video on smugmug?

Win38-55 · May 22, 2004

I am trying to add a clip to one of my Smugmug galleries.Smugmug needs to have it in MPEG-1. My camera takes it in Quick Time Motion JPEG. I have tried to upload but nothing seems to happen.I am sure it is something at my end but just what I have no clue. I have upgraded to power user. Anybody any hints ,thoughts.

darryl · May 23, 2004

Win38-55 wrote:

I am trying to add a clip to one of my Smugmug galleries.Smugmug needs to have it in MPEG-1. My camera takes it in Quick Time Motion JPEG. I have tried to upload but nothing seems to happen.I am sure it is something at my end but just what I have no clue. I have upgraded to power user. Anybody any hints ,thoughts.

The basic problem is that Motion JPEG is not MPEG-1. There's more information here:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/video-clips-online

On the PC, I've had great results with TMPGEnc, but it's awfully slow. On the Mac, I tried their suggested Movie2MPEG but the results were not very satisfactory.

On the Mac (OS X) I did have better results with ffmpegX but it's a bit of a pain to set up and use. Still, it seemed faster than TMPGEnc, but that could just be because I was using a slow old PC.

Win38-55 · May 23, 2004

I tried the free version of Fx MPEG Writer they showed but the free version dosent seem to work with Motion JPEG. I am looking for different free program. Free being the key word.

Thanks for the time. I will keep on trying.

darryl · May 24, 2004

Ok, as long as *free* is the operative word, and not *easy* :-}

TMPGEnc should be able to do this:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/75521

patch29 · May 24, 2004

darryl wrote:

On the Mac (OS X) I did have better results with ffmpegX but it's a bit of a pain to set up and use. Still, it seemed faster than TMPGEnc, but that could just be because I was using a slow old PC.

I also used the ffmpegx on the mac and it works ok. A little bit of a pain to use. If you go to versiontracker you may be able to search for mpeg or mpeg1 and come up with some other options, maybe even some freeware that will work.

Win38-55 · May 25, 2004

darryl wrote:

Ok, as long as *free* is the operative word, and not *easy* :-}

TMPGEnc should be able to do this:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/75521

I see what you mean. Gonna require some head scratchin for this computer moron.

Thanks to all that helped.

Baldy · May 26, 2004

Win38-55 wrote:

I see what you mean. Gonna require some head scratchin for this computer moron. Thanks to all that helped.

Sorry for the hassles with converting to mpeg.

:

The issue is the load on our help desk for people our subscribers share with. mpegs play on almost every desktop but every other format causes issues with various computers, so the person who attempts to view the .avi or .mov files that come from some cameras assume something is wrong with smugmug when they won't play on their machine.

Win38-55 · May 26, 2004

Just another challange to keep me out of trouble. Thanks for taking the time to explain.

lemketron · August 26, 2005

Baldy wrote:

Sorry for the hassles with converting to mpeg. :

The issue is the load on our help desk for people our subscribers share with. mpegs play on almost every desktop but every other format causes issues with various computers, so the person who attempts to view the .avi or .mov files that come from some cameras assume something is wrong with smugmug when they won't play on their machine.

As a paying subscriber, I wish to again voice my request to support .mov formats. People who view my password-protected pages (friends and family only, not the general public) can already view these because we post them to my own personal web page -- and if they can't they ask ME for help, not anyone else. My camera shoots .mov files, iPhoto happily imports them, and SmugMug should support them as well.

I would happily let SmugMug make a notation on my account indicating that if anyone ever bothered to contact SmugMug support regarding a ".mov" file posted on one of my pages, that SmugMug could immediately refer the question to me personally.

I would seriously consider upgrading my account to the next level if only to add support for having movies on my SmugMug pages -- but no way will I go through the hassle of converting the movie files before I upload them. It's not at all friendly to the paying SmugMug customer, especially considering the otherwise extreme simplicity of dealing with digicam-shot movies. :-(

peestandingup · August 26, 2005

lemketron wrote:

As a paying subscriber, I wish to again voice my request to support .mov formats. People who view my password-protected pages (friends and family only, not the general public) can already view these because we post them to my own personal web page -- and if they can't they ask ME for help, not anyone else. My camera shoots .mov files, iPhoto happily imports them, and SmugMug should support them as well.

I would happily let SmugMug make a notation on my account indicating that if anyone ever bothered to contact SmugMug support regarding a ".mov" file posted on one of my pages, that SmugMug could immediately refer the question to me personally.

I would seriously consider upgrading my account to the next level if only to add support for having movies on my SmugMug pages -- but no way will I go through the hassle of converting the movie files before I upload them. It's not at all friendly to the paying SmugMug customer, especially considering the otherwise extreme simplicity of dealing with digicam-shot movies. :-(

I do agree that SM should start using the MPEG-4 (AVI) format for their videos, just because its a much better format & its becoming the new standard. But, there will always be file size limitations on videos nomatter what and you will likely have to downsize your videos anyway using some kind of program. Its very unlikely that you will shoot a video that stays under the 8MB limit. Plus, some camera companies uses different formats anyway, so there has to be a common ground here.

DodgeV83 · August 26, 2005

Just setup TMPGEnc to encode all of them and leave the room/go to sleep! When you wake up they will all be done...its really not hard.

http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/showsoftware_tmpgenc_412.html

Get the batch encoder from there

lemketron wrote:

As a paying subscriber, I wish to again voice my request to support .mov formats. People who view my password-protected pages (friends and family only, not the general public) can already view these because we post them to my own personal web page -- and if they can't they ask ME for help, not anyone else. My camera shoots .mov files, iPhoto happily imports them, and SmugMug should support them as well.

I would happily let SmugMug make a notation on my account indicating that if anyone ever bothered to contact SmugMug support regarding a ".mov" file posted on one of my pages, that SmugMug could immediately refer the question to me personally.

I would seriously consider upgrading my account to the next level if only to add support for having movies on my SmugMug pages -- but no way will I go through the hassle of converting the movie files before I upload them. It's not at all friendly to the paying SmugMug customer, especially considering the otherwise extreme simplicity of dealing with digicam-shot movies. :-(

lemketron · August 26, 2005

DodgeV83 wrote:

Just setup TMPGEnc to encode all of them and leave the room/go to sleep! When you wake up they will all be done...its really not hard.

I didn't say it was hard, I said it was a hassle I would prefer not to have to deal with. In fact, if it's so easy to transcode, and if SmugMug is so adamant about requiring a particular format, then they should do the transcoding at the server side. Let people upload whatever format is convenient for them. In some cases, the movies are already sitting in the same "album" (in iPhoto or whatever program one happens to use) with a set of images. With that in mind, "exporting" the movie to then transcode it and then re-import it (or upload to SmugMug and toss) is a bunch of extra steps in the work flow that shouldn't be necessary. More preferable (and user friendly) would be just to say "upload whatever you want, and we'll make it work". I'd personally prefer that the .mov files be hosted as-is (as previously requested) but if SmugMug re-formats the movie behind the scenes (and then assumes responsibility for supporting the transcoded format), then so be it.

As for file size (which someone else mentioned), most of my .mov files (as currently residing in iPhoto) are less than 8MB each. A few are between 8MB and 11MB, but could probably be either split into two movies, or trimmed slightly to be less than 8MB. However, with the increase in rates, it would be nice if the limit could just be bumped slightly.

I would imagine I'm not the only one shooting "videos" on their digicam (for any number of reasons -- only one camera to carry around, small resulting file size, no need to DV importing, editing, rendering, exporting, etc.) so it sure would be nice if we could share these movie files (on SmugMug) as easily as we can share images...

DodgeV83 · August 26, 2005

I have alot of videos on my site too, since I have a professional account the filesize limitation is 16MB instead of 8. I don't think I'd like it if Smugmug controlled the bitrate/resolution of my files! I want to control EVERYTHING! I can't even imagine how much extra processing power they will need to handle everything they are doing PLUS transcoding our videos for us, its not hard for US to do it, but for THEM...might be more difficult. The converter they linked to is very easy to use, though limited in options, but you could use it if you dont' want to be bothered.

While it bothered me at first (not being able to use WMV), I do see where they are coming from. My other site, run from a home server, used only WMV for all video, and I had some people with problems having to upgrade their software...honestly I dont' think its that big of a deal, but I can see it being worse for someone on a Mac or Linux.

lemketron wrote:

I didn't say it was hard, I said it was a hassle I would prefer not to have to deal with. In fact, if it's so easy to transcode, and if SmugMug is so adamant about requiring a particular format, then they should do the transcoding at the server side. Let people upload whatever format is convenient for them. In some cases, the movies are already sitting in the same "album" (in iPhoto or whatever program one happens to use) with a set of images. With that in mind, "exporting" the movie to then transcode it and then re-import it (or upload to SmugMug and toss) is a bunch of extra steps in the work flow that shouldn't be necessary. More preferable (and user friendly) would be just to say "upload whatever you want, and we'll make it work". I'd personally prefer that the .mov files be hosted as-is (as previously requested) but if SmugMug re-formats the movie behind the scenes (and then assumes responsibility for supporting the transcoded format), then so be it.

As for file size (which someone else mentioned), most of my .mov files (as currently residing in iPhoto) are less than 8MB each. A few are between 8MB and 11MB, but could probably be either split into two movies, or trimmed slightly to be less than 8MB. However, with the increase in rates, it would be nice if the limit could just be bumped slightly.

I would imagine I'm not the only one shooting "videos" on their digicam (for any number of reasons -- only one camera to carry around, small resulting file size, no need to DV importing, editing, rendering, exporting, etc.) so it sure would be nice if we could share these movie files (on SmugMug) as easily as we can share images...

peestandingup · August 26, 2005

I think some people are forgetting that Smugmug is a photo site. Yes, they do post videos, but its more of a novelty than anything else.

Can you imagine the resources it would take for SM to convert everyones videos, plus make the file sizes as big as some people are talking? Im sure they could, but your fees would go through the roof.

lemketron · August 26, 2005

peestandingup wrote:

I think some people are forgetting that Smugmug is a photo site. Yes, they do post videos, but its more of a novelty than anything else.

Can you imagine the resources it would take for SM to convert everyones videos, plus make the file sizes as big as some people are talking? Im sure they could, but your fees would go through the roof.

Actually, I'm not forgetting that at all. I'm currently paying for a basic subscription and I expect nothing in terms of video hosting. I host videos on my own site currently. However, SmugMug asks me to pay more for hosting videos, and I'm just saying that with all of the current restrictions, it's not worth it for me to upgrade. I am merely indicating what it would take for me to be willing to upgrade.

I don't wish to host big or long videos, but rather just the little ~10MB videos that I take with my Olympus digicam, which I'd also like to share (from the same site that contains my photos) with friends and family.

Note that I didn't say SmugMug HAD to transcode them for me -- I suggested that they relax on the format issue and defer support questions (which there won't be any for MY friends and family) to me. Failing that, I suggested that they offer to transcode (regardless of how long or how low a priority it may be on their server) the video if they insist on hosting it in a different format. Again, I'm not saying they HAVE to do this, but that it would make their site a bit more friendly to the average digicam user and might encourage a few more people to upgrade to the video-hosting subscription level.

If not, then fine; I'll continue to host videos of whatever size I wish on my own personal site. Building my own page to do this is easier and less time consuming for me than having to transcode the files before uploading, and cheaper too.

I'm not trying to be difficult, believe it or not. I thought I read that SmugMug listened to its customers and wanted their feedback (which I suppose they do, even if they don't always act on what they hear). My suggestions are aimed at making things easier to use and more widely appealing, but I suppose others may not always agree with me and that's fine.

DodgeV83 · August 27, 2005

I actaully like my videos better on Smugmug then my personal home server site. Since my upload at home can only handle a 300k bitrate file, the quality suffers. Smugmug's bandwidth is much higher, so even though I'm using MPEG-1, I can set the bitrate much higher, resulting in a higher quality file overall.

That and it won't slow down my gaming when people are visiting my site

video on smugmug?

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