I like this project and we appreciate its continuity but, I think many of us are stuck with functions as simple as being able to share videos, which so far does not seem to have a solution. So why not to develop a video premium plugin ?

Best regard

In the File Attachments and/or Filebank add-ons there is possible to set up/allow any file type for uploading; this also includes video file types.

But you must make sure your hosting plan/server allows to upload big size files. Some video files could be truly big. For big files, another uploading solution should be used. Those add-ons are only for basic to medium hosting plans.

If you'd like to upload and embed videos on your thread page, it very depends on the 3rd party player you'd like to use. Each software like JW Player provides its own set of embedding codes, which would allow a video file to appear straight on the forum's thread page. These codes could be tied up with a BB code, which could be used to embed videos straight, and so they could use a File Reference from the File Bank.

All this is very specific. I suppose, I could think about writing a quick article or topic on how to upload and embed short videos (for example like those 1-minute shots from a smartphone) using a certain online HTML5 player, and refer BB codes from the File Bank for it...

But if we speak about something more advanced, if your videos are legal, nowadays Youtube or Vimeo are better places to keep and share your videos. They are not limited in space and they have proved tools to upload, edit and promote files. If you mean we could try to code a premium add-on similar to Youtube functions, it would mean re-inventing the bycicle. And so, for Youtube or Vimeo, miniBB already has free add-ons, which allow mostly all kinds of embedding approaches.

Embedding uploaded videos might not be that easy as seems.

First of all, an uploaded video file should be encoded in a proper media format such as MP4 or WEBM, it must conform with the codecs supported by HTML5 browsers, which only then would be able to play your media.

Also, you don't have to choose some specific Video player to build a BB-code with it. You could use just a simple <video> tag with its elements. HTML5's <video> element specifies a standard way to embed a video in a web page, and the <source> element of it allows you to specify alternative video files which the browser may choose from. The browser will use the first recognized format.

BUT if you upload just one file, let it be .MP4, some older browsers may not recognize it. For older browsers, a few formats files should be supplied, then the chances of video being recognized increase. But this means, there must be some server-based software to convert an uploaded file in multiple formats. Then the HTML code should contain all alternative references. Tough job!

Basically all browsers should support playing a video file by a direct URL or reference, so if a video file is uploaded as attachment, it provides a way to click its hyperlink and then either download either watch the it directly in a browser, this allows skip taking care of 3rd party programs usage/updates.

Also, some players pre-load the video files *in whole* as soon as the page is loaded that's why it's always better to have such huge files appearing as hyperlinks, not embedded.