Castr's Content Library makes it easy to upload MP4 files and get an HTML5 player with an embed URL for embedding videos on your website, plus an HLS URL for delivering your content to OTT platforms such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and more.
In This Article:
Settings
Advertising
Paywall
Hosting Video on Demand on Castr
1. Log in to the Castr Dashboard.
2. From the sidebar navigation, go to the Content Library tab.
3. Create a New Folder, as shown below.
4. In the new folder, click New Video to start adding videos. Other available options include:
From your computer: Upload a video file directly from your device.
Cloud import: Import a video file from Dropbox.
5. Once a video is uploaded, it will appear like this.
Folder Settings
In the folder detail view, you can adjust settings that apply to all videos stored in that folder via Folder Settings. These include the following global settings, found in the Settings tab:
Player:
Player Theme Color: Change the color scheme of the player used for streaming.
Enable Google Analytics: Connect Castr with Google Analytics to track your stream's performance. Learn more
Security: These settings apply to all videos uploaded to the same folder. Here, you can activate anti-piracy protection (DRM), password protection, geo/country blocking, geo/country whitelisting, and domain whitelisting for the HTML5 player.
Advertising: Set up in-stream ads for your VOD files. You can upload the ad video and choose exactly when it appears during playback. For further details on the advertising feature, refer to this resource.
Paywall: Castr's Paywall feature lets you generate revenue from your VOD content by charging viewers. For additional information, please refer to this resource.
Video Settings
In this view, you can get the embedded player's URL and iframe code snippet, and perform several other actions. The available sections are:
Embed: Contains all the URL links available for this video:
a. Iframe URL
b. Direct Player link
c. HLS URL: A shareable HLS URL for the video. Available upon request and limited to Ultra plans only.
d. MP4 URL: A shareable MP4 URL for the video. Available upon request and limited to Ultra plans only.
Player: Contains all the settings for the player:
a. Autoplay: Makes the video start playing automatically as soon as it loads.
b. Loop: Restarts the video once it reaches the end.
c. Muted: Loads the video muted, letting the viewer unmute it later.
d. Hide Controls: Hides all player controls.
e. Show Title: Displays a video title overlay.
f. Playback Speed Rate: Lets the viewer adjust playback speed to their preference.
g. Hide Overlay Play Button: Hides the play button shown as an overlay on the player. The play button on the control bar remains visible.
h. Audio Only: Exclusive to Live-to-VOD files. Generates a URL for a player that plays audio only.
i. Hide Audio Button: (Note: this description is identical to "Hide Overlay Play Button" above in the source article — likely a copy-paste error worth double-checking with the product team, since an audio button and a play button are different controls.)
j. Enable Social Share: Lets viewers share the content to social media.
k. Watermark: Upload a watermark image for the video and set its placement.
Chapters: Create chapters within your video so viewers can jump directly to specific sections. Learn more
Captions: Automatically generates and integrates captions into your video. Learn more
Clip: Trim the most important part of your video and save it as a separate video file. Learn more
Schedule: Makes your video available only for a certain period, creating exclusivity. Learn more
Analytics: Provides insights into your video's performance and engagement metrics. Learn more
Metadata: Add a title, description, thumbnail, end embed poster, and watermark for the video:
Title: Set the video's title.
Description: Set the video's description.
Media Assets:
Poster: Displays at the beginning of the video. Won't show if Autoplay is enabled.
Animated Poster: Upload an animated poster here.
End Embed Poster: Displays once the video has ended.
Tags: Add tags to each video so they can be quickly filtered later.
Replace: Swap out the current video for another while keeping the same embed URL — no need to update your website with a new link.
Download: Download the video with this button.
Folder: Move videos between folders easily.
Video Details: View the file's size, resolution, FPS, and codecs.
Important Note:
To enable HLS URLs for your account, kindly reach out to our support team via Live Chat. HLS URL support is available and accessible starting with the Premium plan.
Storage usage includes uploaded content and all transcoded versions.
What's Next?