By Nick McClintock

One of the top questions asked by new comers to this site is how they can get their videos on it. Unfortunately our web space is limited and we can’t host everyone’s video. There are, however, a variety of sites that offer free video hosting services available for anyone who wants to get their pogo videos online. I went and tested a few of these sites including; YouSendIt, Photobucket, Myspace, Google Video, and YouTube to give you the low down on each.

YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com)

To start off we’ve got YouSendIt, while it’s not technically made for video hosting many people have found it useful for getting their videos online. You don’t need an account to use it, all you’ve got to do is plug in the email address of whoever you’re sending it to (or your own email if you just want to give someone the link later), browse for your video file, and click send. This will send out an email with a link to a page that your video can be downloaded from. Files can be up to 100mb, but they’re only available for download for 7 days after they’re sent. The video will only be available for download; you can’t just watch it online or embed it in a site.

Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)

The site generally used by a lot of people for image hosting now offers video hosting as well. You need to register for an account to be able to use this service. Right above the area where you browse for a file there’s a link to upload video, all you’ve got to is click that and browse for a video file, just like you would with a picture. The video is saved into the same album as your pictures; it just has a film strip pattern around it so you can tell it apart. If you want your video to be publicly available you’d have to set your whole album to be public, other wise the only people who can see it are those who you send the link to.

Myspace (www.myspace.com)

If you’ve got a Myspace account, you can use it for video hosting too. Right under the link to add photos you’ll see a link to add video. Just click that to upload a video. Myspace also provides you with the html code to embed the video in your site.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Google Video (video.google.com)

To use Google Video, you once again need to sign up for an account. The great thing about this service is that there is NO SIZE RESTRICTION. That means you can host videos with any file size and any length. Another great thing about this service is it allows you to download the videos, not just view them online. Once again if you want to embed a video in your site, Google Video gives you the code to do that. It took me a little while to find this code but if you look to the right side of the page when viewing the video, there will be a blue button that says “Email – Blog – Post to MySpace” if you click that it will give you the “embed html” option.

YouTube (www.youtube.com)

Finaly, there’s YouTube. You also need to sign up for an account to use this. Uploading to this service is pretty similar to the rest; it gives you the embedding code and all that. Videos can be at most 100MB or 10 minutes long.

Overview

Services	Downloadable	Registration	Full Screen	Max Size
YouSendIt			n/a	100MB
Photobucket				5min.
Myspace				100MB
Google Video				No Limit!
YouTube				100MB

When you’re uploading videos it’s important to observe and follow the terms of service of each site. Do not upload a video that you don’t have permission to upload. You can upload your own stuff fine but if you want to upload someone else’s video ask them for permission first.