Have you heard the news? Mindstamp offers the ability to self-host your video files! But what exactly is self-hosting, anyway?
In order to understand self-hosting, you first have to understand how Mindstamp interacts with your video.
Mindstamp acts as an interactive layer on top of your existing videos. So, all the interactions you create in the Mindstamp interactive video toolset are delivered ON TOP of the original content. Your original video is unchanged by Mindstamp’s interactive video platform.
Your original video, in order to be viewed by others on the internet, has to be uploaded somewhere first.
Video files (like a .MOV file you might take with your iPhone or a .MP4 file you might receive from a video developer) are hosted online. That hosting could be on a traditional video hosting provider (like Vimeo, Wistia or JW Player), or a simple file share like Dropbox or AWS.
These video files are then streamed down and delivered to you to watch via a video player. Most browsers have video players baked into them, or you can ‘embed’ a video player into your website, like you would if you wanted to stream a video from YouTube.
So, by default, Mindstamp is both your hosting platform and your video player. We use state of the art video hosting and streaming technology to optimize the delivery of your videos across any viewer’s bandwidth or end device.
A simple way to accomplish this is by signing up for a Vimeo Pro account to upload your content, then just drop what’s called a direct link URL into Mindstamp when you’re ready to add interactions:
Through this mechanism, your original video files sit outside of Mindstamp. This is often preferred by our customers who have existing video hosting providers and want to keep their source video content in one location.
Before you go, let’s clear up one last common misconception. Once you’ve created your final product using the steps above, you’ll have the ability to “embed” your video and enjoy it on your own website. Embedding a video and playing it on your website is not self-hosting.
Think about this: When you FaceTime with somebody, they’re being portrayed on your phone, right? But that doesn’t mean the person is actually in the room with you! They’re just appearing on your phone for you to view. In this analogy the person is your video, the hosting platform is the place they’re physically sitting in, and your phone that’s showing them on the screen is your website.
That’s a wrap! Now you, too, are a self-hosting expert. See you in the studio!
Still need help or have questions? Contact Us
