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Vimeo is the really interesting case for me, because they are the white label hosting providers for a large number of niche streaming services -- Criterion Chan
by BryantD 11mo ago
Vimeo is the really interesting case for me, because they are the white label hosting providers for a large number of niche streaming services -- Criterion Channel comes to mind, for example. Evernote failing is sad but lower on indirect effects. Vimeo going down would leave a noticeable hole in the streaming world.
- muglug 11mo agoVimeo won’t “go down” anytime soon. It might get worse/more expensive, but it’s not in imminent danger. And it’s also not the only white-label provider around, either.
- hobofan 11mo agoFor customer facing streaming sites they also don't seem to be the clear default choice. I think dropout.tv is one of the few "secondary streaming services" to still be with Vimeo (and with the strong overlap in their networks I'm sure they got a good deal), while many other ones like Nebula evaluated them but went with other providers. It looks like the majority of their business is in employee training portals for megacorps.
- magarnicle 11mo agoThe Nebula apps are pretty bad. Vimeo white label has issues but the app experience is much better than whomever Nebula are using. One reason Vimeo is a good deal is that they charge for video transcoding by the minute, not by the file size. So you can upload full ProRes 4K movies and it doesn't cost the earth.
- BryantD 11mo agoI dug in a bit and did a little research. Criterion and Dropout, as mentioned, use Vimeo. So does Arrow's streaming service (cult films, mostly). From there on in it gets even more fringe: Taskmaster (the British game show) has a streaming service built on Vimeo, the Z-movie titans Troma and Full Moon Features use Vimeo, and so on. So not insanely crucial but I still think it's a better world in which those services can keep doing what they do.
- mikeryan 11mo agoBending Spoons also bought Brightcove so they actually own two of the white label streaming providers. Would not be surprised to see the two merged into a single service.
- BryantD 11mo agoYes, there are alternatives. Nonetheless, the niche streamers I'm thinking of would find it a moderate burden to move to a different provider and they're operating on slim margins as is.
- Mistletoe 11mo agoIs this why Criterion streaming quality is so poor? It’s completely unacceptable for a service that is supposed to pride itself on loving movies and preserving them. Sometimes the scene will be dark and I will descend into some sort of weird 8 bit pixel world.
- MangoToupe 11mo agoIs there any streaming option with non dogshit quality?
- walletdrainer 11mo agoFor streaming movies and TV at reasonable prices? No, but you can DIY with Plex and get Blu-ray quality
- mystraline 11mo agoDont do Plex! Closed source that leaks what you upload to Plex. And they're owned by big media - so only time they start suing users for files they know they have. Instead, check out FLOSS server Jellyfin!
- rewsiffer 11mo agoThat’s alarming. Do you have any sources where I can learn more about this?
- delecti 11mo agoWhat does "uploading" have to do with using Plex? As far as I was aware, My media is sitting less than a meter from me right now. Does Plex upload my content to a server without asking or something?
- red-iron-pine 11mo agoPlex has a lot of dubious partnerships with companies like Lionsgate and Kliener Perkins but is not owned by Big Media
- darknavi 11mo agoDropout as well I think.
- jayofdoom 11mo agoYep. Vimeo is the tech infrastructure from the original collegehumor, and Dropout still uses it.