What is WorldTV.com?
WorldTV is an online video platform that enables people to create their own TV channel and publicize it, create and edit video playlists, centrally manage a library of videos wherever they’re hosted (YouTube, BlipTV, Vimeo, EC2, your own server, etc), and create embeddable players for videos in your library, all wrapped up in an extremely friendly user interface. There’s many other things WorldTV can be used for (see next question). Our goal is simple however… to offer the very best and well-thought-out tools for working with web-based video.
WorldTV is extremely versatile and can be used in many ways. Here’s 12 things you can do…
- Create your own full screen, high-definition, web TV channel (and become your own media mogul). Soon you’ll be able to broadcast the same channel to TV’s as well. (Some users are already doing this)
- Watch a quarter-of-a-million web TV channels created by people from all over the World.
- Collect, archive and maintain an independent library of all your favourite web video clips.
- As a video discovery and social network sharing system – share your video finds on Twitter, Facebook and RSS with a single click, as you browse the web (using our very awesome browser bookmarklet add-on). Instantly share great video clips without ever leaving YouTube, Blip, Vimeo, and 25 other popular video websites. Store a viewable copy in your library or collection at the same time – so you can always find it again.
- Take FLV, H.264, MP4 files on your own server or elsewhere (can be hi-def), and employ WorldTV as a playlist builder, video content management system, embeddable player generator, RSS playlist generator, Twitter and Facebook video sharing tool
- Record video clips into your library from your own webcam via your browser (no software to install)
- Use our ground-breaking and, we believe.. unique Universal Player, to wrap a great looking embeddable player around YouTube clips, your own hosted clips, and clips from other video sites and sources. Switch seamlessly between videos from different websites; customize the look and feel of the player; insert video ads between clips (25 video ad networks are supported); switch in live streams from Ustream and Qik.
- Create and edit video playlists using the friendliest GUI playlist editor on the planet (demo)
- Create an embeddable player that will broadcast live video from your mobile phone using Qik, to any number of viewers (and show playlists of videos when you’re not broadcasting live)
- Have multiple editors access and edit the same video collection simultaneously (works similar to Google WAVE)
- Monetize your video playlists or channel with TV-style advertising. We can find the ads for you, or, you can plug in your own video ad network account from more than 25 supported video ad networks. (available on request)
- And much more!
How much does it cost?
WorldTV offers its basic service for FREE – and does not require a credit card to sign up. Additional ‘PRO’ features are available on an ‘a la carte’ basis meaning you can add exactly the features you want, and none of the ones you don’t. These range in price from 25 cents per month to $7.50 per month. Many of these features are also available as one-time-fee purchases meaning you only pay once and have access to the feature indefinitely. The WorldTV PRO Store (where you buy these features) is built into the application itself, so the best thing is to create a channel (it only takes 2 minutes) and browse the features available.
Why would I invest my time and energy into this site?
Choosing a site to invest your time or money into is a significant decision, particularly if you are entrusting that site with your content, effort, brand and creativity. It takes time to learn all the features of a new website and get involved in its community – you want to know that the site will be there in the future and continue to innovate ahead. We’ve been conceptualizing and planning WorldTV for 12 15 years and we plan to be around a lot longer. This is more than just a ‘business’ to us, it’s a passion and a journey. The tools we offer now are just the beginning of that journey. What we have in the pipeline will genuinely excite anyone who has a passion for video and technology. If you come along for the ride you won’t be disappointed.
I’ve forgotten my login details
You will have received an e-mail with your access details when you first signed up, with the subject ‘Access Details for your WorldTV Channel’. WorldTV useshttp://worldtv.com/pages2/wp-admin/post.php?post=19&action=edit&message=1 a defined URL structure for logging into a channel which is worldtv.com/yourchannelname/editor. Simply visit this URL substituting your channel name. If you can’t remember your channel name, you can email us and we will try to help you. N.B. A central login feature is planned for v1.1 in May 2011.
Why is my channel not showing up on the World page?
You need to tick the box for ‘List Channel Publicly’ under Channel Settings->Channel within the Editor.
Can I do live broadcasts?
Yes. With our Live Tab feature you can publish live video to your WorldTV channel and even switch between different live feeds from different places. You will need to create a free account with Ustream which is a superb live streaming platform offering a range of great tools. We particularly recommend their Ustream Producer software which we use ourselves for WorldTV Live Events. We also offer compatibility with Qik if you want to do live video from a mobile phone. Ustream is more suited to ‘desktop’ video and professional broadcasts where Qik is great for going live from an iPhone for example.
How do I purchase additional features? What about pricing info?
The WorldTV PRO Store has moved and is now fully integrated into the WorldTV Editor. When you are logged into your Editor you will see a Tab called WorldTV PRO. On here you can see all the many additional features available and review their prices. Note that many features are available in both one-time-fee and subscription flavours. You can choose what is best for you.
I used the old WorldTV PRO Store and bought my features using PayPal. What should I do?
Your subscription and products remain the same. We recommend transitioning to the new system
I’m having a technical problem
WorldTV is now out of beta and is generally very reliable. Weird things do happen occasionally but they can almost always be solved easily. Here’s our recommended procedure for dealing with technical issues…
1) A video has stopped working and is skipping to the next video during playback – This can happen when the original video file is no longer available on YouTube or other source website. Often, searching for the same video and re-adding it will solve the problem. Problem videos are highlighted in the Editor with an orange exclamation point which can be clicked on to get more details and rapidly search for the same video again. If you have a persistant problem with videos from a specific site, check our Twitter feed and news page for any recent mentions of the problem. If there is none, please tell us about the problem so we can fix it.
2) The editor is unresponsive – This can happen occasionally. The simple solution is to ‘refresh’ the page in your browser. This will solve almost all problems. You won’t lose any work (or hardly any), everything is backed up automatically every few seconds.
3) I’m having a problem not solved by the above
- Check our News page, Facebook and Twitter for any known issues
- Do a search for relevant topics using the search box on this page
- Check our WorldTV manual
- Write to us for help (1-3 day response time for most enquiries, shorter for paying users)
How can I embed my channel in a blog or webpage?
We offer two main methods of embedding a WorldTV channel.
We provide a tab in the Editor called ‘Embeddable Player’ (this is a paid feature) and on here you will find the code to create an embeddable player. The feature ‘Embeddable Player’ comes with 1 style of player – 3 more are available in the Pro Store. Each embeddable player is customizable.
A second approach is to use an iFrame technique and include a full WorldTV channel (with or without EPG navigation panels) on your page. This works best at a larger size – 800 pixels wide or larger. You can frame your channel in your own custom designed skin this way and examples can be seen here, here and here.
iFrame method (example code)
<iframe src=”http://worldtv.com/alxtv” width=”800px” height=”450px” frameborder=”0″>
* Note that you can adjust the width and height to whatever size you wish, bearing in mind the issue described above regarding minimum size.
What is the maximum number of items I can have in my playlist/library?
There is an initial limit of 100 videos in both the playlist and library (200 total). You can upgrade to a limit of 500 items or unlimited clips for a one-off fee. See our Pro Store in the Editor for more details.
Who is behind WorldTV?
Two friends with a passion for doing innovative stuff and a team of wonderful programmers worldwide. Our graphic design is by FruitMachine – a Shoreditch based design agency.
Why do people always stand up in planes when there are at least 100 people who have to get off before them?
We don’t know, but it’s weird.
How do we contact you?
For suggestions and bug reports, please use our feedback system.
For all other enquiries, please send e-mail to reception@worldtv.com
You can also follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook
Last updated: May 8th 2011