In order to make a video publicly available in the Video Cloud, it must first be uploaded and published.
Video Cloud related functions (upload/remove, publish/un-publish, setting publish-from and publish-to dates) can be performed via the Desktop Client or the Web Client, but not via Portals. Cumulus Portals only serves for displaying metadata and previews of videos.
To upload video files to the Video Cloud, and to publish uploaded video files, users need the Video Cloud permission “Video Cloud Administrator”.
NOTE: Some Video Cloud providers (e.g. Wistia) don’t support publishing/un-publishing videos as distinct from uploading/removing videos. With such providers, an uploaded video is implicitly published, and un-publishing such a video leads to its immediate removal from the provider’s site.
Upload/Publish
To initiate the upload of a video:
1. Select the video.
2. Select the menu Assets > Video Cloud > Upload on the Desktop Client, OR select Upload to Video Cloud from the toolbox of the Web Client.
This changes the value of the record field Video Cloud Request to Upload to Video Cloud. On its next run, the Cumulus Scheduler finds this value and initiates the upload to the Video Cloud. This is indicated in the Video Cloud State record field, which changes to Uploading, then to Uploaded once the upload is finished.
Derivatives from uploaded files for various resolutions/devices/bandwidths are created automatically by the Video Cloud. For users with appropriate permissions (Video Cloud Contributor, at least), download links to these derivatives are provided in the Desktop Client(Video Cloud Data window) and the Web Client (Video Cloud tab).
NOTE: Links to generated derivatives may only be valid for a certain period of time.
Uploaded videos must additionally be published in order to become available for the public.
NOTE: With some Video Cloud providers (e.g. Wistia), an uploaded video is published implicitly!
To publish an uploaded video:
1. Select the video.
2. Select the menu Assets > Video Cloud > Publish on the Desktop Client OR select Publish at Video Cloud from the toolbox of the Web Client.
This changes the value of the Video Cloud Request record field to Publish to Video Cloud. On its next run, the Scheduler finds this value and switches the state of the file in the Video Cloud to published. This is indicated in the Video Cloud State record field, which changes to Publishing, then to Published once the publishing process is finished.
NOTE: Uploading, publishing and the creation of derivatives are time consuming processes that can take anything from several minutes up to several hours. However, the exact duration can not be predicted. Limiting factors are the size of the video file, the available bandwidth, the load at the video server, among others.
When a Video is Published...
As soon as a video is published, its video link and embed code are available. They are displayed in the Video Cloud Data window (Desktop Client) and the Video Cloud tab (Web Client), respectively. This window / tab displays video-related data that is delivered from the Video Cloud, but is not part of the video’s metadata as stored in Cumulus. (For details see Video Cloud Data.)
Cumulus users with any Video Cloud permission can make use of video links and embed codes, e.g. by sending them via email or incorporating them into a web page. However, links and embed codes will only work if and as long as the respective videos are published.
Once the video is published, the previews that are displayed in Cumulus Web Client and Portals are no longer delivered by Cumulus, but will be streamed by the Video Cloud instead. Thus, the availability of your videos is significantly enhanced, and the load on the Cumulus Server is reduced.
Published videos will be available to everyone who encounters a respective link, e.g. on web page that contains the proper embed code, until they are un-published or deleted from the Video Cloud.
Un-publishing/Deleting Videos
Un-publishing videos from the Video Cloud – i.e. making them unavailable for public use – works just the other way round. However, it is not required to first un-publish, then delete a video – even published videos can simply be deleted from the Video Cloud.
To un-publish or remove videos from the Video Cloud, users need the Video Cloud permission “Video Cloud Administrator”.
To un-publish a video from the Video Cloud:
1. Select the video
2. Select the menu Assets > Video Cloud > Unpublish on the Desktop Client OR select Unpublish at Video Cloud from the toolbox of the Web Client.
With the next run of the Cumulus Scheduler, the video will no longer be available from the Video Cloud.
Videos that have been unpublished remain in the Video Cloud and can be published again, if desired, until they are explicitly removed from the Video Cloud.
Videos can be removed from the Video Cloud anytime, whether they are published or not.
NOTE: With some Video Cloud providers (e.g. Wistia), un-publishing a video removes it immediately from the Video Cloud!
To remove a video from the Video Cloud:
1. Select the video.
2. Select the menu Assets > Video Cloud > Remove on the Desktop Client OR select Remove from Video Cloud from the Toolbox of the Web Client.
Removing a video from the Video Cloud does not affect its status or availability in Cumulus!
Restricting the Availability of Videos in the Video Cloud
By default, publishing a video makes it available within several minutes and for an unlimited period of time.
The availability period of a video can be precisely controlled by specifying a Video valid from and/or Video valid to date. Such dates can be specified in advance (before the video is published) as well as while the video is already published
• In advance: dates that are specified in the Video valid from and/or Video valid to record fields are taken into account by the Video Cloud during the publishing process, and the availability period is set accordingly.
• Later: any modification of the values in the Video valid from and Video valid to record fields of a published video fires a Cumulus trigger action which in turn sets or modifies the respective values in the Video Cloud. Any date entered into the Video valid to field while the video is in the status “published” will initiate the un-publishing of the video on the given date.
NOTE: Some Video Cloud provider (e.g. Wistia) don’t support the possibility of limiting the availability period of a published video. As soon an a video is uploaded to such a provider, it will be available until it is removed from the provider’s site.
File Versioning and the Usage of the Video Cloud
If a video file that has been uploaded or published to the Cumulus Video Cloud or to the Video Cloud of an external provider gets a new version in Cumulus, the uploaded or published version can be updated automatically as well.
This requires a Cumulus trigger action which is fired if the value of the Video Cloud Asset Modification Date record field of an uploaded or published video is modified, and in turn sets the value of the record field Video Cloud Request to Upload to Video Cloud or to Publish to Video Cloud, depending on the value of the of the Video Cloud State field. On its next run, the Cumulus Scheduler finds this value and initiates the update of the video in the Video Cloud.
NOTE: Automatic update of uploaded/published videos only works with the Cumulus Video Cloud, and with certain external video providers (currently, only movingimage and Kaltura are supported)! With all other external Video Cloud providers, checking in a new version of an already uploaded/published video file will not affect the uploaded/published file! With these providers, an old version of a video file must be explicitly removed from the Video Cloud, then the new version must be uploaded/published. That’s why a new version of a video in the Video Cloud always comes with a completely new embed code and video link.
NOTE: With both the Cumulus Video Cloud, and with moving image as external Video Cloud provider, the start frame of the video as displayed in the player is NOT updated. If this is required, the video must be manually removed from the Video Cloud and subsequently the new version must be uploaded/published. But then, the new version also gets a new embed code and video link!