Easy TubeCasting vs My YouTube Channel

Easy TubeCasting is a YouTube video player plugin for WordPress. It helps you publish a responsive YouTube video gallery, playlist player, channel player, or video podcast player without manually building a video archive. Use the Easy TubeCasting block or shortcode generator, paste a YouTube URL, and configure the player. The plugin supports single videos, selected video lists, public playlists, channels, usernames, and @handles. It also includes creator-focused tools such as subscribe links, podcast app links, sponsor links, timestamp sharing, playback sequence controls, and automatic video structured data for suitable single-video views. Easy TubeCasting is built for podcasters, YouTubers, educators, course publishers, churches, businesses, and creators who want to show single videos, video podcasts, tutorials, sermons, interviews, shows, playlists, and channel archives in WordPress. Features WordPress block and shortcode generator with saved instances, preview, editing, deletion, and copy action. [easy_tubecasting] and [easy-tubecasting] shortcode support. Responsive Spotlight player with video area and playlist rail. Frontend playlist search, sorting, and Load More controls. Custom player controls for play, pause, seek, volume, fullscreen, and captions when available. Responsive controls for smaller screens, visible controls in fullscreen mode, and playback sequence modes. Reusable Creator CTA panels with YouTube, podcast app, RSS, website, sponsor, and resource links. Per-collection CTA panel assignment from collection settings. Compact share panel with copy link, share targets, native share support when available, and editable start time. Dark and light player themes with accent color control. Videos per batch setting, including single-player collection views. Automatic VideoObject JSON-LD for single-video views when required metadata is available. Global Video SEO toggle in plugin settings. YouTube Data API v3 support, manual sync, automatic sync, collection reset, and local metadata caching. RTL stylesheet support. Shortcodes Create reusable players in Easy TubeCasting -> Shortcode Generator, then copy the saved shortcode. Saved instance: [easy_tubecasting instance="1"] Direct shortcode: [easy_tubecasting url="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYLIST_ID" theme="dark" videos="10" accent="#0466ff"] Supported attributes include URL, videos per batch, theme, accent color, CTA panel, and direct CTA link options. Sharing and Start Time The frontend share panel lets visitors copy the current video URL, enable a start time, edit the timestamp, use available share targets, or use the browser/device share sheet when supported. Video SEO and Structured Data Easy TubeCasting can automatically output VideoObject JSON-LD for single-video player views. Collection views are not given broad collection JSON-LD by default because a playlist or channel embed may not describe the whole WordPress page. If a collection is rendered as a single-player view, structured data can be output for the active video. The global Video SEO setting is enabled by default and can be disabled from Easy TubeCasting -> Settings if another SEO plugin or theme already handles video schema. YouTube Data API Key Single YouTube videos and custom lists of specific video URLs can work without a YouTube Data API key by using YouTube oEmbed fallback data. A valid YouTube Data API v3 key is required for playlists, channels, usernames, and handles because the plugin must request collection video lists and metadata from YouTube. Easy TubeCasting includes an API setup guide, validates the key before saving it, masks the key in the admin interface, and stores it in WordPress options. Supported YouTube URLs Supported sources include YouTube watch URLs, youtu.be URLs, embed URLs, playlist URLs, channel URLs, custom channel URLs, username URLs, and @handle URLs. Privacy and Data Easy TubeCasting does not add separate analytics or plugin telemetry. It connects to YouTube and Google services when needed to display videos, fetch metadata, validate an API key, and sync playlist or channel data. See the External Services section for details. The plugin stores settings in WordPress options and stores fetched video, playlist, channel, and mapping data in custom database tables. When the plugin is uninstalled, its options, saved shortcode settings, CTA settings, CTA assignments, and custom tables are removed. External Services This plugin connects to YouTube and Google services to display videos, fetch video metadata, validate a YouTube Data API key, and keep playlists or channels synced. YouTube IFrame Player API and Embedded Player Service provider: YouTube / Google. Purpose: Loads the YouTube player so visitors can watch videos on the front end. Data sent: The visitor’s browser requests player assets from YouTube. This may include the selected YouTube video ID, IP address, browser details, and cookies handled by YouTube or Google. When: When a visitor opens a page containing an Easy TubeCasting player and the YouTube player is initialized or playback starts. Terms: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy YouTube Data API v3 and YouTube oEmbed Service provider: YouTube / Google. Purpose: Validates API keys, fetches video metadata, fetches playlist and channel video lists, and supports manual or automatic syncing. Data sent: The site server sends YouTube video IDs, playlist IDs, channel identifiers, usernames, handles, or YouTube URLs to YouTube or Google. When an administrator saves or revalidates an API key, the key is also sent to Google for validation. When: When an administrator saves or revalidates an API key, when metadata is needed for a block or shortcode, and when manual or automatic sync runs. API terms: https://developers.google.com/youtube/terms/api-services-terms-of-service Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy YouTube Thumbnail Image CDN Service provider: YouTube / Google. Purpose: Displays YouTube thumbnail images for videos and playlists. Data sent: The visitor’s browser requests thumbnail images from YouTube or Google using the relevant video ID. When: When a visitor views a page containing video artwork or playlist items. Terms: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Add My YouTube Channel widget to the widget area or shortcode to post/page content, set Channel ID or Playlist ID, chose resource to use and keep defaults for all other options. And voila! You will get the latest video from chosen YouTube channel or playlist. IMPORTANT My YouTube Channel does not support Live Streams and does not have Gutenberg Block. Use Shortcode Block or Classic Block to insert shortcode to page/post content. If you like our plugin and find it useful, please write a review and rate it. For a manually picked set of videos from YouTube, check out Easy YouTube Gallery. Features Show latest videos from My YouTube Channel (ordered in reverse chronological order related to the creation date), or from Playlist Option to get a random video from any of two resources Responsive (one full-width video per row) or non-responsive Preferred aspect ratio relative to width (16:9 and 4:3) Custom width for video embeded object (default is 306px) Four modes to display video: thumbnail (default), HTML5 (iframe), HTML5 Asynchronous (iframe2) abd Playlist Embed (playlist) Thumbnail mode opens the video in lightbox [NEW] Optionally store thumbnail images locally for improved speed performance and cache policy Enhanced Privacy – please note that display mode HTML5 (IFRAME) Asynchronous (shortcode parameter iframe2) does not support Enhanced Privacy due to YouTube API limitations Hide or show video title above/below/inside video wrapped to HTML tag by your choice (h3, h4, h5, span or div) Custom feed caching timeout Optional video autoplay with optional muted audio (Optional) TinyMCE button on post/page edit (can be disabled on General plugin settings page), which open a shortcode GUI generator to help you build a shortcode Show link to channel/handle below videos (vanity and legacy username are deprecated since v3.23.0) Final look is highly customisable thanks to classes for each element of YTC block! Requirements For a fully functional plugin, PHP 7.4 or newer has required! If you use older PHP, we highly recommend you request from your developer, server support or hosting company to update PHP to a secure version. Styling Use Customizer, style.css from the child theme or Head & Footer Code plugin to custom style and tweak the look and feel of the My YouTube Channel blocks. You can utilise the following classes: .widget_youtube-channel – class of whole widget (parent for widget title and YTC block) .youtube_channel – YTC block wrapper class. Additional classes are available: .default – for non-responsive block .responsive – when you have enabled responsive option .ytc_title – class for video title container above thumbnail/video object .ytc_title_above – additional class for video title above video/thumbnail .ytc_title_below – additional class for video title below video/thumbnail .ytc_title_inside – additional class for video title printed inside of the thumbnail .ytc_title_inside_bottom – additional class for bottom aligned video title printed inside of the thumbnail .ytc_video_container – class of container for single item, plus: .ytc_video_1, .ytc_video_2, … – class of container for single item with ordering number of item in widget .ytc_video_first – class of first container for single item .ytc_video_mid – class of all other containers for single item .ytc_video_last – class of last container for single item .ar16_9 – class for Aspect Ratio 16:9 .ar4_3 – class for Aspect Ration 4:3 .ytc_thumb – class of anchor for Thumbnail mode .fluid-width-video-wrapper – class for parent element of IFRAME for enabled responsive .ytc_description – class for video description text below thumbnail/video object .ytc_link – class of container for link to channel Known Issues Video title and description for embedded playlist mode do not work. Removing the YouTube logo from the playback control bar does not work for all videos. Autoplay does not work always If WordFence or other malware scan tool detect My YouTube Channel file youtube-channel.php as a potential risk because base64_encode() and base64_decode() functions, remember that we use this two functions to store and restore JSON feeds to transient cache, so potential detection is false positive. Credits For playing videos in lightbox we use Bigger Picture. Shortcode Along with Widget, you can add My YouTube Channel block inline by using shortcode [youtube_channel]. Default plugin parameters will be used for shortcode, but you can customize all parameters per shortcode. General Settings class (string) Set custom class if you wish to target special styling for specific YTC block channel (string) ID of preferred YouTube channel. Do not set full URL to channel, but just last part from URL – ID (name) handle (string) defined custom handle from YouTube handle vanity (string) DEPRECATED part after www.youtube.com/c/ from Custom URL username (string) DEPRECATED Optional legacy YouTube username. playlist (string) ID of preferred YouTube playlist. resource (int) Resource to use for feed: 0 Channel (User uploads) 1 DEPRECATED Favorites (for defined channel) 2 Playlist 3 DEPRECATED Liked Videos cache (int) Period in seconds for caching feed. You can disable caching by setting this option to 0, but if you have a lot of visits, consider at least short caching (couple minutes). fetch (int) Number of videos that will be used as stack for random pick (min 2, max 50) num (int) Number of videos to display per YTC block. random (bool) Option to randomize videos on every page load. Video Settings ratio (int) Set preferred aspect ratio for thumbnail and video. You can use: 3 16:9 (widescreen) 1 4:3 responsive (bool) Distribute one full width video per row. width (int) Width of thumbnail and video in pixels. display (string) Object that will be used to represent video. We have couple predefined options: thumbnail Thumbnail will be used and video will be loaded in lightbox. (default) iframe HTML5 (iframe) iframe2 HTML5 (iframe) with asynchronous loading – recommended playlist Embedded playlist (same behaviour as old function only_pl) thumb_quality (string) Define image quality for thumbnail display mode. Default is hqdefault, available: default Default Quality (120x90px) mqdefault Medium Quality (320x180px) hqdefault High Quality (480x360px) sddefault Standard Definition (640x480px) maxresdefault Maximum Resolution (1280x720px) no_thumb_title (bool) By default YouTube thumbnail will have tooltip with info about video title and date of publishing. By setting this option to 1 or true you can hide tooltip themelight (bool) By default YouTube have dark play controls theme. By setting this option to 1 or true you can get light theme in player (HTML5 and Flash) controls (bool) Set this option to 1 or true to hide playback controls. autoplay (bool) Enable autoplay of first video in YTC video stack by setting this option to 1 or true mute (bool) Set this option to 1 or true to mute videos set to autoplay on load norel (bool) Set this option to 1 or true to hide related videos after finished playbak nobrand (bool) Set this option to 1 or true to hide YouTube logo from playback control bar nolightbox (bool) Set this option to 1 or true to prevent YTC block with thumbnail to open in lightbox. If you have other plugin that trigger youtube links for lightbox, that one will steal links from this YTC block. target (string) If you enable nolightbox for specific YTC block, you can force opening of thumbnail links in new tab/window if you set this shortcode option to _blank like target="_blank". Content Layout showtitle (string): none – Hide title above – Display title above video/thumbnail below – Display title below video/thumbnail inside – Display top aligned title inside thumbnail; if display is not thumbnail then treat as above inside_b – Display bottom aligned title inside thumbnail; if display is not thumbnail then treat as below titletag – Video title HTML tag to wrap title (H3, H4, H5, div, span, strong, etc) showdesc (bool) Set to 1 or true to show video description. desclen (int) Set number of characters to cut down length of video description. Set to 0 to use full length description. noinfo (bool) Set to 1 or true to hide overlay video infos (from embedded player) noanno (bool) Set to 1 or true to hide overlay video annotations (from embedded player) Link to Channel goto_txt (string) popup (int) Control where link to channel will be opened: 0 open link in same window 1 DEPRECATED open link in new window with JavaScript 2 open link in new window with target=”_blank” anchor attribute link_to (string) URL to link: none Hide link (defult) handle YouTube handle URL channel Channel page vanity DEPRECATED Vanity custom URL legacy DEPRECATED Legacy username page Please note, to enhance plugin functionality, we can change or deprecate some shortcode parameters in future. Filter hooks You can modify final output of video block by hooking to filter ytc_print_video. Four parameters are provided: video_content – HTML of original video block item – YouTube video object which contains: snippet->publishedAt – date of publishing YouTube video shippet->title – YouTube video title shippet->description – YouTube video description snippet->resourceId->videoId – YouTube video ID instance – Current My YouTube Channel Block parameters, including global settings: handle channel vanity DEPRECATED username DEPRECATED playlist resource cache fetch num skip privacy ratio width responsive display fullscreen controls autoplay autoplay_mute norel playsinline showtitle titletag showdesc desclen modestbranding hideanno goto_txt popup_goto link_to tinymce nolightbox apikey thumb_quality timeout random no_thumb_title class target y – order number of video (1 for first, 2 for second, etc) Example: add_filter( 'ytc_print_video', 'customized_ytc_print_video', 10, 4 ); function customized_ytc_print_video( $video_block, $item, $instance, $y ) { // Do whatever you wish to do // ... return $video_block; }