Video Access and Payment Guide

Choose who can watch: free, members, rentals and subscriptions

Start with the result you want. Video Status controls discovery; groups and payment plans control access. An Unlisted link can be forwarded, so it does not replace an access rule.

I want to offer…	Set up	Does the viewer pay?
A public lesson	Active, Public Media, no category/group requirement or paid plan	No
A lesson shared by link	Unlisted, with no other restrictions	No
Free access after registration	A Registered Viewers group, automatically assigned to accounts and required for the content	No
Private lessons for selected people	Assign their accounts to selected groups and require one of those groups	No
One lesson for 48 hours	A PPV plan linked directly to that video	One payment
A member library for 30 days at a time	A Subscription plan linked to the library's group	Recurring, or wallet-funded where enabled
A seven-day member pass	A group-based PPV plan, purchased as a group pass	One payment
A shared password	Password Protected, plus any other access rules	No payment is implied

The examples below use Academy Members, Academy Partners and Academy Team. A person needs one selected group, not every selected group. Test as an ordinary viewer: administrators can watch content that buyers cannot.

1. Locate the privacy controls

Open My videos → Edit → Privacy. Check the lesson you are editing, then review Video Status, Only Paid Users Can see and Public Media together.

Public Media is a visibility choice, not a switch that cancels a paid plan, a category rule or a password. Only Paid Users Can see prevents free-with-ads access; it does not create a price or a checkout. Configure the payment plan separately.

2. Give selected groups access without charging

Example: partners receive a training lesson free of charge.

1. In Users Groups, create Academy Partners.
2. Open Users, find the person, click Edit, and enable Academy Partners under User Groups. Click Save changes. Viewing access does not require making the person an administrator or an uploader.
3. Edit the video, open Privacy, turn off Public Media, select the allowed groups and Save.
4. To insist on these groups even when payment plugins or free-with-ads options are enabled, add the mandatory rule in the next section.

Detail from the user's User Groups section; this example gives permanent, manually managed partner membership:

This animation previews the video's group switches. It finishes with Academy Members OR Academy Partners selected and Academy Team excluded. It does not save changes:

MP4 with playback controls · Still image of the selected groups

Ordinary video/category visibility groups can coexist with access granted by payment plugins. Use a mandatory playback rule when “only these groups” must always be enforced. Do not manually assign a permanent paid-members group when membership is supposed to expire.

For free access to every registered user, follow signed-in users only. Hiding the site's home page behind a login is insufficient protection for the media.

3. Always require one of the selected groups

As an administrator, edit the saved video and click Playback access rules at the bottom. For a whole library, open the same control in Categories instead; subcategories and future videos inherit that rule.

1. Choose Require membership in selected user groups.
2. Select Academy Members and Academy Partners. Leave Academy Team unselected.
3. Click Save and verify Current effective rule after the reload.

The selected groups in the saved example:

Use Test the saved mandatory rule for user ID (0 = visitor) to check the prerequisite:

MP4 with playback controls · Visitor blocked · Partner passes

At the time of this rule test, 2499 was an Academy Partner and 2498 had no membership; that viewer subscribes later in the guide. These are demonstration IDs; use your own user's ID. A passed test checks the saved group requirement only. It does not prove that a password, payment requirement or the actual player will succeed.

Inherit follows the nearest category rule. Explicit exception: no mandatory group restriction stops that inheritance; it does not make a paid video free. See Playback access rules for compatibility and delivery limits.

4. Rent one lesson without creating user groups

Example: Academy Workshop | 48-hour rental, $4.99 USD, one payment.

1. Open PayPerView → PPV Plans. Enter the name, description, Plan Price, How many hours and Active status, then Save. Leave the plan's User Groups empty for a direct-video rental.
2. Open PPV Videos, select the plan and search for the lesson by title or ID.
3. Enable its In this plan switch. Wait for Changes saved automatically; this screen needs no separate Save.

After opening PPV Videos and choosing the plan, this workspace identifies the current plan, filters and included lesson:

The short recording removes and re-adds only the demonstration lesson. It ends with the lesson included; these changes are saved automatically:

MP4 with playback controls · Still image of the saved inclusion

For a paid-only lesson, enable Only Paid Users Can see in the video's Privacy tab and Save. Without it, a site configured for free viewing with ads can offer a free alternative.

What the buyer does

Sign in, open the lesson, check its title, price and rental duration, then choose an available payment button. A rental does not renew automatically.

PayPal may ask you to sign in. If no guest-card option appears and you do not have a PayPal account, return to the site's checkout and choose its card option, when available.

The Stripe demonstration below uses a test card. It shows the real payment and rental activation, ending at Payment confirmed → Watch Now:

Watch or download the Stripe rental video (MP4)

Wait for access activation. If the card payment is approved but access is pending, use Check payment status when offered and check Wallet → History. Do not make another payment simply because the redirect is slow. If the money reached the wallet but the purchase did not finish, complete the rental with that balance.

5. Sell recurring membership to a group

Example: Academy Membership | Monthly, $9.99 USD every 30 days, linked to Academy Members.

1. Open Create Subscription Plans → Plans.
2. Enter the name, description, price, How many days: 30, How many trial days: 0 and Status: Active.
3. Under User Groups, select Academy Members, then Save.
4. Link member lessons to that group. Add a mandatory group rule if membership must always be required.

Detail of the plan's group selection:

The plan supplies membership while access is valid. Do not also give subscribers permanent manual membership in the same group: that can keep the door open after the paid membership expires.

What a non-member sees

When an authorized group is required, Unlock this content offers plans that actually grant that prerequisite. A normal rental of just the title cannot replace group membership.

Choose Subscribe, review the price and period, then choose the payment method. With Stripe, Subscribe With Credit Card (Stripe) opens Secure subscription checkout. Read the automatic-renewal notice and select Subscribe and unlock access once.

This recording completes the subscription using Stripe test mode:

MP4 with playback controls · Still image: You are subscribed

Check your subscription in My Account → Subscription History, in the Subscription Plans panel. The page shows its expiration and, for supported gateways, Cancel and card-management controls.

To stop recurring billing, select Cancel, review Are you sure?, then Confirm. Reload the history to verify Canceled. The demonstration's Stripe subscription was canceled after the purchase test:

Canceling billing is not a refund. In this test, the previously granted access remained valid through its saved expiration; cancellation did not immediately remove the membership. Check the actual expiration and access on your site.

Recurring gateway payments and AVideo's renewal from the wallet work together. The administrator must configure gateway notifications and the Scheduler. See Subscription setup and troubleshooting.

6. Sell a group pass with a one-time payment

A group-based PPV plan is useful for a course pass or short membership: select Academy Members in the PPV plan's User Groups, set 168 hours, and save. Its lessons come from that group, so the direct PPV Videos manager is disabled for that plan.

Read the scope before paying. With userGroupPPVGrantsSpecificVideoOnly enabled, buying from an ordinary single-video checkout can grant only that title. The mandatory-rule unlock page uses the group-plan purchase route when the viewer needs membership. Test the exact entry point that your customers will use; a purchase of one video and a purchase of group access are different products.

7. Add a password when sharing a secret is appropriate

The Password Protected field is in Privacy, beside Video Status in the first screenshot. Enter a password, Save, then test in a separate signed-out session. Viewers use Confirm on the password prompt.

A shared password can be forwarded and gives no paid membership. Use account groups for people whose access you need to revoke individually. An empty password field when editing keeps the existing password; it does not remove it. Read password protection before changing an existing password.

Check before sharing or selling

Test account	Expected result in the Academy example
Signed-out visitor	Cannot pass the mandatory member/partner requirement
Signed-in viewer without a selected group	Sees eligible membership offers
Academy Partner, manually assigned	Passes the group requirement without paying
Viewer with the 48-hour rental only	Can watch the rented lesson, but cannot pass the separate member/partner rule
Current Academy Member	Passes the membership prerequisite; other applicable checks still apply
Expired subscriber with no other membership	Must lose membership access; test expiry separately

Video and category visibility groups are combined; check both. Selecting two allowed groups means OR, not AND. Do not add Registered Viewers to a premium mandatory rule unless all registered users should pass it.

These are application access controls, not DRM. Protect media delivery too: see direct-file protection. For encrypted HLS, apps and casting limitations, read Playback access rules.

About these demonstrations

Captured in Chrome on November 11, 2026, using AVideo database 30.3, PayPerView 11.18 and Subscription 9.9. The Academy examples are local demonstration records; the lessons remain Unlisted. Screenshots show wider page context, with small details supplied separately. Open a screenshot at full size if your screen makes its labels small. Animations have still alternatives and MP4 links for pause/seek controls.

The Stripe rental and subscription used test mode, a non-administrator buyer and the official Stripe test card. The $4.99 rental, $9.99 subscription, membership and video access were checked in AVideo. The recurring test subscription was then canceled, with Stripe returning canceled and AVideo showing Canceled. PayPal used Sandbox; the checkout offered login/account creation rather than a guest-card form in this configuration, so no completed PayPal purchase is claimed. Guest-card availability depends on the PayPal account and integration; see PayPal's Sandbox guest-checkout guidance. Never enter a real card in a documentation test.

Automatic renewal, expiry, refunds, disputes, revenue withdrawals, mobile apps and production payments are separate tests. Form previews are labeled above; they are not payment receipts.