Ensemble Video vs. Gumlet

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.

Not sure on the negative use case because it does exactly what I need it to do. Made client website look more professional without having ads displayed. WordPress integration was clean and simple. Shared links were a lifesaver, no need anymore for having to build a landing page. Saved hours in our workflow.

Incentivized

• 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 dynamic watermark is excellent in case people are that dedicated to stealing content, the watermark protects videos from being recorded by embedding the name or ID associated with the account viewing/recording the video to know who's releasing the content into the public.
• Total video and player branding - it's not account-wide, but collection or even video specific (as far as I could tell) - so it's easy to clients with their own collection without having to create a new account everytime
• In general, the features for the price is great. Gumlet provides far more functions than the big name video hosts.

Incentivized

• 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.

• The Gumlet admin interface comes with all the necessary controls, yet UX (also mobile X) could get improved. Settings are not always found where one would expect them, also data management with tagging and search still needs refinement.
• Working with thousands of files in numerous categories could get challenging. The team, however, is aware of these shortcomings and is working on improvements.
• We would greatly profit from files which remain linked to their source, once they got uploaded to the Gumlet platform. If his was the case, one could replace background music, refine text or improve colour grading without manual re-uploads and having to re-attach videos to pages.
• Gumlet supports already watermarks, but it would also be handy to have simple option to set text / overlay graphics just for the thumbnail.

Incentivized

It's part of our workflow now, and they keep adding features. Plus the support has been phenomenal. Responsive teams mean the product is going to continue to improve and deliver.

Probably unfair to take a point off for this. It took a little while to navigate all of the options. This is a more complex platform than I was used to. And I am fairly new overall to CDN video hosting platforms. It took the first day to get comfortable with what we could do and how to manage it. But, it now all makes perfect sense and I prefer this layout.

Incentivized

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

This is probably the biggest factor for Gumlet. Their support team is fantastic and always professional. Most support inquiries through their chat get answered in minutes.

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.

When you log into Gumlet the difference becomes apparent immediately. The sleek and data friendly dashboard puts all the important details right in front of your face. The upload and transcode speeds of Gumlet is also steps above VadooTV. Gumlet has top notch support and customer service where VadooTV is difficult to contact and has a slow response time if any response is received at all

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.

• Gumlet compared has no higher costs associated
• Faster page load times improved user experience
• High-quality video content without buffering improves conversion rates for businesses
• Smoother viewing experience increases user engagement and retention.
• Reduction of unnecessary data usage leads to lower bandwidth costs
• Integrated analytics can provide insights into viewer behavior

Incentivized