General

My question isn't in this FAQ! Can I contact you directly?

Of course! Shoot us an email to team@sesamevault.com, or use our contact form which you can find by clicking on the "contact form" link at the bottom of every page.

How do I include videos I've uploaded on my own website?

There are several ways to integrate uploaded videos into a 3rd party website. The simplest is to embed individual videos using our Universal Player embed code. The Universal Player is our video player that works practically everywhere—even on most mobile devices (unlike Flash embeds). After you clicked on a video in the vault, click on the "Share" tab. Here you can hit the "Generate" button and you'll be presented with embed code that you can paste directly into your HTML. There are also a number of advanced options that allow you to customize the look and behavior of the player.

Generating a video embed code.

The second option is to use our SesameSeed Embed Generator for more advanced functionality. You can use this to create snippets of code that list your videos, display filtered results, play videos, and even upload videos. This functionality can be incorporated into your website with a simple copy and paste.

The final option is to use our API to integrate the full range of SesameVault functionality into your web application.

The SesameSeed Generator and information on the API can be found on our Developer page.

How do I view my videos on a mobile device?

Point your mobile device's web browser to http://m.sesamevault.com/. Log in using your normal SesameVault username and password. The mobile site lets you view and play your videos, change their title and description, tag them, and flag them public or private. It should work on most modern mobile devices which support progressive download such as the iPhone and iPod Touch.

What's the difference between a public and private video?

Public videos can be accessed and download by anyone. Private videos require a username/password or special authorization signatures (when using the API). Uploaded videos are set as private by default, so if you'd like them to be publicly accessible make sure to toggle them public.

Setting videos public or private.

To toggle a video public or private, click on the "Share" tab on the Vault page.

How do your tags work?

Using the SesameVault.com web interface (or through the API) you can apply tags to videos in order to easily organize and manage them. Tags, at their simplest, are simply text labels. They can include letters, numbers and spaces (e.g. 'music', 'scary video', 'category 5', etc).

To add tags in the web interface, select a video or videos on the Vault page, click on the "Viewer" tab, and enter the tags below the description editor.

For greater control, you can also create multi-level tags, which consist of multiple subtags. For example "genre / action / kungfu" or "movies / long". You add multi-level tags in the same way that you add regular tags. Just enter them with subtags separated by slashes into the same tag editor found on the Vault page.

Tagging your videos.

In addition to using the web interface, you can also manipulate tags directly using the API.

How do I organize my videos with filters?

You can use filters to find your videos based on tag, title, duration and date added. These filters can stacked together to form what we call (aptly enough) "filter stacks". These filter stacks can be named and saved, which give you a powerful means by which to organize your videos.

By default, you've got two filter stacks in your account to get you started ("Long Videos" and "Short Videos"), but you can modify these or create as many additional ones as you'd like (either through the web interface or via the API).

To create a new filter stack, go to the Vault page and click "new filter" on the top right above the video list.

Filtering your video list.

Am I allowed to use SesameVault as a component of a paid service? / Can I use SesameVault to store and manage paid content and/or advertisements?

Simply put, you are free to use your SesameVault account however you like. A number of our customers use SesameVault to power their own online content stores / web-services and distribute video advertisements.

If you're confused about how best to integrate SesameVault with your services, feel free to contact us.

Encoding

What formats can I encode my videos into?

Currently, your videos are encoded into the following formats. If you require a format that we don't currently offer, don't hesitate to contact us. We are constantly expanding and evaluating our encoding offerings, and welcome any feedback.

Theora/Vorbis Resolution up to 720x480, video track encoded at 672kbps in Theora, audio track encoded at 128kbps in Vorbis, container is .ogg.

Audio MP4 (AAC) Audio only for streaming; audio encoded at 128kbps in AAC (Low Complexity profile), container is .mp4.

Small Flash (H.263/MP3) Resolution up to 352x264, video track encoded at a max of 370kbps in H.263, audio track encoded at 32kbps in MP3, container is .flv.

Medium Flash (H.263/MP3) Resolution up to 480x360, video track encoded at a max of 432kbps in H.263, audio track encoded at 32kbps in MP3, container is .flv.

Small MP4 (H.264/AAC) Compatible with all video-enabled iPods, including iPhone and iPod touch. Resolution up to 320x240, video track encoded at 500kbps in H.264, audio track encoded at 96kbps in AAC, container is .mp4.

Medium MP4 (H.264/AAC) Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, iPod Classic and Nano (3rd gen.). Resolution up to 640x480, video track encoded at 640kbps in H.264, audio encoded at 128kbps in AAC, container is .mp4.

Large MP4 (H.264/AAC) Largest video playable in a web browser. Compatible with the QuickTime plugin and Apple TV. Resolution up to 960x540 (16:9 aspect ratio), video track encoded at 2048kbps in H.264, audio encoded at 128kbps in AAC, container is .mp4.

Tiny 3GP (H.264/AAC) Suitable for iPhone on an EDGE network. Resolution is always 176x144, video track encoded at 64kbps in H.264, audio encoded at 16kbps in mono AAC, container is .3gp.

Tiny 3GP (MPEG-4/AMR) Compatible with the greatest number of mobile phones, including Nokia N and E series and Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices over an EDGE network. Resolution is always 176x144, video track encoded at 64kbps in MPEG-4, audio encoded at 12.2kbps in mono AMR Narrow Band, container is .3gp.

Small 3GP (MPEG-4/AMR) Suitable for playback or streaming on most mobile phones that have the ability to play larger 3gp videos. Resolution is always 352x288, video track encoded at 240kbps in MPEG-4, audio encoded at 12.2kbps in AMR Narrow Band in mono, container is .3gp.

BlackBerry WiFi (MPEG-4/MP3) Compatible with BlackBerry smarphones over WiFi, including the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Series, BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series, and BlackBerry 8800 Series. Resolution up to 240x180, video track encoded at 300kbps in MPEG-4, audio encoded at 64kbps in MP3, container is .avi.

When uploading, what formats can SesameVault accept?

SesameVault uses a suite of tools to decode the files you upload. We accept most formats, including: mp4, mp3, mov, avi, wmv, rm, 3gp, ogg, and many others. If you upload a video or audio file and it does not decode properly, please let us know!

What devices do you support?

Our website supports all modern web browsers. Our mobile site supports most web-enabled phones, with videos playable on devices that support progressive download (including the iPhone / iPod Touch and others).

Using our API you can add support for these devices into your own application or service.

You can also set default profiles, so that any videos you upload automatically encode into these specific formats. You can set these defaults from inside the Account page.

How long will it take my videos to encode?

It depends on several factors, including the size and resolution of your video and whether or not the upload happens during peak hours. The encoding process isn't instantaneous, but it is relatively quick. Expect several minutes for short to medium length videos, and up to an hour or so for longer videos.

Also note that the different encodings will be completed at different times, and some will be ready before others.

You don't have a format I need. What are my options?

If we don't offer a specific format you need, don't hesitate to contact us! We'd love to work with you to figure out the best solution for your particular requirements.

API

How do I upload videos using the API?

Normally you would just use a standard web form to upload a file to SesameVault (to the url http://www.sesamevault.com/upload/new/file). Follow these instructions on how to properly authorize your upload.

If you'd like to transfer the files directly from your server to ours, you would simply POST the file to the above address with a content type of "multipart/form-data".

When I upload a video, I'm not getting back a video ID when the upload completes. What's up?

Chances are, you are not authorizing the upload request properly, so no video is being created when the upload completes. Be sure you've followed the proper instructions for creating signatures for video uploads.

For the PHP API Library, you can find instructions here. For the Ruby API Library, instructions are here. And for Javascript, here.

You don't have an api library for my language of choice. How do I work with the API without one?

While the API libraries make using our API convenient, you can always talk to our system directly using XML, JSON, or YAML requests. For complete instructions on how to do this, check out our API Tutorial.

Be sure to let us know what language / development platform you're using so we can add it to our to-do list!

What SesameVault functionality is not currently accessible through the API?

Most of the features of SesameVault are accessible via the API. This includes file uploading, downloading, viewing and changing metadata such as title and description, tagging, filtering, access privileges, retrieving profile information, and more.

Currently you cannot change your account settings (password, email address, billing plan, etc) via the API. To do these tasks, you must use the web interface.

Billing

How long does the free trial last?

Trial accounts do not expire; you are free to use them for as long as it takes to test our service and/or develop your video application. The only thing which distinguishes a trial account (besides the fact that it is free) is that videos are removed 10 days after you upload them.

When do upgrades or downgrades to my account take effect?

Because you may want to upgrade your account due to unanticipated bandwidth spikes, upgrades take effect immediately. You will be charged the between your old and new plans, and the new reduce bandwidth costs will take effect immediately.

Downgrades take effect at the beginning of your next billing cycling.