# YouTube Embed Video Fiasco...



## bareyb

I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick and tired of seeing posters not able to embed YouTube videos here on TCF. I can do it myself, and many can, but it's needlessly non-intuitive. Lose the silly first screen that asks for a name (unnecessary because the videos already _have_ a name) and just let folks copy and paste the URL like you can other on other sites. Is that so hard?

There must be some kind of update that needs to be installed here. Come on Jeff... Isn't it about time we fix the YouTube embed process? This has been sucking for years now.


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## MikeMar

Yeah I have to quote and look at a video when I do one since I post one so rarely.

Like you said, just make it a simple copy/paste of the URL


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## Mike Lang

bareyb said:


> Come on Jeff... Isn't it about time we fix the YouTube embed process? This has been sucking for years now.


Jeff hasn't been here for years, but this is the add-on Pete found that would work with this version of vB. While not the simplest I've seen, really not that difficult either. Paste the title, paste the code, done.


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## CatScratchFever

I vote difficult and non-intuitive. I guess the true test is not what you or I think but most of the posters here.


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## Peter Redmer

Mike's right--the issue is that I had a hard time finding an add-on to improve this process that was compatible with this version. I know I've looked into this before in an attempt to make it better. It's easy to use, but I will agree that figuring out how to use it is non-intuitive.

I will see if I can dig around and find a better add-on for this version of vB, perhaps something has come up in the meantime since I last investigated it.


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## bareyb

Peter Redmer said:


> Mike's right--the issue is that I had a hard time finding an add-on to improve this process that was compatible with this version. I know I've looked into this before in an attempt to make it better. It's easy to use, but I will agree that figuring out how to use it is non-intuitive.
> 
> I will see if I can dig around and find a better add-on for this version of vB, perhaps something has come up in the meantime since I last investigated it.


Hi Peter. Thanks. I hadn't realized it was version specific. That explains why it's so different from other Vbulletin sites I visit. On those sites it works the same as any other URL. It's just a simple "paste" of the whole URL. No tags needed.

I think the main problem with the current add-on is the need to enter a title for the Video. People tend to just paste the URL in there instead and assume they are done. Get rid of that first screen and it would go a long way towards alleviating the confusion.

I appreciate anything you can do. There are a lot of people who are having trouble with this.


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## Peter Redmer

@bareyb-- I did some searching around on this today and came up with much of the same results I had found the last time. Everything I could find, and this was with several BBCode add-ons, was using the video tag (or embed code) and not the video URL.

I did find one add-on that seemed to support URL's for a variety of services, but the feedback was not very good and I'm hesitant to install anything that will become a pain for our users by being unreliable.

In short, I'm willing to investigate add-ons if anyone has one they have dug up that should work, but I'm having a difficult time finding one for our version that uses the full URL and has been proven to be reliable. Maybe I'm just missing that one post buried in Google...


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## getreal

So what is the simple step-by-step process to accomplishing the mysterious YouTube embed? I am trying to post one in a thread right now. ?????


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## Mike Lang

Click the button, paste the title, paste the YT code.

The YT code is the part usually after the "watch?v=" in the URL which highlights if you double click it.


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## bareyb

Peter Redmer said:


> @bareyb-- I did some searching around on this today and came up with much of the same results I had found the last time. *Everything I could find, and this was with several BBCode add-ons, was using the video tag (or embed code) and not the video URL.
> *
> I did find one add-on that seemed to support URL's for a variety of services, but the feedback was not very good and I'm hesitant to install anything that will become a pain for our users by being unreliable.
> 
> In short, I'm willing to investigate add-ons if anyone has one they have dug up that should work, but I'm having a difficult time finding one for our version that uses the full URL and has been proven to be reliable. Maybe I'm just missing that one post buried in Google...


Actually Peter, that would probably be an improvement over what we have now. The big problem now as I see it, is the FIRST screen where you are required to enter a "Title" for the YouTube video you are trying to embed. Most users simply paste the URL or Video Tag in there and then hit enter, not knowing they still have another step to go.

If the add-on you found has folks enter ONLY the embed tag of the URL, I think "most" people would be able to figure that out. I really think it's that first screen asking for a Title that has everyone confused. Might be worth a try if you have a reliable Add-On. 

I will also ask Fofer if he knows of anything. He's one of the go-to guys around here for software solutions.


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## Fofer

I can say with certainty, the AnyMedia plug-in works well on many vBulletin sites I frequent:

Here's an older version for 3.6.8:http://www.vbteam.info/vb-3-6-x-addons-and-template-modifications/231-anymedia-bbcode-3-0-9-5-a.html

And here's a more well-supported off-shoot. Called vbAnyMedia / Goldbrick, I think it looks great: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=150491
With this one, you don't even use BBCode, it auto-parses URLs. Very slick.


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## bareyb

Fofer said:


> I can say with certainty, the AnyMedia plug-in works well on many vBulletin sites I frequent:
> 
> Here's an older version for 3.6.8:http://www.vbteam.info/vb-3-6-x-addons-and-template-modifications/231-anymedia-bbcode-3-0-9-5-a.html
> 
> *And here's a more well-supported off-shoot. Called vbAnyMedia / Goldbrick, I think it looks great: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=150491
> With this one, you don't even use BBCode, it auto-parses URLs. Very slick.*


That sounds perfect. Auto-parsing would be fantastic for people. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to pull that part off yet. I'll cross my fingers... What do you think Peter? Can you make it work?


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## pteronaut

Fofer said:


> I can say with certainty, the AnyMedia plug-in works well on many vBulletin sites I frequent:
> 
> Here's an older version for 3.6.8:http://www.vbteam.info/vb-3-6-x-addons-and-template-modifications/231-anymedia-bbcode-3-0-9-5-a.html
> 
> And here's a more well-supported off-shoot. Called vbAnyMedia / Goldbrick, I think it looks great: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=150491
> With this one, you don't even use BBCode, it auto-parses URLs. Very slick.


Here's another:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=188956 (Passive Video[Lite]) Also parses urls.


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## Peter Redmer

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDj44n5bjWU&feature=grec_index[/media]


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## Peter Redmer

Give her a test! Installed Goldbrick.


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## Peter Redmer

Vimeo works as well.

[media]http://www.vimeo.com/25810028[/media]


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## Neenahboy

Ooh, shiny!


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## bareyb

It doesn't seem to be any different... Still has the first screen and requires the user to parse out the URL themselves. No change for me...


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## bareyb

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsih9nUpq2U[/media]

Maybe just a straight paste?


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## Neenahboy

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v_pv7YZ23Q[/media]


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## Neenahboy

Yeah barey, straight paste.


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## bareyb

bareyb said:


> [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsih9nUpq2U[/media]
> 
> Maybe just a straight paste?


Ohhhhh..... I see.... You simply paste in the whole URL! Wow. It even pulls the Title for you. Can't get much easier than that. Now you just have to fix the "YouTube" button (up above) so it works as expected (or simply remove it). Thanks Peter!!!! This is very cool!!! This is going to clear up a lot of confusion around here.


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## Neenahboy

bareyb said:


> Now you just have to fix the "YouTube" button (up above) so it works as expected.


Or remove it entirely, since it's now completely unnecessary.


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## bareyb

We think alike Neenahboy. I just added that to my post. Probably no need for it at all now. I have to say, this is the most elegant YouTube solution I've seen yet.


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## Fofer

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rgKHY4IybA&feature=mh_lolz&list=FLpPOWNgdW2us[/media]


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## Fofer

[media]http://vimeo.com/25518056[/media]


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## Fofer

bareyb said:


> Ohhhhh..... I see.... You simply paste in the whole URL! Wow. It even pulls the Title for you.


Yes, this is what "auto-parsing" means.


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## pteronaut

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M[/media]

It doesn't parse within spoiler tags


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## bareyb

Fofer said:


> Yes, this is what "auto-parsing" means.


Having the old YouTube button up there threw me off.


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## Turtleboy

You all just turned it into flash, killing iOS functionality.


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## Turtleboy

And on systems where it does where, you can't seem to watch in full screen anymore.

The inline embedding was so much better. The issue was that the function of doing it -- with the title and tag - was unintuitive, and that people were unable to remember how.

I appreciate the fact that the original way wasn't "working" for some people, but I do quite a bit of forum browsing on my iPad.


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## pteronaut

Forum Runner adds the end tag [/media] to the url, leading to a malformed url error in the youtube page.


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## murgatroyd

Turtleboy said:


> I appreciate the fact that the original way wasn't "working" for some people...


The original way "wasn't working" for me because I always forget which order you paste in the title of the video and the YT tag. So I've learned to preview the post, swear because I got it wrong, and then switch the two, and then it works.

My vote: leave the YouTube button. I don't care if I screw up and swear a lot before I get the video inlined. It's too useful to have the YouTube controls available like switching to fullscreen.


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## Rob Helmerichs

murgatroyd said:


> My vote: leave the YouTube button.


And fix the prompt to make it more clear.


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## BlueMerle

Rob Helmerichs said:


> And fix the prompt to make it more clear.


I think this is the answer as opposed to preventing everyone using an iOS device from seeing the video.


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## Peter Redmer

@turtleboy--As a longtime iOS fan, it does pain me to introduce a Flash add-on. However, I think this solution is great for the vast majority of our users. Based on the numbers I see, I estimate a maximum of 5-8% of our visitors are coming from iOS--only 17% of our visitors are from Safari (both mobile and desktop) in total. 

If that number grows, though, or it seems everybody would prefer to have it removed, it's easy to roll back if necessary. I want to be open to what the majority of our members prefer, at least until an HTML5 option is available, which I would use in a heartbeat. (If anybody's aware of one, post or shoot me a PM.)

BTW, removed the YouTube icon from the menus also.


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## Peter Redmer

Ok, now I'm reading that many of you want the YouTube button to still be there... I'll add it back in. Don't think I can fix the prompt or anything though, that's part of the add-on, to my knowledge.


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## Fofer

pteronaut said:


> Forum Runner adds the end tag [/media] to the url, leading to a malformed url error in the youtube page.


As far as iOS goes, I'm going to ask the fine folks at ForumRunner to intelligently strip off the [media] tag for forums that use this tag/plugin. Then tapping the link would just take iOS visitors to the YouTube app/page, where they could watch the videos.

This certainly would help matters, no?


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## BlueMerle

Peter Redmer said:


> @turtleboy--As a longtime iOS fan, it does pain me to introduce a Flash add-on. However, I think this solution is great for the vast majority of our users. Based on the numbers I see, I estimate a maximum of 5-8% of our visitors are coming from iOS--only 17% of our visitors are from Safari (both mobile and desktop) in total.
> 
> If that number grows, though, or it seems everybody would prefer to have it removed, it's easy to roll back if necessary. I want to be open to what the majority of our members prefer, at least until an HTML5 option is available, which I would use in a heartbeat. (If anybody's aware of one, post or shoot me a PM.)
> 
> BTW, removed the YouTube icon from the menus also.


Thank you for adding the YT icon back to the menu for those of us that will continue to use it.

I would argue, respectfully, that the inline YT video works for 100% of the people that view it and your new method excludes a significant portion of TCF members.

Wouldn't it be easier to have a stickie here in the help forum that gives a a detailed explanation of how to inline a video for those who struggle with it? That way when someone complains that they can't do it, we can link to the stickie so they'll know it's there.


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## Peter Redmer

I do agree with your "100%" reasoning. The old option is still there, and I'm now using a different BBCode that removes the popup box and the styling around the video, which I think makes it a bit simpler. I also agree that a sticky thread might be in order to explain how it works.

I'm going to leave the new add-on up for now, since I still believe it's a pretty slick solution that will work for the majority of users, and that it's a lot more intuitive. 

However, I really want to stress that I'm open to removing it if the response is overwhelming or it's just too much trouble. Let's say it's in its test phase


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## Fofer

New way, auto-parses the full URL, with "media" tag:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBtCb61Sd4[/media]

Old (now changed) way, using BBcode button, just the "YDBtCb61Sd4" part of the YouTube URL, and "YT" tag:


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## Fofer

Fofer said:


> As far as iOS goes, I'm going to ask the fine folks at ForumRunner to intelligently strip off the [media] tag for forums that use this tag/plugin. Then tapping the link would just take iOS visitors to the YouTube app/page, where they could watch the videos.
> 
> This certainly would help matters, no?


Here is the thread I started on the ForumRunner support forum:
http://forumrunner.net/forum/showthread.php?p=3310#post3310

Chime in there with your comments, hopefully they will address the issue with an update to ForumRunner soon.


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## eddyj

I posted this in another thread, but I think it makes more sense here.



eddyj said:


> As much as I hated the old way (the entering part), once I did it twice (which I always had to) the end result was great. A window that played embedded and did not interfere with the rest of the site operations, worked on all platforms, and had very few issues. Yeah, the prompts desperately needed clarifying, but that should have been a no-brainer.
> 
> The new way is very slick (the auto-parse part), but I don't much care for the end result, with the small thumbnail that does not play embedded. And breaking it for the mobile devices is very bad. People are using those more and more every day.
> 
> So I appreciate the effort spent looking at a solution. I am just sad that the end result is worse than the old way.  All we ever wanted was for the prompts to be clear, so we would know when to type the Title and when to paste the code.


And I will also post in the ForumRunner thread about it. Fixing that would certainly help.


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## Mike Lang

Anyone who's able to use the old system will only see the new one as crippled, while those who couldn't figure out how to paste the title, then paste the tag will see the new system as their only option.


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## pianoman

Peter, if you'd like to send me the old (non-Flash) code in a PM, I might be able to fix it to accept the whole URL.


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## bareyb

Did not realize this turned it into Flash or broke it for ios users. That's a shame.

I DO think the new/old way is much improved. Now you can paste in MOST of the URL (everything past the v=) and it's MUCH more intuitive. I think that's probably going to end up being the best solution for everyone. It was that FIRST screen on the old way that was causing the problems for the most part I think.

Thank you again Peter. I know it's a lot of work. Especially trying to make everyone happy. I really like what you have done with the old method. I think that's going to clear up most of the problems. It's pretty easy to explain to newbies at this point. *Just paste everything in past the v=*. Simple (see bolded below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=*U7DFsBcVMDA&feature=player_embedded*


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## timckelley

Big problem for me, even using my desktop. Under the new way, when I play a youtube video somebody posted, the background dims to a dark color, and if I decide I'm no longer interested in watching the video and want to go back to reading the thread, I can't. There's a <close> button that closes the video, but the background remains dimmed out, and none of the TCF functions (e.g. go to next page, etc) work, and I have no choice but to <F5> to get the thread back to it's brightened state with all the forum buttons working.

And this is on a desktop, not a mobile device, where I'm having these problems. So even if I never post a youtube video, just clicking on somebody else's video seems to break the thread.


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## BitbyBlit

I'm not familiar with how vBulletin plugins work. Can administrators override the HTML template of the plugin, or is that hard-coded into the plugins themselves?

If the HTML template is editable, could the template for the new one be changed from



Code:


<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: gb_player --> 
<div id="vid" class="gbmedia">
	<script type="text/javascript">
	// <![CDATA[
        
	var so = new SWFObject("$URL", "gb_videosite", "425", "350", "7", "#FFFFFF");
	so.addParam("wmode", "transparent");
	// ]]>
	</script>

	<a href="$URL" onclick="return hs.htmlExpand(this, { swfObject: so, contentId: 'highslide-html' } )" class="highslide">
		<img src="$URL/default.jpg">
		<br />
	</a>

	<div class="highslide-html-content" id="highslide-html" style="width: 425px; border: none">
		<div class="highslide-move" style="height: 20px">
			<a href="#" onclick="return hs.close(this)" class="control" style="color:#666">Close</a>
		</div>
		<div class="highslide-body">				You need to upgrade your Flash Player			</div>
	</div>
</div>
<div class="gbclear"></div>
<!-- END TEMPLATE: gb_player -->

to



Code:


<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="$URL"></param><embed src="$URL" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

?

If the template is editable, then whatever variable they would be using for the first template where the "$URL" is in the first template could be used in the second template. This would allow the new style tag to output the old style player.

If editing the template isn't feasible, perhaps a request could be made to the developers of the new plugin for an "inline" mode that basically outputs the second template instead of the first.


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## murgatroyd

So I finally figure out how to embed YouTube videos, and now they're all broken.

I am seriously annoyed.

These were working when I first posted, and now all I see is the raw YT codes and the YT tag:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8593537#post8593537

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8593547#post8593547

(There are other threads in the forum which also have embedded videos that no longer work. I just used the links to my own posts because I happened to revisit that thread.)


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## Fofer

Uh oh. Talk about a "fiasco!"


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## murgatroyd

All I'm seeing now is the raw YT stuff -- and simply pasting in the link doesn't work either.

Except now that I edited the post, the paste-in-the-link version works. Maddening.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbnzdd0Aj4[/media]


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## pteronaut

murgatroyd said:


> All I'm seeing now is the raw YT stuff -- and simply pasting in the link doesn't work either.
> 
> Except now that I edited the post, the paste-in-the-link version works. Maddening.
> 
> [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbnzdd0Aj4[/media]


Placing a caption in the YT tag now kills the tag.


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## murgatroyd

pteronaut said:


> Placing a caption in the YT tag now kills the tag.


Ah, nice debugging work.

So now if we've posted videos, we have to go back and take out the captions -- which we only put in the first place, because the plugin prompted us for them? Lame.


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## Adam1115

There are whole threads that are worthless now because this change didn't take into account the old youtube embedded link.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=471227

There's no way to support both methods?


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## Peter Redmer

I'm working on this, folks. The problem is that the previous add-on prompted for a tag before the video could be posted. I think we all agree that was pretty horrible and made it non-intuitive.

I have no problem whatsoever keeping both methods active, but we have a few issues.

1. I think we'd all prefer to go to an inline method that no longer prompts for a tag. If not, let me know.

2. When I re-installed the YouTube inline code that no longer prompts for a tag, it breaks all the old links that had tags in them.

So now--we have a bit of a dilemma. Plus, adding insult to injury, pasting the old code back in doesn't seem to restore the old "functionality" of adding the tag, which means I'm going to have to find a way to restore that if we want the old links to work.

However, if we want all the old links to work, we have to stick with the crappy tag system  

If you have any thoughts, let me know. I could go either way, but as far as I'm concerned, breaking old videos is worth it if the new system is more intuitive and easier to use.


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## LoadStar

You server guys doing some code tweaking? Looks like all the videos I'm trying to pull up (using the [YT] links) are coming up as removed. Seems that the links when the users are posting them are correct, but the code is transforming them and linking them to "ifHBuB_YGmI" which is a non-existent video.

Edit: fixed!


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## Hank

Peter Redmer said:


> However, if we want all the old links to work, we have to stick with the crappy tag system


My 2 cents.. I don't think the old system was that crappy -- and I don't mind the popup to prompt for the youtube code.. but that's ALL it should accept. It should accept either the full URL or just the key value, and paste in the embedded tags correctly. It just needs to be re-written slightly. Can you send me the link to the original VB mod, and I'll take a look at it?


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## Peter Redmer

@Hank--I agree. I'm trying a new add-on now that will do that. However, it will still break the old links with title tags in them; I don't think we'll have an "easy" way around that.


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## Peter Redmer

This seems to work now--installed a new BBCode. When it prompts you, simply paste in the tag in the dialog box--and then type the title inside the tags.

I think this is better, but I need to edit the {option} text--which I will readily admit I don't know how to do (yet)

Hank, I'll PM you the code.

All in all, I think this is a more intuitive way to do it, but again will result in the old links being broken (just broken differently than they were before)


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## Mike Lang

Ugh, I wish we'd left this alone.


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## Fofer




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## Fofer

So basically this new, old way is the same as the old way except it's reversed? No URL parsing, and it's still unclearly labelled with "Please enter the option for your [YT] tag"

It's not really all that easier, and as mentioned, it breaks the old posts. Hmm. I think the old way should be restored. There's gotta be a way to simply edit the pop-up text to be more explanatory on that original one.


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## Mike Lang

Yes, put everything back the way it was.


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## Peter Redmer

Yes, I've already restored the "old way."

It seems that the cost of the change is too great, especially with breaking old threads.

As can be seen in this thread, old links work again:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=471227


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## eddyj

Now, if we can just change the pesky prompt to be clear, we'd be golden!


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## Fofer

Well, if we could paste in the full URL instead of just the code part after the "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=" then we'd be _super_ golden. That's really the part that is most complicated for newbies.

In any case, I appreciate Peter being open to trying new ideas, being flexible enough to listen to our suggestions, and working with us kindly and openly to make this place even more pleasant. Thank you, Peter!


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## Peter Redmer

@eddyj - I agree. Working on that next.

@Fofer - I agree, but that would break all old inline embedded videos, sadly. That's why I rolled back in the first place, since even though making a change is better, the cost is too great.


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## Fofer

Peter Redmer said:


> @Fofer - I agree, but that would break all old inline embedded videos, sadly. That's why I rolled back in the first place, since even though making a change is better, the cost is too great.


Not necessarily. The old BBCode tag is "YT." With a new and improved BBcode you could just make the tag "youtube" (or something else) and then both the old inline embedded videos as well as the new ones would work.


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## pianoman

Fofer said:


> Not necessarily. The old BBCode tag is "YT." With a new and improved BBcode you could just make the tag "youtube" (or something else) and then both the old inline embedded videos as well as the new ones would work.


I was thinking along the same lines.

Peter, I'm still willing to take a look at the old code if you'd like to PM me.


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## Turtleboy

So as of this second (7/5/2011 2:40pm EDT), the videos posted today in this thread do not work for me.


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## Fofer

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-6-FrkI6bM[/media]


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## Turtleboy

It looks like the previous tags are reversed some how?


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## Turtleboy

Fofer said:


>


Fofer's doesn't work for me. But this does. The tags seem to be reversed.


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## Fofer

I notice the new, old, new (  ) method of posting full YouTube/Vimeo links still works. GoldBrick AnyMedia, I think it's called? It auto-parses and works fine, which is great. Perfect for newbies who don't know anything about buttons or BBcode.

One complaint was that these links don't work on iOS, I believe?

Here is a fix for Forum Runner, at least, so these particular links *will* work on iOS. (Anyone who's on iOS and is a regular visitor to this site really should be using Forum Runner over Mobile Safari anyway, IMO. It's much better and faster.)

Go into forumrunner/support/utils.php and search for:



Code:


  $bbcode->addCode('video', 'callback_replace', 'handle_video', array(), 'inline',
       array('listitem', 'block', 'inline', 'link'), array(''));

then add this line directly below it:



Code:


  $bbcode->addCode('media', 'callback_replace', 'handle_video', array(), 'inline',
       array('listitem', 'block', 'inline', 'link'), array(''));


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## timckelley

I don't know the technology behind all this, but if the old tags won't work under the new method, could somebody run a conversion program that could search every post ever made on TCF and convert all the YT tags to the new format? Then all the old yt posts would still work.


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## Fofer

Fofer said:


> Go into forumrunner/support/utils.php and search for
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> $bbcode->addCode('video', 'callback_replace', 'handle_video', array(), 'inline',
> array('listitem', 'block', 'inline', 'link'), array(''));
> 
> then add another line directly below it
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> $bbcode->addCode('media', 'callback_replace', 'handle_video', array(), 'inline',
> array('listitem', 'block', 'inline', 'link'), array(''));


I can confirm that this does, in fact, take care of the issue for iOS/Forum Runner. I makes the links clickable (without the [media] tag at the end mangling it.) And it works fine, the videos playing in YouTube, at least for videos that haven't been expressly restricted by the uploader to not play on mobile devices..


----------



## Peter Redmer

Peter Redmer said:


> Yes, I've already restored the "old way."
> 
> It seems that the cost of the change is too great, especially with breaking old threads.
> 
> As can be seen in this thread, old links work again:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=471227


@Turtleboy--we restored this to "the way it was" for fear of breaking old threads. I have a feeling we're going to avoid poking the sleeping dragon on this one. So now, you can use Goldbrick to parse the URLs or stick with the old inline way if you wish, both choices will work and all old links should also work.


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## Peter Redmer

timckelley said:


> I don't know the technology behind all this, but if the old tags won't work under the new method, could somebody run a conversion program that could search every post ever made on TCF and convert all the YT tags to the new format? Then all the old yt posts would still work.


This is most likely feasible, but would probably take a long time and be more of a stress than we'd want to put on the server/community--and as such, we've restored the inline plugin to its original form.


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## Peter Redmer

Fofer said:


> I notice the new, old, new (  ) method of posting full YouTube/Vimeo links still works. GoldBrick AnyMedia, I think it's called? It auto-parses and works fine, which is great. Perfect for newbies who don't know anything about buttons or BBcode.


Yep, I never got rid of Goldbrick. This is so those who want to take advantage of the new auto-parsing can do so, otherwise, the "old" inline posting method is still there the way it was.


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## Fofer

Peter Redmer said:


> Yep, I never got rid of Goldbrick. This is so those who want to take advantage of the new auto-parsing can do so, otherwise, the "old" inline posting method is still there the way it was.


Sounds good to me. The code tweak I posted above will make those new links work fine in iOS/Forum Runner, FWIW. Might as well, it certainly doesn't break anything.

And as far as the old links go, with the YT button, I can't imagine it'd be that difficult to edit the pop-up text from "Please enter the option for your [YT] tag" to "Please enter a descriptive title for your video." That would solve much of the confusion that prompted this thread, I'd say.


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## Hank

The root of the problem is that the "Please enter the option for your [YT] tag" text is hard coded into vBulletin, not the source code of the plug in itself. *

I have sent Peter a new BBCode option that works exctly like the "Spoiler/HIDE" button in the editor, in that it just pastes blank *[YOUTUBE]-[/YOUTUBE]* tags into your reply, and then you can paste in the youtube key value in between. And when displayed, it takes the *[YOUTUBE]-[/YOUTUBE]* tags and embeds the youtube video exactly the same way the [YT] tags do. But it looks like they've decided to take another route with the [YT] and [MEDIA] tags. What's interesting is that all three can co-exist. The [YT] tags can exist for all the old posts; the [MEDIA] tags can exist for plain URLs posted in threads, and [YOUTUBE] tags can exist for people who want to embed youtube videos the "old way" but without the "option" popup.

* for people familiar with VB, the "option" popup causing this problem is a result of selecting the "Use {option} - Yes No" option in the BBCode maintenance screen.


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## Fofer

Hank said:


> The root of the problem is that the "Please enter the option for your [YT] tag" text is hard coded into vBulletin, not the source code of the plug in itself.


Ah, gotcha.



Hank said:


> I have sent Peter a new BBCode option that works exctly like the "Spoiler/HIDE" button in the editor, in that it just pastes blank *[YOUTUBE]-[/YOUTUBE]* tags into your reply, and then you can paste in the youtube key value in between. And when displayed, it takes the *[YOUTUBE]-[/YOUTUBE]* tags and embeds the youtube video exactly the same way the [YT] tags do. But it looks like they've decided to take another route with the [YT] and [MEDIA] tags. What's interesting is that all three can co-exist. The [YT] tags can exist for all the old posts; the [MEDIA] tags can exist for plain URLs posted in threads, and [YOUTUBE] tags can exist for people who want to embed youtube videos the "old way" but without the "option" popup.


If there's going to be any new BBcode, then I'd say it shouldn't merely omit the need for "option text" to be entered. It should be able to accept the entire URL and not just the youtube key value. That part is just as confusing to newbies as the request for option text, I'd say.

In any case, I do understand Peter's desire to just leave things be for awhile.


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## Hank

Fofer said:


> If there's going to be any new BBcode, then I'd say it shouldn't merely omit the need for "option text" to be entered. It should be able to accept the entire URL and not just the youtube key value. That part is just as confusing to newbies as the request for option text, I'd say.


That's easily doable with the code I sent Peter, but that would conflict with the [media] tags that auto-parse the URLs in the posts. So if we put in a


> *
> 
> 
> 
> *


which would cause even more confusion and breakage.



Fofer said:


> In any case, I do understand Peter's desire to just leave things be for awhile.


Agreed.


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## Fofer

Well, just for the sake of discussion, if the new code you sent does auto-parsing properly, I'd be in favor of getting rid of the AnyMedia/Goldbrick method. All that does is help the newbie (who doesn't know about BBcode) present a video. And what's wrong with a YouTube link pasted by them just showing up as a YouTube link? At least then it will still work on all platforms.


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## Hank

Fofer said:


> Well, just for the sake of discussion, if the new code you sent does auto-parsing properly, I'd be in favor of getting rid of the AnyMedia/Goldbrick method. All that does is help the newbie (who doesn't know about BBcode) present a video. And what's wrong with a YouTube link pasted by them just showing up as a YouTube link? At least then it will still work on all platforms.


Well for the sake of discussion, the [YT] tags, which is just *BBCode* is very different from the AnyMedia *Plug-in* which actually runs some code to detect and re-parse the Youtube (or Vimeo) URLs into the embedded videos we now have with the [MEDIA] tags.

Unfortunately, we can't add auto-parsing code to the [YT] BBcode to act like the [MEDIA] tag without re-writing the [YT] BBcode into a Plug-in. All of this is possible, but as you said, I think Peter, et. al. isn't up for more tweaking at this point. I may dig into the AnyMedia code in some free time and maybe come up with a solution that solves all our issues, but I don't have that time right now.


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## Hank

I just downloaded the Anymedia/Goldbrick plug-in code, and it's is very sophisticated and makes extensive mods to VB via the Plug-in module. It also requires uploading 96 new files to the VB server, and changing a lot of settings and forum permissions. It also requires changes to the database (probably adds new tables, instead of changing existing ones, but that's just a guess.) So I can see why Peter wants to stick with it. I also won't be diving into this code anytime soon -- it's much more involved than I had guessed it would be.


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## Fofer

Old way:






New way:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpXlnZp29UM[/media]


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## Fofer

FWIW, I am able to view the first video ("old way") on iOS with Forum Runner.

The second one ("new way") I cannot. The link has the [/media] tag appended to it, so it leads to a "malformed video ID" error. The code fix I detailed above, as passed along from the Forum Runner support staff here, will fix that.


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## bareyb

Peter Redmer said:


> @Turtleboy--we restored this to "the way it was" for fear of breaking old threads. I have a feeling we're going to avoid poking the sleeping dragon on this one. So now, you can use Goldbrick to parse the URLs or stick with the old inline way if you wish, both choices will work and all old links should also work.


Yikes...When I asked for an easier YT solution I had no idea any of this was going to happen... Sorry I got you all mixed up in this mess! I just assumed that VBulletin had it's own "updated" plug-in that would take care of all this. I know I've seen it work on other sites, I had no idea it would be so difficult. My hat's off the Peter, Fofer, and Hanks, of the world. Thank you all for your efforts. I realize now this isn't just an easy fix. I suppose it probably never is at this level.


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## MikeAndrews

murgatroyd said:


> The original way "wasn't working" for me because I always forget which order you paste in the title of the video and the YT tag.  So I've learned to preview the post, swear because I got it wrong, and then switch the two, and then it works.
> 
> My vote: leave the YouTube button. I don't care if I screw up and swear a lot before I get the video inlined. It's too useful to have the YouTube controls available like switching to fullscreen.


There's another add-in where the syntax is just [ yt ] code [ / yt ]

That is a lot easier to grok than the brain-dead one this site uses...

[ yt = code (not prompted for) ]Stoopid title, which is the only thing you're prompted for[ /yt ]


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## Hank

netringer said:


> There's another add-in where the syntax is just [ yt ] code [ / yt ]


yes, and I emailed Peter code to do just that earlier today. Scroll up about 10 posts.


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## BlueMerle

Fofer said:


> FWIW, I am able to view the first video ("old way") on iOS with Forum Runner.
> 
> The second one ("new way") I cannot. The link has the [/media] tag appended to it, so it leads to a "malformed video ID" error. The code fix I detailed above, as passed along from the Forum Runner support staff here, will fix that.


A few things here:

First, thanks to Peter, Fofer, Hank and everyone else that worked toward a resolution for this issue.

Second, from a business perspective, and TCF is a business, it doesn't make sense to keep the second method as it does break the video for many users, and the fix requires more tech knowledge than learning how to use the original method.

When Susie Q Soccer Mom is sipping a latte at the coffee shop surfing the net with mobile Safari on her iPad she just wants it to work. She doesn't want to have to download a new app and then get some code fix and install that just to see the latest kitten video. She'll end up spending more time at the Happy Fun Time Community Forum because she can see the kitten video there. (This is TCF, not SourceForge)

If I had a vote I'd vote to tweak the original method as much as possible and eliminate the second completely. Put a sticky in the Help Forum with detailed instructions on how to use the original method. There are many members here (Fofer for one) that will help someone when they are having trouble with this. The end result is that when a video is successfully linked it works for everyone.


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## Hank

BlueMerle said:


> and then get some code fix and install that


The "code fix" is a one-time thing done on the TCF server, not the users' clients.


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## BlueMerle

Hank said:


> The "code fix" is a one-time thing done on the TCF server, not the users' clients.


Thanks, I mis-read that. Still, they would have to use Forum Runner instead of mSafari...


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## eddyj

BlueMerle said:


> Thanks, I mis-read that. Still, they would have to use Forum Runner instead of mSafari...


Which makes it a lot easier, once you download it. If you can't handle downloading an app, you should not have a smartphone.


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## BlueMerle

eddyj said:


> Which makes it a lot easier, once you download it. If you can't handle downloading an app, you should not have a smartphone.


You're not helping! 

I actually agree with you, but how are they going to know that they need Forum Runner to view the video? Will they get a message when they try to view it in mSafari that tells them to d/l FR? Will it be in a sticky that they will almost certainly not read?

It just seems to me that the easiest way to resolve this is to help those that struggle with the original method (hey, if you can't quote a post and look at the formatting you don't need to be inlining videos ) instead of adding more hoops for more people to jump through. (there are more people using iOS devices than are having trouble with inlining videos.. IMO)


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## timckelley

Okay, let's lynch bareyb for causing all this trouble.


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## Hank

BlueMerle said:


> I actually agree with you, but how are they going to know that they need Forum Runner to view the video? Will they get a message when they try to view it in mSafari that tells them to d/l


When opening up TCF in Safari, this message is displayed. ForumRunner is 10000% easier to use than safari to read TCF and/or any other forum that supports it.


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## BlueMerle

Hank said:


> When opening up TCF in Safari, this message is displayed. ForumRunner is 10000% easier to use than safari to read TCF and/or any other forum that supports it.


Yes I know.. I use it.. I own it.. We're talking about Susie Q Soccer Mom and Dude with an iPad here. In most all cases they will ignore that, and when the video doesn't play they won't think to go and get it.. they will go "Damn.. I need to see those kittens!" And then find them somewhere else.


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## Fofer

And? So? What's the problem? Folks that don't care enough to be able to watch the video get distracted and move on. Those that do care enough, should, at the very least, be able to. And the [/media] tag appended at the end is breaking that for Forum Runner users.

So, if the new auto-parsing media tag remains, the aforementioned Forum Runner code fix should be added too. Otherwise just remove the new plug-in completely, and we stick with what we've got. But leaving it in, with a bug that prevents *any* kind of viewing (in Mobile Safari, *or* Forum Runner) is not a good solution at all.

All I'm saying is, with the codefix, there at least will be one way (ie: Forum Runner) for iOS users to be able to view these videos. That's certainly better than none. And the fact of the matter is, iOS users really should be using Forum Runner anyway. It's much faster, more elegant and efficient than using Mobile Safari. And there's a free version in addition to the $1.99 version. I can't think of a single reason why a forum visitor with an iOS device *shouldn't* be using Forum Runner.


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## IndyJones1023

Fofer said:


> I can't think of a single reason why a forum visitor with an iOS device *shouldn't* be using Forum Runner.


Do you mean iPhones? Because the full site works pretty much the same on the iPad as it does on a computer. I see no reason to use Forum Runner when the regular experience is just fine on an iPad.


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## eddyj

IndyJones1023 said:


> Do you mean iPhones? Because the full site works pretty much the same on the iPad as it does on a computer. I see no reason to use Forum Runner when the regular experience is just fine on an iPad.


With FR, it is MUCH faster to open threads, etc. Every so often I go and try it on the browser, just for kicks, and always go running back to FR on the iPad. On the iPhone, it is a total no-brainer.


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## IndyJones1023

eddyj said:


> With FR, it is MUCH faster to open threads, etc. Every so often I go and try it on the browser, just for kicks, and always go running back to FR on the iPad. On the iPhone, it is a total no-brainer.


You'll have to show it to me next time I see you.


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## BrettStah

The browser is OK on the iPad, but I agree with Eddie... forum Runner opens up threads much faster. if Forum Runner didn't exist I'd be fine with using a browser on the iPad for forums.


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## eddyj

IndyJones1023 said:


> You'll have to show it to me next time I see you.


D-Oh!


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## Turtleboy

eddyj said:


> D-Oh!


It's ok. The jailbreak made up for it.


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## Fofer

BrettStah said:


> The browser is OK on the iPad, but I agree with Eddie... forum Runner opens up threads much faster. if Forum Runner didn't exist I'd be fine with using a browser on the iPad for forums.


It's not just that it opens threads faster... the interface is more "thumb friendly." No need to ever zoom to tap precisely, the formatting is much more appropriate for the mobile screen. All superfluous UI removed, just the basics for fastest interaction.


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## Turtleboy

When the below URL for a .jpg is pasted in the forum without the user automatically adding tags, the forum will add [media] tags.

How come?

[media]http://i52.tinypic.com/2zq4hsh.jpg[/media]

[media]http://news.cnet.com/i/bto/20080515/TiVo_logo_min_RGB.jpg[/media]


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## Fofer

Because the AnyMedia plug-in, by default, is set up to auto-parse media URLs like that. I'm not sure if it can be turned off for images but left on for YouTube/Vimeo videos.

I am noticing that (at least in Safari,) those don't display properly after clicking them a few times. The screen dims and the image zooms away into the distance (rather than enlarging to display.)

I am fairly certain this means that the Highslide javascript installed here needs to be updated to the latest version.


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## eddyj

Fofer said:


> Because the AnyMedia plug-in, by default, is set up to auto-parse media URLs like that. I'm not sure if it can be turned off for images but left on for YouTube/Vimeo videos.
> 
> I am noticing that (at least in Safari,) those don't display properly after clicking them a few times. The screen dims and the image zooms away into the distance (rather than enlarging to display.)
> 
> I am fairly certain this means that the Highslide javascript installed here needs to be updated to the latest version.


They don't work for Chrome either.


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## eddyj

I just noticed a weird interaction between the old and new ways. There was a post with the new way, followed by one with the old way. When I clicked on the new way one, I ended up with this:










The clash occurred here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8610028#post8610028


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## eddyj

I am still getting that weird effect I showed in the post above. Here is is today:


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## DavidTigerFan

Ok, so how the hell does the youtube button work? I click it, a window pops up and I put in the youtube link. Then when it posts all I see is the URL for the youtube video.

Only way I can get it to embed is with the "[media]" tag.


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## eddyj

- Click on the button
- Enter the Title you want on the window, when prompted for the "option"
- Enter the video ID (not the whole URL) between the YT tags that were generated by the previous step. The cursor should be in the correct place already.


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## DavidTigerFan

Where's the "Video ID"?


----------



## Fofer

this (bolded) part:



Code:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[B]ol6r4PA-qlI[/B]&feature=related


----------



## DavidTigerFan

Fofer said:


> this part:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[B]ol6r4PA-qlI[/B]&feature=related


That's stupid. You mean in this day and age, nothing exists that I can just paste the youtube address into and get the embed?


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## Fofer

Uh... if you do "just paste the YouTube address" into a post here, it does this:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol6r4PA-qlI&feature=related[/media]


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## DavidTigerFan

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HuJLGwDkDw&list=UUHJAenIVAxk_jSvvctWUp1g&index=1&feature=plcp[/media]


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## DavidTigerFan

son of a gun. I could swear that didn't work for me last time. Sorry about that.


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## timckelley

DavidTigerFan said:


> son of a gun..


I actually am a son of a gun, sort of. My mother's maiden name was Gunn.


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## eddyj

DavidTigerFan said:


> son of a gun. I could swear that didn't work for me last time. Sorry about that.


I thought you just wanted the other format, which I like much better. I hate that pop-out one.


----------

