Check out my MPEG-4 workaround!

peestandingup

Click Here and tell me what you think. These videos were all encoded using the beautiful MPEG-4 (H.264) codec. I would like some suggestions and also feedback on how well this runs on everyones computers before I go live with it. The site I use to host the files is a little slow on my tests, but its not that bad.

P.S. You need Quicktime 7 to view them. Cheers...Kerry

Baldy

Very interesting! For some reason, the videos won't play on my machine. The server seems to time out.

DavidTO

Baldy wrote:

Very interesting! For some reason, the videos won't play on my machine. The server seems to time out.

Played on mine. Not too speedy, but it played.

BobSalita

My experience:

1. Is it suppose to stream? It doesn't when I click "watch". Unless it streams, its not for me.
2. Bombs out Firefox but IE downloads ok after a long wait with no progress indicator.

peestandingup

Baldy wrote:

Very interesting! For some reason, the videos won't play on my machine. The server seems to time out.

Really?? Hmmm. Its played on all my browsers on Mac & PC, although some handle it differently than others.

For instance, using IE on a PC seems to give me the worst results. After clicking on the link, it gives me the impression that its "stalling", but in fact its loading up the video completly before it displays the page. This may be what you are experiencing.

I wish there was a faster server out there that was free like this one. The file sizes arent big at all, like 5MB-10MB, & I left them in their original window size. I am also trying to figure out a way so that when someone clicks on the photo it will take them to the video link as well. Im told Java would do that, but im not too good with Java at all.

peestandingup

OK, so now I have changed servers on the first 2 movies & it seems much faster now. Im using my .Mac account to host the videos now, but only on the first 2. I also put a watermark on them so there is no confusion that clicking the photos will play the videos. Is that necessary you think?

Only problem with that is Apple is pretty stingy with its measly 1GB of storage space, so I would eventually run out. You would think $100 a year would get you more.

Any other ideas on where I can host these that is fast + reliable + Free (or very cheap) + allot of storage + offers direct linking to only the videos & not some crappy page with ads all over it??? Thanks.

Actually, .Mac doesnt really make it easy for direct linking like I have it, I had to look in the Page Source. Otherwise, it would have linked to a video that has a .Mac theme going on, like This. Bah!

JimM

peestandingup wrote:

OK, so now I have changed servers on the first 2 movies & it seems much faster now. Im using my .Mac account to host the videos now, but only on the first 2. I also put a watermark on them so there is no confusion that clicking the photos will play the videos. Is that necessary you think?

Only problem with that is Apple is pretty stingy with its measly 1GB of storage space, so I would eventually run out. You would think $100 a year would get you more.

Any other ideas on where I can host these that is fast + reliable + Free (or very cheap) + allot of storage + offers direct linking to only the videos & not some crappy page with ads all over it??? Thanks.

I think I can help you in this regard. Can I ask you, what do you think is reasonable prices, for how much storage? You will be very pleased with the speed of our services.

peestandingup

JimM wrote:

I think I can help you in this regard. Can I ask you, what do you think is reasonable prices, for how much storage? You will be very pleased with the speed of our services.

Jim, I checked out the turtlehut site. It looks pretty good, although I wish the base account ($49.95) had more storage, as I really dont need anything else that would merit paying for the other memberships. I just need a host, not anything fancy. But, 10MB just isnt enough, I could only host like 1 video. I just need a temporary place to store these until Smugmug gets their act together and jumps on the MPEG-4 bandwagon.

But now if you were able to throw in a couple GBs for the base membership, then we may have a deal.

JimM

I am trying to think outside the box. To just be able to provide you with online storage essentially. I know I can't do 2+gigs for $50/yr. How much storage are you really looking for and what is the most you would be willing to pay for it?

peestandingup

JimM wrote:

I am trying to think outside the box. To just be able to provide you with online storage essentially. I know I can't do 2+gigs for $50/yr. How much storage are you really looking for and what is the most you would be willing to pay for it?

Well, lets say that each video is 10MB. I have almost 20 up now & will be adding like 20 more soon. That'll be roughly 400MB for just the ones I have now. I have to have a little room to grow & its totally understandable that you cant do 2GB for that cheap. My smugmug site isnt a business of any kind so I dont wanna get too overboard with $$$ and the site im using now is free to the public and not too slow to actually use, but I may be able to swing the basic account for 1GB, although I would have to conserve my space, I could probably do that. But, if you cant that is totally understandable. You gotta make $$ too.

Is it really a big difference in speed?? Do you have any examples of large videos??

JimM

peestandingup wrote:

Well, lets say that each video is 10MB. I have almost 20 up now & will be adding like 20 more soon. That'll be roughly 400MB for just the ones I have now. I have to have a little room to grow & its totally understandable that you cant do 2GB for that cheap. My smugmug site isnt a business of any kind so I dont wanna get too overboard with $$$ and the site im using now is free to the public and not too slow to actually use, but I may be able to swing the basic account for 1GB, although I would have to conserve my space, I could probably do that. But, if you cant that is totally understandable. You gotta make $$ too.

Is it really a big difference in speed?? Do you have any examples of large videos??

It has recently been brought to my attention that Dgrin is not the place to try to find business. If you would like my help and to further discuss this, please feel free to contact me through my website. If we do come up with a good solution privately, I will be sure to post it in the flea market section. Thanks and sorry.

Andy

JimM wrote:

It has recently been brought to my attention that Dgrin is not the place to try to find business. If you would like my help and to further discuss this, please feel free to contact me through my website. If we do come up with a good solution privately, I will be sure to post it in the flea market section. Thanks and sorry.

Now that's just NOT true. There are ways to do it that aren't overt. We like to find out about good deals - and please tell us about them! I've previously offered to you to place something that's in the vendor forum, which is what that's for.

crayiii

It would be nice if SM could expand on the video option a little. More than just MPEG-1 and bigger file size...

peestandingup

crayiii wrote:

It would be nice if SM could expand on the video option a little. More than just MPEG-1 and bigger file size...

Yup, I & many others agree. Until then though, I think this is a nice little workaround.