--- tags: TY --- # Video hosting solutions for TY Requirement is to have a video hosting solution with the following features: 1. Support casting in the tv 2. To be able to change resolution so that users have control on data 3. Compatible with as many devices/ browsers as possible 4. Have Subtitles and basically have all the features that YouTube player has 5. The users should have the ability to auto play videos or play only one video at a time if they would like similar to YouTube 6. The users should be able to create playlists like in YouTube 7. Should be able to get stats of students watch times Most of the features like casting, resolution switching, subs aren't a concern. I've mainly focused on points, 7. and 6. These are major problems we need to solve: - Video CDN - where we can host and delivery our videos - Video Library - where users access our videos, nicely organized - User-level Analytics - analytics about how users are interacting with our content - User Playlists - allow users to create their own playlists Target audience sectors I tried to fit us under: LMS (probably an overkill), Video CMS, VOD # Complete solutions These are the solutions that advertise to cover all/most of our use-cases. ## [Kaltura](https://kaltura.com) *Built for: everything related to video* *Solves: All (CDN, Library, Analytics, User Playlists)* One of the few platforms I found that focuses on both users and videos. ### Pros: - Open-source! We can self-host, if needed. - Virtual Classroom/Video CMS for Eduation is one of the core use-cases they target. This has good overlap with our requirements; saw many universities use it for "local" YouTube. - Has MediaSpace feature, which allows us to create our own YouTube-like platform. - Has detailed [user-activity tracking](https://knowledge.kaltura.com/help/user-analytics): ![](https://dyzz9obi78pm5.cloudfront.net/app/image/id/5db39f796e121c960ea2512a/n/screen-shot-2019-10-25-at-92040-pm.png) Includes useful features such as heatmaps(indicating which portions a user has watched). I have yet to try it myself but my guess is that this platform would cover most of our needs. ### Competitiors Would recommend exploring only if we reject Kaltura - [Panopto](https://www.panopto.com/) - [Yuja](https://support.yuja.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043807853-User-Level-Analytics#understanding-summary-analytics-0-1) - [Cincopa](https://www.cincopa.com/) ## [Udemy Business](https://business.udemy.com/) *Built for: online courses* *Solves: CDN, Library, Analytics (not sure about user playlists)* This is specifically built to serve online courses; which has high overlap with our user-case. ![](https://business-support.udemy.com/hc/article_attachments/4406533004695/user_activity_dashboard.png) ## [Google Workspace(GSuite)](https://edu.google.com/products/youtube/) *Built for: Organisations that need Google services* *Solves: CDN, Library, User Playlists* Essentially, we'll be using YouTube, so all the user friendly-ness, trust, performance will be there. But I didn't see user-level analytics feature. ## [Wistia](https://wistia.com) *Built for: Marketing via video* *Solves: CDN, Library, Analytics* It's a video hosting platform mainly targeted towards marketers. Even though, the target-audience is quite different from us, it has some useful features: - Analytics are very good. Has [per-user tracking](https://wistia.com/support/analytics/viewer-tracking), including [video heatmaps](https://wistia.com/support/analytics/viewer-tracking) - It's a video hosting platform, and pretty good at that. But we'd still have to integrate it into our website; and handle things like custom playlists --- Other rejected platforms: Thinkific(no/bad user-level analytics) Other un-explored solutions: - openedx? # Conclusion Overall, I'm sure there are solutions available might cover all of our use-cases. But, *there'd be significant cost(in terms of timey, money, and complexity) for configuring the new system*. I feel that the current architecture solves most of our needs, and rest can be easily modified to cater to our use cases. So, unless there's a strong reason to switch, I'd say: - Google analytics, although a bit technical, would suffice for most analytical needs - Keep using YouTube as Video CDN - User playlists can be added too Next steps if we want to switch: - Try out Kaltura, contact sales to get a demo.