Hi there,

 

I have been asked by a client to create a site where people can pay to be a member, once a member, they can log in to view member only videos, its for a football training scheme.

 

Anyway, this site could potentially be holding up to 300 videos, maybe a minute long each one. I've read that self-hosting videos is not got for a number of reasons, heres 10 for example... http://www.wp101.com/blog/tutorials/10-reasons-why-you-should-never-host-your-own-videos/

 

Does anyone have any advice? I was thinking about hosting the videos on youtube and embedding them but the videos must be private on the web, unless a member of this site, plus the URL could be easily shared...

 

Any advice would be great!

 

Thank you,

 

Adam

This forum thread might help if you don't mind using Vimeo (I think Vimeo is better generally) - www.vimeo.com/forums/topic:102876 (Couldn't post link directly as it turned into a Vimeo media plugin by WDF forum post viewer.)

 

The other option would be to order dedicated media/video hosting space or if budget allows a small dedicated server or VPS.

 

Hope this helps

 

P.S. Just to add to this, you might want to look into how people use CDN's such as Amazon (AWS) for media storing. Just an idea.

Ok thanks, with Vimeo there is still the problem of having URLs which could be shared (along with the passwords).

The media/video hosting space sounds like a better option as they could be strictly for members, meaning no sharable URLs unless your a member. Do you know of any good media/video hosting space comapanies?

 

Also does anyone else have any suggestions? I've got the client, just need to work out the best option for him,

 

Thanks

 

Adam

Ok thanks, with Vimeo there is still the problem of having URLs which could be shared (along with the passwords).

 

The media/video hosting space sounds like a better option as they could be strictly for members, meaning no sharable URLs unless your a member. Do you know of any good media/video hosting space comapanies?

 

Also does anyone else have any suggestions? I've got the client, just need to work out the best option for him,

 

Thanks

 

Adam

 

That is true, then I would say hosting the files yourself would be the best bet. You will need to code some URL hiding and ensure people can't hot-link to your files. Where there is a will, there is a way and all that

 

In regards to hosting companies that can handle the space, I would say check out Amazon's AWS services but really it all comes down to budget and requires. If for instance your 300 videos only take up say 100GB of disk space then that can be handled by a nice dedicated media hosting package as the main thing you will pay for is bandwidth and port speeds. When it comes to video and large file hosting (streaming/high-bandwidth) it is always best to go custom and contact a company directly to see what they can do. If you have a preferred hosting company give them a shout and I am sure they will be able to quote you