February 3, 2009
soupsoup: Dalas, I appreciate what you guys do and by far you have the best user interface of any video community on the web, but I am constantly frustrated by how long it takes to get my videos up on the site. I’m not technical enough to know why it takes so long, but neither are most people who simply like to shoot videos and want to upload them. All they know is “oh crap, its going to take an hour to upload this 5 minute video?” Are we simply not at the point technologically to be able to upload a video, at worst, in twice as long as the length of the footage is? It’s true that right now our user base is growing extremely fast, which puts a strain on the transcoding machines. We can’t just “turn on” more machines, we have to buy more licenses for the transcoding software. We’re working to address that and developing a new system that will allow us to scale more efficiently. We’re running this as a fiscally responsible business, so we’re not going to just shell out thousands of dollars on more transcoding licenses if we have no way to pay for it. That’s why we’re developing a system that relies more on open-source software. However, if the argument here is about professional-level services, what professional wouldn’t pay $59.95 to be able to skip to the head of the transcoding queue? That’s what Vimeo Plus offers. Professionals spend tens of thousands of dollars on equipment, and paying $5/month for Vimeo services seems reasonable.

soupsoup:

Dalas, I appreciate what you guys do and by far you have the best user interface of any video community on the web, but I am constantly frustrated by how long it takes to get my videos up on the site.

I’m not technical enough to know why it takes so long, but neither are most people who simply like to shoot videos and want to upload them. All they know is “oh crap, its going to take an hour to upload this 5 minute video?”

Are we simply not at the point technologically to be able to upload a video, at worst, in twice as long as the length of the footage is?

It’s true that right now our user base is growing extremely fast, which puts a strain on the transcoding machines. We can’t just “turn on” more machines, we have to buy more licenses for the transcoding software. We’re working to address that and developing a new system that will allow us to scale more efficiently. We’re running this as a fiscally responsible business, so we’re not going to just shell out thousands of dollars on more transcoding licenses if we have no way to pay for it. That’s why we’re developing a system that relies more on open-source software.

However, if the argument here is about professional-level services, what professional wouldn’t pay $59.95 to be able to skip to the head of the transcoding queue? That’s what Vimeo Plus offers. Professionals spend tens of thousands of dollars on equipment, and paying $5/month for Vimeo services seems reasonable.