Many even think subtitles and closed captions are the same things, but there is a difference. Captions are designed to provide access to persons who are hard of hearing or deaf, while subtitles translate foreign language dialogues. The blog presents a deeper understanding of closed captions, their types, subtitles, and the difference between them.

What are Captions?

Captions are the textual representation of the audio content of a video, television broadcast, live event, or production about everything, whether it is eCommerce in Australia or else. The dialogue and all associated sound effects are displayed on the screen along with the video in real time. Captioning helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing get the complete essence of what is happening in the video. In the 1970s, captions were introduced for television and were later made mandatory under the law.

Types of Captions

Commonly, captions are of two types, Open Captions, and Closed Captions.

Open captions were used in the initial years of captioning. The open captions were ‘burned-in’ or hard-coded or embedded directly into the video and cannot be turned off. These captions are mostly used when it’s an absolute necessity, limiting the viewer’s choice. A movie theatre is an example where open captioning might be used; otherwise, those having hearing problems can miss out on the dialogue. In the 1970s, open captioning in broadcasts began with PBS’s The French Chef. Commonly used in social media videos or offline videos.

The most popular type of captioning is closed captioning. Here, the captions can be turned on and off as per viewer’s discretion. The captions are not visible until the user turns them on. Some remote controls have a caption button for better control.

The symbol for the closed caption is two C’s – [CC] which you find in the lower bottom of the video screen.

How Do Closed Captions Work?

The closed captions are embedded in the video signal and in line 21 of the vertical blanking interval. It is the section of the television signal that tells the electron gun to shoot back up to the upper screen’s left corner to start painting the next frame. Line 21 in the blanking interval region is assigned to captioning and also V-chip and time information. The closed captions are visible to the viewer when decoded by a decoder, built into the television, or using separate decoder.

During live events like the broadcast of live news on television, closed captioning becomes somewhat more challenging. After the words have been spoken, closed captioning is delivered within seconds delay. This is done by excellent stenographers who listen to the live broadcast and put down the words which are captioned to the television screen.

What are Subtitles?

Simply put, subtitles are transcription or translation of the video dialogue when sound is available but not understood by the viewer. An example is a video played in a foreign language. Although subtitles look similar to closed captions, the former provides a text form of the video dialogue with the assumption that the viewer can hear. They are categorized as intralingual subtitles (same language) and interlingual subtitles (different language).

Nowadays, many platforms combine closed captions and subtitles under the category ‘Subtitles for the deaf or hard-of-hearing (SDH).’

• SDH subtitles are intended for deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers, unlike subtitles. SDH includes additional information, such as speaker tags, sound effects, and other elements outside of the speech. They usually appear centered in the lower bottom third of the screen.
• For example, SDH subtitles will indicate audio elements such as music, sneezing or laughter. Similar to subtitles, SDH also runs simultaneously with the audio or video file.
• SDH subtitles support encoding through HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) as they are encoded as a series of pixels. Closed Captions do not support HDMI encoding as encoded in text and commands.

Difference Between Closed Captions and Subtitles

Usually, people consider closed captions and subtitles as the same, but there is a distinction.

Both closed captions and subtitles are the text versions of the audio spoken in the video. Closed captions are created for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Hence, closed captions include all the audio sounds, including background sound, sound effects, speaker changes, and all relevant sounds.

Subtitles, unlike closed captions, are created to translate the video audio into an alternate language the viewer understands. For example, a viewer who does not understand Spanish can easily watch the video with English subtitles. You may have seen movies shot in French and screened in a Hindi-speaking country with subtitles.

Closed captions more accurately convey what is going on on-screen, while subtitles are a meaningful way to translate the dialogue into another language. In both of them, the text on the screen is synchronized with the words spoken in the video.

How Closed Captions vs Subtitles Terminology varies with Countries

The meaning of subtitles and captions changes with countries. In the regions of Canada and the United States, both terms have different meanings. Subtitles are for those who can hear but cannot understand the language or when the audio is not clearly audible. Closed captions, on the other hand, are for those who are deaf and hard of hearing and include spoken dialogues and music, and sound effects.

In the UK, Ireland, and many other countries, both terms are collectively called subtitles. While for those hard of hearing, captioning becomes ‘subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH).’

In New Zealand, an ear icon with a line represents subtitles for the hard of hearing, now referred to as captions.

Importance of Multi-Language Captions and Subtitles

The global Captioning and Subtitling Solution market size is projected to reach US$ 476.9 million by 2028, from US$ 282 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 7.7% during 2022-2028.

The key drivers of the increase in the growing demand are the surging popularity of video content and the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime with multi-lingual subtitle support. These platforms, media, and all video production-related industries use multi-language subtitles and captions to reach wider audiences and make content accessible across the globe irrespective of language barriers.

Not only captions and subtitles are for those hard of hearing or non-native speakers, but they also help those who have slow-paced verbal communication or have a noisy background. Viewers can choose their language and multilingual subtitles make the content go global, breaking the language constraints.

Internet penetration has allowed worldwide access to videos on various channels. Everything from social platforms to eLearning courses is readily available in video format. Creators cannot create videos multiple times in different languages instead, videos have subtitles attached to them. Search engines like Google and YouTube use accompanying text with the video to index them.

Parasite director Bong Joon-ho in 2020 Golden Globes acceptance speech – ‘Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films’

Need for Captions and Subtitles

Improves Accessibility for people

According to the World Health Organization, by 2050, nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some sort of hearing disability. Currently, more than 5% of the global population has a hearing loss disability. With such a growing population of hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals, adding captions and subtitles increases accessibility. The people will leave the video or website where it is hosted if the video content is not accessible to them.

According to The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), civil rights law prohibits discrimination against persons with disability. Although ADA does not explicitly mention online video captioning, numerous lawsuits set legal clauses on video accessibility. The 2012 lawsuit, National Association of the Deaf v. Netflix, categorizes Netflix as a ‘place of public accommodation’ and hence requires closed captioning.

Language barrier

Providing subtitles is considerably beneficial to reach wider audiences all over the world. According to Statista, in 2022, nearly 1.5 billion people worldwide will have English as their native or second language, just more than 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers. Being multicultural, Spanish is the second most common language spoken in the United States. With such a diversity of languages, you are most likely to utilize the full potential of your content with subtitling.

Retains Viewership

Closed captioning helps to watch videos in sound-sensitive environments. In today’s time, whether commuting on public transport or keeping the content volume restricted, closed captioning is of great importance. Even when people are watching videos, they are likely to read captions if the speech rate is high or some words are unclear or unknown. It makes the video meaningful even with no sounds. It increases the retention rate and the average watch time.

Improve seo

When you host videos on Google, YouTube, or Facebook, the algorithm indexes them through the text associated with them. Also, search engines treat each language as a separate result, hence videos with SRT (SubRip Subtitle file) translations have higher search rankings. The plain-text SRT files contain important information about subtitles, (timecodes of your text to check the compatibility match of subtitles with your audio), and the sequential number of subtitles.

Improves language learning

For most of us, watching foreign language videos helps us get insight into the language. It helps gain proficiency in learning words, conversations and colloquialisms. Subtitles displayed on the screen along with the video further improve your vocabulary. In addition to the words, you get a visual element associated with them which makes you learn and remember them for long.

Subtitle and Caption File Formats

The file format of captions and subtitles depends on the website your videos are hosted on. SubRip Video Subtitle Script (*.srt) , WebVTT (*.vtt), Sonic Scenarist Closed Caption (*.SCC), Flash XML in Timed Text Authoring Format DFXP (*.xml) or (*.dfxp), PBS COVE (*.sami) and many more. The most popularly used formats for video streaming are .srt and .vtt.

SRT File Format

SRT stands for SubRip Text and is the most basic and easy-to-use subtitle format. It was initially used to extract captions and subtitles from media files using DVD-ripping software, hence the name. It contains a sequential number of subtitles, start and end timestamps, and subtitle text. Before the SRT Text format, caption files used XML-based code, which was clunky.

1. A numeric counter indicating the number or position of the subtitles
2. The start and end time of the subtitle separated by –> characters
3. Subtitle text in one or more lines.
4. A blank line indicating the end of the subtitle.

VTT File Format

The next most popular caption and subtitle file format is Web Video Text Tracks (WebVTT). The main differentiating factor between vtt file format and srt is that the former can include metadata while srt can’t. The metadata in your subtitle helps promote online visibility. VTT format was initially created in 2010 with the idea of having srt as the base and enabling HTML5 code functionalities. The features include font, coloring, text formatting, and movements across the video.

1. Chapters for content navigation
2. Text video descriptions
3. Other metadata aligned with audio or video content

How to Upload your Subtitles and Captions for Hosted Videos

According to multiple Video Hosting providers, content creators are nowadays more focussed towards the security of their video content and advanced player integration. An advanced player is the only medium through which your content can be synchronized with the attached captions. Thus it is the responsibility of the hosting provider to provide necessary functionality with the player to search and attach multiple language subtitles and captions.

Advanced hosting providers not only provide you with dashboard and APIs to attach subtitles and captions files but also DRM encryption. For example, VdoCipher provides APIs and plugins for easy integration and also you get a fully versatile dashboard for manual attachment of subtitles and captions files. The dashboard also contains security, access management, player customization, analytics and other important features required for a professional video creator.

To add single or multi language subtitles or captions through VdoCipher dashboard, you can follow the following steps.

• Sign in to VdoCipher Dashboard.
• Click on the edit button of the video where captions/subtitles are to be added.
• Now click on the subtitles tab.
• Select your desired language and upload the respective VTT or SRT file.

• This will attach the file and can be turned On during playback for that video.

Note: other video platforms like YouTube also have similar steps for uploading captions with minor differences in selection via dashboard.

You can read more about how to add subtitles to a video on one of our other blogs in more detail.

Closed Captions vs Subtitles

Closed captions and subtitles are two types of text that can be added to video content to help viewers understand what is being said on-screen. Closed captions are designed to provide a complete textual representation of the audio, including background sounds and speaker changes, making them ideal for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing. Subtitles, on the other hand, assume that the viewer can hear the audio and only provide a textual representation of the spoken dialogue. As a result, subtitles may not include important contextual information like sound effects or speaker identification. Both closed captions and subtitles can be useful for viewers who are not fluent in the language of the video, but closed captions are typically preferred for accessibility purposes.

FAQs

How to turn off closed captions on Android?

• • There are two ways of turning off closed captions on Android.
  • Go to the watch page of any video.
  • Tap the video player once to show options, then tap cc to turn on Captions.
  • To turn off Captions, tap cc again.

Or

• On an Android device, go to settings.
• Additional settings<Accessibility<Caption preferences (under hearing) – toggle
• There are even options to change caption size, style, and language preferences.

Can Captions and subtitles be downloaded on YouTube?

Yes, YouTube videos with subtitles attached to them can be downloaded as text. It could help in offline viewing, research or studying.

How to put closed captions on Netflix?

Open Netflix. Select the Audio & Subtitles icon at either the bottom or top of the screen. Choose from the languages or select Other to see all language options based on location and language settings.

Jyoti

Jyoti began her career as a software engineer in HCL with UNHCR as a client. She started evolving her technical and documentation writing skills to become a full-time Content Marketer at VdoCipher.

The post Closed Captions vs Subtitles differences, formatting and working appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Professional video hosting also allows you to track views and engagement to gauge the success of your video content. The early 2000s saw the launch of several other video hosting sites, including Google Video and Yahoo! Video. In 2005, YouTube was launched and quickly became the most popular video hosting site on the web. YouTube allowed users to upload, view, and share videos and embed them on their websites. Today, there are a number of different video-hosting sites available, each with its own features and benefits.

Introduction to Video Hosting

Video hosting is a process where video files are stored on a server. Also, video hosting is a service that allows users to upload, view, and share videos. They store and distribute videos to users. Videos can be public or private and are often uploaded to sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Vimeo. A good video hosting provider manages video data, storage servers and processing servers. This helps ensure that the videos are played smoothly and without any buffering issues. Videos can be played from the server using various protocols such as HTTP and RTSP. Businesses and organizations often use video hosting to store and share videos with their employees or customers. Individuals can also use it to store and share personal videos.

Many video hosting platforms are available, each with its own set of features and capabilities. Some video hosting platforms are free to use, while others require a subscription. Many business video hosting platforms offer both free and paid plans.

Each video hosting platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, so choosing the right one for your needs is important. For example, YouTube is the largest video hosting platform globally and offers a wide variety of features, but it doesn’t provide the same level of privacy, branding and security as other platforms.

Vdocipher, a secure video hosting provider, is an excellent option for businesses and individuals that need to host and share premium video content. VdoCipher offers Hollywood-grade DRM encryption to secure your videos from piracy and illegal downloads. When choosing a simple video hosting platform, it’s important to consider your needs and budget. If you’re just starting out, you may want to choose a free platform like YouTube. If you’re looking for more features and secure hosting, you may want to consider a paid platform like VdoCipher.

Is Video Hosting Pro Service better than hosting on Website server?

There are several factors to consider when deciding whether to host your videos or use a video hosting site. The most important factor is the amount of traffic your website receives. If you have a high-traffic website, it is essential to use a easy video hosting site to handle the traffic. Otherwise, your website may crash, or your videos may take a long to load.

Another factor to consider is the cost of hosting your videos. If you have a limited budget, using a video hosting site may be more cost-effective. However, if you have the budget to host your videos, it can be more convenient, quick, simple and offer more control over your videos via features and API support.

Finally, consider the level of customization and branding you want for your videos. If you want complete control over the look and feel of your videos, you may want to host them yourself. However, if you are more concerned with convenience and cost, a video hosting site may be better.

Why use Professional Video Hosting

Professional video hosting is a service that provides businesses and organizations with a secure and reliable platform for hosting and streaming their video content. Professional video hosting services offer a variety of features and tools to help businesses deliver their video content to their audience most efficiently and effectively as possible.

There are a number of reasons to host the video on a dedicated professional video hosting platform rather than uploading the video on a website or blog.

First and foremost, video hosting platforms are designed specifically for hosting and streaming video content. This means they can offer several features and options that are not available when hosting videos on a website or blog. For example, most video hosting platforms provide HD streaming, the ability to customize the player and tools for managing and promoting videos.

Another advantage of professional video hosting platforms is that they can take care of all the behind-the-scenes work involved in streaming video content. This includes encoding the video for different devices and browsers and delivering the video content to viewers. It frees up website and blog owners to focus on creating and promoting their content rather than worrying about the technical details of video streaming.

Finally, video hosting platforms often offer attractive pricing plans for businesses and individuals. This can be a great way to save money, especially if you plan to host a large number of videos.

Benefits of Professional Video Hosting

There are many benefits to professional video hosting, including the ability to stream videos at a higher quality, the ability to offer videos in multiple formats, and the ability to offer videos in multiple languages. Additionally, professional video hosting providers typically offer more storage space and bandwidth than a free video-hosting provider.

• Improved search engine optimization – Videos hosted on professional platforms are more likely to be discovered by search engines, resulting in increased traffic to your website.
• Increased engagement – Pro platforms offer features that encourage viewers to interact with your videos, such as comments, ratings, and social sharing.
• Improved branding – A professional video hosting platform gives your videos a polished, professional look that helps build trust and credibility with your audience.
• More control – With professional video hosting, you have more control over your videos, including privacy settings, player customization, and ad placements.
• Increased ROI – Professional and simple hosting platforms offer easy analytics and other tools to help you track your video views and measure your return on investment.

Must-have features in Professional Video Hosting

There are a lot of video-hosting providers out there, so how do you choose the right one? Here are some must-have features to look for:

1. High-quality video streaming – your videos need to look great when they are streamed online. Look for a video hosting provider that offers high-quality video streaming.

2. Expandable storage space – as your video library grows, you will need more storage space.

3. Easy video sharing – you should be able to share your videos easily with others.

4. Affordable pricing – You don’t want to break the budget to host your videos. Look for a video hosting provider that offers affordable pricing.

5. Excellent customer support – If you have any questions or problems, you should be able to get help from a customer support team.

Other features include:

• ability to customize and brand the player
• Availability of the video content in multiple formats.
• robust security features
• analytics tools to track viewer engagement
• support for live streaming

Free Hosting vs Professional Video Hosting

There are a few popular video hosting websites that will allow you to host your videos for free. The most popular ones are YouTube and Vimeo. There are a few different types of free video hosting.

One type is where the video hosting company provides the user with a certain amount of storage space for their videos. The user can then access their videos from any computer with an internet connection.

Another type of free video hosting is where the user is allowed to host their videos on the video hosting company’s servers, but they are not given any storage space. The user must then provide a link to their video or embed it on their own website or blog in order to allow others to view it.

There are a few key differences between free and professional video hosting services. The most important difference is the quality of service you can expect to receive. With a free video hosting service, you are generally limited in terms of customer support and service reliability. Paid video hosting services, on the other hand, offer a higher level of customer support and reliable servers.

Another key difference is the amount of storage space and bandwidth you can expect to receive. Free video hosting services often have very limited storage space and bandwidth, which can be a problem if you want to host high-quality video files. Paid video hosting services usually offer much more generous storage quotas and bandwidth allowances.

Finally, free video hosting services typically have very limited features compared to paid services. For example, you might not be able to customize the player or use certain advanced features. Paid video hosting services usually offer a much more comprehensive set of features, making them a better choice for serious video bloggers.

Best Quick and Professional Video Hosting Providers

VdoCipher – Secure, Easy Embed with API

Each professional video hosting platform has its own set of features and options. They provide a quick video hosting solution with integrated CDN for faster delivery and all embed/API options for you. If you are hosting premium or confidential video content, make sure the platform you choose offers the level of security you need.

DRM, or digital rights management, is a secure system that controls access to digital content. Content providers often use it, such as video streaming website, to control how users can access and use their content. DRM can help content providers protect their content from unauthorized copying and distribution. It can also help content providers control how their content is used, such as preventing users from viewing content on unauthorized devices or making unauthorized copies of the content.

VdoCipher, a secure video streaming platform, offers Hollywood Grade DRM protection to secure videos with Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM encryption. Videos streamed via VdoCipher cannot be downloaded by any internet plugin or software. VdoCipher APIs and WordPress video hosting plugin are easy to integrate and use. To play videos, VdoCipher uses a unique embed code per session. The embed code uses a short-lived access token, OTP. The OTP-based Playback in every session ensures that only logged-in paying users get to watch your premium video content.

Other Features:

• DRM Based Video Encryption
• Ready-to-Use Plugins for popular Content Management Systems (CMS)
• AWS CDN infrastructure for quick global delivery
• VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin
• Customizable smart HTML5 video player
• Dynamic watermarking
• Domain Whitelisting
• IP and Geo Restriction
• Secure Offline Downloads on Android
• Secure decryption process in addition to AES-128 encryption
• Free 30-day trial

Amazon Web Services – S3

There are many benefits to hosting videos on Amazon Web Services (AWS). First, AWS provides a highly scalable and reliable platform for video hosting. Second, AWS offers a wide variety of storage and streaming options for videos, making it easy to find the right solution for your needs. And third, AWS’s pay-as-you-go pricing model means you only pay for the resources you use, making it cost-effective for video hosting. There are a number of ways to host a video on AWS, and the best option for you will depend on your specific needs and workloads.

The AWS Elemental Media Services suite provides a number of services for processing, storing, and delivering video content. AWS Elemental MediaConvert is a file-based video transcoding service that can be used to convert video files into various formats for delivery to different devices. Finally, AWS Elemental MediaStore is a storage service optimized for video content that can be used to store and serve video files.

Other Features:

• Comprehensive video standards support
• Broadcast capabilities for live video streams
• Automated resource provisioning
• Flexible video content protection

Google Cloud Platform – Storage

Google Cloud Platform offers a variety of video-hosting options to its users. Whether you’re looking to host a small, personal video or a large, commercial production, Google Cloud Platform has a solution to fit your needs. For small videos, Google Cloud Platform offers a simple, easy-to-use video hosting solution that is perfect for sharing with family and friends. For larger videos, Google Cloud Platform offers a variety of options for hosting, including a managed streaming service and a self-service option.

The platform provides a number of features and tools to help users manage their video content, including the ability to create and manage playlists, share videos with others, and embed videos on websites and blogs. Google Cloud Platform also offers a number of security and privacy features, such as the ability to password-protect videos and set expiration dates. No matter what your video hosting needs are, Google Cloud Platform has a solution to fit your needs.

Other Features:

• Highly scalable
• Variety of video codecs and formats to optimize your video content for different devices and networks
• Cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes

Microsoft OneDrive

OneDrive is a cloud-based storage service from Microsoft, and it offers a number of features that make it ideal for video hosting. First, OneDrive supports video streaming, so your viewers can watch your videos without downloading them first. And Second, OneDrive is integrated with Microsoft’s other services, so you can easily share your videos with your friends and colleagues. The service is accessible via the web, mobile apps, and desktop apps. OneDrive offers 5 GB of storage for free. Paid plans start at $1.99/month for 100 GB of storage. OneDrive videos can be shared with others via email, social media, or embedding. The service also offers video playback and editing capabilities.

Other Features:

• Upload videos of any file type and size
• Embed videos directly into your website or blog
• Stream videos in HD quality
• Share videos with anyone, even if they don’t have a OneDrive account
• Protect videos with privacy settings
• View videos on any device, including smartphones, tablets, and computers

Dropbox

Dropbox is a great option for hosting videos because it is so easy to use. It offers a free video hosting service that allows you to upload and share your videos with others. You can simply upload your video file to your Dropbox account and share the link with others. You can also embed your videos on your website or blog, making it easy for others to view and share your content. There are no complicated settings to worry about and no need to install any special software. Plus, Dropbox is a very reliable service with a good reputation for uptime.

Other Features:

• Embed videos on your website or blog
• Access videos from anywhere
• Share videos with people who don’t have a Dropbox account
• Send Long Videos Without a Video Compressor
• Watch videos instantly without downloading them

FAQs

What are the benefits of video hosting?

Video hosting can be used to share videos with a wide audience or to provide video content for educational or business purposes. Hosted videos are typically available in high-quality formats and can be played on a variety of devices.

Can I host Videos on Google Drive for my Website?

You will not be able to embed the video for quick playback on your website. However, you can publicly share the link of the Video on Google Drive for further download or stream.

How does video hosting work?

Video hosting services store videos on their servers and provide users with access to the videos through a web-based interface. Users can upload videos to the hosting service, or embed videos from the service onto their own website or blog.

Why would I need professional video hosting?

If you run a business that relies heavily on online video hosting, then you’ll need a hosting service that can handle a large amount of traffic and offer reliable uptime. You’ll also need a service that can provide you with features like DRM encryption, video analytics and password protection.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Quick and Professional Video Hosting with Easy Embed and Simple API appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Recently, The Digital Learning Pulse Survey by Bay View Analytics and Cengage in April 2022 collected responses from 1,246 students. The survey was on how the shift towards digital learning is affecting them.

• 935 students are currently enrolled in online courses and desire to opt for more courses in the future.
• Of those students taking online courses, 62% gave online courses learning an “A.”

What is an online course hosting platform?

A course hosting platform allows you to upload your courses onto their servers and then embed them into the relevant pages on your site, where it won’t slow down your page load times. Course hosting platforms also have additional benefits, such as securing your online course videos, video analytics information, and sharing options.

If you have a website, surely you can upload your online course video files to the server and play the content on your website. But hosting courses locally isn’t a good idea. Unlike plain text or images, video files take up considerable storage space and bandwidth. Plus, there are all sorts of playback issues, buffering, latency, quality problems, device support, and, most importantly, video security. As a course creator, you won’t expect your videos to be leaked and made available on the web. Your whole earning model can be dramatically affected. These cumulative issues may lead your website not to bear the load, leading to page loading delays.

Hosting your videos on a professional and secure online course hosting platform easily cuts through all these issues. Later, you can easily add the video course to a website, web page, or social media using copy-paste the embed code with the touch of a button.

Free Course Hosting Platform

These platforms allow free video hosting with limited upload count, bandwidth limitations, and a few additional features. You might even face your website downtime, or it may not be capable of handling traffic spikes. Due to the free service, there is mostly a basic plan and no flexibility in various web hosting packages.

The free hosting platforms may seem reasonable in the initial phases of video hosting. Still, as the video requirements increase, people have to shift towards paid course hosting. Another concern with free video hosting is video security. These platforms, in most cases, won’t provide secure hosting, i.e., your videos are at risk of piracy. Anyone can download your video and make them available on the web. Even when you lose your data, there is no backup to recover them.

‘According to Eurostat European Statistics, in 2021, among all EU Member States, Ireland had the highest share (46 percent) of people aged 16 to 74 doing an online course.’

Paid Course Hosting Platform

Paid course hosting platforms have flexibility in bandwidth and storage consumption. These platforms employ the latest technologies to keep your content performance at the best possible state. Most of the paid course hosting platforms have high uptime and better management of your video content during peak surges. You can choose the paid plans based on your bandwidth requirements and the number of videos you plan to upload. Anytime the business from your end increases, there is always room to opt for a higher plan with more bandwidth and other features.

Security is one of the main factors in choosing a paid course hosting provider. Creators wishing to monetize their content or prevent unauthorized access require a secure video hosting platform like VdoCipher. The course hosted and served via VdoCipher cannot be downloaded or shared using any internet plugin or software hack. This helps secure your videos and boosts the generated revenue, and at the same time, protects from video piracy and illegal downloads.

Difference Between Free and Paid Course Hosting Platforms

Types of Course Hosting Platforms

Some course hosting platforms are designed specifically for video courses, while others are more general purpose.

1. Video course hosting platforms: Built specifically for hosting and delivering video courses. The services include video hosting, CDN-based delivery, password protection, easy-to-manage access from Dashboard, video analytics, and most importantly, video security of your premium videos.
2. General hosting platforms: These platforms host a variety of course content, one being video courses. They may lack the features of a dedicated video course platform but still deliver and manage video courses.
3. Self-hosted course videos: This means hosting and video course content delivery on your own website or server. Self-hosting may give you better control over the delivery and management of courses but requires more technical knowledge and hosting expertise. Your webpage where the courses are hosted may even suffer latency, unauthorized access, and page load time delay, which can be easily addressed by opting for a secure video hosting platform like VdoCipher.

Features of a Good Online Course Hosting Platform

Easy Embed Options

When you upload a course to a hosting platform, you require it to be placed or embedded into your website or other platforms. An embed code is used to add the video to your website, and viewers can watch the video without leaving the website. The video can easily be altered for height, frame size, and more. The hosting provider must have easy embed options with a simple embed code.

CDN-based Delivery

Content delivery networks serve content via a group of geographically distributed proxy servers. The servers create a copy and store cached information. The content is delivered via the nearest CDN instead of the origin server whenever a user makes a playback request. CDN-served courses have minimum latency and buffering and are readily available to the viewer even during the time of peak traffic. It also provides security against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

APIs for Easy Integration

To streamline and automate the workflow, the course hosting platform must provide APIs and SDK support. APIs help manage videos, enable auto upload, add interactive features to the player, customize designing, and much more. A course hosting provider’s API allows third-party tools and applications to integrate the provider’s hosting functionality and features.

Adaptive Streaming

Your course learners may sometimes encounter slow internet speed or network congestion. In such a scenario, the video quality is badly hampered, and there is buffering and latency. In ABR streaming, the video quality automatically adjusts to the viewer’s available bandwidth. The video file is chunked into variable bitrate segments. If the hosting platform lacks ABR, the viewing experience may suffer due to buffering and more load time.

Multiple File Format Support

The file format varies with device and browser. While converting a video into various file formats, often the video quality is lowered. A video may play at a low quality on one device and comparatively better on another. A course hosting platform must be capable of converting the video file into the best resolution formats for every device type.

Customer Support

The platform must provide dedicated video customer support to address any issue faced by the customer. The support channel may be email, phone, WhatsApp, or contact form. The priority of addressing the problem is what makes a good customer service portal.

Affordable for small creators as well as enterprises

The pricing model of the platform must have a range of plans to opt for based on bandwidth, storage, and other requirements. You may look for those giving free trials before choosing a higher-paid plan.

IP/Domain Restrictions

It is a very helpful feature if you want to restrict course access based on IPs. Viewers connected to those IPs are not permitted to watch the video. Course hosting platforms even provide the feature of Domain Restriction, wherein viewers in a particular list of restricted domains are blocked from watching the content.

Security

While choosing a course hosting platform, the security of your videos is a major factor to consider. You never expect your videos to be leaked or exposed to hackers or illegal downloads at any cost. Platforms like VdoCipher provide Multi DRM encryption using Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM.

Need for Secure Course Hosting Platforms to Host Online Courses

Some courses are available to the public for free, while for some, you pay in the form of on-time payment, subscription, or enrollment. For video creators looking for monetization or making the courses paid, protecting the videos from unauthorized access is important. Many viewers legally download and stream the content. This leads to huge revenue loss for the creators as the content is readily available without paying. The content makers are less motivated to create high-quality content which also affects the viewers.

‘Digital video piracy costs the US economy around $29 billion in lost revenue per year.’

Companies like Netflix have their anti-piracy team to address this issue. The device people use to download pirated content may become infected with malware which can compromise personal data.

When it comes to choosing the course hosting platform, security is one of the major deciding factors. Common video hosting platforms have standard AES-128 encryption as the video encryption protocol for video protection. In themselves, DASH, RTMPE, and HLS Encryption are not sufficient to completely secure the content. The major security flaws are Partial video encryption and the Open key exchange mechanism.

Tools like IDM and Video DownloadHelper can even download encrypted content, exploiting the vulnerability in the above-mentioned streaming protocols. We at VdoCipher use the modified and more secure streaming protocol to prevent illegal downloads, discourage screen capture and minimize bandwidth usage.

‘More than 2500 customers from over 121 countries rely on VdoCipher secure video hosting services to protect their premium video content and boost performance and revenue at affordable pricing.’

VdoCipher – Best Platform to Host Online Courses

If securing your videos is your main priority, VdoCipher is the best available online course hosting platform for your business. There can be security risks if the videos contain sensitive information and the hosting platform does not have adequate video security measures in place.

You no longer need to worry about unauthorized access to your videos or sharing because the videos are Multi DRM protected with Hollywood Grade DRM Encryption. We are a direct partner with Google and employ Google Widevine DRM and Apple FairPlay DRM to protect your videos. Apart from the highest level of video security, we offer features like Dynamic Watermarking, Secure offline download in apps, WordPress Plugin, and APIs.

Features

• Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM Encryption
• Dynamic Watermarking to brand your videos
• Domain Restrictions
• Screen capture block in Android and iOS Native App
• Secure offline downloads in apps
• Smart HTML5 Video Player with adaptive bitrate streaming, multi-lingual subtitle support, chapter segmentation via API, customizable controls, theme, and layout
• Global AWS Cloud Infrastructure
• Easy to manage Dashboard to upload and edit videos, generate embed code and view the usage of bandwidth consumption
• WordPress and Moodle Plugin for quick integrations
• VdoCipher Android SDK to integrate Google’s Safetynet to added video protection

FAQs

What is a course hosting platform?

A cloud-based platform to upload, store and share course videos. These platforms provide a reliable and secure infrastructure for course hosting and streaming.

How much does the course hosting platform cost?

The pricing varies depending on the number of videos uploaded, video size, bandwidth, and storage requirements. Contact us for more information on storage estimations and pricing.

Which is the best course hosting platform that offers free trials?

At VdoCipher, every new user gets 5 GB bandwidth for 1 month at no cost. Except for the FairPlay DRM trial, all the other features are included. Up to 4 videos can be uploaded in the free trial. If satisfied with the service and support, you can upgrade to the paid plan anytime.

Jyoti

Jyoti began her career as a software engineer in HCL with UNHCR as a client. She started evolving her technical and documentation writing skills to become a full-time Content Marketer at VdoCipher.

The post Online Course Hosting Platform with Security for Premium Video Content appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

We provide data on your video usage streaming in terms of the bandwidth used and the total storage billed for the day. These data are deducted from the plan you have purchased. Account usage is updated daily at 5 am UTC everyday. The data granularity is 1 day. So on 3rd Feb 2016 at 5am, usage data for the complete day of 2nd Feb 2016 will be avilable. Currently, we are not collecting hourly data for the usage.

We have added two APIs to allow you to monitor your streaming usage using simple HTTP requests and create business relevant decisions based on these data. These data can also be downloaded from your account page when you log in to your vdocipher account.

Note that high usage or going over your allotted quota of bandwidth or storage does not stop your videos being streamed. We continuously monitor your usage and let you know in advance of any suspiciously high usage in your account.

Daily account usage:

You can obtain usage reports for your account on a daily basis.

Request
URL: https://api.vdocipher.com/v2/usage
Query Param: ?startdate=YYYY-MM-DD&enddate=YYYY-MM-DD
Method: POST
PostData: clientSecretKey=API_SECRET_KEY

Response
Content-Type: application/json

[
{date: 'YYYY-MM-DD' , bandwidth: ''},
{date: 'YYYY-MM-DD' , bandwidth: ''},
....
]

API can only return data of upto 60 days at maximum starting at the start date. startdate and enddate provided are the inclusive boundaries i.e. data will include both these dates.

Video specific usage:

You can also query usage report for one specific video over a range of days.

Request
URL: https://api.vdocipher.com/v2/videousage
Query Param: ?startdate=YYYY-MM-DD&enddate=YYYY-MM-DD&video=xxxxxx
Method: POST
PostData: clientSecretKey=API_SECRET_KEY

Response
Content-type: application/json

[
{date: 'YYYY-MM-DD' , bandwidth: ''},
{date: 'YYYY-MM-DD' , bandwidth: ''},
....
]

API_SECRET_KEY can be obtained from your dashboard config.

The post Redirected: Bandwidth account usage API for video streaming appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

The bandwidth pricing decreases with your usage. Recharge when your bandwidth credit gets consumed or after one year. Key thing here is that extra credits remaining will be rolled over to next year on recharging again with any plan. Lots of storage is included in each plan. Contact us for extra storage needs.

Hours of streaming for a medium quality content are also included as an indicator. There is a 5GB free trial to test our service.

https://www.vdocipher.com/site/pricing

So, sign-up and start streaming with most secure video solution in the world.

But I have already purchased storage credits in GB-months?

If you had purchased bandwidth credits earlier to this price change, we shall make your maximum storage capacity 1.5 times the equivalent of the purchased credits to accommodate time varied storage.

Why am I seeing negative storage credits?

Negative storage credits mean your account has not been completely shifted to the new pricing model. Rest assured, it shall not affect your service quality or restrict video upload.

How much bandwidth do I need for video streaming?

Your bandwidth is the total data streamed out while streaming your videos. While purchasing bandwidth, take into account the expected video views you might have in future. If a 200 MB video is played 10 times a day, then bandwidth consumed would be  0.2*10 = 2 Gb

How long is the minimum billing period?

The billing period is not relevant because your bandwidth credits roll over to the next month/year. You can therefore estimate and buy credits for a year. If your bandwidth gets consumed early, you can simply buy more credits and extend your account validity by a year. The only requirement is to make at least one bandwidth purchase within a year.

What about feature XYZ? Is it available with this plan?

All our features are available with any bandwidth purchased. You can test-drive these features during your 60 days free-trial. Once you become a paid customer, you can avail dedicated email support and all features such as dynamic watermark or custom encoding etc.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Affordable Video Streaming: Simplified Price Plans appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

The features which one can enjoy along with the cheap video hosting solution are great. Encrypted streaming for secure video hosting service, video analytics to keep track of your user performance, dynamic watermarking with viewer detail to deter screen capturing, bulk upload of videos through desktop, Dropbox or shared URL.  For high bandwidth usage , VdoCipher prices reduce significantly. VdoCipher provides custom encoding facilities to stream for every device and every internet speed.  Thus, people looking for a cheap video hosting solution can also enjoy these premium features to make most out of their videos.

To start with a free trial of VdoCipher – you just need to signup with a mail. No credit card , no details , no time limit, just signup and you are ready to sell videos online.  Signup for free trial

ck out this article.If you have any queries, team VdoCipher is here to help you. Please send your queries and specific requirements to the contact link located here.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

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