From day one of dealing with Dolphin I have had nothing problems with videos. Because the promotional stuff says it allows videos I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. But the marketing material leaves out the fact you need RMS and so do the hosts who promote their service. I called many hosting companies and it was ALWAYS the first question I asked. . . "Will I be able to play videos on my site". The answer would always be yes but never, yes but you need RMS or a dedicated server. This important detail caused me to have to transfer my site from 3 different hosts, Pacific, HostGator and HostForWeb. Before I purchased their plan they ALL stated I could play videos on my website. Each one had a catch. Yes, but you have to install dolphin yourself, yes but not on shared plans, yes but you have to buy a dedicated server This detail should be included in the marketing/promo stuff for Dolphin. Finally I went with HostForWeb believing them when they told me I could play videos even on theiir shared plan and was elated only until I found out my videos (which the originals were created in HQ) would not load at all and it took 3 months, yes 3 months, not 3 days or 3 weeks for HostForWeb to figure it out. They bounced me back to Dolphin, Dolphin bounced me back to HostForWeb. I even went another hosting company DolphinInstalls who installed a fresh new copy for me on an entirely different domain and videos seemed to upload fine. Asked HostForWeb to do the same and still I had a problem loading videos. It took meeting a guy from Romania (who sells design templates for websites and was admiring his work) who kindly did the reinstall and lo and behold, finally I had a site where videos could actually be uploaded. He didn't know how poor I was at the time and I told my frustration regarding but I paid him for his time. He turned around and gifted me the template (there are some good people still left in this world) That is not what I get from the other mod producers, some I don't even get a response from unless I say I want to buy your mod. When joined the Dolphin movement I was completely supportive of a product that is free so everyone can have access. I am disabled and live on a fixed income so I don't have hundreds of dollars to purchase software. However, in reality that is what I spent on my site just trying to get videos to look great and be showcased on my site. I didn't expect that I was either going to have to marry or screw a programmer just have available help without being charged up the a**. I'm poor, I don't have it, I haven't made a single dime from donations or subscriptions. I never intended that it be a paid site opting for having ads to generate income and keeping the site free JUST LIKE YOUTUBE. I literally borrowed from my life insurance just to pay for the mods I currently have and now don't even have enough money to keep my water and gas on and I live in Chicago so facing the winter without heat is no minor situation.
Even after getting the guy from Romania to install my copy of Dolphin I still had problems. I proceeded to upload my popular YouTube videos and some originals on to find the the originals sucked so bad in the way that they looked because they were so grainy, ugly and pixelated. despite the fact that the original which was HD quality. I hated it. Tried the various suggested fixes on this forum and tho it's improved still was not what I consider acceptable as YouTube videos play clear and fine. So be it, I accepted the less than favorable quality and moved on. Now I have tried to embed the videos I do have up on the dozen Ning sites that I have membership in my niche market and keep having issues with the video NEVER coming out the the "pending status" and that ugly never ending circle of dots. ARGGGGH! I'm poor, I'm sick and sick n tired of being sick and tired. I can't deal with video issue any longer unless somebody is willing to help me pro bono, otherwise my mods are 4 sale to the anyone who wants them and you make offers for them by personal message. I am only willing to sell to someone poor like myself as I know you know how it is to have to deal with needing a mod and the first thing the comes out of a person's mouth is sure I'll help but pay me. Dolphin is FAR FROM BEING FREE and real price I had to pay is way too high as my site is seriously suffering from the fact that I can't socialize the way I want to on there as it is not user friendly as NIng and I still DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY to promote my videos on other sites because of the "Pending" issue. At this point I'm throwing in the towel because I can't take it anymore. Just wish I had waited for Ning to go paid else I never would went through this nightmare, but then again I didn't have a crystal ball to forsee this either. . .
