11 things you still can’t do with the new YouTube player
YouTube released a major new feature today, the ability to create and manage what they call Custom Players. These custom players let creators select which video playlists will be available in the player, wrap their players with a one-color border and push updates out to embeded players around the web. In other words, it does a lot of the things we here at SplashCast have been doing since Februrary. While YouTube’s new player is a serious improvement, it’s also surprisingly underwhelming and has generally received lukewarm reviews. I do think they did a lot of things right, I like their advance and rewind buttons.
There are still many things you cannot do with this new YouTube player that can be done with a variety of other services on the market like Blip, VodPod, Brightcove, Vimeo, Magnify, Searchles and of course us - SplashCast. Here’s my list of things that the new YouTube player still doesn’t let you do:
1. Easily reordering videos
These custom players display the videos contained in any favorites list in your account, but reordering the videos is currently really hard if not impossible. Thus, if you’ve got a welcome message you’d like to always play before your most recent videos - you’re out of luck. That’s not the case with multi-video players from, for example, Brightcove, Magnify or SplashCast. I wouldn’t be surprised to see YouTube add this feature in time.
2. Adding links off-site to anywhere other than YouTube
Don’t expect this to change, YouTube has the traffic and aims to keep it that way. SplashCast’s player can have text slides or item links added to any page on the web, allowing publishers to drive traffic from distributed players back to their own websites.
3. Resizing the player
The standard YouTube player doesn’t resize small well at all - but it’s far worse when you put multiple videos in one player and try to make it small enough to put in a blog sidebar or post. You can’t see the titles or the timer well. As you can see below, even slight adjustments to size aren’t pretty. This isn’t a trivial matter to change. The second custom player option, an extra large player with related videos displayed on the right hand side, is so large that it will likely be used in very limited circomstances.
4. Full screen view
The YouTube player has never allowed a full screen view from inside the embedded player and this new version is no different. Blip’s newest player offers full screen, our miniature players do and all our players in the next version will. I’m surprised that YouTube hasn’t added this yet, but the company may be waiting for market saturation by Flash 9, which makes full screen very easy.
5. Multiple sources
Obviously, the videos in your YouTube customized player have to all be from YouTube. That’s not the case with SplashCast, Magnify, Searchles and VodPod. See the current SplashCast player on the right and hit channel guide. Could you create an experience like this with the new YouTube player? No.
6. Multiple file types
All video is all good for some times and places, but if you want to add audio files you’ll have to look past YouTube. Try Blip or SplashCast to combine both video and audio players in the same player. If you want text, photos, powerpoint files and RSS feeds like video and audio podcasts - SplashCast is the way to go. There’s other options as well, but you’ll have to pick and choose a feature set that works best for your needs.
7. Stats in the player
YouTube gets gargantuan viewer numbers, that’s almost its only real advantage over other services (is that all? lol). You cannot see how many views a video has from inside the player, however. SplashCast’s show info page will display this for you; I don’t know anyone else who does. I expect that YouTube will add this in time if the company is willing to sacrifice just a touch of the simplicity of its current display.
This is the next version of the SplashCast player, due out soon.
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8. Freedom from branding
YouTube’s watermark remains on top of customized players and it will never leave. If you want a player without branding, try SplashCast, Blip, Vimeo and BrightCove. See the forthcoming SplashCast player in the “hover over state” - still no branding and isn’t it pretty!
9. Vanishing chrome
Similarly, the controls on the YouTube player will likely never dissapear. It’s a populist service that sacrifices elegance in exchange for numbers. If you want to be able to have your media autoplay or otherwise be watchable without fast forward and pause buttons visible until a viewer hovers over the player - try SplashCast or Vimeo. It’s a nice touch.
10. Wrap whatever you want around the player
That colored border is nice, I guess, but it’s pretty uninspired. Will YouTube let me upload an image to use as a swatch for that border? It may, though I’m sure it doesn’t want players with rows of boobs or the like floating around the web. Players without extensive borders allow easy wrapping in HTML branding on your own site, something you wouldn’t do with any YouTube player.
11. Notes in the player
There are almost always notes about each video that you can read if you click through the watermark - but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to? Many of the smaller media publishing services alow inclusion of added text to the player for each video.
What does it all mean? It means a. that there are more changes sure to be on the way at YouTube and b. there’s more that can be done with online media using other services still. There probably always will be. If you want to get the biggest viewer numbers for your videos offsite - put them up on YouTube - and if you want to offer a beautiful multi-file player on your own site, consider someone else - like SplashCast!
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