Including Text Links to Embedded Videos

[lady_angelina]

Title
Including Text Links to Embedded Videos

Short, concise description of the idea
When a video is embedded, I would like there to be an automatic text link to the source of the video for those who aren't able to access the video when it's embedded.

Full description of the idea
I'm not sure why, but recently, I've discovered that none of the videos embedded in LiveJournal entries or comments will play properly anymore. For example, I tried to play a video someone embedded from YouTube, but all I got was "An error occurred, please try again later." Yet no matter how many times I retry later, I still get the same error message. Apparently, I'm the only one experiencing this problem because other users have indicated that they are able to play these videos.

And because these embeds seem to use a third-party provider (lj-toys.com), I'm not able to search the page's source code to find out the original link to the video, so I end up having to ask the person who posted it.

This inconvenience could be avoided if a text link to the video's source were provided automatically. There are a number of ways this could be done, and the simplest I can think of would be just to have the link automatically included whenever a video is embedded (perhaps at the top or bottom of the object). Or a new setting could be implemented allowing the user to have the text link to the video in lieu of the embed (which could be a useful adjunct to the video placeholders option), although this could be more complex to code.

(Sorry if this whole thing is rambly. My brain's not working at 100% right now. But I hope this makes sense at least.)
An ordered list of benefits

• Better accessibility for users who have trouble displaying embedded videos in their browsers ETA: This would especially be helpful on mobile phones, some of which can play videos in formats optimized for mobile (which YouTube has) but can't handle the embedding codes
• More convenience, as users won't have to ask the ones who posted the videos where the original source is hosted, in order to enjoy the videos
• Possibly more security, as the user would be able to see which site the video was hosted from and determine whether they want to view it, as opposed to embedding, which doesn't allow the viewer to see where the video came from until after the object was loaded (even on legitimate video hosting sites, Flash can be a risk for browser exploits)
• Decreased need to load JavaScript on a page containing a video, if the text link is present
• And possibly others I'm not thinking of

An ordered list of problems/issues involved

• As always, the time and trouble to code and implement this; complexity depends on the method of implementation (adding a new journal-wide option, for instance, can inflate the database)
• The source page of the video (like in the sidebar or the comments section on many YouTube pages, for instance) might contain spoilers or other undesirable content that the viewer might be able to avoid if they only access the embedded video instead of a direct link
• Depending on how this is implemented, adding the link might slightly increase the size of the page and become redundant for a user who prefers not to have the direct link
• ETA: Having the link in lieu of (or in addition to) the embedded video is no guarantee that it will work; factors completely outside of LiveJournal's control can still interfere with the user's ability to view the video after following the link to it
  
• And possibly others I'm not thinking of