Youtube Channel Video Player
I was looking for a player that specifically supported playlists or channels and provided a nice thumbnail view of available videos along with an on-screen player. The client didn't want a pop-up/lightbox type of implementation.
It also had to be a player that didn't rely on Adobe Flash.
We purchased and test-drove the following extensions:
Custom Youtube Playlist, JUserTube, JPLayer, Morpheo Video, CSW Video Embed Plugin.
Custom Youtube Playlist
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/17529
Support playlist with thumbnails.
4.62 from 13 reviews.
This one has a pretty clean look and the price is ok, so we're going to give it a try. Tried it. It worked on my internal test server but not on my live server. I contacted the developer but they needed FTP and admin access to the site which I wasn't willing to do for an unknown person on a client's site.
This is the one we ended up using. It's not perfect and the UI could use a bit of work but it met some other key criteria. It didn't conflict with the drop-down menu system (most video players insisted on forcing the menus under) and it works well on ipod/ipad devices as well as IE/FF/Chrome browsers. The only real negative we ran into is that it conflicted with another extension (Content Fader for Joomla) and it doesn't follow the MVC architecture so you have to override the existing css. If they continue to develop this extension, I think it will be a leader and at $10 it's reasonably priced.
Commercial. $10
Jusertube
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/16316
Looks like it handles video playlists with thumbnails across the bottom.
Score 4.92 from 25 users.
Commercial
Review: I went ahead and bought a copy and it works fairly well. It can be templated fairly easily and appeared to work fairly well with different browsers. The only real issue I ran into was that in IE (you knew it was going to be an IE issue) drop-down menus would be forced to display under the video if the video had been played. Regardless of any z-index settings or anything else I tried, I was unable to resolve this. I tried three different drop-down menu extensions, all with similar issues. I eventually got one drop-down system to work (ariextmenu) but it still wouldn't overlay in IE or Firefox. I got another system to overlay in all of them (Dropdown_moomenu) but that menu system didn't work well on touch-based devices. So I'm looking for a new video player that will hopefully underlay the menu system.
Avatar YouTube
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/21080
Doesn't appear to show thumbnails of multiple videos or a playlist.
Simple Youtube Module
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/16654
Simple player. 1 video.
Featured Youtube Slider
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/10398
Looks like it has thumbnails and a standard youtube viewer window.
Non-commercial. May want to consider this one. It plays on Ipod.
4.21 from 38 reviews.
AllVideos
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/812
From the makers of fpss
Looks like it gives some different styles to the player.
Doesn't appear to support a channel view.
4.59 from 80 reviews.
Simple Youtube Channel
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/16614
Supports channel view with thumbnails. Not particularly pretty.
Playsist Youtube JM
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/22458
4.5 from 2 users.
Jplayer
I've used JPlayer a lot in the past. It's quick and easy but it's a plug-in so it's a little more of a techie solution. It doesn't provide a nice interface for uploading videos and linking to videos on youtube. It simply relies on you putting some text in an article that links to the correct youtube video.
It supports playlists.
It uses Flash which unfortunately eliminates it from use now.
Morpheo Video
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/12330
Supports multiple vidoes. Looks nice. They have a free demo version so you can try it out.
It's a flash-based player so Apple devices will take you out to m.youtube.com to view the videos. The menu problem we were having goes away with this player but I don't want to use a flash-based player as it reduces the user experience on Apple devices.
4.4 on 10 reviews
Fancy Youtube Gallery
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/2255
Commercial. Not that nice looking considering the $35 price. Not sure how well it will handle large numbers of videos although it does have thumbnails.
0 from 0 reviews.
Viper Video Gallery Pro
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/18404
3.89 from 19 reviews
Not flash-based. Has potential. Only one template I think but it looks nice. Bugs on the Web site stopped me from being able to create an account and purchase their product.
CSW Video Embed Plug-in
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/20164
Looks like it has good presentation including handling playlists embeded in the viewer window. But it's a plug-in and it's commercial and at $54 it seems over priced. Turns out they have a version for 24.95 which is only supported for 1 month. Same problem with menus not overlaying and it won't allow any other template objects to overlay which is a problem on the site we're working on.
Commercial. $24.95
Youtube Video List Gallery
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/20052
Has thumbnails. Not sure how it handles more than 3 videos.
0 reviews
Commercial $35.
Youtube Playlist Pro
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/social-web/social-media/video-channels/22572
5 from one review
Commercial $12
Has thumbnails in integrated playlist overlay. From the same people as Custom Youtube Playlist.
JEXTN
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/21663
Looks like it has some potential.
Commercial/ 25 Euros.
JTAG VIdeo
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/19374
Uses a different approach for hiding list of of thumbnails. More targeted at a site this is all about videos, not a site that happens to have videos as part of the other content.
Commercial. $20
JW PLayer Advanced
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/8157
Has playlists but doesn't look like it has thumbnails.
JoomlaXTC VTube Module
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/9967
Commercial. Looks like it may be a flash player.
VideoBox
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/multimedia/multimedia-players/video-players-a-gallery/22140
Is a different implementation for a gallery of videos.