Do you allow membersection downloads or stream??
 

I have had a few customers complain that,

they expect to download videos from my sites and are mad they cannot

i explain to them about the whole "piracy" issue and they claim most sites let them download and if i want to see more sales I should be doing the same.

so ... i want to know how many webmasters actually allow downloads from their sites ?

I am considering changing to streaming only when I launch my second niche site.

However, since I as a consumer prefer the download-and-watch-later method, it is hard to argue with someone that I agree with, even though business sense says the opposite.

another proble is if you offer streaming only, you best have a 10mbps minimum pipe.. If your customers go to watch a video that pauses every few seconds due to a connection issue, that'll be the last time you see that customer

I can see the advantages of both options.
Streaming should dramatically cut down on your content being posted on forums.
Downloads will of course make the download and watch later members extremely happy.

One of the sites I have recently started promoting is about to take another approach. They will be offering the streaming method for all members, but long term members (3 months+) will be given the download option.
I don't think that many forum posters are willing to join any site for 3 months or more just so they can make money through moron or any other filehosts. I think it also adds a little incentive to stay with the site for a while.

So maybe that could work for you instead of an either/or approach.

I allow downloads because it has less load on the server and it also means that the downloader's identity can be encrypted in the film using the downloadtracer.com encryption system that I produced to protect my own sites and others that have bought the system from me. If the pirate uploads the film to a file-locker we can download it and decode the details (user, their IP address and date and time of download) who put the film in the wild in the first place. Needless to say said user gets banned by all DownLoadTracer users before he moves on to their site!