All the other video services provide an extremely easy way of displaying video thumbnail images. They all require to just put video ID somewhere in the URL, like:
https://img.youtube.com/vi/${video.videoId}/default.jpg for YT,
https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/${video.videoId}_640.jpg for Vimeo
http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/${video.videoId}.jpg for Wistia
I was extremely surprised that Twitch requires me to call an API to get image url. Is there something I am missing, or is this really the only way?
As a dev for a while I’d love it to be more consistent, but 99% of the stuff I do, I’m pulling title and additional information anyway so it’s not a problem for me
Oh right. But the only url that can change is the stream url, right? Because both videos and clips uses generated ids that I presume never change (i.e. https://player.twitch.tv/?video=181166032).
What happens if I post a link to a stream on some social platform, for example this one: https://player.twitch.tv/?channel=rains8 and then after some time rains8 decides to change his channel url? The old url stops working, or is it redirecting to the new one?
Your original query was with regards of VIDEO THUMBNAILS
Video thumbnail urls have and will change
Video ids shouldn’t ever change
Yes, if a channel changes names that embed url will no longer work. But you should be able to use a channel ID instead of a channel name here. Id check the docs for you but I’m mobile on a boat near Mexico