Introducing VideoPress for WordPress

VideoPress is a one-click WordPress.com upgrade that allows you to create streaming high definition videos on your blog, or anywhere on the web. You can even create an instant video podcast right from your blog feed.

Comments

69 responses to “Introducing VideoPress for WordPress”

  1. Francis Panganiban Avatar
    Francis Panganiban

    Awesome! Is there a possibility that this feature will soon be WordPress.org plugin? Millions of other users need this!

    1. You can subscribe to VideoPress on a WordPress.com blog, upload your videos there and then embed them on your self hosted WordPress blog.
      The Video framework itself is open source and available for download at the WordPress.org extend site.

      1. Yoav says:

        “The Video framework itself is open source and available for download at the WordPress.org extend site.”

        Could you provide a more explicit pointer? Should I be looking under “Plug-Ins”, “Themes”, “Ideas”, “Kvetch!”, or what?

    2. Francis,
      We are going to develop a WordPress.org plugin for this feature.

  2. I wish WordPress.org saw these same kinds of cool features. Or that WordPress.com offered more control/customization for hosted accounts. I told Matt I’d rather give him $40/mo than MediaTemple. :/

  3. Can we add a watermark to the video too?

    1. I’m afraid that’s not possible yet.

    2. fixator Avatar
      fixator

      I think you could if you edit your video on a program that provides for this…I think!

  4. maranr Avatar

    I cant seem to find where you can subscribe to this service if you have a self-hosted blog.

    1. You need to have a WordPress.com blog where you can purchase the upgrade, and upload your videos.
      Later on you can embed those videos into your self-hosted blog.

    2. We are working on a wordpress.org plugin for this feature.

  5. amazing, does it mean it is time to get rid of youtube on our wp blog?

    1. fixator Avatar
      fixator

      Yes! Way better quality and quicker…at the moment.

  6. This looks like really neat – I’m going to have to give VideoPress a go.

  7. This feature is tempting me to shift from WP.com to WP.org!

  8. @Nutronic. You should use Cam Twist, you can add it there. You then run the Cam Twist first, before hitting record.
    http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31806

    Hope that helps.
    Dave

  9. adsimple Avatar
    adsimple

    Looks very cool! thanks mate!

  10. WordPress.org blogs might want to check out Kaltura’s open source video plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-video-pack/

  11. GSAdvRdr Avatar
    GSAdvRdr

    What is the advantage of using this over say, You Tube to host and then play videos from within my hosted .org blog?

    thanks –

  12. omeany2 Avatar
    omeany2

    Seems to me what would be helpful and simple is a plug-in that allows users to add video/embed from the interface on a self-hosted WP, but is actually is uploading to a wp.com account with the video upgrade. That way you wouldn’t have to go back and forth between the two to manage your videos.

    Know of anything like that available yet?

    1. We will develop such feature in the future.

  13. I like the idea of being able to put HD videos on WordPress blogs. This is a really great idea. Being open source makes it even better – I’m sure people will be building on the capability of this ‘upgrade’ to do even more cool stuff.

  14. Charles Avatar
    Charles

    I couldn’t play/tolerate your video because of the buffering pauses. I only have Extended DSL (500kbps download) If you’re really savvy, you would tweak your video for a wider audience. That is possible, you know. DSL is the very best I can get where I live (I’ve had Hughes net sattelite and their ‘fair use policy proved unacceptable to me, especially in light of what I was paying them for my small business).

    Of course, if you only want to address users with very high speed internet, then I would appreciate an up front announcement to that so as to save me time and bother with YOU.

  15. En Soph Avatar
    En Soph

    Cool!
    Is this real streaming type or progressive download type?

  16. fixator Avatar
    fixator

    I am using this…was one of the lucky ones who got the year for free..and I must say…brilliant! The coversion time is quicker than that of vimeos plus, which I am a member of! Good job people! Absolutely worth it…would rather have paid here than..well..there!

  17. About time, this should be good it’s important for wordpress to have their own media player, now its the most popular open source, and its important to have good video streamers and even audio, cant still believe they don’t have proper MP3 player.

    come on guys, what about the music lovers, not everyone is good at writing essays of BS on blogs.

  18. shawn Avatar

    I am glad to see wordpress finally, and I mean finally thinking about video. I’ve spent the last number of months really torn about whether or not to actually launch my mu network.

    At first I was going to use my socialmedia setup as it’s video converting system is fantastic. However the blog portion sucks.

    Then I found wpmu and for obvious reasons I like the blogging aspect better than any other software avail.

    I just don’t understand how a husband wife team of two can put together a complete video/audio/photo system utilizing streaming servers, and video conversion, yet a company the size of automatic can’t.

    Anyhow, I hope to see this plugin made available. There are a number of us out there with dedicated video conversion servers as well as flashcomm clusters for true streaming.

    Thanks for finally getting around to media with wordpress.

    congrats

  19. Hailin – wonderful! This is just what I’ve been looking for. Do you have an approximate timescale for when it could be available for self-hosted users? I mean, to the nearest month?
    THANKS!

  20. upload your files they host it not us

  21. missjava Avatar
    missjava

    wow..m so pleased with that..
    thanks ..

  22. Michael,

    What program did you use for the screen cap? The text is so amazingly sharp!

    Thanks for putting this together. Fantastic!

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Thanks! I record the screen with Screenflow; animate text and anything else in After Effects; and edit with Final Cut Pro. Hope that helps!

  23. En Soph Avatar
    En Soph

    How can I remove or change W watermark logo from player?

  24. niiiice… will be interesting to see how this stacks up against http://vimeo.com/plus down the road. love the lil jazz touch though. brings memories of good ol’ classic wordpress =)

  25. Great find. Its going to great.. One thing is for sure..Bandwidth will become a factor for many small companies is hosting cost may soar or this could also keep the wanna be hoster at bay.
    Anyway, I think its just another cherry on top for wordpress!
    Keep up the great work.. now its time to prevail..
    peace

  26. nourino Avatar
    nourino

    can i ve an rss playlist with videpress?

    1. mrdwpman Avatar
      mrdwpman

      have you got this to work yet?

  27. Streaming HD has been the holy grail of video on the internet. The only one I have seen done right are the HD streams at abc.com (watching LOST episodes). Custom s/w and dedicated servers and network means a costly solution (to have a real stream, not a buffered download). I was excited to see videopress, but it looks like the HD bandwidth is not there. We have broadband at the office and the stream did not adapt to the bandwidth. I went to abc.com and tried one of their HD episodes and it played nicely.

  28. tommyl Avatar

    Does anyone know how to get in touch with Videopress customer support. I tried last week and have heard nothing.

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      VideoPress is a WordPress.com service – the WordPress.com support contact form can be found here. Is this where you made contact?

  29. mrdwpman Avatar
    mrdwpman

    i still can’t figure this out. installed the plug in. no information about how to upload the videos? any help or a how to video?

    1. You need the a WordPress.com blog with the VideoPress upgrade to use the plugin,

  30. Nice plugin!! Not sure I want to spend $59.97 just yet but the player is very cool.

    Be nice if they offered 1 video for FREE, at least we could test it out and try it before we spend 59 bucks. If I could test it with one video or screencast and I liked what I saw, I would probably purchase it right away.

    I’ll stick to using the JW player for now.

  31. If this video is any indication of smooth play, I think it needs lots of work , cause this video isn’t exactly playing smoothly right now . Its stopping and going so much its difficult to even know what this guy is trying to explain.

    1. Are you running into skipping/stuttering even after the entire video has loaded to the player? Are you seeing the problem both in SD and HD or only in HD?

  32. Wow, I didn’t know this feature was a possibility with WordPress. I’m gonna seriously consider adding it to my WordPress Blog. I wish the plugin price was a little more appealing…$60 isn’t what I wanted, but hey, if it does what it appears to, then it will be a $60 well spent. Thanks for posting the VideoPress clip. Gives me something to think about.

  33. Great new stuff for our wordpress blogs. Thanks for sharing.

  34. Thanks mate , looks nice

  35. When are you going to make it effecient enough of a stream that a dsl user can stream even the medium quality video? Right now if you have a dsl connection only the lowest quality 400px wide version of the video will stream without interruptions.

  36. How do you add ‘description’, ‘flavor’, ‘date’, ‘categories’ to the videopress videos like on wordpress.tv??

    1. We actually use a set of custom taxonomies and attach that information to the “post” of the video. You could accomplish much the same thing on a WordPress.org installation, but not on a WordPress.com installation with some quick code.

  37. Erny Saenz Avatar

    Hi, Can i subscribe in iTunes on a wordpress.org blog, taking videopress?

    1. By pasting the RSS feed URL into iTunes, you can indeed subscribe to a blog using VideoPress. Just locate the feed by looking for the “RSS” link on the page, using the RSS icon in your browser’s address bar (most modern browsers do this), or viewing the source of the site’s home page. Then, go to iTunes and go to Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast. Paste in the URL for the feed and click OK.

      The feed should show up in your list of podcasts and it should begin downloading the most recent shows/videos according to your subscription settings.

  38. This is a good idea but… its only at 720p from what I gather from thr promo video above so not the best HD but close. I do think its a shame that you HAVE to host the videos with WordPress and cant just use the plugin fully on your own server, I dont see the point of paying all that money when its not the only service for wordpress that does video. Its a good start but I think I will wait till its either a full plugin thats free or is better than other options already avalible free.
    Keep it up guys

  39. Is a user able to use the plug-in on multiple owned sites via one purchase, or would purchases need to be made for each site?

    1. VideoPress is purchased on a per-site basis on WordPress.com. If you are using it on external blogs, you would need to purchase it for one WordPress.com username, and then you can use it on any number of self-hosted WordPress blogs, however.

  40. I have my video stored on a wordpress.com blog, and I embed it on a self hosted wp blog.

    Why can’t I get rid of the embed option when I post to my self hosted blog?
    I don’t want to share it with the public, just myself. 😉
    Thanks

    1. Currently, the embed code is all-or-nothing: if you turn it on to embed it on your own self-hosted site, you can’t turn it off. We’re working on an update to give you an option to do what you ask here.

  41. @Yoav: The link is dead for the VideoPress Server plugin. I couldn’t even find it while searching either.

    Any idea on when we’ll be able to host our own videos?

    1. You can still reach the Trac for the framework.

  42. Great new stuff for our wordpress blogs. Thanks for sharing..

  43. If other users embed my videos, is my web site credited for the viewer in stats and by Google ads etc…?

    1. No; but VideoPress does provide video stats using WordPress.com stats so you can track how many people are viewing them and where the video has been embedded. You can also disable embedding of your videos on other sites using VideoPress’ easy settings if you wish.

  44. Can you post videos in a sidebar so they can be a thumbnail look and then click and play over the page? Like a shadowbox type thing?

    1. It’s not possible to do this with VideoPress.

  45. Hi Ryen – can you (or anyone) recommend an optimal setting for exporting from Final Cut Pro in preparation for ingestion into VideoPress?

    1. Michael Pick Avatar
      Michael Pick

      Your best bet would be h.264 (MP4, or MOV), as VideoPress will crunch into MP4 anyway (along with an OGG copy for the browsers that don’t like MP4). In FCP/Compressor, the YouTube droplet does a pretty good job, as will the various MP4, optimized for streaming droplets. VideoPress tops off at 1280×720, so its worth taking any 16:9 footage you have higher than that (1920×1080) for instance, and bringing it down in size to save some bandwidth. You’ll want to keep your bitrates reasonable to avoid choking less powerful machines or less than stellar connections.

  46. Shahinaz El Ramly Avatar
    Shahinaz El Ramly

    Does video press in wordrpess themes help me to upload videos for courses, I mean can I teach online courses on wordpress video press option or plug in, and just launch them to students and how many students it allows? I mean the quota and number of attendees?

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Published

May 13, 2009

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videopress 9
WordPress.com 131


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