Welcome to Private Media Channel Help Center

Frequently Asked Questions



I work for a community college and we are in need for a place to store videos that can only then be played if the person logs in using our existing LDAP account?
Yes, we can do it. Our business plan and above supports Single Sign On (SSO). You can also store your videos on our end and embed it on your website or portal.

Do you have a user-friendly interface for watching the videos with search capability?

Yes. From the search bar in your channel you can look for videos by filtering based on video and community, respectively


A use case - an instructor puts the URL of a video in a course management system or an e-mail. When the student clicks on the URL, the student must login to watch the video. Is this feature available?

Yes, it can be provided on a per video basis.


A student is assigned to watch a video. He/she logs into the system, browses or searches to find the video and then watches the video. Do you have this feature?

Yes, when you add a student as a user in your channel, you can assign permissions allowing them to perform actions in the channel, such as viewing videos, subscribing to videos, etc.


On the admin side, are there reports to alert if a particular video is not being watched so that it can be taken down?

Yes, analytics including minutes watched and various other metrics related to the video are available in the Analytics section. We also have web hooks where we can send ‘video watch completion’ to a web service at your end.


Why am I not seeing the embed symbol on the video even after providing the right settings in “General Settings”?

When you upload a video, it is just loaded into the system but cannot function in its entirety. For it to be fully operational, you have to approve it, primarily. This you do by clicking on the checkbox that appears when you hover your uploaded video in the Manage Videos page. It is only after approving the video that you will be able to see the embed symbol.


I uploaded a video, will it be automatically approved or not?

When you upload a video, it is just loaded into the system but cannot function in its entirety. For it to be fully operational, you have to approve it, primarily. This you do by clicking on the checkbox that appears when you hover your uploaded video in the Manage Videos page.


I just want my site visitors to choose the video they want to see on my site, and then pay the amount to see that video on a one-time basis.

The payment process takes the users to your Private Media Channel sign in/register page, after the successful payment the user is brought back to your site for them to play the video. If you have your users registered on your site already, then you can choose the Single Sign On (SSO) option.

By choosing Private Media Channel’s monetization process, along with having multiple users register either on the channel or SSO, you get to know who viewed the video, at what time, in which browser, how much they paid, and if they want to view it again. With our settings and if you desire the same, they can login and view it again without paying.


Do you have a Pay Per View (PPV) player that allows one view with a PayPal payment?

Yes, we have that feature.


How do I reset someone in a community to pay for a video again, once they have reached the limit?

You can restrict the number of views in the Advanced tab when you edit the details for a particular video content. If the views are reached, you can come back and reset the same.


Do you offer an API? We'd like to encapsulate Private Media Channel in our site but want to maintain our own experience throughout.

Sure. We provide API but you have to be in the higher pricing plan to use it.


For video "rental" - do you handle the transaction or do we? Who tracks the period that it's available?

We have a payment gateway mechanism that connects to Stripe, Authorize.Net, and PayPal. You can use yours too if you wish to use your own payment gateway. You can set the period for each user, each video, or create a bundle with an offer code. We offer vast monetizing options for you without taking any commission.


Do you happen to have a comparison matrix versus Wistia, Vimeo, etc?

You can take a look at the review and comparison done by Trust Radius, a trusted software reviewer. Follow these links:
Private Media Channel vs Brightcove Video Cloud
Private Media Channel vs Wisita
Private Media Channel vs Vimeo Pro


When uploading my video if the upload is paused or if the internet connection is interrupted, will the upload resume when things get back to normal?

Yes the upload resumes when the upload has been paused or internet connection has been interrupted. There is no setting that you have to do. This is an automatic process, when you try to upload the same video again, it will resume upload from where it left off.


I promote a professional wrestling show and I am researching on how to get my show on IPPV. I have an UStream and YouTube account but need to get my product to generate revenue outside of my venue crowd. What is the cost for this service?

That’s monetizing, and one of our strengths. We provide you a secure channel where your audience have to pay and watch the stream. We don’t take any commission. Take a look at our Documentation monetization section. Our pricing is listed here


How many viewers would it take to absorb the max GB on a weekly 2-hour broadcast?

It’s based on your uploading streaming quality and the duration, and of course related to which pricing plan you are on.


If my viewership exceed my expectations, will I lose out if only 50 people were able to buy my video when thousands tried? If I bought a certain package and say it was full at 100 viewers but 1000 bought it, would my package be upgraded automatically to handle my sales?

Yes. No one will be stopped from buying/viewing because of your current plan. The system automatically scales up and you will be billed for extra usage.


How do I embed it to my site now and add a payment option?

When you click on the video, you should see the top right embed icon in the video player. You get the iframe code when you click on the embed icon. You then use this code on your site to embed the video. Payment options can be added from our various monetization charge models. Read here.


Do you recommend 720p for best resolution?

We provide adaptive streaming, hence the resolution will switch automatically based on your Internet speed (bandwidth).


Do you have an in-house DVD to mpeg converter?

We use a third party free software to convert videos from DVD to mpeg format for our customers.


I uploaded 5 videos, but they weren't saved. I started the upload, went to lunch, came back and edited the descriptions of each video and clicked Save. I was taken back to the login screen and nothing was saved. Do I really have to upload all these videos again and rewrite all the descriptions?

If the session times out before you hit save, then you will have to login and upload again. It is advisable to upload and fill up the rest of the information immediately else you upload the files and save it first, you can later edit the description and other such details.


I created a new site user and associated him with a Community. I want to make sure he only has access to that community for one year. After the year passes I want to make sure he doesn't have access to the community until he pays for the next year. How do I manage community expiration dates?

You have to do that using UPC code and Offer Code. First assign the community to UPC and assign the UPC to offer code with a validity period. These links will help you handle it:
Monetization
Manage Offer Code


Is it possible to embed on a personal website?

Yes, you can do it. Once the video is approved inside the channel, you can get the embed code by clicking the Get Embed icon in the video player.


How can others add videos to my site or do they have to come to this channel first?

To upload videos they have to come the channel first. Once the video is uploaded and approved by the Site Admin, it can be embedded on the site for viewing.


How to change URL name?

The Private Media Channel URL provided for your channel can be changed only by our developers. Contact us in the in-app chat and we can change it for you.