Easy Video Player Review
January 21, 2010
Today I’m going to take a look at a new software program that let’s you do some pretty interesting things if you use videos for marketing.
It’s called Easy Video Player and as the clever name suggests it creates video players…easily.
The product was developed by Josh Bartlett and is a standalone piece of software that is installed on your web server so it’s accessible from any computer…Windows or Mac
And what it does is make the rather complicated task of creating very useful customized video players…ummm…easy!
Here’s what I got:
This player includes some very interesting things especially relating to video marketing…
The actual “player” itself is an open source piece of work called Flow Player.
I like this player and have used it before…it looks good and has lots of your standard “nice to have” player features…
So…what does all this have to do with the Easy Video Player software?
You see, it’s all about taking your video produced in either FLV, MOV, MP4, or M4V and easily…
Putting it into the Flow Player WITH…a bunch of cool additional features!
And what are those?
Here’s what it will do for you:
Here are a few sample reasons why this software has grabbed a spot in my video toolbox.
1. Opt-in Form in Video
Normally, if you want to collect a name and email after presenting your compelling video content you need to put an autoresponder opt-in form somewhere on the page that contains your video.
That usually works ok but means a lot of work creating the page with proper formatting and all that and if I post the video on a blog, I have to be very specific about where the form is…
It can be quite a formatting and html or php challenge!
With this player, you can embed the opt-in form right IN the video player itself…so you can have any video, placed on any web page, act as it’s own listbuilder!
This is…NICE!
I’ve created a sample video of this feature below:
I’ve created a special mailing list where I’ll be sending out more tips and tricks on using EVP as I work more with it…
Just watch the very short sample clip and try out the form. This list will ONLY get video tutorials on EVP…how I’m using it, how to use it with Camtasia and WordPress, what my results are, stuff like that.
2. Buy Button code right inside the video.
No more messin’ around with watch this video and scroll down and click the buy button…boom!
Right there…done!
Again, the real power of this is that you can create “stand-alone” sales videos.
Sample video: Help Buy Lon a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT? Please?
3. Automatic Redirect Sample.
In this video sample I use the Redirect feature to automatically send the viewer to a sales page. Notice how I tell the viewer what’s going to happen at the end of the video…
The Cons
I haven’t really found much that I don’t care for in this product. Most of the things are limitations of other software or platforms like WordPress. For example:
* If you use the Visual Editor in WordPress after pasting your player code into the HTML view, WordPress strips out the script code rendering your video unviewable. Uggg….the workaround is to NOT use the visual editor ever. You can use any external HTML editor to write your posts and then just copy / paste the code into the HTML view on WordPress…or…my preferred method, use a plugin like EmbedIt.
* The software “times out” and will log you out. I guess that’s a security feature but it’s kind of a pain if you are working on uploading, customizing, and messing with getting the player just right and all of a sudden…boom! You are logged out! Be sure to save early and often to keep this from affecting your workflow. I’m not 100% sure what the timeout period is but it did hit me a couple of times in the beginning…
* Some things may not be cons…I’m just not sure about them yet. For example, I don’t see a way to increase the preload buffer time to make sure enough of the video is pre-loaded to ensure smooth streaming and playback. I’ll let you know what I find out. This, again, may be a limitation of FlowPlayer and not EVP…
* Not really a drawback but something to be aware of: If you want videos with a Table of Contents I haven’t seen a way to configure that. In this case, you’re better off using Camtasia’s player or the JW player.
The Value
The product currently costs a one time fee of $127. There is a Mastermind membership that you get to check out for free and then continue with if you like but this is completely optional and you can quit at any time! The software may also go to a monthly cost structure in the near future so grabbing your own copy quickly to use as much as you like might be a good idea.
Considering all you get and what it will do for you, I think this is a great value. Compare this to the JW Player which is about $80 per website and doesn’t really do any of the embedded marketing functions…
Overall, nothing in this list is anywhere close to a show-stopper for me and I can heartly recommend this player.
Here’s what you can do next:
To check out all the features and grab your own copy before it goes to a monthly fee to use it, just click the graphic below:
Have a comment or a question?
Post it and I’ll see if I can help!
Thanks,
Lon
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January 21st, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Hi Lon
I bought this but haven’t installed it yet, because there are no tutorials for how to install in godaddy… they said they are coming, but nothing yet.
I would LOVE some help installing this with godaddy, PLUS some help with Flow Player as a stand alone. Please let me know how I can connect with you on this. And want to learn about Amazon S3.
Thanks so much! Hope to hear from you SOON.
I’m excited to use this product, but feel dead in the water.
HEY… good idea for a workshop?
Christine
http://www.tasks-to-go.com
http://www.imwebgraphics.com
January 21st, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Hey Lon,
Nice review. I snagged it too and am quite pleased.
I had the same frustration with Wordpress posts, so I found I could simply write or paste the post first in visual editor, then switch to HTML view, paste the video embed code in and publish.
As long as you leave it in HTML view when you publish, WP won’t strip out the video script code.
Hey, awesome drawings and animations of your desk in the review video. Care to share how you did it?
Russ
Russ´s last blog ..Why Your Business Needs Internet Marketing Services
January 21st, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Nice thorough review!
AmazonS3 a technical nightmare? Huh, had to put it aside for months. Just picked it up again recently and finally figured it out – W00T!
Seriously considering EVP for all the marketing features and will definitely buy from your link if I do.
FYI – I tried to click on the “EmbedIt” link and got a virus warning! Yikes!
Much Appreciated,
AndreaC
AndreaC´s last blog ..Email Best Practices: Common Sense Simple
January 21st, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Lon I purchased the produce and I think you have done a good summary or the player features. It does everything you say. Truly a good marketing tool.
Personally I did not like the forced acceptance of the membership trial. You must do it there way or they will not sell it to you. This nearly stopped me making the purchase. I know I can cancel any time, it’s just the forced nature of the way it’s done I don’t like.
I’m not high techie so I found the server installation a challenge – permissions, SQ database etc. I’m sure there must be a simpler way or maybe a wizard for dumb bods like me.
But the install videos are mostly very good and when I did get it going I felt good. I was like an apprentice geek.
I’d give the product 10 out of 10. No comment on the business model.
Andrew Smith´s last blog ..How to Write a Business Plan (Chapter 4)
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:52 am
Hi Lon.
You are as per usual more than spot on.
I bought Easy video Player last week (on the product’s lauch day) and it is indeed averything you say it is.
Oh yeah, I have over 450 affiliates and a pretty big list if I say so myself so am not a newbie, and I’ve bought and used JWPlayer and whatnot but folks (readers of “The Lon” here), Easy video Player is a little pricey but it works like a charm.
And no, I’m not affiliated to any of Lon’s products (not a jv of his either) and in no way affiliated to Easy video Player. My market is all on the french internet (as in France and Belgium and so on).
But Lon is my video marketing hero, as in everything I know that I didn’t learn by myself about creating marketing videos, I learned from his very generous video tutorials (and that’s more than tripled my sales!!!)
All I’m saying is you can trust “The Lon”.
This was by the way thanks to his free video tutorials my first marketing video ever (december 2008!). It’s all in french (so might as well say in chinese for most of yas I guess) but man, the result blew my, and my affiliates AND my customers socks off! :
http://grand-livre-du-ebook.com/videos.html
Yeah, even the personalized black and white newspaper video thing at the beginning I created thanks to a recommendation in one of his videos (pretty cool huh?).
So Lon, this here is the very first time that you didn’t teach me something for free here (but I’m now also a paid member of Screen Cast Profits so I’m chill lol!).
Dang I know this looks like a sales letter here folks but it isn’t. I’m not getting anything at all in return for this comment here or as Lon might put it, zip, nada (I already got my reward long ago and as I said, for free). I’m also in no way related to Easy video Player.
All I’m saying is if you want to impress, as in make a big step ahead, be that as a merchant or as an affiliate, trust “The Lon”.
Thanks Lon, you’re the best (I owed you one big time for all you’ve so very quickly taught me as it’s really paid off. So there.).
Peter Kinahan
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Well, I posted my questions about godaddy install and also that flow player and haven’t heard back.
I’m really anxious to use this video player I was concerned I overpaid for…
If anyone has installed on godaddy and can assist, please contact me.
Thanks!
Christine
ctabor@cltventures.com
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:50 am
Hey Lon it’s Natalie in WI. I too want to know how you did the blue line desk annimation. Very cool!
As always I love your videos and I’m thinking about the product too. Great review!
Did you get the storm yet?
Natalie
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Christine, I can’t tell you how to set the player up on GoDaddy, but I can recommend a solution. I have heard from countless people to never use GoDaddy for hosting–that they are a nightmare to work with. Now, I use them for my domain registrations, but I use Bluehost and HostGator for hosting my sites. They are both excellent and marketer friendly.
You can get a hosting account for less than $10 and put as many domains on it as you want, including your Easy Video Player–totally easy to do. (remember that EVP doesn’t have to be on the same host as the websites you already have, and you could still use it to put video on those sites). This would also save you from many future headaches!
Lon, I always enjoy your videos–very entertaining and informative! I got EVP and have already used it to place videos on my sites and it was easy and fun! And I had been looking for a way to use Amazon S3 for video hosting for awhile now–just couldn’t make sense of it, but EVP makes it effortless. Very happy with it!!
Keep up the great work!
Tom
January 26th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Hi Christine,
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with GoDaddy’s hosting service so I can’t really speak to that.
Can you be more specific on what you want to know about FlowPlayer? Have you checked out their site for what you need?
For Amazon S3, there is a tutorial in the Screencast Profits members area that should help quite a bit.
Thanks,
Lon
January 26th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
For those that wanted to know about how I did the Review video look…
It’s a PowerPoint plugin called Ovation. I have a tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEqrYQRGLus
Warning: This is an old trick and the Ovation product was bought by Adobe a couple years back. They are not supporting it on anything but PowerPoint 2003. Not even sure it runs on Vista or greater…
Lon