Guide Add Audio and Video

Add Audio and Video

Description

How sermon audio and video get onto your site: what a server is, how media files attach to messages, and which hosting option suits you.

How It Fits Together

flowchart LR
  S[Server: where files live] --> F[Media file: one recording]
  F --> M[Message]
  M --> P[Play button on your site]

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A server is set up once and describes a place — your own website, a YouTube channel, a Vimeo account. A media file is one recording, and points at the server that hosts it. A message can have several media files: audio, video and a transcript, for instance.

Step 1 — Decide where your files live

If your recordings are…	Use this server type
Uploaded to your own website	Local
On YouTube	YouTube
On Vimeo	Vimeo
On Facebook	Facebook
On SoundCloud, Wistia, Rumble, Resi or Dailymotion	The matching type
Somewhere else with a direct URL	Direct Link
Embedded with a snippet of HTML	Embed Code

Tip

Hosting on YouTube or Vimeo saves your own bandwidth and gives visitors a player they already know. Local gives you full control and no third party.

Step 2 — Create the server

1. Components → Proclaim → Servers → New.
2. Pick the Server Type from the picker. This cannot be changed later, so choose carefully.
3. Give it a Server Name you will recognise in a dropdown.
4. Fill in the fields that appear — they differ per type. YouTube asks for an API key; Local asks for a file path.
5. Save & Close.

You only do this once per place your media lives. Ten years of sermons on one YouTube channel need one server.

Full detail: Help-server

API keys are optional

Every server type works with no credentials at all — paste a URL and the media plays. An API key or OAuth connection expands what the addon can do: browsing your library from inside Proclaim, pulling in titles and durations, and for YouTube, pushing changes back.

Start without credentials. Add them when you want the convenience. See Server-Addons for the three levels.

Step 3 — Attach media to a message

1. Open the message, or create and Save it first.
2. In the Media Files card at the top, select Add Media File.
3. Choose the Server. The form reloads with fields for that server type.
4. Fill those in — a file picker for Local, a video ID or URL for YouTube.
5. Optionally set Podcast(s) to include this recording in a podcast feed.
6. Save & Close.

Full detail: Help-mediafile

Working with YouTube

• YouTube Sync pulls the title, description and duration from YouTube, so you do not retype them.
• The YouTube Status tab in Administration shows your API quota. YouTube limits how many requests a day you may make.
• Guide-Set-Up-Podcasting covers turning YouTube videos into a podcast feed.
• To keep a whole playlist in step with a series automatically, see Help-playlists.

Quick Tips

• One message can have many media files. Add audio and video to the same sermon and visitors get both buttons.
• Content Origin marks whether a recording is yours or from elsewhere. Useful when a guest speaker's material has different terms.
• Duration and file size are shown to visitors when filled in — worth the few seconds it takes.
• A media file's Access level controls who sees the play button. It does not put a lock on the file itself.

If Something Goes Wrong

What you see	What to check
No play button on the site	Is the media file Published? Is its message published?
Button appears, nothing plays	Wrong file path or video ID, or the server settings are wrong
Server type does not support…	Some features, such as playlists, only exist for certain server types
YouTube data stopped syncing	Check the API quota under Administration → YouTube Status

Related Information

• Help-server · Help-servers — server setup
• Help-mediafile · Help-mediafiles — media file records
• Guide-Set-Up-Podcasting — turning recordings into a podcast
• Vimeo-API-Setup — Vimeo specifics