vimeo

Video upload

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Arushi Gupta

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Video trends

_**“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.”**_ - Stewart Brand, Writer

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Picture yourself in your office or home, daydreaming about your next thrilling vacation. Two options lie before you: flipping through a travel booklet, or immersing yourself in captivating videos showcasing breathtaking landscapes, mountains, oceans, delicious food, vibrant cultures, and more! If you had to choose, you will surely choose the second option, because let’s all agree, videos are far more realistic and give you the right information quickly. !

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But there are various formats to videos, and video-on-demand is one format in which videos are consumed today — thanks to video-on-demand (VOD) platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Hotstar, and more. 

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Now what are VOD platforms in the first place and how do they work? Let’s find out. 

## What is VOD?

Let’s first understand what is on-demand. On-demand is something that is desired for or wanted. Similarly, [video-on-demand](https://api.video/what-is/vod-video-on-demand/) or VOD is any content format that gives the audience the power to watch it whenever, wherever, and however they want. It can be found anywhere on the internet for any purpose — be it entertainment, online learning, or e-commerce. Since VOD is streamed through the internet, there is no intervention of cable or satellite connections unlike traditional broadcasting methods. 

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And that is what makes VOD so popular and also, so convenient to use. 

## What are the benefits of VOD?

Now that we know the meaning of VOD, let's look at some of its important benefits.

### VOD offers enhanced engagement

With VOD, you can create multiple videos for your products and services, providing proper descriptions of their features and functionalities. Attendees can watch, understand, and learn about your offerings through these on-demand streaming videos. Moreover, it is a common habit for people to watch various videos, read content, and then make product comparisons before making a decision. This provides you with an opportunity to capture the attention of a global audience for your products and services. 

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_**Did you know?**_

According to a 2022 study by [Wyzowld](https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/), it was found that a massive 94% of marketers agree that video helped them understand a product or service better. It was also noted that 88% of people had been convinced to buy a product or service after watching the brand's video. Not to mention, the study also found that 96% of people watched an explainer video to know more about a product or service.



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### VOD is convenient for your business

Video on demand allows your audience or customers to watch content according to their will. There are no restrictions on place and time, and they can watch the video as they wish. The best part is that unlike most other general broadcasting services, VOD platforms’ availability is not restricted to certain geographical locations, so viewers from around the world can stream content. 

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_**Did you know?**_

[77% of Americans](https://www.statista.com/statistics/949965/pay-tv-streaming-satisfaction-rate/) report being happy with the convenience and flexibility of streaming video on demand, while [71% discarded cable TV](https://www.statista.com/statistics/319924/reasons-not-have-cable-usa/) as they can easily find the content they want online. 


### VOD tastes like freedom

VOD platforms offer the freedom to create content with complete control, free from advertisers' guidelines and restrictions. Producing videos-on-demand allows you to share your authentic self with the world. With just an idea, a camera, and an internet connection, you can craft the perfect video content for your product or service, ready to be showcased on your app or website.


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### VOD offers better opportunities at lesser cost

Video-on-demand proves more budget-friendly than hosting a virtual event or live streaming content. As opposed to livestreaming where you can be online for just a defined time — like a day or a week — video-on-demand has no restriction on the availability of your content and that allows people access to your content for a larger duration of time.


## What makes a great VOD platform?

There are various aspects of a good VOD streaming platform. Let’s see what they are.

### 1. Customization with a white-label video player

The foremost focus of your product lies on branding. It is always great to have logos, images, and colors to maintain your brand's prominence by white-labeling your videos — and a good VOD platform should let you do that with ease. 

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At api.video, you get complete control to showcase your brand and [stand out with our customizable video streaming API](https://api.video/blog/product-updates/white-labeling-api-video/).

### 2. Content delivery network (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) is like the backbone of a VOD platform. A CDN plays a crucial role in delivering videos with minimal buffer time to your users across the globe, making sure they can enjoy smooth and speedy streaming.

### 3. Digital rights management

[Digital Rights Management](https://api.video/blog/video-trends/what-is-DRM/) (DRM) is a tech tool that safeguards your content from piracy and unauthorized sharing. A good VOD platform usually has a DRM solution that lets you create videos and restrict their viewership to private or public. 

### 4. Multi-user access

A multi-user access feature provides custom access controls and user permissions within your business and for each target audience group. With the [help of built-in safeguards, a good VOD platform](https://api.video/blog/product-updates/workspace/) lets you share your workspaces with other members and collaborate on a project. 

## How is VOD different from live streaming?

The best way to describe the difference between VOD and live streaming is to understand real acting vs. reel acting. In theater, there are no second chances; what happens on stage is the final act. On the other hand, movies and series permit multiple takes, extensive editing, and color correction before producing the final video. Similarly, VOD empowers you to shoot, edit, and upload videos at your pace, granting you the freedom to pause, play, rewind and fast forward. 


VOD seems to be clear winner though - Gif

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On the other hand, live streaming lacks such options since it takes place in real-time, untouched by editing. If you see the broader aspect, live streaming is a subset of VOD as live videos can be watched on demand by the viewers at a later date. 

If you are wondering which one’s better, we would say both of them can be combined for a wholesome business package. While VOD offers convenience and accessibility, live streaming is more engaging for the user. 

## Is VOD the right option for you?

In a word, YES. There can be a lot to do in this era of online marketing, but video-on-demand can change your brand in a lot of ways. It is attractive because it grants you complete control over your videos without adhering to advertisers' guidelines. With the ability to shoot, edit, and upload at your own pace, VOD caters to diverse needs and audiences. Viewers can indulge in on-demand content, pause, play, and revisit their favorite moments at their convenience. 

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In a nutshell, VOD is an excellent way to connect with your audience and make a meaningful impact that can go a long way in your business’ growth but you need to evaluate your content goals, target audience, and desired level of control to be able to decide if it is the right option for your business. 

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_If you are looking for an API that lets you integrate videos seamlessly to your product, checkout api.video. With usage based pricing that does not burn a hole in your pocket, lightning fast encoding and a developer friendly API, you get everything you need at api.video to [integrate VOD in your app or website](https://api.video/product/video-on-demand/)._

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_[Sign-up](https://dashboard.api.video/register) for a free sandbox account or [take a look at our features](https://api.video/features/) now!_

What is VOD (Video On Demand) and how does it work?

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Case Studies

ULift, a mobile-based coding education[ company,](https://www.ulift.inc/) provides students with access to the coding education app 'Coding Valley' to improve the coding capabilities of those who want to start an IT startup. With their app and services, you can conduct coding lectures and also practise anytime, anywhere on your mobile phone without having to set up a complicated environment or install a separate program.

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With api.video, they wanted to provide VOD features to their users and were facing problems in distributing them in good quality. 

## Challenge

While ULift  excelled in creating high-quality videos, the challenge lay in efficiently delivering them to users. Recognizing the need to focus on their core competency, they were looking for a solution to streamline video distribution without compromising on quality.

## Solution

Enter api.video. Api.video helped ULift to deliver videos to their users in the desired quality. Api.video was also the perfect solution for them unlike other competitors because of its,

- Intuitive console 
- Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
- Robust [support for mobile natives](https://docs.api.video/sdks/player#mobile) 

Their previous attempt with Wistia fell short due to the absence of support for Adaptive Bitrate Streaming in mobile applications. Api.video not only addressed this gap but surpassed expectations with a seamless, user-friendly experience.

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api.video's pricing policy also aligned perfectly well with their needs, and we were able to give them what they needed without breaking the bank.

## Achievements

Since implementing api.video, ULift has experienced a paradigm shift. They are free from the complexities of video distribution and the team can now channel their energy into enhancing content quality. The intuitive features and Adaptive Bitrate Streaming have also resolved distribution hassles, allowing ULift to offer a superior VOD service to its users.

## Recommendation

When asked what stood out for their team about api.video, they pointed out two things:

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- Firstly, they appreciated the fact that unlike some competitors whose charges escalate with the number of videos, api.video's pricing does not change with the number of videos. And that suited ULift’s case since they had numerous short videos. 

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- Secondly, they applauded the continuous support and prompt assistance they received from our team whenever they were stuck.

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Overall, here's what they have to say for api.video,

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_**“The combination of intuitive design, supportive assistance, and competitive pricing makes api.video a top choice for those seeking excellence in the video streaming domain.”**_

## Way Ahead

In summary, the collaboration between ULift and api.video stands as a testament to how a strategic video streaming solution can empower businesses to thrive in the digital landscape. With a focus on continuous improvement and the pursuit of higher content quality, the partnership of Ulift and api.video is poised to play a pivotal role in ULift's ongoing success. 


_Start using api.video now by [signing-up](https://dashboard.api.video/register) for a free sandbox account._

How ULift leverages api.video’s VOD services for its coding education app

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Husband and wife team Didier Duffas and Valentina Zatevalneva dreamed of building their own digital dance academy - Neva Ballet. Their goal was to make it possible for people around the world to experience the magic of dance for fitness and health. Focused on classical dance techniques and the strength and beauty of Russian ballet, the classes would be open to anyone with the desire to learn. 

## The right video tool for the Job
There were just a few hurdles standing in the way of their dream. Neither one of them had built a website before and they had no previous developer experience. Additionally, for video they needed a way to create a high quality recording for playback. They wanted something simple to implement, that would be cost effective and easy to manage. They started with Wix and Zoom. Wix's easy-to-use interface made it possible for them to create their own ecommerce site and Zoom allowed them to live stream all of their classes to a small group.

There was just one problem - the live streams. While they were great for live teaching, they wanted to offer customers a **high quality playback** of each class as well as create a backup if anything happened with their Zoom recording. 

This led them to api.video. 

api.video offers high quality HLS live streams that look great in playback, customizable players, easy implementation and reasonable prices. With these three tools combined, their digital dance academy began to take shape.

## Video recording set-up

> "Our job is to provide to our customers online classes in different disciplines based on ballet and all the physical preparation of ballerinas. Valentina used to be a ballerina in the national state ballet in Russia," Didier said. 

To bring the couple's vision to life, Didier set up an ecommerce website with Wix and then turned to setting up their classes. For the video recording implementation, he set up Zoom meetings with recording enabled. Next, he created a [live stream](https://api.video/blog/no-code/start-and-record-a-live-stream-of-your-zoom-meeting/) with api.video, then added it to the Zoom meeting. Any time Valentina opened Zoom to start live streaming a class, she would speak with the class, then when it was time to begin, she cut everyone's mics but her own, started her live stream with api.video, and then with Zoom. 

Didier described the typical class set up for us: "The teacher has the camera filming giving the lesson and at the same time she can see the gallery of Zoom for the images of the students. All our members are not doing live at the same time and we advise them to make live classes sometimes just to participate so we can give feedback. But we mainly use the replay and that's the reason why also we use api.video -- <ins>because we need to provide them with high quality video for the replay.</ins>" 

They decided to offer the Zoom playback alongside the high-quality api.video playback. Students had access to either playback as many times as they wanted for one week after the class. 

## No code video implementation
With their implementation together, the digital dance academy [Neva Ballet](https://www.nevaballet.com/) was born. They have now been in business for one year, and they offer classes in nine different disciplines, with subscription and a la carte purchasing models available. They have multiple channels for their live streams, and they've not only made it possible for students to take classes from anywhere, but to do so affordably. A monthly subscription to classes starts at 35 euros while others charge double with lower video quality. Individual classes start at 15 euros. Another perk the couple found is that they can teach the classes from anywhere. 

They also found their no-code implementation tremendously valuable because it meant they could manage the site on their own. 

> "We never had any developer. I didn't know how to make a website one year ago. I do everything by myself...It's really cool...For us it's very important because we are autonomous and we can do things...ourselves," Didier told us. 

By not needing a developer except for some help with a menu arrangement in Wix, Didier said they are able to keep costs low, quickly respond to problems and implement improvements. 

> “It would be very complicated for us if we had to ask a web agency or web developer to work for us. Since one year I have made so many changes and we are really in A/B testing mode. I put something, I see a change, I correct it," Didier said. 

The couple hopes to grow their digital academy over time, with more classes and teachers, and they look forward to doing so with the help of api.video. 

> "api.video will help us to evolve." --Didier Duffas


To find out how you can build your own online business with video content, [contact us](https://api.video/contact/) or [sign up](https://dashboard.api.video/register) for an account and try one of our many tutorials and demos.

Case Study: building a digital dance academy without coding

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Case Study: How api.video helped a couple build a digital dance academy without coding

[InEvent](https://inevent.com) is a virtual and hybrid event platform that started by building innovative technology to help organizers with in-person enterprise events. Their goal was to integrate a vast array of tools and data on a single platform including websites, emails, registration scheduling, QR codes and more. If there’s something an organizer needs for an in-person event, InEvent offers it. Their product was distributed  in the US, expanded to Europe, and then Covid struck. In-person events were at a halt, so they decided to expand their offering to include virtual events. 

## Planning for Live Streams
When InEvent decided to produce virtual events, they knew that they would need a way to offer live streams. They needed to be able to reach thousands of people with high quality video footage in real-time and provide that video for on-demand playback later. 

“We have customers doing multiple sessions at the same time and they have thousands of users watching those sessions. We needed a platform to do a quick RTMP to HLS stream option that we could use on the fly. That’s what api.video does. We needed recordings with adaptive streaming quality. We chose you guys to be one of the providers, because we are growing and we need to have multiple providers for different locations,” said Mauricio Giordano, CTO of InEvent.

Using api.video, InEvent was able to quickly set up high quality live streams and make use of the recording feature, which allows for high quality HLS playback. InEvent uses WebRTC for a number of their sessions, but in order to broadcast those sessions to hundreds or thousands of people, they use an RTMP stream. And it’s this stream that gets saved so event attendees can come back to rewatch event sessions later or catch a session that they couldn’t attend in real time. 

“We create a composite video from a webRTC session. Let’s say you have a meeting with 4 or 5 people, we need to get the video feed of each person and compile them into a layout. Then we need to create an RTMP stream. Then, you guys give us an HLS that we can distribute to thousands of people,” Giordano explained. 

## InEvent and api.video
Something InEvent finds extra useful about working with api.video is that it’s one of the few companies in the video space that creates simultaneous mp4 and HLS recordings. This allows InEvent to offer content for immediate download once everything has been recorded. 

Now that Covid is slowing down a bit, Giordano says that InEvent will transition to offering hybrid event solutions. Their virtual event capabilities will be offered as part of their in-person events. The goal is to create experiences where people online can join in-person events from their computers and comment, chat and interact with the event in real-time. Along the way, api.video will be there to help provide beautiful video viewing experiences for everyone.


How InEvent used api.video to produce events

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Case Study: How InEvent used api.video to produce virtual and hybrid events

Based in Paris, [Coverd](https://www.coverd.co/) is a company that offers smartphone insurance. And they’re revolutionizing their industry. 

Where other coverage providers only offer insurance from date of purchase, Coverd can offer plans for post-purchase smartphones. According to one of their co-founders, Nicolas Schwartz, the company got its start based on a single observation - that smartphones are a key part of everyday life for people everywhere, and a lot can happen to a smartphone. 
Anything from losing the phone, breaking it, drowning it, you name it, smartphones are susceptible to many disasters great and small. And the insurance for them, if you’ve ever tried using it, is all about the insurance company getting out of paying for damages to your phone. This is not the case with Coverd. They’re a low-cost, completely online option that covers all risks, and doesn’t make the user commit to anything. 

So where does api.video come in? Let’s find out. 

## The need to centralize video content
When Coverd was first starting out, they needed a way to document damages to user phones. 
Because the company is completely online, they required a simple, effective way to ensure customers weren’t committing insurance fraud. 

“*We started with photos at first*,” said Nicolas Schwartz, co-founder and CTO of Coverd. “*Then we moved to video, but it was very manual. We collected videos through email or chat. It was complicated to centralize all these videos, and sometimes the size was too big to be sent through email*.” 

## Finding the right solution
Coverd needed an easy-to-implement, high quality video solution that centralized their claim information. 
This would allow them to process more claims, and more easily check the damage on their customers’ phones. 

That’s when they discovered api.video. 

They knew that they wanted a video on demand solution where customers could upload videos of their damaged phones from anywhere. Once they had their design in place, they turned to api.video. “*The documentation was clear and the API was easy to use, so we were able to finalize our integration quickly*,” Schwartz said. 

Two key features that were important to Coverd were keeping the [videos private](https://api.video/blog/product-updates/video-access-management-how-to-create-deliver-and-manage-private-videos-and-what/), since only their back office would use them for claim evaluation, and [fast transcoding](https://api.video/blog/product-updates/api-video-encoding-times-2h-2021-edition/) and upload. 

api.video delivered on all fronts, and continues to be a part of their revolutionary smartphone insurance solution. 

If you are interested to know more about our end-to-end solution and how you can integrate videos into your own product, you can ask questions in our [community](https://community.api.video/) or [create a free account](https://dashboard.api.video/register) to get started.

How video helped Coverd to improve their customer support

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Case Study: How video helped Coverd to improve their customer support

Covid may have made it difficult to teach classes in person, but it doesn't mean you have to stop teaching altogether. You can continue offering lectures, coaching, yoga, martial arts, dance, and other classes that require in-person teaching by using [live streaming](https://api.video/product/live-stream/) and VOD (video on-demand). There are many benefits that video content can add to your business. We'll go over them as well as some of the tools for getting started with an implementation.

<center><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/ggE6o7MVcv7HsTLD0P" width="480" height="270" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/basketsfx-online-streaming-live-stream-ggE6o7MVcv7HsTLD0P">Everyone loves live streams.</a></p><br></center>

## A few statistics about video 
<center><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/TJP7EH5i1fB2rKeWbf" width="480" height="480" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/socialbakers-TJP7EH5i1fB2rKeWbf">Let's take a look at some video statistics!</a></p><br></center>

If you're driven by statistics when you're making a decision, here's a few great ones about video content! Views of live streams are way up. People are interested in all kinds of content, from entertainment, to fitness, to self-help, you name it, they're more interested in watching it online. According to StreamElements
live streaming has 100% growth year over year, with lots of newcomers wanting to see live streams. Now is a chance to capture your own audience from these new viewers. According to MediaKix: 
* The streaming industry is estimated to reach 124.6 billion by 2025. 
* 80% of people would rather watch video than read. 
* Ad views on live video streaming grew 56% year over year since 2018. 
* Live video that uses a Facebook style format - where you're able to post comments while someone streams - produce 6x more engagement than regular videos.

If we're talking about video on demand, there's a lot of great benefits there too. According to WordStream: 
* 45% of people watch more than an hour of videos on platforms like Facebook and YouTube every week. 
* One-third of online activity is spent watching video.
* 85% of the US internet audience watches videos online. 
* 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI. 
* Social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined. 
* People would rather watch a video than read to receive information.

<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/T44ySovbJOW2Ka2pka" width="480" height="270" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/stickergiant-sticker-giant-T44ySovbJOW2Ka2pka">via GIPHY</a></p>

Because video viewership is way up, now is a great time to start producing your own content.

## The benefits of your own website for video content
The first question you probably have is why host your video content on your own website instead of posting your stuff on YouTube? The main reason is the degree of control you have over your content. Places like YouTube are convenient and easy to use. If you choose to host your video with a provider like api.video, it's a bit more work, but you get more control and potentially more money.

Video content can help your business earn more money. Photo by Sharon McCutcheon 

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You'll be able to:
* Brand your content however you like. You can have a [customized player](https://api.video/product/player/) and custom pages for how you present your content. 
* Make use of more options for how you monetize your content with ads. You can run ads on the page around your content, combine with a player that lets you run ads before, after, or sometimes in the middle of your video depending on what you want. And you can potentially choose what ads will run. 
* Charge customers per video or class, or a subscription for access to more. And best of all, you can decide how you will limit access. You can have public videos and live streams or videos and live streams that only some people can see. 
* Use session analytics to find out which of your videos are most watched. 
* Use session analytics to find out if customers and students are watching your content. You can organize analytics data from most to least active student using our dynamic metadata tags.
* Experiment with your layout and content based on analytics to see what works best for your site.
* You can be sure that viewers will see only your content, not a collection that includes your content potentially mixed with competitors (this can happen on public sites where you share video).
* Combine api.video with low and no-code tools like Zapier. Want to send students an SMS or an email when there's new content? Set it up with Zapier. Or, code something yourself. api.video is flexible and offers great SDKs and documentation making it easy for developers to implement.
* Improve video quality. You can create a VOD version of a live stream for playback and depending on your setup, offer your customers a higher quality VOD experience. Sometimes directly saving a live stream can lead to a lower quality VOD because it's in WebRTC. 

You may be able to get some of these benefits from a site where you can easily upload content, but bear in mind that there is a cost to this. You get less flexibility, and you have to provide a cut of your earnings in exchange for the simplicity of having everything managed for you. 

## Live streaming and its benefits
[Live streaming](https://api.video/product/live-stream/) is a way to share video real time. It's grown in popularity for everything from gaming to teaching yoga, to presenting a college lecture. Some potential benefits of live streaming are: 

* You can include a chat section where people can post comments and questions. This may help students who are more shy speak up. If your class is activity-based, you can include personalized attention after a class ends, where you go back and help students individually with their questions. Or, you can view their comments as they come in, and answer them as part of your class.
* You can save the live stream as a video, so students who couldn't attend your class can view it later using video on demand playback. This can potentially increase the number of students you have, by making your teaching available whenever it is most convenient.  
* You can record a live stream and then schedule it to play at a set time (though, if you choose to do this, you won't be able to answer questions real-time). 
* You can use analytics to figure out who watched, who didn't, what's most popular, what concepts might have been problematic, and more.

## VOD and its benefits
Creating videos directly or saving a video version of a live stream is useful because you can make your class content available for review at any time. Some potential benefits are: 

* Students can rewatch content they don't understand as many times as they like.
* You can split live stream content into shorter videos, making it easier for someone to absorb course content. 
* Viewers can play the content any time they like.
* You can decide what access will be available.
* You can use analytics to figure out who watched, who didn't, what's most popular, what concepts might have been problematic, and more.
* You can reach out to students based on the findings in your analytics. If someone watches a lot, maybe you can ask if they'd like to be more involved. If someone isn't watching, you can ask what would help them find time for the videos, or if there's anything they need help with. 
* If you allow viewers to comment on videos, you can offer personalized responses as needed. 

## Popular ways to live stream 
Let's walk through some options for live streaming for you to consider. We'll go over the benefits and drawbacks.

### WebRTC (Zoom, Google, GoToMeeting)
If you plan to teach or give a talk real-time for a small group of people where you want everyone to be able to chat back and forth, you can use a webRTC solution. WebRTC is used in products that allow real-time chat, and is beneficial because of its low latency. A standard way to do an online class or lecture, is to invite everyone to a meeting, present real-time, and allow people to chat or respond as they wish. The benefits are everyone can easily communicate with one another and see one another on video. The drawbacks include: 
* The saved recording of the meeting will be of low quality. WebRTC trades off quality in exchange for low latency. 
* If you have a big audience, they can't all attend since webRTC doesn't easily support this.

### HLS 
You can create high quality live streams easily with HLS. The trade-off is that there is a bit more lag, so it's not used as often for two-way video chat. When you use an HLS live stream, you'll find that a common method for interactions is to include typed chat. People can type their questions to be reviewed and answered close to real-time this way. The benefits are the video is of high quality, making it great for playback, and you can stream to many more people than with webRTC. The drawbacks include:
* It lags too much for video chat.

## Solutions to live stream drawbacks for WebRTC and HLS
A great way to handle draw backs in HLS and WebRTC is to combine the formats into one experience. You can give an interactive WebRTC based meeting for a core grop of viewers and then stream the call over HLS to reach more users. For users watching the HLS stream, you can still provide interactivity by allowing typed comments that can be collected and responded to as needed. 

By doing things this way, you also get a higher quality stream (HLS) for playback later. 

## Putting it all together 
To create a complete experience, you'll probably want some or all of these features:

Consider good, low-cost tools for WebRTC such as: 
* Zoom
* Google 
* GoToMeeting 
* WebEx

Be aware, over a certain number of users, and a certain amount of time, additional charges may apply for each of these services.

Consider a service to help you transcode, create, and deliver VOD and live streams, one that allows you to: 

* Upload, transcode and manage videos or live streams
* Create and deliver live streams in HLS to reach more viewers
* Restrict access to VOD or live streams 
* Integrate with other tools, for example adding HLS recording to a WebRTC app
* Keep cost down 

api.video is a great choice, and we offer developer tools like SDKs, clear API documentation, numerous demos, a [community forum](https://community.api.video/) and direct help with your code if need be. To get started, here's a few demos you can check out or have your developer check out:

* [Available SDKs](https://docs.api.video/) - See what languages we offer SDKs in.
* [Livestream a Video](https://a.video/works/livestream-a-video) - The basics of live streaming a video straight from your browser.
* [Upload a Video](https://a.video/works/upload-a-video) - How to upload a video.

Online class with live streaming & video on demand playback

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The benefits of teaching classes online with live streaming and video on demand playback

api.video is an end-to-end api service for video.  Upload your video, and we’ll transcode it into a stream, host it, and also provide a player that you can easily embed into your site for video delivery.  In this post, we're going to walk through a number of frequently asked questions we receive in regards to how developers might integrate with our video on demand service.

Most developers are used to creating a full fledged service by connecting several different products (maybe libraries A and B, services C and D) and combining them into the product they actually need.  As a result, we are often asked if we can provide just one piece of the video delivery pipeline.  In many cases, we CAN provide that one "bit" to do that, but we like to ask questions to see if perhaps using more of our end to end service makes sense.



schematic of the api.video video pipeline

schematic-api-video-pipeline-2.jpg



One common question is whether or not we can just provide video transcoding.  This leads to frequently asked question 1:

## Q1:  Can I just save the mp4 or download the streaming video files?

Of course, this will lead to two possible responses:

### I want a mp4

api.video delivers an optimized mp4 at the same size of the uploaded video (max of 1080p).  If you upload a 480p video, we’ll optimize it for you, and give you that 480p mp4.  mp4 files are great for short videos (and for downloading onto a customer’s machine for local playback), but for longer videos - using mp4s for playback on the web has its [disadvantages](https://dougsillars.com/2019/11/15/video-playback-metrics-new-synthetic-testing-tool-streamornot/).  

Sometimes, when we are asked if we can deliver multiple mp4 videos (in several sizes). Currently, this is out of scope for us here at api.video, but we like to know *why* developers want many different mp4 versions:

#### Can I get many mp4s?

Often, this is done to support multiple devices: mobile devices will be served the smaller 480p or 720p video, while desktop and larger would get 1080p video.  This is an admirable approach - but the best way to support multiple sizes of a video is though video streaming. Read on to learn why!

### Can I just download the video stream?

When we create a video stream, we create up to 6 different sizes of the video (240p, 260p, 480p, 720p, 1080p and 2160p).  On playback, our video player (or any other video player), can choose the correctly sized video for the screen - negating the need for multiple versions of the same mp4 file.  Where streaming video provides better performance over a static mp4 file because video streams can adjust playback based on the available network speeds - switching between versions of the video DURING playback, if the network slows down or speeds up.

We can provide the streaming files for you - but, first:

## Q2: Where should I host my videos?  

Video files are big (even when optimized!).  If you self-host your mp4 videos/video streams, your hosting/delivery costs will go up.  You might even need more server capacity (further raising your delivery costs).  We’ve done the math, and our hosting and delivery costs are cheaper than [hosting and delivery through Amazon S3](https://api.video/compare/amazon-web-services/)! (Factor in the added advantage of not having dedicated engineering support from your development team, and it becomes an even better value).  

We know that cost is often a determining factor in any development endeavour. But, perhaps even more important than cost, if you host your videos at api.video, you’ll have a team of infrastructure engineers who specialize in worldwide video delivery handling your videos. In addition to simply hosting your videos, we provide a fast worldwide CDN - ensuring abundant caching at the edge of the internet, all around the world.  This means that your videos will be delivered to your customers quickly with very little latency (and no effort on your part).

This is often a deciding factor - not needing to engage with the backend team, or having to create an entire video delivery infrastructure is a major lift, and greatly simplifies all video delivery.  

Speaking of video delivery:

## Q3: Which player should I use?

Video streaming requires a player for playback (HLS video is only natively supported in Safari).  If you already have a video streaming player, you can simply plug in the HLS manifest from our API, and you’re ready to go.

If you have not yet developed a video player - our API also provides a player url (and an iframe version for the web). This url includes the api.video player and the video - and can be simply plugged into your existing application - no player development required!  (You can, of course, customize the player to match the colours and look and feel of your application for free).


Ok, so we've sorted video creation, hosting, delivery and playback. But, 

## Q4: How should I measure video playback?

If you decide to use the api.video player, we’ll automatically collect analytics on each session (even recording the user, or other unique characteristics).  We also know about each interaction with the player - so you know how much of the video each viewer saw.

## Conclusion

Once we’ve asked these questions, we often find that the additional services api.video provides *are* services that the customer requires. They realize that using one end-to-end solution is less complicated, easier and requires less development time than connecting up a service using several providers, one for each feature.

If you have questions about the best ways to build out your video delivery process, please feel free to reach out to us in the [api.video community](https://community.api.video), and we’ll be happy to chat about how our services can best suit your video delivery needs (If you’re sure all you need is our encoding/transocding service, we’ll probably still ask you the questions above - but if that is indeed all that you require - we’ll help deliver exactly the bit that you need.)


Common questions about video on demand services

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Dropbox

video api

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Neda & Aya

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Tutorials

🎉 We introduce an ultimate [video import tool](https://import.api.video/) that allows you to quickly and easily import your videos from another provider (e.g. dropbox) to your [api.video](https://api.video) dashboard. All you need is an API key and the provider’s access token. 

In this article, we will go through the reasons why you would switch to api.video streaming services and the simple steps of importing your video content to api.video. 🎬 We have also created a video demo to use the api.video import tool. 

## Why switch to api.video?

We have designed our services in a way that prioritizes the requirements and needs of your product. From playback speed and quality to a customized player, api.video ensures that your application and website maintain the professionalism that is required by a competitively savvy industry.

All video streaming services are different and don’t offer the same quality or features. When choosing a video streaming service, there are a bunch of things to consider. Here are some of the top reasons we think that you would benefit by switching to api.video 🕊️

- 🎖️ **Quality and speed** - With api.video, you ensure a seamless playback experience every time!
- 🎖️ **Easy-to-use** - api.video has a straightforward interface that makes large-scale video uploading easy. Our services are scalable and can grow with your business.
- 🎖️ Adaptive bitrate encoding **at no cost**.
- 🎖️ **Scalable** - You certainly don’t want to be in a position where your business has grown, and your streaming service doesn’t allow you to reach your growing number of users. The api.video infrastructure embraces the multi-faceted and competitive markets we live in today.
- 🎖️ **Multi-use** - api.video simultaneously lets you explore different business areas, such as social networking, educational content management, or any other video-centric and user-generated content (UGC) areas.
- 🎖️ **Adaptable** - api.video is a streaming service adaptable to multiple programming languages, so you as a business don’t need to worry about which programming language would work for api.video. Instead, we will suit your needs.
- 🎖️ **Affordable** - api.video cares for it’s customers’ businesses as their growth directly affects our growth, and our prices reflect our understanding of our customers and the market they operate in.

These were only some of the top reasons to switch to api.video. There are plenty more reasons that we are the right fit for you. Check out our [website](https://api.video/) and features to find out more! 

Do you want to switch to api.video? Yes? Then let's get started 🚀

## How to use the api.video import tool?

Our import tool is super easy to use and its intuitive interface makes it a piece of cake 🍰

By using our video import tool, you skip the hassle of manually re-uploading your videos to our services. Moreover, our video import tool is free and open-source which makes it both accessible and flexible. 

Here is a demo video that goes through the following topics:

- What you need to get started?
- How to import your videos?




### What you need to get started?

There are two things you need to do before starting to import your videos to [api.video](https://api.video); **copy the api.video key** and **get your provider’s access token**. 

1. **An api.video account**

Do you have an api.video account? No? [Sign up for free](https://dashboard.api.video/register)!

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Read more about our [Sandbox account](https://docs.api.video/reference) and our [paid plans](https://api.video/pricing/) to find a solution that suits you best.

2. **Get your source provider’s access token**

Each provider can have a different method of authorization. For some providers, it could be as easy as logging into your account, and for other providers, you may need a special access token.

3. **Go to the video import tool**

You can access the video import tool via the ["Videos" tab](https://dashboard.api.video/videos) in your dashboard.

The Import Tool is available via the "Videos" tab

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### How to import your videos?

Let’s take a look at how you can import your videos to api.video with a few easy steps!

**Step 1 - Select source**

A source is the video provider that you wish to import your videos from. For example; select Azure Media Services from the list.

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**Step 2 - Authentication**

As mentioned before, every video provider has their own authentication methods. Once you enter the authentication step, there is information about your selected source and how you can easily get the required authentication.

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**Step 3 - Video selection**

Select the videos that you want to import from the source.

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**Step 4 - Import progress**

Done! The videos are already being uploaded to your api.video dashboard and you can see their ingesting and encoding status and play the video when it’s ready.

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## Useful metadata

With each video that you import to api.video, we provide the relevant metadata that could be very useful to you. You can find this metadata on your api.video dashboard. The metadata can inform you whether the video has been imported before, the initial provider’s name, and other helpful information.

### You don’t have to worry about losing your videos!

Your video safety is our priority  👈 Our video import tool makes sure that you have the freedom to choose when you wish to delete your videos at your source video provider.  When you import your videos to api.video, your videos are imported to api.video but NOT deleted on your account with the source provider. For example, once you import your videos from let’s say Vimeo to api.video, your videos will be kept on your Vimeo account but also available on api.video. 

We hope that you found this tutorial useful and our video import tool helpful for your future endeavour! Test out our [video import tool](https://import.api.video/) today by [signing up for free](https://dashboard.api.video/register) 🎈

Switch to api.video with our fast & easy video import tool

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🌱 Our users wanted an easier way to migrate their videos to api.video. They didn't want to spend hours on the process and preferred a less technical solution. As a response to this feedback, we created a `video import tool` a few months ago.

🕰️ In a previous [blog post](https://api.video/blog/tutorials/switch-to-api-video-with-our-fast-easy-video-import-tool/), we introduced our tool for importing video content from popular providers such as `Dropbox` and `Vimeo` to api.video. Following a successful launch, we received requests from users to support additional providers. We were thrilled by the interest and worked to meet the demand, resulting in an expanded list of supported providers 📈

🔎 In this article, we'll explore some of the reasons why users switch to api.video and take a look at the latest updates to our import tool. For detailed demos and descriptions, please refer to our previous [blog post](https://api.video/blog/tutorials/switch-to-api-video-with-our-fast-easy-video-import-tool/).

## Why do our users switch to api.video 🕊️

Before we reveal the new supported providers, let's review some of the top reasons why users switch to api.video:

- Access to better customer support that's more available 📞
- Adaptive bitrate encoding at no cost 💰
- A developer-friendly API that allows for separate billings and projects for product builders with multiple customers 👨‍💻
- User security that meets the needs of educational website builders 🔒
- Branded and customizable player options for a more tailored video experience 🎬

These are just a few examples of why users choose our platform. Visit our [website](https://api.video) to learn more about how our API can benefit your business.

## Newly supported providers

🥁 Drum roll, please…  We're excited to announce that our video import tool now supports `Zoom`, `Amazon S3`, `Google Cloud Storage`, and `MUX,` in addition to the previously supported providers, `Dropbox` and `Vimeo`.

Import your videos from Dropbox, Vimeo or Amazon S3

import-videos-dropbox-vimeo-amazon-s3.png

## Importing your videos A-Z

In this section, we will go through the 3 easy steps to complete your migration process from your provider of choice to api.video.

Let’s do this….

### 1. Before you get started

🎉 Great news! You don't have to be a tech wizard to switch to api.video with our video import tool. It's super easy and user-friendly! Here's all you need to get started:

👉 Basic computer skills

👉 A laptop, of course 💻

👉 An account with api.video (not a paid customer? No worries, you can [join for free](https://dashboard.api.video/register) without any commitments or credit cards)

👉 An account with one of the supported providers with one or more videos uploaded to that account

### 2. Import your videos

a. First, create an [api.video](https://dashboard.api.video/register) account if you still need to do so.

b. Go to your api.video dashboard, in the "[Videos](https://dashboard.api.video/videos)" tab

import-tool-lp-screenshot.png

c. Select your provider from the list of options. In this example, we will select Azure Media Services. 

d. Each provider has its own way of authorizing access. 

e. Finally, select the videos you want to import from your provider and import them directly to api.video.

## Switch to api.video

api.video's updated import tool offers an easy and efficient way to migrate your videos to our developer-friendly platform. So if you're looking to switch to a video API that offers robust and powerful features, [sign up](https://dashboard.api.video/register) today and explore our range of tools and features to enhance your video product!

Switch to api.video in minutes: updates on our import tool

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Switch to api.video in minutes: Latest updates on our import tool

With the upcoming [retirement of Azure Media Services in mid-2024](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/media-services/latest/azure-media-services-retirement), you may be wondering about what to do next. But worry not, because we  have a better and a far more affordable option for you! In this article, we will discuss seamless migration options from Azure to [api.video](https://api.video), give you reasons as to why you should be doing it, and also explain to you a simplified process to execute the migration. 

&nbsp;

Let’s get started. 

## Why should I migrate from Azure Media Services to api.video?

First things first, why should you think about migrating to api.video? What is the benefit? How is it better? 

&nbsp;

Well, let me answer all these questions with some solid facts.

### 1. api.video charges you zero cost for adaptive bitrate encoding

Let’s understand this with an example where we compare the encoding of 10,000 minutes at 4K resolution. 

&nbsp;

Azure takes **$600** to encode a video of 10,000 minutes at a 4K resolution as you can see in the image below (_source:_ [Azure Pricing Calculator](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/?service=media-services)).

azure-media-services-pricing.png

On the other hand, api.video takes ZERO cost to encode your videos. Yes, encoding is completely free with api.video, whether it is 10,000 minutes of video or 20,000; 480p resolution or 4K – it is absolutely free. 
 
 &nbsp;

_Check our pricing calculator to learn more about our [pricing](https://api.video/pricing/)._

api-video-pricing-snapshot.png

### 2. **Ingestion speed with [api.video](https://api.video) is way better than that with Azure.**

Let’s understand this by uploading and transcoding the same 18.7Mb file to Azure and api.video.

&nbsp;

When you transcode a video with Azure, the time it takes to do the job is 1 minutes and 13 seconds. Note that this is just time taken for transcoding, and I have not yet included the upload time here. 

azure-media-services-transcoding-time.png

When you upload *and* transcode the same video with api.video, the time it takes to do the job is JUST 30 seconds. 

api-video-encoding-speed.png

### 3. **Ease of use of [api.video](https://api.video) surpasses that of Azure**

The process to upload, encode and transcode videos at Azure is complex and often tedious to execute. api.video, on the other hand, has built an interface and documentation that is easy to understand and quick to execute. To validate what we claim, do give the below mentioned links a read and know it for yourself. 🙂

<div id="migration-steps"/>

- **api.video:** [Upload and encode a video with api.video](https://docs.api.video/vod/upload-a-video-regular-upload)
- **Azure**: [Upload and encode a video with Azure Media Services](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/media-services/latest/asset-upload-media-how-to)


&nbsp;

Sounds good? If yes, then let’s move to the actual migration steps.


## Migration steps to move from Azure to api.video

If you’ve made up your mind to make the shift, let’s understand the migration steps involved in it to move all your data from Azure Media Services to api.video. 

You can also migrate your videos directly through our [Import Tool](https://import.api.video/). 

&nbsp;

Here's a quick video explaining how to navigate through the Import Tool.

To start with the migration steps, let us look at a ready script in Node.js for you to follow. Before you start the script, make sure you clone the Azure Media Service to api.video migration [script] from (https://github.com/apivideo/azure-media-services-api-video-migration) Github. Once you do that, you can follow the guide below.

&nbsp;

Let’s understand what the script is doing.

&nbsp;

1. The script will check for all assets in your Azure Media Service Instance
2. It will get the Storage containers and list the blobs for these storage containers
3. Because of the way Azure is encoding their videos, the script will take the file with the highest resolution (in order not to duplicate the files)
4. Once it gets the list, it will create a video object with the name same as the blob and set the source to the Azure storage URL 
5. The file will then be uploaded and encoded with api.video

&nbsp;

You can also navigate to the api.video documentation to get more information about how each endpoint works. You can also check the [api.video api reference](https://docs.api.video/reference) or the [api.video guides](https://docs.api.video/) for more details.

&nbsp;

*Note that the script does not automatically delete the files from your Azure Storage or Azure Media Services, you will have to do that manually. If you wish to keep the sources on Azure Account Storage as backup, you are also welcome to do so.*

## Using the migration script

Here are the steps to use the script to migrate from Azure to api.video.

&nbsp;

1. First, import the modules that are needed, such as:
-    `@api.video/nodejs-client` - api.video node.js client, in order to create the video object, upload and encode the video
-    `@azure/identity` - access Azure services
-    `@azure/arm-mediaservices` - client to access Azure media services

&nbsp;

2. Next, pass in credentials that you get from Azure Media Services to the client and the [api.video](https://api.video) client

&nbsp;


3. Note that in the previous step, you will also need to update the `.env` file and grab the parameters from Azure. In order to do that, navigate to your Azure Media Service, and select the directory that you would like to migrate.

azure-media-services-migration-directory.png

4. Select API keys and copy over the parameters presented in the `.ENV` pane (you can select either **User Authentication** or ****Service principal authentication)****
    
 

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5. Next, to get access to the storage, navigate to the **Azure Storage Account** → **Shared access signature**:

Azure Media Services Shared Access Signature

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7. Make sure that you generate the Shared access signature and once you have the links, copy the Blob service SAS URL link to the `.env` file. The parameter you are looking for is `REMOTESTORAGEACCOUNTSAS`

Azure Media Services Blob Service SAS URL

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8. Add the api.video API key to the `.env` file by navigating to the api.video [dashboard](https://dashboard.api.video/project-settings/api-keys) and copy the API key value

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9. Now, run `npm install` in the terminal in order to install all of the node modules
10. Run `npm run build`
11. Run `npm run start` in order to start the migration script
12. Sit back and relax 🙂

## Conclusion

Well, that was it! Yes, it was that simple. 

&nbsp;

We hope that you choose wisely as you weigh the strengths of Azure and api.video. However, if you consider factors like scalability, customization options, pricing, and developer friendly API, api.video comes out to be a clear winner.

&nbsp;

If you still have any questions regarding the migration, [book a call with us](https://meetings.hubspot.com/apivideo/talk-to-us) — we are here to help you. Or [sign-up for a free sandbox account](https://dashboard.api.video/register) to test us out for free.

&nbsp;

So, are you ready to make your life easier with this painless migration process?

Migrate from Azure Media Services to api.video

How to migrate from Azure Media Services to api.video

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In the classic movie *Field of Dreams*, a mysterious voice whispers to Kevin Costner “if you build it, they will come.”  


<video autoplay muted loop>
		<source src="https://media.giphy.com/media/gZuxOq7zSL5DO/giphy.mp4">
</video><br/><br/>


His belief of this statement completely transformed his life and drove him to build a baseball stadium in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa… and they came…<br/>


<video autoplay muted loop>
		<source src="https://media.giphy.com/media/z3WMjg3hu3ce4/giphy.mp4">
</video><br/><br/>


## If you Stream it...

You've created some awesome videos, and uploaded them to api.video.  Great work - it looks awesome.  

Here is a video that we posted in our blog post announcing our new video player:

<iframe src="https://embed.api.video/vod/viTLpKB231ATWOWjkHgi9bf#autoplay#loop" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<br/><br/>

## ...Who will come?

Eventually you want to know, how many people came to see my video?  What can I learn about them? Enter api.video’s powerful [video analytics](https://docs.api.video/reference/api/Analytics) API. Using the API, we can transfer all of the view data form our videos into our favourite database, and learn about the viewers of our videos.

Let’s start with grabbing the viewing details for a video. In this case, I’ll use this Planets video that my daughter recorded for her class on astronomy:

<iframe src="https://embed.api.video/vod/vi16NDdXmGxk5QSggW54qw0v#autoplay#loop"  frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

The url for this video is: https://embed.api.video/vod/vi16NDdXmGxk5QSggW54qw0v

First I must [authenticate](https://api.video/blog/tutorials/authentication-tutorial/) myself at API.video, and I receive an access token that is good for an hour.

With the token, I can use the videoId to request all of the view information about my video with the [analytics API](https://docs.api.video/reference/api/Analytics).  The videoId for the video is the value at the end of the url (vi16NDdXmGxk5QSggW54qw0v):




In this case, I am requesting 25 results per page, and page one of the data.  That’s actually fine, since I know there are only 19 views on this video.  

The JSON result is pretty long, but here is what one entry looks like:


To me, this is super cool.  A person in Vietnam, using Firefox on Ubuntu, watched this video in June!  And there are 18 more of these to look at and to parse.

### Demo

We have created a demo that takes a videoId and counts the country, device and browser for each view, and places the results on a page. You can try it out at [whoswatched.a.video](https://whoswatched.a.video).

In order to look at the data, I am going to suck the JSON file into Couchbase - a database that uses JSON to create a "table" format similar to SQL. This will allow me to run queries on the JSON much like one would run a database query.

### Creating a database in Couchbase:

Download and install [Couchbase](https://www.couchbase.com/) on your computer.  When the install is complete, you’ll have an admin dashboard open in your browser (on my Mac it is running on localhost:8901).  We’d like to add in our api.video JSON file into a data bucket.  To create the bucket - navigate to the Bucket section and click the "ADD BUCKET" button. I have the memory set at the minimum 100 MB (there are all of 19 entries after all!).


Great - now we have our data bucket added.  Now we’ll want to import the JSON from api.video, so we can do our analysis.  This is done in the terminal using the ```cbimport``` command:

My username is Administrator with password 123456 (Google Chrome is mighty peeved about my use of an insecure password on localhost), adding a json file into the videoStats bucket.  Each video view has a sessionId, so I use that as a unique key.

I get a success message in my terminal, and looking back at the Couchbase admin panel under Documents, I can see each entry from the JSON has been added:


Now we must index the data. In the Query Editor, enter:

Now we can do data analysis of our video views. For example, to understand the number of views per country:

That’s pretty cool!  


## Live Stream Analytics

We can do exactly the same thing with live stream analytics. Note: these only show “views” of a live stream.  If you run a live stream and no one watches - there will be no analytics reported.  Further - if your live streams are saved as video on demand (VOD) for later use - any VOD analytics are saved with the newly created VOD video, and will have no connection to the original live stream.

Let’s look at a live stream that has a number of views.  On the [api.video](https://api.video) homepage, we have a demo that allows you to livestream right from the homepage.  The live streamer then “watches” their stream in the browser at the same time that they are broadcasting - guaranteeing that every live stream gets at least one viewer (in the same location as the live streamer!)

The API call is similar to that of the VOD request, I just use the 'live-streams' endpoint as opposed to the 'videos' endpoint I used above.

### GeoLocation  


The live stream demo is hosted in North America and in Europe, and we use geolocation to direct our users to the correct server. Let’s see how well our load balancers are doing. Traffic directed to North America is on the left, and European traffic is on the right:


It looks like our load balancing is doing a bang up job. :)


Combining the two sets of data (I just created a new bucket with all the data added) allows us to see that api.video’s home page has been live streaming all around the world:


### Devices & browsers

Most of the streams are from desktop machines. All 28 phone instances correspond directly to 28 Android devices.(This is due to a limitation in Safari that prevents the demo from working on any iOS device.)  Of our Android users, we see 25 using Chrome, 1 Samsung Internet, 1 Opera (and one hidden variant.)

Desktop users are mostly Windows and Mac (and pretty evenly distributed), but also a good number on Linux/Ubuntu).


## Conclusion


The video analytics offered by api.video allow you to better understand who is consuming your content. In this post, we've walked through the steps to extract the data using the Analytics API in JSON format, and then ingested the data into a database for fast and easy queries.  

We used this data to see how the live stream demo on the api.video home page was used in July 2020.

How are you using api.video's analytics? Drop us a note in the [community forum](https://community.api.video) with your use cases!

Analytics with api.video

A chyron is the text that appears at the bottom of the TV on news channels telling viewers the topic being discussed.  You might want to add a chyron to your live stream or to your video on demand (VOD).  In this post, we'll walk through the steps to add a chyron to your video.





## Chyron a video

The application (which will soon be published at chyron.a.video) extends https://record.a.video. You can read about how we built record.a.video in a [series of blog posts](https://api.video/blog/tutorials/grabbing-camera-streams-with-mediadevices-getusermedia/).  This application allows you to share your camera and your desktop, and creates a live stream or VOD recording of what you have shared.

We'll extend this by adding an icon to the left of the chyron (in the same approach as [watermark.a.video](https://api.video/blog/tutorials/watermarking-your-videos/). We'll then add a stripe over the video that the text will appear on.

## The code

The HTML adds 2 fields to the form: one for the logo url, and the 2nd for the text to be placed in the chyron. Along with some CSS, we style the form:

```
    <div class="settingHeadings">
                Chyron<br/>
            </div>
            <div id="watermark">
                <label for="watermark-url">image for chyron</label> 
                <input type="text" id="watermark-url" value="http://localhost:3037/API.PNG"><br/>
                <label for="chyron-text">text for chyron</label> 
                <input type="text" id="chyron-text" value="Your text here.">
            </div>
```

### Starting the playback

When the stream is started, we add a few features to the canvas:

```
//chyron
        canvas.drawImage(watermarkImg, watermark_x, watermark_y);
        canvas.fillStyle='#fa4b2a'; 
        canvas.fillRect(chyron_x,chyron_y, chyron_length, chyron_height);
        canvas.fillStyle='#ffffff'; 
        canvas.font = "60px Arial";
        ctx.fillText(document.getElementById("chyron-text").value, chyronText_x, chyronText_y);
```

First we draw the icon (with variable name watermark) with the x,y positions hardcoded inthe JS.  We assume the size of the icon is 100x100.

Next we add a rectangle with fill color #fa4b2a (orange) that appears across the bottom of the screen.  

Then we change the fill color to white (#ffffff), and add the text from the form field.

These canvas events are all within a loop that fires every 20ms, or about 50 frames per second.  Since our video is capturing at a lower framerate than that, it will appear to update instantaneously.

## See it in action


In the video above, as the text on the browser window changes, so does the text in the chyron.  With 2 displays, you can now produce a live stream or VOD video with a chyron bar at the bottom of the screen.

## Try it yourself

The code for chyron a video is on [Github](https://github.com/dougsillars/chyronavideo). It's super easy to launch locally with NodeJS, and by changing the variables for the canvas colour and fill, you can easily adjust the font and look of the chyron to fit your requirements.

In this post, we've gone through the steps taken to convert record.a.video into a video with a chyron. You may have even learned what a chyron is :).

Let us know what you think, and how you've changed the app to customize your chyron in you VOD or livestream in our [developer community](https://community.api.video)

Adding a chyron to your video: Look like the news!

chyron-example.jpeg

Product updates

Did you know that once you become an api.video customer, you have the power to activate even more features?

&nbsp;

Yes, additional features we call ‘Add-Ons’.

&nbsp;

As it must be clear by the word itself, the Add-Ons offer you a wide set of ‘additional’ services that you can purchase to unlock the full potential of your video experience with api.video. The Add-Ons are primarily useful for teams looking to grow and scale faster.

&nbsp;

There are four Add-Ons that you get when you become a customer of api.video:

&nbsp;

- Members
- Custom Domains

&nbsp;

Let’s look at them one by one.

## Members

A ‘Member’ is any person who can access the api.video service. So, you can make others a member of your project and grant them the ability to access and contribute towards effective collaboration and communication.

&nbsp;

A ‘Member’ is any person who can access the api.video service. So, you can make others a member of your project and grant them the ability to access and contribute towards effective collaboration and communication.

&nbsp;

There are two types of members you can add to your projects:

&nbsp;

**Owner**: One owner can be added to a single workspace and represents the person who owns the account. He/she can view the account's billing details, change the payment method, and is the only one that can transfer ownership.

&nbsp;

**Collaborators**: It is possible to add as many collaborators as you want per account, to a project. You can invite and work together with collaborators in the common workspace.


## Custom Domains

‘Custom Domains’ is a feature that lets you stream videos or live streams from your own domain (such as videos.yourdomain.com/ or livestreams.yourdomain.com/).

&nbsp;

It lets you brand your video URL, comply with network security and increase your SEO ranking.

## How are the Add-Ons helpful

Add-Ons can prove really helpful if you wish to optimize the complete potential of api.video. Here are some of the things you can achieve with Add-Ons:

&nbsp;

- Maximise your productivity by managing your customers via dedicated customer video libraries, and inviting collaborator members.
- Maximise your efficiency by facilitating coordination between your creators, editors, reviewers, and publishers, and encourage your customers’ firewall management with Custom Domains.
- Save the extra investment on Video Asset Management (VAM), Production Asset Management (PAM), and other Digital Asset Management (DAM) tools.

## How to use Add-Ons for your business

Let me share examples of how Add-Ons can be used in three different industries. 

&nbsp;

**E-Learning:** If you are an e-learning platform or website, teachers or tutors of the platform can be added as Collaborators so that they can upload tutorials, lessons or conduct a class via live- streaming. Additionally, Custom Domains can help you manage multiple e-schools and their specific firewall requirements. 

&nbsp;

**Social Media**: If you are a social media platform, Collaborators, who are often content creators, can easily upload videos via their dashboard, allowing non-technical people to assist in the process. Lastly, Custom Domains can be used to protect and maintain the brand identity through personalized domains.

&nbsp;

**Marketplace:** If you are a marketplace, Influencers and content creators can be added as Members to your workspace and Custom Domains can be used to retain and establish the brand identity.

&nbsp;

To conclude, Add-Ons will be immensely helpful if you want to extract the maximum output from api.video tools. Use the Add-Ons to facilitate important business decisions, analyse your videos’ performance and collaborate for your ongoing projects.  

&nbsp;

_To try out Add-Ons before subscribing, [sign-up](https://dashboard.api.video/register) for a free via Sandbox account now!_

Unlock the complete potential of api.video using Add-Ons

addons_cover.jpg

Introducing Workspaces

Introducing our new dashboard - Video management made easy!

Introducing our new dashboard

Introducing Custom Domains for api.video

## Migrating your videos to api.video from another video provider like Vimeo

If you are launching a new service with video - starting up with api.video is easy - you can just start adding your videos with our API, and everything works great. The best part? You don't need to pay any encoding fees. You migrate for free without paying any entry tax - or rather, encoding fees. 

But, many of our customers have video content stored elsewhere.  They’d rather not support 2 video services, and begin looking at migration options for their videos from <old service> to api.video.  In this post, we will walk through the steps to copy any video source url to api.video.  In this case, we will use the Vimeo API to show how to access the source URL from Vimeo.

> if you are planning a large video migration from Vimeo (or any other provider), please give us a heads up so that we can ensure we have enough video encoding resources for our other customers.  


##  Getting the source url from Vimeo

To upload your videos to api.video, you’ll need to get the source urls. In this example, we’ll use Vimeo as the example provider, but many other video providers provide similar access.  

Using the Vimeo API, you’ll need to authenticate with a method that allows for [private data](https://developer.vimeo.com/api/authentication#understanding-auth-workflows), and then access the video endpoint for the video you’d like to transfer.  The [response of the query](https://developer.vimeo.com/api/reference/responses/video) will include a series of video links. 

There is a version for each encoding of the video.  In most cases, you’ll want the ```source``` url, as your original file is of the highest quality of the versions available.  Now that you have the source URL of your video at Vimeo, you are ready to transfer the file to api.video.

But, before you go ahead and do that, you might want to also access any other data you might want to bring across to api.video.  This could include the ```public_name```, ```description```, any ```metadata``` you might have saved, the ```pictures.uri``` of the poster image, and any ```tags``` you might have associated with the video.

## Create your video at api.video.

Now that you have a URL for the video, and all the metadata you might want to add to your ‘new’ video, we’re ready to [create a video](https://docs.api.video/reference/api/Videos#create-a-video-object) at api.video.  This endpoint requires a [token](https://docs.api.video/reference/api/Advanced-authentication#get-bearer-token), but if you are using one of our [SDKs](https://docs.api.video/), all you need is your API key.

When uploading a video, you’d first create the video, and then upload the file in a second step. But, we have a URL, so you can add the video source to the create API, and the video will be transferred asynchronously with just one API call.

When you create a video, you supply the ```source``` url to begin the upload, but you can also populate the ```title```, ``` description```, ```metadata``` and ```tag``` attributes straight from the data you extracted from your previous video provider.  

Once you call the create endpoint, the API call will return the videoId of your new api.video video.  You can now make a second call to the [upload a thumbnail](https://docs.api.video/reference/api/Videos#upload-a-thumbnail) endpoint with the videoId and url of the thumbnail.  This will ensure that the poster for your video is exactly the same as it was with your previous video provider.

That’s all there is to it!  You’ve now moved your first video from Vimeo to api.video, and you can automate the entire process for the migration.

## Conclusion

If you have a URL for your video’s source, you can automate the migration of your videos from your current video provider to api.video.  With just a few simple API calls, you can have all of your videos transferred to api.video with just a few calls for each video.


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