Sharing Videos with Family

[Ledgem]

Hi all,

I put together videos for my family and then share it online with extended family. We've been using Apple's shared albums for this purpose (one album for photos, one for videos) and it works well overall, but videos are limited to 15 minutes. On one hand it's good to be more concise with videos and working to a 15-minute limit is a helpful reminder of that; on the other hand, 15 minutes really is a crunch for some videos of multi-day family trips. Up until now I've been editing the videos, exporting one version for my main album, and then splitting it into two parts specifically for family sharing. I'd much rather just export once it's done and be done with it. Apple doesn't seem like they plan to increase the time limit on videos any time soon, so I am looking into alternatives and wanted some ideas, and to hear how others are doing it. Here's what I'm considering so far:

1) YouTube. Nearly everyone in the family has a Gmail account; videos can be made private; and the video length limit would be a non-issue. VIdeo quality goes above Apple's 720p limitation but that doesn't matter as much for us, as most family are watching these videos on their phones anyway. Probably the biggest downside would be advertisements (nobody in the family has a paid YouTube account). Whether it's at the start of a family video or in the middle, I wouldn't want family (particularly children) to have to sit through advertisements to watch. I'm also a bit wary of YouTube's privacy controls and overall privacy; I have a lot more trust in Apple. (I've looked into Vimeo and can't recall the fine details but YouTube seemed the better option for free usage.)

2) Plex. I already have a NAS serving as a Plex media server, and while I am a free Plex user, if I've read it right then buying Plex Pass allows you to share media from your Plex library with family. They would need to create Plex accounts and this would utilize your own internet connection to serve content, in addition to requiring that your server be up and running for content to be available, but it seems to offer the most control and privacy. Even though it's not a free option I find myself leaning toward this one, although I don't know how user-friendly it is on the viewing side.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - how you do it or would like to do it, or any thoughts on the above.

 

[ColdCase]

Here's a option. For decades I have been archiving off site and sharing videos and photos old school.

I am currently using a couple host servers, one an old GoDaddy account (there are probably better host options available) and one hosted in house on my mini. Your NAS may be able to host a web site or share files. But check you internet terms, I have a small business fibre internet connection which allows hosting.

For one option, I upload the video to the server and send links to family. There is privacy password protection, and https end to end security. Once you get the hang of it, its fast, efficient, unlimited, few constraints.

The other option I used rapid weaver to create a web page. The site includes video and photo thumbnail galleries that link to the original video. Once setup its efficient overall without constraints.

 

[Dave Braine]

How about Dropbox?

Dropbox.com

Dropbox helps you simplify your workflow. So you can spend more time in your flow.

www.dropbox.com

 

[ian87w]

Hi all,

I put together videos for my family and then share it online with extended family. We've been using Apple's shared albums for this purpose (one album for photos, one for videos) and it works well overall, but videos are limited to 15 minutes. On one hand it's good to be more concise with videos and working to a 15-minute limit is a helpful reminder of that; on the other hand, 15 minutes really is a crunch for some videos of multi-day family trips. Up until now I've been editing the videos, exporting one version for my main album, and then splitting it into two parts specifically for family sharing. I'd much rather just export once it's done and be done with it. Apple doesn't seem like they plan to increase the time limit on videos any time soon, so I am looking into alternatives and wanted some ideas, and to hear how others are doing it. Here's what I'm considering so far:

1) YouTube. Nearly everyone in the family has a Gmail account; videos can be made private; and the video length limit would be a non-issue. VIdeo quality goes above Apple's 720p limitation but that doesn't matter as much for us, as most family are watching these videos on their phones anyway. Probably the biggest downside would be advertisements (nobody in the family has a paid YouTube account). Whether it's at the start of a family video or in the middle, I wouldn't want family (particularly children) to have to sit through advertisements to watch. I'm also a bit wary of YouTube's privacy controls and overall privacy; I have a lot more trust in Apple. (I've looked into Vimeo and can't recall the fine details but YouTube seemed the better option for free usage.)

2) Plex. I already have a NAS serving as a Plex media server, and while I am a free Plex user, if I've read it right then buying Plex Pass allows you to share media from your Plex library with family. They would need to create Plex accounts and this would utilize your own internet connection to serve content, in addition to requiring that your server be up and running for content to be available, but it seems to offer the most control and privacy. Even though it's not a free option I find myself leaning toward this one, although I don't know how user-friendly it is on the viewing side.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - how you do it or would like to do it, or any thoughts on the above.

I think The key you’re looking for might be how to make it stream seamlessly to your family members.

You can aways upload the video file as a file to iCloud Drive (not through the Photos app). Or Google Drive works as well. But then when your family members want to view it, depending on how they access it, they might need for the file to fully download to their devices.

An idea is to break your video into smaller chunks, like day 1, day 2, etc. I have tried sharing long videos to my family members, and none of them have enough attention span for more than a few minutes, let alone more than 15. So maybe that limit is not such a bad idea…

Another concept is to utilize the trailer templates from iMovie to really focus on the highlights of the trip.

Streaming wise, I have to say YouTube is the easiest. But alas like you said, now they have the rights to put ads on all videos, whether you want it to be monetized or not.