutoff for file size / length so you’re not dealing with all sorts of issues is smart.

@manton absolutely! Makes sense

@iChris really?! I may have to try it. I like the idea of trying to get away from YouTube and use the federated PeerTube. I wonder if it has a similar capability.

@drose Looks like Peertube supports it if I’m reading it correctly docs.joinpeertube.org/use/creat…

@manton @manton Do you have the ability to report on which users have already posted 60+ second videos? If that’s easy, you could offer direct outreach to this (probably small) group so they have a heads-up. I am not among this group.

@iChris Good suggestion, I’ll consider it. I want to do an inventory of all the limits in other platforms too, even dead ones like Vine, Periscope, etc.

@mattroyal Yep, I’m sure I could figure it out. 👍

@manton The only thing that has confused me is that sometimes I upload a video and there is not thumbnail created. I can’t remember if it has to do with browser vs app upload or the video format.

I use micro.blog video hosting for short vids and I love it. For longer ones I embed from a $9/month vimeo account. It works well for me. Here is a page with vids uploaded to micro.blog.

@bloftin2 Cool! With the changes I’m planning, that use case should work even better.

@manton Are there off the shelf solutions for monitoring illegal content? Maybe you’ve solved for images already, or maybe your user base is not Wild West enough (especially with a paywall) to be a risk.

But the challenges for serving video seem like no small order 🤔

@manton Something maybe worth considering is a stories style disappearing video/photo situation (maybe for the 1 and 5 dollar tiers). This would make the hosting burden a lot smaller in theory.

@bax There are some services that can help with that. Definitely an interesting challenge, though, as we grow.

@Gentry It would help, but my gut feeling is disappearing videos aren’t a good fit for us. I will let services like Loops take the lead on that.

@iChris sweet. I will look at it! Thanks!!!

@manton I would absolutely love that, even if just to have a different option than YouTube. I understand that 1 1-minute video (or 90 seconds, as was offered) might be a downgrade for some, but it’s important to have a clear and supported definition of what is provided. Many of the short how-to videos can be used under that tier; we could finally host how-to videos for MB under MB…! That would be awesome. I’d also pay for 20 20-minute videos to try it out at the very least.

@manton Count me in as someone who’d pay to have up to 20 minute videos

@manton I’d love to see video capabilities expanded, and especially happy to go to a duration limit rather than file size. File size has proven very tricky to account for when building shortcuts to upload them. That said, 1 min would be a disappointing downgrade for me, personally. Maybe 1 min for Basic and 3-5 min for Premium? Although 1 min for your $1/month plan, 5 min for the regular $5 plan, and 10 min for $10 Premium plan would make my brain happy. 😜 Would be another reason to upgrade to a higher plan.

@manton I’m looking forward to what you figure out. In addition to all the rest, I’m interested in the potential to turn videos into a proper podcast. I don’t know if Apple Podcasts and Overcasts support it, but the idea of being able to do video as a podcast is interesting. Then I could post a podcast as both audio (you just don’t watch the video while it’s playing, having your phone in your pocket, etc.) or video (you watch it). Maybe this when works right now!

And also doing whatever magic to make playing the video in social media posts would be cool.

Cross-posting to YouTube would be nice too: but maybe that goes against the whole spirit of the idea in trying to avoid centralized video? (Plus, there’s the fees for uploading?)

20 minutes seems reasonable. Even 15. Maybe 10. Those times limits would be nice constraints to drive the content.

@manton Seems like a workable model. Dunno if or how you’ll grandfather in older posts with longer videos, but that kind of functionality generally costs more for consumers and hosts alike, and the people posting them know this.

@manton If you plan to make this real, maybe take a look at Bunny Stream. From what I saw, it should be quite affordable.

@jarrod Thanks. That pricing would make sense, but I’m trying to avoid lots of different changes for each tier, because it makes describing each plan more complicated. I’m not set on 1 minute, maybe should be longer for everyone.

@jlelse Thanks for the pointer.

@cote Cool, thanks! I think cross-posting to YouTube is a good idea actually, because it will encourage people to post to their podcast / blog first, but still reach YouTube subscribers. I haven’t looked into the YouTube API in years, will check it out.

@manton Good direction! Though 1 minute feels pretty restrictive, especially for the $10/month plan. What if the limit scaled with the plan? 10 minutes for $10, 5 minutes for $5, etc?

And could unused minutes accumulate over time (up to a max), so someone could save up and post a longer video quarterly instead of short clips monthly?

@kottkrig Thanks! One of the challenges with having lots of plans is the added confusion about what is included. So I’m still planning to launch with only two limits for video. But I’m open to changing it later.

@manton Makes sense! Looking forward to trying it out.

@manton I don’t have much to add to this conversation thread but cc’ing in @thebaer if he sees this; I’d be curious to know what he thinks.