Uploading Videos with the Media Module

You can use the Media module to upload a single video, or multiple videos in a batch. Video Cloud accepts videos formatted in most available file formats; if your files are not already encoded as H.264 or VP6 (FLV - Flash video), Video Cloud transcodes them into one of those formats.

The Media module is a flexible, fast tool for managing your media. If you aren't yet familiar with the Media module, read Getting Started with the Media Module, which provides a tour of the Media module and explains how to launch it.

In addition to the Media module, Video Cloud provides these other methods of uploading videos into your Media Library:

• Through FTP batch provisioning. Batch provisioning enables you to upload and provision multiple videos and playlists at once using an XML manifest file and the Video Cloud FTP server.
• Through the Media API. The Video Cloud Media API is a REST-based API for accessing the content and metadata in your Video Cloud account.
• Using the Mobile Upload App for iPhone.

To upload videos using the Media module, use the following steps.

1. In the Media module, at the bottom left corner of the navigation pane, click Add Videos > Standard Upload.

   

2. In the file picker, select one or more video files that you want to upload. For best results, make sure the video files are already on your local hard drive. If you upload from a network drive, uploads are likely to take much longer and may fail.
   

   

   The My Files pane of the Upload Manager lists the file names and properties for each of the videos ready for upload. 

3. To change the display name for the video to something other than the file name, click the name and type the new name within the Display Name box.
4. To upload additional videos, click + Add More Files.
5. To remove a video from the My Files list, click the trash can to the right of the video name.
6. The Active column reports if a video is initially active and available for watching after upload. By default, all videos are active as soon you click Upload All and the Video Cloud servers have finished processing your request. To set a video as initially inactive after uploading, uncheck the box for that video in the Active column. Videos with a checked Active box are ready to play when the first rendition of the video is transcoded and ready for playback.
   If you are using metadata assurance, you cannot make a video active unless all its required metadata fields have been completed. The Details pane lists all the required metadata fields for your Video Cloud account.
7. By adding tags to videos, you can create smart playlists and leverage additional ways to search for videos. Optionally, to add tags to a single video or a group of videos, select those videos. To select a video, check the box to the left the name; to deselect a video, uncheck that box. To select or deselect all videos in a single click, check or uncheck the top box in the left column of the Upload Manager header.
   
   Enter one or more tags, separated by commas, in the Add Tags to Selected box in the Details pane of the Upload Manager. As you enter a new tag, autocomplete suggestions appear based on tags you have already used for other videos in your account. When entering or removing tags for a group of videos, the changes will be applied to all selected videos. The changes will not affect any other tags that may be on the videos, so you must select an individual video to see an accurate full list of tags assigned to it. 
8. Optional: To set the multi-bitrate streaming transcoding options for videos in the My Files list, click Edit Settings. 

   

9. In the Upload Settings box, you can select whether you want H.264 (MP4) or VP6 (FLV) encoding for your video files. Brightcove recommends H.264 encoding. In addition, you can select multiple renditions or a single rendition. If you select multiple renditions, Video Cloud automatically takes your video file and transcodes it into different H.264 or FLV files, each with different resolution and bit rate, based on your transcode settings. Note that this option is not available if all of the video files you're uploading are already in FLV format, and any FLV files will not be transcoded into multiple renditions. If you are uploading an H.264 file, you have the option of retaining the original file as an additional rendition. The selections you make here will override any inconsistent settings specified for your account in the Account Settings: Transcode Settings page. For more information about multi-bitrate streaming, see Using multi-bitrate streaming.
10. Click Upload All to add the files to your Video Cloud Media Library.
    While your files are uploading, the Media module displays a list of the files and their status. During the upload process, you can drag and drop files to change the order they will be processed in, or click X to cancel the upload.
    Once your initial upload is complete, the Media module displays the new video in the All Videos and the Recently Uploaded views, with an icon to indicate that the video is still processing.
    
    
    This icon indicates that uploading the videos is in progress and has not yet completed.
11. Click the refresh button to update the status of the videos you uploaded.
    
    
    
12. Once Video Cloud has completed processing your video, including transcoding any multi-bitrate streaming renditions, the Media module displays the video with its thumbnail image or, if it has no thumbnail image, a generic image.
    
    This icon indicates that the Media module has uploaded your video.

Video file requirements and transcoding

Each video that you upload must be not larger than 2 GB. Your source video files can use a wide variety of file formats (containers and codecs). See the complete list of supported video containers and codecs for uploads. Any video files that aren't FLV or H.264 will be transcoded into FLV or H.264.