Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

hjrw · 2015-04-13 15:34:00

I have been creating Stage pages for both Panoramas and Videos. I have been able to simplify my work using Publisher for the panoramas, but have not been able to use Publisher for the videos.

I have created templates for the videos and uploaded them into ttg-be/templates/galleries, but am unable to insert the embed code from Publisher. There is no documentation for video-Google Drive, so I had assumed that I could use the same protocol as for a Yahoo video. However, the field to enter the address of the video does not allow me to enter any text, so I am forced to create each Stage instance within the Web module and export it.

Is there a way to use Publisher for Google Drive videos and insert the page text and embed code from within Publisher and have a "generic" Stage video template?

Matthew · 2015-04-13 15:49:54

Yep. Google Drive is an option you can choose for your template; then copy-and-paste the embed code for the video from Google Drive, into the Video ID field in Publisher's Edit Album window.

hjrw · 2015-04-13 16:25:31

The Video ID field will not accept any text... that is my issue. It is grayed out. I removed the embed code from the template to no avail.

Matthew · 2015-04-13 17:26:30

If should accept text when using a video template. If that's not the case, then I need to know more about your configuration.

hjrw · 2015-04-13 18:54:23

I set the Stage template to "Video: Google Drive Video." With the embed code dialog either empty or with an embed code entered, I exported the template and uploaded it to ttg_be/templates/gallery." When I go to Library and Publish, select either template in edit, the Video ID is grayed out. What other info do you need?

rod barbee · 2015-04-13 22:42:21

Matt,
I'm seeing the same thing: Video ID is grayed out when using a Stage template configured for Google Drive video

rod barbee · 2015-04-14 00:05:11

In fact, I can't get it to work with just an exported and uploaded Stage page. All I see is the text of the URL I entered in the Embed Code field. (I'm assuming the url to the video goes here as I can't find anything else to use on my drive.google page)

http://ce4.barbeephoto.com/galleries/st … gle-drive/

hjrw · 2015-04-14 02:55:31

When I posted my first stage video (Google Drive Video) I think Google provided an embed code with the iframe parameter... I am not sure... Matthew or Rod may have provided me with a framework. The one that I used was

I imagine that I modified the height and width parameters. Now there is no iframe provided, and the Google link to the same drive is at drive.google.com (drive.google.com rather than docs.google.com). I have been pasting in the sharing code that Google now provides...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Xvop … sp=sharing

up to the /view parameter (sorry I can't seem to make the comment include the entire link text), so that I end up with

I then export the template and FTP all of its folders and files to the server. This works, but it seems that there must be an easier way. I keep all of the Stage folders in a separate folder on the server and link to them in the descriptive text of the calling page, and then provide a link back to the calling page in the text of the Stage page. This may be seen in

http://photographs-now.com/clubs/004-ar … -prescott/

Click the link a couple of lines above the gallery to go to the stage page.

Hope that helps with some additional info.

Last edited by hjrw (2015-04-14 03:02:22)

Matthew · 2015-04-14 16:08:03

I've made a few updates locally to fix the Video ID field bug, as well as to address some apparent changes on Google's side of things; I'm just losing hours at this, and I'm not happy about it. Google Drive video is a mess, and embedding it is ugly as sin. I'm tempted to gut this from the plugin and be done with it.

hjrw · 2015-04-14 16:32:40

If I moved the video files to my server, what would be the best format? I can create an H.264 (MP4) from my GoPro editing software and upload it. What option in Stage would I use to set it up?

Matthew · 2015-04-14 16:50:11

Stage supports HTML5 video. If serving video from your own server, that would be the way to go.

I've found a way to do video from Google Drive using HTML5 video -- and it's a lot nicer than using Google Drive's horrid embedded player -- but it would require a complete rewrite of support in the plugin, and it would only be good until probably the next time Google changes something, then it could very possibly break again. I'm not sure it's worthwhile for me to continue down this particular path, as it's not a method officially documented by Google.

hjrw · 2015-04-14 17:09:46

I don't see an option in my GoPro editing software to output in HTML5. Just H.264. If H.264 uses Flash, I'd rather avoid it, since Flash is constantly crashing in FireFox. Any thoughts on a conversion program?

Matthew · 2015-04-14 21:00:24

H.264 is a type of MP4 encoding, which is suitable for most (not all) web-browsers. You can read all about codecs and HTML5 video here, if you'd like the lowdown and the technobabble:
http://diveintohtml5.info/video.html

TL;DR version, you can feed that into something like EasyHTML5Video to spit out everything you need. You can get the pertinent info in our documentation:
http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku … ideo_html5

hjrw · 2015-04-15 05:57:04

I converted the video using EasyHTML5Video and uploaded all of the files, changed my Stage template to HTML5 Video, and edited the Publisher file. The page comes up as hoped. My original video (from a GoPro) was 1920x1080. My size on the webpage is a max of 800 wide. My mv4 file is about 265MB, the ogv is 127, and the webm is 22.

The same size files from Google Drive loaded in a couple of seconds. The file from my server has been spinning its wait wheel for over 5 minutes now. For some reason it appears to be downloading at about 30kbs.

Do I need to reduce the size of the file in the conversion program to correspond with my 800 width so that it will load, or is something amiss?

Update: I recreated the files as 720p rather than 1080p and they are actually larger! (m4v is 408MB, ogv is 222MB, webm is 591MB). I noted that the default was "high" quality. I am reconverting at "normal" quality to see if the files are smaller.

So at the moment, I am unable to use the HTML5 option, since the video will not load during my lifetime ;-)

No difference with 720p "normal." The video simply will not play. Here are two links

http://photographs-now.com/stage_panora … -prescott/ (Google Drive) < loads in seconds

http://photographs-now.com/stage_panora … rescott-2/ (HTML5) < will not play

Update 2: I looked at the source for the stage page. It was looking for a .mp4 file. EasyHTML5Video created a .m4v file. I hadn't noticed that. I changed the name of the file on the server to .mp4 and voila! It works like a charm.

Thanks for the pointers!

BTW, if you are looking to see the page, the

http://photographs-now.com/stage_panora … -prescott/ link is the HTML5, the

http://photographs-now.com/stage_panora … rescott-2/ link is gone, and a new link,

http://photographs-now.com/stage_panora … rescott-0/ is the original Google Drive version.

Last edited by hjrw (2015-04-15 14:05:25)

Matthew · 2015-04-15 14:56:01

You can also try Miro Video Converter if you'd like:
http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/

You should be able to control the video size using the resolution and quality controls. It might take some experimentation or research to land upon a combination that works for you. Services like YouTube do a lot of background work for you, re-rendering your video at various resolutions and serving the most appropriate version to the viewer's device. Serving your own video, you don't get to take advantage of that back end task management. So, for example, you probably shouldn't be serving 1080p video in this way.

Matthew · 2015-04-15 15:01:22

You might really consider using Vimeo to serve your video. Have you looked into it?

hjrw · 2015-04-15 17:23:40

Haven't looked into Vimeo. Right now, I seem to have it. At least on the PC it looks fine at 720p "normal" which is noted as HD. Since I fixed the naming issue it seems to work well. It looks fine on my smartphone (although it stops every few seconds, even on WiFi, but there are major issues with the Motorola Droid Turbo with WiFi).

Would I gain anything by serving from Vimeo? My cPanel account has a limit on the number of files (250k) but unlimited storage.

Google Safe Browsing is complaining about Miro Video Converter as unsafe...

Last edited by hjrw (2015-04-15 17:26:02)

Matthew · 2015-04-15 20:46:08

I think you'd see better performance/loading on mobile, among other things. It would also lighten the load on your server; depending on your hosting, you may or may not find yourself with bandwidth issues hosting your own video.

hjrw · 2015-04-16 10:16:30

Hi Matthew

That was quick! No more Google Drive video! It is much easier with Vimeo... no conversion, just grab the video (in my case from the GoPro editor), upload to Vimeo, wait a bit, go to LR Publisher for Stage, enter the ID, my text for the page, and I was online!

Thanks!

Matthew · 2015-04-16 15:32:13

Glad to hear that.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2015-04-13 15:34:00

Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#2 2015-04-13 15:49:54

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#3 2015-04-13 16:25:31

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#4 2015-04-13 17:26:30

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#5 2015-04-13 18:54:23

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#6 2015-04-13 22:42:21

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#7 2015-04-14 00:05:11

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#8 2015-04-14 02:55:31

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#9 2015-04-14 16:08:03

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#10 2015-04-14 16:32:40

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#11 2015-04-14 16:50:11

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#12 2015-04-14 17:09:46

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#13 2015-04-14 21:00:24

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#14 2015-04-15 05:57:04

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#15 2015-04-15 14:56:01

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#16 2015-04-15 15:01:22

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#17 2015-04-15 17:23:40

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#18 2015-04-15 20:46:08

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#19 2015-04-16 10:16:30

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

#20 2015-04-16 15:32:13

Re: Using Publisher for Stage Videos (Google Docs/Drive)

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