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Album Videos

Album Videos

Hub albums hold short videos alongside photos. Videos follow the same visibility, moderation, and privacy rules as photos, with a few video-specific behaviours covered here.

Availability and Limits

  • Every hub includes 60 video minutes total across its albums.
  • Hubbaly accepts two-minute video clips and 1 GB video inputs. A longer clip or larger input is rejected before it can add to the hub’s usage.
  • Stored minutes are a hub-wide pool. Uploads that are still processing reserve their expected length until the final duration is confirmed, and deleted videos free their minutes again.
  • Owners and admins can see the effective allowance and current total in Hub -> Admin -> Settings -> Included usage.
  • At the effective stored-video allowance, new video uploads stop. Existing videos stay available to watch, download where the album policy allows, and delete.
  • Use Contact Hubbaly for capacity help from Included usage when a hub needs more room.

Uploading Videos

From an album: open the album and use the normal Upload control. Photo and video files can be mixed in one batch. Common phone and camera formats are accepted, including iPhone .mov and .mp4, plus .m4v and .webm.

From chat: attach a video file to a message in any hub or event channel (not direct messages). If the channel saves media to an album (see Saving Chat Photos and Videos to an Album), the video is stored in that album like any other album media. Otherwise the video stays in the chat: it is visible to the channel’s members only and never appears in the hub’s albums or timeline.

Either way, the video file uploads directly from your browser, so large files do not pass through Hubbaly’s web servers. Album videos whose original files are retained (see Original Files and Downloads) also use Hubbaly’s media storage; otherwise the file goes straight to the streaming provider and resumes automatically after small network drops. Keep the tab open until the upload phase finishes.

A few format notes:

  • 4K sources are accepted within the size cap; playback streams at up to 1080p.
  • HDR videos are accepted but play back in standard dynamic range.
  • Duration and file-size checks run before the upload starts where the browser can read them, and the server enforces the same limits as the final authority.

Processing States

After the bytes finish uploading, the provider processes the video in the background:

  • Uploading: the browser is still transferring the file. Keep the tab open.
  • Processing: the provider owns the work; you can close the tab.
  • Ready: the tile gains a play affordance and the video can be watched.
  • Could not process video: a terminal failure; remove the tile and try a different export if the source file is unusual.

Album tiles and chat messages show these states and update on their own.

Watching Videos

  • Nothing autoplays. Playback starts only when a viewer opens a video, and every play request re-checks the album’s visibility rules for that viewer.
  • On public albums this includes logged-out visitors: anyone who can browse the album’s photos can also play its videos. Each play mints a short-lived token, so there is no shareable permanent video URL.
  • Inside the lightbox you can swipe or use the arrows to move between photos and videos.
  • Playback streams adaptively, so quality adjusts to the connection.

Downloading Videos

Video downloads follow the album’s Original downloads policy, exactly like photo originals:

  • Single videos download from the lightbox download action, and the button label tells you what you are getting: the exact original file, or an HD MP4 (see Original Files and Downloads below). The first download of a video may show a brief “Preparing” state while the file is generated.
  • Bulk selections and full-album downloads include ready videos. Smaller original files are packed inside the zip parts alongside the photos; larger videos are listed as separate direct downloads next to the zips, and videos that are still processing are left out until they are ready.

Original Files and Downloads

When Keep original video files is enabled, Hubbaly keeps the exact file uploaded for a new album video alongside the copy used for streaming:

  • Downloads are the original file. Downloading one of these videos gives you the file that was uploaded, byte for byte: same format, same resolution, same metadata. The lightbox download button says Download original when that is what you will get.
  • It is a hub setting. Keep original video files lives in Hub -> Admin -> Settings -> Photos & media. Turning it off only affects future uploads; originals that are already stored stay downloadable.
  • Videos without a retained original download as an HD MP4. This includes videos that live only in chat. The download button is labelled Download (HD 1080p MP4) in that case.
  • Playback is unchanged. Watching a video always streams at up to 1080p; keeping the original changes what downloads deliver, not how videos play.
  • Bulk downloads include smaller originals in the zip. Originals small enough to fit are packed inside the zip parts; very large originals are listed as individual direct downloads instead.

Privacy and Moderation

  • Album visibility (public, members, ticket holders, attendees) applies to videos, and per-item access overrides work the same way as for photos.
  • Videos can be reported and moderated like photos; hidden or removed videos stop playing immediately, and deleting a video also removes it from the streaming provider.
  • Liking and person tagging work exactly like photos: like a video to revisit it from your personal collection, tag yourself (“I’m in this video”), and uploaders or admins can tag others with the usual approval flow. Liked and tagged videos appear in /me/photos with a play badge.
  • Chat-captured videos belong to the album they were saved into; deleting the album copy is the way to remove the content.

Troubleshooting

  • Upload rejected immediately: check the file is a supported format, no longer than two minutes, and no larger than 1 GB.
  • Stuck on Processing: very large files can take several minutes. If a video stays in processing for more than an hour, remove it and upload again.
  • Out of stored minutes: delete videos you no longer need to free pool minutes, or ask an owner or admin to use Contact Hubbaly for capacity help in Included usage.
  • Cannot play a video someone else can: playback follows album visibility, so check your membership, ticket, or attendance status for that album’s rules.
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