Cincopa vs. Ensemble Video

I would say that Cincopa is a first-stop for any dev project without an internal gallery option. This is especially true if the person in charge of content or building the galleries is not a coder. Cincopa makes designing a good looking gallery and inserting it into nearly any webpage a pretty simple process, so it is a great starting place. There may be other options that would fit a different development project better (internal gallery functions or a full-scale DAM with importable galleries), but for our purposes Cincopa was (and is) a perfect fit.

Incentivized

I'm not sure where Ensemble Video would be less appropriate. We've found it to be very effective for our campus-specific use cases. However, the product is very customizable in how a campus could structure their Ensemble instance to match their organization, and how users may be managed.

• Responsive - if your platform is not responsive it will display the gallery this way across all platforms.
• Fast - if you have slow uploads it will increase your load speed.
• Easy - you can upload all your photos at once or one at a time. Then use a preset gallery to display them.

• Adapting to user needs. Ensemble Video seems to always be listening to their clients needs and suggestions by implementing effective features in every system update. Communication seems to always indicate that these features are driven by requests that their customers have made to improve the service.
• Client Support - I have an IT/support background and have had to deal with many vendors and external support. Ensemble is easily the most responsive and effective vendor when it comes to support. When needing certain solutions, they have sent code that was in development and not officially released so I could achieve my goals with project videos. Support is always personal, prompt and effective.
• Customization. New templates, video players, account management, and embed options have allowed us to use Ensemble Video in a much more personalized way. Early versions of the service had an "Ensemble feel" but color schemes and logos are now able to be changed for a better organization feel.

• The number of pictures for the upload should be slightly higher.
• The previous calculation of the traffic is difficult.
• If many pictures have to be deleted from a gallery, that does not happen so fast, because only 50 pictures are loaded. Then you have to scroll all the way down and wait until the next 50 images are loaded, in order to be able to mark them for deletion. This takes a while with 800 pictures for example.

• User management. Some features are unique to the entire deployment (like authentication sources). It would be great if multiple authentication options could be used across different Ensemble institutions.
• Upgrade processes. Though new versions of Ensemble Video are always better, the installation process is very manual and Ensemble Video must be involved directly. Not a weakness, but it would be nice to be able to perform our own upgrades/patches when needed.

It solved the problems we were facing at the time.

Cincopa is very easy to use, especially to the uninitiated. You don't need a degree in CS or years of experience to set-up a fantastic looking gallery. The interface is self-explanatory for the most part and very easy to use. The drag-and-drop functionality makes it simple and inviting for all users.

Incentivized

The team at Ensemble Video is dedicated to supporting us and they offer prompt and reliable services.

Cincopa has nice templates that are easy to use. The images can be moved about, more images added, and the size changed.

I particularly like the Pinterest style template, as it fits in well with the number of images that I need to display on my website. The more choices displayed, the more likely customers are to order.

Incentivized

Ensemble Video has succeeded for us where other solutions have failed. It came along exactly when we needed it, for our organization. At the time, we were caught between the push and pull of several different solutions, uploading our videos with the expectation that users would take the time to download and play them, using popular public video streaming services with few settings and options, and forgoing videos altogether. Ensemble Video has taken our myriad needs and provided a platform that addresses all of them.

• The video that we uploaded to our website will show prospects in the area around our apartment community and hopefully give them a good idea of how close they can be to work/school.
• Our video will result in more apartments being rented which will have a positive impact on our ROI.
• Our video will give residents and prospects a positive image of our community.

Incentivized

• Ease of user contributed content. The videos that users upload to the system can either be automatically published or they can be reviewed by staff before being added to websites and courses. Instead of all these videos living on different sites (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) we now have a centralized location that we have control over.
• LMS Integration - A year ago YouTube changed their policy to not allow direct recording from webcams. This essentially broke the Blackboard Video Everywhere tool that allowed our instructors to post quick comments in class discussions and content areas. While they need to be pre-recorded, the Ensemble Building Block allows our instructors and students to once again upload and post videos, all from directly within the Blackboard content editor.
• Flexibility - With the ease of creating user accounts and video libraries, Ensemble Video has become the go to option for Erikson courses, professional development content and project videos. Different departments can have their own account and have control over their libraries without the worry of them viewing or editing other institute content.