Distributing Your Own Videos via the Google Video Upload Program

Ever dream of becoming a big-time movie director? Well, all big-time movie directors have to start somewhereand Google Video is as good a place as any.

Google offers the Google Video Upload program to all aspiring filmmakers out there. The program lets you upload your own videos and home movies to the Google Video site, where they can be viewed and downloaded by anyone on the Web.

Understanding Upload File Guidelines

To upload a video file to Google Video, it must meet the following format and content requirements:

• The video must be in either AVI, ASF, QuickTime (MOV), Windows Media (WMV), Real Audio (RA or RAM), or MPEG file formats.

• For videos originating from a low-quality source (VHS videotape, webcams, camera phones, and the like), upload the file at the original quality level.

• For videos originating from a DV camcorder or other high-quality source, encode the video at full-frame size and a high bitrate (good results are obtained with interlaced MPEG2 video encoded at greater than 5Mbps and either 720 x 480 or 720 x 576 resolution).

• You can't upload pornographic or adult content.

Uploading Videos

To upload videos to Google Video, all you have to do is follow these steps:

1.	From any Google Video page, click the Upload and Share Your Videos link.
2.	When the next page appears, as shown in Figure 25.18, click the Browse button and select the file you want to upload. Figure 25.18. Uploading a video with the Google Video Uploader. [View full size image]
3.	Enter a Title and Description for the video, select a Genre and Language, and check the box to agree to Google's terms and conditions.
4.	Click the Upload Video button.

Charging for Your Video

If you want to charge users for downloading your video, you can do this. You can assign either purchase or Day Pass status to your video, at whatever price you want.

To do this, go to the Google Video home page and click the Uploaded Videos link. All the videos you've uploaded are listed here on the Video Status page, as shown in Figure 25.19.

Figure 25.19. Viewing the status of all the videos you've uploaded.

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Click the Edit link in the Video Information column for the video you want to add. This displays the Add/Edit Video Information page. From here, click the Advanced Options link. This expands the page to include the section shown in Figure 25.20. From here you can select the following payment options:

Figure 25.20. Specifying purchase options for your video.

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• Free video (with an option to download; if you don't select this option, the video can be streamed online only)

• Purchasable video (with the purchase price you specify, and the option to download to an Apple iPod or other portable device)

• Day-Pass (with the price you specify, for use within a 24-hour period)

• Free preview (specifies how long a preview you want to displaywith the exact start and stop times for the preview)

• Embedded video (allows purchasers to embed this video in their websites, or not)

• Regional restrict (blocks downloads to users of specific countries)

Make your changes, and then click the Save Video Information button. Purchases will be applied to your Google Payments account.