Creative Control: Flash Video Player Plugin

I finally found the perfect flash video player: Flash Video Player Plugin for WordPress.

This thing has more options than anything I’ve ever seen. It even lets you add a logo over the video. I particularly like the floating controls it offers. Plus, everything can be overwritten for each video you post to your blog.

I was actually looking for a good video player for my site the other day when I posted The Milk Challenge, which has now been updated to use this plugin. So, go check that out for an example.

The plugin is perfect for me. The next thing I’ll do with it is convert all my crappy films to the flash format and use this player to show them from my site.

After that, I will add it to my next news/magazine WordPress theme.

The main reason I wanted to use a video plugin was because I want to host my own videos. Why would I want to do that when there are so many different ways to host videos off-site and embed them into my blog posts? Sure, it uses more bandwidth if someone plays it from my site, but that’s not my concern. I want full creative control over what is displayed and how it’s displayed. Plus, what if the site that hosts my video shuts down (that’s a big “what if” with YouTube), but if it does happen, I’ll have to find another place to host my video — that’s such a hassle.

Mostly, I want control. I’ll probably still upload any videos I happen to make to YouTube, but I want to have control over what’s on my site.

I like to have everything on my site. That’s why I took down my Flickr feed and am in the process of putting together a photoblog. There are always some limits when using a third-party to host videos, photos, or other files because you have to agree to their terms of service, are limited by how much you can upload, and what extra features you can add.

What do you think? Would you rather host your own videos or go through a third-party? Would you rather have more creative control or are you perfectly content without outside services?