Hosting video on website

[Parkwaytech]

A second vote for Vimeo. I'm moving our videos over there, and so far it is fantastic. They have some nice advanced features too.

[TenYardFight]

I use Vimeo plus for this.

[Jobrien]

Not sure what you are trying to accomplish as an end goal, but what you want can be accomplished using Microsoft Expression Encoder for free..

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/..._Overview.aspx


Now, depending on what the customer wants, and this might just be a passing fad, that will help you accomplish it.

If you are looking for a "server" go and sign up for the Free Amazon web services cloud computing. Their free tier is great. Basically a windows 2008 server, or a linux server that is completely yours to do as you wish.

Amazon Free Tier Info

Start up a server, Install the encoder, upload the video, Link it from a webpage and watch it... If the customer is happy.. tell him what it costs, if not set it up on youtube and tell him to inform his customers to click X to skip the ad..

[Technik]

On YT, if you own the video then I believe ads can be disabled. Can't remember right now if you need to check off a box in the video's details or if that choice is made in the channel's preferences for all videos. Also, if you want to keep it somewhat private, on YT that is, and not show up in searches you could also mark the video as unlisted so the only way to find it is to know the URL. There is also a private option per video but that option is 50 user limited and requires an invite so not so helpful in this case.

When embedding the video on the client's website there are a number of player parameters you can also use to control the look of the player and the way it functions. Can't post links yet but a quick search on the Google Developers site will give all the details on player options. Quite simple to set up and should be able to satisfy your client's needs including different quality settings etc. and since it's YT, you don't have to worry about bandwidth or server status. As already mentioned, Vimeo is worth checking out as well.