Today’s showdown pits two video service sites against each other. Today’s combatants are Vimeo and Viddler.

Storage Space

Each service has their own upload limitations. Vimeo restricts users to 500MB per week, while Viddler limits individual videos to 500MB with no limit on the number of videos a user can upload. Chances are most users won’t reach either of those caps, but unlimited is a definite perk. Points: Viddler

Video Uploading

As far as I can tell, all uploading is done through a web interface. To test the upload process, I uploaded a sample video to each service. The file was a 25MB .mov file that came off our Kodak C763 digital camera. Upload times for both services were comparable, finishing in around six minutes. My experience with Vimeo was much better than my experience with Viddler. In Vimeo, the upload and encoding went off without a hitch. In Viddler, however, it took a lot more work to get my video encoded properly. Points: Vimeo

Video Encoding

The encoding process for Vimeo finished in just a few minutes, after a five minute wait in the queue. The resulting video is pretty good quality and runs just the same as when QuickTime plays it. Viddler’s encoding didn’t like my video for some reason, but on another video it ran pretty well. I later found out my Viddler encode succeeded, but decided to tell me it failed. Points: Vimeo

Web Interface

The GUI for both services is pretty good, but I’m going to have to give the nod to Viddler. It’s cleaner and easier to navigate than Vimeo’s interface. It’s also much easier to find other popular and featured videos. YouTube still wins against both of these two, but they’re not in this showdown. Points: Viddler

Video Player

I like the player Viddler offers more than the one Vimeo offers. It’s more full-featured and offers essential functions like embedding, sharing, and replay. Overall, it’s snappier and more responsive than Vimeo’s player. I don’t want to discount the Vimeo player because it’s pretty good for the most part, but Viddler wins this round by far. Points: Viddler

And the winner is…

This is a tough decision. While I feel that Viddler has a better experience after the video is uploaded, I can’t help but be put off by the difficulty I had in getting my video on the site. I think it was just a fluke because I was able to get another video uploaded without incident. Each service offers other features that I’m not necessarily concerned with. The key for me is which service offers the better player and quality. So, the Donut trophy goes to Viddler.

Video in Vimeo

Sam Goes Swimming from Mark Bockenstedt on Vimeo.

Video in Viddler