idk how to have cross platform interactions.
Also, every peertube instance feeks very specific for my needs, am I supposed to just post the content on different instances? And even then what instance could I log in to? For example where would a viewer log in? I am not planning to only view content but still! Besides, does the instsnce I log in to could affect the communication speed with others? (I know they can like block eachother.) Anyways thanks a lot!
One thing that took me a looong time to realize is that Peertube federates weirdly - it’s all under control of the instance admin, not it’s users. Admins decide which instances federate with each other and then all the videos are copied between instances that have agreed to federate with each other.
But there’s no way to see this in the UI, as an ordinary user!
So it’s all super fragmented. Discoverability is atrocious, even by fediverse standards.
If you look at https://instances.joinpeertube.org/instances?sort=-totalInstanceFollowers then that’ll help you find a well-connected instance. Then post onto that one.
I think there are 2 levels here: basic federation, where you can follow a channel on another instance and comment there, is opt-out like the rest of the fediverse. In fact you can even comment from Mastodon. The platform-level following is another thing, that enables other uses.
The issue of search is unrelated to that, it’s the same as with other fediverse platforms: search only searches on the current platform. But peertube also allows you to search on global indexes:
https://docs.joinpeertube.org/use/search#global-search
And, of course, you can use Sepia Search, a curated index of instances by the people behind peertube:
Admins decide which instances federate with each other
Apologies if I’m misunderstanding, but isn’t this true as also for Lemmy, Mastodon, and the Fediverse in general?
Not in the same way, no.
Most of the fediverse is open to all by default and the control admins have is to create a block list of instances they’d rather not federate with. With Peertube it doesn’t federate with anyone until admins on both sides add each other to an allowlist.
This is probably cause Videos use a lot of space. If suddenly there is a new instance and yours just starts downloading from there risks running out of storage or incriminating yourself by downloading illegal material.
I can see why they federate differently.
Now I understand, cheers. That’s a huge difference!
From what i understand, it is very easy to get the content of a Peertube instance from anywhere on the Fediverse, as a viewer. For example, i could subscribe to Peertube channels from this Piefed account and have their videos pop up in my feed, and i can subscribe to Peertube channels from instances that are not federated with the Peertube instance where i have an account (i’m on makertube.net, and even though they do not federate with video.blast-info.fr, i can still subscribe to channels there and have their videos pop up in my Suscribings feed in Peertube).
The federation point some people pointed out is about discoverability, not accessibility. If two instances do not federate, you cannot see the other instance content on discover pages, but you can still access it if you know the video or the channel URL. If you stumble upon another Peertube instance, you can use a neat functionnality to “Subscribe with a distant account”, where you enter your handle (username@instan.ce) and it will enable you to get access to this Peertube instance on your home account.
There is also the problem that you cannot create an account on a lot of Peertube instances, that are only there to display content (like the Blender instance) and not host users. You’d first have to find one that will let you create an account, most times manually (you fill a form and after a bit of time (hours or days) an admin validates it).
Now, for hosting video, it’s a lot more complex, most times you have to get approval from admins to host things, to avoid having too much video stored on their servers, and yes most instances are quite niche. If you’re a creator of anykind, makertube.net may interest you.
I am not an expert.
You could post to different instances. I think most just pick one.
You can log into the ones where you have am account. Single-Sign-On (google it if you don’t know the term)is something still missing sadly.
A viewer could log into any instance that is connected with your instance to view your videos.
Your instance is a server and yes if it is a slow server, videos from that instance will take more time to download. Not sure whether foreign videos are first loaded to the instance (unlikely) or just pulled from your browser (likely).
Mhm, that’s about what I was expecting, thanks!
