A Problem with Embedded Videos

Here's a scenario:

  • You create a video and upload it to a host like You Tube.
  • People like it and want to share it on their blog.
  • They grab the embed code and paste it into their blog.
  • Sweet - your video is on multiple blogs!
  • Then, you realize that the video has an error you need to correct.
  • To do this, you need to delete the current video and upload a new one.
  • Ack! When you delete a video, the embedded players stop working
  • The bloggers now have a broken links and don't know why.

So, you're stuck - either you leave up bad content, or break the links to your blogger friends.

I bring this up for two reasons:

1.  Be aware. A video is different than a blog post.  It's not a consistent page that's editable. A corrected video is an entirely new piece of content with a new URL, comments, etc.  Because most hosts don't allow replacement videos, you may find that embedded players lock you in to content you want to change.

2.  This is fixable by the hosts.  As usual, Vimeo is ahead of the curve and allows video replacements.  With Vimeo, you can upload a replacement video that will begin playing in an existing embedded player with the same comments, etc. Blip.tv and You Tube and most others do not allow replacements, as far as I know. [Update:  Mike Hudack sez Blip does allow replacements through the "edit" page.]

It should also be noted that the replacement option is something that could be abused by unethical producers, so this may explain why it has not been adopted so far.