Topic: New Streaming & Dwnld Videos? (Read 68048 times)

Christopher Sanderson · « **on:** April 16, 2013, 06:08:03 pm »

The Lu-La shopping cart and download system needs updating. Our ZenCart system is clunky and not very intuitive for new users. I believe it costs us sales.

I believe we should also offer a streaming version of our videos in addition to the stand-alone download files. Give customers the choice.

I have been searching around for an off-the-shelf solution and have not found very much.

So far the best solution is the most expensive: build it yourself as Lynda.com or Larry Jordan have done. Alas, the cost is very high - too high!

The other outfit we are considering is Leaping Brain. They offer most of what we want for a healthy slice off the price a user pays for the videos - fair enough!

I would be interested in comments about the Leaping Brain system and their approach - especially if you have been a customer.

Christopher Sanderson · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2013, 11:49:43 am »

Still looking at alternatives...

Vimeo now has a streaming/queueing/download option for paid subscribers which looks like it may work. Any user comments? The comments on Leaping Brain were not overwhelmingly numerous

kaelaria · « **Reply #2 on:** May 05, 2013, 04:58:11 pm »

YouTube has had Rental options for a long time

Christopher Sanderson · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2013, 05:52:28 pm »

Let me know if you see International paid distribution & Download. I don't see it.

kaelaria · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2013, 06:12:09 pm »

Aw crap on a stick - it's US only.

Jeff Magidson · « **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2013, 12:15:19 pm »

Quote from: Chris Sanderson on April 16, 2013, 06:08:03 pm

I would be interested in comments about the Leaping Brain system and their approach - especially if you have been a customer.

Chris;

I purchased a few guitar lessons through "Leaping Brain". I like the LuLa system much better! With LB, you have to view the videos in the LB viewer. The actual video files are hidden on my computer (to prevent me from copying them?), which I find annoying. When ever I go to view my LB videos, It has to do an online authentication.

~ Jeff

http://artslidesboston.com

Christopher Sanderson · « **Reply #6 on:** June 18, 2013, 01:38:58 pm »

Thanks for this Jeff. I queried LB and here was their partial answer:

"Once you've registered on a computer and have the product listed under My Stuff with all the media, you can be offline to view the content."

They seem keen to help and would like you to contact them if the problem persists.

We are still looking seriously at the LB system. One disadvantage is the workaround needed to view on a TV - basically the TV has to be a computer monitor - easy on a TV hooked into the HDMI of a Mac but more problematic in other situations.

Jeff Magidson · « **Reply #7 on:** June 18, 2013, 03:09:14 pm »

Quote from: Chris Sanderson on June 18, 2013, 01:38:58 pm

Thanks for this Jeff. I queried LB and here was their partial answer:

"Once you've registered on a computer and have the product listed under My Stuff with all the media, you can be offline to view the content."

They seem keen to help and would like you to contact them if the problem persists.

That may be, but on my Mac, the video files are definitely hidden. The whole LB system is very proprietary and locked down by design. Your current system is much more transparent and flexible for the user. For example, I put all my purchased LuLa videos in a iTunes playlist, much to my liking.

~ Jeff

Nigel Johnson · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2013, 01:07:11 pm »

Chris,

Having bought most of the LL videos I would be very unhappy if the downloaded videos were only usable in a proprietary viewer. It sounds as though this is the case for Leaping Brain and such a move would make me think very hard about buying future videos from LL.

Regards,
Nigel

PS I am currently in the middle of viewing the LR5 tutorial and looking forwards to the next instalment of the LLVJ.

Christopher Sanderson · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2013, 06:09:36 pm »

The LB 'Propritary Player' is simply a Lu-La branded version of VLC player I believe - so full QuickTime functionality. The advantage of it from a users point-of-view, is the availability of everything you have purchased in one place across multiple machines - and access to all the other Lu-La videos in one place (IOW, in-app purchase) plus live streaming if required.

Since we are in the testing stage, I would be very keen to hear all and any objections.

Chris

Robert-Peter Westphal · « **Reply #10 on:** June 23, 2013, 02:21:42 am »

Hi Chris,

I'm verry sorry sorry, but I also dislike it. I've bought many LLVJs as well as many Lightroom and print to screen to... videos.

The pros of the existing way of publishing is that you can copy the videos to any device and play it on a big TV set.

Is forbidden copying and theft such a big issue for your and your very specialized video that it is worth putting 'mantraps' on every customer ?

Robert

davidgp · « **Reply #11 on:** June 23, 2013, 07:48:20 am »

Hi Chris,

While you keep the option of downloading the videos as you do right now (maybe using other kind of shopping cart since you want to improve it), I will not care too much about which streaming system are you going to use. I will simple not use it and not really eager for you to change to that...

I usually download everything, put it on my iTunes, and them syncing on my iPad (wifi version, not 3g/4g one). Usually I watch the videos when I got a bit of free time and not got many other things to do, such as when I'm traveling by plane (due to my work, quite frequently) no internet connection there, but my iPad has the videos in its memory...

And to say the truth, I always hate when watching a video on-line it starts buffering all the time, I just stop watching the video and get annoyed...

Regards,

David

Dave (Isle of Skye) · « **Reply #12 on:** June 23, 2013, 05:59:24 pm »

Quote from: Chris Sanderson on June 22, 2013, 06:09:36 pm

Since we are in the testing stage, I would be very keen to hear all and any objections.

Chris

I agree with what is being said here. I have also purchased and downloaded all the LLVJ's and a some other Lula videos as well, which I then copy to a USB stick and watch on my TV, which has a USB socket. This means I can watch the videos sat comfortably in my armchair while 'leaning back' as opposed to 'leaning forward' to watch them through a smaller and less comfortable to view monitor.

Back in my university days, the net and computer games etc, were described as a 'lean forward' technology, whereas watching TV was described as a 'lean back' technology and even though I know there is a bit of crossover in some of the content being made available via Lula, the LLVJ's for me at least, are definitely of the latter ‘lean back’ type, so I would always like to have the option to download them and watch them on the TV from the comfort of my armchair and without having to be connected to the Internet. So while I can see the merit of offering streaming for things such as the LR5 videos, where the user may wish to be at the screen and working along with each section, the LLVJ's (for me at least) are more for entertainment than instruction, even though I know there is general photography instruction contained in there, they are mainly something to watch and enjoy, rather than trying to 'lean into' to study and work along with. So it is definitely the download option for me please.

I also think that the people here on Lula, are very loyal to Lula and is the reason that (as far as I am aware), the LLVJ's have never appeared on any pirate sites (I may wrong of course, but I have never heard any reports or rumours of this happening).

However, if piracy was part of the consideration for streaming rather than download, perhaps some sort of high level encryption and password protection being added to the download files would help?

Either way, I would still like the option to download the files in full if at all possible and the option to pay the full price up front as a ‘one off’ perpetual use fee, rather than smaller but repeated streaming fees.

Perhaps you could offer smaller repeat fee streaming to the world to expand your customer market, but the full download option only to members, who are registered and have supplied sufficient details to validate this process?

Dave

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2013, 08:15:09 pm »

Quote from: Dave (Isle of Skye) on June 23, 2013, 05:59:24 pm

I agree with what is being said here. I have also purchased and downloaded all the LLVJ's and a some other Lula videos as well, which I then copy to a USB stick and watch on my TV, which has a USB socket. This means I can watch the videos sat comfortably in my armchair while 'leaning back' as opposed to 'leaning forward' to watch them through a smaller and less comfortable to view monitor.

Back in my university days, the net and computer games etc, were described as a 'lean forward' technology, whereas watching TV was described as a 'lean back' technology and even though I know there is a bit of crossover in some of the content being made available via Lula, the LLVJ's for me at least, are definitely of the latter ‘lean back’ type, so I would always like to have the option to download them and watch them on the TV from the comfort of my armchair and without having to be connected to the Internet. So while I can see the merit of offering streaming for things such as the LR5 videos, where the user may wish to be at the screen and working along with each section, the LLVJ's (for me at least) are more for entertainment than instruction, even though I know there is general photography instruction contained in there, they are mainly something to watch and enjoy, rather than trying to learn into to study and work along with. So it is definitely the download option for me please.

I also think that the people here on Lula, are very loyal to Lula and is the reason that (as far as I am aware), the LLVJ's have never appeared on any pirate sites (I may wrong of course, but I have never heard any reports or rumours of this happening).

However, if piracy was part of the consideration for streaming rather than download, perhaps some sort of high level encryption and password protection being added to the download files would help?

Either way, I would still like the option to download the files in full if at all possible and the option to pay the full price up front as a ‘one off’ perpetual use fee, rather than smaller but repeated streaming fees.

Perhaps you could offer smaller repeat fee streaming to the world to expand your customer market, but the full download option only to members, who are registered and have supplied sufficient details to validate this process?

Dave

I am in complete agreement with Dave (my emphasis added). I have no use for streaming anything. I always download so that I can watch on my own time, not having to worry about whether my ISP will have a stroke in the middle. I have bought most of the LuLa videos, and I often go back to sections of them to refresh my memory.

Dave's "full download option only to members, who are registered and have supplied sufficient details to validate this process" is a great idea.

Eric M.

AFairley · « **Reply #14 on:** September 06, 2013, 08:20:56 pm »

I also agree with Dave. I like being able to watch the tutorials I've purchased on any of my multiple platforms without having to worry about streaming or DRM limitations.

degrub · « **Reply #15 on:** September 06, 2013, 09:42:32 pm »

Chris,

I have been with LLVJ for a while and have purchased a copy of many of the tutorials.
If this is change for the sake of a refresh, it would not motivate me. I have no need of the services of LB or similar.
If the site takes a jump to LB, please provide a ftp server that we can get to for downloading.
Otherwise, just like with Adobe, i will decline to participate.

Frank

Eric Myrvaagnes · « **Reply #16 on:** November 07, 2013, 09:53:29 pm »

Having seen reasonable answers to most of the early objections to the new system, I just tried it out with the purchase of the new video on Norway. I downloaded the Purple player OK, and then set up my new account in the new LuLa store and bought the new video. I then had to download the Purple player a second time, because there was no link on the site to restart it or even to tell me what name the player has (hint: it isn't called Purple.)

But that was minor annoyances, easily straightened out.

I the chose to download the video and then play it. Which worked fine except for one BIG annoyance. I like to watch LuLa videos full screen on my PC's monitor, and the Vimeo video does have a button labeled "full screen," but there was no way I could get the video to play in full screen mode, nor was there any thing available on the player's "option" menu that would have enabled it.

The result is that there is a player which operates only as a fraction of my monitor's screen, and it runs the video in a tiny window that won't enlarge.

I have no interest whatever in watching videos on an I-thingy or any other tiny screened device. I want to watch them using at least 90% of my monitor's screen.

If this is going to be the standard for all future LuLa videos, then I will not be able to make use of them. I hope this can be corrected, and soon.

Robert-Peter Westphal · « **Reply #17 on:** November 08, 2013, 12:28:31 am »

It is a Bit off-topic, but where did you find a video on Norway on Lula ?

Best wishes

Robert

kaelaria · « **Reply #18 on:** November 08, 2013, 01:59:47 am »

It's an old 2005 vid/clip. And Eric I would bet $20 you are simply missing the button to go fullscreen. No way others wouldn't have already complained about such a thing.

michael · « **Reply #19 on:** November 08, 2013, 06:50:33 am »

The new Norway video will be officially announced later today.

Michael

The Full Screen button (a four way arrow) is the same place as it is on Youtube and Vimeo; lower left of the play bar.

Author Topic: New Streaming & Dwnld Videos? (Read 68048 times)