Staff Blog

If you haven't already noticed, we just launched a new version of Channels. What's new with version 2.0?

- There are now 3 different layouts (stream, grid, and gallery)
- 10 different themes to choose from
- The ability to feature videos and organize the order
- A much improved logo system and a new badge image
- We've removed some clutter

We think this update makes the difference between Channels and Groups clearer and gives you an even more stylish way to showcase videos.

Enjoy!

Vimeo first opened for public use on February 16th, 2005. We have been speeding forward ever since, adding features, improving the site, and keeping Vimeo awesome with your help!

Thanks to everyone who has gone through this journey with us, and to all of you who just joined the site. Your positive attitudes, respectful dialogue, and helpful recommendations are what make Vimeo such a unique website.

We've got more features and improvements in the oven, and year five is going to be great!

We want you to get out there and make some new videos this weekend! We're bringing back a simple but classic project, "Make It Interesting". All you have to do is pick one subject and find a way to make it appealing to an audience. Your subject can be a person, a pet, an antique, anything. Try to experiment with different angles and techniques such as panning, close up, and varying depths of field. You might surprise yourself with how interesting you can make a single subject. For some ideas check out the Make it Interesting Channel or the example video below.

Submit your video to the Weekend Project Group by midnight on Tuesday, February 17th. Since it's a holiday in the U.S. on Monday we're giving you an extra day. The most creative and unique video chosen by the staff will garner a prize of 100 MB more upload space or for Plus members the choice between 1,000 HD embed plays or 100MB extra upload space.

Big hugs and happy Valentine's Day,

The Vimeo Staff

P.S. After careful consideration we decided to launch Channels 2.0 early next week. We want to have full support available for everyone when we launch this very exciting feature update.

Congratulations to Benjamin Schmanke for winning this weekend project contest! Here is his video. Benjamin was awarded an extra hundred mega bytes of upload space. Thanks to everyone who participated!


MII - Memories of Film from Eric E. Anderson on Vimeo.

As you may have recently heard, Channels 2.0 has been in development for a few months now and it will be released soon. Soon as in next week!!! We've developed a ton of new features that you're going to love, but if you have a Channel you should also know a few things might change.

We launched the first version of channels over a year ago, and there are now about 17,000 Channels! While the response and usage has been great we think Channels were over loaded with too many features that had little to do with videos. Specifically, forums, blogs, files, and calendars are a big distraction on most Channels, and are hardly ever used.

So we created Vimeo Groups. Just like how Channels are all about showcasing videos and control of their appearance, Groups are about fostering community and interaction. Groups allow you to create mini communities within Vimeo around the things you like, and meet people who share your interests.

With Channels 2.0 we've cut out the extraneous stuff and gone back to basics. We'll be eliminating forums, blogs, files, and calendars and have added three amazing layout modes which showcase videos clearly and beautifully. We've also added the ability to arrange videos within your Channel, the ability to feature videos in your Channel, categories, tags, and improved customization and themes.

Once we upgrade to Channels 2.0, all existing Channels will be updated. If you have a Channel that makes heavy use of forums and files, you can easily convert it to a Group. Just go to your Channel Settings -> Convert to Group. All of your data will transfer over.

Please post any questions you have here and we'll be happy to help you out! We're looking forward to seeing more awesome Channels on Vimeo!

Alrighty, Vimeo Offline is coming to San Francisco! Yay!

I am very excited to be bringing the event outside the realms of NYC and into the Bay Area! This will be a wonderful opportunity to watch some great Vimeo videos in an offline environment (big screen!) and meet awesome people (our community!).

Hope to see you there!

If you happen to find yourself in beautiful San Francisco later this week, then you should definitely check out the Disposable Film Festival events happening from Thursday Jan 29th through Sunday Feb 1st.

The Disposable Film Festival focuses on many of the incredible short films you see on Vimeo: videos made with powershots, cellphones, point and shoot cameras, etc... and the line up this year looks amazing (trust me, I'm a judge).

So check out the Disposable Film Fest events and make sure to get some tickets!

I will be attending the main event on Thursday and also speaking on the panel on Sunday. Hope to see you there!

Also, we will be having a Vimeo Offline event in SF on Monday... more details/blog post to follow.

2009 is here. It's a time of hope and renewal. We're all beginning a new year, there's a new U.S. president, and maybe you're starting into a new wall calendar.

We're curious about what you're up to in the new year that's different. Maybe you're faithfully sticking to a new years resolution, maybe you broke that resolution already, maybe you're working on or planning something, maybe you're an international user who is finally enjoying sweet, sweet, Vimeo Plus!

It can be anything. You might be on a personal quest to find the elusive Vimeo unicorn...

Show us, don't tell. In other words, don't just talk into your webcam, give us a look at what you're actually up to in 2009.

Submit your video to the Weekend Project Group by midnight on Monday, January 26th. The most creative and unique video chosen by the staff will garner a prize of 100 MB more upload space or for Plus members the choice between 1,000 HD embed plays or 100MB extra upload space.

Share with us on Vimeo. No judgments, just electronic hugs.

EDIT---

We have a winner folks! Thanks to everyone for participating with your submissions to this project. Our selection is "Building The Robot" by Jeremy Ruhland.

Jeremy's brief, but interesting video, shows us that in 2009 there may be a robot uprising and now we'll know who to blame for it.

Congrats Jeremy! You now have 100MBs extra of weekly upload capacity. Thanks again to everyone for their submissions.

Much love,

Vimeo

It is with great pleasure that I can now say this: Vimeo Plus is now available for International users!

We are EXTREMELY sorry for the delay, and we are making it up to everyone. If you buy Plus anytime between now and February 4th, you will get three months free with your purchase - that means 15 months for the price of 12.



Other notable additions/upgrades to the membership now include:

- 5GB of upload space per week (10x what you get with the free account)
- 5000 free HD embed plays with purchase (up from 1000)
- The ability to control which domains can embed in HD
- 25fps/PAL support for HD (up from 24fps)
- Make your videos private on Vimeo.com while still able to embed them on your site
- One-button upgrading of your existing videos to the latest high-quality format without using additional upload space

Thanks for your patience and your support. It has been a hard-fought battle, but we are finally victorious.

Go get 'em!

Vimeo.com/plus