All-Star I Am Fed Up With Varsity Tv Videos And Their Slow Loading

[Ashley]

Unless I'm off about something. Why ISNT this possible? In the tech world there always is a cheaper better solution if you know how.

And really, could the user experience be any worse? Build it, offer it for free to beta test. Charge when kinks are worked out.

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In response to your earlier post (which I missed on my phone and didn't have a chance to check out til now), Brightcove is more expensive than $600/year for what Varsity would need. You can check out your prices online. But you'll also pay thousands of dollars to hire a programmer to build an interface for it.

But the thing with Brightcove is that they do everything for you. YouTube or Vimeo is good for individual videos, if you want to stick them on your blog or something. But Brightcove comes with skins and themes for libraries (and I think that Varsity kind of ruined one of their themes, that's what their library is) and has a TON of features for managing videos - stats, different file formats, video compression, etc. It does it all for you and is way more flexible than just uploading it to a site like Vimeo. If it's just a matter of the interface, which I agree is kind of ugly, but I think Varsity has kind of crippled it, they could pay Brightcove, who knows the API in and out, to build them a custom one. The thing with a programmer is that you have to keep him or her on payroll or keep hiring someone whenever you need some work done. OR they can just call up Brightcove and have them quickly and efficiently do all of the work, because they know their system in and out.

Plus back to your point about if you know, it's cheaper. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe they don't have someone a programmer on staff who could build or maintain a site like that. Maybe paying another company to keep track of it is easier than keeping someone on payroll. And you can say, well you could just contract someone to build it. True, but then you have to have someone to maintain it.

I think Varsity just doesn't care. Money clearly isn't an issue based on what they must be paying now. Maybe they'll come up with a better interface for next season, who knows. It gets the job done and fits in their website, which is probably all they care about. I'm sure they could get a paysite built if they really wanted - but to do that they'd have to offer full length HD videos I think, and I'm sure they reason they're not offering full-length videos now is because of contracts with the video companies who sell comp videos.

 

[King]

In response to your earlier post (which I missed on my phone and didn't have a chance to check out til now), Brightcove is more expensive than $600/year for what Varsity would need. You can check out your prices online. But you'll also pay thousands of dollars to hire a programmer to build an interface for it.

But the thing with Brightcove is that they do everything for you. YouTube or Vimeo is good for individual videos, if you want to stick them on your blog or something. But Brightcove comes with skins and themes for libraries (and I think that Varsity kind of ruined one of their themes, that's what their library is) and has a TON of features for managing videos - stats, different file formats, video compression, etc. It does it all for you and is way more flexible than just uploading it to a site like Vimeo. If it's just a matter of the interface, which I agree is kind of ugly, but I think Varsity has kind of crippled it, they could pay Brightcove, who knows the API in and out, to build them a custom one. The thing with a programmer is that you have to keep him or her on payroll or keep hiring someone whenever you need some work done. OR they can just call up Brightcove and have them quickly and efficiently do all of the work, because they know their system in and out.

Plus back to your point about if you know, it's cheaper. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe they don't have someone a programmer on staff who could build or maintain a site like that. Maybe paying another company to keep track of it is easier than keeping someone on payroll. And you can say, well you could just contract someone to build it. True, but then you have to have someone to maintain it.

I think Varsity just doesn't care. Money clearly isn't an issue based on what they must be paying now. Maybe they'll come up with a better interface for next season, who knows. It gets the job done and fits in their website, which is probably all they care about. I'm sure they could get a paysite built if they really wanted - but to do that they'd have to offer full length HD videos I think, and I'm sure they reason they're not offering full-length videos now is because of contracts with the video companies who sell comp videos.

Hence my frustration. I offered the solution to Mr. Video as well.

Though you underestimate the ability of open source. Its not as big a deal to run. Just keep someone around for contract work. I bet you DVD sales have plummeted. How do you regain that lost revenue? You adjust to a new environment and way of doing business.

Times they are a changing. And if people rip your videos and post on youtube and you lose their viewership.

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[King]

...just to watch you are paying a lot of money to lose credibility, customer appreciation, and possible revenue. Especially when your customers are telling you exactly how to make them happy. How often does that happen?

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[newcheerdad]

My experience is more in UI development than video hosting, so I'm not going to get into a Vimeo vs. Brightcove argument, other than to say that I haven't really had issues with the videos on Varsity.com. In theory, King's correct in that you could probably use Vimeo provided you could create as many accounts as you wanted. (because you're going to want videos available from past years, aren't you?)

The bigger problem for me is that varsity.com is a horrendous website and the video navigation is pretty much worthless if you're not using IE.

 

[Jessica]

My experience is more in UI development than video hosting, so I'm not going to get into a Vimeo vs. Brightcove argument, other than to say that I haven't really had issues with the videos on Varsity.com. In theory, King's correct in that you could probably use Vimeo provided you could create as many accounts as you wanted. (because you're going to want videos available from past years, aren't you?)

The bigger problem for me is that varsity.com is a horrendous website and the video navigation is pretty much worthless if you're not using IE.

oh is that why it is so bad ? hmm oh well i have a mac aka no IE

 

[MissBee]

At 5G pr video...they wouldn't have to CUT THE MIDDLE OUT!!! That drives me freaking batty. Because, you could have two teams that when you show the beginning and end-look to be equally matched, but when you cut out the middle and one team busts all over the mat there, you don't see it and the standings don't make any sense!

 

[Ashley]

At 5G pr video...they wouldn't have to CUT THE MIDDLE OUT!!! That drives me freaking batty. Because, you could have two teams that when you show the beginning and end-look to be equally matched, but when you cut out the middle and one team busts all over the mat there, you don't see it and the standings don't make any sense!

Again, I really don't think they're cutting out the middle because of space or bandwidth. I really think it's probably a contract. The video companies probably think people won't buy their videos if they can see the whole thing online.

 

[King]

Again, I really don't think they're cutting out the middle because of space or bandwidth. I really think it's probably a contract. The video companies probably think people won't buy their videos if they can see the whole thing online.

Good news. We don't buy the videos anyway cause someone somewhere with an iPhone recorded it and shared it hidden on facebook or youtube. They have actually created the underground video trade because they are so restrictive.

Think 21st amendment. Think Napster.

Think there is a way to capitalize on this and MAKE money and people happy instead of pissing them off.

 

[CGAcheer]

does anyone have stats on the popularity of Dartfish for Cheersport or the stats from Worlds subscriptions. I would think that those two numbers would be good indicators of the success they would have on moving to a subscription based video service. I would gladly pay $10-$25 possibly more for uncut videos for the season

 

[Ashley]

Good news. We don't buy the videos anyway cause someone somewhere with an iPhone recorded it and shared it hidden on facebook or youtube. They have actually created the underground video trade because they are so restrictive.

Think 21st amendment. Think Napster.

Think there is a way to capitalize on this and MAKE money and people happy instead of pissing them off.

Well I'm not saying it's right to do that or that snipping 30 seconds will ensure that people buy videos (obviously it won't). I think this is just video companies grasping at straws, rather than changing their business model to one that works. Shoot, Jamie Christian is giving out photo cds now.

If Varsity has signed a contract saying they won't do X,Y, and Z, then they can't do it. But I would encourage Varsity, and I'm sure they're already thinking about this, to renegotiate their contract when it's up. Use your suggestions - put up a paywall and charge users for unlimited access. Offer shortened versions for free. And give video companies a cut of the profit if that makes them happy.

 

[cheermomfootball]

Though you underestimate the ability of open source.

I agree - the ability and power of open source.

 

[newcheerdad]

Good news. We don't buy the videos anyway cause someone somewhere with an iPhone recorded it and shared it hidden on facebook or youtube. They have actually created the underground video trade because they are so restrictive.

Think 21st amendment. Think Napster.

Think there is a way to capitalize on this and MAKE money and people happy instead of pissing them off.

This industry is screaming for a Netflix-like model, where you can get high-quality cheer video streamed to your PC, mobile devices, XBOX's etc. for a monthly fee.

 

[yojaehs]

Again, I really don't think they're cutting out the middle because of space or bandwidth. I really think it's probably a contract. The video companies probably think people won't buy their videos if they can see the whole thing online.

That's not what Varsity representatives are telling their customers. They are telling their customers that space/bandwidth is too expensive. At least that is what I (customer) was told by MULTIPLE Varsity representatives, as well as Varsity TV personnel.

 

[cheermommaRN]

This industry is screaming for a Netflix-like model, where you can get high-quality cheer video streamed to your PC, mobile devices, XBOX's etc. for a monthly fee.

A hundred shimmies to you! I work nights and there is many times on my nights off that I would like to do nothing more then watch the whole senior 5 division from NCA...but I can't unless I want to miss all of the stunts sections or troll around on youtube all night. I would love to be able to access comp videos whenever on my pc or wii, Netflix currently charges $8 a month...I would happily pay that....

 

[King]

Space is VERY cheap. Bandwidth I can see, but, it all depends on what service you use.

OR, let us go a different approach. PUT EVERYTHING ON YOUTUBE! It wont cost a dime! It will host in HD. You have an interface on Varsity.com. You can turn off embedding so they have to go to youtube.com to watch the video and have your advertisements there? I'm throwing out million dollar ideas here hoping one will stick.