FAQ

Questions

• What is VideoSurf?
• What is VideoSurf_bot?
• What is unique about VideoSurf?
• How do I search for videos on VideoSurf?
• How do I sort through my search results?
• What sites do you search for videos?
• I do the same video searches all the time. How can I get an alert when there are new videos on a topic I love?
• What are the images that appear in the "Refine Results by Person" section for?
• I can't find the video I'm looking for.
• Can I embed your video player?
• How do I share a video with my friends?
• How do I post a video from your site to Facebook/Digg/etc?
• Are you hiring?

Answers

What is VideoSurf?

VideoSurf is new kind of video search engine that's creating a better way for you to search, discover and watch online videos. Using patent-pending computer vision algorithms that can actually see the video's content, VideoSurf serves up more relevant results for your queries and offers a new, visual way for you to interact with the video set returned. You can refine your results based on the people who actually appear in the videos and pinpoint the specific moments you're interested in watching or sharing with your friends. It's video search that really works, and although the math behind it is mind-bendingly complex, we hope the experience itself is easy to use and fun.

What is VideoSurf_bot?

Videosurf_bot is the web crawler for VideoSurf, a new kind of video search engine that's creating a better way for you to search, discover and watch online videos. VideoSurf_bot is configured to crawl politely, but if you are experiencing any problems with the VideoSurf_bot please let us know at [email protected]. To learn more about us see: http://www.videosurf.com/about or read the full FAQ here: http://www.videosurf.com/faq

What is unique about VideoSurf?

VideoSurf uses new computer vision and fast computation methods in order to visually interpret the videos that we aggregate from across the web. Existing video sites and video search engines rely on user-created text tags to understand what the video is about. Often, this text based information is limited or inaccurate, and it's always missing the most important piece of information - the content of the video itself! VideoSurf's patent-pending technology can actually "see" inside the video to understand what it's about and who appears in it. This information lets us create a whole new way for you to find, discover and watch the videos you love. Here are a couple of the unique features of our video search engine that you'll definitely want to check out:

• Refine Results by Person (a.k.a. the set of pictures that appear on the top left-hand side of the search result pages). Clicking on any of the characters will allow you to re-sort your results to show only videos that feature the person you selected. It's a new kind of search and discovery tool that allows you to see who the most important characters are based on the frequency and duration of their appearances within the videos returned for your search. The easy way to see what this feature is all about is to try it out! Do a search on "Stand-up Comedy" or "What's Hot" and start clicking images to see who's important and how the results change.
• Visual Summaries of Videos (a.k.a. the video frames that appear to the right of the large thumbnail on the search result page, and below the video itself on the video page). Our computer vision algorithms compile the Visual Summary by recognizing the most visually unique (and therefore interesting) moments in the video. You can think of it like a movie trailer, showing you all of the most memorable people (click on "Show Only Faces" to see just the characters) and scenes from the video. The Visual Summary is great for making sure you get to the right video from the search result page (because you can see exactly what it's about before you click), and also for allowing you to skip directly to the moments you want to watch (for many videos, clicking on any frame will take you to that exact moment in the video).

How do I search for videos on VideoSurf?

Just enter the word or phrase you're looking for into the search box and click "Search"; we'll do the rest!

How do I sort through my search results?

• Refine Results by Person. This feature lets you sort your results based on the characters that appear in the videos. Clicking any of the characters will re-sort your results to show you the videos that feature that person.
• Show Only Faces. Checking the "Show Only Faces" box does two things:
  1. Changes the Visual Summary to include only faces so that you can see exactly who appeared in the video
  2. Eliminates results from your result set that don't include any faces (videos that are all landscape, without any people's faces featured)
• Category Narrowing. Allows you to include or exclude videos that fall within a certain content type (ex. Slideshows, TV Full Episodes, Full Movies) or genre (ex. Funny Videos, News Videos, Music Videos, Celebrity Videos, Sports Videos, etc).
• Video Source Narrowing. Allows you to include or exclude online videos that come from the various sources across the web (ex. YouTube, MetaCafe, Comedy Central)
• Sort by:
  • Relevance - the default display. Relevance is based on a number of factors that we take into account to show you what we believe to be the best order of results for your query
  • Popularity - orders the results based on how many people like and have watched the video
  • Freshness - orders the results based on how recently the videos was added
  • Duration - orders the results based on the length of the video

What sites do you search for videos?

We search all of the major video sites that are out there! We're adding new video sites every day so if you have a favorite that's not currently part of our search, send us an email to [email protected] and we'll work on getting their content included.

I do the same video searches all the time. How can I get an alert when there are new videos on a topic I love?

Click on the "Save Search to My Homepage" button that appears at the top of any search result page. We'll save the search terms you used plus any additional filters that you selected (like video sources or categories you excluded) and you can access it easily from your homepage. You can also save searches that other people love, which are featured on the homepage. Just click the "Save" icon on the searches you think are interesting and they'll show be added to your list.

What are the images that appear in the "Refine Results by Person" section for?

Clicking on any of those images will re-sort your results to show you the videos that feature that person. Try it out; we think you'll like it!

I can't find the video I'm looking for.

We're sorry to hear that. One of three things could have happened:

1. The video you want is not online yet. We can only get content that has already made its way online so if a TV show hasn't released an episode yet, or if a clip has been pulled, we won't be able to access it.
2. The video is online but we haven't indexed it yet. We're adding tons of new videos every day so please check back with us soon or send us an email to [email protected] let us know the video we're missing and we'll get right on it.
3. The video is online and we've indexed it but we couldn't find it using the search terms you provided. Try your search again using different words.

Can I embed your video player?

Not yet, but soon. We're hard at work on getting this feature up and running.

How do I share a video with my friends?

You can either share the full video, or just a clip from it. If you choose to share just a portion of the video, you can select the start and end time and the user will get to go directly to the moment you wanted them to watch. For most videos, our share feature is located directly below the player. If you don't find it there, however, it will be accessible by clicking the "Share" button on the top bar of the page.

How do I post a video from your site to Facebook/Digg/etc?

Click the "Share" tab or icon on any video page and you'll see buttons that you can click on to share the video on various other sites.

Are you hiring?

Yes! Take a look at our current job openings and send us an email with your resume if you want to be part of our team.