Drupal Video Recommendations

I think embedding could be done without the node... I mean how do you do it on non drupal sites? you hard code a path as a param to a flash video player right? Half of what your module does is take care of the conversion to flv for use by an flv player.. which is half the battle and half the desired functionality. The other half is purely uploading (not needed if already on server) and then associating / embedding flv in a given node body or a block or wherever for that matter. Half of that embedding is simply a template that never changes. The other part is the filename which WILL change.

FWIW, i only have 4.7 installed right now, which means my only video option is the video module. i fiddled with that today and l found lots to be desired. I think you mentioned a lot of the same things in your tutorial. You can take what follows with a grain of salt. Since you just completed your module maybe you can use some of this to enhance your module if you like since the code is probably fresh in your mind. Or you can just ignore it.

Here's my initial assesment of what i do NOT like about the video module:

With the video module:

1) You have to upload video file via a form. this blows. video files tend to be pretty damn big. i tested the video module on my localhost so bandwith wasn't an issue. i maxed out php.ini to 400 mb uploads and 3600 second time outs , etc. However, unless my video file was relatively small, the video module always seemed to time out when creating large files. The files i was trying to upload were well under the enormous limits i set in php. So either i'm doing something wrong or the uploads of large vid files are less than rock solid with video module.

The better option (or at least an additional option) would be to ftp the video files to your server (no need to have php in the upload loop) because there's none of this upload size, memory restriction limit mambo jambo bs. then once they are uploaded to your server, THEN you either

a) create video nodes
b) just embed the suckers directly in your posts

OK.. video module does "kind of" give you this select the vid files already uploaded to your server option .. sort of. You can ftp the vid files to your server. BUT.. when it comes time to create the video nodes from them, YOU HAVE TO TYPE THE PATH VERBATIM to use the vid file. In my case, my vid files have crazy names so remembering, finding and then typing the name is tedious and mistake prone.

THE BETTER OPTION would be to allow a BROWSE ON THE SERVER so you can *SELECT* (not type a path) from files ALREADY UPLOADED to the server. IF YOU CAN BROWSE TO UPLOAD, MY THOUGHT IS THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO BROWSE TO WHAT'S ALREADY BEEN UPLOADED. See where i'm going? Not sure if your module has that ability but it would be a great feature. Let me upload my vid files by the easiest / fastest method to the server (e.g ftp, rsync, whatever). Then let me SELECT them once they are there versus having to memorize their names or fish for them and type them in verbatim. Other modules have this select feature so it can be done.

3) Maybe you can confirm this for me. I found that uploading files or even selecting them from the server once already loaded doesn't work UNLESS YOU KNOW THE DIMENSIONS, SIZE, SECONDS of the video. What?!

Can you confirm that FFMpeg EXPLICITLY needs that EXACT info to do it's conversion?

For instance, I had a .mov file that I couldn't find the encoded H/W size for (how do i do that???). I was able to find the MB file size and the seconds but that's a pain in the rear.

- So is that something I just have to bite the bullet and do FOR EVERY VID FILE I upload in order for FFmpeg to convert to flv successfully (.e.g it's not smart enough to extract that info from the file itself) regardless of video module or your module?
- If i give it a wrong param, even if its off by just a tad, does that screw up the conversion?

NOTE: I was able to upload a couple of rm and mov files. But only 1 out of the 3 actually played when it came time to click the play, start the player. And now that i think of it, there was NO CONVERSION TO FLV GOING ON.. because Real Player and QuickTime players started to play the files based on extension. SO WHY DO I NEED TO ENTER IN FILE SIZE IN MB, TIME IN HH:MM:SS AND H/W OF MOVIE? THAT MAKES NO SENSE! MAYBE THE H/W.. but why would it need anything else??

If you could clear that up for me, it would help me understand that better.

4) No Thumbs are generated by the video module. You basically get a very generic looking 'play' LINK. It would be better to actually see the flash player with a static img of the video. NOTE: Even when you click 'play' the video player (at least for rm files in my case) looks broken. It will work but it just looks bad.

I guess I'm going for that youtube look where you have what either is an actual player with img or a thumb of an img that looks like a player. either way you have context when you see it. you can tell what you're in for when you either click play or the thumb. Does the FlashVideo module give you context player img or thumb or some way to upload a thumb?

5) Using the video module, there doesn't appear to be a list video page by default. I imagine i can create one in views. no biggie. But if i want to create playlists of related videos or organize my videos similar to galleries of imgs, am i pretty much left to use taxonomy and slap a video node with a termid? How do you organize related videos with the FlashVideo module?

I ask because most img modules have some kind of gallery associated with them. Audio has a playlist. But I'm wondering what the options are for video module or your FlashVideo module?

Anyway. most of those were my initial impressions / shortcomings of the video module. I'm curious as to how FlashVideo might implement some of those same areas. I also throw them out to you in the event you might want to add useful features in the future.

fwiw, i will try to download 5.0 this week sometime and give your mod the runthrough. Mostly because the video module seems to be lacking in a number of respects.

thanks for your input and time on your module!