Frequently Asked Questions - Veoh and Veoh.com

Veoh Overview

1. What is Veoh?
2. What is the history of Veoh?
3. How does Veoh work?

1. How do I search for videos, channels or people on Veoh.com?
2. How do I refine my search results?
3. How do I save my searches?

1. How do I begin broadcasting my video?
2. Is it really free to broadcast video?
3. What types of videos can I broadcast?
4. What file formats does Veoh accept?
5. What is the recommended format and encoding to get the best quality on your site?
6. What else do I need to broadcast my video?
7. Is there a size limitation for video?
8. Is there a maximum number of videos I can broadcast?
9. When will my videos be available on Veoh?
10. Will Veoh alter my video or descriptive information?
11. Can I organize videos into a channel?
12. Can I automatically broadcast videos I uploaded to Veoh to other video services?
13. Why was my video taken down?
14. How can I make sure my videos don't get removed?

1. Why was my video taken down?
2. How can I make sure my videos don't get removed?
3. Do I retain the copyright and other legal rights to my videos?
4. Can I broadcast my video if it's already licensed for distribution elsewhere?
5. What is your policy on copyright infringement?
6. How do I report copyright infringement?
7. What if I have been falsely accused of copyright infringement?

1. How does Veoh work?
2. What is PeerCasting?
3. How is Veoh different than RSS?
4. How is Veoh different than BitTorrent?

Veoh Overview

1. What is Veoh? Veoh is an independent, Internet Television Broadcasting System that uses the Internet and peer-to-peer distribution technology to create essentially unlimited capacity for long form and broadcast quality video content. Unlike traditional television broadcasting systems such as cable or satellite television, Veoh is an OPEN system that allows ANYONE to broadcast video directly to hundreds of millions of consumers who have a PC and broadband connection. This provides limitless choices for viewers to find things that interest them from a much wider range of programmers than are available on their cable or satellite system.
   
   
2. What is the history of Veoh? Veoh Networks was founded in 2004 by Dmitry Shapiro, a serial entrepreneur with experience in communities, video and peer-to-peer protocols. Prior to founding Veoh, Dmitry was the founder and CTO of Akonix Systems, Inc., the world's leading P2P security company with over 1 million licensed enterprise users. Akonix's customers include Disney, Viacom, MTV, Fox News, Fox Films, the Weather Channel, Cingular, and countless other media and technology leaders. Veoh’s initial team also includes Chief Scientist Dr. Ted Dunning, an expert in recommendations and human behavior who was formerly the Chief Scientist at MusicMatch (now Yahoo Music), IDAnalytics (the leading identity fraud detection company), and Aptex Software (an HNC/FairIsaac company) and a team of engineers with dozens of years of experience in P2P protocols, online communities and related technologies.
   
   Veoh received Series A financing from Shelter Capital in August of 2005 and launched an early beta of its distribution technology in October 2005. The full Veoh beta launched in March 2006, followed quickly by the announcement of a Series B financing by Spark Capital, the Tornante Company (Michael Eisner), Time Warner Investments and Shelter Capital.
   
   
3. How does Veoh work? Veoh consists of two main elements, the Veoh.com site where you can browse the videos available on Veoh, create a user account and profile, interact with other broadcasters and viewers and preview videos within your browser. The second part of Veoh is VeohTV or the Veoh Player software application, which provides automatic delivery of full-length content for viewing on your PC (online or offline), on your TV (its easy from most PCs) or on your portable video device like an iPod or Sony PSP. VeohTV also offers pre-programmed premium channel content, a robust multi-site search mechanism, a widget interact mode, and a library to manage downloaded and local content.

1. How do I search for videos, channels or people on Veoh.com?
   • In the Search box, type a word or phrase and click Search. To see YouTube videos, select the "Include YouTube videos" checkbox.
   • When search results display, click the "Video," "Channels," or "People" tab at the top to display each type of result.
   • Click any result thumbnail or title to display details for a video, channel, or person.
2. How do I refine my search results?
   • Reorder search results using "Sort By" options
   • Filter search results according to:
     • Date Added
     • Run Length
     • Category
     • Language (Spoken & Subtitle)
   • Did not match any videos? If your search returns 0 results, try selecting the "Clear Filters" button. Your search criteria may be too narrow to generate results.
3. How do I save my searches?
   • Recent Searches retains your last ten search terms.
     • Delete items from list by clicking the "Remove" link
     • Must be logged in to view
   • Saved Searches retains ten searches of your choice.
     • Save favorite search terms by clicking the "Save This Search" button located above the first search result
     • Saved search terms retain all filter settings applied to query at the time of save
     • Must be logged in to view

1. How do I begin broadcasting my video? After signing up for a free Veoh user account you will need a digital version of your video on your PC, a broadband connection, and ownership of the necessary rights.
   
2. Is it really free to broadcast video? It is free for anyone to broadcast video on the Veoh network. And free means free. Veoh does not charge for any reason, including bandwidth usage or storage costs, regardless of the size or popularity of your video.
   
3. What types of videos can I broadcast? Veoh accepts all kinds of videos, including vlogs, short films, original TV series, funny viral videos and more. All videos must comply with our Terms of Use, which includes ensuring that your video does not violate any copyright or privacy rights, does not contain inappropriate content as defined in our Terms of Use.
   
4. What file formats does Veoh accept? Veoh currently supports uploads in WMV, Quicktime and DIVX formats, supporting most standard video and audio encoding, including:
   
   Video Encodings
   • MPEG-4 Video Codec
   • H264 Advanced Video Coding (Apple Quicktime 7)
   • Sorenson Video 3 (Apple Quicktime 5)
   • H263 Video Codec
   • Windows Media Video 9
   • Windows Media Video 8
   • MPEG-1
   • MPEG-2
   • Motion JPG
   • DivX 5.0
   • OpenDivX
   • XviD MPEG-4 Codec
   
   Audio Encodings
   • MPEG-4 Audio
   • QDesign Music v2 Audio Codec
   • Windows Media Audio 9
   • Windows Media Audio 8
   • MPEG Layer-2
   • MPEG Layer-3
   • Pulse Code Modulation
5. What is the recommended format and encoding to get the best quality on your site? We recommend that you encode your video at a minimum of 540 x 405 (for 4:3) using variable bit rate encoding with a target of 500 kbps. Viewing in the Veoh Player will be optimized at 640 x 480 (for 4:3) at up to 1.5 mbps.
   
   Users will be able to view videos shorter than 20 minutes on Veoh.com in their entirety. Videos longer than 20 minutes will require VeohTV/Veoh Player to watch in full-length. PC users can simply click "Watch on VeohTV" and the playback will immediately begin, or download the video to VeohTV. On the Mac, videos longer than 20 minutes will require the users to download the videos and watch later.
   
   Pro Publishers have a higher quality video playback experience than non-Pro Publishers on veoh.com via the video player or on VeohTV via the guide programming or the Watch on VeohTV functionality.
6. What else do I need to broadcast my video? To help people find and choose your video Veoh provides an area for you to enter a title, a description, as well as the ability to supply an unlimited number of tags (keywords) for users to search. You need to select a category for your video.
7. Is there a size limitation for video? No you can upload any size video. If you are broadcasting videos that are longer than 100MB we recommend you use the VeohTV/Veoh Player software to broadcast, or upload the content. The Veoh web upload process should only be used for shorter, smaller video files. The VeohTV/Veoh Player is designed to run in the background for uploading larger files, ensuring changes in your internet connectivity do not interrupt your upload and allowing you to use your PC for other tasks during the upload. The VeohTV/Veoh Player allows partial uploads to be continued, which can be helpful for larger files. To upload a video from the VeohTV/Veoh Player, select the File menu and then "Upload a Video". You can view videos that are currently uploading in the Library by selecting the View menu and then "Upload Manager".
8. Is there a maximum number of videos I can broadcast? There is no maximum number of videos that you can broadcast.
9. When will my videos be available on Veoh? Videos will generally be available within a few hours of broadcasting, at times of high demand they may take a little longer. Veoh automatically transcodes your video to multiple formats for your convenience and the convenience of your viewers. This transcoding process takes time, again, depending on the length of the video.
10. Will Veoh alter my video or descriptive information? Veoh may in rare occasions make constructive edits to descriptions or information for your channel or video, but the video content will never be altered in any way.
    
    Veoh may cut the length of playback time on Veoh.com and require that long format videos be viewed in their full-length in VeohTV.
11. Can I organize videos into a Channels? Yes, videos can be organized into two types of channels; regular Channels and Primary Channels.
    Regular channels can contain videos you publish and videos from other publishers (as long as those publishers have made their videos available for upload to other channels), primary channels may only contain videos you publish. Viewers can subscribe to both types of channels so new videos are automatically downloaded to VeohTV. In addition, you can customize a channel with your own logo or branding. You can also embed a channel on your web site, or allow others to embed your channel on their web sites, blogs, etc.
12. Can I automatically broadcast videos I uploaded to Veoh to other video services? Yes, as a member of the Veoh Pro program you can automatically syndicate your videos to YouTube, Google Video, and MySpace video. Click here to learn more and to sign up for the Veoh Pro program, or check out our Veoh Pro FAQs below.
13. Why was my video taken down? Your video was taken down either because of inappropriate content or copyright violation, as defined by our Terms of Use. For more information please see the FAQs in our 'Copyrights and Licenses' section.
14. How can I make sure my videos don't get removed? All videos on Veoh must comply with our Terms of Use. For more information please see our 'Copyrights and Licenses' FAQs or the 'What types of videos can I broadcast' FAQ.

1. Why was my video taken down? Your video was taken down either because of inappropriate content or copyright violation, as defined by our Terms of Use.
2. How can I make sure my videos don't get removed? All videos on Veoh must comply with our Terms of Use. For more information please see the 'What types of videos can I broadcast' FAQ.
3. Do I retain copyrights and other legal rights to my videos? Yes. You retain all rights to your content. Veoh assumes no copyright to your material.
4. Can I broadcast my video if it's already licensed for distribution elsewhere? Veoh will not restrict you from distributing your video through other means, including other video sharing networks. You are free to license the rights to your content outside Veoh's network, if you have made other agreements you need to check them for exclusivity and to ensure that you still have the proper rights to your video for distribution on Veoh.
5. What is your policy on copyright infringement? Veoh respects the rights of copyright holders. Our policy is to respond to any notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), including removing the content immediately. Additionally, according to our Repeat Infringer Policy if after an initial warning we receive a notice or otherwise have reason to believe that content you submitted infringes another party's copyright, your account may be terminated. More information about our DMCA policy and process is available here.
6. How do I report copyright infringement? If you believe that someone else has broadcasted your copyrighted content without your permission, follow the directions in our DMCA policy.
7. What if I have been falsely accused of copyright infringement? We'll let you know if we receive a copyright complaint about any of your video content that is hosted on Veoh. We'll give you the opportunity to file a DMCA counter notification following the steps outlined here.

1. How does Veoh work? The Veoh network uses an advanced peer-to-peer transfer network to share video amongst the Veoh users. This allows the network to "spread the load" between a massive number of computers that are typically under-utilizing their network bandwidth. In essence, Veoh has designed a globally-hosted video server, capable of transferring enormous amounts of video in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional systems.
   
   For each computer in the Veoh network, the Veoh network uses a portion of the system's capacity to "trade" small bits of video content between users, without compromising the security of any of the systems. The amount of resources used will vary from one computer to another, and will generally not be noticeable by someone using the computer.
   
   Using this technology, the network is self-repairing. What this means is that as one computer becomes unavailable, others will accommodate. Each video is securely hosted on hundreds or thousands of computers on the network, which means that there is always plentiful access to any video, at any time. Individual computers or servers are not necessary to make the Veoh network function; it's all about making millions of computers work together to achieve a goal that a few servers could never handle.
   
   There is a nearly unlimited amount of resources available across the Veoh network, which makes it possible to provide access to any video at any time. By making use of computer resources that are not in use, the Veoh network can provide every user with a super video server that is always available. By using a small amount of resources from an incredibly large population, the Veoh network will provide unprecedented performance on a global scale.
   
   Unlike traditional server-based video distribution, the costs associated with this approach are already paid. Each user already has a broadband connection, typically paid on a monthly basis. Much, if not most, of the bandwidth is unused. Even so, the monthly fees don't credit this unused bandwidth. The Veoh network will use a portion of this unused bandwidth to serve the video to the global community. While no individual computer has enough bandwidth to support a network of this magnitude, millions of computers have ample resources to do it.
   
   Using this approach, Veoh can make unlimited video available to users for free. In this case, free means, "no out-of-pocket expenses". Instead, each user's computer participates in the network, providing bandwidth for other users. This is the only cost: your unused resources. It doesn't get much more free than that.
   
   
2. What is PeerCasting? PeerCasting is a new video hosting technology that Veoh has designed to serve TV-quality video via the Internet. This uses principles of other existing technologies, such as peer-to-peer file sharing, to implement a private distributed video network. PeerCasting extends the concepts of traditional peer-to-peer technology, making it easier to protect and much more reliable. By implementing a managed network, PeerCasting can significantly reduce video piracy, improve overall quality, and provide user-specific features not available in traditional peer-to-peer systems. In essence, PeerCasting is the next generation of peer-to-peer sharing.
   
   The differences are much more significant than the similarities. Most peer-to-peer networks are built to enable piracy of various forms of content, including video. PeerCasting makes this almost impossible, by preventing piracy up front. While current peer-to-peer networks have typically been less than ethical, they have demonstrated that the technology itself works very well. The Veoh network improves upon this technology to provide an ethical solution to a global market.
   
   PeerCasting is also server-free; broadcasters no longer have to host any portion of their content, including seeds or other references. This will greatly reduce the operating costs for small and independent filmmakers and producers. With such a significant reduction in distribution costs, it affords more time and money to the creative process.
   
   
3. How is Veoh different than RSS? RSS is a content broadcasting technology that grew from online news article feeds. It's original intent was to notify any application listening that new material was available. RSS provides a relatively standard way for broadcasters to notify subscribers that they have broadcasted something new.
   
   The weak point of RSS is that it does not actually distribute content; it simply notifies you that new content is available for you to retrieve with some other technology. Since RSS doesn't provide a standard way to retrieve the content, it is typically coupled with other technologies, such as BitTorrent or HTTP. In addition, it is common to subscribe to an RSS feed and not be able to get the content because it can only be retrieved with a technology that you don't have available. A combination of newer RSS readers and broadcasting with "accepted" distribution technologies reduce this somewhat, but not completely.
   
   The other significant issue with RSS is that it is server-based. To make certain that your video content is available, you must either manage an RSS server or use a public server. Managing a private server is costly, and is prone to being unavailable when you need it the most. A private server is a single point-of-failure, so when it fails, you are no longer able to serve your audience. Public servers are generally free or available at low cost, but they can and do suffer from the same problems as private servers: they're still single points-of-failure. And if you have a problem with a public server, it may take days or weeks to get the problem resolved.
   
   
4. How is Veoh different than BitTorrent? BitTorrent is the technology behind much of the current peer-to-peer sharing on the Internet. While BitTorrent is not itself a network, it allows small Internet networks to be created to share files. BitTorrent is a prime example of an open network; anything added to the network can be copied and added to another network.
   
   The primary weakness that makes BitTorrent unsuitable for video broadcasting is that when you broadcast a file, you must remain online at all times. BitTorrent uses the concept of a seed, which is the original place that the content was broadcasted, to start file sharing. It is common to find useless BitTorrent seeds, because the original server is no longer online, has changed IP addresses, or has simply revoked the seed. BitTorrent forces the broadcaster to act as a server, if only to provide seeding. Again, your computer becomes a single point-of-failure and your costs and levels of effort increase.
   
   BitTorrent's other issue is that it is not designed to support more than a few thousand users on a single network. This prevents its use in a global video hosting network.