Now that I’m starting to create short videos with my new LX3 the time has come to decide which video platform to host them on. There are literally hundreds of options but to me only three main contenders: YouTube, Vimeo & Flickr (let me know if you think I’ve missed anyone important). Having played with all three here’s my take on the pro’s and con’s and what I ended up choosing…
YouTube
The king of online video has come of age with support for widescreen and HD newly enabled. Over 13 hours of new footage is uploaded to YouTube every minute which clearly gives you some idea about the scale of its operations and the massive community it provides. The player is functional but not the most elegant out there.
Vimeo
Vimeo is more of a boutique platform that values quality over quantity and as such has a smaller community than its bigger brothers. It’s always been an innovator and was one of the first to support HD streaming. Easily the most beautifully designed of the lot, some serious attention to detail has clearly gone into the interface.
Flickr
Late to the game, Flickr started off life as a photo-only sharing site but has recently branched out into video also. Its implementation is minimalist and elegant – current Flickr users should feel at home here. Its major disadvantage is that it doesn’t support HD yet and clips are limited to 90 seconds (a “long photo” as they call it!).
The result – I like Flickr’s simplicity and YouTubes mass appeal but I’ll be using Vimeo to host my little creations. They have the right combination of solid technology, nice aesthetics and an interesting community. If Apple invented a video sharing site it’d be Vimeo.
Reply