I know Youtube and Vimeo both have embed codes that allow you to embed their player into any webpage. However, I'm looking to build a web player with a consistent appearance. More importantly, I'm looking to build a player that could play videos from as many video hosting services out there. I'm starting with Youtube and Vimeo, but I want to gradually increase the support for video services. I figured that maybe if there was some interface that was consistent between video hosting services, that this maybe easier, like a protocol of some sort. Then it hit me that URLs are the general protocol for this sort of thing; no need to re-invent the protocol. So, if only Youtube and Vimeo provided a URL to a video file that I could play in my player, then I can easily find some cross-section between all these services.
This is why I'm here; I'm asking if anyone knows if these services provide a URL to the raw video file or files (for different formats, flv, H.264, WebM, etc) that I can use for a custom video player? Or is this something the hosting services prohibit due to advertising revenue things?