The Bottom Line
Wimpy Rave and Wimpy Wasp are both great solutions for putting video onto your website. The video players come with intuitive tools that make it simple to customize and update the video players on your site.
Unfortunately, there is no free version of the online player, though the cost (under $50) is equivalent of what you'd pay for another commercially licensed video player. And with a limited selection of plug-ins and advertising options, these players are not the best choice for monetizing your web video.
Pros
- "Customizer" makes it simple to adjust your web video player.
- "Skin Machine" lets you design new skins for the video player.
- Open API allows programmers to develop new features for the video player.
Cons
- No free version available
Description
- Two online video players, Wimpy Rave and Wimpy Wasp. Rave, $49, plays multiple files. Wasp, $39, plays single files.
- Online customization tool makes it easy to change the look of the player, create new players, and swap videos and playlists.
- Players are fully customizable with downloadable skins and plug-ins, and an open API.
Guide Review - Wimpy Video Players Have Strength
Wimply FLV Player, a free desktop Flash player for Windows or Macs, also offers affordable online FLV players for your website. The two players, Rave (for multiple files) and Wasp (for single files), make it easy to put customized videos on your website. They offer unique tools and interfaces that allow beginners and non-programmers to get creative.
My favorite feature is the "Customizer," which gets installed on your website along with the video player, plug-ins and skins. The customizer offers drop-down menus for adjusting the look and behavior of your video player. You can access the program through your website, and then get the code you need to embed the video player. It's the easiest way I've seen for generating code for customized video players.
Another unique feature of Rave and Wasp is the "Skin Machine," a software program that lets you design a customizable skin for the exterior of your video player. It's a WYSIWYG approach to the design that is great if you don't know or own Flash.
The Wimpy video players do allow you to include advertising, but it's not an especially sophisticated system, and it's not automated at all. If advertising is an important aspect of your online video strategy, this is not the easiest player to use. The same goes for using this video player to sell downloads - it's possible, but not easy.
Plug-ins for the Wimply players are also limited. As of March 2010, only four were available on the site, though you can create your own if you know how.
You can download a trial version of each player for free, but you'll have to pay to use it. Rave is $49; Wasp is a slightly cheaper option at $39. These prices aren't dear in the slightest, but I do wonder why there's no free online version available.
