I'm posting this on behalf of an MTGO player who took the excellent time and effort to doing all this video research for the MTGO community. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to thank him as soon as he becomes a member. :) Here's his most excellent article.
So as you all know we have had to use the third party site viddler for a while now since our original host denied us. But lets face it, viddler is about as appealing your mom’s underwear. Viddler was originally used because A) not a lot of sites had HD video hosting yet and B) because it was easy. That being said, they are still in testing for their HD video support and their current quality is abysmal. So i recorded an M10 draft yesterday and decided i would try out some other free sites and see what the results would be. I will go over what is the best option for you guys for each site i uploaded to. Here is the source video
Site #1: Blip.tv
Analysis: While the quality is good, the site does not allow video game content. Which is pretty effing lame. The site was easy to upload to and there is no limit on size or length of video either, which is also very appealing.
Recommendation: Do not use this site. While the quality and convenience is there, the legal issues might get you guys in trouble.
Site #2: Youtube (Make sure to select the 720 p option, which is HD)
Part 1
Part 2
Analysis: Great quality video. It is also fairly easy to upload videos, and the editing features are top notch. The only drawback is the 10 minute video length limit. This will require each person to chop up each video into segments for individual upload.
Recommendation: If you don’t mind putting in a little bit of effort to crop your videos, i highly recommend youtube.
Analysis: What terribly quality. In addition to the bad quality, you must apply to become a motion maker. In order to do that you have to submit an original video to the Dailymotion team for review by tagging it as Creative Content. Now to be fair, this video has yet to be approved as creative content, but i uploaded this video hours ago. So the process is arduous.
This video looks much better. This is the improvement that happens after they approve your video as creative content. Now this does not look as good as the two sites above, but keep in mind that this video was done on a dinky CRT monitor and also not produced in HD. Considering those facts, dailymotion is pretty decent.
Recommendation: The quality is fine. The problem is that the process is kind of tedious and you also have to wait a while before your video looks beautiful. I would say stay away from this site unless you have no other choice.
Analysis and Recommendation: Not a lot to say here. Without HD support, the video looks horrendous. Maybe when they come out with HD support this will be a viable option, but for now stay away.
Site #5: Viddler
This was just for shits and giggles. It pains me to watch this and it was probably a waste of time to upload this anyway. Promised HD support that they have not delivered yet, so goodbye old friend.
Winner: Youtube
With quality and convenience, youtube is the clear best option for this here fine website. I have one last thing to show you guys. I produced a 1:30 segment from the back end of round 2 of the draft i did. I produced it in the original dimensions of my monitor (1920 x 1080) and uploaded it to youtube as well. Make sure to use the 1080p option. Enjoy.
