YouTube videos during questions

Is there a way to have volume on for YouTube videos as soon as question starts? I’m working on some "Name that Tune " games and it throws people off when sound doesn’t start right away

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Great question.

Unfortunately no. All mobile browsers enforce one of the following options when embedding any kind of video:

  • Embedded videos can be autoplayed but must be muted and then clicked to unmute
  • Embedded videos are NOT autoplayed and must be clicked to play

So we chose the first option. We thought autoplaying with a quick touch to unmute was better than touching to play. With fast-paced trivia it seems better to start the video right away.

This is true for all embedded videos on any mobile browser. The only way around it is to create a native app. Which we have considered, but then it would require all players to download and use the native Crowdpurr app.

We are adding an option to NOT embed Question Media on the Mobile View and just have it show on the Projector View. This may be helpful for games where the Projector View is being used either live in-person or shared via Zoom, Webex, etc.

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That makes sense. Any options to play from other sites besides YouTube? Will there be an option to embed the info ourselves?

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Like what other kinds of sites?

And we’ve thought of allowing you to upload your own audio and video. That’s something we’re still working out.

There’s Vimeo, if I remember right that runs the same though. Being able to upload our own videos would be great

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Hi!

Wanted to toss my 2 cents in here.

So, most of my questions where I’ve used video we really need to read the question before the video plays, as it’s a clue to the question.

So currently we switch to new question and try to read before the video buffers but then it plays while reading question. It’s chaos and I pretty much just remove every video that’s included in the shows because its too much.

Also there’s no way to replay the video, so on those really really short ones, the clue almost hurts the question because no one actually heard it or saw it cause we’re reading the question. (I understand that there is no way to make it so that we can replay the video, I’ve already asked this before.)

Is it possible to include an option to choose autoplay vs click to play? IMO, click to play would win every time. If I’m hosting the show, and triggering each question, I have the time to click play on the video too.

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“Click to play” means each player has to click to play it. Which we’ve always thought would add even more complexity than needed. If a click must happen, than an “unmute” click seemed like the lesser evil.

Ross, I think I found a bug! I used the Halloween Music section from the database and found that I am unable to change the play times in videos that are embedded by others. For example, if the author set the video to end in 30 seconds, I cannot change that the 60 seconds. To change the timing, I had to delete the video and then re-embed it. Not a biggie, just wanted to let you guys know!

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Yep, we just discovered it last night. The fix is going into an update for release here shortly. Should be corrected within an hour or two. Thanks for reporting!

Dear Ross, this is exactly what I am looking for, but I cannot find it anywhere. I’d like the mobile view to be restricted to displaying responses, aka no media at all. I want the participants to focus on the projector view only.

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Ah yes, this feature has been awaiting publication for some time. We will have it out in the next update for March here in another week or so, right at the end of March.

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Dear Crowdpurr, I am quite desperate to get this feature and I cannot locate it. Would you be so kind and let us know please? Thanks a thousand!

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Unfortunately, restricting Question Media to only the Projector View didn’t make it into our latest April update.

It is something we are working on getting published, so it should be available in the next few weeks. Sorry about the delay, but we have to prioritize. I’ll report back here in the next few weeks with an update.

It sounds like you want a switch to be able to turn on “Click to Play” versus “Click to Unmute (Autoplay)”. And you would want this for the participants too? Or you would want to turn off the videos (and all question media) on participant devices and just have it run on the Projector View? As the latter, is a feature we’ve already finished, it’s just not published yet (i.e. hasn’t went through review and testing).

Hey Ross!!

Thanks for the follow up questions!!!

Yes, I think “click to play” is what I was asking about. What I’m looking for was a way to way to trigger the video to play when I am ready.

Ideally during a show, I would change to the question, read the question to the audience, then we would watch the video / hear the audio clue. After that I would start the question timer so they can see the answer choices and pick.

The whole idea is something better than me attempting to read the question to everyone as fast as I can before the video buffers, lol!

Love the idea of restricting the media to only the projector! This plus the click-to-play would be amazing.

Thanks!
MJ

We can definitely do the Question Media (e.g. YouTube video, GIF, image) on the Projector View only (this is coming soon). Then if we add Click to Play versus Click to Unmute options, you would be able to click to play it on the Projector View whenever you’re ready.

Unfortunately, there would not be a way to click a button, etc., on the Experience Dashboard and have all the Mobile Views start playing their YouTube videos at the same time. That would still be an “autoplay” (since the actual user isn’t clicking to play it) which isn’t allowed by web browsers. I guess we could add some kind of action to dynamically launch the YouTube videos on the Mobile Views with Click to Unmute enabled, then they would all play when you want them to, albeit muted, but that’s getting into the weeds a bit.

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Awesome to the click to play, I can still mouse over to projector view, no stress at all!

Yes, I agree as cool as that sounds, that sounds quite tedious to code. lol

Thanks again!

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Actually, upon doing some research, adding a mechanism to “launch” the YouTube videos on a trivia question when the host is ready is more feasible than we initially thought. It would work the same as how Live Streaming works now, where upon enabling the switch, the live stream gets dynamically added.

We can do something like this for question YouTube videos too. That way they launch when you want them too. You would probably want this “launch” behavior mirrored on the Projector View too right?

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Sorry for delay.

Yes, I host live shows not streaming, so for me personally on the projector view would be fantastic.

I can see how streaming shows could benefit too though! :slight_smile:

THANKS!