¶ PVYmedia | Getting started
We all enjoy motion pictures, movies, or videos for entertainment, education, art, or sharing valuable information.
PVYmedia is a lightweight, modern video-sharing service built on open-source platforms like Django. It allows you to create a video community with customizable settings for publisher registration and offers an API. You can also disable user or publisher signups if you only want to publish and distribute video or podcast content.
While there are alternatives like Peertube, which our team has optimized and deployed on thousands of servers, they have limitations. That’s why we developed a new framework, incorporating and improving upon existing features in a modern, lightweight language. Since PVYfiles is highly performant, based on the Django and React frameworks, it served as an excellent starting point.
¶ So who is PVYmedia for?
- Communities: To build their own portal
- Corporations: For sensitive data or information they don’t want to publish on the public internet
- Education Sector: As an eLearning content delivery platform
- Media & Journalists: To save costs and have a scalable solution in the age of AI
PVYmedia is highly customizable, both in the frontend and the backend. You truly own your content and don’t need to comply with the rules or narratives of other publishing platforms.
¶ Furthermore it can be easily integrated with:
- LMS
- ERPs
as a media repository, or even be utilized as Video on Demand Platform.
¶ Privacy built-in
PVYmedia lets you decide if you want to allow user registration, limit registration by domain, or use SAML2/OAuth and social media providers for single sign-on. You can be open and allow Apple, Google, GitHub, or Discord users to join with their existing logins. PVY-ID login is also built-in, with its default role as “Registered User”.
Unlike other platforms that allow you to publish a video as unlisted (accessible only by a direct link), PVYmedia also lets you protect your video with a password. This feature is useful for product reviews, video training, or commercials that need to be shown to a private audience as the consumer will see them.
¶ Video related automatisation
- Easy Uploader, supports chunking
- Identification (Video, Pictures, Podcast, Music)
- Get Meta data (duration/dimensions,tags)
- Extract thumbnail
- Create a preview GIF
- Create sprites file
- Create transcoding for different resolutions (240/480/720/1080/2160)
- Create HLS files and a playlist file
¶ The User Interface
Kept simple, PVYmedia offers both a light and dark theme with a switcher in the left menu navigation, covering everything you are familiar with and expect.
¶ Left Menu Sidebar Structure
The collapsible left menu sidebar displays navigation through published media. Based on your login status and allocated user role, you will see additional menu items
¶ Home
¶ Featured
¶ Recommended
¶ Recent uploads
¶ Tags
¶ Categories
¶ Publishers
¶ ————
¶ Upload Media
¶ My media
¶ My Playlist
¶ ————
¶ History
¶ Liked media
¶ ————
¶ About
¶ Terms
¶ Contact
¶ ————
¶ *Manage media
¶ *Manage users
¶ *Manage comments
¶ *Theme Switcher
Entries labeled “Manage” appear for users with roles such as Moderator, Reviewer, Admin, or Superadmin. All other roles are labeled “Registered User.” This means basic publishing operations can be performed directly from the frontend. Users with the Publisher role also see options to manage their media, playlists, and upload new content in the left sidebar navigation.
¶ Feature Overview
¶ Player
The video player offers several viewing options for the consumer. It automatically adjusts to be responsive and supports mobile device features, such as automatically going fullscreen when the device is rotated to landscape view. It also supports Picture-in-Picture mode, allowing you to watch the video while using another app. Additionally, you can display/hide subtitles (if available) and set your playback speed. Picture-in-Picture mode is also supported on the desktop.
- Normal View
- Cinema View
- Fullscreen View
- Picture in Picture View (on Desktop, right click into the Player)
¶ Media Download
Publishers can choose whether to allow viewers to download the video. When this option is set to true (default), viewers will see and can use the Download button to download the video in all available encoded formats and ratios.
¶ User Interactions
- Comments can be enabled/disabled
- Like/Dislike can be enabled/disabled
- Rating Categories
The system also allows you to enable rating categories, which can be used, for example, for age classification of video content or for user interactions. Comments can be set to public or for logged-in users only. By default, the like or dislike feature is set to public, but each visitor can only use it once (either like or dislike). All user interactions can be systemwide enabled or disabled.
¶ Share & Embedding Video
Users can share the video by copying the link, copying the embed code, or even directly posting it to pre-defined social media platforms with just one click.
- X/twitter
- Telegram
- PVYmessenger
- Tumblr
- VK
- Mix
¶ Publishing Options
Publishing is made easy for the publisher. As a logged-in user, simply click on the camera plus icon either in the left sidebar menu or in the upper right corner. This gives you the ability to drag and drop any media onto it or browse your computer to upload a file.
Thanks to chunking support, any upload will resume if you lose internet connection for a while, and it is relatively quick. You can classify the video title, publish the video on one or multiple selected categories, enter some useful tags, change the production date (automatically set to the current time), benefit from the built-in automatic thumbnail generation as the video preview, or define a manual thumbnail picture for the video. Finally, you can add a description and define its availability state as:
- Public
- Private (with Password)
- Unlisted
If you don’t provide a static thumbnail, you can also change the timestamp from which the system automatically extracts a thumbnail as a GIF, based on time in seconds. Automatic thumbnail generation has the benefit that when a visitor hovers over a video or taps on it on an iPad/Tablet, it provides a few seconds of playtime. On the other hand, a static thumbnail allows you to maintain a consistent and stylish CI/branding design. Additionally, you can enable/disable comments. Based on your role, you can also set additional statuses for the media.
- Featured
- Is reviewed
- Allow download
If a video has been reported by other registered users for harmful content (you can enable or disable that feature), you will see the count of such reports. This serves as an indicator to make a decision if necessary. If you intend to establish PVYmedia as a community-driven platform, you can also adjust settings so that only moderators are allowed to feature a video. Featured videos will then be listed in the “Featured” menu for your audience.
¶ Edit / Add Subtitles (CC File)
We support the industry-standard WebVTT format for uploading subtitles to your videos. Once uploaded, you can also edit them as needed.
¶ Manage Media
The publisher can manage eveything with their frontend access, Bulk Actions are possible for managing your media, such as:
- Delete media
- Select Categories
- Set additional Tags
- Specify Language Flag
- Add Media to Playlist
¶ Manage comments
If you’re building a video or educational community, you have the option to enable or disable comments for the entire media portal. You can enable comments per media itself or set it as the default for your entire channel. If comments are enabled, you have a central place to manage, search, and filter comments with links to their respective media. Additionally, you can remove comments using bulk actions.
¶ Built-in Encoder Settings
The system comes deployed with commonly used codec options, with standard ones enabled for immediate publishing. You can enable additional codecs as a SuperAdmin or define your own. The system supports up to 4K resolution, but it’s worth noting that for many users with limited bandwidth (around 40 Mbit/s globally), 2K resolution is sufficient.
In 2024, the industry standard codec for iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, and macOS devices remains H.264, ensuring cross-platform support. Codecs like V9 from Google and H.265 from Apple are optimized for newer devices and operating systems released after 2023. However, working with codecs may require some technical knowledge.
| Name | Extension | Resolution | Codec | Description | Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H264-240 | mp4 | 240 | h264 | Very Small Devices | Yes |
| H264-360 | mp4 | 360 | h264 | Small Devives | Yes |
| H264-480 | mp4 | 480 | h264 | Medium Devices | Yes |
| H264-720 | mp4 | 720 | h264 | Standard Definition | Yes |
| H264-1080 | mp4 | 1080 | h264 | High Definition | Yes |
| H264-1440 | mp4 | 1440 | h264 | High Definition + | Yes |
| H264-2160 | mp4 | 2160 | h264 | Ultra HD (2K) | Yes |
| Name | Extension | Resolution | Codec | Description | Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H265-240 | mp4 | 240 | h265 | Very Small Devices | No |
| H265-360 | mp4 | 360 | h265 | Small Devives | No |
| H265-480 | mp4 | 480 | h265 | Medium Devices | No |
| H265-720 | mp4 | 720 | h265 | Standard Definition | No |
| H265-1080 | mp4 | 1080 | h265 | High Definition | No |
| H265-1440 | mp4 | 1440 | h265 | High Definition + | No |
| H265-2160 | mp4 | 2160 | h265 | Ultra HD (2K) | No |
| Name | Extension | Resolution | Codec | Description | Active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP9-240 | webm | 240 | vp9 | Very Small Devices | No |
| VP9-360 | webm | 360 | vp9 | Small Devives | No |
| VP9-480 | webm | 480 | vp9 | Medium Devices | No |
| VP9-720 | webm | 720 | vp9 | Standard Definition | No |
| VP9-1080 | webm | 1080 | vp9 | High Definition | No |
| VP9-1440 | webm | 1440 | vp9 | High Definition + | No |
| VP9-2160 | webm | 2160 | vp9 | Ultra HD (2K) | No |
For images, if you want to showcase artwork or high-resolution wallpapers to your audience, you have the option to upload the following media formats in high resolutions. PVYmedia generates thumbnails for fast browsing and offers high-resolution downloads:
- JPG
- PNG
- GIF
- Webp
¶ The Architecture (Release 1)
The workers, categorized into two types, are orchestrated for publishing, encoding, and media preparation for the frontend. Some tasks, like generating sprites from encoding, require a longer duration, while others, such as creating thumbnails and lower resolutions, are prioritized for quicker completion to ensure new publications are available as soon as possible. This is particularly important for publishers who are eager to disseminate their news rapidly via social media.
The architecture not only supports multiple instances in the frontend but also allows for the distribution of the database across multiple instances in a scalable manner. Similarly, the data storage pools scale across multiple PVY data centers.
¶ Tracking & Analytics
By default, no analytics are enabled to track or profile users/visitors. However, we set a small cookie to enable basic site functionality for non-logged-in users, such as “History,” “Liked Media,” and “Recommended,” based on visitors’ video playback. Our own PVYmedia portal also does not have built-in analytics.
Nevertheless, you can run analytics compliant with GDPR/DSGVO using PVYanalytics, which offers a comprehensive solution with media analysis capabilities not found elsewhere. Analytics, when done correctly, can be beneficial, such as when you want to monetize your video content or understand why certain videos perform well while others do not.
¶ Migrate from another Platform
PVYmedia is extremely powerful, despite its simple and clear design, which might not immediately suggest its capabilities. It supports import and migration from the following commonly used tech stacks:
- S3 Amazon File Buckets (PVY.swiss also has an equivalent solution)
- Youtube Importer (including meta data)
- PeerTube Importer (including meta data)
- Odysee - LbryTV Impporter (including meta data)
If your content relies on another video platform solution, simply contact us for support. Our talented team of Steam Punk Rabbits can assist you with a custom-built migration tool to ensure a seamless transition.
¶ Read the docs
For more Details how to unleash this powerful video platform for your own projects, please read:
Adminstrator Guide
¶ Live Demo?
Certainly, please visit our own PVYmedia which is utilized here on the PVYwiki to provide tutorial videos, as well as on our official website
¶ Roadmap
Having a roadmap is crucial, whether you’re traveling by car or engaging in the sort of specialized software development activities we are undertaking. We can confirm that we have a roadmap in place and have assigned a dedicated team to it. While we’re open to suggestions, we’re confident that we’ve already addressed most of what people have in mind in our upcoming releases.
¶ Deployment Options
PVY.swiss offers various deployment options available directly from the PVYapp Store. However, for specific requirements, you can reach out to us directly. You can begin with a small-scale deployment and then scale up to multi-data-center options or even utilize a Content Delivery Network (CDN) with 4200 global peerings with Class A carriers worldwide.
In summary, you can start with a small subscription fee and as your content and audience grow, our experienced team ensures seamless and hassle-free scalability of your media delivery. PVY.swiss