Viddler

This option doesn't seem to work. I click the green + button on the timeline at the image I want for a thumbnail and choose Set Thumbnail, but it chooses a different image. Am I doing it wrong?

Also, it would be great if these forums were searchable. Perhaps my question has already been answered. I just can't spend a ton of time going through all the forum messages looking for an answer.

Thanks for a great service!

The search button next to the website logo at the top of the page has a down-arrow next to it. It's a drop-down menu. Type your text in then select the area of the website you want to search.

I have the same problem, but only for some of my videos. For others, setting the thumbnail works fine.

I'm also having the same problem. It seems to work for some of my videos and not others.

Same problem here. Works for one video then not for another. A random image from my video shows up as the thumbnail when I try to set a new thumbnail.

This problem was reported 2 months ago... has any progress been made in identifying/fixing the issue?

This isn't really a bug, because you're not going to get the exact frame that you chose with the (+) button, you're going to get the closest key frame (that's my understanding). It's not an exact science, so you will get a frame close to the one you picked (and sometimes you might get the exact frame you picked, but definitely not always). This is because of the way the videos are encoded, the frame rate namely.

Hi Brandice, thanks for the response. I can understand what you mention about "closest key frame". How do I know which frames are key frames? Can I skip forward/backward between key frames and then set thumbnail with the one I want to use?

The trouble is, with a dynamic video it can be a lot of fussing and trial and error to get an acceptable thumbnail. For example, play video, set thumbnail, go to my videos, see what thumbnail was applied, find out its not what I want, back to play video, etc, etc, etc.

Would it be possible to upload a .jpg to be used as a video's thumbnail as oppossed to marking it in the video?

Thanks again,
-AAKT

Uploading your own thumbnail is not something that we offer now, but it's a possibility down the road if it's something that a lot of people request. I know that the team is also working on a way to get a more accurate thumbnail selection process as well.

Can we choose our own still frame from our video when it first pops up? What I mean is the first image you see when you click on a video and see the play logo over that image. Can that be changed? If not it should be able to do that.

rcmedia, that is what this thread is discussing - how to set your thumbnail (which should also set that image you see when the video has not yet been played). hitting the (+) button and setting thumbnail should also change that image as well.

I would appreciate the ability to upload or own thumbnails. I honestly don't mind only being able to use the closest key frames, but I would like to just see them all in an "edit video" page where I can just see them all and select one. Vimeo has a feature like that and that is really only one of the few things that wish Viddler would get...as well as a "Channel" sections like what Vimeo has...

I would also like to vote for the ability to upload my own thumbnail jpg image.

I agree that that would be pretty cool. Tube Mogul allows for this, but it doesn't appear to work with Viddler key frames. I'll forward the request on. :)

CaptainLou: The only thing we've seen is people willing to scam these types of systems. But we do want to provide you with the best set of tools possible so we'll put this on our list and see what we can come up with in the future.

Although I do not mind having the possibility to upload a thumbnail, I think this feature is far less important than allowing the "Set Thumbnail" feature to capture an EXACT frame and not only keyframes.

Brandice, thanks for referencing this thread - it sounds like it's covering my questions about how to set a thumbnail and/or starting image for before the video is played. Capturing exact frames and selecting amongst several keyframes would be great.

Please add one more vote for these features from me. :)

Generally, my concern is that - since most of my videos are monologues - plenty of keyframes to my videos end up with me blinking or mouth open. ha ha. I'd be happy to have some kind of feature or choice that lets me find something other than one of these moments.

Uploading a generic thumb/start frame as an option would be idea if one could shoot for the stars.

Thanks!

In fact, I have to vote against uploading a separate thumbnail.
Then, people may upload all sorts of frames that are not in the video at all... which misses the point of a "thumbnail".

If at all, I would allow exact capture from the video itself, and then, let the user zoom and pan the captured thumbnail - so you will be able to get a nice result, and it will still qualify as a thumbnail, and not just a "cover image".

@ brandice (re: rcmedia) = I agree that this "should also set that image you see when the video has not yet been played" but it doesn't. Unless the image on the video is not updated automatically. I've changed the thumbnail pic several times, it changes on the main site, but when I go to the embedded pic, it's still the old one. Does this take a while to update? Or shouldn't this update automatically and at the same time as the thumbnail?

@mrissell: AFAIK, it should be the same image for both. Maybe it takes a while to update on the server. Have you tried and reloaded the page? Maybe a cached image is still somewhere in your temp files. On the other hand, if the problem occurs at the beginning of the flv, my remark is irrelevant. :p

And please, don't post twice about the same problem, on the forums. :)