Video hosting for small businesses, $199/year for 50GB and 250k views.

Check it out: Vimeo Launches PRO Service at DVInfo.net (http://www.dvinfo.net/news/vimeo-launches-pro-service.html)

Huh?

Standard account: $199 for 50GB & 250k views.
Upgrade of 50GB extra for $199 or 100k extra views for $199?!? Why are the upgrades less value than the initial account? If I needed more, why wouldn't I just start up a second account & save money?

They are offering businesses the opportunity to sell, market, monetize, make money, and earn a profit through their video's. For most people, who are not operating a business, Vimeo Pro is a better deal. The change makes sense. Vimeo needs to keep up with their competitors.

For most people, who are not operating a business, Vimeo Pro is a better deal.David, by the context of your statement, I think you meant to say that Vimeo Plus is a better deal... ?

The is some brief reference to a higher quality signal, the question is of it is higher quality than Vimep PLus or just free Vimeo. I would pay more for clearly superior quality.

Also there was no mention of weekly upload limits, another distinct advantage.

How to get started with Vimeo Pro (offsite link):

How to Get Started with Vimeo Pro on Onlinevideo.net – Online Video Strategies, Platforms, News, and Tips (http://www.onlinevideo.net/2011/08/how-to-get-started-with-vimeo-pro/)

Huh?

Standard account: $199 for 50GB & 250k views.
Upgrade of 50GB extra for $199 or 100k extra views for $199?!? Why are the upgrades less value than the initial account? If I needed more, why wouldn't I just start up a second account & save money?

That is odd, I get what you're saying. Seems cool, I definitely like the customizable skin players (always looks cheesy seeing "Vimeo" in the corner of peoples demo reels or wedding vids). Seems cool & a timesaver from adding & learning Flash video. not sure about the limit on views?! By hosting via sites like GoDaddy can't you use unlimited bandwith? I suppose Vimeo Pro is a huge time saver & avoids alot of problems with sites maintenance & troubleshooting. I guess things I produce dont' get anywhere near 250K views, but it looks like that's the port total, not views per vid. Buying an addt'l 100K for $199 does seem odd, and a bit high.

Also there was no mention of weekly upload limits, another distinct advantage.

What are the upload limits with Vimeo PRO?

Vimeo PRO gives you 50 GB of upload space per year up to 5GB per upload. Members can buy 50GB add-on storage packages in the Vimeo Store.


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It looks like it's an annual upload limit, not weekly.

I would think 50 Gb is plenty of space for a video portfolio site. After all, you only need to show snippets of your best work and it should be kept up to date. (which the latter is my own big procrastinated task).

Looks very interesting.

I wish that this was released a year ago. It would have saved my main client about $5k between web design and monthly storage costs - that even includes an extra 50GB & 100k views which they would need. To get a website designed with a Vimeo style CMS (Content Management System) would cost at least $5,000. However, my client's website does not re-encode anything but we chose only 720x480 whereas I would love to have both 720p & 480p. (it would cost too much $$ for the web developers to add this functionality)

I am debating whether I want to upgrade my Plus account for $139 or add the Pro account as a separate entity. I really like having the ability for producers to watch videos and make remarks on the web page.

I wish that this was released a year ago. It would have saved my main client about $5k between web design and monthly storage costs -

Thanks Steve. I have a question for you, just general web hosting. Am I wrong that GoDaddy here would offer 150GB site with unlimited bandwidth for $11.99/mo?? Granted, they won't build the page for you, I'm currently learning and building on myself, but though that seemed like a reasonable rate. Is there addt'l costs or something I'm not seeing?

Web Hosting | Secure Hosting Plans with Unlimited Bandwidth (http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=9009)

I guess for the ease for embedding video versus actually encoding it & inserting onto your site it's a fair rate (Vimeo Pro). And the comments & quicker loading I suppose.
Thanks,

Hi David,

I have forgotten a lot from my web design days which was very short due to not liking the coding aspect. However, I do recall something about my client's video being hosted on a few servers across the country to speed up access to people in different parts of the country. I am sending an email to the web design guys who also host the site and I will get back to you. FYI, their site is VisionFriendly.com. One key aspect that many clients want is the streaming download of video versus what Vimeo & youtube do - they download the video to viewers' computers. Our video player only streams so there is no copy on anyone's computer.

Just a thought, but for your site, I would build it so you can embed Vimeo videos. With the Plus account, you can remove just about everything and only show the video within the embedded window.

Shucks. Just when I was learning about Flash and web design it all changes to an easier way.

Thanks though, for your response. I'm about 50% of a web designer. Almost there, but not.

Hi David,

What software are you using to build your website or are you going old school and coding manually with html (NOT fun)?

Back in college, I had to learn how to code manually with html and then moved to Fireworks and Dreamweaver (which was Macromedia at the time and then Adobe bought it). With the latest update to Dreamweaver, it has become a great program which allows designers to be creative and not have to worry as much about manually coding.

However, when someone asks me for a simple website nowadays, I can design it very fast in Photoshop, slice it up and export as html. Also, the website Templatemonster.com has many amazing websites. I have purchased a few and they all are designed in Photoshop and include PSDs for easy adjustment.

I'm using Flash CS4. I've built 2 basic ones using dreamweaver, an old version I think it was a macromedia version). I'm a video guy, and my brain just can't wrap it's head around web design for some reason, esp Flash. however a local center has a 6 week Flash course for $140 (once a week), and it's going great. I've bought several books, and totaltraining.com, I just need to ask questions sometimes.

I know Flash is skeptical as to how much longer it will be relevant, but for the (creative) site I'm making, it does what I'm hoping to do. I should learn Dreamweaver better, is CS5 the newer/better version?

2011 Showcase (http://www.videoguru.co.nz/)

Took me a couple of hours to get a basic reel site up and running with a custom url, logo etc, and no Vimeo branding whatsoever. Very handy.

The interface for customising the site/arranging the video etc is super easy. I have no coding knowledge - this is great for guys like me who just want to pop stuff up quickly and get onto the next shoot. It will also be great for my clients.

There are a couple of things I'd like to see updated: you're stuck with whatever font size each of the 9 templates defaults to (you can change the font, but not the size); and you can only select from a few arbitrary thumbnails Vimeo allocates for each video, rather than scrubbing to the ideal frame.

Also, although there is a triangular button that should take the viewer to the next set of videos (I have uploaded 9 so far, with the first 6 viewable on the mainpage), this doesn't seem to function.

But overall, soooo easy.

That looks great, Josh -- well done!

Ditto for what Chris said. Wow!

Thanks guys... kind of you to say.

Actually I've been working on a replacement for my existing site (which is in dire need of an update) for a year now - something with a very "boutique" feel that will work in with agencies.

However, I have to rely on others for coding, and getting everything "just so" is taking forever.

That will still happen, but what's great about the Vimeo thing (which I will use as a separate, portfolio site) is the speed. Today I've popped back in the office to put up a first cut for a client - there is a nice "review" feature automatically enabled when you upload, meaning the video by default is not public, but a link is provided that you can pass on to clients. Then, if desired, you can make it public and arrange it on the page. Very handy.

Edit: and I've just found you can very simply password protect the review video, giving clients peace of mind. Nice.

Sure appreciate your testing of the Vimeo PRO waters, Josh... I think I'm sold on it, thanks to your feedback.

Thanks Chris,

Another tick for Vimeo Pro:

I reported my bug on their pro support forum yesterday (ie: the page 2 button of my chosen template wasn't functioning on my site). I received feedback from two Vimeo staff and they had the issue fixed within hours, and thanked me for reporting it. Good stuff.

Looks great can you go full screen with the videos on your website because I noticed you framed them or added a skin. I would like to have the ability to also go full screen if that is possible

Thanks and Good Luck

Doug

You can indeed go Full Screen.
Having just upgraded to Vimeo Pro, I can honestly say that it is worth every Pound/Dollar/Euro...
To be able to get ones videos hosted either singly or as part of a showreel is a real boon.

Looks great can you go full screen with the videos on your website because I noticed you framed them or added a skin. I would like to have the ability to also go full screen if that is possible

Hi Doug. I've deliberately removed the HD option for now: because there's a mix of DSLR, HDV and Canon XF footage, keeping it SD suits my purpose, ie: it all looks sharp.

It's very easy to customise the player. You can tick on/off what you want: logo, volume, playbar, scaling option, fullscreen option etc. It's really very easy.

Can you make it so people can't copy the embed code?

FWIW, Vimeo (not just the PRO Service) is now available on the AppleTV...

AppleTV update adds TV show buying, Vimeo | Apple Talk - CNET News (http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20086388-248/appletv-update-adds-tv-show-buying-vimeo/)

Can you make it so people can't copy the embed code?

Yes, you have the option of everyone can embed, only certain sites can embed, or no one can embed.

You can also have multiple portfolios, each with discrete domain names... you can then assign particular videos to particular/multiple portfolios, very simply. I've set up a few now.

Thank you for the information!

Hi Josh,

Nice, simple and elegant site.

I watched a few of your videos and in the '100 Years of Annotating' video, most of their skin is very red and/or purplish. Even on my Dell Ultrasharp, which is slightly more blue than my broadcast monitors in my studio, their skin is way too red.

Please don't take this the wrong way. I am just saying what I see due to a recent experience with my Eizo CG243W. For about a week, I was color correcting and grading with the wrong color space thanks to my assistant accidentally changing the calibrations in the monitor. After a producer complained several times about people looking orange, I re-calibrated my LCD and then noticed that the calibration had been changed. For certain projects, I now use 3 LCDs to triple-check color and aliasing. (the Eizo, Sony HDTV & Pann 1710w broadcast monitor via HD-SDI and composite for aliasing)

Hi Steve,

Funny you should mention that (blush), colour correcting the video in question is on my list of things to do. A couple of the speakers do have very red faces indeed!!

Something odd happened along the way (it's an old video, my editor at the time worked on it): at least the DVD version the client received doesn't look like that.

But yes, as soon as I get the chance I will correct the issue. Incidentally, Vimeo Pro allows you to replace the source file without affecting other details (analytics, tags, descriptions etc). Quite handy.

I'm interested in these advanced statistics mentioned. They don't elaborate. I don't have a YouTube account but I've helped people see where their videos were most effective by looking at what YouTube terms "hot spots," etc. It takes a lot of views for these breakdowns to be meaningful but it's good info when it's significant. Does anybody know if something similar would be available on Vimeo PRO service's advanced statistics?

I just tried Vimeo "PRO". Cutting and pasting the your video is ready URL across platforms and browsers was an epic fail on the part of Vimeo. 90% of my testing resulted in a Video not found when I pasted in the URL Vimeo sent me. $200 for "PRO" and no phone support is unacceptable. I requested a refund.

That's great Josh I may use Vimeo Pro at some point because I saw your site now.

Hey Josh,

I like your site, nice design and the video content is top-notch. Since I'm considering taking the leap to Vimeo Pro myself, for my own video production company, I wanted to ask if you remain happy with Vimeo Pro. Would you recommend it to other prodcos such as yours?

Thanks!

P.S. Others please feel free to throw in your two cents.

Thanks Greg,

Vimeo Pro great for what it is - getting video up fast and presenting it cleanly.

Over the past few weeks I've been using it a lot to send review videos to clients. It's quick and easy to upload, send a private link, and password protect it. I don't have to worry about them having the right player, and it always looks great. They've been able to pass that link and password on to colleagues in different cities for review, and it's all worked smoothly.

I don't have any coding knowledge at all - for people like me it's superb. For those who are comfortable with html/css or even using an app like Dreamweaver, I'm sure there are better (or at least much more flexible) options. But with the Vimeo set-up you can have a site up in a morning and get back to shooting video in the afternoon. Just choose a template, assign a url, upload a logo and a few videos, type in a couple of headings, you're done!

Thanks, Josh, very good to know!

Just to confirm, you used Vimeo Pro to create both the Corporate video by Videoworks, Wellington (http://www.videoworks.co.nz/) and Videoworks Showcase (http://www.videoguru.co.nz/) sites, correct?

BTW, I think the videoworks page is especially clean and elegant.

I'm afraid not Greg.

The Videoworks page is my old site - it's been there about four years without any update (I loathe the old videos I have on there - I'd just started up in business and didn't really know what I was doing!). While I created the look, I had to rely on a friend to do all the coding. That's about to be pulled down and replaced with something that looks totally different (something with more functionality/pages etc), but once more I'm paying someone else to code it.

However, we will embed videos in the new site using Vimeo Pro, so even though it's not a Vimeo site, it will be using the Vimeo Pro engine. Again it makes updating videos a breeze.

The Videoguru site I'm using as a portfolio site, and this is what I made using a Vimeo template - it's 100% Vimeo.

Gotcha.

Though I wish Vimeo Pro enabled non-coders like you and me to create nice web pages as well as host video, the ability to easily share video with clients is a valuable feature. Will need to give this some more thought. (I really don't have the time to learn to code or to learn Dreamweaver.)

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this, Josh.